A blog of Calli

This isn’t a judgement on anyone who does or doesn’t enjoy it we all have different preferences and one isn’t better than the other. I’ve just been reading in the fantasy genre for so long and I have a very long list a recommendations to get through in this lifetime that I don’t have the time to middle through books I know that I’m going to nit pick the entire way. But your enthusiasm for the series also makes me really wanna try it because I trust your taste. (2 of 2)

So I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot actually because it’s something that has been brought up a lot (esp recently) and it weighs on my mind a lot and makes me doubt myself. (also, I appreciate the no judgement comment, I feel very judged sometimes for liking this book and being a feminist) So I’ve decided I’m going to tell you facts and my opinion and then you can use that information to make an informed decision, okay? 

First, to answer your questions, it takes about 268 pages for the first major female character to appear (Denna!!!). In the frame story, there are no major women, although it is majorly Kote, Bast, and Chronicler, it still frustrates me. And most of those 200 and some odd pages focuses solely on Kvothe, so there are maybe two prominent male characters introduced who have yet to come back into the story (unlike Denna), and one male villain who has briefly returned. And only one of those three was really fleshed out, so it’s more forgivable in my eyes than most fantasy novels written by men.

There really isn’t a main party of protagonists, it is Kvothe who sometimes includes his friends on his shenanigans. Denna is a major player in many of them. Fela, Devi, and and Mola also all play key roles throughout the story, although they have much smaller roles, much more comparable to Simmon and Wilem than Denna, in my humble opinion. Even without considering their small roles in the text they are very well written (and the people that say all the women in this book are in love with Kvothe clearly forget Devi and Mola as well that he is hella unreliable). Auri also has a more major role than most characters and is honestly phenomenally written by anyone’s standards and is the only character with her own spin off novella (The Slow Regard of Silent Things). (Mola is a med student tbh but none of them are archers) (Devi is considered one of the most powerful characters of the series) (and I still think Fela is a badass, anyone can fight me on that) 

Also DENNA, we need to talk about Denna. My girl has the second largest part in the series, second only to Kvothe, with significantly more “screen” time than any other character and she is constantly written off. Kvothe views her as his Manic Pixie Dream Girl and then she goes and DEFIES that trope every other page, it’s magical, I love her. I can’t really tell you her job as it’s major spoilers, but she serves as a mirror character to Kvothe. They lead very similar lives, and their gender separates them the most, showing how harmful and destructive sexism is, not only in Temerant, but in real life as well. Considering so many of fantasy readers are men who feel very entitled and are used to reading about sexism without consequences, I find this a nice subversion. And considering fans of all genders hate her, I think she just proves what a wonderful character she is and how sexism effects people on fandom level as well. 

Another notable aspect of the novel is that Patrick Rothfuss actively makes his books more feminist. The Wise Man’s Fear has significantly more female characters than the first and Slow Regard is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. (from what I can tell) Instead of ignoring cirques of sexism, he addressed them and made changes, by including more prominent female characters. It’s also worth mentioning that books (well, any media really) can have both sexist and feminist aspects to them and I think it’s important to acknowledge both.  

Another unrelated note, uh, there currently is no conclusion to the series. Pat says it’s coming. I believe him but it could be a while longer (we’re coming up on 8 years in March since book 2), so it might be worth holding out until you read the books. But on a happier note, Lin Manuel Miranda and John Rogers of Leverage are working on a TV series relating to the series, so you know that will be fan freaking tastic when we get that piece of media!!! 

The plan for the 17th, when the adult content ban comes in, is to protest.

To do that, we are making as much noise either side of the 17th as possible, and using the site as normal.

On the 17th, dead silence.

People are saying log off but what they really mean is don’t open the site or the app.

But, on the 17th make as much noise as possible on every other platform. Tweet about it and post on facebook and instagram and everywhere else.

What this does is causes a massive dip in ad revenue for one single day. That does not make staff think ‘oh everyone’s gone let’s shut down.’ What it actually makes them think is ‘oh shit people aren’t happy and if people don’t keep using our site we’re out of money and out of jobs.’

A boycott reminds a company that the users (consumers) have the power to make their site (business) worthless with one single coordinated decision.

If you want to join in, here’s what to do:

Do:

Close all open instances of the app and site on all your devices before the 17th

Make posts before and after the 17th on tumblr and other platforms, talking about why this ban is bad

Make posts on other sites during the 17th. Flood the official tumblr staff twitter and facebook with your anger and your opinion

Come back on the 18th and check in

Don’t:

Delete the app from your phone (this doesn’t affect their revenue and since it’s off the store at the moment it’ll be hard to get back)

Delete your account. I mean you can if you want to, but if you keep your account and don’t use it you’re saying to staff that there’s still time to save it. If you delete it’s hard work to come back.

Open the app or website (including specific blogs)

Make any posts (turn down/off your queue and make sure nothing is scheduled)

Go quiet elsewhere. Make it clear that this is just about tumblr, not a mass move away from all social media.

Remember: the execs don’t care about anything but money. Shutting down the site means there’s $0 further income from it. That’s their last possible course of action. If we make it clear we’re not happy, they’ll have to do something or we can do more and more until it becomes too expensive.

Please R&R!!!!!!!

Oh, are you in for a TREAT!  Sit back now and let us explain it as we understand it:The world welcomed what has to be the most city-appropriate sports mascot in history when the Philadelphia Flyers introduced us all to Gritty on September 24th.  While the upper crust clutched their pearls in shock and called Gritty “them most terrifying mascot in the NHL”, anyone from Philly or who’s been to Philly or watched an episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia understood that Gritty embodied all that is the City of Brotherly Love in one deranged orange package. 

above: from Gritty’s first tweet.Besides Gritty, Philadelphia is also home to some legendary antifa crews like Philly Antifa + a decades-long history of fucking nazis UP!  So, with Trump threatening to visit town on October 2nd, local antifa drafted their new homie with this banner:

That’s all it took.  A couple of Philly antifa + a Gritty banner + social media.  This particular photo spread like wildfire on Twitter (which our own collective would like to take some credit for!) and by the next day media outlets like The Daily Beast were reporting that Gritty was antifa!  Less than a week later, the motherfucking Wall Street Journal ran a boo-hoo column crying about Gritty being antifa!  The icing on this whole delicious cake came about three weeks after Trump was unwelcomed to town when Philadelphia city council issued a formal resolution welcoming Gritty to town that also recognized him as having “been widely declared antifa!” The next thing you know, barely a month after Gritty’s first appearance, and maybe 20 Proud Boys get run out of town by 1000+ Philadelphians carrying homemade Gritty antifa signs and banners:

cosplaying Gritty:

and chanting “WHOSE STREETS? GRITTY’S STREETS!” And that, friend, is how Gritty became antifa.P.S. Peppa Pig is an anarchist.

bisexuals don’t experience homophobia? in that case, explain my terrible past that lead to my suicide attempt in 2017. sure, since i’m into both genders, i couldn’t have wanted to kill myself because of being attracted to one more

and the mis-sexualitization of bi people is so annoying, tbh. but.. tumblr has had a history of mlm and wlw fetishism, so.. “disappointed, but not surprised”

bi people aren’t revolutionary as gay ppl? boy, it’s almost as if there were no bi people that helped form the LGBT community in America that we know today

erm, wlw relationships can also be abusive

“everyone’s a little bi” is pure bullshit(though I hear that quote from a lot of bi ppl). bish, that’s ignorant

sexuality doesn’t mean that you’re more or less prone to cheating on someone. it depends on your morals, not whom you’re into

So glad I have that “privilege” to… apparently.

Or, in other words, if someone does not stand out as visibly different from a cisgender heterosexual person, it’s possible, but not certain, that the person in question can avoid immediate overt violence against their own kind. A transgender woman who passes as a cisgender woman *may* not be immediately targeted by bigoted people, but that’s all. A bisexual man who is not in a relationship with another man *may* not be immediately targeted by bigoted people.

May. Possibly. Might.

This is no way a privilege, however, because it does not mean that the person in question is empowered. They’re still vulnerable, they’re just slightly less visible. And any time they are rendered visible, whether that’s by being unwilling to erase one’s self, being outed, or simple circumstance, they face just as much violence as the rest of the community.

To wit, yes, bisexual people face bigotry and violence just like gay and lesbian people do, in the same ways, to often greater degrees. And to boot, we have to listen to bigots within the LGBTQ+ community tell us that we have some kind of privilege or that we’re just pretending to be gay. If that reminds you of right-wing homophobic bigots, good! That’s because it’s the same kind of bigotry, even if it’s a gay person or a lesbian saying it.

To specifically what @xxmarksthegspot said up there, the fault in her argument is that she is assuming that all homophobic bigotry is based on perception, as though bigoted people hated you only for the way that you look. If that were true then bigots would indeed leave us alone if we avoided being visible to them in all circumstances. You might recognize this as the “I’m not homophobic, but don’t shove it in my face” plea that a lot of bigots make. The problem is that we know that bigots don’t operate on perception, they operate on identity. They hate us for who we are, not just what we look like.

In describing bisexual people as having straight passing privilege and describing us as spoiled brats, @xxmarksthegspot is advancing biphobic bigotry that’s not just unethical, it’s also ahistorical and demonstrates a disturbing lack of knowledge of the challenges that the entire LGBTQ+ community faces.

This is just a way to promote one’s own self as more important than other people. It’s bigotry, plain and simple.

In Hebrew

You say I took the name in vain I don’t even know the name But if I did, well really, what’s it to you? There’s a blaze of light In every word It doesn’t matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah

These are specifically about Chassidic Jewish theories of the holy language, how each letter and combination of letters in Hebrew contains the essence of the divine spark and if used correctly, can unlock or uncover the divine spark in the mundane material word. And of course, there are secret names of God which, when spoken by any ordinary human would kill them, but if you are worthy and holy and righteous can be used to perform miracles or even to behold the glory of God face-to-face. The words themselves have power. Orthodox Jews often won’t even pronounce the word “hallelujah” in it’s entirety in conversation, because the “yah” sound at the end is a True Name of God (there are hundreds, supposedly) and thus too holy to say outside of prayer.

None of this is to mention how David’s sin in sleeping with Batshevah (the subject of much of the song, with a brief deviation to Shimshon and Delilah) is considered the turning point in the Tanach that ultimately dooms the Davidic line at the cosmological level and thus dooms Jewish sovereignty and independence altogether. From a Christian perspective this led to Jesus, the King of Kings, and that’s all very well and good for them, but for the Jews, the Davidic line never returned and is the central tragedy of the total arc of the Torah. Like, our Bible doesn’t have a happy ending? And that’s what this song is about? There’s no Grace - you just have to sit with the sin and its consequence.

Of course, Cohen is referencing all of this ironically, and personalizing these very high-level religious concepts. Like the point of this song is that Cohen, the songwriter, is identifying with David, the psalmist, and identifying his own sins with David’s. The ache that you hear in this song is that the two thousand year exile that resulted from one wrong night of passion and Cohen feels that the pain he has caused to his lover is of equally monumental infamy. Basically, in a certain light, the whole of Psalms is a vain effort for David to atone for his sin and I think Cohen was writing this song in wonderment that David could eternally praise the God who would not forgive him and would force him and his people into exile. But he ultimately gets how you have to surrender to the inexorable force of God in the face of your own inadequacies and how to surrender is to worship and to worship is to praise - hence, Hallelujah. You can either do the right thing and worship God from the start, or you can fuck up, be punished, and thus be forced to beg for His forgiveness. It’s the terrible inevitability of praise that’s driving him mad.

Like honestly, I identify with this song so strongly as an off-the-derech Jew, I sometimes wonder what Christians can possibly hear in this song, as it speaks so specifically to the sadomasochistic relationship that a lapsed Jew has with their God. It’s such a different song from a Christian theological perspective it’s almost unrecognizable, man. This song continues to be a wonder of postmodern Jewish theology and sexuality from start to finish. Don’t let anyone give you any “Judeo-Christian” narishkeit. This is a Jewish song.

It’s old knowledge that, unless you’re involved in mining, mineralogy, or occupational health & safety, has been deliberately buried from both the public’s and regulators’ knowledge.

CNBC’s article + their writeup on the Reuters report revealing J&J’s cover-ups go into more detail on their corporate liability and the impact of J&J’s products specifically…

…But I cannot overstate that people’s best option right now is to look for products in general that do not contain talc at all, regardless of the manufacturer, and to be vigilant in seeking appropriate healthcare (and/or legal action if required) if symptoms arise.

This goes for body use (diaper powder, chafing powder— this is where the cases of ovarian cancer are coming from), for any use where powder may be inhaled (hair, face), or will have prolonged exposure to mucus membranes (eye makeup, bath bombs, etc.).

Does that give the employee the right to post a photo of the girl’s full name online in order to mock it ok? Absolutely not.

Apparently the employee had a habit of taking photos of people at work and making fun of them, and the mom only contacted the airline when she found that out. That is perfectly reasonable. The employee should absolutely be fired.