My mother had three pregnancies, and two children. She had a miscarriage, between my brother and I, in that four year span between our births, there was another pregnancy, another child desperately wanted, who didn’t live to term.
My mother had her pre-natal care, and her post-miscarriage care, at Planned Parenthood.
Because it was the best place for her. Because at the time, she had a two year old child and a bike and they were living just around that nice little sweet spot between ‘desperately poor’ and ‘almost have enough to consider a savings account.‘ And when you are poor, and female, and need health services, Planned Parenthood is there.
And my mother walked past the protesters, walked past the people who screamed at her about not killing her baby, about how she was a whore, and she was going to hell. My mother, in mourning for a child that she had lost, blaming herself, hating herself for failing at this most feminine of things, walked through that, to care for herself, to get the medical care she needed. So that someday, two years later, she could have me.
I cannot speak to the courage that must have taken. But that path is walked by thousands of women. Every single day.
She donated to Planned Parenthood until her death. And she said to me, that the people who screamed at her saw her only as a vessel for a baby. They didn’t care about her, they didn’t care about her baby, either. They were pro-birth, not pro-life, because none of them would be there after her baby was born, to offer help and support and care.
The protesters didn’t care about her. And the medical professionals inside did. It is the right of every woman to have access to safe, affordable, quality health care, no matter where she comes from, what her income is, or what choices she makes with her life. And that is what these kind of bills are attempting to take away.
ThePrettiestOne
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scifigrl47: My mother had three pregnancies, and two children. She had a miscarriage, between my...
Slave families’ desperate efforts to reunite during Reconstruction
“It is fair to say,” writes historian Heather Williams about the Antebellum period in America, “that most white people had been so acculturated to view black people as different from them that they… barely noticed the pain that they experienced.”
She describes, for example, a white woman who, while wrenching enslaved people from their families to found a distant plantation, describes them as “cheerful,” in “high spirits,” and “play[ful] like children.” It simply never occurred to her or many other white people that black people had the same emotions they did, as the reigning belief among whites was that they were incapable of any complex or deep feeling at all.
It must have created such cognitive dissonance, then — such confusion on the part of the white population — when after the end of slavery, black people tried desperately to reunite with their parents, cousins, aunties and uncles, nieces and nephews, spouses, lovers, children, and friends.
And try they did. For decades newly freed black people sought out their loved ones. One strategy was to put ads in the paper. The “Lost Friends” column was one such resource. It ran in the Southwestern Christian Advocate from 1879 until the early 1900s and a collection of those ads — more than 330 from just one year — has been released by the Historic New Orleans Collection. Here is an example:
The ads would have been a serious investment. They cost 50 cents which, at the time, would have been more than a day’s income for most recently freed people.
Williams reports that reunions were rare. She excerpted this success story from the Southwestern in her book, Help Me To Find My People, about enslaved families torn asunder, their desperate search for one another, and the rare stories of reunification.
A FAMILY RE-UNITED
In the SOUTHWESTERN of March 1st, we published in this column a letter from Charity Thompson, of Hawkins, Texas, making inquiry about her family. She last heard of them in Alabama years ago. The letter, as printed in the paper was read in the First church Houston, and as the reading proceeded a well-known member of the church — Mrs. Dibble — burst into tears and cried out “That is my sister and I have not seen her for thirty three years.” The mother is still living and in a few days the happy family will once more re-united.
I worry that white America still does not see black people as their emotional equals. Psychologists continue to document what is now called a racial empathy gap, both blacks and whites show lesser empathy when they see darker-skinned people experiencing physical or emotional pain. When white people are reminded that black people are disproportionately imprisoned, for example, it increases their support for tougher policing and harsher sentencing. Black prisoners receive presidential pardons at much lower rates than whites. And we think that black people have a higher physical pain threshold than whites.
How many of us tolerate the systematic deprivation and oppression of black people in America today — a people whose families are being torn asunder by death and imprisonment — by simply failing to notice the depths of their pain?
Cross-posted at A Nerd’s Guide to New Orleans.
Lisa Wade is a professor at Occidental College and the co-author of Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.(View original at https://thesocietypages.org/socimages)
180. JAMES RHODES: Is that not worth exploring?
ThePrettiestOneBut before you go beating yourself up over your failure to channel your creativity, please keep in mind you are up against some serious challenges:
http://lifehacker.com/5798202/the-cognitive-cost-of-doing-things
James Rhodes is a British concert pianist. Largely self-taught, Rhodes has released five best-selling albums and is known for his refreshing performances that ignore the usual formality and tradition of classical music. Rhodes never performs in a suit, holds his concerts in non-traditional venues and entertains the crowd with stories about famous composers and how they affected his own life in between pieces. You can watch his insane talent on display in a number of videos on his YouTube channel.
The passage used in the comic was taken from a column Rhodes wrote for The Guardian in 2013. It’s one of the most fantastically motivating articles I’ve ever read and I highly recommend you read the entire piece.
Classical music quite literally saved Rhodes’ life. As a child, he was sexually abused for a number of years, which left Rhodes both mentally and physically damaged. Mental health issues stopped Rhodes from taking up a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and he stopped playing piano entirely for 10 years. Throughout all of Rhodes’ pain, music was his one saving grace. Writing about one of his favourite pieces by Bach: “That piece became my safe place. Any time I felt anxious (any time I was awake) it was going round in my head. Its rhythms were being tapped out, its voices played again and again, altered, explored – experimented with. I dove inside it as if it were some kind of musical maze and wandered around happily lost. It set me up for life; without it I would have died years ago, I’ve no doubt.”
During his years away from the piano, Rhodes worked a corporate job which he was miserable in. On his decision to finally start playing piano again: “Only when the pain of not doing it got greater than the imagined pain of doing it did I somehow find the balls to pursue what I really wanted and had been obsessed by since the age of seven – to be a concert pianist.”
RELATED COMICS: A lifetime of learning. It costs nothing to encourage an artist. The calling.
– Rhodes’ memoir Instrumental was released recently, but only after he was made to suffer more anguish over his childhood abuse. The British Supreme Court removed an injunction that was preventing the book from being released. You can read more about the case here.
– Rhodes is also on a personal crusade to save music education in schools. After his successful TV series Don’t Stop The Music aired in Britain last year, which followed Rhodes’ quest to collect old musical instruments and refurbish them for use in schools, there’s now an American version looking to get help funded on Kickstarter at the moment. Hello, is anyone in Australia reading this?
– I’ve never really been exposed to classical music, besides from Looney Tunes cartoons, but I have been listening to Rhodes’ Soundcloud page a lot while working on this comic. I’ve especially been playing this Beethoven piece over and over again.
– Thanks to Lara for sending me the article.
Not Even Remotely Thinking
(I work for a small shop in town. We get a few tourist high points a year. It’s a mountain town with a population of about 8,000. It’s only 20 minutes away from another town and about 45 minutes from a larger city.)
Customer: “How do you people live out here?”
Me: “What? What do you mean?”
Customer: “It’s so… remote.”
Me: “Oh, well, we have everything we need here. Also, there is larger city about 45 minutes away if we need something that we cannot find here. Besides, it’s beautiful here.”
Customer: “But… do you have electricity?”
Me: *looks at all the lights in the store, the electronic cash register and the neon sign outside, the lamp posts outside and the traffic lights* “Yes… yes, we do.”
Customer: “What about plumbing?”
Me: “Yes…”
Customer: “Are you sure?”
Me: “Positive?”
Customer: “What about [popular and huge hotel]? Do they have lights and toilets?”
Me: “Yes… everywhere here does. Literally, everywhere.”
Customer: “But… it’s so remote. How do they get the lights here?”
Me: “….wires and light poles?”
Customer: “But where do the wires come from?”
Me: “The nearest power station?”
Customer: “What about water?”
Me: “Pipes, and it would come from the nearest water treatment plant, which we have here.”
Customer: “I just don’t understand you people at all.”
Me: “Well, enjoy your stay…”
Customer: “Do the people here have cars?”
Me: “Have you seen cars since you have been here?”
Customer: “Yes.”
Me: “There you go.”
This is an incredible honor. My performance of Ready Player One...
My performance of Ready Player One has been named one of the ten best narrator and audiobook pairings of all time on Goodreads!
bobbycaputo: TSA Supervisor Calls Police on Teen for Filming...
TSA Supervisor Calls Police on Teen for Filming Dad’s Pat-Down
A 16-year-old boy has caused a stir after releasing a video showing himself being denied the right to film a checkpoint pat-down — something the TSA officially allows.
YouTube user Apple Lucas claims that he was denied the right to film while being patted down by a TSA supervisor at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. He then tried to film his father getting patted down, only to have the TSA agent call a police officer to the scene.“I explained to him that it clearly states on the TSA website that you are allowed to film the TSA agents as long as you don’t film their monitors and are not interfering with their process,” Apple Lucas writes.
This TSA Supervisor should be fired, and of course that won’t happen, because TSA is unaccountable to anyone.
misandry-mermaid: huffingtonpost: WATCH: Matt Bomer Has No...
WATCH: Matt Bomer Has No Time For Gay Stereotypes In New Interview
Entertainment news “journalists” are like the human equivalent of that one chihuahua at the dog park that won’t stop humping everyone else’s dogs and yapping.
"The originators and adherents of #GiveYourMoneyToWomen didn’t just suggest that women should get..."
- On Unpaid Emotional Labor. This article resonated SO MUCH with me.
salon: Read Jesse Williams’ epic Twitter essay on police racism
peterclines: seananmcguire: thenerdinbrassgoggles: *dreamy...
*dreamy sigh*
X-Men #166 (2005)
More than a decade. That’s how long Emma’s been a good guy. Longer, all told, than she was a villain.
Brains, powers, and the best body money can buy, and she still ranks below a corpse.
Wasn’t Emma introduced as a villain in 1980? Over thirty five years ago?
Or is this a new Emma Frost who was only one of the bad guys for a very short amount of time…?
She was!
Emma’s first unquestioned turn as a “good guy” came in 1994, when she became Headmistress of Xavier’s. She remained with the team until 2001, when the series was cancelled. After that, she did not return to villainy, instead choosing to become a teacher on Genosha. Morrison’s New X-Men began that same year, with Emma as a member of the team.
Fourteen years as a villain. Twenty-one years as a good guy. Sometimes an awful human being, sure: she lies, cheats, snarks, sneers. But so does Namor. So does Wolverine. So do a lot of characters. So why is Emma the only one who never gets to move beyond her past?
"Pregnancy is becoming so expensive that, costs of actually raising a child aside, it’s a serious..."
- Pregnancy costs are out of control | this ain’t livin’ (via feministlibrarian)
werpiper: brainsforbabyjesus:darksnowfalling: warpedellipsis:quasi-normalcy:meariver:huntokar:quasi...
No, I’m serious, if women all got together and went into electrical engineering or automotive repair en masse, then ten years later people would be talking about how it was a “soft field” and it would pay proportionately less than other fields.
Likewise, if men moved en masse to bedeck themselves in sparkles and make-up, then suddenly you’d get a bunch of editorials talking about how classy they look.
None of these things are inherently masculine or feminine; none of these things inherently elevate you or drag you down. But whatever women are seen to do is automatically seen as being inherently more frivolous than anything men do. And shaming women for not pigeonholing themselves into a narrow range of acceptable “masculine” behaviours is just going to result in the goalposts getting moved once again.
This is literally what happened to basically every field women have entered. The opposite happens when men enter. Computers used to be a “woman thing” until the guys who did it got really mad about how badly their job was viewed and realized they could fix it by forcing out women.
Also happened/ is happening with the fields of biology and psychology….
I honestly wonder how much of the backlash against public education in the last generation has been due to teaching becoming a woman-dominated profession.
Fashion used to be a men’s thing. Then women got involved in the late 17/1800’s, so men went the other way because it came to be seen as “frivolous” and “anti-intellectual” to care about how you looked. Add in the homophobia that arose around that time, bam, staid bland dress. Ditto leggings/tights, that are now called attention-whoring when on men they were required to show you cared about your figure and had the money to pay for such a fitted item.
People want to say misogyny doesn’t exist, that male privilege doesn’t exist. Look beyond “living memory” and you’ll find that’s what drives the “inexplicable reversals” society seems to make on many things. Hell, just look beyond your own society, and you’ll find out that what’s considered “for men” elsewhere is held in high esteem while here it’s scoffed at purely because it’s “for women”:
- Skinny jeans are the height of masculinity in several east Asian societies, rather than being seen as “gay” in the USA because of their association with femininity.
- Medical fields in Russia are valued like kindergarten teachers are here, because it’s women who are the doctors instead of men.
- Love and romance are highly valued in eastern countries, because men are interested in it too—of course they would be, surely you want to share your life with someone? Here, it’s strictly a women’s subject.
The field of anthropology as a whole illustrates this.
Significantly higher proportions of females compared to males are currently entering the fields of archaeology and biological anthropology, and as this occurs, the prestige, funding, acceptance as valid kinds of science, etc, are fading quickly.
This has already occurred with linguistic anthropology and cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology in particular went VERY quickly from being seen as a manly, scientific discipline (e.g., Franz Boas, Bronisław Malinowski) to being seen as a touchy-feely female thing.
What I get from this is that we should equally distribute ourselves among all fields until we’ve ruined absolutely everything.
math will save us! XD
There's this Thing that y'all don't seem to get.
Gryffindors don’t give a shit about rules. The most hardline of them don’t even care about people. They care about justice. Right or wrong, black or white, there are no shades of grey. If it’s just, it’s always just; if it’s unjust, it’s always wrong. Hermione’s ruthlessness makes her a Gryffindor. She is absolutely sure that she is on the side of justice in everything that she does, and it’s such a Gryffindor trait.
Because Slytherins are ruthless, but they care about rules. Their own rules, usually, but rules nonetheless. They will impose parameters and limitations on themselves just so they have a framework to operate within. If doing something means violating their own internal code, then they’re not gonna do it. Even fucking Voldemort is like that. He broke every single fucking rule the Wizarding World ever put in place, but damn if he’d break his own.
And Ravenclaws? They hate rules. Fucking things just get in the way. They prevent creativity and keep people from accomplishing their goals. Ravenclaws are probably some of the most dangerous people in the entirety of the book series, because they’re brilliant and creative and ambitious and prideful, and when they snap, they do not have inhibitions. They will wreck everything that ever had the nerve to get in their way, and they will never once feel bad about it.
And then there’s Hufflepuffs. They emphasize equality. If the playing field is equal, then all other good things will come from there. People hear that, and they think that Hufflepuffs are pushovers. They cast them as the shy ones, the fearful ones, the insecure ones. Really, they’re none of these things. They are nice, accepting, friendly, this is all true, but they are also entirely willing to fight anyone that steps up to the plate talking shit. Hufflepuffs will defend themselves and other people until they drop dead, and it’s infuriating to see that only ever attributed to Gryffindors. Because the big difference is that a Gryffindor believes in acceptable causalties, and a Hufflepuff will knock your teeth down your fucking throat for even suggesting such a disgusting idea. For Hufflepuffs, there are no acceptable casualties; any loss of life is utterly unacceptable.
There are a lot of people that talk about House stereotyping, and then turn around and perpetuate further stereotypes. Gryffindors are not necessarily knights in shining armor; Slytherins are not necessarily callous villains; Ravenclaws are much more than just intelligent, and Hufflepuff is not the motherfucking potato House.
Proud Puff.
No wonder hogwarts is so dangerous. No one fucking follows the rules.
welkinalauda: rainbofiction: cj-sewers: thethirddecade1121: I just realized how fucking...
ShitI just realized how fucking disgusting it is that it’s considered healthy and normal for teenage boys to eat everything ever yet teenage girls are obviously also growing but are fucking dieting all the time and shamed for eating while they’re growing
That’s not even the half of it because
- often when a teenager (male or female) puts on some fat it’s in preparation for a growth spurt. Grownups know this.
- teenagers grow in weird gawky ways, like a girl’s hips will spread out and look “fat” until her legs get longer, or they’ll shoot up super tall and then slowly put on muscle and fat. Grownups know this.
- it’s very common for a women’s body weight to fluctuate plus or minus 5% with her menstrual cycle
but in the diet mentality all of these things are considered personal moral failures, a failure of control, when controlling it is literally impossible. I am so incredibly saddened by women who weigh themselves multiple times a week and fuss over ten freaking pounds when that’s well within the bounds of menstrual fluctuation + just-ate-lunch. It’s horrible.
“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
– Naomi Wolf
Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye Works Because it’s Written Like Great Fan Fiction
ThePrettiestOneLet's be honest, anyone writing for a 51 year old comics property who is under the age of 70 IS, essentially, writing fan fiction. They might be writing fan fiction professionally, but they are writing fan fiction.
People are probably going to read the title above and get really mad at me or take offense, when I honestly mean it as a gigantic compliment. Because despite what many areas of the internet (and culture at large) would have you believe, there is a lot of wonderful fan fiction in the world. And like all forms of art, there are certain tropes that a large portion of fanfic adheres to.
And Matt Fraction—knowingly or not—used a whole bunch of those tropes in his run of Hawkeye.
Why does this matter? It doesn’t really. But reading this comic I found myself racking my brain, trying to pinpoint exactly what about this particular run was working for me (and a lot of other people, if its popularity was any indication). And I realized something… that it had all the hallmarks of my favorite types of fanfic. That their inclusion was a large part of the reason why I had suddenly bought a pair of purple chucks and was seriously considering some sort of weird purple target tattoo in my future. (That’s totally happening, by the way.)
Before you stop me—of course, any kind of story can use the tropes I’m talking about. But finding all of them in the same place is what warms the cockles of my sometimes-cynical heart and brings a goofy smile to my face. This special combo is what made Hawkeye matter to me in a way that comics often don’t, and I’m willing to bet the same is true for a few other fans.
Now that the series is over, I thought I’d highlight the elements of this prefect storm. How does Hawkeye remind me of the best fanfics I’ve read? Here are the key markers:
1. Your Favorite Character Gets A Pet
Everyone should have pets. This is not a universal truth, but perhaps it’s a spiritual one of sorts. Pets are life-enriching. And less expensive/time-consuming than children, usually. They connect with humans in a very fundamental, no-bullshit kind of way. So imagining a beloved fictional character with a wonderful pet is something that happens a lot in fan fiction. It also happens when Clint Barton feeds pizza to a dog, and said dog saves his life shortly thereafter.
Lucky the Pizza Dog was immediately adored among comics fan, to the point where one of the more recent Hawkeye action figures had a Lucky figure tucked alongside it. The sleuthing dog’s personal issue “Pizza is My Business” won an Eisner Award because he’s the best, and a perfect pet for a superhero, and my heart hurts just looking at him, ack, don’t do this to me, this is not fair. Lucky is the MVP of the series, no questions asked.
2. Your Favorite Character F*cks Up Their Life/Relationships (Even More Than Usual)
Relationships are complicated, and so is life in general. But often in fiction, the plot can move a story forward at the expense of examining those complexities. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s the reason why fan fiction is so often employed to fill in the “gaps.” This is especially true of comics, when so many of the stories are centrally focused on big events where a bunch of characters clash together for a big brouhaha that has ridiculous ripple effects for the rest of the universe. Sometimes it’s just nice to scale down and remember that messing up your own stuff can be just as terrible as messing up the big stuff.
Which is why it’s strangely cathartic to watch Clint Barton get in trouble with the Avengers when he agrees to help a woman named Penny with a tricky situation involving her super shady husband. And then get into more trouble with his current friend-girl (Spider-Woman Jessica Drew) for sleeping with Penny. And then get into trouble with his co-Hawkeye Kate Bishop for refusing to accept her help and support with the Screwed Up Smoothie he’s made of things. And then there’s the bonus of Kate shoving off to L.A. after getting mad at Clint, only to lose access to all her usual funds and end up roughing it as a private eye.
It’s not exactly real-people problems, but it’s definitely small scale for people who spend most of their time jumping off buildings and rescuing cities for a living.
3. Your Favorite Character Hangs Around Their Apartment in Their Pajamas, Excessively
When life is tough, all you really want is to lounge around in your pjs, eating ice cream, drinking beer, and watching Netflix. (I want to do this all the time, but I’m not a role model, so stop looking at me like that.) And Clint Barton does spend a large portion of this tale in his apartment, wearing purple/target-themed sleepwear, drinking coffee out of the pot, getting drunk on the couch, and not showering for let’s-not-guess-how-long.
There’s an aspect of real depression to it, and perhaps that makes it even more important; the acknowledgment that characters that we admire fall pray to the same difficulties everyone else does. That sometimes they would also like to hide away at home and tune out the world as much as possible.
4. Your Favorite Character Takes Place in Battles That You Never See
In fan fiction, often the big explode-y action is an afterthought to all the emotional development at the center of the story. That doesn’t mean that there are never any cool fight sequences, but it does mean that you’re more likely to encounter those sequences at the halfway point, or even toward the end—the place where the important story-informing actions often take place.
While there are full-on battles in Hawkeye, they are primarily concerned with Clint’s apartment building, his community, and the Tracksuit Mafia he’s up against. Because that is our focus, the Avenger-stuff he does in this comic isn’t quite so important. Which means that when Clint is fighting on behalf of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, we typically don’t see the majority of that fight—we show up at the tail end of it, in time to see Clint all beat to hell, tying to pick himself up off the ground. It reminds the audience that being part of a super team is still only a sliver of his life, and that what comes after is just as interesting.
It also reminds us that all post-battle recovery is hell. Seriously, why don’t more comics deal with that, it is literally bonkers the amount of damage that these people willingly agree to by virtue of their chosen profession. CLINT BARTON’S SKULL IS A JIGSAW PUZZLE OF FRACTURES.
5. Your Favorite Character Makes Friends With Their Neighbors Like A Normal Person
It’s great that the characters we watch and/or read about are all buddies. That’s half the fun, thinking about the Avengers playing video games together, or setting up a karaoke competition back at HQ. But it’s also fun to imagine how these characters interact with relatively normal people, the sort they are more likely to meet day in and day out. And those are the relationships that we don’t see very often.
The driving force of the plot in Fraction’s Hawkeye run is Clint trying to wrestle his apartment building from the hands of the Tracksuit Mafia, who want to drive out the tenants by hiking the rent, and then demolish the building to develop a super mall. This basic plot necessitates that Clint actually know and care about his neighbors. And he does. He shows up to cookouts on the roof, he invites Simone over with her kids to watch their Christmas show on his TV, he helps Gil rescue his dad when Hurricane Sandy hits. Kate has a similar experience in L.A., befriending a gay couple and saving their wedding by retrieving a few precious flowers. All of these people are interesting, dynamic individuals, and it’s refreshing to see regular-type folk (you know, people who work for a living and such) interacting with our title heroes.
6. Your Favorite Character Sits Around Bantering With Their BFF
Couldn’t we all do with more casual conversations between people who have that just-so dynamic? While some creators thrive on banter (Joss Whedon is the usual insta-pick for geeks in this case), there are plenty who only use it as a bare framing device to whatever important stuff is going on in their plot.
But Clint Barton and Kate Bishop spend pretty much all their time hassling each other whenever they’re in a room together, and it is categorically The Best Thing about Hawkeye. And because Fraction excels at writing organic dialogue where characters get flustered and can’t think of what to say, or ticked off enough to storm away, it doesn’t have that uncanny I’m-so-clever vibe that can come from writers who enjoy a good banter session. It allows the central characters to be funny, but also approachable. We know people like this. We love people like this. We talk to our own friends this way (or we wish we did). It’s wonderful.
7. Your Favorite Character Has to Deal With Family Stuff (and They Really Don’t Want To)
Plenty of fictional characters have relatives that show up on screen or between the pages. But family is background as frequently as anything, a reminder of what the character has or had and/or stands to lose. This is especially true in superhero yarns; the majority of Superman comics do not feature Ma and Pa Kent as starring players, and that’s just fine. But sometimes zeroing in on those dynamics is just what we need.
Clint Barton never had the smoothest relationship with big brother Barney, but often the older Barton’s appearance was meant to torment Clint. They would fight and part ways, and occasionally a word or two would get dropped about their past. But here, Barney is sleeping on Clint’s couch and filling out crossword puzzles while his little brother talks to the ex-wife. They have code words and phrases they use as they fight alongside each other. Barney rails at Clint for being stubborn about using ASL when his brother is re-deafened on their doorstep. To top it off, we learn the ways that Barney shaped his little brother’s life in moving flashback sequences. It’s an intimate look at their relationship, one that relies on them being brothers more than stock enemies.
Sure it doesn’t end perfectly, but while it lasts, it’s so, so good.
There are more of these touches laced throughout Hawkeye, but those were the ones that stood out most to me on reading. And in a way, it’s vindicating; when fan fiction is so often maligned, seeing a successful comic do so much of what fanfic does best is a clear point in favor of transformative works. While I don’t expect anyone to precisely duplicate Fraction’s winning combo any time soon, I do hope we get more works like it in the future.
The real point I’m getting at is—Hawkeye was fantastic. And I miss it already.
Artwork: David Aja. Color: Matt Hollingsworth
Emily Asher-Perrin is definitely going to say “Uh… I’m an Avenger?” if she ever gets arrested. You can bug her on Twitter and Tumblr, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
today’s lesson[via]
ThePrettiestOneBecause I'm THAT girl:
http://invisibledisabilities.org/educate/accessibleparking/dontjudgebyappearances/
20 essential job interview tips
ThePrettiestOneIf there were actually photos of me on Facebook, all they would be is me pointing at a spreadsheet and punching the air.
"Primer for those who still don’t understand in the wake of the arrest of, incarceration of, and..."
ThePrettiestOne"Any cop who disagrees with the previous points is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs."
Primer for those who still don’t understand in the wake of the arrest of, incarceration of, and likely murder of Sandra Bland in TX:
1. Asking a cop why they are stopping you/ticketing you is your right. They do not have the right to arrest you for asking, beat you for asking or in any way mistreat you for asking that question.
2. You have the right to say whatever you wish to a cop in response to being stopped. ANYTHING at all, so long as it does not constitute a threat of harm. You can cuss a cop, yell at a cop, and call a cop a fascist pig or a racist if you like. I do not recommend it, you shouldn’t do it (because sadly cops don’t care about the Constitution in far too many cases, and thus, might beat or kill you), and it’s not very nice I suppose (even when deserved), but it is NOT illegal to do so.
3. Refusing to put out a cigarette when asked by a cop is not a criminal offense either. The cop has no lawful right to arrest you for smoking or “disobeying” an order to stop smoking. Only if you are already being arrested for an actual crime and putting out the cigarette is necessary to affect the arrest, can such a request be considered lawful and can failure to do so constitute “resisting arrest.” But refusing to put the cigarette out, in and of itself, does not constitute a crime.
4. If you do any of the above, the cop still does not have the right to beat you or arrest you. And if you end up beaten or killed, it is not your fault. It is entirely and only the cop’s fault. They should be arrested, tried, convicted and jailed. Your “arrogance” or “attitude” is not grounds for brutality, ever.
5. None of the above is made any less true by the fact that “cops have a hard job and put their lives on the line.” That is entirely irrelevant and has no bearing on the rights of the people or the limitations on police power.
6. Any cop who disagrees with the previous points is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs. Any cop who can’t handle being challenged as to their authority, or who in any way disregards the rights of the people is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs.
7. Anyone at all who disagrees with these previous points has contempt for the Constitution and would clearly be more comfortable in a police state. Yet these are the same people who think “government regulation” of industry is tyranny, or that the IRS is equivalent to the Nazi SS or that Obamacare is totalitarianism. So they don’t mind actual authoritarian actions (so long as they are worked out mostly on the bodies of black folks and/or the poor), but God forbid government try and ensure health care, or collect taxes from the rich or try and limit pollution. THEN they scream about big brother and how awful the state is…
”-
Tim Wise (via la-lobalita)
Your “arrogance” or “attitude” is not grounds for brutality, ever.
Your “arrogance” or “attitude” is not grounds for brutality, ever.
(via vixyish)
What my religion really says about women | Alaa Murabit
Sandra Bland death to be investigated as murder
Sandra Bland was pulled over for failing to signal a turn in Waller County, Texas. She was arrested and taken to the cells, where she died three days later. Read the rest
Democracy.io Makes It Dead Simple to Contact Members of Congress
Each member of Congress has their own (sometimes peculiar) contact form, which makes writing to your representatives more of a hassle than it should be. Thanks to the EFF’s new open source site Democracy.io, however, sending a message to Congress couldn’t be any easier.
Study confirms that sexist men are losers
No one, except delusional sexist men, will be surprised to learn that men who harass women online are "low-status, non-dominant men" according to a study published in the journal PLOS One, titled "Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behaviour." The Washington Post reports:
Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, researchers at the University of New South Wales and Miami University, respectively ...
Read the restThis Tree Created by Artist Sam Van Aken Grows 40 Different Kinds of Fruit
ThePrettiestOneOK, now I want a science fiction novel with this tree in the center of the generation ship.
In 2008, while locating specimens to create a multi-colored blossom tree for an art project, artist and Syracuse University art professor Sam Van Aken had the opportunity to acquire a 3-acre orchard from the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Fascinated by the practice of grafting trees since a young age, Aken began to graft buds from the 250 heritage varieties found on the orchard onto a single stock tree.
To create the Frankenstein-esque tree, Aken worked with stone fruits (fruits with pits) like peaches, plums, apricots, almonds, and nectarines. Over the course of five years he successfully grafted dozens of plants onto the same tree, and with that, the Tree of 40 Fruit project was born. Because of their similarities, all 40 fruits bud, bloom and fruit in near perfect unison.
Aken has since grafted at least 16 different “Trees of 40 Fruit” which are planted across the U.S. in places like Newton, Massachusetts; Pound Ridge, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; Bentonville, Arkansas; and San Jose, California. Each tree is specific to its environment, using both local and antique varieties.
National Geographic recently met up with Aken to interview the artist about how he makes each tree. You can hear him talk about the project in the video above. (via Digg)
Transcript of Sandra Bland arrest video [8:40-15:25]
ThePrettiestOnethe fuck is wrong with us?
Cop: Ok, Ma’am. You ok?
SB: I’m waitin’ on you. This is your job. I’m waitin’ on you…
Cop: You seem very irritated.
SB: I am. I really am because I feel like what I’m getting a ticket for, I was getting out of your way. You were speeding up, tailing me, so I move over, and you stop me. So, yeah, I am a little irritated, but that doesn’t stop you from giving me a ticket.
Cop: Are you done?
SB: You asked me what was wrong and I told you. So now I’m done, yeah.
Cop: Ok. You mind putting out your cigarette, please?
SB: I’m in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?
Cop: Well you can step on out now.
SB: I don’t have to step out of my car.
Cop: Step out of the car. [Cop opens the car door] Step out.
SB: No, you don’t have the right-
Cop: Step out of the car!
SB: You do not have the right to do that.
Cop: I do have the right. Now, step out or I will remove you.
SB: I refuse to talk to you other than to identify myself-
Cop: Step out or I will remove you.
SB: I am getting removed for a failure to-
Cop: Step out or I will remove you. I’m giving you a lawful order. Get out of the car now or I’m gonna remove you.
SB: I’m calling my-
Cop:[Cop reaches into the car] I’m gonna yank you out of here.
SB: Okay, you gonna yank me out of my car?
Cop: Get out.
SB: Ok. Alright. Let’s do this. Don’t touch me.
Cop: Get out of the car!
SB: Don’t touch me! I’m not under arrest. You don’t have the right to-
Cop: You ARE under arrest.
SB: I’m under arrest for what? For what? For what?
Cop: Get out of the car. Get out of the car! Now!
SB: Why am I being apprehended? Because you’re trying to give me a ticket for a failure-
Cop: I said get out of the car.
SB: Why am I being apprehended? You opened my car door-
Cop: I am gonna drag you outta here.
SB: So you’re threatening to drag me out of my own car?
Cop: Get out of the car!!
SB: And then you-
Cop: [Cop points his taser at her.] I will light you up!!
SB: Wow.
Cop: NOW!!
SB: Wow. [Sandra steps out of the car.]
Cop: Get out of the car!
SB: For a failure to signal, you’re doing all this. You’re doing all this for a failure to signal.
Cop: Get over there. [Cop points her over to the sidewalk, while pointing his taser at her.]
SB: Right. Yeah. Let’s take this to court. [Sandra continues to walk toward the sidewalk.] Let’s do this for a failure to signal. Yep, for a failure to signal. [Sandra is led out of the view of the dashcam video.]
Cop: Get off the phone.
SB: I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record-
Cop: Put your phone down.
SB: This is my property.
Cop: Put your phone down.
SB: Sir?
Cop: Put your phone down. Right now! Put your phone down.
SB: [Sandra puts her phone down on the trunk of her car.] For a fucking failure to signal, my goodness.
Cop: Come over here!
SB: Y’all are interesting. You feelin’ good about this whole thing?
Cop: Stand right here.
SB: You feelin’ good about yourself? For my failure to signal, you feel real good about yourself, don’t you?
Cop: Turn around.
SB: You feel good about yourself, don’t you?
Cop: Turn around. Turn around now. Put your hands-
SB: Why am I being arrested?
Cop: I’m giving you a lawful order. I will tell you-
SB: Why am I being arrested? Why can’t you tell me that part?
Cop: I’m giving you a lawful order. Turn around.
SB: Why will you not tell me what’s going on?
Cop: You are not compliant.
SB: I’m not compliant ‘cause you just pulled me outta my car.
Cop: Turn around!!
SB: Are you fucking kidding me? This is some bullshit.
Cop: Put your hands behind your back.
SB: Cause you know this is straight bullshit, and you full a shit. Full a straight shit. That’s why y’all are some scary fucking cops. South Carolina got all y’all bitch asses scared. That’s all it is. Fucking scared of a female.
Cop: If you would have just listened-
SB: I was tryin’ sign the fucking ticket. Whatever.
Cop: Stop movin’!
SB: Are you fucking serious?
Cop: Stop movin’.
SB: Oh, I can’t wait till we go to court. OH, I can’t wait! I cannot WAIT ‘till we go to court! I can’t wait. OH, I can’t wait. You want me to sit down now?
Cop: No.
SB: Oh, you gonna throw me to the floor? That’ll make you feel better about yourself?
Cop: Knock it off.
SB: Ah, that’ll make you feel better about yourself? That make you feel real good, won’t it? Fucking ass. Fucking pussy. For a failure to signal, you doin’ all of this. In little ass Prairie View, Texas. My god. They must-
Cop: You were getting a warning, and now you’re going to jail.
SB: For what??
Cop: You can come read right- [Cop leads Sandra back over to the trunk of the car.]
SB: I’m getting a warning for what?
Cop: Stay right here.
SB: You just pointed me over there!
Cop: I said stay right here.
SB: Get your fucking mind right. OH, I swear on my life, y’all some pussies. A pussy ass cop pulls for a fucking signal, you’re takin’ me to jail. What a pussy. What a pussy. What a- you about to break my fucking wrist.
Cop: Stop movin’!
SB: I’m standin’ still! You keep movin’ me, goddamn it!
Cop: Stay right there.
SB: Don’t touch me. Fucking pussy, for a traffic ticket.
Cop: [Goes around the car and closes the front door. Walks back off screen to where Sandra is on the sidewalk.] Come read right over here. [He stands by the trunk of the car and shows her the written warning.] This right here says a warning. YOU started creating a problem. [Cop walks out of shot, toward Sandra.]
SB: You asked me what was wrong!
Cop: Do you have anything in your purse that’s illegal?
SB: Do I look like I have anything on me? This a fuckin’ maxi dress!
Cop: I’m removing your glasses.
SB: This a maxi dress.
Cop: Come on over here.
SB: Fucking assholes. For a- you about to break my wrist! Can you STOP!? You are mother fuckin’ about to break my wrist! [Sandra makes sounds of pain.] STOOOPP!
Cop: [Sounds of struggle.] Stop! Now! Stop it!
Cop 2: Stop resisting, ma’am.
Cop: If you would stop then I would tell you!
SB: [In pain.] For a fucking traffic ticket.
Cop: Now stop!
SB: [In pain.] You are such a pussy. You are such a pussy.
Cop 2: No, you are.
Cop: You were yankin’ around.
SB: [In pain.] For a traffic signal.
Cop: You were yankin’ around. When you pull away from me, you’re resisting arrest.
SB: This make you feel real good. This make you feel real good, don’t it? A female for a traffic signal. For a traffic signal. I know that makes you feel good, officer.
Cop 2: I got her. I got her.
SB: I know it make you feel real good. You a real man now. You slam me, knock my head into the ground, I got epilepsy, you mother fucker.
Cop: Good. Good.
SB: I hope I-
Cop 2: You should have thought of that before you start resisting!
SB: Yeah, this is real good. Real good for a female. Yeah. Y’all strong, ooh. Y’all real strong.
Cop: I want you to wait right here. Wait right here.
SB: I can’t go nowhere with your fucking knee on my back. Duh.
Cop: [To Cop 2] I’m gonna open your door. [To man recording the brutality.] You need to leave. You need to leave. You need to leave.
SB: [inaudible] For a fucking traffic ticket.
Cop: For a warning. For a warning. You’re going to jail for resisting arrest. Stand up.
SB: If I could!
Cop: Roll over.
SB: I can’t even fuckin’ feel my arm!
Cop: Tuck your knee in.
SB: I can’t-
Cop: Listen, listen, you’re gonna sit up on your butt.
SB: You just slammed my head into the ground. Do you not even care about that?
Cop 2: He’s telling you to getup.
SB: I can’t even hear!
Cop 2: Yes you can.
Cop: Sit on your butt.
SB: You slammed my head into the ground.
Cop: Sit up on your butt.
SB: He threw my fucking head to the ground. What the hell?
Cop: Now stand up.
SB: All this for a traffic signal. I swear to god. All of this for a traffic signal. [To witness.] Thank you for recording! Thank you! For a traffic signal. Slammed me into the ground and everything. Everything. I hope y’all feel good.
mashable: When people exercise with headscarves, they can...
ThePrettiestOneThis is really important, and not just for exercising. One problem that has surfaced in Muslim countries is the influx of synthetic materials that are cheaper than the traditional ones. When low-income women in countries where the average temperatures in summer can get over 100°(f) wear head-to-toe black polyester, the results can be dangerous. The same clothing in natural fibers is actually a recommended method of preventing sunstroke and heat stroke (at least in light colors). But market forces uber alles.
When people exercise with headscarves, they can become soaked with sweat, just like the rest of our workout clothes. Besides perspiration, scarves need to withstand the elements, such as rain or heat. Veil Garments is the first line of performance-geared hijabs attempting to fill that void. The hijab replaces traditional fabrics like silks, chiffons and cottons and opts for nylon, which readily wicks away sweat and is almost fully waterproof.
“There are a billion Muslims around the world and the population is only getting bigger… I don’t know why no other sports brand has done this before.“ [via]
This is badass, every one should have access to cool techwear.
when u decide to ship something ironically just for kicks but then...
@Staff delete this
Lololol
knownfilmhoe: ygrittebardots:anakin skywalker does not use jedi mind tricks not once in the...
anakin skywalker does not use jedi mind tricks
not once in the films
do you think that’s a coincidence
not on your life buddy
anakin skywalker does not have it in him to overrule another being’s free will
he murders a bunch of children with a laser sword