Lightning Strikes of Life

•20• Personal blog•Kendyl•she/her•"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." ~Shakespeare

[neopets-slut]

Why lush is so expensive

Please remember that Lush is a fair trade company. This means that all they pay ALL of their workers a livable amount, and don’t take advantage of workers and harvesters in third world countries like many brands do. They test none of their products on animals as well.

Please keep these things in mind! Just know there is a reason that they cannot sell their bath bombs for 99 cents each. Doing so would mean that hard workers are being under paid.

[whatsanapocalae]

other reasons it’s expensive: 

constant checks on their resources - They will drop any company that they are partnered with if they learn that they are gathering ingredients in an inhumane way, harming the environment, or puts their people at risk

charity work - if you’ve ever heard of Charity Pot, it’s called such because 100% of the cost (not proceeds) go to charity. It’s not what’s left over after they’ve paid the workers or bought the ingredients, it’s every single cent. 

kitchens instead of factories - They dont have a big warehouse of stock. They don’t have processing plants. What they have are buildings with industrial kitchen equipment, where all products are made by hand. 

fighting animal testing - a lot of companies say that they dont do animal testing, but they don’t do anything to prevent animal testing and may use ingredients sourced from animal testing. Lush leads protests, creates bills, and spreads information, as well as only work with those who don’t use animal testing, in order to fight the system

helping their sources- If they find out that something is wrong with one of their companies, they’ll do what they can to fix it. That means, if something is broken, they will fix it, even though it’s just someone that they’re partnered with. 

delicate products - everything they sell has an expiration date, because it’s all made out of fresh ingredients and they use as little preservatives and unnatural things as they can. That and bathbombs break, all the time. They can’t sell it if it has any damage larger than a dime.

[vampire-crimson]

this is… actually really nice information to know? im too broke to be able to afford their products, so the only access to any info about them i have is either word of mouth or if i were to actually look up information about them. 

i always assumed it was some status symbol thing like apple but im always happy to learn that things arent like that!

[sandersstudies]

I had a dream I wrote up this whole essay post about what Clifford the Big Red Dog did for disability visibility and then I woke up like where is my essay

[tidestriderz]

Now u gotta write that essay post

[sandersstudies]

No joke but KC was really formative when I was like whatever, seven, in shaping the way I thought about disability. KC is an active character on the show who has three legs. 

In his introductory episode, the other dogs try too much to help KC and end up getting in his way. He explains that even though he has three legs, he’s just an ordinary dog who can do most of the things they can, and he will ask for help when he needs it, just like any dog with four legs. 

After that, KC appears pretty regularly both in episodes about disability (he eventually becomes a service dog) as well as ordinary episodes that have nothing to do with disability. 

This isn’t to even mention the possible metaphor of Clifford’s largeness for disability. Clifford’s size is often brought up as an inconvenience or problem by antagonist characters before either 1) a space is made more accessible to him or 2) he shows that his size wasn’t a barrier in the first place. The message is always to include others who are different from you. 

Anyway, PBS has been doing loads for diversity for decades and I hope in this wonderful era of gay rat marriage y’all recognize that.

[biomedicool]

[warframe]

which high school counselor made this

[morphmaker]

The Fab Five travel through time, space, and genre to help Professor Flitwick get his groove back

[habsforever]

[faireladypenumbra]

Disney out here, releasing the same famous movies in live action and making them “fresh.” acting like I don’t remember that era of direct to DVD sequels where Quasimodo found a girlfriend, Cinderella frickin time travelled and The Fox and The Hound joined a band.

[liberal-memes]

[princessnijireiki]

This is Adam Erickson, pastor at the Clackamas United Church of Christ in Milwaukee, Oregon!

[saxgoddess25]

Oh finally. A real Christian.

[astandsforawesome]

Tag yourself See original { @aussiekirkland }

[ifishouldvanish]

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros who are constantly being told that this month isn’t for you!

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros who are constantly being told that your experiences aren’t ‘enough’ to make you queer! Who are constantly being told by strangers that your own lived experiences are actually just misogyny, or internalized homophobia, or literally anything other than what you say it is!

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros who are constantly being told that your identity isn’t a real thing, that it’s just a phase, that it’s only a ‘symptom’ of something else that can be ‘treated/cured’, or that you’re just looking for a way to 'feel special’!

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros– whether or not you’re sex/romance repulsed! Whether or not you are currently in or have pursued those kinds of relationships in the past! Whether or not you still enjoy those things, but experience them differently than everyone else!

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros who’ve had people in your life try to 'fix’ you or make you feel guilty for not feeling the same things they do! I’m sorry you had to endure that kind of treatment! You don’t deserve it, and you’re wonderful just the way you are!

Happy pride month to any aces and aros who feel that your ace/aro-ness is tied to other factors, such as trauma, or neurodivergence, or anything else! That doesn’t make your lived experiences with your sexuality any less valid, and I’m glad you’ve found the language and a community that gives you a sense of belonging, acceptance, and understanding!

Happy pride month to all the aces and aros who are also queer in other ways, and are constantly being told to leave your ace/aro-ness at the door when you enter queer spaces and dialogues!

Your struggles are real, your identities are valid, your voices matter, and I’m glad you’re here!

💚🖤⚪💜

(Exclusionists don’t interact! Make your own damn post, or better yet, have a long hard think about why you hate an entire demographic of people who have been told by Heteronormative Culture that they’re 'broken’ and should feel guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed about who they are so much!)

[avatarmerida]

Happy pride month to the tiny cowboy and tiny Trojan man from Night at the Museum

[futurakid]

[culturistjack-deactivated201804]

I'd very much like to punch a feminist.

I’d never, ever hurt a lady but I’d be happy to punch a feminist. It’d bring me great joy.

[olisaurusrex]

I’m 6’2 and weigh 180lbs

ready when you are

[thattallsummonerguy]

Or if you’d like to have some more options….

I’m 6’4” 228 pounds and have 9 years of combined martial arts training and 3 years of being a Line Backer in football. Just in case you are looking for variety.

[wontbeafraid-deactivated2014041]

what about a lady and a feminist. warning, combatives certified soldier.

[nevergenders]

im tiny, i’m like 5′4 and 130 lbs but u can fight me too

[scumbagsblog]

Reblogging for the last one cuz that’s adorable

[likeits1995]

SO PROUD

[ghost--ranger]

The Fantastic 4 we deserve

[crimezi]

OMG IVE ONLY SEEN THIS POST IN SCREEN SHOTS

[stars-for-thought]

We will all protect the small one.

[cover-your-ears]

I stan

[keithiskogained-deactivated2019]

it got better!!

[babygoose-deactivated20240106]

plot-twist: the small one could actually kick everyone’s ass

[pumpkin-in-a-pear-tree]

THERE’S ART NOW???!?

[heyheyrenay]

I am going to tell everyone a secret, especially people in rural areas. 

You…can do a slow social progressive takeover of your local Democratic party, probably. You just need to carve out some time for it.

“Renay”, you say, exasperated, “that sounds fake, but okay.” But I’m here to tell you that if you’re in a rural/red state (or even blue states), you have an excellent chance of infecting the Democratic Party in your area with some straight up radical empathy. And you can do it in sneaky ways. It’s a long game. Here is a list:

1. Find your county Democrats. You may have to start at state level, but eventually you should be able to track down the chair of the county party and find out where and when they meet. Start attending meetings. If they’re not having meetings, hoooooboy. That’s a totally different thing. I spent two years fighting that battle, but if you want help, ping me. 

2. At the very first meeting, if the group isn’t using a microphone, bring it up. Ask if the committee can invest in a portable PA system to bring to meetings to help people who have trouble hearing. If they balk (ables often will), don’t worry. Make the request once, and then make the request at every subsequent meeting, kindly, until they get so sick of you they cave and/or start empathizing with you. My position here: who cares why it gets done. Just get it done.

3. Keep going to meetings. Generally county parties meet every month.

4. If there are nametags at meetings, always use them and put your pronouns on them. Yes, even you, cis people. ESPECIALLY YOU.

5. At your third meeting, if the group is using sign in sheets, ask the secretary, or meeting chair if the former is unclear, if the sign in sheets could have a field for pronouns. It’s not about getting people to use it yet—that’s later—we just want it on the template so YOU can use it and set an example. Yes, you can make this request even as a cis person. In fact, it’s probably better that you do because it will cost you less. You can do the emotional labor instead of making trans and enby friends do the labor. This goes back to nametags: if you do it, you create a safe bubble for others to do it, or a social pressure situation for people to do it. Social pressure is sometimes toxic, but we can use it for positive things!

These are Very Simple things you can do to Increase Inclusion in local Democratic spaces and shove them left. This is just the start, too. There’s language scrubbing (kind of advanced because you need to have relationships with the people), requesting the committee invite guest speakers from marginalized communities, and becoming a delegate to the state party annual convention. This is Very Advanced because it generally means travel, but I plan to do it myself because in two years I’m going to make the Arkansas DPA adopt gender neutral language in their platform instead of this “he or she” business.

I mean, maybe you think of going to county meetings and go, “ugh I would rather eat glass” but you can always take an ebook on your phone or something (I do this…soon I will have time to knit again and I’ll be doing that). Take 3-4 hours out of your month and invest it.

What shoves the Democratic Party left? We do. A bunch of people taking small steps in their local communities. And then the candidates coming out of those committees get more progressive and thoughtful, too.

The world doesn’t change just because we want it to. We make it change.

Go do the work.

[sixth-light]

Additionally: show up to enough meetings and there’s a non-zero chance you could be running things, which is also helpful for the whole slow radicalisation process.

(in NZ if you show up to enough local meetings of a major political party you basically get elected to Parliament if that’s a thing you’re into, you think I’m joking but I’m not really, so I figure for the US ‘running things on a local level’ is totes achievable)

[the-daughters-of-eve]

All of this. I started showing up to the meetings and a few months later they put me charge of communications (social media, website, email). It was two years of an infuriating clusterf*** but I dragged them left. Now there’s a trans woman and a gay teenager on the DCC (county party governance) and I pissed off all the old dixiecrat guard so much that they all quit in protest.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

[hxasinthus]

romcom idea: chaotic time traveler who goes back in time to seduce as many historical figures as possible to prove that they weren’t straight

[hateandashbury]

the new loki tv show is looking great so far

[sunshine-tattoo]

every straight male star Trek fan: *lasers and explosions and being a macho man who fucks green ladies; basically just star wars but with the enterprise instead of the Falcon*

anyone who has ever actually watched star trek: *peaceful exploration, feminism, universal healthcare and housing, post scarcity society, SCIENCE, diplomacy, literally drowning in gay undertones*

[spirk-feels-deactivated20200729]

[bewilderbugs]

Maybe this will be the storyline for Star Trek: Discovery season 3.

[lesbian-deanna-troi]

Spock: *fucking dies* Spock’s katra: *sees bones’ big ass head*