MaraLouise Draws

27, Portrait Artist, Fashion Illustrator, Etsy Shop Owner, and Armchair Traveller.

[minuty]

[nowyoukno]

Source for more facts on your dash follow NowYouKno

[the-treble-deactivated20160823]

That was super nice of them.

And now I’m mad that nobody told us we were given cows. Cause that’s really f*cking nice and nobody mentioned it at all.

[rice-to-the-occasion]

American media tends to disregard that anyone donates to the US. And then Amurricans complain about money going abroad because “nobody helped the US in our disasters.”

>.>

Also, do you know how much a cow costs? O.O

[awesomonster]

It isn’t just a matter of how much a cow costs, its a matter of considering that Masai life is based around their cattle. Its their wealth, their food, and a significant part of their religion. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia:

“Traditional Maasai lifestyle centres around their cattle which constitute their primary source of food. The measure of a man’s wealth is in terms of cattle and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not the other is considered to be poor.[37] A Maasai religious belief relates that God gave them all the cattle on earth, leading to the belief that rustling cattle from other tribes is a matter of taking back what is rightfully theirs, a practice that has become much less common.[38]”

So its not just “they gave us 14 cows”, its that they gave us something that is very important and significant to them, it is more than just a kind gesture that definitely deserves to be known and its a genuine shame that more people don’t know about it.

[gweatherwax]

Wait, you guys DON’T KNOW that we offer help to the US when you have disasters???????

Shit, down here in Brazil we not only offered to send tracking units and doctors to help in 9/11 but we wanted to send a whole lot of donations to help with Katrina (we have experience with floods down here so we knew what kind of medicine to send to prevent outbreaks). 

We alone had like 2 army airplanes full of medicine and non-perishables like baby formula, diapers, bottled water, mosquito nets and other stuff that’s needed to fight opportunistic diseases that hit flooded areas, enough to assist a good few thousand people at least, ready to go the day after it hit, but your government refused the donations. 

The same thing happened to the Canadians and Europeans who offered help, the US embassies around the world told us all to give money to Red Cross.

And so we did, we all gave hundreds of millions of dollars to them, and then this happened:

Red Cross scandals tarnish relief efforts

‘Breathtaking’ Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid

So please, don’t you go spreading misinformation and prejudice against the rest of the world, WE DID OFFER HELP AND ORGANIZED IT EVEN FASTER THAN BUSH DID, BUT Y’ALL REFUSED IT. 

[randomthingsthatilike1]

Oh wow I had no idea this happened it’s really not talked about in media at all wow this is something good to know about wow

[jadedhavok]

I’m so angry.

I didn’t know that other countries tried to help after 9/11 or Katrina. Like, that’s something we, the people, should hear about and we don’t.

Please don’t blame us for the shitty decisions our government makes. We don’t have as much control over our government as we would like to think and they keep a lot from us.

[deadcatwithaflamethrower]

Spread this shit. 

[twixieshores]

After Katrina, Cuba donated several hundred blankets. Think about that. A country that is suffering economically due directly to the US embargo offered to help us when we needed it by sending what they could. And once again, it was refused. We have a government that is so self-righteous that we refuse to accept disaster aid in order to maintain this facade that we are the most generous nation on earth.

[fanfckery]

Okay, Katrina thing. Only Texans really knows this? and even then it’s not wide spread. Mexico sent their army. They sent their army for relief efforts. Didn’t call ahead, they drove all the way to San Antonio with doctors and food and all sorts of supplies. When people actually got a call from them saying “Hey, we’re sending people up.” The people who answered said “What? We can’t…” “Too late, already there.” This was while the government was turning down help. So yeah, other countries send relief. Forest fires up in Washington last year? Firefighters from Australia came up to assist. Like… we don’t hear about this shit. At all.

[awellboiledicicle]

I can second the above with the fires. 

Most the time, when people say “oh FEMA or something sent people right?” re: fires, its actually people from other countries showing up and kinda ignoring the government telling them to fuck off and staying on behalf of local departments because we REALLY need them. 

If there’s a huge ass disaster, and the government is sitting there with a thumb up it’s ass, help is offered and most the time– shit, it gets there! But then the feds do something really fucking dirty. They insist they were the help, if it’s talked about at all. 

They insist those people putting out fires were federal people, because to most people a fireman’s a fireman. The people handing out water and food, a relief worker is a relief worker. So on and so forth. 

We had people come up when the fires were so bad a while ago– not the Australians, but i think there was like a German group of like 3 guys that flew themselves over? They came out of sheer “this is horrible and we’re helping” and my dad [local fire chief] had them working with our guys and the feds lost no time telling every news outlet that it was THEIR people doing all the fire knockdowns and structure work when these guys were running into buildings and grabbing people, pets, and people’s important documents because they knew papers were a pain in the ass to replace. 

What you gotta understand is that our government is very intent on selling us and the rest of the world [as much as possible] the idea of a powerful and self reliant country. All our reporting on disasters, starts with the scaremongering and then moves to “but our people can handle it because we’re the best at handling things” and then they move on before the idea it’s out of control comes to mind. The average person outside of the disaster has no idea, if they have never been around such an event or met someone who regularly deals with these things, they will kinda probably nod along with that. Because we have no real scope on the scale and impact– by design. Our media intake is very controlled to slant everything to the “eh, we can handle it and everyone else out there– they need our help because they’re not so good at handling disasters like we are.” People who know better, reading international news, interacting with international social groups, looking outside their sphere of community– we know better but that kinda slant is really hard to break from because of that grip American media has on information. So, taking that knowledge, we further have restricted reporting on certain disasters because they’re considered unimportant.  Hurricanes are considered important, earthquakes are only considered important if it wrecks something the government cares about or somewhere a couple million people live that they’ll upset the national money flow/they can throw money at someone to make the news care, floods are only important if it’s in a similar manner to earthquakes but since they occur annually they’re rarely reported on nationally, mudslides that kill people or leave hundreds homeless aren’t important to the government even through they happen constantly, wildfires that consume most of the nation/continent each year generally are unimportant until they consume a town or threaten a government interest/money flow location. Terrorist attacks are always important because people will talk about them.

So, when we do get help for any of the above, it’s possible that most people may have no idea about what’s happened, let alone that help’s been sent. Or if people know something happened, the details are vague– the news don’t care to give the nitty gritty. You’ll know something happened and people are suffering and “gee, isn’t it good you’re not them” and then now the weather.

So, yeah, basically no one really knows we get help.

[petitepenquin]

International response to Hurricane Katrina:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina 

We got HELLA help, but nobody really talks about it

[evilelitest2]

American Media really fails regularly 

[iammyfather]

Hurricane Sandy, Quebec sends power line crews down to assist in restoring power.  California gets rid of water bombers due to budget cuts, Canada sends theirs down to help fight wild fires. Amazing what living on the border and having outside TV News does to your information flow.

[cyanwrites]

After Katrina, Denmark offered to donate water purification units so people wouldn’t get sick from drinking contaminated water, but the offer was declined.

A private Danish company built a mobile satellite phone booth and drove it around the poor neighbourhoods in Mississippi and Louisiana so people could call their families and insurance companies for free (apparently there was a deadline for reporting damages but people couldn’t call in because their mobile phones were dead and landlines were down).

[markingatlightspeed]

American propaganda is not a thing of the past, nor is it a new thing. It has been around forever, telling stories of exceptionalism and self-reliance while our government tries its hardest to refuse the help of others and offer its own to them, to try and force other nations onto their back foot and remain aggressively benevolent in international matters, so that it can lord that shit over them in negotiations and the media in general. I guarantee you America would have a less jingoistic, less xenophobic populace overall if this sort of information were actually reported to us. If we weren’t always fed the lie of helping the world without any gratitude or help in return. If the media didn’t present us as world police and instead as a part of the community, as other countries try hard to include us as, then maybe Americans would actually act like they’re part of a fucking community. But global citizens are hard to monger fear and distrust and xenophobia and nationalism with. They’re hard to control with propaganda and hate. They’re hard to keep ignorant and docile and saying “this is fine” while the empire burns. A lot of Americans wonder why our country is seen as a worldwide bully. Shit like that, my friends. Shit like that. Its hubris is seemingly limitless.

[velocicrafter]

C O M M E N T A R Y

[synebluetoo]

As an American, it’s so goddamn tragic to see how much people are willing to help my country, and how shitty my government treats them.

[lioness--hart]

Without exaggeration, the internet as we know it could disappear forever very soon.

I’ve changed my avatar in preparation for the day of action to save net neutrality.

Net neutrality is really important. Basically, right now, the internet is treated as a utility, like water and gas. Everybody’s rates are the same, and nobody can pay more for faster or better service.

This may be about to change.

The FCC and Chairman Ajit Pai want to reclassify the internet to make it just like phone and cable services, i.e., companies charging exorbitant prices for shoddy services and charging even more if you want faster service.

If net neutrality fails, ISPs can slow down or even block websites completely, which would stifle and kill the innovation, creativity, and free expression the internet has allowed us to have. Without net neutrality, the internet will be just like cable TV: the content you see is only what the provider puts in front of you.

That means if they don’t like your startup website or the website you made for your new company, they can charge you exorbitant fees, which they then pass down to consumers, for allowing your website to even exist.

That means that if they don’t like anything the Resistance does (and they wouldn’t like most of it; Comcast and Verizon are multimillion dollar donors to the GOP), they can block these websites. Your efforts at resisting the Trump administration will be suppressed.

If you are poor, or live in a rural area, you won’t be able to afford the exorbitant rates ISPs would charge for even basic internet access. This is designed specifically to target the poor and POC.

BUT ON JULY 12TH, WE’RE FIGHTING BACK.

Websites, Internet users, and online communities will come together to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on net neutrality. Battleforthenet.com (linked above) is your resource guide.

I strongly, STRONGLY urge you to participate.

Artists who use the internet to promote your work, you have a stake in this fight.

Anybody who reads fic on AO3, you have a stake in this fight. 

Anybody who’s ever had an online shop or store, you have a stake in this fight.

Anybody who uses the internet, you have a stake in this fight.

Learn more and join the fight at battleforthenet.com/july12

Go to Gofccyourself.com and submit a pro-net neutrality comment to the FCC directly today and every day!

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

BOOOOOOST

[grrlgeek72]

If you examine the comments there, the bots have posted many many cut and paste comments SUPPORTING the end of net neutrality by claiming the Obama administration regulations stifle innovation.

The corporate fascist botnets are hard at work.

[canitellusmthin]

That’s pretty shitty. :/

[grrlgeek72]

It’s worse than you think:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170510/08191137334/bot-is-flooding-fcc-website-with-fake-anti-net-neutrality-comments-alphabetical-order.shtml

[brianttran-deactivated20120224]

Reblog or your mom will die in 928 seconds.

[ovod0se]

I love my mom.

I am risking nothing

I AM SORRY FOLLOWERS, I LOVE MY MOMMY

Will not risk.

sorry followers :(

[whatgracelikes-deactivated20190]

omg im so glad to se so many people love their mummy

[ameriagrae]

Why’re you being mean to my mum?

[larryismyhallelujah-blog]

goddamn it

[lollie-pond-deactivated20150728]

Nope. Googled it. 15 minuets. Nope. Not taking any chances

[steampoweredplayer]

Koop

[twirliest]

This has 1.2 million reblogs … Ps not riskin it

[nathanvj]

1.4 almost ps not risking it

[queenprotein-deactivated2016012]

Fuck this post

[deans-pie-67]

Seriously? I ain’t risking SHIT!

[imbatmanurnot-deactivated201808]

Would never risk my mom

[tenebrisirae]

Mom I love chu

[rozella1313]

My mama just walked out the door like I’m going to risk this

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

SHE IS ALL I HAVE, TUMBLR! STOP THIS!

[fujoshirin]

FUCK THIS WHY IS THIS ON MY DASH??!

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR LOOKING AT THE BLOGS THAT REBLOG FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!

[whimsy-by-joja]

My mom is already dead.

[steamedporkbun]

(she eats them)

[captainkirkmccoy]

fuck this post man. i’m so sorry dudes. 

[pulpbomb]

This shit is wrong

[starlightandtears]

Is Today My Graduation Day From NYU? 

Today is May 17th, 2017 and NYU’s Class of 2017 is at Yankee Stadium right now celebrating one of the best moments of their lives. I don’t remember or really know what that feels like. I don’t know because despite participating in graduation exercises in May 2015, I have not graduated and, thanks to the University I gave so much of my life  (AND MONEY) to,  I don’t even know if today was my graduation day.

What? How can this be?!? I saw the pictures! I was there with you when you graduated! Surely, Marissa, you must have your degree after TWO WHOLE YEARS.

Nope. The last two years have been filled with emails, petitions, countless phone calls, sleepless nights, tears, and frustration as NYU holds my future hostage. Buckle up because this is a long story, one that I’m telling today because I am TIRED of WAITING and BEGGING to simply graduate.

You can read the full story on how my future is being held hostage HERE.

Reblog and help my get my story told. Maybe the University will listen.

[fuckyeahmoleskines]

Hi everyone, sorry for the long post but we need your help in making some noise, speaking as an alumnus of this institution where I experienced considerable systemic racism and a bureaucracy of administrators who simply don’t care to lift a finger.

This message hits home for me because I ran this blog throughout the entirety of my education. If you would be kind enough to share this story and message us that you have done so, we would be happy to share your art on our platform—Moleskine or not—because artists help each other.

[spnfox]

This this this thiss.. a comment means the world. A message does too and i live for reading all your tags when my work is reblogged!!

[onlinecounsellingcollege]

7 Secret for Maintaining your Motivation

1. Grasp that it’s YOUR life, and no-one else’s life.

2. Decide to “live on purpose”.

3. Recognise that achievement has a price tag attached to it – and decide you’ll pay that price.

4. Work on constantly maintaining your focus.

5. Chose a skill or a field and become competent, or an expert, in that area.

6. Find other people who will hold you to your goals – and will believe in, and encourage you, to strive to reach your dreams.

7. Consciously notice the progress you are making, and remind yourself “it’s worth it” as you’re further on the path.

[washingtonexaminer-blog]

$80 Billion

That’s the expected cost to taxpayers over 10 years from Obama’s proposed free tuition plan, the White House admitted Friday.

[geeksofdoom]

That’s about the cost of 8 months of war in Iraq. Seems like a much better investment of my tax dollars to me.

[tashabilities]

I bolded

[seananmcguire]

It’s amazing how 80 billion isn’t worth mentioning when it’s about killing people, but is suddenly a huge, horrifying barrier when it’s about improving lives.

[chocobroh]

I’d still pay for it this. I’d be the one good thing my taxes would be going towards. Cause it sure ain’t going to infrastructure or schools at this rate »

[linaevelovesyou]

#is this number meant to scare me? #80 billion over ten years #so 8 billion a year #divided by the total number of tax payers in america #in 2013 there were 242 million taxpayers #so going off that number#it would cost the average american taxpayer $33 a year #wow so scary what a horrible way to spend $33

amen. this is, what, dinner and drinks at a mediocre sit-down restaurant for two? I’d spare it.

[theweedkitten]

The last comment thank you

[professorthorgi]

Republicans whole strategy for winning is hoping nobody does math.

[mack-7-0]

Yasss this needs more notes

[introvertunites]

If you relate to being an introvert, follow me @introvertunites.

[st-pam]

[tangleduplnblue]

PLEASE EMPLOYMENT JELLY

[justanotherspringday]

Not risking it all I want in my life is a job I actually like

[zairak]

Sure why not, I’ll try anything at this point

[rrassoul]

i have an interview tomorrow! 

[fenrismp3-hasmoved]

France's Jews Flee As Rioters Burn Shops To Chants Of 'Gas The Jews'

France’s politicians and community leaders have criticised the “intolerable” violence against Paris’ Jewish community, after a pro-Palestinian rally led to the vandalizing and looting of Jewish businesses and the burning of cars. 

[fenrismp3-hasmoved]

please please please spread this around, please speak up about this, please let everyone know that this is not okay, please please please protect my people from a second kristallnacht, please 

[givemealltheowls]

Listen.  I love my followers and my mutuals dearly.  You know how occasionally I post something like ‘every Jew on this site has a list in their head of who reblogs what and who ignores posts about Jews’?  I’m talking about this shit.  I have been seeing things on my dash about the situation of Jews in France for over a year, but it’s coming from other Jews 99% of the time.  Please stop ignoring this.  This is literally history repeating itself and we can’t be the only ones calling it out again.

[mikelaughead]

I made a self-help comic last year about affirmations. Here is another one. This time about stress.

[mikelaughead]

In case you didn’t see this yesterday. (I also fixed a typo. Yay!) :)

[fauxboy-deactivated20180609]

What to say when an artist quotes your commission higher than you expected:

“Thank you for the quote, I’ll keep it in mind and get back to you sometime when I’m able to commission you!”

“That’s a little out of my budget for the time being, but thank you for your time. I’ll contact you again if/when I am able to pay!”

“I appreciate the quote, but i’ve decided to wait on the commission, thank you!”

“I understand your prices and that they are fair, but I am unable to afford this for the time being! Good luck on the rest of your commissions.”

What NOT to say when an artist quotes your commission higher than you expected:

“WAHHHHHHHHHHH”

“@-@ Holy crap that’s expensive!!”

“Could you maybe give me a tumblr follower discount? :3”

“Your prices are too high!!!!”

“Really?? Just for a sketch? I could draw it for half that!!”

Treat artists like human beings. We gotta eat too. Commissioning an artist is not different from any other contract work. You’re not going to ask your dentist for a discounted root canal or tell your contractor his cabinets are too expensive, don’t ask artists to change their prices because you perceive them as too high. More than likely, an artist taking commissions from the internet are drastically under charging themselves already. Please be respectful and understanding that art is a skill and not a favour.

[acodanies]

#on top of that please don’t decide to like…not respond at all

this

also even goin “ok nvm” is better (for me at least) than nothing at all

just please respond

[mysharona1987]

[twowaypr]

Hard for me to believe that this is a real thing proposed.

[morguesmell]

I dont understand what this picture means. Somebody help?

[killcops-hailsatan-deactivated2]

Donald Trump wants to make Muslims wear ID badges

[exploratoryvessels]

So many people dont understand what this picture means. We need to raise awareness about what is happening with the refugees and how much all of this compares to what happened with the jews. We need to know the history in order to stop it from happening. Please read about hitler and then read about donald trump and look at all the similarities. Please look at so many huge political influences in the world’s views then look at history of Hitler and what all happened leading up to the wars and genocide. Please. If i had a proper laptop I’d be making posts myself with sources.

[siriwesen]

Okay, to all of you people who may not know about this, because they hadn’t had any lessons on this in school yet, here is a brief and short summary (my fellow Germans are welcome to add to it):

As most of you know Hitler was in charge of the Deutsche Reich (Germany + later on Austria) from 1933-1945. World War II started in 1939 with the Blitzkrieg (an overnight attack on Poland) and lasted til 1945. The German forces were defeated etc pp.

Now the part of this time period from 1933-1945 that relates to this image. Jews always kinda had a stigma to them in all of history in Europe.

Kids, remember the scene from Avatar: The Last Airbender, where you see how the Fire Nation attacks other nations of benders and takes the benders and kills them/enprisons them etc? This is literally a metaphora for what Germany did to the Jews (and disabled, homosexual etc people).

German government forces systematically tracked down Jewish people. Children, Women, Men, Familys, old people, all of them. It began super slowly.

The public was fed constant propaganda on how Jews are awful and bad. “How they steal jobs. How they are not to be trusted. Even stereotypes of what Jews supposedly looked like were used to tell people: Jews are not like other Germans. Jews don’t deserve to be alive. Or in existence. They deserve to be isolated from society.” (i distance myself from any antisemitic statements. I do not support this ideology, this is merely a rough example of what was going on)

After some time Jews had to always carry an identification with them. They weren’t allowed in public pools. They weren’t allowed in theatres. They had to wear a yellow star, sewn onto their clothes. This star was a sign to the public that they were jewish.

If you wanted to join the NSDAP (the reigning party at the time) you had to prove that you weren’t related to any jewish people. Why would anyone want to join the Nazis? Well, because it was easier to get a job and feed your own family, you got extras and bonuses if you were a party member. thus even when people didn’t agree with the political ideas of the NSDAP, if they were in desperate need of the job, a lot of them would take any chance to get a job, even if it meant signing up as a part of the NSDAP.

Back to the topic at hand:

Labeling people like this not only made it easier in the end to track down all the jewish people and bring them to the concentration camps (KZ), you may or may not wanna google “Auschwitz” at this point, it also caused a lot of terrible things happening before the holocaust. They were shamed, disrespected and treated completely and utterly wrong.

This suggestion is literally: YOU ARE ONE STEP AWAY FROM STARTING BEING NAZI-GERMANY!

And trust me, as a German citizen, if I say this: You cannot make up for the horrible crimes you commit. Nobody can. You can apologize as much as you want but you will never be able to get rid of the blood on your nations hands and I believe we all already have enough of that on us.

Please. Please don’t repeat the horrible crimes done in 1933-1939.

Educate yourself on the topic. Don’t listen to people who pretend that the Holocaust did not happen. It did happen and it was horrible.

We cannot wash the blood from our hands but we can analyse our mistakes and work on our future.

[mediamattersforamerica]

An important perspective in light of recent events.

Watch this. 

[mara-louise]

To my Mama, Happy Mother’s Day!!!! from Mara, Hannah, Leo, and Mai~

*Font by Misti Hammers from dafont 

[drizzleandhurricanes-deactivate]

And a closeup. You can find mara on Instagram via @maradraws or on here at mara-louise 👍👍

[mara-louise]

Etsy Shop Teaser for Personalized Watercolor Portraits~ Thank you drizzleandhurricanes for posting the sketch and for providing the photo referenced xD!!