Aaaand Here Are My Zine And Sticker Pieces For @supercorpzine Vol. 4!

"You are a language I am no longer fluent in but still remember how to read."

- Ashe Vernon, from "Skeleton Song," Wrong Side of a Fistfight

not to be dramatic but katie in this fit could have me in a choke hold and i’d thank her

reading fics got me like

i have never felt as mature as when i finally understood (through therapy) and internalized (through emotional work) that you cannot connect and communicate with some people no matter how kind, compassionate, understanding, articulate, eloquent, or smart you are, and that sometimes a person not listening to you does not reflect on your communication skills or ability to connect or straight up intelligence. in a way, it’s letting go of the belief that you have the power to make people understand you. communication is a two-way street, and needs two willing participants. some people are just walls, and it has been unbelievably helpful for my mental and emotional health to let it slide and know that it does not affect me or my self worth. 

the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

it’s fucked up. 

It's everybody's fault and nobody's fault. If we want to look at this tournament from a objective and rational point of view, we probably should say that this team arrived unprepared, those players didn't just forget how to be the fucking best in the world in 2 years, they just hadn't been prepared to face the development many teams actually had. They knew USWNT, USWNT didn't know them. Many players surely underperformed, in particular in my opinion Megan Rapinoe, Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis and today Rose Lavelle too, while others I think didn't even have the chance to find a continuity. Tobin Heath never played winger or any kind of attacking role, she wasn't perfect but she was everywhere trying to cover all the holes on the field. And you can't sacrifice Tobin Heath as a damned martyr like this after an injury. Christen Press should have been THE leader of the offense line and she almost never played 90 minutes, and never with the same people. Alex Morgan paradoxically almost played better for Orlando Pride, with more runs and more movement, she just waited there. But just like Press she didn't even have consistency. Carli Lloyd was just at the finish line.

I don't understand the tactics. I tried to. I tried to imagine some greater plan, I thought they could find themselves again soon enough to turn this tournament around but they couldn't. And they couldn't also because sadly Vlatko didn't know how to manage this group. The way he changed every single line-up (I know turn-over is vital when you play every 2/3 days but you also need stability), they way he handled substitutions, changing all together the forwards and never giving a chance to create something stable with Tobin & Christen on the wings and Carli/Alex in the middle was absolutely absurd to me. He brought Macario, he could have used her as a wild card, she could have helped the midfield having more depth and freeing Tobin but he never considered the option. It was too wrong.

And beyond everything, it's absolutely not a ONE player's fault. Not Tierna's, certainly not AD's, not Rapinoe's and not Tobin's (definitely not Tobin's), they won together, they lost together.

But after all of this, the thing I can't get over is that THIS TEAM deserved better and despite everything, I'm still damn proud of them. The USWNT taught me a LOT, they showed me another way to love and live football, they showed me how football could actually be a mean and not only an end, they forged women's football more and better than anyone else and I can't stand seeing how all the world was just waiting for them to fall.

Many times I don't agree with Carli Lloyd, I don't share her opinions and I don't like her thoughts. But seeing her today sprinting by herself after the game and sobbing after the end was just heartbreaking because it was like seeing a pillar falling down. Seeing Rapinoe crying and maybe realizing that her and Carli's time is over was unbearable. Seeing Lindsey seeking comfort in Tobin and Christen's arms was just terrible.

USWNT has a new era in front of them, an era that needs to begin with new forces and still some veterans, but an era of change inevitably. But I want this team to be remembered just like the 99ers because what they did for women's football is just as much remarkable and groundbreaking.

Personally I have to admit that I just hope Tobin Heath will play at least for another World Cup, I believe she has it in her but I don't know if she wants to. She isn't scared of retirement but I am. She meant too much.

And in the end, I'm not even American but this team is one of the things I feel most close to me in my life. So today we face the loss, tomorrow we go after the bronze medal and the day after that we start again and we work to show the world who the fucking champions are.

I just want to say that it has been an honor and a privilege to have had this generation be the generation of USWNT players that “raised” me. ❤️

So I was taught a lesson in how to get rid of a migraine in 30 seconds and omfg listen my migraines don’t go away ever but I was shown what part of my body to touch and like???????????????

It’s witchcraft????????? Like I would be burned at the stake if I lived in ye olde days knowing that information?????

What the fuck??????