#imagine having a monarchy in the year 2022 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thatsmybook · 2 months

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Just rewatching the documentary and just before 4 mins in, Lisa is explaining to Omar her thought process for what will be the main dilemma/ crux of the show, and it made me realise what exactly Simon was saying when he broke up with Wille at the end of Episode 5. He was saying: I've seen what the monarchy does to you and how it hurts you, I've experienced it myself, so I have additional empathy for how that must feel for you. Also, I, too, am being hurt by it (see all of season 3 when he's not smiling with Wille). I thought I could try it out for your sake to see if I could handle it because you're worth it.

But after spending the birthday day with Prince Wilhelm and the Royal Court, he sees that it will continue to hurt both of them, and there will be no respite, things will only get worse. He has seen Wille get worse right in front of him on that day. It is poisoning Wille, and he is becoming someone he doesn't recognise. Simon decides that he does not want that to happen to either of them. The only thing he can do is leave the system so it can stop hurting him. Unfortunately, because Wille is entwined with Prince Wilhelm, it means he has to leave Wille too.

To me, by staying with Wille, Simon is condoning bad behaviour or the status quo by just going along with everything the Royal Court says while they both slowly deteriorate. So though he leaves Wille to save himself, he is also saving Wille because he is showing Wille that this is not alright, boundaries have to be put in place somewhere and Wille needs to start setting some boundaries for himself too. If Wille thought that Simon would stick around to support him and occasionally be someone he could lash out to, then he may not have felt the need to save himself from the monarchy. Because Simon is around to hold him up.

So for King Wilhelm truthers, Simon is required to know his place as an aid to the King, whilst suppressing his own pain and never putting pressure on the King by asking for help with his own issues. There is never a time when they would be equal in their relationship, even in private, because everything about Simon's values, ambitions, and passions would have to be deleted. King Wilhelm's needs would come first. This is what class does. It sets up hierarchies of certain humans' needs being more important than others and even that certain humans are superior/supreme to others. Therefore, to function, it needs lackeys who know their place to serve those on top. Hillerska, as an institution, is a mirror of Simon's relationship as a partner for the next king. Hillerska being closed is the equivalent of Lisa abolishing the monarchy. (By the way, there's a real-life incident of the 16 year old Prince of Denmark having to be removed from his elite school when issues of sexual abuse and other scandals came to light. This happened in 2022).

On a side note, this made me think about the Duke's role as consort and imagine that that would be Simon's role to model himself on. If we want Wille to remain as a Crown Prince and have his boyfriend, do we want Simon to become as bland and ineffective as the Duke is, where all of his focus is solely on the Queen's needs. Smoothing over any rough patches with innane conversation and totally neglecting and not 'seeing' his child. Simon deserves to be himself, as does Wille.

#young royals #young royals spoilers #wilmon #simon eriksson #prince wilhelm #lisa ambjörn #young royals forever #yr s3 spoilers #know your boundaries #love yourself enough to walk away #don't put up with mental abuse for love

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woorphic · 2 years

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nct recs

i do not own any of the listed works. all credits go to the original poster.

i’ll update this post as i read.

(m) - mature // (s) - suggestive

last updated 16 nov 2022

just to preface: i do not enjoy reading smaus. works i recommend are (usually) long oneshots with quality writing.

YUTA

｡° glossed over by @gyukult (m) II 18.2k

yuta x fem reader

childhood friends to lovers, best friend's brother, college au

times in your life where you thought nakamoto yuta was just your best friend’s older brother, a guy you had a little childish crush on. but little did you know, there was more than what meets the eye.

｡° 5 minutes by @doiefy (s) || 26.7k

yuta x reader

angst, sci-fi, dystopia

The year is 2463. Seoul is an infinitely-expanding metropolis, the centre of modern infrastructure and development. An undisputed powerhouse in technological advancements, Seoul promotes diversity, inviting people of all backgrounds, cultivating rare talents and providing them with the space to flourish. You live amidst it all, sheltered comfortably by the prestige and wealth of your family, sheltered from the darkness that thrives in the deep underbelly of the city. That is, until Yuta pulls the ground from your feet and shows you what lies beneath the capital’s smooth pavements, crystalline glass and liquid gold. Uncovering secrets, wandering off with him where you know you shouldn’t—you’ll pay for it dearly.

DOYOUNG

｡° before i go by @yutaholic (m) II 19.8k

prince!doyoung x fem reader

arranged marriage, fluff, angst

The day has come for you to marry Doyoung and life as a princess is not what you expected. Your new husband is distant and there is trouble stirring within the monarchy. Now more than ever, you are determined to kindle a romance with the prince, but you soon learn that your marriage will be put to the test in ways you could never have imagined.

｡° marriage of inconvenience by @lucaswithnoshirt (s) || 22.5k

writer!doyoung x reader

victorian, arranged marriage, strangers to lovers, fluff

you had thought love was easy: find a man you like and who likes you, marry him, then spend the rest of your lives together. except it never really is that easy, not when things go wrong.

SICHENG

｡° and stupidly, us. by @choerrypuffs (s) || 5.5k

vigilante!sicheng x nurse!reader

your boring, routine life takes a turn when you find a man bleeding to death by your apartment.

JUNGWOO

｡° pincushion by @jungwooisms (m) II 20k

tailor!jungwoo x fem!bookbinder!reader

historical, fluff, angst, unrequited love

a quiet life shaken up by a new face that appears in the tailor shop down the street. little did you know on your first meeting how lovely and bittersweet your love for him would become.

｡° strawberry flavored basorexia by @multihoe-net (m) || 7.6k

jungwoo x fem reader

friends to lovers, smut, college au

you’ve been feeling some kind of way towards your friend, who’s always been insanely gorgeous in your eyes… but fuck, those lips look so nice, and you just want to kiss him until they’re red and swollen.

MARK

｡° sunday kind of love by @smileysuh (m) II 35.7k

fratboy!mark x fem reader

fluff, college au, slow burn

Mark is fine with having a crush on the girl in the library. He’s fine watching her from afar. And he’s fine with never speaking a word to the girl who he spends many nights chasing in his dreams. But fate, and a few nosey frat brothers, think Mark would be much better if he was forced to talk to the cute girl from the library that he can’t seem to get out of his head.

｡° skinship - kisses by @honeym4rk II 4.2k

mark x reader

fluff

in a relationship where your boyfriend finds physical affection rather awkward, you’d best believe it would’ve taken some time for him to warm up to the idea of skinship- skin to skin, a hand on his, cheeks crashing together as close as possible. but the patience comes at a good cost- mark has several ways to close the distance between you.

｡° missing person by @kyufessions || 7.1k

mark x gn!reader

thriller

warning: mentions of knives, blood and physical violence

you’ve been happily dating your boyfriend, mark lee, for the past two years. but what happens when all of a sudden your best friend sends you a missing persons article and your boyfriend is listed as missing for the past three years?

XIAOJUN

｡° cherry-flavored kisses by @deardejun || 2k

xiaojun x reader

fluff, short college au

HENDERY

｡° mine for the summer by @the32ndbeat (s) || 26.7k

hendery x fem reader

time travel!au, angst, fluff, fantasy

what would you do if you are given a chance to revisit the summer that changed everything? to relive your youth, rekindle old friendships and perhaps… resurrect the one that got away?

HAECHAN

｡° my words, your thoughts by sundaysundaes (m) II 36k

haechan x fem reader

soulmate au, college au, fluff, slow burn

As an introvert, you are familiar with the silence. Drowning yourself deep in your thoughts has been a habit you’ve become addicted to. Your life begins to change, however, ever since the day you turned twenty. Suddenly, there’s this song that’s stuck in your head, and no matter how much you yearn to hear your thoughts or be comforted by the silence, it keeps on playing. You only get to find the answer to your problem when a young, cute barista hands you a cup of coffee one day, with that song’s lyrics written on the side. And you realize that you’re not the only one who’s been hearing voices in your head.

｡° if i lose my mind by @slightlymore (m) || 14.5k

dream sorter haechan x dreamer fem reader

fantasy/tim burton-esque, romance, smut, angst, fluff

you’ve never cared much for your dreams. they were always confusing nonsense you forgot in the morning. this until you started to have the same dream again and again and again: a lobby, pleasant elevator music in the background, many golden doors, a handsome young man welcoming you and asking where you wanted to go that night. his name was haechan and apparently you weren’t supposed to know that, let alone fall in love with him.

｡° better than gold by @cherryeoniis || 16.4k

nobleman!haechan x fem!reader

historical, fluff, angst, childhood friends to lovers, forbidden love

His family comes from old money, and you’re nouveau-riche. Unfortunately for them, Haechan’s never been one to listen very well, especially when his parents tell him to stop fraternizing with you. Because for all the flamboyant dancing and endless alcohol at his parties, nothing makes Haechan dizzier than your smile.

RENJUN

｡° the new cupid by @lunena (s) II 8.6k

renjun x fem reader

fluff, college au

Just when you begin to think cupid forgot about you once again, you suddenly meet Renjun, who’s been thinking the same exact thing. After your paths collide under abrupt circumstances during your friends Valentine’s Day party, you seem to hit it off amidst conversation and cocktails. This new friendship appears to be blossoming fast however, and you look to confide in your friend in search of some guidance through this new bond. What you haven’t realized is that Cupid has been working hard under your nose the entire time.

YANGYANG

｡° sleepless cinderella by @starlightkun (s) || 12.9k

racer!yangyang x journalist!reader

fluff

in which you get a lot more out of this interview than you’d planned for

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grandmaster-anne · 1 year

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A LIFE IN PICTURES

Vogue Australia | Published 22 October 2022

For more than a century, British Vogue has enjoyed the rarest of relationships with the Royal Family. Barely 10 years younger than Vogue itself, the late Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most photographed women in the world, is certainly the most steadfast face to be found in the pages of the magazine. Of Her Majesty herself, its historic archive contains boxes of prints and drawers full of transparencies and illustrations of ceremonial portraits, official souvenirs and private moments. There are press snapshots, candid pictures at home and on holiday. Most are pristine, some are suffering the vagaries of age, all are remarkable. Many made it to the page, but many more have remained unseen.

Princess Elizabeth first appeared in Vogue in 1927, just a year old, at her mother's knee. Ever since, Vogue has measured out its life in tune with hers: the magazine has seen four monarchs, crowned and uncrowned; three coronations; the funerals of two reigning Kings; one abdication; one royal investiture; many royal marriages; and a jewel box of jubilees - silver, ruby, gold, diamond, sapphire and platinum. Until her passing, no one under 70 years of age could recall another reign.

Indeed, it's hard to imagine another female sovereign, not least because the next three generations of heirs presumptive are male. It is quite possible we may never see a woman monarch again. But as the twists and turns of the Queen's own history have shown us, anything can happen.

At her birth on April 21, 1926, Princess Elizabeth's uncle, David, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VIII, was still a single man and it was assumed that when he married, his heirs would propel her into the further reaches of the line of succession. But with his abdication in 1936, to marry double-divorcee Wallis Simpson, the line twitched and Princess Elizabeth - then third in line to the throne - found herself heir to an illprepared if dutiful king: Edward's brother, her father, George VI.

And it was now, in the lead up to the World War II when the Princess was a teenager, that Vogue began to play a key role in burnishing the image of the monarchy, depicting it as a unifying force for good, marrying the virtues of majesty and duty with familial devotion, faith and simplicity. Great interest was taken in Princess Elizabeth's education - "How best shall a little girl be prepared to occupy the most exalted position in the world?" asked Vogue - and in what she wore, having set a trend early on for yellow-coloured playwear. Vogue would be enchanted by Elizabeth's "gentle smile, delicate complexion and long, sensitive fingers", which belied the fact "that she can handle a light 16-bore gun".

Putting it all into practice was entrusted to Vogue's star imagemaker Cecil Beaton. Few could have done more of a service to the monarchy at such a crucial moment. It would be no exaggeration to claim that his first royal photographs, of Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth's mother, taken in 1939 during the last summer before the war, changed the public's perception of the House of Windsor. This was a fairytale Queen, the very image of what monarchy should be for a modern era: glittering and remote but possessing what Evelyn Waugh, in Vogue, would call an "accessible and human" face. The little Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, ranged next in line for Beaton. "Who of us is so without romance as not to respond to the appeal of a young Princess?" asked Vogue.

LILIBET The Duchess of York & Princess Elizabeth (1928) by Marcus Adams

The ‘Little Princesses' were much photographed for Vogue and often by Marcus Adams. They quickly became mini-celebrities across the world, with Princess Elizabeth appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1929, aged three. Adams had a long royal career; his final sitting was with the Princess Royal in 1956. His semi-formal portraits did much to bring the Royal Family closer to the people.

Beaton's romanticisation of the Royal Family paused with the coming war. Now he endeavoured to portray the King, his wife and daughters as citizens - Buckingham Palace was famously bombed - sharing in the restrictions imposed by the ration book and clothing coupon. For one Beaton sitting, in the spirit of 'make do and mend', the Princess Elizabeth wore a dress recycled from one of her mother's pre-war evening gowns.

Several years later, at Christmas 1947, Vogue wished the newly wedded 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Philip Mountbatten, good luck in their lives together. What Vogue and the royal couple did not realise, of course, is that, by February 1952, Princess Elizabeth would become Queen Elizabeth II. Her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was now destined to walk several paces behind his wife and his outspoken nature guaranteed views and opinions that would be hard to ignore.

FAMILY FRONT Princess Elizabeth & Princess Margaret (1945) by Cecil Beaton

On the Ministers' Staircase, Buckingham Palace, in recycled gowns. In the post-war years, hopes for a brighter future were enshrined in the youthful Princesses, the heir presumptive Elizabeth approaching her 20th birthday. They had endured the war with dignity and a sense of duty, earning the warmth of the British public. “Lilibet is my pride," said their father, the King, “Margaret is my joy."

The splendour and pageantry of 1953's coronation afforded fresh opportunities to bind the Crown to the full magnificence of history. The newly anointed monarch was the 'harbinger of spring' and, with Beaton, Vogue had a ringside seat. He had been appointed official photographer and from Westminster Abbey gave Vogue an exclusive first-hand account of the day, the new Queen appearing to glow with, as Peter Quennell further described it, "the strangely transfiguring radiance that encircles those who occupy a throne".

LOYAL SUBJECT Princess Elizabeth in uniform (1942) by Cecil Beaton

The Princess began the war as a patrol leader in the Girl Guides and ended it as a junior commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, having trained as a mechanic. On her 16th birthday, succeeding her godfather the Duke of Connaught, she was appointed colonel-in-chief of the Grenadier Guards, whose distinctive exploding-grenade cap badge she wore with evident pride.

In the years leading up to 1977's Silver Jubilee, there was an increasing awareness on the part of the monarch to be more in tune with values shared with the majority of her people, a new democratic age in which 'happily ever after' would not always form the conclusion to fairytale marriages. A ceremonial figurehead, the Queen was also a wife and mother, daughter and sister, and, to begin with, far against her better judgement, snatches of shared family life allowed her to be more accessible.

Norman Parkinson was the first Vogue photographer to present readers with such informal and intimate glimpses. Similarly, both Lord Snowdon's and Lord Lichfield's proximity to the throne - the former married to the Queen's sister; the latter her first cousin once removed - allowed for a more personal take on family events, unfettered by protocol. Happily for Vogue, Snowdon - then plain Antony Armstrong Jones - had been under contract as a photographer since 1956.

TYING THE WINDSOR KNOT Princess Elizabeth & the Duke of Edinburgh (1947)

The couple married on November 20, during another winter of rationing and austerity. Here, the newlyweds are pictured returning from Westminster Abbey, she wearing the diamond fringe tiara lent by Queen Mary, he created a Duke the day before. Vogue’s coverage, which included a delicately illustrated souvenir cover, was in tune with the times, emphasising love and romance over pomp and ceremony.

As the world changed, both her own and the one beyond, Queen Elizabeth II would stand unwaveringly by her earliest commitments to public service. "When I was 21,1 pledged my life for the service of our people and I asked for God's help to make good that vow," she said in 1977. "Although that vow was made in my salad days when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it."

And the Silver Jubilee, for which Vogue published a special souvenir supplement, provided an ideal opportunity for closer engagement with the people - should, of course, they wish it. Britain's economy was in poor shape and the national mood might not have been appreciative. However, the celebrations were rapturous. Now that royal 'walkabouts' had become part of the Queen's routine, more people than ever had the chance to see their monarch face to face. Walter Bagehot's caution to Queen Victoria, "We must not let in daylight upon magic," would be countered by her great-great-granddaughter's insistence that, "I must be seen to be believed."

MOTHER SUPERIOR Princess Elizabeth & Prince Charles (1948) by Cecil Beaton

Vogue’s first photograph of Prince Charles, taken just before Christmas 1948 when he was barely a month old, was also the first royal photograph to be reproduced in colour in the magazine. Accompanying this historic moment, the magazine commissioned an uplifting essay from historian Arthur Bryant, who saw in the heir presumptive (and the heir to the heir) the “steadying and unifying influence of the unchanging throne”.

HEIR OF CONVICTION Princess Elizabeth & Prince Charles (1950) by Cecil Beaton

In the grounds of Clarence House, the young Prince proffers a leaf, an early indication, perhaps, of passions for horticulture, architecture and environmentalism to come. Almost exactly 60 years later, he was opening up those same gardens for a 12-day sustainability festival.

However, it's true to say that Vogue's coverage of the Queen since the Silver Jubilee has faltered a little. Perhaps understandably, its gaze shifted to the younger royals - most prominently the Queen's daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, of whom there would be acres of coverage and four Vogue covers. Vogue's new dynamic was drawn from a string of reliable fashion photographers. Clothes were called in, stylists and hair and make-up artists engaged. The results, as polished as any fashion shoot, radiated glamour. There would always be room for displays of pomp and ceremony, but by making themselves more available and behaving more open-mindedly, more emotionally expressive even, these younger figures appeared more in tune with the fin de siècle. Take the Duchess of Cambridge's relaxed cover shoot in rural Norfolk, which marked Vogue's centenary issue in 2016 and nodded towards the future generation of the Royal Family.

GLORIANA REDUX Queen Elizabeth II (1953)

Ascending the throne at 25, the same age as Elizabeth I, the new Queen took over her father's position as head of the Commonwealth of Nations, promoting the tenets of the Commonwealth Charter. A second Elizabethan era had begun.

But the magazine has steadfastly observed the monarch's milestones. And how many there have been. At Christmas 2017, for the first issue under Edward Enninful, novelist Zadie Smith wrote a trenchant and absorbing essay for Vogue, 'Mrs Windsor', which further stitched her to the fabric of our lives. "There is no precedent for such a monarch in either our history books or our fairytales," she wrote. "The reign of Elizabeth II has been marked not by grandeur and imperiousness - as it was with the first Elizabeth - but by a quality of intense familiarity, the by-product of the unprecedented replication of her image …"

COUNTRY PURSUITS The Queen & Princess Anne (1959) by Studio Lisa

By the lake at Frogmore House, Windsor, the Queen and her nine-year-old daughter, Anne, dressed for equestrian pursuits. Lessons were clearly learnt early: in 1976, on her horse Goodwill, Princess Anne was a member of Britain's three-day eventing team at the Montreal Olympic Games.

PRIVATE LIFE The Queen at Windsor Great Park (1985) by Tim Graham

Asked as a child what she would like one day to be, the future Queen reportedly confided: “A lady living in the country with a lot of horses and dogs." Her off-duty uniform would frequently embrace Hermes headscarves, tweed skirts and stout shoes, which, when her schedule allowed it, she would wear to Windsor Great Park, her sanctuary.

SOVEREIGN Queen Elizabeth II (1968) by Cecil Beaton

For its Silver Jubilee coverage in 1977, Vogue chose from Beaton's austere ‘Admiral's Boat Cloak' series. Beaton recalled the day: “Nothing went right. Each way she turned was worse than the last." Until a coup de foudre: “She turned to the left and the head tilted, and this was the clue to the whole sitting - the tilt." This would be the last time Beaton photographed the Queen.

IN EXCELSIS Queen Elizabeth II (2017) by Peter Blake

Peter Blake, one of Britain's greatest living painters, made for Vogue this lighthearted portrait of the long-serving and oldest-living monarch. Blake's well-known fascination with American popular culture has always been balanced by an enthusiasm for British tradition and motifs drawn from the nation's heritage. He has made several studies of the Queen, including a portrait to celebrate her 90th birthday.

About the 1st portrait:

PRINCESS ELIZABETH (1943) BY PRINCESS MARINA. DUCHESS OF KENT. PRINCESS MARINA HAD BEEN MARRIED TO ELIZABETH'S UNCLE. PRINCE GEORGE. DUKE OF KENT. WHO DIED IN A PLANE CRASH THE PREVIOUS YEAR. AN ACCOMPLISHED ARTIST WHO CAPTURED "AN EXCELLENT LIKENESS WITH HER PASTEL PORTRAITS". VOGUE APPRECIATED THE CHANCE TO RUN THIS PRIVATE PORTRAIT OF HER NIECE TO MARK THE PRINCESS'S I8TH BIRTHDAY IN 1944.

#queen elizabeth ii #article #vogue australia #tribute

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blysse-and-blunder · 2 years

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in lieu of a break

10pm, sept 25, 2022

the title is a lie, today and yesterday have both been breaks in their own ways! but the days do start coming and they really don't stop coming, do they. kay @girlfriendsofthegalaxy did a really nice couple of posts not long ago explaining the Theory of her tuesdayposts, to which i have only to add that-- i think for me these are turning into a steam valve, where i let out whatever is happening in my head that has built up over the past little while; they are analytical or creative endeavors in their own way, sometimes, but i mainly write them for myself and my own recall (so that i can go back and check out what i wrote about first watching the untamed, for example, please see iclb 2 or 3 from way back), and to keep track of my days. which is going to mean they aren't Reviews or really Criticism, though i may dabble in both, and any enjoyment or enlightenment anyone else gets out of reading these is incidental. for this one, it's a real head empty no thoughts list of titles, so hold on to your butts let's go.

reading the big mention here is that i just finished susanna clarke's piranesi, which i didn't know how to feel about until like 30% of the way in, and then began to enjoy quite a bit as the whole conceit became clearer, and then found...melancholy but beautiful by the end. honorable mentions over the past mumblemumble weeks to (checks storygraph): squire by tamora pierce (reread), ancillary justice by ann leckie (also a reread); the raven tower (not a reread, also by ann leckie--though i still haven't finished it); and the duchess romance which i did finish mostly out of morbid curiosity.

watching strangely this will be the largest section for once! the escapism has been strong lately-- and there have been many excellent movie and tv show friendship opportunities. in reverse order, i have now seen two episodes of the new netflix bee and puppycat and find it delightful if inscrutable; i have now seen two episodes of the second season of fate: a winx saga also on netflix which i found less delightful, even more inscrutable (since i hadn't seen the first season or the previous show, lmao) but extremely funny to watch alongside more deeply invested jammies; i have now seen the first three episodes of andor and found diego luna as charming as ever; i have now seen the prestige (2006) and it did lodge in my brain in the way only very rare movies do; i have now seen the newest three (?) episodes of star trek: lower decks and did think the most recent one with the recruiting booth and the rutherford memories plotline to be incredible star trek and some of the best lower deck stuff yet; i did make my housemates watch a double-feature of the princess diaries (2001) and the princess diaries 2: royal engagement (2004), which were extremely fun and also wild opportunities for early- oughts media criticism and an in-depth examination of the portrayal of hereditary monarchy (and on the heels of qe 2's death, no less);

i FINALLY took advantage of living where i do to get to a festival screening of a film during the actual festival and have now seen catherine called birdy (2022) on the big screen (it'll be out on prime soon) which i genuinely enjoyed as a huge fan of the book and despite my feelings abt lenaham herself-- bella ramsey was perfect, andrew scott and billie piper didn't disappoint, and i could go into excessive detail about what i liked and didn't like as a medievalist but the takeaway here was 'way better than i expected, yes even that part'; *breath* AND i have now seen true grit (2010) and had some more thoughts about tragedy/catharsis/the fragility of human life. i have, as they say, the range.

huh--that's an interesting commonality i hadn't considered before, the number of 14-year-old girl protagonists in this list-- can you even imagine maddie true grit, mia from the first diaries film, and catherine birdy in a room together.

listening checked out rina sawayama's new album hold the girl (2022) and will drop in the video for the title track here. as with her other stuff, i really like her voice, her timber/range/etc seems really rich and pleasing to me, and then there'll be just...something about a song's production or whatever that turns me off of it. in this particular song, the lyrics are what got me to listen, and then the melody and her delivery next-- but i continue to be irritated by whatever spice girls pop production beat-track kicks in at like 0:27ish. this is the part of me that prefers rock to hip hop i guess, like! just commit to a drumbeat and channel the power / grandiosity from everywhere else in the song into its rhythm! is this a genre thing? is this because she's aiming for 'dance' music? ugh.

youtube

playing mostly stardew, but not as much as over the summer, now that i'm back in term time. i think i have noticed a pattern, which is that i feel the same way about trying to complete a timed errand or request in stardew that i do about trying to finish a libby ebook on time; in both cases, the deadline helps me prioritize but doesn't help me plan ahead really, and the consistent feeling of struggle just to fall short (missed gus's omelette by one egg because i didn't THINK and of course had already given him 23 other eggs so those were all forfeit) at the last minute is. hm. disappointing. keeps me coming back to try again and see if i can get it the next time though, that it does.

making made some drop-biscuits yesterday which were rich and pretty good despite not having any attempt at layers; did some mending on wednesday during dnd which was mostly not successful but did keep my hands busy (and will be the groundwork for Actually patching those leggings when i can get the sewing machine); and have now helped my housemates do some seriously refreshing furniture-and-clutter rearranging. also i opened a word doc and now have a few dozen words of creative fiction? which i keep thinking about even as getting back into it seems more and more daunting? it turns out writing for no one but yourself can be fun, wacky and wild huh.

working on this week was a turning point, in that i found reason (and was given permission) to basically abandon the direction i'd been going in all summer, in favor of working on my second chapter and coming back to the other stuff when things are a little clearer. this feels like the right call, and i hope i don't waste the reset it offers me. it does mean that i am i think officially in violation of the pact i made with @witcheryen this summer, since the writing i'd pledged to do is now...going to happen in the spring maybe? please let me know when and if you'd like to exact the agreed-upon penalties, eek. headed to a conference in a little more than a week (!), just finished coming up with a vague direction and pitch for the talk i'm giving to my on-campus research community in exactly a month (!!), and won't see my supervisor in person again until june probably. this does all explain the manic tv / movie watching up above, doesn't it. apparently i need to work on having an 'all or nothing' approach to my days, thank you @ therapist dana.

#in lieu of a commonplace book #ilcb #weekly roundup #again-- probably monthly roundup is more suitable for this one #i should...get back into paper journaling #the pressure valve benefit of this leads me to believe that would be even more helpful

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corvidiss · 2 years

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UK Monarchy Reform Plan

In light of recent news, I think it necessary to introduce the good people of tumblr to my fantastic idea for the monarchy.

We replace the monarchs with tortoises.

No, wait – bear with me.

We know the monarchy, as it is, is a terrible thing. It hoards stupid amounts of money while cost of living skyrockets, and drowns any important news when anything remotely abnormal happens within the royal family – among many issues. Even members of the royalty themselves in recent decades have been struggling with their roles, facing invasive paparazzi and having their every decision and outfit obsessed over by the public.

But at the same time, I believe there is value in having a single figurehead of the nation who is uninvolved in politics. A binding image of a divided population. (Besides, completely abolishing the monarchy would be a difficult war to win when so many people, and so many powerful people, still support it.)

As it stands, that figurehead cannot be human. Humans have opinions. Humans need to go to the shops, want to have families, want to live their lives in peace and so on.

But TORTOISES want to chill out and munch vegetables.

The cost of keeping a handful of tortoises happy would be vastly smaller than the wealth currently held by royalty, and the rest of that wealth could be dedicated to supporting people who actually need it. It could be directed towards making life for the public better, cheaper, healthier, more ecologically sustainable.

A habitat could be built for them in the image of Buckingham Palace, and the palace itself could become a national heritage site, open to the public, or something else more useful.

The tortoises would not suffer from paparazzi, because they would rarely leave their well-guarded homes and when they did, would be unconcerned with the accompaniment of their keepers and guards.

(“BREAKING NEWS: King George the Eighteenth Seen Eating Grass on Westminster Common!”)

And, the tortoises could continue the tradition of Who Can Live Longest On The Throne we seem to have an odd obsession with. (Imagine the playing cards in Monarchy – “Henry XVIII: House of Shells (7); 2022-2123 (101 years).”)

All those British memorabilia tourist shops? They’d sell tortoise merch.

We could have tortoises on our coins.

And, sure, maybe we could continue the whole “royal bloodline” stuff, but also consider: rehoming rescued tortoises from abusive or neglectful homes and giving them a life of tortoise-level luxury. All the melon they need, all the space and peace they could want.

Tortoises for monarchs. Let’s start the campaign.

#uk politics #the queen #royal family #queen elizabeth #amazing ideas

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jonphaedrus · 1 year

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2022 fic year in review

2022 was a weird year. i pulled an all-nighter on feb 16 and i was possessed by the ghost of prfr past and an opera only i care about and then i woke up ten months later (kidding. i have not woken up at all) nearly a million words later and with my entire life in slight disarray and an unbreakable obsession with pokémon villain from baby jrpg fake france

anyway let's do the breakdown. im gonna take some questions from the overall ao3 wrapped lists going around, and then do the greatest hits/thoughs of all my fav fics from every month of the year (by posted date, including if it was adjusted for reveals; im not taking into account when things were "actually" written, but also neither will ongoing wips still unfinished count)

total word count in 2022: i waited to post this until id posted my final fics of the year and got the final count and cant stop staring at that 780k total. wtf. some of this is wips from across multiple years updated in 2022 (and much of it is roleswap which is going to get bumped into 2023...) but it's the most i've ever written on my own, ever. multiple past years combined. i stuggled so much with writing from 2018-2021 and i thought i'd never find it as easy or relaxing again and to have found joy in my words makes me so happy. LOOK HOW MUCH I WROTE! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

fav fic i wrote this year: not counting ongoing wips (sorry roleswap. otherwise roleswap would be like the #1 thing on every answer), "tomorrow you must love me" is the best thing ive ever written (before roleswap) and it was such a joy and struggle to work on. i was so nervous and scared writing every bit of it but it came out exactly the way i wanted to. learning how to write longfic (for me) has been such a beautiful experience and it's made me so happy to share with others!

fav fic i read this year: "do let the old enmity be" by sam (my favorite gift anyone has ever given me on ao3 i cant—i cant even handle it i melt i explode i climb onto the rooftop to holler across the atlantic ocean), both fics in sam's mutual pining series (i have read both of these fics so many times... my favorite sam fics. or close to my favorite sam fics. we met because of mp1... these two STUPID, STUPID FUCKING FISH!!!!) and "mira vs. sasha cant" which might not have been written for me but it was written to infiltrate my brain and give me strength beyond imagining. oh, my god, it's so good, please read it. I AM NO LONGER ASKING.

fav series i read this year: royals having a nice time by ba_lailah. if you like polyamory, gender, sex (both the kind you do with other people and the bits attached to the body), pregnancy, family, parenthood, developing relationships, realism and worldbuilding, kids, the complexity of monarchy and the realities of rule, really REALLY REALLY hot porn, and some of the best bdsm ive ever read, treat yourself and go read rhant. there's a 250k novel coming this year. it's incredible. worth your time. go. read it.

fav exchange this year: fic in a box. the chance to play around with mediums and stylesheets and the exchange community around fiab was lovely. all the pinch hits i wrote were so much fun—i literally don't think i saw a single prompt i didnt adore!—and the mods were fabulous and i got LITERALLY THE BEST GIFT EVER. fiab is honestly a ton of fun. if you're new to exchanges and you want to try something a little out of left field, i really recommend fiab! the signups can be sort of esoteric but don't let the mediums or the complexity of the rulesets scare you off (they almost scared me off but sam coaxed me through it like a nervous small mammal) or the 10k minimum. you can break that up in so many ways (vids, art, cross stitch or knitting patterns, pixel art, voxel art, interactive fiction, asw remixes, comics, poetry, drabbles, standard fic, social media...) that it's really accessible and encourages so much thinking out of the box. i am SO EXCITED for next year.

fav ship i wrote for: GEE, I FUCKING WONDER.

fav character pov to write: you might think "prfr, either half" but no. it's shauna, actually. i love writing her and her perspective on things. she's so relatable and i just. i love her. her voice comes so easily to me, i cant wait to write her more in 2023

fav scene i wrote: a three-way tie between "as you treated him, so shall i treat you" which is just one scene but it set me on such an unexpected and amazing path to meeting some of my best friends and the most important people in my life and improving my craft and becoming so much happier on every axis ALL BECAUSE I DIDNT SLEEP AND I WAS MAD NOBODY ELSE HAD WRITTEN LYSANDRE GETTING STEPPED ON.... the scene with shauna and augustine in the grass in "with tenderness and pretty words it is easy to conquer good girls' hearts" which was a lot of catharsis for me as well as augustine and shauna, and a very specific chapter late in roleswap. i'm not saying which one. that's for me to know and you to find out.

wip i finally finished: inspired by the ficwip server, i've been working (slowly) on some of my old wips, and finally finished starry heavens, which was meant to be done like eight years ago. it's character studies of every major character in tales of symphonia, and getting to see it in full and my growth as an author over the better part of the last decadeis a little humbling. ive come so far! writing is great actually!

wip i've yet to finish: roleswap. 2023. we will do it. it will be done. as soon as my fffx is draft complete, roleswap is my heart and soul.

most read fic: it is (a little unsurprisingly given how long it is...) roleswap! which makes me so, so happy. sam and i have worked so hard

longest fic (completed in 2022): "tomorrow you must love me" at 57k

shortest fic: apparently it was "in which the author reaches the end of his rope" at 193 words. i didnt even remember writing this so jkhlkdfjhglsdhkfg

fav fic title used: "RÉEL FIBSHING: LUMIOSE CITY EDITION" which is twine-style interactive fiction about magikarp jump, set in sam's "as the night the day" universe which i wholeheartedly adore and you should go read it.

biggest surprise while writing: how much easier it is for me to do multi-chapter and longform works! i've always really struggled in the past to stay committed and complete things, but this year i've really started to move into the realm of being able to just... write longfic! that's very exciting to me.

fav comment received: shout out to ao3 users yelp, who is an absolute delight in exchanges. like, seriously, yelp is such a sweetheart. omg. i would write for them in an exchange again in a heartbeat and their comments are so sweet.... and also every other comment i got. thank you ;;v;; they make me so happy... i hardly ever even know what to say

fav fic author i read: i wonder who that ao3 user samifer is. what a guy. in all seriousness, this year my favorite authors were my friends. they helped me out, gave me advice, and made me feel so full of love i can't even begin to say how much. i'm so lucky to know these amazing people and i can't encourage you to read everything by sam, kay, neku, lailah, or sushi enough. theyre all amazing fabulous authors and fantastic people and i love them so much. you should go love them too!!!!!

total fics/chapters uploaded: 174. i said that aloud and my husband said "holy crap babe" from the other room. what the actual fuck

what am i most looking forward to next year: FINISHING ROLESWAP IM SO EXCITED ITS ALL IM THINKING ABOUT!!! IM SO READY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ok and finally under the cut my favorite fic from each month of 2022!

JANUARY 2022 -- SINCE THE DARK (owain & l'arachel, gen)

i've been doing nagamas since the very first year and it's still one of my favorite exchanges. getting to play around with a narrator as fun as owain and contrasting him with l'arachel was great and seeing their crossover interactions was so good. nagamas gr9 actually. 10/10 exchange will always participate again

FEBRUARY 2022 -- AS YOU TREATED HIM, SO SHALL I TREAT YOU (prfr, m)

what else, lol? i didnt sleep i listened to an entire opera, i blacked out, i woke up ten months later and discovered i'd moved in and written like four novels. i am never moving back out. i love everyone in this house. especially sam.

MARCH 2022 -- IN EVERY PLACE, AT EVERY TIME (prfr, e)

inspired by sam prompting for phone sex and mutual pining, playing around with academia and conferences and giving this the most #onbrand title/chapter title/summary combo i could come up with this also led to me meeting new dear friends!!

APRIL 2022 -- TOMORROW YOU MUST LOVE ME (prfr, e)

im so stupid proud of this fic. setting up a plot this complex with so many moving pieces and multiple povs and multiple mediums and dealing with so many real life issues was a lot of moving pieces but it was so, so worth it. it was worth all of the work because it's one of the best things ive ever written and it came out just how i wanted to and it helped me make my friends happy and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i just love prfr and writing c/c/c has been just amazing and I WILL KEEP GOING NEXT YEAR!! THIS YEAR WHATEVER IT'S 2023 NOW BUT WHATEVER ITS STILL 5783

MAY 2022 -- WHO COULD USE FORCE AGAINST A HEART LIKE HIS (IV) (prfr, e)

sam prompted me for using bdsm as therapy and i wanted to write cnc and it spiralled very out of control. one of the questions someone asked early on with c/c/c was what happened at The Incident and i'd intended to write that and playing with vanilla sex and safewording and cnc and trust was really difficult and i've struggled off and on for most of the year with this series of 5+1 but every one as i've finished it has been such an accomplishment even when it's been hard. especially when it's been hard.

JUNE 2022 -- 'TIS NOT LONG BEFORE THEY FEEL THEIR FEEBLE SOULS BEGIN TO REEL

how, HOW, HOW??? WAS I THE FIRST PERSON TO (APPARENTLY??) WRITE T4T SEX POLLEN FIC ON AO3? anyway it was fun and the result is sexy sexy sex

JULY 2022 -- AS THOUGH IT WERE POSSIBLE TO COMMAND LOVE

sam asked for prfr one bed and then FIFTY THOUSAND FUCKING WORDS LATER they finally made it to the bed and fucked in it. good for them.

AUGUST 2022 -- SILKEN DALLIANCE

the entire writer's month challenge was an experience (writing that much every day for a month... im glad i did it but im not doing it again i dont think dfkjhgkdfhg) but of all the fics i wrote i think this was my favorite. i really struggled with this prompt and i wasn't all that happy with it as i was writing it/right after but as time has passed i've been more and more proud of it.

SEPTEMBER 2022 -- TIRED OF THIS BODY

i dont really have anything insightful to say here. uh. getting into new and slightly unexpected kinks is character growth?

OCTOBER 2022 -- ONE CANDLE IN THE RAIN

something something if i had a nickel for every trans serial killer au i've written id have two nickels which is a weird number of nickels to have for something this specific and niche. anyway getting into new and slightly unexpected kinks (and then getting your friends into new and slightly unexpected kinks) is character growth

NOVEMBER 2022 -- WHO COULD USE FORCE AGAINST A HEART LIKE HIS (V)

i stuill have mixed feelings about this fic. i think this was like... my fifth or sixth attempt at writing it, and it honestly still didnt turn out exactly how i wanted it to and im a little bit frustrated by that, but as much as i tell people it doesn't have to be perfect it just has to be done, i struggle with "done, not perfect" and "done, not perfect" here meant i finished this and it made me happy. ive learned a lot this year and one of the things i learned was to let go of perfection and finish stories and be happy with the growth from them. this grew out of so many ideas and the way it ended up is just right just the way it is.

DECEMBER 2022 -- AZURE AS ANTEDILUVIAN SONG or RÉEL FIBSHING: LUMIOSE CITY EDITION

fiab was such a good exchange ;__; i had so much fun and i can't wait to do it again next year. pinch hitting and treating and getting to write for some of my best friends and trying out new mediums was so much fun and i definitely feel like i grew a lot as a writer in the process. writing interactive fiction was a new one for me (i've never written anything even like a choose your own adventure even just for friends before as a kid or anything) and it definitely was a new experience, especially playing around with 2nd person like that, and twine had a learning curve, but it was a fun learning curve c: azure as antediluvian song came out of me all in one go based on a prompt without even intending to write it. kazuha is my favorite genshin character and i loved this au concept and getting to play around with ayato was unexpectedly enjoyable! genshin lore good.

#this is a stable writing tag #oh my god its done why do i talk so much there are so many questions #IM GOING TO SHOWER NOW #HAPPY ENEW YEAR I WILL NOT CHANGE I WILL KEEP TORTURING LYSANDRE #THIS IS A PROMISE

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cupidsbower · 2 years

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Venom: Let There Be Chocolate! is now open for prompts

As promised, I am running a mid-year Venom fest in the lead up to World Chocolate Day, July 7 2022.

This is a Harlequin challenge

That is, you must riff on a blurb from a Harlequin (or similar) romance. You can interpret the blurb you've chosen any way you like, from a straight re-write of the story with Venom characters, through to the wildest thing you can think of. Set it in space. Set it in the past. Make them pirates. Make them space pirates! As long as it has Venom and/or Eddie Brock as a main character (but they don't have to be in the romantic scenario), you're good to go.

Any type of fanworks are welcome.

You can post your Harlequin (or similar) prompts:

On the AO3 community: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Venom_Let_There_Be_Chocolate_2022/profile

Or on the main V:LTBC post on the Sybrock Dreamwidth community: https://symbrock.dreamwidth.org/32076.html

Or you can use the tag Venom: Let There Be Chocolate here on Tumblr, and I’ll periodically check and add any prompts to Dreamwidth.

The timeline:

Saturday 21 May to Sunday 26 June - prompts can be posted to the AO3 V:LTBC community, or to the Symbrock Dreamwidth community, or using the Tumblr Venom: Let There Be Chocolate tag.

Wednesday 6 July - submissions are due.

Thursday 7 July - works in the AO3 collection are opened for viewing.

Thursday 14 July - creators are revealed and works can be crossposted anywhere else you like.

Below the cut are a bunch of prompts to get things started. If you want to use one, you can post it over on AO3 and claim it.

Reclaiming the Prince's Heart

by Rebecca Winters

Luna can’t believe it. Her husband, Prince Rini—the same man who had been reported dead after an earthquake—is alive…and standing right in front of her! Yet his return isn’t the fairy-tale reunion that Luna always dreamed of. Why? Rini has amnesia and can’t remember Luna—or their marriage! Will their still-powerful connection be strong enough to bring back the memory of their once-perfect love…?

Prince Of Scandal - Annie West

Raul, Prince of Maritz, is furious that an archaic law is forcing him to wed. But scandal and unrest has dogged this prince for years, and a marriage to recently discovered princess Luisa Hardwicke will help bring stability to the monarchy.

Only, Luisa is an outspoken, mud-splattered farm girl, who isn’t going to come quietly! Even as she’s reluctantly transformed into polished perfection, Luisa challenges Raul at every turn — and he finds himself anticipating their wedding night with an excitement he never imagined he’d feel...

Texas Glory

Lorraine Heath

She was given to a stranger...

Cordelia McQueen was a virtual prisoner in her father's house. Until everything changed when she was shamelessly traded in a battle for land and water rights, and thrust into an unfamiliar world as the bride of Dallas Leigh.

He belonged to the land...

Dallas had given his life to the land. Now he aimed to put West Texas on the map. But as he gazed into the eyes of the lovely stranger who belonged to him, he caught a glimpse of another ambition—a warm, radiant desire of the heart. Was this the woman who would walk beside him as, together, they carved out a rich future with all the promise of love?

Morning Comes Softly

Debbie Macomber

A shy Louisiana librarian, Mary Warner fears she'll always be alone—so she answers a personals ad from a rancher in Montana. Never before has she done anything so reckless, casting the only life she knows aside to travel to a strange place and marry a man she's never met. But something about this man calls to her—and she knows this may be her very last chance at happiness.

Tragedy made Travis Thompson the guardian of three orphaned children—and determination leads him to do whatever it takes to keep the kids out of foster homes. When he decides to take a long shot on a personals ad, the results are surprising, and before he knows it, he has agreed to marry a mysterious Southern woman sight unseen.

It could be the mistake of a lifetime. But Mary Warner may be exactly what this broken family needs. And with a little faith, a little trust, and a lot of love, two lonely hearts might just discover the true meaning of miracles.

Finding Forever on Their Island Paradise

by Therese Beharrie

Saving their home…Healing their hearts! Morgan’s mission to save Penguin Island, her South African paradise, is personal. She just wasn’t prepared for how personal it would be when striking a deal with tycoon Elliott! Both have something to lose if they fail, so putting the island back on the map is their number one priority. But working together has Morgan’s head and heart racing because with every accidental touch, keeping things professional becomes more challenging…and walking away feels impossible!

Falling for Her Convenient Groom

by Jennifer Faye

To appease her overbearing father, Carla told him that she’s engaged. She doesn’t, however, have a fiancé…yet! That’s where Franco comes in—if they marry temporarily, she’ll ensure that both of their companies will mutually benefit. Since neither wants a relationship, saying “I do” is strictly for business. But with their undeniable chemistry, can they keep it that way?

Most Eligible Sheriff - Cathy McDavid

Las Vegas casino manager Ruby McPhee needs to lay low while the police deal with a stalker at work. So she’s trading in her high heels for cowboy boots and assuming her twin sister’s identity at the Gold Nugget Ranch. Ruby only plans on staying in Sweetheart, Nevada until the threat back home has passed. But then she discovers a detail her sister forgot to mention — the handsome sheriff she’s dating.

It only takes a single kiss for Cliff Dempsey to realise the woman in his arms is someone entirely different...and completely irresistible. To protect Ruby’s secret, Cliff maintains her ruse, but soon the lines between duty and desire begin to blur. Ruby and Cliff know they have a once-in-a-lifetime connection, but will they have a chance to let their love grow?

Star Witness

By Lisa Phillips

After years in witness protection, Mackenzie Winters fears her cover has been blown when someone shoots at her. Could the brother of the drug lord she put away be here for revenge? Mackenzie must rely on Delta Force soldier Aaron Hanning to protect her. Aaron doesn’t want to be anyone’s hero, but with danger stalking them, they’ll both have to make a daring choice.

Silver Lining

Maggie Osborne

As scruffy and rootless as the other prospectors searching for gold in the Rockies, Low Down wanted nothing in return for nursing a raggedy bunch through the pox. But when pressed to reveal her heart's wish, she admits, "I want a baby." Not a husband, not a forced marriage to the proud man who drew the scratched marble and became honor bound to marry her. To be sure, Max McCord was easy on the eyes, but he loved another woman and dreamed of a different life. Yet they agreed to a temporary marriage that could end only in disaster. But can this strange twist of fate lead to the silver lining that both have been searching for?

The Gift

Julie Garwood

A child bride, Sara Winchester had grown into a winsome beauty, joyfully anticipating the day when her husband Nathan, Marquess of St. James, would return to claim her heart at last. Charmingly innocent, she dismissed the ancient feud that divided Nathan's family from her own...and she was totally unaware of his past exploits as the notorious pirate, Pagan. The man who now stood before her was perplexing, arrogant and powerfully handsome...a warrior-gentleman whose gentle touch aroused her to the wildest, deepest pleasures of love.

Nathan had never bared his soul to any woman, but he was soon utterly beguiled and exasperated by Sara's sweet, defiant ways. Aboard his ship, the Seahawk, she was brave, imperious and determined to win his heart completely—yet upon their return to England, her love would be sorely tested as a vile conspiracy tried to tear them apart. With their future at stake, they would discover the true destiny of their passion...for all time!

A Taste Of Heaven

Alexis Harrington

Libby Ross fled betrayal and heartbreak in Chicago when she headed to Montana expecting a new start, children, and a good place to raise them. Instead she learned that she has been duped again by the cowboy who made her his mail-order bride. He died, leaving her with no money, nowhere to go, and no resources but her own ingenuity. Then she learned about the Lodestar Ranch and its owner, Tyler Hollins.

Besides a lifetime of painful memories, Tyler had his hands full with immediate problems. Half his cattle were lost during the worst winter on record and his cowhands were about to quit if he couldn’t find a decent cook. Libby Ross fit the bill. She had never seen a man so attractive with such a sour disposition. But she sensed desire behind the wall Ty erected to keep everyone at a distance . . . a wanting so fierce it nearly broke her heart.

They locked horns from the outset, but they could fight each other, or fight together to see their dreams come true . . .

Texas Destiny

Lorraine Heath

She was his brother's wife...

Arriving on the Fort Worth train, Miss Amelia Carson, mail-order bride, had never met Dallas Leigh, the Texan she promised to marry. The tall cowboy at the station wasn't Dallas. He was Houston, Dallas's brother, sent to escort her on the rugged three-week trek to the ranch where Dallas waited. Brought up in war-ravaged Georgia, Amelia thought Dallas's letters made Texas sound like heaven, a place for her dreams to grow with the right man beside her.

And his only love...

By all appearances, Houston Leigh would hardly be considered the "right man." The war he survived had scarred him inside and out, and he was little competition for his handsome brother. But from the moment Houston met Amelia, he knew she possessed the courage this wild land needed. She had eyes that could see past his wounded face to his soul. And he would fight any man—except his brother—for her heart. Now he and Amelia were riding down dangerous trails, sleeping under the stars, and God help them, they were falling in love.

Eye of the Beholder

Ruth Ann Nordin

Mary Peters despairs that she will never marry. At nineteen, she has no prospects of finding a husband, so she takes matters into her own hands and becomes a mail-order bride. When she arrives to Omaha, Nebraska to meet the man she's due to marry, he takes one look at her homely appearance and rejects her.

But fate has other plans for Mary. Dave Larson happens to be nearby and thinks she will make a good wife. Though she is stunned that someone as handsome and as kind as Dave would ask her to marry him, she accepts. She knows that this marriage will not bear the fruits of love. Love, after all, is for beautiful women. Isn't it?

His Accidental Countess

By Annie Burrows

From abducted…

…to betrothed!

To stop an unsuitable elopement, Tobias Spenlow bundles his ward’s intended bride into his carriage – only to discover he’s made a terrible mistake. The woman is actually innocent governess Miss Dorothy Phillips – whose reputation he’s unintentionally ruined! The only way to right this wrong is for the Earl to wed her. She might have accidentally become his Countess, but their consuming attraction has him courting her in earnest…!

#venom #venom: let there be carnage #venom: let there be chocolate #symbrock #venom comics #eddie brock #eddie brock/venom symbiote #world chocolate day

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ingek73 · 2 years

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King in waiting: Prince Charles’s tortured path to the throne

Recent crises and tensions within the House of Windsor threaten turbulent times for the future king, as this exclusive extract from a new edition of the acclaimed 2015 biography explains

Catherine Mayer

Sat 20 Aug 2022 17.37 (CEST)

Follow Catherine Mayer

Few of us remember a world without the Queen or, until recently, imagined one. For seven decades the UK and most other Commonwealth realms treated questions about ditching the monarchy or what to expect of her successor more as thought experiments than urgent business. Her eldest son, by contrast, has long wrestled with both propositions, recognising in his mother’s unmatchable popularity a phenomenon that simultaneously secures his path to the throne and complicates his singular destiny. Born to preserve the crown and pass it on, Prince Charles at times doubts he will achieve either of these things.

He is, as a result and by nature, anxious, seeing existential threats behind every arras. Excitable aides can encourage this tendency. In 2015, I published a biography examining his strange existence; his character, by turns engaging and peevish; and the startling beliefs that have driven his lifelong interventionism and reckless fundraising for the charities he felt compelled to found. Spooked by press coverage of some of the book’s revelations, unnamed palace sources went on the attack, issuing false denials about the unusually generous access to Charles, his friends and staff that underpinned my research.

This misjudgment – nobody in Clarence House had yet read the book and the reaction publicised it more effectively than ever I could – is minor but telling. The royal family inhabits a parallel universe, reliant on aides and allies to explain us to them and them to us. The arrangement has kept most members shielded from close scrutiny, but also detached from reality and protected as much by public lack of interest as active support. Courts are accidents waiting to happen, medieval structures only partially adapted for the modern age and headed by people who have never, in the ordinary sense, held a job. The penalty of missteps was lower in a less communicative age and before a recent wrenching run of disasters plunged wider swaths of the population into precarity. The public eye is grown more unforgiving, its gaze, like its judgments, more relentless. Even so, if the Windsors wish to see the biggest dangers to the survival of the monarchy, they need only look in the mirror.

The past years – the Meghan-and-Harry years, the Andrew-and-Jeffrey-Epstein years, the cash-for-honours-and-access years, the fragmenting-and-fracturing-of-family years – have hit the institution like a wrecking ball. Consider the trio of threats Charles’s advisers regarded, until this spate of self-inflicted injuries, as a “nightmare scenario” for the successful start of his reign. They gnawed their knuckles at the possibility that the Commonwealth of Nations might choose someone other than him as the organisation’s next leader. They worried that failure to agree his second wife’s future title ahead of his accession – Princess or Queen Consort – would raise the ghost of his first wife. They feared that a restive Caribbean realm might seize the moment of transition to become a republic.

How petty those first two concerns, both swiftly resolved, now seem – and how sorely those royal aides underestimated the third. Barbados didn’t bother to wait for a new sovereign, breaking with the crown last year. Six of the remaining Caribbean realms have already signalled a desire to follow suit. The painful progress of the Cambridges, William and Kate, across the region in March prompted dismay in the royal palaces, but too little understanding to change the jarring choreography of a similar expedition by the Wessexes – Prince Edward and wife Sophie – the following month. Protesters at every stage pointed to the ways in which the royals are beneficiaries in economic and social terms of empire and inequality, enslavement and exploitation. None of the palace officials involved in planning either trip seemed to have grasped how this heritage twines with Windrush and other fresher narratives of injustice, whether of Black lives extinguished by the police supposed to protect them or of a woman of colour crushed and cold-shouldered by the institution in whose service her in-laws travelled.

Meghan, like Diana, has not gone quietly, but the remaining royals appear not to comprehend the scale of the fallout from the Sussexes’ departure, instead still squabbling over recollections that do indeed differ. In writing a substantial new section of my biography of Charles, it seemed important to unpick the claims and counterclaims of this conflict, but not at the expense of the bigger picture. Whosesoever truth you come to believe, the damage, personal and institutional, is profound.

People who know Harry report that the breach with his family has floored him, and he is not the only one hurting. His brother, William, is wound tight, says one of these sources, his distress expressing itself, as it has done since the loss of his mother, as fury. Another source speaks of Charles’s “deep, deep pain”.

Before the Netflix series The Crown turned earlier royal ructions into drama, many people already mistook the Windsors for reality TV stars, tabloid fodder, but not much more. Yet although it unfurls in palaces, theirs is a human story, and monarchy matters whether or not you think it should, wielding far more power and influence than is widely understood. Its members are also symbols and as such easily co-opted. These days the Cambridges and the Sussexes are proxies in culture wars that rage across social media and in banner headlines, with William and Kate standing for a stodgy status quo and Harry and Meghan for progressive ideals.

Polls indicate a rapidly growing disaffection with the royals among the young. Who is left in the Windsors to connect with them?

Neither characterisation is full or fully accurate. Those fighting the Cambridges’ corner assume the Sussexes must be losing the battle for hearts and minds, as UK-based polls show Harry’s popularity plummeting and Meghan’s, never high, slip further into net negative. Once again, this misses the point. A YouGov survey taken in the wake of the Sussexes’ allegations, in their interview with Oprah Winfrey, of racism by an unnamed senior royal and William’s riposte (“we are very much not a racist family”) showed that 20% of respondents believed the royal family was in fact racist. That figure rose to 43% among respondents of colour, with 40% in favour of Britain switching the monarch for an elected head of state.

Weeks later, a second poll indicated a similar, and rapidly growing, disaffection with the royals among the young – and who is left among the Windsors to connect with them? (The eldest of the Cambridge children is only nine. Andrew’s reputed suggestion that his daughters be elevated to the front ranks of working royals is only slightly more brain-stretching than the idea that the Wessexes could fill a Meghan-and-Harry-shaped hole.)

William and Kate appear irretrievably tainted in the eyes of significant sections of their potential future subjects in the UK as well as the overseas realms, and that’s by no means the only legacy of the split. Who knows what wounds Harry’s memoir, expected later this year, will inflict – and his father has much to fear. Charles’s obvious affection for his boys and glowing happiness with Camilla had begun to endear him to the public. That image is under pressure just as older scandals are coming home to roost.

His brother Andrew’s interview with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis wasn’t just a gobsmacking own goal. It revealed the complicity of the royals in continuing to provide uncritical harbour despite Andrew’s association with a convicted paedophile and in the teeth of allegations against him of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre. At Prince Philip’s funeral, the Queen sat hunched alone in her pew for a service scaled down by Covid precautions from stateliness to mortal dimensions, an icon of grief and dignity. By the time of her husband’s larger memorial, attention focused on Andrew’s jarring presence at her side and the damaging implications of affording him such prominence.

In settling the civil suit brought by Giuffre, Andrew made no admission of guilt, but raised another neuralgic issue for the royal family: money. The Treasury denied UK taxpayers were footing the bill, but a public sandbagged by the soaring cost of living isn’t easily mollified. Royal finances are anyway opaque, deliberately so, derived from a mixture of estate incomes, grants and investments. To the outside world, the family appears to be rolling in it – so why have there been so many stories over the years of members borrowing or tin-rattling among the super-rich? “The royals have relatively little private money,” says a former palace insider. “That’s why they’re always trying to get money… There is also the question about where [their money] comes from since they cannot own anything they are given in their public roles.”

This definition of “relatively little” is open to challenge, but the former insider cites an interesting example: “Whenever the Saudis give the Prince of Wales a horse, he views it as a bill, not a present. He can’t sell it. He has to house it and feed it for the rest of its life.”

The danger for Prince Charles – and the monarchy – is that his history is studded with unexploded ordnance

As king, Charles is likely to receive many more burdensome gifts, but he will also benefit directly from the annual sovereign grant, earmarked for the fulfilment of head of state duties. Such duties will be his focus. His days of trying to coax funding for his charitable empire from the wealthy donors his staff dub “Bond villains” should be over. “Clearly, I won’t be able to do the same things I’ve done as heir, so of course you operate within the constitutional parameters,” he declared in a BBC documentary marking his 70th birthday.

The danger for him – and the monarchy; these things are indivisible – is that his history is studded with unexploded ordnance. In the new edition of my Charles biography, I revisit a small, private, fundraising dinner I attended in 2013 at Dumfries House, a stately home in Scotland rescued by him from redevelopment and turned into a base for his charities and initiatives. Seven of his and Camilla’s guests that night, existing or potential backers, would subsequently find themselves embroiled in news stories involving misdemeanours, criminal or otherwise, from money laundering to, in the case of Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliot, now co-chairman of the Conservative party, and David – now Lord – Brownlow, an arrangement to fund golden wallpaper and other furbelows as part of Boris Johnson’s renovation of his Downing Street residence.

This is not to suggest the guests themselves have been guilty of impropriety, but rather that King Charles will be judged not only on his future decisions but past associations and actions. These include his determination to reappoint and promote his former valet, Michael Fawcett, to ever higher positions despite two resignations and serial controversies. As then chief executive of Dumfries House, Fawcett presided at the 2013 dinner. Late last year he resigned from all his royal roles, this time amid allegations that he solicited a charitable donation against the promise of a knighthood. In February, Scotland Yard launched an investigation under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

Charles has weathered more than a few scandals and won over more than a few sceptics. His environmentalism, once widely derided, resonates more widely than it did. He remains, however, a polarising figure trying to navigate an increasingly polarised world. The primary role of a head of state is to unify. This could be a bumpy ride.

Extracted from Charles: The Heart of a King by Catherine Mayer, new edition published by WH Allen on 25 August 2022, £10.99.

#prince charles #prince of wales #prince harry #prince william #meghan markle #royals #brf #prince andrew #abolish the monarchy #british royal family

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apartyofone · 2 years

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When I'm king of the world - UPDATED

Today we had another ‘soft target’ opportunity for the gun nuts. Fourteen elementary school children murdered in Texas.

Because thoughts and prayers just aren’t doing the job: The first time I posted it I had over 5K "likes" and reposts. Let’s go one more time:

Gun control - and here’s how I’d do it:

Tomorrow I would announce a massive gun buy back program. I would accept any gun but especially target the AR15s or other semi or automatic weapons.

At the same time I’d institute a waiting period for owning a gun - but not just any simple 48 delay. I like the ideas derived from this quote inadvertently credited to feminist Gloria Steinham: "I want any young men who buy a gun to be treated like young women who seek an abortion," the quote reads. "Think about it: a mandatory 48-hours waiting period, written permission from a parent or a judge, a note from a doctor proving that he understands what he is about to do, time spent watching a video on individual and mass murders, traveling hundreds of miles at his own expense to the nearest gun shop, and walking through protestors holding photos of loved ones killed by guns, protestor who call him a murderer. After all, it makes more sense to do this for young men seeking guns than for young women seeking an abortion. No young woman needing reproductive freedom has ever murdered a roomful of strangers."

On July 4, 2022 I would have every police station in America accept guns, with massive payouts awarded For instance, AR15s go for around $1,000 new. I would hand the now-former gun owner a check for $3,000. I’d basically triple the value of every gun handed in.

Where does the money come from? We’ll need less law enforcement, jail space, and other expenses in the judicial system.

On that same date, I would prohibit the manufacture and sale of any ammunition intended for semi and automatic weapons. Anyone caught selling or distributing ammo would be charged with a felony; if convicted they get a year in jail for every round sold. In unheated cells in Alaska. No parole.

I’d have this cash for guns program go for one year only. On July 4, 2023, I would go to the next level. You didn’t want to sell your guns? OK. Now we’ll offer you amnesty for the coming times. I’d call for a voluntary round up on all assault style weapons. Go ahead and keep your smaller weapons of limited destruction. I’m not interested in those. Get your sexual perving on with those.

On July 4, 2024 I would now tax the hell out of anyone owning an AR15. Want a gun license for it? That’ll be $1000. Per year. If the gun isn’t licensed…it’s illegal. Anyone caught with this kind of unlicensed gun is charged with a felony, and if convicted gets 5 years in jail for each illegal weapon. No parole possible.

Anyone using said gun in connection with a crime - the sentence is automatically doubled, with at least a 5 year minimum. In a new prison to be opened in the middle of Death Valley without air conditioning. No parole.

OK gun nuts - come after me with your lame arguments about America not being a monarchy, or that i don’t know every detail about assault weapons.

I do know this: guns kill people.

That doesn’t blunt my tongue-in-cheek fantasy argument. But then again gun freaks have very little creative imagination.

There’s only ONE nation on earth that has such open and easy access for citizens to own weapons meant only for war.

That’s the same nation that suffers a mass shooting more than once a day.

Of all the reasons why I’m leaving the US next year, this one is rapidly rising in importance. I’m moving to a civilized country that doesn’t abide by gun fetishists.

Your right to own AR15s < lives of children.

#get the guns #gun control #gun nuts #gun control now #texas shooting

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28dayslater · 2 years

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i work at a library and we're having to decorate the entire library in monarchy decorations and put up a shrine to her that's gonna stay up for months 🤮 customers keep coming up to say how upset that are and how upset i must be isn't it so awful and i'm just like 😐

tbf i imagine the average person still regularly using a library in 2022 is probably about four hundred years old so this does make sense

#asks #anonymous

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whoiskt · 2 years

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The thing to me is I really have a hard imagining that they're just going to coronate another guy in. Like, letting the Queen reign on was easy, ya know, the royals have had pretty much all of their power stripped away so they're basically just overpaid diplomats, it's tradition, whatever. But in the year 2022 they're really just going to spend millions right in front of you to do it again? 2022 and they're gonna make the conscious decision to have a monarchy. Some random ass guy gets to be the head just because he was born first. In 2022. Just gonna continue to have a monarchy. But that's really what is going to happen.... Insanity.

#A monarchy in 2022.#lifeblogging

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dallydaydream · 1 year

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I posted 251 times in 2022

47 posts created (19%)

204 posts reblogged (81%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@haberdashing

@bodaciousspaghettimonster

@annabelle--cane

@wingwaver

@gayagendaofficial

I tagged 248 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#us politics - 12 posts

#anti-monarchy - 11 posts

#uk politics - 8 posts

#puns - 8 posts

#colds - 7 posts

#art by others - 7 posts

#memes - 6 posts

#lgbt+ - 6 posts

#dally's personal life - 6 posts

#ides of march - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#sometimes when i'm doing really mundane things i like to imagine it's part of a studio ghibli movie and i find that quite soothing

My Top Posts in 2022:

Disney Dreamlight Valley is out here asking the important questions, like what would happen if Ariel and Wall-E met, and I am 1000% here for it (though I would be even more here for the pathing to put them both in the same place so they can have the dialogue interaction needed to progress their questline, but hey, the game isn’t finished yet)

8 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

It’s only now that season two is over that I’ve thought to wonder...

How did the Collector get his name?

What does he collect?

11 notes - Posted June 1, 2022

Okay but we stop coming last-- and in fact come bloody SECOND-- in the EUROvision Song Contest-- after we LEFT Europe. I don’t understand and at this point I’m not sure I want to.

Europe please let us non-rightwing countries back in and to the bottom of the scoreboards, I’m scared.

14 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

The only thing wilder to me than the fact I pull up the youtube clip of The Chain scene from Our Flag Means Death to watch basically every day is knowing that I am FAR from the only person who does that. As a fanbase we are just collectly wrecked by that scene and I am 100% here for it.

32 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Tory government when faced with a pandemic: “Now let’s not be too hasty, let’s just carry on as usual for now and see what happens”

Tory government when the head of an outdated institution dies: “SHUT IT ALL DOWN”

80 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Somewhat gutted but not surprised that my most-tagged topics and most popular post are political in nature

But on the plus side, Ides of March (still political I guess??) made it into my top ten tags, which I think means I'm tumblring right

And puns made it into my top five which means I'm definintely dallying right

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #oops all politics

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fractallogic · 2 years

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I spent most of the writing time today writing an extremely short history of Hawaii, which is mostly "europeans killed off literally 95% of Hawaiians within a hundred years of them being there, beat people until they spoke english, and then the US government overthrew their monarchy"

so even though it never changes, it's still just as depressing as it always is. like, imagine 95% of the population of places like Hartford, CT or Louisville, KY being killed off by foreign diseases. that's what happened to HI in 1778. in 1778, roughly, the europeans came over, and HI had a population of around 800,000. IN SEVENTEEN SEVENTY-EIGHT. now in 2022 the population is about 1.43 million, so like, imagine a little over half of that. or like, if the population of honolulu alone had another hundred thousand people and was spread across all of the islands.

it's blowing my mind right now. I know that's what happens. but for this tiny country that's an island in oceania to have THAT MANY PEOPLE in the 18th century... it's a lot.

and then, like, even before we were on this fucking shithole timeline, one of the easiest ways to get me emotional was to describe language discrimination toward children, especially in schools, especially by adults, especially by their own family members because they want children to succeed in life and you're not going to do that because you speak Hawaiian or Māori or Spanish or whatever, and of course there's a ton of that, but also people are like Ni‘ihau is still an island owned by the royal family of Hawai‘i and they're pretty much all native speakers there!! and it's just NOT enough.

idk. writing this section has been hard both because I don't know a lot about it and also because. you know. writing about generational language trauma sucks.

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donnabroadway · 4 months

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Anointed but not yet appointed

On September 8, 2022, at 73 years old and after 53 years after being designated the heir to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales, became King Charles III. He now holds the honor of becoming the oldest person to accede to the British throne, after having been the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales in British history. There has to be a special award, some sort of sainthood, or at least a university course taught in recognition of King Charles III patience because 53 years to be waiting for your birthright is a long time and, let's be real, some lesser people may have enacted a Shakespearean tragedy to speed up the process to get what they believe is legally theirs, and even though there were well rumored clashes about modernizing the monarchy between the Queen and the Prince of Wales but at least publicly, Charles knew his role and respected his mother as the queen and his queen, even though at some point, I'm sure he had to wonder if she was going to be the first person to actually obtain physical immortality.

Being patient and staying focused for more than half a century is no easy feat, and if the Prince of Wales wanted, he could have acted as a commoner with the excuse of being young and having time before he actually needed to act like a king and be kingly, but he didn't, he respected his future role. He was anointed to be king at a young age, from birth really, but he did not know when he would actually become king, as life and people are unpredictable. I am also sure, because times change, people don't, that more than one person tried to per pressure him into acting in a way that was unbecoming of the future king because one picture of a drunk and stumbling king could be life changing, at least monetarily and because those pictures don't exist, I will assume that he was always mindful of his duties and future position and how it will affect the monarchy, which was also his family. Imagine having the unique privilege of disappointing the queen and your mother at the same time. Similar to how Queen Elizabeth was then Prince Charles mother, queen, and appointer, God is our father, king, and appointer of our destiny's. Why disappoint him in hopes of gaining the favor of the world, which will always be fleeting, like the wind and short lived.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.~ 1 John 2: 17.

As a boy, David was anointed king by Nathan and went back to the field to tend to his sheep. It was 18 years between the time young Jesus taught in the synagogue to when his ministry officially started and even then his appointed earthly time was only three years. Who knows how long Noah built the ark without evidence of rain. Sarah and Abraham waited many years, well into their old age, before Isaac, the child of promise, was finally born. God told them he would move in their lives and they would do something great and powerful but didn't say when, or even how. I feel like when people get anointed but not yet appointed, they do one of three things, either prepare themselves for what God has called them to, they try to rush or alter what God has called them to, or they go out in the world to try to have a testimony, if you know what I mean. Just like when Sarah tried to help God bring the promised child by using her servant Hagar as a surrogate and created a big mess, that not even Abraham wanted to touch, and caused a conflict that is still ongoing onto this day. God used Ishmael as a permissive part of Abraham's destiny but it was messy and still is. Look at what is happening in Israel. It is literally the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac fighting, tens of thousands of years after the original players went back to be dust of the earth.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ~Ephesians 5:15

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit~ Ephesians 5:18

I do not call out Sarah or anyone else in the bible for the inability to wait and trust in God's timing because I have been all three. I have tried throwing it back, knocking it back, and taking things into my own hands and wondering why there is so much turmoil and conflict happening because that is not what I've been called to do and trying to fit into a place where I am not called, at least long term has been a big cause of conflict in my life. Have you ever seen someone try to fit in and you can see it is not them or even worse, watching someone you know is better than what they are pretending to be because they don't want to stand out in the way God has created them to, that was me. In todays day and age, being relatable or outrageous, may be one of the things that can help a person go viral and obtain internet fame and fortune but why have the testimony of throwing it back, getting sloppy drunk, and sleeping around, when you don't have to, especially when it is not who you are at your core. Having a testimony is great but why put yourself through the stress of the permissive will when you don't have to? Why struggle with things that you do not have to and make your life harder in a way that it doesn't have to be because you want to fit in? I have always been anointed and set apart but I didn't want to be so I tried to fit in and thank goodness my stint with alcohol, the club, and premarital sex when I was called to wait until marriage didn't last long and I got out with no side effects, just a small testimony but what if I got caught up because I wanted to be like everyone else instead of acting in my anointing and future appointment.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;~ Psalms 34:8

I know a lot of people who want to wait until they are older to do what God called them to do and be who God called them to be because they don't want to miss something. They want to wait until they are considered too old to do the things the world considers cool because who wants to be seen as the old head auntie in the club when they can just pivot to the church and God doesn't want that. He doesn't want to be the placeholder you finally marry after you get too old and your options run out and you're left with gold diggers and opportunists. God wants to be the one you look at and immediately want to marry. God is not your long suffering side chick. Choose God today.

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ear-worthy · 8 months

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Human Resources Podcast: The History Of The British Transatlantic Slave Trade

The Human Resources podcast defines its mission as "Exploring the true story of British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and how it touches every part of the nation."

That's an admirable -- if not seriously overdue -- one. Sadly, in the U.S., a sizable contingent of its white citizens view an accurate retelling of the shame of slavery as a narrative that makes them "feel bad" and, as such, is to be avoided and expunged from the history books.

Thankfully, Broccoli Productions’ critically acclaimed slavery podcast Human Resources which was first launched in 2021has now returned for its third season. The podcast is hosted by political journalist and Novara Media contributing editor Moya Lothian McLean. As the host, McLean offers listeners a unique perspective on the perpetuation of the slave trade. She is a descendant of black slaves and white slave owners. Imagine that holiday dinner.

As a host, McLean excels, throttling lectures in favor of historical perspective and the connections between the slave trade and the upper crust of English society. As I listened to the first two seasons, it became abundantly clear that profits and greed overwhelmed any trepidation in English businesses about their machinations in the Transatlantic slave trade.

In the first season -- June 2021 -- an episode details the history of the Greene King pub chain in England. The family business had deep ties to the slave trade hundreds of years ago. Today, the family pub chain now supports several causes that promote racial equality and expose the sordid past of the slave trade.

In a January 2022 episode, McLean details how the much cherished British railway system was financed, in large part, by profits derived by the Transatlantic slave trade.

In perhaps its most riveting and disturbing episode in late May 2021, McLean and her two guests -- Dr. Madge Dresser and Dr. Sami Pinarbas -- weave a narrative of how the British upper class -- including Sir Robert Peel Jr, who served twice as the British Prime Minister in the early 19th century -- were directly linked to the slave trade.

The 10-episode weekly series focuses its just launched third season on the period in which slavery was abolished in Britain, in 1807, and what happened after.

“[We’re] kicking off season three with 'Inventing Race', which examines how the British transatlantic slave trade created conceptions of race that still dog us today - and have even been adopted by those they marginalize,” McLean tweeted.

Previous seasons of the podcast have explored how the transatlantic slave trade impacted modern Britain by diving into the history of the British monarchy, the original Great Western Railway, Scotland’s slaving history, and more.

The podcast has also featured appearances from a number of contributing experts, including early modern Britain historian and professor Brooke Newman and Sheffield Environmental Movement founder and journalist Maxwell Ayamba, among others. It's not surprising that the Human Resources podcast has received numerous accolades. Other shows that Broccoli has produced include We Were Always Here with activist Marc Thompson on the lives of people that were affected by the UK HIV epidemic, and documentary podcast The Stitch Up on the damaging effects of the fashion industry.

This U.K. podcast that does not hold back in exposing how the tentacles of the Transatlantic slave trade hooked themselves in the core of the British Empire, from scientists to railway executives, and from nobility to businesses.

It's a podcast that's been tried here with the 1619 Project, which was attacked by conservative media and politicians. The 1619 Project, named for the date of the first arrival of Africans on American soil, sought to place “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”

Was America founded as a slavocracy, and are current racial inequities the natural outgrowth of that? Americans who answer yes wish to explore the past so that we can reshape the future. Americans who deny that grim reality wish to isolate themselves in patriotism on steroids, ignoring all that does not conform to their view that we are a nation conceived in liberty, and dismissing any inconsistencies that challenge its founding principles?

Listen to the Human Resources podcast.

#podcast #podcasting #racism #history

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