[#302] Cardiff's Champion (Torchwood)

Jun. 12th, 2026 02:07 pm
badly_knitted: (Torchwood)
[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] fandomweekly

Theme Prompt: #302 – Champion
Title: Cardiff's Champion
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: No
Word Count: 1000
Summary: When something living come’s through the Rift, the Torchwood team has to move fast, day or night.




Kawasaki Natsu (1889-1966)

Jun. 12th, 2026 07:50 am
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[personal profile] nnozomi posting in [community profile] senzenwomen
Kawasaki Natsu was born in 1889 in Nara, the daughter of a watchmaker. She lost her mother shortly after her birth, skipped grades in elementary school and entered the Nara Girls’ Higher Normal School at thirteen (having apparently fudged her birth records to appear two years older). After graduation, she taught for three years at her hometown elementary school and at nineteen went to Tokyo to enter the Tokyo Girls’ Higher Normal School. There she discovered Hiratsuka Raicho’s Bluestocking and the poetry of Yosano Akiko, volunteered at Noguchi Yuka’s Futaba Kindergarten, scandalized her professors by writing essays in the style of spoken rather than literary Japanese, and only just avoided expulsion as a dangerous element.

Natsu graduated in 1912 and went to teach at a girls’ high school in Hokkaido, where she encouraged her students (she was in charge of essay-writing for all 500 girls) to write freely and with imagination, about themselves as well as the texts they read. She returned to Tokyo in 1916 for graduate study on the psychology of creativity, at the same time teaching writing at her alma mater the Girls’ Higher Normal School, and later at Tokyo Women’s University upon its founding.

In 1921, the well-to-do architect Nishimura Isaku asked her to recommend a school for his daughter Aya, but she couldn’t think of one that would do. The Yosanos, who happened to be there, suggested that they start one, and so Natsu found herself in charge of the newly established Bunka Gakuin (Culture Academy), the only professional educator among teachers who also included Nishimura himself, the Yosanos, and the composer Yamada Kosaku (Tsuneko Gauntlett’s little brother) among other notable figures. The school, like theJiyu Gakuin started in the same year by Hani Motoko, focused on individual creativity and freedom; students wore their own clothes (Western-style clothing was recommended, giving the school a name for high fashion), and girls and boys were educated together for the first time in Japan’s history. It was to produce a long line of accomplished alumni, largely in the arts and humanities. [I haven’t found much in English about Nishimura himself, but he was a pioneering architect and iconoclast and had nine children, of whom Aya, the reason the school was founded, was the oldest; she eventually succeeded her father as principal of the school herself. I also came across a fascinating obituary for Aya’s sister Sono.]

Natsu’s classes were popular; she would begin a geography class by asking her students to imagine themselves on a train headed north from Ueno Station, following the map to Nasu where they would encounter a nine-tailed fox spirit or to Nakoso where they would fight a historical battle alongside warlords. Eating oysters and admiring horses, they would take ship (in imagination) to Hokkaido, at which point Natsu would pause to promise her students she would take them to Hokkaido for real some day and they could all go skiing. She also taught them about feminism and the proletarian revolution, and argued that the goddess Amaterasu was a human being like the rest of them, all topics which at the time could have been grounds for jailing.

In 1943 the school was closed down for sedition. In response Natsu devoted herself to the support of her friends who were down on their luck or imprisoned for their left-wing sensibilities, giving houseroom to fugitives hiding from the authorities, as well as continuing to work for women’s rights and women’s suffrage. (Biographies of more prominent activists tend with clockwork regularity to include lines like “…and Kawasaki Natsu brought her food and clothing when she was in prison” or “…Kawasaki Natsu on the left in the photo of the covert gathering.”) After the war she became a Diet member representing the Socialist Party, remaining in office for six years; she also taught intermittently (at schools now run by her own former students), demonstrated in the Anpo Riots, and worked to bring together the Japan Mothers’ Union as a force for social change. She died in 1966 at the age of seventy-seven.

Sources
Mori 1996

Montreal . . .

Jun. 12th, 2026 05:36 am
sartorias: (Default)
[personal profile] sartorias
It's pretty hot and humid here, but wonderful. But yesterday I was trying to cope with the news that Jane Yolen is no longer among us.

I got to know her through an apa we were in together; through that, I was invited along with a pair of other writers to stay with her in Hatfield, where she had a fifteen-room house, before going to World Fantasy Con. It was Halloween. Her daughter, in high school at the time, breezed in the night before we left for the con to report that she and friends had been going around smashing people's Halloween pumpkins on their porches, and Jane laughed like a fellow teenager, making me feel that she was ageless. Also I wondered if smashing pumpkins was a thing. (There was a band called Smashing Pumpkins.)

On the drive to the con, I was in the front seat and two other writers in the back. Jane was talking writing as she drove. (Very fast.) I gained the impression that she respected everybody who was trying to write, wherever they were along the path, but impatient with those who wanted to have written. (Writers know what I mean, for example the folks who say, "I've an idea, but I'm too busy to sit down and write it. How about me telling it to you, you write it, and we'll split the profits?" or, further along the weedy path, plagiarists who seem to need to be known as writers but can't quite do the work themselves.)

Then she asked us what we were writing, and my friends in the back described their project--they wrote together as collaborators. Then it was my turn and I said I was writing a sequel in a sequence. She said, "How many books are in this sequence?" and I said, "One hundred and thirty-five notebooks." And she slewed around to look at me--while still driving. The car swerved with a dramatic swoop and my friends in the back got saucer-eyed, but Jane straightened out the wheel as she said, "Are they any good?" "Probably not," I said.

Which was oh so true--it's taken me another forty years of slow labor to learn to RE-write, still learning--but that aside, it was a pretty funny episode. She then at that con introduced me to the woman who would become my agent. Which turned out to be problematical to a painful degree, but that was not her fault.

Subsequent meetings were always at cons, or in New York, which included insider data on how the publishing world worked, as she knew all the editors of the day. What a force of nature she was! And how generous to those of us further back on the path!
beanside: (Default)
[personal profile] beanside
Wow, we made it to Friday! It's been a busy week. Not necessarily a good week, but busy.

To continue that trend, the phones again went batshit yesterday, and we ended up yanking people to do various tasks. I ended up doing the inbox as well as calling patients and trying to work with the schedules.

While I was doing that, Jess was working like a dervish in the hopes of getting Lizzy soon. And sure enough, her foster finally texted me, and we have a meeting set up for 9am tomorrow! Theoretically, it's a meet and greet. In reality, I'm about to catnap this girl. Unless she absolutely hates us, she's coming home. We did also get some supplies for the rescue--paper towels and some wet kitten food and churus.

Her foster was very complimentary about the little girl, telling me what a sweet little love she is, and how good she's being post spay. Not that her bio hadn't told us about how sweet she was already.



We've got a couple of more things coming today--a new litter box, a cat bed and a new hamper. The last one is because Cece liked to love against the cloth container it was in, and you can't really sterilize that.

Technically, we probably didn't need to do all that--the FELV virus only lives for 2-3 minutes outside the body, but we wanted to be 100% sure. Jess used the carpet steamer to clean the closet where she spent most oer her time, and also by the litter box. Then, in the evening, we cleaned under the bed and sterilized her bowls and plates.

Once the Amazon packages come, we'll have everything we need to bring Miss Lizzy home. Which is just in the nick of time, since we're going to be leaving at 7am to drive up to Hershey to get her.

I posted her petfinder pictures in one of the D&D servers, and they said with her pretty eyeliner, she looked like a beauty blogger.



I can't say they're wrong. She does take a really good picture.

Only 28.5 hours till we can meet her!

As Jess mentioned on Bluesky, I feel kind of bad moving on so quickly from Cece, but she reminded me how much I love having a cat in the house, and after her chill energy, I really don't want to be without. We weren't planning on getting a kitty so soon, but we were sadness scrolling, and found this little girl and fell in love. (Especially my sister, who actually sent me money towards her adoption fee.)

Once we get her, I'll schedule her an appointment with the new vet for a check up, and we'll be good. I want to meet her so much. I want to see if she has bunny fur, or if she's a little more coarse. I want to hear her meow. I want to touch her little paw pads. And I want to see this gentle spirit and (maybe) have a cuddle with her if she's willing.

I hope she likes her new home and her food and toys. Though she will have to wait on the toys for a bit until she's healed from her spay on Wednesday. Fortunately, they used liquid sutures, so she can't chew out any stitches. And her foster said she's doing really well with not licking them, so she may not need a cone of shame.

Today, more work, including the weekly bitchfest meeting. With the way the phones have been, and the clinic worker who removed a behavioral alert, it should be lively. Or, we'll all sit there like we're having collective PTSD. One of the two.

I'll be fine. I may have a bit of trauma from this week, but overall, I'm okay with it. Cece was incredibly stressful, and broke my heart at the end, but I'm not sorry to have known her. I'm fully at peace with the decision of letting her go before she started really suffering. I'm sure she was uncomfortable and didn't feel well, but she hadn't started having the really bad symptoms from either the lymphoma or the congestive heart failure, and we kept it from getting to that. It was 100% the right thing to do, and I'm glad we were able to be there for her. Her foster said that Cece waited until she found her forever home and was loved before she let herself show that she was sick. She waited to feel that love, and then she let go. I like the idea that she trusted us to take care of her.

I'm really looking forward to having that cat energy again. Boodle was kind of a ghost in those last few months, something I'm only seeing as I look back. She was hiding how she felt, but she was quieter and didn't come out as much. Her, I have some guilt over. I know the vet said she too was just uncomfortable, but not in pain, but I feel like I should have figured out something before we did.

All we can do is move forward and do better. I feel like Cece was a tiny bit of redemption for Boodle. We caught her discomfort quickly and got her help. And we're going to be so up Lizzy's shit. If she starts acting the slightest bit different, we'll be taking her to the vet right away.

I also got a thing that I saw Facebook. I was thinking about Cece and her labored breathing, and I was flipping out a bit that had she done that in the house, we couldn't have done anything for her. And then I saw an add for Pawprint Oxygen, and I kinda jumped at it. So now we have 45 minutes worth of oxygen and masks for either animal. I may get a slightly smaller mask for Yoda, but we could work with what we have. I hope never to need to use it, but I feel better having it in our bathroom cupboards. It arrived yesterday, so that's good.

Jess has a few boxes that they want to take out today, but otherwise, we're just waiting for the litter box and catbed to get everything ready. Her new carrier came yesterday. It's a very pretty royal purple soft sided carrier. Same type we'd gotten for Cece, just a different color.

Hopefully, the steamed carpet has dried, so we can put the bed in there. I wonder if she'll bother to use it?

Once all that's done, we shall settle in for our Brindlewood Bay game tonight--I'm sure that Jess and I will both be a bit scattered for it, but we'll try to focus.

Tomorrow, we have a game at 2pm. We're meeting Lizzy at 9, and Hershey is about 97 minutes, so that should get us back by 12pm. To be fair, I may not be at my finest for that game, either, but again, I'll try. I've got two hours to watch Lizzy and get to know her before game, and Jess'll be in there with her, so it'll be good. Then, after 5pm, I'll be back in to more Lizzy watching.

I'm hoping she's not too traumatized by the drive, and will let us pet her when we get home. Or, she can hide. Either is fine. We'll let her be our guide.

At least the weather is supposed to be not bad tomorrow for the drive. We're getting there a bit early because the rescue is having their grand opening for their new catio. You can pay $10 and go sit with the kitties for an hour. That opens at noon, so we'll be out of there before we get in anyone's way.

I want it to be tomorrow! Fridays are overrated. Lets skip to the good stuff.

Okay, to end it, one last picture of Lizzy, posing like the beauty influencer she's meant to be.



Everyone have an exceptional Friday!

(no subject)

Jun. 12th, 2026 09:37 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] ase!

Typo du jour

Jun. 12th, 2026 04:12 pm
fred_mouse: screen cap of google translate with pun 'owl you need is love'. (owl)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

I have a head cold, and zero attention span, so I'm rereading fic, with breaks for micro-naps, just so that I'm not completely bored. Today's tyop:

explicit homophonic law

(correct text: explicit homophobic law)

I'm sure there are some interesting jokes there.

It's not coming home

Jun. 12th, 2026 08:35 am
elisi: (The Brig by sallymn)
[personal profile] elisi
I have no interest in football, but here is Mathew to explain it:


😘

The Friday Five for 12 June 2026

Jun. 11th, 2026 11:03 pm
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[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were written by Dreamwidth user archersangel, who used a random letter generator, for random questions.

1. What is place you have visited, or want to visit, that starts with D?

2. What is a food that you like, or don't like, that starts with R?

3. Own anything that starts with the letter M?

4. Know anyone whose name (first, middle, or last) that starts with N?

5. Favorite movie, book, TV show, or song whose title starts with T?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

I started a story!

Jun. 11th, 2026 10:41 pm
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
[personal profile] petra
We went to see the steam engine Big Boy No. 4014 at Letchworth State Park, which was fascinating, crowded, and hot. The enormous train whistle echoing through the gorge, which is known as the Grand Canyon of the East, will stick with me.

We got there two and a half hours early, so we settled in to wait. While I waited, I started writing Last Week Tonight: Petrova Truthers. Anyone who is familiar with Project Hail Mary -- particularly the book, but the movie, too -- and John Oliver's voice is invited to come help me with it.

After I got home, I shared the draft-so-far with [personal profile] buggery, who read it aloud via phone and laughed immoderately. That was a great feeling.

My previous effort in John Oliver voice is:

Last Week This Benduday with J'hon Olivah: Clone Soldiers (5516 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (TV), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Characters: John Oliver, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Original Clone Character(s)
Additional Tags: In-Universe News Broadcast, John Oliver Pastiche, Jedi Discourse, Galactic Republic (Star Wars), Galactic Republic Politics (Star Wars), Parody of Satire, Turtles all the way down - Freeform, Screenplay/Script Format, Mancrush, Comedy, Dark Comedy
Series: Part 42 of Petra's Favorites Of Their Own Work, Part 1 of Star Wars Prequels in 2020s Media
Summary:

Last Week This Benduday with J'hon Olivah is a Coruscanti late-night talk and news satire program available throughout the Republic via the holonet. The main story from this week's episode discusses the clone soldiers fighting the current war, their origins, and what responsibility the Jedi Order bears for them, including interviews with current and former Jedi.


*

I am pretty sure that, while the Jedi pressure their heroes to do press, Eva Stratt has infinite numbers of better things to do.

What's the over/under on whether Grace does science education outreach via late night satire? John would hit on him so hard and tell him, "It's really, truly okay for you to say 'Fuck.'"

Project Hail Mary spoiler )
landofnowhere: (Default)
[personal profile] landofnowhere
There's an oft-quoted line from a letter from Abraham Mendelssohn to his daughter Fanny saying that while her (now more famous) brother Felix may pursue music as a profession, for her it can only be an ornament, never the foundation of her being and doing.

However, recent research has pointed out that this line shas been misquoted for ~150 years, and the original does not have this never. Instead it reads:

Die Musik wird für ihn vielleicht Beruf, während sie für dich stets nur Zierde, immer Bildungsmittel, Grundbaß deines Seins und Tuns werden kann und soll.

translated by HenselPushers into English as:

Music will perhaps become his profession, whilst for you it can and must only be an ornament, always a means for self-cultivation, the root of your being and doing.

It's still very gender essentialist, as the full passage quoted in the article above makes clear, but provides more complexity.

I learned this from this HenselPushers post, which also provides relevant historical background.

Dept. of Listsickles

Jun. 11th, 2026 08:06 pm
kaffy_r: (Sen Waits)
[personal profile] kaffy_r
Things I Have Done and Seen

As the hed* suggests, I haven't been standing still since my last post.

Walks: I've gone on a few walks, although not nearly at the once daily pace I'd prefer - it's so easy to find a reason not to go outside. Especially when the temperature is bouncing between the mid-80s, which I can deal with, and the low 90s, which is a tad less healthy. Tonight, it's thundering and we're still under a tornado watch. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, but still rather humid. That's good enough for me; it might be time for a really early walk. 

Norman: On one of those walks, I met a ginger cat named Norman. I worried about him being out in front of the Yellow Chicken House, because I didn't know if he belonged there or somewhere else. He was extremely friendly and he had the purple tag that allowed me to learn his name. And then a guy coming out of his house and putting things in his car looked over and said, "Hi, Norman!" and came over to pick up a very happy Norman. We chatted; I learned that Norman did indeed belong to the Yellow Chicken House and was let out because he never leaves the area bounded by the house's fences. The guy put down Norman just as a woman came by, walking her dog. "You know what else Norman is?" the guy asked with a grin. "He's not afraid of dogs. The woman walking the dog called out "Hi, Norman!" then turned to me and said "He's right!" I kind of stumbled when I said  that I'd lost two cats to traffic so I didn't let my current cat out - it seemed kind of rude and beside the point for me to say this, when Norman was obviously healthy and he really didn't go beyond the sidewalk boundaries of his home. He really is the epitome of a neighborhood cat, in a most definite neighborhood. 

Getting wordy. Rest is under here.  )

* That's what us Ancients of Newsroom Days called headlines and that's how it's spelled. WHAT??!?

well, I never...

Jun. 11th, 2026 06:45 pm
chazzbanner: (painted tower)
[personal profile] chazzbanner
I felt tired and headachy much of the day. Do you know what? I think it was the front that went through!

Yes, even a front that brings cooler, dryer air can give me a persistent little headache. Grr!

This didn't help: in mid-afternoon I glanced at the thermometer and saw it was 78F inside! (25.5C). I opened windows, and it's gone down to 73.

-

Football is officially dead

Jun. 12th, 2026 01:14 am
zimena: (Text - Why does darkness rule?)
[personal profile] zimena
The world cup started. I feel absolutely nothing.
Three host countries and 48 participating teams is two host countries too many, and 24 participating teams too many.
I'm trying my best to muster at least some of my old love for this sport, but I can't.
I might still try to follow the tournament to some extent, but for now I feel no excitement or joy around it at all.

Is there a reset button so we can go back to 1990 and how football was at that time?

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