https://mamot.fr/@setthemfree/106014810050613790
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/google-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-millions-browsers-heres
McCarthy's infinite stupidity can only survive in Republican politics.
aaah!!! I'm so proud of this one!!! I love nari so much and his new VA is so good.... so it inspired me to draw him! tadaaa!!! đđ
Man, this is 100% not a cult... /s
CNNâs Randi Kaye interviewed several Trump fans outside his Doral resort hours before ex-President Donald Trumpâs arraignment â including one who said sheâll vote for Trump even if heâs in jail.
Kaye has been reporting live from Doral ahead of Trumpâs first appearance in court on 37 counts related to violations of the Espionage Act, which is set for Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday morningâs edition of CNN This Morning, Kaye described Trumpâs mood Monday night as âupbeat,â and described a chaotic scene outside Doral Tuesday morning between Trump supporters and protesters and police.
Weeeeee!
Phenomenal news. Just what the people ordered.
I think this is an incredibly important video to watch
oh sure barbie has a thousand different professional qualifications, but when was the last time she was allowed to kill a man? the patriarchy must end
When I was in Ninth Grade, I won a thing. Â
That thing, in particular, was a thirty dollar Barnes & Noble gift certificate. I was still too young for a part-time job, so I didnât have this kind of spending cash on me, ever. I felt like a god.
Drunk with power, I fancy-stepped my way to my local B&N. I was ready to choose new books based solely on the most important of qualitiesâŚBADASS COVER ART. I walked away with a handful of paperbacks, most of which were horrible (Iâm looking at you, Man-Kzin Wars III) or simply forgettable. Â
One book did not disappoint. I fell down the rabbit hole into a series that proved to be as badass as the cover art promised (Again, Man-Kzin Wars III, way to drop the ball on that one). With more than a dozen books in the series, I devoured them. I bought cassette tapes of ballads sung by bards in the stories. And the characters. Oh, the characters. I loved them. Gryphons, mages, but most importantly, lots of women. Different kinds of women. So many amazing women. I looked up to them, wrote bad fiction that lifted entire portions of dialogue and character descriptions, dreamed of writing something that the author would include in an anthology.
This year I decided in a fit of nostalgia to revisit the books I loved so damn much. I wanted to reconnect with my old friendsâŚ
âŚand I found myself facing Mary Sues. Lots of them. Perfect, perfect, perfect. A fantasy world full of Anakin Skywalkers and Nancy Drews and Wesley Crushers. I felt crushed. I had remembered such complex, deep characters and didnât see those women in front of me at all anymore. Where were those strong women who kept me safe through the worst four years of my life?
Which led me to an important realization as I soldiered on through book after book. Thatâs why I needed them. Because they were Mary Sues. These books were not written to draw my attention to all the ugly bumps and whiskers of the real world. They were somewhere to hide. I was painfully aware that I was being judged by my peers and adults and found lacking. I was a fuckup. And sometimes a fuckup needs to feel like a Mary Sue. As an adult, these characters felt a little thin because they lacked the real world knowledge I, as an adult, had learned and earned. But thatâs the thingâŚthese books werenât FOR this current version of myself.  Who I am now doesnât need a flawless hero because Iâm comfortable with the idea that valuable people are also flawed.
There is a reason that most fanfiction authors, specifically girls, start with a Mary Sue. Itâs because girls are taught that they are never enough. You canât be too loud, too quiet, too smart, too stupid. You canât ask too many questions or know too many answers. No one is flocking to you for advice. Then something wonderful happens. The girl who was told sheâs stupid finds out that she can be a better wizard than Albus Dumbledore. And that is something very important. Terrible at sports? Youâre a warrior who does backflips and Legolas thinks youâre THE BEST.  No friends? You get a standing ovation from Han Solo and the entire Rebel Alliance when you crash-land safely on Hoth after blowing up the Super Double Death Star. Itâs all about you. Everyone in your favorite universe is TOTALLY ALL ABOUT YOU.
I started writing fanfiction the way most girls did, by re-inventing themselves. Â
Mary Sues exist because children who are told theyâre nothing want to be everything. Â
As a girl, being âselfishâ was the worst thing you could be. Now you live in Narnia and Prince Caspian just proposed marriage to you. Why? Your SELF is what saved everyone from that sea serpent. Plus your hair looks totally great braided like that.
In time, hopefully, these hardworking fanfiction authors realize that itâs okay to be somewhere in the middle and their characters adjust to respond to that. As people grow and learn, characters grow and learn. Turns out your Elven Mage is more interesting if he isnât also the best swordsman in the kingdom. Not everyone needs to be hopelessly in love with your Queen for her to be a great ruler. There are all kinds of ways for people to start owning who they are, and embracing the things that make them so beautifully weird and complicated.
Personally, though, I think itâs a lot more fun learning how to trust yourself and others if you all happen to be riding dragons.