Reflections of a Nightowl by the Glow of Bluelight

[wordsnquotes]

And like all lovers and sad people, I’m a poet.

Allen Ginsberg (via talkingoutsoft)

[bluelightowl]

I sit here reading melancholy poetry and eating sour strawberries and all I can think is: "Life is sweet."

[lora-mathis]

He said he loved you first and you fell for it. You fell for it all: The way your breath fogged up the windows, how the moon licked at your lap, how the mosquitoes hit his parked car. You fell hard. Him, he just sat there not facing you, waiting. And you gave him the okay, let go of every night he didn’t call you, let go of him being too embarrassed to go anywhere but his bed with you. When it was over you thought, “That’s it” as he went out into the hot night to dispose of the evidence. That’s it. First time you were fucked and you were even further from knowing what an orgasm felt like. On the drive back, you just looked at him, looked and looked and looked, until he finally turned back to you and said, “What are you staring at?” The next time you wanted to touch someone, you were the experienced one. A few sloppy times in which someone else did all the work and suddenly you knew what you were doing. You were watching a movie. It was snowing outside. When you ended up on the quilted bed together, he looked up at you in anticipation, and you looked around the room, waiting for someone to tell you what to do. You weren’t used to having control over your body. Then you took off your shirt and he moaned a little. You liked the sound of it enough to move in with him a year later. To not ask questions. To swallow all of your insecurities about the future. When he broke up with you, he watched you cry on his bed for hours. You realized, as you sat there unable to stop and he simply stared at you, that this was the first time he’d made you moan. This is a poem that you might be too young and too exhausted to write. Thinking about being touched is not fun. You could write about what happened next. About your next sloppy attempt at love and how you both used alcohol to like yourselves more. Him in his lonely house with his game shows and sixteen pack. Write about that other one, with the buttoned-up shirt and receding hairline, and how accepting your body grew. How people you never wanted touched you and you collapsed into them. How you thought it was easier to wait it out then put up a fight. How much energy it took to finally quit your job, to delete their number, to block their email, and how still, they tried to contact you. You could write about what happened next. But it’s still happening. It hasn’t stopped. You don’t unlearn survival tricks once you stop needing them. Now even when you touch yourself you are separated to a degree. It hasn’t stopped. You are still here, trapped in this body, as these men take whatever they’d like of you.

You Asked Me What That Sex Felt Like And All I Could Think Of Was “Self-Harm" | Lora Mathis  (via lora-mathis)

I wanna be here for anyone who had sex they regret because they did not know their own worth or think they were able to say “no.”. I wanna be here for anyone who just let people touch them because it was easier than putting up a fight. I wanna be here for people who feel traumatized by ways they were touched but don’t know how to articulate their feelings. I wanna be here for anyone who thinks it was not assault because there was no physical violence, no fight, no screaming. You are important. Your experiences are valid. 

(via lora-mathis)

[bluelightowl]

Where Is "One Day"?

I’ll find my niche… one day, or so I’ve been told.

9 years has gone by since my car crashed. My peers driving by as the police ask what happened and I waited for my parents to come so I could apologize.

5 years has gone by since everyone threw their caps in the air, excited to enter the real world. While I felt I already was there, having to get to work early the next day.

1 year has gone by since I entered this new city. From the artists to business people, geeks to hippies; I said, “hello.” No one has said, “Welcome.”

Time goes on by, but one day never arrives.

[smoothiefreak]

THINGS YOU SHOULD SAY TO FAT PEOPLE- [subscribe|twitter|insta]

[bluelightowl]

Pop

You never were one to love me, but excellent at manipulating me. There's always a kernel of truth in our lies - stories. The rubber bands try to make a beat for all that I can't say.

[thisisjustgreat-deactivated2020]

[wildcat2030]

A lot of things can kill you - but here are some surprising ones you may not have realized!

[ppkey]

And much, much more. 

[plannedparenthood]

We’ve got your back.

Our services differ by location so call your local health center to find out what they can do for you.>>

[bluelightowl]

Yes... I did just watch this on Netflix.

It was awesome, but noticed so many things wrong with this movie at the same time.

[z-co]

Hello! A lot of you have been asking me where and how I’ve learn multiple languages and well, after a few hours of digging through my browser history and bookmarks, I was able to collect all of these resources. I have personally used all of these, so I can assure you they are useful! If there is something wrong with a website or a link, please let me know. Also, if you have any questions or if you want a learning buddy, my ask box is open. (I speak English and Spanish. I’m learning Korean, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, and Esperanto)

Note: Learning a new language requires a lot of dedication, more than you actually think! Especially if you’re learning multiple languages at the same time. It isn’t impossible, but it will take time. And by time I mean months and/or years! So please, be patient. Take your time. Don’t rush. Keep in mind that you will mess up and that’s okay. Practice as much as you can. Practice out loud. Talk to yourself if you can. It doesn’t matter if people think you’re crazy. They won’t be thinking the same when you become a polyglot, so don’t mind them. This is for you and your future.

Get started:

Everything listed below is FREE! Some sites do require you to sign up, but that’s for you to keep track of your own process.

Tips to get you started

Language Hacking tips (blog)

More language hacking tips (blog)

The Polyglot Project (Library with foreign books that lets you translate while reading)

How to Learn Any Language

Effective Language Learning

Ankidroid (flashcard maker)

Multiple languages, one website

Duolingo (Latin American Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Norwegian (Bokmål), Ukrainian, and Esperanto)

BBC Languages (40 languages)

Learn A Language (18 languages)

Conjuguemos (French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish)

L-lingo (21 languages)

101languages (167 languages)

Languagepod101 (31 languages)

Foreign Services Institute (44 languages)

My Languages (95 languages)

Surface Languages (43 languages)

Lingualia (Spanish)

Linguanaut (16 languages)

OmniGlot (All languages [basic info for some of them])

Memrise (Various languages) (flashcard system)

Livemocha (Various languages)

Polyglotclub

Sharedtalk

Interpals (specify in your profile you only look for language exchange because there can be some creeps in this one)

Couchsurfing

Babbel

Specific Languages

Korean:

Learn to read Korean in 15 minutes! - Really helpful as well

Learnkoreanlp - Focuses on grammar

k-is4korean

Talktomeinkorean

Learn-korean

korean-flashcards - Focuses on vocabulary

Easytolearnkorean

Korean.go.kr/ - Focuses on pronunciation

Lang-8 - Community to correct your entries

Dongsa - Conjugations for verbs

Howtostudykorean- EXTREMELY helpful when it comes to learning hangul and writing structure!

hangulpractice - This blog has some useful posts.

letstteok-korean

Talktomeinkorea (YouTube channel)

fluentkorean

sweetandtasty

seoulistic - For culture lessons

GenkiKorean

Korean Word Game

English-Korean Vocabulary Quizzes

Hangul Keyboard - This is also EXTREMELY helpful with Hangul/romanization. It also converts any romanized syllables into hangul

Korean - Reddit threat

Chinese/Mandarin:

Hackingchinese

Chinese-tools - Pretty helpful with pronunciation.

Chinese Open courseware

Chinese Language - Reddit threat

Chinese Textbook

Chineasy

Learn Mandarin

Chinese Hacks

yoyochinese

How can I learn Chinese

Why is Chinese so damn hard?

Japanese:

Learn Japanese I / II - YouTube

Guidetojapanese

Free Japanese lesson

Japaneseclass.jp

thejapanesepage

Japanesepod101

Tofugu

Erin’s Challenge!

Jplang

Yesjapan

Marugoto - Includes culture lessons

Kana Invaders - Fun game for learning Kana

Another great masterpost for Japanese - So many resources!!!

Esperanto:

Note: I did a research and supposedly Esperanto is an easy-to-learn language that helps you with other languages.

Esperantofre

Esperanto “library”

Esperanto Grammar

Esperanto (Duolingo)

German:

Learn German Online

German Language Guide

Mission Berlin - Mystery adventure game

Basic German

Deutsch Lernen

Slow German

Kids’ Games - For vocabulary

Italian:

MIT Open Courseware

Italian Language Guide

Italian Grammar

Italian For Beginners - YouTube

Latin:

Some Latin grammar

Latin Course - YouTube

Portuguese:

Oneness

Ta Falado

Portuguese (Duolingo)

French:

Learn French Guide

Coffee Break French

University of Texas: Francais interactif

Podcastfrancaisfacile

French Language Guide

Lingopolo/french

Le Journal en français facile

News in Slow French

Francolab

Cliffs Notes

Native French Speech

French Podcast

Spanish:

Spanish - About.com

@spanishskulduggery

Study Spanish

Cliffs Notes

Destinos

One Minute Spanish

One Minute Spanish (Latin America focused)

Thai:

Learn Thai Podcast

Woman Learn Thai

Let’s Talk Thai

Thai 101

Lingopolo/thai

Arabic:

Books to Learn Arabic

Mandinah Arabic

Arabic Verbs (PDF)

al3arabiya

Arabic Pronouns (PDF)

Arabic Alphabet / Also Here / And Here!

Arabic For Language Exchange

Peace Corps

Hindi:

A Door Into Hindi

Learning Hindi

NYU Hindi Course

Quillpad - Great for typing

Namaste Dosti

SU Hindi Course

ispeakhindi

Hindi Script

Vietnamese:

VietnamesePod101

Survival Phrases

seasite.niu.edu

Learn Vietnamese Online

Greek:

Some Greek Grammar (New Testament)

Romanian:

Rolang

One Minute Romanian

Welsh:

Say Something in Welsh

Welsh Vocab

Dutch:

Lingopolo/dutch

Learn Dutch

Russian:

Speak Russian

Russian Alphabet

Taste of Russian

Master Russian

Russian Open Courseware

Russian Handwriting

Swedish:

Klartext

SwedishLingQ

Survival Phrases

That’s it. That’s all I have right now. I’ll try to search for more and will keep updating this list! If you have a request for a specific language, just send me an ask. Have fun and good luck! 

[bluelightowl]

Today (yesterday) I was thinking, "I want to become fluent in Spanish." Stumbled upon a blog that reblogged this and I feel like the universe is saying: "Here are the tools- go and do it! You can become fluent."

[wildflower-collective]

“T(ex)ting” Lora Mathis & Kasey Reinbold August 2014

It’s over.

All that remains in place of a relationship gone sour is a collection of hurt feelings and angry text messages.

Things you couldn’t have said in person. Things you probably shouldn’t have said from behind a keyboard. 

T(ex)ting is a series that explores how the termination of a relationship interrupts routine, and how technology’s capacity to convert the emotional to the tangible (in the form of archived text messages) can prolong the healing process that follows a break-up.

Graphics by Kasey Reinbold Photos by Lora Mathis Concept / Art Direction by Lora & Kasey

[lora-mathis]

prints now available in the where are you press store!

[bluelightowl]

Stabbing lips

There is a laundry list of dreams as the background of my phone. The one year extension rapidly approaching and nothing accomplished. Eyes drooping, but too afraid to sleep... Too afraid to write on a blog... Too afraid to speak... Too afraid to let go... Too afraid. There is no reason for my heart to be moving its way up my throat. The fluttering pressure feels like a hummingbird's wings beating as it suspends itself in the air. Faux poetics. Critics crawl into my ear. Critiques nothing more than mean insults that live in the corner of my mind. Mostly: "this isn't a poem- just a poorly disguised diary entry... A subpar one at that." The stabbing feeling on my lip is back. It first starts as a phantom hair transforms to an itch that can't be scratched (a fleeting longing for a dentist appointment as an excuse comes a goes- can I call this prose?) and then a thousand safety pins attack my lip. Stabbing my lip. My eyes begin to droop. A laundry list of things never to be accomplished. There's roll of quarters for a laundry was.

[timemagazine]

Having a Tough Day? This Pep Talk Generator Is Exactly What You Need

It's Monday. Treat yourself.

[ppaction]

Why do you #StandWithPP? Millions of people look to Planned Parenthood for support and basic reproductive health care. You can share your story by posting in our ask or clicking here and submitting it through our new website, www.IStandWithPP.org.

[gwengold]

[bluelightowl]

If only you knew what a blue rose meant to me.

[duermoconculebras-deactivated20]

"Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it’s personal. And the world won’t end. And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don’t miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And you will still flirt and paint your nails, dress up and party, because, as I think Emma Goldman said, "If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution." And at last you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.”

Audre Lorde (via cosmicroots)