Cherik Fanart Because Yes

Deprived of the Oxygen We Breathe in Gaza: Education

I took so much pride in telling Irish students and professors at my Irish university how proud we, Palestinians, are of having one of the lowest rates of illiteracy in the Arab World (Approximately 1%) and how much we cherish education. I also shed light on how the ongoing genocide has deprived students across all levels of their right to a proper education by bombing schools and universities and making the living conditions in Gaza just hellish.

Having been a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza (IUG) for two years, I have always seen the passion and determination in the eyes of my students whenever they talked about their life goals and dreams. Not only did this war kill their dreams but also killed many of my students. One of them is the smiling young man in the middle of the picture below Mohammed.

Mohammed was known for always having a big smile on his face that would brighten not only the lecture halls but also our days. I look at my chat with Mohammed on Facebook and think to myself: Is there any hope he would reply to his teacher if he were to send him a message?! Take all the marks you want, but please say something! Please reply!

For my students, education is a bridge to success in life and an opportunity to get equipped with the skills and knowledge they crave. It means talking to experts in their fields, mingling with like-minded people, and having exciting experiences. In addition, education is indisputably a noble form of resistance and entrenching existence. It is our most cherished tool to preserve our culture, values, and commitment to our land and rights as Palestinians. Depriving students of education is equal to depriving them of Oxygen.  

This was the ending part of a play performed by my students named 'Sounds from Heaven'. It embodied the characters of iconic Palestinian martyrs like Al-Jazeera Palestinian American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh.

Four months into the war, I was evacuated to Ireland to pursue my studies. Looking over my shoulder to see my greatly damaged house and family running from death from one place to another felt like ripping my soul out of my body. How does one work on his PhD research in such circumstances? How do you process all the near-death experiences and horrible images in your head from the war? What kind of therapy helps you cope with and accept your constant worry about your family? None! As the hope of a ceasefire diminishes every minute, the only solution I am left with is to evacuate my family from Gaza to Egypt until peace and life revisit my beautiful Gaza.

[Vetted by el-shab-hussein. # 151 on the list of Vetted Gaza Fundraisers List] 🍉🍉🍉

@riding-with-the-wild-hunt @ibtisams @vakarians-babe @90-ghost @sayruq @fairuzfan @sar-soor @fallahifag @el-shab-hussein @taamarrud @humanvoicebox @plomegranate @queerstudiesnatural @commissions4aid-international @nabulsi @stil-lindigo @soon-palestine @communistchilchuck @palestinegenocide @northgazaupdates2 @northgazaupdates @ghost-and-a-half @kyra45-helping-others @kyra45 @commissions4aid-international @feluka

Please help me achieve my goal by sharing my story, donating, and reblogging.

gofundme.com

Donate to Death chases my family in Gaza; help me save them, organized by Mahmoud Ibrahim

People say: "Family always comes First," and to that, I say: "Amen!"… Mahmoud Ibrahim needs your support for Death chases my family in Gaza;

Unusual words with beautiful meanings:

Peregrinate (verb) To travel or wander around from place to place.

Serendipity (noun) Finding something good without looking for it.

Nemophilist (noun) One who is fond of forest; A haunter of the woods.

Eudaimonia (noun) The contented happy state you feel when you travel.

Eleutheromania (noun) The intense desire for freedom.

Hireath (noun) A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was.

Idyllic (adj.) Like an idyll; extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque. 

Clinomania (n.)Excessive desire to stay in bed. 

Seatherny (n.) the serenity one feels when listening to the chirping birds.

Eunoia ( n.) beautiful thinking a balanced mind.

NOT TAKING ANYMORE VETTING REQUESTS!

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

June 17th disclaimer

Vetted fundraiser masterpost-masterpost

TRY MY NEW DONATION ASK GAME!!! (COMING SOON)

This is a collection of links to various posts concerning fundraisers I've vetted and instructions on how to submit fundraisers to me. These are primarily ones for Ghazzan families although some fundraisers for Sudanese families are also listed (I'm more familiar with my own country's politics and dialect and am more capable of vetting fundraisers for Palestinians as a result). Each post will have a time stamp indicating the latest date of update. And fundraisers will have colour-coded disclaimers according to the particularities of their case.

I know that people do not like clicking on links or navigating between posts, but please actually look through these posts and choose a fundraiser to donate to. Please.

Instructions on how to submit a fundraiser. (for those not Ghazzan) تعليمات لتقديم طلب توثيق و نشر حملات التبرعات الخاصة بالغزاويين و عائلاتهم (للغزاويين فقط)

ملاحظة خاصة نشر الحملات.

Google doc list compiling vetted fundraisers.

List of fundraisers for my direct contacts from Ghazzah & Sudan. - PRIORITY.

Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 1. - Particularities Listed.

Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 2. - Particularities Listed.

Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 3. - Particularities Listed.

Unvetted but highly likely legitimate fundraisers.

Additional fundraisers for various purposes.

X-Men Remix 2022

It’s time again to check in with fandom on interest this year for X-Men Remix. There will not be a main Remix Exchange this year (unless I get overwhelming response to this post :D) and instead we will be focusing on just Remix Madness for a longer duration (4 weeks instead of 3). 

Please specify which timing works best if you are interested in Remix Madness. Your feedback is greatly appreciated:

May 15-June 15

June 1-June 30

For those unfamiliar with this Fandom Challenge, please visit last year’s X-Men Remix Madness 2021 page for more information.

Please signal boost thanks!

professor x: babe come over

magneto: i can’t i’m trying to overthrow the human race

professor x: my students aren’t home

magneto:

Fire Emblem gets given a dirty hand in Tiger and Bunny. She doesn't seem to mind being misgendered so I suspect her pronouns are she/he, however she gets that typical homophobic anime treatment where her being queer (or a flamboyant gay man, as depicted in the series) has her sexually harassing other characters and it feels so frustrating to see.

My response to this isn't to shun Nathan, instead I decided pretty early on that she was my favourite Hero, and I think the movie that features her accepting her past is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT and beautiful. I will love even bad depictions of us, because sometimes that's all we have.

I remember what was done to Grell in the anime of Kuroshitsuji, and I still adore Grell to this day.

note: I love both of these anime dearly AND feel comfortable voicing my criticisms of them without needing to throw the whole thing out, because I have a functioning brain.

Hello, I am Shahd, I am 21 years old, a student at Al-Azhar University. I ask those with compassionate hearts and those who are able to help to help me and my family and save me from this brutal war that is killing innocent people without mercy. They destroyed my house and killed my friend and her family. I saw their remains, crumbled and featureless, some of them burned. These scenes disappear from my mind every minute. I fear seeing one of my family members like this. We are here fighting death and miraculously surviving missiles, lack of food, illness, and lack of medicine. My little sister has contracted hepatitis, and many days have passed while she has been crying. I imagined that she would die at any moment. A moment in Gaza, there are no necessities for life. There is smoke and fire, an epidemic of hunger and poverty. I am crying as I write this letter to you. I ask you to look at us with your merciful eyes and extend a helping hand to me. No matter how simple your donation is, for me this thing is large and valuable. With your blessings, you will save the soul of a person and an entire family from... Illness and death. I wish to spread my message more widely. We are not numbers, we are many stories

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Shahd in Gaza!, organized by Shahed Muhammad

Have you ever experienced seeing your dream broken in front of your eyes and not being able to do … Shahed Muhammad needs your support for H

who are thseterius and bareleifdrjas?

anon you have zero idea what youve just unleashed. (this little parenthetical was writtten after everything else in this post but this is focusing on thesterius bc it just got SO LONG. barreleifdrias will have to wait </3)

ok so. hades video game 2018. you play as a dude named zagreus fighting to escape the ancient greek underworld but the point is that when you get to elysium, the two guys blocking your exit are theseus, the theseus of minotaur and ship and labors fame, only hes an annoying pro wrestling vibes egotistical blond (/derogatory /JOKE) dude, and the minotaur, the cannibalistic half man half bull monster in the labyrinth, only hes a chill honorable (hot) dude named asterius. and theyre best bros!!!! despite their meeting and the myth theyre most famous for being theseus killing the minotaur, asterius and theseus are now super best friends. theyre so unlikely but the respect for each other is clearly so deep. reason one why theyre compelling.

here they are btw. (via hades wiki)

and its like, theseus is so annoying that general fandom opinion is that hes the worst character in hades, in a “you love to hate him” playful way sometimes, or real hatred depending on which circles of the hades fandom you trawl, but hes Written to be disliked. even tho hes the hero of the original story, a hero among the ranks of like, heracles and that ilk. and meanwhile, everyone loves asterius bc hes such a bro, hes so chill and respectful and honorable, so many people think hes hot, people are like “dump theseus you could do so much better”, hes such a fan fave. even tho hes the monster of the original story, the villain!!! that role reversal is so so compelling!!!!!! hades didnt even change anything abt their backstories on paper but their personalities are what makes it a sort of roleswap. like theseus’ only redeeming quality is that he loves asterius so much, and asterius’ only real flaw is that hes so dedicated to theseus lmao

(all these dialogue images via @/hadesgamedialogue here on tumblr)

and its especially cool in hades bc its like, asterius, the minotaur, the one that everyone in the hades fandom loves way more, is an actual person. the minotaur is half man of course. theres so much thats added to the story of theseus and the minotaur overall by making asterius a person. but so very few stories take advantage of it. hades game first opened my eyes to the potential of asterius being an awesome character and i love it so much for it.

and THEN through menu stuff you eventually find out how the minotaur got such a high standing in elysium despite being a monster, fighting side by side w his killer-turned-bestie, adored by a crowd of cheering fans that watches your every fight, and especially constantly talked up by theseus himself. and as it turns out!!!!! after asterius died, he actually ended up in erebus. no surprise there, why shouldnt a half-animal monster end up in tartarus 2 electric boogaloo. but then when theseus died, he thought of asterius, and decided that since "their fame and glory were intertwined" (according to the in-game codex), if theseus deserved elysium for being part of the legendary theseus and the minotaur myth, surely asterius did too.

can you fucking imagine??? youre famous for killing a monster, you had an epic one-on-one fight to the death, but then when you get eternal paradise for it can you imagine thinking "hey what happened to the monster. hey what if he was a person. hey what if he was a person i could have join me in literal ancient greek heaven." and the codex says theseus almost certainly risked his own spot in elysium for it — the guy writing the codex would know, he tried to get his own boyfriend into elysium but ended up having to stay in hell in his boyfriend's place. but no theseus literally just got asterius into elysium, kept his own place there, and now theyre basically gladiator celebrities living(ish) their best lives(ish). THE SHEER ROMANTICISM OF IT.

like i was saying before asterius has always been a monster, but now the man who killed him is also the man who first saw him as a person...... a person worthy of paradise, a person worth saving, a person who gave him a glorious fight for the ages, a person. circling back around the roleswap thing, like a comment on one thesterius fic i read puts it, the player hates theseus bc of his in-game annoyingness, but learns to see him as a person through asterius' eyes, through asterius' high esteem of theseus and theseus' decent treatment of asterius. and at the same time, asterius has always been seen as a beast, but it was only through theseus' eyes and esteem and asterius was able to see himself as anything more.

AND THATS NOT EVEN ALL. this is all the backstory stuff, everything that takes place off-screen before the player even shows up. but zagreus (the player character) shows up and hes a polite guy so hes very nice to asterius bc asterius has been nothing but nice to him, even if they do have to fight often (bc asterius is both a miniboss on his own and the regional boss alongside theseus), its more like friendly and respectful sport than anything by the time they get to know each other. but theseus is constantly insulting zagreus bc of his own skewed sense of honor and dedication to the gods bc of theseus' own willful misunderstanding abt who zagreus is. that isnt super important but the point is, when theseus sees asterius, his bestie, being friends w zagreus, the guy he despises, guess what happens.

thats right. the "asterius is cheating on me 😭😭😭😭" arc. bc theseus is so sad and pathetic that he cant conceive of his bestie having any other friends. asterius Must be abandoning him to marry some other guy who is just so much nicer and cooler than him. and so theseus has a temper tantrum abt it. im bullying theseus rn bc hes a loser but also i dont like how relatable his feelings are during this arc.

if theseus sees asterius as a person worthy of love, then its also the same vice versa: asterius is the first person to see theseus as a real person Also Worth Love. hes not a monster, in fact hes a hero. he should be adored by all. and he does have his supporters in the arena! but do they like the real him? hes deeply annoying. he talks too much. hes desperately clingy to what friends he does have bc he just has so few of them. all of his relationships have ended Awfully, and it was his own fault for reacting so strongly and passionately to the things around him.

he and zagreus are actually kinda similar: theyre endlessly kind to people they deem worthy of it but also scathing to people they hate, theyre both accomplished warriors, theyre extremely stubborn (zag keeps trying to escape the underworld no matter how many times it takes, and theseus keeps meeting him and trying to stop him every time no matter how many times he loses), etc etc. but unlike theseus, zagreus is so charming and friendly. theseus tries so hard to be charismatic, but everyone flocks to be friends w zagreus after like a single conversation, and theseus only has asterius. so its very easy for this deeply insecure guy — no matter how he tries to cover it up by a massive ego and a constant barrage of insults toward zagreus — to believe that asterius might see zagreus as a way better version of him, and break up w theseus and go date zagreus instead. and zagreus does nothing to discourage this notion lmao. (honestly most hades players wouldnt have done anything to discourage this lmao. ive seen so many memes, such as this post, abt wanting asterius to just divorce theseus and "get himself a better man" and date zagreus already.)

and honestly its like, as zagreus himself says in a different dialogue, theseus took asterius up to elysium yes, but like, theseus also killed asterius in the first place, so they should be even. but its not just abt that for asterius. its abt how during their fight in the labyrinth, asterius got to at least experience once during his life what it meant to meet someone as an equal. its abt how theseus was the first person who saw him as a real person, not a mindless bloodthirsty beast. its abt how theseus took asterius to elysium, yes, giving asterius the chance to spread his wings and figure himself out and truly live, in a way he never would have been able to in erebus. its how theseus gave asterius the chance to experience friendship and love. so asterius, of course, doesnt gay divorce. he says this.

“he doesnt even understand it” and its literally so true. zag doesnt understand any of the things abt theseus and asterius being the only people to really understand each other and stay, despite everything repulsive abt the other, and be friends. i would bet the average player doesnt understand it either (see all the common hades fandom opinion “asterius dump theseus already”). but asterius understands it. he reminds theseus of this shared understanding. no matter what, no matter everything that should have come between them long ago, no matter anything that theseus fears might come between them now, asterius and theseus are a pair. its always theseus and the minotaur, their names together have gone down in legend. their theme song in hades is even called the king and the bull!!! bc theyre a matched set, theyre hero and villain, theyre inseparable, theyre gay.

also since theyre really just the regional bosses of zone 3 of hades (almost all of the contents of this essay are entirely missable), they get a cool new best friend battle move called the “counterstrike”, where asterius charges into theseus’ shield to create a shockwave, after they reconcile. to go along with their previously established bestie attack “bullhorn”, in which asterius picks theseus up and literally throws him at zagreus. theseus is such a dork he literally shouts “counterstrike!” and “bullhorn!” when they perform those moves like this is some kind of anime. gay wrath moments <3

tl;dr: thesterius is the ultimate ship of all time. thankyou

Silver Grass (7th Division)