Roads to Safe Places

Title: Impartial.
Rating: G
Credits: =cloaks's  Vintage Texture Pack V, ~redheadstock's light brushes, ~Eterea86's beautiful corner brushes, and Hogwarts Crest, (C) Bloomsbury PLC. 


Albus, another Gryffindor, she mused, maintained that the hat was impartial, but given that it was Gryffindor's, Minerva had her doubts. Over the years, she had gotten rather good at guessing which student would end up in which house, but there was still the moment when the hat made them one of hers, and she would spent the rest seven years denying the stronger connection she felt towards her own. She knew her grading was as impartial as possible, but she still worried, second-guessed, and feared. 

This time, however, it was impossible to stay all too impartial, because seeing her, her nervous apprehension and joy at finally being here was like looking into a mirror. 

She suppressed a smile as she raised the hat in invitation to sit down on the stool and shushed the voice that kept saying her own house's name, daring the hat to say any other. 

Other parts in the series:

I have the sneaking suspicion that there are more and more aggressive and stereotypical gender-norm affirming messages in today's German EFL books than in the ones we had in my school days. You may say that I am only saying that because I have only vague and fond memories, but I checked. I couldn't find examples similar to the ones I fond in today's EFL books anywhere in the eighties editions I have at home.

While working with the new editions during the last half year, I found gems like these: 

1. In the noughties edition of Green Line A1 for learners in their first year there's a dialogue on various school activities and the plans people are making for the weekend. It's a very short dialogue and briefly runs down the various activities the school offers, their times and places, and then includes an exchange along the lines of: 
2. Also in the noughties edition of Green Line A4, there is a dialogue entitled "Football for girls?" in which two girls debate whether a team for girls would be a good thing to have at their school. One argues that girls "are just not as good as boys" and therefore a football team for girls would not be a good idea, but then acknowledges that it might be a good idea to try out a team, anyway, and see who shows up. In the end, she still says that boy's football is better because of their butts. Because girls cannot like football for the sake of the sport, they must like it for the sake of the players.

3. In the 2001 edition of Camden Town 4, the book for the Realschule, we have the usual national stereotype text in the first unit. What's typical for US America (fast food and chewing gum), what's typical for Great Britain (queuing and tea), what's typical for Germany (according to my student, who had to think about this for a couple of minutes, it's "Potatoes.")? That sort of thing. Our protagonists eat in a fast food restaurant, discuss national stereotypes (fast food is apparently super different in Great Britain's McD's), and then they decide what to do with their afternoons, leading to this exchange: 

4. Another one from the Green Line series,  this time A6. They have an excerpt from Nick Hornby's "Slam". Not a bad idea as such - there is a learner's edition that goes with it which they could read after reading the excerpt, and it's in a series on "Growing up". My problem? Slam offers the  teen father's perspective on a teen pregnancy. While it's a good thing that there is someone who writes a book about teenage fatherhood in the first place, in A6 this appears to be the only text on teen pregnancies after a lengthy unit on the perils of alcohol intake and drugs. Also, there's the casual transphobia, among a lot of things that made me uneasy about Slam.

So, you might think this are really minor things, but usually, people make very careful decisions on what is supposed to be included in those very short recorded dialogues and why.

So why is it so vital to remind today's EFL learners of what is proper behaviour for their gender in their English classes? Why do ten-year-old kids need to learn that it's embarrassing for boys to like boy bands? Why do fourteen-year-olds have to be told that shopping is for girls and that it's highly unlikely that girls can be good at football and should look at butts instead?

Title: Talented.
Rating: G
Credits: =cloaks's  Vintage Texture Pack V, ~redheadstock's light brushes and light swirls, ~Eterea86's beautiful corner brushes, and Hogwarts Crest, (C) Bloomsbury PLC, baby by ~o0oTamaraStocko0o. Reference: an anatomy book with a cat skelleton,  Summary: I can imagine Minerva marrying young, the marriage not lasting very long and both taking turns parenting their child, though said child would have had to stay with her father most of the time. Here she's enjoying a rare stay at Hogwarts.  



Other parts in the series:

Even though the wild geese haven't all left yet, there's frost covering the ground already and temperatures have dropped below zero.

It's only November. I don't like this at all.

Title: Playful.
Rating: G
Credits: =cloaks's  Vintage Texture Pack V, ~redheadstock's light brushes, ~Eterea86's beautiful corner brushes, *redheadstock's spider web brushes, and Hogwarts Crest, (C) Bloomsbury PLC.
Characters: Minerva McGonagall and another student. 
Author's Notes: From 2010. Minerva and a classmate exploring passages in Hogwarts. 



Other parts in the series:

Title: Proud
Rating: G
Credits: =cloaks's Vintage Texture Pack V, ~redheadstock's light brushes for the sparkles and ~Eterea86's beautiful corner brushes.
Summary: "I hope you are aware of the responsibility this entails, young Lady."
Author's Notes: And does she ever. I\ve got little doubt that Minerva was a prefect in her day, it seems to fit. Her parents, and in my head, Minerva's parents are Vesta and Hamish McGillivray whom you may know from Crocky's fic universe, would have been proud, too.

Title: Charge
Characters: Minerva McGonagall/Rolanda Hooch
Rating: G
Credits: ~redheadstock's awesome lightning brushes.
Author's Notes: Minerva and Rolanda don't seem to mind the weather and I am growing far too fond of lightning brushes.



( Larger version )

EDIT:  Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm slightly stunned right now. ♥ 

I'm excited because posting for minerva_fest  begins today. <3

Apart from that, I'll be attending a talk on dyslexia and dyscalculia today. The occasion is my boss introducing courses for dyslexic and dyscalculic children to our tutoring centre. It'll without a doubt be very interesting and I wish I had had more time for some background reading to take away more from it.

Also, I'm still flat hunting and will call several prospective flats today, and hopefully get to look at them tomorrow, if these people are spontaneous.

Title: Cornucopia
Pairing: Pomona/Rosmerta
Rating: G
Credits: ~gvalkyrie's great Flower Brush Set and Suddenly Spring brush set, *Lileya's equally great Floral and Foliar brush set.
Summary: Professor Sprout and Madam Rosmerta sharing a quiet moment away from the students. They're awesome and both are named after goddesses of plenty. Since it's the season of Harvest Festivals, this seemed fitting, and there have to be sparkles, because magic requires sparkles.
Notes: I do realise it's virtually impossible to tell who these people are. Especially with Rosmerta I was a bit at a loss, and Sprout's hat is most likely the only thing that shows it's meant to be her since the fly-away hair did not turn out that great. There's also an orange version, but I'm happier with theg green one.




( Bigger version )

Title: Timid / Beginnings
Rating: G
Credits =cloaks's Vintage Texture Pack and ~Eterea86's beautiful corner brushes
Summary: Minerva and her owl being escorted to the train by her mother because her father is busy that day.

Title: Cover.
Rating: G
Credits: =cloaks's  Vintage Texture Pack V, ~redheadstock's light brushes, Hogwarts Crest, (C) Bloomsbury PLC. 
Summary: The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.



Other parts in the series:

Back-dated list of books about female characters without love plots (which, again, as this seems to be fairly confusing for people, doesn't mean that all other books are bad, just that these books are rare, what with love plots generally being shoe-horned into everything about female characters that aren't either pre-pubescent or menopausal).

• Agatha Christie's Mrs Marple novels - at least I don't remember any love plots, though it's been a while since I read these novels on my favourite spinster detective. If this is true, then probably also Anne Hart's The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple, a compilation of information about this character compiled from Christie's novels.

• Michael Ende's Momo- Orphan Momo live s in a ruined amphitheatre. When everyone she loves start falling prey to the Men in Grey and their timesaving bank, she steals their life time back. German classic really eveybody should read.

• Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series,. A beloved series of children's book about the many adventures of Mildred Hubble, who is the worst witch at her school.

• Annika Thor's Sanning eller Konsekvens (Ich hätte nein sagen können)  -Nora doesn't like the way her class, especially rich Fanny, are mobbing big-chested Karen, but finds out to what lengths even she herself will go to get her best friend Sabina back, who is best friends with Fanny these days.

Title: Duel.
Pairings: Minerva McGonagall/Severus Snape
Rating: G
Notes: Trying to get back on the horse. With sparkles. Lots of those. I love sparkles. Credits: ~Tempting-Resources's beautiful sparkle set found here.



Title: Dance.
Pairings: Minerva McGonagall/Severus Snape
Rating: G
Notes: Another attempt at Severus and Minerva dancing (the first one is here). While I love ballroom dancing, some of those poses give me serious headaches with regards to how gender expectations tie into the figures.

[Error: unknown template qotd]
I'm fine with whatever consenting adults do together.

With children? Barbaric and cruel. I don't think that physical violence should be encouraged in either parents or children, and while people do snap, humiliating and physically harming people dependent on you is inhumane.

Corporeal? That's a what, an angry corporeal patronus? Seriously though, this is a question people seriously ask? This depresses me.

The last day of my poetry week, and since I haven't included any spoken poetry, here's a jam contribution by Gina Loring:



( Text )

Fernweh doesn't quite cut it, because it's too specific: I want to go to Wales, to Gwynedd, to be precise, hence the appropriation in the title line. I keep dreaming about it (I rarely dream), I keep thinking about it (I don't usually think about places), and I miss it (I also don't miss places. I miss people, but never places. Wales is the one exception). So, I want to go to Wales, and I want to go before I have to buckle down and work in November, because I think I won't have the time to do it in the "holidays", which, for me, won't be holidays.

So I'm organising an impromptu trip to Wales, or rather, I'm fantasising about one, because these plans can't really be realised this year. I'd love to go on a hiking (weather conditions permitting) trip through Snowdonia national park. Or a road trip, though I don't dare to drive in Great Britain, and it's also not really in my budget, but the buses are rare and don't drive at all after 6pm, apparently, and without any sound knowledge of my walking speed with a heavy rucksack, I'm not comfortable with making too rigid a schedule incorporating the Snowdon Sherpa's timetables and limited service hours.

Finding cheap accommodation will also be a real problem, as there are affordable hostels, but most of these are in remote locations, which is great for walking tours. Right now, I'm thinking about next March, because I've never been in Wales in spring - it's magical in autumn, and I don't doubt that it's any less great in spring.

I sincerely doubt that the woman on the left would be able to lift the woman on the right, but oh well. Loving the whimsical stylishness of the fatphobia of this one, too.

More over at SI: "Fat Girls as Useful Life Accessories".

In sô hôher swebender wunne

In sô hôher swebender wunne
sô gestuont mîn herze ane vröiden nie.
ich var, als ich vliegen kunne,
mit gedanken iemer umbe sie,
Sît daz mich ir trôst enpfie,
der mir durch die sêle mîn
mitten in daz herze gie.

Swaz ich wunneclîches schouwe,
daz spile gegen der wunne, die ich hân.
luft und erde, walt und ouwe
suln die zît der vröide mîn enpfân.
Mir ist komen ein hügender wân
und ein wunneclîcher trôst,
des mîn muot sol hôhe stân.

Wol dem wunneclîchen maere,
daz sô suoze durch mîn ôre erklanc,
und der sanfte tuonder swaere,
diu mit vröiden in mîn herze sanc,
Dâ von mir ein wunne entspranc,
diu vor liebe alsam ein tou
mir ûz von den ougen dranc.

Saelic sî diu süeze stunde,
saelic sî diu zît, der werde tac,
dô daz wort gie von ir munde,
daz dem herzen mîn sô nâhen lac,
Daz mîn lîp von vröide erschrac,
und enweiz von liebe joch,
waz ich von ir sprechen mac.

- Heinrich von Morungen




( Modern German Adaption )

The Sun Rising

Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."

Princes do but play us ; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.

- John Donne

( Translation )

niaseath : "Look at this."
mothwing : "Elfen wie Stahl (Elves like steel)? What a title."
niaseath : "Sounds as though they'd truly manly heroes.
mothwing : "Oh yeah. A duo, fighting crime.
niaseath : "Talking exclusively in snappy one-liners."
mothwing : "Riding into the sunset."
niaseath : "In their low-riders."

Not only did he join The Challenge (Crocky and I are trying to find a book (preferably Fantasy) about a female character without a love plot. No one's won so far), he also picked out the worst Fantasy book in history as a birthday gift for his friend. It's got a fascinating chapter about a hero walking down a hallway. There are a lot of descriptions of this hallway while the hero is walking down the hallway.

That's the title of one of the topics our Abi (A-level) candidates have to do.

Anyone else worried?

Yeah.

I was secretly convinced they'd read "To Kill a Mocking Bird", but it turns out they're reading "Black Like Me", which, while I have to admit that I don't know it, doesn't really inspire confidence, either (a white man in blackface goes to segregated New Orleans and writes about his experiences - why not at least take "Soul Sister", which has the experiences of a white woman passing as black?), and they're supposed to listen to "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash:



The students taking the advanced course are reading "A Lesson Before Dying", which, again, I'm not familiar with, so I have to wait and see what it's like. Still, the fact that it's not by a white author makes me hopeful. 

I fear that neither curriculum inspires great confidence in the classes of '11 and '12's knowledge of this topic. Still, what with white Europeans teaching white Europeans about racial segregation and the situation of POC in the in the US today, I'm not sure what else I'd expect. Can't say I'm all that convinced I'd do better.

• When there are sex scenes, I'd like to be able to see the difference between rape and sex.  ( Trigger warnings )
• Saying you own someone is not romantic without very specific context requirements. Without those, it's creepy as fuck.
• Even abusive pedophile uncles deserve a trial.
• No, vampires are not just like gay people, fighting for equal rights and all. 
• I can't decide who's ripping off whose cheezy pulp romance story line here, Twilight or Charlaine Harris' opus. What's with the chastity and the really submissive white girls holding out for an abusive domly Mr. Right?
• People are not pets. Repeat after me. Even submissive airheads. People are not pets. ("Sookie hates feeling like she's lost her independence" wtf).
• "As your maker I command you"? Kudos, series, for replacing a physically abusive father figure with a controlling father figure. Hasn't been physically abusive yet if you discount the ~making~, but I suppose we're getting there at some point. EDIT: aaaand physically abusive, too. Awesome.
• So you can cut hair and it behaves like human hair but hymens grow back? Uh-hu...

The only reason why I enjoy the series nonetheless are these two:



... in spite of various things (casual misogyny, fatphobia, etc., etc).

EDIT: ok, the only way this series makes sense is as BDSM porn for an audience sensible enough to kno about consent.
Two questions - do the people who made this series really believe that is everybody really that kink aware? And number two: the state of consent being what it is in mainstream (victim blaming, violence against women and slut shaming being so damn common), who thought it was a bright idea to make this series mainstream accessible?

My brother's home and he signed up with the THW.

Phew.

I'm job-hunting and our jobcenters couldn't be less helpful. It looks as though I'll have to do with several small freelance teaching jobs for various tutoring centres (part-time and full-time positions are rare anyway, and most of the centres seem to want to employ people as freelancers before taking them on full-time later on), which is a headache to file taxes for (though, who am I kidding, I doubt that I'll get together that much in the first place) and usually combined still barely allows me to make ends meet with covering rent and insurances.

While filling in my forms and online applications I'm listening to the audiobook versions of the HTTYD series read by David Tennant and I'm rapidly falling for this character: