Memento!

In the first panel: as the Tiktaalik emerges from its kin in the water, Castiel looks down and rests a hand along its back as he descends from his heavenly siblings in their more abstract forms.

In the final panel, the two of them rest on the bank of a stream facing each other. Castiel, kneeling to speak to the little creature, asks, "Do you know what you're becoming?"

"Do you?" replies the Tiktaalik.

Along the bottom margin shows the metamorphosis of an angel from a more abstract spiky form on the left and the evolution of humans from a unicellular eukaryote on the right. They meet in the middle in the form of a human. /end ID]

"8. As a white person, I must feel completely safe during any discussion of race. Suggesting that I have racist assumptions or patterns will cause me to feel unsafe, so you will need to rebuild my trust by never giving me feedback again. Point of clarification: when I say "safe", what I really mean is "comfortable".

9. Highlighting my racial privilege invalidates the form of oppression that I experience (e.g. classism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, transphobia). We will then need to turn out attention to how you oppressed me.

10. You must acknowledge my intentions (always good) and agree that my good intentions cancel out the impact of my behavior.

11. To suggest my behavior had a racist impact is to have misunderstood me. You will need to allow me to explain myself until you can acknowledge that it was your misunderstanding."

But on another level, I feel much more comfortable with a terrible interpretation of The Odyssey (if it is, idk, not seen it yet) than I do of, say, Jane Austen for two reasons. Firstly, I'm not convinced we've ever had a good film adaptation of Homer! Like, as classicists we are very used to absolutely terrible, complete dogshit films. Remember when Troy had Menelaus killed off and made Achilles and Patroclus cousins? Mad times! Still watch it every year with my classes and we analyse the choices made. Secondly, I feel very aware that the myths in the Homeric epics have always been moveable from earliest antiquity. There were many epics about the Trojan War which didn't survive and probably interpreted the events and characters totally differently. There was no one correct canon, as it were. The Iliad and Odyssey solidified some things but not totally. Achilles' heel isn't even a thing in the Iliad and that's a major component of 'Achilles lore'. The Tragedians did whatever the hell they liked. Ajax has PTSD. Helen was in Egypt the whole time. Iphigenia was saved from sacrifice. And then we have Virgil! So while I am sure I will have some Opinions on choices Nolan has made in adapting the text of The Odyssey (the book by Homer, whoever they were), I think classicists are pretty good at not being precious about the myths themselves and find continual adaptation and reinterpretation very interesting. Not to mention that reception studies is VERY big in Classics atm and those academics have just got a whole load more new material to work on!

This turned out longer than expected but hope it's helpful! :)

I really appreciate your sharing this at length! And the fact that adaptations actually lead to increased numbers of students signing up for your subjects is wonderful.

I don't think I've ever had to make a policy on this before, because 1) I'm not evil and I know pretty much anything I do is going to be aboveboard (and I can control that!), 2) I know the law regarding minors/juveniles better than the vast majority of the American humans, and 3) I believe that healthy communication and interaction between adults and minors in hobby spaces is a good thing.

I'm pretty sure that the post regarding minors and legal representation, though, has made me feel like a Safe Person, and I have no doubt that some of my (insane numbers of!!) new followers are underage in their jurisdiction.

First of all: you can stay. I know I couldn't stop you, but I want you to know that you are actually welcome.

Second: I do post about difficult topics. Quite a lot! However, I think kind and compassionate takes on difficult topics are far from the worst thing that children and teenagers can be exposed to on the Internet. I believe you have the growing ability to decide for yourself how you want to experience the world, and if what I say makes you uncomfortable or sad, take care of yourself. Speak to someone about it.

Third: Just because I look and act safe does not mean I'm safe. No one is safe on the Internet because you do not know them. Any time anyone asks you to do things you are uncomfortable with, whether it's a stranger online asking about fanfic or a "friend" coming on to you in an unwelcome way, your discomfort is telling you something. If it feels wrong, it's wrong. Full stop. You do not need reasons or a factual basis or anything -- this is why people say things like "No is a complete sentence." IMO, "fuck off" is an even fuller sentence.

This is, of course, more complicated than I'm summarizing here. There are good types of discomfort that are about moving you out of your literal comfort zone and learning new things about your capabilities and strengths. But if an adult is pestering you about something you don't want to do, asks yourself how that adult benefits from it. Why do they want it. Is there a genuine reason that makes sense and feels true? Does it empower you? Or does it make you feel gross? People who are trustworthy don't put you in positions where you have to just trust them.

What I'm saying is: be safe out there.

A philosophy of being kind and compassionate is all well and good from me; I'm in a position of power. I am an adult and a lawyer, in a respected profession in the community, who interacts with real power on a daily basis. You should be safe first, and kindness should not put you in a position where you're unsafe.

Last lesson: The number one thing that predators look for is kindness, especially in someone who has less power than them. That's the secret, folks. It's just kindness. When they make a fuss over their own feelings and blame those feelings on their target, is the target kind enough to take responsibility and go out of their way to soothe them? Then they have their "in." Soon, everything they feel and do will be their target's fault, and their target will believe it too, because the target will blame themselves for not being kind enough. Not being good enough.

No one should get offended if you decide to do so and if they do that's a red flag.

Ive also been super impressed by your handling of all the Israel-Palestine questions you're getting hit with now and the way you've been talking about assuming intent/guilt based. It's an issue I have to handle a lot at work and with Jewish family and on tumblr and sometimes I'm super exhausted by it so it's been refreshing to see people actually do have reasonable opinions and approaches to thinking about the issue, antisemitism, and speech/assuming guilt etc. Thank you for helping add to the constructive engagement/discussion! That is so hard to achieve on here sometimes.

My god, why would you do international law. My least favorite of the law subjects. So crucial, so full of empty garbage trash words.

I considered just keeping this ask because it’s very nice and you are very lovely for sending it, but in the end I guess my need to call international law mean names has overwhelmed me

I think it must be, at least partially, because, people hate the imperfect victim. Its easy for so many people to sympathize with someone who never lashed out. Less so for people to sympathize with people who are angry and lash out. Even though its a perfectly sensible reaction to being hurt over and over. I'm sure most people would like to think they would simply never.

Every single one of them. There’s always something they did Wrong. There’s always a reason to doubt. There’s always something else they could have, should have done. When my clients admit things and their bodies and voices are full of shame, I tell them this. And then I explain their behavior back to them with emotion words instead of fault words.

Instead of doubting yourself, punishing yourself, relieve yourself of the burden of perfection. Ironically, this also makes it much easier to take responsibility for your role in things that go bad later on; if you aren’t perfect, failure is not a threat to your identity but just a process of growing and learning.

PTSD puts your body permanently in survival mode. One of those modes is FIGHT. It leads to violence all the time. Unbelievable numbers of my clients who have violent charges have some level of PTSD. They have to grapple with this part of themselves. I’m actually pretty used to talking people through it, I realize as I write this.

Catalpa is the anglicized version of the Muscogee Creek/Mvskoke word for the tree.

That list might say things like “Paint a picture. Go birdwatching. Finish that great novel I started reading. Call my grandma. Learn to bake a cake. Visit my sister. Play piano.”

“I should not be struggling this much to do things that I want to do and have the time, space, energy, and skills to do. Actually, when I list it all out like that, I should not be struggling at all to do those kinds of tasks.”