INFJ, Queer, Non-binary (pronouns = ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), Autistic, writer, painter, former drag king. I consume entirely too much media. TV, books, movies, podcasts, fanfic, comics, web series, plays (musical & non), etc.
I hate asking for help, but the way the laws are turning in Florida, & the speed at which I’m able to save money has made this a necessity. Any little bit helps & if you can’t help (I totally understand), if you could share the post, that would be awesome.
“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative
“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative
“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative
“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot
“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.
“you are functionally a conservative” is such a good and clarifying insult
Literally right after I saw this post, I saw another post in a discord chat for BOOK EDITORS in which an outspokenly liberal editor talked about how Nabokov should have never been published because he wrote about p*dophiles and described women’s bodies in ways that made her uncomfortable. She described his writing as “objectively terrible” and said she wanted to burn his books. And other editors were bringing up classics they didn’t like and talking about how they wanted to throw them in the trash. This wasn’t like a light “unpopular opinion!” conversation. This was actual book editors talking about how books should be destroyed and censored.
There is something so scary and toxic in global culture right now. The revival of fascism is influencing everyone’s mindset and approach to art, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.
I see far more books being censored today than when I was a kid. Librarians handed me The Catcher in the Rye, The Sexual Politics of Meat, and Animal Farm when I was literally 8-11. My mom would never have taken a book away from me. I read everything from the Tao Te Ching to the Qur'an to atheist texts under my desk at school. Teachers thought nothing of it or encouraged it. Books seemed universally acknowledged as sacrosanct to me.
Now I can’t find any adults who don’t hesitate or want to make exceptions when it comes to censorship. Even the most liberal social activist librarians I know go, “well except for book X…”
Functionally conservative. It’s so important to have the language to express that.
Thank you for this addition!
And, following up on the previous post …
“This makes me uncomfortable” is NOT a valid reason for censorship
These fucking book editors should remove themselves from the profession ASAP 😡
The only reason a book should be removed, the ONLY reason, is “we are keeping it in the restricted section for research because its only intended function is to cause harm.”
And to be clear, when I say this, I’m talking about shit like To Train Up A Child and The Protocols of Zion. One is a text responsible for the deaths of multiple children because it’s an abuse how-to, and the other is entirely fabricated “protocols” from a group that never actually existed but is claimed to represent all Jews, and it’s basically one long antisemitic screed.
And even these should be available. Just. Not where they’re gonna be used to start a white supremacist cult.
“I cannot tell you the complete, fundamental shift that I have felt in the year since having surgery. I knew that I wanted top surgery for a decade; it’s the longest I’ve ever thought about doing anything. The place where I went, I had that clinic’s website open on my laptop for five years. It was this impossible mountain: I want that, but I’m never gonna get it. No one’s gonna let me, blah, blah, blah. To have that be in the past now… I stand differently, I walk differently, I carry myself differently. It feels different in my body than it ever has. I have just never been happier. I’ve never been more centered. I’ve never felt more stable and present and alive. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It’s taught me a lot. The recovery process taught me about rest, accepting help, and caring for my body as something connected to me rather than separate from me, that I’m in opposition to: This is mine and I want to take care of it. I feel good in it and good about it. Part of cis people’s fear around gender-affirming surgery is the fear of surgery at all — ‘Oh, my God, but that’s painful and scary!’ My reaction to that is, 'No, no, you misunderstood. It was painful before. Your worry has kicked in at the wrong time. The right time to be concerned was about the pain I was in before this. I’m great now.’ Everybody else’s concern for me has been on a delay. There’s no need to be concerned anymore. That’s so freeing.”
But I knew you, playing hide-and-seek and giving me your weekends I knew you, your heartbeat on the High Line, once in 20 lifetimes And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed You put me on and said I was your favourite
My personal take on this scene is that Shauna is trying to express to Jackie, regardless of if Shauna realizes shes doing it ,
that Jackie is so consumed by her own feelings to ever recognize everything that Shauna has done for her and how much she truly has sacrificed,
while also simultaneously saying “you can’t see how in love with you I am, let alone the true reason why I would ever sleep with Jeff”.
( sleeping with Jeff to be as close to jackie as possible )
Immediately after Jackie claims that she knows Shauna does not have feelings for Jeff, And Shauna replied, “How would you know?” Shauna goes on to say;
“You tell me what to wear, who to hook up with, I don’t even like soccer!”
… As if to say “you tell me who to hook up with, and I don’t even like boys, I like you.”
Another thing, Shauna only plays soccer because of Jackie? Meaning Shauna would have never been in that plane crash, never would have ended up stranded in the wilderness, and would have never been the reason jackie died.
Jackie is too caught up in her own shit to realize that Shauna does not even like soccer, she likes Jackie.
Shauna has sacrificed herself time and time again for jackie, just to be close to her in any way possible, without ruining their friendship.
And yet even if she hadn’t been on the soccer team, and she hadn’t done everything jackie said at all, she probably would have rather been in the plane crash with her.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to recover from the tragedy that is Jackie and Shauna.
How they spent every second of every day together. Confiding in each other over their deepest worries. Whispering their secrets in the safety of the dark. Riding with each other to school. Finding each other in every crowd, every line up, always knowing where the other is. Jackie encouraging Shauna to have fun, sharing clothing for the party and setting her up with Randy.
In almost every way possible, they were together. They needed the other to survive, to stop them from succumbing to the wilderness
To the point of this codependency reaching the highest possible level- With Jackie’s flesh being consumed by Shauna. Before the other girls gave in to wilderness, before their starvation took over and brought them to madness. In her own isolation and overwhelming grief, Shauna ate her best friends ear as a way to feel like she wasn’t alone anymore. Like Jackie was still there with her. Like they were one again.
Even after this, even after taking Jackie’s body as her own, Shauna still thinks of her. As the cabin is burning down, she takes the time to save the dress Jackie wore to the dance. She keeps her old uniform after coming back to society, blood stains and all, saving it from the wilderness. Each year she celebrates her birthday, visiting the bedroom they both spent so much time in together and imagining her there. A manifestation of her own guilt and grief. She marries Jeff, the partner of Jackie and father of the wilderness baby, out of obligation. Further connection with Jackie. The need for normalcy after a lifetime of trauma.
Without Jackie, Shauna slowly looses herself to the wilderness. Participating in the rituals. Eager to hunt Nat. Watching as Javi drowned. Between the death of her best friend and loss of her baby, she gives in to everything she was so against before. She is nearly unrecognizable from the girl she was before the plane crash.
They completed each other. And Shauna is lost, her heart forever missing a piece, now that Jackie is gone.
Of course I’ve seen every single fan talk about their relationship, and nothing I’ve said here is new. But if I didn’t write it down it would continue to rot and infest in my brain. Slowly destroying me from the inside out. As if this show hasn’t already done that enough.
