Add wool for flavor

None of which helps with the roving gangs breaking into homes and killing people.

But, seeking asylum is, on paper, legal. In order to legally cross into Canada you need to fear for your safety or for the safety of your family and seek asylum. Well, there are roving gangs, abuse is rampant, and the police force is either functionally useless or in the pockets of these groups so, hey, you have that down!

But you need to move quickly because there are people who want to make this PERFECTLY LEGAL means of immigration illegal, in which case there are no other nearby countries that you could flee to. And the current Prime Minister keeps saying they’ll close the border entirely, threatens bringing in guns, and it becomes increasingly clear that the longer you wait, the more violent and unlikely it is that you’ll be able to find a home in Canada.

So you cross. Legally.

Canada takes you at gunpoint, strips your two year old of anything that you’ve given them, and deports you. Months pass, no word from your child. You hear reports, they could be dead, dying, adopted into a Canadian family, or sold to human (usually sex) traffickers. No one knows, because no one is keeping track of what happens to American kids. You try to reach out for help and you get told that you should have followed the law.

Which you did.

“they’re burning all the witches” 

No you’re not bothering me. (Yes I’m serious.)

You’re not dumb.

You have great ideas.

Your smile isn’t ugly.

Neither is your laugh.

You don’t need to apologize, I actually AM very interested in our conversation.

You look nice today.

No, you aren’t being annoying.

Tell me more about the things you like, I’m interested in what you have to say.

If you changed your mind and can’t handle going out, we can hang out at home instead, I really don’t mind and I’m not mad at you.

Yes, I am really honestly happy that you’re here!

If you finished first that’s fine!!! It’s normal!! But don’t just leave that person hanging!!

just for comparison if you’ve never heard the other weather theme before, here you go

my old therapist derek, from across the reception area, seeing me for the first time after the summer of 2015: HEY DID YOU SEE AGE OF ULTRON?? IT SUCKED, RIGHT???

“You’re bassicly a glorified sad lizard.” (It makes sense with context)

“Damn girl you need to get your shit together.”

“Go home and cry. Stop drinking in bathtubs. Eat something that isn’t bleach or memes.”

My therapist:

entropyalarm said: When describing embarrassment, blushing is typically used as an indicator. I’m white, but I recognize that darker skin tones shouldn’t show blush the same way as lighter tones. My friend, with medium skin, told me it only shows in her nose and ears, felt more as intense heat radiating from her cheeks than a visible color change. What is your insight on handling blushing? I feel this is especially important for proper portrayal of PoCs in romantic situations.

Anonymous said: You’ve written some great advice for describing black characters, but I was wondering whether you have any advice for describing a black character blushing? I have face blindness, so I’m having a lot of trouble with this. (otherwise I could just look up pictures and describe those) So sorry to bother you!

I’m glad you’ve asked. It bothers me how often I’ve heard “Black people don’t blush” which only seems to be another way to dehumanize Black people (and defeminize Black women) for not possessing this base human reaction, even if it’s not always notably visible.

Everybody blushes. Or rather, can blush. It’s the physical act of blood rushing to the face, ears, and other areas of the body; how visible the output doesn’t dictate whether one blushes or not.

While fairness has its part, I think blushing and how visible it is has a lot to do with the individual (some folks have better blood flow) + the undertones within their skin.

I’m going to steal my undertones chart from the Skin Tone Guide here:

As shown above cool skin colors have undertones that mostly fall under red/pink shades.

I’ve seen dark cool-skinned people with naturally rosy cheeks. I can only imagine when they blush, those reddish undertones are emphasized or brightened.

On the other hand, warm skin is usually in the golden, orange spectrum. Not so much reds. Still that doesn’t mean red coloring doesn’t appear on dark warm skin tones.

I have warm medium skin with golden orange undertones, and I definitely get flushed from extrinsic factors, such as if I exercise hard (I turn a berry-red coloring), plus the winter cold pinkens my nose like Rudolph.

I’ve also had friends call me out on blushing, but I can’t tell you exactly how that looks for I’ve never checked a mirror at the time, though I imagine it’s like a slight tinting or an enrichment of the undertones in the skin, brightening them, paired with a “coral to dark red” reddening.

In general, though, it can be redundant to constantly refer to blushing to show shyness or embarrassment with characters of any skin tone. It seems blushing is one of those things that happen more often in stories than daily life. Kinda like green eyes.

For variety, also consider these indicators: 

~Pages from the Emotion Thesaurus, seriously every writer should buy this book 10/10 would recommend.~

To reiterate; dark (cool) skin with red/pink undertones might show blushing more notably than warm skin, as an enhancement of those reddish undertones. 

Dark (warm) skin without red undertones, more “richening” of the undertones with pink to dark reddish coloring as an influence, likely depending on how harshly they’re blushing.

In any case; if you’re describing the blushing from the character’s perspective, it makes more sense to focus on heat and sensation.

Followers, any personal experiences or thoughts?

you can read more about it here, and here- this excerpt sums up what information Hum will send: 

It tells the user what sites/apps you’re going on, for how long you’re on them, and WHERE YOU ARE ON AN UPDATING MAP.

So you know if you’re in an abusive household and use sites like tumblr to escape and talk to friends, you could be cut off from that.