what be this?

OR BOTH!

1942: 

It was nice to be back in New York, Steve thought, after touring the whole country with the Star Spangled Show. Even better, once the show was done here, they were going overseas – not into combat, but at least it was a start. It made him cheer up just to think about it, and he maybe threw a little extra flair into the show every night, took a little extra time at the stage door.

“What’s your name?” he asked, crouching to get on eye-level with the little girl who had been patiently waiting behind several taller, pushier people. 

“Ruth,” she said shyly, offering him her autograph book.

“Lovely name,” he replied. “Did you like the show?”

She nodded. “I liked the dancing.” 

“You gonna be a dancer when you grow up?”

“Nuh uh,” she said. 

“What’re you gonna be?”

“A judge,” she said. 

“Yeah? You gonna make sure justice is done?”

She nodded soberly.

“Well, Ruth, you gotta study hard, you know that, right?” he asked, as he signed her book. “I expect to see you on the bench someday.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, stepping back, and another handful of kids surged around her. Cute kid. 

2012: 

Steve had always liked Civics in school, but when you had to catch up on seventy years between your last history class and the present, it could get a little overwhelming. On the other hand, celebrity was good for something; when he’d been working on memorizing the names and major cases of the Supreme Court justices, Tony had said, “Well, do you want to meet them?”

A couple of long phone calls and a few weeks later, Steve passed through a LOT of security, down a hallway, and into a courtroom; it was early in the morning, ahead of the open public hours, and the room smelled like coffee. A tiny bird of a woman in a black gown was standing in front of the seating box. 

“Captain,” she said, as he shook her hand. 

“Justice Ginsburg, right?” he asked. “It’s an honor, ma’am.”

“I feel the same,” she said, and there was something very familiar about her smile. “I wanted to get here a little earlier than everyone else, to speak to you in private.” 

He was opening his mouth, about to ask why, when she reached into a pocket of the robe and took out a battered leather book, the kind kids used to collect autographs in.

“I don’t suppose you remember, you must have signed a lot of autographs,” she said. “But back in the war, just before you left for overseas, I went to see your bond show.” 

Steve looked down. Scrawled on the page was his clumsy signature and, in slightly better lettering, To Judge Ruth. Study Hard!

He looked up at her, eyes wide. “No, I remember – I asked if you wanted to be a dancer and you said no, you were going to be a judge.”

“You were the first adult outside of my family who didn’t sneer at a girl wanting to be a judge,” she said. 

“Well,” Steve said faintly. “Guess you must have studied.”

1. Allison Janney’s performance as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing.

2. Using the Boer War as a metaphor for things that are really, really old.

3. Informing someone that “flaccid” used to be pronounced “flak-sid,” but “flass-id” DOES sound more appropriate given the image it creates.

4. When you are six minutes away from bailing on someone so you can stay home and watch TV, and they cancel on you first.

5. Stevie Wonder’s performance of “Superstition” on Sesame Street.

6. Robert Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess.

7. Shows featuring Timothy Olyphant as an angry person with hats and really low-riding jeans.

8. Nice tributes to the guy who wrote one of the books that became one of the shows featuring Timothy Olyphant as an angry person with hats and really low-riding jeans.

9. Eating in any position other than upright and at a table.

10. Celebrity blind items where someone has clearly gotten it right in the comments and everyone agrees but you wouldn’t have figured it out on your own.

11. Very slow remixes of “Jolene.”

12. Pointing out that you’ve always liked “Jolene.”

13. Getting to explain what steampunk is to someone who has not yet heard of the idea of steampunk.

14. Books about death in the Grand Canyon.

15. Books about death in Yellowstone.

16. Books about death in Yosemite.

17. When elderly black people are friends with elderly white people in real life, not just on benches in ads for statins.

18. Pappardelle.

19. The opportunity to correct someone for having a cell phone conversation on Amtrak’s Quiet Car.

20. Saying “a raisin is a horrible thing to do to a grape” to someone who hasn’t heard you say it every time someone mentions raisins.

21. Middle-aged Canadian lesbian stoners.

22. kd lang

23. Listening to kd lang with middle-aged Canadian lesbian stoners while eating pappardelle.

24. A new video about cats on YouTube that has enough of an original hook to it that you can share it on Facebook.

25. Anne Helen Petersen’s “Scandals of Classic Hollywood” series.

26. Dessert menus that have something which is basically just a huge, upscale Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

27. Pretending you’re singing Kirsty MacColl’s half of the “Fairytale of New York” duet by the Pogues in a a karaoke bar, while Sean Bean sings the other half, because you’re dating and he doesn’t care if people know.

28. When movies are made now, but set in the 1970s.

29. Anticipating how amazing smartphones will be in twenty years.

*UPDATED* Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. Some are short, some are very interactive, some are very in-depth. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. I checked each link to make sure they are functioning.

Spanish

Beginner 

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

How to Self-Study Spanish

Preparing for the AP Spanish Exam 

Spanish for Beginners

Intermediate 

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos 

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones

La Innovación Social  (Check under Translation)

Leer a Macondo (Taught in Spanish)

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Reading Spanish Literature

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I

Elementary French II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French Language Studies I

French Language Studies II

French Language Studies III

French:Ouverture

French Through Stories and Conversation

Improving Your French

Mastering French Grammar and Vocab

Intermediate

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

Advanced

Fantasy, de l'Angleterre Victorienne au Trône de fer

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Les Chansons des Troubadours

Reading French Literature

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Oggi e Domani

Survive Italy Without Being Fluent

Intermediate

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced 

Advanced Italian I

Italian Literature 

Italian Novel of the Twentieth Century 

L'innovazione Sociale (Check language under translation)

Reading Italian Literature

Catalan

Intro to Catalan Sign Language

Latin

Latin I (Taught in Italian)

Russian

Beginner

Basics of Russian

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Russian Alphabet

Russian Essentials

Russian for Beginners

Russian Level I

Russian Phonetics and Pronunciation

Reading and Writing Russian

Travel Russian

Advanced

Business Russian  (must register)

Let Us Speak Russian  (must register)

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Mandarin Chinese I

Basic Mandarin Chinese II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for Travelers

Chinese is Easy

Chinese Made Easy

Easy Mandarin 

First Year Chinese I

First Year Chinese II

Learn Oral Chinese 

Mandarin Chinese I

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Intermediate

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Japanese

Beginner’s Conversational Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Learn 80 JLPT N5  Kanji I

Learn 80 JLPT N5  Kanji II

Learn 80 JLPT N5  Kanji III

Learn 80 JLPT N5  Kanji IV

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

German

Beginner

Basic German

Basic Language Skills

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I

Conversational German II

Conversational German III

Conversational German IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German A1 Grammar

German Alphabet

German Modal Verbs

Present Tense German

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Study German Language from Native Speakers

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Reading German Literature

Norwegian

Learn The Norwegian Language

Norwegian on the Web

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian  (Taught in Dutch)

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Language for Beginners

Arabic Without Walls

Conversational Arabic Made Easy

Intro to Arabic

Lebanese Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Read Arabic

Hebrew

Hebrew Alphabet Crashcourse

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Multiple Languages

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/global-studies-and-languages/ : MIT’s open courseware site has assignments and course material available.

I’ll keep an eye out for new courses and if you know of any, let me know so I can update this list.

The links are in order from beginner to advanced. Most of this is aimed towards dancers-to-be or baby strippers, so there aren’t many complicated moves on here. Also, please note that this list is incomplete. I will be adding to the Bootywork and Lapdance sections in given time and as I find better videos/tutorials. FLOORWORK: Sexy Worm (with Spin Sity)  The Dive (with Spin Sity)  The Clock (with Spin Sity)   Crawl (with Pole 2go) Goddess Rising (with Pole2go) Outside Tick-tock Clock Variation (with Pole2go) Leg Peels (with Pole2go) Floor Fan Kick (with Pole2go) Backwards Shoulder Roll (with Melonie) Four Ways to Get Up From the Floor (with Dirdy Birdy)  Twisted Grip Floor Roll Down (with Dirdy Birdy)  Intermediate Drop & Roll (with Cleo the Hurricane) Advanced Pole Press Handstand (with Cleo the Hurricane) POLEWORK: Basic Walk (with Pole2go) Eternal Pole Walk (with Pole2go) Figure 8 Walk (with Pole2go) Hip Circles (with Pole2go) Booty Dips (with Pole2go) Pole Plie (with Pole2go) Beginner Fireman Variations (with Dirdy Birdy) Beginner Sunwheel/Ankle Hook (with Dirdy Birdy Beginner Pole Climb (with Dirdy Birdy) Beginner Pole Sit (with Dirdy Birdy)  Beginner Pole Plank/Layback (with Dirdy Birdy)  Beginner Angel Spin (with Dirdy Birdy)  Beginner Fan Kick (with Dirdy Birdy)  Beginner Cradle/Cradle V Spin (with Dirdy Birdy) Beginner Pirouette Variations Inner and Outer Grip (with Dirdy Birdy)  Beginner Bodyrolls (with Dirdy Birdy) Beginner Invert and Exercises Before (with Dirdy Birdy)  Intermediate Gemini Aka Outside Leg Hang (with Dirdy Birdy) Intermediate Scorpio Aka Inside Leg Hang (with Dirdy Birdy) Tips for Using a Spinning Pole (with Veena)  Static Pole Spins (with Veena)  Back Arch Slide (with Pole2go) The Wrist Seat (with Pole2go)  Corkscrew Spin (with Pole2go) How to Shoulder Mount (with Blush Dance) Jade (with Muse Fitness) Jade Split (with Cleo the Hurricane) BOOTYWORK: How to Twerk For Non-Twerkers (with Firestarter)  How to Twerk Tutorial and Leg/Booty Workout (with Keaira Lashae) Ass Clap 101 (with Imani Rose)  Booty Pop on Floor (with Amy Shi)  Booty Flexing Exercise (with Empre$$)

Like honestly, this is part of why I haven’t written more of any of my historical AUs: if you’re gonna laugh about it and talk about how ridiculous and lulzy the genre is, I do nooot want to crank out more for you to be snidely ironic about.

And the historical romance writers? They are even more amazing to me, because they do so much incredibly detailed research. Even if their book ends up being a fun, rompy, very-nearly-AU, you better believe they know their historical facts. Do you know another genre where the authors regularly teach themselves to sew and wear accurate period clothing so they can describe ball scenes correctly?

Anyway… I feel like I’ve picked up a huge amount about the craft of writing from both the fanfic and romance writing communities, both of which are generally dismissed for containing sex and feels, so instead of writing each other off, let’s band together! In that spirit, if people would like to read some kickass historical fiction, allow me to recommend some authors:

Tessa Dare: Her Spindle Cove series features a small English coastal village functioning as a haven for women in need of refuge, whether it be due to scandal or spinsterhood or poor health or any other oddity, such as excessive independence of spirit. However, I think my favorite book of Dare’s so far may actually be the latest one in her Castles Ever After series, When a Scot Ties the Knot, (which can be read as a stand-alone,) because it features a young woman who establishes a career as a scientific illustrator after avoiding marriage by faking engagement to a soldier she made up… except all those letters she sent off into the void to sell the story to her parents actually went somewhere. So adorable! So hilarious! There’s even a romantic sub-plot featuring lobsters.

Eloisa James: This particular author is, for her day job, a Shakespeare professor, so you best believe she understands research. Her books are… amazing. Her Desperate Duchesses series is set in the Georgian period (ie, when Hamilton is going on across the sea), and if you long for some men with equally ridiculous fashion sense as the women, look no further. But that’s just a side note; the thing that really makes her books stand out (to me, anyway) is how well she can write unhappy married couples realistically overcoming miscommunications, sometimes years in the making, to fall in love with each other, either for the first time or all over again. Furthermore, in her Fairy Tale retellings series, she doesn’t romanticize what it’s like for virgins with no sex ed to try to navigate their way through things. (Seriously, read Once Up a Tower, it will change your whole conception of romance novels.)

Courtney Milan: Read her Regency-era Brothers Sinister series. The whole thing. The female characters in these books! They are the best! And the male characters, too, yes, they’re good. But the women all have such amazingly interesting lives and stories! There’s a chess champion, an intentionally socially off-putting heiress, a female biologist (and the man who presents her work to the public), and a suffragette newspaper editor. Plus the ebook “box-set” comes with all the side-character novellas already interleaved. And each book has historical notes at the end, which I found fascinating. I love the balance Milan creates between witty character banter and their attempts to address serious societal issues of the times. (She’s also started a modern series about a not!Apple tech company that I am eagerly anticipating the next installment of. Interracial couples! Trans characters! Trading places plot devices!)

Sarah MacLean: I was instructed to start with Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, which I did, and oh, the wonderful hijinks that ensued! As if the title wasn’t a clue. These are again Regency romances with intelligent, dissatisfied women who decide to take their lives into their own hands. The Love by the Numbers series then leads into the Rules of Scoundrels series, and while each book tells its own romance, you’ll pick up so much more background gossip between the characters and amazingly delicate and interwoven worldbuilding if you read everything in order.

Mary Robinette Kowal: Not actually usually shelved in the romance section, since what Kowal writes are historically-based fantasy novels, but her attention to detail is impeccable. She’s the one who taught herself to make Regency gowns and does all her readings in period costume, down to the shoes and undergarments. She built a custom spellchecker to flag any word not actually used by Jane Austen for her first series, which started as pastiche but quickly gained its own momentum. The worldbuilding is meticulous; everything is period-correct Austen/Regency, until it’s not, because she created a magic system that works with the time and culture, but also changed the time and culture just by existing. She thought about everything. Her new series is set in WWI, and looks at how the war might have been different if spiritualism had been true, ie, what if there had been a corps of women receiving battlefield reports from recently deceased soldiers? I just finished this one, and the level of detail is true #authorgoals.

Meljean Brook: These are actually steampunk romances (rather than true historicals) with an amazing amount of alt history worldbuilding, but the impression that stuck with me after reading them was that Brook was putting on an absolute master class in how to do character-driven plot. Nothing in these books is gratuitous. No detail of the world is ever revealed unless a character has a reason to be thinking about it, no interaction the two people involved in the romance has is done simply for the sake of drama. The people are the story–and they just happen to also be police detectives and sky pirates and treasure hunters. Brook has also clearly put a lot of thought into the various power structures of her world, and while the books can be viewed through the lens of romping adventures on airships, she is also addressing serious themes such as the aftermath of slavery and colonialism, racism, ableism, and attitudes towards homosexuality.

Draco and Harry with their scars and tattoos (and looking all pumped and shit ‘cause it’s typical upthehillart)

Women have always been at the forefront of literature, the first novel (what we would consider a novel in modern terms) was written by a woman (Lady Muraskai’s the Tale of Genji in the early 1000s) take your snide “Isaac Asimov” reblogs and stick it

even in terms of male scifi authors, asimov was predated by Jules Verne, HG Wells, George Orwell, you could have even cited Poe or Jonathan Swift has a case but Asimov?