The Best of Me

—

The Criminal commits his (first) impeachable act

Hitler had his Brownshirts, and now Trump has his.

And the thing about red flags, is that most things that are legitimately problematic in the books are fantasy staples. JKR didn't invent the anti-semitic portrayal of goblins. It's an old as hell trope that's in countless fantasy stories. The house elves were based on Brownie folklore, even down to the tradition of their freedom coming from a piece of clothing being given to them. People were not talking a lot about the casual transphobia in doing things like describing Rita Skeeter's hands as 'mannish' because casual transphobia was so ubiquitous that it was the norm, and that transphobia was often actively violent. I just don't think it crossed many people's minds that 'wow JKR described Rita Skeeter's hands as mannish once in the year 2000, so I think she's probably a T*RF.' And this doesn't make it okay, and it doesn't mean these aspects of the books aren't problematic! But it does mean that like, no it wasn't 'so obvious' even to MANY progressive minded people. And I also don't think it makes her a terrible person. What makes her a terrible person is what she's doing NOW.

Go to any streets that close for art events, you’ll find at least 1 good potter selling their wares there

I got the cup I use for my bathroom at Las Olas, Florida for their art fair a few years back, it was like $15ish but the potter had a set all in the same color combo of a bowl, 2 sized plates and 2 different mugs. I just wanted the one small cup but I’ve got the card somewhere

…and y'all, I almost cried. Just look at these. LOOK AT THEM.

So many skin tones!

PLUS SIZED BODY TYPES!

NATURAL HAIR STYLES!!! MULTIPLE SHADES OF DARK SKIN!!!

LOOK AT THIS PROFESSIONAL LADY!

SO MANY SKIN TONES AND BODY TYPES AND LOOK AT THAT MERMAN!!!

FRECKLES!!!

Y'all, I’m just…so so happy.

I’m 35 years old and I’ve never seen a Barbie that looked like me, and then there I am as a Barbie in a purple sweater with thick thighs and evenly proportioned boobs and pink hair and a cat.

I can only imagine how other girls must feel.

Guys… Even being confident there would be even MORE added to the barbie range of dolls…. I was not prepared.

I am about to image spam you so forgive but there’s just SO MUCH

holy shit. I’m like… not even a doll person and so many of these I want!

There’s LITERALLY too many to add

(who is she?)

Plus sized Barbie with DIMPLES

They actually have a barbie with albinism and bothered to give her a proper face-sculpt!

This one looks like she could kill me instantly if she made direct eye-contact

This one’s smile is just KILLING me

Nubian girl because we’re not messing around

Also… this doll does not have any name on the product listing nor on the packaging so this might just be me but…. help me out here guys… is this.. ….is this a non-binary barbie? Am I presuming too much or is that what I’m looking at here??

Also final note. Just to REALLY drill this all home, Barbie has some photos of kids playing with the dolls and

Ironically, Barbie did not come to play around.

Also I’m obsessed with this Sally Ride doll

i babysat the sweetest little girl who was in a hot pink wheelchair. it was almost brand new, and she was just so excited to finally have a good wheelchair!! the day i walked into the house after she’d gotten it, she wheeled over to me with the biggest smile and said “it doesn’t hurt my back anymore!!”

for her birthday, i got her a barbie doll who looked a lot like her (it was the one with vitiligo) and a little barbie wheelchair and a few other accessories because who doesn’t like accessories?

apparently she’d had a white doll for a while and of course loved her doll but when she saw not only the one with vitiligo but also the wheelchair? and she put that little doll into the wheelchair and pushed her around a bit on the table? she looked up at me and burst into tears, grinning from ear to ear, and murmured to me “she’s like me. i didn’t know there were ones like me” and lemme tell you i nearly broke down right then and there and i gave her the warmest smile and hug i could muster up and her parents called me a few months later (i’d stopped babysitting because they didn’t have money to pay and wouldn’t allow me to babysit for little/free like i offered because i knew they both were searching for jobs and couldn’t be around their kid much bc interviews) and they just thanked me, their daughter was “so happy to have a doll like her that she carried the barbie around with her all the time”. they hadn’t been able to afford the doll and were actually saving up for a wheelchair at least.

this isn’t overkill.

heres the comparison:

A pair of French bulldogs painted by Carl Reichert (1836-1918)

“Sweet Temptation or Willpower”

—

By the end I was wearing a white robe and broad straw hat, carrying a sword, peeing on the lawn, performing magic on the hilltops. I was deep into some wild conspiracy shit and doing a lot of writing, making a lot of mix tapes. I talked intensely with the tv and radio, and developed in-depth relationships with the characters on “Hill Street Blues.”

If I learned anything from the experience, it is this.