“We Know Nothing Of Childhood; And With Our Mistaken Notions The Further We Advance The Further We

Writers need to understand the fundamental difference between a woman who chooses to reject femininity for themselves versus a woman who tries to reject femininity for all women and belittles and mocks any women who choose to be feminine. Femininity is not the enemy. The problem is the lack of agency that prevents women from choosing whether they want to be traditionally feminine or not. Attacking and totally rejecting femininity only upholds the notion that masculinity and men are superior. Women who cut their hair short, wear pants, don't want to have kids, and know how to use a sword or a gun can and should coexist with women who wear dresses, enjoy makeup and jewelry, and spend most of their time in the domestic sphere. The idea that these two kinds of women negate or impede the other defeats the entire purpose of feminism, which is CHOICE and AGENCY. Instead of vying for a world where women have to reject femininity to be considered strong, create a world where women have the choice to fall anywhere they want on the spectrum.

Mahnnnn some of yall really need to STFU!

surely this is a good idea that doesn't have the capacity to end real fuckin badly

FLASH WARNING

Lavender hills

Things Read in February

Essays & Articles:

The Battle for the Heart of the Great American Nudie Suit

"We Will Always Have the Nightmares"

A California redwood forest has officially been returned to a group of Native tribes

On the Lie of "Let People Like Things"

The Case Against the Trauma Plot

The Joe Rogan Controversy Has a Deeper Cause

Is 2000s Tech the Next Big Fashion Aesthetic?

We Owe Courtney Stodden An Apology

'The Rise and Fall of LuLaRoe' Investigates Scandal Behind Marketing Company

Matilda Bernstein Sycamore on Writing on Your Own Terms

The mythical genius of Daidalos, the first polymath

Horror Fiction in the Age of Covid

Love bombing, gaslighting, and the problem with pathologising dating talk

How to Have Closer Friendships (and Why You Need Them)

How this jellyfish earned the nickname 'Psychadelic Medusa'

Herodotus' Other Lies

Is it a clash over writing...

France's nuclear colonial legacy in Algeria

"My pink socialism became red as a wound": Impossible interview from Ukraine

My Body is Used to Design Military Tech

10 Questions You Should Never Be Asked in a Job Interview

Stop Pretending the Left is on Putin's Side

The American Boy

Millennial Women Made LuLaRoe Millions. Then They Paid the Price.

Mary Renault: how classical Greece reflected her troubled life

i: vision

Poetry:

Do You Wonder About All The Black Girls Speckling That Beach by Salt

February by Jack Collom

Arguing with Something Plato Said by Jack Collom

Invocation by Cid Corman

Ariadne by Jeanne Murray Walker

Worm Moon by Mary Oliver

Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing by Margaret Atwood

The Horse Fell Off the Poem by Mahmoud Darwish

The Summer A Tribe Called Quest Broke Up by Hanif Abdurraqib

Theseus Within the Labyrinth by Stephen Dobyns

Books:

Ariadne by F. L. Lucas

The King Must Die by Mary Renault

Los Reyes by Julio Cortázar, translated by Juan Sebastian de Vivo

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Dark Tower and Other Stories by C. S. Lewis

Theseus by Plutarch

don't let anyone shame you for getting everything you want without doing work lol this is how it was supposed to be. hustle culture is stupid. if someone wants to believe they need to work hard to be succesful in life then let them believe it but never ever let them tell you you cannot do that. yes you can ! because you know abt law of assumption. you are aware of your power. there's no shame in letting life be easy, is there ?

While Apple Sauce seems to have people’s attention

Quick ADHD and study tips:

- Do the minimum. Don't do any more than the school expects you to do. Don't overwork yourself trying to become an expert on every topic ever, making every project a perfect masterpiece.

-> "I'll just do this quickly" method - Do the minimum. What's the least you can do for this topic, the easiest, most minimalist, "laziest" solution possible? Do it. It helps to get started. (exactly what I did here)

- Adjust your routine to a radio's broadcasting schedule (it's background music and "company", aka. chatter in the background)

- Pomodoro timers are too hard to reach from YouTube, here, an extension. (It plays white noise, and makes me miss the sound of rain in the breaks XD)

- Switch from Word to a notepad, a colored paper, google translator, a tumblr draft, etc., write your essay there.

- Water reminder.

- Too tired to design a PPT: SlidesGo Templates

- Too tired for grammar: Grammarly (or ProWritingAid)

- Too tired for words: Wordtune and Wordtune Read

- This grades essays, this estimates reading time

- This for grammar check, this is for synonyms, acronyms, and everything, this for idioms.

- Set BeLineReader to something colorful (space colors ✨)

- Write it in memes (see the first part of this post), use emojis, make memes, use meme language, edit it like a tumblr post with highlights, side notes, pictures, colors, etc.

- Tell it to someone. There was a history topic I very much disliked until I started to read it, and man, it was hilarious. The warlords made the worst decisions possible! Of course, I told my brother about it.

Look at it as a masterpiece or look at it as a ridiculously bad movie, it will get better. (This goes for literature, history, etc. - why not "make it" into a soap opera? XD)

- Do it while you wait for something. The water to boil, the baguettes to bake, someone to answer your message. And in the meantime, do something.

- For revisions: Loop a song. One topic-one song. Then you switch the song, next topic. It's even better if the songs are from completely different genres.

- Have a list of stuff you have to do. An optional list. If you can tick off one, you're good. Leave your accomplishments.

[Stuff like, 'write a poem', 'make cocoa', 'sing,' but also, 'eat breakfast normally' and 'write that English essay'.]

(-> Computer "gadgets" (idk what are they called in English) -> set tiny slideshows, and bamm, little reminders that are always visible! I made the text in Ipiccy, the to-do list in paint)

[ID: A partial screenshot of my tumblr, with the two gadgets on it, displaying two small pictures, one is a color gradient text on a black background that reads "keep on going", the other is a bit messy to-do list with check squares and simple text on a white background / end of ID]

How to remember anything?/learn stuff

Create (write a poem, make memes, try reading it out loud, but singing, act it out XD - the possibilities are endless!)

Bee dance ("write down" the letters of the word or numbers of the date walking around)

Make it touchable (form the numbers/letters from plasticine, sticks, gravel, ketchup, candy, shoes, or anything, really) -> Morse / ASL (knock, clap, or sign the numbers/letters)

Tell it in different styles, on different levels (to a kid, to your dog, to your plant. "Emotionally" as if you were telling some outrageous news, or as if it was the greatest thing in the world! It's ridiculous, it's nonsense! It's so stupid, it's brilliant! It's tragic, actually. Tell it professionally, as if you knew what you're talking about, like some sassy professor. Tell it as if it happened next door, as if you were some old folk telling it to the children (the good ol' times!), tell it like a bored weather forecaster, present it like in some tv ad!)

Learn it at places (literally, bring your book/little paper to a corner of the house, or out to the park. It's a bit like the mind palace method, "hmm, yes, 1945, the blue shower gel bottle, "amygdala" is in the fridge, and Thales' Theorem is right under the bed.")

The mind palace method, but place the data on a picture (take a picture, a stock photo, anything, and write dates/words at different places)

Speed run (set a timer, it can be Pomodoro, and do what you have to do on max speed. Yes, you got x minutes to sit at this one spot in the bathroom and memorize these words, drink tea, and take out the trash! The clock is ticking! It's adrenalin rush!)

Tie it up with the senses (pick a color/palette, a taste, a smell, a feel, a texture, a style, etc. for each topic you can recall later. Chew a specific tasted gum while studying, chew the same taste while writing the test. Spray a perfume, set your desktop/phone background to a picture that fits the mood, set the lights, surround yourself with a specific texture, create a mood.)

Make a cheat sheet (write it in a "compressed format," so only you can understand it, and it takes up the least place possible. Tiny drawings, reminders. The point is not to have the information but to have a safe reminder in your pocket, you can reach out to. You may not even need to use it.)

Have water and sleep (yup, a dehydrated brain can't think, and our brains process information while in REM sleep - a sleep cycle calculator)

Play card games, Activity (do you know the board game "Activity?" Or twenty questions? There are also a bunch of card games [mainly played with French cards] where you have to yell words and smash cards and each other's hands. Well, why not rewrite the game with the words/dates/phrases you need to memorize? Even better if you play it with people who study the same thing as you.)

So, that's it for now. I hope I helped some! :D

Practical Magick: Magick Using Things You Probably Already Own

So often I come across people that want to begin practicing witchcraft but they don't know where to start, more specifically how to practice with little to no money. Which really shows how deeply we've gone into the whole "you need lots of money for everything you do" rabbit hole. Just to clarify, I see absolutely nothing wrong with spending as much money as you want on your craft but I personally don't think it should be a prerequisite as to whether you can practice or not. Magick is for everyone, from the person that has a negative balance in their bank account to the person averaging $100,000 or more a year. Below are some super affordable things you can use in your craft that you may already have.

Salt: This is one of those things that can literally be used in so, so, many ways. Salt can be used in a cleansing bath, to anchor your chime or birthday candles in a bowl (be careful with this one and make sure to watch it because if the candle isn't anchored just right it can fall over), to cast a circle (indoors), etc.

Pen & Paper: These two items can be used to make sigils, you can also use a pencil if that's what you have access to. The paper can be an old receipt, a napkin, just something that you are able to write on. Cleanse the pen (or pencil) and paper, either using smoke or with your intent, then write your sigil. This sigil can then be placed wherever you choose, inside of a shoe, your wallet, purse or backpack, your pocket, it's really up to you!

Coffee & Tea: Coffee and tea are not only a wonderful vessel for placing your intention into but coffee can also speed up a spell. You can drink teas that correspond with your intention, they don't have to be fancy teas. You can literally go to the dollar tree and they almost always have a selection of green, black, chamomile, peppermint, and sometimes apple cinnamon tea. Other affordable brands include Carrington Tea, The London Tea Company, and Celestial Seasonings, also check out store branded teas.

Seasonings & Condiments: I'm talking about the ones you might already have in your kitchen. Such as ground cinnamon, dried oregano, vinegar, even seasoned salt, all of these things can be used in your craft in a variety of spells. Even if you don't have access to them yourself and you go to someone's home and they offer you a cup of coffee or tea, when you add any fixings to your cup you can use those as correspondences for your intention. For instance if you add sugar or honey to your coffee, you could then enchant your coffee for having a sweet day as you're stirring it in.

Water: Water is a wonderful holder for intentions, you can get a glass of water and write your intention, a word that embodies your intention, or a sigil onto the glass that you're drinking from. Or just place your intention into the glass.

Ramen: I know this might sound strange but believe it or not, even ramen can be magickal! Ramen is made from wheat flour (I'm not sure if it's all ramen but the affordable ones that come in those little individual packages is made from wheat flour.), which is associated with abundance, prosperity, fertility, friendliness and rebirth.

I hope this gave you some ideas or at the very least showed you that magick is not something exclusive to those that have access to fancy supplies and ingredients. And even things that appear mundane can become magickal in the right hands!

- Erika, The Clumsy Witch