That sounds flippant but imagine Denethor sending the right son to do the right job.
Faramir goes to the cool green glade of Elrond, where he speaks of dreams and waves, and the elves whisper that the blood of Numenor runs true in the House of Hurin; Boromir spends his time riding like hell between Ithilien and Osgiliath, speaking with men around smoky fires, embracing his captains and saying to them, take heart, gather your strength, these are the times which test a man’s soul and lift it to glory, but we will see dawn come, we will keep Gondor free.
Though they are cut from different cloth, this is something Boromir and Faramir have always shared–they are men deserving of leadership, they would be followed under the shadow of the East. Boromir aches for every one of his countrymen cut down, screams his defiance to the orc armies and rallies his arms; Faramir listens to the words of wisdom Aragorn offers, is gentle and kindly with the hobbits, greets Legolas in his mother tongue, offers Master Gimli praise.
Wandering with the Fellowship below the empty sky, Faramir looks up at Maethor, the Warrior constellation, and thinks of his brother, prays that he is well, that he is safe, that he is still a little pompous, stilted, honest.
Boromir spends another sleepless night playing with the chain at his neck, the small portraits of his mother and brother. (I cannot lose you too, I cannot–come back hale and whole, come back angry and proud and cunning and defiant of our father–)
Faramir has never known the weight of all Gondor on his shoulders, and so is not tempted by the power the Ring offers.
Boromir has always known the love of his father, and so never bears the scorn of Denethor when Osgiliath must be abandoned as too tenuous a position to hold.
The day that Faramir comes striding into the Citadel, a child and wizard at his heels, Boromir cries out with joy as he has not for more years than counting, and they nearly bruise one another with their embrace.
“You are almost skeletal, little brother,” Boromir laughs, though it is not true–Faramir looks touched with strangeness and greatness, as one whom the Witch-Queen of Lorien found favor in, whose nobility of form and face had ensnared the heart of the White Princess of Rohan.
“And you look at least two-stone heavier, elder brother,” Faramir says, though it is false, Boromir is hollowed out and worn thin, deep shadows beneath his eyes and hunger-starved cheeks; in a glance, Faramir knows he neither eats nor sleeps nor laughs, nor feels–and Faramir, wiser and older than when he left, can see the weight his brother has always carried, and how lightly–all the stone of Minas Tirith on his shoulders, and still–
“Are you really going to vote for Clinton just because she isn’t Trump?”
Yes? I would literally elect Chef Boyardee because he isn’t Trump.
My dear Americans:
When we here in Canada had our last election, we made a massive effort to vote strategically. There were even groups here who (since we don’t elect our PM directly but rather elect a ruling party) were literally going around making sure everyone knew who in their voting area was most likely to beat the Conservative candidate so that we WOULD NOT GET HARPER.
At the time I explained at length to many people how at that point, @tkingfisher‘s beagle Gir would make a better PM than Harper. Then I paused and thought, “hey, she lost a dog … relatively recently? In the last year? Was that the beagle? I can’t remember. … anyway it doesn’t matter, because her beagle would make a better PM than Harper even if said beagle were dead.”
You, my dear Americans, are now in this same position. Gir, all by himself with no advisors, would still make a better President than that POS, even if he were dead (the beagle, not that jerk; I am not sure that life or lack thereof would make much difference to that jerk’s presidency).
You are not voting for anyone at this point. You are voting against Trump.
Do not be a fucking moron and end up with Trump because you didn’t vote against him. Because Gir, even if dead, would make a better president. Do not mistake politics for a lifelong statement on your values. You will not benefit anyone or make any kind of statement by doing something that makes that piece of crap more likely to get elected, and every vote not cast for his best competition (that is, the person most likely to beat him, whoever they are!) is something that makes his election more likely.
Do not do this, my darling Americans.
Ideals are great. But so is long-term strategic thinking, and all of you young Americans reading me have many many years left of voting and doing your best to bring change and improvement to your country … unless you are foolish enough to let that jerk win.
In which case we all lose.
So please don’t be fucking stupid. Whoever the not-Trump nominee is, vote for them. Even if you don’t like them. Because you are not voting for whoever that is; you are voting against That Jerk.
Okay? Okay.
SERIOUSLY. It’s worth noting, too, that there are actually a lot of parallels between the Canadian election and the one you guys are entering into now. We had our centrist candidate that a lot of people either outright hated or at the very least didn’t like and didn’t respect (yes, that was Justin Trudeau) and an older, somewhat charismatic socialist leader who was largely thought would win by a landslide. (That was Thomas Mulcair)
Except Mulcair, a lot like his American counterpart, fumbled key moments and key populations badly and the longer the election went on, the more people started drifting away to the Liberals. Who ended up winning by a landslide and, well, *shrug* it definitely worked out.
Now I’m not saying Hillary is going to win and magically transform into Justin Trudeau, but I am saying you’ve not really seen her as a leader yet. You’ve seen her work within the Senate and you’ve seen her carry out President Obama’s policies as Secretary of State (yeah, if you’re not pissed off at him for those policies, might want to ask yourself why) but as her own leader? Not so much. Not quite.
It doesn’t mean you won’t be freaking furious with her at times, or that she won’t do things that make your gut churn, but for the love of God, the fucking KKK endorses Trump. They’re excited by his candidacy.
Ever want a chance to save the world? Here’s your shot. Suck it up and vote against him.
That’s what we did. There were a shitton of hardcore NDP voters who should have voted for Thomas Mulcair (dodged a bullet there, lemme tell you) who sucked it up and voted for Justin Trudeau because they would not risk splitting the vote.
No matter who’s name you write in on the ballet.a
vote for anybody but the Democratic candidate in this election is a vote for Trump.
A few words of help for our American friends, eh? #USA #Election
If someone is wearing makeup in the pool, don’t deliberately splash them.
If someone has done their hair nicely, don’t mess it up.
If someone in a t-shirt has scars on their arms, don’t ask them about it.
If someone doesn’t want to get in the water, don’t push them.
If someone still wants to wear jeans, don’t laugh at them for it.
If someone has sweat patches, don’t point them out.
If someone’s chest is obviously prominent, don’t stare.
If you can see someone’s underwear/ binder, don’t comment on it.
If someone is blatantly covering something up, don’t try to reveal it.
Not everyone can feel totally comfortable with the fact it’s Summer, don’t make them feel worse.
Since it’s coming to summertime in the northern hemisphere it’s time to let this be relevant
I’d like to draw more attention to antisemitism that affects real Jewish people, because honestly? I have not seen as much outrage over the lives of actual people than I have over a fictional white gentile. So I’ve compiled a list of posts and blogs for my fellow gentiles to read.
Here is a post discussing why tumblr’s social justice community often forgets or dismisses antisemitism
Please support Jewish people, not just on Tumblr, but in real life. Please educate yourself on antisemitism so you can fight it, not just when it affects your fictional faves but when it affects real people.
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
2: What scene did you first put down?
3: What’s your favorite line of narration?
4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?
5: What part was hardest to write?
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
7: Where did the title come from?
8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
11: What do you like best about this fic?
12: What do you like least about this fic?
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
AU where cosette, feuilly, and bossuet start a support group but have to figure out how to fit “In The Face Of Horrible Hardships That Could Have Turned Me Bitter And Closed-Off, I Retained A Love For The People Around Me And A Belief In The World’s Capacity For Goodness, But Fandom Chooses To Overlook That Aspect Of My Character Or Even My Existence In Favor Of Flashier Tropes” onto buttons, also it makes for a terrible acronym
The hit musical Hamilton has opened up auditions in Philadelphia and is looking for both male and female performers for the roles of Aaron Burr and George Washington, according to a casting call on Backstage. Back in January,Lin-Manuel Miranda gave us a taste of an all-female Hamilton.(Video within)
I will travel wherever I’ve got to travel to see a woman play Burr.
eirenical17 