I graduated high school in 99.
There was a student at our school named Wayne.
Wayne was gay. It was obvious. He was unable to stay in the closet even if he wanted to. To make matters worse, he was also Black. From a bullying standpoint, that was not a great combo. Both Black and white students made fun of him relentlessly. He was ostracized from the only community that may have given him protection. Only us theater kids stuck up for him, but not to significant effect.
Wayne was bullied so much that at one point he finally snapped and attacked his bullies with a lunch tray. I was actually seated in perfect line of sight and just sat there chewing my soggy fries in stunned silence. It didn't even seem real as I was witnessing it. The image of him wailing on his main bully as the food on his tray flew off is permanently logged into my long term memory.
The bully he attacked had blood all over his face and went straight to the nurse. Other than superficial cuts, he was not injured.
Before the attack, Wayne went to teachers for help. He went to guidance counselors for help. He went to the principals for help.
He did all of the things you were supposed to do. No one helped him. They wagged a finger at the bullies and warned them to stop.
Wayne's lunch tray melee was the only thing that worked. His bullies stayed far away from him. But a week later Wayne was expelled and the bullies were given no punishment.
So... no.
No one in my school talked about being trans.
Because the only way to survive being openly queer was to bash people with a lunch tray.
"But I finished [Near and Mello] together as a set, and although they aren’t particularly laid out as such, I still feel a bit like they’re twins." —Obata Takeshi
whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same:
i. low sky, mahmoud darwish. ii. the world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire, ritika jyala. iii. kadan, 2008. iv. the dreamers, gilbert adair. v. @nathanielorion vi. nagiko, 2016. vii. elektra, sophokles (tr. anne carson). viii. wishbone, richard siken. ix. inbred, ethel cain. x. the boy who, tirol. xi. monster portraits, del samatar and sofia samatar. xii. in the field, @nathanielorion xiii. death note, "use" ch77. xiv. gut symmetries, jeanette winterson. xv. mystic union; fire and wine: poems, john gould fletcher. xvi. @inukai_0055, twitter. xvii. the carnivorous lamb, agustín gómez-arcos. xviii. my sister, the serial killer, oyinkan braithwaite. xix. the beatrice letters, lemony snicket (text); a quiet visitor, holly warburton (art); @unpardonablesins (edit). xx. ada, vladimir nabokov. xxi. this is how you lose the time war, amal el-mohtar. xxii. the borgias, s3e10, showtime. xxiii. @antaarf xxiv. @vilicity xxv. @boymiffy
I always say that I like L's death in the manga more, but I've never explained why. It's because it's quiet. You don't realise L's dying until he's actually dying. You see L stop talking mid-sentence, but it's not a weird behaviour coming for him. We see the ellipsis constantly, because he's thinking. You then see Mogi and Soichiro's confused faces, Soichiro asking what's wrong and in the bottom left L's hand trembling, but we already saw him shiver. It was when Ukita died and after Aizawa grabbed him. Or when Misa mentioned the Shinigami in the tapes. So, maybe he's shaking because he's scared or deeply affected by what's going on: Watari just died, the Shinigami disappeared, the Kira Case is getting to a critical point. It's normal to think that he's just trying to calm himself down. But then... He just falls to the side, while letting go of the spoon he was holding. You can't really say that’s usual for him. He fell off the chair once, but it was off screen. Now, even if it's a drawing, you can feel that he's going in slow motion, which means something is very wrong. Obviously, when you read, you can immediately see that bigger picture in which he falls and have a reaction, but going panel by panel, it's just so quiet. He's not going out in a big style or making a lot of noise. And this silent death symbolises to me how L – himself, not the detective – was during his time alive. So unimportant to anyone but Watari, that could've had an immediate reaction in case he had died in front of him. Just like those present had a reaction in that moment. But what if he died and no one was around him? He would've just perished. Alone. Nobody would've known. The world would've not realised that he is gone. And it didn't anyway. All the people he worked with. All the connections he made. None of them knows that L died. When I picture his death in my mind, I can’t help but imagine him being alone, because that's how I think he felt in that moment. He wasn’t actually very close to the task force. They were just people he worked with. Even if he felt some affection towards them, I don’t believe he thought they could feel the same. And they showed that they moved on pretty quickly. When I think about that moment, instead, I see him being on a stage, illuminated by the light, while all around him is dark, and you'd think that at least someone is watching in silence that heartbreaking moment. But once he falls, dies and the light turns off, you'd realise that there is actually nobody to react. No one actually cared about him without the detective persona attached.
I love me a pseudo-historical arranged marriage au but it always nudges my suspension of disbelief when the author has to dance around the implicit expectation that an arranged marriage should lead to children, which a cis gay couple can't provide.
I know for a lot of people that's irrelevant to what they want from an Arranged Marriage plot, but personally I like playing in the weird and uncomfortable implications.
So, I've been thinking about how you would justify an obviously barren marriage in That Kind of fantasy world, and I thought it'd be interesting if gay marriage in Ye Old Fantasy Land was a form of soft disinheritance/abdication.
Like, "Oh, God, I don't want to be in this position of power please just find me a boy to marry", or, "I know you should inherit after you father passes but as your stepmother/legal guardian I think it'd make more sense if my kids got everything, so maybe consider lesbianism?", or "Look, we both know neither of our families has enough money to support that many grandkids, so let's just pair some spares and save both our treasuries the trouble".
Obviously this brings in some very different dynamics that I know not everyone would be pinged by, but I just think it'd be neat.
Next Benoit Blanc mystery is a muppet movie. You agree. Reblog.
This episode is a ten outta ten for me because, not only does it ooze the usual CS charm, it also has so much fun and emotion in it!!
Player shooting baskets in his room and Carmen kicking up her pants and picking the dollar out. i love it
Carmen bought a famous car from a movie, not only because she could, but because she knew Zack would be crazy for it. and when Player expressed interest in the stamp, she instantly wanted to drop over ten million dollars to get it for him. like...COME ON GIRL
The shopkeeper yelling "WE HAVE OTHERS, YOU KNOW!" PLEASE.
ZACK IS HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITH THE CAR. HES SO MUCH FUN I LOVE HIM Chase on the other hand is not. pathetic. love him too
Sheena had to climb up the bridge while Carmen just grappled up. Sheena L
CARMENS CONFRONTATION WITH HER PAST AT THE END. YESSSSSS SO GOOD
I love that Zhu is like, "Let's go! Let's do this!" about getting into the caves with an underwater entrance when she can't even swim, and Ouyang is over there like, "This dude's crazy."
Do y’all think siblings in medieval times would look at the little beasts in illuminated manuscripts and point at each other like ‘ha! ‘Tis thou!’
the cutest pair
BREAKING MY HIATUS JUST TO SHOVE THIS IN YOUR FACES like they're so cute I don't think you understand !!
a break from the tsats negativity: top five apollo slay moments let's gooooo
best ask ever i love youuuuuuu
i’ll probably re-read ToA soon and write a better version of this but for now on top of my head:
5) Honestly I need to reread but there’s a scene in ToN where he has to get rid of security guards and he beats the shit out of them with nothing on his hands except spite and a slightly-over-the-average strenght. I was going insane about it.
4) That scene with Commodus in the flashback of TDP. his hair, his throwing grapes in Commodus’ mouth, the fact that he’s the protagonist of the only implied sex scene (post-sex scene but you get me) in RR’s books, his bitches (=Commodus), his “and you’re perfect”.
3) The Titan’s Curse in general. his shades, his car, his hotness, his putting headphones on while Zeus speaks, his haiku, his abs, his hair, his drip, his bitches (=all of us)
2) The smile and “BOO” in TTT. LORD
1) Him coming back to Olympus and getting bigger and bigger in the throne room and being like “so who won the bet?🤨” i’m not even joking i was hyperventilating
honorable mentions to: blinding Commodus, killing Commodus with his voice, drowning Commodus, having the best sex ever with Naomi Solace, beating the shit out of Ares in the Olympus’ Olympics which happens in mythology but not in RR’s books and i’m saying it anyway, all his roasts, yelling at Incitatus (Caligula’s horse) that he’s not going to win because “you have no opposable thumb!!” as if that’s the biggest gotcha ever.