Missing: A Hyperfixation

And then hard-pivoted to Azula/Katara

That would actually be hilariously amazing

...Oh no I was writing tags and realized how they could even start it for realsies

Season three. The hunt for Katara's mother's killer. Still have her head out with Zuko, but have Azula be actively hunting them (because honestly they were not subtle in the show and she's looking for Avatar + traitor brother leads at that point) so

So Azula shows up, just in time for Katara to freeze the rain

So that she can very cooly flick one of the ice shards away from her own face with a sharp fingernail, as she inquires just what they think they're doing harassing pathetic old villagers

Insert Katara's justified rage here

Azula: Hm. Proceed.

...Which Katara does. And still ends up sparing the guy.

She starts to walk away. Turns back, just for a moment. Meets Azula's eyes, and asks "Why?"

Azula's response is left as an exercise to the shippers, both pro and anti. It is possible you can't hear it over their collective screams.

everyone loves a classic! (vitronura giselae)

One of my friends in high school changed his named as soon as he turned 18, so that the ethnic name his family gave him was finally the name reflected on all of his paperwork. He told me that he understood why his parents had given him an “English” name, but that he felt that if he needed to assimilate in order to succeed, then that was a type of success that he didn’t want.

When I was on my way home from the courthouse after changing my own name, I got into a conversation with my rideshare driver, who was extremely interested once I told him what I was in court for, and wanted to know how I’d done it, how much it cost, was it difficult, etc. It turned out that his girlfriend had chosen the name “Yo-yo” when she came to the United States, unaware of how rare that was as a name, and that she was frequently made fun of because of it. Neither one of them had realized that a name change was so easy, and he told me he was excited to let her know that she had options.

There was an intern at a summer job I had once, who changed her name to be the same name, but a different spelling. She said that she had no idea why her parents had spelled her name so oddly to begin with, and suspected that it was just an honest mistake either by them or by some nurse, but it had been a headache for her entire life, and it was a huge relief to not need to be correcting people’s spelling on important documents anymore.

One of my exes legally changed his name to have an exclamation point, because he liked to sign his name with an exclamation point.

had an abusive family and wanted to distance themself completely from that in every way so they changed first and last names

got married and both changed their last name to a new one together to start a new family tree

hated that they had a very common name and were tired of being confused with other people or needing an additional name qualifier to distinguish them from others so chose a unique name instead

Consider following political and social justice tumblrs under a different login than the one you use to find cool art / cat pictures / fandom stuff / kink stuff / etc

Or like just in general, if you're getting most of your political news in the same apps where you do most of your fun / sexy shit,

There's a concept in psychology called "overcoupling," which is basically when a person's trauma is super cross-wired, so to speak, with the present or with a certain topic

Overcoupling can both cause and worsen intrusive thoughts and depression, especially for people with a history of trauma

Or, more simply: If you're mentally whipping back and forth between cute animal, funny joke, porn, genocide psa, and hate crime footage at the speed of scrolling, that can really mess with your head, and sometimes it takes people quite a while to pin it down

Or, if the place you go to relax and look at fandom shit is also where you get all your news about ongoing global crises, that's gonna seriously mess with your ability to actually relax and rest

So, many books, but the knowledge isn't eldritch - it's evidence-based!

Also, before I go into it:

This isn't something anyone needs to stress over or especially panic over, especially if you don't really feel like it's affecting you personally.

I simply was having a thoughtful night and wanted to share a nudge/tip/data point to help people be more intentional

Best of luck!

But yes, further explanation!:

The concept of overcoupling specifically comes from Somatic Experiencing, which is a type of therapy and bodywork. It was invented by a psychologist and trauma survivor, Dr. Peter Levine, in the 1990s. The idea behind Somatic Experiencing, as well as other somatic ("body-based") healing practices, is that, as we know, trauma is stored not just in the mind, but also in the body - and therefore SE says, in order to heal after trauma, we must work with the body too. They have some really cool articles and theses on the org's Research page here

But the reason I know isn't specific to somatic experiencing itself, I just know a lot about trauma, psychology books, and "mind, body, spirit" publishing (kind of a genre tag for a lot of these books, especially for alternative and non-Western healing practices).

Sooooooo,

If you want specific book recs for the eldritch-evidence-based knowledge, I highly recommend:

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

by Stephanie Foo

and

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

by Peter Levine

Also, for the book recs, since I've been asked before: This is in no way an ad or an affiliate link. I have never used either of those on reasonsforhope/directactionforhope, and I never plan to bc I believe in eliminating perverse incentives in my activism, etc.

--

On a different type of note, in terms of how I figured it out:

want to show a teenager helpless in a world of adults, powerless under his guardians but with unimaginable burden on him, trying and failing to cope with his grief as the ground spins out from under his feet? make hamlet 19.

want to show the complexity of gertrude's relationship with her son, and have her quiet complicity finally catch up to her in the last guilt-ridden effort to save her son? have her drink the poison knowingly.

want to emphasize the tragedy of the story and show the consequences of the depths claudius sank to? have her drink the poison by accident.

want to portray elsinore with an insular, suffocating atmosphere in which the rot and madness festers? cut fortinbras out.

want to emphasize the collateral damage of elsinore's deterioration on a national and international level, and leave a current of militaristic tension beneath? leave fortinbras in!