Kim Addonizio, from 'The Women', Wild Nights: New and Selected Poems/excerpt from 'The Complete Works: The Diary,' Virginia Woolf
Listen, this is gonna get sappy but I don’t care.
I am so grateful to be a young person right now. I will never take it for granted that growing up, I am being raised at a point where loving who you want and being who you are is being normalized.
I will never take it for granted that on TV, I could watch two men kiss and not bat an eyelash. I will never take it for granted that I could see a cast with so many POC and it not even register with me that it was that diverse until someone pointed it out. It was just kind of, normal. (And so well done on the part of the makers of the show.) There are so. many. people. before me that did not get that kind of representation. Even people just a little bit older than myself were so excited after Stede and Ed kissed, because they finally hadn’t been let down or queer baited.
I will never take for granted the beautiful and rich representation that I and many others got from a show like Our Flag Means Death, (and the future shows that do it as well that will one day be made)
did i read all of this? YES. And you should too-
[this post is a compilation of all the Snape content i could find on internet with additional thoughts]
“After all this time?”
“Always,” said snape
Isn’t it funny how easily we are all ready to condemn absurd creepy sexual behavior in the name of ‘love’. We are all so ready to overlook all the bad one person did, all the things which, if the person was not played in the sympathetic light, we would have been so disgusted by. But all is fair in the game of love and war, no?
No.
It’s not. That is a dialogue manufactured by the patriarchal society to justify their creepy absurd romantic ideas but that is a discussion for some other time.
Let us begin this holy text by me reminding you all the horrible, horrible inexcusable things snape did AND FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME MEREDITH, NO, WANTING TO BONE LILY POTTER IS NOT A REDEMPTION ARC.
*long exhale*
1. He was a terrorist. He was literally the wizard equivalent of a nazi. He joined the death eaters, willingly. He became friends with the dark lord, willingly. He practiced dark magic, willingly. He was a supremacist racist, willingly.
Can you imagine how good of an actor you have to be, to be friends with the whole gang of death eaters- dark wizard included- for them to suspect nothing? Now don’t even begin! We all know that Voldemort is no idiot himself, if he suspected nothing of Snape, it has to mean either that Snape is a very very good actor (which he is not) or he actually firmly believes and supports all the stuff (Which he does CANONICALLY.) He can double agent all he wants. It doesn’t erase the fact was that he was wizard equivalent of a nazi who wanted to eliminate people like Lily, his one true supposed love.
One of the main reasons some audiences sympathised with him was, him being a ‘double-agent’, risking his life in the name of love and blah blah blah. I hate to burst this bubble to you, but your precious little Snape joined the death eaters willingly when he was in his fifth year along with Lucius Malfoy. Doing the math, he had been a member for more than 10 years, out of which he only and only acted as a ‘double agent’ for 9 months. So don’t you dare go on and on singing the songs of honor for Snape
2. He verbally abused kids. He, a 30-year-old man, an adult in the position of authority, mocked a teenage girl’s magically altered teeth, making her cry and leaving a forever imprint in her brain so much so that she later permanently changed her teeth, thus assisting body shaming and sowing the seeds of low self-esteem in minors.
3. He was so horrible, so terrible to his students that he was literally the biggest fear of a kid. A kid, whose parents were tortured to insanity by a merciless woman. A kid, who was literally picked on by all of his peers. A kid, who was bullied just the way Snape ‘apparently’ was. A kid, who was constantly reminded by his abusive and controlling grandmother - his only source of any parental affection and guidance, mind you - how worthless he was.
Shouldn’t this remind Snape of something? Shouldn’t this invoke the memories from the deeper places of his own childhood? Shouldn’t Snape recognise himself in him and for once choose not to be an asshole? Shouldn’t Snape be able to understand exactly what Neville was going through? Yes, hell yeah he should. BUT INSTEAD, HE INSULTED HIM IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS WHEN HE COULDN’T MAKE POTIONS HIS WAY AND THREATENED TO KILL HIS PET. How lovely, isn’t snape just adorable? So complex and so interesting. * heart-eyed emoji*
4. He started a dick measuring contest with an eleven-year-old kid just because he looked like his bully from middle school who married his crush and they fell in love and had awesome sex with each other. No, no. No, no. wait. Let me rephrase that. He started a dick measuring contest with an eleven-year-old boy who had grown up not only in an abusive household but also totally ignorant of the magical world, just because this father’s child was cooler and more popular than him in high school.
Snape did everything he could to make Harry’s life miserable because it was his way to get revenge against James. This is not a fifteen-year-old boy bullying another, it’s a fucking 30-year-old who is incapable of moving on bullying an 11-year-old because he just can’t let go of his hatred for a dead person.
After seeing the abuse Dursley’s inflicted on Harry, he thought it was funny and felt no sympathy. The same age he was ‘bullied’, he didn’t care about the abuse. He didn’t see himself in harry. He thought it was funny, fucking funny.
5. Lily, oh Lily. The ‘love’ of his life. But before it became ‘a tragic romantic story’, Lily Evans was Snape’s one and only friend.But before anything, let’s understand one thing very, very clearly: Lily did not love Snape and Snape didn’t love lily. He was obsessed with her to unhealthy lengths, yes. But he didn’t love her. It was an infatuation which had taken the form of the most toxic obsession.I hope I made this very clear.
6. He called Lily, his best friend, a mudblood - an extremely offending racial slur in the wizarding world- in front of his other ‘friends’ and tried to get away with it by saying ‘he didn’t mean it’ and that she (and only she) was different from the other muggle-borns.
7. Through the pensive we see that he dropped a whole tree branch on petunia and saw no problem in hurting the people Lily loved (seen later in larger proportions).
8.He didn’t love her otherwise he wouldn’t have cuddled with her dead body, leaving her crying infant son alone and let him get shipped off to an abusive household. He found and ripped a photo of Lily, James, and Harry happily in love in half and stole the other half with Lily smiling so he could pretend her love and happiness were directed at him and not her husband and child. HE WALKED OVER THE DEAD BODY OF A MAN WHO HAD LITERALLY SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR HIS WIFE AND FAMILY, AT 21, TO CRADLE AND CUDDLE WITH THE DEAD BODY OF HIS OBSESSION, IGNORING THE CRYING INFANT WHO HAD JUST LOST BOTH HIS PARENTS.
I have always thought that assholes like Snape invented the friend zone. Lily was under no obligation to love him and this man spent his entire life pining for her, which is not only creepy but considering Lily was married and in love with another man and had a child, downright inappropriate.
Now, this is the thing which really pisses me off: Snape laughed and mocked Tonks when her Patronus changed on falling in love with Remus, despite the fact that his own changed to match Lily’s. I MEAN THIS MAN IS PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF NOT BEING AN ASSHOLE. Instead of recognizing himself in all of these people and showing empathy, he chooses to be a jerk. He chooses to be an asshole. Which invalidates the whole “he had a terrible childhood so his jackass behavior is justified uwu” BULLSHIT.
9.TOTAL BULLSHIT. If you still argue that “he had a terrible childhood/life, it was inevitable that he’d become a terrible person!!!!”, Do you know who also had a terrible childhood? Sirius Black. Sirius was raised and abused by blood supremacists. He was disowned by his own family. He was framed for murdering the person he loved THE MOST ON THE WHOLE EARTH (but no, of course, romantic obsessive love>>>> Pure platonic love, of course). And then he had to spend 13 years in a prison which is especially known for making people insane. He escaped insanity and then he had to spend whatever life he had left running so that his soul won’t be sucked out of his body. He had to watch the kid he probably loved more than his own life being raised in an abusive household, just imagine how much of a failure he must have felt like when he couldn’t take care of his godson, the son of his best friend and brother- Harry. And HE STILL MANAGED TO BE A DECENT PERSON.
And you know what Snape did to him? He wanted the soul sucked out of him because he didn’t like him. Let’s be real here, snape knew, Snape knew that Sirius hadn’t been a death eater, he knew. He knew that Sirius hadn’t murdered James, he knew. And yet he was ready to send an innocent, who was one the most brilliant wizards of the time and who would help largely to the cause of defeating Voldemort, but Snape never said anything. He was ready to exonerate an innocent man because he was once mean to him in school
10. And you know who else had a terrible life? Remus Lupin. Remus had no friends until he was 11. He lived in the constant fear that he was gonna be outed as a werewolf. He was forced to turn into a monster, a very painful process, every month. He lost everybody he loved and was forced to live in poverty for 14 years AND STILL MANAGED TO BE A DECENT PERSON.
Remus had only three people who ever loved him and one day, boom. They were all gone. One of them- dead with his wife, and the other locked away for his murder. And the third one was the reason it all happened in the first place. Can you imagine, one moment you had everything and the next nothing? Everything gone- just like that.
So he spent the next 14 years, living in poverty and working as a spy for dumbledore by living among werewolves -including the man who bit him- who supported Voldemort. Note: he lived among the werewolf, always in the danger of being torn apart and murdered on the spot. Whereas most of snape’s spy life involved him sulking around Hogwarts tormenting kids….safe. Remus lost everything but he still smiled, always smiled. He was kind and never took anything for granted. He chose not to be an asshole. Because being an asshole and being kind, it’s a choice.
Remus chose to be kind and of course, Snape chose to be an asshole. What pisses me so much is the fact that snape “let slip” that Remus is a werewolf. What had Remus done to snape? Literally nothing. Hell, he didn’t even ever ‘bully’ him. Snape knew how much of a struggle it would be for him to find another job because people would be scared of him. Remus had once already been outed as a werewolf and yet snape let it ‘slip’ anyway.
I just wanna ask one thing, how do you excuse such horrible things?
How do you ignore them like they never happened and pretend that he is the most tragic character ever?
How do you even bear to pretend that he isn’t some disgusting creep who is frozen into his teenage phase forever and refuses to move on?
How do you justify his behavior?
Severus Snape is a character who has done some pretty horrible things, some pretty unjustifiable things, and some pretty inexcusable things. And that is the way he was written. His actions weren’t meant to be justified or excused. He was written as a bad person, not a bad guy with a tragic past which justifies everything he did.
Now if you have only watched movies and not read books, then I slightly, very slightly understand you straight up not hating him.
Movie!Snape is still a jerk to his students for no good reason. However, several times we see him protecting his students or showing hesitation in his actions. He doesn’t pull off half the jerky shit he does in books.
All in all, movie!Snape is portrayed in a sympathetic light, more likely because Alan Rickman was an amazing actor and was told his backstory in advance
ON THE OTHER HAND BOOK!SNAPE IS A TOTAL ASSHOLE, THROUGH AND THROUGH, AND NOTHING ELSE.
Now let’s make a list of all the terrible things James Potter did, shall we?
1. He bullied snape.
And yes, Sirius, sweetie, due to inexplicable reasons, your point of view of “Snape never missing an opportunity to get back at James or you” will be totally, completely, religiously ignored. AND EVERYBODY WILL GO OFF PRETENDING THAT SNAPE WAS A VICTIM, WHILE IT WAS STATED MULTIPLE TIMES THAT THE BULLYING WAS ‘MUTUAL’.
Besides, wasn’t Levicorpus a spell that Snape invented himself? How come James knew about it? Oh….maybe, our little snape is not the victim you make him out to be. Maybe James knew about it because Snape had used it on him before. THEIR BULLYING WAS MUTUAL.
If James was an idiot, Snape was no saint either.
2. He ‘hexed’ people in corridors. And we know this because all the ‘history’ we know, is from Snape’s perspective. And I am pretty sure you must have heard the quote,”Nobody is a victim in their own story’. I am also pretty sure that if we start looking at the memories of King Jo un, we will ‘love’ him too, at least some of you fools would. The point I want to clear here is: Psychology says, “We don’t remember what happened, what we remember becomes what happened.” You have to keep in mind that Snape was given an opportunity to tell his story, James never was.
3. And…
4. And…
5. And…
6. um…..
…….yeah. What else did he do guys? I am running out of things. Nothing else? Oh, that’s right.
James Potter was just a kid who was born into a privileged family. He was his rich parents only child, they loved him like he was the only star in the sky, because for them he was. James Potter was many things, but a bad person is not one of them.
Because If James Potter was such a bad person, then why did he take in a child who was abused and disowned by his family, and provided him a shelter for five years?
If he were such a bad person, then why was he totally okay with Remus being a werewolf- something which was considered extremely disgusting in the wizard world? Why did he become an unregistered animagi, just so his friend could feel safe and not feel so lonely and suffer alone?
If he were such a bad person, then why did he decline Voldemort’s offer to join the death eaters, not once, not twice but thrice? Why didn’t he just join it and become the second most powerful person as he was promised- something no matter how much ass licking Beatrix or Snape do, they would have never been able to achieve?
If he were such a bad person, then why did literally everybody who had ever, even once met him, loved him? Hagrid? Mcgonagall? Dumbledore? Sirius? Lupin? Lily? Arthur? Molly? Luna’s dad?
That’s because James Potter was not a bad person.
James Potter was a brave man with a pure golden heart, who loved his friends and family, and chose light over darkness.
Eventually, he grew up and became a head boy. Do you think dumbledore would have made him the head boy if he didn’t deserve it? I think the fuck not.
Do you think Lily Evans, one of the smartest girls, both in the classroom and literal life, would have fallen in love with him so much so that she married him if he were still an asshole? No. That’s because people change and people grow and people evolve into better versions of themselves.
The difference between Snape and James is that James realized what a horrible person he was being and changed. While Snape went into adulthood bullying kids. This man was forever stuck into his teenage years and was physically incapable to move on.
James grew up (something snape never did).
And yet James Potter is hated so much, just because he was never given the opportunity to tell his side of the story. Snape did such horrible, inexcusable things and yet people find a place to ‘love’ him while this man who had done everything in his power to make the world a better place is hated so much because he ‘bullied’ Snape. Well, if we are putting it like that, he was ‘bullied back’ by Snape too.
James Potter died wandless, alone, betrayed, and hopeless on a staircase. This man had never been more dedicated to anything in his life than he was to lily. In his final moments, all he did was to buy them time. Try to save them. Can you imagine dying and not knowing if your wife and son are safe? Can you imagine the failure he must have felt?
All of this and everybody goes “we love you snape, our hero! Our saviour! The one who died for love! So sad, so tragic! We love you Snape! <3<3<3”
And while to james “Asshole! Idiot! Arrogant! Lily should have chosen better! ~_~”
YEAH IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO ME EITHER.
why would you need to prove it to someone? isnt it just common sense?!
There are dumb people in this world who need to know that crying doesn’t make guys look weak!
lavh-lay!!!!!!!
*body slams j*r and reclaims these 5 as my own*
Vincent Giarrano on Instagram
i agree, Sirius did suffer - A LOT, but then again Remus did too even tho he had Grant to depend on. Grant was his rock, but Sirius was the love of his life and i clearly remember that his last words were something along the lines of - 'it would be the same, even if you weren't here'
So, my point is, both of 'em suffered, in very different ways but they did suffer - A LOT!
It’s funny how everyone talks about “oh poor Remus, he must have felt so hurt when he found out that Sirius thought he was the traitor” but no one ever talks about the fact that Remus also thought Sirius was the traitor? And out of the both of them, Sirius was the one that suffered for it. Actually, it’s not funny. I don’t know why I said that.
Here’s a video so you can hear the water and the thrushes. I took it for you because you couldn’t be there. <3
ayeeee!
(a jilytober drabble)
"You're in my seat."
"Sorry?"
"My seat. You're sitting in it."
Hazel eyes dance. "I didn't realize they assigned seats beyond secondary school."
Green eyes narrow. "I've been sitting in this seat all term. It's mine. A fact which you would know if you'd turned up at any point instead of only on exam days."
A smirk joins the dance. A stomach flips. "I have been here all term as a matter of fact. And I have, indeed, seen you sitting here."
Teeth grind. "Glad we've sorted that. Now please move."
The boy infuriatingly does not, of course. If anything he settles in more firmly on his—her seat. "What's so special about it anyway? I've been dying to know."
"And that's why you're here?"
The boys smirk twitches wider momentarily. "One of the reasons, yes."
She doesn't care to ask for the others. There are only ten minutes until the exam is due to start. Every minute speaking to this trouble-maker is one fewer for her last minute notes review.
Her pause is long enough to welcome him to continue. "I think I've determined why you like this spot so much. First off, it's perfectly positioned by the heat vent—not directly underneath to make you too warm, but close enough to pull the chill out of the air. It also has a lovely but not too distracting view of the courtyard outside. And, I suppose, once old Sluggy gets here, the acoustics are probably top notch: loud enough but not too loud."
"You're mad," she says, blush creeping up her cheeks. How did he do that?
"I'm not the only one, I reckon," the boy replies, now standing. She has to crane her neck to maintain eye contact and boy does she find herself wanting to. "James, by the way, James Potter."
He stretches his hand out but she eyes in, faking repulsion.
"Am I supposed to care?"
He—James Potter—laughs. "I guess not. Well, that's what I get for waiting all term to talk to the prettiest girl in class. Maybe we'll have a class together next term and I can steal your seat then, too."
He steps around her, agile despite his wide shoulders, the grin never leaving his face. He sends a wink toward her before jogging up the steps to a desk in the back row.
She can't help but watch him plop down in the seat, an easy grin still on his face as he waves to her. She turns away in a huff, gently sitting down in her seat, angry more at herself than him for the fluttering in her stomach that tells her he isn't the only one hoping they share another class next term.
ok but wowza!
Absent: preoccupied
Agonized: as if in pain or tormented
Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire
Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest
Beatific: blissful
Black: angry or sad, or hostile
Bleak: hopeless
Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern
Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent
Brooding: anxious and gloomy
Bug eyed: frightened or surprised
Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed
Cheeky: cocky, insolent
Cheerless: sad
Choleric: hot-tempered, irate
Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings
Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor
Despondent: depressed or discouraged
Doleful: sad or afflicted
Dour: stern or obstinate
Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing
Ecstatic: delighted or entranced
Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible
Fixed: concentrated or immobile
Gazing: staring intently
Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive
Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion
Grim: fatalistic or pessimistic
Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness
Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty
Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism
Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant
Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit
Jeering: insulting or mocking
Languid: lazy or weak
Leering: sexually suggestive
Mild: easygoing
Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful
Pained: affected with discomfort or pain
Peering: with curiosity or suspicion
Peeved: annoyed
Pleading: seeking apology or assistance
Quizzical: questioning or confused
Radiant: bright, happy
Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident
Sardonic: mocking
Sour: unpleasant
Sullen: resentful
Vacant: blank or stupid looking
Wan: pale, sickly
Wary: cautious or cunning
Wide eyed: frightened or surprised
Withering: devastating
Wrathful: indignant or vengeful
Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling