the Columbia University arrests are worse than they seem. They're arresting protesting students for trespassing. It goes without saying students cannot meaningfully "trespass" in the common areas of a university they attend. So Columbia University has suspended all student protestors from their institution, in the process revoking their access to housing, their belonging, and most crucially damaging their academic futures. We are witnessing full scale silencing and removal of anyone of conscience from the next generation of academia.

beyond that the columbia common is literally an open space during the day; the gates are open and it's possible to pass through it like you'd pass through a regular block. even after my student ID expired i was still able to walk through the commons bc ID is not requested until you enter an actual building. it's quite common to see parents, toddlers, and such who are clearly not enrolled just hanging out. so not only were the students not trespassing at a SCHOOL THEY PAY FOR, there was also not a precedent for non-students to be disallowed from the grass and walkways.

Lemmings don’t jump off of cliffs unless they’re being chased. Frogs don’t stay in boiling water unless they’ve been lobotomized first. Crabs don’t pull each other back into the bucket unless they are desperately and randomly grabbing for anything to try to get themselves out, out of fear for their lives.

Actions taken in specific, negative conditions don’t exemplify the nature of all beings.

Before you mock a sheep for staying with the flock, ask what dogs nip at its heels when it strays too far, and what wolves wait just beyond the edge of the pasture.

While we’re at it, “alpha males” don’t appear in wolf packs unless they’re in captivity.

I’m bored and I’m also a digital artist so…

Reblog this so that this post can have more votes! (Even if I don’t expect this to blow up 😅)

[transcription of a reddit comment]

ew72 • 19 hr. ago

I'm a type 1 diabetic. I require insulin to live, multiple times a day.

When I was in middle school, many years ago, we didn't have insulin pumps and had to use syringes and vials like everyone else.

The school refused to let me carry it with me, meaning I had to go to the nurses office several times a day to inject. It's not just before lunch but could be any number of times depending on the current blood sugar levels.

The district then cut nurse staff to just spending half a day at two schools, and the nurse left before I had lunch.

I asked the office staff to unlock the office so I could take my insulin and eat lunch. They refused.

By middle school, I'd been dealing with t1 for about 5 years, and didn't take shit on the topic. I went to the school lobby, picked up the payphone (I just dated myself) and called 911, telling them, "Hi, I'm at (school), am type 1 diabetic and the office won't unlock a door and let me take insulin."

They sent a fire truck, and a bunch of firemen met me outside and walked me to the office and asked, while ignoring the staff, which room was the nurses office. I pointed to the door and he was like, "Okay boys, chop it down, this kid need his insulin!"

Suddenly, the office secretary could unlock the door and I didn't need to put it in the nurses office everyday anymore.

End id.]

columbia administration is threatening to call in the national guard tonight

Cheongsm (Qipao) Ensemble

1930s

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Superman runs to Smallville in Gene Luen Yang’s “Superman Smashes the Klan”

He passes by the Lutheran church that has a verse on the sign

The verse Leviticus 19:34

What does that say?

“You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭19‬:‭34‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Nice work there

Remember Superman is the tale of the immigrant and the child raised between two worlds. How is that impossible a tale to tell?

writers and artists will go "this isn't good enough." my brother in christ, you're creating something new out of nothing and expressing yourself creatively. your productivity and unrealistic standards of perfection do not define you or the worth of your art. you're doing great.

Are Animals Becoming Extinct in Fantasy Novels?

Recently, I read this post titled “Animals have been taken off in novels since 1835. Is fiction undergoing its own extinction event?” which talks about a study that found that since 1835, the use of wild animals in fiction has dropped drastically.

Many are blaming this “slow extinction” on modern societies disconnect to nature. After all, not everyone spends their days outside, so they might not notice mice, birds, or even the insects at their feet. If they do not think about animals in their daily life, why would they think about them while writing?

That is the theory, at least.

It is worthwhile pointing out what several other writers and readers are; there are plenty of animals in children’s fiction. That is true, but what about young adult to adult fantasy? Since that is what I personally write, that is what I wanted to talk about.

Just going off what books I think of first, it seems like often in fantasy novels, the only prey animals (like deer, squirrels, or rabbits) that we see are after nearly always during or after they are hunted. Then there is the complete lack of mosquitos, leaches, biting ants, and other annoying creatures.

Sometimes, there is a mention of the sound of birds singing, but rarely ever are there any details of the birds or what they are doing. Where are the ducks and swans on the lakes? Where are the birds building nests?

Now you may be going “What is the point? Why should I care?” and I get that, but by eliminating these creatures, your novels could be losing a sense of realism.

For example, in Stephen Kings The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon — which I argue is a light fantasy story, not a horror story — has a girl is lost in the woods and stalked by a creature. Interestingly, even most survival books fail to mention animals apart from for food, but Stephen King did not do that. He had deer, water bugs skittering across ponds, and even wasps that attack the main character. This added a sense of reality to the novel. It was not just a forest with some trees and plants, it was a forest filled with life, and that can be dangerous for anyone, let alone a young girl.

So, go ahead, raise the mood with your characters. If they are miserable, make them more so by having the mosquitos bite at them day and night or have them step in a anthill. If they are happy, they could watch a mother bird feeding its young or a swan rubbing necks with its partner.

Adding more hints of nature could not only amplify the mood, but it could also make your forests seem more real.

The article discusses xenofiction as an answer to changing our consciousness about animals, but my thoughts are different.

I truly have noticed, even in the past couple decades, a decline in "natural" worldbuilding. There is less and less attempt on the part of authors to include a rich ecology in their world, and less faith in readers' ability to be interested in it

It's not just animals, but plants, weather, every aspect of the natural world

There is something deeply sad about this that reflects a lot of real world issues. There is a loss of biodiversity. There is a sharp decrease of people going outside, because there's less places to go and it's harder to exist in those places as a teenager or a kid. There's a world of birds and flowers and little bugs that people can no longer identify both because we don't see as much of them anymore and because we spend far less time looking for them.

There's a lot of fantasy out there filled with generic woods, and I've read plenty of it. And I'm not blaming the authors, I do realize it's harder to get out in nature. But it is worth it to try, even if it's only a small park or creek. You'll come away richer by trying to notice and incorporate the natural world around you in your writing.

The shadows have their seasons, too. The feathery web the budding maples cast down upon the sullen lawn

bears but a faint relation to high summer's umbrageous weight […]

And loveliest, because least looked-for, gray on gray, the stripes the pearl-white winter sun

hung low beneath the leafless wood draws out from trunk to trunk across the road like a stairway that does not rise.

John Updike, “Penumbrae”

Linh San Couture 'Serenity' collection