When candidates say, we wouldn’t admit three-year-old orphans – that’s political posturing. When individuals say that we should have a religious test and that only Christians—proven Christians—should be admitted—that’s offensive and contrary to American values.
I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate. ISIL seeks to exploit the idea that there is a war between Islam and the West. And when you start seeing individuals in positions of responsibility, suggesting that Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims are in a war-torn land, that feeds the ISIL narrative. It’s counterproductive, and it needs to stop.
And I would add, by the way, these are the same folks oftentimes who suggest that they’re so tough that just talking to Putin or staring down ISIL, or using some additional rhetoric somehow is going to solve the problems out there. But apparently, they’re scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion. First, they were worried about the press being too tough on them during debates. Now they’re worried about three-year-old orphans. That doesn’t sound very tough to me.
”
- More President Obama, rejecting the reflexive posturing and fear-mongering that is endemic to the GOP.
When Bernie Sanders was asked at a recent Democratic presidential forum to name his dream job, the Vermont senator didn't hesitate. "President of CNN." The South Carolina audience laughed—and so did his interrogator, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. But Sanders was dead serious. "If I was president of CNN, trust me, the way media deals with politics would radically change," he said.
Of that, there's little doubt. Republican candidates have fumed publicly about slanted questions posed by the moderators at last month's presidential debate hosted by CNBC, accusing the pro-business cable network of holding the GOP contenders to a tougher standard than their liberal counterparts. But they're not the only ones who believe the media is broken. Sanders' critique of mass media is much older, more sophisticated, and runs far deeper than mere accusations of bias. It is a theory he's trumpeted since before he won his first election in 1981, and it goes to the heart of his critique of the capitalist system. He believes the media is making us dumber, making us poorer, making us sicker, and rotting the democratic system to its core.
having parents that were really angry and petty and abusive when you were young is weird, because it makes part of you grow up to want to be kind, to generate good things, to be a source of peace and wellbeing for others; but it makes another part of you grow up to be quick, and sharp, and spiteful, and that’s always the part that shows itself first in a hard situation, so it’s a struggle between your hateful gut reactions and your wish to not add any more misery to the world. it’s a hard balance, and the people who really, really know me - i know they see that anger flash in my eyes before i quiet it, if i quiet it…i want to overcome years of conditioning, and with gentle, constant force, i know i’ll mellow it. it just takes time.
Considering the captive customer pool that the USPS has in many cases, their posting losses doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The reason the Post Office has losses is because the Republican Party passed laws that were designed to make that happen. They did this so it would appear that the Postal Service is poorly run and then they would be able to privatize it and jack up the prices and cut services.
From Crooks & Liars:
The 109th United States Congress held a vote back in 2006 that did irreparable harm to one of the largest unions in the country and one of the most functional institutes of our government.
A Republican Congress—acting at the behest of the Bush-Cheney administration—enacted a law that required the postal service to “pre-fund” retiree health benefits seventy-five years into the future. (75 YEARS!)
NO corporation has ever been asked to shoulder such insane financial burdens and Americans had no idea this was even happening. The US Post Office is one of the top employers&… Continue reading…
Don’t know why people always trash the post office, I send everything I can through them, plus like they’re cheap as hell.
I was inspired by severalarticles about the Tampon Tax recently and some of the protests against the categorization of tampons as “luxury items,” so I made this up. It’s funny because it’s true.
Tampons are a “luxury item”
Once I worked as an intern in the state capital. One of the representatives I worked for was this middle-aged guy. And he hated the tampon and napkin machines in the women’s bathrooms. Hated them. He insisted that they weren’t necessary.
I found out why after I’d been working there, oh, about a month. My period started suddenly, as it sometimes does, and I asked to excuse myself to go to the ladies’ room. He wanted to know why. I told him.
He started ranting about how lazy women were. How we wasted time. How we were so careless and unhygenic, and that there was no call for that. He finished by telling me that I certainly was NOT going to the ladies’ room and that I was just going to sit there and work. He finished this off with a decisive nod, as if I’d just be told and there could be no possible argument.
“If I don’t go,” I said in an overly patient tone, “the blood is going to soak through my pants, stain my new skirt that I just bought, and possibly get on this chair I’m sitting in. I need something to soak up the blood. That’s why I need to go to the bathroom.”
His face turned oatmeal-gray; an expression of pure horror spread across his face. He leaned forward and whispered, “Wait, you mean that if you don’t go, you’ll just keep on bleeding? I thought that women could turn it off any time that they wanted!”
I thought, You have got to be kidding.
Several horrified whispers later, I learned that he wasn’t. He actually thought a) that women could shut down the menstrual cycle at will, b) that we essentially picked a week per month to spend more time in the bathroom, i.e. to goof off, and c) that napkins and tampons were sex toys paid for by Health and Human Services. I didn’t know the term then, but he believed that tampons were dildos. Which was why he and a good number of his friends considered them luxuries.
And that’s how, at twenty, I had to give a talk on menstruation to a middle-aged married state representative who was one of my bosses. American politics, ladies and gentlemen.
what catfood commercials make feeding your cat look like: *person comes into the kitchen with a smile* *cat licks its lips* *cat snuggles up to their leg softly while purring*
what feeding your cat is actually like: *cat emits loud shrieking meow in anticipation* *you nearly have a deadly accident because your cat excitedly runs between your legs as you walk to the bowl*
HAH! When I did that to my self, Super ButtButt bumped her head against the security bar until it popped up, releasing the door to let me back in. Because she is a SUPER super buttbutt
You just brought a philosophy of rigorous self-abnegation to a pastry fight, my friend." https://youtu.be/glxh9ZgP7kc
When a young boy in Paris voice his concerns to Le Petit Journal reporter Yann Barthes about having to leave their home because of the bad guys who are really, really mean, his father stepped in to assure his son that they would not have to move. The father then said that France was their home and that “they might have guns, but we have flowers” (“Ils pourraient avoir des armes, mais nous avons des fleurs”). When the boy expressed his doubt, the father gently convinced him that the flowers and candles were there to protect them.
The interview was part of a longer piece about the children of Paris and what they understood of the attacks. (in French)
“Bring consent out of the bedroom. I think part of the reason we have trouble drawing the line “it’s not okay to force someone into sexual activity” is that in many ways, forcing people to do things is part of our culture in general. Cut that shit out of your life. If someone doesn’t want to go to a party, try a new food, get up and dance, make small talk at the lunchtable—that’s their right. Stop the “aww c’mon” and “just this once” and the games where you playfully force someone to play along. Accept that no means no—all the time.”
People are always so damned shocked that I say no and don’t change my mind when they plead and coax, even when it’s something small like ‘hey grab some ice cream with us’ or ‘did you see that new embarrassing cringe viral video?’
Point #1 If you live in one of the states on the list, contact your governor's office. These are politicians. They respond to potential votes. Tell them your opinion.
Point #2 Apparently we're vetting the refugees better than we're vetting our presidential candidates.
With a growing group of governors and members of Congress demanding a halt to the acceptance of Syrian refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks, refugee resettlement groups and the Obama administration are pushing back strongly against accusations that the vetting process for Syrian refugees is too lax.
Those demanding the United States keep out Syrian refugees maintain that ISIS may use the refugee crisis as a "Trojan horse," as Donald Trump put it, to sneak terrorists into Western countries. Such fears were stoked by reports that the passport of a recently arrived Syrian refugee was found at the scene of a suicide bombing at the Stade de France in Paris. French authorities, though, say that document was forged.
But the refugee crisis in Europe is far different from the situation facing the United States. Thousands of refugees are entering Europe each day, and the UN refugee agency and individual governments are struggling to register, track, and care for them. But the United States has admitted fewer than 2,200 Syrians in the four years since the civil war there began, and the process of gaining permission to come to the US can take up to three years, say aid groups. In September, President Barack Obama pledged to accept at least 10,000 Syrians over the next year.
"Those who come to the United States have gone through a very thorough vetting process…with various departments of the government—the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center," says Matthew Soerens, an official at World Relief, one of the nine organizations that help the government resettle refugees in the US. "So these are not just random people showing up who we don't know who they are."
Senior Obama administration officials held a conference call with reporters on Tuesday morning to detail the vetting procedures for refugees and to counter what one referred to as "a lot of false information" about the resettlement program. "All refugees of all nationalities considered for admission to the United States undergo intensive security screening, and this involves multiple federal intelligence, security, and law enforcement agencies," the official said. "The safeguards that are used include…fingerprint and biographic checks, and a lengthy in-person overseas interview."
Another official on the call said the US government has added another layer of screenings specifically for Syrians called the "Syria Enhanced Review." That program essentially prescreens and researches a refugee's application, creating a dossier that US officials can then use to more precisely question refugees during their security interviews.
"If somebody says, 'I was at a demonstration in Aleppo and the soldiers came and the police came and something happened,' we can actually look back and see, was that consistent with known country conditions at that time and that place? And we can follow up with lines of questioning that would be appropriate," the second official said.
The entire process can take from 18 months to three years. Lavinia Limón, the president of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and a former head of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, said security checks on refugees continue throughout this time period. And making it through all of the security steps may not guarantee that a Syrian can actually come to the United States. "There's no right to come into the United States, so even if somebody passes all the security checks, if the [security officer] just doesn't like the guy, doesn't feel good about it, the officer can say no," Limón says.
In their call with reporters, the Obama administration officials noted that governors cannot actually bar refugees from their states, as many have announced they would attempt to do. "Refugees arriving in the US are protected by the Constitution and federal law," the first administration official said. "He or she is also free to move anywhere in the country."
But that doesn't mean governors are completely powerless to make the lives of Syrian refugees more difficult. The nine nonprofit groups that help resettle refugees depend on a mixture of state, federal, and private funds and donations to help support newly arrived refugees. Governors could direct state refugee agencies to stop providing funds and assistance to Syrians. That could include services such as trauma counseling or English classes—assistance that might not be necessary for survival but that does help refugees successfully integrate into the community. "Those are critical resources," says Soerens of World Relief.
Both he and Limón made it clear that the resettlement agencies won't allow pressure from the governors to alter their plans to resettle refugees. "We actually have Syrian refugees landing in some of those states today," Limón says. "I find it sort of amazing that these governors would be so undermining of our freedoms. Because it's Syrian refugees today; who is it tomorrow?"
A quick reminder for everyone that the infamous Stephen King, who authored dozens of pants-shittingly terrifying horror novels, screenplays, and short stories, has a small corgi puppy named Molly and posts pictures and cute little blurbs about her on his official Facebook page on at least a weekly basis.
It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion on them.
On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to sit all day, every day, on top of another creature and not have the slightest thought about them whatsoever.
OK, so I wasn't actually going to share this, except that I clicked through to the site and played the audio file, and then about two minutes after it finished, the neighbor upstairs who plays loud music apparently found their copy and played it, too. So, you know.
I will never understand why this Christmas song goes so hard.
OKAY MOTHERFUCKERS LISTEN UP
BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS NOT CAROL OF THE BELLS
IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE/SARAJEVO 12/24 AND IT IS SO MUCH FUCKING MORE THAN CAROL OF THE BELLS.
SO DURING THE BOSNIAN WAR (WHICH WAS THIS NASTY-ASS CONFLICT IN BOSNIA AND HERZGOVINA) THERE WAS THIS BADASS CELLO-PLAYING MOTHERFUCKER NAMED VEDRAN SMAILOVIC. HE WAS FROM SARAJEVO WAS UPSET ABOUT ALL THE SHIT AND NASTINESS THAT CAME ABOUT THROUGH THIS WAR (THIS WAS FULL-ON BROTHER-KILLING-BROTHER SHIT) THAT HE WENT AROUND TO BOMBED-OUT, BLOWN UP BUILDINGS AND FUNERALS—WHERE HE WAS AT RISK OF FUCKING SNIPER FIRE—AND PLAYING THE CELLO. THIS GUY WAS SO SET ON PROVIDING ONE TINY SPOT OF BEAUTY IN A SERIOUSLY NASTY WAR HE WAS RISKING BEING FUCKING SHOT OR BLOWN UP.
AND THIS IS THE GUY WHO INSPIRED THIS SONG.
HE’S WHY THERE’S THE CALM CELLO PART AT THE BEGINNING BEFORE EVERYTHING GETS ALL VIOLENT-SOUNDING. IT’S THEMATIC.
THAT’S WHY THIS CHRISTMAS SONG GOES SO FUCKING HARD.
music history ftw
… also even without the seriously excellent history lesson to provide context (thank you, @constantlycomic), this piece is clearly not just “Carol of the Bells” but a mashup of “Carol of the Bells” with “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”.
To be fair, Parker throws Hardison off lots, and lots, and lots of roofs.
MANY, HERE IS A (CERTAINLY INCOMPLETE) LIST OF THEM:
That hilarious moment when Eliot hugs him and then pushes him away and tries to play like it was totally Hardison who started the hug and HARDISON GIVES HIM THE MOST AMUSED LOOK IN HISTORY and then lets him get away with it, like, dude is so kind.
DUDE IS SO KIND.
Let’s talk about when he taught Parker to walk that villian-of-the-week walk on a repurposed DDR board by dancing with her and humming in her ear and then HUMMING ON THE COMMS WHERE EVERYONE CAN HEAR HIM AND JUST LIKE
He is always thinking of the needs of his team and he’s so GENTLE and CAREFUL with the whole courtship of Parker thing, because it’s about what she wants, and what they might want want together, but never just about what he wants (and I’m 100% certain it’s the same with Eliot but that’s a different post)
THE VIOLIN SOLO. God like, holy shit???? Holy shit??? And don’t even come at me with the hypnotized thing because he was just hypnotized back to the height of his talent, which means he could play a violin like that at 14 years old, which HOLY SHIT SOME MORE.
“Well, somebody’s got to fight the injured. Shoot, that’s my niche.”
That entire sequence with the food laser. And the moment where he geeks out about the NSA truck. And actually just all of his geek out moments, I IDENTIFY WITH YOU TOO MUCH ALEC
[Various showcases of his STONE COLD GENUIS, there are literally too many to list]
The fact that towards the middle of the series, he expresses interest in running his own crew, and Nate tells him that, basically, he isn’t cutthroat enough to do it — that the fact that he won’t manipulate his team members is what’s going to keep him from greatness. And THEN, instead of trying to make himself ~TOUGHER or more callous or whatever, Hardison accepts that about himself, ends up happy to work with Parker as the mastermind, and that’s juts like. IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO ME? Not just because it’s so rare to see a male character with that kind of arc but because Hardison’s kindness is my favorite thing about him and I love love love love that given the choice between power and holding onto that part of himself, he chooses to keep his grip on his kindness and supporting his teammates. UGH.
The entire thing with the sandwich. THE EFFORT HE GOES TO CONVINCE ELIOT THAT HE DIDN’T EAT IT. The fact that he did in fact eat it. “BOY CAN COOK.” Hilarious and incredible.
Of the three of them he’s the best at compromise, the most openly compassionate, the most understanding. HE IS THE SOFT CANDY CENTER INSIDE THE… HARD CANDY OUTSIDES… OF PARKER AND ELIOT, this metaphor got away from me but my point stands
The fact that he has a tell in rock-paper-scissors
“WHAT’RE YOU GONNA DO, PUNCH IT WITH YOUR PUNCHY HANDS?”
Honestly it would be easier to list my unfavorite Hardison moments which would be: all those moments when he’s trapped inside that coffin, because I am so full of horror for him while I watch it. NOBODY THROWS HARDISON OFF A ROOF AND NOBODY SHOULD PUT HIM IN A COFFIN EITHER, that’s it, case closed, the end.
And notice the tone the scientists researching this.
“What do you mean the fatties live longer? This CANNOT BE RIGHT DO THE STUDIES 15 MORE TIMES!”
And when they can’t figure it out, they simply say “it’s not worth reading” to keep anything POSITIVE about fat bodies from getting out into the public eye.
Because then folks might not but into the billion dollar industry for diet fads and weight loss scams that all of these obesity doctors line their pockets with.
Because then theyd actually have to start treating their fat patients like PEOPLE.
I'm for it, but sadly, Star Trek pretty much erased religion in general. So I think we'd see brown people who have have cultural traditions that include women in hijabs.
So obviously, we need to bring back some variation of Babylon 5, because THAT was a show that UNDERSTOOD that religion is a thing that exists, regardless of the audience's belief purported by the religions. Heck, Babylon 5 is one of the few shows on TV that's had more than one kind of Christianity represented*.
i feel like there should def be a Muslim character on the new star trek series because I’m just thinking about how Chekhov was introduced in TOS and that he was this lovable Russian character in this future where the world was united and working together for everyone and how Chekhov /existed/ during the Cold War era and Red Scare and all that on an American television program. So I feel like if we want to continue in this tradition of envisioning a better future, I hope they include a Muslim character in a prominent role
inb4 a bunch of whiny nerds start whiny whining about how this would be “forced diversity” or “SJW bull” that would ruin Star Trek or not be in the spirit of Star Trek or some other BS:
Gene Roddenberry has said that “Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.”
When the Star Trek Animated series was being made, the studio asked William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan to sign on as voice actors. Nimoy asked why George Takei and Nichelle Nichols were no on board, and the studio said they didn’t have the budget to hire them. Nimoy’s response was “Star Trek is about diversity, and the two people who represent diversity most are Nichelle and George, and if they can’t be a part of this project, then you don’t want me.” Nimoy was a young actor, and at the time he had no idea how long Star Trek’s popularity was going to last. (in I Am Spock, he talks about how he would desperately snap up any chance to appear as Spock for pay because he was saving money in anticipation of the audience losing interest in the character) He still threatened to walk away from steady pay over this.
When Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Uhura, was considering leaving Star Trek to persue a career on broadway, she was contacted by Martain Luther King who told her “Nichelle, whether you like it or not, you have become an symbol. If you leave, they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl, and it will be like you were never there. What you’ve accomplished, for all of us, will only be real if you stay.” In a later interview Nichols said that “[What MLK said] got me thinking about how it would look for fans of color around the country if they saw me leave. I saw that this was bigger than just me.”
There are countless more examples I could give about Star Trek’s commitment to diversity which has been there from day one, (I haven’t even mentioned “Infinite Diversity in Infinite combinations” being one of the cornerstones of Vulcan philosophy) but this post is already pretty long.
I personally can think of nothing more in the spirit of Gene Roddenberry’s vision than what the OP is suggesting.
Bonus points if some jerk of an alien tire to walk in front of them while they’re praying and gets shut down.
I’m not even in this fandom and I think this is a wonderful idea.
They might not be able to do it legally, but they are providing support for the idea; normalizing the world-view that refugees=terrorists. There's a world of difference between one's legal powers and one's actual powers.
In the wake of last Friday's attacks in Paris, Republican governors across the country have made their positions clear—they want nothing to do with the Syrians fleeing ISIS. On Sunday, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced that his state won't accept any Syrian refugees. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence followed suit. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order to halt the flow of Syrian refugees to his state (it has accepted 14).
Even Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who had previously called welcoming refugees "part of being a good Michigander," announced he was suspending his work with the federal government on bringing Syrians to his state. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration," he said in a statement. "But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents."
What Snyder and his Republicans haven't explained is how they could legally do this. Refugee resettlement is a federal responsibility in which states have historically had only an advisory role. The Department of Homeland Security screens applicants. The State Department places them in new communities by working with a network of nonprofits on the ground. And the the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement works with refugees to make the transition in their new communities. (Here's a chart if you're confused.)
State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reports Monday that the government would listen to the concerns of local officials, but it would not take a position on the legality of the governors' decrees or even say whether a governor could erect checkpoints to vet potential refugees entering their states. "Whether they can legally do that, I don't have an answer for you," he said. "I don't. I think our lawyers are looking at that."
But other experts are more emphatic. "They don't have the legal authority to stop resettlement in their states—much less to stop the presence of a legally authorized individual based on nationality," says Jen Smyers, associate director for immigration and refugee policy at the Church World Service, an international nonprofit that does refugee resettlement. If a family of Syrian refugees decides they want to move in with their relatives in Michigan (a hub for Muslim and Christian immigrants from the Middle East) there's nothing Rick Snyder can do to stop them. "There are really clear discrimination protections against saying someone can't be in your state depending on where you're from," Smyers notes.
Nor do the states have much have much power of the purse as far as refugee resettlement is concerned. The work of resettlement is handled by a network of public-private partnerships, and the public money comes from the federal level. In some cases, the federal dollars are diverted through state governments, but they're merely a pass-through. "If they were to hold up that fund, there would certainly be legal ramifications," Smyers says. Simply put, if these Republicans really want to block refugees from entering their states, they are asking for a fight.
Images courtesy of Stanford University's archive of tobacco advertising
It's hardly surprising that a tobacco company would donate more money to Republican politicians than to Democrats, who are generally more amenable than GOPers to taxes and regulation. North Carolina's Lorillard Tobacco, for instance, gave nearly four times as much cash to Republican candidates during the 2014 congressional election cycle. But the company made a striking exception for one particular subset of Democrats: African Americans.
Our analysis of records from the Center for Responsive Politics revealed that half of all black members of Congress received financial support from Lorillard, as opposed to just one in 38 nonblack Democrats. To put it another way, black lawmakers—all but one of whom are Democrats—were 19 times as likely as nonblack Democrats to get a donation.
It's not hard to see why Lorillard might employ this strategy. Federal officials are now considering whether to add menthol, the minty, throat-numbing additive—to the list of flavorings Congress banned from cigarettes in 2009 for public health reasons. Lorillard's Newport is the nation's top-selling menthol brand, accounting for billions in annual sales. And who most favors menthols? Black smokers, by a wide margin.
There were 2 things that always stopped me from getting a tattoo: the needles and the pain that it implies, and the knowledge of having something permanent on my body. What if I hate it after a year? Then I read about how women were getting the ‘NC’, or non-compliant, tattoos. I knew what I wanted.
I read Bitch Planet during a dark turning point in my life.
I am a PoC (Filipino to be exact holla!) who finally decided to get a handle on my body dysmorphia (BDD) and anxiety/depression. I get so anxious around social events that I usually end up disappearing without telling anyone and take a walk around the block, usually alone and in sketchy areas, just to calm down. I look in the mirror and see a body not worthy. People see me, they say ‘fit’ and ‘normal,’ even ‘thin’. I see ‘not good enough’. I pinch the areas of my body I don’t like to see if I gained any more fat in that area. My panic attacks get so severe I start injuring myself just to distract myself with the pain and hope that it snaps me out of it. I lost my relationship because I wasn’t ‘healing fast enough’ for him.
At first, reading Bitch Planet was for pure entertainment value. Then I read Penny Rolle’s story. And I started *bawling*.
Penny gets put onto BP because she’s a fat, black woman who decided not to put up with society’s dumb f*ckery. She gets subjected to this device in which what you see in the mirror is the ideal self you want to be. This is who she sees in the mirror.
This panel means the world to me. Physically I’m not Penny Rolle by any means, but with my BDD and self-image and worth issues I can certainly relate. To see this fictional woman see herself in the mirror and believe and *know* that she is beautiful and worthy is so powerful to me. It gives me hope that someday I can look in the mirror and think that way about myself too. If I can’t right now, that’s okay too. I’m awesome now. I’ll be even more awesome then. Damn everyone else who thinks otherwise.
Now there have been comments around the web saying the women with NC tattoos are being a bit too hasty in getting a tattoo based on a comic that’s not even finished yet. Because, you know, us girls have *no* idea what we’re doing and we’re just following the latest fad (tattoos are so rebellious didn’t you know?)
I never felt so connected with a book as much as BP connected with me. The book is not the reason why I inked myself. In Kelly Sue DeConnick’s interview over at NPR, she mentions a friend summing the “NC tattoo phenomenon” perfectly,
"You don’t get that tattoo because you are a fan of something in the book. You get that tattoo because that book is a fan of something in you.“
When I look at the NC emblazoned on my shoulder, I’m reminded of my faults, my imperfections, and that I should love myself more for them and be proud for getting the self-care I desperately need. It reminds me to struggle and be wary of society’s concepts of beauty, gender roles, its racism and discrimination
(both blatant and hidden) on the marginalized. It reminds me that I’m Non-Compliant and don’t fit into the mainstream’s ideals of perfection, beauty and lifestyle.
