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Unusual Saints To Pray To

Today is my 44th birthday. I was brought to my mother’s arms as Ronald Reagan was being sworn in and then went to the airport to welcome the Iranian hostages home—a meeting we now know was pre-arranged, as Reagan’s team negotiated to keep the hostages in captivity a little bit longer just so it could be Reagan, as opposed to Carter, who got the credit for releasing them.

Every four years my birthday falls on a US presidential inauguration. Some of those days are good; some are bad; some are terrible. Today is certainly one of the worst.

My birthday also sometimes falls on the day the US honors Martin Luther King, Jr.—or, when it doesn’t, always on a day very close to it. I always spend some time on my birthday thinking of him, too. Like all of us, he wasn’t perfect, but more and more what I think about regarding his legacy is how some of the things he said have been cherry-picked and stored like prize possessions in jeweled boxes for admiring every so often while the rest has been buried. MLK was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, of income inequality, and of capitalism. Of all things I remember the first time I heard anything by him about that was in college when I happened into a record store in San Francisco and heard one of his speeches (not the “I have a dream” speech) remixed in a song.

Often you will hear that you should focus on what you can control. This is true, when it comes to your own personal well being—your state of mind. I feel like there should be a balance, though. Sometimes your well being is well enough that you can spare the anguish that comes with worrying about the state of the world—the many injustices you can’t fix, either by yourself or right away. We need that to push us to actually fix these things, either in small individual ways or collectively, through both direct and indirect action.

Each of us at different times in or lives—or on a micro level, at different times of the week or year—goes in and out of phases where we must focus on self-care and phases where we can look outward. Today I hope we can treat ourselves and each other with a little kindness when it comes to recognizing where it is we need to be in a given moment. Looking around on social media, it may seem that some are always on—always fighting, always pushing for change—and some are always off—cat memes, shipping, fandom. But that’s nothing but a small window into a person. First, that’s simply how that person interacts with one social media platform; it’s not their entire life. Second, it may be that this is the place they come to unwind—or, alternatively, this is the only place in their life where they can share the rage inside of them. Whoever they are, however they are, let them be, and offer them kindness. It’s going to take all of us to fight back.

reasons to write fanfiction (I'll start):

share a cool scene that popped into your head

evoke a particular emotion the canon makes you feel

song made you think of a character or idea from canon

make people feel the same way about a character you do

make dolls kiss for fun

explore ideas the canon hints at but doesn't do anything with

traumatize characters and make them suffer

coddle characters and let them rest

had an insane idea for a crack ship and now everyone needs to know

the author of the canon was wrong and must be fixed

use familiar characters to explore your own ideas and plotlines

canon is too short and you need to wallow in the universe of the story

Modern Girl In Middle Earth Fanfic Recs

Here is pt.2 of my MGiME recommendations, this time with COWGIRLS! in Middle Earth. I'm so sorry it took so long for part 2. Life has been doing what it does best. Best of wishes!

🔳Caught In A Fantasy By Artemisdesari And Jimiel🔳

Summary: A woman with a chronic disease goes to sleep only to wake up as a dwarf girl in the aftermath of Smaug's attack on Erebor. This fic goes into the cultures of dwarves in Middle Earth and the poverty dwarves faced after the fall of Erebor alongside some good old-fashioned magic and a threesome between your favorite princes.

⚫Compeleted work with 160 chapters (789,966 words.) with a part 2 with 20 chapters(76,562 words.) and an explicit oneshot

Warning: Death, Poverty, Blood, Gore, Implied Incest, Typical Period/Cultural Values

Rating: Mature

Ships: Fili/OFC/Kili ▪ Dwalin/Nori ▫ Dwalin/Dís/Nori ▪ Glorfindel/OFC ▫ Bilbo Baggins/Bofur ▪ Balin/Dori

🔳Never Back Again By Spiders_in_your_Shirt🔳

Summary: An 1800s cowgirl is suddenly transported into Middle-Earth and decides to join Thorin on his quest. She slowly finds love along the way. It's a fix-it fic. I was intrigued by the unique premise of a 'historical' girl in Middle Earth, I also appreciate the semi-historical accuracy and hope more writers try out this premise.

⚫Uncompleted work with 12 chapters (58,729 words.)

Warning: Ghparic violence, Swearing, Historically Accurate Depressing Backstories, Angst

Rating: Mature

Ships: Fili/OFC ▪ Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield

🔳Ettelëa By SonaBeanSidhe🔳

Summary: Lorna is a woman with a troubled past who has been on the run due to her mysterious curse-like gift. After getting into a car accident, she finds herself in Mirkwood surrounded by these strange pretty people who she is convinced are part of a Midsommer-esque cult. Lorna does not remember reading the books. Lorna comes from a different version of Earth and is truly a strong character. While flawed, she is well-built and easy to empathize with.

⚫Completed work with 68 chapters (267,621 words.) an uncompleted part 2 with 29 chapters (97,437 words.) last updated in 2016.

Warning: Vulgar jokes, Swearing, Depressing Backstories, Slowburn, Zombies,

Rating: Gen

Ships: Thranduil/Original Female Character

I really wanted to draw at least something for Swordtember hehe, ladies with swords are always fun to draw c:.

Over the garden wall during December ❄️☃️❤️🥹

Click for better quality

I want "Make me your God I can give you everything" to become "Please be my God, for you I'll do anything" if Ivan ever had his own version of Ruler of my Heart And it could have looked like:

"My savior, beautiful star Please be my god, for you I'll do anything When our darknesses collide (Let me bear it all for you)" i'm normal.

🍂 ‘When death’ll close my eyelids

And my race on earth is run,

Will you miss me when I’m gone?’ 🍂

the ornithologist and the lady of the forest