call me pierce. i rb nsfw sometimes. soulbrand is my Dragon Age blog. tme, trans, disabled, white. very sporadic energy/functioning so if i don't respond to something right away i promise i'm not ignoring you on purpose
That poor pest control guy did not know what he was getting into, but given the state of my yard i feel like he should have known what he was getting into.
He was going door to door offering to spray the base of the house for pests for a discount rate because one of our neighbors signed up for pest control and he walked down my driveway (covered in spiderwebs), up onto my front porch (covered in spiderwebs), and knocked on my door (covered in spiderwebs) and said "hi, I'm John from the bug company, would you be interested in a discount service because it seems like you may have a spider problem."
And I said, "oh, no, I'm sorry, I won't be spraying for spiders, I like them. I want to encourage them."
And he gave me kind of a weird look and was like "why?" And I was honest and said that they were my pest control, they take care of my mosquitoes and and and flies, and then I kind of laughed and said that I should stop because I know way too much about spiders and if he let me go I'd talk his ear off.
And then he made his fatal mistake and asked what I knew about spiders, and if I knew what kinds of webs he'd walked past to get on the porch and what spiders were in my yard.
So then he got to hear my thoughts on brown vs black widows and why I wished there were as many black widows as there used to be but I had a big beautiful one under my patio table right now and even if I prefer black widows because they aren't invasive the same way that brown widows are i still like the brown widows and i had a lovely one who lived in my patio chair from August until the firestorm in January and she was so good and kept eating cockroaches and had made five big egg sacks and how I was so proud of her and I used to have a lot more orb weavers but their numbers never recovered after the tropical storm last year but I had a cute one on the shed that I took a picture of yesterday and of course there are tons of wolf spiders and jumping spiders and cellar spiders if you wanted to count them too and some false widows but I hadn't seen any of them this year and, well, yeah, anyway they're not actually dangerous mostly and widows want nothing to do with you but a bite wasn't pleasant but much better than a recluse bite but I almost never see recluses around here but i wouldn't, would I, because they're not called brown gregarious spiders, oh and there are black footed yellow sack spiders around and you don't want those to bite you but their little toes are so cute and I'm sorry, sorry, sorry like I said I can go off about spiders, but also I don't want to spray because I've got so many pollinators, I've got a whole wisteria vine full of carpenter bees, actually i saw a male valley carpenter bee last week, did you know they're golden and fuzzy? He was so cool! But, yes, sorry, I won't be spraying but thank you for asking, and I'm sorry I was the crazy spider lady at you!
I had almost this exact conversation with the door-to-door pest control guy last summer, but about the wasps. He was outright confused when I told him that not only was he not welcome in my yard, I'd just put out some fried chicken crumbs for my paper wasps to make sure they built their hives on my property because nothing in his truck made better crop pest control than a hungry nest of Red Paper Wasps, except maybe Ichneumons but have to get rid of the lawn before those will move in-
"Red Paper wasps? Those are very dangerous! They're very aggressive!" he sputters.
"Really? They seem to be quite placid." I indicated the Fine-backed Red Paper Wasp nest about 16 inches above his head under the eaves.
He stared.
I picked up a crumb of KFC from the porch shelf with my finger and held it up. One of the ladies investigated, then landed and sat on my finger and munched happily for a few seconds before returning to the nest.
"Would you like to see the common paper wasps? They've got a great nest going on the side of the garage."
Another pest control guy showed up and knocked on the door and mentioned that he does bug spraying and I just straight up said "oh i'm the crazy spider lady, I like the bugs, that's why I don't mow."
And he said "Well, do you have any rats or other rodents you need handled?"
And I said "No, we have a barn owl living out back. You should see my collection of rat skulls. Do you want an owl pellet?"
I am raising funds for Yesmin, a 27 year old mother from Gaza and a victim of the ongoing genocide. Here are her own words:
Vetted by association I’m ayoosha-stuff friends
Hello friends, I am Yasmin from northern Gaza Strip. I am 27 years old, a mother of two children, Sila and Youssef, and I have been married for more than 7 years.
I was studying Journalism and Media at the University College, and I had both a home and a job. But because of the war, I lost my home, my work, and everything I owned.
My family’s house was also destroyed, and now we have nothing left except a worn-out tent whose torn walls cannot protect us from the heat of summer or the cold of winter.
My husband is injured. He was involved in a traffic accident while trying to get aid, and he is now disabled and unable to work.
My children have suffered from malnutrition due to the lack of food and proper nutrition.
That is why I am only asking for your help and support. I am here trying to save what is left of my children’s lives. They are between life and death.
Please, try to support us and donate whatever you can.
all the rights that come with marriage you should be able to have without marriage btw. you should be able to designate a person who can visit you in the hospital regardless of your relationship to that person.
💖 these are the four artists who, in light of the most recent season, appear to have carried iwtv on their backs while the white showrunner got all the credit. very impressed with their work not just writing/directing/editing-wise but because their presence clearly set a certain tone in that writers' room. and i imagine it took quite a bit of effort to maintain it, considering what that writers' room turned into once they were no longer in the picture. i'm really excited to keep an eye on their careers and i hope they move on to do great things with more creative control
You know it's a Gothic Horror show, and you're supposed to feel uncomfortable, right? I do. But do you? Do you, Rolin, and Hannah understand that? Because from where I stand, only the Black characters seem to be trapped in a horror story. The others appear to be in a completely different genre.
The issue isn't that viewers like myself don't want to feel uncomfortable. The issue is that, in this Gothic Horror show, Black characters disproportionately bear the brunt of the violence.
Take this season finale as an example.
At the end of Episode 6, two characters are beheaded. Yet in Episode 7, we are shown the severed head and mutilated body of the black character in explicit details, while the white character's mutilated body is shown only briefly and out of focus, and his severed head is hidden from us.
Louis's arc is presented as a parallel to Lestat's. Both characters are placed in situations where they must confront people they have wronged, or at least people the narrative insists they have wronged, as well as their pasts, relationships, and mistakes. (Personally, I don't believe Louis owes Armand anything, but the narrative clearly wants the audience to think otherwise.🙄🙄🙄)
Yet the way these parallel journeys are depicted are drastically different.
Lestat's reckoning unfolds in beautiful rooms, elegant spaces, and dreamlike settings. He sits comfortably while listening to the grievances of the people in his life. He argues back. He reflects. He moves through beautiful environments, from grand rooms to forests and back again. Even when he is forced to confront painful memories, the experience is framed as introspection. The focus remains on his emotional and psychological journey.
Meanwhile, Louis is placed in what looks like a torture room straight out of a Saw movie. His severed head sits on a table, hooked up to a machine. His body is positioned across from him, forcing him to stare at it. His suffering is not just physical; it is public and humiliating. His torture is broadcast for others to watch and study. His pain becomes both spectacle and data. He is joined by Regina, another Black character, whose torture is used as leverage against him.
The man torturing Louis demands an apology, not for any genuine wrongdoing, but because Louis failed to love him the way he believed he deserved to be loved, and failed to show enough empathy for his trauma. This is the same man who murdered Louis's daughter in a lynching and attempted to murder Louis in that same lynching, and who, only minutes earlier, boasted that he took aesthetic pleasure in making Louis's death visually exhilarating as part of that lynching.
And so the torture continues. Louis is pushed to the brink of death. Regina is slicing her wrist. Eventually, Louis gives in. He apologizes. He accepts responsibility not only for hurting his torturer's feelings but for the torture itself. He tells his torturer that his coldness and denial drove him (the torturer) to these actions (the torture). The torturer receives the apology he wants, ends the torture, heals and frees Regina, and leaves, but not before carving the letter "A" onto Louis's mutilated body.
Meanwhile, Lestat is still moving through beautiful settings, confronting his past, and listening to others condemn him for the failures of his life. His story reaches its climax in the final act, when he is surrounded by the people in his life and the people he has wronged, some of whom are cheering him on. Rather than being subjected to physical degradation, he is given space for self-reflection. The focus remains on his memories, his relationships, his mistakes, the horrors he has committed, and his regrets. He eventually acknowledges some of his mistakes and even apologizes to one of his victims. Instead of fleeing from his past, he chooses to face it. His reckoning culminates in understanding, and the arc ultimately ends with imagery that evokes transcendence, as though he is ascending to heaven.
Both Louis and Lestat are given parallel narrative arcs centered on confronting their pasts, their relationships, and the harm they have caused. Yet the show presents those reckonings through vastly different visual and narrative lenses. Lestat's journey is psychological, reflective, and aesthetically beautiful. Louis's journey is a sustained ordeal of physical and psychological torture, humiliation, and degradation. One character is invited to examine himself; the other is turned into a spectacle of suffering. While Lestat is afforded reflection, Louis is afforded degradation.
And I'm supposed to look at that contrast and just shrug and say, "Well, that's Gothic horror for you"? Really? Take the blinders off. Look at what is being asked of Louis and compare it to what is being asked of Lestat. One is granted introspection, reflection, and, ultimately, transcendence. The other is subjected to torture, humiliation, and spectacle. The genre does not erase that disparity. If anything, it makes it more obvious.
My issue is not the horror. My issue is who is repeatedly asked to embody that horror, whose pain is treated as spectacle, and whose pain is afforded dignity, nuance, and care.
AMC really struck gold with the unreliable narrator idea because now people will insist that any flaw in the storytelling is actually a genius premeditated reflection of a fallible narrator, any pacing issues are actually a genius premeditated reflection of a characters psyche, and any lack of character development is actually a genius premeditated reflection on a characters refusal to face their own trauma, and having cheap looking production is actually a genius premeditated reflection of a characters memories, and any unwarranted deviation from the source material is actually a genius premeditated lie that will be proven false at some unspecified point, and any poor handling of sensitive subjects is actually a genius premeditated commentary on the characters own failings, etc, etc.
claudia says she hates my guts move on next scene. you say you love me move on next scene. you say you stalked me for 52 years move on next scene. i was in love with a boy once he killed himself he was my first love move on next scene. armand was there move on next scene. I'm telling you we started hanging out offscreen move on next scene. my mom and i killed our whole family move on next scene. I'm on an apology tour syke move on next scene. i have a body double oops hes dead move on next scene. i was in aa with your guitarist move on next scene. i don't have transformational trauma now im in cahoots with my maker move on next scene. god forbid we let the weight of anything settle
"💔 Tents are no longer just shelters; they have become overcrowded spaces where people struggle to survive each day. Cramped conditions, almost no personal space, and poor sanitation make life even harsher. Amid the heat, dust, and unbearable odors, people do their best to preserve their dignity, but the suffering is impossible to hide. What we need is not sympathy, but a life worthy of human beings."
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-awad-familys-journey-to-safety (the last donation was 1 day ago)
Chuffed: https://chuffed.org/project/183929-support-naeemas-family-in-gaza (the last donation was 10 days ago)
Gaza Verified ✅ https://gaza-verified.org/people/@[email protected]
hi there <3 i have an autoimmune disease (sjogren’s) that makes migraines and joint pain and inflammation really bad and affects my mobility, currently pretty sick and in treatment and recovery, even $1 will go a long way <3 c4$h4pp v3nm0 p4yp4l k0fi
I am raising funds for Yesmin, a 27 year old mother from Gaza and a victim of the ongoing genocide. Here are her own words:
Vetted by association I’m ayoosha-stuff friends
Hello friends, I am Yasmin from northern Gaza Strip. I am 27 years old, a mother of two children, Sila and Youssef, and I have been married for more than 7 years.
I was studying Journalism and Media at the University College, and I had both a home and a job. But because of the war, I lost my home, my work, and everything I owned.
My family’s house was also destroyed, and now we have nothing left except a worn-out tent whose torn walls cannot protect us from the heat of summer or the cold of winter.
My husband is injured. He was involved in a traffic accident while trying to get aid, and he is now disabled and unable to work.
My children have suffered from malnutrition due to the lack of food and proper nutrition.
That is why I am only asking for your help and support. I am here trying to save what is left of my children’s lives. They are between life and death.
Please, try to support us and donate whatever you can.
and if i said nolan's odyssey starring no greek actors and with no recognizable aspects of greek culture or involvement by greeks, is the direct legacy of white supremacist colonialism that treated ancient greece as not just the pinnacle of ancient culture, but of an artificially created "european" culture, which white western europeans and their settler descendants, as the new pinnacle of culture, were the sole spiritual inheritors of.
^^^ PEOPLE ARE STILL THERE. There's a metro station across the street from the colosseum where i found a hair in my pizza slice. We drove by ruins of an amphitheater next to a motorway in greece once. It's literally just real places where real people live and have lived. It's not mythical perfect lands that once existed. I went to Itacha in 2023 and there was not enough parking space.
ICE is known to ignore tribal IDs. In Washington State indigenous actor Elaine Miles was detained in Redmond, WA after ICE agents stated her tribal ID looked fake.
Here are some articles and resources:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flooded Minneapolis, Shane Mantz dug his Choctaw Nation citizenship card ou
Opinion. During last year’s Idaho election, a Republican state senator lost his composure when a candidate forum turned to the topic of raci
Elaine Miles of Northern Exposure was stopped by four masked men in Seattle while walking to bus stop
SEATTLE TIMES: Indigenous actor Elaine Miles says ICE called her tribal ID ‘fake’ Senators: “The disrespect and harassment of U.S.-born Trib
The National Congress of American Indians - Defending Sovereignty since 1944
Last updated January 23, 2026. Download flyers here or scroll down to read full text below: Native Americans who believe ICE violated their
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