Hold Fast

The first training of Zuko we see, Iroh shoots a fireball right into Zuko’s face - while Zuko just stands there unflinching. It’s the very first episode, and Zuko & Iroh are the obvious villains, and it just seems like some macho bs they do.  And then comes the duel with Zhao, and Zuko is down, but when he sees that flaming fist to his face, something lets loose inside him that helps him turn the fight around…But it’s not until we learn Zuko’s backstory that all this gets a whole new meaning. 

Why would Zuko still be on basics if not because he suffered a huge setback after his agni kai? Imagine how much hard work, patience it was to build Zuko back up again, so he would not freeze in blind panic (or curl up in a ball) when fire gets close to his face. I think Iroh practiced this with him all the time until he could stand there unflinching (knowing that Iroh is in full control of his bending and trusting that his uncle would never hurt him). And when it came to the duel with Zhao, Zuko could react in a RL situation instead of freezing up, and turn all the negative feelings (rage, anger, pain, whatever) into fuel to win the fight against a bender who is much more skilled than he is. 

Ishwarya Jayakumar and Shruthi Nair from Singapore

and you can see a full HD version that includes the opening here:

let him tell me the joke/repeat the conversation

look him straight in the eye

“that’s not funny, steve, that’s sexual harassment and you should have been arrested.”

watch him open and close his mouth like a fish for 4-5 seconds

return to previous conversational topic

Indigenous people in Attawapiskat cannot drink their water or bathe themselves, and haven’t been able to for weeks. They called a state of emergency.

What is Justin Trudeau’s response?

1 litre per day of water for kids under 2 years old. 1.5 litres per elder. The Tribal council must pay for this water in advance before they can be reimbursed next month.

This is shameful.

https://twitter.com/CharlieAngusNDP/status/1152558561496616961

Also follow these other Canadian Politics blogs and share their posts too:

@onpoli @torontopoli @ontarionewsnow @abpoli @nspoli @politicsofcanada @nlpolitics @qcnews @pnwpolitic @bcpoli

2. If you are Canadian, there is a Federal Election in October. Vote for NDP. They’re the only party who has given a damn about what is going on in Attawapiskat. As far as I can tell the NDP is the only party to even visit Attawapiskat this month. Volunteer and donate too.

3. If you are Canadian, write to the PM, Minister of Indigenous Affairs and your member of Parliament and demand that they help this community. Find your MP here:

He

-supports a progressive tax system

-supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners and redirect the money to low-income seniors, workers and disabled Canadians

-supports a $15/hour minimum wage

-supports a universal pharmacare system (our free healthcare is being challenged right now in ontario under doug ford who wants to create premium healthcare for the rich)

-is a strong advocate for equality amongst poc and lgbt groups

-wants to put a federal ban on carding as it is a systematic form of racism

-wants to ban handguns in individual cities should a crisis occur (yes they are legal here)

-believes the RCMP should complete LGBTQI2S+ competency training" to ensure interactions with law enforcement are not stigmatizing or traumatizing.

-supports more inclusive shelter and transitional housing spaces for lgbt kids

-advocates for Health Canada conducting research on the health care needs and experiences of LGBTQ patients and advocates for policy changes allowing people to self-declare their gender.

-supports immediately repealing the de facto BAN ON BLOOD, TISSUE AND ORGAN DONATION by men who have sex with men and trans women who have sex with men.

-wants to reduce the carbon emissions levels of Canada to 30% of 2005 levels by 2025

-supports creating more accountability in climate change policy by creating an independent officer of parliament mandated to report on interim progress on emission reductions

-supports decriminalizing possession of all drugs and treating drug use as a medical issue rather than a criminal issue

-advocates for free contraceptives for women

-FIRED a man in his party who was charged with sexual assault allegations after he would not complete a rehabilitation program in sensitivity training

And there is SO MUCH MORE

Listen y'all I don’t love getting political on here but honest to god vote in your riding for your NDP candidate. People are scared to vote for them because of the cuts in work hours they instituted last time they were in office but that was FIFTEEN years ago under a different leader.

If a conservative leader is voted in that gives so much power to federal leaders like premier doug ford who mind you

-cut funds to OSAP a grant and loan system based in ontario to help university students of low income families pay for their education (last year I received enough money to almost pay my full tuition, this year I am receiving loans that dont even cover half of my school year. He has also erased the 6 month grace period to pay them back

-He has allowed graphic anti abortion billboards to be posted in Toronto (I will not be posting a picture but if you are curious there are pictures circulating. It has severely affected many women particularly those who have suffered from miscarrages)

-he has eliminated an ontario arts council which was established under the Indigenous Culture fund

-proposed ending the transition child benefit which helps low income families on welfare feed and clothe their kids

-CUT 70% OF PROVINCIAL FUNDING TO THE ANISHINABEK FISHERIES RESOURCE CENTER

-cut annual funding on stem cell research

-Cut: An unclear amount of funding from violence against women shelter services

-increased class sizes of elementary, middle and high schools (up to 40 kids I believe) and is making high school kids retain ONLINE credits OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL HOURS ON TOP OF HOMEWORK AND BANNING ELECTRONICS IN SCHOOLS

and that’s just the tip of the iceberg I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of information

To find out who the NDP candidate is in your riding (because yes if you’re not Canadian or have not voted before Canadian’s vote for the MP candidate in their area not for the Prime Minister themselves and whichever group has the most people voted in from a.certain group dictates who the Prime Minster will be) you can go to this website

https://www.ndp.ca/your-riding

and learn more about the MP in your area.

These issues are not new. Canada has been ignoring and mistreating Indigenous communities like Attawapiskat for centuries.

example: it’s been well-documented for a long time that urban spaces are more dangerous for kids than they are for adults. but common wisdom has generally held that that’s just the way things are because kids are inherently vulnerable. and because policymakers keep operating under the assumption that there’s nothing that can be done about kids being less safe in cities because that’s just how kids are, the danger they face in public spaces like streets and parks has been used as an excuse for marginalizing and regulating them out of those spaces.

(by the same people who then complain about kids being inside playing video games, I’d imagine.)

thing is, there’s no real evidence to suggest that kids are inescapably less safe in urban spaces. the causality goes the other way: urban spaces are safer for adults because they are designed for adults, by adults, with an adult perspective and experience in mind.

the city of Oslo, Norway recently started a campaign to take a new perspective on urban planning. quite literally a new perspective: they started looking at the city from 95 centimeters off the ground - the height of the average three-year-old. one of the first things they found was that, from that height, there were a lot of hedges blocking the view of roads from sidewalks. in other words, adults could see traffic, but kids couldn’t.

pop quiz: what does not being able to see a car coming do to the safety of pedestrians? the city of Oslo was literally designed to make it more dangerous for kids to cross the street. and no one realized it until they took the laughably small but simultaneously really significant step of…lowering their eye level by a couple of feet.

so Oslo started trimming all its decorative roadside vegetation down. and what was the first result they saw? kids in Oslo are walking to school more, because it’s safer to do it now. and that, as it turns out, reduces traffic around schools, making it even safer to walk to school.