then there are blackbirds

For the daily December meme, sheafrotherdon asked me what my most and least favorite things about academia are. End of semester is a great time to get this one out of the way, I think!

Least favorite first: I really hate how grad school/academia eats away at my emotional and mental health. I never felt this way during my masters program, so it's possible this is more PhD-specific? But oh man, in the immortal words of Aang, not fun. ( details you may want to skip )

I'm cynical about academia a lot, but my favorite thing- what brought me here and keeps me stubbornly fighting my way through- is the process of problem-solving and puzzling things out. I love brainstorming, sharing info, and unapologetically nerding with people who are in the same boat, whether or not we have the same areas of interest. It's often as (or more) frustrating as it is satisfying, but I find it inspiring to be around people with so much curiosity about the world and how things work.

PS: if you'd like to suggest a topic for me to babble about, I'm still taking prompts!

Inspired by a recent exchange with rydra_wong, I thought it would be nice to make a list of life-giving media content that's been helping me get by! I noticed upon my latest rewatch of Nirvana in Fire that the comfort reading/media consumption I do to cope with politics these days is distinctly different from the comfort reading/media consumption I do in response to general life stress. There's a specific flavor of schadenfreude involved in the former which leads me to look for plots involving political takedowns and reforms for great justice, for one thing, though I will also settle for characters resisting and/or getting justice in a less socially comprehensive sense. *g*

My political coping list is much less extensive than my general comfort list, but here are a few things I've been leaning on:
♥ Nirvana in Fire/Lang Ya Bang - I would rewatch this show anytime for any reason because of the amazing characters, but it is especially satisfying as political coping because of Mei Changsu's beautiful takedown schemes (also, there is an explicit hierarchy of court corruptness being dealt with)!
♥ Captive Prince - similarly satisfying, but to a lesser extent. I love Laurent's plotting, but Mei Changsu eclipses him in terms of layers, let's be real.
♥ Black Panther - the most comforting parts of this movie for me are Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia, tbh. I love soft-hearted T'Challa, but those three are what I watch for these days.
♥ A:TLA - this is also a general comfort thing, but for political coping I like turning to the latter half of Zuko's character arc and, uh, pretty much every episode where Katara gets angry, because she's glorious when pissed off and never gets punished for it. I also like all the fights with Azula; they're quite cathartic for me!
♥ Kristin Cashore's Graceling series (er, I forget if that's the actual series name? but all three books!) - I like these because in addition to the various trash fires and takedowns, they don't shy away from the parts where everyone is also coping with the traumas involved during and afterward. There's a raw generosity and kindness in Bitterblue, especially, that I really appreciated post-November 2016.
♥ V for Vendetta - clearly explosions are not a solution to shitty government, but some days there's only so much bullshit I can take before I just want to watch it (fictionally) burn.
♥ The Matrix - same as above? xD
♥ The Handmaid's Tale - I started rereading a couple of weeks post-Kavanaugh, but it was a bit much then (also, I was away that weekend and got distracted by people). I think it would be good to revisit another day, though.
♥ Janelle Monae's entire discography - not only is she an incredible musician, her music videos (Many Moons, Tightrope, and Dirty Computer especially) are such amazing portraits of everyday #resistance.
♥ In the Heights soundtrack - maybe Hamilton would be more satisfying (I still haven't seen it), but literally all of this is immigrants surviving, thriving, and going about their everyday lives, and I desperately need more immigrant stories. (I would cite Allegiance too, if I owned the soundtrack!)
♥ By The Still Waters - I love and have been rereading this fic so much, because it is all about choosing and dealing with the consequences of your choices. Also OMG, what an incredible character piece! (Spoilers for Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition.)
♥ LOTR - for all those comforting Dire Moments with Frodo, Sam, Eowyn, etc., haha.

What are the things you've been turning to? Any recs?

I feel like prefacing this with a content note for US news/politics is... sad and unspecific, but it covers all my bases, really. /o\

Today I have been USELESS thanks to the brain-explosion that was 45 announcing he'd like to dismantle US birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Neither his white nationalist leanings nor his complete disregard for the Constitution are a surprise, and legal scholars have been pretty clear on the utter ridiculousness that is the "argument" posed by the "subject to the jurisdiction of" phrasing; the SCOTUS ruling (United States vs. Wong Kim Ark)¹ that upholds today's interpretation of birthright citizenship was made over a century ago. It's also a blatant pre-midterm attempt to drive far-right-leaning and other conservative voters to the polls. Coming on the heels of Pittsburgh², which I have yet to find the words for? For me, at least, it's a notable grossness in a two-year string of trash fires.

It's definitely a sign of our times that the low likelihood of support is no comfort to me. A president with no respect for the law- or anything or anyone else- clearly doesn't care if the means to his ends are legitimate; his public record of No Fucks to Give is, what, 20 years old now?

So I can end on a laugh of sorts, have a link from the New Yorker (via a fb friend): Trump strips citizenship from children of immigrants, thus disqualifying himself from presidency

1. WaPo: Birthright citizenship: A Trump-inspired history lesson on the 14th Amendment
2. WaPo (guest post): Why the Pittsburgh shooter raged about immigration before attacking a synagogue

Making a note of my tiny political behaviors as rydra_wong suggested! Being registered in a blue county in a blue state, and having already submitted my absentee midterm ballot, I tossed a small donation to ActBlue's #GrabYourBallot list a few days back. This one includes Heidi Heitkamp and Beto O'Rourke. Other candidates whose blurbs caught my eye are Kyrsten Sinema (senate race) and Paulette Jordan (governor).

Any particular candidates/races on your radar? I'd appreciate hearing about them if there are; it makes a nice change from my sporadic Twitter- and headline-skimming.

I emailed off my proposal draft today! Since I saw a couple of fic prompt posts float by and it's been years since I wrote any fic at all, feel free to drop me prompts!! I'm guessing it'll be easiest for me to do A:TLA, HP, Ouran, Dragon Age, YOI, or Saving Face but feel free to mention any fandom you know we share. :D I'll try to respond to them over the weekend.

My free time/fluff-brain entertainment has basically consisted of nothing but fic for... I'm not sure how many months now? It's been nearly a year since I last posted any recs, so have an incomplete list of things that have given me great glee:

» YOI:
The requisite Victuuri:
- talk crap get smacked - sly prankster Yuuri is one of my FAVORITE YUURIS
- crust and sugar over - asdf;askdj;lk the Yuri/Yuuri friendship here, omg!!
- on growing; - the Yuri's-two-dads trope will never stop being ♥ ♥ ♥
- destiny knot - a Pokemon AU series I loved without actually being in Pokemon fandom
- The Viktor Nikiforov Affair - ahaha omg has anyone else watched The Thomas Crown Affair??? ART THEFT SHENANIGANS that I loved before the Shadow of the Templar series existed!
- I think you'd look pretty good on me - oblivious heartbreaker Katsuki Yuuri vs. probably-Chad
- a dime a dozen - annnnd probably-Chad is a thing I will apparently laugh myself to tears to, every time! Can we call the Chads a trope yet???
- Fated - LOVELESS CROSSOVER OMG!!! I never did finish reading Loveless back in the day, but this does such an excellent job of worldbuilding/dealing with the fucked-up-ness of the Loveless world.
- Collector's Edition - Victuuri fanboying each other + social media = two great tastes that taste great together!
- name is a four-letter word - Viktor's epic pettiness about JJ gives me such life

Otayuri:
- one thing I could save from the fire - Pacific Rim fusion! :D
- Otabek and Yuri Find a Baby - I find an extra layer of hilarity in baby-fic with these two, even out of Yurio's awkward teenagerhood *g*
- he's beauty, he's grace, he'll punch you in the face - if you suspect I first read this without looking beyond the title, you'd be 100% correct
- Work Even to the End

» Nirvana in Fire:
- Handfast - MCS-as-MCS/Nihuang arranged marriage fic :D :D :D
- But Everything Changed - a MCS/Jingyan/Nihuang A:TLA AU! ♥ ♥ ♥
- for every atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you - SUPER satisfying MCS/Jingyan HDM-daemon fic (as the AO3 summary says, a fandom can never have enough daemon fic!)
- New Spring - also MCS/Jingyan; even if you dislike ABO, the amount of family feels in this series (not to mention its integration of ABO dynamics into politics!) makes everything worth it

» Black Panther: I think it was kate_nepveu who pointed me to home training, but the entire erik stevens, prince of wakanda series is GOLDEN. ♥____♥

» Dragon Age: Inquisition: Probably everyone who's into this fandom/the adoribull ship has already read these, but since I'm doing this I may as well include them anyway...
- Titanomachy, a Pacific Rim fusion (I can also never get enough of these!)
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective Dragonslayers, aka adoribull old marrieds with a new generation of ducklings

I am SO INFURIATED that the Senate passed the tax bill. I can't afford to be lost to incoherent rage! I found out yesterday that my area exam is supposed to be held a week before I thought, & I'm not nearly done reading!

At least last night's group practice was good, I don't know what I would've done if that had been soured also. Tell me something that made you happy recently?

1. Shared a mooncake and spent some time throwing around a frisbee yesterday with friend A, which was nice! Also hilarrible, because the frisbee said "Caneh!dian". A said it was the last one in the Walmart she was at; I think that sounds suspiciously like a troll setup. xD

2. Choreo catch-up practice with S last night. It's still not done yet, but that's because we had to pick up the finished pieces after our mini-hiatus, not because I forgot my ideas.

3. NYC for the long (Canadian Thanksgiving) weekend! It's going to be exhausting but amazing- so many dance friends to catch up with.

Happy mid-autumn to everyone celebrating!

♣ I downloaded the Daily Yoga app yesterday in yet another bid to get into the habit of daily stretching, and I did actually do some yoga this morning. Also I noticed there's a whole section on yoga poses during menstruation! This seems particularly promising, as my previous attempts at home exercise have been derailed by aches and cramps before. We'll see how this goes!

♣ I started on this sweater a few days ago, which looks nice in theory but is very, very boring to execute. Super tempted to break up the hdc monotony with rows of other stitches, except for the part where I'm not sure it'll actually look good, so I probably won't. If I manage to finish it before winter here is over I will be amazed.

♣ And finally, a few notes on Atomic Blonde, before I forget everything I had to say about it! I had no strong opinions or expectations going in beyond LADY SPY HOORAY!, which it delivers, in a Jane Bond sort of way. The plot twists were a bit hard to follow, not sure if that was the execution or my being fluff-brained while watching. The violence occasionally made me flinch (I really dislike gore) but it was pretty satisfying to watch Charlize Theron take on all comers. ( vague spoilers ) Also why is the espionage business portrayed as so overwhelmingly male?? Surely this can't be accurate? (Not even gonna touch the lily-whiteness of it; some of the Bond movies did better there.)

Last night in my browsing for Poirot videos, I ended up finding and watching David Suchet's documentary on Being Poirot instead. :D It's actually quite warm-and-fuzzies inducing, if a bit spoilery on various plot points for various stories. David Suchet talks about figuring out Poirot's character, method acting, sets, his other film references, Agatha Christie herself, international audiences, etc. If you're an Agatha Christie fan and haven't already seen it, I think it's quite worth it!