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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 5 months

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By: Francesca Block

Published: Jan 15, 2024

In the 1960s, when Clarence Jones was writing speeches for Martin Luther King Jr., he used to joke with the civil rights leader: “You don’t deserve me, man.”

“Why?” King would ask.

“I hear your voice in my head. I hear your voice in perfect pitch,” Jones would respond. “So when I write, I can write words that accurately reflect the way you actually speak.”

King would agree. “Man, you are scary. It’s like you’re right in my head.”

And Jones is still, in his mind, having conversations with his friend, who was assassinated at the age of 39 on a Memphis hotel balcony in 1968. Especially now, as America’s racial climate seems to have worsened, despite the fact that King successfully fought to ensure all Americans are given equal protection under the law, regardless of their skin color. A poll from 2021 shows that 57 percent of U.S. adults view the relations between black and white Americans to be “somewhat” or “very” bad—compared to just 35 percent who felt that way a decade ago.

Jones knows exactly what King would have felt about that. He says it out loud, and directs it to his late mentor: “Martin, I’m pissed off at you. I’m angry at you. We should have been more protective of you. We need you. You wouldn’t permit what’s going on if you were here.

“We are trying to save the soul of America.”

[ Jones, behind Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, wrote: “I saw history unfold in a way no one else could have. Behind the scenes.” ]

I spoke to Jones, 93, two weeks ago as he sat on a beige couch in the humble second-floor apartment in Palo Alto, California, that he shares with his wife. A black-and-white close-up of King sits directly above his head, almost like a north star.

“Regrettably, some very important parts of his message are not being remembered,” Jones said, referring to King’s belief in “radical nonviolence” and his eagerness to build allies across ethnic lines.

“Put in a more negative way,” he added, King’s messages “have been forgotten.”

Jones was a young, up-and-coming entertainment lawyer when he first met King in February 1960. The preacher had turned up on the doorstep of his California home and tried to convince him to move to Alabama to defend him from a tax evasion case. But Jones wasn’t interested.

“Just because some preacher got his hand caught in the cookie jar stealing, that ain’t my problem,” he said in a talk, years later.

But King wasn’t one to give up easily. He invited Jones to attend his sermon at a nearby Baptist church in a well-to-do black neighborhood of Los Angeles. Standing at the pulpit, King spoke to a congregation of over a thousand people, delivering a message that seemed almost tailor-made for Jones.

Jones remembers King talking about how black professionals needed to help their less fortunate “brothers and sisters” in the struggle for equality. He realized, then and there, what an incredible speaker King was, and felt compelled to join his cause.

“Martin Luther King Jr. was the baddest dude I knew in my lifetime,” Jones says.

Jones moved down to Alabama to join King’s legal team. He helped free King of any charges in Alabama, and quickly became one of the leader’s closest confidants, and ultimately, his key speechwriter.

Jones refers to himself and King as “the odd couple,” because, he says, “we were so different.” King was the son of a preacher from a middle-class family in the South. Jones grew up the son of servants, raised by Catholic nuns in foster care in Philadelphia, who he credits with instilling in him “a foundation of self-confidence that was like a piece of steel in my spine.”

He said this confidence propelled him to graduate as the valedictorian from his mixed-race high school just across the border in New Jersey, and then on to Columbia University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1953. After a brief stint in the army, where he was discharged for refusing to sign a pledge stating that he was not a member of the Communist Party, Jones enrolled at the Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1959.

Though Jones was mainly a background figure in the 1960s civil rights movement, it might not have been possible without him. He fundraised for King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference so successfully that Vanity Fair later called him “the moneyman of the movement.” In 1963, when King was in prison, Jones helped smuggle out his notes, stuffing the words King scrawled on old newspapers and toilet paper into his pants and walking out.

Later, he helped string those notes together into King’s famous address, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which argued the case for civil disobedience, and was eventually published in every major newspaper in the country.

Jones then wooed enough deep-pocketed donors, including New York’s then-governor Nelson Rockefeller, to raise the bail needed to release King and many other young protesters from jail.

Jones also helped write many of King’s most iconic speeches—“not because Dr. King wasn’t capable of doing it,” Jones emphasized—“but he didn’t have the time.” Jones crafted the opening lines of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech from his D.C. hotel room on the eve of the 1963 March on Washington. In his book, Behind the Dream, he recounts how he penned their shared vision for a better nation onto sheets of yellow, lined, legal notepaper, many of which ended up crumpled on the floor.

But he didn’t write the most famous words: “I Have a Dream”—that was all King, his book notes. “I would deliver four strong walls and he would use his God-given abilities to furnish the place so it felt like home,” Jones writes about their speech-writing dynamic.

The day after he wrote that speech, Jones stood just fifty feet behind King as he delivered it to the hundreds of thousands gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. “I saw history unfold in a way no one else could have,” Jones writes. “Behind the scenes.”

The movement King led with Jones by his side helped achieve school integration, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

So, when asked if America has made any progress on race, Jones is dumbstruck. “Are you kidding?” he said, with shock in his voice. “Any person who says that to the contrary, any black person who alleges themselves to be a scholar, or any white person who says otherwise, they’re just not telling you the truth.

“Bring back some black person who was alive in 1863, and bring them back today,” he adds. “Have them be a witness.”

But after the death of George Floyd in 2020, 44 percent of black Americans polled said “equality for black people in the U.S. is a little or not at all likely.” And “color blindness”—the once aspirational idea of judging people by their character rather than their skin color, which King famously espoused—has fallen out of fashion. The dominant voices of today’s black rights movement argue that people should be treated differently because of their skin color, to make up for the harms of the past. One of America’s most prominent black thinkers, Ibram X. Kendi, argues that past discrimination can only be remedied by present discrimination.

Jones makes it clear he doesn’t want to live in a society that doesn’t see race. “You don’t want to be blind to color. You want to see color. I want to be very aware of color.”

But, he emphasizes: “I just don’t want to attach any conditions to equality to color.”

He adds that it’s possible to read Kendi’s prize-winning book, Stamped from the Beginning, and “come away believing that America is irredeemably racist, beyond redemption.”

It’s a theory he vehemently disagrees with. “That would violate everything that Martin King and I worked for,” he said. It would mean “it’s not possible for white racist people to change.”

“Well, I am telling you something,” Jones adds. “We have empirical evidence that we changed the country.”

Jones is the first to admit King and his circle didn’t change the country on their own.

“As powerful as he was at moving the country, I tell everybody, there’s no way in hell that he or we would have achieved what we achieved without the coalition support of the American Jewish community.”

Jones especially gives credit to Stanley Levinson, who also advised King and helped write his speeches, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched alongside King in Selma, Alabama. He remembers being on the picket lines and talking to Jewish protesters who told him about their own families’ experiences in the Holocaust.

“There would have been no Civil Rights Act of 1964, no Voting Rights Act of 1965, had it not been for the coalition of blacks and Jews that made it happen,” Jones says.

Now, in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack against Israel, Jones said he fears that relations between the Jewish and the black communities in America are beginning to unravel.

He said he has seen how, days after the attack, college students—many of them black—marched on campus, chanting for the death of Israel.

“It pains me today when I hear so-called radical blacks criticizing Israel for getting rid of Hamas. So I say to them, what do you expect them to do?”

He continues: “A black person being antisemitic is literally shooting themselves in the foot.”

Long before October 7, Jones has proudly shown his allegiance to the Jewish people: a gold mezuzah—the small decorative case, which Jews fix to their door frames to bless their homes—is nailed outside his Palo Alto apartment.

“I’m like an old dog who’s just not amenable to new tricks right now,” Jones says. “I have to go on the tricks that I’ve been taught, that got me where I am at 93 years of age. And those old tricks are: you stay with an alliance with the American Jewish community because it’s that alliance that got us this far.

“I am damn sure, at this time in my life, I’m not going to turn my back. This time is more urgent than ever.”

Meanwhile, Jones worries that some of today’s social justice measures have strayed too far from King’s original message. He points to an ethnic studies curriculum for public schools in California, proposed in 2020, which sought to teach K–12 students about the marginalization of black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American peoples.

Jones fiercely opposed the new curriculum recommendations, calling them, in a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, a “perversion of history” that “will inflict great harm on millions of students in our state.” He wrote that the proposed curriculum excluded “the intellectual and moral basis for radical nonviolence advocated by Dr. King” and his colleagues.

“They were promoting black nationalism,” he told me. “They were promoting blackness over excellence.”

California later passed a watered-down version of the curriculum.

At the same time, Jones feels more conflicted about affirmative action, a policy he believes was grounded in “the most genuine, the most beautiful, the most thoughtful” intentions, and that it helped to “accelerate the timetable. . . to truly give black people equal access.”

Even so, he is pragmatic about the Supreme Court’s decision to strike it down last year. “You had to stop the escalator somewhere.”

[ Jones is still working. He released his autobiography, The Last of the Lions, in August, and is now recording the audiobook. ]

In the immediate years after King’s death in 1968, Jones struggled to find a path forward. He was angry and even considered “taking up arms against the government,” which he blamed for allowing King’s death to happen.

For a while, Jones dabbled in politics—serving as a New York State delegate at the 1968 Democratic Convention—and then in media, purchasing a part of the influential black paper New York Amsterdam News. In 1971, he acted as a negotiator on behalf of some of the inmates behind the Attica prison uprising, unsuccessfully trying to seek a peaceful resolution.

But King’s voice—always in his head—eventually steered him back toward his original purpose.

A father of five, Jones lives with his wife, Lin, just a five-minute walk from the Stanford campus where he maintains an affiliation with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. In 2018, Jones co-founded the University of San Francisco’s Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice to teach the lessons of King and Mahatma Gandhi “in response to the moral emergencies of the twenty-first century.”

He is also the chairman of Spill the Honey, a nonprofit founded in 2012 to honor the legacies of King and Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. And in August 2023, he released his autobiography, The Last of the Lions, so named because he is possibly the only member of King’s civil rights circle still alive. “There’s an African saying that I often reflect upon when I think about his legacy and my own part in his movement,” Jones writes in his book. “If the surviving lions don’t tell their stories, the hunters will take all the credit.”

Although the eight years he spent with King happened more than half a century ago, Jones told me he now sees his mission as clearly as ever. Asked if he has a message for young black Americans on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he doesn’t hesitate.

“Commit yourself irredeemably to the pursuit of personal excellence,” he says emphatically. “Be the very best that you can be. If you do that. . . our color becomes more relevant, because we demonstrate ‘black is beautiful’ not as some slogan, but black is beautiful because of its commitment to personal excellence, which has no color.”

What's going on now is what happens when activists and fanatics, such as frauds like Kendi and Nikole Hannah-Jones, construct history curriculum, not actual historians. If they teach the Jewish allyship with the Civil Rights Movements at all, it will be wrapped in conspiracy theory such as "interest convergence."

https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-conspiracy-theory/

This doctrine insists that white people (as the racially privileged group) only take action to expand opportunities for people of color, especially blacks (see also, BIPOC), when it is in their own self-interest to do so, and in which case the result is usually the further entrenchment of racism that is harder to detect and fight. Under interest convergence, every action taken that might ameliorate or lessen racism (see also, antiracism) not only maintains racism, but does so because it was organized in the interests of white people who sought to maintain their power, privilege, and advantage through the intervention.

One of the truly gross and despicable things about frauds like Kendi is that while he pulls every bogus fallacy to assert that nothing has changed - it's a tenet of Critical Race Theory that nothing has changed, racism has only gotten better at hiding itself and becoming more entrenched - his own success blows this conspiracy theory completely out of the water, given how fawning his acolytes are about his wildly overstated wisdom, and the number of white fans he's accumulated who masochistically want to be told how racist they are and how much they hurt black folk every single day.

That's not possible unless racism is both aberrant and socially and culturally unacceptable.

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uniquely-annabella · 8 months

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National coffee day 🙌🔥🔥🔥

#starbucks #pumpkin spice #chai #chai latte #national coffee day #my photgraphy #iced coffee #photography #tumblr #love #Friday #Thursyay #my favorite

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aph-japan · 2 years

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(Personal)

So there's an H.W.S. queue coming up

Mainly because every year I get slightly YeahTM every Oct. 24th (You know that day that totally also isn't H.W.S Day where multiple endless H.W.S things wind up on my feeds still) And because things just kind of piled up in there (Drafts have already glitched up once one of these past months+ I really need them clean)

But in all honesty it'll probably be a 'final queue' for H.W.S for ... probably a long time / while

(Alternatively Himaruya could surprise me and continue to debut / bring back even more Nations but Yeah)

#chai posts #chai no rb posts #chai personal #chai vents #chai h.w.s #chai bday #h.w.s day #(I still think it was good S.E. @sians finally got included)#(But It Needs To Keep Being More)#(When the current arc started I was thinking)#(Greenland)#(... but now I'm not so sure)#(Greenland finally being in would actually be Something too)#(But Honestly Way More Than Greenland Need To Be In)#(Anyway what's clear is these new arcs go on for at least a couple months usually before changing to another group)#(To me it seems there's a pattern where new Nations appear every other arc or so which is Interesting but)#(Yeah)#(Using symbols and abbreviations here to keep this from showing in Search results but Yup)

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veryfireenemy · 2 years

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फीकी चाय (National Chai Day September 21)

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#कविता #चाय #जिंदगी #फीकी #hindi poem #life #National Chai Day September 21 #Quote

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truthinquotations · 2 months

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Seeing crazy popular posts from people who never had to pack a panic bag about how much privilege Ukrainians possess is very fucking funny ngl

There's a reason why any post that compares us to Palestinians is never from Palestinians themselves but instead from ppl who proclaim themselves defenders of the innocent yet very easily turn their backs on us cos it's not "new" anymore even though our situation is getting worse day by day. And the reason is that people who actually know what it's like to live through unimaginable pain and sorrow on a nation wide scale would never think to discredit that pain in other people. Unlike someone whose worst struggle was a recent college exam and no chai latte in Starbucks.

I'd say be better but I don't think you can so whatever.

#ukraine war #ukraine #russia is a terrorist state

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historicity-was-already-taken · 3 months

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re: October 7

Regardless of what idiots who think Hamas is a fun progressive resistance org have to say, the fact is that the October 7 massacre is going to be something Jews talk about, mourn, and commemorate for the next X,000 years. Long after there is a place called Israel, and a group called Hamas--and frankly, anything resembling the world as we know it today--there will be Jews taking a moment to commemorate the events of October 7, 2023.

And that's not even a FUCK THE HATERS AM YISRAEL CHAI statement. It's not a pro-Israel statement or an anti-Israel statement or a pro-Palestine statement or an anti-Palestine statement or a Whatever Simplistic Binaries We've Tried to Impose on This Situation statement. It's not even a political statement.

Speaking as a Jewish Historian, the Jews are a people with a long memory. We still commemorate revolts and massacres and attempted massacres of the Jewish people that went down over 2500 years ago like they happened yesterday. It's not an accident that, when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising went down, the Zionist participants* immediately drew parallels between themselves and the crazy fucking patriarchal spouse and child-murdering zealots who held out against the Romans at Masada in 74 CE. Jews forget nothing, from the Babylonian Exile, to the Crusade-era massacres, to Jednabwe.

Jewish memory is hardly an impeccable source of historical knowledge (see Yerushalmi's Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory); but we forget nothing. We will remember October 7, and some day we’ll probably have a commemorative cookie about it. It will be the subject of books and dissertations, and studies of post-Holocaust and post-modern anti-Semitism. The Jews will insist on learning from this, about this, and re-interpreting this. Forever.

Civilizations, groups, nations; they can keep hating and trying to destroy the Jewish people; but 2000, 3000 years from now, it will be by the grace of Jewish ethnoreligious memory traditions that anyone will remember their names.

*it was staged and carried out by the Jewish Fighting Organization, which was a politically pluralistic org. Everyone from the anti-Zionist Bund to the centrist General Zionists belong to it. Except for the Revisionists lol

ETA: This post is not a secret rhetorical tool to express stealth support for Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Or any level of support for violence against Palestinians. Ever. I hate that I even have to add that; but like I said: anti-Semitism's gone pomo.

Also, my mental soundtrack while writing this post.

#october 7 #jewish history #jewish memory #memory studies

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tuktukpodfics · 1 year

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The Problem With "Dao Swords": My love-hate relationship with pleonastic translations

An essay that no one asked for.

A lot of fanfics call Zuko’s broadswords “dao swords.” As a Chinese to English translator, this phrase makes me pause every time. Here is my humble opinion on “dao swords” and other pleonastic translations:

What the heck is a pleonastic translation?

I’m so glad you asked! “Pleonasm” is a fancy term for a redundant phrase, like “black darkness” or “burning fire.”

A pleonastic translation is a phrase that puts the source language and the translation back-to-back. A common example is “chai tea” which literally means “tea tea.”

“Dao swords” is a pleonastic translation. “Dao” 刀 is the Chinese blanket term for blade. The phrase basically means “sword swords.” Sounds pretty silly, right?

Pleonastic translations are bad?

I think it depends on your audience, the text purpose, and how special the word is.

In advertising, pleonastic translations can help increase a product’s searchability. Ex: “Longjing Dragonwell tea” would appear in a Google search for either “longjing” or “dragonwell.”

Tourist destinations often use pleonastic translations to help foreigners navigate. Ex: “Nanzhan South Station” on a map helps foreigners know what the place is, but also gives them the Chinese pronunciation so that they can communicate with their taxi driver.

In literature, a pleonastic translation is a succinct way to introduce a culturally significant term without a footnote or distracting tangent. A lot of translators will sneak in a pleonastic translation the first time the word appears in a text, and then use the untranslated term alone every time after. Ex: "He slouched on the kang bed-stove. His grandmother sighed and took a seat on the kang too.”

Is "dao" a culturally significant word?

No.

Dao is a super mundane word used to describe any kind of single-edged blade, from butter knives to ice skates. It feels weird to keep such a normal word untranslated. Using the Chinese word emphasizes its foreignness. They’re not just swords, they’re special, Chinese swords.

Yes, words take on different meanings as they pass from culture to culture. That’s how language works. But English is also a unique case. Because of imperialism. I think English speakers have an obligation to avoid exotifying every-day words.

Also, English is a global language. Chinese speakers are reading your translation, and…I dunno...“sword swords” feels off putting. Disruptive.

But I want to acknowledge the real-life culture behind the swords

Giving credit to the cultures that you're borrowing from is an A+ idea.

...I don't know how to do this in a fantasy setting.

Zuko’s swords and fighting style is based on oxtail sabers (牛尾刀）and Shaolin dual broadswords (少林双刀). @atlaculture has a very cool post on oxtail sabers. But calling his swords "oxtail sabers" doesn't work because cows don't exist in atla. Shaolin is a type of martial arts that originates from Shaolin temple in Henan, China (Shaolin itself literally means “young forest”). But you can’t call them “Shaolin broadswords," since Shaolin does not exist in the Fire Nation.

It’s quite a pickle.

Maybe just use a footnote?

So what should I call Zuko’s swords?

I don’t know.

I think you can just call them broadswords. That’s what the TV show calls them.

Dao by itself could work too if you need to differentiate Zuko's dao from Sokka's jian (double-edged blade). Readers can probably figure out what dao means from context.

If it’s not clear from context what dao means? *sigh* ..."Dao swords" it is, I guess.

To end on a happier note, here is a video of Chang Zhizhao busting some sweet moves.

youtube

#atla #dao swords #shaolin #zuko #transaltion #dual broadswords #thank you for coming to my tedtalk #Youtube

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namecantbeblank · 10 months

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deathduo family/pissa nation I see you, I hear you, and I sympathize with u. i offer some headcanons to further your copium in these dark days. to be honest, it was between this and angst headcanons for them 💀 let me know if you want those too

- Missas absence has done little to affect Phil or his relationship with him. As an immortal or extremely old being himself, especially one who works for the god of death, he is unaffected by the amount of time he's been away. A couple months away means nothing in the great scheme of things.

- Phil sings some of the songs Missa first sang to Chayanne, albeit badly, as lullabies often. He's attempted to play Missas guitar with the help of Wilbur, but it's never gone quite right.

- Before Chayanne learned to cook from Missa, in the early days Missa would cook for the other two. Since Missa is a skeleton and more active at night, Phil would often fall asleep to the sounds and smells of cooking, and wake up to a fridge stocked with meals for the day. When Missa came back briefly, Phil woke up to an overflowing fridge and pantry from Chay + Missas cooking adventures.

- Missa would never share his recipes with Phil, telling him it was a secret, but the one thing he showed him was how to up his avocado toast game. Phil became obsessed with this recipe and still tries to perfect it, but Missa seems to have a magic touch with this sort of thing.

- When Phil and Missa first started living together, Phil realized his husband is cringefail at living in the overworld. So there was a lot of hurt/comfort and teasing over this. Phil, being the more experienced overworld death practitioner, had to give Missa lessons on how to survive in the overworld, what's poisonous and what's not, etc. In turn, Missa told him stories and taught him songs, how to skip rocks and make the best paints out of natural resources.

- Phil got Missa a cat after hearing about what happened with his first one (When Spreen killed it for a deal w the devil), which he took with him when he left.

- There's an inside joke between Phil and Chayanne involving Missas protectiveness over Chay. "Missa would have a heart attack if he saw you doing that", etc

- I have a headcanon that along with the tickets, each pair also got something that links them to the other. Jewelry, etc. Tldr, the items can lead them to one another and can give insights on how the other is doing, based on it glowing or something. For Phil and Missa, I like to think they got matching earrings. With the distance and time between them, the connection is weaker, but Phil often wakes up to it flickering light, an indication that Missa is still thinking about him.

#pissa #qsmp #qsmp headcanon #blank rambles #qsmp philza #qsmp missa #deathduo #qsmp chayanne

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shou-jpeg · 9 months

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-Back on the Beat-

Part 4. 06

One year later

November 19th, 9:50pm

Kim hits a high note and the crowd goes wild.

He’s sweaty and high on adrenaline, approaching the end of his largest show yet.

It’s only a few hundred people, but it’s also a sold out show, and Kim still feels a little overwhelmed with that knowledge.

Porchay is in the crowd.

He had walked into their apartment five weeks ago and announced to Kim that he was going to celebrate the end of his first year of university by devoting himself wholly to being WiK’s #1 fan; a job he then applied himself to with as much, if not more gusto than he applied himself to studying medicine.

He looks ridiculous right now, dressed head to toe in unofficial, homemade WiK merch. He’s also holding a handmade sign above his head and Kim has to stop himself from smiling like an idiot every time he looks over at him so his fans don’t start rumours.

They'd agreed to keep their relationship on the down-low, for now. Only while Kim builds his audience, since being single sells.

He holds Chay’s gaze throughout the entirety of the song they wrote together and the people around Chay are definitely noticing. Kim isn’t doing a very good job at being subtle, he thinks.

Oh well.

He’s exhausted, but he raises his arms over his head and makes a heart with his fingers to thank his audience as he closes the set. The crowd goes wild once more and Chay is giggling into his hand over something.

He’s so cute.

He’s probably laughing at Kim though, Kim thinks warily.

~~~

A few days later, Chay announces that a photo of Kim from his concert is going viral on twitter and is doing wonders to boost his popularity both nationally and internationally. Something about people thinking he’s cute?

Kim considers how much he can press and the wary way the bodyguards back at the compound look at him when he walks past.

He’s definitely not cute.

Porchay won’t let him see his phone though, and he can't be bothered to check himself.

Whatever. So long as it’s getting him good reviews.

May 23rd, 6:05pm - a few months earlier

“I think Jimbo likes you more than me now.”

Porchay scoffs. “That’s just because I’m the one who feeds him most of the time. You’re always out these days, being all popular and in demand. What will we do when you become proper famous?”

“You don’t like having a popular boyfriend?” Kim pouts, turning to look at Porchay from where he lies on the bed, watching him play with their cat. Porchay only moved in last week, yet he’s taken on being a cat parent like nothing else. Kim has barely even cleaned the litter this past week. It’s been a weird disruption to his daily routine, but it has given him a lot less to worry about with his increasingly erratic schedule.

He released the song they wrote together last month and it hit the national top 10. He’s had three different studios reach out, wanting to sign him.

Kim tries not to think about it too much; it’s too overwhelming, how good he feels about it. The bars he usually performs in are starting to become too small for the crowd that he draws.

He should probably hire a manager.

Porchay looks up at him. “P’Kim as your biggest fan, I could not be more thrilled to be dating my idol. It’s like I’m living inside of a fanfiction.”

Kim hums, hesitant.

“Does that mean we get to live happily ever after?”

It’s way too soon, they’ve only been together six months. Kim was ready to spend his life with Chay from the moment Chay unblocked him, but he’s pretty sure there are rules around these things.

Kim isn’t good at this. Porchay told him so himself… though he was smiling at him fondly when he did.

He’s smiling that same smile at him again now.

“Yeah,” Chay says, soft. “We get to live happily ever after, p’Kim.”

February 10th, 9:28am

“I want to study medicine.”

Porsche looks at him with almost comical surprise, and Porchay tries not to laugh at his expression.

They’re out at their new weekly brunch date together, and Chay has been waiting for the right moment to bring this topic up. He’s spent a lot of time over the past few months, both on his own and with Kim’s help, figuring out what he wants to do with his future. He’s feeling pretty confident in his choice, but he hasn’t even begun looking at universities yet and enrollments are coming up soon.

“I’m not sure what field I want to specialise in yet, but I’ve thought a lot about it and medicine feels like the right direction for me. I should have at least a year of classes before I have to choose my field - I want to feel it out a little and see what feels right for me. I was hoping you could help me look at university courses?”

Porsche puts his fork down and settles back, serious but obviously trying to hold back his glee. “Of course, Chay. We can get you into any university you want.”

“No!” Chay interrupts him, “I want to get in on my own merit. I only want help finding a good course… please…”

Porsche smiles at him, big and wide and happy. “You can do it! Come around here, let’s start now!”

Chay gets up and moves around to join Porsche on his side of the table, bringing his phone with him.

“Okay, so I’ve already been looking at a couple courses. Tell me what you think, hia…”

February 6th, 11:39pm

“What about some sort of doctor?”

Porchay looks up at Kim.

They’ve been going through lists upon lists of career ideas and quizzes and self help guides. It’s been nearly four hours and Porchay really shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was with the seriousness and intensity at which Kim approached the task.

Kim loves solving cases and sorting through things. It’s something Porchay discovered recently, and even though the topics themselves sometimes aren’t so cute, the way Kim gets when he has something to solve in front of him definitely is.

He reaches over to smooth the little furrow between Kim's brows. “What kind of doctor?”

“I don’t know. You said before that you wanted to do something to help people, but didn’t put your own self at risk.” He's right, but it’s also a little left field. All the results from Porchay’s quizzes have pointed him in the direction of something creative, and they haven’t done much research outside of creative careers yet.

Doctor.

Porchay thinks about Porsche and his new, scary job. He thinks about Kim and his tendency to push himself too hard.

He thinks about Khun, and Kinn and all the bodyguards.

Doctor.

Yeah. Something about that feels right.

January 26th, 10:45am

It’s their two month anniversary and Porchay is nearly jumping on his heels as he waits in the lobby of Kim's building. Kim approaches slowly, trying to look cool and not at all as nervous as he feels inside.

Chay has been secretive about today, only telling Kim to keep his schedule completely clear. He's been distracted every time they've seen each other over the past couple of weeks abd Kim has had to put a surprising amount of effort into not trying to suss out what Chay has been planning for them.

An effort that proved even more challenging when Khun's crytic texts began rolling in even couple of days.

Of course it turns out Khun was on the money with everything. As usual.

“You never use it, so I stole it back the other week and made you this.”

November 28th, 10:35am

“I’m a little nervous.” Chay is sitting across from him, boba tea in hand and a light flush to his cheeks.

They’re at their usual boba tea spot, but it’s also their first date.

Kim is feeling the same.

“Mmmm.”

Chay laughs at him lightly. “P’Kim! Are you nervous too? You’ve hardly said anything since we got here.”

Kim takes a moment to consider, looking up from his tea at Chay’s slowly growing smile.

“...mmmm.” Chay laughs loudly enough that a few people around them turn in their direction. Kim smiles.

Success.

THE END

< Prev - First - Extras >

Playlist

#kimchay #kinnporsche #kim theerapanyakul #porchay pachara #porchay kittisawasd #i want you bach au #i want you bach au part 4 #this epilogue/end thing has been giving me such a hard time #mostly because im sad it's over ):#thank you for reading!#I hope you enjoyed it!#very likely: more to come (but not story. just pieces)

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fdelopera · 4 months

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youtube

When the Jews of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were liberated on April 20th 1945, they sang Hatikvah. At the end of the anthem, British Army Chaplain Rabbi Leslie Hardman, cried out, “Am Yisrael Chai – the Children of Israel still live!” (x)

Am Yisrael Chai is a very old phrase. Hundreds of years, at least. It states that the Jewish people are still living, despite every attempt that Romans, Christians, and Muslims have made to mass murder us over the last 2000 years of world history.

We are still here.

The Jewish people are still here, despite every attempt that has been made to culturally appropriate our history, our culture, and our religion.

When you read the "Old Testament," you are reading OUR Tanakh. You are reading a JEWISH sacred text. When you read about Joseph, and Moses, those are JEWISH figures. They are Yoseph (יוסף), and Moshe Rabbeinu (משה רבנו). Moshe was not a Christian, and he was not Muslim. Moshe was a Jew. Never forget that.

Am Yisrael Chai: The Story Behind The Bergen-Belsen Recording

by Milad Doroudian (x)

"Am Yisrael Chai!", shouted Rabbi L.H. Hardman who had finished conducting the first pre-Shabbat sermon that many of the Bergen-Belsen camp survivors had not seen for 6 years. Although weakened by hunger, disease, and the death of their loved ones, on the 20th of April, 1945 many whose spirits still remained strong began to sing “Hatikvah” ("The Hope"), so the world can hear that they were there, and they survived.

There is a very good chance that you have heard this emotional recording, but have you ever stopped to truly consider the story behind it? Despite the sadness, yet immense hope in the voices of the singers: Who were they? How did they get there? And perhaps most importantly: What happened to them?

These questions are almost impossible to answer as history does not afford us many recorded accounts. Yet, this was the case in 1945. After the death of 6 million Jews in Europe, and an atrocious war which took the lives of 65 million. Confusion was normalcy. It was those amid the confusion such as Patrick Gordon Walker, a reporter for the BBC, who wanted to record the stories of what happened that managed to collect the few stories that we have left today. Nothing could have prepared him, or the soldiers who liberated the camp days earlier, for the horrors that lay inside.

The Bergen Belsen camp , which was established in 1941 in the middle of Germany served as a death camp for Jews, homosexuals and political prisoners. The exact number of how many people died during those years is not known, however when the British and Canadian 11th armoured Division liberated it, they found 60,000 people, most of which were extremely emaciated and suffering from typhus.

Walker entered the camp five days after its liberation to find people who could no longer possibly function because of hunger, only to be greeted with the sounds of “God Save The King” played on an detuned piano in order to honour the British and Canadian liberators. People were joyous, despite their condition and the fact that many were still dying. In fact, they sang, and talked with their liberators who gave them food, and comforted them by reminding them that they were human beings.

“What I saw there will always haunt me” said Walker in his famous broadcast, and this was the case as there were truly more dead in the camp than living. One soldier’s account of how he saw a mother and child dying of sickness right in front of him, was only one of hundreds when the soldiers first found the abandoned camp.

Yet, perhaps what is more interesting is not simply the survivors who sang the Hatikvah (The Hope) after liberation, but those who did when they were being led to their deaths. The account of Jan Michaels, a Polish Jew who saw a group of Jewish Czechs singing the future national anthem of Israel, while they were on their way to the gas chambers. Michaels said that the SS guards could not stop them from singing, as their hope was unstoppable even in the face of certain death.

Yet, why is this so important to remember?

However melancholic it is to remind ourselves of these horrible stories, it is essential that we remember all those who have perished, as well as those who lived on to sing the Hatikvah after their liberation, as it is was their hope to be reunited with those they loved in Eretz Tsion. Now, today, Israel still faces enemies who want its people abolished, but that will never again be possible.

To answer the first questions:

Who were they? They were just like you and I. How did they get there? Through unbelievable xenophobia, hatred and ignorance. What happened to them? They live on in all Jewish hearts, and more importantly they live on through Israel.

#jewish history #jumblr #never again #never forget #international holocaust remembrance day #never again is now #NOTE: I report and block antisemites. If any antisemites comment on this post you will be reported and blocked. You have been warned #Youtube

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clairedaring · 2 months

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Netflix Thai Original Line-up Information

(updated as of January 2024)

2024

1. Ready, Set, Love (Series)

Release: February 15, 2024

Summary: In a parallel universe, female newborns vastly outnumber their male counterparts due to an inexplicable pandemic. As men become rarer, they are hailed as “national treasures,” and women must win their affections in a government-sponsored competition called “Ready, Set, Love.” An ordinary young woman named Day is unexpectedly accepted into the competition where she meets Son, the most popular guy, and sparks fly. Together they uncover a conspiracy operating beneath the surface, which threatens their love and the world they have come to know.

Director: Yanyong Kuruangkura

Writer: Rangsima Akarawiwat, Phuwanit Pholdee

Producer: Anuthida Silanarong

Production Partner: Get More Film Plus

Cast: Blue Pongtiwat, Belle Kemisara, Lily Nichapalak, Man Trisanu

2. The Believers (Series)

Release: March 27, 2024

Summary: Three young and ambitious entrepreneurs must find a way to repay a mountain of debt from their failed startup, when they stumble upon an unthinkable “business” opportunity — exploiting people’s beliefs in religion for money.

Director: Wattanapong Wongwan

Writer: Aummaraporn Phandintong, Watcharapol Paksri Asamaporn Samakphan, Perapat Rukngam, Jiraporn Sae-lee

Producer: Chanajai Tonsaithong, Somprasong Srikrajang

Production Partner: Joy Luck Club Film House, Deluxe Production

Cast: James Teeradon, Peach Pachara Chirathivat, Ally Achiraya

3. Doctor Climax (Series)

Release: May 2024

Summary: In the late ‘70s when sex talk is still taboo, the life of a straitlaced skin doctor and specialist in venereal diseases is turned upside down when he starts moonlighting as a sex columnist under the pseudonym “Doctor Climax.

Creator: Ekachai Uekrongtham

Director: Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, Pairach Khumwan

Writer: Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, Tinnapat Banyatpiyaphoj

Executive Producer: Ekachai Uekrongtham

Production Partner: GMM Studios International

Cast: Ter Chantavit, Goy Arachaporn, Praew Chermawee, Ton Tonhon Tantivejakul, Tob Chaiwat

4. Terror Tuesday: Extreme (Series)

Release: TBA

Summary: A collection of haunting hit stories inspired by the “Angkhan Khlumpong (Terror Tuesday)” radio program with terrorizing twists and turns that are dialed up to the extreme.

Director: Prin Keeratiratanalak, Abhichoke Chandrasen, Prueksa Amaruji, Chayan Laoyodtrakool, Surapong Ploensang, Chookiat Sakveerakul, Eakasit Thairaat, Alisa Pien

Writer: Prin Keeratiratanalak, Abhichoke Chandrasen, Prueksa Amaruji, Kasidej Sundararjun, Pun Homchuen, Onusa Donsawai, Chookiat Sakveerakul, Thanamas Dhalerngsuk, Eakasit Thairaat, Kanokphan Ornrattanasakul

Producer: Chartchai Worapiankul, Genwaii Thongdeenok, Duangkamol Wongpratoom, Chayamporn Taeratanachai, Chuyot Mueagyot

Production Partner: ATIME, BrandThink Cinema

Cast: Nat Kitcharit, Piglet Charada, Gee Sutthirak, Smile Parada, Earn Pattaravadee, Cherprang Areekul, Music Praewa Suthamphong, Rujira Chuaykua, Not Vorarit, Praew Narupornkamol, Poon Mitpakdee, Care Panisara, Tonhorm Sakuntala, Pat Chayanit, Point Cholawit, Bee Namthip, Sydney Supitcha, Kachapa Tonjaroen, Nina

Yarinda

5. Master of the House (Series)

Release: TBA

Summary: When a diamond tycoon dies mysteriously, a cutthroat battle over his estate erupts between his ruthless heirs and the housemaid whom their father recently married.

Director: Sivaroj Kongsakul

Writer: Nut Nualpang, Weerasu Worrapot, Vatanyu Ingkavivat, Sita Likitvanichkul, Athimes Arunrojangkul

Executive Producer: Kulp Kaljareuk

Production Partner: Kantana Motion Pictures

Cast: Yada Narilya, Bie Teerapong, Chai Chartayodom, Gap Thanavate, Nus Nusba, Claudia Chakrabandhu

6. Don’t Come Home (Series)

Release: TBA (Series)

Summary: A mother and her young daughter flee to their family’s abandoned mansion but soon find themselves haunted by paranormal incidents that lead to the little girl’s mysterious disappearance.

Director Woottidanai Intarakaset

Writer Woottidanai Intarakaset, Aummaraporn Phandinthong

Producer Thananuj Ebrahim

Production Partner: Hub Ho Hin Bangkok

Cast: Noon Woranuch, Pear Pitchapa, Cindy Sirinya, Ploypaphas Fonkaewsiwaporn

7. Tomorrow and I (Series)

Release: TBA

Summary: This anthology series explores the intersection of futuristic technologies and Thai culture, and the unimaginable tensions and moral dilemmas that arise out of their inevitable conflict

Director: Paween Purijitpanya

Writer: Paween Purijitpanya, Pat Pataranutaporn, Jirawat Watthanakiatpanya, Abhichoke Chandrasen, Tossaphon Riantong, Panuwat Inthawat, Eakasit Thairaat

Producer: Surawut Tungkarak

Production Partner: Jungka

Cast: Violette Wautier, Aelm Bhumibhat Thavornsiri, Ray Macdonald, Phuak Pongsatorn, Boy Pakorn, Ink Waruntorn, Poyd Treechada, Tangkwa Chananticha, Wanichaya Pornpanarittichai

8. Bangkok Breaking: Heaven and Hell (Film)

Release: TBA

Summary: When a dedicated rescue worker inadvertently gets caught up in the kidnapping plot of a mogul's tween daughter, he must save her from the clutches of rival gangs hunting them down with unpredictable dangers around every corner.

-> Note: Film sequel to 2021 Netflix Thai original series Bangkok Breaking

Director: Kongkiat Komesiri

Writer: Kongkiat Komesiri

Producer: Kongkiat Komesiri, Piyaluck Mahatanasab

Production Partner: Kongkiat Production

Cast: Weir Sukollawat, Duu Sanya, Mind Atitaya

2023

1. The Lost Lotteries (Film)

Release: November 16, 2022

Synopsis: A heist-comedy film about 5 losers united by a crazy mission to retrieve their 30-million-baht winning lottery tickets from a mafia gang headquartered in a firecracker factory.

Director and Writer: Prueksa Amaruji

Producer: Ekachai Uekrongtham

Starring: Wongravee Nateetorn, Phantira Pipityakorn, Napapa Tantrakul, Somjit Jongjohor, Thanaporn Wagprayoon, Padung SongSang

Production Partner: GMM Studios International

2. Hunger (Film)

Release: April 8, 2023

Synopsis: Aoy, a woman in her twenties, runs her family’s local stir-fried noodles restaurant in the old quarter of Bangkok. One day, she receives an invitation to leave the family business and join team ‘Hunger’, Thailand’s number one luxury Chef’s table team led by the famously ingenious, and infamously nasty, Chef Paul.

Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri

Producer: Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, Soros Sukhum

Writer: Kongdej Jaturanrasmee

Starring: Aokbab Chutimon, Peter Nopachai Jayanama, Gunn Svasti

Production Partner: Song Sound Production

3. The Murderer (Film)

Streaming date: July 27, 2023

Synopsis: When an English man is accused of murdering his Thai in-laws, his wife is the only witness that stands between guilt and freedom.

Director: Wisit Sasanatieng

Producer: Transformation Films

Writer: Abishek J. Bajaj

Starring: Mum Jokmok, Oom Eisaya Hosuwan, James Laver

Production Partner: Transformation Films

4. Once Upon A Star (Film)

Streaming date: October 11, 2023

Synopsis: Join the crew of a traveling pharma-cinema troupe as they go on the road to spread the joy of live-dubbed movies, all while overcoming difficulties, deceits, and reaching for their dreams.

Director and Producer: Nonzee Nimibutr

Writer: Ek Iemchuen

Starring: Weir Sukollawat, Noona Nuengthida, Kao Jirayu, Samart Payakaroon, Nat Sadaktorn

Production Partner: 18 Tanwa

5. Delete (Series)

Streaming date: June 28, 2023

Synopsis: The story of a complicated relationship with secrets to hide, and a grim question to ponder: who do you want to delete from your life?

Director and Producer: Parkpoom Wongpoom

Writer: Parkpoom Wongpoom, Jirassaya Wongsutin, Tossaphon Riantong

Starring: Nat Kitcharit, Ice Natara, Fah Sarika, Aokbab Chutimon, Jaonaay Jinjett

Production Partner: GDH

6. Analog Squad (Series)

Release: December 7, 2023

Synopsis: At the turn of the millenium, a group of misfits is hired to play the part of estranged family members in order to fill in the cracks of one broken family.

Director: Nithiwat Tharatorn

Producer: Nalina Chayasombat

Writer: Nithiwat Tharatorn, Aummaraporn Phandintong, Chanathip Amonpiyaphong, Sopana Chaowwiwatkul

Starring: Peter Nopachai, Jaylerr Krissanapoom, Namfon Kullanut, Primmy Wipawee

Production Partner: Jungka Bangkok

#netflix thai #netflix thailand #netflix #compiled this for myself because i just wanted to see the lineup of director. writers. production partners. netflix thai tend to invite #notably no gdh production this year #6 projects in 2023 lineup and 8 projects in 2024 lineup #and they increased number of series and decreased number of films (AS THEY SHOULD)#the believers filmed in q3 of 2022 so all the projects this year probably filmed secretly a while back already #thai series #still trying to guess which netflix series fluke pusit will be a part of #i didnt even KNOW poon was gonna be in the horror anthology series #can gdh come out with their lineup this year i wanna KNOW the james/baipor/june film ALREADY

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aeternallis · 4 months

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The Third Song / Why Kim chose to rewrite Chay’s first song

So one day, I was thinking about what happened to that song Kim was working on in episode 9. 🤔 The tune Kim strums and vocalizes to is pretty catchy, and so I also wondered about how we don’t get a lot of scenes of Kim’s creative process with his music in general, yknow?

I have a fic idea about this subject in the works also, so I figured I may as well write a meta too to get my thoughts in order. Haha!

But before I go on and start ranting, for the sake of this meta I think it’s important to establish the level of fame Wik already has by the start of the show. Admittedly, it’s quite difficult to do this since Kim’s persona of Wik hardly makes an appearance, and the show didn’t necessarily focus on Kim’s life as a celebrity. But from the minimal amount of clues, I think it’s okay to make an educated guess.

From Chay’s shrine, we know that Kim has done at least one photoshoot with GQ (if memory serves me correctly), and a number of smaller publications. So he’s gotten some exposure already; his fame isn’t limited to the internet, in other words. Due to this, it’s most likely he does have a PR team of some sort, by virtue of being a public figure and most likely because he’s an heir to the Theerapanyakuls’ (very public) business empire. There’s no way Kim can afford to remain a private citizen, not only due to the notoriety of his family, but as well as his own celebrity status.

Incidentally however, it’s also hard to look at the crowd size in the university during Kimchay’s first meeting as an indicator of his fame, because I imagine the school would have had to make it very clear to the staff that the performance was for prospective students only and perhaps have prevented non-students from entering the grounds to see his impromptu show. Furthermore, according to the trivia session at the time, he’s also starred in a number of MVs, and we know he has a recording studio of his own.

Yet still, Ohm is not aware of who he is, and if we give Ohm the metaphorical role of being the outsider to all this, it would seem Kim’s fame is also somewhat contained. This being the case, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that Kim is also most likely under a label as an indie artist, since I feel like he does not yet have enough clout that he can move to build his career independently.

So if I were to take a gander at Kim's fame, I would probably say it’s at the level of Jeff Satur’s just before he made his official announcement of leaving BOC–rising fame to come close to reaching national stardom, but not just yet to say he’s a true international (or even regional) star.

(Arguably, one can also say that a good chunk of his fame is his good looks, but that’s a different meta altogether, lol)

Having established his level of fame for this rant, now I can maybe make a gander at tackling his creative/thought process. XD

By the time we’ve reached past the midway point of the show, the audience sees that despite the level of success he’s achieved so far in his career as a musician, Kim is currently in a bit of a creative rut / writer’s block.

We see perhaps a hint of it in episode 4 when he’s just nonchalantly strumming his guitar off camera before Big hands him Porsche’s bodyguard application, but we don’t see it explicitly until episode 9, when he’s visibly frustrated by the WIP song he’s trying to figure out:

So by this point, there’s technically two completed songs between him and Chay, as well as a WIP song that he was struggling with. For reference, I’ll refer to the songs between them as follows: 1stver.WDYS (ep 5), TSiCY (ep 8), Kim’s WIP song (ep 9), and Finalver.WDYS (ep 14).

So knowing that Kim’s WIP song was partly inspired by Chay, knowing that Kim currently had a song in the works, why did he not choose this WIP song to sing to Chay in their final scene together? Why did he choose to rework Chay’s 1stver.WDYS to become his (Kim’s) Finalver.WDYS, when he already had a song up in his sleeve that was different from the other two?

Why choose to re-write one of Chay’s songs, rather than use one of his own?

Thematically and for their relationship, choosing to re-write 1stver.WDYS makes perfect sense. This is the song that holds the most weight between them, because it was the very first one they had worked on together (kinda, lol). It carries with it a powerful sense of nostalgia, of simpler times, and it’s a symbol of all that had been between them before everything fell apart.

Furthermore, Kim came into Chay’s life at a time when Chay had been vulnerable and very much alone. In a way, WDYS–both its first version and final version–is symbolic of Chay’s and Kim’s own narrative journeys, of their respective worlds expanding beyond just the simple (yet also very complicated) existence they’d been living up until that point, into allowing one another into their hearts. The yearning within Finalver!WDYS’s lyrics can apply to both Kim and Chay, which makes it all the more resonate with the audience.

Yet still, this is only partly the point of view of the audience, not necessarily of Kim himself (although there is some overlap).

So what would have been Kim’s thought process when he’d decided to rewrite 1stverWDYS? How would he have ultimately decided to willingly choose to steal from Chay?

After all, Kim is a musician, an artist. One who is starting to grow exponentially in fame, but also one who does take his craft very seriously. Being as Kim is an artist, he would know more than anyone what it means to have artistic integrity in his field. Especially with how the music industry is nowadays, I would imagine that Kim is the type to do whatever he could to stand out, but not so much that he would be the sort to just copy someone else’s style. He has his pride, for one, and he wouldn’t have garnered fame the way he did had he been in the habit of copying.

On top of that, it's not hard to see that music is very much personal to Kim; it's an alternative avenue for him to express himself and his thoughts and feelings.

In the end, the way I personally see it, Kim choosing to rewrite 1stver.WDYS was very much a calculated move, designed to break through Chay’s defenses, to illustrate his intent in getting Chay back, and what he’s willing to sacrifice and do in order to do just that.

Nostalgia - This is the first song they ever worked on in the studio, and at least for Chay, carries significant weight emotionally. It’s a song initially about Porsche, and the impact he’s had on Chay’s life. Knowing that this song means so much to Chay, I don’t think Kim is above using that emotional significance and turning it on its head to change the meaning of the song: from Porsche’s influence in Chay’s life to Chay’s influence in Kim’s life, in order to bring Chay’s guard down. (Sidenote: In a way, WDYS carries more weight than TSiCY ever did, even if that's the song that was meant to express Chay's feelings for Kim. TSiCY was straightforward, and accomplished what Chay set out to do: complete the homework Kim gave him, and express his feelings to his idol while he was at it.) During their final scene in episode 14, there’s hints that it's the first time Kim reaches out to Chay in a month, if not the first time Kim has reached out to him in this specific manner. If Kim has any hope of capturing Chay’s attention as soon as he catches him off guard and he clicks on that video link, Kim has to be able to not only grab Chay’s attention right off the bat, but also keep it. What better way to hold Chay’s attention than to serenade back to him the first song he ever wrote? When Kim chose to rewrite 1stver.WDYS, it wasn’t necessarily to impress Chay, but to grab hold of his attention with the least possible chance of Chay closing out the video and turning his attention elsewhere.

Intent to show Chay that he wants him romantically - This is pretty straightforward, looking at the Thai version of the song, and its translation (Ex: Just you, just having you, no matter what. A world without stars but the two of us will move forward). It’s a song about yearning, of wanting Chay back in his life, of how much Kim has missed him. Per Jeffy himself, WDYS is a love song. (credit to IYSmomo on Twitter for that translation!)

Sure, his delivery of the song in the video makes it sound like an apology, perhaps, but ultimately, WDYS is a love song–a most selfish one at that, and within the context of that final scene between them, also highlights Kim’s nature as a Theerapanyakul. This boy easily throws away integrity over his shoulder to tell Chay he’s in love with him. Lol If that isn’t in keeping with family tradition, I don’t know what does~ Could Finalver!WDYS act as an apology? Does Kim regret his treatment of Chay? Meh, debatable imo, considering his deception was meant to safeguard his family and figure out the mysterious circumstances surrounding Porsche’s swift employment. Sure, there’s definitely guilt, but regret? That’s up for interpretation.

Intent to show Chay what he’s willing to give up - Oddly enough, Kim is completely honest with Chay only twice in the show: the first time they meet, as well as their final scene together. By the time Kim sends him the video link, the mask Kim wears as Wik has been completely discarded. It’s a bold and risky choice to get rid of this mask, even temporarily, because this is the armor Kim has in his sleeve that separates his life away from the mafia. And he does get rid of it, not only because he singles out Chay in that video, but by appropriating Chay’s song in the first place, had Chay been a lot more vindictive than what his disposition allows, this is incriminating evidence of his theft. Lol But getting back on point: Wik is Kim’s livelihood outside of the mafia. Without this mask, is it even still possible for him to operate outside the mafia? It’s a dramatic question, but I think a legitimate one, considering he’s put quite a bit of stock and time in perfecting it, to the point he’s close to reaching national stardom. Yet still, he gets rid of that mask when he sings to Chay of his feelings. At the very least, for Chay, he’s willing to drop that armor altogether to tell him he’s in love with him. It’s a powerful statement, and imo, shows the depth of his feelings for Chay, in that he’s willing to sacrifice it entirely, if it would mean being with him.

Writer’s Block / Chay is Kim’s muse – Of course, I don’t think we can dismiss the fact that Kim was going through a bit of a creative block during the time we see him in the show. Perhaps we can say that part of the reason Kim chose to rewrite 1stver.WDYS is because he couldn’t think of anything else. Lol Thinking of Chay was able to get him out of the block in episode nine, and he was able to figure out the chords for the WIP song. Chay is definitely a muse and a source of inspiration for Kim. Yet still, I don’t want to be too hasty in making the leap in logic that he couldn’t think of anything else, since we don’t see him past the point after he sings Finalver.!WDYS to Chay. We don’t know whether he continues to struggle with his creative block, or if he manages to get past it (especially for when he and Chay get back together--//hits).

Ultimately, Kim’s gamble to repurpose Chay’s song about Porsche–although he doesn’t know it just yet–works greatly in his favor, judging by Chay’s reaction in the end: Chay not only watches the video all the way through, he’s unable to click “Delete” right away, unlike the other times, when he’d blocked Kim without hesitation.

The fact that Kim can make that decision to take Chay’s song to use it for his own purposes, the fact that Chay can listen to his own song that’s been stolen and repurposed, only goes to show that at the end of it all, they’re still very much wrapped around each other’s fingers.

#kimchay #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #meta #meta post #meta rant

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 5 months

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By: Ron Kapeas

Published: Jan 8, 2024

JTA — In a speech marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, Rep. Ritchie Torres likened protesters who have celebrated Hamas’s October 7 massacres to white people in the Jim Crow era who celebrated after the lynching of Black people.

“I was profoundly shaken not only by October 7, but by the aftermath,” Torres, a Black Bronx Democrat, said Friday in a speech at Central Synagogue, a prominent Reform congregation in midtown Manhattan. “I found it utterly horrifying. To see fellow Americans openly cheering and celebrating the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. And for me, the aftermath of October 7 revealed a barbarity of the American heart that reminded me of an earlier and darker time in our nation’s history, a time when the public mobs of Jim Crow would openly celebrate the lynching of African Americans.”

Protests have proliferated since October 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, kidnapped around 240 and brutalized thousands more in an invasion from Gaza. They have grown as Israel has waged a war in Gaza to eliminate the terror group, and especially as casualties mounted: So far, close to 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and non-combatants and is also believed to tally civilians killed by errant rockets fired by terror groups.

A number of the protests have decried the October 7 violence on Israelis, but others have skated over the initial massacres or have embraced Hamas and described its atrocities as resistance.

Torres, a member of the progressive caucus in Congress, has garnered a reputation as an unstinting supporter of Israel. He has duked it out online with fellow progressives in debates over Israel, a dynamic that has only intensified since October 7. Torres is heavily funded by AIPAC and donors aligned with the pro-Israel lobby, and spoke at a massive rally for Israel in Washington on November 14.

In his speech, Torres alluded to the controversies that assailed elite universities after the presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania told Congress that calls to commit genocide against Jews did not necessarily violate the schools’ codes of conduct. The ensuing uproar drove Harvard’s and Penn’s presidents to resign.

“What we’ve seen in the aftermath of October 7, is appalling silence and indifference and cowardice from so called leaders in our society from institutions that we once respected and admired,” he said. “And if we as a society cannot bring ourselves to condemn the murder of innocents with moral clarity, then we must ask, what are we becoming as a society? What does that reveal about the depths of antisemitism in the American soul?”

I had the honor of delivering the annual MLK sermon at Central Synagogue. My speech touches on a range of topics and themes: October 7th, Jim Crow, Leo Frank, MLK, Elie Wiesel, silence, indifference, moral clarity, nonviolence, Israel, Am Yisrael Chai, Hatikvah, and hope. pic.twitter.com/stxqxzgyLi — Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 16, 2024

Central is a locus for some of the city’s wealthiest liberal Jewish families, many of whom are also firm supporters of Israel. Dr. Shonni Silverberg, the synagogue president, introduced Torres as a champion of progressive priorities as well as an advocate for Israel, and noted that he is the first openly LGBTQ representative elected from the Bronx.

“Ritchie remains steadfastly focused on the priorities of his South Bronx constituents, expanding access to safe and affordable housing, rebuilding New York economically and ensuring that no child goes hungry and that all receive a good education,” she said. “But he has also shown himself both in and out of Congress to be a great friend of the American Jewish community and Israel.”

I was shocked, but not surprised. Shocked at how openly, how loudly and how quickly pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism supporters emerged from their Postcolonial Studies, Gender Studies, Intersectional Feminism Studies and other fraudulent sewers in the ivory towers long before Israel ever fired a shot back.

I was not surprised, however, since antisemitism is a cornerstone of Intersectionality, as I posted about more than two years ago:

I naïvely expected that they'd go, "whoa, we didn't mean it like that, that's not what we were after," the standard No True Scotman tactic to distance their enlightened antisemitism from the antisemitism of murderous Islamic jihadists.

But they went the other way and leaned into it, cheering it on, while others tried to gaslight everyone with the usual array of denials that they weren't saying what they were openly saying, and that anyway, if they were saying it, that's not what they meant.

#Ritchie Torres #MLK Jr Day #MLK Day #Martin Luther King #Martin Luther King Day #Martin Luther King Jr Day #islamic terrorism #hamas #hamas supporters #pro hamas #pro palestine #pro palestine is pro hamas #antisemitism #October 7 #Oct 7 #hamas massacre #october 7 massacre #exterminate Hamas #religion is a mental illness

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