Posts tagged: things to consider
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2Pac:
And since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman and our game from a woman, I wonder why we take from our women. Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women, time to heal our women, be real to our women. And if we don't we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies that make the babies. And since a man can't make one, he has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one.
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Jay-Z:
Silly rappers, because we got a couple Porsches, MTV stopped by to film our fortresses. We forget the unfortunate. Sure I ponied up a mill, but I didn't give my time. So in reality I didn't give a dime, or a damn. I just put my monies in the hands of the same people that left my people stranded. Nothin' but a bandit, left them folks abandoned. Damn, that money that we gave was just a band-aid, can't say we better off than we was before.
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Kanye West:
Is it genocide? 'Cause I can still hear his momma cry, know the family traumatized. Shots left holes in his face, 'bout piranha-size. The old pastor closed the cold casket, and said the church ain’t got enough room for all the tombs. It’s a war going on outside we ain’t safe from, I feel the pain in my city wherever I go. 314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago.
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Mos Def:
When the average minimum wage is $5.15, you best believe you gotta find a new grind to get cream. The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black so frontliners got they gun in your back. Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty and end up in the global jail economy. Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence. Budget cutbacks but increased police presence. And even if you get out of prison still livin join the other five million under state supervision. This is business, no faces just lines and statistics from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits. The system break man child and women into figures. Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz. Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings but you push too hard, even numbers got limits. Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret: the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics
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Lupe Fiasco:
I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit. Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets. How much money does it take to really make a full clip. 9/11 building 7 did they really pull it. And a bunch of other cover ups. Your childs future was the first to go with budget cuts. If you think that hurts then, wait here comes the uppercut. The school was garbage in the first place, thats on the up and up. Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the uppercrust. You get it then they move you so you never keeping up enough. If you turn on TV all you see’s a bunch of “what the fucks”. Dude is dating so and so blabbering bout such and such. And that aint Jersey Shore, homie thats the news. And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth. Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist. Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit. Thats why I aint vote for him, next one either. I’ma part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful. And I believe in the people.
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Consequence, Q-Tip:
Yo I ain’t one to complain but there’s things in the game (What’s your name?) Consequence, I’m tight, burnt like flames (And why’s that?) American dreams, they got this ghetto kid in a fiend Don’t stress that cause it’s not in your bloodstream Your whole being, comes from greatness, d’you remember Shatan got you caught in the storms of December And brothers on the block packin nines like September Crazy situations keeps pockets on slender Yo I be on the avenue where they be actin brand new I’m splurgin on these Reebok joints for shorty boo All of a sudden, I saw these two kids frontin Talkin out they joints but they wasn’t sayin nuttin My hand was on my toolie they was actin unruly (Say word) Yo word up, yo I was tight caught up But I swallowed my pride and let that nonsense ride Because I’m positive it seems that negative dies
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Black Thought:
When you on the corners too much drama Livin’ with the police right behind ja’ It's always more than a slight reminda We livin’ in a war zone like Rwanda. Before I go back to the heavenly fatha Pray for me if it ain’t too much botha. Whatever don’t break me or make me stronga I feel like I can’t take too much longa. It’s too much lyin’ And too much fryin’ I’m all cried out cause I grew up cryin’ They all got a sales pitch I ain’t buyin’ They tryin’ to convince me that I ain’t tryin’. We uninspired We unadmired And tired and sick of being sick and tired. A living in the hood where the shots are fired We dyin’ to live, so to live we dyin’. You just like I am.
They all weigh 150lbs
There is no ‘right’ body type. Weight looks different on different people, and it is ALL OKAY. Don’t compare yourself to other people’s bodies, learn to love the body you’re in NOW and what it can do NOW.
Unknown (via grrl-meat)
i want to print this out and give this to my mother.
(via theoceanandthesky)
I want to show this to everyone who has ever said any of those things to me.
(via themindislimitless)
hello my childhood through early twenties.
(via vastderp)
Why hello there, every job I’ve ever held.
(via unknownbinaries)
Hello, deep-seated fears!A few weeks ago my mom stapled pages of a story in one of her women’s magazines together and handed it to me. She gave it to me pretty much with the tag lines “for your feminist blog” and “something new to consider.” Indeed it was; she knows me well.
The story is titled “I was forced to be pregnant.” With a title like that, reading it was actually not on the top of my to read list. I thought it was about women not exercising their right to choice. I was very, very wrong on that one.
Have you ever heard of Reproductive coercion? It is a term that was quite recently coined by the advocates against domestic violence to describe a certain type of abuse some women face. It occurs when a man pressures their partner to have kids and/or impregnates them against their will. Reproductive coercion comes in three different types:
1. Emotional pressure that turns into verbal and physical abuse.
2. Sabotaging birth control
3. Marital rape
Over 75% of women 19-49 who reported once experiencing domestic violence also endured some type of reproductive control by men. It’s all about control and domination over a woman’s body.The first story in the magazine is about a woman who got married around 36 years of age. After a few months of dating her boyfriend talked excitedly about having children. After he proposed he began calling her “The Babymaker.” She then confided with him that one of her fallopian tubes was blocked. He in return insisted she see a fertility doctor. She recounts, “I had finally met a great guy who was eager to start a family with me. What woman wouldn’t fall for that?” Soon after her honeymoon he persisted on in an obsessive manner, but his efforts had to be temporarily halted as she had to get emergency back surgery. Alas, 6 months into recovery he was back to pressuring her again. She was in much pain at the time due to her back, but she agreed to In Vitro Fertilization. She then became pregnant, but soon miscarried. In response, her husband grabbed her by the neck, choking her. He apologized, blaming his outburst on his grief and had her sign up for another round of IVF. And then a third round. She tried to put him off with the excuse that she needed to weigh more before she could take treatments, her husband forced her to get on the scale often and filled the fridge with fattening foods. “It hurt that all I was good for was getting pregnant.” She recounts. At the end, he screamed at her, threatening to replace her with a maid if she couldn’t get pregnant and she told him she no longer wanted to have his child. He destroyed bedroom furniture, pushed her down the stairs and threatened her with a gun. She fled to a domestic violence shelter.
The second story was about a woman who faced marital rape. This woman was 40, had a then boyfriend and two children from a previous marriage. After telling her boyfriend she did not want any more children, her boyfriend refused to wear a condom and began to rape her. She then became pregnant with her third child. Birth control was never an option for her because she couldn’t hide pills anywhere for he went through all of her belongings. Three months after giving birth, he raped her again, impregnating her with twins. She lost the twins in a physical fight with him, but soon became pregnant again. During her recovery she begged her obstetrician to remove her ovaries and devise a lie to tell him; that she had cancer. After a decade of sexual abuse and violence she was able to get a job that kept her out of the house and often times traveling.
One in four callers to the National Domestic Abuse hotline said that their partners had tried to force them to become pregnant. Why? As one woman stated, “Its like he wants to own me from the inside out.” Having a baby is the perfect tie that binds. These type of abusers want to create a circumstance in which their partner is dependent on him.
WHAT’S THAT HAVE TO DO WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD?
Many voters never consider how defunding these clinics could hurt victims of domestic violence who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. Abused women will turn to health care providers long before they will turn to domestic abuse hotlines and organizations. Many women in abusive relationships rely on life saving, affordable care programs such as Title X. It is critical that such places are open and operation when women and children need them so desperately.
My sister Angel was conceived that way. My father sabotaged their birth control method and when my mom started displaying symptoms of pregnancy he gleefully confessed. Despite all that, of course, it was still tragic when my sister died.
Arguably, my mother’s friend experienced a more terrifying form of this—she had four children before she was able to leave her husband, and after watching their father abuse their mother for years, one of her sons was constantly getting in trouble at school for acting out violently.
It’s a depressingly common form of abuse.
We were discussing homosexuality because of an allusion to it in the book we were reading, and several boys made comments such as, “That’s disgusting.” We got into the debate and eventually a boy admitted that he was terrified/disgusted when he was once sharing a taxi and the other male passenger made a pass at him.
The lightbulb went off. “Oh,” I said. “I get it. See, you are afraid, because for the first time in your life you have found yourself a victim of unwanted sexual advances by someone who has the physical ability to use force against you.” The boy nodded and shuddered visibly.
“But,” I continued. “As a woman, you learn to live with that from the time you are fourteen, and it never stops. We live with that fear every day of our lives. Every man walking through the parking garage the same time you are is either just a harmless stranger or a potential rapist. Every time.”
The girls in the room nodded, agreeing. The boys seemed genuinely shocked.
“So think about that the next time you hit on a girl. Maybe, like you in the taxi, she doesn’t actually want you to.”Indeed.
Brilliant.
This may be the best thing I’ve ever read.
![theatlantic:
America’s Deepening Bible Belt Divide
Gallup notes the relationship between religious intensity and American voting patterns, with the most religious states generally skewing Republican and the least religious trending Democrat. Our own analysis bears this out. We found a substantial positive correlation between religiosity and the percent of state residents that voted for McCain (.67) and consider themselves conservative (.78), and a substantial negative one between religiosity and the percent of residents who voted for Obama (-.64) and consider themselves liberal (-.75).
Religion also conforms to the faultiness of socio-economic class across U.S, states, hewing closely to its three key dimensions — income, education and occupation.
Religiosity is higher in lower income states where poverty is prevalent. The share of state residents who say religion is very important to their daily lives is correlated with the poverty rate (.60) and negatively associated with state income levels (-.56).
Education plays a role. Religiosity is higher in less educated states, and negatively associated with the share of state residents that are college grads (-.55).
Religion is also associated with the types of work people do. Religiosity is positively associated with the share of working class jobs (.61) and negatively associated with the share of workers doing knowledge, profession and creative work (-.38).
Read more. [Image: Gallup]
Politicos on the left and right like to explain religious voters’ proclivity purely in terms of values. But this misses a central point - that religion is inextricably bound up with the nation’s underlying economic and geographic class divide](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1nyusPeaF1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
America’s Deepening Bible Belt Divide
Gallup notes the relationship between religious intensity and American voting patterns, with the most religious states generally skewing Republican and the least religious trending Democrat. Our own analysis bears this out. We found a substantial positive correlation between religiosity and the percent of state residents that voted for McCain (.67) and consider themselves conservative (.78), and a substantial negative one between religiosity and the percent of residents who voted for Obama (-.64) and consider themselves liberal (-.75).
Religion also conforms to the faultiness of socio-economic class across U.S, states, hewing closely to its three key dimensions — income, education and occupation.
Religiosity is higher in lower income states where poverty is prevalent. The share of state residents who say religion is very important to their daily lives is correlated with the poverty rate (.60) and negatively associated with state income levels (-.56).
Education plays a role. Religiosity is higher in less educated states, and negatively associated with the share of state residents that are college grads (-.55).
Religion is also associated with the types of work people do. Religiosity is positively associated with the share of working class jobs (.61) and negatively associated with the share of workers doing knowledge, profession and creative work (-.38).
Read more. [Image: Gallup]
Politicos on the left and right like to explain religious voters’ proclivity purely in terms of values. But this misses a central point - that religion is inextricably bound up with the nation’s underlying economic and geographic class divide
Confirmed: The Internet Does Not Solve Global Inequality
If you live in a rich country, the Internet has probably changed the way you consume (and produce) information. But when you look at global-scale knowledge production, things are as they ever were: the Anglophone world dominates with the United States doing the lion’s share of academic and user-generated publishing.
Those are the messages of the Oxford Internet Institute’s new e-book, Geographies of the World’s Knowledge, from which the above graphics were drawn. The book’s authors, Corinne Flick of the Convoco Foundation and the Institute’s Mark Graham and Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, reluctantly conclude that the Internet has not delivered on the hopes that it would make knowledge “more accessible.”
“Many commentators speculated that [the Internet] would allow people outside of industrialised nations to gain access to all networked and codified knowledge, thus mitigating the traditionally concentrated nature of information production and consumption,” they write. “These early expectations remain largely unrealised.”
We’re not only talking about publishing in academic journals or Wikipedia. The researchers also sampled user-generated content on Google and found that rich countries, especially the United States, dominate the production of user content.The fact of the matter is that people without money can’t afford to get the education necessary to publish in academic journals, Internet-enabled or not. The other fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people in very poor countries don’t spend their time producing content for free. Hope as we might, the Internet isn’t a magic wand that makes the world more equal.
Read more. [Image: Oxford Internet Institute]
drawing tips from Animating the Looney Tunes way. hand from the secret of kells, Aisling!
OOOO
helpfullll
A hoodie is a piece of clothing, nothing more. Millions of people wear them or have worn them. They are not limited to criminals or to any race or ethnicity. They can tell you nothing about a person other than this: he or she is wearing one. That’s it. They certainly are not the defining characteristic of young black gang members or any other violent criminals. A hoodie doesn’t define who you are or what you do. Should we claim that expensive Italian suits are the mark of criminals because Wall Street investment bankers convicted of securities fraud and some Mafia members favor them? I suspect persons who own an Italian suit would object to being categorized as a criminal simply because of what they wear, don’t you.
You know what makes someone suspicious to me. If that person (e.g., George Zimmerman) had a history of violent acts. If that person followed a young man in his car and made specific references to the race of the teenager, whom he considered “suspicious” to a 911 operator. If that person then got out of his car and shot the young man with a pistol after being told not to get out of his car by a 911 dispatcher. If the young man who was killed weighed 100 pounds less than the person who shot him to death. If the person shot dead had no weapons on him. If the shooter claimed he was justified in killing the smaller, young black teenager because he was acting in self-defense.
Reblogging because it’s true for me… except for the foreign music thing. I like foreign music.
this
makes me
so sad
I am not a freak goddammit.
Fuck off.
You’re right. You’re not a freak, and I apologize if that’s what you take away from this. Let me clarify. I don’t hate any one. I don’t. For me, this is not a statement of bias. This is who I am. I am a white, successful, heterosexual male. My point in posting this is, as the notes on this image indicate, my demographic gets a lot of hate whenever we decide to actually declare we’re proud to be what we are. I don’t think any of the characteristics in the list are ‘bad’ traits. Variety is the spice of life! But look at the notes on this image and then compare this to a “I’m gay and proud” or “I’m black and proud” message. It seems the only people who are not allowed to be proud of who they are are white, successful, christian, heterosexuals.
Please, Tumblr, remember that we are people just like you. Most of us aren’t the bad guys people seem to think we are. I’m proud to be a white, successful, christian, heterosexual; not because that makes me better than others (it doesn’t), but because that’s who I am. Just like you should be proud to be whatever you are.
Thank you for this. This was my point exactly. :) I am not insulting anyone. But people make us out to be bad just because we know how to work hard and get ahead in life…..
people of color, depressed people, and liberal arts majors:
they’re all freaks!!!
Yeah, OP if you don’t get how this is white/christian/heterosexual/cis/etc supremacy then… just… fuck you.
OMG
GET BENT OP
“colored”
jesus christ almighty
Yeeeeeeah. This is one of those situations where explaining it actually made the people who thought this was a good idea look like even bigger bigoted assholes.
White folks are “normal”? Hate to break it to you, but your lack of melanin makes you a mutant. And if this is a numbers thing, I think you might be outnumbered by Asians.
So…you’re normal for not trying anything outside of your race? I kind of want to be angry about this but it’s kind of just pathetic and stupid.
OP, the issue is Othering and calling anything other than what you are abnormal.
I’m cool with some white people, I’m cool with some Christians, I’m cool with some successful people, what the fuck is normal?, I am heterosexual but I’m cool with homosexuals and I’m cool with people being proud of what they are and I’m encouraging to people who aren’t.
People are pissed because you’re making anything other than you ABNORMAL! What’s wrong with being brown, yellow, black? What’s wrong with struggling or failing until you get success and what is success? What’s wrong with the rest of the sexual gamut? Why can’t I be humble or embarrassed?
You can be proud of what you are WITHOUT making other people feel like shit for not being like you. Homosexuals, people of color, creatives and whatever are stigmatized and do feel alone which is why they announce they’re of themselves because fuck the world for making them feel like shit.
In May of this year, Pixar animator Austin Madison kindly hand-wrote the following open letter to aspiring artists, in a bid to inspire them through times of creative drought. It’s a lovely, eloquent letter, and in fact contains advice valuable to people in many a creative field. It was written as a contribution to the Animator Letters Project.
Transcript
PIXAR
May 17, 2011
To Whom it May Inspire,
I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first (and far more preferable of the two) is white-hot, “in the zone” seat-of-the-pants, firing on all cylinders creative mode. This is when you lay your pen down and the ideas pour out like wine from a royal chalice! This happens about 3% of the time.
The other 97% of the time I am in the frustrated, struggling, office-corner-full-of-crumpled-up-paper mode. The important thing is to slog diligently through this quagmire of discouragement and despair. Put on some audio commentary and listen to the stories of professionals who have been making films for decades going through the same slings and arrows of outrageous production problems.
In a word: PERSIST.
PERSIST on telling your story. PERSIST on reaching your audience. PERSIST on staying true to your vision. Remember what Peter Jackson said, “Pain is temporary. Film is forever.” And he of all people should know.
So next time you hit writer’s block, or your computer crashes and you lose an entire night’s work because you didn’t hit save (always hit save), just remember: you’re never far from that next burst of divine creativity. Work through that 97% of murky abyssmal mediocrity to get to that 3% which everyone will remember you for!
I guarantee you, the art will be well worth the work!
Your friend and mine,
Austin Madison
“ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!”Because all of my friends in the arts need to read this.
always reblog this
Exactly.
Fantastic.
:D
The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: “Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?”
Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, “Nothing.” Then Katz asked the women, “What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?” Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified:
“I don’t make eye contact with men when I walk down the street,” said one.
“I don’t put my drink down at parties,” said another.
“I use the buddy system when I go to parties.”
“I cross the street when I see a group of guys walking in my direction.”
“I use my keys as a potential weapon.”
The women went on for several minutes, until their side of the blackboard was completely filled with responses. The men’s side of the blackboard was blank. I was stunned. I had never heard a group of women say these things before. I thought about all of the women in my life — including my mother, sister and girlfriend — and realized that I had a lot to learn about gender.
