Letters from the Other Side

And since they were a young child, this protagonist has wanted nothing more than to join the group of superheroes. Like they’re a huge fan of the group and they just know that it’s their destiny to join.

And one day, when wheeling through the city, they see the group of heroes fighting the villain. And they quickly wheel over and cry, “Let me help!”

But the ‘heroes’ laugh and instead make a whole bunch of ableist remarks.

And so the protagonist has to prove themselves.

And the villain is trying to warn them to stop.

But the protagonist ends up taking their footrest off of their wheelchair and they swing it. And it hits the villain in the side of the face and the villain collapses and groans in pain.

And so the protagonist proudly smiles and turns to the group of heroes.

Because they just proved that they are strong and worthy enough.

But the group of ‘heroes’ still keeps making ableist remarks.

And the protagonist is shocked.

And meanwhile, the ‘villain’ staggers to their feet and is standing next to the protagonist’ wheelchair.

And one of the ‘heroes’ goes too far when calling the protagonist the R word.

And the protagonist and the ‘villain’ just sort of glance at one another.

And the ‘villain’ is just like, “You know…I can zap them for you…if you want.”

And the protagonist hesitates and says, “Yeah, alright!”

One fried group of heroes later, the ‘villain’ says, “Why do you think that I’m always fighting them? They’re all a bunch of assholes.”

And the protagonist sadly nods and starts to wheel away.

Then:

“Hey, do you want a job?”

The protagonist turns at the villain’s remark. And the protagonist mumbles something like, “Oh, come on. I don’t need your pity.”

And the ‘villain’ is like, “Pity!? Do I look like someone who hands out pity!? I don’t pity you! I’m kind of afraid of you, to be honest! I mean…I’m going to have a giant bruise on my face because of you.”

“Yeah…sorry…”

“Water under the bridge! So, what do you say? Do you want a job?”

And the protagonist thinks about it for a minute before shrugging.

And the ‘villain’ is all excited because they’ve wanted someone to work with them for years but no mortal is allowed to ‘step into’ their lair.

And then the ‘villain’ stops and is like, “Hang on…you can’t work with me in that.”

And they gesture to the protagonist’s wheelchair.

And the protagonist is all embarrassed.

And then the villain goes, “Because we can get you a much better wheelchair! It’ll look great! And it’ll be indestructible! And it’ll have all sorts of weapons and gadgets! Hey, how do you feel about flying…?”

And all of that is literally in the first chapter and then the rest of the story follows the two going around the city like BAMFs, forcing people to stop being ableist, one way or another. And maybe it’ll have some commentary on the scale of morality and what it truly means to be a hero and what it truly means to be a villain.

Would anyone be interested in this!?

Man, it’s so surreal to look at this.

BECAUSE I ACTUALLY WROTE IT!

AND IT WAS JUST PUBLISHED TONIGHT!

Of course, there are some differences between the final book and this original idea. The most notable difference is that all of this takes place in the first book (it’s going to be a series!) and the whole ‘superhero’ thing is just going to be a front. There’s a few other differences as well (such as a huge plotline involving Merlin and immortal characters!)

BUT I WROTE IT!

AND IT’S PUBLISHED!

AND IF YOU’RE INTERESTED, YOU CAN BUY IT HERE:

www.amazon.com/Antagonists-Book-One-Burgandi-Rakoska-ebook/dp/B015BWS9J0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1442188845&sr=1-1&keywords=the+antagonists

AND IF YOU WANT TO HELP ME OUT, YOU CAN REVIEW IT!

The Antagonists Series (Books One - Five) is now available in paperback!

Regardless

BOOK SIX IS NOW AVAILABLE!

https://www.amazon.com/Antagonists-Book-Six-Burgandi-Rakoska-ebook/dp/B07CJWV3RL/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=burgandi%20rakoska&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&qid=1525711816&ref_=mp_s_a_1_2&sr=8-2

Dad kept hiding pine nuts in the pages of this magazine and letting Edgar root around for them.

And about halfway through listening to this, I went and read the comments, literally I could not stop reading I was there for hours, here are some of my favorites

Give them a try here

Also…honorable mention

holy shit

Artists, creators, students, and researchers of all types, take note:

Digitized photos and text. 2D and 3D object renders. Music and other sound files. Videos. Research datasets. Collections metadata.

On a Creative Commons Zero license: Take what you want. Use it. No permission or attribution required. Yes, even for commercial use.

Last year was a vivid example, and also one of the worst fasts I’ve ever done. My history teacher assigned us a full paper, insisting that it was reasonable since we had the entire day to do it. As one of the few practicing Jews in my class, I immediately objected because not only was that unfair, it was actually impossible to do without serious harm to my own health.

Because Yom Kippur started that very night with a solid two hours of services. I would go home, eat dinner (at like 4:30 because you have to do it before services), change, and then be at synagogue. Services would go until at least 8 o’clock, which meant I would get home around 9.

See any time for homework in there?

Now, pretend you’re me for a moment here. Services tomorrow morning start at 9, and you usually want to get there earlier unless you’re willing to end up in an overflow room. So staying up late to do it isn’t an option if you want more than four hours of sleep.

Now, it depends on how religious you are, and you can pick and choose, but there’s services more or less throughout the entire day on Yom Kippur. If you want to attend, which should absolutely be an option without compromising yourself academically, then you’ll be there until break the fast comes.

That’s right! You’ve been fasting all day, because that is an absolutely key part of Yom Kippur. (If you are under age thirteen, are pregnant, or are sick you are exempt but otherwise fasting is expected.) There are many reasons—reminding yourself of your mortality, to remember the sufferings of others—but ultimately it’s not an opt-out kind of thing.

But when can you break the fast exactly? It actually varies! Because it’s meant to be done one hour after sundown (25 hours total), but that’s a little different each year. It’s usually around 8 pm, which would be when services end for the day.

Now you can eat! Let’s aim low and give it half an hour to get home from services, and then another hour and a half to actually break the fast.

It’s 10 o’clock. You’ve only just eaten and your stomach probably hurts, because stuffing yourself after a fast can be really bad for your health. You’re back home for the first time all day.

You still have a paper to write.

How is that fair? If I’ve just gotten off of a fast, having spent all day immersed in religion and contemplating my own mortality, I’m not gonna be in a place to do any kind of work, academic or not.

And even if I’d had breaks in services (I can’t stay still all day, so I usually head home for a few hours in the middle), I was still fasting. When I’m hungry I have trouble working, for obvious reasons. And in this case the issue isn’t access, but the fact that I am prohibited from eating anything. Depending on how seriously you take it, you might not even have had water today. I fast with water after nearly passing out from dehydration during a fast for Tisha B’Av, but not everyone does! If you haven’t had anything to eat or drink, it’ll be incredibly difficult to focus on writing anything.

I explained all of this to my teacher, and she instead said I could just turn it in late. She also said I’d still be marked down for late work, so how is that any help?

I did that paper the day after. It was a day late, a few points off, but I held it against my teacher for months. Not because of the grade itself, but because she put me in that situation to begin with.

I should have been allowed to observe Yom Kippur. I should have been able to spend the day thinking and reflecting on my mistakes and contemplating my own life. That’s literally what the holiday is for. But instead I spent the whole time with that stupid grade in the back of my head.

Even on what is arguably the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, I still wasn’t given a break.

First the cracker batter baker bakes a cracker batter batch then the cracker batter mixer door will open and unlatch so the batter mixer nozzle can descend onto the patch where the cracker batter spreads out for the nozzle to attach.

When the cracker mixer nozzle sprays the cracker batter spray and the cracker batch emulsion lies a-soaking in its haze then the cracker batter mixer starts to stir up all the glaze that the final cracker stacker needs to lubricate the way.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Beloved

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (this was the only free version I could find, and it’s a downloadable thing, so do so with caution)

The Call of the Wild

Catch-22 (it was either this version or one where the entire thing was in comic sans font)

The Catcher in the Rye

Fahrenheit 451

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Gone With the Wind

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

Howl

In Cold Blood

Invisible Man

The Jungle (personally I don’t like this formatting, but the site doesn’t look sketchy so…) - there’s also this which is the proper book format in a pdf, but it’s directly photocopied so it might be hard to read some of the print

Leaves of Grass

Moby Dick

Native Son

Our Bodies, Ourselves (we learned about this one in APUSH!)

The Red Badge of Courage

The Scarlet Letter

COULD NOT FIND Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (the ebook is 47 fucking dollars??? and i can’t even find sketchy websites that’ll let me download a pdf. if anyone manages to find a link, lmk please)

Stranger in a Strange Land

A Streetcar Named Desire

Their Eyes Were Watching God

To Kill a Mockingbird

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Where the Wild Things Are (this is a slideshow!!!! how fun)

Are you ever coming home? I miss you lots and can’t wait to see your smiling face! Everyone here is sad. They wait up late hoping you will show up, but you don’t and they don’t sleep. Carine cries a lot. She wishes you would come home soon. Don’t you love me? 

Love always,

You have dwelled within my arms for so long, and in me you found rest. In me, alone. I was placed here for the purpose of recluses reprieve from the elements. I was here to preserve life, not to be a house for death. I would say that possibly you deserve it. You came to me, not even aware of my existence, and you didn’t take the care needed to know that there were others to whom you could go for assistance when I wasn’t enough. I don’t blame you for your ignorance, I simply wish you had more knowledge when you came to me. Now, they have scattered your belongings all around me. Have decimated my integrity and treat me like scorched wood–at one time useful and life-bringing, reduced to ashes and almost worthless in this place.

You once claimed me, I now claim you. You are the one I choose to create a legacy with. You died in me, and now you also live.