@zaxawesome Look At It.

I VOTED WOOP

I VOTED AND I'VE BEEN EXCITED TO VOTE FOR LITERALLY YEARS!!!!! I VOTED DID THE FIRST TIME AND IT'S SO EXCITING I'M V HAPPY!!!!

Nyo America aesthetic. @miss-united-states

This is controversial I know, but as someone who loves learning new things and hates feeling stupid, I always err on the side of simple when I’m teaching people about history, particularly when I’m working with niche equipment or antiquated terms.

When you’re so enmeshed in a subject, it can be all too easy to forget that your knowledge and vocabulary is now different from everyone else’s. I go to a lot of reenactments where the people there are passionate about history, but don’t know how to teach it, or deal with museums where the curator rather than the educational staff writes labels. Far too often I’ve had to step in and explain a concept or word because someone else thought it was obvious so it wasn’t.

Just in the 18th century alone I’ve had explain when people were confused by someone using period appropriate, but confusing words such as:

“Stays” rather than corset

“Chocolate” rather than “hot chocolate”

“Petticoat” rather than “skirt”

“Shrewsbury cake” rather than “cookie”

“But Beggars!” you say, “it’s wrong to use modern terms for things when we know what they were actually called! They’re not the same!” Not if you explain yourself. You and I both know that stays and corsets are differently shaped, but to 99% of the population, it’s a support garment, and that’s what they need to know. I will generally use the appropriate term and then explain using more colloquial language. “I’m wearing stays - what we would today call a corset, although they’re differently shaped.” Making the person guess what you’re talking about is putting more mental strain on them and causing them to lose track of the discussion.

As a professional who still looks like a child, I know how awkward it can be when someone assumes that you have a negative level of knowledge, but I am always going to err on that side and then beef up my interpretation later, rather than starting at a master’s degree level, making someone feel stupid, and then having to backtrack. A good interpreter will be able to glean someone’s general level of knowledge very quickly.

neato: a 13th-century number notation system created by european monks

I have … a tip.

If you’re writing something that involves an aspect of life that you have not experienced, you obviously have to do research on it. You have to find other examples of it in order to accurately incorporate it into your story realistically.

But don’t just look at professional write ups. Don’t stop at wikepedia or webMD. Look up first person accounts.

I wrote a fic once where a character has frequent seizures. Naturally, I was all over the wikipedia page for seizures, the related pages, other medical websites, etc.

But I also looked at Yahoo asks where people where asking more obscure questions, sometimes asked by people who were experiencing seizures, sometimes answered by people who have had seizures.

I looked to YouTube. Found a few individual videos of people detailing how their seizures usually played out. So found a few channels that were mostly dedicated to displaying the daily habits of someone who was epileptic.

I looked at blogs and articles written by people who have had seizures regularly for as long as they can remember. But I also read the frantic posts from people who were newly diagnosed or had only had one and were worried about another.

When I wrote that fic, I got a comment from someone saying that I had touched upon aspects of movement disorders that they had never seen portrayed in media and that they had found representation in my art that they just never had before. And I think it’s because of the details. The little things.

The wiki page for seizures tells you the technicalities of it all, the terminology. It tells you what can cause them and what the symptoms are. It tells you how to deal with them, how to prevent them.

But it doesn’t tell you how some people with seizures are wary of holding sharp objects or hot liquids. It doesn’t tell you how epileptics feel when they’ve just found out that they’re prone to fits. It doesn’t tell you how their friends and family react to the news.

This applies to any and all writing. And any and all subjects. Disabilities. Sexualities. Ethnicities. Cultures. Professions. Hobbies. Traumas. If you haven’t experienced something first hand, talk to people that have. Listen to people that have. Don’t stop at the scholarly sources. They don’t always have all that you need.

gawaingirlies stay ga-w(a)inning. that’s what I always say.

Oh holy shit they found Silphium alive and growing in the wild.

GreekReporter.com

Miracle Plant Used in Ancient Greece Rediscovered After 2,000 Years

Ancient Greeks used a 'miracle' plant called Silphium, which was thought to have gone extinct 2,000 years ago, has now been rediscovered.

Before and after graduation!

REBLOGGING HERE BECAUSE ONE OF YOU CAUSED THIS SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL SEE IT. I'M DRAWING THE CHILD AS A CHILD?! ?!?!?!?!?!?!

SO I HAVEN’T EVEN GOTTEN TO WATCH THE SHOW BUT HERE’S PIDGE AS A YOUNG CHILD! I’VE LOVED PIDGE SINCE I WAS YOUNG WATCHING VOLTRON FORCE! NOW HERE’S MODERN PIDGE AND I LOVE THEM? A LOT?! LOOK AT THE CHILD.

Jewish Curriculum

If you’re like me and felt overwhelmed as a convert trying to work out what to learn, I’ve made a checklist on google sheets which you can make a copy of and use to guide your learning. It includes:

Prayers and songs to learn

Historical events to research

Jewish theological topics

Important Biblical and modern figures

Jewish holidays

Book and film recommendations

Jewish values

Judaica to buy

Some resources that have helped me

I hope it helps :)