the ocean burned

If hair braiding isn’t taught in many beauty schools, why does the government force black women to go (and pay thousands) to get a cosmetology license? What’s worse is not doing so could result in a $10,000 fine and a year in prison. Since the 1990s, the Institute for Justice has been fighting for hair braiders — and a new legal showdown in Iowa could be their biggest yet.

Braiders in Iowa no longer need to get a cosmetology license to plait customers’ hair. Thanks to two Black women who brought a lawsuit against the state with a non-profit public interest law firm, stylists who practice unlicensed braiding will not face jail time. Aicheria Bell and Achan Agit filed and won a civil suit against the midwestern state with the Institute for Justice.

Can we think about how the last time Toph saw her parents they rejected her and wanted to put her in a box, hide her away from society rather than accept who she was. How she thought she was going to see her mom in Ba Sing Se but got locked in a small cage where she couldn’t bend. How she decided she hated them but deep down actually missed them despite everything. 

How she still wanted to have them in her life and did miss them and took the small step to send them a letter. That was the last time she interacted with her parents and for all we know, she never heard back. Hawky didn’t return. She never got her reply. Toph never got to know if her parents wanted her back. 

She could have died without anything resembling catharsis or closure. She’s crying as Sokka tells her “it looks like this is the end” and she believes him. That was going to be it. After everything they went through, they weren’t going to make it out alive. 

And then Sokka? 

The last time he saw Hakoda was in The Southern Raiders. They barely had time to spend with each other after The Boiling Rock and they didn’t even get a full goodbye. All they got was Hakoda telling them “it’s not forever” and a quick hug in the heat of battle. Sokka was so sure they were going to see each other again because he didn’t know about the plans for the comet and he didn’t know what was going to happen in the coming weeks. 

And right here? He could have died with this being the last time he talked to Hakoda. Sokka could have died with only this fleeting moment as the last time he talked to his dad. That could have been the end of it after years of separation with only a few weeks together in all those years.  

And they were kids.They shouldn’t have had to be the ones to save the world. They shouldn’t have had to invent metalbending or save their father from a high security prison or march into battle without knowing if they would live or die. 

Toph and Sokka were so sure they were going to die in this moment. They were so sure the quick goodbyes and attitudes that ‘it’s not forever’ were all they were going to get to leave behind to their parents. They thought they were going to die and had no idea if Suki or Aang would come out of it okay. They had no way of knowing if Zuko or Katara would live. And they never got the chance to get anything close to resembling closure with their parents.