hope is the thing with feathers

trying to keep it fandom free. (sometimes i make obscure gifs)

[daweyt]

“““You’re not a monster,” I said. But I lied. What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.””

—

— Ocean Vuong, from “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”

[postcitywave-deactivated2020070]

Faces of Protest: The Fight for Hong Kong  Photographs by Adam Ferguson 

[vintageeveryday]

Mugshots of civil rights activist “Freedom Riders” in Jackson, Mississippi during the summer of 1961.

[beggars-opera]

My favorite part of these is the “bitch, you really think you’ve seen the last of me?” smirk on so many of their faces.

[fenrislorsrai]

AND THEY DIDN’T! at least one of these people I recognized as still fighting the fight today.

Representative John Lewis has served 17 terms in Congress

[antique-scarecrow]

this is such a good follow up

[deuxarabesques]

my absolute favourite poem

[onlinecounsellingcollege]

Remember that you were art long before he came to admire you, and you’ll continue to be art even when he’s gone. A masterpiece is still a masterpiece when the lights are off, and the room is empty.

Charlotte Beier

[jazminesullivan]

GERTIE BROWN & SAINT SUTTLE “Something Good-Negro Kiss,” the newly discovered William Selig silent film from 1898 is believed to be the earliest cinematic depiction of African-American affection. Thanks to scholars at the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California, the footage is prompting a rethinking of early film history. The performance by cakewalk partners Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown is a reinterpretation of Thomas Edison’s “The Kiss,” featuring May Irwin and John Rice. The film was announced December 12, 2018 as a new addition to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry—one of 25 selected for their enduring importance to American culture. The 29-second clip is free of stereotypes and racist caricatures, a stark contrast from the majority of black performances at the turn of the century.

[historicaltimes]

Protesting the high school dress code that banned slacks for girls, Brooklyn c.1940

via reddit

[theauspolchronicles]

I hate this dull body, This weighty vessel. This suit of skin and Dark thoughts. This aging container For breakable bones That won’t stay broken. Persistent and stubborn in their Need to keep healing. And then, sometimes, slowly Things shift, And I love my body. How it gives second chances To an inconsistent mind. A brain that can never view itself properly When all these mirrors reflect projections And not light. And then ,part of me Still hates it again and again And again and again. I’m getting so good At remembering that These feelings are a curve And this slope is just the first part Of a glorious climb to a height Where this stomach can swallow all the sunlight it needs And still glow bright enough to last through the darkness. As I dip back below the hill The constant struggle of self Loathing/loving Starts again. I stretch out this skin in the mirror And watch the light Slowly fade.

Self Image by David P. Cox from A Softer Form of Arson

[iranianrelated]

The day 100,000 Iranian women protested the headscarf. The protest was held on International Women’s day, 1979

[wehadfacesthen]

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leads a kneeling protest in Selma, Alabama, 1965

[the-movemnt-deactivated20170912]

Artist Daniel Rarela creates “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” memes to stop people from whitewashing MLK

follow @the-movemnt

[inkandenza]

[shihlun]

Hand Gestures of the Legendary Peking Opera Master Mei Lanfang (梅蘭芳)

[artistiq-ue]

Niikuni Seiichi, Post-War Japanese Poetry, (Penguin Books, 1972)

[booknpast]

17 year old Terry Pratchett’s short story for his school newspaper (The Cygnet; 1965)

[chaptertwo-thepacnw]

[mariatallchief]

[poemsbyronan]

an open book is what i call myself, an excuse for my imperfections. but please, excuse the stains on my pages. i beg you, look past my torn up edges. my spine is broken, weakened by all of the lies.  i am an open book that has been loaned out one too many times.

love overdue (via poemsbyronan)