No, no, you have no idea. It actually IS the beginning of the whole so-called “kawaii culture”. And it started because girls started using mechanical pencils, which provided fine handwriting. After being banished (more precisely, during the 80s), this kind of writing started being used in products like magazines and make-up. And, during this time, icons we usually associate with the whole kawaii industry (like the characters from Sanrio) came to life too.
And what many people don’t realize is that this subculture was born as a way for young girls to express themselves in their own way. And it was also used as something against the adult life and the traditional culture, often seen as dull and boring and oppressive. By embracing cuteness, these young girls (and adult women, after a while) were showing non-conformation with the current standards.
So yep. Kawaii is important, and it all started with cute, simple handwritting a few hearts and cat faces in some girls’ school notebooks ❤
!!!!!
NO OK THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!
This is also how the kawaii fashions started! Girls began dressing in cute and off beat styles for themsleves, they were criticized by adult figures telling them “you’ll never find a husband if you dress that way!” to which they began to reply “Good!”
All the japanese subcultures and fashions that evolved out of this became a rebellion to tradition and the starch gender roles and expectations the adults were forcing on the younger generations. As early as the 70s and still to this day you’ll see an emphasis on child-like fashion and themes in more kawaii styles and the dismissal of the male gaze with styles like lolita (a lot of western people assume lolita is somehow sexual due to the name of the fashion, but ask any japanese lolita and they will tell you that men hate the style and find it unattractive which is sometimes a large reason they gravitate towards the style – they can express their femininity and individuality while remaining independent and without the pressure to appeal to men)
Its so so so important to understand the hyper cute and ‘odd’ fashions of Japanese girls carry such a huge message of feminism and reclaiming of their own lives.
so are you telling me that Japan’s punk phase was really the kawaii phase
ways i have tricked people into thinking i am competent:
bought a really nice looking fountain pen
that sounds like a joke but fountain pens are cheap as shit and when you use one people look at you like you’re a fucking wizard
this hero 901 cost me $3 on ebay and i don’t know why people assume that this is a pen for intelligent people but they do
it works better when i am using a nice notebook and not the avengers notebook that makes it look like the hulk is grabbing my sweet pen
i write in code which for some reason leads everyone to assume that i am some kind of da vinci motherfucker, instead of the reality, which is that i am writing about dicks and don’t want anyone to know
it looks like i am constantly taking notes on everything which is both intimidating and inaccurate, just the way i like it
i bought a usb clicker/laser pointer for $11 and now it seems like i’ve got this shit on lock, like i am so pro at giving presentations i even own accessories
holding a clicker makes you seem at least 10% more like you know what you’re talking about i’m pretty sure
i check the weekly freebies on creativemarket every monday so now i have a huge folder of pro-looking website themes and powerpoint templates and fill-in-the-blank resumes (also a lot of autumnal clipart and watercolor flowers and script fonts but that is less relevant)
i bought a ceramic coffee mug at world market years ago and it makes me look like a productive coffee-drinker because no one knows it’s full of hot cocoa
i don’t know why drinking coffee makes you look busy it just does even though i’m pretty sure it statistically reduces productivity
bonus: not only does no one know i’m just drinking Depression Chocolate but they think i am being Environmentally Conscious rather than Poor As Shit
extra bonus: i can take a sip whenever it looks like someone is going to ask a question and then they ask someone else
i almost never have to answer questions and i leave the room a lot because i have to pee constantly so double extra bonus
“That’s a very good question, and one that deserves an in-depth answer, so if you’d like to leave me your card I’d be happy to discuss it with you later one-on-one” aka “how DARE you suggest i waste everyone’s time answering this question right now” aka “lmfao i have no fucking clue what you just said please let me secretly google that okay”
bonus: now it seems like you are a sophisticated grownup who assumes everyone has A Card and if they have to settle for writing their email on a scrap of paper you can feel smug about it even though in your heart you know that you are no better
i’ve got anxiety and poor impulse control and anxiety about my poor impulse control so i generally say jack shit about shit and this constant silence is often misinterpreted as aloof observation
no one knows that my air of mystery is actually a bad case of the shy and i am too shy to correct them so it works out
when i’m on my laptop and i don’t want anyone to notice how much i’m dicking around i turn the brightness way down so they can’t snoop without being obvious
at least one window of notepad++ with some random html page or css stylesheet in it makes randos assume you are some kind of genius doing some genius shit, unless they are CS major randos, in which case i guess find an intimidating looking excel spreadsheet and hope for the best
Something I think is interesting is if you consider Warp Tour through The Return from Peridot’s perspective, it’s a little bit like…
Imagine you’re working in a good-sized office building. It has a basement, but it’s always locked and you’ve never been there. One day your boss hands you the keys, tells you there’s a fax machine down there, and asks you to go see if it’s working.
You head into the basement, and it’s really creepy down there. There’s weird graffiti on the walls and like… mysterious arrangements of paperclips that you have no idea who put them there or why. But you are here, you have a job to do, you are good at your job, you are finding that fax machine.
And then suddenly a bunch of people you have never seen before jump out of nowhere, strike poses, rattle off some kind of motto and start attacking you.
You book it back up the stairs and lock the door behind you, because, holy crap, there are people living in the basement, why did no one tell you about this. And naturally the first thing you do is blab to Security and by Security I mean that one ex-Navy Seal with all the tattoos who’s built like she wrestles grizzly bears in her spare time and somehow ended up on security detail in an office building right here at this point in your life when ordinary security will not suffice, because sometimes the corporate gods are merciful.
And not only does she believe you, but she just sorta looks you over and goes “oh, yeah, those guys. I know who those guys are. Let’s go, I’ve got some unfinished business with them.”
And then to make situations way weirder there’s some other person who shows up around this time who has apparently been held hostage by the basement people for longer than you’ve been working here and she’s deeply alarmed by the phone system and she comes along even though she really doesn’t want to because you have Security on your side and Security probably benches I-beams, and you are totally confident you are going to kick these basement-lurking weirdos’ butts.
And then the whole situation goes rapidly downhill and then before you know it you’ve been indoctrinated into the basement cult.
That “fact” about Clinton defending a child rapist and laughing about it, came about in May of 2016 this year. It’s a new lie which is part of a carefully orchestrated smear campaign that’s been running against her for the last 20 years because the thought of a woman in power scares certain powerful men shitless.
What is true about it, is that in 1975 Hillary Clinton (then Hillary Rodham) was appointed to represent a man
charged with raping a 12-year-old girl. This was her job. And just in case you can’t wrap your head around how being a defense lawyer works then I’m sorry to tell you that lots of lawyers have had to defend people they have found to be monstrous. When people say in movies “you have the right to an attorney” they’re serious, everyone has that right, even child rapists. Hillary took the case reluctantly, which ended in a plea bargain for the defendant. He did not “get away with it”. He actually plead guilty. That’s what plea bargain means.
Hillary Clinton did not volunteer to be the defendant’s lawyer, she did
not laugh about the case’s outcome, she did not assert that the
complainant “made up the rape story,” she did not claim she knew the
defendant to be guilty, and she did not “free” the defendant.
Do some basic research before you support such claims. (x)
And just in case you’re too lazy to click the link, here’s a direct quote from Hillary and Gibson, the prosecution lawyer:
[Prosecuting attorney Mahlon Gibson] called me to tell me an indigent
prisoner accused of raping a twelve-year-old girl wanted a woman lawyer.
[Prosecutor Mahlon] Gibson had recommended that the criminal court
judge, Maupin Cummings, appoint me. I told Mahlon I really didn’t feel
comfortable taking on such a client, but Mahlon gently reminded me that I
couldn’t very well refuse the judge’s request.
*
“Hillary told me she didn’t want to take that case, she made that very clear,” recalls prosecutor Gibson, who phoned her with the judge’s order.
And murder? If we’re talking about the decisions all politicians make, then by that logic you could turn around and say that Obama has murdered 116 innocent civilians because of drone strikes (x), George W Bush murdered over
110,937 civilians in the Iraq war alone. (x) People might well believe Bernie Sanders is the savior we’ve been denied, but you’re dreaming if you think he could have taken the office of the presidency and avoided bloodshed entirely. But since we’re presumably cherry picking about bloodshed on politicians hands, lets talk about The Authorization of Military Force Against Terrorists Act, passed on September 14th 2001. This act is responsible for the United State’s continued engagement in the Middle East over the last 15 years—And Bernie Sanders voted for it. And I love Bernie, I would have voted for him in a heartbeat. But when we’re talking about “murder” on the hands of politicians hands, we cannot cherry pick the facts we want to believe in and ignore the rest.
Hillary Clinton is not a monster. Hillary Clinton does messy jobs no one else is willing to do, and she does them well. But Hillary Clinton is also the person who showed up at Ground Zero following in the wake of
9/11 to witness the carnage for herself. Clinton who did not do it
for photo-ops as so many did, and took the time to talk to first
responders and to make sure they
were getting the resources and help they needed to carry on their work. Clinton who advocated for those same people to receive health care when it was revealed the Bush administration lied about the air around Ground Zero not being toxic to breathe, putting rescuers at further risk. Clinton who stood by people for years and made sure they were doing okay in the aftermath:
Gorman recalls being pleasantly surprised by Clinton’s commitment, both
in terms of her mastery of policy detail and on a personal level. “She
would call me on my cellphone to ask how I was doing, how my members
were doing,” he said. “One time I was pumping gas at a Texaco station,
it was Christmas Eve, and she wanted to know how things were going. When
a senator calls someone on my level, that’s impressive.”
But we don’t hear so much about that do we? We don’t hear about Hillary who has been campaigning for universal health care since 1993 (x). Hillary who has stood with Planned Parenthood for a long time and who remains their most stalwart advocate (x)
And the reason we don’t hear about them is because Hillary has endured a 20 year smear campaign against her, and this is important, because she is a woman who dares to show ambition (x). So when you believe the things you read without fact checking them, you are giving weight and precedence to even bigger lies which has its roots in female oppression. Which is disgusting.
Do I agree with everything she has ever said and done? No of course not. But on that same level I don’t agree with everything Bernie Sanders has ever said and done either. Do I believe she is the most qualified candidate to be the next President of the United States? Unequivocally.
I’m a foreigner in this country and cannot vote, but morally and with the utmost support for the hope of the betterment of this country #I’m with her.
Do I have any followers who happen to read my Gravity Falls fanfic on AO3 and want to beta read my new chapter and help me improve it some?
Its like, super heavy on dialogue and I’m having trouble making it not be like… just dialogue at some parts, since they’re kinda just standing there? I dont want to put actions in there just for the sake of it either, though, since that seems kind of unnatural in the situation…
I’m bad with writing stuff like casual gestures during conversation… I like leaving a certain amount of leeway for the readers imagination because of that… But leaving it ALL to the imagination means its literally ALL dialogue at some parts.
I think that no matter how far behind Trump looks in the polls, we all still need to take the election seriously and go vote againqst him. Not only to ensure that he has no chance of winning, but also to show that a racist asshole who fucking brags about sexually assaulting women isn’t capable of coming even close to winning the election.
^^^ this. Because there are too many people out there who are quiet about it (read: embarrassed) but are still going to vote for trump. PLEASE VOTE
Drawn for @gfzine, while riding shotgun on a big red truck on its way to a cabin in the woods. Many, many thanks to the incredible mods who organized it, and the amazing artists who came along for the ride.
May's Blog 