so wait, since i was just reminded of the recorder thing donna talked about in the giggle, i now have a question for uk ppl: do yall learn the recorder in school? like in a music class? and like how much do yall have music class over there?

if your handwriting style looks anything like your parents’ styles, and if their styles look anything like their parents’, then you’ve got a little cultural microcosm going on, and that’s very cool to me. that could be a family trait going back centuries - but literacy wasn’t common worldwide until relatively recently, so many family handwriting styles may be just beginning. if you have or teach kids, they’ll probably integrate elements of your handwriting style into their own - i grew up writing like my mom, but now i have a softer version of my dad’s handwriting, and i got my weird Ys from a teacher.

Every few months my brain conveniently misplaces my band class trauma and lack of skill with rock music to think about making a Dumpty Humpty concept album full of songs loosely connected to DP characters and plot events.

Anyway I dug up old lyrics I wrote for them last night and now I'm hyperfocused.

my fiction writing professor: surely you kids can find at least three hours of free time to write this short story.

me, who definitely has found that time but has spent it writing a poetry collection and designing band logos instead: well yes, but you see…

.

I need to ramble about my ocs unprompted *doesn't*

the only fanfic i've ever written was some well masqueraded self insert linkin park concert story that i wrote for my 8th grade descriptive essay assignment and my teacher loved it so much she wanted me to read it out to the whole class.

Movie Releases for January 16, 2024

This is an edited and shortened version of an essay I wrote for my Conservation Science & Community class; I decided to post a version publicly because I thought it was interesting and I liked writing it:

The tribes forced west by the conflict with the United States in the early 1800s included the Potawatomi, who would then be established on territory west of the Mississippi (Loerzel, 2021). However, the loss of land would not be forgotten. In the past several years, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (this is not the only group of Potawatomi peoples, as there were several different groups within the larger tribe) has been rallying to have land returned (Loerzel, 2021). The Illinois House of Representatives ruled in 2021 that the auctioning off of Chief Shab-eh-nay’s land in 1849 was illegal and supported the Nation’s efforts to regain land, although it seems that receiving federal support is still an ongoing issue (Whitepigeon, 2021a). Approximately 128 acres of land was repurchased by the Nation, which is undergoing federal review to be placed into a trust, under the National Environmental Policy Act (Shabehnay, n.d.). There are no public statements I could find on what would be done with the land; Whitepigeon (2021b) describes the situation as “unclear.” However, the fact that the current lands owned by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation are going under NEPA review suggests a positive direction to me.

What could a tribal park look like in Illinois? Chicago may have a large population of Native Americans, but there are no reservations here. Instead of preserving a traditional, continuous way of life and integrating environmental stewardship, environmental justice for midwestern, urban Native tribes may have to include repatriation of land and teaching traditional ecological knowledge (Turner & Spalding, 2013). Tribal parks differ in some ways from Euro-American views of national parks, with an acceptance of some level of renewable resource extraction, such as power generation or plant gathering (Carroll, 2014). They are similar in that they also champion restoration and conservation, acknowledging humans’ reliance on nature and the necessity of stewardship (Carroll, 2014). Both can also benefit as places for eco-tourism for recreational and educational purposes, although they may have differing levels of access depending on the preferences of the tribe (Carroll, 2014). If tribal land is returned in Illinois, it seems likely that a tribal national park would be established in order to foster education but also to emphasize tribal presence and the wish to remain involved in the stewardship of their former land.

Native Americans did not believe in the European structure of land ownership but were stripped of their sovereignty despite trying to work within the colonizers’ system (Carroll, 2014). In 1849, Chief Shab-eh-nay’s land was illegally auctioned off, against the United States’ own established laws. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation have been working for 174 years to get this land returned. This is a case where the legality of ownership has been established as rightfully with the Potawatomi, but there are many more tribes from the Chicago region. For many of these tribes, even if land rights were signed away "legally," it is worth considering whether the tribes were under duress and whether Native land repatriation should be more widely considered.

Chief Shab-eh-nay is the namesake of the town of Shabonna, Illinois, where he rode to warn settlers of an attack by the Sauk tribe, as well as Chief Shabbona Forest Preserve and Shabbona Lake State Park (Village of Shabbona, n.d.). This is what the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (2023) says about the history of Shabbona Lake State Park:

“Originally home to tribes of Native Americans, the park derives its name from Chief Shabbona. Pioneer settlement of the area began in the 1830s. From Shabbona Grove, in the southeast corner of the park, homesteaders spread over the region and began farming the rich soil.” (para. 1)

Sources below cut; this includes other source from the sections I removed from the original post, which was posted on my private class webpage.

Carroll, C. (2014). Native enclosures: Tribal national parks and the progressive politics of environmental stewardship in Indian Country. Geoforum, 53, 31-40.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources. (2023).  About Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area. https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/about/park.shabbonalake.html

Kim, J. (2022). Photos: The 69th annual Chicago Powwow. Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/visuals/ct-viz-powwow-indigenous-native-firstnations-photo-20221009-p6jyeagqhvaolefgis3xbwqynm-photogallery.html 

Loerzel, R. (2021). Why aren’t there any federal Indian reservations in Illinois? WBEZ Chicago. https://www.wbez.org/stories/why-doesnt-illinois-have-any-indian-reservations/a0fe743f-9283-441e-810f-f13fe0dc5344 

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian. (2021). Land Acknowledgement. https://mitchellmuseum.org/land-acknowledgement/

Shabehnay. (n.d.). Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. https://www.pbpindiantribe.com/shabehnay/

Turner, N., & Spalding, P. R. (2013). “We might go back to this”; drawing on the past to meet the future in northwestern North American Indigenous communities. Ecology and Society, 18(4).

Village of Shabbona. (n.d.)  History of Shabbona. http://shabbona-il.com/history-of-shabbona 

Whitepigeon, M. (2021a). Illinois House Resolution Supports the Return of Lands to Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Native News Online. https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/proposed-to-return-of-illinois-lands-to-prairie-band-potawatomi-nation Whitepigeon, M. (2021b). Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Seeks Further Support in Reclaiming Illinois Lands. Native News Online. https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/prairie-band-potawatomi-nation-seeks-further-support-in-reclaiming-illinois-lands

In music class (it was really just random facts class but it was supposed to be music) once when we were learning about marketing (it had started as a discussion of jingles for brand like that one for crunch bars) we were assigned to make a commercial for any brand. I got paired up with a group of guys I knew alright and they were pretty cool. We choose to do a snickers commercial. The whole premise was we were scientists who worked with dangerous chemicals, and there was a leak, and though we could seal the facility from the outside we got stuck inside the point is we had like hours to live. Desperate for a cure we did research and nearing the end we found our only hope snickers chocolate bars. As the clock counted down we celebrated only to realize we had miscalculated and there was no cure at all. Upon discovering this we died seconds after, dramatically and horrible. Our tag line was "snickers, it might not save you in dangerous situation, but is sure does taste great". Thing about the room we were in was it was an old theater room so there was a platform to one side of the room about half a foot above the rest of the floor. And during the dramatic death scene I gravely miscalculated were I was falling and thusly fell off the platform, with a loud (they might of heard me in the hallway had anyone been passing by) " oh shite" I braced myself. I landed hard, though I quieted my whimpers and played dead, as the tag line was delivered but one of the guys. The rest of the class clapped. I walked to the teacher and apologized for my language. Sat back in my seat, finished class and went home. My mom was not informed if my misfortune until 2 months later.

I would literally kill to see Tokyo Mew Mew fan merch of Mew Berry doing a silly Jessica Rabbit pose with the words "I'm not bad, I'm just written that way" underneath. Partially because of the obvious rabbit joke, of course, but mostly because...if you were around the fandom at all when A La Mode came out, you know what I'm talking about.

i need to keep myself in check bc if i dont i’ll eventually drop a 10k essay complete with cited sources on some poor rando who made the mistake of calling the sex pistols manufactured or ‘industry plants’ where i could see it

anyway theres a big difference between being misinformed about a subject and being willfully ignorant towards reality bc you havent bothered to do any research of your own since the lies youve been told line up with your agendas in some way

Your tags on the post about which teachers you would get high with literally means sm. Idk ur teachers but those experiences seem so important (not in like a weird way tho idk if it sounds weird???? Just it like. It was lighthearted !!)

omg this is so sweet its not weird dw!! im glad you enjoyed hearing about them :-) im really thankful i had a few teachers through out middle/high school that gave me those kinds of experiences bc they were rly important to me especially in the moment, i didnt get along w my school staff & a lot of other students cause i came out publicly at like, the end of 6th grade lol. i rly like to share some of the stories i have with my fav teachers thru the years because its nice to remember that even while i had a lot of ppl (including a lot of my schools staff) that didnt like me after i came out i still had a few adults that always had my back and cared enough to give me happy memories to look back on like that :-)

A random modern AU of Solya and Marek (this is just a short description of the events, the full story has more details):

--This is not a fanfic--

Solya was the lead singer in a band around the ending of the 90s and beginnings of the 2000s, they were getting famous and everything was how he had always dreamed but things inside and outside the band started to get complicated, they disbanded and Solya decided to get a different job, he became a lawyer but he is now ashamed of that era of his life because he feels he was a failure and that he wasted many years that he will never get back, though he is satisfied with his current lifestyle he pretends the band never happened and hates when someone mentions it.

One day at a bar a guy (Marek) starts talking to him, like usual he talks back and he says that Solya reminds him of someone, "have we met before?" Marek asks, Solya tells him that most probably on something related to business, when Marek tells him he just moved to this city the conversation just continues because they definitely havent met, but Marek cant stop looking at Solya's eyes, they are so familiar for some reason, then something clicks in his brain, those eyes are exactly like the ones of that singer from the band he was a casual fan some years ago, he wasnt completely sure that Solya was that singer because they didnt introduce eachother with names so he said

"you kinda remind me of a singer, you know?" And then at that question Solya gets uncomfortable because if Marek already said he reminds him of someone and then talks about a singer it wouldnt take too long until he realises he is in fact that singer, but still who even knew about Solya's band now days? Even though, that failed dream still haunts him so he didnt want the conversation to go on, luckily a phone call saves him so he excuses himself to take the call, when Solya returned he paid for his drinks and told Marek he had to leave. He was glad he didnt have to keep that conversation going but Marek was still thinking about what was said earlier, he looked in the Internet that singer and when he saw a picture he was now totally sure that the guy he just talked with was who he thought to be.

It was too late to say it though, but when he thought about it again he realised the guy was avoiding that subject, that was a bit weird but he didnt put much thought into it, he thought of it as a nice coincidence that a singer he used to listen to lived in the same city he just moved in to, and at least he now knows what happened to Solya who just left the spotlight without a notice, his younger self would be happy to know this.

But the coincidences didnt stop there, they also ran into eachother at a local bookstore and Solya freaked out inside because he didnt want to talk to that stranger again and Solya tried to avoid him but they eventually made eye contact, they ended up talking again but this time Marek didnt mention anything about the band, apparently they had books in common and it was a better talk than the first one, this time they did introduce eachother but of course one of them had to leave first and the talk ended.

Marek was still some stranger to Solya but thinking about it it was weird they ran into eachother at the bookstore a few days after they met in the bar. They were in the same city, yes, but it was a big city, a bit of paranoia invaded Solya's mind, what if he was being followed? He had seen many cases like that in court, but he had to focus on his work so he tried to forget about those thoughts.

It didnt help to calm his mind when on a normal day he was opening the door of his house and sees Marek walking down the street, this was a private place for living with a lot of security, "how did that guy got in?" He thought and he wanted to go inside his house but curiosity kept him outside until Marek passed in front of his car, when he didnt notice him Solya greeted him to get his attention because who does this guy thinks he is to be following Solya everywhere?

Marek looked surprised at him

"Solya? What are you doing here?" Asked with a clueless voice

"I live here" With a frown he questioned "What are you doing here?"

"Well, turns out I also live here" Marek answered with a smirk

When Marek told him he just moved to this city he never could have imagined they were going to be neighbours.

I wrote this with not much detail because this isnt the actual fanfic, eveything is rushed cause i was just explaining what will happen at the beginning, this story is about how Marek and Solya become friends (later lovers) and Marek shows him that he shouldnt be ashamed of who he was before and Solya helps Marek in other ways, Solya is a succesful lawyer and Marek moved there for his new job, the house was paid by his father who has a lot of money, it is an expensive place to live so thats why Solya was shocked a guy who supposedly just moved was living there and that didnt help with his bad assumptions of Marek but eventually he will know he was not being stalked, he was just a bit paranoic.

This got a bit longer than i expected but this is actually not a fanfic so that is why the story goes really fast.

Im sorry this is really simple because english is not my first language and its hard for me to write something in english without repeating words :')

I love this setting.

Tomorrow/Friday is the anniversary of one of the weirdest days of my life, yippee!