Everyone Needs To Know That Over Turning Abortion Is Rooted In Racism. No They Don't Want Black And Brown

Research on the Elongated Skulls

There is evidence of elongated skulls in many different places around the world. In Egypt, these skulls are often found in graves from the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. They are also found in Peru and have been used in religious ceremonies for centuries. In North America, many Native communities have traditionally worn these types of headdresses and jewelry. The presence of elongated skulls in ancient history proves that human anatomy has been changing for thousands of years.

The Egyptians appear to have used the elongated skulls as ornaments for their tombs. ‘‘The priests of the time believed that the gods would transfer their souls to the bodies of their ancestors after they died, so it was important to provide the deceased with nice things to help them reach the afterlife. They also may have had practical uses. They believed they used them to drain water from their underground temples, prone to flooding. The Indigenous people’s of Peru also used the elongated skulls as grave goods. Because they believed that the spirits of their dead ancestors resided inside the skulls, they were buried with these artifacts near the head of the body to aid their passage into the afterlife. According to the Inca civilization, it was up to the priests to pass judgment on whether or not a person was worthy enough to enter the afterlife. They also used the skulls for divination and a good luck charm to protect them from harm.’’

There are many theories about how elongated skulls came to exist. One theory is that they are the remains of an extinct race of people that lived on Earth thousands of years ago. These "giants" may have lived alongside the Native Americans or descended from an earlier human civilization during the Ice Age. Another theory is that they were created artificially using clay, metal, or wood molds. ‘‘As the Spanish colonized the Americas, many different cultures were exposed to new ideas about science and medicine. As a result, many of these people began experimenting with new ways to create artificial body parts. Besides tattooing, intentional scarring, piercing, and teeth sharpening, intentional cranial deformation is another form of mutilation of the human body and is associated with the cultural background of society. It has been related to religion, aestheticism, beauty, or facilitating tribal identity.’’

We need everyone's help right now to protect the rainforest and Indigenous People

The Amazon Rainforest is under a massive threat. I know you've heard this a million times, but this is different. There is a piece of legislation that will decimate the rights of Indigenous people of Brazil, who have been protecting the rainforest. It's unfathomably bad. It has majority support. And they're voting tomorrow. As reported here, the Bill allows "the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples."

The thing you can do—and I know this sounds overly simple—is sign this petition—and tell your friends to do the same: SIGN HERE.

As reported here, the Bill allows "the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples."

Again, this bill has majority support. You may be wondering, why will a petition signed by people who don't live in Brazil make any difference? Because it will give those opposing it political air cover. It will show the world is with them.

But we need a LOT of signatures.

Please do this simple act and spread the word.

My mother cried when I was born because she knew that she’d never be better than me.

Annabeth Chase, Mark of Athena (via incorrectpjoquotes)

Whaaaaaa

Eat the rich? What are the Panama Papers, and why they are important.

The Panama Papers were the leaked 115. million documents that the Panamanian-based law firm Mossack Fonseca gathered that revealed secret shell companies and bank accounts that had been established by the most wealthy politicians and celebrities to either avoid taxes, sanctions or illegal business dealings. Either way, the documents details information dating back to 1977, when the firm was founded, and was released back five years ago, in 2015.

NO. 2

The documents were released by an anonymous source through an unauthorized disclosure, and reported that the owners who belonged to several countries including the U.S, Britain, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia; the offshore companies were registered predominantly in the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Bahamas, Niue, Samoa, and the Seychelles. The Panama Papers were leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and it was analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists where close to 400 respective journalists, coming from over 100 news organizations from 76 countries, worked for a year to uncover that the offshore investments were associated with close to 140 politicians, or connected to their families including leaders from Russia, Pakistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Iceland, Britain, and prominent officials in China. Both Prime Ministers Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of Iceland and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan resigned, in 2016 and 2017. The firm in question, denied any wrongdoings in it’s handlings of the investigations, and claimed that all dealings in it’s shell companies were perfectly legal, but that didn’t stop Panama’s police to raid the firm and arrest it’s founders on chargers on money laundering, where they spent months in jail.

NO. 3

So, what does this mean? It means that the rich have too much power, especially politicians. Amongst millennials, we have this claim to ‘eat the rich’ because we understand that it’s easy to become corrupted by the very things poor people never will have. The privilege to have, buy and afford whatever you desire on a whim. There are no consequences to your actions if the average person doesn’t know what you did, or how you did it, was illegal. These people have the money and the power to fix the world, to end global hunger, to fix homelessness, and to create a better plan to combat climate change, but they decided to keep their money to themselves out of greed and the illusion of power. I, as a young millennial, had not known about the Panama Papers, and this story came out in 2015. But that doesn’t mean that nothing happened to combat it. In late 2018 the U.S Justice Department indicted several people’s associated with the schemes, billions in stolen assets were returned to their citizens, and 82 consecutive countries changed their laws to crack down on the stolen wealth hoarding the papers revealed. And it was all thanks to the journalist who led the investigation: Daphne Caruana Galizia from Malta, who had a personal blog called Running Commentary. She was murdered October 16, 2017, and her work is what laid the groundwork for the Panama Papers, and we all owe a debt of gratitude to her and the other hundreds of journalists who worked to change, and better the world.

“But if you forget to reblog Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity.”

Blog #1 : my definition of being alone

I should have started this, this week, but today I feel like I should write this down. Or at least write it here so I don't feel alone. And that is my problem, I guess. Going to a small college was supposed to be a good thing for me, a way to make friends. And I did, for the first two weeks I came to Wells. But they promised we all would go out to eat, and they all drove off without me, texting me 'Sorry'. Did I mention that we all live in the same floor? As if I didn't have enough problems, today, a Thursday, November 1st, my stupid teacher, who's only job is to ease freshmen into the stages of college. Whatever that means. Anyway, he asked me, flat out in class, if 'don't you have friends?' Leaving the rest of the class to snicker and whisper just pound enough for me to hear, answer for me, 'No.' I assured my mother that I would be fine like this, but I'm not. That I'm here for my education and that's that, but that's just an excuse, and a dumb one at that. I feel like I haven't left the Bronx. Cause that's where I'm from, and if you don't have a mean face, you look vulnerable, and my face hasn't been like that in four years. The four years I've been in high school. But I don't think I've let it go. And that may be my problem, having a stone face.

The protests of Hawaiians before colonization

NO. 1

In regard to cultural survival and cultural sustainability, many traditional Hawaiian practices like long distance voyaging, paddling, fishing and surfing is very important, as rom the start of the 19th century to 1970, western colonization almost destroyed Hawaiian culture. In ‘The Struggle for Hawaiian Sovereignty’, by Haunani-Kay Trask, she writes, pg.9, ‘’Entering the U.S as a Territory in 1900, our country became a white planter outpost, providing missionary-descended sugar barons in the islands and imperialist Americans on the continent with a military watering hole in the Pacific—By 1970, rural Hawaiian communities were besieged by rapid development. Urbanization brought an influx of rich haole from the American continent, who unlike tourists, wanted to live in Hawai’i. Evictions of Hawaiians lead to increasing protests, especially in communities scheduled for residential and commercial development.’’

  Examples of these protests was one that occurred in 1976, by Isaiah Helekunihi Walker with the creation of Hui O He’e Nalu (club of wave sliders) for preservation of control over North Shore Waves. He voiced concern about an endangered Hawaiian space, or ‘ka po’ ina nalu, which translates to the ‘surf zone’. When Captain Cooke arrived in Hawai’i, he believed the Polynesians were skilled navigators and surfers, as they were able to migrate, or sail, against powerful sails and winds from Asia to the pacific islands. Unfortunately, the missionaries that came decades later deduced that surfing was a ‘barbaric activity’, and with the success of the Christians, Hawaiian men and women especially, were discouraged from boxing, wrestling, or surfing, which was regarded as an act of resistance for both men and women.

     NO. 2

The cultural practices of paddling are another tradition that survived against western colonialism. It was made with canoes, and they were mostly made up from trees, coconuts, or kol trees. In ‘The story of Albert Kamilla Choy Ching, Jr.’ it explains the cultural aspect of paddling and what it means to the Native Hawaiians. ‘’Al was a natural for paddling. He had keen eye-hand coordination and excelled as a steersman. He also loved to teach, and his high school coach John Kapua had taught him enough about paddling technique during his sculling year at Kaimuki for Al to want to improve himself and others. ‘I kept coming back [to paddling] because there was a desire to get better. There never was a desire to get to the very top—-it just came. I wanted to get a little better, and then I figured maybe I can beat that guy and then the next guy…. Before you know it, there’s a lot of guys behind you and you never intended to be that way, ‘’ pg. 4. But on pg.9, the meaning of paddling delves deeper as Al explains, ‘’I enjoy watching out people learn, how they came up from nothing. And if any of them win a race in the state championship, that makes me happy, real happy. Just watching them. Because I remember when I won…. All the things that I learnt through canoeing come from my Hawaiian side. How to look at the clouds. How to look at the ripples on the water and to see how the water is running. Even navigating backwards…the canoes did a real lot for me, kept my health, kept my tradition, kept me in touch with Hawai’i.’’

   NO. 3

  This co-exists with the nature of the fishponds, that ‘’played a spiritual, cultural, and political lives of the people. To the native Hawaiians there is a direct spiritual connection between man, god(s) and nature. As noted by Minerb, the natural environment of the land ‘aina’ and sea ‘kai’ and all things contained within it are perceived to be sentient, divine ancestral forms that have extrasensory perception, and interrelate with people as a family. Thus, to Hawaiians, nature is not only conscience, ke ea o ka ‘aina (life-force of the land) but much of it is divine.’’ pg. 2 of Ancient Hawaiian fishponds.

  NO. 4

   Hawaii was a group of islands that used a social hierarchy and status was a sign of great importance. Competition, including that of the fishponds, and cooperation were ideal values, as traditionally the ideal is that of chiefly status who were obliged to care for those in there lineage. The hierarchy goes from chief, warriors, experts and craftspeople, and fishermen. Another cultural tradition is long distance voyaging, where Hawaiians sailed in large canoes and traveled across huge waves to get to the nearest land over long distance and time to discover new lands, which is what Ancient Hawaiians did. An example would be the great Hawaiian surfer Eddie Aikau who sailed long distance, over giant waves during the 70’s. The voyage is highly dangerous, as the ocean is temperamental, but lots of sailors today even, do it to feel closer to their ancestors and to remember their home. The comparison and contrast between all four, long distance voyaging, paddling, fishing, and surfing in regard to issues of sustainability and cultural survival is that by doing these activities, it was seen to the Hawaiian people as an act of resisting the degrading, humiliating andappropriating acts that colonialism brings with it, as they were immersed with the natural world.

MAG-FUCKING-NIFICENT!!!

He's so handsome

Mass Media and Society

How does mass media affect our society? Is entertainment what drives our society moving forward, and if it is, what type of entertainment are we really pushing out there? These notes discuss how media relates and corresponds pre-existing themes, like ageism, racism, sexism, and the term ‘other-ism’ and explains the origin of the ‘mean world syndrome’ from a sociologist’s point of view.