So I finished 1670 like 10 minutes ago…

is this anything

ngl the "im white so i dont talk abt any characters' race ever bc im afraid of accidentally saying something racist" approach to fandom is like. very weak. imo.

like first of all: i get that "i dont incorporate race into my media analysis because i'm afraid of messing up" comes from a different place than "i don't incorporate race into my media analysis because I Don't See Race 😊 there is only The Human Race." but it has the same functional effect, right? that effect being that your analysis of [INSERT MEDIA HERE] ignores the very real way that race impacts people.

second of all: it feels kinda lazy! like ur saying "i dont know enough abt race to feel comfortable commenting on how race affects this show and i dont care enough to learn." the only way to become more comfortable discussing race is to actually practice discussing race. but when i see people saying this it feels like they're saying "i'm white, which means i don't know how to talk about race, and i don't have to know how to talk about race, and i don't ever have to know how to talk about race, so i'm choosing to never learn how to talk about race."

third of all: just because you don't openly talk about race doesn't mean you're any less likely to accidentally say or do something racist. implicit biases run deep, y'all. it's probably already there in your interpretation of the show. but the "i don't want to accidentally say something racist" implies that you are positive that your interpretation of the show isn't racist. and i'm not saying you're wrong. but i'm saying that if a person of color tells you that something you said about [INSERT MEDIA HERE] was racist, you better be prepared to actually listen and not just brush them off because "i can't be racist! i purposefully never talk about race just to make sure i'm not racist!"

which brings me to my final point: if you do accidentally say something racist... literally just apologize. if someone says you've been doing something racist, apologize and stop doing that thing. it's literally not that hard. i've done it. i've seen other people do it. "i'm scared of being called racist!" is such a weak excuse im tired of it. getting called racist is not the end of the fucking world. calm the fuck down and grow a spine. jesus.

Kept thinking about this post from @ourflagmeansgayrights.

Can we also note that, like the stabbing scene, “I’m your captain!” only works because Ed knows Stede is not going to use dominance to hurt him? Ed, who has grown up under bad, violent captains and authority figures, and who has been harmed, physically and psychologically, by men who enjoy causing pain, who got Stede to stab him just to be close to him, and remembers how concerned Stede was about him? And that the things that Stede tells him to do are “fix things” and “stop pissing people off,” because Stede is a good captain and a kind man who’s essentially trying to get his ship to run properly again and to help dissipate the toxicity?

I’d say it’s also very important that Stede doesn’t get that there’s a sexual undercurrent, because he’s literally never considered that his authority or power might have a sexual aspect for Ed. It’s not that he’s naive - it has not occurred to him to use authority or violence to gain power over Ed (or anyone).

I dunno, I have a lot of feelings about male characters who are kind and remain kind and are loved for their kindness, despite an entire world trying to make them cruel.

I'm so normal about the fact that the crew chose to use the unicorn hoof of all things for Izzy's new leg, its unbelievably moving. The unicorn was the figurehead of the ship, and back then figureheads embodied the spirit of the vessel, offering the crew protection from harsh seas and safeguarding their homeward journeys. Now i don't think i need to really explain just how beautiful this is, but, I'm also incapable of shutting up about Israel Hands, so. Izzy seems to assume everyone still hates him, and is drinking his many sorrows away, alone in his room, not knowing that the crew fully recognizes that Izzy saved them from Blackbeard, that he chose to protect them. The note said that Izzy is the ships "new unicorn" i.e. the new figurehead, this means that he also embodies the spirit of the vessel, and that they have faith in his continued ability to protect them, as is the job of the figurehead. Even the fact the hoof was painted gold seems intentional, gold in the bible represents love and protection, as if they are saying thank you for protecting us, now let us paint you in our protection as well Izzy. When they knocked on his door to give him his present, Izzy derogatorily calls himself a cripple, showing that he's feeling particularly clumsy and weak after his fall in front of everyone, and assumes this must be how everyone sees him now as well. But, unicorns actually represent power and grace, they've not only enabled Izzy to feel sturdy again physically with a new leg, they've also taken a bit of the weight off his shoulders emotionally by proving to him that he's not alone. Similar to his new leg, they're willing to bear some of the burden for him. And that's the thing, Izzy always tries to do things on his own, he gets drunk alone, he cries alone, his version of self-healing involves coming up with stories about sharks biting his leg off, and he even does that alone too. Yet they're giving him a sign that no matter how much he tries to self isolate, he's actually shit out of luck because they're there for him. What I appreciate about this show of support is the fact that they didn't force Izzy to accept the gift face to face, rather, they left it outside his room, proving that they know him quite well, and didn't want to push him too far too fast. Just like their extending of friendship, they are letting Izzy come to them when he's ready. But what i love most of all is that it actually works, this is what finally snaps him out of his spiral of depression, and gets him sword training again, improving himself rather than giving up, and engaging with the crew and helping them. This one show of solidarity, gratitude, and compassion, opens his eyes to the fact that he's a part of their messed up family, he belongs to something, and this fact alters Izzy forever.

they really did put izzy down like a three-legged elderly dog, huh. diagnosed him with narrative arthritis and then didn't even bother trying him on pain management before picking up the gun and walking him out back.

As someone who’s done bereavement care for almost 20 years, I’ve observed again and again and again that it is not staying with grief that cuts us off from other people, it’s suffocating grief and suppressing grief. It’s impossible to repress grief without also repressing all sorts of other things like joy and memory. Actually, expressing grief naturally connects us empathetically to other people. It is not an accident that right now when there is such a profound suppression of global grief, we’re also finding ourselves in a moment of such isolation.

Rabbi Elliot Kukla, in them magazine

I sought out this piece because Rabbi Kukla was quoted in today's sermon in reference to the ongoing genocide in Gaza ("It is lifesaving to mourn our humanity in inhumane times").

But this paragraph about grief hit me so hard I wanted to single it out to share. It is relevant to corporate grief of the sort we might experience when a state is doing harm in our name (police brutality, displacement, execution). It is also relevant to individual griefs.

In the bereavement calls I do for hospice, I have noticed, this is precisely what gets people stuck in grief: the feeling that there is no safe space and time to express grief. Companies tend to give very little accommodation for bereavement, if they give any at all. Culturally we're expected to get over losses in a matter of days. But grief rewires us, and some losses-- particularly losses like war, displacement, and police brutality where a state or institution does the same kind of harm repeatedly-- are complex and ongoing.

Grief impacts sleeping, eating, executive function. (I don't ask people in bereavement calls, "How are you doing?" I ask, "How are you sleeping?" "How's your appetite?" Maybe "Are there moments from your caregiving, or from your [loved one's] dying, that keep coming up for you?" Because of course you're not fine! You just lost someone essential to you. What I want to know is, is your body getting a chance to repair itself as your mind and heart process what you've experienced?)

People have talked to me after a loss about feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by daily life. It's not unlike recovering from a major injury and having a sizable portion of your bandwidth given over at all times to the tasks of bone, muscle, and nerve repair that are not under your conscious control. When tasks you're used to thinking of as having one part suddenly make it clear how complex they are? Cooking a meal takes more out of you. Doing a load of laundry takes more out of you. If you're already an introvert, the cost of social engagement goes up, at a time when social engagement might actually be very helpful.

Doing some of our grief work with other trusted people shares the load. It recovers some bandwidth. But many folks learn early in the grieving process that they have fewer trusted people than they thought. Or that it feels like the wrong time to deepen an acquaintanceship they'd hoped might become a friendship. Or that they aren't as comfortable asking loved ones for help as they thought they would be.

And the bereavement model I'm trained in assumes that a grieving person has experienced one recent loss. We know that a recent loss might poke us in the tender spots left by earlier losses. But that's still different from the experience of a tragedy that affects a whole community at once (as in an entire region's population losing multiple loved ones in a very short time and being forced to flee).

I don't really have a conclusion here, but I'm finding the activism that feels most healing and hope-filled to me has lament built into it: a chance to name the people who've died in our county's jail, while advocating for better communication with families of people inside. A chance to call out the names of people lost to covid while advocating for policies that will mitigate risk to vulnerable people.

Maybe it takes days to name all the people impacted by ongoing genocides in Congo, Palestine, Yemen, while urging our government to end its role in those genocides. Maybe our systems and structures, which aren't even good at honoring our grief for members of the nuclear family we're taught is our primary world, are disinclined to give us that time. Maybe we ought to take it anyway.

the fact that almost every character in ofmd is specifically a gay man is seriously so fucking special like usually a show will have 1 character from a minority group and then that character has to be every single thing - a person the straight/homophobic audience can accept and even like, someone that deals with their issues the way they "should" be dealt with, someone who's not too much of anything but simultaneously everything because every expected trait has to be displayed at some point or another.... versus this show with its massive cast of characters who are all able to embody specific (and extremely varying) ways to be a gay man where all of their journeys and personalities and approaches to their sexualities are so unique to them but so true to people that exist in real life........ i wish i could express this better coz it's such an incredible thing to see it genuinely makes my chest hurt with how much it means to me

ASH! There is no one like you. Your art is so BOLD and creative and genuinely awe-inspiring. I admire all the slutty, slutty things you make Ed and Stede get up to, while also making them look so pretty and colorful. So glad we have you in this fandom. 💕

I seriously don't have words 😭😭😭😭 have some memes instead 😭😭😭💖🧡💚💙💜💖

Thank you so much marianne!!! 😭💖💜💙💚💛🧡❤️💖😭

izzy isn't going to die

you know how the chain goes like 🥁🥁🥁 and then later goes 🎸 and then goes 🎸💥🎶💃🏼🔥 and then you go 🪦

yeah

I still think someone could do a gorgeous and tragic vid to TMG's In Corolla of Ed at the end of s1 and beginning of s2 (first thought of it as an ep10 thing but I think it also works with 2x1-3)

Gonna accidentally just talk about every scene in this episode, but I really like this little moment.

Stede: Edward? Is everything all right? Ed: ...Yes. Stede: I couldn't help but notice that that captain got under your skin. Ed: What? No. Stede: ...OK.

Stede lets Ed's denial be the end of the conversation, though he's obviously still concerned and still trying to understand - his "OK" is very quiet and gentle, and leaves an opening for Ed to say more without trying to make him. And then Ed does.

It is indicative of how Stede respects consent: he sees Ed's discomfort, he asks if Ed is all right and offers to talk about it, but he doesn't try to force it. This is the start of Ed beginning to realize how much he can open up to Stede and that Stede both won't push him and won't mock him. The whole conversation is Stede empathizing and taking Ed's pain seriously.

yknow normally i hate it when media handholds the audience too much, so i’m like well why am i fine with ofmd’s flashbacks then? and like half of it is amv brain. its the turbo autism of it all. like yes thank you i DO want to see stede and ed staring at each other again! how did you know!

honestly, I’m convinced that at least half the upset about the whole [redacted] situation (other than the reactionary tension of living through a world that is the way it is, but that’s the internet in general) is anger at max for forcing a shorter season that is instead misplaced towards the creatives for trying to execute their full vision under the threat of cancellation. the pacing issues are totally valid, and I get feeling that there was no breathing room for the emotions to sit, and that those factors may have led to the feeling that it was poorly done. just…please don’t harass the writers about that 🙏🏽

if you think they should’ve handled it differently knowing the budget was cut I totally get that, but genuinely—if you had a three act story fully outlined and then were told after act i aired that you only had maybe 70% of your anticipated screentime and resources to execute it, would you rewrite the entirety of your story to adjust to the constraints, or try your best to fit everything in anyway? not saying either option is superior, but I think picking the latter is a reasonable creative choice under those circumstances that anyone would at least consider. and whether or not it worked with the pacing it had is a fair critique, but that’s still not a reason to harass or guilt-trip people. let’s try not to dunk on the person who got a plastic straw while ignoring the billionaires setting the world on fire (and yes that metaphor is extreme but I’ve seen too much homophobia/racism/etc. come out of this echo-chamber to ignore the real-world implications)