small bug big mess

cicada ☆ they/it ☆ 28 just some kind of critter

[gateway-2000-deactivated2025111]

[this-is-trans-joy]

I don’t think jokes about WW3 are funny. I don’t think jokes about Epstein are funny. I don’t think memes centering on Black people’s reactions are funny. I don’t think AI “clanker” jokes are funny. I don’t think exorsexist jokes are funny. I don’t think “bomb that kills all trans men” jokes are funny. I don’t think girl math or girl dinner jokes are funny. I don’t think “Trump would make such a good drag queen if he wasn’t a fascist” jokes are funny. I actually think this generation’s constant need to turn everything into a meme has ground all meaningful activism to a halt and I’m willing to shit on everyone’s parade until we start actually taking shit seriously.

[renegadeblue18]

Adding onto this due to recent drama, I don’t think “haha cis men getting pregnant!” jokes are funny. They’re even less funny if the quote unquote “joke” is a man getting pregnant as a form of karmic punishment. I’m going to shit on your parade if you treat it as such, get more woke about reproductive health now

[this-is-trans-joy]

Thank you for this addition because I’ve been saying this for so long 😭 Every time I see one of those “drawing my male haters pregnant” videos I feel like the block button isn’t enough. OP should be forced to donate a million dollars to every trans and intersex man in the world as compensation.

[heedra]

if you learn to love bugs with all your heart the world will feel half as hostile and a thousand times as big

[heedra]

Theres a sentiment I'm noticing in the tags that I'd like to address. I dont think learning to love bugs with all your heart means forcing yourself out of discomfort you have with them overnight. It's about observing a different sort of being going about its life and deliberately trying to reframe your observations through a sense of wonder and delight. It's about cultivating a positive interest and curiosity for their ecology and behaviors. It's especially about trying to uncouple the value we find in them from how 'convenient' they are to us; to face head on the part of us that wants to assign moral evil to another organism who just happens to live life in a way that is not harmonius with ours. You can love insects in this way and still recognize your own health and safety needs. We are animals living side by side within a biosphere. This is how it is, sometimes.

I think this is important to cultivate because, if you are alive at all, you are coming into conflict with countless other people and things that dont owe you an apology for their existance and needs. If you are alive at all, you are encountering countless other people and things that harmful bias and personal discomfort have made repulsive to you. This is about bugs, but its also about way more than bugs.

[invertebrates]

It's hard to explain to the uninitiated that you can just go for a walk just about anywhere with a bit of green (and sometimes even in the heart of a city) and find like a dozen neat little unique guys if you're patient and observant.

People get really into bird watching but here's a secret: bugs are WAY easier to find than birds and they let you get a lot closer.

Try to approach the world with wonder and curiosity rather than fear and revulsion. Bugs are a great place to start.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

You don’t have to let them live in your house. You don’t have to let them crawl on you. But they are Animals; they are Earthlings; they have just as much History & Lineage as you do. They all do “useful” things, even when it’s not obvious or intuitive. A rich biosphere is its own reward.

The preponderance of scientific evidence indicates they have feelings! They have minds! You are like a god to them; in your power, you have the chance to be a benevolent god to fragile and delicate living things! It’s really fucking cool! You should try! It feels nice!

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

For anybody not caught up: Tennessee just passed a new map that pretty much makes it so black neighborhoods have no power in local votes. Two things about this. While protestors were chanting "No Jim Crow", white Tennessee lawmakers were caught laughing on video. On top of this, Representative Justin Pearson and his brother KeShaun Pearson were arrested for trying to give their takes on the matter (which is not only their legal right but literally his job). If you give a shit about black people, help fight this. We can't allow a return to Jim Crow.

[icemankazansky]

Heyyy guess where I live

A local paper had some great photographs, all taken by Nicole Hester:

The day before, Rep. Justin Pearson tries to attend a Senate Committee meeting and is barred access by the Sergeant at Arms.

Lawmakers and protesters link arms as the descend the capitol steps.

Once inside the chamber, Democratic representatives continued to stand together with arms linked.

They continued standing together with arms linked as votes were cast.

Democratic representatives take a group photo protesting the redistricting.

Rep. Justin Jones burns a photo of the Confederate flag with the words, We will not go back.

And stomps the ashes.

KeShaun Pearson being escorted from the building by the Staties.

KeShaun Pearson (left) being taken into custody. Rep. Justin Pearson (right) showing his support of his brother.

Additional information: State lawmakers have been gunning for Pearson and Jones nearly their entire terms. Most notably, in 2023, the House expelled them for participating in a protest at the Capitol. Their districts had to have special elections to have them reinstated.

Pearson is one of the plaintiffs of a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the redistricting.

The city most affected by the redistricting is Memphis, where locals are fighting against xAI's data center, which has been operating with very little oversight and is poisoning the people who live there. Here is a previous post on that with more information and more sources.

[smash-chu]

My commission info - My Ko-fi - My Toyhouse

I don't doodle pokemon very much these days, but here's two big dragons i did for warm-up and ended up coloring

[otaroddball]

I don't really have many followers at all, but I really hope this can still get at least some traction.

A friend of mine recently became homeless. Her nerve damage has gotten so bad that she's disabled and unable to work anymore. She doesn't have reliable family to help out, the rest of her (now former) friends really hurt and totally abandoned her, and she has no money. On top of this, the only real supportive family member she did have just passed away, and she's understandably in mourning.

She's working on getting on disability, but as anyone familiar with the experience can tell you, it's a very long process. She needs to be able to afford things like food in order to survive in the meantime. With no other options, she asked my partner and I if we could set her up a GFM, which is linked below:

Donate to Help a homeless, disabled, black trans woman stay alive, organized by Cicada Carpenter

We're Cicada and Otar, friends of Amber's who are setting thi… Cicada Carpenter needs your support for Help a homeless, disabled, black tran

It would mean the world to all 3 of us if you could please pass this around, and if you can spare even just a single dollar, that would be extra incredible. She's a very sweet and grateful person and I'm really worried about her; it's very easy to completely lose all hope in this kind of situation. Every single share and cent will mean the entire world for her to see that people care, are rooting for her, and are keeping her alive. Thank you so much.

[otaroddball]

Thank you so much to everyone who has shared, and an extra big thank you to everyone who has been able to spare any amount of money for Amber and donated!! 💚 She currently does not have much money left at all for food, but she has been able to afford to eat for the past week and also have a temporary place to stay for the time being, and it's all thanks to all of you!!

Admittedly I feel a little awkward asking people to keep sharing/passing along something and chipping in if they can, but I really want my friend to keep being able to stay alive long enough to get on disability and no longer need to worry about funds like this. So, please keep doing what you can. Thank you so much again. ;v; 💚

[otaroddball]

April 27 update:

Amber requested that I share these images with everyone.

She informed me that she's being expected to pay over $3000 in fines by May 15 for damages done by her family who did so under her name and with her credit information. She has not been able to afford to eat anything today, either, so she's still very much in need of shares and donations.

Thank you so much once more for all of the compassion, selflessness, and generosity that so many of you have been extending to her. She's not used to it from even her own family, let alone total strangers, so it's really doing a lot for her even beyond financially. 💚 I will continue to post updates on here, GFM, and BlueSky.

Speaking of, if anyone would like to share my post on BlueSky as well, you may do so here:

💀 O t a r 🧪 (@otar.bsky.social)

Update: Amber asked me to share these pics today, explaining that she's being expected to pay >$3000 in fines due to damage done by her fam

Thank you again. 💚

[otaroddball]

May 1 update:

It's been several days since the last donation. Amber is still in the process of trying to get on disability and therefore still without income. The deadline for the fines is in 2 weeks. She has no money for transportation to upcoming appointments that are vital for the process of getting on disability. She has fortunately been able to get to a food bank so she can still eat! But she's otherwise been very depressed lately, struggling to not lose hope.

To be blunt: I'm extremely worried about my friend and her safety.

But!! Thank you once again for every share and every dollar put towards helping her; it's extremely reassuring to see so many people caring about their fellow human beings like this, especially in these times. 💚

[otaroddball]

May 8:

It's been a full week since the last donation. Amber is back in the streets now that the temporary amount of time she was given to stay elsewhere has run out, and the deadline for the fines she's legally required to pay is in 7 days. Please keep doing what you can, thank you. 💙

[thydungeongal]

A common refrain when the "necessity" of keeping trans women out of women's spaces is brought up is that some women might have issues with sharing their spaces with men or people they perceive as men due to safety concerns and discomfort. This is not only transmisogynistic in the most obvious "treating trans women as if they are a part of the class of men" type of way but also in the "giving precedence to cis women's voices over trans women's voices." Many trans women also often have issues with being forced into the same spaces as men, often founded in equally justified safety concerns and discomfort.

And the truth is that a lot of people do see trans women's womanhood as a lesser form of womanhood and therefore think that cis women's voices should take precedence and like. Most trans women are aware of this. But when it's our supposed allies who parrot these same ideas it's just. Oh, wait, you've actually had the time to think about this and you still same out on the side of transmisogyny?

[housederiva]

My housemate's cat came into my room while my dictation was on...

[bemusedlybespectacled]

since I’m thinking about this instead of studying for bar prep:

people in general tend to assume that a person who’s been arrested is either innocent or guilty. and if they’re guilty, then they deserve fewer rights than the innocent person.

like, if the police break into an innocent person’s house and look for drugs, we recognize that it’s a bad thing and a gross violation of rights. but if the police break into someone’s house and do find drugs, well, that’s just what they deserved. we’d all be upset if the police started randomly murdering people on the street for no reason, but many wouldn’t mind if the police started randomly killing known child molesters. it’s not okay if the police plant evidence to frame an innocent man for murder, but if they know he’s the murderer and plant evidence to help the case along? well, that’s unfortunate but necessary.

there are three problems with this:

You cannot always know with certainty who’s innocent and who’s guilty;

A two-tiered “innocent” and “guilty” legal structure will always be used against innocent marginalized people;

Even guilty people have rights.

this happens a lot on tumblr. not exclusively on tumblr (it’s also a major aspect of most “gritty” police dramas and almost all comics), but it’s definitely there. like, calls to summarily execute rapists sound great in theory, because we all agree that rape is evil. except for when it’s used to kill innocent black men who looked the wrong way at a white woman. 

and there are people who will say that no, of course, the problem isn’t summarily killing rapists, the problem is summarily killing the wrong people (that is, innocent people). which, again, you can’t know who’s innocent and who’s guilty - lots of innocent people aren’t sweet old ladies who’ve never done anything wrong, or have perfect alibis and never contradict themselves. hell, being guilty of a crime in the past doesn’t mean that they committed this specific crime that they’ve been accused of.

and even if they are guilty - even if they are stone-cold, unrepentantly guilty - they still have rights. that’s what “innocent until proven guilty” means. it means that stripping someone of their legal rights is a big fucking deal, so no matter how guilty Obvious McCriminal looks, you still have to follow the rules we’ve set in place to prevent abuses. 

like, it’s not that every person who’s ever been treated shittily by police and the court system is actually innocent, so therefore the system is bad. it’s that we have a system that treats people like shit once we’ve decided they’re guilty, regardless of when the decision is made, and we’re okay with that. after conviction? definitely. after arrest? yup. before arrest, because we just have a feeling about them? sure.

and I get why people make posts or write stories about guilty people being treated badly. wanting vengeance is a powerful emotion. grief and anger are powerful emotions. it is not unnatural to want to hurt people who have hurt others. people like the idea of karma, of cosmic scales balancing out the hurt and suffering inflicted by a person by making them suffer back. I’m not saying that no one is allowed to have those feelings. 

I’m just saying that there are implications behind them that are deeply disturbing (“if I decide you’re guilty, you’re less of a person to me”) and that it’s the primary driving force behind most of the issues in our criminal justice system.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

actually, since this post has become relevant (again), I’d like everyone to join me in a little thought experiment: why do the police bring up a murdered person’s criminal record when they are extrajudicially killed?

like, we can all agree that the sentence for drug possession, drunk driving, trespassing, etc. is not execution, and even if it was, that’s after they’ve been arrested and convicted. cops are not judges, so it’s not their call to decide if someone is guilty or to punish them for it. so why does it matter if someone is “a known criminal,” or if they have drugs in their system, or if they have a gun on their person?

“well, obviously it’s to bias the public against the person who was killed,” you might say. okay, but why is that?

it’s because they know that we think of guilty people as less than human, and innocent people as blameless. therefore the murdered person deserved to die (because guilty people deserve what they get), and the cop is innocent (he was just trying to protect people!). if it didn’t work as a tactic, then they wouldn’t do it!

it is this mindset that permits the police to murder. we cannot stop police violence unless we dismantle the idea that being guilty of a crime negates your humanity and your civil rights.

[jackalpants]

THE CHAFF PROJECT

Hi! Are you cis in the UK and you'd like to support trans rights? Great!

How: buy a trans flag pin and wear it in public.

Why: chaff is an overwhelming amount of false positives so that when a missile gets close to the plane, it hits the chaff and not the plane.

In practice: the goal is to make it DIFFICULT to identify trans people to target with bathroom bans, and to create many FALSE POSITIVES for businesses.

Basically, you might get accused of being trans and kicked out, because of the badge. You say: I wear the badge because trans rights matter.

You follow up with a letter to the business saying you're fucking furious because some nosy dipshit just tried to play fucking genital police with you in the loos. You know lots of trans people (don't name any, if you do) and you wear the pin in support and you're disgusted at them for allowing this.

Blame the business for allowing the behaviour.

Businesses see that their cis customers are getting bothered over a badge and may clarify trans-inclusive policies, so they can kick out the bathroom botherers instead of nice cis allies.

You only need to buy and wear the badge, and you are protecting trans people. You can be genuinely heroic. Even one cis person doing this helps, and everyone you get to join in helps even more.

Non-affiliated badge link:

https://rainbowandco.uk/collections/trans-pride/products/transgender-pride-flag-badge

Show your pride with our 25mm transgender pride flag pin badge. Perfect for wearing on your favourite denim jacket, back pack, or lanyard to

[gayleafpool]

you can always give that character psychosis and a personality disorder

[ashstfu]

[ashstfu]

[ashstfu]

[shadybug]

10 movie tag game ✨

tagged by @assumedcryptid LET'S GO

RULES: post ten of your favourite movies (no giving away the title) and tag ten people

if ur reading this and wanna do it, consider urself tagged :3c

@otaroddball @rabiezbunny @vulturevomittm @sunnycluster @scuffledig @juneberryjammin @jaybug-jabbers @cccshutdown @piranya @leafstem

[segamascott]

[bi-astolfo]

Yes, investigation claimed at least 1,200 detainees 'dropped off the grid' from 'Alligator Alcatraz'

The claim is not new — the Miami Herald published its findings in summer 2025.

[standwithdaanes]

source for the congresswoman thing as well, because i hadn't heard about that:

Rep. LaMonica McIver Faces 17 Years in Prison Over ICE Jail Inspection

The Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to restrict or thwart congressmembers’ access to ICE jails.

[otaroddball]

I don't really have many followers at all, but I really hope this can still get at least some traction.

A friend of mine recently became homeless. Her nerve damage has gotten so bad that she's disabled and unable to work anymore. She doesn't have reliable family to help out, the rest of her (now former) friends really hurt and totally abandoned her, and she has no money. On top of this, the only real supportive family member she did have just passed away, and she's understandably in mourning.

She's working on getting on disability, but as anyone familiar with the experience can tell you, it's a very long process. She needs to be able to afford things like food in order to survive in the meantime. With no other options, she asked my partner and I if we could set her up a GFM, which is linked below:

Donate to Help a homeless, disabled, black trans woman stay alive, organized by Cicada Carpenter

We're Cicada and Otar, friends of Amber's who are setting thi… Cicada Carpenter needs your support for Help a homeless, disabled, black tran

It would mean the world to all 3 of us if you could please pass this around, and if you can spare even just a single dollar, that would be extra incredible. She's a very sweet and grateful person and I'm really worried about her; it's very easy to completely lose all hope in this kind of situation. Every single share and cent will mean the entire world for her to see that people care, are rooting for her, and are keeping her alive. Thank you so much.

[otaroddball]

Thank you so much to everyone who has shared, and an extra big thank you to everyone who has been able to spare any amount of money for Amber and donated!! 💚 She currently does not have much money left at all for food, but she has been able to afford to eat for the past week and also have a temporary place to stay for the time being, and it's all thanks to all of you!!

Admittedly I feel a little awkward asking people to keep sharing/passing along something and chipping in if they can, but I really want my friend to keep being able to stay alive long enough to get on disability and no longer need to worry about funds like this. So, please keep doing what you can. Thank you so much again. ;v; 💚

[otaroddball]

April 27 update:

Amber requested that I share these images with everyone.

She informed me that she's being expected to pay over $3000 in fines by May 15 for damages done by her family who did so under her name and with her credit information. She has not been able to afford to eat anything today, either, so she's still very much in need of shares and donations.

Thank you so much once more for all of the compassion, selflessness, and generosity that so many of you have been extending to her. She's not used to it from even her own family, let alone total strangers, so it's really doing a lot for her even beyond financially. 💚 I will continue to post updates on here, GFM, and BlueSky.

Speaking of, if anyone would like to share my post on BlueSky as well, you may do so here:

💀 O t a r 🧪 (@otar.bsky.social)

Update: Amber asked me to share these pics today, explaining that she's being expected to pay >$3000 in fines due to damage done by her fam

Thank you again. 💚

[otaroddball]

May 1 update:

It's been several days since the last donation. Amber is still in the process of trying to get on disability and therefore still without income. The deadline for the fines is in 2 weeks. She has no money for transportation to upcoming appointments that are vital for the process of getting on disability. She has fortunately been able to get to a food bank so she can still eat! But she's otherwise been very depressed lately, struggling to not lose hope.

To be blunt: I'm extremely worried about my friend and her safety.

But!! Thank you once again for every share and every dollar put towards helping her; it's extremely reassuring to see so many people caring about their fellow human beings like this, especially in these times. 💚