why are you still on tumblr

what they expect me to say: “well, no, actually, canon supports it, because if you look back as far as season three, she’s been training for–”

anybody else: may i also please… have some candy

what’s “sloppily made” or a “bad idea” about a trained girl assassin doing an assassination?

what’s “sloppily made” or a “bad idea” about a girl discovering she can use a quasi-magical force in a universe where quasi-magical forces exist?

what’s “sloppily made” or a “bad idea” about having a gay superhero in a story that takes place in a world where gay people exist?

what’s so hard to understand about my original post? is it not obvious that i’m making a joke? a joke about the way that gatekeepers expect us to be constantly proving the “quality” and “merits” of us getting any scraps of representation at all? when we should not have to fucking do that?

i’m tired of being forced to do fandom homework for gatekeepers. i shouldn’t have to write a dissertation on arya’s training with the faceless men to establish the validity of her actions to people who’ve been watching the fucking show all along but just have such misogyny-soaked brains that they can’t recognize the difference between “bad writing” and “my own shitty internal bias.” there is PLENTY of shitty writing on game of thrones: nearly all of it! but this was a logical plot development, and yet fandom still lost its collective shit, because skilled women are somehow the most fantastical element of a fucking ice zombie story.

that dude asking “well why should there be a gay avenger?” is a perfect example: he wants his homework done for him. he wants an essay in 12-point font with one-inch margins outlining Ten Solid Reasons for the inclusion of a gay avenger and their Relevance to the Plot, but i will tell you what he deserves, which is to be told to fuck off. there should be a fucking gay avenger because there are fucking gay people alive on earth and that is IT. we’re alive in the world, and so we deserve stories. stories about people like us. it’s that simple.

the point of my original post is that i am done politely providing footnoted essays on why there should be heroic lead characters that i identify with. “rey’s a mary sue” is not a statement that deserves to be refuted with evidence, it deserves to be fucking laughed at, and i was.

The more I thought about it the more I understood that holding minority representation to higher standards of subjective quality was unnecessary and childish in and of itself. If I wasn’t personally impressed by the movie, I didn’t have to watch it.

And I actually have no idea where I got the point that wanting something isn’t enough reason to want it. It doesn’t make any sense.

Furthermore, I see now that representation is uneven and it doesn’t add up that this would be because white, straight, male representation just happens to always be better. It was my own internalized bias that led me to believe this without logical support.

And above all, my refusal to understand simple concepts doesn’t place the onus on you to explain why you want something. It’s on me to think about different perspectives. That’s how we grow as people. Insisting on remaining stagnant stifles that intellectual growth.

Owls confirmed to be the creepiest birds ever. LOOK AT THE FUCKING THINGS. If you fail to notice the one on the left fucking SWALLOWING a rat, then you have the dude singing some satanic chant or something next to him, and then you have those two other fucking psychos synchronized to make you feel creeped the fuck out with their soulless dance of FUCKING DOOM.

I used to be a varsity swimmer, and I was damn good, but I was forced into it by my parents and completely lost my love for it and therein my drive. But in high school I was swimming against such talented swimmers like Olympic Swimmer Missy Franklin. I’ve met her, and the main difference between her and me was that I was strong but had no passion, but she was strong BECAUSE she had passion. 

And I could have been good, really good, maybe even Olympic good. I even have the predisposition for it, been swimming since I was 2 years old, have a mom who was almost an olympic swimmer. Missy didn’t have either of those things, she just wanted it, loved it, had been doing it for a long time, and decided she was going to kick ass at it.

Right, that’s great and all, but I completely missed my opportunity to be an olympic swimmer, yeah? and can never achieve those dreams I had as a kid? No, not even though. There was this whole thought that female athletes peak when they’re 17 years old and lose their skills quickly after that, and male athletes peak around 19. But then Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres shows up. She was an olympic swimmer when she was 17, 21 and 25. Pretty normal age for retirement. She had a few kids. She kicked butt at being a mom. 

And then at 33 years old she decides she’s bored or something gets back in shape and kicks so much ass at the trials that she lands herself on the Olympic Team ONCE AGAIN. And then 8 years later, she decides, heck I’m 41 now, no one has ever made the olympic swim team as old as I am, I want to get in shape yet again and teach these children how sports work.

And she still has the record for oldest US Olympic Swimmer, not even any men have beat out that record.

So basically what I’m saying is you could be an olympic swimmer, you really could be. And there are obviously a lot of things stopping you and trying to get in your way: your brain, society, too much chocolate cake for example. But if you really dedicate yourself to it and love it with all of your heart you could, you really could.

And lets say olympic swimming isn’t your jam? That’s cool too. There isn’t a single skill in this world that you can’t learn if you absolutely love it and want to. Any skill you want is going to take time. There are countless famous people who started learning a skill after 20, 30, 40, or even 50. Not a single person has even been president under age 35 (most likely because you’re not allowed to be, but there’s a reason for that). Whatever you want to do you’re probably going to be bad at first, and I’m talking really shitty.

Van Gogh got started in his 20′s and was thought to have no artistic talent at first and was forced to sit in the back of classrooms where the worst artists in the class sat. So yeah you’ll probably be bad, like really bad and everyone including you will think you’re bad. If you stick with it though, if you’re willing to work for years and years, if you keep loving it after all the pain it’s given you, 

then you might just paint Starry Night.

The iconic opening paragraph, “Hi my name is Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair… (et cetera).”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUKERS!”

“I MAY BE A HOGWARTS STUDENT… BUT I AM ALSO A SATANIST!”

“Then he put his thingie into my you-know-what and we did it for the first time.”

“And Loopin was masticating to it!”

As great as those are, I’d like to throw a spotlight on what I think are some of the underappreciated parts of this classic work of fanfiction.

Ebony puts blood on her Count Chocula cereal instead of milk.

Enoby is canonically a weeaboo and speaks to her friends in Fangirl Japanese.

Harry’s scar is now a pentagram instead of a lightning bolt, so either he found some sort of spell to alter the appearance of the scar or he actually took the time to carve a pentagram into his forehead.

There is an OC named either Tom Riddle or Tom Rid who works at a “punkgoff” store in Hogsmeade and has absolutely nothing to do with Voldemort, he just happens to have the exact same name.

Tara somehow got Fred and George mixed up with Crabbe and Goyle.

The reason Snape doesn’t like Harry in this fic is because Snape is Christian and Harry is a Satanist.

Marty McFly literally appears out of nowhere to help Enoby travel through “tim” with his “tim machine.”

Chapter 11 ends with Hagrid singing along to “a gothic version of a song by 50 Cent.”

Voldemort inexplicably speaks in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe.

Voldemort wears high heels.

Draco has a flying black Mercedes-Benz and a black MCR broom.

Snape has a Dork Mark on his penis.

Speaking of penises, Draco is apparently “hung like a stallone.” I guess Tara is a Rambo fan?

The Hedwig/Voldemort sex scene, wherein Hedwig is a male human instead of a female owl, for some reason.

Dumbledore flies around on his broomstick while holding a loaf of rye bread. At least, that’s what I think Tara meant by “Sudenly a gothic old man flu in on his broomstick. He had lung black hair and a looong black bread.”

Oh yeah, and Dumbledore is an Avril Lavigne fanboy, because of course he is.

James Potter’s “goff” nickname is Samoro, because Tara erroneously believes this to be the masculine form of the name Samara.

Draco’s singing voice is described as “a cross between Gerard, Joel, Chester, Pierre and Marilyn Manson.”

Tara’s brief feud with her editor Raven, as chronicled in the author’s notes, may or may not have had something to do with Raven borrowing Tara’s sweater and not giving it back. IDK, it’s unclear.

Voldemort smokes a “gothic blak Nightmare b4 Christmas cigar.”

McGonagall has the best insults, like “horny simpletons” and “mediocre dunces” and probably some others I’m forgetting.

Dobby only appears once in the entire fic and literally all he does is watch Snape and Lupin have sex, and then run away crying.

Sirius is referred to as Harry’s dogfather, and not gonna lie, even if it was a typo I think that is a genuinely clever pun.

The Hogwarts janitor may or may not be Chuck Norris.

Tara accurately predicted how Harry would defeat Voldemort in Deathly Hallows. No, really. “nd den hairy wil have 2 kommit suicide so voldimort will die koz he will rilly be a horcrox!!!!!111”

This line: “Snap stated loafing meanly. He took out a kamera anvilly.”

And this one: “‘Crosio!’ I shited pointing my wound. Snoop scremed and started running around da room screming.”

“Azerbaijan”

“Hoes of Wax”

“Tom Bombodil”

“Cornelio Fuck”

“Professor Slutborn”

“Preacher McGongol”

“Lumpkin”

“TaEbory”

“The Bark Lord”

if you are in a privileged group but also a minor? especially a mentally ill minor, and TRIPLE if there is even the most remote chance saying something could result in danger for you?

those ‘use your privilege’ post telling you to stand up to your family members (which i notice becoming increasingly frequent at this time of year) are not directed at you.

(also, significantly more hostile aside - anybody who comes on this post to clown and say that they are feel free to fuck off in literally every goddamn direction)

I know with kids like Greta Thunberg making the news, and post listing other Gen Z kids making changes, it can be easy to feel like those posts are calling you, kids, out specifically.

and don’t get me wrong, I am so, so proud of those kids. and if you can stand up to your family members, I’m proud of you, too.

But, and i mean this in gentlest way possible - this is not your job.

It isn’t. Some of you are taking it on, and thats very noble of you, but it isn’t and should not be your job. anybody who says things like “these kids are gonna save the world” makes me want to tear my hair out because kids should not be saving the world, kids should be being kids. You should be worried about taking the ACT and figuring out what kind of people/if you want to kiss, not fucking fascism.

Aang: back in my day it was called weed city

Sokka: I’m… pretty sure it wasn’t

In many settings – academic, professional, creative – you are asked to critique others’ work and ideas. Helpful criticism is thoughtful, honest, and supportive. This doesn’t just apply to writers!

Include something positive. If you only point out things you thought didn’t work, you can come across as having a negative attitude, and make the recipient of your criticism feel like they didn’t do anything right. Try to start or end on a positive note.

Ensure that you’re contributing something new. In a professional or classroom setting, raising your hand to comment only “I agree with ___” or to paraphrase someone else’s feedback wastes time and doesn’t contribute. It’s fine to start your comment with “I agree with that, and …” as long as you’re adding or building onto what was previously said. (You can also communicate your agreement by looking engaged while the person is talking, and using body language to show that you’re thinking along the same lines as they are.)

Work toward the creator’s goals, not yours. Don’t be prescriptive. (Especially in creative settings.) Avoid comments like, “I think this story would be better if _____.” Feedback and constructive criticism is important for writers because it shows how well their mental picture of the story translated onto the page for readers – not because they are writing to please you personally as a reader and want to know if they did a good job. This applies in academic settings, too – though the first priority might be adhering to an essay’s prompt or a journal’s submission guidelines, remember that you don’t have to agree with their thesis in order to critique their paper.