current obsessions

Here's another one of my in-depth analyses of Rise, this time focusing on Donnie and offering a personal perspective on what his eating habits might be like.

I'll take his autism into account for this analysis, but it won't be a clinical assessment (since that's not my area of expertise); it will be more of an experience-based perspective.

An interesting point to note before diving into the topic is that people with autism who have dietary challenges tend to fall into one of two extremes: they’re either very sensitive to flavors and textures (which limits their food variety) or have very little sensitivity (so they tend to eat just about anything).

Here, I’m trying to figure out whether Donnie is more of a picky eater or, on the contrary, can eat a wide variety of foods.

Within the fandom, Donnie is often described as a picky eater—a character trait highlighted by the fact that the series shows he hates pineapple on pizza and likes unflavored juice.

However, throughout the series, there are more moments where Donnie seems to be someone who likes to eat everything than someone who is particularly picky (at least in this regard).

By this, I don't mean things like him liking Todd's lemonade, but rather eating foods that would be sensory overload if he really had a sensitive palate.

Take the scene in the episode “War and Pizza” where he gets hit with a cake—the first thing he does is lick it (I think that probably wouldn’t be the first instinct of someone with a sensitive palate).

Also, in the episode “Operation: Normal”, where he eats that disgusting pizza with Leo—even when April asks them to switch pizzas—he’s the one who insists on trying it.

And then there’s the sandwich he makes in the episode “Breaking Purple”; in this case, I’m particularly struck by the number of ingredients it has—quite a few, with a variety of flavors and textures.

I’d also like to point out that at the beginning of the episode “Portal Jaked!”, he tells his brothers he wants to try the new vegetarian pizza—which is curious, considering that soft-shelled turtles eat almost 100% meat. This shows a certain openness to new flavors and an interest in trying them, something that a person on the autism spectrum who is sensitive in this area would typically prefer to avoid.

Now, does this contradict his aversion to pineapple on pizza? Not necessarily; Donnie may have limited preferences regarding certain foods he doesn’t like, but the series seems to show that there are more foods he enjoys than those he doesn’t.

Here comes the comparison with my own case and that of another person with autism I know.

In my case, I have a low sensitivity to taste, so I tend to eat a wide variety of foods, and there are very few I refuse to eat.

The other person with autism I know is the opposite—he’s very sensitive in this regard. He eats only a few types of food and doesn’t usually mix them together; if he can eat a dish with just one ingredient, he won’t complain. He avoids restaurants or social situations that force him to try new foods, since he has little tolerance for the flavors and textures news.

Based on this, I’d say it seems that Donnie is more the type of autistic person with low sensitivity to taste, which probably makes him the one among his siblings who has eaten the most things.

Fun fact: People on the autism spectrum with this trait often eat non-edible things as kids (at some point, I got to taste grass, ants, dirt, and even wallpaper), and I think that’s why April and Splinter considered using his stomach to get rid of the Krang’s key 😅

I hope you enjoyed this mini-analysis 😋✨

there’s sixteen Colorado counties that their most searched was “wolf furry”, plus thirty-odd counties (not counting either Arapahoe or any of the ones marked here as “Insufficient Data”) which may well have had plenty of searches for “wolf furry”, just fewer than for whatever they’re labeled here

and “skunk furry” searches in Arapahoe County outnumbered “wolf furry” searches in the entire state of Colorado

(Yoinked this from LinkedIn, genuinely interested in seeing how responses align with demographics) (so far it’s those of us over 35 being indignant but I wanna see how those fully plays out) (it’s cultural and technological history/memory, bruh)

Greece suspends asylum applications for migrants from North Africa by Laura Gozzi (BBC).

Greece passes draconian legislation with prison terms for rejected asylum seekers by Helena Smith (The Guardian).

Greek coastguard threw migrants overboard to their deaths, witnesses say by Lucile Smith and Ben Steele (BBC).

Bill on Detention Centres for Asylum Seekers Published by Jelena Ćirić (Iceland Review).

Italy sends 40 rejected asylum seekers to Albania by Karl Sexton (DW).

Record number of migrants, refugees reached Canary Islands by sea in 2024 (Al Jazeera).