Just Had a Mental Breakdown

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We're in the most anti-art era we've ever been in.

Art--all forms of man-made creative expression--has been a fundamental part of humanity throughout history. Architecture, sculptures, written language, spoken language, song, music, dance, paintings, murals, martial arts, sports, comedy, theatre, poetry, film, animation, comics, literature, performance, cultural customs, worship; I can't even begin to list every possible form of human creation.

The question that stares me in the face day-in and day-out isn't just, "Who is removing the paths to these expressions as viable lifestyles/industries/parts of society," but also, WHY?

What is there to gain from a populace that has no recourse to rest from their unpaid overtime, their overexertion from 2 to 3 jobs, their malnutrition from rising costs of food and mounting anxious distress from insecure shelter with the state of housing inaccessibility? People are physically and mentally sick, tired, and most of all, angry. And angry people don't have the patience or energy left for cognizant discussions.

When the things that make life worth living and enjoyable are reserved only for a specific group people, ask yourself what sort of system you belong to. I can only hope you choose to resist it. That in and of itself is a form of artistic expression against all odds.

How to unclog a toilet without a plunger

How to fix a blown fuse

How to fix a leaky faucet 

How to clean soap scum from your tub and shower

How to escape from a house fire

How to make a budget and stick to it

How to sharpen a knife

How to clean a self-cleaning oven

How to clean red wine stains from carpet

How to clean blood stains from fabric

How to clean grease stains from fabric

How to do a load of laundry

How to iron your clothes

How to test your smoke detectors

Cooking Skills:

How to tell if produce is ripe

How to know if food is expired 

How to properly sanitize a kitchen

How to cook an egg

How to make rice

How to make pasta

How to put out a kitchen grease fire safely

How to use a gas stove

How to use a convection oven

How to cook meat safely

How to use a stand mixer

How to use kitchen knives properly

How to make mashed potatoes

How to make grilled cheese sandwiches 

Health Skills:

How to stop bleeding

How to treat a burn 

How to do CPR (on an adult)

How to do CPR (on a child)

How to do CPR (on a baby)

How to help someone who is choking

How to save yourself if you are choking alone

How to read a nutrition label

How to treat frostbite

How to recognize when someone is having a stroke

How to maintain a healthy sleep schedule

Mental Health Skills:

How to calm down during a panic attack

How to help someone who is suicidal 

How to meditate 

How to stop self-harming

How to recognize problem drinking

How to choose a therapist

How to deal with disappointment

How to cope with grief

How to raise your self-esteem

Relationship and Social Skills:

How to apologize

How to cope with a breakup 

How to accept criticism 

How to deal with bullying 

How to argue in a healthy way

How to ask someone out

How to break up with someone

How to recognize an abusive relationship

How to rekindle a damaged friendship

How to speak in public

Job Hunting Skills:

How to tie a tie

How to write a resume

How to write a cover letter

How to dress for a job interview (for women/femmes)

How to dress for a job interview (for men/masculines)

How to properly shake hands

How to nail a job interview

Other Skills:

How to sew on a button 

How to hammer a nail

How to change your oil

How to put gas in your car

How to jump-start a car

How to pick a good password

How to back up your files

So, after slaving away and having no life for the past week or so, I’ve FINALLY finished my epic analysis of queerness in Code Geass (complete with links to clips from the series to back up my claims, which is fun).

Premise: Using queerness as a lens, I analyze Suzaku and Lelouch as Othered queer rebels and how the homoerotics of their relationship is at the center of a series that inverts our gendered, political, moral and ideological expectations

Disclaimers: I’m not going to try to prove Suzaku and Lelouch aren’t straight by citing every homoerotic scene between them. I’m using queerness as a tool to analyze the series because, as it turns out, queerness explains A LOT. I back up all of my claims, but instead of assuming everyone is straight until proven otherwise, I get a lot more done with the opposite assumption.

The essay is VERY LONG. I broke it up into sections so you don’t have to read it all at once. It’s also written on a college level, so while it’s super gay, it’s also super academic. After this, my tone get very serious/formal (even about pimping Suzaku’s ass, which is, you know, the beauty of the thing).

Obligatory spoiler warning! (for anyone whose life is still incomplete)

In my analysis, Schniezal is representative of the heteronormativity a gay man in power can obtain. His homoerotic relationship with Kannon is based on power and domination over a subordinate., codified as sado-masochism in a picture drama revealing that Schniezal “whipped” Kannon in prep school to discipline him. It solidifies the power structure of a fascist state. Scheizal uses his knowledge of homoeroticsm against queer rebellion. He knows what it looks like. He sends Kannon out to apprehend Suzaku because he knows Suzaku and Zero have a “strange relationship” (i.e. queer, homoerotic and also threatening to the empire). He knows that “inside Suzaku’s heart” he does not support the fascist state–he is queered against it. Lelouch is an object of fear and lust for Schniezal, a gay fascist. Schniezal is, in my mind, based on the fascist homoeroticism of gay german Nazis who glorified certain forms (i.e. those performed only by masculine, German men) of male-male love as a means of patriarchal domination and power. These same men cast certain forms of homoeroticism (those practiced by foreigners, effeminate men and Jews) as degenerate, weak or a threat to society–which was why they tortured and killed gay people in concentration camps.

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Code Geass and Frantz Fanon

Code Geass is a series about revolution against an occupying empire. One philosopher who can help us navigate that subject is Frantz Fanon. Fanon as philosopher is very well known, but not that well understood, even by many a person who claims to be a follower of his ideas.

One of the big insights about Fanon is that colonialism begins by stripping the natives of their identity. We see that Japanese citizens under Brittania have given up being Japanese and are now "Elevens". The first task of anti-colonial revolutionaries then is to restore a sense of national identity. This is typically accomplished by way of nationalism (more on Fanon's thoughts regarding that later). We can see this in Kallen's statement: "We're not Elevens! We're Japanese!"

In the first chapter of his masterpiece, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon enters into a discourse about violence, specifically the violence of decolonization. He famously proclaimed "Decolonization is always a violent event". Less discussed is why he thinks that way, and this often reduced to some kind of petty-bourgeois "Whitey deserves it" stance. Fanon was a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who had served in the French Resistance, and in the national liberation struggle of Algiers.

It was his opinion as a mental health professional and anti-imperialist that:

“Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence.” 

There was no reasoning with colonialism. Indeed, in the last chapter of his book, he discusses his time in an Algerian mental hospital, where he treated both natives and French soldiers, both of whom had (for different reasons, obviously) lost it as a result of the conflict.

However, Fanon also cautioned against the aforementioned overt hostility towards the subjects of the empire as such. He notes that during the struggle, it is seen that "Some members of the colonialist population prove to be closer, infinitely closer, to the nationalist struggle than certain native sons", and we see this in Lelouch & Suzaku. The former is a Brittanian of royal descent who opposes the empire absolutely, and the latter is a near lifelong collaborator with the occupier.

Indeed, Suzaku also fills in for the kind of inept reformists Fanon criticizes. Suzaku believes that by participating in the occupying power structure, he can improve the lives of his (former) countrymen, and resolutely opposes fighting the colonizer. Lelouch, meanwhile, understands that participation in such things only affirms the empire.

A common mistake about Fanon is the claim he was a nationalist. But The Wretched of The Earth is filled with scathing views of nationalism. One criticism in particular is that nationalism cannot satisfy the real need for identity, it can only tell you that you have one. Trying to do so creates a structure where this identity can only be seen as everything you're not, rather than everything you are. Consequently it becomes racist rather quickly.

Note that Lelouch as Zero is not aiming to construct a Japan that has it's identity forged by this nationalism. There isn't an appeal to Japan's national history, nor even it's own imperial past. Rather, this new Japanese identity is forged - as Fanon himself notes in his book - by the struggle as well as it's history. Nor do the Black Knights attack indiscriminate Brittanians, nor even call for their ad hoc explusion.

So first off the bat if someone had wanted to hate crimes Alastor they could and would have done that in the light of day. There is no reason to go though the elaborate action of stalking Alastor into the woods and if it wasn't stalking then there is no way the hunter could tell Alastor's ethnicity either way. I will say I do think that Alastor lived with the fear of being hate crimed especially if he was starting to have public sugess. I also think that was part of his motivation to make a deal with Rosie.

Second off it is DARK. Like we can asume in reality the hunter had less visibility than us and we can see from his POV that it was hard to contrast. That's asumeing that the hunter has perfect eye sight.

This is what the hunter would be looking for in the dark. The glasses reflecting the light creates the effect of the deers eyes.

Thrid the reason for a hunter to be in the woods at night is because it was the greatest depression. Meat and food in genreal was super expensive. That was a great incentive to poach. This is also the reason he would aim for a deers head. Normally you would never want to shoot a deer in the head but, if your in the dark and all you can see of the deer is there eyes you don't have much of a choice then to head shot.

Alastor, the man who spent his entire life fighting against a system set out to censor every single part of his culture??? Alastor, the man who frequented speakeasies during the ban on alcohol???? Alastor the man who worked on radio and constantly shared his thoughts despite being prohibited to do so as a man of color??? Alastor who couldn't openly share the fact that he didn't find women sexually appealing without being called a homosexual and locked in a prison??? Alastor who couldn't show his face and had to sit behind radio and use back doors and go to places that would "oh so graciously" allow black people to eat there??

Alastor who was mixed race in the 1920s??? Whose father probably refused to ever be affiliated with him and his mother because his reputation would be ruined???

"Hello wayward sinner do you like blood, violence, and depravity of a sexual nature? Of corse you do! That's why your in hell!"

they will never give it to you straight.