Lupita speaking in Swahili and Spanish is the best thing I’ve ever heard
She was born in Mexico, just like many other black women who are also Latina, black, and Mexican at the same time she represents both #BlackGirlsMagic OMG
I watched it on repeat for like literally more than 5x!
M’baku shutting down Ross from speaking was such a powerful cinematic moment. The reversal of the suppression of native voices by white colonists was so absolutely resounding. That moment needs to be appreciated and worshipped for what it brought to screen.
i saw this post earlier about therapists and it reminded me of my old therapist paul, who in my opinion is one of the greatest men alive and who did not put up with my bullshit for even one second
anyway i go in to see paul one week in the summer of 2016, and i’m doing my usual bullshit which consists of me talking shit about myself, and paul is staring at me, and then he cuts me off and says that he’s got a new tool for helping people recognize when they’re using negative language, and gets up and goes over to his desk
and i’m like alright hit me with that sweet sweet self-help article my man, because i’m a linguistic learner and whenever paul’s like here i have a tool for you to use it’s pretty much always an article or a book or something
paul opens a drawer, takes something out, and turns back around. i stare.
i say, paul.
is that a nerf gun.
yeah, says paul.
i say, are you gonna shoot me with a nerf gun in this professional setting.
he happily informs me that that’s really up to me, isn’t it. and sits back down. and gestures, like, go ahead, what were you saying?
and i squint suspiciously and start back up about how i’m having too much anxiety to leave the house to run errands, like it was a miracle to even get here, like i’ve forgone getting groceries for the past week and that’s so stupid, what a stupid issue, i’m an idiot, how could i–
a foam dart hits me in the leg.
i go, hey! because my therapist just shot me in the leg. paul blinks at me placidly and raises an eyebrow. i squint again.
i say, slowly, it’s– not a stupid issue, i’m not stupid, but it’s frustrating me and i don’t want it to be a problem i’m having.
no dart this time. okay. sweet.
so the rest of the hour passes with me intermittently getting nailed with tiny foam darts and then swearing and then fixing my language and, wouldn’t you know it, i start liking myself a little more by the end of the session, which is mildly infuriating because paul can tell and he’s very smug about it
anyway i leave his office and the lady having the next appointment walks in and i hear what’s all over the floor? and paul very seriously says cognitive behavioral therapy tools.
This pile of shit is paying a fraction of what he stole from taxpayers. He needs to pay it all back, and he needs to be forced out of government forever.
mindthewolves asked:
now I'm curious - what did anthony doerr have to say about fanfic? always hungry for more fic discourse =]
bettsfic answered:
oh god it was the COOLEST THING EVER. so i was at tin house and went to his lecture (about similes!) and saw him walking around all week, but i was way too shy to talk to him, so i had to wait until his book signing. the conversation went like this…
him: whose workshop are you in?
me: emily witt’s
(side note: worked with emily witt all week…phenomenal experience)
him: so you’re writing a memoir?
me: a memoir on fanfiction, yeah
and i shit you not, if i could bottle this man’s reaction to those four words, “a memoir on fanfiction,” my soul could thrive for eternity. i feel like it’s so hard to surprise writers like doerr, to give them things they haven’t seen or heard before, and so to be able to do it with only FOUR WORDS made my heart soar.
him: really? [some things click for him] yeah, yeah, okay, i get it. yeah. fanfiction is like. everything is fanfiction!
me: yeah!
him: songs inspired by other songs are fanfiction!
me: yep!
him: do you write fanfiction?
me: i do! then i went to original fiction, and now i’m writing nonfiction about fanfiction, so i’ve come full circle.
him: wow!
there was a little bit more to it than that, i went through a very quick run-down of my “fanfiction means so much to me and it’s so important and here’s why” rant, and i also asked about some of his work. overall i really wish i had talked with him more, but hopefully i’ll get to meet him again.
and bonus! one of my top choice agents is interested in seeing the memoir proposal (and my short story collection), so things are moving forward.
bonus part two! natalie diaz gave me an impromptu lecture on architecture as functional poetry. i got to meet aimee bender and claire vaye watkins. i had breakfast with the co-founder of tin house. i made a whole bunch of new friends and i learned…dear god, i learned so, so much. it was worth every penny. i highly recommend all of you apply next year if you’re interested in poetry, ofic, or nonfic.
wilwheaton
