I love when people ask "how did you learn this skill?" I just started, there's no secret. that's it. a vast majority of the time the only thing holding you back is your trepidation to start.
You may think the phrase "He's just a little guy" comes from internet memes, but you would be wrong.
The true origin of the phrase belongs to celebrated author Tamora Pierce, in her 1983 novel Alanna: The First Adventure, when Gary says, "Stillāwhat can Alan do for you? He's just a little guy"(49).
Thus, whenever we say of someone or some creature that they are "just a little guy," what we are really saying is that they are a short redheaded knight-in-training with some sort of Gender going on who will kick your butt given half a chance.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. May we all be the little guys we wish to see in the world.
Pierce, Tamora. Alanna: The First Adventure. New York, Random House, 1983.
Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as āproblematicā in class and our professor was like, āThatās cool, but āproblematicā doesnāt really mean anything. It means that the thing youāre describing has a problem, and in and of itself thatās not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else itās not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like youāre trying to say that this is bad, but you donāt want to say ābad.ā Is that right?ā
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the ābadā thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, āIām uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.ā
Once we stopped calling things āproblematicā and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, āthatās racistā or āthatās misogynisticā or āew capitalism grossā out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, āUhhh... Iām not sure whatās so bad?ā and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I canāt help but think of this professor being like, āGood starting point, now letās get specific.ā I think when we have to commit to saying āthatās ___ā it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever weāre claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes itās art, and it should be full of problems, because thatās what art is.
#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)
Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.
At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and itās not to watch the shoppers. See, we canāt actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.
At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didnāt exist in my household. Itās normal now. Here is something that is not for me.
āWhat the hell, Iāll take another,ā says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.
The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.
I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. Heās not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. Heās not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadnāt spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldnāt have spent any. I go home. I donāt own a watch.
I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.
I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht.Ā
i wrote this while i was working at orlandoās walt disney world parks.
i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.
as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.
disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (ācast membersā) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even āfaceā characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.
at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.
i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.
i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.
š¬ 0Ā Ā š 31Ā Ā ā¤ļø 56Ā Ā·Ā Here is the tutorial, I donāt get paid doing this and Iām not an expert at this so please donāt think I can answer everyt
let june be filled with constant abundance, peace & quiet alignment for me. where everything meant for me flows effortlessly, and everything not meant for me falls away without resistance.
text and an extended explanation and some relevant links below the cut
The idea of this is you can brag online for clout for doing simple little nice things. So, post pics as you complete it and link back to this post!
And please save the pic and fill yours out by crossing off squares as you go, but
Or some might feel dox-y (maybe the clouds are real specific today and will reveal where you live) so you can describe it (or lie, but do it legit for you).
Have fun!
find a flower (preferably go looking for one you don't know about now, but any flower works)
listen to birds (outside your window if you want, or go looking)
text an irl friend (anything you want)
make a zine (simple is good!) instruction link
read a book (if you don't own one, try the library. or read something else. like a manual or a bill, i dunno)
put hands in dirt (pot plant is fine, or go outside)
make food (fried egg counts, toast counts, or make something fancy)
go to bed on time (you define "on time")
photo of an animal (your pet, a bird outside, a bug, whatever)
take a silly photo (very up for interpretation)
listen to local radio (if you don't know them, google! there's a lot that stream online now)
do some stretches (follow your vibes, don't hurt yourself)
touch grass (literally)
identify clouds (i mean whatever's outside rn, so if it's clear today do this tomorrow!) there are better websites than this but it works
go for a walk (or however you ambulate, for as long or short as you like)
wash your hands for the full 30 seconds (here's a guide for how to if you haven't refreshed lately)
name three good things (very up to interpretation)
open a window (unless that's like dangerous for you rn)
draw a picture (pen/pencil on paper! i love drawing on my computer too but do it irl for this one)
brush your teeth for the full 2 min without looking at a screen
touch a tree (hug a tree if you're feeling it)
try a new drink (can be a supermarket run, or just make water at a specific temp or drink milk out of a bowl to mix it up)
sing a song (could learn a new song, sing along with a song, or just sing happy birthday to no one rn)
laugh til it's real (can be assisted by a show that makes you laugh if this is hard)
drink outside (thinking a usual drink, morning coffee or tea, glass of wine after dinner, but have it outside!)
Sharing this on my main because it appears from the notes that it's useful for some modern viewers.
You KNOW classic SF used the limited displays of CRT television and the static of transmitted signals the way theaters use stage makeup and lighting to make inexpensive props look great fineā take advantage of the medium! But it's hard to imagine how it looked if you've only seen Blu-ray HD restorations.
I swear to you, despite classic Who using bubble wrap for years as one of its go-to materials that reflected light in interesting ways, we never realized that's what it was.
vaporwave
pixelskylines
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
