I don’t mean to alarm you, but things are getting pretty feral down at the old hobby store. Last week, I was in the neighbourhood, and one of the grognards tried to lure me into coming inside, so I could get into model trains. Think he noticed that my car wasn’t normal, that there was a strong potential he could carry the hobby on with me. I thought about going in there, but then I saw through the window that they had little jars of paint for $19, and I remembered what your mom used to say about that.
Honestly, I feel bad about the whole thing. Huge pile of hobbies going away with that generation, expertise, rare items, and ancient stories about how to wire up obscure switching layouts all lost to time. Sure, there’s going to be the occasional person who gets tricked into thinking the hobby store has free beer and comes out six hours later with two of those big Ikea bags full of toy trains, but it’s not a very successful reproductive strategy.
Now, slot cars would be a different thing. Hot damn, I love those little things. Pull the trigger, car goes vroop, pull the trigger too hard, car goes flying off the corner and directly into your little brother’s eye. That’s a hobby that I could really get into if the little cars didn’t cost more than my actual car. Wait, what do you mean that sounds like the same thing as model trains? No way. Slot car racing is a stripped-down, austere environment of pure speed, not an exhibition of scale-model realism. You can’t notice all the details on the side of the track while you’re trying to not get hit in the face by a rogue 1/64 Corvette Grand Sport. Not to say it wouldn’t be fun to add a few little trees there, maybe some grass. Drunk Australians trackside watching the Bathurst. Still, though: focus on the cars.
Come to think of it, didn’t I see you down there last weekend too? Looked like you were getting a big brown bag full of something at the back door of the hobby store. You know, I’ve never seen your basement before. And what’s with that giant radio antenna out in the back yard? Are you into ham radio? That’s another old-guy hobby that I surely won’t get into. Huh. There’s someone ringing the doorbell. And they’re holding onto a model train box with “TYCO SLOT CAR” hastily written on it with Sharpie. You better stay there. I’ll check this out, just in case.
“Friends outside of Minnesota please read. I’m sharing a post written by a personal friend and medical doctor: Friends outside MN, you need to know what is happening here. Everyone knows that ICE shot and killed a woman here on Wednesday. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on:
ICE agents are cruising areas with immigrant-owned businesses, and kidnapping patrons and employees alike. Yesterday they abducted two US citizen employees at a suburban Target, one who was begging them to allow him to go get his passport to show them.
ICE is going door to door in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, asking residents where their immigrant neighbors live. Read that again. If it sounds like something out of your high school history textbook, that’s because it is.
ICE is targeting schools and school buses. They pepper sprayed teenagers and abducted two school staff members at the high school up the street from me on Wednesday. Police are literally escorting school buses to ensure children can get to school and home safely. The Minneapolis Public Schools have moved to virtual learning for the next 4 weeks because it’s unsafe for children or teachers to physically come to school.
They are targeting hospitals and clinics. Patients are scared and are cancelling their appointments or just not showing up. Kids are missing their checkups and vaccines, folks aren’t getting their cancer care, etc.
They are smashing windows in cars and homes.
ICE is increasingly picking up Native Americans—again, targeting folks based on skin color alone.
They are arresting and beating legal observers. A friend of a friend had her arm broken yesterday. Folks are showing up at local hospitals, brought in in ICE custody, with severe injuries that are absolutely inconsistent with mechanism of injury reported by ICE. (Think: patient appears to have been beaten unconscious, while ICE agent says he slipped and fell.) I can’t emphasize enough that these ICE agents do not have warrants. There are 2,000+ agents here and they are simply hunting for anyone that’s not white. It doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen or a green card holder, they will kidnap you first and ask questions later.
But the community is fighting back.
Protests are happening every day.
Community groups have been leading know-your-rights sessions for months, often to packed venues.
Whistles are being distributed by the thousands, carried on keychains and worn on coat zippers, always at the ready to be blown in warning if ICE is spotted.
Drivers are following ICE vehicles, blaring their horns in warning.
Businesses are locking their doors even while open to keep employees and customers safe. As I type this, I’m standing guard at the locked door of our neighborhood burrito joint while I wait for my takeout order, so the employees can focus on their jobs. The place is packed with neighbors supporting this small business.
Anti-ICE signs are posted everywhere. The community is making it crystal clear that ICE is not welcome here.
Parents and neighbors are standing guard outside schools, organizing carpools, and escorting kids to and from school on foot.
Parents of kids in Spanish-immersion daycare (there are a LOT of these daycares here!) are keeping their kids home so the teachers don’t have to take the risk of coming to work.
Churches and community groups are holding fundraisers to buy and deliver groceries to families who don’t feel safe leaving home.
Mutual aid money is going out to folks who can’t make rent because they can’t work or because a breadwinner was abducted, or who need a warm place to stay after their home’s windows were smashed.
THAT is what is happening here. This fight is ongoing and it’s horrifying to watch. But we are not backing down. To my friends in other cities and states, don’t think for a minute that this won’t happen in your town. It will. Be ready. Learn from us, as we have learned from Portland and Chicago and New York. Fight back. Don’t let us get to the last line of Martin Niemoller’s poem.”
earlier this week Twitter user ppuccin0 tweeted about a fashion article that advised against tops with large floral patterns, saying the wearer was in danger of looking like a “ロマンティックおばさん,” or a “romantic auntie.” the tweet went viral with many agreeing that a “romantic auntie” sounded like a very nice thing to aspire to be, and some even posted illustrations or photos tagged with the trend
illustration by Toyota Yuu (author of Cherry Magic)
illustration by 141shkw/Sora Midori (author of Beautiful Curse)
photos by Takinami Yukari (author of Motokare Mania and Watashi-tachi wa Mutsuu Ren'ai ga Shitai or “We Want A Painless Romance”)
illustration by m:m (mangaka of Matataki no End Roll)
illustration by ooinuai (mangaka of Onikui Kitan)
illustration by ma2 (mangaka of The Reason We Fall In Love)
BONUS:
Twitter user WomeGa55 drew some art of “Romance Auntie x Combat Auntie”
wormgirl has been banned from the fighting games tournament for executing the illegal and extremely cosmologically unhealthy Universe Searing Emerald Butterfly Triumph against her opponent, reducing the competition venue and everything around it for 700 miles in all directions to smoldering ash. she kicks the fused wreck of her controller in irritation. a bad sport, surviving onlookers agree.
my new character: a guy who comments on every vice article talking about how sjws have ruined prostate milking journalism but gets distracted by thoughts of shellfish before he can finish his post.
