“Most films made for children are flashy adventure-comedies. Structurally and tonally, they feel almost exactly like blockbusters made for adults, scrubbed of any potentially offensive material. They aren’t so much made for children as they’re made to be not not for children. It’s perhaps telling that the genre is generally called “Family,” rather than “Children’s.” The films are designed to be pleasing to a broad, age-diverse audience, but they’re not necessarily specially made for young minds.”

“My Neighbor Totoro, on the other hand, is a genuine children’s film, attuned to child psychology. Satsuki and Mei move and speak like children: they run and romp, giggle and yell. The sibling dynamic is sensitively rendered: Satsuki is eager to impress her parents but sometimes succumbs to silliness, while Mei is Satsuki’s shadow and echo (with an independent streak). But perhaps most uniquely, My Neighbor Totoro follows children’s goals and concerns. Its protagonists aren’t given a mission or a call to adventure - in the absence of a larger drama, they create their own, as children in stable environments do. They play.”

“Consider the sequence just before Mei first encounters Totoro. Satsuki has left for school, and Dad is working from home, so Mei dons a hat and a shoulder bag and tells her father that she’s “off to run some errands” - The film is hers for the next ten minutes, with very little dialogue. She’s seized by ideas, and then abandons them; her goals switch from moment to moment. First she wants to play “flower shop” with her dad, but then she becomes distracted by a pool full of tadpoles. Then, of course, she needs a bucket to catch tadpoles in - but the bucket has a hole in it. And on it goes, but we’re never bored, because Mei is never bored.”

“[…] You can only ride a ride so many times before the thrill wears off. But a child can never exhaust the possibilities of a park or a neighborhood or a forest, and Totoro exists in this mode. The film is made up of travel and transit and exploration, set against lush, evocative landscapes that seem to extend far beyond the frame. We enter the film driving along a dirt road past houses and rice paddies; we follow Mei as she clambers through a thicket and into the forest; we walk home from school with the girls, ducking into a shrine to take shelter from the rain; we run past endless green fields with Satsuki as she searches for Mei. The psychic center of Totoro’s world is an impossibly giant camphor tree covered in moss. The girls climb over it, bow to it as a forest-guardian, and at one point fly high above it, with the help of Totoro. Much like Totoro himself, the tree is enormous and initially intimidating, but ultimately a source of shelter and inspiration.”

“My Neighbor Totoro has a story, but it’s the kind of story that a child might make up, or that a parent might tell as a bedtime story, prodded along by the refrain, “And then what happened?” This kind of whimsicality is actually baked into Miyazaki’s process: he begins animating his films before they’re fully written. Totoro has chase scenes and fantastical creatures, but these are flights of fancy rooted in a familiar world. A big part of being a kid is watching and waiting, and Miyazaki understands this. When Mei catches a glimpse of a small Totoro running under her house, she crouches down and stares into the gap, waiting. Miyazaki holds on this image: we wait with her. Magical things happen, but most of life happens in between those things—and there is a kind of gentle magic, for a child, in seeing those in-betweens brought to life truthfully on screen.”

BROOOO

i included a photo below beside my switch for comparison of how big the xl and overnight pads are (i love using both for for nighttime use). daily, i use my regular pads and when working out/post-period, i use the liners.

It also ignores the mental toll that poverty takes like maybe your home made veggie filled recipe isn’t crazy expensive but it also involves prep time and cooking time and organization in terms of fresh food that a lotta poor people can’t manage.

Not to mention if you can only afford to get to the store once every couple weeks via bus or cab then you can’t keep fresh veg on deck.

1. Never talk to the cops. It doesn’t matter if you want to explain your side of the story, tell them off, or try to convince them to let you go. Say nothing. It’s almost impossible to talk yourself out of criminal charges. It’s very easy to talk yourself into them. Say. Nothing. 

2. If you are arrested, clearly say the words “I am invoking my right to silence, and I am invoking my right to a lawyer. I will not speak to you without a lawyer present.”. Ambiguous statements like “I think I need a lawyer” or “gimme a lawyer” have historically not held up in court. State very clearly that you are invoking your right to an attorney and will not answer questions without one. This is the only thing you will say, over and over again. 

3. Seriously, don’t talk to the cops. Saying that you are invoking your right to remain silent does not mean the cops have to stop questioning you. If you say that you are remaining silent, it’s up to you to actually remain silent. They will try very hard to get you to talk even after you’ve stated that you will be silent, and if they succeed, your words will be held against you. 

4. Do not lie to the cops. Lying to authorities is a felony. Best way to avoid lying? Say absolutely nothing. 

5. Take the biometric locks off your phone. If your phone can be unlocked with your face or fingerprint, police can force you to unlock your phone for them. If it opens only with a passcode or password, they cannot compel you to unlock the phone without a warrant. 

6. Livestream interactions with the cops, don’t just film with the camera app. Make sure all interactions with the cops are filmed, and make sure that the footage is being sent somewhere where it cannot be deleted or destroyed by police. 

7. Make sure that someone knows you are out protesting, and that this person knows your full legal name, date of birth, and what time to expect you home. If you are arrested, your loved ones will need this information to find you in the system. Don’t assume that your friends know your DOB and full legal name - send a picture of your ID to a trusted person who will not be protesting and let them know to start looking for you if you don’t check in a set time. Some protesters have also begun shouting this information as they are being arrested so other protesters can record it. 

8. Get the information for a pro-bono lawyer in your area and write it on your body. Several lawyers and firms have offered to defend anyone arrested at the protests for free. Write down the information of a free legal service on your body with permanent marker before you go to protest, ideally in a location like your shin or forearm where you won’t sweat it off - keeping the number in your phone is not helpful if your phone is confiscated, dead or damaged. 

Father: “We can’t, we have medical issues.”

The pair went as far as to start using encrypted messenger services, installing cameras in their office and moving the raw footage to a secure location to thwart what they believed was very aggressive rhetoric by ICE through the negotiations around the finished film.

So…. Anyone still up for golden eyed six foot tall priestess??