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Have you ever read a poem in its original language and felt exactly what the author intended to convey, but then read it translated into another language and no longer felt the same way?

Sometimes I feel that poetry doesn’t fully survive translation.

The words move from one language to another, but something is left behind, as if the poem leaves part of itself along the way.

I recently read a poem in spanish that felt deeply profound, almost as if it carried its own weight, as if every word was exactly where it was meant to be. But when I translated it into english, even though I understood every word, it didn’t feel the same. It had lost some of its intensity, its aura; it was no longer the same.

It’s not just spanish. There are many russian, chinese, and poems in other languages that lose part of their essence in translation. Some words exist in their original language but have no true equivalent in english, and there are certain words that carry a lot of weight and intesnsity in the original language but not in english, even if the literal meaning remains.

When translated, the meaning may stay, but the essence changes. What was once dense becomes flatter. What had power becomes more neutral. What once felt almost mythical becomes more ordinary, more explainable.

Perhaps poetry isn’t broken when translated.

you're making a sandwich!! Spin THIS wheel 3-5 times for the toppings!

Hot sauce

Mayo

Ketchup

Another college thing. For this we had to work in teams to create a world by playing "the quiet year" and then we each had to design a background and character that would belong to this world.

My team ended up creating this weird cyberpunk city on mars where people found a massive whale frozen underground that accidentally caused an outbreak of disease which caused people's DNA to fuse with other animals and made them rabid.

I love works that place a strong emphasis on accepting oneself and one's unique traits (I'm not fond of the word "flaws", it carries a much more negative connotation, in my opinion). This theme, while perhaps a bit common, is no less important for it. In my opinion, it should be addressed more often, since not every work handles it well.

So, let's get back to Haruhi. Why do I consider her the gold standard for how this theme should be presented in media? There are many reasons. If we look at how Haruhi feels about her appearance, we'll see that she's completely indifferent to it. The same goes for her gender and the way she expresses her thoughts. She simply doesn't care how others perceive her. She doesn't try to impress anyone with her looks or behavior, because she sees no point in it. Haruhi is guided by her own feelings and chooses what's comfortable for her. I think this is a wonderful outlook on life. You can't please everyone and there's no point in trying if you don't feel comfortable yourself.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with this trope in movies about self-acceptance where we're shown a character with a non-standard appearance. For example, they wear braces or glasses and spend the whole movie feeling insecure. And instead of accepting themselves, they listen to friends, family, or acquaintances who advise them to switch to contacts, remove their braces, lose weight, get a haircut, change their style, and then they'll immediately become beautiful in everyone's eyes. But how can a person love themselves if they constantly have to change something about themselves to do so? Don't get me wrong: I understand those who feel better with small changes to their appearance, because self-acceptance can be much harder than it seems. I have no issue with the people. My issue is with works that market themselves as stories about self-acceptance.

And what do we see in ohshc? Haruhi, too, is forced into others' beauty standards: they put her in dresses and wigs with long hair, apply makeup, replace her glasses with contacts. And for what? So she can look "beautiful." Need I say that beauty is completely subjective? Some people like blue eyes, some like brown, some like gray. Some prefer blonde hair, others red or brown. For some, a toned body is the ideal of beauty, while others prefer bodies from Renaissance paintings. Can anyone really say that one taste is better or worse than another? I don't think so. But one way or another, everyone tries to squeeze Haruhi into their own imaginary standards.

So what does Haruhi do in response? She couldn't care less about those standards. Her own comfort and sense of self always come first. She sees absolutely no point in extravagant clothes, hairstyles, or makeup. As soon as the host club announces its closure, Haruhi comes to school the very next day looking exactly as she did when she first walked into the Third Music Room. Does she feel insecure or uncomfortable about how she looks? Not at all. Because she truly accepts herself as she is, even if others disagree. In my opinion, this is a very healthy and mature stance, and this is exactly the kind of attitude toward oneself that stories about self-acceptance should promote.

What I especially love about Haruhi is that, despite many people not understanding her views on appearance, she still attracts everyone's attention and affection. Because she's a good person who tries to treat everyone with kindness and understanding. And, to me, that is far more important than how someone looks. Just think about it: the anime came out in 2006, the manga even earlier, and even then, there was such a wonderful representation. I truly hope that over time we'll see more and more characters like Haruhi, because this theme is truly important to many people. Even now, in the 21st century, many still try to impose strange beauty standards on others, making them feel ashamed of their appearance, personality, and other traits.

Some things I like: pretty, minimal, and not distracting; you can change the theme to different colors if you want (I prefer black/white/neutral); drafting feels more pleasant, less corporate (if that makes sense); side panels are easy enough to navigate; can collaborate; can export to ao3 (I didn’t try this feature).

Some things that need work (perhaps user error): doesn’t seem to always scroll automatically when I reach the “bottom” of the doc; can’t add to the “dictionary” for spellcheck purposes; no tabs (have to make another draft within the work and this could potentially be confusing… but! I can also see the upside to this); outline feature (Google sucks with this too); question of reliability—how long will this last? And for free?

So, I really like Ellipsus and will continue to use it. I’m interested in how it handles longer work. I’ve only done 13k so far in one doc. Google would lag and I assume this will too.