Buc-ee's florence photos

So I had this quarrel with my friend, let's saher name is Sarah. We have been close since the first year of our college and it's our third year. The first time I had an argument with her and our friend group(we are four, myself, Sarah, daisy and Florence). I was at the center of it. Basically I was at my lowest and I started isolating myself, I didn't think it was affecting them and when I realized it I apologized and told them that I'll be needing space and I didn't want to bother them with my problems. I thought everything was fine but unbeknownst to me they were thinking I was holding grudges. It was my first time having and argument this huge. I kept trying to explain that I'm not used to telling people my problems even to my friends and there was a lot on my mind. But they only kept saying I was lying and I was making them feel like they had done something to me. I felt really guilty and accepted the blame. I was also ashamed of myself, so I went back to them. Fast forward towards our exam period, my anxiety went up really high. I couldn't read for more than 5 mins and I'll loose my attention span. I was getting scared because I didn't want to drop my cgpa again. This time I decided to be serious about it. I switched to a different reading style and tried improving myself. Now I told Sarah that I was really scared of my exams and I won't be reading with her because I want to try something different (because I didn't want what happened during the last argument to happen again). I really hate conflict. I thought everything was cool but I started noticing she was kinda off but I didn't think too much of it. That was until I met up with a former roommate, her name is Stacy. Stacy met me and told she noticed I wasn't myself, I folded instantly and was happy someone wanted to help me. She also opened up to me about her breaking up with her boyfriend and it's affecting literally because people were trolling her for it. So we decided to help each other out. We are in different departments so she prefers night reading while I was up during the day. I was like her alarm clock whenever I wanted to go to bed, I would wake her up and in the morning she would do the same for me. It was a simple routine and I really enjoyed it. During this same period, my bank froze my account and I had to go there everyday to rectify it and it was always one excuse after the other. Literally after all my exams I would have to go to the bank to remind them again. This particular day I went to the bank as usual and on returning back to the hostel I was exhausted. Florence saw me and she greeted me when I walked into the room. I didn't pay attention to anyone else, I was hungry. I decided to take cereal. Then I realized my spoon wasn't there. I went to Stacy's room to ask for her spoon, then we started talking from there. I was in her room when Sarah called for me and she confronted me saying what did she do? I already knew where this was going and I tried to explain again that nothing is happening, I'm not holding grudges or anything I'm literally just doing my own thing. She then proceeds to say I'm not acting like old me, she misses the old me and I dont care. I was really confused and I overwhelmed I could only reply with I'm not holding grudges and I have Nothing else to say. The last thing she said to me was that she wasn't going to make the first move again. I was too tired and hungry to continue the conversation. I said okay and left her. Well we didn't talk again till we left for holidays, I was too determined to get right with my exams than give into another problem. So during the holiday, I decided to try and solve this. I asked my boyfriend and Florence on what to do because they are friends with Sarah and have had conversations like this. It was then my boyfriend told me that she already met him and told him that I'm making her do too much for me and she doesn't want to be my friend anymore. She said I told her about everything that I was going through but why was she seeing me with Stacy? I was devastated and started blaming myself but I decided to ask Florence and she told me further that people went to meet Sarah to ask her why we weren't walking to places together and if she did something to me. She also told Florence that she wasn't my friend anymore and she told all out friends. Too be honest I felt like everything was my fault and I made someone go through all that. I started thinking of ways to apologize but everyone told me to wait because she doesn't want to change her mind. I decided to let go too. I deleted all our photos and literally detached myself from those feelings. Upon resumption, I resumed late and when I got to school, she had switched the position of our bed(it's a bunk bed). I didn't want to ask about it, I just let her be. One of my roommates was on her IT, so I took my bed to her space and decided to sleep there. I know I should have said something but I couldn't. So I was going about my daily activities and basically pretending she wasn't there because it would only make me feel pain. Then I receive a text and Sarah is telling me she has things to say to me and if she doesn't let it off her chest, it would hurt her. I didn't want to have a conversation with her, I dread it. She always end up playing the victim. One random Sunday, she walks up to me to confront me, I'm already scared. She starts attacking me that why didn't I talk to her and it was affecting her, she needed someone to talk to about her problems and I wasn't there. She had to tell her mum because it was that bad. I then asked why should I bother you if you said we shouldn't be friends again and she said it was out of anger, she didn't mean it. People were the ones that told her to do it and she told them not to tell me. I'm already feeling guilty, I can't get my head straight apart from ohhh I let this person down I let this person suffer. In all this, she kept saying how she was suffering and she knows that I didn't care enough and she was wondering what she did to me. The fact I moved my bed, people would start talking about it. I got tired and just apologized cause I wanted it to stop. We apologized to each other and I moved my bed back. I know we made up but I couldn't get over it for a while, I was still in pain. I wanted to talk about it but the words wouldn't leave my mouth. I didn't want to be close to her again so I said we should start over. I didn't do things with her anymore. I was still trying to get over it so I decided to try new things. I met up with Stacy and she was teaching how to clear my blackheads. I had a terrible outbreak. She was also taking me lessons for my CAD with solid works, I was using this period to distract myself and sometimes I would sleep over in her room to get things done. Sarah came to meet me again that she's lonely and I tried telling her that I can't help her, I don't know what to do because I myself am lonely. We chatted for a while and I really thought we were cool. Until after a while, she messaged me saying she doesn't think we can be close again. I say I'm fine with it and we can't be close overnight. She then questions what I was doing with Stacy and I explained it to her but next thing you know, she says I'm lying and giving excuses. She even said I'm not doing enough and I want to start over but I'm not staying with her. I tried to explain that I'm not avoiding her, we are still talking, for crying out loud, me and Stacy are not in the same department I'm not doing things I did with Sarah with Stacy. I'm learning from her. She doesn't listen and she claims I'm not listening and it's her fault for being too attached to me. I snap and get angry. I told her that I'm sorry she feels that way but all I've done as her friend is listen to her problems even when I had mine because if I don't listen, I'm not doing my job as a friend. I then say it's also my fault for tolerating some things she did. And I'm sorry I hope she finds someone better but I'm done with this friendship. I ended things. I cried myself to sleep that night. I felt horrible like I honestly felt like a bad person. I didn't forgive myself and I don't think I have. Right now, I feel uncomfortable with the whole group. I feel like I have committed an offense, I feel like I made a person beg for my attention and I don't know what to do. I'm trying my best to ignore it, it's the only thing I'm good at. Please help me.

Hello witches!
Last month I had asked WvP about women who lived their lives for freedom, to try and broaden my knowledge of such women for a project we do over on Dionysus called 'Maenads of May'.
I feel it is only fair to come back and share the women we honored with you. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Aimée Crocker
• Boudica
• Florence Farr
• Frieda Belinfante
• Eartha Kitt
• Emma Goldman
• Gráinne Ní Mháille, Anglicized as Grace O'Malley
• Harriet Tubman
• Julie D'Aubigny
• Kristen Pfaff*
• Laskarina Bouboulina
• Luisa Casati
• Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera
• Mary Ellen Pleasant
• Mary Fields
• Michael Field, pen name of authors Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper
• Nichelle Nichols
• Pamela Colman Smith
• The Prophetess
• Rosaleen Norton
• SOPHIE
• Sophie Scholl
• Tina Turner

*I messed up and used a photo of Melissa Auf der Maur, who became the bassist for Hole after Kristen's passing. A photo of Pfaff can be found here!

Lots of notes from my first trip to Italy in late May. Maybe this will help other first-timers. We did Rome - Pompeii - Sorrento - Positano - Florence over 10 days.
Cities:
Rome: Get out early in the day. On our best day, we strolled to Trevi fountain before most of the shops had opened. We got to see them clean out the money from the fountain and that was oddly satisfying. By around 10 am...all hell breaks loose. It goes from kind of quiet to 'Where did they all come from?'. If there is a restaurant that you have heard of from Instagram...good luck getting in. Call or visit to put your name down. But here's the deal...we found lots of food options and I swear I never had a bad meal. Some were better than others but...good grief, it's all so damn good.
Vatican: I want to start an online petition to change the name to Catholic Disneyland. We booked a 3-hour tour and from the moment we arrived to the moment we left we were shoulder-to-shoulder with people. It was ridiculous and it made the day very very long. There is so much to take in and you are constantly being jostled by people…I can say I did it and I’d never go back.
Colosseum: We booked an underground tour as well as the main tour and that was amazing. You see where the gladiators came in and how they used to flood the floor of the Coliseum and do naval battles! The tour underground was small and you really got a chance to see how it all worked. Romans were impressive engineers and this spot showcases that.
The Forum: Our Colosseum tour included the Forum and…I liked it better. The view from the top of the Palatine Hill was worth the steps. Our guide really helped to bring this area alive for us.
Pompeii: Book a tour. There is so much and you’d miss half of it if someone wasn’t walking you through. We took an archaeologist tour and it was amazing. 2 hours and it felt like it was over in 20 minutes. You can take a regional train line directly to Pompeii and walk to the entrance. There is free (!!) luggage storage at the gate and the restaurant across the street was pretty good...but 'pretty good' in Italy is still 200x better than 'good' in the US.
Positano: Beautiful to look at…not much to do. Lots of shops…but they’re the same shops you’ll see all over this area. The restaurants were…ok. We went to a beach club, got 2 seats ($70), and paid too much for drinks. It was heaven.
Florence: Recommend walking to the top of Michelangelo Hill for the view. I think I should have been more impressed but by the time we got here it was 'ok...another church...cool....'
Weather: It rained every day we were there. Most of the time it rained in the afternoon. Also, most days the weather forecast never said rain was an option. Not a big deal, but bring a jacket.
AirBnB: Both our AirBnBs were great and hosted by fantastic people. Both were located near Piazzas and the listings did say 'some noise at night'. Ummm....yeah...that 'some noise' lasted until 2 am at both places. Bring. Ear. Plugs. Italians like to have a good time...for a long time.
Stuff:
Crime/Scams: This freaked me out a bit before we left. We bought cross-body bags and kept everything zipped up. Maybe it was too much but we made it through without incident. In Rome if anyone offers you a bracelet or says 'nice shoes' or 'Hey American!', put on your best impression of a new yorker and blow right past them. One guy through a bracelet to my son who instinctively caught it...and threw it back.
On the train from Naples to Pompeii it was standing room only...and about 90 muggy degrees. A guy in a down jacket was eyeing the young woman in front of me and paying very close attention to her bag. Her friends noticed and maneuvered him away from her but it was a reminder that you need to keep your eyes open...especially in crowded situations.
Verizon: We used their TravelPass for $10 a day; unlimited text and data. Having Google Maps and Google Translate whenever we needed it was worth it! Check your Verizon account…we found that we had ‘credits’ for 5 days that we could use!
Viator: We booked all our tours through this app and I could not be more pleased. Maybe we were lucky but all of the 5 tours we booked were fantastic. Would highly recommend it.
Ferryhopper: I would be careful here. We showed up for our trip from Sorrento to Positano. The boat hand looked at our ticket and said ‘I don’t know this ticket, I cannot take it’. There were a few exchanges and they let us on. I asked about it when we left and they said ‘It is best to book with us and not this application. We’ve had trouble’. Thankfully we did not book a return trip and could buy tickets at Positano. Take it for what it is…a warning. You don’t want to be stuck trying to find a ride to or from your destination.
ItaliaRail: Fantastic. Clean trains that were always on time for us. Booked directly through their site and it was effortless. Check the price of business class vs. coach. For us, it was well worth the extra $18 per seat.
Uber: Total bust. You are limited to Uber Black and even then…they may not come and pick you up.
FreeNow in Rome: We used this to book taxis in Rome to pick us up and take us to the train station. Scheduled in advance and the driver showed up without a hitch.
AppTaxi, itTaxi & FreeNow in Florence: So frustrating. I think it might have to do with where we were and the time of day but it was frustrating. Wasn’t feeling my best and a taxi ride would have been helpful. I waited over an hour trying to get someone to pick us up…nothing.
And finally...I’d like to kiss the person on this sub who mentioned Mobile Passport Control. This is an app you use when you return home from Europe. You answer the standard questions, take your photo and the app creates a QR code to use during customs checkout. When we got back to JFK there was a line specifically for MPC users. Our line: 5 people….those who did not use it: 125 people and growing fast. This saved us at least an hour at the end of a 10-hour flight. DOWNLOAD IT NOW!
Ok, that's rambling but I wanted to get it out there. I really appreciate this sub. Reading about other experiences helped me make our 10 days special.

EDIT: This post is for anyone who wandered onto my profile and is curious about me. I’m not ready to post it anywhere yet.
Hello, I hope you are doing well as you are reading this. ☺️ If the title of this post intrigued you, then we probably have a lot in common!
This is my lovely face: https://imgur.com/a/U7Gbwwd
(Plus some vacay photos)
So, I’m sure all of us have experienced talking to someone only to find out they weren’t who you thought they were, and hopefully this happens early on rather than years down the road, right?
Nothing is perfect, but the best way to avoid this issue is both people knowing what they want, and who they are looking for.
I’m writing a longer post here on my profile so that once we get to the chat stage we can be more confident we are compatible. If you like that idea, then we’re off to a good start!
A few things about me:

My name is Michael, I’m 5’11,” working in finance from home in NY. I have wide-ranging interests, but not too deep, so I usually take on the interests of those around me. I have the most fun while doing things with others. 

I can talk about anything, but I especially love subjects that make you think, of course! My absolute favorite pastime is thinking while taking a walk and listening to some music (but I enjoy silence sometimes, too), just being outdoors in nature.

Other than that I enjoy learning new things, listening to music, watching shows/movies, traveling (once or twice a year), board & video games, reading, museums, arts and crafts, and the occasional NFL game. 

Personality:

I think life is more exciting when you’re open to exploring new ideas and perspectives. If you’re feeling down and need encouragement, I love listening to thoughts and feelings without judgment, and provide a different perspective or a sounding board when needed. 

I have no major health disorders (mental or physical), but I have friends and family who do, so I have experience with and enjoy talking about mental health issues—you can be entirely upfront with me if you have any.

I’m also not private with loved ones—I’m 100% an open book and I could not care any less if, for example, someone I’m dating wants to look through my phone, I have nothing to hide and it could be fun—I want to show them all of me, so I don’t see what the big deal is to people who mind that. 🤷 

The best way to describe me is that I’m like a sponge. I can fit into a lot of different environments, I’m adaptable and flexible, I like to absorb new information, and I take on the attributes of those around me.

Therefore, I’m eager to hear from ***all types*** of people, identities, body types, and ages, so please don’t hesitate to reach out no matter your interests as long as you’re a fellow curious cat. 😉 

Studies show that people like hearing bad news first, so let’s get some potential deal breakers out of the way first:
Cons:

• Quiet Offline, won’t be the life of the party
  
• Can be an over-thinker
  
• Slooooow while doing everything, even cleaning
  
• Sometimes forgetful
  
• May burn food sometimes and hates chopping with a passion
  
• Bit of a germaphobe (it just means I use a lot of hand sanitizer in public places)
  
• Little fashion sense, but eager to learn
  
• Some anxiety with new situations, but I’m always glad after I push myself
  
• Will do anything for love, but won’t do that
  

…Still here? Great! Then hopefully the “good news” will clinch this!
Pros:

• Emotionally stable
  
• Financially stable
  
• Working remote, can relocate
  
• Generally happy and optimistic
  
• Non-judgemental
  
• Loves animals
  
• Highly adaptable, so can be brought out of my shell
  
• No drama
  
• Conversationalist online, through chat
  

I’m looking for people who are also focused on trying (nobody is perfect) to grow these attributes of their character, no matter where they are in their personal journey:

Caring & Empathy—Wanting to leave the world a better place than they left it. 

Curious—Interested in learning new things and having deep discussions, especially about philosophy, new ideas and technologies, sociology, psychology, etc.

Open-minded-“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ~ Unknown 

Self-control—Is able to have a good balance between short-term and long-term passions of life, so that neither one is in conflict with each other.

Honesty & Communication—Open and free with words, even if it is sometimes blunt, so that there is no underlying confusion or miscommunication. 

Attentive & Affectionate—In tune with their own feelings and can easily express them.

Wasteless—Doesn’t mind a comfortable life, but one that’s not too fancy (extravagant sports cars, etc.). Would rather spend their money on experiences than material goods. Tries to find ways to practically save money and the world’s limited resources. 

Patience, Humility, & Understanding—Doesn’t take life too seriously, believing social life is more important than work life, all while knowing no one can ever completely master these qualities and accepting of where others are on their life’s path.
Bonus points if you’re interested in finance!
Top 5 Favorite Bands:

Paramore Fallout Boy Florence + The Machine Jonas Brothers The Brothers Johnson 

Top 5 Favorite Artists:

Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) Christine and the Queens Pebbles Justin Timberlake Chromeo 

Favorite Genres:

K-Pop Rock Synthwave New Jack Swing Dramatic Soundtracks 

Favorite Show:

The Walking Dead 

Favorite Anime:

Dragon Ball 

Favorite Video Game:

Chrono Trigger 

2 Truths, 1 Lie:

I made it to the district-wide Spelling Bee, my favorite movie is Godzilla 2000, I eat once a day 😉 

I hope this piqued your interest, and I would love to hear more about you, your passions, and your struggles!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Michael

Let us discuss even further the corrosive effects of Nachalo, the issue of the Rederina possible ending, as well as an ambiguous ending on a story that has become unrecognizable out of being stretched so thin.
First, let us recognize what Nachalo did: it eliminated Red's work, his mythic battle, and made it all about simply saving Liz. All about her.
RED TO LIZ: The Cabal is in green. Their affiliates are in red. Their competition is in blue. Since I've been a fugitive, the pestilence on this map has only grown. This is what we're up against-- a multi-headed hydra. You cut off one head, it grows two others, you have to cut off every head and burn the rest of it. It's a mythic battle, and it's not anywhere close to being over.
DEMBE TO RED: Remember why you surrendered yourself to the FBI in the first place. Remember what all of this was about. You can't give up now. You can't let Kate destroy everything that gives you purpose. Our work is not yet done.

IMAM: Does your work with him save the lives of innocents?
DEMBE: It did.

RED TO RAKITIN: My friend, I am engaged in a 30-year project.
RED TO STEPANOV: What interests me is why after nearly 30 years you suddenly act as if I work for you. I don't.
RED TO LIZ: I know you want to believe that our work is done, but it's not.
DEMBE TO RED: You can't give up now. You can't let Kate destroy everything that gives you purpose. Our work is not yet done.
But in Nachalo, it was all about saving Liz. So, how does this work, in terms of the story? Let us begin by examining how the story looks if Red is Katarina:
Season 1
Red dangles in front of Liz answers she wants, and something he needs from her, namely, the fulcrum.
"And knowing his identity would put you in grave danger."
"I loved Sam, Lizzy. Taking his life was of all the difficult things that I’ve done that may may be the most. But I did it to keep you from learning the name of your real father, to protect you. And you must understand– having done that, I’m certainly not going to tell you who he was now."
So he tells her that learning who her father was/is would put her in a grave danger. Ok, so Liz has begun a descent, prompted by finding the gun under the boards. We see she is not exactly the sweet woman she seems, as we have seen the flashes of barely contained anger, the lack of loyalty, and the capacity for deception.
She suspects Red of being her father, but is afraid he is, so she destroys the DNA test.
Rederina also repeats what Liz has been told, which is a complete lie. In this case, Liz's father is dead, and her mother is alive, having taking the gender and identity of her father.
"Abandoned by a father who was a career criminal, a mother who died of weakness and shame".
But we also have the time Liz asks point blank if he is her father. Which he answers no, but after a really long pause. Why the pause? Rederina is absolutely not Liz's father. He is Liz's mother and no amount of gender reassigning would change that. Supposedly her father is dead, and Rederina taking the identity of him does not change that at all.
She has shot Tom, and saved him to keep him prisoner in a boat, exchanging access to medical care and warm clothes and blankets for answers. She is furious with Red for killing Sam, although she really made no effort to go see him, and what bothered her the most, is that she though Sam wanted to tell her something.
Rederina also tells Diane Fowler that he would want to know what happened to his family more than anything in the world, right before he killed her. But in this case he knows where his family is: Dom, he visits occasionally; Lena Volkova has the same identity she gave her in 1991; Liz has been under his watchful eye, brought up by Sam; Constantin is a recluse, but finding him is not that hard; Kate is right by his side, and even his friends Ivan and Ilya are right there where he can find them.

DIANE: I know the truth, Red about that night about what happened to your family. Do you want to know the truth?
RED: More than anything in the world. But if you know the truth, Diane, then somebody else does, too.

In the same season, Red tells Luli that he raised his family in a house in Maryland, which we know is not true of Katarina. So why lie to Luli? Why not say he wanted to destroy the house because it brought bad memories back?

RED: Strange. I remember it being bigger.
LULI: I don't understand. Of all the places Marigot, Doha, Florence, Seychelles why this place?
RED: I raised my family in this house.

And in that house he remembers Jennifer, fondly, with sadness and joy. In what universe do that makes any sense for Rederina?
Season 2
In season 2, Liz remembers shooting her father and let the father's issue for the time being, but later, she finds the photo of her mother and begins inquiries. Eventually she learns who she was, a Russian KGB spy known as Katarina Rostova.
"the woman is your mother..... I knew her as Katarina Rostova. One of her many names. She was a KGB agent."
So by now, Liz believes her mother is dead, as she has been told, and her father is dead, because she shot him. She does not know the identity of her father, but the matter seemed settled.
"When I shot Connolly, It came back to me. It was like I was there. I could hear them arguing. He was hurting her. And I know why my father died that night. I shot him."
Liz continues her descent by adding shooting Connolly fatally, adding to her having shot her father as a child, and Tom as an adult, and running over the Freelancer with a smile on her face. She has lied to everyone.
In this season Rederina has lied toLiz about who Carla Reddington is to him, by telling her two times she was his wife,
"She was my wife."
"My wife will die."
Why not say Carla will die and her name used to be Carla Reddington. Funnily, Kate also does the same, in a room with a bunch of dead people, Dembe and Red:
"This business with your wife, this pursuit, it's pushing you in ways that I don't like." NOT This business with Carla
"Take a moment. Read a book. You will find your wife." NOT You will find her, which would be unremarkable.
And we are told that Leonard Caul is indispensable, because he is who wrote the cypher text of the fulcrum, and he did so for Fitch, while Nachalo would have Reddington doing it all by himself.
Season 3
Liz is on the run and suspects she is pregnant, but once again ignores what she does not want to deal with. She learns more about her mother, and is taken by the man who believed himself to be her father, her mother's husband. That was still somewhat justifiable, for Constantin did pose a threat, once he discovered Liz was not a match to him, because she was not his bio-child, which had him suspecting she was Reddington's child. The season ends with Liz Meeting Constantin Rostov AKA Alexander Kirk, who has abducted her and her daughter Agnes, and is planning to kill her husband Tom.
Liz shoots an undercover cop, adding to her father, Tom and Connolly.
This season, Rederina tells Liz that although for many years he had thought he knew what happened to her mother, he is not not sure what really happened.
"There was a time in my life when I was quite sure I knew exactly what happened to Katarina Rostova. But after all these years, I’m not sure I have any real sense of how or why she disappeared."
So, he is lying when he says he does not really know how or why Rostova disappeared, or is early onset dementia, but it does not affect Rederina's self esteem:
"Katarina Rostova was the cleverest, most resourceful woman I have ever known…. No matter how dark the moment, she could always find her way through."
He also tells Liz about a mythic battle that involves her as well, a part that nachalo eradicates with gusto:
"The Cabal is in green. Their affiliates are in red. Their competition is in blue. Since I’ve been a fugitive, the pestilence on this map has only grown. This is what we’re up against– a multi-headed hydra. You cut off one head, it grows two others, you have to cut off every head and burn the rest of it. It’s a mythic battle, and it’s not anywhere close to being over."
Rederina also lies to Liz about the relationship between her parents, for nowhere did we see that there was anything like this.
"Your parents loved each other very much. The Cold War was hard– too hard for your father. When the Soviet Union was collapsing, he took you from her. She gave up everything to follow him, to follow you."
"Your mother, despite what he’d done, she wanted him back. She wanted them to be a family."
Rederina had suspected that who was coming for Liz was Rostova, as he assumes it was her who sent the message with Drexel.
"Where's Rostova?"
So according to the Tatiana Petrova nonsense from Nachalo, Rederina assumes that this woman who is being hunted because the world thinks she is Rostova, is still using a name which is not hers, and has sent him a message?
Later in the season, Rederina goes back to telling Liz that her mother is dead, openly lying in a different way that telling her he does not really know the reasons and procedure of the disappearance of Rostova
"Lizzy, your mother is dead."
"Velov is the one who lied to you, Lizzy, not me. Katarina Rostova committed suicide in 1990."
Liz fakes her death, and Rederina goes to Cape May where he has hallucinations with his former self, and equates choosing Liz over the woman she once was as the worst thing he had to do in his life.
"It was a Hobson's choice. There was a woman and her child. Both were doomed. Both would die. I could either save one or lose both. I chose the child. It was, it was the worst thing I've ever had to do in my life. Worst thing by far."
Then once more labors on this thought of the worse thing he has done, when he equates suicide to becoming Rederina.
"Have you ever seen the aftermath of a suicide bombing ?... I have. June 29, 2003. I was meeting two associates at the Marouche restaurant in Tel Aviv. As my car was pulling up, a 20-year-old Palestinian named Ghazi Safar entered the restaurant and detonated a vest wired with C4. The shock wave knocked me flat, blew out my eardrums. I couldn't hear. The smoke It was like being underwater. I went inside. A nightmare. Blood. Parts of people. You could tell where Safar was standing when the vest blew. It was like a perfect circle of death. There was almost nothing left of the people closest to him. 17 dead, 46 injured. Blown to pieces. The closer they were to the bomber, the more horrific the effect.
That's every suicide. Every single one. An act of terror perpetrated against everyone who's ever known you Everyone who's ever loved you. The people closest to you the ones who cherish you are the ones who suffer the most pain, the most damage. Why would you do that? Why would you do that to people who love you?"
And we know he is talking about the same thing because his former self says she did it to protect her child, but it was not what she ever wanted, telling us Rederina is not transgender by choice but as the only option he saw for the situation, calling it his Hobson's choice.
Let us specify what Rederina does to those lines, shall we?
There was a time in my life when I was quite sure I knew exactly what happened to Katarina Rostova my former self. But after all these years, I’m not sure I have any real sense of how or why I disappeared. became a man and took the identity of your father.
Katarina Rostova My former self was the cleverest, most resourceful woman I have ever known. Good to know modesty is not in Rederina's toolbox.
Where's is that woman who Dom stuck as being Katarina and because she is an imbecile is still using the name even though it can get her killed? Rostova?
Lizzy, your mother is dead. Well, dead as Katarina Rostova, like your father Raymond Reddington is dead, but I changed my gender and became a copy of him, so that people recognize me, yet, even though I am alive, I am now sort of an avatar of your father, and your mother too.
Velov is the one who lied to you, Lizzy, not me. Katarina Rostova committed suicide in 1990. Yep, it comes back again in Cape May, changing gender is like commenting suicide.
It was a Hobson's choice. There was a woman (me) and her child (Liz). Both were doomed. Both would die. I could either save one (of us) or lose both. I chose the my child. It was, it was the worst thing I've ever had to do in my life. Worst thing by far. So to save the child I had to lose the woman thing, so I became a man and took the identity of the father, the worse thing I have ever had to do.
​
​
Season 4
This has Constantin telling Liz that Reddington had an affair with her mother, and the mysterious whisper to Constantin,
Here Bokencamp talks about the whisper and he says : " The truth is, we’re not going to find out what he said. That whisper was a secret between the two men who loved Katarina. Besides, if you really knew what Red said the show would probably be over. "
plus an admission that Liz is his daughter, which gives us exactly 2 options for who Red is, considering he never raised Liz, he is Raymond Reddington or Katarina Rostova.
"Elizabeth is my daughter."
Mark this point in your minds, because season 8 will be spinning in exactly the same spot when Townsend makes it clear that Liz is Red's daughter:
"Elizabeth? You in there? I do hope you're in there, Elizabeth, 'cause I'm gonna need you for this next part, which promises to be rather awful. While you have a moment, I suggest that you and Raymond reflect upon the concept of loss. I know it well. I feel it in every breath I take, every moment that I sleep.' Loss became a part of me when I watched my wife and children die before my very eyes! But today, Raymond, I'm gonna give you that burden! I'm gonna show you loss! Today, I'm going to kill Elizabeth while you watch. "
But the momentous episode of this season is Requiem, which are actually memories, and thus highly reliable. We learn that Katarina and Constantin lived, where was Liz taken (their Canadian house), and what happened when Red hired Kate.
However we have to remember what Kate said to Red in her
"I made a promise to Elizabeth's mother to protect her girl at all costs."
Not your girl, but Elizabeth's mother's girl.
and to Liz: "Please, do what your mother never had the courage to do until it was too late. Walk away from Raymond."
Let us review what Kate is saying and doing. She digs the bones, which for the Rederina theory are those of Raymond Reddington, and for this she apologizes to Katarina. Not to Red, but to Katarina, which makes no sense considering what her little revenge plan was: She hired the Apothecary to create a poison that was making Red suffocate slowly, a horrendous way to kill someone. She had gone after the task force, was willing to send Liz to jail, had stolen Red's immunity via taking one man's eye out, had gone after Marvin and others in Red's world. But what she is really apologetic to Katarina, is to dig the bones of a man she despises:
I'm sorry, Katarina".
"Please, do what your mother never had the courage to do until it was too late. Walk away from Raymond."
How on earth do this make any sense whatsoever? But before we venture into season 6-10 (part 2) let us translate some of the gems from this season into Rederina-speak:
I made a promise to you, Elizabeth's mother turned into a copy of her father, to protect her girl at all costs, which is why I am taking you down, despite my promise to protect both you and Liz.
Please, do what your mother never had the courage to do until it was too late and she became a copy of him Walk away from Raymond, I mean your mother turned into a copy of Raymond.
Season 4 ends with Liz learning via Cooper, that her father is Raymond Reddington.
And guess what? The world did not end. Liz was in no more danger now that she was before. Now Liz knows who were both her parents, and nobody is coming for her.
​
To be continued .....

Back from a couple weeks in Florence…going through photos I found this one, taken from Ponte Santa Trinita coming back from dinner in the Oltrarno. Perfect stillness…

Partner and I booked a Western Mediterranean cruise for September. This will be my first time in Europe ever, and is ticking off a handful of my bucket list items. It'll be my partner's first time at mostly all of the ports of call. We regularly take cruises so that is nothing new - this type of vacation is obviously not ideal compared to just travelling within Europe, but worked best with our budgets/time off of work.
I'm vegetarian & he's a wicked steak snob. Neither of us drink alcohol. Both of us absolutely adore coffee & my partner says the best coffee he's ever had was in Italy. Both of us love Catholic imagery/artwork. I have more energy than he does typically & am pretty committed to being off the ship as early as I can and getting on as late as I can - with or without my partner lol. Recs for: food, tours, attractions, anything really regarding these ports would be super appreciated!
Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive in Rome ~7a-10a, check into airport and become human beings (getting a coffee). Mostly a chill out day, just recuperating from an 8-hr flight. Will probably find energy in early afternoon/evening and are a walkable distance from these attractions:
- Borghese Gallery, Santa Maria della Concezione crypts, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon
Day 2: Vatican City pretty much all day, this is a bucket list item. Planning on purchasing an early "exclusive" tour that allows us in 1 1/2 hours before opening to the general public, and would be done by 11am-ish. Partner wants to get a bunch of original reference photos for his job & both of us want to experience it with as little people/noise as possible.
- Whatever we have time/energy for after, hit any landmarks we missed yesterday/maybe attend a service at St. Peter's in the evening
Day 3: Naples/Capri - 7a-7p
- Visiting Pompeii, bucket list item. Planning on downloading the Rick Steves Audio Europe app and using that as our guide.
- Whatever we have time for when we get back to the port from Pompeii - partner loves Caravaggio works, so possibly Pio Monte della Misericordia. Obviously getting pizza in Naples.
Day 4: Barcelona - 5a-6p
- Montserrat Monastery. We will be there on a Sunday so it would be sick to see the choir perform. Seems that a guided tour would be the easiest option so we don't have to figure out public transportation to get there.
- Maybe hit Sagrada Familia or La Boqueria when we get back to the port area - not crazy about going to see more churches in Barcelona when I feel like that's all we're doing this trip lol
Day 5: Palma de Mallorca - 8a-4p
- Maybe a sightseeing tour with a vintage train ride? I love trains so I'm a sucker for it. Or Palma Cathedral? We're both probably going to be absolutely beat and will want to just chill out this port day.
Day 6: Marseille - 9a-6p
- Palais Longchamp, Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde (maybe), shopping (thinking of hitting Rue-Saint Ferreol, Rue de Rome, Le Panier). Mostly just walking around and finding things to do/eat.
Day 7: Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) - 8:30a-8:30p. I need to be checked on this itinerary. Florence is absolutely a number one bucket list item so I want to hit those areas but also want to be realistic, as it's a 1-hr drive one way from the port.
- Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Vivoli gelato, Santa Maria del Fiore duomo (seems like a lot of work though, I'm not sold on this), Accademia Gallery.
Although I'm nervous about my Florence itinerary, we have done a full 5 1/2-6 hours at Universal-Orlando when we were docked in Port Canaveral (~1hr one way) for only 7 1/2 hours. So we've been able to do it in the US. It's exhausting but I'm willing to be tired the next day for it.
Day 8: Rome until our flight the next day

EDIT: Holy shit, thank you for the platinum!
ALSO EDIT: I guess this is coming off more as synopsis than theory; to clarify, most of what I have here is definitely clear and intentionally present in the movie, I'm just including it for clarity/context for the blank parts filled in with Peter's birth. I honestly didn't think I'd get this much response for a movie I'm tardy to the party on, so I added more stuff re: Steven and Peter.
Charlie's decision to eat the contaminated chocolate cake was a conscious suicide attempt by Paimon, after twelve years of patiently waiting to die.
Charlie has no self-preservation.
Her father has to check her chocolate for nuts and both parents scold her for exposing herself to the elements (sleeping in a treehouse so cold her mother needs two space heaters, and walking around in the cold without a jacket or shoes). Her family also leaves the house without her Epipen all the time, although that could be just garden-variety neglect, Charlie never reminds them and never holds onto it herself. She doesn't care if she lives or dies because Paimon has been waiting to be free of her body the whole time.
The Cult is Guiding/Manipulating Paimon Through His Environment
The cult is able to mark The Pole with Paimon's sigil before Charlie is forced to attend the party. I could go down the list of all the "coincidences", but the bottom line is the same for all of them: the whole goal of the cult is to assert control of Paimon in order to free him from Charlie's female body, which requires her to die, and Paimon is in on it. Charlie was aware of Bridget and drawing her at school, apparently without ever meeting her, long before Annie forces her to actually to that party and probably before the party was ever planned. Charlie also sees two cultists, one at Ellen's funeral, one watching her at school. They know exactly who she is, and she's not surprised to see them. Knowing that the cultists can freely come and go from the house in secret, Paimon has been giving them signs to follow through Charlie's doodle book and continues doing so afterward.
The Party Was Part of the Plan From the Beginning: They Sold Peter the Weed
Notice how amazingly huge that house is. The whole point of the cult's worship of Paimon is to gain wealth, and given the Graham's gorgeous forest mansion, it would suggest that Ellen really did receive those riches promised to the conjurer like we see in the photos. It stands to reason she's not the only cultist to benefit from their worship; the cult arranged the party and then ensured every kid in Peter's grade would attend. Peter doesn't even mention being invited to a "party", he calls it a "school barbecue", which would suggest the party was open-invite to everyone, if not actually a student council/other school group being given an excuse to party. Annie's clearly suspicious of every word coming out of Peter's mouth, but he doesn't actually budge on that idea that it's a school function and neither does Annie. Clearly it's a party and not a school function when he gets there, but there is a HUGE number of kids in attendance anyway.
The first time we see Paimon is active in the Graham home, it's while Peter is asking his mother for permission to go to the party, but the ring of light is only seen when Paimon's attention is directed toward a particular thing: a burning grandma in the fields half a mile away, a pane of glass to see a reflection in, a body to inhabit, but Paimon, being a summoned demon, doesn't have full control over what his attention is directed at. The cult has dug up Ellen's body and is burning it in the yard. That's when Annie finds her and forces her to go to the party with Peter. In other words, they used Ellen to signal to Paimon through Charlie, and Annie played right into it: notice that Annie's worry is that Peter will be drinking, even though he's a pothead who does nothing to shield himself from the dank. It's right there in front of her, or at least it should be, but what does she care about? Alcohol. More on that later.
She gives her permission on the condition that Charlie is forced to attend (although it's notable that she acquiesces) and begins what ends up being Charlie's suicide, as Peter, eager to go and get high with his friends, leaves her alone to receive free German chocolate cake, complete with fresh-chopped walnuts. Keep in mind who's serving and receiving that cake: older teenage girls, and Charlie/Paimon, who loathes the idea of being in a female body, is just on the cusp of puberty. The cult is hosting the party, they know she loves chocolate, they know she's fatally allergic to nuts, and they know there's only one road to and from that house: Paimon might be able to tolerate being in the prepubescent body of a child with relative calm, but the cult is deliberately giving Paimon the tools to free himself before Charlie can become a woman. Notice that Charlie is intimidated by the older girls serving the cake, and she's looking in roughly their direction when she deliberately chooses to swallow, as if she's choosing between death, or something worse. (Paimon is only 'vengeful and livid' when he's possessing Annie, a full grown woman and mother of what used to be two kids).
The cult marked that pole with that sigil for Paimon to sense on the way there, and make use of on the way back. That house is way out in the sticks and there's only one road to take. That deer left in the road may have been a sacrifice as much as an obstacle.
The Cult had Multiple Gambits Going To Get Annie, We See At Least One Fail
Joan talks about attending a seance, in which she learned the ritual to communicate with her dead grandson through a chalkboard. The Graham household receives an invitation to that seance right on top of the rest of the mail, which Annie never attends. Joan is even at the art supply store, purchasing the chalkboard, when they run into each other again. The original plan was for Annie to attend an open-invite event that was relevant to her interests, just like Peter's party, but Annie's too wrapped up in her grief to consider attending, assuming she ever even noticed the pamphlet in the first place.
The cult then has to resort to Plan B, a kind, sweet old lady who's already established a rapport with Annie and shares her grief: Joan. Joan literally gives us the plan: she attended an event where she "met" a medium and she "learned" the ritual that she teaches Annie to summon Charlie. Had Annie attended the open seance, she would have seen the same ritual and been given the same instructions, but she didn't; Joan "lucks" into seeing her again at the art supply store later, and we can tell by the chalkboard that she's already rolling with plan B. Joan is already there waiting for her, but Annie doesn't question it.
There's this brilliant moment during the seance with Joan's "grandson" where Annie begs for it to stop, and Joan gives her a flat, frustrated "What!?", as if she's offended at Annie's rejection. I just conjured a literal miracle in front of you and showed you how to communicate with your dead daughter, who you grieve for terribly, and you want to stop? It makes a lot more sense taking into consideration that this is the second time the cult has tried to collect Annie directly and failed, even though Joan did actual magic right in front of her. It's not that she's upset that Annie's not impressed, it's that this is the second time she's tried to tempt Annie into performing the ritual and it's not working.
Joan is a plant for the cult and she's been in it with Ellen since the beginning; she mentions seeing Annie at a previous group session, and she's present at the meeting after Ellen's funeral. Annie mentions that she was once forced to come to the grief support group the first time, and this is actually her second visit, you get three guesses who did the forcing and the first two don't count: that had to be Ellen, which means Joan had to be aware. The support group is entirely made up of cult members, they are the nudists creeping about the house and hiding in the treehouse/shrine, and they've been watching Annie all along.
The Support Group Annie Was Forced to Attend Wasn't For Grief, It Was For Rape
This probably happened after the death of Annie's brother. Annie's brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia sometime before his suicide at 16, which isn't impossible, but very unusual: usually it starts manifesting in the late 20's/early 30's. The only thing we know about him is that he committed suicide because his mother "put people inside of him". This is an implicit reference to his mother's alleged dissociative identity disorder, but that's an interesting choice of words given Annie's agony over her motherhood.
In her rant at the dinner table, Annie expresses frustration that people around her never admit "what they did". She's lashing out at Peter for his emotional numbness and apparent acceptance that it was an accident despite his grief, but her complaints about Peter mirror her complaints about her gaslighting mother: "nobody admits anything they've done". Falls in line perfectly with a victim of a he said/she said situation, and Annie is old enough that "What were you wearing?" was a likely response to any complaint she might have made at the time.
Follow that up with Peter's "She didn't want to go to the party.. so why was she there?"
It makes particular sense if the "she" Peter says is Charlie, but the "she" Annie hears is herself. The answer is the same, which is why it utterly defeats Annie at the table when he says it: she was there because her mother made her go.
Annie says she was pressured to have Peter and did everything she could to induce a miscarriage, and although mixed-race kids aren't all strange in this day and age, Annie and Steven are whiter than printer paper. It doesn't seem likely that Steven is Peter's biological father, which would make sense if Peter's conception wasn't any more appealing to Annie than his birth. She only ever says that she never wanted to be his mother and her mother pressured her to have him, but the way she reacts to people not accepting responsibility for their role in her pain suggests that it's happened before, and often, in her past. That makes perfect sense, everything we know about Ellen tells us she's greedy, selfish, and manipulative (note the letter advising that it'll all be worth it in the end, knowing that Annie wasn't likely to survive any of it to enjoy the benefits anyway).
We don't get much insight into how the actual rituals work, but with ritual abuse being a thing, and the specific choice of words of Michael claiming Ellen was "putting people inside him" at 16 and Annie getting pregnant sometime afterword, it suggests that Ellen's first choice of host was her own son while he as alive, and everything the cult has been doing since then has been recovering that first fumble with Annie's brother's suicide, which is why they decided to start with a newborn that time. What happens with Peter is what probably also happened to Annie's Brother: the hallucination Peter has of his reflection grinning would definitely sound like schizophrenia to anyone who heard it described. We don't know how that comes about, except that Peter is badly physically and emotionally tortured until he can be exorcised; if that torment is also part of the ritual to incarnate Paimon into a new host, then torturing her son would have been one of Ellen's primary goals.
So, deprived of her son, what would Ellen have needed, as soon as possible? A baby. How do you have a baby when you're well past menopause? You find a surrogate. What if you don't want to pay a surrogate because that risks your plan being exposed? Use one you already have access to for free. How do you get her pregnant if she doesn't consent?
You set her up to be raped.
I submit that Ellen and her cult arranged for Annie to be impregnated against her will, and during her pregnancy, which she was forced by her mother to carry, she sought professional help from a psychiatrist who would eventually convince her to run away with him, away from her awful mother: Steven.
They would later marry, and have Charlie. In the first support group meeting, Annie even expresses feelings of being "to blame" or "blamed" for something that she claims not to know, but the easiest brick to slide into that gap in the wall is "victim-blaming".
I suspect that Annie's virulent lashing out at Peter over not admitting "his" role in Charlie's death is misdirected hatred at her rape, which she can't even say aloud, because the situation is reopening that wound for her: a boy did something bad at a party, and now Annie must suffer the consequences because he won't admit it. She's being irrational in that scene, but it makes unique sense if she's really yelling at her mother and her rapist. After what is strongly implied to be an emotionally-abusive, gaslighting, narcissistic experience with her mother, Annie is desperate for anyone to validate her feelings, and now that she's the mother and therefore the dominant authority in her relationship with her son (or is trying to be, at least), she demands that validation by doing exactly what her mother did: refusing to admit any fault for anything bad that came about because of her actions... like forcing Charlie to go to the party.
Steven Is An Enabler And A Really Shitty Doctor
Steven's a pretty good dad, and a loving and supportive husband, but he's a shit doctor. He takes no precautions with Charlie's behavior or health, he doesn't carry an Epi-pen for her, and he puts up with Annie's psychotic behavior well beyond what a medical professional would allow before seeking outside help.
I believe Annie went to Steve for counseling and he developed a Florence Nightingale effect for her: he convinces her that Ellen is the problem, she convinces him she can't run away because without her mother's money, she's a starving artist. What's the obvious solution? They run away together. He's a doctor, he makes excellent money.
We never find out exactly why Ellen was allowed back into Annie's life when she got pregnant with Charlie, and I think the movie tells us at the very beginning: they're living in Ellen's house.
So the timeline, without knowing the precise years, seems to go something like this:

1. Annie's brother takes his own life, blaming Ellen for "putting people inside him". This theory assumes not that Annie's brother meant Paimon was being summoned into him (why 'people' if it's only supposed to be one specific entity?), but that Annie and her brother were both ritually violated to bring Paimon into the world. The cult's failed gambits against the Grahams shows that they're more than capable of making mistakes; my theory is that they knew the "ritual to summon Paimon" began with a rape, but that it was the violation that brought the demon to Earth literally; they didn't realize that you had to birth a host from a prepared vessel the first time they tried it, and poor Charles paid the price. Annie and her brother were both raped by cultists because that's how the birthing vessel is prepared. (Personally, I think this is how the movie works with Paimon having a definite male body and identity, but has a woman's head: the ritual to summon him requires three decapitations, but that female head is his own; I think that's because his arrival on Earth, at least in this movie, begins not with him, but with his mother, as part of the Hereditary theme)
2. At some point after this, Annie attends a counseling session (implied for grief in the movie, theorized here as for rape survivors)
3. Annie is pregnant with Peter and fails to induce miscarriage; being under her mother's control, she can't seek abortion, and as an alternative that her mother will permit, she asks for counseling to cope with her pregnancy.
4. She meets Steve, Steve correctly identifies Ellen as the problem and convinces Annie to leave her mother's control. Annie convinces Steve she can't do that without his help.
5. Steve and Annie run away together. Annie gives birth to Peter, Steve is the only father Peter will ever know, and because Steven cares very much for Peter's wellbeing but isn't a very good doctor, never actually tells him that they're not biologically related and it never comes up, because there's not anything actually weird about his appearance genetically, it's just a casting choice in the movie.
6. The cult locates Annie when she becomes pregnant with Charlie; the ritual to make her the vessel of Paimon's rebirth did work, but since Peter didn't take Ellen's milk (the miniature scene shows Ellen trying to breastfeed Charlie but there's a photo of her bottle-feeding her; theorize it was Ellen's breast milk in the bottle, and the miniature scene is Annie's way of coping with the gaslighting), Paimon's soul wasn't summoned into Peter's body. Charlie's birth represents a second chance for the cult.
7. Ellen reports Steve, and he loses his medical license for having sex with his patient.
8. Annie and Steve are forced to come grovelling back to Ellen because they have no other means of supporting themselves. Relying on Annie's family money seems less frightening now that she's an adult with a husband who can back her up, but...

**Annie never escaped the Cult's influence.**
Annie is forced into almost every action in the movie by her mother's control, either being subject to it, willingly submitting to it, or attempting to escape it. Even her career, where she rebuilds tiny worlds to reconstruct traumatic moments in her life (the "neutral view" of the accident that omits the deer in the road and doesn't acknowledge that the car was doing 90 when It Happened because Peter was genuinely trying to save her from her allergy, the depiction of her mother taking Charlie right out of her hands to nurse her with a massive, bloated breast.
The movie even implies Annie is subconsciously aware of this, attempting to kill herself and both her children to spare them from what will happen to them if they don't, because she can't deal with it consciously. The "arrogant Heracles" comment during the first of Peter's classroom scenes even lays it out: there are signs all around her, but even though they're right in front of her nose, she doesn't notice until it's far too late-- even though she includes the creepy carved words in the models of the house's rooms and she's wearing a Paimon-sigil necklace and she even notices the embroidered welcome mat that's just like the one her mom used to make on Joan's doorstep. But it hardly matters, because they've all been pawns from the beginning.
The cult's machinations have been running several gambits for longer than at least Peter, possibly longer than even Annie, have even been alive. We only get to directly see the ones that actually happen in the movie, but the echoes of their other machinations are everywhere.

1. Florence Pugh debuted a newly shaved head at the 2023 Met Gala.
2. Natalie Portman shaved her head for her role in "V for Vendetta."
3. Amandla Stenberg shaved her head for "Where Hands Touch," a controversial movie about Nazi Germany.
4. Karen Gillan buzzed off her famous red hair to play Nebula in the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" film. Now, she wears a bald cap.
5. Jessie J shaved her head on live TV to support Comic Relief on Red Nose Day.
6. Joey King shaved her head to play Gypsy Rose Blanchard in "The Act" — and for two other previous roles.
7. Keke Palmer had wanted to shave her head for a while before actually doing it.
8. Charlize Theron's shaved head was also for a role. She buzzed her head for "Mad Max: Fury Road."
9. In 2009, Solange Knowles tweeted that she shaved her head because she "wanted to be free from the bondage that Black women sometimes put on themselves with hair."
10. Cara Delevingne's shaved head was for the film "Life in a Year" in which she played a cancer patient.
11. Demi Moore famously shaved her head for "GI Jane" in the late '90s.
12. Jada Pinkett Smith has spoken about her hair journey and her struggles with alopecia, which led to shaving her head.
13. Halsey has frequently switched back and forth between a shaved head, her natural hair, and wigs.
14. Doja Cat also frequently changes up her hairstyle, including this platinum-blonde buzz cut.
15. Kristen Stewart shaved her head to star in "Underwater."
16. More people know Millie Bobby Brown with her shaved head in "Stranger Things" than without it.
17. Amber Rose is also famous for her shaved head — she is almost unrecognizable with long hair.
18. Sigourney Weaver buzzed her hair off for "Alien 3."
19. Cynthia Nixon went totally bald to play a cancer patient in a play called "Wit."
20. Cate Blanchett called shaving her head "so liberating."
21. Lupita Nyong'o shaved her head after cutting off her locks.
22. Toni Collette had to shave her head five times in order to play a cancer patient in "Miss You Already."
23. Sinead O'Connor's signature look is her buzzed head.
24. Evangeline Lilly shaved her head "just for fun."
25. Willow Smith called shaving her head "maybe the most radical thing I've done in the name of beauty."
26. Kate Hudson was nervous about the shape of her head after shaving her head for "Music."
27. Danai Gurira rocks a shaved head to play Okoye in "Black Panther."
28. Kellie Pickler shaved her head to show solidarity with her friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

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