#this man will put Shakespeare to shame one day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

emilvr · 5 months

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┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ ° boyfriend spencer !

oh lord have mercy this man is sooooo ( ∩ˇωˇ∩)♡all my boyfie spencer thoughts in one place.. <3 this man deserves a happy ending and if cm won’t give it to him i certainly will!! click the link 4 a surprise … & also send me ur spencer reid thoughts before i collapse!!

warnings: just swearing/slight suggestive tones (like smooches..) and gender neutral reader i think !!

spencer, at least— according to derek, is a tough nut to crack. he doesn’t trust easily at all, and the fruits of your labour may not actually show until years down the line. but if there’s one thing about him you could never doubt, is his loyalty to not just you, but his entire team. especially when he tells you, “i’ll do anything you need me to. always.” and the earnest tone he whispers it in, his brown eyes flickering up to meet your [e/c] ones. the soft, glowing warmth of the love of a thousand lifetimes burns bright in his irises and you will find that you simply don’t care how long you have to wait for him to allow you to hold his heart in your hands.

he may not say i love you in the traditional sense; but it is as clear as the turning shades of the leaves in autumn. it’s clear in how he wants to know everything about you: the things you deem mundane and unimportant, the things that make you embarrassed and the things that make you avoid his eyes as you grin childishly. it’s clear in the way he remembers everything, which isn’t all that surprising given:

“did you know i actually have an eidetic memory and an iq of—“

“187. yes i know, spence. what a smart cookie!”

(in response, he flushes always when you coo the words ‘smart cookie’, although in the same breath he will stare at your face and whisper ‘angel’ in your ear like you’ve been sent down from the heavens just for him.)

he treats you like you’re made of delicate rose petals, and a touch that is too forceful will cause you to wither away. his lips graze your cheek gently in a kiss, his fingertips softly pet the top of your head and slowly follow the curve of your cheeks to the slope of your nose. and when you giggle and go “that tickles,” he’ll only grin in response and nestle his nose into the crown of your head and hum knowingly.

although, most infuriatingly, he will not make the first move. now, doesn’t mean he won’t drive you absolutely insane with soft smiles and eyes full of love and want. he puts all of shakespeare’s sonnets to shame, truly. he keeps it up until you break and march over to his apartment with wobbling lips and twinkling irises (and emily’s encouraging “go get ur mans!!!! GET HIM!!!!” text on your phone. her, jj and penelope are the worst enablers ever.) and even then, he stands still (like the whole world has come to a standstill, really) and waits for you to utter the words. he waits, quietly and patiently. his attention is on you.

“it’s okay. you can say it.”

“you’re torturing me here.”

“am i?”

“‘am i?’ i will pretend you never said that, smarty pants. you infuriate me.”

“ooh, big words.”

“hey! i can talk fancy too!”

“mhm, i’m sure you can angel.”

“not fair. i love you, by the way. more like adore you. or any other word you can think of.”

“i can think of a few.”

in the before, he may tease you when you put a hand on his shoulder or trace the outline of his knuckles; but don’t let the teasing trick you. spencer is atrocious. a mess, even— without you. when you get pulled into a case three days before him, he spends the three days with absolutely zero sleep. and when jj and emily (knowingly, grand masterminds!) ask him if he’s doing okay, he just barely grumbles out a: “i can’t sleep without them anymore. feels cold. not right.” jj awe’s at him and clutches her hands close to her chest, whilst emily barks out a laugh and goes “oooh he wants them baaaaad!”

the grumpiest thirty-something year old man you know, by the way. smug as shit, too. lays with you in bed, head on your stomach as you call him pretty.

“but am i the prettiest?”

“oh, absolutely, my love. there is not a man in the land prettier than thou!”

“ … -__- can you ever give me a normal reply.”

“hehe.. absolutely not.”

henry knows all about you. against his will. someone save this boy he knows your birth date and time of birth down to the hour. knows your big three against his will. (despite the fact that spencer says astrology “isn’t scientifically accurate” … my when i’m in a big ass loser contest and my opponent is in-love spencer walter reid….) spencer puts henry to bed and starts rambling:

“the other day, [y/n] and i were in the kitchen and it suddenly hits me how effortlessly beautiful they are, i mean seriously, i feel sick th—“

“uncle spence. please. i want to go to sleep. i’m gonna call mama.”

“not your mom. please.”

(he tells jj and will when they get back from their date. you wake up to 23 text messages from jj saying “marry this nerd please henry can’t do this anymore!!!”)

also may i propose: classical music lover spencer, rock music lover emily, pop music lover jj and [y/n]. spencer absolutely gives you shit for your music taste and jj threatens him by saying she’ll marry you before he does. he goes pale at the thought. goes even paler when jj starts calling you “her darling baby” … your whole relationship is tug of war between jj, emily and spencer. spencer won’t try tug of war with derek like ok whatever you say handsome!!!

also, there have been many times spencer has woken up in the morning and reached his hand out to stroke your cheek and give you a kiss, when halfway he opens one eye and sees either jj or emily sleeping behind you. he’s the third wheel. in his own relationship.

and it’s all great until you give emily or jj too much attention and he starts sulking at home like… bitch you are in your thirties. and then you have to kiss all over his face and jokingly (or not???) call him your ‘pookie’… he sticks his tongue out and goes ‘bleurgh!!!!!” but we all know he loves it. silly scorpio man is fooling no one.

also read: candid photos of him where he always looks good ??? and when you mutter “you make me sick.” he takes it seriously and you spend the next week buying him his favourite donuts and kissing him until his cheeks go pink. most dramatic man ever!!! now does he pretend to be upset so you kiss him all the time… who knows.

he also places his forehead on yours when he gets overwhelmed and can’t calm down. and starts giggling when you go “helllooooooo!!” but in like, the way where your voice hits several octaves. a very, very giggly boy around you. and he also always has cold hands, and goes “oh no sweetie looks like i have to hold your hands!” (emily makes a gagging sound)

but truly, he is the softest man /ever/. when you two lay in bed at night and he leans down to kiss you, he goes so slowly that his eyelashes brush against yours and your chest starts to throb with how fast your heart is beating. he leans forward slowly and the kiss he presses to your lips is so soft that you squeeze your eyes closed because looking at him sends you into cardiac arrest. doesn’t kiss you much in public, but the way he looks at you makes up for it. eyes crinkled in the corner, brown irises reflecting your beauty as if you’ve been blessed by aphrodite herself. his chest lifts and trembles slightly, index finger twitching with the need to hold yours <3 (emily catches him in the act and she grins, then goes ‘booooo’ and cackles how he’s ‘whipped’ — which makes derek’s head snap up.)

also he absolutely calls you bunny and pretty like no one say a word to me… bunny is the cutest term of endearment ever im gonna throw up and throw myself down the damn stairs!!!

&&— marriage is absolutely in the cards for you two. he looks down at you, chin tilted, and he can’t imagine a future where he doesn’t watch you style your hair every morning or watch you grumble over a stain that won’t come out of one of his cardigans. (“spence, baby, you got anymore sweaters that need washed? i’m putting a woollens wash on!” and he blushed a soft fuchsia and has to resist the urge to cradle your face in his palms.)

although he has faced many tragedies and painful memories in his life, you’re his solace. the pain of his father leaving, his mother’s illness, prison, his drug addiction— you provide him with the normalcy and soft, angelic happiness that makes him smile until his cheeks hurt.

spencer (look at the absolute beauty i pulled by being an autistic nerd) walter reid <3

#spencer reid #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #spencer reid x reader

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dyns33 · 1 year

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Good uncles prequel

Last Sandman and Good Omens crossover.

When Y/N came to visit Aziraphale in his bookshop, he was a little surprised. Of course, he was always happy to see his dear niece, little Antichrist who had chosen not to destroy the world, but most of the time it was him or Crowley who went to see her, and if the reverse happened, that meant that something was going on.

"I need advice." she said, looking desperate.

"And you come to see me... Me ? Just me ?"

"Yes. I think the divine and good side is most appropriate in this situation."

"Oh, sweet heaven, this is the best day of my long life. Sit down my child, I'm bringing tea and biscuits !"

Aziraphale's joy faded a bit when Y/N explained to him that she was here because of a man. A man she liked to spend time with, whose discussions were very pleasant, and with whom she hoped there would be more.

"... When you say 'more'... You're talking about becoming his best friend ?" "No. I love him."

"And that's very good ! Love is a noble feeling, which God encourages. We must love all the beings who populate the earth. But there are also the dangers of sins, and lust..."

"Uncle Aziraphale, I'm an adult, I don't need that kind of explanation. To be honest, I don't have those kind of thoughts. Well, I won't be against it, but what I really want is to always be with him, and to let everyone know that we are together, faithful to each other."

"Ah, the sacred bonds of marriage, good !"

"I don't know about the wedding yet. His niece told me he was married before and..."

"He is divorced !" cried the angel, putting a hand to his mouth. "That's not... Wait. His niece ? How old is he ?!"

"I'll tell you again, I'm an adult, so it's none of your business. Anyway, I don't even know if he's even interested in me that way. He didn't do anything to show me that we were more than just friends. And that worries me. Should I tell him how I feel ? But if he doesn't love me back ? If he doesn't want to see me anymore ? I don't want to lose him. But if I say nothing, and he meets someone else ? Oh, uncle, help me, please !"

The best advice he could give her was to be patient. It was nice that they were already friends, it was a good start, and at some point Y/N could clearly see if she had a chance with this man.

"What about... my situation ? Do you think I should tell him ?"

“Probably not right away, but after a while... Yes, by finding the right words. A relationship cannot go well with secrets and lies. You have to be appreciated for who you really are."

"Thank you Uncle Aziraphale."

"Thank you for coming to seek guidance from an angel."

He would probably have been much less pleased to learn that a few days later, Y/N knocked on Uncle Crowley's door, to ask him exactly the same questions, considering that it was good to have several opinions, but not telling the demon that she was to see Aziraphale first.

"You made the right decision coming to see me, little mouse. Tell me everything." purred Crowley, offering her a glass of wine.

"Well. There is this man."

"Ah. I wish you had started with a simpler sin, but if we're going to have this conversation..."

"It's really not necessary ! Anyway. There is this man, who is not really a man, I think."

"You think ?"

"Well, he's one of my friends' uncle."

"A sugar daddy, very good."

"Uncle Crowley !" Y/N growled, grimacing in shame. "It's not like that at all. He's young. Anyway, he looks young. I thought so until yesterday. I met a friend of his, we talked and he was surprised that I don't like Shakespeare. Without doing it on purpose, I said that my uncles had met him, that he was a complete idiot, and that they often had to help him with his plays, and you know what he said ? 'I have a friend who did that too !' Hob is over six hundred years old, Uncle Crowley ! And his friend is the man I love. Maybe... Maybe that's a good sign ? It's better for me to love a supernatural being, right ? You know, with my... heritage ?"

"It depends. Many people are afraid of Lucifer, so the Antichrist ? There would only be someone very nice, or a satanic not to run away, but a satanic could be bad. I'm not talking about real satanics, but about the fools who do what the demons ask them to do, they're the worst. That's my advice."

Crowley's advice was of course the exact opposite of what Aziraphale had told Y/N. For him, she had to act quickly, do everything to seduce the man she wanted, but she shouldn't tell him what she was. Either way, she had no intention of destroying the world, so it didn't really matter who found out who her real parent was, her adoptive parents were more than enough.

It didn't take long for the two uncles to discover that their adorable niece had consulted them both, and her conclusion was that it was necessary to do a little what they had said, but not completely.

Y/N therefore made the decision to be patient with the being who had stolen her heart, flirting so and so innocently to let him guess that she was not indifferent to him. She implied that she was not a normal human, but never mentioned hell. It seemed like a good decision, which they approved.

Then she invited them to meet her dear friend.

The meeting did not happen, because as they arrived near the pub, the angel and the demon saw someone who should not have been there.

"What is Dream of the Endless doing in a place like this ?" whispered Aziraphale.

"He's walking around, and it's a coincidence ? Right ?"

"I don't know. He... He's talking with people. Mortals."

"Probably servants, helping him out in the waking world."

"One of the human servants is talking with our Y/N."

"I know, he calls himself Hob, and she's in love with his friend who doesn't like Shakespeare ! She's not… No. No." Crowley sighed in despair when his niece went to sit next to Morpheus, looking at him with sparkling eyes and a huge smile.

It was a real disaster.

Of all the beings existing in this universe, and the others, Y/N had to meet and fall in love with Dream of the Endless. He hadn't had as many conquests as his sibling Desire, but he could still be considered a womanizer, whose stories didn't have very nice endings.

A bad ending could lead to the end of the world, if Y/N was not at the origin of the break up. Or if she was, and he tried to send her to hell.

"We have to tell her." growled the snake.

"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't get involved. She's smart, and he may have already told her about his past."

"Please. He's ashamed of this past, and he's a proud man. She doesn't know anything. I know ! I saw Nada ! I saw his son. I talked to a witch who wanted to offer me a deal to get revenge on him !"

"It is true that Calliope was very unhappy after their separation. Oh, the divorce, of course ! The fairy queen is also still furious with him. And there are all the others."

"We must tell her who he is, and especially how he is with women. I refuse that she suffers because of an Endless !"

"I don't want her to suffer in general. But she really loves him, and love can make you blind. We have to find the right approach, so that she considers it would be a good thing if they were only friends."

It then seemed judicious to them to go to the essential, preparing a long speech on what was an Endless, and especially Dream. A cold, distant being, who focused on his work above all else, therefore not being available to anyone. And to avoid scattering, they chose to tell her that all his former relationships had been tragic, but to really only talk about Nada, who was trapped in Hell.

It was quite appropriate, and close to home. Y/N would certainly not want to end up here, where she would have to meet her parent.

And as always, whenever they had a great plan, things didn't go their way at all.

#sandman #good omens #morpheus #morpheus x reader #dream of the endless #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless imagine #dream of the endless fanfiction #crowley #aziraphale

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jupitercomet · 1 year

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Idk if you plan to make the story long enough to see this, but…. What would any of our boxer boys look like on their wedding day? What would they be like on the day they find out they're going to be dads for the first time? Or what would they be like holding their baby for the first time?

okay so I don't think the actual series is going to be long enough to reach those points, but here are some baby blurbs about it instead :)

p.s. this is so long, I'm sorry I went overboard

wedding:

Bradley would not be having the greatest day ever, if we're being honest. everyone was very firm on the tradition that he and Toots can't see each other until the first look so they spent the night apart and Bradley is going through withdrawal. the photographer was taking pictures of all the groomsmen getting ready and she was like "...do you...want to smile?" because Bradley's just getting ready with a big ol' frown.

honestly, Bradley isn't really smiling in any of the photos but there's a stark difference between his glower and borderline pout and the small twitch of his lips and the look of pure love in his eyes when he gets to see Toots finally.

Bradley literally has three friends and he'd eat glass before admitting that two of them are Bob and Jake, so Natasha is his best (wo)man.

Toots wanted a pretty fancy looking wedding, it'd be in the autumn, probably in the ballroom of a nice hotel. their first dance would be to "My Girl" by The Temptations (it was Bradley's idea, don't tell anyone).

Jake would 100% be bridezilla. like Angel's just thanking all of the staff and Jake's about to hyperventilate because he definitely requested baby blue napkins and those are light blue and now the theme is off and the wedding is ruined. but that would all come to a screeching halt when something actually does end up going wrong with Angel's dress and (it's basically that scene from Pam and Jim's wedding because I think it's the cutest thing ever) Jake's like "fuck tradition, my girl needs me" so they don't have a photographed first look but Angel takes a mental picture. everything goes smoothly after that and Jake has half a bow tie.

if everyone thought Jake was annoying before, at the reception he's a thousand times worse. anytime Angel is away from him, he's talking to people like "see that girl over there? the one who looks like heaven on earth? that's my wife!" and Bradley's like "....literally every single person here know that".

obviously Javy is his best man and Harley is the ring bearer.

they have a summer wedding, probably at the beach and then the reception is in a big grassy area looking out on the ocean with a big white tent. their first dance would be to "Dancing in the Moonlight" by Toploader.

Bob would be so nervous, like Mickey's just holding a hairdryer to his pits and yelling over it "you're fine, Bo! It's gonna be fine, you got this!" finally Adler gives him a little pep talk and Bob feels like he's ready. 100% he cries when when Sweet Pea walks down the aisle. they both decided to write their own vows and his put Shakespeare to shame.

people don't really hear Bob laugh that often, so everyone's in for a surprise when he's giggling the entire reception. like he's laughing the loudest at all the speeches and everyone's like "???" but Bob would just turn to Sweet Pea every few seconds and whisper (very loudly) "you're my wife! Mickey just called you my wife!" Sweet Pea literally has to figure out how to eat with her non-dominant hand because Bob refuses to let go of her other one.

Mickey's his best man and Eloise bakes their wedding cake.

Sweet Pea wanted a cottagecore wedding, Bob said "I don't know what that means, but whatever you want" and it's in the spring in a really pretty flower garden. their first dance is to "I Am Yours" by Andy Grammer.

when they're gonna be dads:

Bradley finds out via a gift bag Toots made for him. like he pulls out a couple bibs and is like "your gift to me is that you're gonna stop being a messy eater? these look a little small for you" and Toots is like 😐 but she knew this was gonna happen she has another box that's more obvious. and Bradley looks at it for like a minute before he goes "really?" and Toots is like "yeah" and Bradley says "I'm gonna be a dad?" Toots is like "yeah" and Bradley looks at the box again and then covers his eyes with his hand.

Toots starts freaking out internally like "is he disappointed? does he not want a baby?" and then she finally realizes that Bradley's crying and so she's like "it's okay, don't cry" and hugs him, but now his head is against her chest and he can stare at her stomach, and he kind of wipes his eyes and is like "our baby's in there?" and Toots kisses the top of his head, "our baby's in there" and the rest of the day is spent with his hands on her stomach and Bradley refusing to let Toots do anything.

(everything's fine until Bradley wakes up in a cold sweat that night because he's always loved their size difference, but now Toot's is gonna have to push his big ass baby out of her tiny ass body and Toots has to sign them up for birthing classes together just to get him to go back to bed)

honestly, I don't see Angel and Jake having kids. Angel's got a lot of family stuff that just makes her anxious about even the idea and Jake's always been pretty impartial to the idea of kids, so they both agree that children aren't in the cards for them. they've probably had one or two pregnancy scares though, so Angel's probably had to tell Jake that he's not gonna be a dad.

"negative?" he'd be waiting in the bedroom while Angel does her thing and she nods "negative" at which point Jake gets up and is like "hell yeah! high five!" and Angel just looks at him before giving him a begrudging high five.

"thanks, guys! makin' daddy proud!"

"please don't refer to yourself as 'daddy' when you're talking to your testicles."

Sweet Pea does the "bun in the oven" one, like she asks Bob if he'd take what she was baking out of the oven for her and a minute later Bob's walking into the living room all confused like "did you bake this? it looks bought? also the oven wasn't even on" and Sweet Pea just looks at him expectantly and Bob's like "what? I don't get it. should I know why you put a bun in the oven.... wait—" and Bob literally drops the bun like "are you serious?" and Sweet Pea nods excitedly like "you're gonna be a dad, Bobby!"

Bob doesn't even know what to do with himself, he's hugging Sweet Pea and then pulling away to look at her tummy and then hugging her again. he definitely talks to Sweet Pea's stomach the whole day regardless of if she's showing yet or not and he calls the baby "pea".

when they hold their baby:

so Bradley and Toots have a girl because how could I deprive you of girl dad Bradley Bradshaw? and luckily she took after her mom more in terms of size so the birth wasn't as strenuous as Bradley had been freaking out over. but everything went smoothly and baby Bradshaw is perfectly healthy.

Bradley never told Toots this, but he was kind of worried their baby might be scared of him. like he's big and intimidating and babies don't really like him all that much, so he was expecting his baby to not like him either. with everything going on, he's able to evade holding his daughter for a while. though he obviously wants to, he way too scared she'll hate him to try. but he can escape it no longer when Toots is sleeping and (I named her Caroline after Carol but baby names are so strongly divided so name her whatever you want lol) baby Bradshaw is starting to get fussy.

obviously Toots needs her rest so Bradley kind of bites the bullet and picks his daughter up for the first time and he waits for her to just burst out crying, because that's what usually happens with him and babies, but instead she starts cooing and she smiles at him. and Bradley just watches in awe as she wraps her little hands around one of his fingers, before starting to fall asleep herself (our girl's had a big day today). after that, people literally couldn't pry her from Bradley's cold, dead hands.

as previously stated, Jake and Angel don't have kids so I'll write about when Jake adopted Harley lmao. just for funsies, let's say he went to the same shelter that Toots works at! and if we're being honest, he wants a dog, but he also kinda wants a scary looking one for the aesthetic. so when he sees a listing for a doberman puppy, Jake's intrigued.

he was kind of looking for an older dog, but Jake thought he'd check him out anyway. as he's walking with the volunteer, they kind of warn him that Harley's (or I guess in the shelter he was called Ajax) friendly when he warms up to people but he's usually a little shy in the first couple minutes of visiting. they also encourage Jake to sit on the floor to appear less intimidating. so Jake was fully not prepared for this puppy to hesitantly pad into the room, see him, and then bolt straight for him, wriggle under his shirt and pop out the neck hole to greet Jake excitedly.

obviously, Jake had to adopt him.

when he took him home for the first time, Jake was still on the fence about the name Ajax. the shelter said that he didn't really know it so Jake could change it if he wanted to. he shows the puppy around his place and they get to the garage and he's sniffing all around Jake's motorcycle and Jake's like "you like motorcycles?" because day one he's already having conversations with his dog "yeah, me too. one day I'm gonna get a Harley-Davidson" and the puppy just perks up and starts wagging his tail and propping himself up on Jake's leg. and, thus, Harley.

baby Floyd would be a boy (bugs name of choice: Noah, like The Notebook). baby boy's also very happy and healthy and there were no complications with his birth.

Bob grew up with just his mom, so he's been having a few inner spirals about whether or not he even knows how to be a dad. Sweet Pea always reassures him that he'll be a wonderful dad and the man went out and bought every parenting book every written and has them highlighted and annotated, Sweet Pea's like "our kid is gonna be so lucky to have you as their dad".

Bob keeps it together while Sweet Pea's holding baby Pea, they're all crammed in the hospital bed just cooing and looking at each other. but when Sweet Pea truly can't fight her exhaustion anymore Bob takes baby Floyd from her and starts whispering about all the things he's gonna do with him that he never got to do with his own dad and making all these promises that he wished his dad made for him. and it's definitely bittersweet, but Bob knows he isn't going to make his dad's mistakes and that his son is going to grow up with a father who loves him.

and, like he understood what his dad was saying, baby boy puts his hand on Bob's chest to explore the feeling of his t-shirt — right where Bob's heart it. and Bob smiles and settles back in his chair.

"hey pea, let's play 20 questions while momma sleeps, yeah?"

#bradley bradshaw x toots #jake seresin x angel #bob floyd x sweet pea #under the hard deck #buggy's got a pen

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oh-my-damn · 1 month

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Feminist Icon-ism

I once posted on here that Taylor Swift is a feminist icon and then got told by some random anonymous person in the comments that she was far from it.

At the time, I paid it no mind – because isn't this the eternal struggle women have always had to go through? Isn't this in fact what Taylors song "The Man" is about?

"And everyone believes ya.. What's that like?"

But now I am rewatching The Eras Tour for the perhaps literally 100th time at this point and I am ready to make my rebuttal.

Unsurprisingly, it has to do with not only the patriarchy, and society, but the main man himself, the main character in many women's nightmare, Donald Trump.

The man who paved the way for a collapse of an already dysfunctional country that did and to some extend still do believe themselves to be superior in the western world, despite every empirical fact and piece of evidence telling them otherwise.

Donald Trump was an 80's icon. And then he went on to become a reality show and movie icon and then later graduated into simply being "an icon."

And this is the only reason he was elected president. Being someone born from money who had never had to struggle or work hard for his wealth, someone who decided to spend his family wealth on building a giant ugly building in New York and then tricked them into letting him skip taxes for forty years became an icon for "accomplishing" that.

The Trump Tower was legendary, Donald Trump was known around the world as the "savy" businessman he was claimed to be, despite never being any of the sort.

And then he was elected President, despite having never, ever, accomplished anything that wasn't outright handed to him, despite not having a career in politics, despite having committed several sexual assaults, and despite the fact he once said in an interview, to the world and the country he would become President of in the future, that were he ever to lose his fortune he would run for President and he would do so as a Republican because they will believe anything you tell them.

This man was elected President of one of the biggest superpowers of the world. And now, after being accused and convicted of countless crimes from before and during his presidency, he is still in the running to become President of the United States for a second time.

How does this all tie in to Taylor Swift, you might ask?

Well, the answer is simple.

Taylor Swift worked hard and fought for every single thing she has. She writes her own songs, and sings them herself, and has done so since day one. She started her career as a teenager, a fucking child, and powered through a grown man stealing away her moment because he was drunk and high and delusional – and she handled that moment with more class than most people could ever even fathom. As a teenager.

Her lyrics as they stand right now are literal spoken poetry, to a degree that people are unable to tell her lyrics apart from Shakespeare.

She has millions of fans around the world, she has worked tirelessly and relentlessly for what she has, and despite being one of the most famous people on the entire planet, you cannot find a single story of her out there where she seemed or acted ungrateful. She is humble and grateful for the millions of people who support her.

She was shamed and cancelled and took it all in stride, despite never actually doing what she was accused of, and she came back stronger than ever after it.

She is a feminist icon because she is just an ICON. But unfortunately, as it stands in 2024, we still need to put "feminist" in front of it because female empowerment and success is still an actual accomplishment and not just an ordinary expectation.

So yes. She is a feminist icon. In fact, she is an icon in general, and she is a hell of a lot better than a lot of the icons we have seen these past 100 years, even. She is an incredible inspiration who worked so hard for what she has accomplished, and both men and women are inspired and in awe by her every day, despite her career starting over 18 years ago.

Is she perfect? No, of course not, but why would you expect her to be? Would you honestly, truly, expect the same of anyone else?

The answer is no. Because you don't. You don't hold others accountable or expect the same as you do from her, even the ones working in the same field as she does. Where is your outrage against Justin Bieber, or Drake or even fucking Kanye West, who, might I add, is still being defended despite his anti-semitic remarks?

What's the major difference here? Please, do enlighten me. Because she does the exact same thing as those people do in regards to performance and portrayal of the brand she has created for herself, the major difference here is that she DOES IT BETTER and she is a WOMAN.

You never expected Donald Trump to act the way you expect Taylor to, yet you still adored him and labelled him an icon of New York. And then you elected him President.

Taylor Swift is more than just a feminist icon, because she goes way beyond that, but the world is not ready for that conversation yet, since it continues to excuse the behavior of men at their whim, yet shame women even if they do way more than said men ever could.

#mandy rants #taylor swift #feminist icon #icon #iconic #donald trump #patriarchy #the united states #the us #politics #swiftie #taylor nation #taylorswift #taylor #republicans

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cbs-scorpion-coffee-shop · 7 months

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Blind Love

Has anyone noticed the parallels between Walter and Paige's relationship and Romeo and Juliet's relationship? I mean the original Shakespeare version, not any other version.

They're both 3 years apart. (Romeo's 16 and Juliet's 13, Walter's 35 and Paige's 32).

The man exits a relationship before the story begins (Romeo with Rosette and Walter with Janice).

There's even a scene of Romeo and Juliet that Walter acts out flawless in S2E11, and just the way Walter talks seems like someone who's read the works of Shakespeare.

More important than that, Romeo and Juliet don't actually love each other. They have a blind obsession with each other. A "violent delight" as the story puts it. It distorts their perception of themselves, each other and those around them, and eventually costs them everything.

Romeo is obsessed with Juliet the moment he lays eyes on her. He had just been pining for Rosette, thinking that he will never find an equal for her, and he would've continued to be so if not told by his friend to see Juliet.

Juliet is charmed by Romeo the moment she meets him, and conceives this image of him being a flawless man.

Over the course of the story, Romeo and Juliet go to further and further lengths for each other despite barely knowing each other, turning against their families, breaking the law and eventually they kill themselves when they think the other had died.

Their obsession with eachother makes them fail to realize how fickle, emotional and full of bullshit Romeo is, how Juliet is a young, foolish girl who would turn on her family for a boy she didn't know (if she would do that then she would turn on Romeo one day), how their families, despite being in conflict with each, wanted nothing but good for them, how they barely know other and have had two good conversations in their entire lifes, and how increasingly stupid their actions became over the story.

Walter and Paige's characters are a little deeper.

Walter had been unloved for most of his life due to the way he is. He meets Ralph who he relates to, and Paige who treats him with kindness and care. He perceives her to the woman of his dreams who can love him like no one does. Which she is.

Paige's father was a single, heartbroken and miserable dad. Her mother had left her. Her ex-husband had left her to take care of her son for years. Her entire life, she had been let down by figures who were supposed to be taking care of her. She meets Walter who gives her a stable job, a family, ends most of her struggles and loves her son as his own. She perceives him as the person who will fulfill all of her needs. Which he is.

However there are two problems. 1-Walter thinks that in order to be loved, he has to be someone else. 2-Paige thinks that in order to be loved, she has to be important.

So, when Walter, out of his fear, tells Paige to change him using scorpion as an excuse, and Paige, out of her fear, complies using her son's future and wellbeing as an excuse, things take a turn for the worse.

Walter becomes obsessed with who he thinks Paige is, while Paige becomes obsessed who she thinks Walter can be. They slowly go from helping and appreciating each other, to unintentionally hurting and sabotaging each other, and eventually breaking each others' heart.

Walter and Paige's obsession with each blinded them from the fact that Walter was the person Paige loved, and his constant changing made her subconsciously hold contempt for who he became. It blinded Paige from the fact that she was wanted and loved by everyone on Scorpion, and her lying, berating and humiliating of Walter made him fire her. It blinded Walter from how stupid, childish and downright shameful some of his actions were in S3. It blinded Paige from the fact that besides her failed marriage with Drew, and her short relationship with Tim, she has little to no experience in having a healthy romantic relationship or in even having a person that loves her and is willing to take care of her, and that she had no business telling Walter how to be a boyfriend.

That blindness eventually turned them into people that neither of them wanted to be. Walter into someone vulnerable, nervous, people-pleasing, gullible and full of shit sometimes, and Paige into someone emotional, fickle, hurtful, manipulative and lacks decency on several occasions.

I think Walter and Paige's characters were supposed to be a version of Romeo and Juliet that actually love each other in the end, but even all that could have been written so much better.

Anyways, that's my two cents on this theory.

#cbs scorpion #walter o'brien #paige dineen #scorpion cbs #romeo and juliet #shakespeare #I really wanna hear people's thoughts on this.#Although I don't think many people have actually read Romeo and Juliet.

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behind-the-scenes-22 · 1 year

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Empathy of the Endless AU

Dream and Hob are in love, finally realizing after their 2021/2022 meeting and start a relationship. It's not easy, but it's worth it as Hob is the human equivalent/incarnate of Hope and he pairs rather well with Dream in that aspect as hopes and dreams are each a part of humanity.

Some time later, Dream falls pregnant (He's the Shaper of Forms as he transforms into a woman and cat in the comic and not technically a man, plus cosmic and supernatural) with his and Hob's first child together. A life born to hope and dreams. Clearly, the child will be meant for great things, even if they are a hybrid. And they are already so loved by their parents.

In the Dreaming, one day, Dream goes into labor and births the child there (another unique aspect of the child, the embodiment of hopes and dreams). However, Dream wishes to have his child see the Waking World right after the birth to meet their human parent.

In the nursery that Hob made, he finds Dream in a rocking chair, holding a bundle in his arms after hearing cooing and sweet little noises. Dream introduces Hob to their daughter. Hob, in awe, is handed the little girl. She looks like him with her brown eyes and tufts of light brown hair that will surely darken, but she has soft opal-white skin from her Endless parent.

Dream introduces her as Marlowe (for in 1589, Hob declared that Kit Marlowe was a damn good playwright, plus the name is adorable) and Hob is stunned. Who knew his Stranger was listening to him?

(In your face, Shakespeare, Hob thinks, not for the first time as Dream chose him to love).

Marlowe is a unique and lovely girl, but Dream and Hob don't know what she represents, not fully. Clearly, she is the physical manifestation of hopes and dreams due to being their daughter.

As she grows older, however, Marlowe shows her purpose and function. She listens to those around her and passes no judgment, she easily communicates with people and offers a new perspective. She experiences physical pain whenever another person is in pain, especially emotional. She is able to take away one's immense emotional pain into herself, while also showing that pain is a part of life, even necessary at times. Marlowe is so understanding of humans and all other beings that she puts Death fo shame for all her kindness.

It isn't until Marlowe's 4th birthday that Destiny visits and says that Marlowe is the first child of an Endless and a human to have a concept physically represented. He comes to the conclusion that Marlowe is Empathy of the Endless, a being filled to the brim with compassion, kindness, empathy, and understanding, all without judgment or disgust. She is the balance between humanity and other beings on every plane meant to bring harmony.

Marlowe's "true name" stuns her parents, most notably Dream due to his brooding nature and cruelty at times, but Hob assures him that that is exactly what a child of hope and dreams is: Empathy. She is unique because of both perspectives as a human and an Endless. The best of both worlds.

Marlowe's abilities as an Empath are not just for humans, but all beings, especially her Endless relatives. Dream is the one she gravitates most to for all the cruelty thrown at him, especially during the 1900s where he was kept prisoner.

Despite being young, Marlowe is aware of her function and purpose. Knows the burden, but finds that everyone could use a little compassion, a little empathy. For she is Empathy of the Endless, the daughter of hopes and dreams and she wouldn't have it any other way.

She was born for the Endless to understand humanity better and none needed that more than Dream of the Endless.

#the sandman 2022 #the sandman #the sandman netflix #dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #hob x dream

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blackhakumen · 9 months

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Mini Fanfic #1123: Sharin' the View Together (Persona 4 Arena)

7:34 p.m. at Shichiri Beach........

Teddie: (Let's Out a Relaxed Sigh as He Watches the Sunset Alongside his Girlfriend Labyrs) Isn't the sunset beautiful in this time of day, Labby-chan?~

Labrys: Sure is. It's bright, orange, shows off it's reflection on the ocean pretty well. Kinda makes ya forget that summer's about to come to a close.

Teddie: (Places his Hand Onto his Chest in a Very Dramatic Fashion) 'Tis a shame for a joyous season to come to a tragic end!~ And even bigger shame that I, Teddie Haramura III, have fail to achieve my goal to become big and muscular!~ And less scary than Kanji-Kun.

Kanji: (In the Distance) Oi!

Labrys: (Snickers at her Overly Dramatic Boyfriend) Simmer down a bit there, Shakespeare, there's always next year. And I'm sure you'll be able to grow a muscle or two one of these days, not like need 'em to begin with.

Teddie: (Sits Back Down) Yeah, but have you seen Inaba's Finest Weekly? (Picks the Magazine Up Beside Him and Shkws Labyrs a Page or Two) Research states that over hundred ladies would rather go out with guys who are more manly and have beary huges muscles and biceps than those with skinny bones.

Labrys: (Shrugs) Then that's their preference, ain't no changing that. (Forms a Seductive Smirk on her Face) But me personally, I like my man sweet, handsome, a little on the skinny side....(Playfully and Gently Pinches Teddie's Cheek) And an overall cutie~

Teddie: (Giggles Ticklishly While Blushing) Oho Labby-Chan!~ You always know how to make my day even more brighter with your kind words~

Labrys: (Smiles Brightly) Well, everything I say is the truth, ain't it? I love ya to pieces, Ted!~

Teddie: And I love you pieces as well, my dear magnifique princesse~

Labrys: Ah~ I see your French is startin' to get better there~

Teddie: (Smiles Proudly as He Begins to Sparkle) You notice~ I work my absolute hardest to perfect my fluent in the language of romance!~

Labyrs: (Goes Back to Smirk) Just to try and impress me?~

Teddie: (Let's Out a Loud Gasps Before Pouting and Turning Away woth his Arms Crossed) To become a respectful gentleman, thank you! ('Sighs in Defeat') But to....also impress you, yes.

Labrys: (Chuckles Lightly as Put her Her Arm Around Her Teddie and Pull Him into Loving Hug) You are such a casanova dork!~ But I appericate your efforts though~

Labrys starts kissing up on Teddie's cheek, causing him to giggle once more, for a few seconds before taking a look back at the bright, orange sunset in question.

Labrys: ('Sigh') But yeah, the sunset here does look gorgeous. 'Sure 24 would love to see this too.

Teddie: (Turns to Labrys With a Bit of a Confused Look on his Face) 24?

Labrys: She's a friend of mine from way back, the first friend I've ever made to be exact. (Begins to Frown) A friend who's......not here with us right now.

Teddie: (Frowns as Well as He Realizes What Labrys Meant by her Wording) Oh no....I'm so sorry for your loss, Labby-Chan.

Labrys: (Smiles a Bit Sadly at her Boyfriend) Thanks, 'hun, but really, don't worry it. It's been like, what? A few years since she been gone? I've already made my peace with that since then. (Looks Back at the Sunset) And I'm definitely sure she wouldn't want me to sit around and mope about it all day n' night. Best I can do is to honor her wish and keep livin' my life forward from here, till the bitter end or whateva'..

Teddie: (Gives Labrys a Reassuring Hug and Smile) And I'll be more than happy to stand by and live through life with ya, Labby-Chan. There's still a lot we don't know about the world around us, but I'm 1005% positive that we'll get to experience all of it in no time!~

Labrys: (Snickers Some More) Don'tcha think you lotta percentage ya got there, Ted?

Teddie: Why, of course!~ How else am I gonna show you how beary serious I am?

Labrys: Welllllll, you could be a gentleman and give momma some kisses~

Teddie: Hmmmm....... Seems like a pretty tall order. (Smirks Seductively) But if it's a request made by my beloved knight princesse, then who am I to refuse?~ (Starts Kissing Up on his Girlfriend)

Labrys: (Giggles Ticklishly by Teddie's Love and Kisses) Your French is startin' to lose it's edge already, Teddie Bear!~

????: Hey! Lovebirds!

The couple cease their romantic antics for a sec as their turn their attention to Kanji, Naoto and Nanako in the mid distance, picking up their stuff for today.

Kanji: We're about leave soon, so quit foolin' around already!

Nanako: (Smiles Brightly) Dad just called. He already sliced up the watermelon for us! Cone on!~

Teddie: Oooh!~ Watermelon Slices!~ (Gets Up From his Seat)

Labrys: What do they test like again? Been wantin' to test onr for myself, but I never got around into doin' so before.

Teddie: It's only the most yummiest fruit ever made on this planet!~ Unless you put salt on it. Then it'll taste salty and bitter. (Offers Labrys his Hand)

Labrys: (Accepts her Boyfriend's Gesture as He Helps Get Herself Up on her Feet) Really now? And does it has the same taste effect when ya put pepper on it?

Teddie: (Starts Walking Towards His Friends While Holding Onto his Girlfriend's Hand) You know, I'm not sure. Yousuke used to forbid me from laying a single finger on the pepper shake, so I never know what it'll taste. Ooh! Do you think we should combine that with the salt with one of our slices when we get back?

Labrys: Teddie, that's the craziest idea you ever thought of. (Smiles Brightly) I'm in.

Teddie: Ye!~

@princekirijo

@italian-love-cake

@keyenuta

@albion-93

@caleb13frede

@cyber-wildcat

#persona 4 #labrys #teddie #kanji tatsumi #nanako dojima #naoto shirogane #beach time #cute romance #lots of fuff #teddie x labrys #sunset watching

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dexaroth · 8 months

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erm. talking abt steven universe. thoughts. yknow the.. Drill. teehehe

ok so i spent the last. 4? days binge-watching su after watching a yt vid that was titled 'in defense of steven universe' and a bit of the followup vid partly bc i was healing from my neck pain but also because i was super into the show when i was like 14 and like. the vids were well. Defending su from the 3 vids with millions of views that changed the whole overall opinion on the show and i was like damn! i vaguely remember watching something and changing my mind about su.. and probably getting bullied for liking su on google plus too lol.

its.. old enough to be nostalgic and worth of a revisit! after all i remember it being so nice and chill..! and cozy.. oh how i missed the piano song after each episode... that SOMEHOW kept being replaced by erm.. Not Better ones. and i remember that very much!

what i dont remember exactly was the capital D Discourse but i remember it was a thing. there were vids that, looking back, i cant tell if they were ironic? talking about oh gee whee steeveni forgave the war criminals! theyre nazis how could he! and and and..... . good lird.

i kinda wanted to talk abt this bc its just so.. idiotic. ive watched up until season 5 and i just finished the movie and holy shit what kind of brain worm got into peoples mind to take su so fucking seriously

it just. it was such a big thing. everyone up in arms about it. about a...

kids show.

i dont say that lightly because there are so many interests of mine that are considered childish but are complex and engaging if people didnt overlook it so much but.. this? seriously? this was what it was all about?

its fun. and cheesy and goofy. there were some parts that i went Oh Cmon! but like, its a cmon in a funny way. like yeah this could have been done better but its. a kids show. and a lot of episodes just end when theyre about to get good because of the limited time they have...

its so weird. This. is what all that was for. and thats just the usual me not knowing about anything popular nowadays besides hearing the news of when someone involved in the show was harassed off twitter or something.. and all the discourse back then of course. for this.

i dont knoww how to put this into words its so ridiculoussss

every day that passes i start to hate fandom even more.. that word already irritates me but the extent to which people elevate things. take things so out of context. bend everything to their will to the point of being unrecognizable. W H Y what do you get from this

its fucking steven universe this is such a cute show and its even better than i remember it being and that was the fucking reception it got..? for this..? ..insane. fetid even. and to think their poison got to me when i was that young.. how many people did to have this kind of rot spread to them. no wonder i have shame issues when this is the kind of reaction thats just completely expected of everyone. fucking hell

the (um. spoilers. ) diamonds being like ohhh steeviinn let us adore you!! aueough we spent like 7 episodes trying different types of nukes on you but were friends now!! is like haha thats cute. a bit rushed and cheesy but in a fun way. and people Lost Their SHIT about it good LORD how are they not cramming shakespeare into the gem cartoon! how come theyre not discussing how rose fucked that old man or whatever the fuck. we must put rebeccas head on a spike for this! //*banging onthis post hello??? is anyobyd thewre?? helppp

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rphelperblog · 2 years

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Brooklyn 99 Quote Rp Meme

inspired by @nctafraid

“Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.”

“Love, it sustains you. It’s like oatmeal.”

“You’re under arrest for ruining something perfect!”

“Every time you talk, I hear that sound that plays when Pac-Man dies.”

“A place where everybody knows your name is hell. You’re describing hell.”

“Two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward.”

“Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place.”

“All men are at least 30% attracted to me. My mother cried the day I was born because she knew she would never be better than me.”

“My Snitches are the best. The key is to always send them handwritten thank-you notes.”

“How did you manage to step on both of my feet at the same time?”

“You can't handle the me!”

Never took off the Speedo. Big mistake. It is inside me!”

“Oh, man, I had a really gross tennis instructor.”

I don't know! I didn't want to make the name too sexual and I panicked!”

That means nothing to me. I don't see those movies, I'm too pretty.”

“Well done, detectives. That is if you were trying to disappoint me.”

“What is the bandwidth on the Wi-Fi here? We have much content to stream.”

“We’ve busted murderers; we’ve taken down cartels. But today we face the worst New York has to offer: the fire department.”

“Aw, man. All the orange soda spilled out of my cereal.”

“Captain, hey! Welcome to the murder.”

“I ate one string bean. It tasted like fish vomit. That was it for me.”

“You don’t care who you piss off, do you?”

“Do not trust any child that chews bubble gum-flavored bubble gum. Do not trust any adult that chews gum at all. Never vacation in Banff.

“Actually, that’s exactly your place to say. You are my assistant. What, precisely, did you think your job was?

“Let’s not overlook the fact that he turned his crime scenes into tea parties for dollies.”

“If I die, turn my tweets into a book.”

“This man is a Timberlake and you need to stop treating him like a Fatone.”

“You should make me your campaign manager. I was born for politics. I have great hair and I love lying.”

“You think you can just bully people, but you can’t. It’s not OK. I’m the bully around here. Ask anyone.”

“The only thing I’m not good at is modesty, because I’m great at it.”

“A place where everybody knows your name is hell. You’re describing hell.”

“We can go to my apartment. No one knows where I live.”

“Great, I’d like your $8-est bottle of wine, please.”

“Fine, but in protest, I’m walking over there extremely slowly!”

“I wasn't hurt that badly. The doctor said all my bleeding was internal. That's where the blood's supposed to be.”

“Anyone over the age of six celebrating a birthday should go to hell.”

turn your greatest weakness into your greatest strength. Like Paris Hilton.”

It'll be the perfect opportunity to update my rankings. Can we stop at home for a pizza bib?

I think you mean 'Checkmate.' You really need to learn how to play chess.”

“I appealed to their sense of teamwork and camaraderie with a rousing speech that would put Shakespeare to shame.”

“I just negotiated my baby girls down from a pony to a hamster. Little fools.”

“I don't know what's gonna happen on this assignment, and if something bad goes down, I think I'd be pissed at myself if I didn't say this. I kinda wish something could happen, between us, romantic styles.”

“The English language cannot fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts, so I’m incorporating emojis into my speech to better express myself. Winky face.”

Move over! Okay. And if I may do a third toast, it’ll be focused primarily on the mango yogurt.”

“I asked them if they wanted to embarrass you, and they instantly said yes.”

with all due respect, I am gonna completely ignore everything you just said.”

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lifestyleturkey · 2 years

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Ferdinand of Arragon

It may surprise some readers to treat the thirteenth century as the virtual close of the Middle Ages, an epoch which is usually placed in the latter half of the fifteenth century, in the age of Louis xi., Henry VII., and Ferdinand of Arragon. But the true spirit of Feudalism, the living soul of Catholicism, which together make up the compound type of society we call mediaeval, were, in point of fact, waning all through the thirteenth century. The hurly-burly of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth centuries was merely one long and cruel death agony. Nay, the inner soul of Catholic Feudalism quite ended in the first generation of the thirteenth century — with St. Dominic, St. Francis, Innocent in., Philip Augustus, and Otto iv., Stephen Langton, and William, Earl Mareschal.

The truly characteristic period of mediaeval- ism is in the twelfth, rather than the thirteenth, century, the period covered by the first three Crusades from 1094, the date of the Council of Clermont, to 1192, when Coeur- de-Lion withdrew from the Holy Land. Or, if we put it a little wider in limits, we may date true mediaevalism from the rise of Hildebrand, about 1070, to the death of Innocent HI. in 1216, or just about a century and a half. St. Louis himself, as we read Joinville’s Memoirs, seems to us a man belated, born too late, and almost an anachronism in the second half of the thirteenth century sofia city tour.

We know that in the slow evolution of society the social brilliancy of a movement is seldom visible, and is almost never ripe for poetic and artistic idealisation until the energy of the movement itself is waning, or even it may be, is demonstrably spent. Shakespeare prolonged the Renascence of the fifteenth century, the Renascence of Leonardo and Raphael, into the seventeenth century, when Puritanism was in full career; and Shakespeare — it is deeply significant — died on the day when Oliver Cromwell entered college at Cambridge. And so, when Dante, in his Vision of 1300, saw the heights and the depths of Catholic Feudalism, he was looking back over great movements which were mighty forces a hundred years earlier. Just so, though the thirteenth century contained within its bosom the plainest proofs that the mediaeval world was ending, the flower, the brilliancy, the variety, the poetry, the soul of the mediaeval world, were never seen in so rich a glow as in the thirteenth century, its last great effort.

Thirteenth century as a whole

In a brief review of each of the dominant movements which give so profound a character to the thirteenth century as a whole, one begins naturally with the central movement of all — the Church. The thirteenth century was the era of the culmination, the over-straining, and then the shameful defeat of the claim made by the Church of Rome to a moral and spiritual autocracy in Christendom. There are at least five Popes in that one hundred years — Innocent HI., Gregory ix., Innocent iv., Gregory x., and Boniface vm.—whose characters impress us with a sense of power or of astounding desire of power, whose lives are romances and dreams, and whose careers are amongst the most instructive in history. He who would understand the Middle Ages must study from beginning to end the long and crowded Pontificate of Innocent HI. In genius, in commanding nature, in intensity of character, in universal energy, in aspiring designs, Innocent HI. has few rivals in the fourteenth centuries of the Roman Pontiffs, and few superiors in any age on any throne in the world.

His eighteen years of rule, from 1198 to 1216, were one long effort, for the moment successful, and in part deserving success, to enforce on the kings and peoples of Europe a higher morality, respect for the spiritual mission of the Church, and a sense of their common civilisation. We feel that he is truly a great man with a noble cause, when the Pope forces Philip Augustus to take back the wife he had so insolently cast off, when the Pope forces John to respect the rights of all his subjects, laymen or churchmen, when the Pope gives to England the best of her Primates, Stephen Langton, the principal author of our Great Charter, when the Pope accepts the potent enthusiasm of the New Friars and sends them forth on their mission of revivalism.

#Ferdinand of Arragon

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reddancer1 · 1 year

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Heather Cox Richardson

March 14, 2023 (Tuesday)

Two years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, I whipped off a quick and somewhat flippant letter about why March 15 is a crucially important day in American history. It became one of the most popular things I’ve ever written, so popular that when I was asked to write a book based on these letters, I centered the book around it.

And then, as books have a way of doing, the project changed and this material dropped away. The only piece of the letter that made it into the final version of the book was Owen Lovejoy’s vow never to forget his brother Elijah’s murder at the hands of a proslavery mob.It’s a shame because there is much of our history and our present, as well as of me, in this story, and so I am taking a relatively quiet night on this date in 2023 to retell it

.But now there is more to add.

Exactly three and a half years ago tomorrow, on September 15, 2019, I began to write these Letters from an American. At the time, I was simply answering the questions people on my Facebook page had asked me about the emerging scandal of Trump withholding congressionally approved funds from Ukraine; I had no idea that we were beginning an epic journey together.

It turns out to be a journey deeply rooted in this country’s history, and I often cannot wrap my head around the fact we are quietly making our own history, just as our predecessors did. It is a curious thing to be a historian in this moment: we live in both the past and the present, and I promise you we worry about the future. Above all, though, I am constantly thankful to be on this journey with so many wonderful people who are organizing, as Lincoln’s Republicans did, to change the course of the nation.

Anyway, a little backstory about the flippant tale I told two years ago: the man who taught me to use a chainsaw is real—together we cleared a field gone to alders in summer 1978. An adze is a woodcutting tool. And Hannibal Hamlin is one of the few topics my now-husband and I could find to talk about on our tongue-tied first date.

So, two years ago, I wrote:

By the time most of you will read this it will be March 15, which is too important a day to ignore. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: “Cedar! Beware the adze of March!”

He put it that way because the importance of March 15 is, of course, that it is the day in 1820 that Maine, the Pine Tree State, joined the Union.

Maine statehood had national repercussions. The inhabitants of this northern part of Massachusetts had asked for statehood in 1819, but their petition was stopped dead by southerners who refused to permit a free state—one that did not permit enslavement—to enter the Union without a corresponding “slave state.” The explosive growth of the northern states had already given free states control of the House of Representatives, but the South held its own in the Senate, where each state got two votes. The admission of Maine would give the North the advantage, and southerners insisted that Maine’s admission be balanced with the admission of a southern slave state lest those opposed to slavery use their power in the federal government to restrict enslavement in the South.

They demanded the admission of Missouri to counteract Maine’s two “free” Senate votes.But this “Missouri Compromise” infuriated northerners, especially those who lived in Maine. They swamped Congress with petitions against admitting Missouri as a slave state, resenting that enslavers in the Senate could hold the state of Maine hostage until they got their way.

Tempers rose high enough that Thomas Jefferson wrote to Massachusetts—and later Maine—Senator John Holmes that he had for a long time been content with the direction of the country, but that the Missouri question “like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment, but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.”

Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, but Jefferson was right to see it as nothing more than a reprieve.

The petition drive that had begun as an effort to keep the admission of Maine from being tied to the admission of Missouri continued as a movement to get Congress to whittle away at enslavement where it could—by, for example, outlawing the sale of enslaved Americans in the nation’s capital—and would become a key point of friction between the North and the South.

There was also another powerful way in which the conditions of the state’s entry into the Union would affect American history. Mainers were angry that their statehood had been tied to the demands of far distant enslavers, and that anger worked its way into the state’s popular culture. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 meant that Maine men, who grew up steeped in that anger, could spread west.And so they did.

In 1837, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who had moved to Alton, Illinois, from Albion, Maine, to begin a newspaper dedicated to the abolition of human enslavement, was murdered by a pro-slavery mob, who threw his printing press into the Mississippi River.

Elijah Lovejoy’s younger brother, Owen, had also moved west from Maine. Owen saw Elijah shot and swore his allegiance to the cause of abolition. "I shall never forsake the cause that has been sprinkled with my brother's blood," he declared. He turned to politics, and in 1854 he was elected to the Illinois state legislature. His increasing prominence brought him political friends, including an up-and-coming lawyer who had arrived in Illinois from Kentucky by way of Indiana, Abraham Lincoln.

Lovejoy and Lincoln were also friends with another Maine man gone to Illinois. Elihu Washburne had been born in Livermore, Maine, in 1816, when Maine was still part of Massachusetts. He was one of seven brothers, and one by one, his brothers had all left home, most of them to move west. Israel Washburn, Jr., the oldest, stayed in Maine, but Cadwallader moved to Wisconsin, and William Drew would follow, going to Minnesota. (Elihu was the only brother who spelled his last name with an e).

Israel and Elihu were both serving in Congress in 1854 when Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturning the Missouri Compromise and permitting the spread of slavery to the West. Furious, Israel called a meeting of 30 congressmen in May to figure out how they could come together to stand against the Slave Power that had commandeered the government to spread the South’s system of human enslavement. They met in the rooms of Representative Edward Dickinson, of Massachusetts—whose talented daughter Emily was already writing poems—and while they came to the meeting from all different political parties, they left with one sole principle: to stop the Slave Power that was turning the government into an oligarchy.

The men scattered for the summer back to their homes across the North, sharing their conviction that a new party must rise to stand against the Slave Power. In the fall, those calling themselves “anti-Nebraska” candidates were sweeping into office—Cadwallader Washburn would be elected from Wisconsin in 1854 and Owen Lovejoy from Illinois in 1856—and they would, indeed, create a new political party: the Republicans. The new party took deep root in Maine, flipping the state from Democratic to Republican in 1856, the first time it fielded a presidential candidate.

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln would articulate an ideology for the party, defining it as the party of ordinary Americans standing together against the oligarchs of slavery, and when he ran for president in 1860, he knew it was imperative that he get the momentum of Maine men on his side. In those days Maine voted for state and local offices in September, rather than November, so a party’s win in Maine could start a wave. “As Maine goes, so goes the nation,” the saying went.

So Lincoln turned to Hannibal Hamlin, who represented Maine in the Senate (and whose father had built the house in which the Washburns grew up). Lincoln won 62% of the vote in Maine in 1860, taking all 8 of the state’s electoral votes, and went on to win the election. When he arrived in Washington quietly in late February to take office the following March, Elihu Washburne was at the railroad station to greet him.

I was not a great student in college. I liked learning, but not on someone else’s timetable. It was this story that woke me up and made me a scholar. I found it fascinating that a group of ordinary people from country towns who shared a fear that they were losing their democracy could figure out how to work together to reclaim it.

Happy Birthday, Maine.

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The South has always been the source of awfulness to our nation, right from the very beginning!!! The Second Amendment and the Electoral College were “gives” that the North gave to South to entice them to join them in revolution against the British Crown. And it bites us in the ass still!!

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bulgariakitchen · 2 years

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