Thank You To This YouTube Comment For This

I saw something in the news today that truly took my breath away. If you have been paying attention to U.S. politics over the past few days, you’ve most likely seen this woman:

This is Bishop Mariann Budde, and on Monday (Trump’s inauguration) she led an interfaith prayer for Trump and the incoming administration. During the service she asked him to have mercy for LGBTQ+ Americans and undocumented immigrants. This was badly received by the Trump administration (as expected).

After seeing headlines about this woman, I read something that I wanted to share. In 1998 a man named Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay. I’m not going to get into the details of his death on this post, but please be warned it is extremely triggering if you do choose to read more on your own. Matthew Shepard’s death caused a lot of change in the U.S. regarding how LGBTQ hate crimes are handled, and laws that were passed to protect LGBTQ+ people.

Now you’re probably wondering what Matthew Shepard has to do with an Episcopal bishop. For years after Matthew Shepard’s murder, his family had held onto his remains, too scared to lay him to rest in fear of his final resting place being vandalized. In 2018, Budde had his remains interred at the National Cathedral, which is also the place where the interfaith prayer for Trump and his administration took place. The impact of this really had an effect on me. Budde could have led a non confrontational prayer service, and chosen not to mention the harm that will come to the people Trump and his administration are going after. Instead she chose to call out hate and fear in front of some of the most powerful people on the planet, and at a place that has such a large historic meaning to the LGBTQ community.

In the next few years there will be many challenges in protecting free speech, standing up against hate, and protecting those in our communities. But I would like to believe that for every Donald Trump and Elon Musk, there are people like Marianne Budde. There are those of us who can’t speak up for themselves, so it’s important for those of us who can to amplify our voices, even if it’s not the ‘popular’ thing to do.

“And he said you should apologize. Will you apologize?

I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others.” - Mariann Budde’s response in a Time interview

Link to articles: x x x

Link to the Matthew Shepard Foundation if you would like to donate

Something I find incredibly cool is that they’ve found neandertal bone tools made from polished rib bones, and they couldn’t figure out what they were for for the life of them. 

Until, of course, they showed it to a traditional leatherworker and she took one look at it and said “Oh yeah sure that’s a leather burnisher, you use it to close the pores of leather and work oil into the hide to make it waterproof. Mine looks just the same.” 

“Wait you’re still using the exact same fucking thing 50,000 years later???”

“Well, yeah. We’ve tried other things. Metal scratches up and damages the hide. Wood splinters and wears out. Bone lasts forever and gives the best polish. There are new, cheaper plastic ones, but they crack and break after a couple years. A bone polisher is nearly indestructible, and only gets better with age. The more you use a bone polisher the better it works.”

It’s just. 

50,000 years. 50,000. And over that huge arc of time, we’ve been quietly using the exact same thing, unchanged, because we simply haven’t found anything better to do the job. 

(open pages for better image quality)

the moment I heard elphaba's delivery of "there's a girl i know..." in i'm not that girl i knew i had to draw this comic, i strongly recommend listening to it while you read for the full experience!

this comic is a companion to this piece (which was inspired by glinda's delivery of the same line in the i'm not that girl reprise).

pages 1-4 are from elphie's pov, pages 5-8 are from glinda's.

flower meanings in order of appearance:

Elliot.... Look, I'm sure the man had nothing but good intentions and truly cared about Harley but like others have pointed out, he really did not consider Harley's situation at all. He mentions in his observations about Harley that the boy probably has a bad home life:

"From here and there he talks about home, I get the sense that he doesn't miss it very much."

AND YET HE ENDS HIS LETTER TO HARLEY WITH:

"So I challenge you to head for home, Harley, and to look at the people around you."

LIKE SIR YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM PROBABLY AREN'T GREAT WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT

Chances are that Harley did go home afterwards (he is a still child at this point after all, where else can he go?) looked at the people around him and fully threw away whatever humanity he had left after that - becoming the person we know today.

Not to justify Harley's actions at all, but I would feel betrayed too if I opened up to someone about a rough home life, and then when they kicked me out of the one safe place I had they sent me back home.

Like hello?

And again, I truly believe Elliot thought he was doing the right thing. But I don't think he should have made the fatal assumption that every child came from a good home - especially with all the hints already in place.

Do you have enough love in your heart To go and get your hands dirty? It isn’t that much, but it’s a good start So go and get your hands dirty 

dirty, grandson

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good things will happen 🧿

things that are meant to be will fall into place 🧿

I was a teenage girl once.

I am parenting a pre-teen.

Also the daughter of two people who started a relationship when one was married, so cheaters. Cheaters who later married, had kids, and spent 35 years of their lives together parted only by death. Shades of gray; such is life.

Parents fuck up, even good ones. Teenagers can be right assholes, even kind ones.

Helluva Boss is a melodrama that also manages to ground itself in realistic ways people experience conflict and miscommunication. It is a hopeful show about messy people and messy families and messy love, and I fucking love it.

Stolas is right to choose a happier life and was brave to do so, even though some of his actions were hurtful to his daughter.

Octavia is right to be very sad and angry at her father about it.

We should be rooting for their reconciliation and we should be rooting for that dream in Blitz’s head of what their family could become. Because this a hopeful show about building a loving family and community. It is not a show that wants to punish people who are flawed.

Stolas’ biggest error with Octavia is failing to see her as a young woman and not a baby girl. So much of their conflict can and will be resolved by a difficult and honest conversation, when they are ready.

Anyone in this fandom who wants to punish a confused teen and/or a repressed gay dad with depression, fix your hearts.

🍀✨

Harley Sawyer character analysis (part 1: Youth/Teenagerhood)

This part of character's backstory is unfairly overlooked while I find it the most interesting aspect in building up Sawyer's personality.

So I will provide documents in chronological order analysing and theorising regarding them.

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First document concerns Young Geniuses Program run by Elliot Ludwig. One of Playtime employees (or even Elliot himself) writes his observations regarding teenage Harley Sawyer

"Harley Sawyer

This boy is a curiosity among these young minds. He cares little for friendship in the way each of the others seem to, nor does he care to treat his work or his scientific processes as anything other than serious. In this boy, I believe I sense a drive unlike any I've seen, and he has the smarts to match. If I might just be a tad selfish here, he is EXACTLY who I hoped this program would attract.

But despite not caring for his comrades' company or the fun of our project, he DID take an immediate and very noticeable interest in me. The boy hardly smiles, save for when the two of us work on an invention, locked in the throes of another grand experiment. I've tried to ask him questions— get a sense for who he is. And while he doesn't say much, from how he talks about home, I get a sense he doesn't miss it. A mind such as his can be quick to isolate himself from his peers, and if not surrounded by kindness, that mind can twist. The way he spoke almost made me feel sorry for him.

But this, doing what we're doing here, with me, he told me it was ALL he ever wanted.

I've taken a liking to the boy, and I confess, I hope to keep him around. He's sharp, intelligent, curious, and fiercely determined. I think we've got something special in him. If I'm right, I think he might just be who leads science into the future."

Line "If I might just be a tad selfish here, he is EXACTLY who I hoped this program would attract." hints that Ludwig is the one writing it

It seems like Harley was neurodivergent from birth and never before Playtime's program felt understood by others, including his family. I guess it's implied that his family is toxic or even abusive but there are multiple options: Abuse has different types, less or more severe, may come from one or both parents...

Or if it's just Harley being that unreliable narrator who made his family sound toxic and way worse than they really are? Though telling that to his mentor sincerely, from his genuine point of view, because it's how he sees the world through his irregular mind. Maybe Sawyer's family doesn't understand him and tries to "fix" him without being outright abusive or toxic but still not giving Harley that type of treatment which will work for him. And Harley, being egotistical, doesn't listen to them or change. Something similar to how Elliot Ludwig will try to instill the care for humanity in him during YGP, but eventually making Harley only worse.          

Although if his family was indeed nice, they would have taken their kid to psychologist, did something not to let him grow into that monster🤔 + I guess this option is not what the game creators really meant, so it's just "but still a possibility" ramble. 

“A mind such as his can be quick to isolate himself from his peers, and if not surrounded by kindness, that mind can twist. The way he spoke almost made me feel sorry for him.” — what a foreshadowing. It’s interesting how creators straightly stated through Ludwig the reason behind Doctor’s insanity.

Harley seemingly had daddy issues, he found a father figure in Ludwig and looked up to him: “But despite not caring for his comrades' company or the fun of our project, he DID take an immediate and very noticeable interest in me.” 

Sounds like science was Harley’s special interest dismissed by his parents&peers and he never before had an opportunity to fulfill himself in what he truly desired: “The boy hardly smiles, save for when the two of us work on an invention, locked in the throes of another grand experiment.”

“But this, doing what we're doing here, with me, he told me it was ALL he ever wanted.” — isn’t it a heartfelt confession? Harley definitely saw more than just a mentor in Ludwig.

-------------------------------------------

Eventually Elliot removed Sawyer from the program and wrote a letter to the boy explaining why:

I guess the more they bonded, the more comfortable it became for Harley to be sincere with Ludwig and show his true self. Eventually his “dark” side began to show:   “You finally lashed out at me one evening and stormed out of the lab. "Don't be soft, Elliot." you said. "Progress doesn't care for how anyone feels about it." 

I don’t know when and how exactly Ludwig was rejected (if you have a theory tell me please!) but his motivation is pretty interesting: “I was reminded of what ultimately changed me. Of what gave me the perspective I needed. It was seeing the world and people again, bouncing back from rejection and hardship through connection. In thinking about those days, I'm reminded that rejection can sometimes be the best thing for us.”

“So I challenge you to head for home, Harley, and to look at the people around you.” — I think such teachings sounded even offencive to Harley…I agree with Ludwig's philosophy but to deliver it in such a way to an obstinate person who apparently doesn't like people and lives in a toxic environment while depriving them of their dream job…meh, it sounds nearly as mocking...

“One day, I hope you'll understand. Maybe you'll even thank me. But even still, I'm sorry.” — if only Ludwig knew…In this case rejection made things only worse.

---------------------------------

After receiving the letter about his removal from Ludwig, Harley was taken aback and reacted hysterically. Also there are multiple stains on paper, probably Harley cried while letting out his emotions by writing (or it’s any another type of dirt)

“He took EVERYTHING

I thought you CARED

NOBODY CARES

NOBODY UNDERSTANDS

ELLIOT LUDWIG IS A SOFT, PATHETIC, SMALL-MINDED BACKSTABBER. NOTHING MORE.”

This confirms even more than Harley saw sort of father figure in Ludwig. He took the removal so personally. And seems Harley really doesn’t comprehend he did anything wrong, thinking that it’s just that “nobody understands”. 

“ELLIOT LUDWIG IS A SOFT, PATHETIC, SMALL-MINDED BACKSTABBER” — we heard similar lines in chapter 4, isn’t it?

And we can find Ludwig’s “removal letter”(intact and undamaged!) in the office behind Doctor’s lair:

It means Harley never got over this “betrayal”, remembering the rejection again and again, getting mad at a long-dead man…Infantile side of our “Big bad doctor”.

-------------------------------

The note addressing rat and poppy gel on Ludwig’s table…Who have written it? Who performed the experiment? 

Visualization of the experiment in Doctor’s trailer

Since images seen there are his flashbacks then Harley was present during the performance. We still can’t know whose idea it was but what if Harley was the originator of the whole poppy substance thing? “He took EVERYTHING” — may it have more straight meaning?

Also Doctor’s spite towards Poppy…He knew she was reincarnation of Ludwig’s daughter? Then Ludwig opened up to Harley very much and they were close in work. Or Leith Pierre knew and told him? Or if the Doctor doesn’t know who Poppy really is but when experimenting on her he saw the poppy gel used and was bitter about Ludwig using his invention?

Not long before his demise the Doctor rants to the player: “It was going to be mine…It was ALL going to be MINE! MY discovery! MY recognition! I was the one who paved the golden path! ” — supports the theory that Harley was the one who came up with the idea of reincarnation using a poppy flower. 

---------------------------------

I absolutely love the Doctor’s backstory. Creators let us in some way understand his inner motivation without making us feel bad for him(says person who feels a bit🥴) or think he was right…that good villain backstory without straightforward drama or tragedy. There is a tragedy though a pretty mundane one? Like, lots of people face domestic abuse or struggle to find human connection with neurodiversity and some of such minds really twist if not receiving proper help…but not even half of such minds would do those awful and inhumane things Harley did. 

There’s something poetical in the fact that the main villain who tormented so many innocent children forcing them to become monsters, was once a lost kid who never got proper help…and then will be welcomed to bring the ideas of his twisted mind to life, becoming a monster but in human guise(till one incident🤭) 

And I welcome your comments/theories/remarks! I have spent like 3 weeks? writing this but still may have missed something^) Hope this wasn’t too boring cause you know, I’m a bit pedantic when it comes to analysis (just like Harley, lol🌝)

Leaving MAGA -

They Left MAGA - Leaving MAGA

They Left MAGA Steve Vilchez Chicago Read His Story Erica Roach New York Read Her Story Justin Yu California Read His Story Deanna Raper Nor

This is an interesting thing. Looks like testimonies of people who left the MAGA movement- how they got into it and why.

Leaving a cult is really hard, so I really respect the people who are speaking from this place.