The Storyteller’s High AF Daughter

People weep and moan for well written representation in film and I’m like “Power Rangers 2017 gave you a team with only one white member, a questioning queer girl, and an autistic hero that doesn’t have ‘magical autism’. He was just autistic and was just like, “Oh, I am autistic, so I’m not going to pick up on your sarcasm.”

They didn’t make autism into a superpower or some life ending tragedy, they had a character with autism who had that inform his character. Billy wasn’t ashamed of this. He was bullied and bad at social cues but the only shame he ever felt was guilt over his reaction to his dad’s death which makes perfect fucking sense.

Trini was in a questioning, confused state and her sexuality is just there and causing her some difficulty. Not because she might be gay, but because she is not sure and doesn’t know how to express this to her family.

Zack was the ultimate subversion of the model minority bullshit people assign to Asians and Asian characters. He was a tactless thrill junkie processing his own hardships.

Kimberly had a nuanced narrative regarding bullying. She was a VERY grey character who legitimately did something awful.

And Jason’s story is basically the ultimate disection of toxic masculinity.

Saban was even hinting that Tommy was going to be a girl in the planned sequel. WE MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN A FEMALE URBAN NATIVE GREEN RANGER. ANYONE who knows Power Rangers can tell you how huge that would be. Tommy was the fan favorite and one of the most interesting characters. Yeah, we might have gotten a superhero film with a female Urban Native lead.

And y'all just dismissed this movie and made Krispy Kreme jokes. Newsflash: the movie was making Krispy Kreme jokes that were better than your Krispy Kreme jokes. If you honestly think “Krispy Kreme… it is a magical place” was supposed to be taken seriously, you are lame and boring and probably like Air Supply.

And gaaaah! Do you know how bad this movie SHOULD have been? Take this from a girl who draped her room in Pink Ranger shit for two years: Power Rangers is pretty fucking dumb. I love it, but nuance, pathos, and realism WERE NEVER CARDS IN THIS FRANCHISE’S DECK. Then this fucking movie, which I went into expecting a lazy, stupid, nostalgia bait had like… real characters, and conflict, and a script written on empathy. People actually worked their ass off to not only make a good movie, but one that was genuinely diverse and respectful and EMPATHETIC.

The movie bombed and y'all wrote it off despite it being one of the most diverse, heartfelt, and nonstereotypical films in recent memory.

First is my megalist of homesteading-related links I’ve gathered over the years. I’m a mod over at r/homesteading and this is where I’ve put a lot of good sources (not all, admittedly some are still sitting in my bookmark folder waiting to be added). The search function at reddit is wretched, but there’s also been lots of good things I’ve shared there too. Please note that many of these sources are not actual webpages, but PDFs. That’s not an accident, PDFs are where you find the really good in-depth stuff.

Many of my sources are from the Extension Service. They won’t try to relate to you based on your lifestyle or sexual identity or religion or whatever, but due to that, they also won’t be alienating you either.

The Cooperative Extension Service (US only) exists in all 50 states and in most counties. It is taxpayer funded. The Extension Service exists to help people become more self sufficient, for farmers to be more successful, for people to be healthier, for kids to be well adjusted, to figure out how to grow the best plants in your area, etc. Some county offices even offer cheap classes in things like gardening, canning, soap making, and they’re taught by people with training in these areas (I once heard a great talk on composting from a soil scientist that way). Do you want to know what type of plant something is? Do you need help figuring out a plant disease or pest issue? You can now contact them online and get great info.

I HIGHLY recommend checking out your state’s extension service website, because they do offer different types of information, depending on what is grown/raised where you are (and how well funded they are). My county extension puts out a monthly gardening newsletter, which includes a helpful ‘this is the time of the year to do —-’ part.

Here’s an example from North Carolina - check out that left sidebar

Here’s an example from California - this website is HUGE so dig around

Here’s an example from New York - they have a calendar at the bottom, showing how they have things like hydroponic and urban agriculture workshops coming up.

Interested in raising animals? Penn State Extension is really really good. They have tons of free materials and courses available online, some I pulled for my megalist at the top of this.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - they cover the important aspects of food safety, and also have some recipes. Many state Extension Service websites will have lots more recipes.

If you have kids, check out 4-H programs for them. It’s part of the local public school system here. If you’re homeschooling, you can also purchase their science-filled educational and self sufficiency materials (materials are divided by age ranges - Cloverbud Member: ages 5-8, Junior Member: ages 9-13, Senior Member: ages 14-19). One of my coworkers is in 4-H, she’s still in high school, and last year she raised an award-winning heifer.

Congress grants the money for funding these programs, and they’re connected with various universities. There’s a level of cutting edge scientific knowledge and academic rigor you don’t find in blogs or even most books. There’s LOTS of homesteading books filled with outdated information like ‘till the earth every year’ hell I still have older coworkers who do it and I’m trying to figure out how to gently tell them that they’re destroying their soil that way, and that there’s better methods now, methods grounded in science.

Knitting - try this youtube series

DIY Crown - here’s a youtube video on how to make a mermaid crown

(1991)

A timely reminder that we are truly all in this together. I am not safe until everyone is safe. My healthcare is incomplete until everyone has healthcare.