Valkyrie

There's always the "New Year, New Me" posts circulating on social media about this time. But with those, come the onslaught of "Nothings changed, it's just a date, things still suck" posts.

Listen, if the date changing on a calendar is what it takes to get you inspired, or hopeful, then there is NOTHING wrong with that. If you wanna make some resolutions then damn well make them. If you wanna make promises to yourself that this year is going to be better, that you're going to do better, then damn well promise it.

It's absolutely fine, more than fine, to take motivation where you find it. If casting off the shackles of what was an awful year for us all, makes you feel lighter and more capable, then more power to you.

everyone i follow follows everyone i follow. i see every post seven times. please send help

As a medical student, I can honestly say that the system does in fact teach fatphobia, but not necessarily in the way you would think. Throughout med school, we are taught that while a patient’s body habitus is important to consider, weight loss and gain can be signs and symptoms of SO many conditions, and can mask other underlying conditions (Cushing’s disease, heart failure, etc). The med schools also teach to not discriminate, and to treat all patients equally and ethically. Students come out of pre-clinical med school very optimistic, thoughtful and cautious.

This all changes during placements. In clinical years and internships, watching your superiors make these diagnoses, and being told “they come in all the time, they would be better if they just lost some weight”, something starts to stick. Med students become cynical from treating hundreds of cases of the same thing, in mostly elderly patients who do actually just need to live a healthier lifestyle. But when exceptions come along, they are so jaded by their experiences in the system that they won’t consider differential diagnoses. This is a SYSTEMIC problem.

Also, if you weren’t aware, the number one mental illness among medical students?

Eating disorders.

This is not a #notalldoctors message, just so we’re clear.

I spent two weeks in the hospital last year. Between that and chemo and everything else I dealt with last year, I probably saw eight doctors and dozens of nurses and dozens of techs.

Only one of them told me I needed to lose weight, but it was so incredibly demoralizing that I didn’t want to go see another doctor. And it could have killed me, because this woman thought I was just fat when I actually had ovarian cancer.

My sister is a fat doctor.  When she was a medical student despite being impeccably dressed and groomed she repeatedly would get marked down during her clinical placement evaluations for not having professional appearance.  When she would question her superiors on what she could do to improve her professional appearance they never gave her an answer.

When she had a child she had gestational diabetes and because she was a physician she had perfect sugar numbers.  She had gotten an insulin pump and the professional grade programming to micro dose herself.  Her sugar numbers during her pregnancy were better than any “healthy” persons.  An OBGYN in her practice walked into the room saw her and decided without looking at her numbers or her case history and assumed she had uncontrolled diabetes and started planning her C Section.  

Without looking at anything in her chart.

She was unlucky enough to have that doctor in her delivery and she almost bled out because the woman was so convinced she was going to C Section her that she didn’t pay attention to the baby crowning and so had no instruments in the room.  The lack of preparation meant the nicu team that was supposed to be in the room was not even called until minutes after my nephew was out and grey.  He had a terrible initial apgar score and she lost an obscene amount of blood hemorrhaging out on the floor.

When she wrote a medical journal article about it (with the review of her own OBGYN) because she’s an expert in the health care system other doctors trolled through my family’s facebook pages looking for old pictures of her to prove from our family vacation shots that she must have had weight related pregnancy complications… that she didn’t have… because they felt they could diagnose her based on pictures of her.

One even filed a complaint against her with her state medical board because they assumed she’d written the article without giving her doctors a chance to respond.

Medical fatphobia nearly killed my nephew, my sister, and later tried to threaten her professional career.

Thanos is a weak ass bitch of a villain because ever since killmonger I need all my villains to pull up with some style, looks, a certain je ne sais quoi. Killmonger stole a thousand year old artifact and wore it as armor and wore solid gold fangs. What did Thanos wear? The same body armor for hundreds of years and a dumb glove that wasn’t even designer

People are all like “he’s an alien” like so was Hela and she pulled up with some iconic goth looks, Chanel horned helmet, a beautiful smokey eye, nails that could cut diamonds, Thanos has no excuse fashion is universal

What she says: I’m fine What she means: WHY was it canon that Aang and Katara were horrible parents? Aang grew up with loving father figures who he then lost and Katara lost her mother at a young age but was shown to be a very nurturing and mothering person in general. It makes no sense for their kids to talk about how they were neglectful because you know damn well that individually Aang and Katara were loving people who would never want a child to feel unloved, let alone their own.

Plus? Why would Aang not be fully accepting of his non bending and water bending kid. He’d be equally happy to share love with his kids. Plus, Katara would not have let Bumi and Kya not go on the trips too. And if Sokka found out, he would be pissed.

Also toph?? Like I guess I kind of understand how her parents were super strict so she was super laid back? But they portray toph as if she’s still that 12 year old girl with a temper who is not willing to admit that she’s wrong. LOK creators think that she didn’t mature at all?? Even in her old age she acted like a preteen brat with Korra in the swamp. And don’t even get me started on the fact that all other members of the gaang would let toph neglect her daughters like that. Like ??? No. So in conclusion,,,,, the LOK creators didn’t do a good job on their character studies from Atla.

BILL, BILL, BILL!!!!

And let’s not forget

I’d never seen that last one, but my life is better for it

o m g

BILL NYE SAYS WOMENS RIGHTS, SCIENCE IS REAL, LGBTQ+ RIGHTS, AND HOMICIDE IS SOMETIMES OKAY

miles “who’s morales” morales’s biggest weakness is the cover story

peter, lying out of his ass: i was, uh, married to his uncle aaron. he just never let you know

Jefferson, later: Do you think Aaron never told us because Peter’s…

Rio: …Tall

Jefferson: I didn’t think Aaron liked … Tall people.

Jefferson: “But listen: Aaron might have married a white boy just to annoy me, specifically. It’s a thing he would do!”

Rio: “I can’t hear you. I’m asleep.  I have a shift in four hours.”

I really wish there was a way Uncle Aaron lived and came back to meet his “husband” at some point now.

Aaron: …Miles…I love you, and I am proud of you…but you are somehow the smartest and dumbest boy I have ever known.

Miles: Says the man who used his big brain to become a criminal when he could’ve been a black Tony Stark with that gear he made. And thought working for the Kingpin, who everyone knows will throw his minions away like tissues, was a good idea!

Peter: He makes a good point, babe, you did kind of mess up first–

Aaron: Call me babe again and see what happens. I’ll whoop you with a collapsed lung.

All I see is “fake marriage au, but it’s also enemies to lovers”

If I ever stop reblogging this post, assume that I have yeeted myself off this mortal coil

i love it when people like “omg [story] copied [other story]” and then list the steps of the heroes journey

American Girl stories were the best tbh

Dude, read the books, she and her mom freed themselves in Book 1. We don’t disrespect American Girl in this house

Don’t you dare disrespect Addy, or any of my girls for that matter. American Girl used to be legit. Good stories, good dolls, good movies.

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

American Girl stories have always featured the very harsh realities of America through the years. But they’re always presented honestly, yet in ways that kids can understand. They just go to show that you don’t have to live in a perfect time to be a real American girl.

Dont you fucking dare disrespect the American Girls in my house. ESPECIALLY Addy!! That was my first REAL contact with the horrors of slavery, as I read about her father being whipped and sold and her mother escaping with her to freedom, but also how freedom was still a struggle.

A slave doll. Please. Read the books.

Don’t forget Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant who had to deal with balancing her own culture and learning the english language and customs of her classmates, or Kaya (full name Kaya'aton'my, or She Who Arranges Rocks) , the brave but careless girl from the Nez Perce tribe, or Josefina, the Mexican girl learning to be a healer.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

These books, these characters, are fantastic pictures into life for girls in America throughout the years, they pull no punches with the horrors that these girls had to face in their different time periods, and in many cases I learned more history from these series than social studies at school. And that’s without even mentioning the “girl of the year” series where characters are created in the modern world to help girls deal with issues like friend problems, moving, or bullying. We do NOT disrespect American Girl in this house.

American Girl is probably going to be the only exposure young girls are going to get to history from a female perspective. This is actually kind of important considering that in history classes we dont really get that exposure. We dont hear about what women felt and endured during these time periods cause schools are too busy teaching us about what happened from the male perspective, which is not unimportant, but we need both. Girls need both.

These books were such a crucial part of my childhood and shaped my love of history, which still ensures today. These books can be a young girl’s first lessons in diversity and cultural awareness (hopefully burying that insensitive “we’re all Americans” tripe) and looking at history from more perspectives than just that taught in school. They also are an example of how women have ALWAYS been part of history, which some people would rather us not believe.

I think Kit and Kaya were the newest American Girls when I started “aging out” of the books, but hearing about some of these kinda makes me want to revisit them!

I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you know what?

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

And they departed from the norm in Kaya’s doll to fit her culture! The other dolls all show their teeth, and Kaya does not because that is considered rude in the Nez Perce culture!

It is absolutely true that these books covered the stuff in history that was absent from our history books. I still distinctly remember reading about Addy being forced to eat bugs she missed on tobacco plants, and that started me out from a different perspective and made it easier for me to know to reject the sanitized version of the slave trade we’re taught in school. And these books are targeted at ages 8+, which is a pretty critical time for developing your own thinking and morals.

Reblogging for general awesome

when i was in 3rd grade i was reading the Meet Addy book at school & a couple boys made fun of me for reading a “doll book” - my teacher overheard & started reading Meet Addy to the class after every recess. everyone became extremely invested & by the end of the year we had read the entire collection of Addy books & did a presentation on the civil war at the end of the year that we all presented to the class one by one.

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

i’ve since gotten rid of majority of my childhood toys, but i still have every single one of my dolls & all the books that i plan on gifting to my future children.

I’m white and my first real introduction to slavery and the underground railroad was Addy. She was a young girl like me I could connect to and care about her story. American Girl does a great job of making history relevant to kids.

Also American Girl sells all sorts of books unrelated to the dolls. The Care and Keeping of You books were super important as I started puberty and were the most comprehensive, non judgemental account of what was going to happen.

They also have “the smart girls guide” series which covers topics like crushes, worry, middle school, drama and gossip, sports, friendship, the digital world, communication, money, confidence, etc.

Oh I had those too and I loved them!

I want to say I think there was an American Girl Doll magazine series that came out, but don’t quote me on that. there were lots of helpful girl guides that used the American girls as examples for doing good or learning lessons or trying to understand why girls did what they did

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

I remember being very invested in Molly, Addy, and Kaya. Mostly cuz I look like Molly, and the other two had a lot of information on two of my favorite time periods. But I owe a lot of my personality to these lovvely girls

These stories about how American Girl touched kid’s lives makes me want to cry. Because American Girl really shaped my love of historical fiction and how I engage with fiction from a young age. It contributed to me wanting to be a writer I absorbed ALL these girls stories. I even made a video talking about my top 10 black female characters in children’s fiction and Ms. Addy was NUMBER ONE SISSSSS DO NOT COME FOR MY GOOD SIS WHOMST MET THE PRESIDENT!!!!

The 2020 girl of the year is deaf and comes with a hearing aid, and she’s also a surfer and cheerleader. This is a massive deal for people who have struggled for representation for so long.

Odds are, the 2021 girl of the year will have something to do with covid and either the sudden poverty many people have faced this year or the importance of volunteerism (or both), or the trauma of having a close family member fall ill and being unable to do anything for them, and as per usual, AG will handle it delicately and in a way that increases awareness and empathy in its readers.

American Girl was such a big part of my childhood. Between me and my sister, we had Molly, Julie, Kaya, Felicity, Rebecca, Saige, and Mia.

We also had many of the books, I enjoyed the mysteries: Molly’s A Spy on the Homefront, Clues In the Shadows and I really liked Julie’s The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter because it covered Chinese immigrants at Angel Island.

We had the magazines

We had the Smart Girl’s Guide books

We had the movies

I sometimes notice how many parts of my life was influenced by American Girl

ao3:

me:

if u verbally give me a set of instructions that has more than TWO steps i promise u i will not retain them. the very moment u give me a third instruction my brain is immediately cleared like a fuckin etch a sketch dude pls im begging u write it down for me bc i will NOT remember a word u said if u tell me more than two steps im begging u

So I’ve just started taking ADHD meds to help and even on a low dose right now things are a lot better. So I have something to say.

ALL THIS TIME TASKS WERE EASY FOR NEUROTYPICALS?! I’m sorry?! I spend all the time feeling INFERIOR and like absolute garbage because people could do tasks better than me and it turns out its because for them it’s EASY?!

WHAT THE FUCK?!

YES. There is nothing wrong with medication! I literally thought I was just weaker or worse than other people for 30 years because I couldn't do stuff that seemed easy for everyone else, and meds made such a difference. ❤

SAME

bold of fucking Ozai to call himself the Pheonix King as if he has to rise from the ashes of anything, rich spoiled brat, got everything he ever wanted, had his wife handed to him from his dad, his crown handed to him from his wife, his greatest victory handed to him from his daughter; the asshole had two kids who adored him more than anything, all the wealth and power anyone could ever want, and named himself after a symbolic image of rising from adversity? priviledged fuck Ozai

meanwhile, who is the character who rises out of the ashes of tragedy to fly again? to be bright, and beautiful, a spark that starts a revolution and brings back to life something lost? Aang. Aang as the one last remaining piece of the Air Nomads, surviving their destruction only to burst into the world again, sparking hope where he goes, growing hotter and stronger until he is able to fight back and defeat his enemy, save the world, and rebuild what was lost.

There was a pheonix metaphor in that fight, and is sure as hell was not Ozai.

Sokka and Katara are also pretty good phoenix metaphors, seeing as the southern water tribe had been almost entirely destroyed, among other things. Also Zuko basically had to literally kill his old self in order to achieve greatness. And let's not forget Toph who had to deal with all kinds of adversity.

Basically what I'm saying is literally all of Team Avatar were better phoenix metaphors than Ozai. Hell, I could even argue that so was Iroh

kink: deleting someone’s pointless comment by reblogging the post from the same person they did

I mean, that’s censorship but okay.

ksvskwbidbwkdbskbsjw