2016 has been the year of being prone to sadness. of troubleshooting and putting energy into everything else and never leaving any for myself and expecting different results every time. no wonder i always end up back here? i realized that pouring energy into organizing at work in response to the election was another distraction...and at the bottom of things i still don’t really feel passionate about what i’m doing. our director cautioned against becoming parasitic off of students’ energy, and she’s right...now that classes are over i don’t have much to sustain myself and my (lack of) enthusiasm. i read a whole book and a half of bell hooks talking about the necessity of educators and lovers being self-actualized, and i still didn’t change, much. i feel more outwardly confident and feel like i have a less strong sense of self than in 2015 and i’m confused how these things can co-exist in this body. when you learn how to perform and have more back bone but still feel lost inside? when it’s easier to work on your job or your organizing or responding to emails than sit with the hard questions and try to take a breath and take care of your needs? when you don’t really know what your needs are or what you really enjoy doing anymore?
Last night, as the temperature in Standing Rock plunged below 30 degrees, hundreds were blasted with water cannons.
As a Native woman who has been to Standing Rock three times, and whose health now prevents me from making a fourth trip, I have my own asks. Call every number put in front of you. Jam every phone line. Look at the target list of financial institutions supporting this pipeline. Pick a bank. Shut it down, just like we did in Chicago on Saturday and people did in Philadelphia this morning. The Trump administration hasn’t even taken hold yet, and I watched over a livestream last night as my friends and people were battered with water streams that can tear skin from flesh and eyes from sockets. I watched my people hold space and scramble to save one another as drops of water froze to razor wire.
I know marginalized people around the county are organizing for their own survival right now, and sitting around tables discussing the difficult days ahead. But a strategy of protection, defense and obstruction cannot wait for the inauguration of an autocrat. It must be applied here and now.
Please show us that you see us. Please do all you can to stop this.
If you cannot travel to Standing Rock, or support or organize an action where you live, consider contacting one of these Sheriffs and police departments that have loaned out the officers who are abusing Native peoples in Standing Rock. Jam their phone lines and tell them to bring their people home. If your community is on this list, actively organize to recall the deployment.
Michigan City Police Department
Michigan City, IN
(219) 874-3221
North Dakota Highway Patrol
Offices across North Dakota
(701) 328-2455
Hammond Police Department
Hammond, IN
219-852-2900
Munster Police Department
Munster, IN
(219) 836-6600
Griffith Police Department
Griffith, IN
(219) 924-7503
Anoka County Sheriff’s Office
Andover, MN
(763) 323-5000
Washington County Sheriff’s Office
Stillwater, MN
651-430-6000
Marathon County Sheriff’s Department
Wausau, WI
(715) 261-1200
La Porte County Sheriff’s Office
La Porte, IN
(219) 326-7700
Newton County Sheriff’s Office
Kentland, IN
219-474-3331
South Dakota Highway Patrol
Pierre, SD
605-773-3105
Jasper County Sheriff
Rensselaer, Indiana
219-866-7344
Lake County Sheriff Sheriff’s Department
Crown Point, IN
219-755-3333
Laramie County Sheriff’s Department
Cheyenne, WY
307-633-4700
Wyoming Highway Patrol
Cheyenne, WY
307-777-4301
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Columbus, Ohio
614-466-2660
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Lincoln, NE
(402) 471-7421
Supply note: With at least two hundred injured last night, Standing Rock medics are in critical need of the following items:
Milk of Magnesia
Wool socks
Wool blankets
Space blankets
Hand warmers
Trauma kits (portable)
Suturing kits
Straw bales
Supplies can be shipped to:
Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council
PO Box 1251, Bismark ND, 58502
or if you are shipping via UPS or Fed Ex, please use the address:
220 E. Rosser Ave. 1251, Bismark, ND, 58502
Standing Rock has become the largest gathering of Native Americans in more than 100 years, with water protectors and land defenders coming from across North America to stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline. They are risking their lives to protect the land and the generations that will inherit it.
What I desire is that my fellow American citizens stand with us. I ask you to please call or write your Senators and Representative to stop this blindness and greed.
And, if nothing else, please, offer a prayer for my people and all the people who are standing with us in prayer. Just offer some thoughts of protection for us. We ask that you offer a prayer for sensibility and common sense in behalf of all the two legged, as this is not just a Lakota/Dakota issue, this is a human issue.
This land that is being disturbed was once ours. Our people, our Indian Nations lived and governed our people all over this territory. This land across the Cannonball River that is now threatened was forcibly taken from us and there was nothing that we could do about it then and now.
Nonetheless, we still believe that we are the keepers of this beautiful land. Although it was taken from us, we know, we must stand and speak on this land’s behalf. We want everyone and the federal government to respect this land and water and take care of it. That is why our people are standing up and standing with the land and water. We have to be here. It is instructions that the Creator has given us. We have to be here. We have to protect ourselves and those that cannot speak for themselves.
Dave Archambault II (Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), Demonstrations a cry to stop desecration of Mother Earth
Art by Marty Two Bulls for Indian Country Today Media Network
“Vending call out for Black Artist, Creatives and Makers in Toronto for this upcoming Black Artist Market.
If you are an ally please share with any black artist/ makers and creative that you think might be interested ♥
I genuinely encourage everyone to apply! If you are a black artist who makes your own anime, APPLY! If you are a black Farmer, Apply! If you are a black photographer, Apply! If you are a black illustrator, APPLY! If you are black jewelry maker or designer, Apply! If you are a black artist, maker or creative, and you are not sure if you should submit/apply, email me so we can talk about it … and then APPLY!
Submissions will be accepted until Friday, September 16, 2016. If you want to be a vendor at the market send an email to [email protected] with following:
Your Name,
A bit about yourself and your art
Name of your business (if applicable)
What you want to sell
I am unbelievably excited about this and what will be born from this. I am also excited to witness the brilliance of black artists in Toronto”
Hey all you lovely people who have periods, the world is starting to look a little bit brighter now that certain tampon/pad companies have started to allow people to receive small kits and samples of pads, maxi pads, liner, and tampons for free. And I mean 100% free and discreet. You just have to give them your address and name, and bam! You’ve got all the menstrual cycle products you could ever need for no cost. Links below!
able bodied people’s idea of wheelchair accessibility is laughable at best. listen.
if a wheelchair user has to go around to a back alley to get into your venue–it should not be called accessible
if your venue doesn’t have automatic doors–it should not be called accessible
if your venue’s washrooms are down a narrow hall that is difficult to navigate–it should not be called accessible
if your venue’s floorplan doesn’t factor in space for wheelchairs–it should not be called accessible
if your venue has steps leading in, or at any point inside, and no ramp is readily available–it should not be called accessible
and that’s just 5 points from my foggy brain on wheelchair accessibility. they miss so many things and lose more potential customers than they realize and it’s ridiculous bc it would take 10 seconds of thought, but they can’t even give that.
•If you have several ramps that have steps at the bottom or top of them and none of the wheelchair accessible ramps are marked, don’t you dare call it accessible even if there are other wheelchair ramps (there’s a certain university campus wth several ramps with 2 big steps at the bottom of them that you can’t see from the top)
•if the whole ground is designed to discourage skateboarders, it’s gonna be hell for a wheelchair user’s butt. cobbles are bad enough but skateboard deterring bricks are hell. (same university had this everywhere outside)
•if you use your wheelchair ramps, elevators, and other accessible areas to put large decorations and in turn they’re blocked off: there’s NO WAY they’re accessible! or if they’re employee only!
•if you’re a restaurant and you only have one tiny corner in the back that’s dark and smells and is far from the other tables that’s accessible, you aren’t an accessible restaurant
•sidewalks that are not maintained and have 3 inch drops into the road at the bottom of the ramp into the crosswalk. why?
Here’s a few more I’ve dealt with in personal experience.
The prison population across the U.S. starts off relatively low in the late 1970s, with most states having about 130 to 260 prisoners per 100,000 people.
source
3 - 4.
According to a study by the Women Donors Network, 95% of elected prosecutors in the U.S. are white and 79% are white men.
5.
6.
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Key findings include:
Both black and Hispanic men were less likely to receive a positive response from employers—including a call back or email for an interview or a job offer—compared with white men.
Men with criminal records were more likely than women with criminal records to receive a negative response from employers.
White men with a criminal record had more positive responses than black men with no criminal record.
i’m 23 and don’t have it all together. the past two weeks i discovered i’m okay with high school youth. the attitude and awkwardness hits my heart in a particular way. i’m getting better at teaching. this week the quiet students that hadn’t shared much before busted out with impressive freewrites. i got disappointed and learned first hand how much young people will push boundaries if you don’t set them. i’m getting better at setting boundaries. at being firm. parents terrify me but that, too, is a good challenge. i’m getting better at switching hats. professional, teaching artist, supervisor, sometimes writer, lover, friend. i’m in love with a cishet man in philadelphia after spending all of 2015 learning i’m not straight. he will be out there for at least the next three years. the distance is hard, my fear of failure that pervades all parts of my life is harder. but maybe uncertainty and missing are always part of love? i think that learning to lean into uncertainty and discomfort is learning to better love the self. i’m worst at following up or replying to messages that regard my work as an artist. i am a great self sabotager. there are 58 copies of my book out somewhere in the world and it’s not too scary now that it’s happened. i talk more about needing to create than i create. i watch the amazing things friends make and sink into self-loathing without changing anything in my routine. i feel like a failed activist. i put most of my energy into work and don’t always believe it’s the best investment of me. sometimes it is the investment that saves me. i don’t make time to breathe. i’m trying to get better at making time. i’m stretched in many directions, but that’s always been true for me. i’m turning 24 in 25 days and constantly uncomfortable and i guess that’s just where i need to be, now.
edit: i’ve been having dreams this week where asian women who have been mentors to me tell me biting critiques about my work that voice my deepest fears. i’m not really sure what this means--i’m my worst critic? i dream out my fear of rejection by people i respect?
Native Americans are not happy with J.K. Rowling’s new story
Two days ago, author J.K. Rowling released a new story, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, on her blog Pottermore. Controversy soon followed, as Rowling immediately faced backlash over the alleged misrepresentation of Native culture in a story that draws from real Colonial Massachusetts history.
Understand that this applies even to non-sexual situations. Women are more likely to be asked for favors from coworkers. Regular “can you file this for me” / “can you cover my shift” / “can you finish up this paperwork” workplace favors. Men are less likely to return those favors. Women are more likely to be seen as “difficult to work with” if they refuse to do favors when requested. Being viewed as ungenerous has negative social and professional consequences.
So yes, even gay men benefit. All men benefit from women’s reinforced fear of being hurt, not just physically, but also socially and professionally, for saying no to anything at all.
gracieabrams
vaporwave
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
