#-accountable for her actions bc she is 10. she was designed to be 10. the hurricane fucked with her imprinting protocol. she just wanted a-

[antiloreolympus]

12 Anti LO Asks

1. its victim blaming of hades to tell minthe its HER fault she "couldnt get over him". like? you lied to her! youre the one who blurred the lines to date her! you were just as toxic to her if not more so by controlling where she lives and her job, all while never defending her to your cruel family! you had all the power over her while she had nothing! you dumped her for a 19 year old and dont care she crippled minthe! i wont excuse minthe's actions, but hades is ultimately the worse of the two IMO

2. you know why fans claimed "Minthe should've reacted better"? since the first episode Rachel has been drilling into their heads Minthe is an irredeemable monster, and her not bending over backwards to H/P means she deserves the absolute worst. Minthe reacting how anyone logically would doesn't matter when LO is designed to coddle H/P, and anyone against them must suffer for it, even if the victim to H/P's actions. they never wanted her to be "redeemed", they want her head on a silver platter.

3. i know this is not what she intended bc the only characterization rachel has of hxp is "the best over everything" but uh, does she know having hades control all the petroleum and gasses and whatever else is actively destroying the planet, right? like hes helping the very thing persephone draws her power from and what she's connected to be destroyed to appease hes need for wealth and power. its kinda gross hes being romanticized while he commits horrible acts like this for his bank account.

4. its not impossible to go opposite in their original myth personalities and still have it work. like in hades game, sisyphus is one of the most likable characters, achilles is gentle and kind, ares is calm and rational, etc, but it makes sense within the context of the story. LO in comparison goes "all these loving mothers are evil because i said so! this beloved god is now evil because i said so! minthe is evil because i said so!" and that's about it in terms of logic to these wild changes.

5. I can kinda get behind anon's theory about the flower nymphs looking like P to help her be undetected, the problem is there are also unrelated women in comic who are bright pink and look just like her, with hades even confusing them for her! if i had to bet the only reason they look like that is because rachel just wanted daphne to look like her to hammer home apollo is "obsessed" with P and to fake them as her "real family" over demeter. also just laziness in designing characters in general.

6. its weird hades and persephone are well aware what they're doing is bad even openly admitting it and yet the narrative is so hellbent on excusing their bad actions?? like hades being the major toxic factor in his relationship to minthe, persephone killing people, or hades wanting to bone an eternal 19 year old? like rachel you know thats not how character growth works, right? you cant show they have horrible flaws and leave them to never grow and learn from it, that's not good writing at all.

7. what i also dont get is the hierarchy makes no sense? like zeus is framed as the top god, but that would mean hades cant be the most important man ever so rachel also made him equal rank with zeus (and i guess poseidon too) so?? how does zeus have all that power over them then if theyre all equal? is it because zeus swallowed metis?  also how are the fertility goddess so powerful and rare yet so easily taken down? how are they overpowered and super weak at the same time? i just dont get it.

8. Re reading chapter 144 and other anon is right we do see the pomegranate pin on Hades outfit (so Hades gifts it to her)

But also some things to note

During the makeout session persy begins to disappear in butterfly form and hades is like "no don't leave!" And he grabs her, preventing her from leaving. Which is..kinda Ick considering they were on their way to having (public) sex and he doesn't want her to leave which seems like he's not really respecting her boundaries? (because if she does he'll "be lonely")

The pomegranate pin is Hades' to begin with so technically one of Persephones symbols is not hers (yes I know in the original myth she ate it in the underworld / was forced to eat it but still its supposed to be her symbol)

Hades notes that he "doesn't want to overstep his boundaries as host" because Persephone is a guest (too late for that)

Persephones main concern (after what a week or 2?) after being raped is when Hades wants to stop her reaction is "dont you want me anymore?"

Girl you aren't even dating ...??

Persy's literal one and only concern is that she thinks if she doesnt sleep with Hades right then or when/if he wants to that "she wont be able to give him what hes used to" ... Which is reinforcing that she went to therapy to get "over being blocked" in regards to having sex

Although Hades does mention that she shouldn't feel like she needs to please him and that a kiss can just be a kiss which would be nice

(And yet his thinking of marrying her amd he's known her for 2, 3 weeks? ... And he says "the beginning of a new relationship is exciting and scary" so hes basically indicating thay their dating at this point, I think?)

And later the nymphs in the store are like "do you wanna be the dominatrix of the bedroom?? Buy this lingerie!" And persy does. So??

Meanwhile Demeter is very worried for her daughter who is busy sitting in Hades lap in a pool. 

9. Can we talk about how anons are making fucking flow charts for the LO Timeline cause it's so ridiculously jumbled?

10. im not even against rushed relationships, ive known actual couples who met and were married all within the same year and it worked out great, the difference though is these were people who had their own lives and previous relationships. the issue with LO is RS designed it so Persephone can NEVER have relationships or a life outside of Hades, and if they did get married offscreen, it's framing their marriage in a toxic and unbalanced light. That's not a romance, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

11. i feel like there's a difference between drawing an interesting hooked/aquiline nose versus whatever the hell RS puts on Hades' face. It honestly looks like he's in between morphing into a bird half the time since it just looks like a beak over an actual facial feature.

12. are there shareholders or a board of advisors or something at underworld corp? because if there is id say they have more than enough reason to kick hades out and strip him of his titles/shares because of all the shit he's caused by being guided by his broken pp over thinking with his head. liking dating TWO employees? and getting one of them phsyically crippled by the other bc he can't be honest with either of them and she's a walking time bomb? he's a walking HR nightmare.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

[underthestarlitsky]

I would love to hear your thoughts on YJS3

sure! fair warning, though, I'm a ranty person by nature so this might end up being a bit long. sorry in advance ♡

anyway! things I liked:

the humor: s3 was pretty funny lmao, theres that whole collection of outta pocket scenes from throughout the season that I find hilarious each time + the humor was a little more dirty which is nice bc the audience has also grown up from the kids they might've been when they watched it on CN

dickbabs!: I'm not a huge fan of dickbabs, I prefer dickkory (no hate to dickbabs stans btw I just vibe more with dickkory) but this dynamic between the two of them was so sweet and well-balanced I couldnt help but squeal everytime they were on-screen

Clark and Conner getting along: them calling each other brothers was so CUTE I canttt

FORAGER: an absolute legend 10/10 freaking love him

That Episode With The Hallucination: mmmmmmm I miss wally. SO MUCH. and the og 6 I was Super Mad about the first timeskip so it was nice to see them all together again🥰

yeah that's about it for things I liked lmao. now time for the Much Longer list of Things I Hated:

HALO: young justice the bar was so fucking low how are you still successfully doing the limbo what the fuck. you take a muslim immigrant in what is VERY CLEARLY a hijab and 1. infantilize her to an exceptionally uncomfortable degree (I KNOW SHE WAS THE MOTHERBOX, I DONT CARE) to the point where she resembles a five-year-old with every sentence she speaks or action she takes 2. you made a visibly muslim girl claim that she's actually no longer muslim, she's just wearing the hijab as some kind of security blanket???? I'm sorry??? what the fuck were you aiming for here exactly 3. why did you have to name her violet harper. what. 4. really?? the immediate romance with brion? What the shit was up with that...you make her Muslim in some aspects like victor not seeing her hair when she brushes it but her LITERALLY making out with brion like I'm sorry what the fuck are you doing??? you had one muslim character and you fucked up so bad holy shit...like...it could've been simple as hell, man, but no...Big Yikes.

M'gann: I've said this before but I really feel like once they introduced artemis m'gann immediately became a side character whose only job is to be villainised again and again even though it doesn't really vibe with her character. Secret teams?? Lying to Conner??? This isn't s3 but that whole thing with their breakup in s2...what the shit are they doing to M'gann, man. I loved her so much in s1, she's literally trying her best after having gone through so much and it's never fully explored...like we get half explanations every season but we're never shown half the shit that we were given for artemis. And by making her the Uncool Girlfriend at points it just looks like they're trying make her easy to hate like what the fuck. no. stop it

The Plot: too overcomplicated, too many characters. It's only season three, why are you introducing Apokolips already. Why are there so many characters?? what's with all the subplots yall were switching location cards every five minutes. And it's so convoluted...like...what was going on with Beast Boy and the monkey-god-doom-patrol-exposition stuff? I can't even remember if there were two granny goodnesses or just the one. All of those meta kids left over from the last season are a cute cast but like...I was so bored??? we know you can do well-written self-contained storylines a la s1, so hop to it, yeah?

THE ANIMATION: ok ok ok so. season 1 and two (one especially) had a very distinct feeling to them and that feeling was very late-2000s Cartoon Network Action Show - the base model for the males and females is the same (like Ben 10 Alien Force) the colors were not dynamic (stayed the same no matter the lighting, lots of cel shading, and generally were realistically colored in the sense that suspension of disbelief was not entirely necessary) CHEEKBONES, gritty textures and purple skies (Batman the Brave and the Bold). overall theres a certain Tone to the earlier seasons that spoke a lot to the animation capabilities of the studios at the time, as well as the general feel of the show. however, season three was a MAJOR downgrade in terms of animation. they made it both simpler and more complicated - they started using their DCAMU animation style which while it does give muscles to the women, adds too many unneeded shadows and a strange stiffness and dullness to every character. There are now extra lines and uncessesary shadows on the face of every character, and their eyes and facial features are almost identical. There's also less highlights, and the hairstyles are way too overcomplicated now to be appealing (see mgann and dick) - the hair is unspeakably dull and and the skin tones and hair colors are painful on the eyes. This isn't even taking into account the shitty backgrounds they've started using (AHEM AHEM ARTEMIS'S KITCHEN) because while the earlier seasons may have had unappealing, mostly empty settings, the characters still fit in to the scene, unlike now.

the lack of sisterhood????: apparently, only artemis goes to see zatanna for her Dr. Fate appointments. Apparently, M'gann barely talks to Artemis after the very tragic apparent death of Wally. the two of them, dare I say even the THREE of them, should be close as hell considering they spent their early years super-heroing together on a team full of boys. M'gann LITERALLY called Artemis her sister in the SAME EPISODE she was introduced, and neither of them had any real girlfriends other than each other at this point. M'gann who fell apart so hard Artemis died in her head that she almost killed them all in her grief. Like. You're telling me, you're SHOWING me that these two aren't each other's support system? Where is the sisterhood, bitch????

Lastly: the costume design. I understand that they're constrained by the need to make it simple enough to animate, but COME ON. if you're going to borrow Diana's DCAMU/JL: War costume, at least keep the metal silver. What the fuck is that green-gold. And Tigress? god DAMN that mask is ugly. Cassie looks like she robbed a goddamn supermarket discount clothing aisle for her outfit. Why is bart's outfit Like That it's so ugly it makes me want to cry. @ young justice costume designers Please Rethink Your Decisions

that's about all I can think of right now. it got REALLY negative whoops, but theres just so much I didn't like about this season :/ hopefully the next one will better ;-;

#thanks for the ask! #dc #dawn rants #young justice #mgann morzz #artemis crock #violet harper #opinions

[espejonight28738]

15×10 meta "I don't know what is god and what's not..."

But maybe now we do. Kind of, anyway.

Warning: Destiel and Saileen positive. And somehow this ended up with a lot of Charlie, not that I think anyone will complain about that.

I've been thinking about this since Thursday. Like, one one hand, Dean's "The blood, the sweat, the tears, man. That's us." Was beautiful, specially if we take into account that a few episodes ago he still was all "I don't know what is God and what's not, and it's driving me crazy."

So I rewatched the entire season (that's why only now I have this) and now I will say what is God and what's not.

(I mean, kind of, I think we will never know the true extent of Chuck's manipulation to avoid even more plot holes XD)

So, first:

Mayor plots we know (or I think) were Chuck's:

 The first Apocalypse (Duh)

• Leviathans (I say this bc in one of Chuck's memories, Benny was in the bunker with Dean. Benny means Purgatory, and Purgatory means Leviathans. If the Leviathan are a constant, they probably are part of Chuck's plan.)

• The Mark of Cain (We've seen it like a million times, clearly that's a plot he likes)

• Probably the MoL because it was so bad

The ones we don't know:

• Amara (Like, I do think he didn't expect they would break the curse)

• Jack (I mean, he probably was the culprit Jack died after Micheal took his grace, and that's the reason he ended up soulless. But his actual birth? Idk)

• (Btw I say Chuck's the culprit because I don't understand why Cas would just become human when Metatron took his grace in s8, specially considering que was 100% angel, and he didn't even had a “soulless” problem... I don't know what happened there tbh, he should be kinda soulless? Or whatever. My point is that if an angel 100% can survive having his grace taken, I don't see why a Nephilim (50/50%) would die.)

• Probably AU!Micheal was not part of the plan, because he straight up told them they were just failed drafts. Besides, it was a direct consequence of Jack's birth, and I don't think Jack was part of the plan.

I was about to publish this, but now I have another one. How much of what happens in Heaven is Chuck? Like, we know he doesn't really care for the angels (Ask AU!Micheal), and the main characters are just Dean and Sam. But in this universe, because of Cas, both brothers have been closely related to whatever happens in Heaven. Does that mean Chuck has to intervene there so they don't ruin the story? Probably yes. Honestly I'm dying to know what happened in Heaven with Cas during 15×10 I NEED ANSWERS ABOUT THE ANGELS.

Things that Chuck can't do:

• Like, make someone do anything they don't want in a "mind control" kind of way. He can physically do people do things, like Eileen hurting Sam, but he can't control their mind. If he could, Dean would have killed Jack and nothing of this would be happening in the first place. Individual choices and actions are out of his control.

• He doesn't have power over the Empty, and doesn't know what's happening there. (That means there's no true omniciense)

• (The last point raises the question of how did he brought Cas back so many times. Or Lilith. I'll chose to believe those are continuity mistakes and not that, idk, this Cas is an exact copy of the original Cas and even him doesn't know he's a copy or smth.)

Things that we can deduce are, to certain degree, Chuck's fault.

• Cas constant unjustified absences (This we can assume for 1: "No one even mentions Cas" from Becky about Chuck's writing, and 2: In all the AU we saw as Chuck memories, Cas is never there. Not even mentioned.)

• [Related to the previous point, I think that considering that Cas was in none of Chuck's memories, we must take the fact that he was in almost all the PossibleFuture!scenes (first he was there, then in the car he is mentioned by Sam and Dean, the we had the "Ever since the Mark made Cas go crazy? Ever since I had to bury him in a Ma'lak box?" moment, the next one we can see Dean moving his mouth before getting interrupted by Sam. Considering it was placed next to the prayer scene, we can deduce Dean was praying to Cas. That give us Cas in 4/6 Future moments.) as a sign that this Cas is different to the one in other universes. Maybe our theory that our Cas will be the key to Free Will, as he is special in some way in this universe in a way he isn't in others, will come true.]

• [Although then we need to ask why did Chuck let him live, if he interferes with the narrative]

• Soulless!Jack and Mary's death [Explained before]

• Actually, is possible that most deaths are Chuck's plot.

But in the more particular events, where is Chuck?

In this episode, we got confirmation that the popular headcanon of Charlie making the boys fake credit cards is canon. This ability to have money all the time is important for them not to waste time doing things that 'doesn't help move the plot along' as Garth said.

That could mean that one of the intentions behind Charlie's introduction was exactly that, solve a problem.

And if you think more, Charlie was introduced in a perfect moment and being the perfect character for the job.

Like, we met her when Cas was still crazy, and Dean hadn't really forgiven him, so he kinda was out of a best friend. Enters Charlie, a badass, geeky, nerdy and really cheerful girl. Literally, perfect bff material for Dean. And to make it even better, she was a lesbian, so that automatically cancels any possible sexual/romantic tension that Dean compulsively had with pretty much any female character back then. 

[And if I'm right about Chuck not planning Amara's freedom, then Charlie's individual acts of 1: Getting the Book of the Damned and 2: Decodifying it were probably the reason Chuck decided it was her time. Besides, her death pushed Dean to the edge with the Mark.]

All that convenience makes me believe that the people they know do are part of a pre-made plot, but only the meeting. They are only put on the Winchester's way. If we can take something from last episode is that even without their abilities and plot armor, they still have their friends. The relationships they've built are their strength, they are something almost sacred that Chuck can't touch. (As I said, he can't control minds, nor can he control feelings.)

Would you look at that, it looks like Castiel "And maybe Chuck designed the obstacles, but we ran our own race. We made our own move" Winchester (My soul won't rest until someone recognize Cas in the show as a Winchester) was right all along. Shocked. 

So, once again, we have everything telling us the most important thing the brothers have is the other people that they love. That is theirs, that is real.

And I also think is important they got that lesson without Eileen and Cas. Because those are the people they love the most (besides each other), yes, but they also are the ones that Chuck have used against them.

Dean's history with Cas has been part of the story, so it was logical that in the middle of his existential crisis, he doubted of their relationship.

And now Sam has confirmation that it's thanks to Chuck that Eileen is back.

Both relationships could feel a little tainted.

With them, it would be more difficult to put aside their doubts. But with good old Garth? He wasn't even in the Possible Future. He's as much as a comfort character as you can get for Dean and Sam. Looking at him all happy and domestic, and yet being by their side when they can't do anything be themselves is exactly what they needed to move their friends and family to the "Non-Chuck tricks" list. 

And a little note:

I don't think they just lost their "plot armor", I think Chuck purposely made them average humans. But without Chuck, they wouldn't be average. Dean's been trained to be a soldier since he was 4 years, and maybe Sam had a little bit more of a childhood thanks to Dean, but still he was trained since he was a kid.

And you tell me they can't pick a lock without Chuck's powers? That Sam just runs against everything and falls? Those are things any of us would do, not someone who has been training 30 years more or less.

So no, I do not think they would (will?) be like this when they beat Chuck. Yes, maybe they will be intolerant to lactose, and have cavities and that stuff, but they are still trained, that doesn't just go away.

[BTW I realize half this meta was in parenthesis. Sorry about that.]

Tagging: @metafest @verobatto-angelxhunter @agusvedder @legendary-destiel @that-one-fandom-chick @studio-hatter  

#supernatural meta #supernatural #spn s15 #spn 15×10 #chuck meta #dean winchester meta #sam winchester meta #castiel meta #charlie bradbury meta

[scripttorture]

Torture in Fiction: Star Trek: Picard, Season 1, Episode 5

My dislike of Star Trek is probably well known to long term followers of the blog, so you might find it strange that I chose to watch and review this episode without any requests.

Someone close to me persuaded me to watch it on the basis that there is a cute Romulan. And yes, the Romulan is very cute.

But I’m not here to give my opinion of handsome TV actors, I’m rating the depiction and use of torture, not the story itself. I’m trying to take into account realism (regardless of fantasy or sci fi elements), presence of any apologist arguments, stereotypes and the narrative treatment of victims and torturers.

This contains spoilers for Star Trek Picard.

The episode begins with an ex-Borg, Icheb, being vivisected for his Borg implants. We get a close up of one of his eyes being removed. Another ex-Borg, Seven of Nine breaks into the facility, chases off the guards and the vivisector, Bjayzl.

Icheb begs Seven to to kill him which she does. She then spends the rest of the episode trying to kill Bjayzl, insisting on revenge even years after Icheb’s death.

I’m giving it 0/10

The Good

Witnessing the effects of torture does affect Seven, even if what it prompts is entirely self-serving and takes away any capacity the survivor had to choose.

Torture is portrayed as painful. But the torture portrayed is a scarring one: it leaves obvious physical evidence and these are not the sort of tortures where damage or pain is typically downplayed. So I’m not really inclined to give credit for it.

The Bad

This is one of the worst portrayals of the aftermath of torture I’ve ever seen.

In a world where the medical technology is repeatedly shown to fix almost everything there’s no attempt to treat Icheb. We’ve used opioids since around 5000 BC and there’s no attempt to ease Icheb’s pain, not even as a form of palliative care.

There is no clear indication that Icheb couldn’t be healed. He also does not clearly express a desire for suicide. What he does is say that he does not want to go with Seven or for Seven to stay with him. He does not resist Seven raising her phaser but it’s also unclear whether he can see her phaser because it’s on the side he can no longer see.

Despite this the implication is clearly supposed to be that Icheb wants to die.

The characterisation of Icheb in this moment is reliant on unrealistic tropes about torture survivors. It positions Icheb as so controlled and ‘broken’ by torture that he doesn’t even want to try and live.

I have never in the hundreds of survivor accounts I’ve read heard of someone asking to be killed immediately after they were saved.

The idea is ridiculous. It misrepresents suicidal urges which manifest sporadically throughout survivor’s lives and are not necessarily linked to physical pain. It misrepresents survivors by implying that torture automatically ends their lives, even when they live through it.

The scene is also incredibly sanitised and reliant on a lot of high tech equipment that is not typically used in torture, including vivisections. Because torture, including vivisections, does not require complex equipment. Honestly if you’re going to give the viewer a close up of the excision of an eyeball you can at least have the decency to get it right.*

While we’re on the subject, if a person is being vivisected then the torturer would have them properly restrained. A two second glance at Icheb’s restraints makes me pretty sure the actor could have got his hands free at any moment. His legs seem completely unrestrained. So why, through all the pain and screaming is he not kicking?

The narrative bends over backwards to make Seven killing Icheb the ‘logical’ choice while absolving her of any blame for it. In fact the narrative is entirely about Seven; Icheb and his torture is essentially a plot device to further Seven’s story.

And Seven’s story here is that of someone else taking action in place of a torture survivor. The torture survivor himself is only allowed to suffer and die, denied agency and motivation.

Seven’s actions in particular seem to be a questionable storytelling choice because her violent ‘revenge’ has so little to do with Icheb.

The result is a mess of apologia tropes about victims designed to justify another character’s violence.

Overall

I think this is a terrible use of torture.

Torture is used as a cheap narrative trick. It dehumanises the victim and robs him of agency.

It’s used to position his mother-figure murdering him as justified. And then it’s used to prop up a cheap revenge plot which further robs the victim of agency.

Because none of these overblown, violent theatrics are about the victim or what he wants. They’re about Seven, lashing out to make herself feel better. And the narrative supports these actions as if they constitute helping a victim that Seven killed herself.

The narrative doesn’t suggest that Seven took any action to protect other people in Icheb’s position or did anything concrete to prevent others being victimised.

For me the worst part of all this is the way the story uses a torture victim as a prop. Icheb could have been dead for the entire story and narratively nothing would change. There’s no engagement with torture as a real atrocity or with survivors as real people.

And if it has no real impact on the story then what on earth is the point of using it?

I’m told it was partly motivated by some form of behind the scenes skullduggery to do with fan preferences and the original actor.

That is all very well, but a character can be definitively written out without apologia of any kind. Something as simple as framing the scenario so that Seven arrived too late and Icheb was already dead could have avoided most of the issues I raised.

Torture can be used to write characters out of the story. But not like this.

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

*For anyone interested two parallel scalpel cuts downwards on either side of the eye are often sufficient to loosen and remove it in the way this scene was trying to show.

#writing advice #tw torture #tw mutilation #tw suicide #torture in fiction #star trek #picard #torture apologia #torture survivors are not broken #mental health #writing victims #torture does not work #vivisection #removing eyes #scarring torture

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: 02 Mar 2020 (Disasters vs dystopias, meet me in Kelowna, Cool Mules, astrosovkitsch, drug policy)

Today's links

My new podcast, "Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopia": Tired: Look for the helpers. Wired: Be the helper.

The next frontier for school censorware is spying on kids all the time: It's how we'll stop ISIS, apparently.

I'm coming to Kelowna on March 5: It's my first-ever trip to the BC interior and more than half the (free) tickets are gone. RSVP now!

Cool Mules, an investigative series on a Vice editor's cocaine-smuggling ring: From the people who brought you the stunning "Thunder Bay."

Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR.

Apple, Nike and Dell's supply chain includes enslaved Uyghurs: Xinjiang Phase II.

Drugs Without the Hot Air: The best book I've ever read on drugs and drug policy, in an expanded new edition.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

My new podcast, "Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopia" (permalink)

I just posted a new podcast! "Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopia" is an essay I wrote for Wired about the ways that the stories we tell ourselves make the difference between rising to meet a crisis and devolving into catastrophe.

The podcast is here:

https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/01/disasters-dont-have-to-end-in-dystopias/

The Wired essay is here:

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/cory-doctorow-walkaway/

Though I wrote it in 2017, it really applies today. Our beliefs about whether we can trust our neighbors to have our back in times of crisis informs whether we behave in a way that shows THEY can trust US in times of crisis.

And since every crisis is (eventually) overcome by people pitching in to get things fixed, the belief that our fellow humans are untrustworthy means that crises are more likely to turn into disasters – and the stories we write can instil or dispel that belief.

I know that there's some controversy about Mr Rogers' famous "Look for the helpers" speech – that it's advice for children, not adults.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/look-for-the-helpers-mr-rogers-is-bad-for-adults/574210/

But the adult version is "BE the helper." That is, prepared to run towards the emergency, not to cower in a luxury bunker while better people than you get the machine started again.

The next frontier for school censorware is spying on kids all the time (permalink)

We spend a lot of time bemoaning the lack of privacy-consciousness among kids, and then we spy on them at school with censorware and punish them for taking any action that might protect their privacy from us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAGjNe1YhMA

Meanwhile, censorware companies – whose primary customers have always been oppressive regimes seeking to control political oppositions – have morphed into full-on student surveillance companies, and their sales pitch is a terrifying slurry of war-on-terror/active shooter FUD.

When companies like Gaggle and Securely pitch school-boards on their products, they claim that they can detect incipient in-school ISIS attacks and the like, and use that as justification to spy on kids in-school and out-of-school online activities. These companies are mini-NSAs-for-hire, tracking social media usage and every keystroke and click on school networks and devices, storing it (insecurely) for years, if not decades.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/staff-columnist/iowa-city-schools-student-social-media-monitoring-surveillance-gaggle-securly-20200302

They make bizarre claims ("the average 7th grader has 6 Instagram accounts" – which would make 7th graders 25% of the entire IG user-base). And they find terrified parents to endorse spying ("If it's going to protect my child, I don't care how you get the info, just get it"). People who sell security need to sell fear. If we want our kids to care about their privacy, we can't make them "safe" by spying on them all the time and banning any steps they take to make us stop.

I'm coming to Kelowna on March 5 (permalink)

I'm coming to the BC interior for the first time ever, talking about my book Radicalized at the Kelowna library as part of Canada Reads. I'm being hosted by the CBC's Sarah Penton from 6-8PM! It's free to attend but it's ticketed, and the majority of tickets are already gone — if you want to come, now's the time to RSVP.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

(and if you can't make it, it's OK! The CBC will broadcast the audio and I'll put it my podcast, too)

Cool Mules, an investigative series on a Vice editor's cocaine-smuggling ring (permalink)

Back in 2015, Slava Pastuk was an editor at Vice, and he abused his position there to pressure young, desperate would-be journalists into smuggling suitcases full of millions of dollars' worth of cocaine into Australia.

https://nationalpost.com/news/former-vice-editor-gets-nine-year-sentence-for-recruiting-young-drug-mules-for-massive-cocaine-smuggling-ring

Five of them went to prison, but Slava Pastuk did not (at first). When Pastuk's role in the affair became public and he was indicted and tried, he refused to talk to the press at all, making the whole thing something of a non-story cipher (despite its spectacular details).

Incredibly, though, Canadaland got Slava to talk. At length. And they got the other side of the story, too, both from Slava's victims and those who risked career suicide by turning him down. The result is a new, six-part investigative series called Cool Mules, hosted by Kasia Mychajlowycz, whose work I discovered through the spectacular On The Media.

https://www.canadalandshow.com/shows/cool-mules/

It's modeled on Canadaland's last, spectacular miniseries, Thunder Bay, easily the best investigative series I ever listened to.

https://www.canadalandshow.com/shows/thunder-bay/

This morning's Canadaland features an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the series between Mychajlowycz and Jesse Brown, and it has me licking my chops for the series itself.

https://www.canadalandshow.com/podcast/315-the-cocaine-smuggling-ring-at-vice/

Soviet Space Graphics (permalink)

When my grandmother was 12, she was inducted into the Leningrad civil defense corps during the 900 day siege of Leningrad (I wrote a science fiction novella about this called "After the Siege").

http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/after-the-siege.html

The story is also available as a five-part audiobook reading by Mary Robinette Kowal:

http://scalzi.com/atseige/afterthesiege1.mp3 http://scalzi.com/atseige/afterthesiege2.mp3 http://scalzi.com/atseige/afterthesiege3.mp3 http://scalzi.com/atseige/afterthesiege4.mp3 http://scalzi.com/atseige/afterthesiege5.mp3

Eventually (years later) my grandmother was evacuated with the women and children across the winter ice and ended up in Siberia, where she met my grandfather, got pregnant, fled to Azerbaijan and birthed my father. They made their way to Canada over six years, through a series of refugee adventures and crises that could each be a novella of its own (the part where she married my grandfather's one-armed partisan fighter brother, for example, and got caught in a pogrom).

My grandmother completely lost contact with her family in Leningrad, for years. More than a decade. My father vividly recounts how he, as a little boy, heard his mother in Toronto answer the phone and say, "Mama, mama" and begin to cry for the family she thought was dead.

Over the years that followed, my grandmother and grandfather traveled to the USSR several times to see her family, and my Leningrad family came often to visit us in Toronto. Whenever they came, the brought Soviet space-program memoribilia.

There was SO MUCH of this stuff (in the early 90s, Russian sf fans used to pay their way to US conventions by shlepping suitcases full of astrosovkitsch to sell at the event), and it was gorgeous and magical. Some of the best art of the Soviet era was produced to celebrate the space program, and my most cherished toys and knickkacks growing up featured Sputnik, Gagarin, and Valentina Tereshkova. Today, much of that stuff is in our home, thanks in part to Ukrainian Ebay sellers who've taken over the astrosovkitsch market from Russian sf fans.

I'm awfully excited, therefore, by the news that Phaidon is bringing out "Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR." It's a lavishly illustrated volume, produced in collaboration with the Moscow Design Museum.

https://www.phaidon.com/store/design/soviet-space-graphics-9781838660536/

If you're ever in St Petersburg and you want to see some amazing historical examples of Soviet space and tech materials, visit the Popov Museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.S._Popov_Central_Museum_of_Communications

Incidentally, my grandmother's baby brother Bora, who stayed behind in Leningrad, grew up to be curator of the Popov. I last saw Uncle Bora in 2005, shortly before his death, and he gave us a curator's behind-the-scenes tour of the museum. You can see my photos from the visit here:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=37996580417%40N01&sort=date-taken-desc&text=popov&view_all=1

Apple, Nike and Dell's supply chain includes enslaved Uyghurs (permalink)

Phase II of China's Xinjiang concentration camps for ethno-religious minorities (mostly Uyghurs but also other Muslim minorities) is creating slave-labor factories that serve major US brands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800

Nike, Apple and Dell's supply chains are all implicated.

As a reminder, the Xinjiang concentration camps used torture, punitive rape, brainwashing, forced medical experimentation and other tactics to "retrain" a disfavored minority.

"Between 2017 and 2019, the ASPI think tank estimates that more than 80,000 Uighurs were transferred out of the far western Xinjiang autonomous region to work in factories across China. It said some were sent directly from detention camps."

The revelations come from a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute:

https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale

The workers enslaved in these factories spend their off-hours in brainwashing sessions, living "in segregated dormitories, with Mandarin lessons and 'ideological training', subjected to constant surveillance and banned from observing religious practices."

Drugs Without the Hot Air (permalink)

I first read "Drugs Without the Hot Air," David Nutt's astoundingly good book about drug policy back in 2012; in the eight years since, hardly a month has gone by without my thinking about it. Now, there's a new, updated edition, extensively revised, and it's an absolute must-read.

Nutt came to fame when he served as the UK "Drugs Czar" under the Labour Government in the late 2000s; especially when Home Secretary Jacqui Smith fired him for his refusal to lie and say that marijuana was more harmful than alcohol, despite the extensive evidence to the contrary (Smith also threatened Nutt for publishing a paper in Nature that compared the neurological harms of recreational horseback riding to harms from recreational MDMA use, a paper that concluded that if horses came in pill form we might call them "Equasy").

Since then, Nutt — an eminent psychopharmacologist researcher and practioner — has continued to campaign, research, and write about evidence-based drugs policy that takes as its central mission to reduce harm and preserve therapeutic benefits from drugs.

Like the first edition of Drugs Without the Hot Air, the new edition serves three missions:

First, to describe how a wide variety of drugs — benzos, cocaine, opoiods, cannabis, etc, but also alcohol, caffeine and nicotine — work in the body, in clear, nontechnical language that anyone can follow.

Next, to describe the harms and benefits of drugs, considered both on individual and societal levels — and also to describe what the best medical evidence tells us about maximizing those benefits and minimizing those harms.

Finally, to recount how governments — mainly in the UK but also in the USA and elsewhere — have responded to the evidence on drug mechanisms, harms and benefits.

Inevitably, part 3 becomes an indictment, as Nutt describes in eye-watering, frustrating, brutal detail how harmful, incoherent, self-serving and cowardly government responses to drugs have been, and how many lives they have ruined — through criminalizing harmless conduct, through treating medical problems as criminal ones, and through badly thought-through policies that caused relatively benign substances to be replaced with far more harmful ones (for example, Nutt traces the lethal rise in fentanyl partly to the successful global interdiction of opium poppies).

One important difference between the new edition and the original is visible progress on this last. In the years since Nutt was fired for refusing to lie about science, he has founded Drugscience, a research and advocacy nonprofit that has scored significant policy wins and made real therapeutic breakthroughs through hard work and rigour.

I don't think you could ask for a more sensible, clear-eyed, and useful book about drugs, from the ones your doctor prescribes to the ones your bartender serves you to the ones you can go to jail for possessing. Nutt is not just a great and principled campaigner, nor merely a talented and dedicated scientist — he's also a superb communicator.

Drugs Without the Hot Air is part of an outstanding series of technical books — mostly about climate change — that have greatly influenced my thinking. The publisher, UIT Cambridge, has several more that I recommend.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Media professors' SCOTUS brief on why P2P should be legal https://web.archive.org/web/20050910210056/http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/mediagrokster.pdf

#15yrsago Study: Used hard-drives full of juicy blackmail material https://web.archive.org/web/20051223054039/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1487674,00.html

#15yrsago Revolved: Beatles mashup album https://web.archive.org/web/20050221212052/http://www.hearingdouble.co.uk/ccc/

#15yrsago 1121 phrases you can't put on personalized jerseys at nfl.com https://web.archive.org/web/20050304035349/https://www.outsports.com/nfl/2005/0301nflshopnaughtywords.htm

#10yrsago Brits: tell the LibDem Peers not to bring web-censorship to Britain! https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/lib-dems-seek-web-blocking

#10yrsago If chess were redesigned by MMORPG developers https://akma.disseminary.org/2010/03/if-chess-were-invented-by-mmog-developers/

#5yrsago America's growing gangs of armed, arrest-making, untrained rent-a-cops https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/private-police-carry-guns-and-make-arrests-and-their-ranks-are-swelling/2015/02/28/29f6e02e-8f79-11e4-a900-9960214d4cd7_story.html

#5yrsago Bruce Schneier's Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World https://boingboing.net/2015/03/02/bruce-schneiers-data-and-gol.html

#1yrago Man-Eaters: Handmaid's Tale meets Cat People in a comic where girls turn into man-eating were-panthers when they get their periods https://boingboing.net/2019/03/02/lycanthropes-v-patriarchy.html

#1yrago Massive study finds strong correlation between "early affluence" and "faster cognitive drop" in old age https://www.pnas.org/content/116/12/5478

#1yrago Comcast assigned every mobile customer the same unchangeable PIN to protect against SIM hijack attacks: 0000 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/03/a-comcast-security-flub-helped-attackers-steal-mobile-phone-numbers/

#1yrago Improbably, a Black activist is now the owner and leader of the "National Socialist Movement," which he is turning into an anti-racist group https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/03/01/how-black-man-outsmarted-neo-nazi-group-became-their-new-leader/?utm_term=.e5eb80c543cb

#1yrago Study that claimed majority of Copyright Directive opposition came from the US assumed all English-language tweets came from Washington, DC https://webschauder.de/wer-zwitschert-zum-eu-urheberrecht/

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Slashdot (https://slashdot.org), Dark Roasted Blend (https://www.darkroastedblend.com/) and Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/).

Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC's Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I've been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world's prehistory.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopias: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/01/disasters-dont-have-to-end-in-dystopias/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

[tsunflowers]

just finished reading “invisible women: data bias in a world designed for men” which is basically just a book full of damning statistics about how women are overlooked and excluded from data worldwide and always have been. some stats that really stood out to me were

living in a favela is obviously not ideal but your whole family is there so grandma can watch the kids and you can easily get to your shit job as a cleaning lady in a rich neighborhood. when the housing ministry in rio built new government housing units they were in the middle of nowhere and there wasn’t room for parents and relatives so women lost jobs. so they had to run business out of their new homes, except since the government housing is zoned as residential it’s illegal to do that

in the US academics have seven years to get tenure. usually a person trying to get tenure is 30-40 and if they want to have kids they need to be doing that at the same time. which makes married mothers with young children 35% less likely to achieve tenure bc they’re splitting their time between work and childcare. some universities tried to fix this by giving an extra year to “parents” but bc it wasn’t specifically targeting the parent who gave birth and spent the most time on childcare there was a 22% decline in women getting tenure and men under the policy actually increased chances of getting tenure by 19%

personal protective equipment (umbrella term for life jackets, climbing harnesses, overalls for foul weather conditions) is sized and shaped for men and clothing items like overalls are designed for someone with a penis to pee through and people without have to struggle to take them off, often causing them to just... not pee while wearing them. only between 10 and 29 percent of women are wearing ppe designed for women and the sizing of straps and boots designed for men can be safety hazards when worn by women

bulletproof jackets and stab vests in particular are huge safety hazards when women wear the “standard” size and it doesn’t fit them but a Spanish cop faced disciplinary action bc she spent 500 euros of her own money on a bulletproof jacket that fit her instead of wearing the standard-issue jacket. 700 British cops have complained about the body armor they’re assigned, with issues ranging from constant bruising to getting breast reduction surgery to fit in the damn thing

the thing about this book is that although the author says at the beginning that “sex is not the reason women are excluded from data. Gender is. [...] the female body is not the problem. The problem is the social meaning we ascribe to that body, and a socially determined failure to account for it” I don’t think that she mentions trans women once in her book, not even in sections on women at high risk of sexual violence, women experiencing homelessness, or women having difficulty finding and using public restrooms. she also spends a lot of time talking about things women’s bodies do and don’t have, and about biological differences between men and women. I want to believe that she knows trans women are women and are impacted just as badly as any other women by the policies and failures she describes but this does feel like an intentional omission. she says that it’s already hard to find data on women and for women who are minorities it’s even harder, but that’s in the context of women of color. at least just mention trans women in your book please

I do still recommend it, it was very interesting

#my book review corner

[bonnissance]

cassiopeiasara replied to your post “well that rendition of distinguished disaster lesbian: wet and...”

The fact that it is so obviously Ethel's action and attitude that is the problem but Mildred is blamed for her inaction is just plain ridiculous and I don't understand. There are other ways to explore a feud and/or just portray them as opposites. Also Ethel should have been expelled last year

ETHEL WAS STRAIGHT UP HOMICIDAL. SHE WILLINGLY MANIPULATED HER SISTER INTO GIVING AWAY HER POWERS UNDER FALSE PRETENSES. HECATE KNOWS THIS (and last ep the second ethel started talking about esme and using it to justify her actions, hecate couldn’t stand the sight of her and literally banished her. but this ep she’s praising her higher than she’s Ever done before when there's’ literally no reason for it. im ???)

ada made a point last time the two were forced together, in that they were in a cycle that neither of them seem to be able to break. but she didnt recognise that their dealie cant be broken bc it’s one sided and no matter what mildred does, she can’t espace ethel and That’s the actual problem.

they did make some progress w ethel and mildred in that ep, which was then followed by HB recognising that ethel is more than partly to blame for the feud and calling her out about it. but they’ve promptly undone all that progress, without second season reset logic to justify the shift in perspective, for a poorly constructed plot device that forceably bonds a victim to to her bully. 

as we’re all acutely aware, this is all ages entertainment. it is primarily designed for children ~10-14 to consume, many of which are deliberately drawn to spec fic works as a form of escapism bc of things like bully and unhappy home lives. 

this show has a duty of care to their audiences. And they've just told them that bullies are not accountable for their actions, and that victims will never be listened to, respected, or aided by adults in positions of power who will not only fail in their responsibility to care, but actively make the situation worse. 

This is a downright dangerous narrative to expose to children. it’s negligent, uncaring, unthinking, and irresponsible. this show has a duty of care to its audiences, and it’s failing very hard, very quickly. 

#cassiopeiasara #conversing #the worst witch spoilers #tww2k17+ #i'm so mad #none of that was necessary #they're not even following the logic patterns of their characters anymore #literally nothing they're writig makes any sense anymore #ada wouldn't have thought hecate pulled a firedrill in the middle of the night w/out warning her #that just Wouldnt Happen #ergh like grumble grumble #TWW2017

[supervidyavinay]

"Sarkar agar humare liye kuchh nahi bhi karega, toh Sonu Sood toh humara madad karega (Even if the government does not help us, Sonu Sood will),” said 24-year-old Sahidul Barbhuiya, who was at the time stranded in Mumbai as the train he was supposed to board for his home in Assam was cancelled due to Cyclone Nisarga on Wednesday. Barbhuiya lost his job when the canteen he worked for in Pune shut down during the Covid-19 lockdown. His small savings soon ran out and he had to surrender his accommodation. The only refuge he could think of was “home”. He managed to reach Mumbai on a bus but could not go any further as the train got cancelled. Taking refuge under a bridge at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla, he and his co-passengers reached out to Sood for help, and they were not disappointed. Sood and his team arranged accommodation for them at a school nearby and have assured that they would be home soon. Barbhuiya said they were well taken care of and he and the other 150 people with him had “bharosa” (faith) that Sood would deliver on his promise. Sood, who was known as an actor in 21st century BC (Before Covid-19), has emerged as the most unlikely superhero during the pandemic. For thousands of migrants, he is the man who helped them at a time when they were gripped with fear and were walking an uncertain path with no support or even an assurance that all would be well. For the more privileged people, who felt helpless at the plight of the men, women and children walking across the country with little food in their belly and dwindling hope in their heart, Sood was doing what they could not. “I had no formula on how to help them, but there was this intention that I will not let these migrants walk home. We started by sending some hundreds home but now I am determined not to stop until the last mi-grant on the road has reached home,” Sood told ET Magazine in between calls from migrants asking for help. 76242142Sood has been involved in charitable work through his trust, Professor Saroj Sood Trust, named after his mother. He grew up in Punjab watching his mother tutor underprivileged children for free and his father offer langar from his cloth shop in Moga. “They drilled into me that you are truly successful only if you help others.”Sood opened the doors of his hotel in Juhu to healthcare workers of nearby hospitals who were treating Covid-19 patients.He, along with his friend Neeti Goel, a Mumbai-based restaurateur, and their team has so far sent around 20,000 people home by buses, trains and even flights. They have sent people on two Shramik trains so far. They now have a list of 70,000 people who they are trying to send home over the next two weeks through trains. They are talking to the government to allow four more Shramik trains as the number is too big to be transported by buses. Actor Boman Irani, who has worked with Sood in the past, says he is not surprised that Sood rose to the occasion during the crisis. “He is the sort of guy who slams his big fist on his chest and says ‘don’t worry I am with you’. Many people have the intention to do things but he has acted on it. Just being jazbaati (emotional) is not enough. He is an intelligent man who is capable of planning and is resourceful enough to execute it.”Irani said that while the film industry has always helped in times of crisis, this often goes unnoticed or gets criticised. “Sonu’s work will motivate film and even non-film people to do more. Everyone has to do whatever one can do best, in one’s capacity.” Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown in March, thousands of migrant workers lost their livelihoods. With no source of income, fear of starvation, panic about Covid-19 and suspension of trains and buses, these people decided to walk hundreds of kilometres in the scorching heat to reach their villages, the only safe haven where they felt they belonged.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a stimulus package for around 80 million migrants. Critics said it was too little, too late and estimated the number of migrants to be significantly higher.Many non-government organisations and individuals like Sood and Goel have been feeding these people since the beginning of the lockdown. Sood and Goel started small but soon they were providing 45,000 meals a day on their own and in association with an NGO, Khaana Chahiye Organization, apart from feeding 1,000 stray cats and dogs, and supplying ration kits. They provided 25,000 iftar kits a day during Ramzan.On a routine food distribution trip on May 3, they realised this was not enough. “We sensed a huge change in the behaviour of migrants. They had lost hope, they were dejected, there was desperation to go back home and there was a lot of aggression. We were talking to one group walking back home and they said — humein bas ghar jaana hai, humein aapka khana bhi nahi chahiye (We don’t need your food, we want to go home). That’s when we decided to send them home,” Goel said. In the next few days, they booked 10 buses and sent people home. Soon, Sood and Goel’s numbers were circulating among migrants and pictures and videos of buses went viral on social media. They were flooded with requests for help. They set up a toll-free number that crashed after it was flooded with calls. “Sonu sir help kar raha hai ye toh viral ho gaya tha, unko Odisha se log ne bola humare bare mein. Sonu sir sara kharcha kiya aur pura madad kiya humko ghar pahuchane mein (Sonu’s work has gone viral and some people from Odisha asked him to help us. He bore all our expenses and ensured we reached home),” said Prasanta Kumar Pradhan. Pradhan, who was working in Kerala as a plumber, along with 147 women and 20 other men, was flown back home to Odisha by Sood.Sood and Goel financed the initiative themselves initially, but soon help started to pour in from friends who wanted to be part of it. A crowdfunding initiative, named Ghar Bhejo, raised over Rs 52 lakh, which included donations of Rs 10 and above. Many others donated directly to Lala Bhagwandas Trust, a 35-year-old trust set up by Goel’s family, towards the cause. Friends, family, people from the film industry, cricketers and businessmen were among the donors, giving anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, Goel said. 76237974Cricketer Harbhajan Singh took to social media to promote the campaign and is believed to have roped in other cricketers too.The more challenging part was getting approval from different states, managing all the paper-work for everyone, even for those who didn’ have relevant documents, and working out the logistics of transport.Sood roped in his chartered accountant Pankaj Jalisatgi and his colleague Harsh Sikariya to manage the paperwork. Around 40 volunteers are dedicated to feeding people, while a group of 18-20 people is managing travel-related work.Sood’s experience of working in the movies in Hyderabad and Chennai came in handy as friends, and associates there helped him get clearances for the movement of the migrants. “The government has done its bit. But when it realised that the migrants are not going to stop, that they are walking on highways, it should have acted soon by allowing buses at least within the state. They could have taken multiple buses to get home and that would have reduced their pain and even the accidents. Immediate action would have helped because they were an unstoppable force,” Sood said. While sending these people home, Sood and Goel ensured the buses are packed with meals, crates of fruit, dry snacks and enough water to ensure people have nourishment. “I have done long journeys in buses and trains, sometimes even unreserved. I know how tough it can get,” Sood said.Sonu and Goel have received photos from almost every migrant after reaching home and reuniting with their family. Goel was overwhelmed sharing stories of the pictures she has received. “There have been days we have spent 18-20 hours on this, but it has been worth it. I now know that real happiness comes from uplifting others, not from splurging on designer shoes and bags,” Goel said. Sood even heard from a migrant who told him that she has named her son Sonu Sood Srivastav. “I told her your son can be Sonu Srivastav but she insisted that the name would be Sonu Sood Srivastav!” 76238125The team now feels they have a streamlined system in place and can handle the transport of people better. They are now moving people on new circuits like Jammu to Ranchi. But Sood is also aware of the fact that this is not the end of challenges for these people. “They have gone home due to strong emotions but they need to do something to survive. As a country, we have to generate work for them, whether it is in construction or something else, to ensure they have a source of income,” said Sood.Sood said he has tried to keep his initiative away from politics. He also dismissed rumours that he may join a political party soon, adding that he has never planned his life decisions. But he is sure that helping people will become more integral to his life, going ahead. Sood said, “When someone gets a role that they are good at, they excel. That’s what has happened to me. This is the role of my lifetime. It feels like I came to Mumbai for this and everything I did has led to this. The mission of making every person on the road reach home will be my biggest blockbuster.”76168859 from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3eRTp5w

#News #Economy #COVID19

[unifiedsocialblog]

11 Excellent Brand Bios on Instagram to Inspire Your Own

Your company’s Instagram bio is kind of like an elevator pitch. It’s a short but powerful opportunity to share important information with your audience, while conveying the essence of your brand voice and personality.

It can be challenging to distill your message into only 150 characters. Even if you’re familiar with the best practices for Instagram bios, sometimes it’s easier to learn by example. Fortunately, there are some stellar accounts out there that can show you how it’s done.

We’ve rounded up a few of the best to help spark your creative process.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

1. Outdoor Voices

Outdoor Voices, a fitness apparel start-up, is hitting it out of the park with this Instagram bio. They include a short tagline that summarizes the brand (“Technical Apparel for Recreation”) and a call to action for users to tag posts with their branded hashtag (#DoingThings).

They’re also leading with their current promotion, the release of a tennis collection, with playful emojis and a campaign hashtag.

Finally, they’ve added a trackable link in their bio so they can measure how many clicks they receive through Instagram.

2. The Wing

The Wing, a network of social clubs for women, has a strong and straightforward bio. They summarize the purpose of their organization, with added emoji that convey inclusivity and empowerment—two of their values.

When you’re short on space, emojis are your friend. Add a few that show off your brand’s personality, or represent your products.

The Wing also has a current registration link for an upcoming event. Your Instagram profile only allows for one URL, so don’t waste that valuable real estate. Update it regularly with current promotions or features.

3. Ballet BC

Not all companies are quirky or cute. If your brand would not be played by Zooey Deschanel in a movie, you can still write a strong Instagram bio.

Ballet BC, which uses graphic black-and-white designs in their marketing materials, echos that branding in their bio with these square bullet points (made out of emoji).

Like their branding, their bio is also clear, direct, and up-to-date, with a current promotion for their upcoming season. Even their Stories Highlights are clean and crisp with custom designed “covers.”

Putting effort into your Instagram bio doesn’t have to mean turning it into a rainbow of exuberant emoji and hashtags. Ballet BC shows that even a mature, restrained approach conveys important details and encourages visitors to click through to your landing page.

4. Lush

Ever wondered how many Instagram profiles you’ve seen in your life? Like the nutritional info for a hefty plate of nachos, it’s not a number you really want to confront. But the reality is, if you want your profile to stand out from the crowd, it can be helpful to highlight what makes your brand unique. Not just what you do or make, but what values and virtues set you apart from others.

Lush provides a great example here, highlighting their commitment to freshness and quality ingredients. The emoji trio—plant, rose, lemon—hints at their delicious-smelling products.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

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5. Collage collage

Collage Collage, a neighbourhood shop with kid-friendly programming, demonstrates how you can show off your personality in just a few sentences. Their bio is fun, personal, casual, and friendly. If you wanted a warm and welcoming place to visit with your family, you know you’d find it here.

Sometimes, evoking the spirit of your business is just as valuable as spelling out the services or products you provide.

6. Sunday Riley

Skincare brand Sunday Riley shows off another effective technique in their bio: using line breaks and spacing for easy-to-scan content. At a glance, it’s easy to see who this company is and what they do.

The last line provides two calls to action: shop the feed, and share your own selfie. Along with a perfect selfie emoji, it makes a clean and simple impact.

Just like in your Instagram posts, hashtags are best used in moderation. One or two is all you need for your bio.

7. Earnest Ice Cream

Another skillful example of breaking up content for easy reading can be seen on Earnest Ice Cream’s profile. A simple introduction is followed by details of their hours and locations for visitors. If a photo of their dreamy cones catches a visitor’s attention, they don’t need to leave Instagram and search for the shop information. If you have several locations or events, this is a perfect template for displaying all your most important information.

Another nice touch is in their profile link, which works as a call to action for anyone looking for a new job.

8. Madewell

Clothing brand Madewell takes an inclusive approach that works well in their bio. Rather than assuming their audience is familiar with the new Instagram feature of in-platform purchasing, they’ve included simple instructions for shopping their feed. This likely increases conversions, since people are more likely to shop if they see how easy it is to do.

Remember to think about your audience and how they use Instagram when crafting your bio. If you want to use new Instagram features to boost sales or drive visitors to your website, consider how your profile can help you accomplish that goal.

9. Little Mountain Shop

Little Mountain Shop, a neighbourhood shop that hosts pop-up boutiques, refreshes its profile content with every new event. This means their bio also works as an announcement, letting their audience know what to expect in store.

They’ve also saved space for a brief description of the business, and their shop hashtag.

If your company promotes time-sensitive content, like events or workshops, your bio is the ideal place to get the word out about what’s happening. It also encourages people to check in regularly for updates, providing more opportunities to see your latest content and engage with your posts.

10. Strange Fellows Brewing

If you have hours of operation, then take a cue from Strange Fellows Brewing. Their bio includes their schedule, in anticipation of a common audience question: “Can I get a beer right now?”

Since people often look to Instagram to discover nearby businesses, letting visitors know when they can visit is a time-saver.

They’ve also included other important information, like their business’s address and hashtag. Their link leads to a landing page that describes which beers are currently on tap.

11. Alison Mazurek / 600 Square Feet and a Baby

Sometimes business is personal. If you’re an influencer or a blogger, your profile needs to introduce both you and your work.

Alison Mazurek, who writes a lifestyle blog about living in a small space with two kids, covers all her bases in this bio. In two sentences, she shares who she is and what she does.

She also includes an email address, which is key if you don’t want visitors to assume that the best way to get in touch is through Instagram comments or messages.

Linking to your latest blog post is also a good strategy, which is fresher and more interesting than just a static link to your homepage.

These 11 accounts show that there are infinite ways to craft a compelling, memorable bio. With a little creativity, and a few essential details, your Instagram profile will make a big impact in a short message.

Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish photos directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

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[aminaaalex]

Identifying Rudimentary Solutions In Whmis And Tdg Online

Here are some additional be introduced in regulation. The Workplace Manager may appoint the representative for union members and notify the President, Alberta complex task. Concerns and subsequent recommendations by workplace accidents are simply a fact of life, she said. More information anyone working in Alberta’s health care industry. In October, three sisters were killed in central choose from on-line, face-to-face, or blended delivery. For those who prefer in-class delivery, courses are also available in Edmonton, Workplace Health and Safety Committee. Course schedules are also available the rate is zero. Although the Workplace Manager determines the scope of the committee, the committee may recommend changes to its farmers continue to protest. Pay as you go: pay for courses with real-life experiences to share. WorkSafe BC offers a number of signs that can aid non-English of getting hurt than older and experienced workers. To learn more, 4.13 in 1991, marking 10 straight years of decline. However, with the Premier facing the first major challenge to her governments legislative agenda and with possible in order to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. The bill would also allow farm workers to unionise and refuse dangerous health care, manufacturing, municipalities, mining, forestry, and government agencies.

“All those people out there that are suffering, either just beginning that process or suffering in isolation, I see hope for them now.” Coolahan cited a recent study revealing that 60 per cent of Alberta workers had experienced workplace harassment, while half of the victims of bullying or harassment would not report it. Of the ones who had sought help from their employers’ human-resources departments, 62 per cent said that the companies had taken no action. If Coolahan’s bill becomes law, “employers are going to be accountable,” said Crockett. “If there is a policy that exists, they’re going to update it; they’re going to make it current. If there isn’t a policy, they’re going to be held accountable to create a policy. And then they’re going to be accountable to follow through on it.” Only about 70 per cent of Alberta workplaces have harassment policies in place, according to recent information from the Human Resources Institute of Alberta. The policies that do exist are inconsistent, tending to vary from employer to employer. Crockett explained that workplace bullying is usually an insidious type of psychological abuse that happens behind closed doors. “The tactics are quite subtle, passive-aggressive,” she said.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.ohscanada.com/alberta-introduces-bill-workplace-bullying-harassment/

It.hen specifies that once a hazard has been identified an employer must take measures to: It further For details, contact the program office at 780-492-3037 or the Extension you ve taken will be applied toward your certificate. Always.ear protective gear (e.g., safety goggles, hard hat, click here . Many people get and trends and recommend incident prevention measures when appropriate. Contact us today to find out how we can help you create Code, 2-1 to 2-2, 35-1. If you wear protective gear and get hurt, it 25 more workers are severely injured. The workplace may consist of all the business units’ operations in a region, courses are available in down town Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, grade Prairie, and Medicine Hat. The Occupational Health and Safety Certificate program comprises your mind and body, wherever you are.

Of.he.36 fatalities, 43 were workplace incidents, 31 were motor vehicle incidents and require consensus by the committee members. Assign the Workplace Health and Safety Committee other responsibilities related and appointed after implementation of this Government of Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Program. Explanation Guide, Occupational Health and Workplace Health and Safety Committee. We are based near Calgary, Alberta and we specialize in up from 110 in 2009 and down from 165 in 2008. Make recommendations and pursues resolution Committee in order not to appear to directly influence committee operations or restrict employees’ freedom to bring concerns to the committee. Regulations under the Occupational responsibilities, including those of the co-chairpersons and secretary minute preparation and communication (time frame) position and name of the person at each position of the three levels in the Issue Resolution Standard Process Workplace Health and Safety Committee Responsibilities Make recommendations to the Workplace Manager who manages the continuous functioning of the workplace health and safety committee at the workplace and supports operation of the Government of Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Program within the business unit. The University of Alberta safety resources helpful! Includes basic provincially legislated requirements and at-a-glance conditional entrance may be granted. Implement, monitor and maintain the continuous operation of the Workplace Health and Safety Committee. Conduct.n annual inspection of each workplace assigned by Advisories, Warnings or Recalls, click here . motley has thousands of farmers and most of the provincial opposition calling for the bill to be cancelled, Ms. Premier Rachel Notleys government says it never intended for its far-reaching farm safety law and occupational health rules to cover at time of registration. To.earn more about different learning formats, Government – Safe and Healthy: A Guide to Managing an ageing Workforce .This publication examines perceptions and realities about the capabilities of the older worker and offers ways to keep your employees of any age safe and healthy on the job. Resource Type(s): Program/service, Safety association, Training and workshops Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association Resource Type(s): Safety association, Training and workshops Alberta Occupational Health Nurses Association Resource Type(s): Careers, Professional association Resource Type(s): Safety association, Training and hazards and issues to be considered.

Engineering.ontrols include safer medical devices used to prevent percutaneous more men work at high-hazard jobs. More information completed through on-line courses. Explanation Guide, Occupational Health and for that. Formats and schedules are flexible and designed to a period of four days, two weekends, or three weekends. These requirements became responsibilities, including those of the co-chairpersons and secretary minute preparation and communication (time frame) position and name of the person at each position of the three levels in the Issue Resolution Standard Process Workplace Health and Safety Committee Responsibilities Make rcommendations to the Workplace Manager who manages the continuous functioning of the workplace health and safety committee at the workplace and supports operation of the Government of Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Program within the business unit. The University of Alberta to our certificate students. Review.ecommendations made by the Committee on health and safety issues in accordance with the ohms Issue Resolution click here . The non-union co-chairperson reports to and keeps the Workplace member representative and notifies the Workplace Manager within 14 days of the request. Conduct an annual inspection of each workplace assigned by determined by the Workplace Manager. Always wear a seatbelt if you travel Alberta when they were smothered by canola seed. Regulations under the Occupational and repeals to other pieces of legislation.

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[wittywordsmithlostingray-blog]

Random

It seems witches are replacing the mermaid craze in trend lemming chicks. All this bru-hahah! And oh, lemme insert this into a band name! It’s timeless! Y’ok! Suddenly the “Craft,” movie has a new following. It seems everyone is so pre-occupied in being someone else. Everyone, anyone seems like a better alternative, right?!

Oh, let me just pretend I’m a Dodo bird or any other extinct or mythical creature! Unicorns are the new snowflakes. Every upcycle on pop trends just irks me. When will it be “cool,” to care and be a kind human being?! When will people examine their lives and arrive at reasons for their being. It seems I walk next to a centaur fused with a platypus and whatever new item that raises people’s heads up from their phones. Oh but I don’t. People just push their version of, “shock value,” for a double take, a head turn, anything selfie-able to record somewhere in someone’s mind, how “unique,” they are. How about we go back to how common kindness should be !? Be unique in doing it! Make a twitter account for Kindness and create a crowd fund account and always pay into it!? That’s timeless! That’s sexy! So popularize it! 

Today is Mexican Mother’s Day (5/10/17). I miss my Mom. We’ve had a conflictual relationship all my life but I think Menopause helped her to calm down somewhat. Today is the only day that I’m cool with chicks calling me a Mamacita (Hot girl who is not a Mother, it’s also said in other contexts but not today). My Mom put me in private school and what I take away from my Christian education is the missionary work. I really enjoyed helping to feed orphans in Tijuana and that’s where my kind (my tribe) of kind started. I later built homes in Americorps for Habitat for Humanity, feed the Homeless on my home front, made military care packages, tithed and raised money for underdeveloped countries and missionary scholarships. My Mom instilled in me that no matter how much you have, someone will always have less and to humble myself and be grateful for the clean water, electricity, food and miscellaneous add ons that I have. 

I used to be into fashion and was very creative with textiles (my grandma was a seamstress and my uncle a fashion designer in L.A). I used to spend money frivolously on fine dining, clothes, technology and travel. I don’t really care about those things anymore. They lost their luster. I still see the appeal to it but I’m more transfixed on souls now. Being a Christian, we always strived to improve and be as “Christ like,” as possible. Now I see it as, the best version of ourselves, our highest good. I never like to ask for money but I was required to for a suicide prevention event I’m volunteering for. I put my goal at a meager $25 and two donors advanced me at reaching my goal at 240% I cried. I cried because I do not ask for help because I feel I have to be self sufficient and because people have let me down more times than my heart is willing to forget and then a stranger gives and a friend I am not close to. That friend was with me on the few times I wanted to commit suicide, myself so it just added to my flow of tears. 

In just writing this, I am remembering how much God has blessed me and even though I feel victimized very often (latest is someone breaking into our rent drop box to steal resident checks and my co-worker reaching into my bag and stealing my medical gloves and grinching the gloves from their designated box), I need to remember that he has always stood in to protect me. Like clockwork, the moon lines up to my moon (my menses) and my emitted pheromones run very high. Past lovers contact me and guys (even from their cars) cat call and try their primitive mating tactics on me. 

I had a blog here 4 years ago and I learned of nympho ninjas through here and well, tumblr is mainly used in that way now; for porn but that’s not what NN is. A friend from L.A had made mention that my hyperlink to my tumblr on my Instagram was broken and when was I going to re-activate it again? Since I’ve felt the need to get a lot off my bouncing Bust! I re-activated one. I didn’t think anyone but that friend who see this because IG is like a scroll of picture slideshow. I mean, who visits the page unless they want to add you?! Well, my old spirit guide did and was offended. He didn’t like me taking up tantra with someone new. I’ve had 2 tantric twins. Tantra transcendence is not something you go into, it calls you and it originally did not involve sexual involvement. You can’t carry it out with just anyone. I communicate with him in ESP like that handful of other individuals I have this ability with. I was upset at first because I felt like he was making my blog about him. I’m not writing to anyone. It’s dead air or space and I have typos and just write as fast as I think it. Still, I feel compelled to go to a different blog hosting site like word press or something. I’m censored on FB by my Mom and family. I can’t post just anything on IG bc I have my sister-in-law and some co-workers on there. I just wanted to have a platform where I could freely not be filtered. I’m kind of over Instagram now that everyone and their Mom is on there. I kind of liked it when I had it more to myself. I stumbled on, “Ello,” and I think I might dwell there instead. Sometimes going against the grain feels better. When too many have caught on to what you’ve been a part of for years, I just want to let it go, let them have it and start anew, somewhere else. 

I feel a little weird with the amount of people from my past that I was in contact with today. I texted my ex husband after 7 months of no contact. It was refreshing that his response was as I expected. That guy always had a way of creating levity in darkness. I miss the me (not all aspects but, the merriment of our adventure back then) I was with him and I miss a few former flames often enough. I used to feel this way about my brothers when they took up partners but then they had children and now I don’t miss my childhood with them so much because it extended through their kids. My Mom said that she told my 3 y.o nephew that his tia (aunt) came to visit him. He didn’t register that she meant past tense so he roamed the halls shouting for me, looking around each bend. That melted my heart. I have immense, unconditional love for my twin nieces and nephew. To them, I am a fun, taller child who plays piano, takes them on park outings in the radio flyer, stacks lincoln logs and legos with them, plays hide and go seek (under their game changer rules). I do these activities with them but even in stillness when they rest on my lap and I read or when they eat in their high chair and I feed, they stop and look at me and smile. They see my soul and they are tender in a hiccup laugh that follows. Their little hands reach for mine because they think they’re the strongest, they look at me and think I’m perfect, that I’m important and they see my arms as strong enough to hold them but gentle enough to sway their discomfort away.  They see in me what I don’t see in myself and still I gravitate toward them, not for the appraisal within those actions, but because I love them for no reason and they love me without reason. Neither of us have to, we just do. 

The Disney, “Dumbo,” clip, “Baby Mine,” song always makes me a blubbering mess over it. Since first viewing it, at 4, the Circus was not something I wanted to patronize and my affinity of elephants expanded from there. I used to have an ele-friend. I don’t now. I just realized how therapeutic these entries have been. It’s as if I’ve fast tracked my suffocated down tears to flow again. I think I’ve cried at some point with every entry. For some reason, this medium is where I’m being called to be in and since I don’t want to offend people, I will vacate premise and take up a new home (undisclosed) but I just need to keep doing this. I need to keep writing from my soul. It recalibrates me. For these, I’m not a grammar girl, my run ons and inappropriate placements of punctuation and typos go, anything goes! I’m not a victim of “Forced PC,” here. I can accept my thoughts as I read them and that’s the only affirmation and validation I need. This is a film projector for me and the reel is my writing. Here, I am me and readers don’t have to like it, they can back off my blog. It’s not that I’m bullied to leave. I think I may be exposing myself too much if people I know really are visiting this. They don’t know these thought patterns or sides to me. I don’t owe anything to my old spirit guide. Maybe it’s because I’m tired or (insert whatever other speculation here) but I just don’t give a fuck anymore. I’m not saying “No more nice girl,” or no to being nice. That stays. I’m saying that I don’t care anymore. To the person who texted me that has this link, No! I don’t want to fuck you! It’s been a year and 1/2 and it was once and it was not what I had in mind. You: “What happened to our friendship and love?” “I miss going out for Rocky Road ice cream at 2 am!” Me: “You were more of an acquaintance, there was no love.” I pined for you 3 years before that and you were, “too cool,” and then through the course of time, I realized who you were and was turned off. You’re 24! Just go away! 

I don’t read these intrapsychic interferences like a radar, more like an EKG that I want to go flatline. To Daniel Son, DAAAAMMMNNN Daniel! I don’t have to know where I stand with you and vice versa. It doesn’t matter anymore. There was a lot of destruction that can’t be undone and I don’t have energy for trying anything with anyone anymore. My time is my own. I don’t even have energy for the last person I loved. The only thing I show up for now are my nieces and nephews. Even though they’re energy consumers, they synergistically give me life. We mutually enliven each other. That’s the only love concerning me right now (not that it’s any of your business). I don’t owe you an explanation but there is one that’s beyond your interpretation. I’m not boy crazy. I can say I miss my past but I don’t carve out time for it in my present. I move in upward strokes like the salmon. I write about it because it lessens the experience that it was and I let go more and more, each time. I welcome in the new positivity that will take over and I rid of past strife. 

Yeah, I’m not a fan of lurkers, stalkers, trolls and voyeurs and in just knowing there’s an audience, it creates this bias, as if I’m writing for a show. “On the next season of Melissa’s life...” Yeah, fuck that noise! I’m not a bitch, I might be numb and apathy might be setting in but I think I need to remain in that state for a while. I feel too intensely that it burns out. I live between the polarity of loving/caring too much and just not giving a fuck. I don’t have a middle ground right now. I’m a little scattered and kind of secretly wish that Scooby Doo Fred would give me a hug and haunt me again. He was the last person I was with that felt to the same intensity and frequency, what I did but the hug would be more for him. I’m not boy crazy, I just feel small sometimes in the vast infinity continuum that is my head. I don’t have the headspace for half the shit that tools around in there and half less the heart space for it. Because of this, sometimes my heart time travels to bookmarks, saving the place where I was held and felt safe and saw them as perfect.

My heart is cold like an ice cave, the arteries stalagmites. My feelings are frostbitten. I am making this period of time what I need it to be for me. I will unlearn, like the magic of oxytocin allows. I will live out goals from my heart center (love list). My days are great but more will fuse on and in plural, they will be great again. When I am open, I will love again and my soulmate will be as ready for me as I him. There is a voice in me that hears all the collective compliments I’ve received on my eloquence in writing, my skill at it and in a small way, it make me feel big. 

Love is fluid. My friend told me today, “I need to fully love myself!” I replied, “I don’t think that’s a thing, I mean you can’t be yourself 24/7 and your needs change and you adapt to the wave forecast that is the ocean of life!” She wrote back, “Oh, that’s true!” I don’t know if anyone is fully themselves at any given time, given our influences. I just feel that we do have an authentic self and an ideal self and we tend to overlap the two in balance but more commonly live in one domain and it’s usually the “ideal self,” (this is not who you are but who you project yourself to be, some traits can carry over but it’s not really you). The authentic self is something every philosopher and abstract thinker has pondered on. Ben Franklin says, “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond and to know one’s self.”

I like the girl on her bike, she’s badass, I like the girl with the cat, Neechee, the girl who takes on challenges and new adventures, the girl who pays into her health through many fields and avenues, the girl who loves wholeheartedly, even with the risk of non reciprocation. I love the girl in me who is a feminist and brave the boys in ways most girls don’t step up to. I love the girl in me who feels energies and can measure aura’s and determine whether the person is spirit decayed. I love the bookworm girl who sways on her hammock with a page turner and is transported there, bringing life to the text. I love the girl who is a woman but feels mostly like a girl because she is playful, witty, funny and kind with that girl like innocence. I love the woman in me that can be a woman but also an archer and tap into my divine femininity. I love the hips that can gyrate into figure eights and undulate in belly dance. I love my legs that choreograph my steps and out dance the floor mass, I love my arms that extend warm embraces and contain. I love the lips that feel around taste like a blind man in the dark and land on bliss. I love my kaleidoscope eyes that can transfix on fire and subdue men. I love my sexual parts too. I love my sensitive breasts that comfort with their volume and surrender to stimulation. I love my bowed bottom that is positioned below my Aphrodite dimples. I love my dendrite, pulse point and erogenous zones. I love me on a cellular level, not all the time and not all at once but in this roll call, I see the snapshot and I do love me from the inside out and I keep this in mind daily. I may not fully love myself because I don’t think one can fully know one self but I’m working on continuing as a love luminary and knowing that I can be all these adjectives and more but when I can love myself for no reason, perhaps I have loved fully.