almondskeyess:

Iraq

is

a country with a culture and population

NOT a

war veteran’s

memory

or

experience.

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.
Bill Watterson (via trashysnacks)

odditiesoflife:

The Amazing Underwater Forest of Lake Kaindy

What makes Lake Kaindy truly remarkable is that it contains an underwater forest. Visible on the lakes surface are the tall, dried-out tops of submerged Spruce trees that rise above the water’s surface like the masts of sunken ships. They are the only sign of the amazing frozen forest below the water’s surface.

The water is so cold (even in summer the temperature does not exceed 6 degrees) that the pine needles remain on the trees, even after a hundred years of being submerged. During the winter, the lake freezes and becomes a popular spot for ice diving.

The lake is 400 meters long and is located in Kazakhstan’s portion of the Tian Shan Mountains, about 129 km from the city of Almaty. The lake was created after an earthquake in 1911 triggered a large landslide blocking the gorge and forming a natural dam.

mamamantis:

so are we gonna discuss how fucked up it is that women have to wear makeup to be taken seriously at work and job interviews but if a woman has a genuine interest in and enjoyment of cosmetics she is written off as shallow, vain, and stupid, and consequently not taken seriously

As a trans woman, not many things give me a headache the way the entire concept of passing does. Passing is the idea that if a trans woman (or any person who is presenting as a woman) looks, dresses and acts a certain way, people won’t be able to tell they are anything other than a completely “normal” woman. If you look at online trans communities or forums, you’ll find tons of tips on how to pass better – everything from hair removal tips to workouts to how to walk and sit more femininely.
All of this presupposes that there is only one right way to look like and be a woman. And it’s infuriating. On the one hand, whenever I go out in public or post pictures online, a part of me is deathly afraid that I’ll be insulted or worse. I desperately want to be accepted as the woman I am. On the other hand, I hate that in order to feel safe, I’m expected to fit into the very narrow box that is labeled “woman.” Tips on how to pass always seem to say that you should avoid building muscle mass and avoid wearing clothes and makeup that are too costumey, that you should try to hide your shoulders and soften your features. Trans women are often told that if we want to pass, we have to try our hardest to be petite, soft, have just the right amount of femininity, and not stand out too much. But what if I want to be a different kind of woman? What if I want to look like Grace Jones or Kate Moennig? What if I want to look like Beth Ditto or Dolly Parton? They’re all cis women; don’t they pass?

Meyllen Djneres (via muffinsandcouture)

The moral of “passing” discussions always seems to be:

If you get bashed it will be your fault.

(via charthebutcher)


Do you even know how badly I’ve been needing to hear exactly these words for the past few months now?

(via sixtyforty)

*slow clap——> standing ovation* yes! Yes yes!

(via boyqueen)

omg when i started transitioning Kate Moennig was legit my goal

(via dizzzyrichardpig)

i just need this on my blog again

(via boyqueen)

bobosweet:

What if the person you think is too cool to talk to thinks that you’re too cool to talk to

image

This happens regularly.  Even more regular is your perception of that person being entirely ruined by getting to know them.  Such is life.

A guide to consuming ethically in capitalism

anarcheluxemburg:

Step One: You can’t

One of the ways in which pornography perpetrates and reinforces sexism and racism is the normalisation of terror and hate. If we look at the parallel between sexist and racist pornography with sexist and racist jokes, the process becomes clear. In both cases, where previously discriminations based on sex and race are unacceptable in any circumstances, they are “redeemed” through pornography/jokes, because the former is seen as only providing sexual gratification, and the latter is just for a laugh.

When people deplore sexism and racism but make allowances for their proliferations in pornography, pornography has achieved its aim: the creation of acceptance for materials that publicly practise and advertise the hatred and domination of women of colour.

Pornography perpetrates racism through the sexualization and fetishisation of racist stereotypes. In other words, pornography makes racism sexy.

Joyce Wu, Not a Fantasy: Racial Hatred and Misogyny in Pornography (via jayaprada)