Wonders of Art

[fucktonofanatomyreferencesreborn]

A mouth-watering fuck-ton of hand angle references.

By Shadowcross on DA.

[kward-the-local-cryptid]

BLESS YOU, YOU  WONDERFUL PERSON

[bob-belcher]

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Regards, Andre. Regards.

[caats]

This is so real ♡

[autisticjoy]

its just so fucking unfair that disabled people need extra support but in order to actually get that extra support we have to have both the energy and ability to express ourselves to deal with the bureaucracy of getting that support and i just. i am so tired.

[naamahdarling]

"I am disabled. May I have support?"

"Sure, jump through all these hoops first."

"I am disabled in such a way that I cannot do that."

"There are places that will help you apply."

"What are these places?"

"We don't keep an updated list. Try looking it up yourself and making a hundred phone calls."

"I don't think I can do that. I need help to find help."

"Tough shit."

"Okay, it took me three months to do this and then I waited on a list for 6 months to get in to see a social worker, who helped me with the application. I have submitted it. Now what?"

"You have to wait for months and months while we examine every aspect of your life. We will communicate with you solely via paper mail, so you had better have a stable address. The letters arrive less than a week before deadlines and our site only runs on Internet Explorer."

"All right. So you use my doctor's records, right?"

"We appoint our own just to be sure."

"Okay, fair enough. Hang on, this person offers conversion therapy?! How can I be sure they aren't, like, fucking unhinged?!"

"We have another doctor. They have an opening in three months."

"...Okay. I have pretended not to be queer and have seen the TERF doctor. It actually went well and they said they were optimistic. I'm legitimately disabled. You can see that now, right?"

"Well, barring an act of God, we reject almost everyone."

"...Weren't you going to tell me I can reapply?"

"That was in a very poorly-worded letter you probably didn't get."

"Okay, but why would reapplying change anything? Like, everything is going to be the same."

"You might have better luck applying with a lawyer."

"I can't afford one."

"They take their cut out of your back pay, presuming you eventually are approved."

"Okay, so the appeal won't take as long as the first time, right?"

"It might take longer."

"Okay. Now that I have successfully appealed, I get a handbook telling me what I am allowed and not allowed to do, right?"

"Of course not! You have to call our hotline and wait on hold for several hours."

"But they keep telling me conflicting things! How do I know the truth about the rules?!"

"We will let you know when you've violated them. Try not to violate them by, for instance, not reporting that you accepted food or money from your family and friends."

"I picked up a quarter in the parking lot. Am I supposed to report that, too?!"

"Yes. By the way, you can't be in a relationship without us counting their income against you, and you aren't allowed to have more than $2,000 in assets."

"But my house is falling down! I need to save up $4,000 to fix the roof!"

"NO."

"What if I access a program for the needy to help me with things I need?"

"You have to report all of that in case it counts against you. But we won't give you the rules."

"I found the handbook online and it says I'm allowed to do XYZ..."

"Our representatives may not be well-trained, so they will probably make mistakes and count it anyway."

"How do I fix that?"

"Hire a lawyer, idk lol."

Etc. ad nauseam.

You cannot win with these people. They are bastards and whether or not the system was DESIGNED to crush and kill us, it does, and has been allowed to remain that way, so at this point it is very deliberate.

And when we talk about it we are told we're a burden, should kill ourselves, aren't worth saving, are lying, are derailing, being depressing, or lashing out inappropriately.

I just want to make my art and not struggle for food. Instead I have to be paranoid 24/7 about getting in trouble because a friend feeds me now and then.

[the-mini-muse]

The thing about fan fiction is that you get to see your favorite characters fall in love a million different times and in a million different ways.

Sometimes even getting that happy ending they deserve.

Hours of reading stories that make you laugh and cry and hope.

30+ tabs open in you browser. Bookmarks you check daily on AO3.

And that satisfying feeling of finishing a well written slowburn.

[creativewritingcat-blog]

But I would not oppose the invention of a telepathic keyboard.

[beef-princess-deactivated201507]

[dduane]

Yep, it’d be just like that. :))))))))

[not-all-who-wandr-blog]

The Right to History

        Understanding the national conflict in the United States regarding the commemoration of its Confederate history requires understanding the racial tension that has divided the topic and the nation.  After a brief respite following the conclusion of the war toward the end of the 19th century, the 20th was marred by contentious race relations. It also saw numerous reinterpretations of the conflict that had torn the nation asunder.  In today’s current political climate, the realities of these different versions of history are being realized in the debate around the removal of Confederate statues and memorials around the nation.  The framing of both the Civil War and the Confederacy differs greatly on a variety of factors, including cultural heritage. The debate on Confederate memorialization, and many other monumental sites, centers around how the narrative of the past is passed down and how history is remembered.  

          Contrary to the thoughts of many, the widespread memorialization of the Confederate rebels is better chronologically linked to the politics than emotion.  Concluding in defeat, the Confederate States of America surrendered to the Union Army of the United States of America in May 1865.  The period known as Reconstruction followed after and saw much change, particularly in those states that had seceded.  Commemoration of their lost cause was confined mostly to monuments, few and far between.  Conversely, it was the years of political tumult for African-Americans that saw the most action in favor of the Confederate cause.  The rise of Jim Crow laws in the South saw a corresponding rise in Confederate dedications in the form of schools, courthouses, and state parks. The Civil Rights Movement towards the end of the 50s and throughout the 60s also saw a comparable rise in Confederate memorialization.  These observations clearly demonstrate the correlation between remembrance and politics; eras of tumult in the contentious race relationship that defines America have consistently brought the issues of the Civil War and Confederacy back into focus. This trend has continued again in the 21st century as we are once again arguing the symbolism and magnitude of these memorials.  In 2017, Americans, mostly divided along cultural lines, are still torn on where they stand on their own opinions in relation to the memorials and it continues to be a national conflict.

           One side of the debate presents the Confederate monuments as the memorialization of a struggle for independence and American rights.  Overlooking the connection to race relations, many argue that the Civil War itself was about the rights of the states themselves.  This focus implies that the link to slavery was minimal at best and does much to try and alleviate the stain of racism and prejudice upon Confederate supporters.  Rationalized by a young white millennial, Mitchell highlighted how support for the Confederate memorials was not integrally associated to race or racial conflict.  Though the Confederate cause undoubtedly advocated for the continuance of slavery and racial inequality, in the case of the 2017 controversy that is not a main focus or focus at all.  Rather than race, it is about remembering the conflict and struggle for rights and freedoms for states and individuals in the face of a dominating federal government. Remembering history through this lens makes it possible to understand why people not only do not oppose the statues removal, but actively support their continued existence.  However, this version of history directly challenges that of those advocating the removal of these monuments and memorials.

            Particularly sentient for those of earlier generations is the cultural narrative that links the Confederacy to racial prejudice and racism.  While the Civil War may have been fought for the state rights, the part chosen to be overlooked, however, is the fact that it was their right to retain the institution of slavery.  Growing up in the sixties, towards the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement, Alice readily recalls the personal prejudice and emotional hostility of the period.  Moving from New York to Virginia in the mid-80s, there was no doubt that a certain ideology went hand-in-hand with the celebration of key Confederate figures. In her opinion, and that of those like her, the enduring commemoration of the Confederacy cannot be separated from the personal and inherited.  The shared remembrance of the past is one of the key differences in how history impacts opinions and ideas of today because there is not the objective separation.  Rather than celebration, inherited pain and recollection of violence infuses these statues with a cultural mourning of wrongs done.  

           There is a dual nature to these monuments which hinge on how history is remembered and lived.  Learning history in school and through a political viewpoint allows one to be un-invested.  Maintaining the statues that decorate the United States allows history to be kept alive in the nation’s memory.  Regardless of which side one supported, or would have supported, in the Civil War, the memorial sites keep the discussion and memory alive.  Conversely, history that is still alive, passed down through generations, is full of sentiment and personal emotion.  In this case, it encourages the strong urge do away with symbols that uphold pain and mourning.  The debate around the removal of Confederate statues is divided into two camps based on how the public remembers its history and it is this that explains the unbridgeable differences in perspectives in the matter.  

            The issue that is the continuance of statues and memorials dedicated to key Confederate men is one that deeply divides the United States.  The conflict revolves around which light the Confederate movement itself should be viewed in: was it one for political freedom in a federal system or a struggle to maintain a prejudiced institution and deny equality?  As tension continues to grow with regards to racial identity, it seems that that is the dividing line.  More than race, however, the dividing line is the approach taken to history and remembrance. The debate around the removal of Confederate memorialization will continue to be divisive as society approaches history and how to keep it alive in opposing manners.  

[awolfinmycity]

Telling a story is like sowing a seed—you always hope to see it become a beautiful tree, with firm roots and branches that soar up in the sky. But it is a peculiar sowing, for you will never know whether your seed sprouts or dies.

Laila Lalami, The Moor’s Account

[louisamaymarch]

“But I was beginning to learn that your life is a story told about you, not one that you tell.”

— @fishingboatproceeds Turtles All the Way Down p.1

[brehatano]

You can’t control your legacy; it is determined by who survives. All you can control is the work. Make the best thing you know how. The world will do with it what it will.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

[lesbianarmin]

hey can everyone stop praising disney when talking about how good the representation is in the owl house??

that multimillion dollar mouse does not give a fuck about us.

instead we should be praising dana terrace and the rest of the team

this is their win, not disney's.

[animationgirl89-deactivated2026]

Reblog If You Love This Movie! (The Bad Guys)

[existential-queeer]

I made this in under 30 seconds leave me alone

[teenagekingdomstarlight]

[mistywitcher]

you start the fanfiction at 10pm, just some light reading before bed…

3am + sixteen fics later + on your fifth ao3 search:

[lets-play-gwent]

thank you to every single fucking person on this god forsaken site that has ever posted your own art or writing. You really put a vulnerable, important part of yourself out in the open on the hellscape that is the internet and if that isnt an act of bravery and a labor of love I dont know what one is

[halbarryislife]

burn ll burn butcher burn

[eclecticartistofletters]

Yes!!! I was waiting for this!!!