a little home

curious reader, frustrated writer, off-beat vocalist, tasty food enthusiast, and one who comes undone by silver-tongued soliloquies and fluffy corgi butts

[blackbearmagic]

one time I saw a photo of a skinned whale/dolphin flipper on reddit or something and I've just never recovered

there's just. A paw in there.

[gallusrostromegalus]

One of the most spiritually profound moments of my life was when I was sixish and at a natural history museum with my parents that had a whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

I remember my dad picking me up to sit on his shoulders (possibly one of the last times he did that because I was getting too big to hold there for long) so I could be close to it's flipper because he wanted to show me something. He had me hold up my arm parallel to the whale's, and explained that we had the same bones, pointing to it's scapula and humerus and radius and ulna and so on while poking the same bones in my skinny little arm, all they way down to the tips of my fingers and it's own.

And in that moment, I could suddenly see how the whale and I were the same animal, just stretched and shrunk into different proportions by nature. There was an entire exhibit with skeletons of different animals and we went through all of them, picking out the hands and faces of all of them on myself.

I had never felt such a profound connection to the world around me before as I realized on a visceral level that not only was I related to all these creatures, they were very literally my distant cousins, and that in a way, they were me from back then and I was them from now, and we all were others still from the future.

Every living thing on earth is your cousin. The most distantly related humans are your 50th cousins. Chimps are your several thousandth cousins. An octopus is your 25 millionth cousin. Trees are your billionth cousins. You and I are surrounded by family. And that makes me feel profoundly loved.

So thanks dad, for pulling your shoulder a bit to show me that I am part of the universe. I love you too.

[shadowed-yet-vibrant]

I love having friends who reject diet culture. I love going out when everyone buys food and drinks that they enjoy. I love people who will pipe up and suggest we stop for a snack or grab a meal. I love ordering what I want and no one making comments other than how good it looks (and maybe asking to steal a bite off my plate). I love revelling in how full we are after a good meal and taking a break to appreciate how fortunate we are. I love sharing snack from our bags with one another. I love enjoying the pleasure of food and drinks and good company.

[infectiouspiss]

i <3 sending complaints to the bbc because they just can't stop deadnaming and misgendering trans people

[infectiouspiss]

fuck the bbc. fuck the bbc forever and ever. a man dies tragically at 18, his mother, through her grief, starts up a charity so that others can care for their loved ones in the worst moment, and the bbc decides it's really important to deadname (and maybe misgender, that last paragraph is written very weirdly) a dead man. fuck the bbc.

here's the article and here's where to complain to the bbc about this horrible act of violence against a trans person (you need to link the article to make the complaint).

[stemmonade]

Help a Black disabled trans couple thrive for Pride Month

happy pride edition of this post lol. wont bog down the post explaining our situation, but we still need consistent help affording all our living expenses. my wife works but her job pays shit and i am trying to find work to no avail. i have the usual pay apps, as does my wife. we also have other options (like our patreon for monthly bills) and our registry if u wanna support that way. please consider helping make two struggling black queer folks' lives easier this pride month 🩷

PLS DONT TAG UNLESS FOR ACCESSIBILITY PURPOSES 🙏🏼

[stemmonade]

6/10

$564.13/$1250.13 for rent (9 days past due)

$0/$45 for negative bank balance and food

have not been able to update in like a week due to being very busy and then very very ill. we still aren't even at halfway, please please contribute if you can 🙏🏼. im also in the red from paying for stuff to prep for potential job interviews, and need to be able to eat this week. anything folks can spare helps.

[1five1two]

'Full Moon'. Kazuyuki Sutoh.

[urgetocreate]

Choy Moo Kheong (Singaporean b.1950), Blue Whispering Day, 2022, Acrylic on canvas

[wonderstruck]

If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

[ramalamacreatures]

Handmade Horned Frog

[soymoss]

hummingbirds of north america

[allofthedoodles]

Some Night Sky petunia (which is a real flower btw!) 🌌✨

[johnny-depplyloveyou]

“Gods, I’d pay a king’s ransom for a hot, lavender-scented bath – minstrels serenading as I close my eyes and let the water’s warmth dissolve all woes.” 🛁🫧💜

Edit: this one and my other art are available as print on Redbubble and INPRNT !

[ghiblin]

NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND 1984, dir. Hayao Miyazaki

[latinotiktok]

[senshimeshi]

This is better than any ATLA live action remake we could ever hope for

[kyoshisgf]

*katara teaching aang waterbeding*

katara: stay calm, we’ll go step-by-step. there isn’t a problem that you can’t—oh! ....you did it....

*toph teaching aang how to earthbend*

toph: fucking dammit!! move the damn rock before i flatten you and ruin your stupid life!!!

*zuko teaching aang how to firebend*

-calle 13’s “atreve-te-te” plays -

[wtf-scientific-papers]

Wang and Lai (2014)

[gemstone-gynoid]

[sua-sponte-deactivated20200331]

I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.

The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.

So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”

1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.

Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.

Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.

[is-the-post-reliable]

RATING: RELIABLE

you can listen to the clip of the 1954 interview here and find him on wikipedia here

[jay-rayart]

FLY UPDATE: We’re officially 78% funded after just 7 hours.

Thank you to everyone who has backed, shared, commented, and believed in this story. Watching people rally around these characters has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

To celebrate, I wanted to highlight the incredible artists who created this epic piece of art, @awk3005_

I’ve been a fan of his work for years, so getting the chance to collaborate with him on FLY felt surreal. As a fellow Black artist with Ghanaian roots, his journey has always inspired me. Seeing him carve out his own path through art is a reminder of what’s possible when we bet on ourselves and our stories.

That’s why he was the perfect choice to draw the boys of FLY. This story is about discovering your power, and his work captures that feeling perfectly. Thank you so much @awk3005_ for creating this beautiful print for FLY.

We’re so close to the finish line. Let’s keep flying. BACK FLY on Kickstarter today!

FLY : A Magical Black Boy Series - Pilot

A coming of age story about Black kids who finally have power to fight back against systems designed against them.

[letsmeetinourdreams]

“Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated—with one another; with the rainy, sleety weather; with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you’ve had a rough day and you’re frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here’s what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight—just leave ‘em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I’ll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?”

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who’d been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious.

At the next stop—just as promised—the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up—but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it’s extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.

But what if you are the light? What if you’re the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?

That’s what this bus driver taught me—that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy “influencer.” He was a bus driver—one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.

When life feels especially grim, or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of the world’s troubles, I think of this man and ask myself, What can I do, right now, to be the light? Of course, I can’t personally end all wars, or solve global warming, or transform vexing people into entirely different creatures. I definitely can’t control traffic. But I do have some influence on everyone I brush up against, even if we never speak or learn each other’s name. How we behave matters because within human society everything is contagious—sadness and anger, yes, but also patience and generosity. Which means we all have more influence than we realize.

No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated—one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.“

–Elizabeth Gilbert