Yonah's Thoughts on Stuff @yonahsienna - Tumblr Blog

my therapist said once "we get good at what we practice, so be careful what you practice" and tbh she was so right for that but also How Dare You??? open my eyes like that???

yonahsienna

Yep okay, that's the reminder I need. Putting down the phone now and picking up one of my many unfinished books. See ya next time ✌🏼

chucktaylorupset

You can’t just call the “don’t stop me now” essay writing method the second worst essay method you’ve heard of and not tell us the story of the worst one 👀

i know a guy whose patented essay writing method is to, on the eve of the due date, set an alarm so early it should count as an atrocity, open an empty word doc on his computer and then placing it on his bed,

he then goes to sleep, presumably after drinking a full can of coke, as his immunity to caffeine, adderall, and the general life choices about to be described prove that (1) this man almost certainly is a colossal case of adhd and (2) that is the least of what’s wrong with him

when the alarm goes off he immediately starts typing into the word document whilst in a sleep adjacent fugue state. once he hits the required word count, he turns over and goes back to sleep, without ever having fully woken up

he awakens in the morning with however many pages of essay typed up and ready to submit, with no memory of what content is actually contained, as if he’d been visited by santa or a mystical essay delivering fairy or a demon that engaged in a brief bout of possession and then peaced out after rightfully deducing that inhabitation of this particular body and its life was a task said demon was not equal to, nor would continuation of this possession constitute as a desirable state

all of this so that he can have the benefits of an essay, whilst completely avoiding a mental state in which he is at any point fully present in experiencing the pain of writing an essay.

This man is now in graduate school.

yonahsienna

This is what AI has taken away from us

renthony

Via Variety - April 22, 2026:

Trump's FCC is seeking input on whether or not "transgender and gender non-binary" television programming is "appropriate" for children.

The FCC, led by Trump-appointed chairman Brendan Carr, wants feedback about whether the TV industry's voluntary ratings need to be tweaked -

From the article:

The FCC, led by Trump-appointed chairman Brendan Carr, is opening a new front in its “anti-woke” campaign: The agency is seeking feedback about whether the TV industry’s voluntary ratings system needs to be changed — specifically with regard to how shows with child-friendly ratings treat content with “transgender and gender nonbinary” themes.

The agency’s Media Bureau notice seeking comment, issued Wednesday, says the deadline for comments is May 22 with reply comments due June 22. The proceeding is filed under MB Docket No. 19-41.

tiny-werebear

Article dated April 22nd 2026

underfalter

“The public comment period is open now through May 22, 2026. Anyone can submit comments opposing this effort through the FCC's Comment Filing System under MB Docket No. 19-41. LGBTQ+ organizations, parents, animators, and allies are encouraged to make their voices heard—the FCC is required to consider all comments submitted during the period.”

- from reporter Erin Reed’s Substack article covering developments

The FCC is seeking comment on whether the TV Parental Guidelines rating system needs to be changed to penalize shows for transgender or nonb

yonahsienna

Y'all remember the Hays code? They're basically trying to bring that back. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/hays-code-rules-history-77748/

epicsause-official

d*mn!

yonahsienna

Literally. Also featuring "read this AI generated porn" ads, and "sext with this AI bot" ads

sillybillytime

Being trans is like being given a house that sucks. The pipes are leaky and the wallpaper is so ugly and the beds are lumpy and you feel uncomfortable every time you set foot in there.

Everyone else seems to really like their houses though, and you can’t see inside of them, so you just assume that you’re being weird.

And then you hear about the construction project that’s happening down the road. And you didn’t know that was an option. You can just…fix your house? It can be better? You don’t have to live with the horrible lighting and weird furniture?

But other people scoff at the construction. They complain about the noise. “Why can’t they just be happy? The plumbing is great and the furniture is so comfortable! Why would you change it? And why do we have to deal with all their issues anyways? They could just do it quietly, away from us!” And you thought everyone hated their houses, at least a little. And it’s so much work to renovate. It’s fine in your house. It sucks, but it’s fine.

Then one day you try putting up a new painting. Something small. Just for you. Just to try it. And it feels like you. It feels right. And you didn’t know anything felt that good, ever. So you start to do more. And more. And eventually you might even start construction. And it’s inconvenient, and loud, and people complain, but you didn’t know that it could feel good to go home.

And then, one day, your renovations are done. And you get to have a home like everyone else. And that joy you felt looking at that painting? It’s everywhere now. And it’s normal.

It’s hard to build the home for your soul all on your own. But it’s worth it. It’s so worth it

jewish-hot-takes

I’m honestly so extremely over having to pretend that Reform, Conservative, etc are valid movements. They aren’t. It isn’t Judaism. There may be some Jews in the movements, but the movements aren’t Jewish and the “converts” aren’t Halachically Jewish. If you don’t want to keep Jewish law, don’t convert to the “keeping Jewish law” religion. If you want to pick and choose how you keep Jewish law, don’t convert to the “keeping Jewish law” religion. If you think Jewish law isn’t binding, don’t convert to the “keeping Jewish law” religion! I’m so over it. Orthodoxy (a term Conservative and Reform Jews have placed on us, by the way!) is simply the framework in which Jewish law eternally binding and unchanging…aka Judaism. Creating a whole new religion where Jewish law isn’t binding or is able to be changed as you please is not Judaism, it’s a whole new religion masquerading as Jewish. Please stop acting like contracts can just be amended by one party without the consent of the other party.

This is going to piss a lot of people off but sorry I don’t know what to tell you. You went the route of essentially going to a non-accredited university and now you’re mad that your useless degree can’t get you into law school. 🤷‍♀️

jewishgay4il

anon i assure you orthodoxy did not exist 200 years ago the way you think it did lmao

diamondsandphoenixfire

Per the Talmud, conversion necessitates only:

mikveh,

brit milah as applicable,

a sacrifice while the Temple stands (not currently) and

learning / motivation / beit din (bundling these because the beit din judges learning and motivation so they’re kind of inextricable).

Therefore, halachically, converts who undergo these steps are fully Jewish.

Non-Orthodox converts do this.

They are fully, halachically Jewish.

End of.

Per Halacha at least.

Orthodoxy has added its own reinterpretations. And I’m not opposed to new interpretation in general, I believe that each generation adds to our knowledge, we learn more and improve, etc etc, but to pretend that Orthodoxy is More Authentic or somehow Unchanged is asinine.

Examples:

the Talmud specifically accepts conversion for the purposes of marriage (Yevamot 24b:6), whereas Orthodox Jewish groups today do not

the Talmud does not say you have to send your children to Jewish as opposed to public schools in order to be a valid convert but Orthodox Jewish groups today do

Charedi clothes are not ancient Israelite clothes. They were not wearing fur hats and black coats in ancient Judea.

the Talmud also indicates that many people had pretty limited Jewish knowledge immediately post conversion, indicating that the Orthodox practice of only converting people once they are up to community standards is novel

And again, I don’t think it’s wrong that Orthodoxy has its own interpretations of Halacha, just as Reform and Conservative do. We are one people but we are not automatons who always think and feel and need the same things. Someone needed to figure out how to navigate electricity, airplanes, IVF, chemotherapy, and other things that did not exist in Talmudic times.

Just generally, I think that every person on earth would benefit from sitting awhile with the concept of “with very few exceptions, everyone always thinks they’re right.” That’s just being a person. Most people don’t wake up in the morning and go “you know what? I’m going to be a bad person.” Or “I’m going to do Judaism wrong.” Definitely people do that. But we all think we’re right. We’re all only human.

Anyway, Nonnie, if YOU want to cut YOURSELF off from us, I can’t stop you but… We all think we’re right. You’re not special for that.

silly-jewish-vents

I'm just a lil shocked. Where the hell is this hate of reform and conservative Judaism coming from. Have you (anon) even done any research into their thought process because the more I learn the more I admire. Besides its not like the first time there were schisms in Jewish thought and Practice.

Hillel and Shammai are like a literal blatant example of this.

Take a deep breath in and out. Reform and Conservative Judaism are just as legit as Orthodoxy and there are some shit that sections of Orthodoxy does that I can promise you was not actually done 200 years ago (because it started out as a response to the Holocaust or like the rise of electricity).

Also like just because someone is Conservative or reform doesn't mean they don't keep Halacha at all. Plenty are more religious than some Orthodox Jews that I know.

If you wanna cut yourself off from other Jews I can't stop you. But I refuse to condone denying reform and conservative jews as part of my family.

faggotry-enjoyer

the framework in which Jewish law eternally binding and unchanging…aka Judaism.

Jewish law has never been unchanging. Even going back to pre-rabbinic Judaism, we can see changes in the law within the Torah. For example:

Exodus 21

2 If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall work for six years, and in the seventh he shall go free, without payment. 3 If he came by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he had a wife, his wife shall go with him. 4 If his master gave him a wife, and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master [i.e., the slave-owner], and he [the slave] shall go by himself. 5 And if the slave sincerely says, "I love my master and my wife and my children; I don't wish to go free," 6 then his master shall bring him before God [i.e., a temple; or perhaps, "before judges"--i.e., to a court of law], and he will bring him to the door or the doorpost. His master shall then pierce his ear with an awl; and he [the slave] will work for him [the master] forever. 7 If a man sells his daughter to be a slave, she shall not go free as a male slave goes free. [There follows a separate set of laws, according to which a female slave may not request freedom, but may be set free if her master dislikes her; she may not be sold to an outsider.]

Deuteronomy 15

12 If your brother, a Hebrew, is sold to you, whether a male or a female, he will work for you for six years. In the seventh year, you shall set him free. 13 And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 Be sure to apportion to him some of what comes from your flock and your threshing floor and your wine-vat. You shall give to him that with which God had blessed you. 15 You should remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and God rescued you. Therefore I command you this thing today. 16 But if he says to you, "I do not wish to go away from you," because he loves you and your house and enjoys being with you, 17 then you shall take the awl and put it through his ear into the door; and he will be your slave forever. You shall also do this for your female slave. 18 Do not let yourself feel severe when you set him free: for six years he worked for you twice as hard as a hired man would have. HaShem your God will bless you in all you do.

It's very clear that the passage from Deuteronomy is referencing the older law from Exodus: both passages concern treatment of a fellow Hebrew slave, and both are centered on the core idea of working for six years and freedom on the seventh, with the option to forego that freedom if desired. Perhaps most crucially, both contain the ritual of piercing the ear with an awl at the doorpost in the case that a slave wishes to remain. That's very specific; it certainly didn't evolve independently twice within Israelite culture. The Deuteronomic author was almost certainly reading a copy of the law from Exodus; at the very least, they were familiar with the ideas it contained.

And they make changes to it. The law now applies to both men and women. One can no longer release a slave directly into poverty, you have to free them with the materials to restart their life. It is no longer stated that a freed slave must leave his wife and children behind if he married during enslavement, and the fact that women must also be freed allows room for the implication that the whole family should be allowed to go together. Deuteronomy introduced the idea that there can only be one temple in one set location, so Exodus's assumption that one could easily get to a temple no longer holds. The ritual of piercing the ear with an awl is thus adapted to take place at the doorpost of one's own home, where being "before God" can now be represented through the mezuzah.

Besides the concrete changes in law, there's also a dramatic shift in perspective and tone. The Exodus law clearly favors the slaveowner. In the very first sentence, the slaveowner is the subject, who is buying the slave. The law is built in such a way as to increase the odds that a slave will "want" to stay. By being freed with nothing and returning to his farm after 6 whole years away, he will need to immediately take on debt to get the seed and possibly equipment to start farming again--and of course, debt is probably what brought him into slavery in the first place, so there's a very real risk that he'll stay in that cycle and end up enslaved again anyway. All after being separated from his family! By contrast, Deuteronomy favors the slave. In the first sentence, the slave is the subject, and he is referred to as your brother, forcing the reader to foreground his experience as important. By being freed with the materials to restart his life, and likely having his family with him, he is much less likely to choose to stay as the "less bad" option. It's much more humane.

But the Deuteronomic author faces a challenge: everyone is already following the Exodus law, and if slaveowners are acting in their own economic self-interest, they'll probably prefer the old version. So Deuteronomy attempts to persuade, not merely state the law. The author repeats that the law now also applies to women, placing emphasis and ensuring that the earlier "male or female" cannot be written off as a scribal error. They reassure the slaveowner that they still benefited from slavery, and that God will bless them for following this version of the law. They refer to the slave as "your brother" and invoke the Israelite's founding myth of having been enslaved in Egypt, providing reasoning for the change.

And this kind of thing has shown up again and again in Jewish law for millennia. The Mishnah is unusual in the way it only states the law--and it's not long until the Gemara steps in to add that reasoning. When you read a teshuvah, it doesn't just contain the ruling the rabbis settled on. It includes their reasoning and cites the precedents they're drawing on.

The details of what changed in the laws of slavery between Exodus and Deuteronomy aren't the important part here. Honestly, I probably got a little carried away elaborating on that. The important part is that Jewish law has always been open to change and reinterpretation, even going back as far as when parts of the Torah were still being written. Moving forward in time a bit, the entire premise of Rabbinic Judaism is "how do we adapt our laws to fit our current situation?" The first "current situation" that needed adapting to was, of course, no longer having a temple. But that was far from the last. Today's rabbis adapting halakhah to things like electricity and the internet and modern medicine are engaging in the same process as the earliest rabbis adapting halakhah to the destruction of the temple and living in exile. Today's rabbis asserting egalitarianism, asserting that women can read from the Torah and lead services and become rabbis, are engaging in the same process as the author of Deuteronomy amending the laws in Exodus to free a female slave as well as a male one.

hay-jud

Great stuff in the tags too hopefully @faggotry-enjoyer doesn't mind

homunculus-argument

I think going too deep into anything should warrant a balrog. You scroll too far down on your phone when you should've gotten up an hour ago, you've spent all afternoon sleuthing to figure out why your mom's former neighbour whom you haven't seen since you were 15 and don't give a fuck about got a divorce, you've been ruminating the same situation over and over and over, and a big fuckass beast thing shows up to stop you because you have delved too deep and now you have to fight the balrog.

teaboot

I tap the mic. “Most people don’t want to crawl down your chimney and steal your dog.”

the crowd murmurs uncertainly.

“If someone wants to steal your dog,” I continue, “there are easier ways to do that. They don’t have to crawl into a chimney.”

Murmuring intensifies. People stand in their seats and begin to boo.

“People disguising themselves as chimney sweepers and stealing dogs is not a rational fear,” I shout. “Literally anyone could steal your dog. Why make sweeping chimneys illegal?”

“I have a list of chimney sweeps who stole dogs from parks!” Someone yells, throwing a shoe.

“You seriously think no chimney sweepers could possibly ever steal from a home?” Another cries.

“Only a dog thief would even want to crawl into a chimney to begin with!” Says a third.

A single tear rolls down my cheek. They are all so fucking stupid

This is a metaphor

jakecolon3

exeggcute

I need a polite and effective way to say "hey your heart is truly in the right place and your anger is often righteous but I think sometimes you’re getting recreationally mad about things that are frankly not worth the amount of energy you’re spending on them, and every time you do this you're driving yourself slightly more insane with nothing to show for it," and then I need a way to broadcast that message through a loudspeaker to roughly 30,000 people at once, and THEN I need a time machine to send that message to my past self lol. and maybe a second time machine in case past me tries to be clever and sabotage the version of me who comes through the first time machine

yonahsienna

Reblog to send this song to your past self:

#Youtube

exeggcute

talesfromthebandgeekmafia

Everyone keeps saying that Purpee has a Welcome to Night Vale feel to it, but I have to disagree! Not all weird fictional towns are the same!

Night Vale is a place where everything appears surrealist and horrifying, but underneath the surface the core of the show and the town itself is familiar and relatable everyday conflicts: a local mayoral race, a long distance relationship, difficult family dynamics.

Purpee seems like a town where everything looks normal at first glance, but it becomes more scary and threatening the deeper you dig.

Spectrum of Weird Fictional Towns

yonahsienna

Had to complete the quadrants

fuckyeahtikkunolam

personally i think being a lesbian rebbetzin is my calling in life

snissel613

a lesbietzin, if you will

yonahsienna

That's me! I'm a lesbietzin! AMA

mbrainspaz

idk what neurodivergent young adult needs to hear this but you are NOT supposed to give 100% at your job. I've gotten more promotions and raises since I started giving 40-60%, which my evil CEO uncle informed me is what bosses actually expect when they say 110%. My mental health has improved tremendously. I've spent 2 out of 5 workdays secretly writing my novel for the last 2 years and I've never been more respected and appreciated. Also--when you see glaring wasteful errors in the company's operating systems, say absolutely nothing! Embrace inefficiency. It is your friend in this capitalist hellscape.

psychhound

original indie ttrpgs by luka brave. find them on itch here

he/they

queer, disabled, jewish

studying therapeutically applied ttrpgs

open to writing, sensitivity reading, & layout freelance!

website

bluesky

follow along with the development of spiritkeep: a multiplayer game designed to help players heal from trauma

osteotzee - magical monster augury yahtzee hack

dead man's hand - weird west storytelling card game

bagel, lox, golem talks - write an ethnography of a magic jewish shtetl

the graveyard game - write an ethnography of a magical haunted graveyard

the narrator paradox - narrate a story while trying to wrangle your protagonist into listening to you

with breath & sword - fight monsters to calm down from anxiety

song a scene - a playlist-driven writing game that fits on a bookmark

a heart starts beating - toxic yuri haunted house dice stacking

not a tabloid - absurdist comedy interview game

mama werewolf - werewolf family drama run on nature mechanics

shadow / giant - a traumatized, magical child and the jaded adult who cares for them

devil x crossroad - play "poker" using tarot cards against the devil. win to transgenderize

familiar field trip - competitive game for witch's familiars causing havoc and mayhem in the village

interstate 10 1/2 - a one page weird roadtrip light horror game built on horseshoe

crescent grin - a one page eldritch noir mystery game built on horseshoe

the pyrite bullet - a one page spaghetti western drama game built on horseshoe

small towns, big secrets - 200 word competitive drama game

little shepherd, little spy - spy in the fairy war using your bookshelf

advanced darning & dragons - comedy game about old people gossip and high fantasy

hashtag girlbots - absurdist robot survival game about the tumblr bot takeover

lullaby nights - song driven writing game

beach day! - sweet party bonding minigame

how high! - an industrial fantasy city setting

dream.scape - a ttrpg-hopping fey dreams campaign

you are thinking about silver - an autofiction game about a werewolf family

when you love someone: three rituals - three rituals to honor love in all its forms

she shall not be raised a fey - a 36 word game about revisiting your changeling child

we are but plants - 1 word we are but worms hack

ttrpgs in academia and my publications :o)

(blog tag) using ttrpgs in the college composition classroom

(book chapter) roll an essay check: gaming in the classroom

(news article) play as learning: ttrpgs in the classroom

(study) an explanation of emotional resilience developed through tabletop role-play

(thesis) designing spiritkeep: a new text to harness the benefits of the therapeutically applied rpg genre

str-ngeloop

refusing to apply first aid to the wound because "it shouldn't have happened in the first place, so what we really should be doing is making sure no one gets stabbed ever again"

str-ngeloop

your insistence on bandaging this wound is ultimately just you running interference for all the stabbers of the world and that's honestly really shitty of you

grungekitty-77

Not that anybody asked, but I think it's important to understand how shame and guilt actually work before you try to use it for good.

It's a necessary emotion. There are reasons we have it. It makes everything so. much. worse. when you use it wrong.

Shame and guilt are DE-motivators. They are meant to stop behavior, not promote it. You cannot, ever, in any meaningful way, guilt someone into doing good. You can only shame them into not doing bad.

Let's say you're a parent and your kid is having issues.

Swearing in class? Shame could work. You want them to stop it. Keep it in proportion*, and it might help. *(KEEP IT IN PROPORTION!!!)

Not doing their homework? NO! STOP! NO NOT DO THAT! EVER! EVER! EVER! You want them to start to do their homework. Shaming them will have to opposite effect! You have demotivated them! They will double down on NOT doing it. Not because they are being oppositional, but because that's what shame does!

You can't guilt people into building better habits, being more successful, or getting more involved. That requires encouragement. You need to motivate for that stuff!

If you want it in a simple phrase:

You can shame someone out of being a bad person, but you can't shame them into being a good person.

grungekitty-77

Fun fact, that was literally what inspired me to make this post!

teaboot

I’m not Christian, I don’t go to church anymore, and my pastor died, but when he was alive I’d sometimes go to his sermons and I remember one time he said “it feels good to hate, but we know that it isn’t allowed, so when we’re told that we’re allowed to hate someone we get so excited that we forget we’re supposed to love”, and if my humble atheist ass might borrow some church talk I’d like to perhaps submit that

teaboot

Anyhow sometimes on the day to day I feel disgust or revulsion and I have to ask myself “is this a danger to anyone at all or am I just looking for something I’m allowed to hate” and a solid 98/100 times it’s the latter so once again thank you pastor D

teaboot

Some more sweet bangers from Pastor D

Following the rules of the church are less important than following the attitudes Jesus exemplified [in a debate about if it would be okay to break traditional rules and give the leftover loaf of communion bread to a hungry and poor attendee]

Don’t get so caught up in observing ceremonies and following traditions that you forget why they started to begin with

The words you use aren’t as important as what you mean when you use them [new kid was somehow wildly confused about his name and started respectfully calling him Batman]

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