and I agree the empowering part of the story was accidental

one thing that struck me about Twilight is that she WANTS to be a vampire, whereas in so many stories vampirism is more of a curse

but Bella says "no I will be a vampire and it will be wonderful, and I won't let you choose my body's future for me"

she demands immortality and power— and wins

Linnea and that tube of lipstick 🫣

cause one thing about children, they are learning to have a sense of justice and they will fight you over it

youtu.be/5enZRwbnISQ?...

once as a kid I was at one of those Baptist churches where the preacher starts breathing hard and jumping around and getting red-faced. he was really into the story and he goes, "Jael was in there like 🎶I've been workin' on the railroad 🎶" while he mimed hammering

so I definitely remember Jael

the internet didn't teach me what to think of cops

protesters didn't teach me what to think of cops

it was the cops themselves who taught me to hate them

if you're new to hating cops, I'm glad you could join the rest of us, welcome to the pig roast

a cop came to tell me my father died

he said it very casually because he thought we were distant relatives, not father and child

he apologized, he said it was his first time doing this

I was beyond caring about any cop's feelings by then, I let him be uncomfortable in the presence of my raw grief

and nothing happens

no matter how many times cops ask you what happened, they don't do anything to repair it, they just beat you into a pulp, mentally or physically or both, and insult you while they're doing it

so I know this to be true: cops don't fix anything or help anyone

over the years, mandatory reporting (like when I get a new mental health/social worker) means that the cops get notified about my stepfather again and again

so I have to walk another cop through all the trauma

once a cop said "well you don't seem very upset"

sir y'all have drained me utterly

when I told them about my stepfather, the cops questioned me about my wardrobe, about how many boys I dated

it was horrifying and re-traumatizing

then they took down all the information about my stepdad's CSAM, said they would investigate, and nothing, absolutely nothing, came of it

"if you don't show up at school, we'll know who to question"

I was seventeen years old

eventually, I asked my mother for help, and she kicked me out

when I was getting therapy at the sexual assault center, they had to mandatory report, my stepfather had CSAM

the cops were horrible, again