Everything feels awful right now but it isn't really. We still don't officially have a winner, but regardless of how the presidential election ends up, I wanted to take a minute and find what lights I can in the 3 a.m. darkness. Here's what I know:
* Kentucky overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to undermine the public education system by offering private school vouchers:
* Delaware has elected a transgender woman to the House of Representatives, the first out trans person of any gender ever elected to congress:
* For the first time in history, two Black women will be serving in the senate at the same time, and they are only the fourth and fifth Black women ever elected to the senate:
* New York State has passed a constitutional amendment enshrining the rights of pregnant people (including the right to an abortion), LGBTQIA+ people, the disabled, immigrants regardless of legal status, and other at-risk groups:
* Democrat Josh Stein has beaten self-avowed Nazi Mark Robinson to become governor of North Carolina:
That's everything I know off the top of my head. It's not many bright spots, but it's not zero. I'm going to try to find more and I'll add them to the post. It's the only thing I can think of to do that isn't sobbing and throwing up or looking up Canadian immigration rules.
If you know more good news, I encourage you to add it in reblogs.
the problem with reading and writing leading to a strong vocabulary is that you tend to know the vibe of words instead of their meanings.
if I used this word in a sentence, would it make sense? absolutely. if you asked me what it meant, could I tell you? absolutely not.
Y'all this candle I got recently is super cool like all the melted wax goes into the center and after a while it makes a new candle out of the old wax???? Super neat too, so far none of the wax has dripped on the outside, it's fantastic
I know I sound like your mom but you kids need to stop fucking vaping
barbie: i just feel so out of sorts….like i’m thinking about death and the nature of my being and i feel like everything around me is suddenly changing and my usual hobbies aren’t exciting me anymore?? and all the parties and games and music aren’t distracting me like they used to :/// maybe something’s the matter with me but the only way to find out for sure might be to venture outside of the only world i’ve ever known and i have no idea what’s waiting for me out there. is leaving safety and comfort and parties worth facing the full truth of my existence and the world?
ken: idk babe but it sounds like a fun adventure to me!! i brought my rollerblades!! omfg i LOVE the indigo girls. do you think i’ll get to do an appendectomy?? THIS IS SO FUN-
disney employees are starting a full week of walkouts leading to their big walkout on march 22nd, 2022. they’ve asked people to not use disney products during this week. (no disney+, hulu, espn, playing games, watching videos, reviewing/blogging about any of their IP, no going to the parks). this is a targeted and timed action you can concretely participate in.
they’re asking people to also support by using those hashtags and to sign their petition in solidarity.
Can you tell me it'll be okay? And mean it?
Yeah. It feels like shit now and there's a lot to worry about, but there was a lot to worry about last month and four years ago and eight years ago and twelve years ago and sixteen and twenty and twenty four and twenty eight and on and on and on.
Continue to work locally, continue to help people, continue to speak up for what is right and protest what is wrong.
We all should be breaking unjust laws and taking care of one another because you don't survive things like this by being isolated and alone, you survive things like this by building networks and creating parallel systems and growing tight bonds with the people in your community (either physically or digitally).
Plan on helping someone get an abortion. Plan on lying to ICE. Plan on helping someone get hormones. Plan on defending an encampment. Plan on sharing information that is being hidden. Plan on potesting a pipeline or supporting forest defense. Plan on not crossing picket lines. Plan on helping your friends get their meds.
The US Federal Government sucks shit and is not here to help. But there are millions of people who want to help each other, and those are the people you should be focusing your energy on.
It's going to be hard, but it was always going to be hard. I believe in my community, I believe in the networks I've built, I believe in the ability of small groups to make change and I believe in you.
Don't panic about what's on the horizon, do something *today* that will make someone else's life better tomorrow and it will feel less like the world is falling down.
In ~these times~ it is important for queer people to be reminded of what "coming out" originally meant. "Coming out" did not mean telling all of your co-workers something super stigmatized and vulnerable about you, wearing your queer status on your sleeve in public, informing the police or government institutions about your sexuality, or even telling your parents. "Coming out" meant venturing out into the queer community; being among other queers as a queer yourself.
Coming out isn't about telling the entire world when doing so is not safe for you, it's not about arming your enemies with information they could use against you. No, coming out is about making a fulfilling queer life possible for yourself through participation in the queer community. It is about escaping the restrictions and dangers of the cisgender heterosexual world by rooting oneself more deeply into the queer one.
And you can always do that. No matter how oppressed we are. No matter how much the culture shifts and policies are enacted to terrorize us. We are always able to be ourselves when we are amongst each other. And living our queerness has always been a collective social project, not just a matter of personal exposure.