I’ve been remiss in articulating my personal appreciation for fellow fanfic writers these past few—oh—years, so it’s pretty much imperative I take the time to do so today.
Simply put: thank you. Thank every single one of you for providing me with escape, entertainment, humor, heartache, and (of course) smut. Thank you for being the thing I turn to when I need a moment of mental escape during my workdays. Thank you for curling up in bed with me as I nod off to sleep each night. Thank you for keeping alive characters and relationships long dead in canon and continually reinventing them in AUs. I’m never over the tropes, the first kisses and first times, the hurt/comfort and catharsis, the angst, the fluff, and the fucking incredible sex. I’m here for it. For you. For all of it. Probably always.
Earlier this year I set about compiling rec lists for all the fandoms I’ve read broadly in over the years (completed lists include Merlin, Star Trek, and Newsies). Some of the fics are ancient in internet years, but they are the ones that’ve stuck in my memory and my heart and I am so. friggin’. thankful. for every one of the authors on these lists.
If you follow that link you’ll find that, sadly, I’ve not yet begun the deep unearthing required to build a comprehensive SPN rec list, and I confess to being desperately behind in reading contemporary fic for this fandom, but there’s a goddamn lot of talent out there that I look forward to getting better acquainted with and think it’s fair to pre-thank you all for giving me so much to look forward to. I’m also forever in awe of the folks in this fandom whose words and works never fail to impress and intimidate and inspire.
Keep writing, guys. Keep resisting and reinventing and re-envisioning. You’re brilliant. And you’re so, so appreciated.
MONEY. WE WANT MONEY. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY. WE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH IT. WE HAVE ACCESS TO DEALS YOU COULD NEVER. MONEY
That aside.
I’m only going to talk about food items but if your food bank takes personal items, a lot of times diapers, feminine hygiene products, etc, are very very welcome.
1) Canned chicken and beef
looooooove this stuff. It’s expensive, it lasts forever, it tastes good and it can be used a variety of ways. This stuff is fucking catnip to food banks, it’s so hard for us to provide proteins.
2) Fancy nut butters
Peanut butter is a standby for food banks as a shelf-stable inexpensive protein, but if we have a family with a kid with a peanut allergy that’s not going to work. Non-peanut butters are expensive and it’s something we hardly ever see donated. (we also like peanut butter, but that’s easier for us to buy ourselves than non-peanut butters)
3) Canned or packaged tuna
You may notice a trend here in shelf-stable proteins. And yeah. That’s basically it, so I’m not going to keep harping on it. But this stuff is a godsend.
4) Easy breakfast things for kids (Granola bars, instant oatmeal, and the like)
Whatever Donald Trump tells you, most people who get food from food banks are actually working their asses off and so they have to leave Obama to raise their baby or whatever, and they don’t have a lot of time in the morning. Things like this that kids can make for themselves are expensive. (Another trend you may be noticing–donate shit that costs a lot of money. That helps us more than all the shitty green bean cans in the world) But they are so helpful for busy working families where the parents may not have a set schedule and sometimes little Amanda is making her own breakfast before she runs off to school. Don’t let kids go to school hungry.
5) Shelf-stable juice
This is one people never think of! But if you show up with a bunch of (preferably reduced sugar stuff) bottles of juice at my door, oh man, you are gonna get so many check mark and okay hand emoticons. This stuff is great for kids, and it doesn’t require refrigeration until it’s opened, so it works great for food drives.
Team “Ready To Shove An ENTIRE Pumpkin Up My Ass”: Sagittarius, Aquarius, Scorpio, Aries, Pisces, Leo
Team ” It’s Still August, You Animals”: Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Gemini, Cancer, Libra
Ballads and folk songs are legit the best things ever. When you hum “The Unquiet Grave” or “Tam Lin” or “The Foggy Dew” or “He Moved Through the Fair”, you’re singing songs that have been performed at feasts and funerals and battles and weddings for thousands of years, songs that have entertained kings and criminals and clergy and housewives. Songs that are so old no one can tell you how they started, only that they’ve survived and that they have meaning. Tell me that’s not astonishing and a little bit magic.
i like the idea that there are no longer such things as casual groups of friends. no, you’re in a squad. weaponize your friendships. battle other squads for social dominance. who wants to fucking fight
kototyph 