College is Weird

Evie. 22. IB Diploma Recipient. BA in Polisci and a minor in Journalism.

[darkacademiavibes]

Borrow books, share pdfs, email ebooks. Understand that academia is expensive. Make it more accessible, help someone gain knowledge. Dismantle the disparity with second-hand books and hand-me-downs. Share. Share. Share.

[candybanshee]

towards a gentle academic

be up front and honest about the things you do not know

acknowledge the intrinsic value of others’ knowledge bases, even if they do not seem important to you from your institutional context

do not feign mastery where you have none

respect the gaps in others’ knowledge bases

be generous, not only with others

but also with yourself

you overwork yourself at the risk of legitimizing a culture of overwork 

privilege voices and perspectives that have historically been left out of the academy

nothing is ever neutral or apolitical

support the progress of other scholars

collaboration over competition

[somethingmissingthings]

Oh I can’t possibly study, I have allotted the next six hours to yearning vaguely

[wtf-fun-factss]

Traces of coca and nicotine found in Egyptian mummies - WTF fun facts

[jillyaintfromphilly]

well DUH. a lot of historians are still trying to process the fact that ancient egyptians knew how to build boats, which is ridiculous. why would they not be seafarers and explorers?

[youngbadmanbrown-deactivated201]

this is not new or surprising information at all. it pretty much day one of any african-american studies course.

the egyptians knew that if they put their boats in front of the summer storm winds it’d blow them right across the sea to the Americas and they shared that with the greeks.

[doublehamburgerjack-deactivated]

It’s really hard for people to understand that everyone had boats, exploration, and trade interactions without the same level of murder, colonization, and violence that the Europeans did. It’s really hard for people to get that.

[cantyousayanythingnew]

Well, no people find hard to understand that one of the earliest civilizations could build a boat sturdy enough and reliable enough to cross a 8,766 mile stretch that gave people thousands of years of technological progress later great difficulty.

[prokopetz]

The notion that technology is a steady upward climb of “progress” is, itself, part of a Eurocentric historical narrative revolving around the tacit teleological assertion that Western European civilisation represents the culmination and endpoint of history.

In reality, technologies are frequently discovered, lost and rediscovered, often multiple times, and frequently in parallel. A Dark Age in one region may be a time of rapid technological development in another region, and it’s not uncommon to encounter evidence of ancient civlisations using technologies a thousand years out of whack with the “proper” order of discovery… where “proper” is defined in terms of the order in which those technologies were discovered in Western Europe - there’s that Eurocentrism again.

I mean, just to give you an idea of how flexible the order in which technologies are developed can be and how ultimately wrong-headed the notion of linear technological progress is, there are Central American civilisations that had indoor plumbing, central heating and hot and cold running water before inventing the wheel. Some of the First Nations in what is now Eastern Canada had sophisticated climate models and reliable weather prediction - including functioning barometers and other simple meteorological instruments - before they figured out metallurgy.

So no, it’s not particularly incredible that the ancient Egyptians had boats far more advanced than they “should” have given their overall level of technology. That stuff happens all the time.

[jenniferrpovey]

People invent the technology they need. They can even invent a technology, then not use it.

The Inca are often accused of “not knowing about wheels.”

Except, they did have wheels. They just didn’t use wheels for long distance transportation. They had a huge road system. On which everything was moved by pack animals and people. The Inca road is an incredible feat of engineering.

So, why didn’t they use wheels?

Because their land was so freaking mountainous that the road would repeatedly turn into this:

Tell me what earthly use a wheel is when your road keeps having to have steps and narrow bridges because you live on top of a mountain.

But that image shows us what they did have.

That’s a suspension bridge. Europeans didn’t invent those until centuries after the Inca did.

Because when the most efficient route through your home hits chasms, guess what?

You get real good at making bridges!

And when the best way to move goods through your desert homeland is a big river?

You get real good at making boats.

The technology a culture develops and uses is the technology they need. In Europe that was one suite of technology, and because white folk are so dang arrogant, we think that’s the superior means of development. It’s not, it’s just how technology develops in Europe.

[alinaastarkov]

The Minoan civilisation in Greece, around 2,500 BCE, developed huge technological advancements, including fully operational water and sewage systems, complete with flushing toilets. This would be around 3,000 years before one was invented in England.

Minoan Greece was also a sea power. They had huge fleets of ships, which meant they did a lot of exploration. They also built one of the biggest trade networks in the world, reaching as far as Egypt, Cyprus, Canaan, Syria,  the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal), the Levantine coast, Anatolia and Mesopotamia (modern-day Turkey, Israel and Iraq).

A volcano eruption on a nearby island, which caused a tsunami, possibly destroyed their sea power and left them vulnerable, which is why most of their technology was lost.

The Late Bronze Age Collapse a few centuries later led to the simultaneous destruction of advanced civilisations in Greece, Egypt, the Near East, Asia Minor, North Africa, Caucasus, Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. This caused a dark age across two continents which created isolated village cultures, and is the reason most of their advancements were lost.

The notion that technology can only advance is some white nonsense.

[jenniferrpovey]

That too.

(Minoan Crete may have been part of the inspiration for Atlantis).

[emilyinhalf]

Sporty Adoras by storyboard artist Sharon Sun <x>

[lavenderwarm]

y’all know i hate doing this but i recently got into a car accident and both of us have shit insurance because both of us are recent college grads without jobs right now. there was no fault determined either.

fortunately i am not physically hurt at all but the estimate has come through at just over $4000 and i have no idea what i’m going to do. idk how i’m going to get to work, how i’m going to get this fixed, or how i’m supposed to keep paying for insurance on this.

i know that rn you should really be funneling finds towards black lives matter initiatives, but if you have anything to spare and are willing and able, please consider throwing me some change at sunmi-jin on venmo or $sunmi071 on cashapp. otherwise, i’d deeply appreciate a reblog! thank you ✨

[mysharona1987]

[hoziergf-deactivated20181219]

I always get so fucking mad when I remember that it’s actually a 16-year-old Algerian girl who influenced BOTH Picasso and Matisse. and. No one gives a rat’s ass about her work which was very focused on women and nature. History -or people dare I say- didn’t bother to remember her name because she was a young Algerian woman and no one cares about Maghrebi/Arab women. unlike P*casso & M*tisse who both became legends, almost gods both during their lives and after their deaths, no one knows her.

Her name was Baya Mahieddine.

[dirtinmypocket-deactivated20210]

[sliceofpearpie]

i hope that more people know about her now, especially seeing as OP literally linked to an article about a Baya Mahieddine exhibition in 2018.

It is remarkable that she had such a strong practise and had great influence at 16. Despite various disruptions that caused her to stop painting, she returned to her practise from the 60s until the end of her life.

It was within her work that Baya found freedom. The world she painted, after all, is one where women assert their individuality and are free from the men who attempt to brand them with labels, keep them inside the home, or hold them back in any way. “If I change my paintings, I will no longer be Baya,” the artist said in 1991, after her husband died and she’d returned to painting. “When I paint, I am happy and I am in another world.”

More on Mahieddine’s work here.

[thewastedgeneration]

[docholligay]

Doc, what are the top five items food banks LOVE to receive? I'm doing a collection soon and want to ask for specifics.

MONEY. WE WANT MONEY. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY. WE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH IT. WE HAVE ACCESS TO DEALS YOU COULD NEVER. MONEY

That aside.

 I’m only going to talk about food items but if your food bank takes personal items, a lot of times diapers, feminine hygiene products, etc, are very very welcome. 

1) Canned chicken and beef 

looooooove this stuff. It’s expensive, it lasts forever, it tastes good and it can be used a variety of ways. This stuff is fucking catnip to food banks, it’s so hard for us to provide proteins. 

2) Fancy nut butters

Peanut butter is a standby for food banks as a shelf-stable inexpensive protein, but if we have a family with a kid with a peanut allergy that’s not going to work. Non-peanut butters are expensive and it’s something we hardly ever see donated. (we also like peanut butter, but that’s easier for us to buy ourselves than non-peanut butters)

3) Canned or packaged tuna

You may notice a trend here in shelf-stable proteins. And yeah. That’s basically it, so I’m not going to keep harping on it. But this stuff is a godsend. 

4) Easy breakfast things for kids (Granola bars, instant oatmeal, and the like) 

Whatever Donald Trump tells you, most people who get food from food banks are actually working their asses off and so they have to leave Obama to raise their baby or whatever, and they don’t have a lot of time in the morning. Things like this that kids can make for themselves are expensive. (Another trend you may be noticing–donate shit that costs a lot of money. That helps us more than all the shitty green bean cans in the world) But they are so helpful for busy working families where the parents may not have a set schedule and sometimes little Amanda is making her own breakfast before she runs off to school. Don’t let kids go to school hungry. 

5) Shelf-stable juice

This is one people never think of! But if you show up with a bunch of (preferably reduced sugar stuff) bottles of juice at my door, oh man, you are gonna get so many check mark and okay hand emoticons. This stuff is great for kids, and it doesn’t require refrigeration until it’s opened, so it works great for food drives. 

[kesonafyren]

But seriously, give money

And it’s way better food, too, anything you get prepackaged has A TON of sugar and/or salt in it…collecting cans may be more exciting than writing a check, but if the point is to help people, the check is going to get a lot more done

[pennie-dreadful]

Yoooooo heads up for those of you with kids, I know this time of year schools start holding canned food drives so keep this in mind if you’re able to give.

[kyraneko]

collecting cans may be more exciting than writing a check, but if the point is to help people, the check is going to get a lot more done .

hint: the point should be to help people.

[historiacombativa]

“When all we see in art history is a male-dominated white heaven, we become the inferior to this gender and cultural imperialism” -Harmonia Rosales

“The creation if god”

“Summer”

“The birth of Oshun”

“The birth of eve”

All by Harmonia Rosales

[mysharona1987]

[pinkprincessrei-deactivated2020]

Every princess: I have the following reasons to believe that joining your Alliance is a bad idea strategically

She-Ra: ok but have you considered the fact that I’m big

Every princess: understandable where do I sign

[academicssay]

[thewayforward]

Ppl think that I’m hardcore prepping for law school because I like to geek out over dry ass texts or something. Nah! I’m on the path I’m on—and taking that shit seriously—because people who look like me need justice!

[harrytheehottie]

PLEASE DONT BUY YOUR BOOKS FROM AMAZON

[bored-libra]

100+ more bookstores here: https://aalbc.com/bookstores/list.php

A List of Black Owned Bookstores

Search AALBC.com’s database of independently owned Bookstores that serve communities of color. Search by store name or state. Map courtesy

[bored-libra]

Online black-owned bookstores for all those still quarantined: https://afrotech.com/10-black-owned-online-bookstores-to-support-while-at-home

10 Black-Owned Online Bookstores to Support While at Home - AfroTech

What better way to be productive while staying indoors than supporting Black businesses. Books are great to help stimulate your brain and ke

[yeahletstalkgovernment]

❗ATTENTION❗

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING JULY 4TH -7TH

PEOPLE OF THE BLM MOVEMENT ARE TRYING TO CAUSE AN ECONOMIC BLACKOUT THAT WOULD COST THE GOVERNMENT AROUND 3.5 BILLION DOLLARS!

❗SPREAD THE NEWS❗

(6/2/2020)

[thoseferatuu]

check out #boycottamerikkka on twitter for more info. this time is not just about creating an economic blackout through corporate boycott, but also about supporting black businesses. let’s show up for them

[nennaadapts]

IF YOU REALLY NEED TO PURCHASE SOMETHING OR IN NEED OF SERVICES, MAKE SURE TO RESEARCH TO SEE IF YOU CAN BUY THOSE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES FROM A BLACK OWNED BUSINESS FIRST!!!!! SUPPORT BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES!!!!!

[isappho-deactivated20240418]

[both tweets are by Majesty Ria and tagged with #BoycottAmerikkka : You don’t need to go to Target for hair products & body wash or body oils when there are plenty of black owned stores that’s ready to cater to your needs. You can stop eating Chick-Fil-A for a while.. & support some local mom & pop restaurants with better burgers! #BoycottAmerikkka is a community effort. I started it but it’s not mine. It’s ours. Im black, so it’s naturally a Black movement but Malcolm X said “I, for one, will stand with anyone, I don’t care what color you are as long as they wanna change this miserable condition.”]

[librelivrevivre]

Books about racism in academia

Disclaimer: racism towards black ppl but I will try to find some for other minority groups later! Also, I have not read every book on this list but as a future educator, I certainly will.

- We Want to Do More Than Survive by Bettina Love

- Pushout by Monique Morris

- Born Out Of Struggle by David Stovall

- Multiplication is for White People by Lisa Delpit

- For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood by Chris Emdin

- Dreamkeepers by Gloria Ladson Billings

- Everyday Anti-Racism by Mica Pollock

- Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum

- The Trouble with Black Boys by Pedro Noguera

- Black Appetite. White Food. by Jamila Lyiscott

- The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys by Moore, Michel & Penick-Parks

- Ghosts in the Schoolyard by Eve Ewing

- The Mis-Education of the Negro by Dr. Carter G. Woodson (written in 1933 but still relevant today)

- The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein