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#I just hope people understand that
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Sokka & Zuko- The Invisible Winner of the Kataang/Zutara Debate.
Please don't take this as "Shipping War Bait", I'm doing a character analysis of ATLA about my opinion on which close Zuko relationship makes the most sense!
I feel like fandom treated Zuko/ Sokka as a crack ship but like?? That's never made sense to me.
Firstly I personally think that Aang will always remember how the fire nation destroyed his people. No matter how much he consciously says he forgives Zuko (& the fire nation) I would BET that unconsciously there's still something deeply hurt in Aang that can never truly be healed about that. As a result, Aang would not be able to LOVE Zuko as close as his other relationships. It's one of those hard to swallow pills but it's just how I interpret the characters. Aang's body has that bias, the deepest parts of his mind won't ever forget the horrific fact that his people are dead because of Ozai, and Zuko is Ozai's firstborn.
I know Aang's whole thing is that he preaches forgiveness, but here's the thing... We aren't always aware of how deeply our trauma affects us. Sometimes you don't hold a conscious bias against people... You hold an Unconscious bias. And to me, Aang holding an unconscious bias against Zuko, and not being as close to him, makes sense.
Toph could honestly work with Zuko, I think she's also a good contender for closest relationship. Though I see it in either a platonic or romantic sense (depends on the vibe). I think there could be a bit of 'fandom implicit bias' there in having Zuko and Toph constantly presented as platonic only. Like, Toph is disabled, she's blind... Do we ever question that maybe we don't like putting her with people romantically because she's disabled? Is Katara the one people ship Zuko with romantically- because Katara is more traditionally attractive? Toph is short, stocky, has short hair, is brash, and blind... Like, there's a chance she doesn't get the same treatment as Katara because she's not traditionally attractive in the way Katara is.... Something to think about.
-All that being said, I like Toph and Zuko as having a close bond either romantically or platonically. I think it's funny that they're both born rich kids, I think it's funny that they only have one fully functioning eye between them (and the comedy and hijinks that leads to). And they do work really well together throughout the show, Toph forgives Zuko when he accidentally burns her feet. And Zuko clearly appreciates how chill Toph is- she doesn't have PERSONAL bias towards Zuko as the son of the Fire Lord, in the way that the other three do.
Moving on to Katara, I have a similar sort of feeling there. It's made obvious that Katara SAW her mother die at the hands of the fire nation. It was traumatic, it was horrific, and because she was a child watching it- that is likely a DEEP core memory. In the context of the show, Zuko helps Katara find the man who killed her mother, because it's sort of a levelling of the scales. It doesn't even make Katara LIKE Zuko, it makes her neutral towards him. He helped her to basically right a wrong (that's her perspective). So yeah- for the same reasons, I've just never been convinced that Zuko and Katara could have a strong and intimate relationship because of the deepness of Katara's trauma. It takes a significant amount of time in terms of the show for her to even start talking and trusting Zuko at all. Doesn't FEEL like good romantic potential to me.
But Sokka, Sokka is the best fit of them so far. The thing is, Zuko and Sokka have a lot of different experiences- but shared values. Consider the things they've had to deal with, Sokka had to handle a huge level of grief & pressure as he quickly became responsible for his family and community at a noticeably young age. Then consider how that parallels (it is not THE SAME, but there is a PARALLEL) to Zuko's abuse & exile. They're both young men, they're both conditioned to think they should be a certain way (Sokka a warrior, Zuko a tyrant). Sokka is creative & inventive, which mirrors how Zuko has to create a new emotional source for his fire bending- once again, these are parallel elements of their characters, and demonstrate how they could relate to each other.
Sokka as a character is also slightly more separated from the association between the fire nation and the death of his mother- compared to Katara. Once again, she saw it happen right in front of her as a small child, Sokka was slightly older when the event happened, and didn't see it first hand.
There are some more generic elements of their characters that might suggest gay subtext; such as Sokka's hypermasculinity being a masking behaviour so no-one would think he's attracted to men. (Most people understand why that is; but if you don't know- leaning into very masculine things as a man, can make it feel like people won't question your assumed "straightness").
But I think what I've touched on is more relevant because it's very much tied to THESE specific characters, and how they interact, and how they could relate to each other.
TLDR; Zuko and Sokka work as a ship cos they have less things stopping them (barriers to intimacy & trauma to heal from). And they have probably the highest relatability to each other's lives, allowing them to trust each other and open up, compared to the other characters.
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uncanny-tranny · 5 months
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If there is only one thing I would want to tell all trans people, it is this:
Please make it. You are worth it to see a better future; we will make this world kind. You are so needed, you are so wanted. We will make this world somewhere worth our light. I hope you can be by my side forever, I hope we can bask in the beauty of this world. I love you, trans person reading this.
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the main thing I’ve gathered from the Pacific Rim director’s commentary is that, even though a lot more of PacRim was done with CGI than I had realized, it still holds up almost 10 years later because of how intentional Guillermo Del Toro was with building in details, flaws, weathering and environmental factors, and, primarily, love and respect into every single model.
He helped animate every single creature and robot by hand on his tablet, he praised the animators for every single shot and talks about how brilliant they are, how hard they worked on every detail, he treats all of them like human beings, like geniuses, just as integral to the film as himself and the actors. The animators themselves talk about how intentional and detailed his ideas were, how helpful and insightful he was when he spoke to them about changes, when he came to them with new ideas.
There’s also a hell of a lot of practical effects woven in, which add to the believability, but the CGI holds up first and foremost because he saw it as an art form to be cultivated and loved just as fiercely as everything else, not a ‘wow’ effect to be slapped in for budget cuts.
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gammija · 18 days
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Horseys! inspired by this banger of a post by @pinkravat-art
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ruporas · 1 year
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asking and receiving (bonus below readmore)
[ID: A black and white, digital Trigun comic of Vash and Wolfwood. In the first panel is a close up of Wolfwood's mouth as he says, "Vash". Accompanying it is a close up shot of Vash's eye, widen and cheeks flushed. Wolfwood presses a knee against the open space between Vash's legs and says, "Tell me everything you want from me." Wolfwood's face is equally as flushed. He continues to say, "I'll give it to you. Everything." As he talks, a wide shot shows the both of them in white space. Vash is sitting, leaning a little back with both hands pressed against the surface he's sitting on. Wolfwood is in his white dress shirt, stripped of the blazer. He's still leaning in with one knee in between Vash's spread legs, his right hand touching Vash's lips and his left hand behind his back.
The shot closes in on Vash's mouth and Wolfwood's hand against it, pressing down on the lower lip as he says, "You have to ask though. Go on." His hand moves down to Vash's chin, gently holding it. With a shy and uncertain expression, Vash hesitantly asks, "Um... K... Kiss... Please?" Wolfwood, without wasting a second, leans in and kisses him and indulges by pressing deeper, eliciting a small noise of surprise from Vash.
Wolfwood moves away from Vash first and with a smile, asks, "What else?" Vash tugs on Wolfwood's left sleeve, wordlessly budging Wolfwood to give him his hand that was still behind his back. In the next panel, Vash utters, "Hold me..?" He's holding Wolfwood's left hand with his own while his right hand is reaching for his waist. Wolfwood complies, moving his left hand to Vash's shoulder and his right hand continues to touch Vash's cheek. Wolfwood asks again, "What else?"
More comfortable now, Vash leans in to kiss Wolfwood. Wolfwood catches him immediately, pressing his thumb against Vash's lips to stop him before demanding, "Hey. Ask." Vash looks back in surprise and Wolfwood meets his eye with a quiet, insistent look. They're quiet for a moment before Vash leans in again and curtly requests, "Kiss. Me." Wolfwood says "Good", smiling as he lifts his hand away, and meets Vash's lips. In the next shot, Wolfwood had adjusted his position, sitting on Vash's thigh. The hand that was once on Vash's cheek has moved its way to Vash's nape, pushing away the collar of his jacket with his pinky. His other hand continues to grip on Vash's shoulder. Still kissing, Wolfwood asks again, "What else?"
In the next shot, Vash is starting to turn, moving Wolfwood with him. Vash asks, "Let me on top of you?" Wolfwood says, "Mhm" before asking again, "What else?" The next panel shows a close look of Vash's face. He's looking down, flushed and shy just as he had been at the beginning, but now, more decisive. Vash asks, "Wolfwood... Let me have you..?" A panel of Wolfwood taking Vash's hand into his, pulling it towards his chest. The next panel shows Wolfwood lying down where Vash had laid him. Vash's hand is on Wolfwood's chest, covering the cross of his rosary while Wolfwood's hand lingers against his, loosely pressing Vash's hand in place. He looks up at Vash with a shy smile of his own, flushed cheeks. He says, "All yours."
A panel shows a close up of Vash's tender gaze before he leans down to be closer to Wolfwood. The final shot is a front view of their positions, Vash's face turned away from the viewer; Vash is leaning over Wolfwood who's lying down with his right leg draped over Vash's legs. Wolfwood's left hand holds onto Vash's left arm. With finality, Vash says, "...Mine." End ID]
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[ID: A follow up bonus comic in a looser, sketchier style. They're laying comfortably in bed when Vash asks, "What was that earlier?" referecing to the start of the previous comic. Wolfwood glances away and says, "To get you used to it. Asking. And getting what you ask for. Since you're alwasy hesitant about it." Vash's eyes widen, tight lipped. Wolfwood continues, "Knowing you, it'll be a tough habit to break..." When he says this, Vash can't help but laugh, unable to deny it. Wolfwood slowly brings a hand to Vash's cheek and continues to say, "So I'll keep trying -- whatever ways I can... to get it through your thick skull." Vash takes Wolfwood's hand with his, kissing the the palm gently. Wolfwood's eyes soften and holding onto Vash's cheek, he leans in to try for a kiss. Vash says, "Hey..." before stopping Wolfwood's lips with the back of his hand, a smug look on his face, "Ask." Wolfwood's embarrassed and with little irritation, asks, "Really?" Vash smiles, saying, "You're in need of practice too." They pause for a moment, Wolfwood looking contemplatively, before he's leaning in again, asking, "May I please kiss you?" Vash looks him in the eyes and says, "Yes." The comic ends with a "chu", indicating an off-panel kiss. End ID]
#vashwood#vash the stampede#nicholas d wolfwood#trigun#trigun maximum#it took me so long to post this even after getting clarification about the maturity warning and stuff#bc i am so shy about it. SDGMKDSGMKSD I LIKE THIS COMIC BUT IM ALSO SO LIKE... AUGHHHH....#when i posted this on twitter though it was like... a few days after ep 11? ive always had the thought circling about vash deserving of#asking for things... and getting what he wants bc he never gets both. doesn't get the opportunity to ask and hardly does he get what he want#maybe the results can go in his favor but at some point along the way he'll still lose something bc nothing can ever go perfectly for him...#and he's usually the one begging and pleading with people to not. do something. it's not even asking at that point it's just straight up#please believe me. please trust me. please don't shoot that person. please don't kill anyone. please don't do it.#and wolfwood.... it was not always this lovey dovey ok. he wouldv noticed this habit miles away and they got into a fight about it the first#time they talked about it bc wolfwood is being hypocritical too. as he always is!!!! but i think as they get more intimate#wolfwood finds ways to make vash understand. smth smth insatiable want and love and desire for wolfwood that makes it much easier to ask.#wolfwood can also just be so compliant. sometimes. which is also an issue in of itself that id love to explore at some point#but he also just enjoys giving into vash fully and completely.#bc he loves him a lot. but anyway#i hope the id is comprehendible.... please lmk if there's something wrong with how im doing it asfdgkdsmgs#ruporas art
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nordidia · 2 months
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having a very rough night so raph doodles needed to be made
when in need, mash two interests together
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Listen, I know that canonically House is supposed to have very strong antisocial and narcissistic traits, but I will continue to shout from the rooftops that I believe he actually experiences hyper-empathy due to his autism. However, on the flip side, it would not surprise me at all if Wilson genuinely had both antisocial and narcissistic traits. Maybe or maybe not enough for an official diagnosis, I don't know. Either way, he strongly exhibits so many of those traits, just not in the way you'd typically expect. He's literally known for seeking out desperate and hurt people so that he can play saviour. He needs to be needed. He doesn't help people because he genuinely wants to see them get better, he helps people because he wants to become the center of their world and their only focus, and as soon as they're healed and stronger, he leaves. Because they don't need him anymore. Because he's not their only focus anymore. House even talks about it in the show.
I think that House and Wilson are genuinely just both so good at masking that they appear the opposite of how they genuinely are so strongly that their personalities and traits get mixed up.
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sysig · 4 months
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I think the world is so wonderful... (Patreon)
#My art#Handplates#UT#Papyrus#I have not been able to get this idea out of my head for like - days now lol#It's only solidified the more I read! Heck!!#I dunno if I was necessarily hoping that reading further would point me in another direction but no now this is one of his songs lol#I really like Rugrats Theory actually :) The song of course it's lovely but I even have some nostalgia for the creepypasta haha#Been a while since I read it tho so that's probably just the soft haze of memory talking lol#But the song is still great! I'm partial to the English cover but I like the original as well :)#There are just so many fun lyrics! Especially for Papyrus specifically#''Everything I've been told I believe and yet people that I love just leave'' Gasterrr#''I think I'm old enough to understand so there's no reason to hide from me'' Sanssssssss#Once I returned to the scene of Sans trying to lie to him I just fjdslahfd these lyrics would Not leave me alone lol#I'm also Extremely partial to the second verse surrounding blindness and willful ignorance - his vision problems literal and metaphorical!#I wasn't planning to start a Handplates playlist but I guess by this point it's kinda too late haha#I also tried a different style of shading for this one ♪ Trying to style match a bit hehe#It's fun! Scratchy - tho some of that is from still using my usual brushes lol#I was Very inspired by watching the comic creation playlist - so cool! Very fun to watch and pick up ideas hehe#I knew I forgot something lol dang it - forgot the dash between WDG-2#S'what I get for using pre-plates references :P#For just a quick little thing I'm fairly pleased overall tho :)
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varyathevillain · 1 year
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no joke but what I really want for Buddy Daddies as a fandom is to make fanart and fanfic post present time ep12 where Rei wears an arm orthosis when working.
I think varied disability aids being represented would be fantastic, and personally would write Rei as someone being deeply proud of something he's done for his family, but also understanding with time that using an orthosis also helps him at work and in raising Miri. with a giant portion of mobility/motorics aids being represented by prosthetics, seeing more variety and exploring it in fiction would also help making a step in normalising disability treatments.
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dunmeshi-darlings · 20 days
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The fact ive been seeing people in the dungeon meshi fandom not understanding the life cycles and how that impacts ages of maturity among the various races, and using that as a means to attack or insult other fans is quiet disheartening.
Because they have been shown in the anime recently ive seen this alot with characters such as inutade and leed and more so when izutsumi appears. i cant be to upset because as much as i enjoy kui and her work, alot of major facts arnt in the story itself and are in the daydream hours and seperate content.
But people arnt realizing that the different races arnt like the real world, they dont grow at the same age and rate and have different life spans because of it and so people are getting aggressive towards others over character ages when in reality they dont know how it really is.
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Leed is one i want to talk about, orcs only live around 55 years. And they clearly grow at a much faster rate than races such as elves or gnomes. Leed is 14 years old, but at that point she is a fully grown orc woman. Yes she has only just become one but in orc society she is an adult, we see this when she thinks she is going to be wed off to laios later in the story when he becomes king. If she wasnt fully grown then i do not believe kui would have shown that scene. But because of orc aging she is in fact a grown woman.
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My other example being inutade, once more we see another race with a shorter lifespan who clearly age at a faster rate than elves or gnomes. Inutade being 16 actually puts her past what oni age of maturity is because they mature at 15. Tade is a fully grown oni woman. And if we look at daydream hour 88 we see this art of her. Whether you view it in a sexual light or not is up to interpretation and it could go either way. But because of the type of person kui is, i dont believe she would have drawn tade like this if she viewed her as underage.
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I have more photos of the race bios to show them off but what im saying is that there needs to be an understanding that because these fantasy races have varrying life spans, the ones who live shorter lives would make sense to mature in less time than the other ones. I want people to understand this because ive been seeing people saying truly despicable and mean things about other people and it breaks my heart to see.
Ive seen some people say that maturity ages are what they are becaus the shorter lived races die becaues it is like medieval times and so people died younger, but with magic healers and spells that really isnt something i think can be pointed to for why certain ages die at certain times.
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demadogs · 6 months
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There are things out there that our little minds will never comprehend.
DARK (2017-2020)
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wandering-tides · 19 days
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Are you kidding me.... ARE YOU GODDAMN KIDDING ME!????
You are telling me to abandon the ship i've been shipping for 10+ yrs, that the fandom has been shipping for 20+ yrs?????
I am sorry but, that's just insane. How could you do that to us??? It hasn't even been 2 weeks since Kaishin day and you drop that on us Gosho?????
How could you make kaishin, cousins just to justify their similar looks (and other similarities).....
Yes, I'll forever believe this was the reason why he gave us a cousin reveal (after 20+ yrs!!).... and also cuz kaishin was taking over his canon couple,,, no matter what other reason might be there or what he may give.
You wanted them to be cousins from the beginning? Then why the hell did you wait for over 20 yrs to reveal that??? Yeah no, I am not believing in any of the reasons Gosho gives for "revealing" them as cousins after over two decades.
Canon can go into the trash can and fuck itself (and f u too Gosho).
If they were going to be cousins from the beginning, they should have never given us the kaishin food for all these yrs. Neither in the manga, nor in the movies.
All that poetry Shinichi spouts everytime he is describing Kaito? That one time Shinichi held his dick? Those kissing noises in M 3? That trust they show in each other M 8 (and that train arc??)?? And I can go on and on and on about all the times they added flame to the fire and made kaishin shippers grow into what it is today.
And then suddenly they drop "cousins" on us
And you want me to accept that?? Yeah, no. Not gonna happen.
Kaishin has helped me cope with so many things, I am not gonna drop it, I am not accepting this canon.
If people want to, they are free to do so. If they want to purge their kaishin fanworks, you can do that (tho it would be incredibly sad to loose the fanworks. This fandom has some of the best fics and fanworks i've come across), if you want to leave the ship, you can do that too (which, again, would be very sad, cuz I've met some of the nicest people in this fandom, and it's one of the few fandom ship spaces that is not so tixic... as compared to many other fandom ship groups)
And that's all from me for now over this reveal. I just had to get this out of the system y'know? This reveal sucks. They are giving kaishin akai/akemi treatment, dammit.
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caeslxys · 10 days
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I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but it feels relevant again in light of the most recent episode. Something that’s really fascinating to me about Orym’s grief in comparison to the rest of the hells’ grief is that his is the youngest/most fresh and because of that tends to be the most volatile when it is triggered (aside from FCG, who was two and obviously The Most volatile when triggered.)
As in: prior to the attack on Zephrah, Orym was leading a normal, happy, casual life! with family who loved him and still do! Grief was something that was inflicted upon him via Ludinus’ machinations, whereas with characters like Imogen or Ashton, grief has been the background tapestry of their entire lives. And I think that shows in how the rest of them are largely able to, if not see past completely (Imogen/Laudna/Chetney) then at least temper/direct their vitriol or grief (Ashton/Fearne/Chetney again) to where it is most effective. (There is a glaring reason, for example, that Imogen scolded Orym for the way he reacted to Liliana and not Ashton. Because Ashton’s anger was directed in a way that was ultimately protective of Imogen—most effective—and Orym’s was founded solely in his personal grief.)
He wants Imogen to have her mom and he wants Lilliana to be salvageable for Imogen because he loves Imogen. But his love for the people in his present actively and consistently tend to conflict with the love he has for the people in his past. They are in a constant battle and Orym—he cannot fathom losing either of them.
(Or, to that point, recognize that allowing empathy to take root in him for the enemy isn't losing one of them.)
It is deeply poignant, then, that Orym’s grief is symbolized by both a sword and shield. It is something he wields as a blade when he feels his philosophy being threatened by certain conversational threads (as he believes it is one of the only things he has left of Will and Derrig, and is therefore desperately clinging onto with both bloody hands even if it makes him, occasionally, a hypocrite), but also something he can use in defense of the people he presently loves—if that provocative, blade-grief side of him does not push them—or himself—away first.
(it won’t—he is as loved by the hells as he loves them. he just needs to—as laudna so beautifully said—say and hear it more often.)
#critical role#cr spoilers#bells hells#orym of the air ashari#cr meta#imogen temult#ashton greymoore#liliana temult#this is genuinely completely written in good faith as someone who loves orym#but is also about orym and so will inevitably end up being completely misconstrued and made into discourse. alas#I could talk about how Orym’s unwillingness to allow the hells to actually finish/come to a solid conclusion on Philosophy Talk#is directly connected to one of the largest criticisms of c3 (that they are constantly having these conversations)#all day. alas. engaging with orym’s flaws tends to make people upset#it is ESP prevelant when he walks off after exclaiming ‘they (vangaurd) are NOT right’#which was not only never said but wasn’t even what they were talking about#he even admits as much to imogen like ten minutes later! that he is incapable of viewing it objectively#which is 100% justifiable and understandable but simultaneously does not make his grief alone the most important perspective in the world#also bc i fear ppl will play semantics on my tags yes the line ‘i hope she’s right’ was said but it was from ASHTON#who does not believe they are at all and wasn’t saying they actively WERE right. orym just heard something to latch onto and ran with it#ultimately there is a reason orym only admitted that he was struggling when he had stepped away to talk to dorian#who has not been around and thusly has not changed once n orym's eyes#and it isn't that the hells never check in or care. they do. they have several times over#it is dishonest to say they haven't#the actual reason is that all of this is something He Is Aware Of. he doesn't mention it bc he KNOWS it's hypocritical and selfish#he says as much!#EXHALES. @ MY OWN BRAIN CAN WE THINK ABT MOG AGAIN. FYRA RAI EVEN. FOR ME.#posting this literally at 8 in the morning so I can get my thoughts out of my brain but also attempt to immediately make this post invisibl
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freeasfishes · 12 days
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Indiana University, a major university here in the midwest, recently had a faculty meeting that concluded in a "vote of no-confidence" in university president Pamela Whitten as well as two other academic administrators.
Major concernes raised by faculty included "the university’s barring of Abdulkader Sinno, an associate professor, from teaching this spring and summer after he booked space on campus for a Palestine Solidarity Committe-Hosted Event. Docherty wrote Sinno’s suspension letter, which said he might also be fired following continued investigation.
The second incident mentioned was IU Bloomington’s cancellation of a long-planned art exhibition by Samia Halaby, a Palestinian-American abstract artist."
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More quotes below the cut, in case the links decide not to work.
Faculty cannot remove a leader from the university, and Bloomington Faculty Council President Colin Johnson said the vote is advisory.
Faculty often cheered at criticism of Docherty, Shrivastav and Whitten, and Johnson had to remind faculty to maintain order at least once.
Associate Professor Amrita Myers said IU has changed in her 19 years at the university. She said it’s depressing to work at IU.
“It's very difficult to recruit graduate students here,” Myers said. “It's difficult when they look at you in the face and say, ‘Am I going to be safe because I'm transgender? Am I going to be safe as a woman? Am I going to be safe as a Black person or a Latinx person or an indigenous person?’”
Faculty, including those who successfully petitioned for the vote of confidence, have noted fear of retribution from the administration. An unnamed person took the stand to share a message.
“On behalf of all faculty who feel uncomfortable stating their names, on behalf of faculty who are afraid to be in this room, on behalf of all faculty who feel precarious, please don't leave the room,” the speaker said. “Vote.”"
For Whitten, 827 faculty voted for the no-confidence resolution. Twenty-nine opposed the resolution.
There were 804 people who supported the no-confidence resolution against Provost Rahul Shrivastav. Forty-seven faculty voted in opposition.
For Carrie Docherty, the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, 672 faculty voted for a no-confidence resolution, while 107 were against it.
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ddenji · 9 months
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okay this panel is making me insane. there are people out there that denji can relate to because they’ve only ever been used in one way or another. there are people out there denji can relate to because they were under makima’s control. there are people who look up to him for saving them. idk where im going with this but i hope this hybrid community is explored more <3
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volitioncheck · 8 months
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does near every single post-canon DE fic out there need to be tagged ‘Sober Harry Du Bois’? i’m getting so tired of it.
do i expect every single piece of fan content to have to fully delve into the often-depressing always-complex topic of addiction? not really. sometimes you just want to write/read a silly fluffy romance one-shot, whatever. i get it. but i think my issue is specifically with the fact that for nearly every sillyfluffy au out there, there almost must be a ‘sober harry du bois’ tag. and it does feel very slapped-on more often than not.
i think to me it is an unconscious statement that nothing *good* can ever happen to harry du bois until he is completely and permanently sober. before solving the next big case, he has to be sober. before quitting the force, he has to be sober. before falling in love with kim, he has to be sober. before accomplishing anything, starting any sort of recovery, making any life improvement, he must first be sober.
sobriety as a goal, as a journey, and honestly as a concept in of itself is not as cut and dry as so many people think it is. and i think it would serve a lot of people well if they did some introspection on the implications of how nearly every single post-canon fic that isn’t dealing directly with harry’s addiction have him as completely sober instead.
if the plot of the fic isn’t going to touch directly on harry’s substance use (and again, i’m not demanding that every single fic should), why does that mean that sober!harry must be the default?
i think i am just tired of reading a casefic, a smutty one-shot, a fantasy au, whatever, where it almost seems that before getting on with the plot, the author feels obligated to first assure us that the harry we’re reading about is a Sober Harry. it’s established with a couple lines in the exposition, probably about his improved appearance, a tag up top, and then never brought up again; a checkmarked box. like the societal image of An Addict has completely prevented people from being able to imagine a person just, continuing to live life, while still struggling with addiction.
life happens, with all of its backslides and achievements, mundanity and changes, to people with drug addictions just as much as people who don’t. is a post-canon harry who isn’t sober not worth writing about?
i think so. i think the game we all played thinks so too. in fact i think that sentiment is woven into the game’s very core. i just wish i saw that reflected in our fan content more.
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