Raw. @em-cheng - Tumblr Blog

In San Francisco last year, a man stabbed a woman in the face and arm after she didn’t respond positively to his sexually harassing her on the street. In Bradenton, Fla., a man shot a high school senior to death after she and her friends refused to perform oral sex at his request. In Chicago, a scared 15-year-old was hit by a car and died after she tried escaping from harassers on a bus. Again, in Chicago, a man grabbed a 19-year-old walking on a public thoroughfare, pulled her onto a gangway and assaulted her. In Savannah, Georgia, a woman was walking alone at night and three men approached her. She ignored them, but they pushed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. In Manhattan, a 29-year-old pregnant woman was killed when men catcalling from a van drove onto the sidewalk and hit her and her friend. Last week, a runner in California — a woman — was stopped and asked, by a strange man in a car, if she wanted a ride. When she declined he ran her over twice. FUCK YOU if you think that street harassment is a “compliment” or “no big deal” or that it’s “irrational” of us to be afraid because “what’s actually gonna happen.” Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you some more.

Street Harassment: Is a Man Running Over a 14-Year Old Girl for Refusing Sex Serious Enough? | Soraya Chemaly (via mooncrumbs)

emmysaurus

taking a nap is always so risky like when will I wake up? in thirty minutes? in 2 hours? in 7 years?? no one can be sure

onlinecounsellingcollege

Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our life.

Unknown (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

plotless-monster

tylerknott

Typewriter Series #922 by Tyler Knott Gregson

*It’s official, my book, Chasers of the Light, is out! You can order it through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound , Books-A-Million , Paper Source or Anthropologie *

pleoros

Laura Tidwell

My thoughts are a little scattered everywhere, but here it is:

This song and Hopeless Love, Daphne Loves Derby were on loop the summer of 2007. It was the first time I've ever lost someone so close to me. Oh boy was I a mess. I still am..but I guess I'm just better at hiding it. I don't think I've ever cried so much before. My bed was 90% tears and 10% mattress that summer. This experience really changed me forever. I no longer felt like a careless and carefree teenager. I haven't felt the same since that day, July 6th, 2007. I remember how I found out. Through a moment of silence announcement dedicated to you at Senior Mets at Lehman College. I remember racing after finding out..I couldn't see, I couldn't breath, I couldn't feel myself in the water or even my body. Everything was numb. I felt like I was out of my own body watching everything crumble around myself.

You've always believed in me. Whenever I doubted myself, you were there to pick me right up and tell me that you truly believed in me and that I had no reason to doubt myself. You believing in me, it has motivated me in all my achievements. I can't ever thank you enough for planting that efficacy seed in me years ago.

There have been so many times when I really just wanted to talk to you. Losing our pool, losing Dave, applying for nursing school, getting into nursing school..you would have known exactly what to say. This past year, I've become close to someone who shows qualities just like the ones you have. I am convinced that my friendship with him was a gift you planned for me. Of course it isn't the same, it won't ever be, but talking to him, getting advice from him, his belief in my potential, it all reminds and refreshes me about what our friendship was like. I've been thinking about you every time I needed to self-motivate. "Coach Farrell never gave up on me; I won't let myself give up either," I say to myself. It really gets me through the worst of times.

It's 6 years later. I'm not any less sad, but I have turned this experience into something positive. Coach, besides teaching me to believe in myself, you're a person I wish to one day be half as great as. Half as humble, half as loving, half as appreciative. "The perfect person." Someone who always took a negative situation and turned it positive. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to swim with you, to laugh with you, to learn from you. You're truly an unforgettable person Coach Farrell. I can't wait to tell my children about the incredible person I had the privilege to have in my life.

It's kinda hard with you not around Know you in heaven smilin' down Watchin' us while we pray for you Every day we pray for you Til the day we meet again In my heart is where I'll keep you friend Memories give me the strength I need to proceed Strength I need to believe I'll Be Missing You - P. Diddy

#JHS #varsityswim #coachfarrell

The Ripple Effect

I started writing this to you on Friday, but never got to finish my thoughts before I was pulled away from my computer. Although it's 2 days later, I still want to get this down and write this to you.

I hope we were as poised and elegant with our situation this year as you would've wanted us to be. It's never easy on us, you know that. Every day is a battle, especially without you as our ring leader, but I hope we made you proud. We showed different facets of our team to the university this year that didn't surround the pool. Like how we represented in both fall and spring lifting challenges-we really proved our strength!-or how we dedicated our Relay for Life efforts to Mr. Reid and you. We raised over $8,000 for cancer research, awareness, and efforts! We made a difference, coach! We're making strides towards a future with less cancer. Life is bigger than our team, athletics, SBU, the US, etc, and we're doing something to change it. I don't think we can have a bigger accomplishment.

Even though we are still pool-less, and we've even lost respect from some people in the athletic department, from other teams/coaches, or people around campus, we've grown as a team to face this time of adversity and apply it in a larger-than-myself/my team sense. I'm really impressed by all the people still on our team. Some might say we aren't even a team, but we are more of a team now than ever. The challenges that we face on a daily basis shape us and really test our true character. I'm proud to call my teammates people that I can go to for anything, people that inspire me, people that motivate me to be the best version of myself..and it all started with you. The ripple effect. You've got a place in all our hearts and will always have a place there. You've taught us to look reality in the face, stare it down, and don't look away or blink till the other person blinks, because it ain't over till the fat lady sings! Fighter, that's who you are. And we all have little fighters in ourselves, thanks to you. You were the perfect example of a fighter.

"Thank you" never seems like a phrase good enough to express when it comes to..well..thanking you. I wish you can see me now, I know you can see what a changed person I am today. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself to be such a leader, to be so involved at SBU, to be such a fighter. I have to thank you for showing me some tough love because I most definitely needed it. I'm so much stronger now after the pushes from you. I'm so ambitious; my goals are crystal clear. There's no limit to what I feel like I can accomplish. Thank you for helping me realize what's possible. Apparently everything I've ever wanted! I got into nursing school coach! I did it! It still seems like a dream. I can't believe I get to heal people mentally and physically, it's one of the only things I've ever wanted in life. I can just hear you saying, "atta girl, Em!"

It's times like these when I'm reflecting and writing these raw pieces that I really just feel like I'm talking to you one on one. Life gets in the way of letting me express my fleeing thoughts. I miss you coach. I need some comic relief in my life. When I need some, I just remember you telling me to "go study something," and it makes me chuckle. Sweet dreams, coach.

Love, Em

#coachdave #missingyou #SBU #SBUSWIMANDDIVE