Schools Can Teach, But Unfortunately, Under Capitalism, They Are More Likely There To Indoctrinate.

Schools can teach, but unfortunately, under capitalism, they are more likely there to indoctrinate.

Children are taught how to stay still for long periods of time, wait through boredom, endure bullying, affirm and normalize hierarchies, and obey authorities unquestioningly: all things adults are forced to do, once they enter the work place, in order to serve corporations and capitalism.

It was bad when I was a kid, and I felt sorry for the other kids as well.

I'd just hoped like hell that what I was experiencing was some bizarre kind of trend or a fluke, and that both kids and adults would be treated better by a better society when I got older …

But it's gotten WORSE.

We at least had reasonable third spaces to run to, when I was a kid.

There were streets you could bike on.

We weren't getting our free time and attention micromanaged by helicopter parents.

We hadn't been conditioned to serve as a panopticon: filming each other without permission and sharing that surveillance maliciously.

We didn't have the Patriot Act in place and encouraging surveillance around the globe.

We didn't have apps that we used to try and relax, spying on us, so that corporations could sell our data and try to fine-tune their efforts to manage algorithms and brainwash us towards our less compassionate natures.

There sure as hell weren't school shootings and a constant in-school police presence to deal with.

And we were not cognizant that there might not even BE a world to live in once we grew up, due to climate change.

I feel sorry for students and for the more earnest teachers in all this.

It has become so difficult to grow into anyone humane, given the current parameters of how children are treated.

Being on your blog and seeing people who are attracted to fat people and fat bodies being labelled as fetishists and therefore bad has reminded me a lot about how people think of trans and nonbinary people. There are probably a few fetishists who also don't think of me as a person but as a fat nonbinary man I don't often see people like me being treated as beautiful or sexy or cute or even just plain, and it's definitely for this reason that I developed a lot of weird and scary kinks.

It's almost funny that the people who seem to be so concered about us are contributing to an environment that equates genuine desire with abuse and makes us more likely to ignore abuse. It hurts seeing people write off regular sexuality things like feedism and people posting pics of fat bodies that they think are hot as 'dangerous.' It's not weird when you're attracted to thin people or muscles, and it doesn't make you dehumanize them, so why is this so different? Can I for once have a person prefer me over a thin person?

I guess I just want to thank you for standing up to the haters all this time. Your blog is really important to me.

!!!!!!! thank you!

For those who needed to hear it today

don't call your art "content" don't call your writing "content" don't call your posts "content" don't call your hobbies "content" don't call the things you love and enjoy "content" i promise you that life will seem so much beautiful if you start calling them the things that they are which is art and hobbies and interests and pieces of the world that make life worth living. okay i love you

Solarpunk Autumns. Solarpunk Winters.

Solarpunk as a genre exists in a state of a permanent summer. Both as a genre, and an aesthetic. Solarpunk pictures usually show us worlds that have everything in so many shades of green. Green bushes. Green trees. Green everything. Fields in Solarpunk are always filled with ripe corn and wheat. And trees in Solarpunk are full of ripe fruit.

But if we look into Solarpunk worldbuilding there is also the fact that of course at some point at many places of the world it will become autumn, and winter.

I mean, I am feeling it right now, sitting here in my bed with three blankets and shivering, as the summer has very suddenly ended.

Sure, Solarpunk originated from Brazil. And while I do not know a whole lot about Brazillian climate, I do understand that it is close enough to the equator to be fairly warm yearround.

But I honestly would love to see more stories and artworks set in Solarpunk worlds during the autumn and winter. Especially because it is a very interesting topic when it comes to both the renewable energies and the food systems of Solarpunk worlds.

Now, admittedly, the renewable energy is less interesting to me, but we still should talk about it. In winter and autumn a lot of the renewable energy sources are a bit less viable. The sun has less energy and the further north (or south) you go, the less sun you get during the winter. Wind turbines also often struggle because there is in fact too much wind - and some older turbines do not do too well during harsh winter conditions. Water usually has less of a problem, unless the water energy is created in shallow conditions where the water freezes. But of course, there is nuclear energy to take care of most issues, even if everything else fails - even though some people still do not want to hear about it.

The food aspect is a lot more interesting though, especially from a modern point of view.

Because we people today are very used to eating the same stuff year around. Like potatoes, carrots, bellpeppers, tomatoes, cabbage, oranges, apples, pears, and bananas are usually available in the supermarket no matter when you go there. But of course we also know that those only are there because of the rather destructive ways we use to cultivate food and bring it to us. These things usually are grown somewhere closer to the equator and then are brought to Europe/North America via plane, emitting a lot more CO2.

Of course, this is a fairly new development. For the most of human history, nobody - or only the very richest people - had access to imported food like that. So instead they would only eat was either was available in their own country and their own fields right now, or that they could conserve in some way or form.

And frankly... I think that is something I would like to see some more off in Solarpunk media. In people not needing everything to be available all the time. And people also working to conserve food in one way or another to make it last longer.

Also I do want to bring it up again: There were a lot of well known "winter vegetables" in Europe during most of our history there. Stuff that would get ripe in late autumn and would keep rather well. And a lot of those vegetables have been forgotten.

So... Yeah, I really would see that issue discussed a bit more.

And sure, we might be able to worldbuild around the issue in some degree with greenhouses and stuff. But I think it would be nice to just question our relation with the always available foods.