note to self: just because someone did the thing you were thinking about doing, and did it way better than you could ever hope to do, doesn’t mean it would be stupid or pointless to go ahead and try to still do the thing anyway.
Also, when it comes to creative things? There really is no “better”.
Sure, someone might be more technically accomplished than you – you might not be able to colour as nicely or craft a sentence that rings as poetically – but art is only really secondarily about that. It’s firstmost about what you, uniquely, have to express, and how the precise way you express it might be what others need to relate to it – even if it’s less flashy, less “beautiful”, and gets fewer notes.
I promise you this: there are obscure fanfics with only a handful of notes that are the read-and-re-read favourites of someone too anxious to comment. There are drawings done by 14-year-olds in poorly-blended markers that are someone’s favourite because they spoke to something that nothing else did. There are covers of songs where your voice cracks and you cringe every time you hear it but someone thinks the way it cracked just at that moment added beauty to the song. There are angsty three-line poems you wrote at 4am that someone once called “pretentious emo trash” that are loved by someone else going through the same thing as you.
And I guarantee you, there is something unique about your art. Even if you’re “saying something someone else has said”. Even if you’re the thousandth person to take on the subject. Even if you feel like you’re not at all unique. You’re bound to express something, however subtle, that didn’t exist until then.
Art is about connection. And the more you create, the more chance you have of finding other people who experience the world the way you do.
“But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.“ via @neil-gaiman
The “two cakes” theory of content production.
It was only yesterday that I was lamenting thing I no longer felt allowed to do because someone had done similar.
I ought to read this post daily. Maybe twice daily.
You get to take a break. We got ‘em in the war. Go to a dance hall, go see a show, go do whatever it is the Millennials do these days. Take a 24 hour pass. Hell take a 48 hour pass. The Army can’t fire me, I issue you all a 48 hour pass to use at your leisure.
The fight will still be here when you get back, unless a miracle happens in the next 48 hours, in which case clearly we did okay while you were eating jello cups and watching The Great British Bake-Off.
I wholeheartedly support #notmypresident but unfortunately, this law would still apply. Be careful with those assassination jokes, which do qualify as a federal offense now. Stay informed and make informed decisions.
I would like to remind everyone that a few years back a I tagged a post about shady us military recruitment tactics with “I hate the military” (or something like that) and wound up with someone looking through my selfie tag from a department of defense computer.
be very careful of what you put online.
😨 scary
This is what I was referring to in my earlier post. The NSA showed up at my house due to some shit I said. They questioned me, and when they realized I wasn’t a threat to national security, left me alone. Still, had they wanted to, they could have black bagged my ass and carted me off to a blacksite if they were feeling particularly bored and no one would know.
So like…PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF WHAT YOU SAY. Especially if you’re active in protests and documenting shit. Use disposable cameras, and never ever use your cellphone for shit like that.
I’ve been meaning to do a post about this.
In addition to it being a felony, you know full well this president is petty enough to go after anyone and everyone.
A girl from IDK what fandom got an embarrassing visit from the Secret Service in 2004 after making a jokey post on LiveJournal “praying” for God to smite the President in an embarrassing or scandalous way. Nothing came of it but a stern lecture, but it’s good to know the rules on this depending on dangerous it is for you to come into contact with law enforcement.
For US security purposes, always assume criminal death threats include: -Jokes, even really obvious jokes about movies, memes, etc. -Anything that starts “I hope/wish someone…” or “When is someone going to…” or “Someone should really…” These are treated the same as “I am going to…” This applies even to fictional characters, like “I hope Darth Vader…” -Fantasies/stories about assassination or the aftermath of an assassination. -Things like “We could really use a [name of famous assassin]” or “Anyone know when the President is going to [location of previous assassination]?”
Don’t come into contact with law enforcement if you don’t have to.
Sorry to keep harping on this, but I know there are lots of folks on Tumblr who weren’t adults when this discussion was in the news last time around (and I believe even people as young as 14 have been visited by the Secret Service for comments about harming the President in the past).
Don’t give Drumpf and his lackeys the satisfaction.
Basically people underestimate the amount of reach the Secret Service has when it comes to assassination threats
I don’t normally fuck with Cracked tbh but here is a good article one of the staff writers made about their experience – where their jokes about “fighting presidents” got them a visit from Secret Service (warn for ableist language)
quick protip: if someone is crying or freaking out over something minor, eg wifi not connecting, can’t find their hat, people talking too loud, do NOT tell them how small or petty the problem is to make it better. they know. they would probably love to calm down. you are doing the furthest possible thing from helping. people don’t have to earn expressions of feelings.
I’m just gonna put it out there that if someone’s freaking about something small, they’re really freaking out about something big that they’re trying to deal with, or something long term that’s been building up, and that little thing is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I don’t know, try and give people the benefit of the doubt. Don’t be the next straw on their broken back.
Needed this today.
People don’t actually go from 0 to 60. If you think they did, you have failed to notice how long they’ve been at 59.
There's a Mirror on the Wall 