Bolding this part like crazy, because I never thought about it like this, and now it's even better:

when scully comes to tell mulder that diana was killed, and he says to her, “you were my friend, and you told me the truth,” the language matters so much. that’s what scully called diana, “i know she was your friend,” and he turns it back onto her. you were my friend. you told me the truth.

Okay.. Now when is Chris Carter gonna apologize to Gillian Anderson..

Can’t get over this promotional art for the X-Files episode of The Simpsons.

Omg I love them Line Dancing together, they’re cute dorks.

@illaisland this is the only version I will accept 🤣

we been knew but also thanks for saying it out loud

Here's a look at my year-end Patreon exclusive reward: The X-Files 2025 Poster Art Wall Calendar. Each month highlights one of my X-Files episode posters.

If you're interested in getting one, join my patreon by the end of this week at patreon.com/jjlendl for full details.

the difference between when scully is kidnapped in lazarus vs by duane barry early in season two is wild.

you can see his worry & how he’s a bit withdrawn, and his determination to find her. he shows his skills in handling these kinds of cases. but i also think it’s clear he doesn’t carry real guilt about her being taken.

where with duane barry, he’s desperate. the lengths he went to, with krycek screwing up his ascent to the mountain, is insane! like impressive & crazy & amazing. he was just barely too late. but he has her necklace & her faith and he’s grasping at his own belief which is harder to keep without her there now.

they were already dedicated partners, but it’s clear how much closer they became in the span of a few months between these incidents. they lose the x files but still find ways to work together. they have clandestine meetings. they don’t lose their partnership. scully doesn’t give up on him when his depression is so palpable. she knows because he didn’t even see her in the hall that time. and he always sees her.

duane barry threatened everything they had. their partnership, their friendship, scully’s life — mulder’s life by extension. he had no one to help him through this, because she was the one who started getting him through everything. even his past grief. and that’s when mrs. scully became a lifeline. someone to share in his desperation & grief. and magically (to him), she didn’t blame him for her daughter’s abduction. at the same time, he was a lifeline for her. but it was difficult to keep maggie’s faith that she would come back. i think her giving up felt like a nail in the coffin to him. but having someone else’s belief to push against bolstered him. and then she comes back. battered, bruised, near death. and he falls back on the only thing he can hold onto. avenging her. until melissa tears him to shreds. because that isn’t what scully needs, and he takes the chance on melissa’s beliefs. because scully loves her so much (idolizes her) and melissa loves dana so much and these scully women know how to bring out the best in him with their blunt forceful honesty & seeing right through him. they know the good, sweet, caring man he is whether he purposely showed them or not.

anyway. all that to say, i love the evolution of their relationship. even so early on, the other’s safety is paramount to their own peace of mind and holding onto their beliefs and fighting the fight & the truth they pursue for such similar yet still different reasons.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

As a 30 year old man who escaped the Alt-right pipeline, you're not going to be happy about the answer.

All I hear from leftists is how much they hate me for my immutable traits, how much they blame me for everything wrong with the world, how much they want me and everyone who looks like me dead.

Whereas Alt-right types would call me "brother" and welcome me into their ranks so long as I hated the right ways.

Do you understand the difference?

I'm an ally and support equality because I feel it's the morally correct choice to make, but holy fuck is it difficult to reconcile that with the fact that means fighting for a lot of people who see you as the scum of the earth.

Read this and then read it again and then read some fucking bell hooks because this is a legitimate problem on the left.

"To create loving men, we must love males. Loving maleness is different from praising and rewarding males for living up to sexist-defined notions of male identity. Caring about men because of what they do for us is not the same as loving males for simply being." - bell hooks, The Will to Change https://bellhooksbooks.com/product/the-will-to-change/

ive seen people say the left should appeal to men more but not ask why it doesnt already. well why do all these right wing grift influencers appeal to men? its because they target impressionable young men who just got rejected and wanna hear that its womens fault no 1 wants to fuck them. i swear we need a big oily hyper masculine dudebro to start making videos titled "how to be instantly attractive to women" "15 male self improvement tips" "how i became an alpha male in 30 days" and the videos are just the guy sitting down and saying "hey dont stress about how you look or what other people think of you because the right person will love you for you. remember to take accountability for your actions and treat women with respect even when they reject you and see woman as people and not potential girlfriends" or something along those lines. like all his videos are just teaching self love, compassion for women, how to react to rejection ect then i swear there would be way more guys on the left

May I introduce you all to Dr. Nerdlove.

Harris O’Malley is a deeply compassionate man who saw this exact issue of young men not being met where they are and getting sucked into hate movements like Gamergate and Alpha Male dating optimizer bullshit. So he started a dating advice column to counter it. (Plus other social skills that isolated young men are missing out on).

He's a really great example of a leftist man who took on the work to be there for young men in danger of listening to grifters. I don't really see him talked about on this website. Good follow on Blue Sky, though.

I was intrigued by the idea of Dr. NerdLove and his "advice column for bros" approach, so I decided to check it out and folks....This is so good. Context: In my job, I offer one-on-one coaching to adolescents and young adults who have disabilities to help them meet their goals and transition into adult life/build skills for adulthood. Most of my students right now are young college-aged men (some of whom are in school and some of whom work.) One of the big things I do with them is helping to build and maintain social networks: MAKING FRIENDS!!!! Many of my students are lonely! For some of them, the social networks very much include wanting a partner. They ask me for advice about (usually heterosexual) romantic relationships. As a queer woman who's not much older than them (which is to say, not much relationship experience) I often struggle to know how to answer their questions. I just don't know what it looks like from their point of view. So, I thought something like this might be helpful to point them to. I'm not in the demographic the column is reaching to, but I did grow up in several friend groups where I was one of the only girls, and I had friends who got onto the early stages of that Gamergate/alpha male/incel pipeline. I'm an amateur anthropologist by degree, which means I learned a lot of stuff about how cultures and societies work, how to interview people about complex social problems, and how to make things more equitable for communities that need it. I read and see the same news as the rest of you. I work as a camp counselor for middle and high schoolers in the summers. All of which leads me to reaffirm for you: Our boys are not okay. A scary high number of them are getting exposed to online communities that are misinformed at best and predatory at worst, and they lack the experience to know how to counteract that. The election results are going to be like pouring gasoline on a fire.

Enter Dr. NerdLove. Harris O'Malley tells young men things they need to know and start to internalize, and he does it in a way that is relatable to them, compassionate, and humorous. One of my favorite articles is "What Men Really Need," In it, he talks about the social isolation many men face, how they struggle to get support and connection from their male friends in emotionally fulfilling ways, and how that's devastating for everyone. He also tells them how to be a better friend and change the dynamic.

In other articles, he explains the importance of building confidence, self-care, how to overcome feeling awkward, that looks aren't everything. (again, all in terms a boy who's been lurking around on certain Reddits would understand.) He makes a point to explain what some of the risks of dating and relationships are for women (and how history informs that.)

And yes. He's saying the quiet part out loud (linked text is a news source.)

This is going to help me be better equipped to help my students with something really important to them. I think it's also going to be a protective, positive force for a lot of boys who need it.

'The Work of An Instant'

Scully and Mulder attend a game night at the Gunmen’s lair, and change is in the air.

Link on AO3 (2463 words)

Comments extremely welcome, as always!

Tagging @today-in-fic - thanks!

teaching myself how to draw by obsessively drawing xfiles/calvin and hobbes fanart as a way to cope and distract from The Horrors™️

how to say "I love you" in x-files [44/?] ⤷ The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)

THE X-FILES | 4.08

this or nothing

AMIDST THE CHAOS: An MSR Playlist ⤷ Part One: Mulder

playlist / songs ↘