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bro-atz · 2 months

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IRRESISTIBLE CHAPTER ONE: WHY DO YOU HATE EACH OTHER SO MUCH?

pair: cmo!san/employee!oc word count: 2.6k chapter rating: pg-13 — sfw! genre: romance, drama

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The sound of heels clacking rapidly and heavily on the ground got closer and louder with every passing second. Gyuri and Minkyung looked up from their lunches to see Iseul running over to them. The second she arrived at their table, she held onto her knees and panted heavily. Gyuri couldn’t help but laugh upon the sight of her friend struggling to catch her breath.

“What took you so long?” Gyuri asked with a hint of a laugh.

“The server went down for a second… I almost cried,” Iseul managed to respond in between her deep swallows of air.

“Oh, shit. It was the latest music video, right?”

“I’m telling you, fangirls are terrifying. They have so much power,” Iseul nodded and sat down at their table, her hands trembling as she reached for Minkyung’s water when the girl offered it. “I hate whoever thought it’d be a good idea for clients to put up promotions on the company site for more fan-sign opportunities.”

“Mr. Kim came up with it,” Minkyung said cautiously.

“…I’m convinced Mr. Kim hates IT,” Iseul concluded.

Gyuri let out a tiny snort before finishing the last tomato in her bowl. She looked up to see Iseul’s teary eyes staring right at her.

“Um, yes?”

“Don’t leave me…”

“Okay, okay. We’ll stay. Go grab your food,” Minkyung ushered the girl to get up.

“We’ll?” Gyuri looked at Minkyung skeptically.

“Yes, we will. We still have plenty of time before our breaks are over.”

With a sigh, Gyuri nodded. Iseul shot up and left to go buy food from the company cafeteria. While they waited, instead of talking to each other like normal people would, Gyuri and Minkyung went right to their phones and kept themselves entertained on their phones until Iseul returned. Just as Iseul sat down, five gorgeous men clad in different colored suits walked into the cafeteria. Gyuri and Minkyung both stared at the men with sparkling eyes while Iseul, on the other hand, dug into her food. She observed her two friends skeptically before saying, “You guys are crazy. They’re our bosses. You know that.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the eye candy,” Minkyung responded without taking her eyes off the men.

“That’s still crazy. I don’t get the hype, and the fact that they’re called C5 is so weird.”

“Wait, do you not know why they’re called C5?” Gyuri asked.

Iseul shook her head, prompting the other two girls to launch into a full explanation to their friend who recently joined the company.

“So all five of them are the chief officers of the company. You have your CIO Mr. Kang Yeosang, CMO Mr. Choi San, CFO Mr. Jeong Yunho, COO Mr. Park Seonghwa, and CEO Mr. Kim Hongjoong. They’re all also the founders of the company,” Gyuri started. “They all also have their own nicknames that those not part of upper management call them.”

“Like what?”

“Mr. Kang is the “Happy Virus” because he is very sweet and kind and cheers everyone one, which I’m sure you know because you work in his department,” Minkyung looked at Iseul expectantly, who nodded in response. “Mr. Choi is “The Gold Standard” because he’s so detail oriented and his pitches usually bring more money into the company. Mr. Jeong is. “Mr. Cool Guy” because even when the company stocks were plunging, he was the sole person who brought it back up and higher. Mr. Park is “Cherry Blossom” because he’s an ethereal being who is so sweet and compassionate.”

“No wonder he’s head of HR,” Iseul acknowledged.

“And Mr. Kim is “Captain” because without him, this company would be a sinking ship,” Gyuri concluded.

Right at that moment, the men walked by their table. All three girls stood and bowed to greet their superiors, the five of them bowing back. Moments after they left, Minkyung and Gyuri let out deep, enamored sighs, and Iseul rolled her eyes loudly. The girls kept glancing at the men of C5 every so often as Iseul worked on finishing her lunch.

“Oh, aren’t you friends with Mr. Park, Gyu?” Iseul brought up.

“Yeah, Hwa and I go way back,” Gyuri nodded.

“Wait, seriously? I thought you were kidding,” Minkyung said with shock.

“No, I’m serious. We went to college together.”

“So is he why you have this job?”

“Are you saying I bought my way into the company?” Gyuri asked angrily and grabbed a balled up napkin and threw it straight at Iseul, the napkin bouncing off of her forehead.

“No! I meant like was he a referral, not the other thing!” Iseul cried as she shielded herself from more of Gyuri’s balled up napkins.

Gyuri calmed down then answered honestly, “Actually, I didn’t even know he worked for this company. It was a happy coincidence.”

“Aw, how cute! Do I smell an office romance?” Minkyung asked, her voice getting high with excitement, to which Gyuri and Iseul responded with the most disgusted looks on their face. “Damn, okay. You guys didn’t have to make those faces.”

“Hwa was my upperclassman in college, and now he’s like a brother to me. There is no way I’m dating him,” Gyuri responded passionately, thus ending the debate of her relationship with Mr. Park.

“Okay, I want to know. If you had to choose a guy from C5 to date, who would you choose?”

Both Minkyung and Gyuri answered immediately at the same time.

“Mr. Kang.”

“Mr. Jeong.”

“I want justification!” Iseul declared, her eyes sparkling.

“Well, I’ve had a massive crush on Mr. Kang ever since I started working here,” Gyuri explained.

“Mr. Jeong’s very attractive… I see his face at least four or five times a day. My heart swoons each time,” Minkyung admitted honestly, earning yet another eye roll from Iseul.

“Kyung I get because he’s your boss, but Gyu, you don’t see Mr. Kang, like, ever. I thought Mr. Choi would be your choice,” Iseul said mildly surprised.

“Absolutely the fuck not. Definitely not him,” Gyuri nearly gagged.

“Jesus, that’s a strong reaction…”

“No, it’s just… He’s just the most arrogant, obnoxious jerk. Like, if he was just telling me to do my work better, then it’d be fine and I wouldn’t be so mad… But he keeps shooting down all of my ideas during meetings because he thinks the client won’t like it, but then Mr. Jung lets me pitch it anyway, and the client either agrees with Mr. Choi or with me. And, if they agree with Mr. Choi, he’s always super fucking smug. If they agree with me, then he takes it out on me by making me work super fucking late to make sure the complete proposal is fucking spotless. I hate it.”

The other two girls went silent as Gyuri finished her rant. After a moment of silence, Iseul cleared her throat and said, “Alright, I’m sorry I asked…”

“Sorry. It’s just… That guy really knows how to push my buttons.”

“Well, the things you said about him just sounds like a boss doing his job. I don’t really get the anger,” Minkyung pointed out.

“You should hear the way he says it. It’s fucking annoying.”

As if on cue, C5 walked past their table again, this time on their way out of the cafeteria. The three girls stood up and bowed once again before taking their seats. Minkyung kept an eye on the men as they exited, and once they were all out of the cafeteria, she said in a hushed tone to her friends, “You know what’s crazy? Out of all the C5 guys, Mr. Choi is the most popular.”

“What the fuck?! Why?!” Gyuri said a notch too loudly.

“You don’t have to sound that shocked, Gyu. He is a part of C5,” Iseul responded quietly in an effort to get the angry girl to calm down.

“Why is he the most popular? That makes no sense to me.”

“Mr. Choi is the most mysterious out of the five, apparently. Like, no one knows anything about his personal life or interests or anything. He seems to be crazy talented and can do pretty much anything, not to mention he has amazing people and talking skills. He’s dedicated and driven and pays attention to the smallest of details not just in work but with people, too. The other day, Jinah from the IT department got the tiniest fucking hair trim, and Mr. Choi noticed and complimented her almost immediately. She was all giddy the rest of the day,” Minkyung explained in great detail.

“So he notices thing. Big deal.”

“His nickname is “The Gold Standard,” Gyu. He’s valuable and unattainable. Most of the girls in the company are obsessed with him.”

“Good lord…” Iseul rolled her eyes yet again.

“I always thought Mr. Kang or Mr. Kim was the most mysterious…” Gyuri whispered half to herself.

“Nope. It’s Mr. Choi.”

“I refuse to believe that… But fine. Whatever. Everyone loves him. Yay.”

On that sarcastic note, Gyuri got up. Minkyung followed, causing Iseul to panic. She shoved the rest of her food in her mouth and followed her friends out of the cafeteria, the three of them throwing their garbage away on their way out. Iseul chewed as quickly as she could while the three girls waited for the elevator.

“At the end of the day, none of it matters. We’re here to work, not date,” Gyuri said with determination.

“True,” Minkyung validated.

“Does that mean you’re going to give up on your crushes?” Iseul asked after managing to swallow without choking.

“Nope!” Minkyung responded cheerily.

“I’m still going to crush on him even if there’s no way in hell we’ll get together,” Gyuri added.

With a quiet ding, the elevator arrived, and the girls entered. They each pressed the button for their floor and continued to talk animatedly as the doors closed slowly.

“Oh, don’t forget, ladies. The company dinner is tonight,” Minkyung reminded.

“Fuck… I forgot… Do you think I’ll have to stay late?” Iseul sighed dramatically.

“It’s a company dinner. I’m sure Mr. Kang will drag your department to dinner,” Gyuri assured the girl.

“I hope so. I want free food and booze.”

The other two girls laughed heartily at Iseul declaration. Gyuri’s floor arrived first. She waved at the other two as she got out of the elevator and made her way back to her desk slowly. When she arrived and sat in her desk chair, she let out a massive sigh. She really didn’t want to return to work. Her current client was extremely picky— even more than his royal highness Mr. Choi San— which meant that her proposal had to be flawless if she wanted to avoid another late night at the office.

After looking over her proposal for the umpteenth time, Gyuri turned to her boss and whined, “Boss... Do you think Mr. Choi will approve of this?”

“Let me take a look,” her boss, Mr. Jung Wooyoung, said as he got up. “This is for the Ring account, right?”

“Yeah,” Gyuri nodded and leaned back so Wooyoung could look at her computer screen.

Wooyoung leaned over Gyuri’s shoulder as he looked at the proposal she had pulled up. He scrolled slowly and leaned into her screen closer, his tie falling over her shoulder. Gyuri couldn’t help but feel his tie— it was red and silk, and although she was wearing a blazer over her blouse, she could still feel how smooth it was over her shoulder and felt compelled to touch it with her fingertips.

“I think it looks great!” Wooyoung choked out and immediately leaned away, his tie slipping out of Gyuri’s fingers.

“Okay, good… If Mr. Choi rejects it, I’m going to scream.”

Unfortunately for Gyuri, that is exactly what he did, and that is exactly what happened.

“This is the exact same storyline as their previous music video! Not even a continuation, just the same story copy and pasted!” San roared as he stood up.

A couple of the people on the marketing team— including Gyuri, San, and Wooyoung— were sitting in the conference room going over Gyuri’s proposal for the Ring account and other items on the agenda. Gyuri and San were at each others’ throats, which seemed to be a normal occurrence given that everyone else at this meeting didn’t even bother trying to stop the two even when they started swearing at each other.

“Are you shitting me?! It is a continuation! The last storyline was about the relationship, and this one is about the break up!” Gyuri pointed at the screen behind her.

“Then why is the plot just covering the same things that happened in the last fucking MV? You just want to put the last one in flashback and not record anything new this time?!”

“Flashback is important! And, like I showed here, here, and here, we’d be spacing it out throughout the song, so the MV will still be the duration of the song and a little longer! We did this for the Sunrise account!”

“Listen, the fans can just go watch the old MV for flashback if they want! Get the views up that way! Redo this.”

San stood up, indicating that the meeting was over, but Gyuri wasn’t done.

“No!” Gyuri shot back, causing San to freeze in his tracks. “The fans are fans! They’ll go rewatch the whole storyline again no matter what! If we want the MV to make sense, you need to keep the flashbacks! We’re adding, not copying and pasting!”

“Go take out the flashback parts and let me know if the story is still confusing—“

“Of course it’ll be confusing without it!” Gyuri was practically screeching.

“Then redo the entire storyline! Do something where we don’t have to flashback!”

“Why are you so anti-flashback?! It’s just reusing our old footage! There’s no extra cost or anything, and it’ll fulfill the client requirements!”

San finally slammed both his hands on the table as he ended the exchange with, “I am your boss! Do what the fuck I’m telling you do to!”

With that, the meeting finally ended, and the team went back to their desks. Gyuri flung herself into her chair and immediately got back to work while uttering profanities under her breath. Her desk-clump-mate, Yoon Hana, delicately placed a lollipop on Gyuri’s desk. She immediately snatched it and stuck the lollipop in her mouth as she typed and clicked furiously.

“Gyuri, maybe you should just agree with Mr. Choi every now and then so you don’t get so riled up,” she said softly. “You don’t want to get fired now, do you?”

“If that were the case, then Gyuri would’ve been fired a long time ago,” Jeon Chanmi, another one of their coworkers, walked past with a stack of prints. “You should’ve seen them during the Fever account. They were screaming at each other for all five music videos. It got so bad that Mr. Park worked on our floor until all five of them were done.”

“Don’t we still have the Fever account?”

“Yep. The MVs were so popular that it revived that company. Even though they scream at each other like that, the videos they make go viral every time.”

“And I came up with each of those concepts,” Gyuri grumbled. “He should learn to trust my judgement by now.”

“You came up with all of those concepts after bickering with him each time. If he didn’t push your buttons, then you wouldn’t be creating what you are,” Chanmi flicked the back of Gyuri’s head.

Gyuri curled her lip in disgust and focused on her work. She hated that Chanmi was right, and she hated that San did bring out the best in her.

“Keep up the good work?” Hana said in confusion.

“Yeah,” Gyuri huffed out without even looking away from her screen.

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holycatsandrabbits · 2 months

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So excited to get my author copy of Anna Karenina Isn't Dead!

The anthology

Welcome to the rewritten lives of thirty-two literary legends

From Russia’s Anna Karenina to Vietnam’s Lady Trieu, from Cio-Cio-San to Frankenstein's second creature, suffering, madness, or death is the fate of far too many women in classic literature. Anna Karenina Isn’t Dead undoes that.

In this anthology of literary women, these women live. Do they have a happily ever after? You’ll see. Do they have a happy-right-now? Oh yes.

These are the reimagined tales of the famous, the infamous, the barely mentioned women in myths, poems, and legends. These are the stories of the Lady in Black, Wendy Darling, Dido, and many more, each getting a better journey than the one she originally got.

Here Anna Karenina and her literary kin are not dead. Very far from it.

Edited by @atlinmerrick ; Cover artwork by Claudia Caranfa

My story

My mother and I loved the poem “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, and I jumped at the chance to write Bess a better ending. In my story “Love Knot,” I gave her five minutes’ notice of the soldiers’ arrival, and she did the rest.

King George’s men saw Samuel only as a highwayman, a rogue, a thief. They knew his rich clothes, but not how they smelled of sun and sweat and the cold road. They knew the weapons beneath his coat, but not how he liked to use his rapier to cut apples from a tree, how he would flash his shiny pistols at the children who gathered to hear his stories of daring battles for yellow gold. They knew he’d given a confession of love to Bess. They didn’t know what it had sounded like in the earnest voice of a boy who was then only eight years old.

Order here

AO3 ~ DannyeChase.com ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

#Dannye writes #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writeblr community #writing #improbable press #anna karenina #author copy #anthology

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princesssarisa · 2 months

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If your answer is "Other," please share it.

#opera #poll #costumes #costuming #hairstyles #traditions

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suetravelblog · 1 year

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Madame Butterfly Croatian National Theatre Zagreb

View On WordPress

#Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton - Stjepan Franetović #Cio-Cio San - Valentina Fijačko Kobić #Croatian National Theatre #Giacomo Puccini Italian Composer #Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini #Nagasaki Bay Japan #Pier Giorgio Morandi Conductor #Suzuki - Sofia Ameli Gojić #The Source of Life Ivan Meštrović Croatian Sculptor #Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

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vintagestagehotties · 27 days

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Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 1

Liza Minnelli: Luisa in The Fantasticks (1964 National Tour US); Flora in Flora the Red Menace (1965 Broadway); Babe Williams in The Pajama Game (1966 National Tour US)

Gabriella Tucci: Violetta in La traviata (1951 Tuscany); Glauce in Medea (1953 Florence); Floria Tosca in Tosca (1960 ROH); Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly (1960 Met)

Propaganda under the cut

Liza Minnelli:

A gay icon!!!!!!She is so sexy!!!!

Gabriella Tucci:

#vintagestagehotties #vintagestagepoll #vintage tournament #vintage poll #liza minnelli #gabriella tucci #ladies round 1 #vintage ladies

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tisisvestodruganecebit · 8 months

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Slome se ovi sati na meni.

Znaš, to je ono kada ne znaš da li si cio, ili si sav u dijelovima, pa ti smetaju misli, zidovi progovore, san bi te posjekao da može.

Sreća, čuje se vjetar

i kiša,

i uzdah kada pomisliš da ćeš sad pobijediti i zaspati.

Ne znam,

možda se i osmijehneš.

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 11 months

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In a week when parts of the state are getting triple-digit temperatures and weather officials urge Texans to stay cool and hydrated, Gov. Greg Abbott gave final approval to a law that will eliminate local rules mandating water breaks for construction workers.

House Bill 2127 was passed by the Texas Legislature during this year’s regular legislative session. Abbott signed it Tuesday. It will go into effect on Sept. 1.

Supporters of the law have said it will eliminate a patchwork of local ordinances across the state that bog down businesses. The law’s scope is broad but ordinances that establish minimum breaks in the workplace are one of the explicit targets. The law will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin in 2010 and Dallas in 2015 that established 10-minute breaks every four hours so that construction workers can drink water and protect themselves from the sun. It also prevents other cities from passing such rules in the future. San Antonio has been considering a similar ordinance.

Texas is the state where the most workers die from high temperatures, government data shows. At least 42 workers died in Texas between 2011 and 2021 from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers’ unions claim this data doesn’t fully reflect the magnitude of the problem because heat-related deaths are often recorded under a different primary cause of injury.

This problem particularly affects Latinos because they represent six out of every 10 construction workers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Unions expect heat-related deaths to go up if mandated water breaks go away.

“Construction is a deadly industry. Whatever the minimum protection is, it can save a life. We are talking about a human right,” said Ana Gonzalez, deputy director of policy and politics at the Texas AFL-CIO. “We will see more deaths, especially in Texas’ high temperatures.”

The National Weather Service is forecasting highs over 100 degrees in several Texas cities for at least the next seven days.

Heat waves are extreme weather events, often more dangerous than tornadoes, severe thunderstorms or floods. High temperatures kill people, and not just in the workplace. Last year, there were 279 heat-related deaths in Texas, based on data analysis by The Texas Tribune.

In 2022, Texas saw its second-hottest summer on record, and an extreme drought swept the state. This summer is not expected to be as hot as the weather pattern known as La Niña eases, which typically brings dry conditions to Texas, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.

Still, climate change amplifies the effects of heat waves, said Hosmay Lopez, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who studies heat waves. Climate change causes heat waves to stretch for longer periods of time, reach higher temperatures and occur more often than they would otherwise. The problem is especially pronounced in dry areas of the Southwest due to a lack of vegetation and soil moisture, which in wetter regions produces a cooling effect through evaporation.

At the same time, he added, increased urbanization across the U.S. — especially in places like Texas where cities are expanding — makes more people vulnerable to health dangers from extreme heat due to the “urban island” effect. Essentially, the combination of concrete and buildings, plus a lack of green spaces causes ground-level heat to radiate, increasing the temperature in cities.

“The impact of climate change on extreme heat is not only enhanced [by weather events] but also enhanced through social dynamics as well,” Lopez said.

HB 2127, introduced by state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, is perhaps Texas Republicans’ most aggressive attempt to curb progressive policies in the state’s largest, liberal-leaning cities. Under the new law, local governments would be unable to create rules that go beyond what state law dictates in broad areas like labor, agriculture, business and natural resources.

Beyond eliminating mandated water breaks for construction workers, opponents of the legislation argue that it will also make it more difficult for cities and counties to protect tenants facing eviction or to combat predatory lending, excessive noise and invasive species. Labor unions and workers’ rights advocates opposed the law, while business organizations supported it, including the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group with more than 20,000 members in Texas. Abbott said it would “provide a new hope to Texas businesses struggling under burdensome local regulations.”

Supporters of HB 2127 say that local regulations on breaks for construction workers are unnecessary because the right to a safe labor environment is already guaranteed through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Water breaks are better solved by OSHA controls, argued Geoffrey Tahuahua, president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas. Tahuahua believes local rules impose a rigid scheme that, unlike OSHA guidelines, does not allow the flexibility needed to tailor breaks to individual job site conditions.

“They try to make one size fits all, and that is not how it should work,” he said. “These ordinances just add confusion and encourage people to do the minimum instead of doing the right thing.”

David Michaels, who was head of OSHA from 2009 to 2017, disagreed with the approach of HB 2127 proponents.

“Under OSHA law, it is employers who are responsible to make sure workers are safe,” said Michaels, now a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health. “And we have compelling evidence that they are doing a very poor job because many workers are injured on the job, especially in Texas.”

Michaels pointed out that OSHA does not have a national standard for heat-related illnesses and issues citations only for over-exposure to heat after an injury or death, but not before that occurs.

“The better solution would be to have a national standard, but since we do not, local ordinances are very important for saving lives,” he said. “Prohibiting these local laws will result in workers being severely hurt or killed.”

Gonzalez, from the Texas AFL-CIO, disagrees with the idea that local regulations hurt businesses.

Mandated water breaks “were passed in 2010 in Austin and construction is still growing, especially in the state’s largest cities,” Gonzalez said. “It is simply false, an excuse to limit local governments’ power and an intrusion into democracy.”

HB 2127 does not impede the enactment of a state law establishing mandatory breaks for construction workers, and during the regular session, two bills were filed to that effect.

House Bill 495, authored by Rep. Thresa Meza, D-Irving, sought to establish 10-minute mandatory breaks every four hours for contractors working for a governmental entity. House Bill 4673, by Rep. Maria Luisa Flores, D-Austin, would have created a statewide advisory board responsible for establishing standards to prevent heat illness in Texas workplaces and set penalties for employers who do not comply with them.

Neither bill made it through the legislative process.

Daniela Hernandez, state legislative coordinator for the Workers Defense Project, said she hopes legislators will push for a state law mandating water breaks for workers. She added that she would not discard the possibility that cities sue to try to keep their water break ordinances.

“Without an ordinance or a law, there is no safeguard. There is no guarantee that the worker will have those water breaks,” he said. “We will keep fighting.”

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texasobserver · 4 months

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“Will Texas Cities Stay Silent on Gaza?” by Gus Bova, from the Texas Observer:

Last Thursday, a stream of Austinites poured into their city hall and packed the council meeting chamber—some carrying signs, some with hands painted red, and many sporting black-and-white keffiyehs, headscarves that serve as international symbols of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

The activists were there to push the city council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But since no such item was on the agenda that day, they’d simply booked all the slots in an open public comment period to make their case.

“I am a Jewish mother; I am also the descendant of survivors of the Holocaust in Germany and the pogroms in Russia. I have been devastated every day watching this genocide unfold,” said Abigail Mallick, one of a series of Jewish speakers who addressed the council that day to oppose Israel’s recent military actions. “We must pass a ceasefire resolution. … We must join the growing chorus of voices saying ‘never again’—‘never again’ for anyone.”

The testimony was part of a monthslong effort in Austin and other cities across Texas and the country to get local governments to weigh in on the tragedy unfolding across the world in Gaza, the 140-square-mile slice of Palestinian territory that abuts the Egyptian border and the Mediterranean Sea. Since October 7, when Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, executed a horrific attack in southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and more than 200 kidnapped, Israel has retaliated by unleashing Hell on Earth for 2.2 million Gazans. As of late January, about 25,000 Palestinians have been killed with the majority being women and children, per the Gaza Health Ministry. A quarter of Gazans are starving, and nearly the entire population is displaced.

South Africa has brought claims of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice; Israel denies the charges. Many scholars have warned for months of a possible genocide unfolding, though Israel’s defenders including the U.S. State Department dispute the claim.

Both Arab and Palestinian Americans are undercounted by the U.S. Census, according to the Arab American Institute, but Texas ranks among the top five states for both communities. The state’s biggest urban areas, especially Harris County and the Metroplex, all boast significant populations.

The Texas Democratic Party was the first among all states to officially call for a ceasefire in Gaza; five of 13 Lone Star Dems in the U.S. House have also done so, in addition to the AFL-CIO central labor councils in San Antonio and Austin. Massive protests have been held across Texas cities, including one in November that was likely the largest demonstration at the state Capitol since the 2017 Women’s March. Nationwide, at least a couple dozen cities have passed ceasefire resolutions, including San Francisco, Atlanta, and Detroit. But, so far, Texas activists are running into brick walls with their municipal representatives as council members either stay silent or argue that endorsing a ceasefire would inflame divisions in their cities or that the issue is simply not a local matter.

At the Austin meeting last week, Council member Chito Vela told the pro-Palestine crowd that he personally supported a ceasefire and had signed an open letter to that effect. “However, I do not want this council to become embroiled in foreign policy matters,” he clarified. “These are far beyond our purview as a local government, and we have too many critical local issues that demand our attention.”

In November, Austin’s Human Rights Commission urged the city council to call for a ceasefire. Three council members issued a joint statement in December expressing their support, and activists believe these three would back a formal resolution. With a fourth member, they could force a vote, but—even in Texas’ most left-wing city—sufficient support remains elusive.

“Our city always was known for standing for human rights and for progressive values,” said Hatem Natsheh, a member of the recently formed Austin for Palestine Coalition and longtime local activist who was born in Palestine’s West Bank. “We need our leaders to stand with us and [against] these horrific crimes that happen to our community.”

Natsheh noted that the council has weighed in on foreign policy before with resolutions condemning ex-President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban and the 2003 Iraq invasion. He also observed that Mayor Kirk Watson, whose office did not respond to a request for comment, spoke at a pro-Israel event shortly after the October 7 attack. “We know that the City of Austin has no power over international issues, but we are not asking because of that,” Natsheh said. “We’re asking them to take a moral stand for humanity.”

Just down I-35, in San Antonio, pro-Palestine activists nearly secured a ceasefire vote earlier this month before a council member reversed course.

With three members supporting, which is enough to convene a special meeting in San Antonio, the Alamo City council was set to vote on a ceasefire resolution in either January or February. But earlier this month, Council Member Manny Pelaez withdrew his support, saying, “It became evident that this was causing more pain and anxiety than was originally intended.” Another council member, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, called Pelaez’s decision “one of the weakest moves I’ve ever seen from any councilmember ever.”

In late December, a group of Jewish leaders in San Antonio had written city council arguing that the resolution, “while well-intentioned, is morally wrong and will further endanger members of the local Jewish community.” Following Pelaez’s reversal, Mayor Ron Nirenberg penned a memo stating the special meeting was scrapped. In it, Nirenberg suggested the vote would have “exacerbate[d] trauma,” adding that “Wading into a complex and volatile international environment with an incomplete understanding could prove to be reckless.”

The ceasefire push has been led in part by San Antonio for Justice in Palestine (SAJP), a Palestinian-led group that existed prior to October 7 but has been revitalized in the last few months. The group works alongside others including the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, which has coalesced pro-Palestine Jews across the country. “The call is coming straight from Gaza, straight from Palestine … that we need to do everything within our power to make calls for a ceasefire,” said Sara Masoud, a Palestinian SAJP core member and health science professor with family in the West Bank. She noted that the council in 2022 passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and also contradicted Nirenberg, saying a “call for a ceasefire actually reduces trauma because it speaks on behalf of peace.”

Masoud said her group and allies will keep working to find a third supporter to replace Pelaez.

In Dallas, council members approved a resolution on October 11 stating that the city “stands with Israel in its fight against Hamas.” Since then, as the death toll in Gaza has soared, Dallasites have repeatedly turned out to push the body to consider a ceasefire resolution. “It’s a city issue in that countless Palestinians here in Dallas have been affected by it, have lost family members,” said Sumayyah El-Heet, a Palestinian organizer with the Dallas chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). El-Heet said she knew of Dallasites who are mourning dozens of family members killed in Gaza.

Dallas Council member Adam Bazaldua has authored a ceasefire resolution. Depending on the procedure used, Bazaldua told the Texas Observer, he needs either two or four additional supporters to trigger a vote. He said he has little patience for the argument that the matter is not a local issue or that it would distract from municipal business.

“I personally cannot stand that pushback on any particular item,” Bazaldua said, “because if we were elected and not expected to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, then I don’t know why the hell we were elected.”

Down I-45, Houston has seen months of large pro-Palestine demonstrations and other events. The Bayou City has one of the largest Arab-American populations in the nation. While some council members have voiced support for a ceasefire, ex-Mayor Sylvester Turner—who left office at the beginning of this month—has said Houston City Council simply does not do resolutions of this sort. In an email, spokesperson Mary Benton told the Observer that Houston “does not have a history of issuing resolutions regarding global conflicts” or other issues beyond city administrative business, though she said she hadn’t yet discussed the matter with now-Mayor John Whitmire.

“Houston holds one of the largest Palestinian and Arab communities in the country right now; we have Houstonians who were trapped in Gaza for months,” said Fouad Salah, an organizer with the Houston chapter of PYM, which has been pushing city council unsuccessfully to take a stand on the issue. “We have Houstonians—I mean, myself, I have family, God rest their souls—who have been murdered in Gaza. … To be clear, a lack of calling for a ceasefire is an endorsement of the genocide of our people.”

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