In Transition

I hate having depression. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. For a few weeks maybe even a month or...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:29:44 -0400

I hate having depression. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. For a few weeks maybe even a month or so I’ll be fine then WHAM! It comes back with a vengeance. Keeps me from sleeping, laughing, dreaming about a better future. Instead I’m listless. Stuck in a lethargic state that keeps me locked inside my own head. I doubt everything. I over think everything. The worst part is feeling lonely.

Reading is not peaceful.

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:10:14 -0400

Reading should send you through a roller coaster of emotions. Reading propels you to other worlds and dimensions. Reading makes you put down the book in embarrassment from the actions of its characters. Reading sends you back and forward through time. Reading puts you in the minds of others. Reading connects you to characters you soon find you can't live without. If you find reading peaceful, you haven't been doing it correctly.

"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need..."

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 13:42:29 -0400

“Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”

- Anne Lamott (via stoppingandseeing)

"when angelina jolie got a mastectomy, every guy had their say in what they thought she did wrong..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:45:46 -0400

“

when angelina jolie got a mastectomy,

every guy had their say in what they thought she did wrong with her body,

saying she wouldn’t be beautiful anymore,

but beauty doesn’t trump life,

and no one owes beauty to anybody.

When they told me in middle school that if I shaved my legs,

grew my hair out,

and wore more makeup,

that I would be more beautiful,

I wish I would have told them,

that I didn’t owe anyone anything,

and my body is mine to love,

it’s not yours

or his

or hers

or theirs

my body is mine to love,

and I don’t owe your form of beauty,

to anyone.

I am a two year old world atlas,
and your definition of beauty hasn’t been invented yet in my body,

and I am still finding who I am,
and I am still figuring out which way points to my heart,
and I am still trying to discover my own beauty

so don’t try to sell me

mold me

and change me

because I owe you zero percent of my body.

”

- you don’t owe beauty to anyone (via amandaspoetry)

liking someone who isn't black: I hope they like black girls

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:11:14 -0400

liking someone who isn't black: I hope they like black girls
liking someone who is black: I hope they like black girls

Person: hey have you read any good books lately?

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:16:15 -0400

Person: hey have you read any good books lately?
Me: are you ready for this conversation?

"1. There will be several days that you daydream about stepping in front of a city bus. Don’t. It..."

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:56:32 -0400

“

1. There will be several days that you daydream about stepping in front of a city bus. Don’t. It will not be beautiful. It will not be brave. It will be selfish. It will be broken. Your mother will cry.

2. Don’t write for him. Write for you. Write for others like you. Write so the girl that thinks about stepping in front of public transportation doesn’t. Don’t be selfish.

3. When you will yourself to sleep and it doesn’t come- get up. It doesn’t matter that it’s 3 am. There will be other 3 am’s. Take a shower. Take two. Wash him out of your hair. Write a poem. Read the same book you’ve read 202 times again. The 203rd time might tell you something different. Don’t stay in bed- you will think about the bus again.

4. Don’t kiss him because he’s broken. Don’t kiss him because his laughter never reaches his eyes. Don’t try and fix him. Fix yourself first. Be selfish. He can’t save you.

5. Date yourself. Take yourself out to eat. Don’t share your popcorn at the movies with anyone. Stroll around an art museum alone. Fall in love with canvases. Fall in love with yourself.

6. Dress up and wear red lipstick and get drunk with your friends. They’re the ones that will pick you up. Don’t kiss him. Or him. Don’t fall asleep on strange couches with strange boys. When his hand slides up your dress walk away. Hit him. Don’t kiss him. He can’t save you.

7. Get another tattoo. Get five more. Get another hole in your ear. Don’t listen to your dad. You will still be able to get a job. Did you really want to be employed by someone like your father? Haven’t you had enough of judgmental old white men anyway? Get fuck you tattooed in tiny letters on your hip.

8. When you feel the yearning for a new city- start over. Take 200 bucks and a three suitcases. Work anywhere that will have you. Meet strange people and forget your name. Call yourself Ruby. No one will know the difference. Remember to call your mother. Don’t be selfish. Come home when you find yourself in the strangers and the small one bedroom apartment.

9. Don’t whisper evil things into your own ear. Other people are going to shout them at you. Be your own hero. Keep a sword on your key ring.

10. Don’t step in front of a city bus. It will not be beautiful. Live. Stay up all night with a boy that promises you everything and means it. Live. See shitty local bands with a friend. Wear a different band’s t-shirt. No one will care. Live. Have a baby girl with tiny fingers and tiny toes someday. Pour love into her until it’s overflowing. Live. Wake up. Staying in bed all day is not poetic.

Live. Live.

Live.

Do you hear that? It’s me. It’s your life. Wake up.

”

"[TW: rape] First you’re taught to fear a phantom, a man in black, a man with a knife, a man who’ll..."

Wed, 29 May 2013 20:13:10 -0400

“[TW: rape]
First you’re taught to fear a phantom, a man in black, a man with a knife, a man who’ll pounce in dark alleys. Well-intentioned women—mothers, aunts, teachers—will train you to protect yourself: Don’t wear your hair in a ponytail; it’s easier to grab. Hold your keys in one hand; hold your pepper spray in the other. Avoid dark alleys. When you reach young adulthood, the lessons change. They acquire an undertone of disgust: Don’t drink so much. Don’t wear such short skirts. You’re sending mixed signals; you’re putting yourself at risk. If you follow the advice and it never happens—if you end up one of the three out of four—you can convince yourself that safety is a product of your own making, a reflection of inherent goodness. But if you’re paying attention, you realize something doesn’t add up. Because it keeps happening: to your sisters; to your friends; to little girls and grown women you’ll never meet, in places like Cleveland, Texas; Steubenville, Ohio; New Delhi. Good people, bad people, neutral. It keeps happening in TV shows and novels and movies—they open on the missing girl, the dead girl, the raped girl. If you’re paying attention, you begin to realize that it isn’t happening. It is being done. And you are not safe. You have never been safe. You were born with a bulls-eye on your back. All you have ever been is lucky.”

- The Female Gaze: SO MUCH PRETTY by Cara Hoffman - review Cara Hoffman’s really amazing, really important novel So Much Pretty at The Female Gaze this month. (via sssssophie)

“They sure didn`t ask what color your skin is or where...

Mon, 27 May 2013 12:45:38 -0400

“They sure didn`t ask what color your skin is or where you’re from before they laid down their life for you. It shouldn`t matter where they’re from or what their origin is if they are willing to fight for our country.God Bless them ALL.” - Sue Black

"Education is an investment in our collective future. It’s not a privilege to be sold to..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:35:11 -0400

“Education is an investment in our collective future. It’s not a privilege to be sold to individuals who are either wealthy enough to afford it or willing to take upon themselves massive debt.”

- MountainMan23

"Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by concentrated poverty and a..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:03:39 -0400

“Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by concentrated poverty and a vulnerable middle class, a society where it is harder to pay for education, harder to find a job, harder to buy a house and harder to hold onto those things even if you manage to get them. You are entering adulthood during a period of mass incarceration and near constant war. There is a lot for you to do. Service is the rent you pay for the space you take up on the earth, and as a relatively privileged American you take up a lot of space. We are the most consuming, polluting, wasteful nation on earth. So your rent is steep. Pay it with service.”

- Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry’s advice to Class of 2013 (via bitchwhoisyou)

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:04:49 -0400

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

- Maya Angelou

trapghoul: the fact that women’s healthcare seems to be a joke among men is sickening. lance...

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:17:00 -0400

trapghoul:

the fact that women’s healthcare seems to be a joke among men is sickening.

lance armstrong loses a testicle and everyone’s like “oh man must have been so hard for him poor guy losing his manhood LIVESTRONG” and angelina jolie gets the jokes after her mother died from cancer and she’s trying to protect herself????

This should be reblogged and plastered everywhere

"The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 01:59:07 -0400

“The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don’t belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It’s also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother’s deepest insecurities, hopes and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be.”

- Jada Pinkett Smith (via ceedling)

Thank you!

(via avocadh0e)

"Be who you are. Stop living in fear of being rejected. You are fiercely loved."

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:16:44 -0400

“Be who you are.
Stop living in fear of being rejected.
You are fiercely loved.”

- POTSC

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:44:07 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

"you tell me that the church is a building, with deacons and a preacher, you tell me that this..."

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:41:35 -0400

“

you tell me that the church is a building,
with deacons and a preacher,
you tell me that this building is made up of wood and cement and insulation in the walls,
with paint and pictures hanging on the halls
you tell me that the church meets on wednesdays and sundays
and that it takes up communion the first service every month
you tell me that the church is opening up the bible
and memorizing the scriptures and singing a few hymns

but those places have always felt too cold for me,
too worn out,
and my heart has always felt too out of place with the structure
that forgets the broken

the church I have seen is in the hearts of the broken, the abandoned, the ones forgotten in the back of the classrooms
and coat closets,
the church I have seen is the home to the believers and unbelievers alike, and the doors are open on more days than just two,
it’s made of broken limbs and broken hearts,
shattered windows and shattered dreams
it’s made of tears and lost memories
it’s made of every forgotten promise and the weight of the burdens we’ve carried since before we can remember
the church I have seen doesn’t just meet on certain days,
but it meets in our brokenness
in the hospital room of the drug addict that just overdosed
in the car accident of the drunk driver
in the delivery room of the prostitute who doesn’t know whose child she is holding
in the arms of the teenager who has never known his parents
in the broken heart of the woman who just lost her husband to leukemia
and it doesn’t just take communion once
but everyday
by loving
and living like Jesus was actually someone who placed his feet on this earth
instead of just walking out the door after drinking the grape juice and stale cracker,
and hitting their kid

the church is more than just the structure
but chaos that loves in all it does
the church doesn’t abandon
doesn’t hate
doesn’t boast
doesn’t create boundaries
doesn’t forget
and it doesn’t leave behind those we don’t understand

the church should love in all it does

”

- where did we go wrong? (via amandaspoetry)

"Let me be, it’s time we part. Set me free, uncage my heart."

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:48:53 -0400

“Let me be, it’s time we part. Set me free, uncage my heart.”

- Daphne, Scooby-Doo!: Mystery Incorporated

mixedbyziggy: rescue three white women who have been missing for a decade, and a baby become a...

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:45:11 -0400

mixedbyziggy:

rescue three white women who have been missing for a decade, and a baby

become a national hero

pull and even bosser move and tell the fbi to give the reward money to the victims

media decides to dig into your past, and bring up your criminal record.

wonderful time to be black in america.

This is a cause dear to my heart. Please consider donating....

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:15:36 -0400

This is a cause dear to my heart. Please consider donating. http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/dsp_DonationPage.cfm?walkid=8566&idUser=627400