[aconissa]

Elaine Castillo, America Is Not The Heart Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Ijeoma Umebinyuo, ‘Confessions’, Questions for Ada Mohamad Hafez, Baggage series Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited Anne Carson, ‘The Glass Essay’, Glass, Irony, and God Margaret Atwood, ‘November’, You Are Happy Richard Siken, ‘Boot Theory’, Crush

[sergle]

You wish! You fucking wish you were me

[sergle]

it’s more or less stolen from hellofresh LMAO but I did change it around a little so sure! INGREDIENCE: Soy curls (I use 1/3rd bag to serve 3 ppl) 10 oz broccoli  3 cloves garlic 1 thumb ginger 1 cup jasmine rice 1 egg (or egg replacer) ½ cup flour ½ cup and 1 tbsp cornstarch 4 tbsp sweet soy glaze (I used Kikkoman) 1 tbsp  sweet thai chili sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee) 5 tsp rice wine vinegar 3 tbsp brown sugar 2 tbsp sesame oil Sesame seeds (for garnish!) Soak soy curls in water for 10 minutes. Wash broccoli, then cut into little florets. Finely mince or grate garlic & ginger, set aside. Once the soy curls are done soaking, drain the water and squeeze most of the water outta them. Thoroughly wash rice, then combine with equal parts water & a pinch of salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook It Until It’s Cooked In a small bowl, whisk up 1 tbsp cornstarch, 4 tbsp sweet soy glaze, 1 tbsp sweet thai chili sauce, 5 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 3 tbsp brown sugar, and ½ cup water. Set aside. Heat a 1 inch layer of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. In a medium bowl, whisk 1 egg (or egg replacer) with 1 tbsp of oil, and a pinch of salt. To this mixture, add the soaked and drained soy curls, and mix them around until they’re coated. You can add a splash of milk to the egg mix if there isn’t enough liquid for the curls. Steam broccoli with a splash of water on the stovetop for 2 - 4 minutes, OR microwave in a microwave-safe bowl with plastic wrap covering it & holes poked in the top for 1 - 2 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine ½ cup cornstarch, ½ cup flour, salt and pepper. Transfer the eggied-up soy curls to the flour cornstarch mixture, and toss them around until they’re coated. Test that the oil is hot enough by throwing a little flour in it. If the flour bubbles immediately, the oil is ready. Using either a slotted spoon or a sieve to shake away any excess flour, add the breaded soy curls to the pan in a single layer. Stir them occasionally to make sure they’re frying evenly. When they’re the level of crispy that you’d like, transfer them onto paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.  In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsp sesame oil over medium high heat. To that, add the ginger and garlic. Cook until sizzling and fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the sauce and cook until slightly thickened, stirring often. If it’s too thin, simmer it longer. If it’s too thick, add a splash of water. Pour the fried soy curls & the steamed broccoli into the pan with the sauce, stirring until they’re nicely coated. Fluff the cooked rice with a fork and serve into bowls, topping with the soy curls and broccoli mixture. Garnish with sesame seeds and eat!!! 

[everythingfox]

[funnytwittertweets]

[squid-star]

THE MAJOR ARCANA - THE HERMIT 

UPRIGHT: introspection, self-reflection, meditation, solitude, new direction, the unconscious REVERSED: exile, loneliness, withdrawn, exclusion, challenges, rejection, realignment

[amarperdona-deactivated20180311]

I just want to tell you a story. Will you listen?

You probably don’t know this woman: her name is Franca Viola. She was born in Alcamo, Sicily, in 1947, during a time where, see, things for women were deeply different. This is her when she was 17. 

She was 17 when, on the 26th of December, 1965, she was kidnapped by her former boyfriend, Filippo Melodia, the son of a local mobster, and a few of his friends: she had broken the engagement with him a couple of years prior, when she was 15 and he was 23, and he couldn’t accept it. He kept her segregated in a farmhouse for 8 days and raped her, before she was found and freed by the police.

At that time, the Italian law stood with her kidnapper and rapist, as it stated that if the rapist married his victim, then the crime was virtually erased, and, had the guilty part already been prosecuted and convicted, the trial and the sentence would cease. This kind of marriage was called “rehabilitating marriage,” as it was believed that the victim, and her family, had to fix the dishonour caused by the rape. 

Incredible, isn’t it? Not really. In an area where families still used to hang the sheet dirty with blood to their balcony after the first wedding night to prove the virginity of the woman to the entire town, the law and the public opinion still expected women to marry their abusers to mantain their honour. 

Franca refused to marry Melodia. Knowing that the entire town - and, later, the whole country - could turn its back at her, knowing that she was going to be mocked, frowned upon, and insulted, she denounced him. Her family, who, contrarily to many other families, stood with her and supported her choice, needed to be guarded at all times by a handful of policemen, having been threatened by Melodia and his family. Franca was assisted by a brilliant lawyer. The trial ended up being reported by Italy’s major newspapers, and Franca, the first woman - girl - to refuse rehabilitating marriage, quickly became an example of bravery for many, many other women.

In court, Melodia tried to turn the judge against her. He said she’d already hooked up with him when they were together. He tried to escape conviction.

He was convicted for kidnapping anyway, and justly. Eight years later, when he got out, he was shot dead by an unknown killer.

Despite earlier threats that she was dishonoured, and that she wasn’t going to find anyone willing to marry her, she married Giuseppe, a childhood friend, in 1968, who stated that he wasn’t afraid of any possible acts of revenge from Melodia. He allegedly said said, “I’d rather live ten years with you than a lifetime with another woman.”  About her dad, who supported her every step, Franca recently said, “My father Bernardo came [to get me] unshaven, with a week’s old beard: I could not shave if you were not there, he said. What do you want to do, Franca? I will not marry him. All right, you put your hand, I will put one hundred. This sentence, he said. I just want you to be happy, nothing else. He took me home and he did the great effort, not me. It was him who put up with those who no longer greeted him, his friends gone. The shame, the dishonour. His head up high. He wanted only what was good for me.”

When he heard about her wedding, even Pope Paul VI asked to meet her to congratulate her.

Her trial was the final push to erase the law about rehabilitating marriage and honour killings, which also allowed “mitigating circumstances” if the killer had acted upon jealousy or to restore his honour (for instance, if a husband walked in on his wife cheating on him, and killed both her and her lover). But that didn’t happen until 1981.

Rape was finally considered a “crime against the person,” instead of a crime “against the morals”, only in 1996. 

She still lives in Alcamo; she says that, sometimes, she still sees her kidnappers, and whilst she greets them, they lower her gaze in shame. Franca has never, not once, lowered her gaze, and that’s why she changed history. 

This is just a tiny post to remember how small acts of courage can change history and change the shape of a nation - and as a woman, an Italian, a Sicilian woman, I want to thank Franca for saying ‘no’ and - perhaps by chance - changing the history of Italy. 

[babyanimalgifs]

Tiger checking the depth of a watering hole before getting in 

(Source)

[diet-poison]

that’s just a fella

[ghostssmoke]

Corvid studies  

[redlipstickresurrected]

Unknown Artist - Happy Halloween Cat aka Patty Cat, 1930’s. From a 1930’s scrapbook in an antique mall in Ohio purchased by Coralie Cederna Johnson from Michigan, USA, Graphic Arts

[antiqueanimals]

The artist for this is Paul Bransom! 

[yvotoro]

shinigami eyes 👁

[libbyframe]

Another flower tatt commish! I love love love these

[funnytwittertweets]

[pikipikipek]

[maturina]

[eternalwormdevouringconneticut]

[id: three images. the first is a tweet from @\boss_on_here, reading "my tummy hurts but im being so brave about it."

the second is a meme with two couples dancing and one man standing in the middle. he is saying, “they don’t know how much my tummy hurts.”

the final image is a stock image of a drawn man, crouched over. the top says, “i’m gonna fucking die disease. the lower text says, “symptons: tummy hurts a little too much for too long.” /end id]

[airsignz]

[rasputinaillyanna]

Nadja being beautiful and so done with everyone ft the Doll

[thegenderal]

Emotionally constipated and repressed fictional men are SOOOO sexy..... not real men though. get in touch with your emotions ugly

[furiousgoldfish]

Today I’m going to talk about the opposite of child abuse, because you all need some proper references to compare your lives to.

First thing that made me realize how upside down my life was, was a friend, who had an abusive father, but good mother. And you see, because the mother was good, she realized when her kids were still small, that he’s abusive, that the kids would get hurt, and she moved the hell away from him and got a divorce. She was poor, she didn’t have many resources, and she had to work very hard to survive, and managed to get the abuser to pay alimony. My friend grew up surrounded by love and support, with high self-confidence, high social abilities, complete belief in their  worth and lacking nothing. And then one day the abusive father was angry at the mom, and tried to take it out on my friend, my friend got a call filled with insults and threats. It was scary and my friend got upset, I tried to comfort them but I really didn’t have good words to say. They later called their mom, and this is what the mother said:

“You are a perfect person, if anyone is talking to you like this, you can walk away.”

I remember just feeling complete awe hearing this, told from a mom, to a child. It even cheered me up. Those are the words we should have been getting from our parents. This is the correct attitude.

This other example is something that made me cry, and everyone else I’ve told this story. It’s from a woman on youtube, who has a farm, and it was her dream her whole life to have a farm, and she also has kids. This year, she entered a competition in growing tomatoes, she grew a special tomato plant, and the competition was about who manages to grow the most tomatoes, biggest tomato, and so on. She usually lets her kids play in the garden, but she explained to all of them that they’re not allowed to touch the special competition plant, or harvest the tomatoes.

However, her youngest son, aged maybe 5 or 6, took the biggest tomato off, before it even started ripening. She made a video explaining about what happened, and then she smiled and talked about how she cares about her farm, and her competition a lot, but not even close to how much she cares about her children feeling happy and safe in the garden. She said, even though she warned the kids to not touch the plant, it’s kind of hard to remember for a child which plant is what, and that in long term, competition doesn’t really matter as much as happiness of her children. She even mentioned how she makes mistakes in the garden too, and forgives herself right away, and her children deserve the same forgiveness. And then, her son, laughing, runs up to her, and realizes she’s making a video on tomato he tore off, and he says with a grin “I’m sorry” and she replies, with warmth and affection in her voice: “I forgive you, my darling.”

If you’re, crying, it’s okay, I’m crying too. So here, some standards. Something to compare your parents to. If these people could have done this, your parents could have done it too. You deserved this kind of gentleness and kindness too.

[chismosavirus]

the bunnies did the lady and the tramp kiss. help i’m crying

[chismosavirus]

enemies to lovers

[niuniente]

@blood-and-pepper​ @panimauser​