Rotating some blorbos...

so REVENGE, HUH? or justice, if that makes you feel better. it tastes the same when cooked just right. 'I REALLY WANTED A BROTHER.' such a shame to burn a bridge you so desperately wanted to keep, especially when it wasnt even you who started the fire. especially when you hope that not a single fragment of that bridge ever washes ashore.[MAY IT ROT FAR FROM MY SIGHTS] an unfortunate loss! atleast he has his friends.

tide making dinner for ashe

In my opinion the title of babygirl can only be applied if the character is covered in blood 24 hours a day

We are one Iowa caucus into the absolute shitshow that is going to be the US 2024 elections, and I'm already sick of seeing takes downplaying the risk that Trump and his fascist followers represent.

Look. Around 1900, my mother's grandparents immigrated to the Lower East Side of New York City. They brought with them children born in Europe (Poland? Ukraine? which country they were in depends on what year we're talking about) - we're not 100% sure they were THEIR children, even, but there were three, and they were young, and they came. But my great-grandparents had siblings, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, huge families. And while my understanding is that an attempt was made to convince those folks to move to the US, none of them ultimately opted to.

They all kept in touch as they were able, exchanging letters and pictures, but through World War 1, through the 20s, through the Great Depression, through the worsening situation in Europe in the 1930s, my entire extended family who chose not to immigrate...continued to stay.

I think we all know how this story ends.

I have an entire family photo album of people whose names I will never know, because after every single one of them died in the Holocaust, my great-grandparents and grandparents couldn't bear to even label them. And they were PEOPLE, poor, vibrant, eager to maintain connections with their loved ones abroad. One was a Klezmer musician, and we have photos of him with all the different instruments he played. They're so real on the page, and they all ended in ashes.

And you know how that started? Fascism started with every inch allowed, with every well-intentioned moderate who tried to maintain a middle position even as the whole ground shifted right beneath their feet and even "middle" became extreme, every "no that change isn't coming fast enough, I want instant full improvement NOW" liberal who felt that doing nothing was better than accepting a slower improvement in the (truly awful!) post-World War 1 living situation in Germany.

Most of the members of my extended family also downplayed the risks. They never imagined that the worst could happen to them. They never fathomed how bad things could become.

And now I have their example always before me to know and to scream:

I KNOW HOW BAD THINGS CAN BECOME. I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY THEN.

I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN TO MY FAMILY NOW.

People look at me like I'm crazy when I say I've got our passports ready (and have had since before the 2020 election).

Look. I don't know what will happen if Trump is elected, but there's a very real possibility he will, and he's been extremely clear about saying what he'll do. He did a lot of the things he said he'd do last time. I expect he'll continue to do the things he says he'll do. And the things he say he'll do will lead to the deaths of more people than we can imagine - in the US, in Palestine, throughout the world.

Don't tell me there's a middle ground here. Don't tell me I'm over-reacting. Don't tell me the worst won't happen. Don't tell me the risk is mild. Don't tell me we're safe.

We. Are. Not. Safe.

The lives of dozens, hundreds, of members of family were lost in the 1940s amid the horrifying statistic "6,000,000 dead Jews."

I will not let my life (as a Jew), my wife's life (as a disabled woman), my son's life (as a biracial boy), my daughter's life (as a biracial trans girl), be part of the statistics that come from our a second Trump presidency.

If you won't vote like YOUR life depends on it, vote like someone ELSE'S life depends on it, because IT DOES.

And if you can't even do that much, at least shut the fuck up and stop spreading your poison around. You're wrong. The danger is real. Downplaying it now won't make your conscience feel any clearer when it actually happens, and comforting everyone else downplaying it will just make you that much more complicit.

Germany: makes it easier for trans*, inter*, and nonbinary people to change their name/gender

People online, immediately:

"we are doomed" bc I guess this guy's existence depends on my given name

"that's it for Germany" / "it's over for Germany" bc in fact the whole country is dangling on a thread formed by its people's agab

my personal favourite "and thus women have been officially abolished" ah yes the law does indeed *squints at writing* prohibit the existence of women

actually when you start jrwi pd you are legally required to choose one of the main four to project onto and they will never leave your brain

happy pride month everybody i love being a lesbian 🩷🤍🧡

scum by lovejoy x generation loss pt. 1

Soooo, I just remembered this lil bit from the newest Camp Camp episode…

Max still has half the stick from season one!! 😭😭😭

Ilabael Muhr of Jora’ruhn

✦ DEMO (TBA) ✦ PINTEREST ✦

It's kind of crazy just how fast your life can turn upside down.

After the death of your father and a yearlong break from school, you finally decide to go back only to find that everything isn't quite what it seems to be. Your friends — your family? Not at all who you thought they were. In fact, you aren't even the person you thought you were.

In this new environment, you discover parts of yourself and your town that you never could have thought to be true. You find that there are secrets hidden so deep in this town — in your family, that with everything you thought you knew, you realize you didn't really know anything.

As you learn more about the town, school, and people around you, you find that you're learning more about yourself and who you could or might have been had things been different. Had your entire life not been a lie.

Content Includes: Language, Death, Violence, Alcohol Consumption, Discrimination

✦ Customize your appearance, pronouns, and personality, and even decide how you'll navigate this new world. Will you jump right in, excited to explore everything? Will you take it one step at a time, weary of every twist and turn? Or will you take over, making this new world you've discovered yours? ✦ Build up your skills and knowledge as you discover more about your new school and the town you thought you knew. ✦ Romance a lineup of 7 love interests along with a few side romances. Not your thing? That's fine! Work on your friendships with the characters to unlock friendship-specific routes. ✦ Make the big decision: Will you make your own path and repair your family legacy? Or will you be the person everyone expects you to be and tear the town apart with your own two hands?

✦ Romanceable Characters

— Dylan Choi [ he / him or she / her ] ✦ THE EX / BEST FRIEND.

[ ♡ Choose your history with Dylan. Are they your ex-best friend? Or the one that got away? Will you work to fix things or leave it all in the past? ]

— Morgan Fairgrove [ he / him or she / her ] ✦ THE BEST FRIEND.

[ ♡ Choose your feelings for Morgan. Are they strictly your person, your best friend, and your other half? Or have you realized that maybe you want to be more? ]

— Ash Halloway [ he / him or she / her ] ✦ THE TA.

[ ♡ Will you romance your cute TA? Or will you keep things professional between the two of you despite the stolen glances and soft smiles? ]

— Luke / Luna Morales [ he / him or she / her ] ✦ THE ENEMY.

[ ♡ Decide how to respond to their unprovoked anger. Will you give in and return the hostility? Or will you put in the extra work to get to know them and why they refuse to get close to you? ]

— Javi Garcia [ he / him ] ✦ THE PERFECTIONIST.

[ ♡ Will you take the time to get to know Javi and all his great qualities? Or will you see him as nothing more than his biggest flaw just like everyone else? ]

— Brooke Ross [ she / her ] ✦ MISS POPULAR.

[ ♡ Decide whether or not to get close to the person everyone wants to be with in one way or another. Will you get to know the version of herself that no one gets to see? Or will you just be another person fighting for her attention?

— June Hawthorne [ he / him ] ✦ THE MYSTERIOUS SWEETHEART.

[ ♡ Will you dig a little deeper to get closer to the seemingly perfect sweetheart? Or will you fall for the act he puts up just as many have before? ]

✦ Other Characters

— Ryder Colten [ they / them | side romance ] ✦ — Sabrina Marshal [ she / her | side romance ] ✦ — Ricky Welsh [ he / him | side romance ] ✦ — Devon Ross [ he / they ] ✦ — Marina Scotts [ she / her ] ✦ — Jared Helling [ he / him ] ✦

Ok I lied maybe there is more to the plot than just the usual course of the game but reversed

But anyways ^^! Look at them. Tabby! Definitely not gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with, nope! WaitisthatthePURPLECROWN—

i was pretty young when the ash trees died. i remember little things, like the stumps that lined the street on the way to my bus stop, or a remark from my grandfather, a woodworker, about how the supply of ash wood he had left might be the last he'd ever get.

if i bring up ash trees with other people, the ash borers are the first and only thing on their minds. they'll mention how there used to be an ash tree in their yard, or at church or school or anywhere, that had to be cut down. ash trees are exclusively spoken about in the past tense, because they're dead. they're gone and not coming back.

but it's difficult to mourn ash trees when i keep seeing them everywhere i go.

for most of the year, ashes can easily fade into the background. the shape of their leaves is as simple as it gets, and the trunks of ash trees aren't particularly distinctive like birches or american sycamores. but this time of year, ashes stick out like a sore thumb.

most of the ash trees i see are small. quite a few are less than my height. but their leaves stand out boldly from their surroundings, and the range of different colors on such tiny plants are astounding.

like this one i photographed today. almost every leaf from this ash sapling is visible in these three photos, and there's a huge range of colors!

and even though most of the ashes are very young, there are bigger trees. like this one!

i sat right beside this tree to study for three years before i learned that it was an ash. i'm pretty excited to watch it turn all sorts of colors in the coming weeks!

there's also this area right by the river that from the outside appears to be just a huge thicket of redbuds, but when i stepped in, there were SO MANY ashes. They were all much younger than that first one, but it was such an experience to stand there, surrounded by a dozen different ash trees.

the picture really doesn't do it justice, but i had to try. i don't often get the sense that the trees are trying to tell me something, but when i stood and looked up at those ash trees, i felt a strange sense of hope.

the biggest ash tree i've seen since i started searching for them is one i pass on my walk to check on my pawpaws, so i see it a few times a week. it's almost as tall as the big old sycamore across the street, and i'm just in awe of it.

i don't want to diminish the tragedy of what happened to american ash trees. i'm sure if i'd had as much of an interest in plants back then as i do now, it would have been gut-wrenching to watch them all slowly die. but when i walk around and see ashes everywhere i go, i can't find it within myself to feel sad about them. ash trees are alive!!! they're alive and growing! the ash borers can kill as many trees as they want, but the ash will keep propagating in spite of it!

i like to think that somewhere down the line, ash trees will evolve a way to survive the ash borers. eventually, the woods will be full of mature ash trees again, and all those brilliant colors will be everywhere instead of restricted to the underbrush. i'm sure it won't be within my lifetime, but for now, i'll keep looking out for them.

     “You’re not... Not gonna...”      “What? Go? Just leave?” Asher chuckled weakly. “Please tell me that’s not what you thought?”      “N-no? I don’t know...” Loch drew his arms in tighter as a light spring breeze made him shiver. “It’s... I’m never going to be enough.”      Asher scowled. “Says who? I never... I’ve never said that, Loch, ever.”      “If I can’t give you what you want... it’s just a fact.”      “What? No, Loch, I... fucking hell. No.”       As Asher ran his hands through his hair, Loch watched in confusion as multiple expressions flickered over his face until he sighed and took Loch’s hands with a reassuring squeeze.      “I don’t know how you don’t get this already, but... If a chance at something I would like, meant giving up something I can’t lose... I don’t know which universe you think I don’t choose you. Every damn time. I love you far too much for that not to be true.”      Some dam inside him broke, though Loch didn’t feel the tears coming before it was too late and Asher was already pulling him into a tight embrace.      “Hey, I’m sorry if I ever let you think otherwise—”      “You’re so stupid,” Loch spluttered, unable to stop himself. Whatever adrenaline had kept him from breaking down, had also apparently been the thing tethering him to something resembling sobriety, and he felt any filter he possessed slipping away.      Asher locked up around him, his arms going stiff. “...Uh...?”      “I’m just me. A... A fucking mess. You say that like I’m not... Like... There’s just no other explanation. You’re just stupid.”      Asher laughed, no small amount of tension falling away from him as he did. “Yeah. Yeah, guess I am. But so are you.” He laughed harder. “And so very, very drunk. Your brother really is going to regret that free bar, isn’t he?”      “Serves him right,” Loch muttered with little malice, scrubbing his face as he allowed Asher to lead him back inside. “...One more drink?”      “Absolutely fucking not.”

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i think honestly what irritates me about yoshidas work SO much is that people will tell you that banana fish is THE gay manga (ignoring the many things that came before it and were more groundbreaking, ie MW literally having on screen (or like. on panel but still.) gay sex in it and that came out like a decade before BF did) when there really isn't barely any gay rep outside of the pedophiles and the one time ash drops the f slur. like im sorry but somehow yasha, a work she wrote in 1996, has more gay rep in it but also has the same issues.

i truly do not get how people can enjoy banana fish with the rampant racism every 2 pages or the rampant sexual assault plotlines (on women and ash bc he is just... written like how yoshida writes women lmao) that are handled IMPOSSIBLY bad and sincerely i hoped yasha would be better because it had been like a decade or so between works. and then it proceeds to continue with the heres our blonde genius protagonist who everyone is weird as fuck to and will sexually harrass and everyone finds it a VERY funny joke to point out how feminine he is when theres barely any women in the work (if you exclude the ones that are being raped/killed/creepy to minors. which to be fair yasha has toned down the sa a LOT) and that its funny that hes kind of gay except not really!! and its just absurd to me how it just persists in all of her stuff because she is not an author that handles gay stuff well. like the scene in banana fish where ash is completely ok getting gang raped and did it solely to get into the hospital when its been SHOWN that he has a lot of trauma with that. and then right after his friend makes a joke at ash's expense about that. like sincerely and genuinely is this what we are hyping up as the old retro gay manga. go read some tezuka and stop reading shit that the most the main characters do is share a kiss in a nonromantic sense and is obsessed w making every gay person be evil!!