Ideals - Blog Posts
i want a big fur coat and too bright lipstick and a messy hand bag
i want to walk the street wrapped in patterned scarves, my head held high, basking in the muchness of my muchiness
How to boarding school au
Oh hey bc I’m sick and I don’t see this around a lot, let’s talk boarding school AUs! Because yeah, college AUs are good start, but there’s a few fun details that make boarding schools stand out:
First of all, everything you read in fanfic about situational gayness is true. I’m serious. When you’re set up to live, work, and play at school (and usually with strict controls preventing you from leaving campus) you start to seek affection wherever you can find it. One of the reasons I didn’t realize I was bi for years was how completely normal it was for people to cuddle regardless of gender or sexual preference. Packs of completely straight-identified dudes and even dating het couples would curl up and do homework on the regular. Imagine how confusing it would be for your OTP if they first met bc they were cuddling in a puppy pile along with tons of other potential partners.
Not all boarding schools are for the rich. Some are reform schools. Some are organized around a specific topic, like science or the arts. Some exist simply because students are spread out too far to commute back and forth. My school was sponsored by the government, so the most I had to do was pay for supplies and a train ticket up there once a quarter. (Yes, just like Hogwarts.)
The true enemy is the staff. Not that bullying doesn’t still exist, but when you live together 24/7, a funny thing happens. You might not always like each other, but you quickly start to realize you have a common enemy - the adults in charge of this zoo. And when you have a common enemy, it’s easier to get along. 99% of our teenage spite was redirected from each other to the security guards who prevented us from innocently taking each other’s clothes off in the bushes, which meant we didn’t beat the shit out of each other so much.
Related, everyone becomes an exhibitionist. Similar to the confusing lines around being gay/straight/whatever, when you’re trapped at school you have no place to go to get it on. So when people do become involved, they either have to find a super secret hiding place (like a jammed elevator) or get used to banging next to three or four other couples at the one makeout spot with low visibility. (Which may change weekly, given the aforementioned staff. I remember one time watching a lazy security guard mount a giant headlight assembly on a pole, stand back, and sweep the high beam back and forth over a hillside. Half-naked couples scattered like rabbits.)
You will probably almost kill yourselves once a semester, but it will be okay as long as no one notices. Unless you’re at one of the mythical rich kid schools where idk, everyone has their own helicopter, you pretty much have to invent your own fun. My school had restrictions around tvs and video games because blah blah “being healthy”, so we also spent a lot of time outside trying to figure out what the fuck to do. Protip to staff: this is actually way less healthy than video games and computers, because bored teens can and will fucking destroy themselves by accident. Example: one trend we came up with was human versions of all board games, not just chess. This sounds kind of adorable and innocent, until the incident where we attempted Human Jenga. Protip to everyone else: DO NOT PLAY HUMAN JENGA. Even if you’re being very careful about stacking people, eventually the sheer weight of the stack will start to smother the people down below even if you thought their chest was clear. And if they can’t breathe, they can’t let you know they are dying. We almost lost the bottom row over that. (No staff ever found out.)
Prank wars are real, and they get out of hand. Again, when well-meaning adults force you to make your own fun: fun is prone to escalate. Food fights become whole dorm events; nerds get revenge by fucking with goddamn everyone. One time some friends and I got access to a guy’s computer, put a back door in it, took control of his machine remotely and convinced him he’d created an emergent AI. Another time I got line of sight to a window in a rival dorm and took down their computer every time someone started a paper. In retrospect these are all extremely dick moves but uh I was not always aligned good in high school.
That’s all I can think of for now - go forward and sin with pride!
The Labyrinth
Labyrinths from mythology are described more as mental quests, a challenge of the mind for the hero to overcome. Labyrinths are a deadly loss of misdirection, physically and mentally. The most famous story is the creation of the labyrinth, created by Daedalus, the greatest inventor and master craftsmen in all of Athens, Greece, for King Minos of Crete to conceal his monstrous son, the Minotaur, a creature half-man, and half bull. Theseus, the son of Zeus, was sentenced as a sacrifice for the Minotaur but was helped by King Minos’ daughter Ariadne, who gave him a pure thread to retrace his steps and slay the monster.
Several films, poems, and books talk about labyrinths and then some. Labyrinths are seen as grand symbols, as human beings have been fascinated with them since the beginning of time. The journey of the maze is the main character having to dive into a physical as well as mental underworld of sorts. ‘‘ ‘Labis’ is the Greek term for the double-headed ax. The earliest images of labyrinths. Their passageways like ripples or echoes radiating from the form of a double-headed ax; The acquisition of language, the mind-body problem, the question of meaning, of free will, consciousness. And the nature of that innate faculty of the ethical. Robert Morris says, ‘‘ideals, the admirable, right and wrong, the good, logic, principles. All connected in any given form of life. But maybe down deeper things are simpler.’’
Every corner of the world covers the symbolism of the linear one-way labyrinth as a pathway towards the center, towards salvation, God, and the tree of life. Trees play an important role, as they are connected to the labyrinth, they too are connected to the symbols of life, in Christianity and paganism. It is the archetype of the human experience and self idealization and leads us down a quest where the only way is through, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. The labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness, combining the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. It represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world. ‘‘They [Labyrinths] have long been used as meditation and prayer tools. They have been found in ancient Crete, Egypt, and Etruscan; they have been inscribed on Neolithic tombs. They are a call to the center, a worship structure where the eternal beloved waits to be encountered. The labyrinth has always been associated with unity with God and conversation with the divine, with spirituality, worship, and the sacred mystery. Long ago, Christians were expected to travel to the holy land at least once during their lives. But as travel was often both difficult and dangerous, labyrinths were designed as alternative pilgrimages. If travel was out of the question, spiritual merit could be gained by walking a labyrinth.’’
Arthur Weasley <3
As you can probably could tell by the heart, I could go on for a while about how wonderful Arthur Wealsey is as a father, a man, a husband and a human being in general. So let’s start with his picture, as dignified as he is and commanding as much respect and honor as the world can offer (that will never be enough)
The main things I want to focus on with Arthur is how he was as a father and husband, and how much he just loved the world.
As a father and husband, Arthur is the gold standard as well as a gold standard in human being all around. First in regards to fatherhood, his children adored him and he was part of their rock that was him and Molly. Yes, he caved, a lot. He was the good guy to Molly’s bad cop, that’s just who they were, but that’s not why they adored him, admired him and gave him that look of “oh brother” whenever he went on a rant or couldn’t figure something out; Arthur loved his children unconditionally, 100%. Something that is much less common than realized. Bill and Percy at banks and in government, sure; Charlie chasing Dragons and growing out his hair, Fred and George experimenting and taking risks...just be safe! He loved and supported his children with whatever they wanted to do and it just makes him so endearing and heart warming. Plus, while we didn’t see it much, we know he did the same with Molly, even thou he couldn’t scare the way she could, he would back her up (when he could control himself) and also knew how to calm her down, without “calming her down”.
Thirdly, Arthur was an outstanding role model for being a fabulous human being, and a man. While gender based stereotypes are outside my preference, it is noted that strong, positive male models are crucial for girls and boys growing up. And Arthur exemplified all of these by showing how his children could be sensitive and be excited, being supportive and caring with his wife, and being caring to others with how he and Molly took in Harry as their own and did what he knew was right and holding onto the truth and his convictions with his job long before and even during Voldemort’s return--> he was on Umbridge’s list for a reason!!
While always seen by some as a joke and good for a laugh by all, the one who laughed the most at Arthur was himself. While mostly fixed on Muggle items (and separately the respect he had for those who lived and survived and engineered without magic--> told you there would never be enough time), Arthur loved the entire world around him. He enjoyed life, learning new things, going to new places and always wanted to test himself. Similarly to Hermione who always wanted to learn and mostly did so from books, Arthur always was up for a new experience, new adventure, and to learn by doing and mastering.
I always will love Arthur Weasley for the honest and compassionate person that he is. One in a million, Molly is just as noble, kind and brilliant and it is not mystery to why they fit so well and raised such an impeccable group of children.