Create. Imagine.

Breathe magical worlds into existence with the scratch of a pen or the sweep of a paintbrush; weave together words to steal breath from lungs in a moment of awe and understanding; stretch and maneuver your body to the rhythms of music; invent what has never before existed, what has never been thought of; compose a language of notes and rests and beats to be released from the strings or pipes or piano; create, love, and nurture little humans for they are the future. Open your mouth and SPEAK; open your eyes and SEE; open your ears and HEAR. Do not shy away from your destiny. You were created to create. Beauty. Journey. Life abundant.

Bill Clegg, Did You Ever Have a Family  (via booksquoteslove)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “For Prim”

Lysa TerKeurst (via simply-divine-creation)

Cleansing Nature

A tiny bird swivels in the pond rippling the tapestry of liquid like a formidable hurricane, and chirp chirping the tiny bird dips its head into the water, dip dip dipping, coming up empty. Unperturbed by the smog and spastic car horn, the tiny bird bathes in milky sunlight.

A stroll through these barren consensus, these regulated forests, to intertwine oneself with nature in a disclosed location. Yet, freedom expresses itself in the blossom of praying tulips and the overturned soil, damp in morning dew, where exhumed worms writher like new born children on linen. Even the moss and lichen stretch flowerless limbs in breaths of chaos. I came here once, I come again, and somehow retrace my footprints back to unclouded reality, to my version of peace. But nothing could dissipate what’s been rooted in time and memory – even brushing the sand with a divined hand as it cascades over boulders – for time is ancestral an heirloom brought down by Mothers.

Tiny bird then shakes its feathers as a chandelier does in moments of neglect, and in the cold whisper of winter, I know to be silent – even when walking among the others in this instance so statuary as echoes paint the mural I’m so fond of remembering.

THE STATUE OF PEETA!!!! 

I’m dead…

So happy that you liked the statue of Peeta :)

😂😭😱😭😭

JRR Tolkien’s near-total lack of female representation vs Robert Jordan’s extremely pervasive, misogynistic female representation is a very clear example of why people take exception to the statement that “bad representation is better than no representation at all.”

Ah, yes. I mean, look at all these horrible female characters.

Egwene, the only one of the Two Rivers gang who wanted to leave Emond’s Field, to go out and experience and learn everything. The one who wanted more than the provincial life. The one who had to learn that there are consequences to her actions, learn to meet take the responsibility and say, I have toh. Please, help me meet it. Who was set up as a puppet and a figurehead but who took charge and healed a broken Tower. Who made mistakes in the process – I mean, how dare an 18-year-old misjudge people and situations on occasion? Surely she should see the big picture from every angle all the time. Shame on her.

Or Nynaeve, the one who was placed in a position of authority very young, who had to constantly prove and assert herself or risk losing all of that authority. Who left that life behind to save four young people of her village, had to go back to being a student and try to unlearn the Wisdom’s attitude that she’d undoubtedly worked hard to cultivate. Who rejected the man she loved because they both had a duty and those duties lay along different paths. Who was, at the darkest hour of the series, one of only two people to see the savior of the world as the person he had been and could be again, not the hollow shell of a man he had become. Who was unfailingly loyal to those she loved and refused to believe that something couldn’t be Healed.

Perhaps Elayne? Who grew up so privileged and sheltered yet turned out kind and just. Who could be stubborn and even childish at times (again, how dare an 18-year-old be that way) but who wasn’t afraid to admit it when she’d realise that she was wrong about something. Who worked so hard to be a worthy friend and sister to Aviendha, whom she admired immensely.

Min, who was neither a super-powerful channeller nor a trained warrior, who was so far out of her depth among all the Aes Sedai and ta’veren heroes of legend but wouldn’t give up and go home and leave the saving of the world to others. Who took it upon herself to study philosophy and metaphysics to help figure out how to mend the Dark One’s prison. But, I mean, obviously her character arc was completely defined by her dependence on Rand. How dare she spend most of the series around the man she loved (and who needed her help re: the aforementioned seals, among other things). Strong Female Character card revoked.

Aviendha, who had to rearrange her entire world view upon becoming a Wise One’s apprentice, who had to navigate strange cultures and balance between fitting in and staying true to her origins. Who had to step out of her comfort zone in so many ways and accept that the Aiel way is not the only correct way of doing things. Who kept her pride but learned to see past it and not be blinded by it.

Faile, who ran away from her privileged life to escape the responsibilities of the heir to a noble house, and who ended up embracing those responsibilities in the Two Rivers where she found something personally worth fighting for. Who thought she knew so much about the ways of the world and had to learn that there were many things she didn’t know… and then set out to learn them.

Moiraine, who devoted all of her adult life to saving the world. Who thought for 20 years that she was going to do that by finding the Dragon Reborn and guiding him safely through the prophecies, only to discover that the Dragon had other plans. Who had to completely revise her strategy, often on the fly. Who would have and did sacrifice all to give the world a chance.

I could go on but I mean… I sort of get where you’re coming from? When I first got into the series, age 14 or so, my opinion on most of the female characters was that they were ‘annoying’. But as soon as you look any deeper than the bare minimum surface reading of ‘these bitches just can’t agree with the guys/the plot’ there’s like, all of the reasons for everybody to be as they are and do what they do. (Mostly. I’m just… not touching Berelain’s way too drawn-out thing with Perrin.) The characters make sense, and it is all in the text, it’s not something you have to bend over backwards to explain or use unfounded headcanon to retcon.

But of course, each reader brings their own expectations into the text and if they’re satisfied with the surface reading and happy to storm off in righteous fury… I dunno. Enjoy?

Elan is wonderful and voices all of my opinions here. The women in the Wheel of Time are a large part of why I love the books and why I will spent hours obsessing over meta and interpretation and creating things that reflect the books. The women are not cardboard cut-outs, they are varied and interesting and they all have their own strengths and their own weaknesses. No single female character has to be The Woman in the books, because there are so many to go around.

The way the narration goes in WoT, you see some misogyny, some racism, some prejudice from a lot of characters - but you know what you also see? You see growth and change and those same characters learning to shove their racism, learning to see past the misogynistic things they thought/were taught. You see the characters go from closed-minded to actually communicating in a way that feels very real and authentic and makes me love the characters even more.

Are there flaws in how the characters are portrayed? Almost certainly. Berelain is slut-shamed by other female characters (though, I would note, never by the narrative itself - she is capable and competent whether her cleavage is showing or not), we don’t see a fully balanced view of any one culture, so we’re left with lopsided views on a lot of things, etc. But that, I think, is a mark of how massive this world is and how incredible the worldbuilding involved. There are a million things we never learn about the Aiel, for instance, but that we have hints at - and they are one of the cultures we know the BEST. Just imagine how much our perception of in-world events and depictions would change if we had the ability to get a full 360 view of all the cultures involved. I’d think Berelain’s actions, style of dress, etc. would look very different from within the culture of Mayene than through the eyes of a girl from prim and proper Andor.

No, OP, I’m afraid that the things you see as flaws and faults, I see as evidence of how deep the well goes and just how shallowly we got to dive into it. The books are 4.4 million words, combined, and that was with RJ staying pretty well on track with the story, not drifting sideways into the trivia and minutia that I could bask in for an Age. It will forever make me sad that we only get those little glimpses that you think are flaws, instead of being able to uncover the rest of the gems in the world of Wheel of Time.

There are certainly points where characters act in misogynistic (and misandristic, while we’re at it) ways, but the story never agrees.  Egwene and Nynaeve do have a problem of slut-shaming other women, but many times we are shown that what a woman wears does not define her.  Berelain is still a powerful and respected politician.  (She always struck me as a Cleopatra type figure.)  Leane showed that you could be strong and still embrace your femininity,that you can still flirt and not be any weaker for it.  Birgitte certainly calls Nynaeve out about how ridiculous her opinions are about clothes enough times.

The three boys refuse to kill women, but it is made clear that this is almost entirely because of their upbringing.  Almost all of the other characters call them out on it.  The story makes it clear that those views are completely stupid, and there’s no point to them.  Sulin points out the shame Rand brings the Maidens by keeping them from fighting.  Faile gets frustrated with Perrin for trying to protect her.  The boys have their views, but they are definitely never claimed to be right.

There are a lot of lines about “wool-headed” men being stubborn or women being difficult, but this is almost always shown to be a hypocritical view, or is quickly proved false by someone doing the opposite of the stereotype.

No, I would never claim that Jordan gets it perfect.  We’ve all seen jokes about how much women sniff in the series, or their habits of crossing their arms under their breasts.  So he certainly does have faults.  But in the end, he has a huge cast of women that are incredibly diverse and, at least in what I can see, realistic.

Maya Angelou (via kvtes)

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tru dat

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someday someone is gonna be so soft and gentle with your heart, you’re gonna be so glad you kept it open, you’re gonna wonder why you ever thought about quieting it down

The Narrator

Natalie Meza, I hope you find someone (via natalie-meza)

Joyce DiDonato (via theressomethingaboutasunrise)

Sasha Exeter (via kushandwizdom)

lightandcolourss, If my prose could promise (via wnq-writers)

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