Repeat after me: IT TAKES AS MANY DRAFTS AS IT TAKES.
todays bird
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
taylor price
styofa doing anything
h

Product Placement
Xuebing Du
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda

Janaina Medeiros
Not today Justin
Game of Thrones Daily
Sade Olutola
$LAYYYTER

shark vs the universe
hello vonnie
Cosimo Galluzzi

oozey mess

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Spain
seen from United States
seen from Japan

seen from United States
seen from Germany

seen from Germany
seen from Brazil

seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia

seen from Serbia

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
@potatolatte
Repeat after me: IT TAKES AS MANY DRAFTS AS IT TAKES.

Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
It was on this day, in 1924, on a hot dry summer afternoon in the Philippines, that people began to flock to a school building in Tondo, Manila, to witness a momentous event.
*Poster of Instituto de Mujeres, an exclusive girls’ school, where the first Balagtasan was held.
It would be the first ever poetic debate rooted in the rich and lively Tagalog poesia (poetry). Even our modern day Spoken Word Poetry in the hidden enclaves of the indie scene in Metro Manila does not even come close to this. No. Think of how rattled and excited Filipinos get when it comes to boxing, or basketball. Think of how the latest punch, or the latest basketball game, would be the talk of every street, and every corner in the Philippines. Perhaps what comes close to this would be the modern-day rap showdowns in the underground—always down to earth, produces hisses, boos, and cheers, and captures and grips the imagination of the audience surrounding the two rappers. The verve, the energy, the passion, the words that rhyme and dignifies the struggle of the everyday Filipino.
This “new” way of doing versified debate was to be called the Balagtasan.
In its heyday, Balagtasan was such that its influence flowed out into society in surprising ways. Take for example a fist fight in 21 March 1929, that made it into the newspaper, The Tribune. Two brothers, Domingo and Godofredo Arca, got beaten up by “a mob of twenty admirers” or fans of the famous Balagtasan poet. An excerpt of the news clip said:
The source of the [fight] was last night’s balagtasan at the stadium between Batute, Raymundo and Esguerra on the one hand and Gatmaitan, Hernandez and Caravana on the other. The judges gave a draw decision but the great majority of the people thought the Batute’s team should have won.
Note that the Balagtasan was held in a stadium. Records note that the largest Balagtasan audience gathered was on 16 October 1925, in Olympic Stadium, in Avenida Rizal, where 8,000 to 15,000 people attended to witness this poetic “joust”. Senators, people from the academe, government officials, and even Emilio Aguinaldo himself attended. Jose Corazon de Jesus, more popularly known by his pseudonym “Huseng Batute,” won in that match and was given the title, Hari ng Balagtasan (King of Balagtasan).
*Interior of Teatro Zorilla, used to be located in Calle Iris (now Recto Avenue, Manila). This was one of the theaters used to host numerous Balagtasan events. Photo from Philippines, My Philippines Facebook.
But what is in Balagtasan that has caught the attention and devotion of a generation of Filipinos?
Balagtasan had nothing to do with the famous Filipino poet, Francisco Balagtas (1788-1862).
In fact, Balagtasan was created in 1924, 62 years after the death of Balagtas. It was drawn from the deep wells of Filipino tradition and literature, not only to give tribute to Francisco Balagtas whose birth anniversary fell on 2 April, whom all poets in that year acknowledge as a pioneer Filipino writer of Tagalog poetry, but also to push back the then prevailing American influence on Filipinos when the United States wrested possession of the Philippines from Filipinos beginning in 1899.
And so, in March 1924, the group of Filipino poets, Kapulungang Balagtas, met with the intention of creating a new way of doing poetry by means of arguing. Lope K. Santos’ idea was to transform the tradition of Duplo into one that would encapsulate Filipino realities and influence the public square and at the same time promote Tagalog poetry and strengthen the language. But as the discussion of the group progressed, Duplo was found to be quite inappropriate for Balagtas’ birth anniversary. You see, it was only done during the wake and in honor of someone who just died—a form of entertainment for the grieving family and friends. It was usually held in the backyard of the house where the wake was held. Duplo could also get confusing as there were no defined topic being discussed. Patricio Dionisio suggested that this duplo, should it honor Balagtas, should be named after him. Jose Sevilla came up with the name “Balagtasan.”
Rules were set for Balagtasan. We would see here that the original Balagtasan was not purely extemporaneous. Dionisio wrote the script for the poetic joust. But the script was meant to provide direction, and was open for adlib in the actual delivery. There was a flow in the two opposing arguments and a set of roles. There would be two poets, each with their own unfinished script, whose skill would be, to quickly utter a stanza of his argument in answer to that of his opponent. When the argument becomes cyclical, the poet has a stanza reserved to break the stalement. There was a lakandiwa (male poet) or lakambini (female poet) stood as moderator, and a topic would be set. There would also be a set of judges—poets of renown—who would judge from the delivery of the arguments who deserve the title of Hari ng Balagtasan. April 2 fell on a Wednesday, and Kapulungang Balagtas figured that in order to get more audience, the Balagtasan should be scheduled on a weekend. And so it was decided that the first Balagtasan was to be held on 6 April 1924, Sunday. Ads came out on 5 April at the weekly Bagong Lipang Kalabaw with a by-line, “Ibig-Sumali-Kung-Maaari”.
And so on this same day, in 1924, the first Balagtasan was held. Six Filipino poets registered, divided into three groups. The first group—Rafael Olay and Tomas L. De Jesus; the second—Amado V. Hernandez and Guillermo Holandez with the topic “Binatang Nayon laban sa Binatang Lungsod”, and the third—Jose Corazon de Jesus and Florentino Collantes with the topic, “Bulaklak ng Lahing Kalinisan.” With a great command of the Tagalog language, and with a quick retort with rhyme and measurement, the poets pulled out their strength with wit and words, and even humor, that left the audience laughing.
*Jose Corazon de Jesus (Right) and Florentino Collantes (Left). From GMA News Site.
But perhaps on that day, what was most remembered was the Balagtasan between De Jesus (as Paruparo or Butterfly) and Collantes (as Bubuyog or Bee). The argument set was who among them, butterfly and bee, deserve the beautiful flower, reminiscent of two Filipino men trying to win the hand of a Filipina. De Jesus won, and was bestowed the first Hari ng Balagtasan title.
*Portrait of Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng Batute)
Jose Corazon de Jesus would then rise as the famous Huseng Batute. Through the years, Collantes would be able to wrest the Balagtasan crown from him, and vice versa.
The rivalry between the two was legendary, but perhaps, De Jesus had the last laugh.
He passed away in 1932 holding the title. A poet-king indeed.
PSA: journalists aren’t supposed to put names in the headlines if the person isn’t a public figure. It’s not a matter of maliciously not giving credit
^^^as a journalist, this is something that bothers me ALL THE TIME
A friend of mine on Twitter explained this the other day, so to elaborate based on what she said: If the name is not instantly recognizable the way a public figure is, then putting the name in the headline isn’t going to bring about any sort of recognition or connection in the reader, and doesn’t do much to draw the reader into the story. But something like “local teen” does create a connection by tying the person into the community, and encourages the reader to learn more about what this local teen has done. The name will be in the article itself, after the headline has done its job at getting the reader to look into it.
It’s worth noting too that usually, according to the Inverted Pyramid writing style used for journalism where the most important information is shared first, the person’s name is usually in the first sentence of the first paragraph.
Whenever I see someone get up at arms over a headline that says “Local Teen” and the first comment is “SAY THEIR NAME” I’m always like “hey, thanks for telling every journalist present that you don’t read articles and just skim headlines.” Really makes us feel appreciated.
I think this Onion headline illustrates the point pretty well
“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.
“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement.
“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”
“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”
Things I didn’t know
“And–” she waved a pen as though to underline her statement–“if you’re interrupting a sentence with an action, you need to type two hyphens to make an en-dash.”
You guys have no idea how many students in my advanced fiction workshop didn’t know any of this when writing their stories.
Reblog to save a life
Reblog to save a beta’s sanity.
Siberia by Ang Bandang Shirley (Youtube)

Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
4Walls, f(x)
The Science of Shipping
Shipping culture is very interesting.
What is shipping anyway?
Basically, it’s ‘These two would be great together’ or ‘This is cute, why not?’
Or, mostly, ‘These two deserve each other’ whether you mean it in a nice way or a bad way.
Here’s what I’ve observed:
Shipping basically starts as us seeing chemistry between two characters, feeling that they have great potential. Potential for what? For anything really.
The potential to:
Complete each other? (Ladynoir)
To make for an interesting story? (Drarry)
To be good for each other? (Stucky)
To balance each other out with their differences? (McKirk)
Or that they simply make sense based on:
Shared traits (Percabeth)
Experiences (Zutara)
Goals (Superbat)
History (Stucky) / (Clintasha)
From then it can branch out to just liking the dynamic, the idea of them, even if it doesn’t lead to a happily ever after or a happily ever anything. This is where ‘problematic’ ships come into the play.
Now, let’s discuss the biggest question –
When is it Shipping and when is it Fetishizing?
We have a big fetishizing problem in fandom in general, and that’s different from having a fetish. It centers around dehumanizing and depersonalizing people, making them out to only be their mental illness, sexuality or just their appearance. Let’s discuss!
Keep reading
I would never let the television show of my life finish, just skip past the humdrum commercials of simple living and binge-watch the highlights: “Will you marry me?” “Yes.” “I do.” “It’s a boy and he’s beautiful.” “It’s a girl and she’s beautiful.” “It’s another boy and he’s beautiful.”
Replay by Jesse Parent (Button Poetry 2014)
If you want the rainbow (you must have the rain) by Annette Hanshaw (1929)

Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside--remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.
There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock.
I remember awakening one morning and finding everything with the colour of forgotten love.
-Charles Bukowski
Only started taking prompts from Twitter poetry writers and prompters. This one's my first, using a prompt by SableSwan. Follow the tag on Twitter.
The first time I saw her, everything in my head went quiet. All the tics, all the constantly refreshing images, just disappeared. When you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, you don't really get quiet moments. Even in bed I'm thinking, "Did I lock the door yes did I wash my hands yes did I lock the door yes did I wash my hands yes."
...
Now I just think about who else is kissing her. I can't breathe because he only kisses her once. He doesn't care if it's perfect. I want her back so bad, I leave the door unlocked. I leave the lights on.
OCD by Neil Hilborn (Watch here)
Let's only make light memories that we can throw away.
Now I know that a love too deep Brings a sad ending, I'll pray for your next love, my love That it won't be like us, That it'll be without pain. Please be happier than me.
If We Love Again, performed by EXO

Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
She stood here, the Lenape girl. She was only thirteen or fourteen, the legend says. Here on this high bluff overlooking the ramshackle remains of the old steel mill famous in the Revolution for making the best cannon for George Washington’s army. Of course it wasn’t a steel plant then, just forest, maybe rocks. She stood here and then she jumped… well, perhaps leaped, since this is a poem and leaped feels more poetic than jumped. In any case, down she went to her death, thirteen- or fourteen-year-old Lenape girl, because her father would not allow her to marry the boy she loved. Standing here, I wonder things. I wonder if she started way back there and came running and practically flew off the edge. Or did she come slowly, like a trickle of water across a tabletop that seems to pause at the edge, gathering itself before spilling? If she did stand here and wait—why? What was she waiting for? Was she giving time one last chance to save her? Happiness one last chance to happen? Ha! Easier to rearrange the stars than a father’s mind. Did she look down? Did she look out? What did she see? Did she see his face? The boy’s? Did she see him wave to her, call to her from far away? Did she see the two of them running, laughing across meadows of chicory and Queen Anne’s lace, flowers they knew by other names? And his name—did she say it? Did she shout it from the blufftop to all the earth below? Or whisper it, for his ears only to hear? One thing for sure—it comes clearly now: she was not looking down. This I know.
Maiden’s Leap by Stargirl (from Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, 2007)
Who says only the mighty ones deserve an anthem?
Medals by Lu Han