Where Ceia Lives

Saving people in emergencies? Firefighter or EMS. (You probably have a good chunk of the training for that already, assuming your cop training wasn't completely dogshit.)

Helping people get out of bad situations? Family/child protective services, or volunteer for various shelters, food banks, etc.

Advising people on how to navigate troubled lives? Therapist/counsellor

Have a special interest in the law? Paralegal, judicial aide, or lawyer.

Keeping people safe? Safety inspector

Investigating crimes and solving puzzles? Private investigator or lawyer, or if you have a head for numbers, accountant or tax examiner

Being a hero to kids? Teacher, coach, or school counsellor

Pre-1910:

“The bodice of the garments had high necklines. They had elbow-length or long sleeves, a belt, and a knee-length skirt. Bloomers covered the legs to the knee. Tights or stockings were also worn, so no bare legs were on display.”

They also weighed about 25 lbs when wet!

1910-1920:

“more slim-fitted with a tank top bodice and a lower neckline. All had shorts, some had skirts, and could be one or two pieces.”

Valancy’s seemed to be a one piece and it did not sound like she was wearing stockings with it.

“Another notable change was thanks to Jantzen, a sportswear company founded in Portland, Oregon. In 1920, they decided to re-brand the bathing suit and call it instead the “swim suit.” It was the first time that term had ever been used. This brand began creating and marketing mass produced swimming suits in a stretchy, ribbed jersey. The iconic “Red Diving Girl” in their advertising was paired with the tagline “The Suit That Changed Bathing to Swimming.” Their product was a sensation and forever changed the way we look at - and talk about - swimwear.”

“In the early years of the 1900s, women’s one-piece swimsuits were becoming popular but were illegal in many places in the United States for being too revealing. Australian record-holding swimmer and vaudeville star Annette Kellerman made headlines in 1908 for showing her bare legs, daring to wear her one-piece, shorted swimsuit on a Boston beach while training for an upcoming competition. She was arrested for indecent exposure.”

Cities set up volunteer police forces to measure women’s suits and enforce dress codes.

“Those whose suits did not meet regulations were issued citations, escorted from beach, or in extreme cases, arrested. Thousands of women were taken into custody in the 1920s for swimwear infractions.”

In 1921, 39-year-old novelist Louise Rosine visited a beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey and rolled her stockings down below her knees. An officer patrolling the sand informed her that stockings below the knees were against regulations. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Ms. Rosine responded “I most certainly will not roll ‘em up. The city has no right to tell me how I will wear my stockings. It is none of their business. I will go to jail first.” When the police officer grabbed her arm to escort her away, Ms. Rosine swung at the him and she was jailed “in the state of mutiny and uncovered knees.”

The Blue Castle exists in an idealized world where yes, there was no World War I but also where women could stand up for themselves, go against the demands of their oppressive families, wear cute/practical clothes, and not go to jail for any of it.

“Valancy had not, as yet, really done or said anything that could be construed as proof of lunacy—and without proof you cannot lock people up in this degenerate age.”

You absolutely could lock women up in the real world at that time for far less than Valancy did.

The Blue Castle was such a revolutionary and important piece of media. And for it to be written by a respectable, rural pastor’s wife too!

We're having our turn in the heat wave and reports from the National Mall are brutal already this week. That screenshot is today's forecast (courtesy of the Capital Weather Gang) and tomorrow and Saturday are confidently going to be worse than this is.

The national Mall has no shade on the grass and you will be exposed to the sun constantly while also experiencing extremely high humidity. You will not be allowed a bag over a certain size to enter the mall and it has to be clear. You cannot have an insulated water bottle, it has to be clear. Reports are that there are two entrances to the area so you'll have to wait in line to even get in. I cannot find a number on how many cooling stations there are, except that it's "few" to "none" depending on what accounts I read online. Vendors are allegedly charging more than the posted prices and seem to be unprepared for actual crowds - these are the official vendors not the scam food trucks that park all around the edges of the mall. And that's the extent of the planning done because it was not a priority to make sure attendees don't pass out.

My local friends and I have reached a consensus that tourists are going to get extremely sick and none of us know what the EMT response or planning is on the mall this year. People are going to die.

You're a loser. You're not an Egyptologist. Keep to your shitty fanfics.