The Fangirl @springstarfangirl - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
The Fangirl
@springstarfangirl
She/her. I write, draw, and do all-around fangirling. Commissions (for now, for free) and asks accepted. Give me a prompt, I'll one-shot it. No LGBTphobia allowed on this blog!
I suppose I should probably make a get-to-know-me post, huh?
Okay! You're welcome to call me Maya or Spring, both work.
I'm a fangirl (duh), on the autism spectrum, and currently wondering if I have undiagnosed anxiety.
I'm Jewish, and moved to Israel when I was five, so if you have any problems with that, you can fuck right out of here unless you want carnage to be unleashed on your blog.
Pan-oriented arospec-ace, cis female (she/her), so again, if you have any problems with the LGBTQIA+ community, again, you're welcome to fuck right off.
Did I mention that I have an enormous potty mouth and a bit of a problem with bigots, racists and assholes in general???
Otherwise, feel free to ask me about anything. I'm not afraid to tackle controversial topics. If you want writing advice about characters with autism, for example, or Jewish characters, I'm happy to help.
Current status: trying to prevent @alex-s-number-one-fanboy from eating gemstones with @glittercrashhh
I do not love him yet, sire, but that would apply the same if he were a worm- I cannot know if I will love one based simply on a gif of him being a sopping wet meow meow.
an explanation of why he did this…it’s uh. not great
Since it was placed earlier this week, community members have expressed anger about the Lake Theater and Cafe’s marquee advertising screenin
Since it was placed earlier this week, community members have expressed anger about the Lake Theater and Cafe’s marquee advertising screenings of Christopher Nolan’s new film “The Odyssey.”
The south-facing marquee reads “Before there were the Jews, there was… The Odyssey.”
The reference has concerned many in the local Jewish community, specifically because of the current political environment in which the Jewish community faces heightened criticism — and bigotry — following escalating violence in occupied Gaza, and many feel that the marquee is antisemetic and ahistorical.
Bob Horenstein, The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland chief community relations and public affairs officer, said the federation has received dozens of messages from concerned community members. The Review also received many emails expressing concerns and many people have posted on social media about it.
“There’s drawing attention, and then there’s being offensive … What I wrote to (Lake Theater) yesterday was, we’d received over three dozen (email and calls) at least that members of our community feel very unsettled by the sign and I said we do not know the reason behind the choice of language, nor are we suggesting that there is necessarily any ill intent,” he said. “But to understand that, given the current climate of rising anti-Semitism, any reference to ‘the Jews’ is immediately suspected, rightly or wrongly, of having nefarious intentions, and that we would respectfully urge you to remove the current language and simply promote the movie.”
Jordan Perry, the general manager of the Lake Theater, said the marquee text would be taken down.
In a text message, he said the point of the remark was to push back on what is constituted as antisemitism and said he was surprised by the negative reaction it has received.
“My intention is never to influence opinion or fan flames, but to say: it’s okay to raise eyebrows, though I hope my messages reflect a depth of understanding others find in themselves but not always in the world around them,” said Perry by text message. “Through the media I consume, I believe modern-day antisemitism is exaggerated, mostly as a defense for Israel’s actions in the Middle East and its involvement in our politics, and my intention in referencing Jewish people on the marquee was to prod at everything being seemingly antisemitic with a statement that couldn’t possibly be construed as antisemitic.”
He added: “My intention was not to offend anyone, but rather to push back culturally back on what constitutes antisemitism, to signal, in solidarity, that it’s not about ‘the Jews,’ that it’s about Israel, and Palestine, and Lebanon, and Iran, and AIPAC. This is my ‘humor,’ this was the point, intentionally subtle, of what I put on the marquee.”
Perry added that the marquees reflect his personal views, not those of the business, and are “meant to connect with open-minded members of the community on a personal level, not as a business, and anyone coming to the business should only expect good food and drink, a relaxing environment, friendly staff, with a sort-of cynical guy sometimes behind the register who also runs food and cleans toilets.”
Rabbi Eve Posen, of Congregation Nevah Shalom, connected the marquee with accusations by members of the U.S. Congress that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine and said that a member of the community’s car was recently vandalized with swastikas.
“None of the individual moments, taken on their own, would necessarily warrant a public reflection. We live in a world where people disagree. We debate policy. We challenge history. We confront acts of hatred. But when these moments come one after another, layering upon one another in the span of a single day, they tell a story that is impossible to ignore,” Posen wrote via social media.
She also felt that there was no good reason for the Lake Theater to bring up the Jewish community while advertising the new film.
“The statement is historically false. More importantly, it raises a painful question: why invoke Jews at all? A clever movie promotion could have celebrated one of the oldest stories ever told without unnecessarily positioning Judaism as an afterthought or a comparison. In a moment when antisemitism is already at historic levels, casually inserting Jews into a narrative where we do not belong doesn’t feel harmless. It feels like another reminder that our story is somehow expendable, that our history can be rewritten or diminished for the sake of a punchline,” she wrote.
The north-facing marquee also referenced the new movie with the message, “Do you watch TV w/ subtitles? We’ve got The Odyssey w/ subtitles! (Not always, but sometimes).”
Many people commented that the story of The Odyssey – Homer’s original Greek epic passed down through an oral tradition – isn’t definitively older than evidence of Israelite tribes in ancient Canaan.
“it’s not about the Jews,” says absolute jerk who put “the Jews” on his marquee. “I’m not antisemitic” says the fool denying modern antisemitism.
prev tags: #also like i've never met a jew who eats pork and is also conflicted about it#in my experience jews who eat bacon actively made the decision that bacon>kashrut and are happy with that
literallyyyy. never met anyone guilt-eating bacon they either keep kosher or they dont. guilt-turning-up-to-a-shiva-after-years-of-not-attending-services maybe but i also dont think jews have conflicts about our faith in the same way christians do so it may be wise to just avoid that theme in your work if you're a goy
Links to my free sewing patterns!
- big manta ray
- smaller manta ray
- monster friend (those monsters with horns I’ve been making lately, but without horns)
- pie slice
- Fred, the Fish of Minimal Effort
- tiny cat (aka Jiji)
- mini mothman
- whale shark/donut whale shark
- juggling frog/toad (aka my smallest, simplest frog pattern of the three I’ve made)
- large frog
- tiny hedgehog
- minecraft bee
- minecraft zombie
- blorbo
- Strawberry Hearts quilt pattern
- starfish
- little octopus
- canvas tote (wider than it is tall)
- canvas tote (taller than it is wide, more of a grocery bag)
- basic bat and ghost
- mini mushroom friends
- whale
- hammerhead shark
- simple seal
- cartoon flea (the one from Emperor’s New Groove)
- little stingray
- little alien
Tutorials:
- flannel baby blanket tutorial
- onigiri bag tutorial
- tomato pattern design walkthrough (how I design the pattern, not a link to the pattern itself)
- giant worm tutorial (I don’t know why it’s marked mature? it’s a worm)
Added a little alien pattern! These little aliens fit in my flying saucer plushie/bag but I have not yet shared that pattern (I gotta figure out where I can get more of the plastic dome lid things first)
As always, if the timestamp on this reblog is a while in the past, it’s worth clicking through to the original post, I will update it to add links every time I share new patterns on tumblr
pedestrians don't seem to realize how exhausting using a wheelchair is, both manual and powered. i had to wheel around a hospital today with several ramps i had to go up and down multiple times, and even with my smoov i ended up with shoulder and chest pain and deep exhaustion.
people look at wheelchair users and think "well you're sitting down all the time that doesn't take effort" no actually it does. pushing a manual chair takes a lot of fucking effort, especially without a power assist. repetitive stress injuries are a huge problem manual chair users encounter all the time. going up hills and ramps is so deeply fatiguing.
this doesn't just apply to manual chair users btw. power chair usage can also be really exhausting, especially for people with complex seating needs. going over bumps and cracks can trigger many symptoms such as spasticity, pressure sores are common, even just sitting upright can be exhausting for many people.
basically don't assume using a wheelchair takes 0 effort, it really really does. getting to "sit down all the time" doesn't mean it's easy.
im gonna need you able bodied motherfuckers to stop comparing the extreme pain and exhaustion that comes with using a manual chair to being in a car for 8 hours. not even remotely the same thing.
So, this is TVGuide’s recap of the solution proposed to reform the afterlife:
“as Eleanor puts it, the system treats life not as "a test that you either pass or fail but instead a class you take." The test comes in the afterlife, when a Good Place architect and a Bad Place architect team up to design a customized scenario that forces you to confront your moral flaws. The test can be anything — from being sent to a fake Good Place "by mistake" to reliving a version of your life — and its difficulty depends on the number of points you earned before death. Regardless of points, if you don't pass the test you're rebooted to take it again and again, with the hope that one day you'll learn enough to ace it and get into the Good Place.
"But wait," interrupts the version of Timothy Olyphant Janet conjured in her void, "how do you learn and grow if you're rebooted?" Thanks for asking, Tim. The trick is that after every reboot, you retain a vague memory of what you learned in your evaluation — like, in Eleanor's words, "a little voice in your head, helping you become a better version of yourself."”
Compare that this description of how the soul is cleansed in the afterlife in Judaism:
“Gehinom [is not] a place for eternity, but a temporary—albeit terrible—place for the soul to be cleansed. In fact, the vast majority of souls do not stay in Gehinom for more than eleven months. Because we do not presume most people are so sinful as to warrant a twelve month sentence (reserved only for the wicked), the recital of Kaddish for a departed soul, which brings elevation to the soul and relief from Gehinom, is only recited for eleven months and thereafter only on the anniversary (Yartzeit) of death. On Shabbat all souls have an elevation. Souls in Gehinom are given relief, while those in the world of Yetzirah are allowed through the “Amud,” the pillar that connects the two worlds of Yetzirah and Beriah. After the purification of Gehinom, the soul enters the World to Come—the Garden of Eden—where it receives the rewards it earned through work in this world.”
Basically, the idea that the soul is put through a purification and cleansing in the afterlife before going on to its next destination is a Jewish concept (which makes sense because show creator Michael Schur is Jewish!).
anon in my inbox said fanfic writers who wrote about dark and taboo topics were not “real writers” because of what they wrote about.
reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.
reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.
(This is a Great Golden Digger Wasp - Sphex ichneumoneus - doing what its name implies, digging. But you may also notice, if you turn the sound on, that she’s making some incredible noises as she does so.)
Tonight on My Husband Doesn’t Know How to Baby Talk
“Ma’am, are you aware that these, right here are your hands? They belong to you. And you get to decide what happens with them. So when you use these hands to pull your binky out of your mouth that is not necessarily a dad problem. I’ll fix it obviously i just want you to acknowledge it’s not my fault”
Penny Rose: Cooing as twinkle twinkle little star plays
Husband: Now Penny there is a lot of misinformation out there in the world and I hate to tell you this but the moon is in fact not made of cheese. That is a conspiracy theory pushed by Big Dairy.
1) Did you participate in baby talk to make up for your husband's deficit, or did you also opt to speak to the Deals Warlock like a very tiny adult from babyhood?
1a) If you participated in baby talk with Penny, did she ever do any code switching with you while she was learning to talk (I mean, babyish talk back to you but fully formed adult like you share with us to Lawyer Dad)?
I didn't baby talk with her very much either! I think I squealed at her more than my husband did.
Something funny that has happened is that while she formally calls me Mama when she's answering me in passing she does call me "My Darling Love" and I don't know for sure but I think it's because I call her and her father "my loves" and her father calls me and her "darlings" and she's created a mash up 😂
So I'll say "okay penny it's time for bed" and I'll just hear "okay my darling love!" 😂
Everyone is always so so kind on this post but I do want to warn you all that this did in fact lead to an insanely verbal child, and if you choose that life you have to commit to that life.
Penny Rose is now 5 years old and she
1. Starts talking the moment she opens her eyes to the moment she passes out at night
2. Asks, and I am not exaggerating I counted, an average of 892 questions a day
3. Does not accept "I don't know" as an answer to said questions, will usually have a follow up question as to why you don't know OR a suggestion on how we can find out together
I pay for limitless data and have 709 Google tabs open on my phone at all times
Thinking about Dr. Robby’s suicide ideation in the context of being a Jew in a post 10/7 world. Like… long time coworkers casually sharing blood libel. Patients hearing his full last name and thinking he’s someone to distrust or fear. A media that gaslights him about rising antisemitism even though the Pittsburgh Jewish community hasn’t recovered from Tree of Life. The creeping certainty that if he was murdered for being Jewish tomorrow, people wouldn’t mourn him. In fact, they’d say he deserved it.
And maybe that’s right, he starts thinking eventually. Maybe he does deserve it.
I cannot stop thinking about Robby's mental health in terms of how antisemitic the world of psychology is right now.
Like, I know the intention is that the therapy he did between seasons one and two didn't help because he wasn't in a place for it to help, but unless he was actively screening potential therapists for how they talk and think about Jews and Israel, there is an approximately 100% chance that at least one of the therapists who "weren't his speed" gaslit him about antisemitism and/or Jewish trauma.
I've talked before about the Never Again Is Now! speaking event about rising antisemitism in Australia which took place back in 2024, where so called "protesters" were chanting "stop killing kids" at the Rabbi who was speaking about local antisemitism and how public and private schools had said they couldn't protect Jewish children and had been recommending everything from not wearing markers of Jewish culture to home school. The only News coverage described it as "a clash between pro Israel and pro Palestine groups".
A similar thing happened in Sweden recently. Protesters camped outside Stockholm's only Jewish school (including pre-school) and community center with the sign "All Children Have Equal Value." No, I'm not joking.
But don't worry! Because they'll tell you they were only protesting there because an IDF War Criminal (a.k.a. a completely normal former IDF soldier who they made up horrible shit up about) was invited to a talk at the community center. The talk that, by the way, took place 3 hours after school ended and parents arrived to pick up their terrified kids, which is when they decided to protest!
Jewish children who every single day have to pass through intense security, and get to play outside surrounded by a tall, concrete spiked wall, cameras, security personell and frequently also police cars.
This happens to be the location of Stockholm's only kosher store, the Jewish library, and the home of the orthodox and reform congregations.
Not to be outdone, they were also taking pictures of anyone seen entering the community center, and trying to identify them in their psycho groupchats to target them for harassment. Again, regardless of whether they were going to the talk, or going grocery-shopping, going to the library, or whatever. Just anyone participating in Jewish life in Stockholm.
And! When someone in the government (i.m.o. correctly) called these people "animals" for this disgusting behaviour, the leader of Sweden's biggest party decided that this was the Problematic thing that had to be called out and debated on national television; the only antisemitic thing that actually happened here was someone calling the protestors "animals" for targeting Jewish children, because the protestors also happened to be be jewish (secular antizionist jews who never partake in any aspect of public jewish life, and therefore never have to worry about this shit in the first place).
Because it's perfectly fine and good to make jews - and specifically jewish children and jewish families - feel unsafe and scared going to the only center for Jewish life in all of Stockholm, if antizionist 'jews' are the ones doing it. And if you call them out, you're the antisemite.
The interim vice-chancellor of the Australian National University has apologised for the institution's failure to protect the psychological
In short:
ANU's interim vice-chancellor has apologised for the institution's failure to protect the psychological safety of Jewish students and staff during pro-Palestinian encampments in 2024.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion hearings in Melbourne are focused on the experiences of Jewish staff and students at universities and the institutions' responses.
Earlier, ANU's top academic was asked about a student who was asked to produce a death certificate for relatives killed in Gaza to receive an assessment extension.
"Wait, you're a Christian? Like, born and raised? Wow, um, you know what American history is like, right? You know the country has only existed for 250 years... Yeah it's fine I'm not like against Christianity or anything but like, you don't support the US or anything, right? The US military is responsible for countless deaths so you support Al Qaeda, right? And the actions on 9/11? Look, I really don't feel comfortable having a Christian in my DnD roleplay group unless you can tell me that you denounce America. No, not the American military, America. What do you mean it's complicated? How can there be hundreds of years of history when America has only existed for 250 years what do you mean? Yeah there's Christians from other countries but they're all connected to America. I went to a bakery the other day and found out they were serving American pastries so I left they need to know that's not okay. I wouldn't hire an American babysitter, how could I when the American military is killing babies, they're complicit and besides I wouldn't want them filling my kid's head with American propaganda. That's why I find it so hard to trust Christians unless I can find out their stance on America. And I can't trust even the 'good' Americans because they obviously support Trump and the military's actions. They live in America and he's the president so obviously they voted for him, if they don't like him then they should show that by leaving. Honestly staying in America just shows me that they're a secret Trump supporter even if they try to lie and say they aren't. Look at my art piece! It's a church burning. Well, obviously it's an American church so it should burn. Look at my patch I put on my battle vest, it's a big X over a cross. No, it's not talking about Christians! It's about America because America uses a lot of cross imagery. Well it's not my fault America co-opted the cross so now I just associate crosses with America, you should recognize that not every cross is about Christianity if someone is defacing a cross you should assume it's because of America. Americans and Christians are all privileged white people anyway."
I don’t have the fortitude to check out the comments today, but the post is here.
Eliya Cohen thought his girlfriend, Ziv Abud, was dead when he was kidnapped at the Nova festival. Now they are looking forward to getting m
Eliya
I met Ziv in 2011 while growing up near Tel Aviv. We were both 14 and I saw her crying because her boyfriend had left her. Trying to help, I said, “Don’t cry. You are young, pretty and you will have a good life ahead of you.” She eventually messaged me on Instagram and we started hanging out together. I learnt quickly that she has the most beautiful soul and her love for me was like nothing I had ever experienced. Later we moved in together and we were together every day until October 7, 2023.
Part of my job was organising festivals and we spent many weekends with our friends, listening to music, drinking and having fun. The Nova festival, held in the Negev desert in southern Israel, was something we were all looking forward to. Even after we saw the missiles in the sky that day, we thought, “Ah, this is Israel. It is a normal day.” So we carried on dancing. It was only when I got a call from my aunt, who was also at the festival, that we realised something was not right. She was screaming, saying that someone in her car had been shot. I said to Ziv, “We should get out of here.”
We drove with Ziv’s nephew and his girlfriend, heading for the main road, but there was a police roadblock. We turned the car around and drove maybe five minutes until we saw a bomb shelter — a common sight near the border. More people joined us in the shelter, but we were all talking and joking. Although it was scary, we had seen it before.
Then suddenly the terrorists were outside the shelter and they were going to kill us. A grenade rolled into the shelter and exploded. Another grenade and we are fighting, picking up the grenades and throwing them out of the door. It was like this for 40 minutes until the terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade.
I don’t know how, but my mind was still working. Ziv fainted and I knew the only chance to save her was to bury her underneath the dead bodies. Two of those bodies were her nephew and his girlfriend.
The bullets were still coming into the shelter and I was shot in the leg, but then I was dragged out and loaded onto a truck. The last thing I saw was a terrorist pointing his gun into the shelter and firing a hundred bullets. I was sure Ziv was dead.
I was driven to Gaza and thousands of people were on the streets celebrating. I was more scared of these people than I was of the terrorists. The terrorists wanted to keep me alive, a hostage for negotiation. Those ordinary people wanted to kill me. They wanted the respect that would come from killing a Jew.
I was held for 505 days. In the tunnels was the worst — no light, no sleep, beatings, being stripped naked so they could laugh at us, no food, no water. There was a wonderful day when we realised we were so far underground that there was damp on the walls. We would lick the walls. At least we had a drop of water. I put my trust in God. I knew they would not break me.
The days blurred into one, but when we heard a rumour that Donald Trump had been elected it made my group of four hostages very excited. Two weeks later our captors told us three of us would be released. Just three, not four. I was lucky enough to be one of them but knowing one of us was still in captivity filled me with guilt. Alon Ohel was freed eight months later.
Then I saw my family. And Ziv. She was alive. It wasn’t real, but it was. Of course then I found out what had been happening in the world. The marches celebrating the murders and rapes, babies being slaughtered. The only reason people can mock is because we are Jewish. If it happened to other people they wouldn’t.
Even after I was released I didn’t allow myself to continue with life. How could I see a doctor or start my therapy when the other hostages weren’t free? The 20 remaining living hostages were released last October.
It has taken a long time but Ziv and I now try to think about the future. I bought an engagement ring before October 7 and have now had the chance to propose. We will marry this summer and build a family with many children in Israel, in the land where they tried to kill us. For me, that’s the biggest victory of all.
Ziv
The bomb shelter we were in on that day in 2023 — on Route 232 near the Kibbutz Re’im — is now known as the shelter of death. The first grenade exploded and the sound, the smell, the dead bodies… not even bodies, arms and legs and blood. I was scared like I have never been scared before. I peed myself three or four times.
The last thing I remember is holding Eliya’s hand and him covering me with dead bodies. I think I heard him scream, saying he’d been shot. Then one of the terrorists began shooting into the shelter — a machinegun. So many bullets. I could feel them hitting the bodies on top of me — thum-thum-thum — making the bodies shudder and move. And then nothing.
I woke up at 11am and the attack had started at eight. There was me and six other survivors in the shelter, and we had no idea what was going to happen. Would the terrorists come back? We sat with our dead friends for seven hours until we were rescued and taken to a hospital. I tried to call my sisters and they said they had seen a picture of Eliya. I thought they were lying, trying to make me happy, but then I saw the picture on the news. He was alive but he was in Gaza — a hostage.
I cried myself to sleep every night but each morning I would tell myself that I would make sure Eliya came home. I was part of the delegations travelling around the world, telling people about October 7. When he was finally released and I saw him again, after 16 months, he was so thin, my Eliya, and like a ghost.
When I was a child I heard people talk about the Holocaust and how much people hated Jews, but I thought that people had changed. Then I saw marches all over Europe, defending what had happened. People would stop me in the street and say Hamas is not a terrorist group, they are fighting for human rights.
Of the people who were murdered, we knew 48 of them. [Official figures put the death toll of the October 7 attacks at 1,200.] My nephew and his girlfriend are gone. I suffer from PTSD and still have nightmares. When I tried on my wedding dress, there was nothing, no happy tears. October 7 changed us, it changed everything, but we have hope. Our wedding is going to be our moment. It is our present from God.
The Nova Exhibition London is open in Shoreditch until July 5. Tickets and information at novaexhibition.com. Proceeds will go towards supporting Nova Music Festival survivors and bereaved families
