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frostbite-the-bat · 1 year

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random rant about a classmate below because i am still goin wacky zany over this and the fact nobody listened when i tried to explain like. yknow. the actual. facts. and i thought despite these things being an interest of mines, i was bad at them and knew very little, at least this was reassuring that i am not as well uneducated about these things. what was it over?? my classmate being just SO SURE that dragons exist

like im thinkin abt how hard i was fucking holding back she was like" DRAGONS EXIST OTHERWISE - WHY DID WE CREATE THIS WORD?? HOW DID WE COME UP WITH THEM!! IT MEANS FOR SURE THAT BACK IN THE DAY PEOPLE SAW DRAGONS AND SO IF THEY ONCE WERE REAL IT MEANS THERE COULD STILL BE ONES AROUND!! SRSLY!! HOW DID WE COME UP WITH THIS ? THATS BECAUSE WE DIDNT!!! HUH YEAH!!! IF THOSE LIKE DINOSAURS EXISTED ONCE IF MAMMOTHS COULD EXIST ONCE THEN DRAGONS AND THESE GUYS COULD TOO!! LIKE!!! THEY FOUND SOME DRAGON IN REAL LIFE IN SOME JUNGLE!! IT doesnt fly but it glides BUT!! IT'S LIKE A LIZARD AND IT CAN ALMOST FLY SO THAT MEANS IT'S LIKE THE CHILD OF A DRAGON THAT ONCE EXISTED!!!!"

and i may be typing this in all caps lock but all of this is stuff she actually said and i was just there hyped to talk about how to train your dragon and then happy to educate about dinosaurs and evolution but oh my god literally nobody in the room understood the fact that just because you want to it doesn't randomly exist and language evolved as we went so we now have words to describe things, even fictional ones, and people in history were dumb and often didn't even know they had bad vision and would quickly jump to conclusions like OHH MYSTHICAL ANIMAL and sooo much more shit i will not even get into but nope that dont matter because i guess if the word "Dragon" exists and people in Them Medieval Times :tm: knew about dragons it is 100% proof that they had to be real. she. she. even pulled out like. a photo of a fossil - a dinosaur's jaw imprint and i cannot tell what it was she was far away but she was like "SEE!! SEE!! DRAGON!!!" oh my god and i thought i was wacky zany for being like "hmm yknow itd be cool if these things existed for real! id like that. but theres just no actual evidence and people are a bit dumb. still cool to think about!" but this is next level. she even thought that because birds evolved from dinosaurs, it means we evolved from them too

oh my gOOOooOOoOooDDDDDDDDi am goIGN INSANEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE what is she on first she turns out to be a tradwife, then transphobic of course and then this what the fuck is she reading :skull:

this.... convo stemmed from us poking fun at marriages we have been to (instead of partying at one i went inside, ate all the cake and watched how to train your dragon) and then religion, for some reason? i said that well yknow if that stuff were real all of us would be descendants of incest because it was all adam and eve at first and how ridiculous it is. and like "no calm down despite us humans being like the same species and evolving from the same damn thing we are not THAT closely related like no you and your boyfriend can date and such it only becomes an issue if you are very closely related. are you okay." and then she just randomly went on this rant like i was losing my shit i was tryna explain how shit actually works but no :skull:.

like. and what does she mean by dragon anyway. big scaly lizard, bat wings on its back, can breathe fire???? if these fuckers existed not even a 1000 years ago we'd!! have evidence of it!!! theres a lot of undiscovered shit but if we can find fossils from millions of years ago dug up like that we'd easily find some shit like a dragon!!!! my godddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

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kissmejuyeon · 3 years

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hey Sara! 🌸🐇

this might be a personal or difficult question, so if you don't want to reply, that's totally fine!! 💕

i went to a school where i was lowkey taught that uni is the only option after graduation, that anything else isn't as "good" and we weren't even taught abt anything other than uni either. no one ever mentioned apprenticeships or voluntary years, let alone spoke positively of them. it honestly installed in me this fear of being seen as lesser if i don't go to uni and now it's been almost 4 years since my graduation and I'm still struggling with the inferiority feeling of not feeling like uni is the right place for me. i think i want to do an apprenticeship, but by now i feel almost too scared to start anything in fear of not managing.

did you deal with this kind of thing in your schooling/ upbringing as well? and how did you get over those feelings? :( if you have even the tiniest advice, id be super grateful 💙

Hey love!!! Happy new Year <3

I can totally relate to what you’re feeling!! I def had those same feelings and thoughts, and i am not gonna lie, it took me a while to figure out what i want to do, and how i stopped focusing on what other wanted of me. but i’m going to try to explain my thoughts, so please bare with me.

i had to put this in “keep reading” cause i word vomited lmao

I was lucky that i grew up in a family that always thought me, that i do everything in life for myself. I should always focus on what I want to do. BUT, i had extended family and a few friends that always talked about uni and doing something in life that is “not working in retail” (just an example) All they “wanted” me to do is make money.

My dad never finished high school and my mom started two apprenticeships that she never finished. I always knew i wanted to do more than what my parents did. And i don’t mean it a mean or bad way. (i hope you know what i mean)

i was a “gifted” kid in school, and good grades came easy to me, until i finished 10th grade and i started my A-level. Then i hit rock bottom. I actually never planed to do my A-level, but i had no idea what to do with my life in year 10, so i decided to go to school for 3 more years, so i have a little more time to figure stuff out. (Spoiler: i didn’t) When i decided to do my A-level (In germany you need it to even go to uni) i thought uhMm maybe i should go to uni because many people around me where starting to talk about it and made me feel that my decision of never going to uni was me planing on becoming “nothing”. Which is totally stupid. Not going to uni does NOT mean you’ll never become anything!

by the i finished my A-level, which i barely passed, i still had no idea of what i wanted to. the only thing i knew was, that i wanted to do something that brings me happiness and joy! And the only time i found happiness and joy was in books (and one direction lmao). So i started to think about the idea, that i could start working in a bookstore. But at that time, my friends already started Uni (med school, law etc.) and others went to go abroad to study. And i felt like i was worth less. But i also knew that going to uni would only further the descend of my mental health. So i really focused on working in a bookstore and do an apprenticeship as a bookseller.

Through a friend i got the opportunity of working in a bookstore (I applied before but i was sadly rejected). After the first day of work, i knew, this is what i wanted to do with my life. My mom always pushed me into applying for apprenticeships that i didnt wanna do, which i told her i didnt want, but it only caused many fights between us. but tbh ... i didnt care. i wanted to do what i wanted to do! So i focused on my carreer in the bokstore. i stopped focusing on what other people want to do in their lives, but rather focus on what I want to do.

so i worked at the bookstore for 2 years, then started my apprenticeship, then i worked for 4 months as a bookseller and now i’m the deputy manager of the store that i did my apprenticeship at. now i know i only got to this place and position because i stopped focusing on what other people wanted.

end of my biography but i feel like it needed to explain this to validate my points lmao

and heres what i can tell you, do what you want to do!!! if you dont want to go to uni, do not go. is there something that brings you joy? clothes? books? try working with something that you like, and figure out what you wanna do that way.

Other people think they help you when they try to push uni, grad school etc. into your life, cause they think that whats best for you. but you are the only one who knows whats best for you!

in bookseller school, half my class was people who dropped out of uni to start working. not going to uni or dropping out of uni doesnt make you any less amazing or capable of reaching your dreams.

the sad thing is, we need money to survive in this world, so you need to make money one way or another. and people always promote the narrative of figuring out what you want to do immediately. which is fuckign bullocks. you can start over and over again of you need to. if you start a job but after a few months you realize, its something you dont want to do, quit and find another job. Starting over and trying out jobs is nothing bad!

but i think the first step you need to to, is to realize that what you do in life, is for you and only you!!!

#bro ... i hope this helps #anwayssss you can you always talk to me #im here for you love #ask #Anonymous

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faunusrights · 5 years

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OFFAL HUNT REMASTER LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 9

oh goody!

well this is it. the Date Chapter. the chapter, in which, the Date happens. lowkey im so fucking hype for this stupid goddamn chapter AAAAAAAAAAAA this is when the sexy got kicked up about seven notches and i know its gonna be a fucking twenty from here on out so LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO

“Is this your date, Ms. Fall?” he asked.

Cinder didn’t look away from Glynda. “Mhm.”

STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GODDAMN GATE WE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A SECOND TO EVEN GATHER OURSELVES JUST STRAIGHT UP HUH!!!!!!!!! ‘is this your date’ im legally dead

What the fuck.

already im fucking THRIVING im so glad this chapter’s mood got encapsulated within the first ten seconds and im definitely gonna have to re-read this chapter for the full unannotated experience OOOOOOOOOH MY GOD IM SO READY

Glynda’s thoughts ricocheted inside her head like coins left in a dryer. A part of her couldn’t understand what was happening and disengaged. The rest of her, grasping for purchase in all this, reasoned that going with Cinder was better than staying here confused, alone, and utterly displaced.

glynda ‘i aint ever had a gf before’ goodwitch at her PEAK right here. like GOD shes gone from ‘cinder’s trying to murder me’ to ‘cinder just plopped me right into a date’ like CINDER. CINDER YR CHANGING GEARS SO FAST. YOU DIDNT EVEN SEND FLOWERS OR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is it because shes a u-haul lesbian or

Higher, Glynda realized the dress itself was backless, revealing the black tattoo she’d seen so often before, perfectly centered between sharp shoulder blades.

this gay energy is BONKERS, quite frankly??????? where did cinder get her dress from? why does she have it? did she buy it just for this fuckery? or will she pull the ‘i just had a this lil number laying around’ line????????? does she wanna seduce glynda to death?????? was this PLANNED OR DID SHE JUST DECIDE SHE WANTED A DATE AND WTH LIFE REALLY IS SHORT ON REMNANT THESE DAYS?????????? cinder fall please explain your workings to the class

maybe Glynda wasn’t the only one who’d become adept at reading her opponent.

👏 when 👏 will 👏 they 👏 kiss 👏 already 👏👏👏👏

me: this is a slowburn also me: if u assholes dont give me this in the next ten seconds-

“Unarmed? As if you could be so helpless.”

cinder’s style of flirting is just. commentating on a person’s deadliness. that’s IT it’s the only TRICK SHE HAS and its working, is the thing,

im reading the description of the table and remembering the shitpost and oh my god i have to draw this???? hell IS real!!!!!! COULDNT YALL JUST TOSS EM IN A PLAIN BOX,

Cinder eyed her from her bastion of dark cushions,

cinder, ass-deep in cushions: this is peak cuddle territory come and join me

Cinder, for her part, seemed delighted Glynda had noticed. Touching the pendant more gently than Glynda might have ever thought her capable of, Cinder said, “Yours? You didn’t seem to mind parting with it.”

im still deeply enjoying this powermove the novelty NEVER wears off (and at risk of light spoilers i do enjoy its place in this story 👀)

Cinder let the necklace drop, settling against the swell of her bust once more,

/lightly coughs 👀👀👀

im losing my MIND at how gay this bit is i physically cannot HANDLE IT and if they even describe the meal once im gonna pop off cause i am. SO HUNGRY RN. AAAAAAAAAAAA

Cinder indicated a dish of lamb and vegetables, served on a bed of rice and drizzled in some sort of sauce.

SRY THIS ISNT GAY BUT OH MY GOD IM SO HUNGRY I WANNA E A T I T THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD UGHGHGHGHGHGH WHY DID THIS CHAPTER HAVE TO BE TODAY OF ALL THE DAYS,

Glynda cleared her throat, working out: “The Grimm.”

like. GOD WE KNOW GLYNDA IS JUST SO FUNCTIONALLY BAD AT CONVERSATION BUT OF ALL THE THINGS glynda please just. just. stop thinking abt her sexy tattoos for a fifth of a second,

“You can control them.” A sedate blink. For all the world, Glynda might have just commented on the weather.

which is a faux pas for a date!!!!!!!!!!! at least tell her the DRESS IS SEXY WE ALL KNO WHATS WHAT YR THINKIN ABT

Glancing down as though it were being pointed out to her for the first time, Cinder shrugged and adjusted the end of the glove a little higher on her bicep. “And?”

a quick aside im enjoying how like... visually expressive cinder is in this remaster! i can see her facial expressions and her motions really clearly in my mind’s eye which is a fun little boon if only because i have to redraw this nonsense hjsgdfjhfksgd but cinder’s got a Good Face this time around! A QUALITY FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should know by now, there’s something about you that’s simply irresistible to Grimm.”

HERE COMES THE PLOT (and a single surviving line so far... this one sentence has survived all the world could throw at it... we stan)

Cinder straightened, and Glynda saw that this was what she’d been waiting for.

“It isn’t every day the great Glynda Goodwitch kneels before her adversary, is it?”

HELLO??????????????????????????? WHATS THIS WORDING????????? honestly tho for a second i thought she meant like. quite literally and i thought id missed some PROPER SHIT RIGHT THERE BUT YEAH WTH!!!!!!! C I N D E R

“You cheated. You can’t beat me on your own.”

yes glynda we gathered that yr a top

“Really, Glynda? Poison?” she sneered, something like offense simmering in her expression. “After all this?”

looks at the camera

anyway,

god im literally losing grasp of words to say because theres such a charged mood in this scene............. theyre brushing fingers............ trading jabs.......... im slurpin it up babey!!!!!!!! this rly is the BEST remaster of this whole scene it DESERVES this wordcount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Beat you,” Cinder corrected. “And call it a point of pride.”

yes cinder we gathered yr a brat,

this dynamic is why this fic is so fuckign good when will winter have a swift return to add even more fuckery to this wild ride

Then, with a heavy-lidded look, Cinder found Glynda’s hand between them, the touch so sudden and daring that Glynda flinched. The fabric of those gloves was smooth against Glynda’s flesh, and for all that cruelty had marked every other instance of contact between them, Cinder was surprisingly gentle.

whomp there go my nuts

WHAT IS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO MADE THE EXECUTIVE CHOICE TO ADD THIS LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO???????????? im losing my BRAINCELLS

What she wasn’t ready for was for Cinder to guide her hand to her own throat and hold it there.

THERE IS IT THERE’S THE KINK IT’S BEEN SPOTTED

oh my GOD what even IS THIS WHO ADDED THIS SECTION WHO ALLOWED THIS TO COME TO P A S S WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO????????? HEWWO??????????

Now… Now Cinder interested her.

tbh how can i liveblog this? what commentary can i POSSIBLY add that we arent already all THINKING. we just launched into a level of hell so deep that lucifers gonna have to pull some goddamn tricks to follow us down here!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS SCENE! THIS MOMENT! IM SCREAMING

Glynda mirrored the expression back at him, and finally, he coughed, not making strong eye contact with either of them. He set their plate before them and hurried out without so much as a check-in.

i just KNEW that was gonna happen JHGDSFGJHKSDF he was gonna walk in on SMTHNG but i didnt think itd be CINDER’S CHOKING KINK,

okay i took a break and ate my weight in roast chicken and we’re back babey

Almost nervously, her fingers carded through her own dark hair, and there, among the locks, Glynda spotted a glimpse of something white, structured and ridged.

AND I AM INSTANTLY KNOCKED BACK UPON MY ASS 👈W👈H😨A👈T👈

It was easier to ignore the rest of it—whatever it was.

glynda you are a fool and a moron im withering into DUST

On no level had she expected those to be Glynda’s words.

then what... did she expect... well probably -- and rightly so -- ‘bitch WHAT ARE THOSE’ TBH

wait sorry i have to jump back because i forgot customary fingerguns on the most brazen bit of Shit yet:

Cinder was occupying herself with something else: the head of a dragon, perched over the door and staring down at the two of them with red, glossy eyes.

👈👈👈😎👈👈👈

okay BACK TO THE FIC

Fangs snapped together around the word.

aka back to me horni

/chanting TEETH! TEETH! TE

okay but the reason i doubled back to catch that fingergun is because we’re getting ass-deep into plot now!!!!!!!!!!! WITCHES AND DRAGONS BABEY......... HERE’S WHAT OFFAL HUNT IS ALL ABT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant rly drop more fingerguns than that because any astute reader will start realising the dots im shouting abt and honestly half the fun of this fic is the ride so >:3c

“Funny. I was sure he would have told you.”

that blow was so low i think cinder hit the concrete with that one

oh god theyre gonna get to the bit and i-

“Is that what all of this has been about? You called me here to remind me that I'm autistic?”

/SCREAMS

The words were delivered firmly, calmly, but Cinder’s response was the opposite, sudden upheaval seizing her. Her expression opened in something akin to panic. “Wh—no? What? No! That's not what I—”

/SCREAMS

oh my GOD CINDER YOU HAVE FUCKED UP LEGENDARILY!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD SHE WAS FELL ASS-FIRST ONTO A LANDMINE OH MY GOD

offal hunt v1 cinder: im totally in control and im playing glynda every step of the way

offal hunt v2 cinder: OH JESUS OH FUCK OH NO THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT-

Cinder seemed genuinely stressed now, speaking quicker as though trying to bury the last sixty seconds.

i knew this remaster would have sections that would blow me away but this bit really took the fcuking cake DGHSJFSJHFDG holy SHIT this is AMAZING

It was difficult to tell in the low light, but if Glynda wasn't mistaken, there was a bright flush of embarrassment coloring Cinder’s cheeks.

this is SUCH prime content hey remember in one of the early liveblogs that cinder would descend into full dork? WELL THE DESCENT CAME EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /pops bottles

“Cinder.” There was a very real line of threat in Glynda’s tone. “Don’t.”

oh this whole scene just keeps getting better i am LOVING this dynamic now!!!!!!! before it was all pretty one-sided so having the conversation rock back and forth is 👌👌👌

That Witch soul of yours—it was designed to void out everything but the prey before you. To be numb to all human emotion. To focus on the hunt and nothing else.

finally the fruit of 50% of my fingerguns COMES TO LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! PLOT PLOT PLOT

“This is bullshit.” Jabbing an accusing finger at Cinder, Glynda said, “You’re a liar. You’re a criminal!”

i LOVE glyndas pottymouth in this its such a good like... change from her being strict and formal and teachery and now shes full on gremlin huntress hell YES BABY!!!!!!!!!! GO OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“There’s all kinds of things I bet he never told you.” Cinder continued. “Did you know he was close to your predecessor? The Witch who came before you—they were inseparable.”

SRY IM LIKE STRUGGLIN TO COMMENTATE because so much of this like. speaking as an Old-Ass Reader this is like. a LOT! A LOT HAS CHANGED and yet,,,, stayed the same,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yall kids WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL CHAPTER LIKE................ 15 FOR THIS SHIT (but like. chapter 15 was different because this chapter used to be like chapter 7? so now everythings moved along so chapter 15 doesnt sound that impressive but trust me it was a different fic back then)

When they fell away, burnt and ruined, she could see Cinder’s bare arms for the first time. The red lines drawn across her skin sloped down the entire length of her arms, circling her elbows, carved into her wrists. They ended right at her hands, ensuring any long-sleeved garment would hide them. Every covered inch of her was filled like a canvas, like abstract art.

lets pause the fight scene for glynda to be gay!!!!! god im. okay look i said this earlier but im so glad we have more cinder like this tbh. the first version was rly lacking w/ cinder content until late-game when the plot sorta. got itself going? but now we’re eye-deep in this content i LOVE cinder i love this WEIRDO who is a HUGE LOSER and IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Glynda could not dispel the fear that she had been telling the truth.

and after committing Some Amount In Damages, we’re at the end of the chapter!

okay so i really enjoyed this version SO MUCH MORE. everything abt it was polished and worked together so much better and it really needed the space to breathe in its own chapter. its been horny, gay, intense, hilarious, and way more in one chapter and its SO good this really is PEAK offal hunt!!!!!!!!!!!! good job diesel and kc but im still going to murder you both,

#rwby #offal hunt #liveblog

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ruffiorocks · 5 years

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Supergirl’s Government, not as Xenophobic as people think?

Why do i keep seeing posts stating that the government, Col Haley and now Lena are Xenophobic and that is the end of that?

Lets look back and remember what has recently happened. The American President turned out to be an alien in disguise. That was a massive thing! Marsden deceived all of the USA and conned people into electing her as the President. Now correct me if im wrong but one does have to be a US citizen (born one) to run for office right? (im British) So, Marsden tricked everyone and broke the first rule of being the President. People were/are undoubtedly pissed about this.

Marsden signed the Alien Amnesty Act, granting aliens American Citizenship. If a human President had done that it would have been seen as humans making that decision, humans extending the hand of friendship and acceptance. But it wasn't, it was an Alien, granting all aliens American citizenship. Easily and not so far fetched it could be seen as the first wave of yet another alien invasion. In fact id question this more if there wasn't any suspicion!

National City (Earth) has seen Alien invasion via Kryptonians and Myriad, what about Reign? They have seen the Daxamites and they have seen countless rogue aliens causing mayhem and out to destroy on a weekly basis. Remember that Jonn was an alien in disguise who pretended to be someone the government knew so he could be in charge of the organisation whose job it is to bring down rogue aliens. All of these things combined are undoubtedly cause for suspicion! An alien in charge of the country and an alien in charge of the DEO

So is it any wonder that the Government/people are scared and want to crack down on aliens (like Supergirl) and know everything about them? Its not the best way to go about it, not all aliens are bad because of this, but fear is understandable and it makes people do drastic things.

We saw the Vice President, who is now acting President come to the DEO and demand to know who Supergirl is. Of course she refused and she was fired. Note, she was fired not arrested or hauled into a DEO cell.

Haley was brought in to see what was going on at the DEO, not surprising since the President, the most powerful woman in the world turned out to be alien and she was the one to pardon Jonn Jonzz fo his deceit, oh and reinstated him. Alex? She may be the Director but she has also happily been working with Jonn, Marsden and Supergirl and other aliens who they have now seen aren’t as trustworthy as people first thought. Its not surprising they brought someone else in, someone the government chose and trust to get a grip on things.

Now Haley told Kara to stand down and stop getting involved in alien/ DEO situations, not so wrong to be honest. She was told by her government to let them deal with their problems. Lets remember that Haley and the President were content to let Kara do her hero things, as long as it didnt cross into their business. But Kara refused and keeps getting involved. Now WE as the audience knew Kara isnt dodgy, and she’s doing this because she is a hero and she wants to help. But the Government dont know that, all they know is they have constantly been deceived and they want to be back in control.

Now Kara refuses to stop getting involved in things that she has been ordered to stay out of. Yes i know, she’s a hero and that the point, to US yes! But to the President and DEO she is a rogue alien who is refusing to take orders, and is sticking her nose where it isnt wanted. Due to all the recent above events, its no wonder tensions are high! The most powerful alien on the planet is a law onto herself. Lets remember that people have already seen Supergirl go crazy and try to achieve world domination. Under that dazzling smile, short skirt and blond locks is freaking dangerous alien with the attributes to kill them all! She’s even tried once!

Supergirl refuses to stop getting involved! Blatantly ignoring the American government! Well since they have seen that they can’t trust all aliens, and Supergirl could have been in the know that the President was an alien (we know this, but the Government may not) so she could have been complicit in whatever plans Marsden may have had, she has also worked closely with Jonn, another known deceiver, is it so hard a stretch that Supergirl may not be fully trust worthy? That having leverage on her is the safest option at this point? Would they have tried to learn her identity if she had listened and stood down? Maybe, but Supergirl didnt. She refuses to listen, something that Supergirl has always struggled with, she has always been a law unto herself to be honest, same as Kal El.

Haley gets orders to find out who Supergirl is, she does and we see her surprised that Supergirl is Kara Danvers. She tells her that from now on Kara will do as she says when she says it. Alex protests and says ‘She just saved your life!’ Yes she did, and that is great, im sure Haley was grateful. But that doesn't mean Haley’s orders are any different, and saving Haley’s life doesn't mean Kara is now once again free to do as she pleases. That’s not how things work. Also, Haley just found Alex has been telling some huge lies and she’s right, Alex is lucky she isn't in more trouble.

Back to Kara, Haley says her life as Kara Danvers is over, ‘a member of the press working out of a secret government organisation’ yeah, am i the only one who sees Haley’s point here? Kara as a member of the press has unlimited access to what goes on at the DEO, not a good combo. Also, as a journalist Kara has the means to put a spin on how aliens are perceived, since we know that most of Kara’s stories either involve Supergirl or other alien news. Kara as a journalist, no longer affiliated with the DEO could reek some havoc with the power of the press should she choose to expose them. We know she wouldn't, but Haley and the Government dont know that.

Also lets remember, who owned Cat Co? Cat Grant! Who was worked side by side with Marsden when she was President? Cat Grant! Who was Cat Grants assistant? Kara Danvers! Kara could have been in league with Marsden and Cat from the beginning. Remember cat launched Supergirl as well. So who is to say that anything Cat Co does or prints isn't biased or trustworthy? Oh as a side note, who is in charge of Cat Co right now? Not who owns it, who is in charge of the day to day business and who is the editor? James Olsen! A known vigilante, who has had access to the DEO and is close friends with Supergirl. Honestly its no wonder the Government are paranoid. That is a lot of possible bias happening in the press!

Yeah Haley goes overboard, she basically threatens Kara’s family and friends leading to Alex to knock her out. But her point about conscripting Kara back to the DEO wasn’t all that wrong. As mentioned, the US government dont know who they can and can’t trust now, Supergirl is under suspicion. Better to have her conscripted on their side than out playing the rogue hero when she has been told to stand down and they dont know her endgame. Im not saying its right, but i do see their point.

Now for Lena, long story short since i already address this in another post, Lena developed the serum to give superpowers to humans to level the playing field with aliens. Given ALL of what i just talked about, can you not see her point? Lena is aware of Marden, she is aware of the Daxamite invasion, she is aware of the recent alien threats, because she was either there or directly involved. She has also seen, that without her help things would have gone south with the Daxamites and Reign. Lena mentioned her ideas to her friends and they instantly disagreed, clearly thinking they can sort issues out themselves, using Lena whenever she is needed, but only doing what they want her to do. So Haley approached Lena, Lena wasnt buzzing about the whole giving her research to help the DEO etc but remember while they were talking, on the TV another alien had ripped out three human hearts. I think this is the turning point for Lena, she isnt happy, but things are waaaay out of control and anarchy is descending. Helping the government that has asked doesn't make her xenophobic, she hasn't shown signs of that. Wanting to be able to be on the same playing field as aliens doesn't make you xenophobic, it means you want to survive and you want everyone else to as well.

Haley is a soldier, i think she is harsh as hell, but not Xenophobic or as bad as she is made out to be. She is trying to get a handle on an organisation that has been effectively corrupted and compromised. Soldiers take orders. Also i haven't seen Brainy being threatened? Did i miss that somewhere?

Same with the new President, anarchy is descending with the COL, rogue aliens, not knowing who they can and can’t trust. He’s taking harsh steps to regain control of the country. I haven't seen him ordering the rounding up or registering of all aliens, have you?

Do you know who is Xenophobic and wants all the aliens gone and is actively trying to kill them all? the COL! Do you know who is actively working against them? The DEO! Do you know who has actively and publicly spoken out against them? Lena Luthor!. So i dont see Xenophobia in Haley, the President (maybe he is, we have yet to really see this in his actions outside of Supergirl) or Lena Luthor.

If i missed anything please tell me!

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #jonn jonzz #james olsen #alex danvers #col haley

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madisonrooney · 5 years

Text

i cannot STRESS enough how nuts this weekend is gonna be for me, in the best possible way

by no means is the the first weekend where ive had my fav things going on at the same time. like for gods sake i once met dove and saw jersey boys in the same damn day. but like...idk this is a different level.

meeting erich bergen is H U G E like i have to reiterate that. ive met nearly every celebrity i love since i moved to california, many of them multiple times, and ive now met nearly 400. but one of the highest people on that list is one of the people i couldnt cross off of it, until this week. ive seen him perform twice but only briefly. i thought maybe i could meet him after those performances but it didnt happen. but this is guaranteed meeting him. and ive had these tickets for four months so the fact that the day is finally here is...OOF.

like, we all know how much i love jersey boys. and ive met so many cast members of it. there are definitely still a few left that i havent met that id like to, yah, but none more than him. he was part of the movie which is where a lot of my love for it started, and hes like...my fav part of the movie. plus ive become invested in him beyond just jersey boys. also im lowkey glad im meeting him now as opposed to like 2 years ago cuz tbh im even deeper into jersey boys now. i was hype to meet john lloyd young but i dont think it was quite this bad. and that didnt really have to do with him, that just had to do with the fact that my obsession with the show still had to grow.

anyway. you have that ON ITS OWN. then we add DOVE to the mix. which, yknow, it doesnt matter how many times i see her, every single time is special. and the SETTING here is extra special. fan fest which was a blast last year, and they didnt even have descendants stuff then! you ADD descendants to it? its gonna be incredible. and its in disneyland. and a ton of my friends are coming. its like a mini d23. its one of the best possible settings to see her in, among doing other fun things and seeing other people. and like, every time i see her has always been precious to me, but ESPECIALLY post-mamma mia, cuz from then on its been so uncertain when id see her next, and there’d typically be a few months in between each time.

and honestly? every time i see her gets MORE special, as if to start off with they werent already incredibly special. because we become so much closer. seeing her at clueless was EASILY one of my favorite interactions with her, incredibly long and intimate. so knowing im gonna see her with that being our last interaction? like you know its gonna be great. i was already looking forward to seeing her in london but then i found out like a month ago that in fact id get to see her two months sooner IN ADDITION to it like!!! it doesnt get much better than that!!!

(HOWEVER there are no necessary guarantees of me meeting or even seeing her so i have to be careful. i have a pretty airtight plan in place but again, no guarantee, just cuz thats how these events go. that aside tho...)

so like...i feel like this is far more than any other combo of my fav things happening at the same time. dove and jersey boys are my main two. thats established. so it would have to be combining them to be an optimal weekend for me, yah? theyve been combined more or less like 3 other times: when i saw the show and two days later saw her at a book signing, when i saw her at build and then saw the show that night, and when i saw the show and saw her in clueless the following day. the first time was great particularly cuz that was one of my fav times seeing the show, but there was still a day in between so it was a little different (there will be a day in between here, but itll be fun. this time it was me working on a final like all day lol). the second time was great and build was one of my fav times seeing her but i also went into it not knowing if id get to MEET her, so the hype wasnt there. there was also a snowstorm so i was high key panicking that i wouldnt make it to EITHER event. it was also pretty rushed so we didnt get to talk much (tho, again, it was still great overall). the third time would have to be the best just cuz of how special clueless was, and how that whole trip was building up to the final night which was clueless, and the fact that the last thing we did prior to it was see jersey boys, not to mention my boy aaron (frankie) and i connected again, and it was possibly the best cast id seen at new world stages.

i cant put this ahead of clueless. but the COMBINATION is different. bc as much as i love seeing the show, obviously, this is meeting someone ive never met before who ive been dying to, and seeing him in a solo show with great seats. and yes theres a day in between, but you know what im doing then? seeing endgame with my friends at the el capitan.

i had a fun easter in disneyland but now i have 3 days of mostly just school and id give anything for them to be done with now. send tweet.

#ramble a rooney #this is incredibly long and no one cares but i needed to get some thoughts out even if just for my own sake #(all good stuff tho!)

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thelifetimechannel · 6 years

Text

#tlcstuck #terezi pyrope #nepeta leijon #walkaround 2

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pitz182 · 5 years

Text

Is AA Too Religious for Generation Z?

Are today’s mutual-aid recovery groups ready to satisfy Generation-next?“More than any other generation before them, Gen Z does not assert a religious identity. They might be drawn to things spiritual, but with a vastly different starting point from previous generations, many of whom received a basic education on the Bible and Christianity. And it shows: The percentage of Gen Z that identifies as atheist is double that of the U.S. adult population.”Released early this year, Barna Group’s Generation-Z Report (Americans born between 1999 and 2015) surveyed over 2,000 13 to 18-year-olds. The oldest of this generation turn 20 in 2019.According to AA’s most recent triennial membership survey, 1% of AA is under 21—that’s about 20,000 sober teenagers in AA rooms right now. What’s my personal affinity with this demographic? It’s two-fold: I have two millennial children and one 18-year-old stepson; secondly, while I am a grey-haired Baby Boomer, I was a teen at my first 12-step meeting. My 20th birthday was 1980, three months shy of my fourth anniversary clean and sober.I was a second-generation AA member and—like Barna’s youth focus group—my worldview seemed incompatible with the old fogies of 12-step rooms. My mother mused about finding god’s will for her from meditation or her daily horoscope. She was such a Virgo, you know. Horoscopes, higher powers, legends of Sasquatch, these were all fictional symbols as far as I was concerned. Reasonable people didn’t take such constructs literally, did they?Bob K, like me, is a second-generation AA. He’s currently between historical book projects; Key Players in AA History will soon have a prequel. Bob’s follow-up research will produce a book about pre-AA addiction and treatment. At age 40, Bob made it into AA as a result of his dad 12-stepping him. He also was uncomfortable with the emphasis on "God." “When I was a month sober, it was ‘God-this, God saved me’ and I was going to put my resignation in. I didn’t think I could stand it in AA any longer. I went to the internet of the day—which back then was the library—and I looked for non-religious alternatives to AA. They had them in California but nothing in Ontario Canada. So it was AA or nothing. If I tried to brave it alone, I’d be drunk; I knew it.”Today, Bob enjoys the likeminded company at his Secular AA home group, Whitby Freethinkers, which meets in the local suburban library just East of Toronto. If I were confronting addiction/recovery as a teen today, I wonder if I would go to AA or NA? If AA was once “the last house on the block,” today it’s one house in a subdivision of mutual-aid choices. Today, newcomers have access to Refuge Recovery, SMART Recovery, Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), or Medically Assisted Treatment, none of which existed in the 1970s.On Practically Sane, therapist Jeffrey Munn states: “I like to take a practical approach … I’m not a fan of the ‘fluff’ and flowery language that is often associated with the world of psychology and self-help.” Jeffrey came into the rooms at 20, stayed sober for 2 ½ years, relapsed, came back and is now 13 years clean and sober.“I was mandated to three 12-step meetings per week to stay in the program I was in. Since I was young I have been agnostic. I wanted to find a higher power that was common sense-based, but in the rooms I felt pulled towards a more dogmatic spiritual idea of higher power. Back then, I needed to come up with my own conception of what was happening on a psychological level." Recently, Jeffrey wrote and published Staying Sober Without God: the Practical 12 Steps to Long Term Recovery from Alcoholism and Addiction.“I looked at SMART Recovery,” Jeffrey tells The Fix. “I looked at Moderation Management, too—that one struck me as being an organized resentment against AA—I wasn’t feeling it. When it comes down to social support and a practical plan of action, it’s hard to beat 12-step programs. What I try to teach is: if you don’t buy into any kind of a supernatural higher power, navigate the 12-step world, filtering the god-stuff out, working the program in your own way; there is lots that really works.”Barna reports, “Nearly half of teens, on par with Millennials, say, ‘I need factual evidence to support my beliefs.’” Jeffrey hopes Staying Sober Without God—which joins a growing secular 12-step recovery offering—offers the rational narrative today’s youth crave. Barna calls today’s youth “the first truly post-Christian generation [in America].”Certified Master Addiction Counselor David B. Bohl of Milwaukee understands the value of other-oriented care. David tells The Fix: “As head of a 20-bed coed dual-diagnosis treatment center, emerging adults, 18 to 25 years old, came into our care. I wouldn’t say that they universally shrugged off the 12-step approach but almost universally, in reaction to our volunteers, alumni, and traditional AA community, younger clients didn’t want what the volunteers and alumni had. And I wouldn’t say it was the religiosity always. Sometimes it was an age-thing or life approach. So, our recovery management function became that much more important in terms of building individualized treatment that suits everyone.“In the USA, 75% of all residential treatment centers identify as 12-step facilitators,” David tells us. “In the simplest form, our job is to introduce people to the language and the concept of the 12 steps and then to introduce the clients to support groups or people in support groups when they are discharged from acute care.Where trauma is involved—religious trauma in particular—traditional AA language and rituals trigger that shame they feel from negative formal religion experiences.”Let’s put this overbearing religion caution to a real-life test: Suwaida F was the second oldest of 11 children to Somalian refugee parents who fled to Canada in the 1980s.“In Kindergarten I didn’t have to wear a hijab; my parents weren’t super religious. I went to an Islamic school in grade one. It was normal for teachers to have belts with them, they would hit you; child abuse was normalized. They didn’t really teach us that much math, science, history. The Islamic teachers weren’t that educated. My parents took me out and put me in public school. Then, some of my mom’s Somalian-Canadian friends started moving their kids to Egypt. My friends would stay in Egypt two years, finish the Qur’an and the girls came back wearing burqas and head-scarves. Some Muslim friends would come to school in their hijab, take them off and put them back on when they went home. We called them The Transformers.My parents really wanted us to learn the Qur’an; I don’t speak Arabic, so it was difficult. And I never believed it. I asked my mom and dad, ‘How do you know that this stuff is real?’ They got frustrated and mad and said, ‘Don’t ever ask that question again.’ I knew it wasn’t real. Mom got more and more religious. Pictures of her at age 19 -- she wore no head-scarf when she was my age. My mom expected me to be religious and I rebelled. I had to leave home.”Suwaida misses her sisters. She feels unwelcome in the family home unless she is dressed in the Islamic custom and that wouldn’t be true to herself. Away from home, Suwaida found the welcoming community she craved in the booze and cocaine culture.“It wasn’t a matter of having no money; I had no sense of hope. People at work didn’t know I was hopped from shelter to shelter at night. One winter I was told, ‘Suwaida, you’ve been restricted from every youth shelter in the city of Toronto.’” As addiction progressed, Suwaida recalls an ever-descending patterns of compromises, bad relationships and regrets.“Today, it’s like I still never unpack my suitcase; I’m always ready to go.” During a stay at St. Joe’s detox, Suwaida went to her first NA meeting.“At 7 PM, a woman spoke. I made it clear that I thought it was stupid; I wouldn’t share. At the end, everyone was holding hands to pray and I said, ‘I’m not holding any of your hands.’ I didn’t go back. When I was discharged, I went drinking at the bar with my suitcase, not knowing where I was going to stay that night.My second meeting I consider my first, because I chose it. I thought I should go to AA. I googled atheist or freethinker AA to avoid a repeat of my NA experience. I found Beyond Belief Agnostics and Freethinkers Group on the University of Toronto campus. I went there last February. For a while, I had wine in my travel-mug, and I didn’t say anything. In August I felt like the woman beside me knew I was drinking, and I ask myself, ‘What am I doing?’ So, my next meeting, I went sober. I’ve been clean and sober ever since.”Despite the child-violence of Islamic school and rejection from her family, Suwaida isn’t anti-theist. “I do believe in God or in something. I feel like I’m always looking for signs. I don’t believe in a god in the sky but to say there’s nothing beyond all this doesn’t make any sense to me. Sometimes the freakiest things happen. Maybe it’s because I’m a storyteller, I try to make a story out of everything; you think of someone, then they phone you, is that random?I feel a part-of in secular or mainstream AA meetings. My self-talk still sounds like, ‘Don’t share Suwaida, you have nothing to add.’ Maybe it comes from not being able to express myself when I was growing up. I have no sense of self. I guess I have something special to offer but I don’t know how to articulate it. It’s hard; I have limited self-confidence.”“Give them their voice; listen to them,” is Kevin Schaefer’s approach. He co-hosts the podcast Don’t Die Wisconsin. He’s also a recovery coach.“I’ve been in Recovery 29+ years. I’m a substance abuse counselor and I got into addiction treatment through sober living. When I started working in a Suboxone clinic, I came to realize that AA can’t solve everything. I always come from a harm reduction standpoint: meth, cocaine, benzos; I ask, ‘Can you just smoke pot?’ and we start building the trust there.Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) is geared towards this generation. Most kids coming through my door know a lot about MAT, more so than people in AA with the biases and stigma that they bring. Kids sometimes know more than the front-line social workers. Their friends are on MAT, that’s how they gather their information (not to say their information is all correct). But a lot of therapists don’t understand medication. Medication can be a ticket to survival out on the streets.”The Fix asked Kevin his opinion on the best suited mutual-aid group for this generation.“Most of the generation you’re talking about walks in with anxiety and defiantly won’t do groups.” We talked about the role of online video/voice or text meetings for a tech-native generation. “Yes—where appropriate. Women especially, because from what I’ve seen, most females have suffered from trauma. I have heard women who prefer online recovery; that make sense to me. I’ve been to InTheRooms.com; as professionals we have a duty to know what’s out there. And there are some crazies online.If someone has an Eastern philosophy bent, I’ll send them to Refuge Recovery; I’ve been there. If I can, I’ll set them up with somebody that I know can help them. And let’s not forget that some youth, if Christianity is your thing, Celebrate Recovery is amazing — talk about a community that wraps themselves around the substance user. There are movie nights, food, all kinds of extracurricular activities. The SMART Recovery Movement? Excellent. SMART momentum is building in Milwaukee. They are goal-oriented and the person gets supported whether they’re on Suboxone or, in one case I know, micro-dosing with LSD for depression; they’ll be supported either way. My goal with youth is: ‘Try to get to one meeting this month; start slow.’ Don’t set the bar too high and if they enjoy it, then great.The 12-step meeting I go to, it’s a men’s meeting. There are people there on medication and they don’t get blow-back. I wish more of AA was like this. When I came in, almost 30 years ago now, I saw all the God-stuff on the walls and I thought, ‘Nah, this isn’t going to work’ but thank G… (laughs), thank the Group of Drunks who said, ‘You don’t have to believe in that.’ The range in my meeting is broad—Eastern philosophy, Native American practices, Yoga, I was invited to Transcendental Meditation meetings at members’ houses. I was fortunate to fall into this group. You know, the first book my sponsor gave me was The Tao of Physics—not The Big Book—it was this 70’s book with Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, correlated to physics and contemporary science.”So, as to the question that kicked this off, some mutual aid meetings are ready to meet the taste of a new generation; results may vary. Who’s heard: “If you haven’t met anyone you don’t like in AA, you haven’t gone to enough meetings”?The reverse is true, also. If the peer-to-peer meetings I’ve sampled seem too narrow or dogmatic, maybe my search for just the right fit isn’t over. And if I don’t want a face-to-face meeting, there’s always Kevin’s podcast, virtual communities like The Fix, or I can order one of Bob or David or Jeffrey’s books if that’s more to my taste.

0 notes

alexdmorgan30 · 5 years

Text

Is AA Too Religious for Generation Z?

Are today’s mutual-aid recovery groups ready to satisfy Generation-next?“More than any other generation before them, Gen Z does not assert a religious identity. They might be drawn to things spiritual, but with a vastly different starting point from previous generations, many of whom received a basic education on the Bible and Christianity. And it shows: The percentage of Gen Z that identifies as atheist is double that of the U.S. adult population.”Released early this year, Barna Group’s Generation-Z Report (Americans born between 1999 and 2015) surveyed over 2,000 13 to 18-year-olds. The oldest of this generation turn 20 in 2019.According to AA’s most recent triennial membership survey, 1% of AA is under 21—that’s about 20,000 sober teenagers in AA rooms right now. What’s my personal affinity with this demographic? It’s two-fold: I have two millennial children and one 18-year-old stepson; secondly, while I am a grey-haired Baby Boomer, I was a teen at my first 12-step meeting. My 20th birthday was 1980, three months shy of my fourth anniversary clean and sober.I was a second-generation AA member and—like Barna’s youth focus group��my worldview seemed incompatible with the old fogies of 12-step rooms. My mother mused about finding god’s will for her from meditation or her daily horoscope. She was such a Virgo, you know. Horoscopes, higher powers, legends of Sasquatch, these were all fictional symbols as far as I was concerned. Reasonable people didn’t take such constructs literally, did they?Bob K, like me, is a second-generation AA. He’s currently between historical book projects; Key Players in AA History will soon have a prequel. Bob’s follow-up research will produce a book about pre-AA addiction and treatment. At age 40, Bob made it into AA as a result of his dad 12-stepping him. He also was uncomfortable with the emphasis on "God." “When I was a month sober, it was ‘God-this, God saved me’ and I was going to put my resignation in. I didn’t think I could stand it in AA any longer. I went to the internet of the day—which back then was the library—and I looked for non-religious alternatives to AA. They had them in California but nothing in Ontario Canada. So it was AA or nothing. If I tried to brave it alone, I’d be drunk; I knew it.”Today, Bob enjoys the likeminded company at his Secular AA home group, Whitby Freethinkers, which meets in the local suburban library just East of Toronto. If I were confronting addiction/recovery as a teen today, I wonder if I would go to AA or NA? If AA was once “the last house on the block,” today it’s one house in a subdivision of mutual-aid choices. Today, newcomers have access to Refuge Recovery, SMART Recovery, Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), or Medically Assisted Treatment, none of which existed in the 1970s.On Practically Sane, therapist Jeffrey Munn states: “I like to take a practical approach … I’m not a fan of the ‘fluff’ and flowery language that is often associated with the world of psychology and self-help.” Jeffrey came into the rooms at 20, stayed sober for 2 ½ years, relapsed, came back and is now 13 years clean and sober.“I was mandated to three 12-step meetings per week to stay in the program I was in. Since I was young I have been agnostic. I wanted to find a higher power that was common sense-based, but in the rooms I felt pulled towards a more dogmatic spiritual idea of higher power. Back then, I needed to come up with my own conception of what was happening on a psychological level." Recently, Jeffrey wrote and published Staying Sober Without God: the Practical 12 Steps to Long Term Recovery from Alcoholism and Addiction.“I looked at SMART Recovery,” Jeffrey tells The Fix. “I looked at Moderation Management, too—that one struck me as being an organized resentment against AA—I wasn’t feeling it. When it comes down to social support and a practical plan of action, it’s hard to beat 12-step programs. What I try to teach is: if you don’t buy into any kind of a supernatural higher power, navigate the 12-step world, filtering the god-stuff out, working the program in your own way; there is lots that really works.”Barna reports, “Nearly half of teens, on par with Millennials, say, ‘I need factual evidence to support my beliefs.’” Jeffrey hopes Staying Sober Without God—which joins a growing secular 12-step recovery offering—offers the rational narrative today’s youth crave. Barna calls today’s youth “the first truly post-Christian generation [in America].”Certified Master Addiction Counselor David B. Bohl of Milwaukee understands the value of other-oriented care. David tells The Fix: “As head of a 20-bed coed dual-diagnosis treatment center, emerging adults, 18 to 25 years old, came into our care. I wouldn’t say that they universally shrugged off the 12-step approach but almost universally, in reaction to our volunteers, alumni, and traditional AA community, younger clients didn’t want what the volunteers and alumni had. And I wouldn’t say it was the religiosity always. Sometimes it was an age-thing or life approach. So, our recovery management function became that much more important in terms of building individualized treatment that suits everyone.“In the USA, 75% of all residential treatment centers identify as 12-step facilitators,” David tells us. “In the simplest form, our job is to introduce people to the language and the concept of the 12 steps and then to introduce the clients to support groups or people in support groups when they are discharged from acute care.Where trauma is involved—religious trauma in particular—traditional AA language and rituals trigger that shame they feel from negative formal religion experiences.”Let’s put this overbearing religion caution to a real-life test: Suwaida F was the second oldest of 11 children to Somalian refugee parents who fled to Canada in the 1980s.“In Kindergarten I didn’t have to wear a hijab; my parents weren’t super religious. I went to an Islamic school in grade one. It was normal for teachers to have belts with them, they would hit you; child abuse was normalized. They didn’t really teach us that much math, science, history. The Islamic teachers weren’t that educated. My parents took me out and put me in public school. Then, some of my mom’s Somalian-Canadian friends started moving their kids to Egypt. My friends would stay in Egypt two years, finish the Qur’an and the girls came back wearing burqas and head-scarves. Some Muslim friends would come to school in their hijab, take them off and put them back on when they went home. We called them The Transformers.My parents really wanted us to learn the Qur’an; I don’t speak Arabic, so it was difficult. And I never believed it. I asked my mom and dad, ‘How do you know that this stuff is real?’ They got frustrated and mad and said, ‘Don’t ever ask that question again.’ I knew it wasn’t real. Mom got more and more religious. Pictures of her at age 19 -- she wore no head-scarf when she was my age. My mom expected me to be religious and I rebelled. I had to leave home.”Suwaida misses her sisters. She feels unwelcome in the family home unless she is dressed in the Islamic custom and that wouldn’t be true to herself. Away from home, Suwaida found the welcoming community she craved in the booze and cocaine culture.“It wasn’t a matter of having no money; I had no sense of hope. People at work didn’t know I was hopped from shelter to shelter at night. One winter I was told, ‘Suwaida, you’ve been restricted from every youth shelter in the city of Toronto.’” As addiction progressed, Suwaida recalls an ever-descending patterns of compromises, bad relationships and regrets.“Today, it’s like I still never unpack my suitcase; I’m always ready to go.” During a stay at St. Joe’s detox, Suwaida went to her first NA meeting.“At 7 PM, a woman spoke. I made it clear that I thought it was stupid; I wouldn’t share. At the end, everyone was holding hands to pray and I said, ‘I’m not holding any of your hands.’ I didn’t go back. When I was discharged, I went drinking at the bar with my suitcase, not knowing where I was going to stay that night.My second meeting I consider my first, because I chose it. I thought I should go to AA. I googled atheist or freethinker AA to avoid a repeat of my NA experience. I found Beyond Belief Agnostics and Freethinkers Group on the University of Toronto campus. I went there last February. For a while, I had wine in my travel-mug, and I didn’t say anything. In August I felt like the woman beside me knew I was drinking, and I ask myself, ‘What am I doing?’ So, my next meeting, I went sober. I’ve been clean and sober ever since.”Despite the child-violence of Islamic school and rejection from her family, Suwaida isn’t anti-theist. “I do believe in God or in something. I feel like I’m always looking for signs. I don’t believe in a god in the sky but to say there’s nothing beyond all this doesn’t make any sense to me. Sometimes the freakiest things happen. Maybe it’s because I’m a storyteller, I try to make a story out of everything; you think of someone, then they phone you, is that random?I feel a part-of in secular or mainstream AA meetings. My self-talk still sounds like, ‘Don’t share Suwaida, you have nothing to add.’ Maybe it comes from not being able to express myself when I was growing up. I have no sense of self. I guess I have something special to offer but I don’t know how to articulate it. It’s hard; I have limited self-confidence.”“Give them their voice; listen to them,” is Kevin Schaefer’s approach. He co-hosts the podcast Don’t Die Wisconsin. He’s also a recovery coach.“I’ve been in Recovery 29+ years. I’m a substance abuse counselor and I got into addiction treatment through sober living. When I started working in a Suboxone clinic, I came to realize that AA can’t solve everything. I always come from a harm reduction standpoint: meth, cocaine, benzos; I ask, ‘Can you just smoke pot?’ and we start building the trust there.Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) is geared towards this generation. Most kids coming through my door know a lot about MAT, more so than people in AA with the biases and stigma that they bring. Kids sometimes know more than the front-line social workers. Their friends are on MAT, that’s how they gather their information (not to say their information is all correct). But a lot of therapists don’t understand medication. Medication can be a ticket to survival out on the streets.”The Fix asked Kevin his opinion on the best suited mutual-aid group for this generation.“Most of the generation you’re talking about walks in with anxiety and defiantly won’t do groups.” We talked about the role of online video/voice or text meetings for a tech-native generation. “Yes—where appropriate. Women especially, because from what I’ve seen, most females have suffered from trauma. I have heard women who prefer online recovery; that make sense to me. I’ve been to InTheRooms.com; as professionals we have a duty to know what’s out there. And there are some crazies online.If someone has an Eastern philosophy bent, I’ll send them to Refuge Recovery; I’ve been there. If I can, I’ll set them up with somebody that I know can help them. And let’s not forget that some youth, if Christianity is your thing, Celebrate Recovery is amazing — talk about a community that wraps themselves around the substance user. There are movie nights, food, all kinds of extracurricular activities. The SMART Recovery Movement? Excellent. SMART momentum is building in Milwaukee. They are goal-oriented and the person gets supported whether they’re on Suboxone or, in one case I know, micro-dosing with LSD for depression; they’ll be supported either way. My goal with youth is: ‘Try to get to one meeting this month; start slow.’ Don’t set the bar too high and if they enjoy it, then great.The 12-step meeting I go to, it’s a men’s meeting. There are people there on medication and they don’t get blow-back. I wish more of AA was like this. When I came in, almost 30 years ago now, I saw all the God-stuff on the walls and I thought, ‘Nah, this isn’t going to work’ but thank G… (laughs), thank the Group of Drunks who said, ‘You don’t have to believe in that.’ The range in my meeting is broad—Eastern philosophy, Native American practices, Yoga, I was invited to Transcendental Meditation meetings at members’ houses. I was fortunate to fall into this group. You know, the first book my sponsor gave me was The Tao of Physics—not The Big Book—it was this 70’s book with Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, correlated to physics and contemporary science.”So, as to the question that kicked this off, some mutual aid meetings are ready to meet the taste of a new generation; results may vary. Who’s heard: “If you haven’t met anyone you don’t like in AA, you haven’t gone to enough meetings”?The reverse is true, also. If the peer-to-peer meetings I’ve sampled seem too narrow or dogmatic, maybe my search for just the right fit isn’t over. And if I don’t want a face-to-face meeting, there’s always Kevin’s podcast, virtual communities like The Fix, or I can order one of Bob or David or Jeffrey’s books if that’s more to my taste.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 http://bit.ly/2B5JhVm

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emlydunstan · 5 years

Text

Is AA Too Religious for Generation Z?

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 https://www.thefix.com/aa-too-religious-generation-z

0 notes

isaacathom · 7 years

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anyway to build off the at10dant thing. i do still like that (even if by most accounts noone says it at-ten, they just say a-ten). but i think mb something else would work better. easier, certainly. mostly because im not sure exactly how replacing ten with 10 in words makes sense for Lyndel’s character?? like, the fuck does she have to do with 10s, right? plus once being a pain to convert (1s? 1ce? hh). so, i had alternatives for her pre-Apostasy

Follower and Adherent are kinda neat. Follower implies a stronger connection to the Director than i think i like. I don’t think the Apostate really joined the Director because she wanted to, in contrast to the Lawmaker, who basically busted when the Director made offers. oh thats an image. oh i didnt want that. euugh. but yea. so, Adherent seems.... sliiiightly more in line with my interpretation of the Apostate’s loyalties. shes not completely loyal like the Lawmaker, she’s loyal to the point where it doesn’t completely contradict her values. which she DIDNT, until she ordered the deaths of dozens + of burgundies and bronze bloods because of the actions of the singular Fugitive in slaying the Lawmaker. it was a level of retribution that just didn’t click. it didn’t work. she just did paperwork, but this..... its getting out of hand. the almost wholesale deaths of the entirety of the Recreant’s army, despite the Desolate’s explanation that they were contracted and not willing, did not help matters.

also, yeaaaaaa, Lyndel’s ancestor definitely interacted with the Desolate. his plight as one of the few (if not the only) survivor of the Recreant’s illfated power grab absolutely tears at their heart. and then the deaths of all those bronze and burgundies just mmmmm nah thats it. not immediately - there is time. she bides her time. she waits for the best opportunity. she wants to take them both out, if she can. and she does! did she have help? maybe? its unclear. the whole thing is shrouded in mystery. noones even positive it was Her that did it - she was simply branded the villain for the purpose of obtaining justice. Not that this succeeded - she completely dropped off the map. maybe she met up with the recreant and fucked him up too. thats a fun thing to think about. like she comes across the Recreant utterly pitiful out in the wastes and goes ‘this is for starting this bullshit’ and just fucking curbstomps him. she could, too. even though shes a pencil pusher and the Recreant had aspirations of greatness and probably worked out, theyre only two castes apart, and she’s just more powerful. assuming he survived to meet her as the Apostate, he wouldnt stand a fucking chance. absolutely shit canned, lads. completely reamed.

ok. well.... i actually think, in terms of raw sound, Follower sounds better? i think ill actually go with that. it makes a clearer distinction between her two points, as Follower and Apostate.

ok. thats cool. now i actually really wanna fix the Fugitive? that sounds boring as fuck. she needs more oomph. she killed the Lawmaker and shit. she needs oomph. Assassin could work but thats sorta plain. theres also potential to utilise Serren’s quirk - rolling her rs. like Soldierr. Tor- Torrpedo? Torpedo means assassin? huh..... interesting. id probably prefer that if theres a rolled r, its in the middle or front, rather than the end. its an aesthetic thing. The Torrpedo is kinda hilarious, though. Invaderr? hmm. that has a little more truth to it, certainly, since the majority of their legacy is breaking into a law office and killing the Lawmaker. Invasion? yea. their being on the run was a far lesser part of their story, just a footnote in the Champion’s conquest. Also the Champion and the Director also will get names (like dualscar and shit) but thats later. god its complicated because i want it to be clear that she’s not like, a hero. people believe in her, but she’s not the Sufferer or even the Summoner. she’s a killer, just like the high bloods she despised. a hypocrite. oh fuck that might be the ticket hold on

hmm.... ok. Impostor is nice. issue is that her quirk would kick in, wouldnt it? since its generally demonstrated that the names uses the quirks (except for Expatri8 which uses the wrong quirk even though the x is RIGHT THERE Darkleer. E%patri8. though mindfangs still there). maybe i wont do a rolled r quirk. it looks kinda shit and doesnt make sense for me to do (mostly because i CANT roll rs). but ok lets say no double r. Impostor. how does that sound. It sounds about correct, perhaps ties into how to managed to GET to the Lawmaker to kill her in the first place. Like, false pretenses. Something echoing her descendants later Cobalt Masquerade, as it were. But also an Imposter because she wasn’t like, in the right sorta thing. rather than killing the person using to the tool, she killed the tool. yknow? its sorta iffy on that but i think it fits enough? sure. better than Fugitive, i think

#story blogging #homestuck stuff #also to be clear this post has been open for 3 hours i was really struggling for names there #this is like the thiiiirddd time i had to do an ancestor pass im losing it

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castlehead · 7 years

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meandering: inspired by caylen crawford

while i was at beekman i was dating who i thought was the love of my life

in essence, foolish puppy love; i was 18. etc.

in any case it wasnt the healthiest relationship. i returned to the boarding school that kicked me out for self-harm shit [kind of a dick move on their part really but i guess i was a liability; and i mean w/e, thats how i had gotten to be at beekman to begin with]

anyway, i returned to said boarding school, millbrook, to attend the graduation of my previous classmates. i was already on the skids with grades at beekman, things didnt look good re getting a diploma, and i was always stealing my gf’s medicine: she was prescribed the big three, a combo i have seen many times before: adderal, ambien, and klonopin.

anyway i did something stupid and jumped out of the second story dorm window -luckily enough this was after the grad ceremony itself so thankfully that part of my boarding school friends' graduation didnt have much drama to it. the aforementioned girl promptly dumped me at the end of that summer, after i had shuffled thru various hellish psych units haha

and this is just 08

but yeah; fucked up my back pretty bad. imagine the wind getting knocked out of u but times a hundred

anyway, spiraled straight into the jaws of a crippling depression accentuated by social anxiety and a general inability to function, along with this doing more drugs [the girl i had dated had been a virtual pharmacy after all, and had introduced me to harder shit, for the first time, back then] basically all 09 i felt like i was gonna die; then, had an intense vision, saw god one night in my friends kitchen, embodied as a vase i witnessed fall to the floor and shatter into an infinite number of pieces, then magically reform once again into a whole vase -begging the questionable logic behind the fact of anything if shattered into pieces of an infinite number reassembling, being able to reassemble, into the original intact object. would there not also be an arbitrary void, an endless 'final embellishment' as stevens might say, that kept the vase from ever being entirely whole? i desperately tried to capture what the message was, and wrote insane nonlinear drivel on 8 reams of newspaper all night. i woke up three weeks later -the incident had resulted in a long bout of amnesia or something

anyway, i wrote a shittton of philo stuff after, and some great poetry, in fact, just know im on the other side dude. never been more together, honestly, these days. Anyway,

'10 -went to university of hartford, did inconceivable numbers of psychedelics, research chemicals; wrote most of and assembled the first draft of an epic poetic sequence,- over the course of twelve hours sitting on a rock in one place near a brook in the woods outside of the uni. made two really good friends there but eventually got too crazy with the drugs and never went to class. flunked out. my parents were not happy. they sent me to a wilderness survival camp for half a year. wrote a nature epic, heavy nature imagery, by hand, over the course of my stay at the wilderness program, but never did any of the wellness questionnaires or whatever in the booklet they give u to fill out, bc i thought it was stupid and useless. so eventually the staff there were like, this motherfucker has been here half a year, hes going insane

i mean at that point i had been living for quite awhile in the wilderness of the blue ridge mountains, always for three long weeks at a time, followed by a brief weeklong interval in semi-civilixed quarters. and then it was back into yonder wilderness. and this was some like leo dicaprio in ‘the revenant’ type shit. i mean they went hard yo really

need to make a fire? no matches, no lighters: u had to -make- it using a bowdrill or quartz and steel. i never got the bowdrilling down but i was pretty good at sparking the charcloth in my tin with the quartz frictioned against the steel, which is called ‘striking’ cuz u strike the bit of steel against the quartz over dry burnt cloth hoping the resulting sparks from this catch on the cloth etc. etc.

anyway that nature epic was my saving grace -at the end of it all it was arond 111 pages. they said my writing that was enough to let me leave.

anyway, had two years sober after that, in and out of dual diagnosis facilities

developed my poetic voice and technique. as soon as i leave to go back to new york, i get invited to stay with this girl ****, who i would end up dating and basically living at her apartment buying us drugs. it eventually got so bad she got put on leave from uconn where she was going to school bc well that’s drugs for you.

I had a monthlong psychotic episode, drug induced -and i mean like, talking to the walls, thinking the tv was talking to me type shit. anyway that led to one thing or another and i found myself living in random motels in windsor locks ct near the airport continually strung out on heroin and disoriented by pcp

with said girl *****

so now its around 2014 2015 i meet the true love of my life and leave ***** for her

but then i cant decide on either girl and end up fucking them both over emotionally

and in june of 2015 i was so overcome by guilt i jumped over 7 stories out of a window

onto the concrete courtyard outside of my room in nyc

it would have been the end, especially as i was aiming for the stairs that descended from the courtyard to the basement door; by some act of god, i hit this giant heater at the bottom

it broke my fall

i got out of it with a perforated liver and an arm broken in half but really i should have been dead.

so then i underwent intensive therapy, decided i wanted to be with the girl who is now having my child, while in the meantime, *****, my ex, spiraled out of control, which i blame myself for, and od'd on heroin, which i blame myself for, to this day. id say i grapple with that more than i should

but yeah: she died, bless her haha. and, uh

well these days im sober, level headed, happier than ive ever been, writing clear, lapidary pieces of writing, and in love with the woman who will bear my child, -and also gainfully employed, as much as i can be, considering therapy takes up a lot of my week

and that, sir -are the uh, main events i should say

it almost makes my head spin at how so much can change and then change back in a single decade.

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