My favorite random fact about Combeferre probably is that he likes trains and air balloons so when I think about him in my mind he’s always like this guy from asdfmovie:
So, you know how it says Feuilly “earned with difficulty 3 francs a day” in the Brick? Three francs in 1832 in today’s money, accounting for inflation, is $25USD (€22).
Given that labor unions were illegal at that time, it’s also safe to say he was probably working at least 6 days a week. 25×6×4= Feuilly made approximately $600USD a month (€529). The average one-bedroom apartment where I live is twice that much.
I also found out 3 Francs back then were also the average wage for 30 hours of work. Which, if you struggle with numbers, is more hours than there are in the day.
TL;DR: Tired, overworked Feuilly struggling to pay rent despite holding down so many jobs he doesn’t even have a second to freaking breathe? Canon.
Not to take away from Feuilly’s working-poverty situation, which is very real, but rent was probably the least of his concerns; cheap rent in canon-era France was very cheap. The rooms Marius rents at the Gorbeau house for thirty francs a year (and another 36 a year for the concierge to act as servant) are pretty bottom-of-the-barrel–shabby, with no fireplace or window. Feuilly makes more than Marius at this point in their lives; he most likely lives somewhere nicer. The grisette in Eugene Sue’s Mysteries of Paris, in the chapter @tenlittlebullets translated here (and which is pretty accurate on costs), is paying 12 francs a month for rent, and feels confident enough of her home to suggest herself as a model of economy–she’s going to be in a nicer little room than Marius has at the Gorbeau place, or may be paying for more furnishings, etc. Feuilly makes about twice what she makes; he could surely find a nice, clean apartment for one with an oven, and some sort of natural lighting, for a rent that wouldn’t be too painful to him.
(Also it’s very likely he would be sharing rent. Young men of all social classes had roommates; it was practical in a lot of ways!)
What’s going to be eating Feuilly’s lunch , economically speaking, is lunch –food was way more expensive, proportionately. Sue’s grisette spends 12 francs/month on rent, but 23 francs a month on food–and that’s only eating the cheapest vegetables, tubers, and bread she can get, along with “extras” like butter and vinegar–no meat, no sugar, no cheese, no coffee or tea, etc. Firewood and clean water would be another expense, and one that could get very pricey in the seasons when they were most needed. Feuilly is making about twice as much as the grisette here; he can probably afford his water and firewood without too much strain–but he’s going to have to be tracking every sous spent on food and consumable utilities to keep his budget intact. A friend stopping by with the equivalent of takeout pizza to share now and then, or offering to pay the concierge for an extra load of firewood while they’re there, would be helping him out a good little bit.
(It should also be noted re: Feuilly’s wages that he is a skilled, trained artisan at the point where we meet him–hence his slightly-higher-than-average wages. He’s certainly still working long hours, but he’s also going to have a few hours to spend in the evening, and is probably getting a decent lunch and dinner break at work, going by patterns in other shops. He’s overworked! but not 30-hours-a-day overworked.)
–All of which is just to say that yeah, canon-era Feuilly is absolutely living on a lean budget and likely worries about making the cost of necessities a lot! but his worries are likely to be less about rent, which would be a fixed cost for him, and fairly cheap at the time, than firewood, water, food and clothing, which were expensive and fluctuated. He can make it work! but it’s not easy.
non-autistic authors write autistic characters all the time. they just don’t realize it. they’d rather not admit it most of the time, either.
the thing is, non-autistic people have met autistic people more than enough times. however, due to their stereotypes about autism, they often can’t identify it as autism. they see something is up, but they can’t put their finger on just what is up.
so they see people like us and they know the ‘archetype’ which is autistic people. they write us all the time: airheaded professors, awkward nerds, pent up geniuses, etc.
when autistic people point out how strikingly obvious it is that this character is autistic, they usually deny it, or at best, they say the character is ‘if anything, extremely high functioning’, which is more of a kick in the gut than a confirmation. we hardly get those, either.
so, here’s the thing: there are some characters that are very obviously autistic to actual autistic people. pearl from steven universe and papyrus from undertale are two of the most agreed upon examples that i’ve seen. nearly ever autistic fan of steven universe i met says, “yeah, she’s autistic”, and the same goes for papyrus.
when we, as a community, bring this up, however, we are shot down. “oh, he’s not autistic.” i once was told that – ironic as it was – my headcanoning papyrus as autistic offended autistic people or hurt autistic people. but i’m autistic and they weren’t.
two autistic people were both agreeing – damn, this character is blatantly autistic – but non-autistic people felt the need to but in and say how horrible it was to “project” onto characters with such a horrible thing.
listen, if you aren’t autistic and you’re reading this –
if an autistic person says a character is autistic, can you just shut up about it?
because if you’ve watched any amount of tv, read any amount of books, whatever – if you’ve consumed stories, there are tons of autistic characters in them.
just because neither you nor the media’s creators knows shit about autism doesn’t mean that the character can’t be autistic.
either way, it’s none of your business.
we have little to none confirmed representation that isn’t terrible and inconsiderately offensively written.
find something better to do with your time.
NT Author: *Writes lovingly nuanced character who is quirky, shy, physically sensitive, socially awkward, clumsy, brilliant at a few special topics and has the capacity to grow and learn friendship and love in a nontraditional way*
NT Author: They can’t possibly be autistic!
NT Author: I’m gonna write an autistic character!
NT Author: “Doesn’t talk, rocks back and forth, loves trains”
Gonna say this as an author:
It is 100% okay to use the phrase “well, they are now.”
If a ton of people approach you with a character you didn’t realize you coded autistic, and they’re like “fuck yeah, autistic character!”
You can 100% say “I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing, but you know what? Sure. With the number of people who see it, I’m not gonna say no. They’re autistic now.”
Nobody worth having around is going to be offended by that.
Agreed! Indeed, the author should take it as a huge compliment that their powers of observation were so accurate that they managed to recreate an autistic character without knowing it.
A few years back I re-read Camus’ “L’Etranger”/”The Stranger”; I’d previously studied the book in school (for French) and at the time my French teacher assured me that Meursault was just an average guy operating in an existential fog. My reaction was, “Well, if you say so, but his personality does seem rather out of the ordinary. His mother died the day before, and his reaction is to pick up a girl for casual sex that evening? That’s not a conventional reaction to bereavement, surely?” Reading it in the past few years with a modern awareness of autism, Meursault’s behaviour screamed “AUTISTIC!” loud and clear.
Now, checking it out, I see a peer-reviewed medical article published this year explicitly identifying Meursault as autistic:
And Camus based Meursault on his friend!! This is exactly the kind of case study the original poster @pyxamid is talking about: Camus didn’t know he was writing an autistic character, but he was.
It’s about time someone got around to uncovering all the cheat codes for this “human being” software. It’s only been out for like 10,000 years.
?????????????
I’ve used this technique for about a year, and I can safely say that it has efficiently transformed my sleeping habits from several hours of struggle to fall asleep, to passing out in a matter of minutes.
It’s a form of Alexander Technique. It’s a technique that was designed for actors to keep their body in ready working condition and give it the best way to perform. This is the method used to calm, and center the body. Once the body is at that point it can perform anything you want it to.
Reblogging for later reference after I tried it earlier today to try to calm down. It actually does help a lot, not just for sleep but if you have problems with anxiety.
My default mental setting is “vibrating intensely in the background.” After doing this, I felt noticeably calm and relaxed – I wasn’t as fixated on my breathing, I wasn’t tense, my movements weren’t jerky and I didn’t feel like I had to be as tense as possible to be under control. 10/10 would recommend.
me gonna try it
dont wanna reblog but insomnia is a bitch for some ppl so heres for my mutuals having trouble sleeping.
I use it for anxiety attacks. It works and I say this as someone who thought it was bullshit. I now have a timer at work set to one minute twenty seconds to do this exercise.
i used to need 20mg of melatonin a night to fall asleep before i was shown how to do this. however, it was added on: as you’re doing this, picture yourself packing a suitcase for a character you enjoy, such as your OC.
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 