(roughdraft) @jessa-mae-orluk - Tumblr Blog

"I tend to be cynical about a lot of things, but Maya Angelou is somebody that no matter how much I pick her apart, she still has integrity. She was a victim of incest and rape, and she worked as a stripper. And now she’s a literary icon and Nobel Laureate. It goes to show that life is cumulative, and you can’t devalue any type of experience."

chroniclebooks

"Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don’t understand but something I’m able to harness and use. While electricity remains a mystery, I know I can plug into it and light up a cathedral or a synagogue or an operating room and use it to help save a life. Or I can use it to electrocute someone. Like electricity, creativity makes no judgment. I can use it productively or destructively. The important thing is to use it. You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have."

—Maya Angelou

via BrainPickings.org

singlebrokereds

the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of white dudes needing to stop.

single broke reds manifesto (via singlebrokereds)

hamp-outtakes-blog

Scenes from Commencement 2014.

jessa-mae-orluk

hey! I'm in there!

hamp-outtakes-blog

Commencement 2014: Keynote speaker Laverne Cox.

crillmatic

Respect on Flickr.

democracynow

Fact: Environmental activists and land defenders are being killed at an average of two per week worldwide.

Democracy Now! interviews with Oliver Courtney of Global Witness about the new report, “Deadly Environment: The Dramatic Rise in Killings of Environmental and Land Defenders.”

archatlas

uncivilwrites-deactivated201606

It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s. So I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance. And for Solomon, thank you for telling her story and your own.

Lupita Nyong’o (via sonofafieldnegro)

this is so important. too many actors fail to thank the people they play on screen. They often think they are those people and that they have actually done something through acting a part. Lupita knows the importance of playing the role of Patsey, but she always pays tribute to this real historical person and all the Patseys who have suffered. Lupita reminds everyone that Patsey is very real. That Solomon Northrup’s story is very real. This history from this movie is real and we must not forget. Thank you, Lupita. You’re an angel.

(via geekbap)

deadxtired

humansofnewyork

"Let me tell you what’s happening to me. I’m on the PTA at my child’s school, the Secondary School of Journalism in Park Slope. I’m currently advocating on behalf of my child, and seventeen other children whose parents don’t speak English. These kids are from Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, everywhere. These kids have all done very well on their Regent’s exams— I’m talking 90/95th percentile. Very smart kids. They were on their way toward qualifying for an Advanced Regents government scholarship,that would give their parents badly needed money to help in their education. But the fine print of that scholarship says the children need three full years of a foreign language.

And the principal at the school FIRED the Spanish teacher. She is not hiring another foreign language teacher for an entire year, effectively disqualifying all these kids from that scholarship they need. When we try to talk with her about it, she acts like she doesn’t owe us an explanation. When we try to call the Board of Education, they tell us to put it in writing. They get us all excited. They have us think if we write a nice letter, and use good grammar, and use all the correct punctuation, something will happen. Meanwhile another year passes, and nothing. And the kids don’t get their scholarship. You know something like this would never happen at a nice Manhattan school like Stuyvesant.

We’ve got a new mayor and a new chancellor. So we aren’t blaming them. But they need to know how impossible they’ve made it to help our kids. Trying to get something fixed in these schools is like praying to some false God. You call and email hoping that God is listening, and nothing happens. Meanwhile the kids suffer. All these parents that I’m representing are good, simple people. They say: ‘Don’t worry Annette, God is going to fix it. God will make it right.’ I love them. And I love God. But I tell them: ‘God won’t fix it! We’ve got to fix it!’”

dancingindiversity-blog

Changing the way we talk is not political correctness run amok. It reflects an admirable willingness to acknowledge others who once were barely visible to the dominant culture, and to recognize that something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others.

David Plotz, Why Slate Will No Longer Refer to Washington’s NFL Team as the Redskins

This is the most important thing to understand: something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others

(via schwulchen)

nprontheroad

Dude, I just wanna leave with some medals and a puppy.

Gus Kenworthy, US Silver Medalist in Ski Slopestyle, at a press conference. [Gus has been tweeting about adopting one, or a few of the stray dogs around Sochi.] (via nprontheroad)