#illnesses since the dawn of time and right now DID is on trend | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jaskiersvalley · 4 years

Text

“Facts” of Life

@witchofmorena This one is for you! I hope you enjoy the silliness of Geralt being an absolute troll.

The problem with witchers (or rather, Eskel) was that they were too trusting. Not out on the Path, there they were on constant high alert, wary of anyone and everyone. But back home? When the biggest worry they had over the winter was whether to train with their swords or meditate, that was a whole different issue. They were comfortable, liked each other and knew that no ills would come. But also, they were so easily bored. With much of their year spent active, it didn’t do them any favours to sit around idle, even if there was training and general maintenance to be done. While they worked, they liked to pick each other’s brains on various things. And given the fact that Geralt travelled with a bard, he became the expert on humans.

Usually, it wouldn’t be an issue, sharing knowledge was how witchers helped each other stay alive. Knowing which towns to definitely avoid was helpful. Nobody had set foot in Blaviken since Geralt’s incident, no matter the contracts that were on offer in the area. Some things just weren’t worth it, especially if there was a high chance of not being paid and being injured instead. But back to sharing information. The thing about being a witcher and living for so long was that small things about humans were all too easily forgotten with the passage of time. Generations came and went, trends changed but witchers remained the same. It became tedious to keep up with humans so most witchers existed amongst them but walked their Path without much care for them.

“I still can’t believe you have to feed your bard fish every four hours,” Eskel grumbled as he smeared binding paste to a crumbling wall. “I mean, do you have to wake him to make sure he doesn’t get- what did you call it? De-fish-ency?”

With an utterly straight face, Geralt nodded. “Every four hours. Thankfully the night snacks can be dried fish. Too fresh and Jaskier would get wet. You know what happens to bards when they get wet after midnight but before dawn?”

It was rather endearing how Eskel set his tools to the side to look at Geralt, wide eyed with horror an anticipation.

“They go feral. Will wake a whole city and tear it down with their discordant shrieks.”

There was awe in Eskel’s eyes. “And yet you travel with one.”

The “facts” Geralt dispensed about bards and humans in general over the winters became ingrained knowledge for wolf witchers. It was never anything that could harm anyone and Geralt had a rather splendid time being a little shit and a troll. At least, not until Jaskier announced he was going to Kaer Morhen with him. It didn’t even occur to Geralt that there could be trouble ahead until they were walking through the doors and a collective gasp went up from Eskel, Lambert and even Vesemir. All Geralt could think of was “oh shit” as he realised what this winter meant.

It all started off so very respectful. Every four hours, a witcher turned up with some kind of fish for Jaskier. In the privacy of the kitchen Geralt reassured the others that he would take fish duties overnight, after all, Jaskier was his bard so his to take care of. He even agreed to be the one to go out to the river and fish to help stock up for winter. There was no way that Geralt could, in good conscience, let the others go out and fish because of his joke backfiring.

The constant supply of fish surprised Jaskier but they were all so tasty, he couldn’t refuse. Though he did make sure to always share it with whoever was around. And he always thanked the chef of the day, it was cute to see witchers preen at being told they were good cooks. Especially Vesemir, he got all quiet but his chest puffed out and a small, happy smile tugged at the corner of his lips for the rest of the day.

Fish every four hours was easy enough to explain away as a winter witcher-ism Something about fish being good for witchers and they were just trying to share it with Jaskier because they had no idea how humans worked. Well, at least the no clue about how humans worked was true.

There were other things, like at meal times, there was always one witcher watching Jaskier. It was something that the bard had picked up on and Geralt had to wave his hand to explain that they liked to make sure their guest was enjoying his food. It absolutely had nothing to do with the “fact” witchers had been taught; if left unsupervised while eating, a bard could eat more than recommended and explode. It was a defensive mechanism for banquets - obviously.

Things escalated when they were gathered around the dying embers of a fire, sprawled on furs and chatting. Eskel was regaling them with a story about the time he got stuck in an inn because the wyvern he’d been sent to deal with went and had a heart attack right in front of the door. Which meant Eskel had to climb out the window but the swords on his back got caught on the window and he was stuck, dangling and helpless.At least it spoke well of the craftsmanship of his weapons for not even bending under his weight.

The problem was, Lambert had been so thoroughly entertained, he snorted, water spraying from his nose and it splattered onto Jaskier’s arm.

“Oh fuck!” Lambert was backing away and only a disgruntled “oof” alerted him to the fact that he’d ended up in Eskel’s lap. “It’s gone midnight and I got him wet! What are we going to do? It’s winter and the keep’s not going to survive. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck!”

Puzzled, Jaskier simply shrugged out of his shirt and laid it closer to the fire, stoking it to awake in a little. He took in how on edge all the witchers except looked and frowned.

“What’s going on?”

It fell to Vesemir to hesitantly explain how they heard about bards’ affliction with water and the hours between midnight and dawn. The more he spoke, the more Jaskier stared at Geralt. The stare turned into a bit of a glare as his gaze was avoided at all costs.

“Well, this is all very fancy,” Jaskier said, eyes not leaving his idiot witcher. “But I ask you this, if I can’t get wet after midnight, how do you think I can suck cock or have sex at such times? Oh wait-” Geralt’s head whipped up at the tone, “-I guess it won’t be an issue for the next week now, will it Geralt?”

#geraskier #geralt of rivia #jaskier #eskel #lambert #vesemir #witcher wolf pack #tldr: geralt is a troll and teaches 'human facts' to other witchers

483 notes · View notes

daisworld-app · 3 years

Text

Lockdown Fluff getting to you? Five lovely diets to shed those not-so-loved kilos

It’s been a great deal of time since the initial lockdown. A lot of things changed after the 2020 lockdown phase was over. But what remained constant was first, the Corona Virus and second, the extra fat we all accumulated because of the cooking and eating spree we had during the lockdown last year.

As we scroll through the Insta feeds all we see are people doing yoga, the Zumba and the Suryanamaskars at home, which does inspire us to do something. Sure. But that’s the ideal world!

In the real world, people get inspired alright but after spending just 30 precious minutes of their day in a downward dog position, they give up. But let’s not blame just the lockdown, we haaaaaate exercising. So, even while the gyms and parks opened up temporarily before the 2nd wave hit us, we still excused ourselves from exercising. Not that we scored even pre-lockdown – Busy schedules, unending projects, ever-scary deadline – there was nothing that encouraged us to keep that workout regimen going.

And whats worse? Those non-Insta-worthy photos and many many discarded selfies that picked a raw nerve within us - often making us feel miserable about our own lack of self-love. Well, let’s not beat ourselves up and let’s recollect that there exists an 80/20 rule – 80 per cent of the recipe to lose weight and look good is, Nutrition or Diet. So even while you skimp on that 20, let’s get you 80% up there at least.

But in this area, be warned crash diets are not the way to go. So if you’re looking for a 5-day-5-kg crash diet, stop reading right here.

Over the decades, we have seen and heard our friends follow so many of these diet fads:-

The dramatic reduction of the bread and pasta under the Atkins and Keto diets – low carb, high protein, high-powered diets that start the process of ketosis in your body.

Vegan and vegetarian diets that insist you only eat plant-based food – so no eggs, meat, dairy, seafood for you while on this regime.

The Paleo diet that takes you back to the stone ages eating foods only that can be hunted or gathered – so eat nothing that came in a tin/box/plastic bag/foil wrap.

Vegan diets prescribing to eat nothing but raw plants in their uncooked, natural forms.

The Whole 30 diet where you go through a 30-day detox by eating 3 “Clean” meals a day- free of inflammatory foods like beverages, baked goods, junk stuff, legumes, dairy, sugar, sweeteners etc.

Since these were generic diet plans read off the internet, they worked for some while failed miserably for the others. One has to accept that every individual has unique body requirements, what may slim me down may not work for you at all, making you tired, hungry and discouraged by the process.

So rather than blindly following a diet, check out a convenient diet plan to suit your body type and your goal. Here are some of the trending ones this season you could check out and see what fits you best.

And oh, did you know that summer is the best season to lose weight?!!

The Mediterranean Diet

One of the most popular diets for many years, the Mediterranean diet comprises of the food eaten in the Mediterranean region including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, olive oil and healthy fats. Red wine, eggs, and dairy products are included in a moderate amount, while red meat and saturated fats are consumed less. It has numerous health benefits like weight loss, reduced cholesterol, reduced risk of cancer and other chronic illnesses, and diabetes control. Fairly convenient to follow, it always remains one of the top trending diets of most years. Although a little bit of activity is warranted with it to take full benefit of the Mediterranean culture.

The DASH Diet

Sounds like hype but it isn’t. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension where the purpose is to control blood pressure through diet. So this is serious business. The diet includes whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lean fish and meat, low-fat dairy products, all of which are low in sodium. This diet not only reduces blood pressure but also helps reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, ensuring a healthy heart and promoting weight loss.

But be careful of going overboard, low sodium is not good for your general health either.

The WW Freestyle

Do not mistake this as a form of sport. WW Freestyle, among the most popular diets, is a program designed on a SmartPoints system. Here, each food and beverage item is assigned a point based on its nutritional value. The dieter’s current weight and goal decides the number of points that one can consume daily.

Formerly called Weight Watchers, this diet program has over 200 SmartPoint foods, starting with fruits and vegetables at 0 points. Online chats, workshops, weight check meetings and the support of weight management experts keep dieters motivated through this community approach program. Who knows maybe you could make some friends online who follow the same regime. Worth a try, huh?

The Flexitarian Diet

The dietitian, Dawn Jackson Blatner introduced the word ‘Flexitarian’ in her 2009 book, "The Flexitarian Diet: The Mostly Vegetarian Way to Lose Weight, Be Healthier, Prevent Disease and Add Years to Your Life,".

As the name hints, ‘flexitarian’ is a combination of two words: flexible and vegetarian. In her book, the dietitian suggests ways of following a healthy vegetarian diet without sacrificing meat. The idea is to include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy products and proteins like beans, eggs, etc. in your diet. A wholesome diet with low consumption of meat ensures weight loss and reduced risk of heart diseases, cancer and diabetes.

The Intermittent Fasting

Fasting is a tradition existing for centuries. But the intermittent fasting fad gained momentum just a years ago. In the simplest terms, intermittent fasting means assigning time slots for food consumption and fasting the rest of the hours of one’s day.

The most popular methods within this diet plan are the 16/8 method, the 5:2 method, and the Eat Stop Eat method.

In the 16/8 method, dieters only eat during an 8-hour time window (e.g. 12 noon - 8 pm) and do not eat anything outside that time window (e.g. from 8 pm till the next day at noon).

In the 5:2 method, dieters have a normal diet for five days of the week and restrict their food consumption for the remaining two days.

The Eat Stop Eat plan is similar to the 5:2 plan though more rigorous. In this plan, the dieters eat everything during the week except for one or two days of complete fasting. Research has proven weight loss, better metabolism and reduced diseases with intermittent fasting methods, making it one of the top favourites of weight-watchers for years now.

You should be able to follow any of the above diets provided when you know what your goal is. Sit down, chart your daily activity and decide on a realistic goal - weight loss, healthy lifestyle, better drive, higher energy, regular bowel movements could be one or many of your objectives.

Research what you can and cannot eat in each of these diet plans. Even if it’s difficult to gather ingredients to follow some of the diets to the absolute, be prepared to find alternatives and workarounds so that you don’t get demotivated once you have started out on a path.

A realistic and practical plan based on your requirements would help you follow a diet plan for a long time. Restrictive dieting will only lead to excessive binge eating when you are off the diet. Instead, make small gradual changes to your lifestyle, give up some habits on a consistent basis (reduce smoking, drinking more water, stopping caffeine consumption, walking while talking on long phone calls etc.) and adapt newer ones as you go and you are sure to see longer-term sustained health benefits,

‘Cos that’s all that we at Dais World care for – “The health and well-being of our readers.”

Eat well, be well, stay home, stay safe – wishing you great health!

#health diet bestdiet mediterranean food foodblog lovefood

1 note · View note

tepiddreamer · 4 years

Note

I don’t understand how you can support such a cruel company??? Definitely recommend watching blackfish or the cove, those animals are tortured for their whole lives for $$$&

Alright, since you are already dead set on your beliefs I won’t spend a great deal of time trying to dissuade you, but here it is:

I don’t hold SW on some pedestal and think they are the greatest thing ever. In fact I will be the first to bring them down and talk about some of the problems that the company has had over the years.

Yes, SW has done bad things. Animals have died. Trainers have been injured/killed.

Yes, SW has helped speed up and create operating standards for marine mammal captivity scenarios. They have been the blueprint for other marine parks all over the world.

Yes, the company has lost its main focus and is letting its animals languish in outdated facilities, and has held a deaf stand to its guests concern for said animals.

Yes, I have seen Blackfish/The Cove. I did my own research and I’m not convinced on these films. They are not documentaries. Especially after it came out that Cowperthwaite based the narrative on a script written by Zimmerman, and purposely staged herself in the ending scene of the charity walk for Dawn. The film itself took jaded ex-trainers and had them read off words and scenarios over footage of actual trainers. The film purposely used footage and dramatic scenes/dialogue to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, but had no idea that the footage has no association with what was being shown (ex: open mouthed Katina shown while discussing Kasatka/Takara separation and non-orca vocals are being played in the background). Ex-trainers talked about scenarios that occurred after they left the company or transferred out of Shamu Stadium. Another ex-trainer, who won’t be mentioned, wrote in his own book that he didn’t know what to say when he was being filmed and that Cowperthwaite gave him lines. He also took back certain things he said during the film/aftermath, stating he had lied just for the film. Such text has been removed from the reprints of his book. As tragic a the Taiji drive hunts are, and I am glad that they are now being publicly displayed and contested, Rick and Dolphin Project have continued to operate on unstable grounds, often jumping blindly into sea pen projects and claiming victory, or even releasing animals not rehabilitated from human care.

Just because you watched something on the internet or TV, doesn’t mean its 100% credible.

That being said, this does no forgive SW. Or how the company reacted to the film. Or Dawns death. Or the continued decline of its captive animals.

So, why do I go there?

A) Its a job. I have bills to pay. I have worked and been certified in large scale aquatic systems. Have I personally seen things that make me second guess things? Not really. Pipes rust, or PVC cracks, or acrylic will crack/bend and leak over time. All facilities go through this. How the facility responds to this is important, and SW has always repaired or replaced anything we have deemed necessary. I have never seen direct neglect or harsh punishment to their animals.

B) I have spent a great deal of time with these animals, not as a trainer but as a guest. Let me make this clear: these are not my whales. They are not my pets or animals I work with everyday. But I have seen them grow, have babies, learn new behaviors, and battle illness. I have grown attached to them. But at a respectful distance. I do not worship them, I do not act as a groupie or block other guests. I am happy to share my knowledge or answers questions with other guests in the park. But at the end of the day, they can’t come home with me. I can’t touch them or tell them its okay. I can only think of them and look back on photographs.

These are not my whales

C) As much as people like to point out the bad, there has been some good in the company. The rescue of 36,000 animals is no small feat, even if the majority of those animals are birds. You cannot hold the life of one animal over the other, every rescue is a significant return. SW is also the only facility in a given area that has the pool system and vet team needed to care for rescued animals. Something as simple as a cold stunned manatee, a boat struck dolphin, to a sea turtle full of plastic bags. SW has always been ready to accept these animals. In San Diego, changing seas and weather has lead to unusually high amount of seal rescues, mainly pups abandoned by their mothers. Other facilities have been overrun, and SW has stepped in to provide formula and boats for release. Along with their rescue efforts, their varied animal catalogue makes them favorable by other rescue agencies for permanent homes for animals that cannot be returned to the wild. NOAA has chosen SW parks several times for animals that need a home, a decision made against other facilities.

D) Despite outward failings within the company, I have seen a positive change in the management of the cetaceans. Making sure that EEDs, proper diet, exercise and mental stimulation, and access to pod mates, has been heavily restructured throughout the parks. Some is in response to the ending of waterworks, the breeding ban on orca, and movement of animals within the park systems (beluga/dolphins). People often forget that trainers are the true workers of the system, they work tirelessly to make sure the animals are healthy. While they have been removed, the addition of live fish and other sea creatures to the pools was a huge step in making changes to the orcas. This does not mean that things are perfect and that massive changes still need to occur. Batter the corporate figureheads, not the trainers.

E) Should the company fail, the ideal of the whales being retired to a sea pen sounds great. But it is a new concept, and not a true answer. The money needed to establish, maintain, and feed these animals is enormous. And will go on for many years. It is not a one time deal. The more realistic solution would be the company selling to highest bidders in China, and with no facility open in the US, a CITES permit would have to be written. A trained viable fertile female has a price tag of $10-20 million. If even one of the parks was to close, moving the animals to another park would be stressful. As much as it tries the patience of those concerned about the parks, building new coasters is a sure fire way to gain attendance numbers and rebuild the company stock. Had Covid not happened, a few more years of coasters and positive stock trend would have allowed the company the capital needed to upgrade its animals enclosures. Now the company is in limbo again. Also the board needs a reset. A HARD RESET.

I’m rambling. A thing I said I wasn’t going to do. But I’m not abandoning these animals. I realize that hundreds of people see and film these animals everyday. And they may post it online for others to see. But do they know who that animal is, or what he is doing, or if something is wrong? I visit these parks, outside of my job, to photograph and record what I can of these animals. So others can remember them. And learn about them. SW always talks about the connections you can make with these animals, and its true. I remember the first time I saw Shamu in Sandusky Ohio. I was young, but I stood stunned at this massive animal at the glass, that was looking right back at me. From that day I poured over every scrap of information I could find about them. I wanted to be a marine biologist. My life took a different direction, but I never forgot them. And when I finally got free time, I was right back at it. On boats taking notes, wiping sea spray off my cameras, listening to radios for sightings. I spent weeks on boats with no sight of what I had always wanted to see, a wild whale. I saw dolphins, humpback, grey, dozens of porpoises speeding by, even blue whales, but never that holy grail that was a orca. But I could see them at SW. I could look at them and they would look right back at me. That was the connection I had. And it is something I will never lose. I will always be looking for that wild whale. But I will always remember those that remain at SW.

11 notes · View notes

reyloforcebalance · 5 years

Text

Bonded Chapter 32: Head and Heart

The newest chapter to my Reylo fanfic (rated T). If you want to check out the previous chapters, here’s the link to AO3!

“Wait…” Colonel Vaden leans over the table. “None of them went off?”

“None.” General Petrov sits back in his chair.

��But…” Colonel Russo turns to the General. “What about the explosion on the South side? Wasn’t that one of them?”

“No.” Petrov shakes his head. “That was just some of the scum trying to escape, blocking off our troops so they could weasel their way out of the mines.” He grunts. “We caught them halfway to the Silver, neutralized them.”

Vaden narrows his eyes.

“So…” He starts slowly. “What happened? They just malfunctioned? All of them?”

“Well, that’s the interesting part.” Petrov sits up now. “According to the explosives team, they were diffused.”

“Diffused?” Vaden cocks his head.

“That’s the report.”

“And it wasn’t them?” Russo scoots forward. “It wasn’t your team?”

“Definitely not.” Petrov turns his head. “The first thing they did when we cracked into the base was go straight into the mines. But by the time they got there…” He lifts a hand.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Russo looks down.

“Or maybe it does.” Petrov turns to the colonel.

“How?” Russo demands. “There was no one down there who could’ve done such a thing.”

“No one…?” The General raises an eyebrow.

Vaden scoffs.

“Are you suggesting…” He leans in with air of condescension. “That the slaves diffused the bombs?”

“Who else could it have been?”

“Really?” Russo grunts. “You think those gutter rats are even capable?”

“Maybe.” Petrov shrugs. “It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“But…” Vaden flits his head. “Even assuming they had the capability, how did they get it done so quickly? The mines are miles long, and they had no way of knowing we’d be here.”

“They had time.” The General waves a hand. “Especially since the explosives were rigged on a grid. Looks like the delay you ordered paid off, sir.” Petrov twists to the Supreme Leader.

He stands facing the console, unmasked, his back to the group.

But he doesn’t respond to the General.

He just stands there.

Listening…

“Well,” Russo lets out a sigh. “I suppose it’s possible. We would’ve drawn all the scum to the base this morning, cleared out the mines. Maybe that was all they needed. Who knows?” He purses his lips. “Maybe our benevolence to the slaves is starting to pay off…?”

“Or maybe they just heard about Kaller,” Vaden adds dryly.

“Either way,” Petrov sits up. “I think we’ve learned something today. These slaves…” He taps the table. “Could be useful to us as more than just a publicity stunt. I say we send out a team to the operational camp tomorrow, start questioning them, find out more about—”

“No.” The Supreme Leader turns abruptly. “We have more important matters to attend to.” He begins pacing the room.

“But, sir—”

“Vaden, I want you to start extraction on the East end.” Kylo ignores the General. “Stay away from the operational camp and away from the base.”

“Yes, sir.” The colonel nods. “The teams are ready; the equipment is here. We’ll start at first light.”

“Good.” Kylo continues pacing. “Russo, how long until the camp is ready for intake?”

The younger colonel sighs.

“Definitely not tomorrow.” He widens his eyes. “We barely finished set-up today. These slaves are very uncooperative. My troops had the worst time wrangling them. Half of them kept trying to wander off, refused to—”

“How long, colonel?”

Russo sits up, clearing his throat.

“Three days, sir. Assuming the slaves stay put and follow orders.”

“Make it two,” The Supreme Leader commands curtly.

Russo shrinks a bit.

“Petrov, what’s the latest intel on Ranc’s presence in the Silver?”

“Last I heard…” The General leans forward. “The gang’s headquarters took in only a few from the smaller bases, no more than a hundred. The rest of the scum are holed up in a canyon on the west side of the planet. Sources tell us they’ve got an armory there, but not a large one, nothing that could threaten us.”

“Is the canyon…” The Supreme Leader turns to the General. “Populated with civilians?”

Petrov purses his lips.

“I…” He starts slowly. “Think there are a few sand tribes nearby. But they stay clear of the armory. Ranc makes certain of that.”

“Good.” Kylo continues pacing. “Then I want you to bury them. Start with a round of aerial assaults in the morning.”

“With pleasure.” The General sits back with a smirk. “And the Silver?”

“Set up a perimeter around the headquarters,” he commands. “And be subtle about it. I don’t want Ranc catching on before we evacuate the city.”

“Yes, sir.” Petrov straightens. “I’ll send in a stealth unit at dawn. I can even send them tonight, if you like.”

“No.” The Supreme Leader stops in front of the console. “There’s only one more thing I want from you tonight. All of you.” He turns to face the men at the table.

They all look at him, ready and alert.

Kylo stares coolly for a moment.

“Get some sleep,” he says finally.

The men visibly relax.

“You’re dismissed.” He turns to the console. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Russo’s shoulders drop in relief.

“Yes, sir.”

The men scoot back from the table, rising and filing swiftly into the hall of the ship.

The door whirs shut behind them.

Kylo listens as their footsteps recede.

He stands, perfectly still, until he hears them fade away.

Then he snatches the comm at his belt, bringing it to his lips.

“What’s the word from 928-C?” He demands.

He lowers the device, waiting.

“He’s on his way, sir.” The response crackles in. “He’ll arrive at the shuttle in five minutes.”

Kylo lets out a long exhale, like he’s been holding it in all day.

“Clear the ship.” He commands into the comm. “I want everybody out before he gets here. Tell the guard to let Bonden and his guest in, then close the shuttle until morning.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kylo steps to the right console, setting the comm next to his mask. He pulls off his gloves, casting them on the counter, then turns to the meeting table.

He pulls out a chair, taking a seat slowly, a wave of exhaustion setting in as he does.

But the feeling doesn’t last long.

He sits up, swelling with anticipation, tempered only by a hint of uncertainty.

For a split second, the image flashes, the last time he saw Rey— her eyes pleading with his, tears streaming down her cheeks.

But he quickly buries the memory, banishing it to the edges of his mind, nothing left but a trace of regret.

He looks down, his jaw twitching.

He hates the way things ended last time he saw her. But it’s not an interaction he’s keen to dwell on.

So instead, he just wonders what she’ll be like when she sees him, reviewing the possibilities in his mind.

Will she be cold, keeping him at arm’s length?

Not likely, given what he knows about her.

At the very least, she’ll be on guard, her senses heightened.

She’ll take her cue from him.

He takes a deep breath.

It’s been driving him crazy all day, sensing her nearby, wondering, waiting…

He sits back with a sigh, shaking his head briskly, redirecting his thoughts to the only thing that can distract him.

Today was more than a success.

It was a turning point.

Petrov isn’t the only one convinced that the slaves diffused the bombs. He’s been overhearing talk all day— colonels, lieutenants, squad leaders— considering their treatment of the slaves as an investment, their best guard against this new trend of spiteful self-destruction.

He can’t wait for this kind of talk to get back to the Supremacy.

This should shut Hux up, or at least counter all his pissing and moaning about wasting resources.

He drums his fingers on the table.

Yes, today went very well.

The First Order suffered minimal casualties. The varium mines are theirs, practically untouched.

And he must admit… Rey’s team did good work. He never imagined they’d diffuse all the bombs on top of getting the slaves out unharmed.

Things seem to have gone smoothly for them. Most everyone was out of the mines by the end of the battle, and she didn’t run into trouble that affected her vitals. He’s been monitoring them closely the past few days, trying not to think about her stuck underground, surrounded by cutthroats.

She can handle herself. He just needs to keep remembering that.

He was careful to modify the protocol on her tracker, just for the day, keep it from getting picked up by troopers. He can’t have them wondering why a slave is on the First Order’s no kill/ no injury list…

Yes, everything worked out perfectly.

He leans back in his chair, swelling with satisfaction.

This is it. The first step.

Rey’s ascending, whether she realizes it or not, ascending to the position she was meant to fill.

A few more of these invasions and she’ll start to see, to recognize the opportunity that lies before her, all she could do with the resources of the First Order at her back.

She’ll start to see what the First Order really is, all it could become with her at his side.

He’ll need to encourage her, listen to her, get her input on improvements— how to make things smoother, faster, better.

And the more they work together, the more she gets a taste of true power—

Suddenly, his thoughts grind to a halt.

He sits up, his senses heightened.

The next instant, he shoots out of his chair, striding to his comm.

“928-C has arrived, sir.”

The announcement comes in just as he snatches the device.

“Let him in.”

He sets the comm on the counter, surging with anticipation.

He turns to the door, clasping his hands behind him.

A minute later, he hears footsteps ascending the ship, followed shortly by the loading ramp closing with a clang.

The sound of chatter wafts down the hall. As the footsteps get closer, he starts to make out the words…

“You’re kidding?” Sylas is saying.

“Nope.” Rey sounds sure of herself, as per usual. “We got out of there in less than a week, took about thirty with us.”

“No way.” He pictures Sylas shaking his head. “No one gets out of the spice mines on Kessel. No one.”

“If you don’t believe me, I’d be happy to introduce you to some of the rescues. They’ll tell you all about it.”

They stop in front of the door.

“Yeah, sure,” Sylas says wryly. “I’ll just drop by a Resistance base, let you show me around.”

“You’re welcome any time.”

Sylas grunts.

The comm crackles as he activates it.

“This is Sylas Bonden with uh…” He pauses. “A delivery?”

Kylo shakes his head.

He leans over, pressing a panel by the console.

The door whirs open.

Sylas snaps to attention, his arms going rigid at his sides.

“Sir,” he greets. “Permission to—”

“Granted.”

Sylas nods, then steps into the room.

Rey follows close behind, draped in a brown cloak, lowering the hood as she enters.

“I, uh…” Sylas points to Rey. “Found her.”

“I can see that,” Kylo says evenly. “Did you have any trouble?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “It was easy. We got stopped by some troopers but Rey just…” He purses his lips. “Kinda…” He squints. “Convinced them to leave us alone.” He waves a hand mysteriously.

Kylo glances at Rey.

She shrugs.

“Good.” He steps forward. “Sylas, you’re done for the day.”

“Are you sure?” He tilts his head. “Because I can still do stuff. I’m not at all tired.” He stifles a yawn as he says this.

Kylo grunts.

“Sylas.” He walks over to him. “Go to bed.” He takes his arm, ushering him to the door.

“Well…” He sighs like he’s conceding. “I guess if you’re sure you don’t need me.”

“I need you…” Kylo takes him into the hall. “To get some sleep. The bunks are yours.” He points to the front of the ship. “Be up at 0600. You’re going back to Borosk in the morning.”

“Oh, good.” Sylas blinks sleepily. “I’ve still got a lot work to do with those pirates.”

“Worry about that tomorrow.” Kylo lifts a hand to his shoulder. “Right now, just focus on getting rest.”

“Ok.” Sylas nods. “I can do that.” He smiles. “Goodnight, sir.”

“Goodnight.” Kylo moves a hand to his back, pushing him forward.

Sylas makes his way down the hall, Kylo watching as he goes, waiting until he ducks into a room to the left.

Then he shifts to the conference center.

Rey’s standing next the meeting table, facing the back console, her cloak and pouch draped over a chair.

Kylo walks into the room, pressing a panel on the wall.

Rey turns at the sound of the door.

She tilts her head, studying him for a moment.

Then, a slow smile creeps across her lips.

The next instant, she lunges forward.

Kylo jerks back, barely reacting in time to catch her as she leaps into his arms, wrapping her legs around him.

She kisses him passionately, then pulls back with a huge grin, absolutely beaming.

“Was it not perfect?” She gushes. “Did everything not go exactly according to plan? Better even?”

Kylo gapes, caught off guard.

“Oh, come on!” Rey goads, dropping to the floor. “We diffused all the bombs. You have to be just slightly impressed, right?” She bounces a little, impatient for a response.

Kylo just stares, adjusting to the shock of the greeting.

Her face falls.

“Are you…?” She shifts a bit. “Are you still upset because—”

“NO,” he practically barks.

She flinches.

“Because…” She squints a little. “I’ve felt just awful since—”

“Rey.” He twitches. “Let’s just…” He takes a short breath. “Drop it. Ok?”

“Ok,” she whispers.

She presses her lips together, a little bruised.

Kylo softens.

He lifts hand to her face, grazing her cheek with the backs of his fingers.

She relaxes, a smile returning to her lips.

His fingers caress her skin, then drift to her chin, tilting it up as he descends.

He meets her with a kiss, a lingering one, reveling in the sensation, how just the touch of her sweeps everything away, like a good night’s sleep.

He pulls back, tracing the curve of her jaw.

“You…” He drops his hand. “Did excellent work today.”

Her face lights up.

“I know!” She bounces. “I mean, it really did go exactly the way we planned.”

He smiles, slipping his hands around her waist.

Read the rest on A03!

#reylo fanfic #reylo #reylofanfiction #reylo fanfiction #rey x kylo ren #rey x ben #rey star wars #kylo ren #ben solo #starwars #star wars #starwarsfanfiction #romance #romancefanfiction

19 notes · View notes

passmethebeer · 6 years

Text

Read it and weep

I’m tired of all this pixie shit bullshit. People now hold this common belief that “life will always get better” and be “worth it”. Whatever THAT is supposed to mean.

I don’t know if it’s social media propaganda but most people seem to hold this common notion that by-”being your authentic self” or “if you do good things only good things will happen to you”. Whether it’s coming out as being gay to family and friends, expressing yourself, trying to spread positivity, or find beauty in horrible fucking real things like mental illness and loneliness, only good will come from it and not only that but you will come out unscathed and glowing.

I think everyone has forgotten that social media and movies are a source of entertainment and not a reflection of true life. It’s now as though people want their lives to mimic some bs twitter feed or think their lives should be how one persons fucking instagram feed looks like, then swoons when idols say they have a hard time too and all they did was “stay positive”.

Yes, hello, that has been known since the dawn of time and idk why people nowadays don't realize that mimicking others and spoon feeding yourself senseless bullshit is going to make you grow big and strong.

It’s almost as a society we feed off each others mental illnesses.

The horrible, painful, and disturbing parts of life is just as real-and if not more real and important than stupid filtered aesthetically pleasing bs everyone feeds their numb little brains with.

Some people want to mask/ escape this pain with spiritual beliefs by reading quotes or believing in “the law of attraction” or think that awakening their chakras will make their lives suck a little less. Or think that going vegan will reverse bad karma, or "being your true self” will make you liked a little more.

News flash! Life does not work like that.

Life-the real culprit of all your goddamn issues-doesn’t give a fuck about if you drink coconut water and wear designer clothes, you will not be any less of an asshole than your dad. Having 1k+ followers on instagram does not mean you are a good-looking or kind deserving person. It also doesn’t mean your life fucking rocks and everyone should follow your trends.

Sometimes people, even your own family, will not accept you and treat you worse than anyone you know. Friends unfortunately sometimes come and fucking go. And god help me if someone reaches this fucking point and then starts living by stupid quotes they read or movies they see where those people end up becoming superhuman and only “fuck” with themselves and think that they are all they need in life and when “the time is right” or “the universe is ready for them” shit will happen.

Shit does not just happening unless you're trying to take a shit.

Sometimes-you really are an asshole and you need to change. Your dickish qualities might be why your family hates you-and sometimes its because they're sick in the head. Maybe people don’t like you because you smell, or maybe you isolate yourself and only stick to social media because people are “nicer” to you on it. Or maybe you’re a needy bitch with no backbone and are self victimizing-oh but no according to tumblr you’re just soft and sensitive like a little dainty plant. Fuck off. I will squish you.

I know I sound bitter-but I’m not, I’m mad and tired with the collective in my generation. Ya’ll are on some next level deep throating bullshit.

We behave now in person like we do on social media and it sucks.

It really freaks me tf out when I look at our generation and our habits and talents and our philosophy on life.

How minuscule and downgraded we've made even our own lives to be and compare it to a fucking picture or video we can never even touch or people we will never be. How coddled we've made our emotions and beliefs and have no sense of shame or morals. To live a life through a screen-and even worse-to compare and learn about yourself and everything about the mysteries of life through it as well, is a sign of weakness.

No one is their own person anymore, and that is not because originality is dead-its because everyone thinks the same.

2 notes · View notes

helloitsthecynincalaesthete-blog · 4 years

Text

A Dive Into the Past Could be the Key to a Better Future for the LGBTQ and You.

Have you noticed that being gay (or bi or transgender or asexual) seems to have become a recent trend? And by recent, I mean the last 50 years or so. As of 2016, one in four Americans identifies as LGBTQ. There are early examples of LGBT history of course, but now it seems that being gay has become a sort of pop culture fad. At least, that’s what a lot of people seem to think! But this so called ‘fad’ had been around since the dawn of man. Every country and every culture in the world has a history of same-sex relationships and intersexual (transgender) people. The first recorded history of same sex relationships was found in cave drawings in Sicily; they were believed to have been painted between 9,600-5,000 BCE. Attitude towards same-sex relationships and transgender people has changed a ton throughout history. First it was accepted, became quite common and even somewhat expected (like in Ancient Greece), was labeled a sin but not really punished, then was severely punished as the Catholic Church’s influence grew, then it was illegal (still is in many countries), labeled as mental illness, and now, in 2019, is legal in 28 countries.

It might seem like a simple straight line got us to this point, but it wasn’t simple at all. There were hardships endured and many sacrifices that have gotten us here. Our community is just like any other minority group. We’ve been fighting for peace and acceptance. I’ve traced out our history to create a better understanding how these people lived and how their influence has gotten us to this day and age.

I’m going to skip through the earlier history and start our timeline in Ancient Greece. Greece is a fantastic historical example of widely accepted homosexual relationships. The commonness of these relationships is actually why olive oil became so popular. These relationships didn’t replace marriage between men and women but typically occurred before or in concurrence with it. Relationships were not viewed as between men and women but rather as between the ‘dominant’ and ‘passive’(Livius). Sapho, a poet born on the island of Lesbos, wrote poetry centered around love and passion for both genders. She inspired the term ‘lesbian’ that was adopted in the 19th century.

Our next stop is in the 1400s: Joan of Arc. You might know the story. Surely you recognize the name. Joan of Arc was a French girl who went form peasant to Catholic Saint. She claimed to have heard the voices of saints, who commanded her to find Prince Charles and help him ascend the throne during a war between the French and English. Joan cut her hair short and dressed as a man when she went to find Charles and later when she led his armies into battle. Charles even commissioned a custom-made suit of armor for her. The English captured Joan and eventually she was burned at the stake for heresy and cross dressing (Bie).

Though it’s a controversial claim, The LGBT community has claimed Joan as a transgender icon. She was the who came up with the idea to dress as a man; she continued to do so throughout her life, even in public. Joan risked her life and her freedom to continue dressing as a man. Some say she was simply following God’s command. But her stories reflect experiences of other transgender people who also risked their lives to live as the gender that they identified with.

Speaking of the Catholic Church: they weren’t always sticklers about homosexual relationships. In fact, it was quite common for priests, bishops and senior clerics to be gay in the 1500s (McClain). Sodomy was grouped in with the ‘lustful’ sins and was rarely punished. The Renaissance brought about a stricter rule from Rome and the Pope. Homosexual relationships went form legal and overlooked to punishable for both men and women by mutilation and death in most European countries.

Let’s cross the ocean to the Americas. Before the Europeans started colonizing the Americas, ‘Two-Spirit’ people were quite common among the different tribes of indigenous people. This blanket term referred to gender identity rather than sexual identity. Traditionally, the term Two-Spirit people were made up of men, women, and intersex who took on the traditional roles and responsibilities of both men and women. Among the Navajo tribes, Two-Spirit men would become weaver’s, traditionally a woman’s role. Two-Spirit women would often take up hunting, engage in warfare, and could even become leaders or chiefs (Two-Spirit Health Resources). This became a common third gender. Colonization forced these tribes to conform to white societal expectations. Two-Spirit people were particularly vulnerable, often the subject of violence and punishment. Their practices were all but eradicated to preserve their lives. The recognition and tradition of the Two-Spirits are practiced today among many of remaining Native American tribes.

When the American Colonies started to establish their own government, they modeled many of their laws after Great Britain’s laws, including those concerning sodomy. Death was one of the punishments, but the laws were rarely enforced. In 1786, Pennsylvania repealed the death penalty for sodomy and soon after a majority of the colonies followed suit.

In the 1790s, psychology became a wider field of study. The term ‘homosexuality’ was coined, and it was finally being addressed outside of church condemnation. Some believed that homosexuality was congeniality based, while others diagnosed it as a symptom of psychosis. In 1791, after the French revolution, France became the first country to decriminalize sodomy. A small but mighty steppingstone towards LGBT+ acceptance.

The 1800s saw New York become a hub for LGBT culture in America, though sodomy was still illegal. There was a higher visibility of alternative genders and same-sex relationships; many men got away with it by passing it off as a ‘loving male friendship.’ The American Civil War, like many other wars, saw a number of women who enlisted in the army as men. Jennie Hodgers was one such woman. She immigrated to America from Ireland, changing her identity to Albert Cashier along the way. Cashier was a brave soldier, fighting in over 40 battles. After the war ended, Cashier decided to continue living as a man. An accident led to the discovery that Cashier was born as a woman. He had to fight in court to retain his army pension. He won but was then committed to a mental asylum where he was forced to dress and live as a woman until his death in 1915 (16 Transgender Historical Figures). Poor Albert would use safety pins to fashion his skirts into pants. His story sounds incredibly to Joan of Arc’s life. One immortalized, praised and worshiped for the exact same actions that deemed the other mentally ill. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

The late 1800’s to the 1930’s saw quite a shift in perspective and gay culture. Berlin, Germany became the gay hub towards the end of the 19th century. Berlin was a liberal city, with gay bars, nightclubs, and cabarets. It had the most active LGBT rights movement at the time (Daily Mail). The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee was founded to fight against the laws that made sex between men illegal, as well as recognition of transgender men and women. It was the first public gay rights organization and became the first international LGBT organization after establishing branches in other countries. In 1908, Edward Stevenson published a book called The Intersexes: A Study in Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life under a pseudonym. It was the first book that openly dealt with all aspects of homosexuality. The 1920’s brought about a wider (but short lived) acceptance of minorities and gays in the US. In 1922, the first gay demonstration was held in Berlin.

Even though gay marriage was illegal in the 1930’s, there were still a ton of gay and lesbian weddings that occurred in secret across the United States. They could get away with it by passing of their spouse as roommates or ‘close friends’. Women had an easier time with this than men did.

Meanwhile in Berlin, who had previously enjoyed an unprecedented freedom, were forced back into hiding when Adolf Hilter took over. Over 50,000 men (including bisexual and transgender men) were sentenced for being gay; thousands died in concentration camps. Female same-sex relationships weren’t illegal and therefore very few were imprisoned for their sexuality.

When the US joined WWII, over 250,000 women joined the military, most in the Women’s Army Corp. A ton of lesbians joined to meet women and those that had more masculine features were overlooked because they were able to take on the harder jobs typically filled by men. General Eisenhower was quite aware of the number of lesbians in the army. He went his secretary, Johnnie Phelps, and told her that they needed to be rooted out. Phelps replied, "If the General pleases, sir, I'll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine… and if you want to replace all the file clerks, section commanders, drivers, every woman in the WAC detachment, I will be happy to make that list.”(Knaff). Eisenhower withdrew the idea and didn’t bring it up again.

The Civil Rights movement was in full swing by the early 1960′s. It was a fight for equality for African Americans but indirectly became the push for equality in other minorities, including the LGBT community. It set up the gay liberation movement that dominated the 1970′s.

In 1961, Illinois became the first state to decriminalize sodomy; it was still illegal everywhere else though. Gays found safe refuge in bars and clubs, where they were safe to express themselves. These places were constantly raided by the police; first because of a New York law that banned serving alcohol to LGBT individuals and also to catch them engaging in any homosexual acts (even something as innocent as holding hands). In 1969, police raided Stonewall Inn, which sparked a riot among patrons and neighbors because of the rough mishandling of those being arrested (history.com). It was a 6-day long uprising, a monumental movement in LGBT history and the final push towards the gay liberation movement. Twenty states decriminalized sodomy during the 1970s.

The AIDS epidemic was a defining part of the 1980’s. Gay men made up the majority of those with the disease. They were accused of being carriers for the ‘Gay Plague.’ This created a huge stigma around the infected, which in turn created a stigma around gay men. People were afraid to touch anyone or even be around anyone who was infected for fear of catching it themselves. Around 74.9 million people have been infected since the first diagnosis (UNAIDS). Although the death toll is decreased significantly, the LGBT community still suffered a great loss and deals with constant discrimination. Did you know that gay and bisexual men are not allowed to donate blood or plasma solely based on the fact that they’re gay, even if they test negative for HIV and AIDS? Because there are no laws against discrimination, gay, bisexual, and transgender women can be turned away from housing, job opportunities, etc. Transgender women are often resort to prostitution to make ends meet. This, in turn, increases the spread of HIV. There is also a lot of social pressure around getting tested or treated for HIV so a significant number of people remain undiagnosed for fear of harassment.

After a few more states repealed their sodomy laws, activists started pushing back against the Supreme Court’s ruling, stating that these laws were in violation of the federal constitution. Lawrence v Texas was the turning point for the decriminalization of sodomy. Texas police entered the home of John Lawrence on a flimsy excuse and caught him having consensual sex with Tyron Gardner. The precedent by Bower v Hardwick was overturned and the Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning homosexual relations was an unconstitutional violation of privacy (Urofsky). In 2003, all Sodomy laws were officially eradicated in the US.

In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same sex marriage. Over the past 18 years, 28 countries, including the United States in 2015, have legalized same sex marriage. This also allowed same sex couples to participate in joint adoption (when previously, couples couldn’t hold joint custody over a child) This has been a huge stride! We’ve been building to this for years and years.

Now we’ve finally reached modern times! Though there have been ups and downs, we’ve still made incredibly strides in the past 50 years. But, we’re not quite there yet. The Equality Act was presented to Congress in March 2019. “[It] would provide consistent and explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service.” Achieving this would be as groundbreaking as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In January 2019, South Carolina applied for and was granted the right for agencies to deny adoption or fostering rights for same sex couples. A heart wrenching step backwards (Considering Adoption).

The trajectory for LBGT rights has not been and never will be a straight line. Same sex couples are granted the right to marry and adopt in 2015 but those rights are taken away in South Carolina just 4 years later. Transgender men and woman are legally allowed to change their gender on their identification forms. A gay club was the target of a mass shooting that killed 49 people. Colleges are installing gender neutral bathrooms, but people feel threatened when transgender men and women use them.

Passing the Equality Act would mean that bakeries can’t refuse to make a cake for a gay couple. This would be an infringement on the 2nd amendment: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. You would need to address people by their preferred pronouns rather than their birth gender pronouns, even if you don’t agree with it. Transgender women (male to female) would be allowed to compete in women’s sports which could easily be considered an unfair advantage. You might not agree with the LGBT lifestyle or what we stand for. The thing is, I’m not asking you to agree.

This war has been fought for thousands of years. Just like the fight for equality for all races. Just like the fight for equality between men and women. We simply want equal rights for us as well; the right to marry, the right to adopt, the right to live a normal life, the ‘American Dream’. We’re just like you! You don’t have to agree with who we have sex with but surely you can agree that it’s a fundamental right to get to marry whoever you want and raise a family; that we should be able to go to the bathroom in peace like a normal person; that we should be able to kiss our SO in public without someone posting a huge rant on Facebook complaining about gay PDA; that we should be able to work and not worry about risking our jobs by expressing ourselves.

Know this: We’re not going to give up. We’ve come to far, sacrificed too many to turn back. Join us in this fight for equality. Join us in the fight for basis human rights.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“16 Remarkable Historical Figures Who Were Transgender.” HistoryCollection.co, 31 Dec. 2018, https://historycollection.co/16-remarkable-historical-figures-who-were-transgender/5/.

Bie, Søren. “Canonization: Joan of Arc.” Joan of Arc - Jeanne D'Arc (1412 – 1431), Joan of Arc 1412 - 1431, 7 Oct. 2019, https://www.jeanne-darc.info/biography/canonization/.

Burke, Monica. “7 Reasons Why the Equality Act Is Anything But.” The Heritage Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, https://www.heritage.org/gender/commentary/7-reasons-why-the-equality-act-anything.

Cherry, Kittredge. Joan of Arc: Cross-Dressing Warrior-Saint and LGBTQ Role Model. QSpirit, 30 May 2019, http://qspirit.net/joan-of-arc-cross-dressing-lgbtq/.

Erickson, Tyler. “Legalization of Gay Marriage–United States Supreme Court Declares It Unconstitutional for States to Deny Same-Sex Couples the Right to Marry: Immediate Impact of Gay Marriage in North Dakota.” North Dakota Law Review, vol. 91, no. 1, Oct. 2015, pp. 219–232. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=115834666

Gates, Henry Louis. “Bayard Rustin, the Gay Civil Rights Leader Who Organized the March on Washington.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 19 Sept. 2013, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/.

“Getting Rid of Sodomy Laws: History and Strategy That Led to the Lawrence Decision.” American Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/other/getting-rid-sodomy-laws-history-and-strategy-led-lawrence-decision

.“Greek Homosexuality.” Livius, https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/greek-homosexuality/.

History.com Editors. “Stonewall Riots.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 31 May 2017, https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots.

“HIV and AIDS --- United States, 1981--2000.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5021a2.htm.Human Rights Campaign.

“The Equality Act.” Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-equality-act.

“Joan of Arc Bibliography.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, https://www.sparknotes.com/biography/joanofarc/section9/.

Kennedy, Lesley. “Why Was Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Apr. 2019, https://www.history.com/news/joan-arc-burned-stake.

Knaff, Donna. “The ‘Ferret Out the Lesbians’ Legend: Johnnie Phelps, General Eisenhower, and the Power and Politics of Myth.” Research Gate, The “Ferret Out the Lesbians” Legend: Johnnie Phelps, General Eisenhower, and the Power and Politics of Myth.“LGBT Timeline in the US.”

Gsafewi, GSAFE, https://www.gsafewi.org/wp-content/uploads/US-LGBT-Timeline-UPDATED.pdf.Mailonline, Bridie Pearson-jones For.

“Berlin before the Nazis: German Capital Was a Liberal Hub with a Thriving Gay Scene in 1920s.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 July 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7300631/Berlin-Nazis-German-capital-liberal-hub-thriving-gay-scene-1920s.html.

McClain, Lisa. “A Thousand Years Ago, the Catholic Church Paid Little Attention to Homosexuality.” The Conversation, 31 Oct. 2019, https://theconversation.com/a-thousand-years-ago-the-catholic-church-paid-little-attention-to-homosexuality-112830.

Robson, Ruthann. Lesbianism in Anglo-American Legal History. CUNY School of Law, 1990, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1321&context=cl_pubs.

Smit, Peter J, et al. “HIV-Related Stigma within Communities of Gay Men: a Literature Review.” AIDS Care, Taylor & Francis, 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3379736/.

“Two Spirit: Health Resources.” Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health, https://www.ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/.

Urofsky, Melvin I. “Lawrence v. Texas.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 19 June 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lawrence-v-Texas.

“What to Know About the History of Same-Sex Adoption.” Considering Adoption, ConsideringAdoption.com, https://consideringadoption.com/adopting/can-same-sex-couples-adopt/history-of-same-sex-adoption.

0 notes

wroef · 7 years

Note

Do you think that the Finches had some sort of predisposition for mental illness? I saw another anon mention that Lewis probably had psychosis and both Walter and Dawn seemed paranoid to me (Dawn's paranoia was just a lot less obvious). Molly's hallucinations couldn't have been caused by holly berries and toothpaste alone either since neither of them cause hallucinations as strong as the ones she had, and with her 10 years she was a bit too old to still be affected by "magical thinking".

Possibly! There are several things that go into developing mental illness, a lot to do with environment but also heredity has a role as well.

I do think there’s a bit of a trend when it comes to the Finches, however. As well as the general depression that would come from a grieving family (and, with a curse of death, that grief couldn’t ever really leave the family), some of the specific characters do show symptoms of mental illness.

It’s very clear (at least to me) that Lewis does have some form of psychosis or delusional disorder, which could have been developed either from birth or from drug/alcohol use. I do remember seeing someone post in either the wroef tag or the lewis finch tag that he could also have MADD (maladaptive daydreaming)? Which I could see also, if not psychosis!

Dawn and Walter do have paranoia, and I feel like Walter does have it at a stronger intensity. He could also have a variation of a delusional disorder as well, making him believe that monsters are coming to kill him as they did his family and such. Dawn is also paranoid, but I believe she has every right to be, with the weird trend of death in their family. She was paranoid because she felt hiding their history would stop what was inevitable, and keeping their family history a secret in a house like the Finches is quite a hard secret to keep.

Before I get into Molly, I want to touch on another Finch. Sam would probably also have something going on there; as a war vet he quite possibly walked away with PTSD, as well as some depression he isn’t able to let go of (I have a post queued about his inability to let things go; yall gotta wait a couple days for it though).

Now, Molly. 10 is a pretty reasonable time to still have the ‘childlike wonder’ and ‘wild imagination’ I feel like, and there are hints in her room that she does have a bit of a weird fascination with sea creatures (and dissecting them?) which would influence her thoughts. Also, the holly berries and toothpaste don’t alone cause strong hallucinations, no, but taking them both combined on the empty stomach of a young and very small 10 year old girl (which, let’s mention too, she was sent to bed without supper; how many times was she sent to bed with no food?) could lead to some weird visions and thoughts.

So, personally, tl;dr: Molly was, at least as far as I can see, not mentally ill. There are a few characters that are though. I feel like it mainly depends on experience more than it does predisposition due to heredity.

-Mod Lewis

#mod lewis #wroef #what remains of edith finch #molly finch #child abuse tw ?#starvation tw #poisoning tw #psychosis tw #lewis finch #dawn finch #walter finch #sam finch #Anonymous

3 notes · View notes

calesleg · 7 years

Text

Detroit

Last week, I was lucky enough to visit Detroit. I road-tripped my way down to perform in the Detroit Improv Festival, so I knew I'd have an exhilarating time but I left with more than expected. Admittedly, upon arrival I was nervous. “You're staying in Detroit proper,” broached a friend who'd heard where I was housing. His words echoed our fear-peddling media, stirring reminders of our political temperatures and peaking my habitual flow as a caffeinated squirrel. Detroit didn't look like anything I've known. It'd been years since I'd visited our southern neighbours anywhere outside of NY and LA. I felt navigationally clueless. If Maslow had asked me to identify my level of fear, I'd've barfed on his whole hierarchy. Active buildings were sparse and nearly as downtrodden as the half-burnt buildings beside them, making it hard to distinguish any difference, like a desert of rotten teeth that could fool even the dentist on the hunt for the tooth worth the root canal. What little of the city that did offer a semblance of proclaimed ownership appeared not to be calculated into westernized value — an ideology I've become used to thanks to Toronto's high turnover of resto-stops an hustler-hubs — and the Ikea-smothered belly of my Airbnb aired as much of a disguise as would a pair of Groucho glasses on a ghost — ill fitted. The paucity of city bustle hit me with unease but digging deeper serves better than believing in valid first impressions. So I gave myself a second reason to be in the city: I'd ask as many locals as possible what they liked about Detroit. “Oh, you're asking the wrong guy for that,” said the uber driver so bona fide he compelled me to start thumbing quotes onto my iPhone in his back seat. Let's call him Tom. Tom suggested I see the murals in the market before quickly steering the conversation back toward his dislikes about his native city. “It's shit now. I loved it when the recession was on. There was no one in the city but artists and musicians and the weed growers, you know?” I asked Tom when he last remembered it being that way. “Oh, 2009, 2010. 'Round 2012, 2013's when it changed.” Bars were his mental markers for the city's downturn. “The first thing to come in is bars. Bars is the first thing to get a mother fucker downtown,” he said with a dryness that exposed one man's attempt at economic resurgence as another man's despondency to see local spirits replaced. The same resurrectional attempt was evident in the top three floors of my Airbnb, a sizeable house aside a driveway slabbed with broken concrete. Inside, the fresh coats of paint and the Huck Finn paperbacks died out before finding their way into the dark, dank basement, contrasting starkly the structure's old and its new. Tom zeroed in on the trend, alluding to the residential disturbance that has wedged over a million people out of the city since the 1950's. “Suburban cats with money would kick 'em out of their homes and rent [the houses] out.” Before he became an uber driver, he says, his dwellings were on the fourth floor of a decrepit building with no running water; “talk about Uncle Sam fuckin' bleedin' you dry.” Within our ten minute roll over to the after-party that would have me dancing with comedians 'til the morning's tiny hours, Tom made it clear that the recession hit his city from all angles. “[The government's] squeezin' 'em for healthcare. Even a tube of toothpaste is six bucks. I don't think that's capitalism. I'm all for some healthy capitalism. I just think that's price jacking.” It's extortion. “I'm part Mohawk,” he continues, adding first-hand recounts of the city's old and new. “[Government officials] can shoot ya here and nothin' will happen 'cause it's all federal property,” he utters with a sarcasm that sounds like it's bled through the same words enough to now ring dry. “It's funny how crystal meth still finds its way onto the reserve, you know — it's not us brining it there.” Every snippet he offers makes me more sure our ride's too short and even more sure I'd be left with more questions than answers. When I tell him where I'm from, Tom says he's always been envious of Canadians, adding, “but I really do believe that shit will come to a heed in America.” And I think he's well on his way to being right. From the gut griping landscape of a ruptured economy, to the vibrant museums that unify the chaotic bricolage of human experience, to the characters driving tales wrapped in aversion and pitted with hope, I was offered a glimpse of a resilient city — a place full of people who know things you don't, nodding you along your travels in a way that suggests each adventure leads back towards your own core; miles of spirits who'll open their doors, turn on the music, and dance with you 'til dawn. While it was all too brief, I left with a new piece of heart only someone who's visited Detroit proper could come to recognize, and I wouldn't have been able to had I not left my fear at the threshold. Clutching to fear invites assumption and always involves risk of missing out on beauty. It's dangerous to fear the unknown and it's funny how you find yourself on the other side. I'm lucky to have traveled those miles. I won't pretend my tired bod isn't thankful to be climbing back into the mountain of duvets atop my Canadian queen mattress, thumbing through my New York Times' Weekend Briefing, but I'm more thankful to know there will forever exist another chance to transcend this world of madness and stumble our way into the beauty of our cities' unknown, if we'd only allow ourselves to drive down those roads and peer up at those murals from artists who've come before.

1 note · View note

annequinox · 7 years

Text

Traveling With a Lonely Immortal

Part 1/? [part 2] [part 3] Pairing: Zeref and Lucy Rating: T Word count: 3,920 Status: Ongoing A/N: This is a one-shot that will be divided into two or three parts, since it might be too long of a read if I just smash it into one. This is for that anon who asked for a Zeref and Lucy story, so here you go! :) I hope you like the first part :D

Summary: When Lucy is given a chance to save her mother, she takes it, unbeknownst to her that the cost will be leaving the Heartfilia family forever. In addition to that, she has to spend the rest of her life with the most evil mage of all time and accompany him until her last breath.

The mansion of the Heartfilias was cold and void of laughter. Where it was once a place full of music and joy, the house had lapsed into darkness, grieving for the mother that had fallen ill, a step away from death. Every well-known doctor had already came to visit, but none could heal her. It was a curse that was upon her—a curse that only the greatest mage could lift.

But the greatest mage was nowhere to be found. To be exact, no one knew where Zeref was. He was good at hiding and no one dared to search for him. Even those loyal to the Heartfilias couldn’t bear to risk their lives to ask him for a cure. Except for one.

Beside the bed where Layla Heartfilia lied, sat her daughter Lucy. She had just turned fifteen this year and she was looking more and more like her mother each day.

“Mom?” she whispered, bringing a hand to brush away the strands of hair from Layla’s face. “Are you awake?”

“Yes, Lucy?”

She bit her lip. “When will you get better?”

“I…” Layla paused, eyes clouding with anguish. “Soon, sweetheart. Soon.”

Lucy frowned. She didn’t tell her that she didn’t believe her, but she bid her mother goodnight and left the room. Her heartbeat picked up and she was on edge. She knew her mother would never get better. She heard her father tell that to the head maid. Truthfully, she could see it herself.

Death. It was written all over Layla’s face. It was looming over her like a shadow, sucking away at her soul and leaving none of it behind. She didn’t have much time left. A year, at most. Maybe even less.

Breathing heavy, Lucy turned to her room. She knew how to heal her, she just didn’t know where to find him. But if there was one thing Lucy had that everyone else didn’t, that was courage. She was going to find Zeref and ask him to heal her mother. Even if she had to beg, she will. She would do anything.

Her mind set, she packed her things before she could change her mind. She brought only little—a map, money, her keys, her whip, two sets of clothing, toiletries and her mother’s necklace.

She was fifteen. But she was braver than everyone else she knew.

And this was how their story began.

旅

It was warm in Magnolia, something she did not predict. Sweating in her coat and pants, she stopped by an inn to rest for the night. It was only two days ago when she left home. So far, she wasn’t caught yet. She was wondering if she had made the right decision, but then again, they couldn’t stop her now.

She stripped off her coat and sweater. The weather was too warm for her choice of clothing, and she had never been outside the Heartfilia Konzern so she didn’t know what it would be like outside. Wiping away the sweat on her neck and temples, she took her purse and headed out to shop for summer clothing.

The town was nice. She liked the river crossing in between the buildings, and she found herself walking on the edge. The people were polite and kind, offering her directions when she was getting lost. If she wasn’t on a quest to search for Zeref, maybe she would even stay here. There was a guild here that she would love to join—Fairy Tail. It was the strongest guild in Fiore. Perhaps, if the circumstances were different, she would be a mage there.

Smiling sadly to herself, she shook her head. It wasn’t the time to think about the “what ifs”. She had to find Zeref and save her mother.

Lucy found a cozy little shop that sold clothes at a cheap price. She bought herself one shirt, a tank top, a mini skirt and shorts. She didn’t know if this would all fit in her tiny bag, so she also made the decision to buy a bigger one. It fit her back, and it didn’t seem too heavy.

Content with her cart, she paid for everything and left to return to her inn. On her way out, she bumped into a pink-haired boy and a blue cat.

“Ow,” she groaned, rubbing her butt where she had fallen.

“Sorry ‘bout that!”

She looked up and squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look at the boy that was offering his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up.

“Hey, you look new!” he said, grinning. “I’m Natsu, and this is my cat, Happy!”

The cat spun in the air. It had wings. “Aye sir!”

“Lucy,” she muttered, looking at Happy while she picked up her belongings.

“What? Did you say your name’s Luigi?” Natsu asked, blinking wildly. “Nice to meet you, Luigi!”

Lucy’s eye twitched and she swallowed thickly, thinking that she should leave now. “Sure… I have to go now.”

“Aw, come on! We just met, how about buying me lunch?”

“No thanks.”

“Please?”

“I’m broke,” she lied, walking away from the duo hurriedly. She couldn’t be distracted, she had limited money and she couldn’t waste them on some… some pink-haired weirdo.

Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine then! See you around, Luigi!”

Lucy didn’t say anything in return, but in her head, she thought she may have said something nice if she had the time to. Maybe.

旅

She heard from one of the dark guilds that Zeref had been spotted in Bosco, so that was her next destination after Clover Town. It was proving hard to travel via train all the time, so at the moment, she was taking jobs to save up for a Magical Vehicle—a four wheel vehicle, to be exact. It was going to save a lot of money and time.

Home was so faraway now. Lucy admitted that sometimes she felt lonely, traveling alone. But the thought of going home, her mother welcoming her with open arms, gave her hope and motivation to continue. She didn’t know if she could actually find Zeref. She didn’t really think this through. However, if the gods were with her and if the heavens loved her as much as they loved her mother, then maybe they would help her reach him.

“You seem to be at the beginning of a long journey, young lady.”

Startled, Lucy turned to an old woman who sat outside a bakery. She was looking at her and her eyes were full of things she could not name.

Nervous, the girl could only smile. “Yes, I am.”

“I hope you reach your goal,” the old woman grunted, scratching her knee. “The path you are walking on isn’t easy.”

Lucy felt sadness engulf her and she nodded, patting the woman on her shoulder and giving her a cinnamon bun. “I know,” she whispered.

“You can have my four-wheeler.”

She withdrew her arm, surprised. “P-Pardon?” Receiving no response, she could only gape at the old lady. “A-Are you sure, ma’am? I mean… I could pay for it, if you want.”

“Nonsense,” the woman barked, rolling her eyes. “That was my son’s, when he was still alive. The thing only troubles me so you should have it.”

Lucy’s eyes softened and she smiled, close to tears. “Thank you…”

“Sophie.��

She nodded. “Thank you, Sophie-san. I’m Lucy.”

“You should visit me when your journey ends,” Sophie suggested, grunting as she tried to stand. “Now, I have some place I have to go. Good luck, Lucy. I hope you remain safe.”

“I will, Sophie-san. And thank you.”

旅

Midi was a small country, located on a peninsula south of Minstrel. She was told that there was a dark guild here that had been trying to contact Zeref for months and nearly succeeded. She wanted to see if it was the real thing or they were just dupes.

Lucy munched on a sandwich as she walked on the streets. The country was poor, but the people didn’t seem to care about that fact. There were children running on the sidewalks and the elderly were being escorted across the street. She could say she liked it better here than the last town that she went to. Everyone was just so rude there.

Sighing, she kicked a stone off the road.

“Where are you, Zeref?” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

Bosco was so long ago—a month, perhaps? Or maybe even more. She wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping track of time, because it made her homesick. But she knew that it was ages ago. It was a horrible country, slave trade still a trend and dark guilds everywhere. Zeref could no longer be found there when she arrived, and she was directed to the mountains of Bosco, where the ruins of an ancient dark guild remained. She had sensed a lot of dark magic. If Zeref was there, he didn’t make his presence known.

A traveler told her back in Oshibana that he could perhaps be in Tenrou Island. Thinking about it, maybe she should have checked out the island first before heading east. Too late now though. She was too far away from Fiore to turn back. She could only hope that Zeref wasn’t there.

Moreover, Lucy was mildly shocked that some of the people she asked weren’t surprised that she was searching for the dark mage. Some did shame her, calling her a disgrace to mages and telling her that it was a waste of time. Whereas there were others who merely gave her the knowledge that they had and didn’t ask questions.

She decided that she liked those kinds of people.

Arriving at her destination, Lucy eyed the towering building of The Novae. It looked active, and she could hear boisterous laughter inside. But judging from the area and the amount of dark energy present, she could only close her eyes and walk away.

Another dupe, another long journey back to Stella. She could go through Desierto to get to Bellum, but the SE Plug wouldn’t really work well there. She would have to drive back up north and then head east.

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek and pushed a hand through her hair. It was going to be a long ride to reach Minstrel, so she should probably get some rest tonight and leave at the break of dawn.

Yeah, she should do just that.

旅

“Zeref? No, he hasn’t been here since what, a hundred years ago?” the man said thoughtfully before bursting into laughter. “Don’t play around, kid. Zeref isn’t a joke.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes, hand unconsciously moving to grip her whip. “I know that.”

“Good, then don’t involve yourself with the guy. I bet you wouldn’t even last a second in his presence,” the man snorted, waving her away with his hand.

“If I defeat you in a battle, will you tell me then?”

The man paused halfway into drinking, holding the bottle as he raised a brow at her. “Huh? Are you challenging me to a duel?” he said slowly, his face showing mocking disbelief.

“I see you’re deaf,” she said calmly. “Yes, I’m challenging you to a duel.”

“You little bitch!” The man wiped his mouth with the back of his head and smirked. “You must be out of your mind, taking me on. I’m the second best in my guild, y’know.”

Lucy tied her hair into a pony tail and readied herself, sliding into a stance. “As long as you aren’t the best,” she mused, smiling when he turns to her, eyes flashing with rage.

“You’ll regret saying that!”

A blast of wind pushed her bangs back and she blinked, surprised. “Wah, that’s cold,” she stammered, glad that she chose to wear pants today. She grabbed her whip and slapped it against the floor. “Let’s see if you can dance.”

She decided to strike his leg first, and he jumped away to dodge. Just what she wanted. She flicked her wrist and the whip wrapped around his arm. Bracing herself, she spun her arm around and threw him towards a building. He landed with a heavy groan and she stumbled back, wiping away the sudden sweat that formed on her forehead.

“You’re heavy,” she commented, gritting her teeth.

“Air strike!”

“Oops!” Lucy yelped, jumping out of the way. The surge of wind left a cut on the floor and she swallowed nervously—she had to make sure none of his attacks hit her.

“You’ll pay for that!” he snarled, cracking his knuckles as he started to send a wild barrage of punches. She blocked each and every one with her forearms, wincing at the pain. She wasn’t good with hand-to-hand combat.

She gripped one of his arms with both of her hands and sent a kick to his abdomen. “Lucy kick!”

The man grunted, eyes bulging as he coughed violently. Lucy jumped a few feet back. She couldn’t afford to waste any of her energy on this man. She had to end this duel now.

“Gate of the Maiden, I open thee!” she hurriedly commanded, raising the gold key and ramming it down. “Virgo!”

A flash of light engulfed them and Virgo appeared, pink hair flapping in the wind and her hand over her chest. She bowed to Lucy. “Princess, should I be punished?”

“No, no,” Lucy panted, pointing at the man who was now walking towards her. “Defeat him for me, please.”

“Will do.”

Sitting on the curb with the defeated man by her feet, Lucy huffed and dismissed Virgo. She was extremely lucky to have gotten her from that guy—who was it again? Ah, Everlue. She shuddered at the thought of him. How lucky was she to have stumbled upon another key while she was traveling? A bit, apparently.

She poked the guy with her foot. “You owe me answers, old man.”

“Shut up,” he grunted. “I’m not old.”

“Sure.”

He sighed and tried to adjust himself into a sitting position, wincing all the way. He was in bad shape and Lucy promised to pay for his hospital bill if he gave her directions to Zeref.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re looking for that guy, but I’m telling you, he’s bad news,” he said, taking a cigarette out from his pocket and lighting it. He blew out a cloud of smoke and stared out into the distance.

Lucy groaned in frustration. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Are you sure you want to find him?” he asked, frowning.

“Why do you suddenly care?” she retorted, jumping to her feet. She was panicking. “I need to find Zeref to save my mother, alright? If you don’t know where he is then you’ve wasted my time.”

She turned around, ready to walk away when he suddenly called her. “Wait, I do have some information about him.”

She looked over her shoulder and stared at him, bleakness pooling in her eyes. “What?”

“You won’t find him in this country, that’s for sure,” the man said, shaking his head. “But try Sin, I heard it’s a free country. Anyone can enter and exit as they please, dark mage or not. If there’s one place he might be at, that’s my guess. But if not, take a boat and go to Enca.”

“Are you sure about that?”

He rolled his eyes, puffing out another cloud of smoke. “No one really knows where Zeref is, kid,” he stated as a matter of fact. “But from what I’ve heard, he doesn’t really stay close to where civilization is. So try looking for him in forests and mountains. Pass by the Pergrande Kingdom first, because a lot of people there might know where he is.”

“But… that’s a hard country to enter.”

The man looked at her in incredulity. “And you’re looking for Zeref! I wonder which of the two is harder, hmm?”

Lucy glared at him. “Fine, I’ll enter Pergrande. I’ll even drop by the King and say hi,” she muttered, taking out her map and grimacing. It was going to take forever to get there.

“Don’t be stupid, kid.” The man snuffed out his cigarette on the road and crossed his legs. “You’ll never find him.”

“Oh really?” she mumbled, staring at the sky with a determined glint in her eyes. “Try me.”

望

Lucy watched the sunset with a disinterested look. She had seen the same scene for months now, and it was a bit tiring, watching it alone. Her travels were lengthy and she repeated her clothes every day, stopping occasionally at inns to sleep in. But she was getting there—Bellum turned out to be worth the visit. And that man was nicer than she thought.

Pergrande Kingdom was the biggest country in Ishgar. She didn’t know much about it. She did know that it was a rich kingdom, full of wealth and good people. It was also known as the trading capital of the continent.

She could feel her magic draining and she took out a vial of pills. She popped one in her mouth, her magic slowly returning.

Rubbing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on sending a steady stream of magic into the SE Plug. It was tiring but it was proving to be a better choice than traveling by train all the time. She had plenty of money and she was even ahead of schedule.

Ever since she began this journey, she hadn’t made any friends, apart from Sophie and a cat that stayed with her in Stella. She was only fifteen, but she felt older somehow. Like maybe, she was wasting away her life, all for a chance to meet Zeref.

She hoped he would show up. Because if he didn’t, she might lose her way back home.

望

“Why are you looking for him, child?”

Lucy looked up at the King of Pergrande, and for a moment, she forgot why. Why was she looking for Zeref?

“I…” she trailed off, lowering her head. “My mother’s sick. They said he’s the only one who can lift the curse that was placed on her.”

“Dear, you may be walking into something you cannot walk out from,” the Queen said worriedly, her light pink braids tumbling over her shoulders as she fell back to her seat. She seemed exhausted.

“I know that,” Lucy clarified, clenching her fists. “I know that. But being scared won’t help me, so I beg you, if you don’t know where he is or if you can’t help me, just say so. I don’t have much time left.”

The two rulers looked at each other, discussing something through soft voices before directing their attention back to her. The King cleared his throat. “We do know where he might be.”

Lucy’s eyes widened, her heart almost stopping. “W-What? But I thought… I thought no one knows where he actually is?”

“No one does,” the Queen affirmed, nodding. “However, he has been trying very hard to do something lately, so his presence is stronger than ever. He was last felt at Enca, but if you travel a bit further than that, there’s a little island where he might be residing for the time being.”

“A-And you’re sure of this?”

The Queen smiled sadly. “As sure as we could ever be, dear. Zeref is a terrifyingly dangerous mage. If you aren’t too careful, you may never be able to tell him what you ask of him.”

Lucy couldn’t believe it. A solid trail, and it was just so close! She was mentally thanking every man that she had passed on the way here.

She gave the two rulers a deep bow. “Thank you very much! You don’t know how grateful I am. Do you need anything? Money? Or…”

“No, no!” the King rushed, waving his hands frantically in the air. “We aren’t like that!”

“He’s right.” The Queen sighed, her forehead creasing in worry. “Your safe return is all that we ask from you, Lucy-san.”

望

They were right, Enca was brimming with dark magic. She could feel it wherever she went. Though, they were also correct about Zeref no longer staying here. Although the area was packed with all sorts of mages, dark and light all alike, she couldn’t feel him yet. She was certain she would know if he was nearby.

Because she knew that he wasn’t in Enca anymore, she immediately rented a boat to the next island. It was small, and strangely enough, no one wanted to escort her there. Instead they taught her how to work the boat and left her to herself. Thankfully, it was powered by an SE Plug.

The ocean was quiet and there was only an occasional gust of wind that greeted her. The next island, which she decided she would call as Lucia (since it may as well be her last chance), looked dark from the distance. Gray clouds hovered above the trees and the forest looked ominous from her viewpoint.

Still, she didn’t feel any fright. She was only feeling excited that he may actually be there. That finally, her journey was going to end.

Docking the boat, she stepped onto the sand and stood in front of the looming trees. She swallowed hard.

“Here goes nothing.”

Walking into the dark abyss, she held a small lacrima to illuminate the path. There weren’t any animals, so far. Actually, there wasn’t any sign of life at all. Now that she got a better look at her surroundings, the plants were wilted and everything was dead. The island smelled of rotting flesh and death.

She covered her nose with an arm and ventured deeper into the island.

“Zeref!” she called out, trying her best not to muffle her voice. “I know you’re there!”

Silence.

Lucy mentally reached out to her keys for reassurance and they glowed for only a moment before the light dimmed. She sucked in a deep breath. “Zeref! Please, I need your help!”

There was a rustling to her right and she stepped back, startled.

“H-Hello?”

Once again, a deafening silence answered her.

She was only fifteen, she reminded herself. She was only fifteen, but she was braver than most of the people that she knew. This was nothing.

“Zeref?” she called out, her knees beginning to tremble from fear. The presence of dark magic here was absurd. It was almost suffocating, how thick it was. She was getting cold feet.

“I’m not here to kill you or anything like that,” she said carefully, close to tears. She was so close. He had to be here. He should be.

“I just need your help,” she begged, blinking away the water in her eyes. They slipped down her cheeks and she hiccupped, suddenly feeling very small. Suddenly feeling like she was truly fifteen, young and alone.

“Please…”

There was another rustling from in front of her and she looked up, sniffing. She was crying so hard she had to catch her breath.

“W-Who’s there?” she questioned in a wavering voice, her tears slurring her words.

A person stepped out of the shadows and suddenly the island was no longer dark. The clouds parted and filled the area with light, illuminating the mage that stood before her. He looked as young as she was, with midnight hair and sad eyes that she couldn’t look away from.

“You were calling?”

Lucy’s eyes widened and she stumbled backwards, blood pounding in her ears.

“Z-Zeref?”

There are two kanjis in this first part, if you didn’t notice.

旅 - travel 望 - hope

The places I used are actually real, if you look at the map of Ishgar. Well, they’re as real as they can get! There weren’t any solid information about what the countries were like, so that’s the only part where they begin to separate from the FTverse. I hope you still liked it though :) Stay tuned to the next part!

#fairy tail #fanfiction #zeref x lucy #zeref dragneel #lucy heartfilia #annequinox #traveling with a lonely immortal #part 1

4 notes · View notes

focusontheeasternlightning-blog · 5 years

Text

How Should a Christian View Wealth? It Is Wise to Let Go

By Song Bo

Everyone in this world wants to seize what he likes, unwilling to let go. However, who can figure out what the consequence of our efforts will be?

By chance, I read a story named “Learning to Give Up,” which tells that hunters caught monkeys by taking advantage of their fondness for crisp walnuts. The hunters dug a hole in the big stone where monkeys usually haunted about, and the hole allowed only one opened hand of monkeys into it. Then the hunters put some walnuts in the hole. If a monkey reached into it and gripped the walnuts, it would be trapped and caught.

Short as the story is, it conveys the philosophy of life. When the monkeys held the walnuts firmly, they didn’t know these walnuts were the bait and trap, nor did they know that giving up would save their lives, so the result would be that they lost their lives. As for ourselves in real life, I think, when we always want to keep hold of our favorite things—money, fame and gain, aren’t we the same as the monkeys?

I used to be such a person. As a believer in God, I knew that Christians shouldn’t pursue the world but should pursue loving and worshiping the Lord, gaining the truth and life. Also, the sisters often told me that it is the most important thing for us believers to pursue the truth and gain life, and that we should be content with having food and clothes. But I still thought that making money and living a rich life was most important. Therefore, I busied myself doing business all day long. I ran a chicken farm, and meanwhile, I worked at a towel factory, thinking that in this way I could make much more money and enjoy a better life. So I rushed around from dawn to dusk. Later, I did earn some money, but I had a rough time: I was physically and mentally exhausted and prematurely senile. Even worse, I got ill and had to take medicine for such a long time that my stomach was ruined. I often suffered from bloating and nausea, and was unable to eat. At that time I lost a lot of weight. My sisters came to see me several times and asked me to attend meetings and listen to God’s words. But I was too busy with my work to spare the time for meetings, and I was even afraid that having meetings would take up my time to make money, so I missed the meetings time and again.

God’s love is boundless. In order to save me, God arranged for the sisters to have meetings with me in the evening when I returned from work. Yet, since I was exhausted from a day’s unceasing work, when we had meetings at night, my eyelids drooped, and I even fell asleep when the sisters were fellowshiping.

By struggling as hard as I could to make money, my condition became far worse: I suffered from a severer toothache as I took more medicine, and I even daren’t eat food. In addition, once I did some work, my shoulders would ache, and so would my waist and neck. Especially my back, it hurt badly and sometimes it pained me so much that I felt as if I were having stones on my back, and the pain even extended to my chest, making me feel as if I would suffocate. In my suffering, I had no way but to come before God to pray. From the words of God, I found the root of why I clung to money. I saw God’s words say, “‘Money makes the world go round’ is the philosophy of Satan and it prevails among the whole of mankind, among every human society. You could say that it is a trend because it has been imparted to everyone and is now affixed in their heart. People went from not accepting this saying to growing used to it so that when they came into contact with real life, they gradually gave tacit approval to it, acknowledged its existence and finally, they gave it their own seal of approval. Isn’t this process that of Satan corrupting man? Perhaps people do not understand this saying to the same degree, but everyone has different degrees of interpretation and acknowledgment of this saying based on things that have happened around them and their own personal experiences, right? Regardless of how much experience someone has with this saying, what’s the negative effect that it can have on someone’s heart? (People would esteem money.) … What does this saying and trend bring to people? Don’t many people see getting money as being worth any cost? Don’t many people sacrifice their dignity and integrity in the pursuit of more money? Don’t many more people lose the opportunity to perform their duty and follow God for the sake of money? Isn’t this a loss for people? (Yes.)” From God’s words, I understood: It turns out that Satan uses some viewpoints, such as “Money makes the world go around,” to corrupt and harm man. It misled me into thinking that having money meant having everything and that once I had money, I could enjoy a better life. So I was willing to risk everything to get more money, and didn’t want to miss any single chance to make money. As a result, not only did I lose the chance to attend meetings, but I also was disease-ridden from exhaustion, let alone enjoy a better life.

I was not the only one who seized money and didn’t let go of it. One of my friends was another example. He had ever been abroad to work. In order to make more money, he did several jobs a day and eventually got a severe disease, which was not cured even though he had much money. Such cases reported in the media are many. Some young people, in the pursuit of money, were swamped with business day and night, and due to the excessive work, they finally suffered from incurable diseases and lost their lives.

God’s words made me understand that Satan afflicts man. It used money as a bait to entice me to hold it tightly until I lost health and even was in danger of losing my life. Was it worth it? Just as the Lord Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mak 8:36).

God’s words are the truth. Indeed, even if we get all the money in this world, what use would it be without life? Just like the monkeys in the story, they gripped the walnuts and weren’t willing to give them up, causing them to lose their lives in the end. Money is just an externality, that is, we didn’t bring it with us when we were born and we can’t take it with us after we die. By contrast, only life is immortal. The Lord Jesus taught us, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Mat 6:31-33). Therefore, when we learn to let go and no longer pursue to satisfy our own desires, not only will we not lack any material things, but on the contrary, we will gain much more truth and life because of having more time to worship God. From this it can be seen that when Christians face the temptation of money, only those who can understand God’s will and rely on God’s words to let go of all kinds of desires are wise people.

#Faith and Life #Christian Reflection #God’s will

0 notes

militantinremission · 6 years

Text

Conflicted By Cosby Narrative

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the whole story behind Bill Cosby's behavior, or all of the details behind Andrea Constand's accusations. I personally think that Dr. Cosby is guilty of adultery, but i'm not sure of any of the other accusations. I don't mean to come off as insensitive to the [dozens of] Women that came forward against him. For me, there are too many conflicting stories to be sure what is accurate.

I feel the need to say that Black America has developed a [substantiated] group paranoia over the Centuries. Out of this paranoia, come Our Urban Legends. Among the most popular, is the belief that a White Woman's word can get a Black Man killed- no questions asked. Carolyn Bryant Donham's accusation of Emmit Till is the classic example. The current trend of White Women calling in false reports, opens the door to more tragedies like the 'Scottsboro Boys' & the 'Central Park 5'

Another popular Urban Legend, is the assumption that Bill Cosby is being targeted, because he wanted to buy the NBC Network. The N.Y. Times broke the Story in 1992, but buzz about Cosby's intentions go back to the Late 80's. Then NBC Owner, General Electric downplayed Dr. Cosby's intentions, & said the network wasn't for sale. It didn't matter, because a New Age was dawning.

At the time, Reginald Lewis acquired Beatrice Foods Inc, becoming the first Black Billionaire in America. Ron Brown, was named Bill Clinton's Secretary of Commerce; the first Black American to hold the position, Post Reconstruction. Across the board, Black Men & Women were beginning to make their presence known in their respective Industry.

Sadly, Ron Brown died [mysteriously] in a plane crash, in Eastern Europe; en route to a European Economic Summit in Croatia. Reginald Lewis fell ill & died from Cancer, not too long after making history. They were taken in the Prime of their lives, but both became role models for the Next Generation of Black Entrepreneurs.

I never heard a formal announcement, but again, rumors about Cosby's intentions go back to the 1980s. A Wilhelmina Model reported in 2014 that back in 1982, her Photographer set up an appointment for her to meet w/ a Casting Agent about a film project. She says two Men- an Asian Man in his 50s, & a White Man in his 30s met w/ her, & offered first $5K, then $10K Cash to work w/ Bill Cosby.

She requested a meeting w/ Dr. Cosby, to go over the script, but was told it wasn't necessary. This was a Spontaneous Casting Call... According to the 'script', she was suppose to meet Dr. Cosby, & try to seduce him. She was supposed to record the 'audition', to determine her success & credibility. If she could deliver seductive photos of Dr. Cosby, along w/ some of his sperm(?), she would get an additional $5K.

She says that she was uneasy about the 'Project', so she excused herself, & never returned. In her FYM Article, she goes on to say that she believed the two men were paying her to discredit Bill Cosby, & is "100% convinced that all of the women coming foward have been paid off to discredit Bill Cosby as well". The implication was that Dr. Cosby was getting too big (for his britches); he was grasping beyond his reach. He was empowering People of Color!

Black America took the (Russian Mob related) murder of Ennis Cosby as a message for Bill to back up... Along that vein, it was assumed that Michael Jackson was targeted for his interest in Sony Music; as well as acquiring the Publishing Rights of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers like Little Richard, & The Beatles. Prince was similarly targeted for winning Ownership of His Song Masters from Warner Music.

The Criminal Case of Andrea Constand against Bill Cosby is one of legal precedence. Ms. Constand alleges that Dr. Cosby raped her in January, 2004, but she didn't come forward until 2005. The D.A. admitted there wasn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Cosby, so Constand took him to Civil Court. In that Civil Trial, Dr. Cosby agreed to a ($3.4M) settlement, but was required to give a sworn deposition.

He was assured by the Montgomery County D.A.'s Office that his statement would be sealed, to protect him from possible self incrimination @ a future date. Oddly, Cosby's Defense did not request Immunity; maybe They thought it was implied, when the D.A.'s Office sealed the deposition. In the end, Dr. Cosby complied, & Ms. Constand was paid.

The precedent set in this last Cosby Trial, centers on the fact that the current Montgomery County D.A. overturned the decision made by that same Office to seal Dr. Cosby's Civil Trial Deposition. Did the D.A. know that Cosby did not have a formal Grant of Immunity; just an assurance from the D.A.'s Office, under the previous D.A.?

This D.A. ran on the promise that he would put Dr. Cosby back on Trial. A Jury already declared a Mistrial on these Charges last Year, but the D.A. says Constand deserves a verdict. This is on top of the Civil Trial that ended more than 10yrs earlier. On top of everything else, Cosby accusers forget that Andrea Constand already settled her Case & collected her money.

The more one looks @ this 'Criminal Case', the more one may ask: Why are We here? The D.A. was successful in painting Dr. Cosby as someone w/ a proclivity for adultery- a serial adulterer. Labelling an Octogenarian a 'Violent Sexual Predator', is overkill. The label is obviously meant to smash the 'America's Dad' image. Cosby's deposition says that he acquired drugs to give to women he sought for sex, but is accused of slipping Women drugs; quaaludes in particular.

Problem is, none of the accusations can be substantiated. There is only one account, & then, the young lady requested it. Beverly Johnson's account was spotlighted by Media. She says her incident w/ Cosby occurred while they were rehearsing lines. For some unknown reason, Beverly not only returned to the Set; she finished rehearsal, then shot the episode, all after her alleged violation.

In an interview following David Bowie's death, Iman said she couldn't believe Beverly Johnson's account. She went on to say back then, news like that would've spread through the Modelling World like wildfire. Bill would be untouchable. The implication was that he was a serial dater, not someone slipping Women quaaludes. If Beverly's account were true, no one would want to be left alone w/ him. In the Case of Andrea Constand, she was given a benadryl for an allergic reaction. Hardly a date rape drug. According to Dr. Cosby's (sealed) deposition, they were drinking cognac; perhaps that is the culprit.

In any case, Ms. Constand made contact w/ Dr. Cosby on 19 different occasions, following the alleged rape. In her written statement, Camille Cosby accused the D.A. of ethics violations, including producing a witness (Andrea Constand) that perjured herself. She continues, "Moreover, Bill Cosby's Defense team introduced the testimony of a witness [Margot Jackson] who confirmed that the district attorney's witness admitted that she had not been sexually assaulted, but that she could say she was and get money... which is exactly what she did."

Others point to a Kinder Morgan connection to Dr. Cosby, in Shelburne Falls, Ma. Kinder Morgan, is The 3rd largest Energy Company in North America, worth approximately $125B. They are the largest Energy Infrastructure Company in North America; responsible for 80,000 miles of pipeline & 180 Terminals. The Energy Company's Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company wants to construct a $341M Natural Gas Pipeline through Shelbourne Falls, as part of a $3.75B Northeast Pipeline Extension Project. The Cosbys have been against the Project; since being notified in 2013, of The Company's intention to survey their land.

The Cosbys own hundreds of acres of Protected Land in Shelbourne Falls. They were concerned that the proposed Project "shows disrespect for humans, flora, & fauna." They were also "astounded" that all six New England Governors support the Project. Camille Cosby wrote an op- ed, in March 2014 that questions the motives of a Company beholden to shareholders, more than Nature. She & Dr. Cosby later joined protesters against the Pipeline in July, 2014. Conspiracy Theorists believe that the Cosby Family angered people @ Kinder Morgan; to the point that They wanted to assassinate his Character & his Legacy.

Fast forward to Oct. 17, 2014- Comedian Hannibal Burress accuses Bill Cosby of Rape during his Stand up routine. The floodgates opened! By mid November, Women like Janice Dickenson were accusing Cosby of [graphic] past Rape acts. Around this time, The Washington Post was asking: If Bill Cosby was accused of rape 8yrs ago, why is the story going viral now? A rumor circulates soon after, that P.R. Man Rick Berman, aka, "Dr. Evil" was contracted by Kinder Morgan to take down Dr. Cosby. A tape later surfaces, where Berman brags how he can take down Celebrities for Clients w/o having actions traced back to him.

All things being said & done, i'm conflicted by Cosby. No question he is more than just a very gifted Writer & Actor. But he clearly has another side. Black America was hard pressed for Role Models on TV; Cosby, like O.J. fit a model that appealed to Both Americas. In the end, Cosby believed his own hype. He mistook The 'Cos' for 'Heathcliff Huxtable'. I guess it must be something like Undercover Cops staying 'Under' too long(?). He played a straight shooter so long, that he forgot he wasn't squeaky clean. Now Cosby has to deal w/ a new image & label- Violent Sexual Predator.

Talking Heads let it roll off their tongues w/a frightening ease. It's like 'The Powers That Be' couldn't wait to push that narrative of Cosby. Sen. Lindsey Graham, on @ least two occasions, used Cosby as a reference for 'The' Sexual Predator, in his defense of Brett Kavanaugh... That opens the door to an interesting comparison- Bill Cosby & Brett Kavanaugh measure up pretty well. Kavanaugh was quick to tout his Academic Standing & Community Service- his pedigree, when pressed on his demeanor @ Social Events.

Cosby could have done the same. He could have touted his academic proficiency, Humanitarian Awards, or the Tens of Millions of dollars donated to Charity; particularly, Historical Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) over the years. There is also the number of Jobs that he created for his TV Shows & Concerts...

Ironically, a 'Gang' of Old Conservative White Men stepped in to rescue Kavanaugh, when he faltered. They employed [coded] wordplay in their language, to assure him that all of the brouhaha was moot; he WILL be confirmed. Meanwhile, the same 'Gang' that once lauded Cosby, abandoned him; almost from the beginning.

Phylicia Rashad appears correct in saying this whole thing is about Legacy. The Cosby Show was an inspiration to Black America. The Black 'Professional Class' flourished during the time that the Show aired. Young Men & Women were attending College & Post Grad Programs in larger numbers. Taking the Show off the air was detrimental, not just to Dr. Cosby, but to the overall Image Hollywood portrays of the Black Community.

Actor Geoffrey Owens, is a causality of the conspiracy to discredit Bill Cosby. He admitted that taking 'The Cosby Show' out of syndication, was a factor in his decision to work @ Trader Joes. Dr. Cosby shared syndication royalties w/ his Cast & Crew, so Geoffrey may not be alone. Meanwhile, admitted child molester, Stephen Collins can enjoy collecting syndication royalties, from Networks that still air '7th Heaven'.

Dwelling on America's double standard Culture can be mind boggling. 81Yr Old Bill Cosby is led out of court in leg chains, facing a 3yr- 10yr Prison Term. He is expected to serve @ least 3yrs, but taking his age & health into account, i'm not very confident that he will survive the Experience. Meanwhile, GOP Conservatives- male & female, are arguing on behalf of Brett Kavanaugh; that speaking up after 30+ Yrs is not fair, unless the account can be substantiated. Dr. Ford comes across as credible, but...

When Autumn Jackson appeared in the mid 90s, claiming to be Cosby's daughter, she referred to a tryst that Cosby had w/ her mother in 1974- Why didn't these Women speak up then? From recent interviews, I understand that many were intimidated by his image & stature, but Cosby's fidelity was being questioned. Dozens of Women coming forward would have gained momentum.

Why is Autumn's mother, Shawn Thompson- Upshaw among the Women accusing Cosby of drugging & raping them? That wasn't her story 20yrs ago. Autumn & her partners in Crime (Jose Medina, Boris [Schmulevich] Sabas) were Tried & Sentenced for Extortion ($40M) in 1997. In that Trial, Cosby was a Witness for the Prosecution. In his testimony, Dr. Cosby revealed that he & Ms. Thompson did in fact have a brief affair.

He also admitted that he gave Ms. Thompson $100,000 over the years as 'hush money,' plus he gave her money for Autumn's Education & well being. Does Ms. Thompson- Upshaw think she has a legitimate argument 20yrs later? It's interesting how We are expected to forgive the 'trespasses' of America's Historical figures, but Bill Cosby is tossed out w/ the trash. How does this work? The 'Cos' was part of Hugh Hefner's Playboy crowd. He was a regular @ the Playboy Mansion, & talked about it in his Stand Up routine.

America celebrated Hef's polyamorous lifestyle, even after getting married. Charlie Sheen can be the irreverent Bad Boy, to the point of becoming HIV Positive. Cosby is basically the prototype of Tiger Woods, but he gets singled out for punishment. Meanwhile, Tiger (I'm not Black) Woods gets a second chance. He is currently being toasted by the same people that criticized him 5yrs earlier. R. Kelly is free to do Lord only knows what (w/ Young Black Women), but Society is satisfied w/ locking up a Legally Blind 81yr old in failing health, & calling him a Violent Sexual Predator... But it's not about Legacy though.

0 notes

how2to18 · 6 years

Link

AS AMERICAN DEMOCRACY seems to take another downward bend in its own death spiral with each passing week, the United States might learn a few things from the international Pirate movement, whose Czech wing recently took third place in national elections, and which has become perhaps most known in recent times for its continued presence on Iceland’s political stage.

Iceland, a tiny island nation in the North Atlantic, provides perhaps the best prism through which to understand the rise of the Pirates. The country is perhaps best known as the picturesque backdrop to the colder bits on Game of Thrones, the home of unpronounceable volcanoes that periodically threaten to ground the entire European air fleet, and the birthplace of singer Björk. But despite these natural and cultural claims to fame, politics on the island are not so rosy. The Icelandic political and financial establishment has become synonymous with cronyism and shady dealing, a sentiment incited by two recent revelations: a 2009 Wikileaks document that exposed the Icelandic bank Kaupthing’s lending practices, and the Panama Papers leak of 2016 that revealed the off-shore banking activities of several high-profile individuals, not least Iceland’s then–Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson.

Gunnlaugsson quickly resigned, but in the October 2016 elections that followed his departure it became clear that Iceland’s increasingly internationalized and tech-savvy population would not be content to simply vote in a new face on old politics. Instead, it seemed that the population was increasingly open to seeking political alternatives in previously uncharted territory.

Iceland, of course, is in no way alone in this tendency, as dissatisfaction with the political and economic status quo of the last 40 years has been in steady decline in the Western world for some time. In Europe, where forms of proportional voting are common, this had led to increasing success for both new parties, like Podemos in Spain and the Five Star Movement in Italy, and slightly older ones that previously occupied niche territory, such as Syriza and Golden Dawn in Greece, the National Front in France, Sinn Féin in Ireland, and the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands. In the United States and the United Kingdom, where the first-past-the-post system makes it difficult for small parties to gain proportionate representation in parliament, the desire for change has been funneled through the main establishment parties, most notably on the “right” by Donald Trump’s takeover of the 2016 Republican Party presidential campaign, and on the “left” by Jeremy Corbyn’s transformation of the British Labour party, despite unprecedented pushback from the party’s own top brass.

But while the left-leaning like Corbyn and Podemos could be described as progressive (certainly more so, than say, Golden Dawn, whose flag is, shall we say, hard to get past), when it comes to globalization and technological development, no one seems to have taken the bull by the horns to quite the same degree as the Pirate Party.

Perhaps this willingness to rock the boat partly explains some of the hostile coverage the Pirates received from American media in the run up to the 2016 Icelandic election. “Iceland’s Pirate Party Loves Hackers, Drugs & Revolution” The Daily Beast proclaimed with the subtitle “Iceland’s anti-establishment Pirate Party — led by a ‘poetician’ who worships Julian Assange — looks ready to win the country’s national election”. The Washington Post described the party as “a renegade movement” and “a radical movement of anarchists and hackers.”

This made it all sound pretty wild, but a year after the election, in which the Pirates emerged as one of the most successful parties with nearly 15 percent of the popular vote, Iceland didn’t seem to have been plunged into chaos. A brief perusal of the news site Iceland Monitor revealed that at a recent protest over immigration a sign was broken and one protestor pinched another.

Yes.

Pinched.

With their fingers.

Americans, no doubt, will be appalled.

In other highlights, the police have had to interfere twice with tourists who persist in watching the Northern Lights instead of the road while driving, and someone went skinny-dipping.

In short, the months of prolonged coalition talks that followed the 2016 election, parts of which were conducted by these very “anarchist hackers” don’t seem to have rocked Iceland half so much as, say, the Panama Papers did. And while the Pirates ultimately went into opposition, they are now firmly on the map as political players — tied for second place with the Left-Green Party in terms of number of parliamentary seats in 2016 and remaining firmly on the dash with over nine percent of the vote share in Iceland’s 2017 snap election. Moreover, the Icelandic Pirates’ success is only part of a quiet global trend that has seen the Pirate movement slowly catching on the world over, and often proving popular among younger voters when it fields election candidates.

So what does the Pirate Party really stand for and could American democracy learn anything from it?

Embracing the Digital World

One of the things that has made the Pirate Party (and similar organizations like the Five Star Movement) so perplexing to many analysts is that it does not adhere to the centuries-old conservative-liberal split, instead embracing policy that cuts across the traditional left-right divide. The most defining characteristic of the movement, and the point of contention that gave the Pirates their name, is the fight against what its members view as restrictive intellectual property laws unsuitable to the digital age.

For those too young to remember, “intellectual property” was once, for most people, a far more esoteric term than it is now. Back in the 1990s (shortly before Björk achieved global fame, in fact), the ill-financed (teenagers and college kids) often copied their favorite songs onto cassette tapes, either directly from the radio or from their friends’ tapes. This was done partly to get all the best songs on one tape and partly to avoid entering the hard cash economy of an actual music store. Then, when CDs and the internet came along two of the prime inhibitors of copying — the poor sound quality and tediousness of the job — fell away, making copying attractive to those who had previously been willing to pay for the convenience and quality of store-bought music (everyone else). In this new atmosphere, a conscientious teen would not just selfishly spend all afternoon listening to Green Day or watching hamsters dance on the magic Pentium machine their parents had paid a fortune for — they’d remember to burn some Kenny Rogers for grandma, too. Unsurprisingly, internet sites facilitating copying, such as Napster and Pirate Bay, boomed while the entertainment industry frantically tried to instill the population with a sudden conviction that what had hitherto seemed an innocuous practice in fact constituted criminal activity.

“You wouldn’t steal a car! You wouldn’t steal a handbag!” industry ads would blare at teenage audiences before every film, “Stealing is against the law!”

It was, shall we say, an ill-considered appeal to kids looking forward to a solid 90 minutes of Hollywood’s leading actors doing all kinds of illegal things, including stealing, driving recklessly, and then totaling all kinds of very cool cars (often to fireball level) in defiance of the nebulous authoritarian forces that opposed freedom. The entertainment industry achieved very little beyond successfully casting itself as the villain in its own favorite narrative.

It was out of this general milieu — a time of quite serious, genuine confusion over just what constituted private property and the legal protection thereof — that the Pirate movement was born. In contrast to the music industry, the Pirates took the tack of sanguinely acknowledging that the train had left the station. People would copy because it was possible to copy. And that, according to the Pirates, was not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of seeking to contain these changes, society and the legal system should embrace them. Eventually this movement coalesced into formal political parties, most notably in Sweden, where Pirates sent their first representative to the European Parliament in 2009.

When I asked Swedish Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge for his views on intellectual property, he described copyright and patent-dependent industries as “old” and “obsolete” and said that efforts to keep them alive are “standing in the way of progress.” According to Falkvinge, this is particularly problematic when those efforts focus on tracking user behavior in order to, for example, prevent or punish copyright infringement. “Paradoxically,” he told me,

in one way of seeing it, Pirates are very conservative. One of our key points is that the same rights and laws that we have offline should also apply online. When you ponder that, you realize that the privacy of correspondence, the right to not be tracked in your everyday life, et cetera — rights that we take for granted offline — have been completely eradicated in the shift to digital.

This touches on another key point of Pirate Party policy: privacy. The movement’s adherents are some of the strongest opponents of online surveillance and the strongest supporters of whistleblowers like former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Birgitta Jónsdóttir, one of the earliest and most prominent Icelandic Pirates, has repeatedly pushed for Snowden — currently in Russia — to be granted Icelandic citizenship.

Critics have often apparently understood these two planks of Pirate policy as something of a contradiction, finding it difficult to reconcile the ideas of open data and file-sharing with personal privacy. The idea would seem to be that since Pirates are unsympathetic to other people’s intellectual property claims, they should not be so squeamish about being spied on themselves. Out in the open is out in the open.

This, however, misses the Pirates’ main point: that advances in technology make conventional understandings of property rights and distribution methods nigh on impossible to enforce anyway. In a previous recorded talk at Black Hat Europe, an information security conference, Falkvinge at one point compared the digital revolution to the invention of the printing press. Just as the printing press destroyed the Catholic Church’s monopoly on reproducing, and thus distributing, religious texts, so too would the internet destroy corporate, indeed perhaps any private, control over publishing and distribution of knowledge and entertainment, ushering in an era of intense social and economic change. The digital revolution, in other words, would be broader and deeper than most people seemed to realize, and much more, in fact, like an actual revolution. This is the era the Pirates are preparing for, and to some extent, already living, an era that, in their view, will not so much require as cause changes not just to information management, but also to the very fabric of our political structure.

Participation in the Digital World

Few would dispute that in the past 15 years technology has made it possible to disseminate details of international treaty negotiations, like TTIP and TTP, that were once self-understood secrets, or that globalization has put the sovereign nation-state form of political organization — a model grounded in the 17th-century Peace of Westphalia — under some stress, with dual nationalities and migration becoming more and more common. But, perhaps most significantly of all, the idea of representative politics within those nation-states is looking a bit dated in the digital era. With news sites running daily polls on everything from the public’s favorite fruit to nuclear proliferation, it is not a leap to wonder why politicians aren’t consulting the people they allegedly represent a little more often.

The tech-savvy Pirates have picked up on this point, too, often advocating for direct democracy and collaborative intra-party policy-making. In Germany this was facilitated by developing a software known as LiquidFeedback, which allows party members to have a running input on policy. Similar applications have been used by Podemos in Spain and the Five Star Movement in Italy, as well as by the Icelandic Pirate Party, which states on its website that a policy “must also receive sufficient support in the Pirate Party’s online voting system. The online voting system is the primary method through which Pirates settle disputes and reach consensus on policies.”

A trip to the website shows the Icelandic Pirates deciding such bread-and-butter matters as dental care, capital gains tax, and immigration. Despite the contentions of some newspapers that the Icelandic Pirates have few specific policies, thanks to Google Translate I was easily able to access a flood of detailed policy on what seems to be a fully functional site.

In a similar vein, the newly successful Czech Pirates have devoted a segment of their policy document to “direct democracy,” where they advocate utilizing IT to incorporate elements such as binding referenda, recalls, and citizens’ initiatives into the state apparatus.

As these variations indicate, while decentralizing political power through collaborative decision-making is a popular Pirate theme, the exact modality that increased participation should take is debated within the movement. Falkvinge told me that “direct democracy, as such, was never part of the original platform.” Instead the Pirate Party of Sweden sought to work through a different method known as “swarm leadership,” in which people were free to take action furthering the Pirate cause without seeking permission from a higher authority. That some form of increased, non-hierarchical participation is desirable, however, seems to be a firm Pirate Party tenet, and stands in sharp contrast to conventional party politics, which are frequently characterized by firm, even hereditary, hierarchies and long-serving officers. The ramifications of such a change, combined with radically increased transparency and systemic changes in work and education are, indeed, potentially enormous.

Services like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube have contributed to something of a new equilibrium when it comes to entertainment IP, offering services at a price low enough that many people are, once again, willing to pay for the convenience and quality of a subscription. This has robbed the issue of intellectual property — the original Pirate mainstay — of some of its urgency — at least for now. But the changes the internet has brought to political participation and access have barely been acknowledged, much less addressed, by more established political parties. It is their willingness to step into this lacuna and do the dirty work of experimenting with new ideas under new conditions that is such a key component of the Pirate appeal.

Pirates — Potential Forerunners of a New Politics

Whatever else one may say about the Pirates, they seek to work across the left-right divide on proposals that attempt to deal with the pressing issues of the digital age. As such they represent a constructive approach that confronts issues head-on instead of denying that any problems exist or trying to put the genie back in the bottle and return to the past. The inability of conventional parties to come to terms with the present and to lay the groundwork for the future was all too apparent in the last American presidential election, in which Republicans and Democrats tussled over whether America should be made great again (past), or if it was already great (present) without providing a vision suitable for coping with the dynamic and rapidly evolving world around them into the future. Economic distribution, political participation, and national organization are all due a serious overhaul, as traditional work and social structures fail to deliver. Prudent politics is about preparing for future challenges and risks — trying to solve tomorrow’s problems today, rather than fighting a war of attrition over yesterday’s issues. It is possible that traditional parties, like the Democrats and Republicans, simply have too much baggage to let go of the past and start working with the present-day reality quickly enough to be effective — and it is this lack of timely change that is producing instability.

Far from representing an anarchic menace to society, Pirates are searching for the way forward in an exciting, perhaps even revolutionary time. Their solutions may not always prove durable or palatable to everyone, but progress depends on people’s willingness to think outside the box and take a chance on new ideas. In fact, perhaps American democracy could do with a few more Pirates.

Roslyn Fuller is the author, most recently, of Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose.

The post Pirates, Democracy, and the Digital Revolution appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2zFigsE via IFTTT

#Blogger

0 notes

topmixtrends · 6 years

Link

Yes.

Pinched.

With their fingers.

Americans, no doubt, will be appalled.

In other highlights, the police have had to interfere twice with tourists who persist in watching the Northern Lights instead of the road while driving, and someone went skinny-dipping.

So what does the Pirate Party really stand for and could American democracy learn anything from it?

Embracing the Digital World

“You wouldn’t steal a car! You wouldn’t steal a handbag!” industry ads would blare at teenage audiences before every film, “Stealing is against the law!”

Participation in the Digital World

Pirates — Potential Forerunners of a New Politics

Roslyn Fuller is the author, most recently, of Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose.

The post Pirates, Democracy, and the Digital Revolution appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2zFigsE

#Los Angeles Review of Books #topmixtrends

0 notes

omginstantpaperbouquetblr · 7 years

Link

By Barry Eidlin / Socialist Project

As nativist right-wing populism surges across the Global North amidst the exhaustion of social democracy and “Third Way” liberalism, the United States finds itself at the forefront. Elsewhere, right populist parties have led in the polls, as with the Front National in France and the PVV in the Netherlands, or played key roles in seismic political events, as with UKIP and Brexit. But so far, only in the U.S. has the right populist wave captured a major political party and ridden it to power. The improbable election of Donald Trump reflects deep crises within the U.S. political system, but also this broader crisis of modern liberalism.

The early months of the Trump administration have been chaotic, but one thing remains clear: despite Trump’s rhetorical appeals to the working class, actual workers and unions have reason to be worried. His public pronouncements about bringing back coal and manufacturing jobs are based on pure sophistry, while his less public moves to gut labor regulations and workers’ rights will hurt workers. Labor’s dire situation predates Trump by decades, but it is likely that his accession to the Oval Office will further embolden labor’s foes, much as Ronald Reagan’s election did in the 1980s.

An Anti-Worker Cabinet

Early indications have confirmed these suspicions, as the candidate who portrayed himself during the campaign as a tribune of the working class has packed his cabinet with billionaires and business leaders.

Of particular concern for workers are his picks to head the Departments of Labor and Education. While personal controversies and popular mobilization derailed Trump’s first choice for Secretary of Labor, CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder, his replacement, R. Alexander Acosta, presents more conventional but still troubling challenges for labor. His record while serving on the National Labor Relations Board in the early 2000s suggests an employer-friendly attitude toward labor policy common among mainstream Republicans. Meanwhile his Secretary of Education, Amway billionaire Betsy DeVos, has made her name promoting school privatization and attacks on teachers’ unions in her home state of Michigan and elsewhere.

Policy-wise, Trump has run into trouble implementing much of his agenda, most notably with his failure thus far to repeal Obamacare and courts blocking his Muslim travel ban. However, he and his Republican counterparts in Congress have had much less difficulty rolling back a slew of worker protections proposed or enacted under the Obama administration. These include an effort to raise the threshold above which salaried workers cannot receive overtime pay, regulations requiring federal contractors to disclose pay equity and workplace safety violations, rules on mine safety and exposure to beryllium, and mandates for private sector employers to collect and keep accurate data on workplace injuries and illnesses.

On the judicial front, Trump has nominated two reliably anti-union attorneys, William Emanuel and Marvin Kaplan, to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They are likely to reverse recent pro-labor rulings holding parent companies liable for the labor practices of their franchisees and allowing student workers at private universities to organize.

More significantly, after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death last year prevented the Supreme Court from overturning decades of legal precedent and allowing right to work laws throughout the public sector via the Friedrichs case, a new case called Janus v. AFSCME has been filed in Illinois which will allow a Supreme Court now supplemented by the conservative Neil Gorsuch to revisit the issue.

At the state level, labor’s situation continues to worsen. On top of recent labor setbacks in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the first months of 2017 saw Kentucky and Missouri become the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh right-to-work states. In Iowa, lawmakers passed House File 291, which, like Wisconsin’s Act 10, restricts public sector unions’ ability to bargain over anything but wages, eliminates workers’ ability to have their union dues deducted automatically from their paychecks, and requires regular union recertification votes.

For its part, labor remains stuck in an organizational and political rut. Total union density currently stands at 10.7 per cent, and 6.4 per cent in the private sector. This is a level not seen since the Great Depression, and well below levels reached in the mid-twentieth century, when one third of U.S. workers were union members.

Economically, union decline is a key reason that inequality has risen to levels also not seen since the Great Depression. Politically, it has undercut labor’s organizational clout. Not only are there fewer union voters, but unions are less able to educate and mobilize their existing members.

In the 2016 election, despite unions spending millions of dollars and deploying major voter mobilization programs to support Democrats, Trump won 43 per cent of union households, and 37 per cent of union members. In some of the decisive Rust Belt states, Trump won outright majorities of union households.

All told, it’s a grim picture. Some of the details may be new, but they are part of a decades-long pattern of union decline that is quite familiar at this point. As we enter the Trump era, we are not entering uncharted territory. We’ve been here before.

Dead Ends

The question is how to respond. For at least the next few years, two of labor’s well-worn tactics are off the table.

First, labor law reform is not happening, and anti-labor measures like a national right-to-work law are almost certain. Second, with Democrats now shut out at the federal level, and Republicans in control of either the governor’s house or state legislature in forty-four states, with full control in twenty-five, labor cannot rely on favors from sympathetic Democratic Party politicians.

Leaving aside the deep crises the Democratic Party currently faces, or the extent to which such a reliance has ever been a good idea, this “inside strategy” is simply not available now. Even less viable is a strategy of “cautious engagement” with Republicans, which is what AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten seem to be promoting.

At the same time, as frightening as the situation seems, now is not the time for labor to retreat. Unfortunately, that is precisely the approach that some unions seem to be taking.

Most notably, SEIU’s response to Trump’s election was to plan for a 30 per cent budget cut. Instead, labor should follow the advice that SEIU President Mary Kay Henry gave in 2015, when unions were anticipating an adverse decision in the Friedrichs case: “You can’t go smaller in this moment. You have to go bigger.”

Understanding and addressing the threats that the Trump administration poses to workers is a challenge. First, it requires analyzing the particularities of labor’s current challenges in the United States within the broader context of what has happened to labor movements and politics in the Global North in recent decades. Second, it requires addressing a problem that goes deeper than unions’ declining numbers and bargaining power: their eroding ability to shape and mobilize workers’ political identities.

The Broader Context

Much about Trump and his administration is unique, some say unprecedented. His pre-dawn tweets, his disregard for notions of truth and evidence with which he does not agree, his lack of concern with handling much of the basic day-to-day mechanics of governing, and much more, has dumbfounded his critics on the left and right alike.

At the same time, much of his policy agenda and his method of governing has a long lineage. His budget proposal reprises the combination of tax cuts for the wealthy, combined with massive increases in defense spending and massive cuts to social welfare programs, scientific research, and funding for the arts and humanities that President Reagan and subsequent Republican presidents have long championed.

Equally Reaganesque is his penchant for appointing cabinet members whose primary qualification involves attacking the mission of the agency they are tasked with leading. Meanwhile, his “America First” economic nationalism goes back further, echoing a perspective prevalent in the pre-World War II era, and which lives on today in various “Buy American” campaigns.

Likewise, many of the factors underlying Trump’s victory are particular to the U.S. context. Leaving aside the contingencies surrounding the election itself, these include institutional factors like the entrenched two-party system and the disproportionality of the Electoral College.

The first ensured that Trump’s populist mobilization was expressed within the confines of the Republican Party, as opposed to a separate far-right party as is common in Europe, while the second allowed him to win the presidency while losing the popular vote. Also particular is Trump’s electoral alliance with evangelical Christians, as compared to either the resolute secularism or revanchist Catholicism of the European far right.

At the same time, Trump’s success is part of a broader right-populist trend that extends far beyond the United States. Globally, these movements share several common traits, including charismatic leaders; a focus on mobilizing around racial and ethno-religious divisions, particularly Islam; and a deep skepticism of experts and elites. Looking beyond the present moment, historical research suggests that such movements tend to grow in the aftermath of major economic crises such as that in 2008.

Importantly for labor, right populism has emerged in response to a political vacuum on the Left. Part of this has been the result of a crisis of “third way” social democracy, whereby the traditional parties of the Left adopted the policies of financial deregulation and fiscal austerity that led to economic crisis, abandoning, attacking, and alienating their traditional working-class base in the process. Equally important has been a global decline in labor union power, which has both given employers the upper hand while leaving more workers without any form of collective organization.

The resulting disorientation of the Left has created fertile ground for the upsurge of the populist Right. Beyond simply opposing labor and the Left, it seeks to replace them as the “natural” political home for a (white, native-born) segment of the working class.

These twin crises of working class representation have hit particularly hard in the United States. Politically, social democracy was never as established as in Europe, and while the Democratic Party was unable to serve as a functional equivalent to the social democratic parties of Europe, its Clintonite turn in the 1990s did provide a blueprint for the rest of the Third Way.

Socially and economically, unions are especially weak in the United States, with union density among the lowest in the Global North. And while European unions have generally taken a strong stance against the far right, U.S. unions have been far more fragmented in their response to Trump, as evidenced by Trumka’s abovementioned policy of “cautious engagement” and the building trades unions’ outright endorsement of Trump.

The “Special Interest” Trap

Taken as a whole, today U.S. labor faces a crisis of legitimacy. For all the problems that U.S. unions had in their post-World War II heyday, they were a force to be reckoned with. They negotiated master contracts in auto, steel, mining, and trucking that set wage and working condition patterns for entire industries. Labor leaders like Walter Reuther, John L. Lewis, and Sidney Hillman were household names whose opinions were worthy of regular news coverage.

That is no longer the case. Today, few labor leaders get attention outside a small circle of labor scholars and activists, and far from setting industry wages and working conditions, they are more likely to cite non-union competition as a rationale for getting their members to accept concessions. Meanwhile, labor’s concerns are portrayed as those of a narrow, parasitic “special interest.”

Partially this is the result of decades of sustained anti-union attacks, which have now penetrated traditional labor strongholds like Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. But that is not the whole story. After all, labor has withstood far more vicious attacks in the past, including facing down state, federal, and mercenary armies. A key part of the problem is that the “special interest” label tends to stick. Even within progressive circles, unions are pegged as one among many “special interest groups,” albeit one with deep pockets and a knack for getting Democratic voters to the polls.

Perhaps most indicative of this problem is the care with which unions like SEIU and UFCW have sought to downplay their involvement in recent campaigns like the Fight for $15, the fast food strikes, and Walmart organizing, even as these campaigns have won remarkable victories. Presumably the unions fear that these broad-based campaigns might be tainted if they are too closely linked to labor.

The result, as Jake Rosenfeld notes, is that even as labor scores big wins for large swaths of the working class, few are aware of labor’s role. Meanwhile, unions are mainly thrust into the spotlight over political attacks like right-to-work laws that boil down to arguing over technical language about union membership requirements, or contract disputes that are vitally important for the members involved, but can seem distant from the general welfare.

Identity and Organization

Fundamentally, labor today lacks its own core identity. To be sure, any competent labor leader or organizer can rattle off a list of labor’s accomplishments, as well as the tangible benefits that come with the “union advantage.” More sophisticated labor leaders and organizers can discuss and implement smart organizing tactics and strategic campaigns.

But as any seasoned organizer knows, movements aren’t built on cost-benefit balance sheets and clever tactics. They are built on vision and relationships. Together, these create powerful collective identities, a sense of being on the same side, of sharing a common fate.

Collective identities are crucial because they bring groups of relatively powerless individuals together and change their assessment of where they stand, what is possible, and what they are capable of. Without that reassessment process, workers will quite rationally conclude that organizing is too risky and too likely to end in defeat, and not get involved.

At the same time, the lack of a powerful self-defined collective identity gives movement opponents space to define the movement. In the case of the U.S. labor movement, that’s what has allowed the “special interest” identity to stick.

It hasn’t always been this way. U.S. labor has a long and storied track record of forging powerful collective identities. Going back to the nineteenth century, early unions like the Knights of Labor organized around powerful ideas of “labor republicanism” and the “cooperative commonwealth” to articulate a broad vision of industrial democracy. In doing so, they highlighted the contradiction between their status as formally free citizens in the political realm, and their status as wage slaves at work.

In the early twentieth century, it was the Industrial Workers of the World’s vision of “One Big Union” that mobilized hundreds of thousands of workers. In the 1930s and ’40s, the CIO’s vision of industrial unionism and the spectacle of the sit-down strikes galvanized millions. As an example of how contagious this CIO vision was, soon after its founding in 1935, tens of thousands of workers north of the border in Canada flocked to the CIO banner, even though nobody in the CIO leadership was aware of what was going on, let along lending any kind of material support.

In the 1960s, as an explosion of public sector organizing accompanied the growing civil rights movement, striking sanitation workers in Memphis captured the confluence of both movements with their slogan “I Am A Man.” More recently, we can think of the slogan “Part-Time America Won’t Work,” which united part-time and full-time Teamsters at UPS in their victorious 1997 strike against the shipping giant, or the Chicago Teachers Union’s framing of their successful 2012 campaign as “fighting for the schools our children deserve.”

While these examples showcase the galvanizing potential of collective identities, it is important to recognize that they have a downside. Identities work by creating dividing lines that define who is on which side. Depending on how those lines get drawn, collective identities can divide as well as unify workers. We need only think of the sordid history of divisions based on race, national origin, gender, or craft within the labor movement to see how this has worked.

Similarly, unions’ efforts to forge “partnerships” with employers, or to promote protectionist “buy American” strategies, can divide workers by company or country, while blurring divisions between workers and management. The resulting identities can help or harm labor’s fighting capacity.

It is also essential to recognize that durable collective identities, the kind that can create deep and lasting social change, are made up of more than words. They are not the product of proper “messaging” or “framing” of issues. Rather, collective identities are created, maintained, and reshaped through sustained, organized collective action.

More than anything, it’s this combination of galvanizing ideas tied to durable, deep organization that is missing from today’s labor movement.

We can certainly find elements of each. Despite decades of decline, unions still have plenty of organizational infrastructure at their disposal. But this is not tied to a compelling idea or collective identity.

Leaving aside forgettable efforts at doing so like AFL-CIO’s “Union Yes!” and “Voice@Work” campaigns, the ideological work of even more sophisticated campaigns like SEIU’s Justice for Janitors has not been aimed at creating a sense of collective identity among its members. Rather, it has been aimed at creating “public dramas” using scripted confrontations to shame corporate targets into making deals with union leaders. Workers in such a model function not as the collective force driving the campaign, but as what Jane McAlevey refers to as “authentic messengers” dispatched by union leadership to influence media coverage and public opinion.

We have also seen galvanizing ideas take hold in recent years. These include the aforementioned Fight for $15 (and a union, which usually gets dropped), the powerful counterposition of “the 99 per cent” versus “the one per cent” that animated the Occupy movement, and Bernie Sanders’ message of working-class justice and solidarity that fueled his improbable run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

These, however, have lacked firm organizational links. In the case of Fight for $15, the real organizational tie to unions was deliberately hidden. Occupy, for all its accomplishments in forcing economic inequality back onto the political agenda, foundered on its inability to build lasting organization. As for Sanders, not only was his campaign hampered by most unions’ reticence to back it, but there is little infrastructure beyond email and fundraising lists to organize the millions of people who backed him.

Strikes, Workplaces, and the Future of Democracy

Historically, unions have used two methods to link ideas and organization: strikes and shop floor organization. The first has gotten plenty of attention, grabbing headlines and filling the pages of labor history books. The second, while often overlooked, has been equally important, a necessary building block for the first. Labor scholars, not to mention any seasoned organizer, know the painstaking, day-to-day work that goes into building a strike. Even in cases where strikes seem spontaneous, there is always organization lurking behind.

But beyond strike preparation, shop floor organization has been what gives substance to the well-worn slogan “we are the union.” Not only has it provided a necessary check on management’s authority, but it has created the setting for the everyday interactions that build trust, solidarity, leadership, and the confidence that members can act collectively. It was an essential part of union building efforts from the nineteenth century to the CIO and lives on in certain pockets of the labor movement.

For the most part though, strikes and shop floor organization are things of the past. Not only are strike rates near an all-time low in the United States, but evidence suggests that they are no longer as effective as they used to be. Meanwhile, corporate consolidation, financialization, and restructuring means that power and authority have moved not just further up the organizational chart, but have disappeared into a hazy thicket of investment funds, shell companies, and merged mega-corporations.

In this new environment, many argue, workplace organizing can only have limited effects. Unions’ leverage must be exerted elsewhere, either in politics or capital markets. Almost by definition, that means that unions’ primary activities must happen at the staff level, in the strategic research and legislative action departments – not in the workplace. Unsurprisingly, unions that subscribe to this analysis, most notably SEIU, have transformed themselves in ways that make their workplace presence even more remote.

“...giving up on the possibility of workplace organizing has troubling implications for labor, politics, and democracy more broadly. ”

Without denying that these changes are real, and that global strategies that reach beyond the workplace are necessary to confront globalized capital, giving up on the possibility of workplace organizing has troubling implications for labor, politics, and democracy more broadly.

If labor has no way of tying global leverage strategies to workplace organizing, then it is unclear how whatever agreements are worked out between corporations, governments, and unions can actually make daily life on the job better for workers. Agreements mean little without enforcement.

At a basic level, workplace organization is necessary not only to make sure that corporations abide by their agreements, but to provide a check on management’s unbridled authority. Janice Fine’s work on the “co-production of enforcement” offers some ideas as to how this might happen, but labor needs to prioritize workplace organization for these ideas to reach the necessary scale.

More broadly though, if labor abandons the workplace, it implies that workers have no hope of shaping their own destiny; that they remain at the mercy of forces beyond their control, and that they must rely on others to do battle on their behalf. If this is the model of organization and social change that labor has to offer workers in the age of Trump, then the future is indeed dire. If unions are no longer capable of organizing workers on a mass scale to make their voices heard collectively, then that leaves workers vulnerable to demagogues like Trump who proclaim that “I am your voice.”

Fortunately, there is another way. We saw it in the massive majorities of Chicago teachers who struck against Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012, and then forced him to back down again in 2016. We saw it in the CWA strikers who struck against Verizon for forty-five days last year to beat back the company’s concessionary demands and win pension increases and protections on outsourcing.

Politically, we saw it in the work of the Las Vegas Culinary Union, UNITE HERE Local 226, which managed to get even white workers in a right-to-work state to reject Trump this past November. We also saw it in the work of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which organized against both major parties and billionaire-funded charter school PACs to defeat Question 2, which would have dramatically increased the number of charter schools in the state.

These are isolated examples and do not yet approach the scale needed to respond to the challenges that labor faces in the coming years. But they show that it is still possible to strike, and it is still possible to win. In each case, building workplace union culture and organization was key. Broadening this model outwards could provide ways of reversing labor’s fortunes.

In a recent message to supporters, Senator Bernie Sanders stated that “The great crisis that we face as a nation is not just the objective problems that we face…. The more serious crisis is the limitation of our imaginations.” In bringing workers together and changing their assessment of what is possible and what they are capable of, labor has the capacity to transcend that limitation. To survive Trump, that work is more necessary than ever. •

---

Barry Eidlin is an assistant professor of sociology at McGill University and a former head steward for UAW Local 2865. This article first published on the Jacobin website.

from Home http://ift.tt/2sPexSA

#NEWS

0 notes