my so-called tumblr

reblogging a lot of things around race, gender, sexuality, and the media. sometimes I write blogposts. often I engage in fangirling. throw in some roller derby and musical theatre. I pretty much change my mind once a week about how to use this thing.

[npr]

I am not a great maker of lists. Unless pressed, I will make exactly one each year, and this is it.

This is a list of 50 of the wonderful things that wandered through my field of vision in 2014. It is not a definitive list of the best things. It is not merely subjective but sublimely subjective. It leans away from (but doesn’t entirely avoid) what’s been most highly praised and what seems to have been most rewarded.

Also: It is cultural things, not all wonderful things. (Whenever I make this list, someone says something like, “How about a walk in the woods, huh? How about that?” Yes. I like the woods. This is not that list.)

Without further ado, and with gratitude to all of you for reading this year and all of these great folks (and lots of other great folks) for making such good stuff, let’s get on with it.

Linda Holmes’ 50 Wonderful Things From 2014

Above: Jenny Slate and Jake Lacy in ‘Obvious Child’. Photo credit: Courtesy of A24

[flinch-nerds]

This tweet is so important to me

[ashprincessmidna]

This hit me hard because it’s what I live by.

[raisingwildlings]

This so fucking much

[tcharlatan]

"Be the bigger person"

is bullshit advice.

My bigness is not determined by my capacity to quietly absorb bullying, degradation, or abuse.

[autie-baeddel-cat-deactivated20]

Yes, this.

[asubmissiveintraining-deactivat]

Bam

[stand-up-gifs]

Like fiery eyeball thing, no problem. But don’t even try to imagine a Samoan elf. (x)

[thedesertofcolors-deactivated20]

I already saw that on Tumblr.

literally everything (via beccaliving)

[fionagoddess]

Lupita Nyong’o  | 86th Annual Academy Awards (March 2, 2014)

[youngbadmanbrown-deactivated201]

give this photographer the pulitzer please

[christel-thoughts]

omg.

[rdjunkies]

The Jammer hand-off

One of the things I admire so much about Texas is their ability to “hand off” jammers from one blocker to the next. Here, Smarty Pants keeps contact with the jammer juuuuust long enough so that her other blocker can get a touch; once she does so, Smarty can stabilize her blocker and build an effective two-wall.

Texas v Atlanta, 2013 WFTDA Championships

[kingjaffejoffer]

[ethiopienne]

the failure of american education in one concise photoset

[rachelari]

I watched this and totally wanted to comment on it. I think they did end up getting all the questions right, but yeah, it was pretty sad how they left that category until the end. Probably hoping they would run out of time.

[thewhitefuckingstripes]

[pitchthequickfantastic-deactiva]

me when i hear someone talk about musical theatre

[rachelari]

Always reblog

[democraticnonsense]

Kenya's first mockumentary takes on the NGO world

[blacksentai]

Anyone working in international development for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over the past few years has likely had one of the following experiences:

1) Witnessing an external consultant or boss being flown in from abroad to “manage” the field office in [insert any non-Western nation here. Note that field office can just mean the capital city of any country outside the U.S. or Europe]

2) Being shocked at the lack of ethics in workplaces where the aim is “helping other people”

3) Working for or interacting with NGOs (such a broad category that it encompasses all manner of organizations) that serve no apparent purpose.

Finally, a new TV show exists to highlight some of the absurdities of the international aid sector. The slyly named The Samaritans is a comedy about the perils – and pleasures – of the “NGO world”. Created by a Kenya-based production company, it chronicles the work of Aid for Aid – an NGO that, in the words of its creator, “does nothing”

This is excite

[mansplainedmarxist-blog]

When I say something that should not be controversial 

[equalaccountability]

Why aren’t 50% of coal miners women? Why not 50% of janitors or pest control workers? Don’t forget front line military! Likewise, why aren’t men 50% of college enrollment and 50% of teachers?

We should eliminate the stupid “personal choice” thing because forcing people into certain professions is way more fun.

[ace-enjolras-blog]

THIS IS NOT ABOUT FORCING PEOPLE INTO PROFESSIONS THIS IS ABOUT WOMEN GOING INTO SCIENCE BEING DISCOURAGED THIS IS ABOUT WOMEN BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST

[marxistfeministsport-blog]

FIRST, WHAT GBT SAID.^

SECOND…

FUNNY YOU SHOULD MENTION WOMEN COAL MINERS.  BECAUSE I STUDY THEM.  AND GUESS WHAT?

Women had to fight court cases to be allowed into coal mines as workers.  Once a few women paved the way, thousands of women followed in short suit because on average, their incomes increased 500% over working as domestic workers, doing textile piecework and waitressing.  Some saw their income jump 1000%.  

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find women have been mining coal for centuries.  They were pushed out in the Victorian period because the mansplainers of the day could tolerate women wielding such a phallic object as a shovel underground with male workers present.  And wearing pants!  Still, women disguised themselves as men to work in the mines.

Oh, and World War II.  Where did all the coal come from then?  Oh, that’s right.  Women.  Women who were expected to stand aside and let the men take their jobs when the war was over and were denied benefits when they later developed black lung.

[moniquill]

Also, can we just talk about how absurd it is to say that women don’t make up 50% of ‘janitors’? Gee, I wonder if that’s because when a woman is hired to be the primary cleaner and caretaker of a property, it gets called ‘housekeeping’ or ‘maidservice’ and pays less than the EXACT SAME JOB, which if done by a man is given the title ‘janitor’?

[rdjunkies]

Owch.

Ooof.

Why.

[rachelari]

ok i was watching BAD vs. Gotham today and kept watching that hit on Nock Nock over and over again. That hit is so obviously illegal to me. Total clockwise block. Slaydie skates backward into Nock Nock as she is approaching. HOW DID THE REFS NOT CALL THIS?

[howtobeterrell-deactivated20141]

You’ll need experience. but you’ll need experience to gain experience to experience what you haven’t experienced with a person who’s experienced to write us a letter of referral that lists your experience so that our experienced HR DEPT can tell us how experienced you are in...

[rachelari]

Normal Person: *watches musical*

Normal person: That was good. I enjoyed it.

Me: *watches musical*

Me: *buys cast album*

Me: *buys T shirt*

Me: *buys poster*

Me: *keeps tickets forever*

Me: *Looks up bootleg copies of said musical on YouTube*

Me: *Learns all words to said musical*

Me: *Act's out said musical*

Me: *Falls in love with actors in said musical*

Me: That was good. I enjoyed it.

[jakec]

Tumblr genuinely is younger than most other social platforms, and more diverse. A greater proportion of its users are people of colour than on any other major platform. Women users make up a higher percentage than anywhere else bar Pinterest. Teenagers over-index dramatically. And while Pew and other research agencies don’t tend to ask about sexuality or gender identification, LGBT visibility in Tumblr fandom is very high. What looks to dim outsiders as some kind of obsession with “social justice” often just springs from people talking about themselves, their lives and the shit that happens to them.

Just one of many excellent parts in this piece by Tom Ewing (which is only a little bit about Tumblr.)

(The piece is about Marvel fandom, though that’s not apparent from this quote.)

(via velociraptorchan)

This is exactly why people refer to Tumblr in dismissive tones, though. This is no accident. 

"Hysterical", "over-emotional", "irrational" means too many women

"obsessed with social justice" means too many POC, too many LGBTA, too many disabled/chronically ill people. Not just talking about their own lives, talking period, without being immediately silenced.

Makes some folks very uncomfortable.

It’s too blatant to even be a dogwhistle. 

(via rubyvroom)

^^^Yyyyyyyyyep!!

(via gadaboutgreen)

This is great info. I've been helping some organizations figure out how to craft their messages on each social media platform, and a lot of people don't yet understand the importance of utilizing the the Tumblr demographic.

[rachelari]

"In a rape culture, there is no burden on us to presume that she is not a liar, no necessary imperative to treat her like a person whose account of herself can be taken seriously. It is important that we presume he is innocent. It is not important that we presume she is not making it all up out of female malice. In a rape culture, you can say things like “We can’t really know what really happened, so let’s all act as if Woody Allen is innocent (and she is lying).” In a rape culture, you can use your ignorance to cast doubt on her knowledge; you can admit that you have no basis for casting doubt on Dylan’s statement, and then you can ignore her account of herself. A famous man is not speaking, so her testimony is not admissible evidence. His name is Woody Allen, and in a rape culture, that good name must be shielded and protected. What is her name?"