Mom's Pothos

University of Guelph student - Happy mum of 7 precious wabbits & 1 sassy lop earred wabbit🐰. Plant hoarder🌿 Green Living🌍Mindful Eating 🍍

[malaikas]

Two years later...

I had the thought of writing while on my internship but I haven’t decided how. I rather type because its faster and you get to attach photos. And have the opportunity of sharing these things with anyone online. But that in itself is also a con. So anyways, writing it more intimate and proving to be a skill i am loosing. And really, I’m always hesitant about pressing post to most things online. 

So with that being said, this is a response to my last text post on this blog where I mentioned the international youth internship program and looks like 2 years later I am back on track. A different one though because its no longer Tanzanie, its Kenya. And its no longer with children, its with fellow young adults. So, cheers to Kenya 2022 

[malaikas]

Studying at home during Covid-19

I think I’ve been at home for two weeks now? The first week the semester was on “pause” while the school organized everything going forward for classes to be held remotely. That week I spent sleeping all day and watching a lot of Nollywood. 

The second week was officially “back to school”. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if that’s the week I’m in now... or if in fact I’m in the third week. I’m going to go with week three. 

I’m finding it difficult now because even if I sent an alarm to wake up at 10am, I turn it off and return to dreaming. Then I get out of bed around 1pm, laze around until 4pm where I eat, and start working around 5. Typically, I will work for 4 or 5 hours. 11pm comes and I shower and return to bed to watch movies. 

I have about two weeks of school left and these are finals. I don’t know how I’m going to do this for a number of reasons. One, I’ve always had a problem with my desk. It’s a little too wide length wise and so my arms are raised higher than is comfortable to type on my laptop. Which I then move to my mom’s work space since the orientation of everything is comfortable. That’s problem two, it’s not my workspace. Obviously my mom uses it in the morning, my sisters will use that too. 

The third problem is that its the whole family here, and having little sisters makes everything loud. It then doesnt help that my mom doesn’t know what an indoor voice is and insists on yelling for everyone when she needs their attention rather than getting up and walking over to them. 

The forth issue is being locked up in my room all day that it’s easy for my to jump in bed and do nothing. 

So I’m not sure if making a schedule will help me and actually have me follow through with it. For instance, maybe I can wake up at 10, have a walk or run for thirty minutes , come back and shower, eat, then sit down and get work done. 

I guess my apprehension around going for a walk is that I really don’t like my neighbourhood. I’ve been here since I was 16 and I really hate the idea of running into a lot of people from school. Didn’t have an enjoyable time here. We have a “pathway” but from where I live, it’s not even a 30 minute walk from the top to the bottom. The path awkwardly ends where the mainstreet runs. But I think it’s still worth it to try it out this week. 

On the plus side, I spent the day learning how to introduce myself and what I do in French. So at least I know new vocabularly and the proper tenses relating to my work history and my aspirations for my career. 

[malaikas]

GAC’s International Youth Internship Program

 I was thinking about making a blog to journal my experience while in my internship. I’m still playing with the idea of recovering this Tumblr account to do that. Or if I should use Blogger. I just want to use a platform where there are other International Development or related students and professionals. I’ll work out those thoughts later. 

I am in the second semester of my grad program at Humber College. About a month ago I applied to the IYIP program with the College of the Rockies in BC. I interviewed for the Gender Equality Outreach and the GE Education Officer roles with a grassroots NGO in Dar es Salaam called the Flaviana Matata Foundation. About a week later I received great news that I have been accepted for the GE Outreach Officer position. 

Now I won’t get into too much detail about everything yet. For two reasons. The first is that I’m still figuring out if I want to create a blog page using Wordpress or Blogger. And the biggest reason is because of COVID-19 and how that has thrown a wrench in everyone’s plans. 

To say I’m salty is a huge understatement. I had this belief that I wasn’t going to luck out and actually get such a fabulous internship placement. And to boot, in an amazing country like Tanzania. And also, going to Africa for the first time, having dreamed of being on African soil has been such a far dream of mine. I felt extremely grateful to have been accepted after being really anxious. And I just feel like the powers that be are just laughing at me like “you silly goose. You really thought you were gonna get lucky huh???”. 

Now that travel bans are in place, my initial departure date of May has been pushed back to either the Summer or the start of the new year. And if all this lasts into Summer end, then we will need to re-negotiate if the organization still wants to move forward with the internships.  

[nicolezaridze]

the moon is tired of you

read the whole comic and the rest of the series here

[teaboot]

Went to the Aboriginal artifact exhibit in Chicago. And it’s interesting. How many blankets and masks and totem poles say ‘unknown source’, because every five seconds my mom would stop and point to something and say. “Pauline’s grandmother made that,” or, “That belongs to Mike’s family, I should call him” because. It’s all stolen

[teaboot]

“These artifacts were excavated by archaeologists from a burial site in the 1970’s. The remains were returned for reinterment” Okay cool, cool cool. So you just, like. Dug up the grave of a respected family member, stripped them naked, mailed their body back to their family and kept everything they were lovingly put to rest in. Like a graverobbing bastard

[toothmuncher3000]

Reminds me of the time when of the elders from my hometown started touching a totem pole in the Museum of Anthropology out at UBC and got yelled at by the staff, only to tell him that the pole had been stolen off of the front of her bighouse when she was ten years old.

Museum collectors did the equivalent of kidnapping a family member when they were away fishing.

[yourbigsisnissi]

Destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful. Embrace the concept that rest, recovery, and reflection are essential parts of the progress towards a successful and ultimately happy life.

[malaikas]

I remember when i first got tumblr, it was sort of a photo journal. All of a sudden, I feel like coming back to that again. 

The year is more than half way done. I still want to appreciate my trip to Trinidad. Some of my favorite memories from my trip. at 21 years old, I finally visited Fort George. At 21 I also finally made sense of how green banana grow. That’s whats inside those weird red plum bob looking things.

[zanabism-deactivated20200529]

As per usual, Saudi Arabia is using threats to quiet any concerns raised about pending executions of human rights activists. While the New York Times continue to praise the Saudi oligarchs for allowing women to drive in 2018 (?????????), Shia Muslims like Ali Nimr, convicted as a child at 17 years old, spends his 6th year in prison, awaiting beheading and crucifixion. And now, Samar Badawi, sister of imprisoned Raif Badawi, has been arrested. 

Saudi Arabia has a long history of using blackmail and political pressure to remove condemnations directed their way about their blatant violence against muslim minority sects and other religious minorities. when Saudi Arabia was named the largest killer of children in 2017 by the U.N. due to the assault on Yemen, Riyadh proceeded to cut crucial funding and aid for UNHCR programs. 

72 hours later, Ban Ki Moon removed Saudi Arabia from the blacklist,  Citing “blackmail” as the primary reason for retracting their reports. 

Saudi Arabia is the greatest exporter of global terrorism, and financier of death squads second only to the United States of America. 

[aspiringbelle]

I stand with Canada on this. I only wish the US would. Trump’s decision to back the Saudis was a betrayal of not only America, but also his own promises. (Sadly, way too many government people of all three establishment parties (Democratic, Republican, and the one third party whose candidate got positive coverage across the media, Connecticut for Lieberman) have backed the Saudis.)

[zanabism-deactivated20200529]

Canada is not innocent and just as complicit in Saudi war crimes and human rights abuses. Justin Trudeau’s first act as prime minister was to sign a 15 billion dollar arms contract with Riyadh (going back on one of his most important campaign promises). These Canadian made weapons are now being used against Shia Muslims and dissidents.

The only reason Canada even offered this lukewarm condemnation is because the subject is women’s rights and the victim is the sister of Raif Badawi — both palatable areas for Canada to offer condemnation.

When it comes to the murder of Shia Muslims and political dissidents, or the starving of Yeminis, killing Yemeni children and biological warfare against Yemenis, Canada is not only totally silent, but complicit just as the US is — also keep in mind that Canada is the US’s closest ally. What benefits the US also benefits Canada. The genocide of Yemenis is supported by all three countries.

When Ali Nimr was convicted and tortured as a minor, and then sentenced to beheading and crucifixion for speaking out against anti-Shiism, Canada didn’t say a word because preventing anti-Shiism does not benefit Canada, nor would they risk their relationship for a concern that is insignificant to them.

Canada condemns Saudi *only* when it’s convenient and has the lowest impact. I can guarantee this toothles condemnation of the arrest of Samar Badawi was not at all expected to yield this kind of reaction and will be retracted in record time.

[critical-objects-deactivated202]

Laura Aguilar is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose work mines the intersection between feminism, body image, queer politics, and latinx identity. Her earliest works depicted latina lesbians in intimate portraits, calling to mind the frankness of Catherine Opie, while her best known series features self-portraits of Aguilar posed nude in the California desert landscape. These photographs are instantly striking, finding in the artist’s body formal elements that echo the landscape itself, as in its doubling here with the giant rock that eludes the frame. Aguilar also forces our gaze onto a body that does not conform to stereotypical images of latinx or feminine identity—a body type that is not so much othered as invisible, despite its ubiquity. The artist originally began to produce these photos as a means of grappling with her own issues with weight and self-acceptance, but quickly came to see them as something more. They offer a profound, ambivalent vision of woman and nature. We see Aguilar dissolve into the landscape in search of anonymity, at the same time that she reclaims the pride and beauty in her body far removed from the society that rejects it.

Laura Aguilar, Grounded #111, 1992

[exotericenvironmentalism]

The term ‘ecosystem services’ can be problematic. Its performativity as being anthropocentric and managerialist, in which nature is reduced to a collection of services existing to serve humanity, is a very important issue to understand and consider. (What is more, in this case, the metaphor of ‘building blocks’ also infers a couple of other problematic ideas- that nature is inert and lifeless like blocks of dead wood, and that ‘mankind’ (also noting the unnecessary gendered term used in this image) sits atop (and separate) from the rest of nature (humans are natural after all…).)

Nonetheless, the fundamental point of the infographic is important. We, as humans, and our society (and by extension our economy) are intrinsically dependent on healthy and functioning ecosystems, which are underpinned by biodiversity. However, such biodiversity levels are drastically falling in places across the planet- undermining the ecosystems which they support.   

Image via United Nations Decade on Biodiversity

[doomtribble73]

[gehayi]

What we can learn from the stories of Black Native people

"Afro Native Narratives," a documentary and photo project, documents the stories of Black Native people.

By Michael Santiago  

Editor’s Note: Three years ago, Michael Santiago and Macha Rose began working on “Afro Native Narratives,” a documentary and photo project that documents the stories of people of both North American indigenous and African descent — a group that they say has been underrepresented throughout history. In this week’s edition of Parallax, Santiago discusses the purpose of the project and what he learned from Theo (who is of Blackfoot/Niitsiitapii descent  and Lonnie, who are pictured above. 

The photo is for “Afro Native Narratives,” a portrait and film series project that explores the historically-ignored Black Native identity as it stands today, as well as the effects of “blood quantum” laws, which define who is allowed membership in Native American tribes or nations based on the degree of ancestry a person has to that tribe or nation. The project aims to bring the discussion of Black Native identity to the forefront and bring forward the faces of Black Natives who continue to embrace the traditions of their ancestors. We photograph and interview individuals who have grown up maintaining tradition and continue to do so, like Theo.

The project also focuses on individuals like Lonnie Graham (right), who know some of their Native history because it has been passed down through oral tradition, but are missing a lot of information, like which tribe they belong to.

[confessionsofamiddlechild]

My work on Black Native Identity was featured on PBS Parrallax.

[blacknativeproject]

Yay! We are so proud to be recognized by PBS. 

[crouchingtiger-hiddennegro]

This documentary is wonderful

[octopusgirl]

Solidarity With Refugees

[malaikas]

Work is getting wild. It's looking more and more clear like it's time for me to move on. But not before I take some well deserved ME time to Trinidad in a few weeks , and devote days to sun, fresh fruit , and stress free job applications.

[nativenews]

Happy birthday, Harriet Tubman

(29th Jan 1822 - 10th Mar 1913)

She freed thousands of enslaved people. A freedom fighter, matriarch, a guiding light.

[shxshxne--archived-deactivated2]

[exxomoons]

Roseanne Supernault and Eric Schweig in a scene from “Maïna” (2012) The film also stars Tantoo Cardinal and Graham Greene. From Perspective Canada: 

Following a bloody confrontation between her clan and the clan of “Men from the Land of Ice,” Maïna, daughter of Innu Grand Chief Mishtenapuu, finds herself unwillingly drawn into a mission that will change her life.

Click here to see the preview.

[apihtawikosisan-deactivated2014]

Ooh ooh ooh!

[bankuei]

First contact stories that don’t involve white folks?  DOPENESS.

[frank-e-sleep-no-more]

did I reblog this??? so what.

[tuttuvak-deactivated20140219]

It was filmed in Kuujjuak and the dogs in it are owned by an actual dog sledder, they did their research. The actors are mainly from Nunavut and they had to learn the Nunavik dialect to make their lines more seamless since Inuit have varied words. They also consulted Innu people to be as true to the cultures as they could. They hired first nations women who know how to sew and consulted elders on how to work with animal hide the way it was done before settlers. The amount of effort put into the movie is great and I can’t wait to see it.

[isaia]

THE INTENSITY WITH WHICH I WANT THIS HAS SURPRISED EVEN MYSELF. 

[queenklu]

THIS LOOKS AMAZING AND HERE’S ANOTHER LINK IF THE VIDEO ABOVE DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU!

[stephenearp]

Being watched