Shindig @superauthor - Tumblr Blog

As a gender nonconforming cis dyke, I’ve received a lot of weird hostility in bathrooms. Like, a lot. The mild but frequent stuff is when people see me, do a visible double take, and go check the sign again. The not entirely common, more aggressive stuff is when people verbally question why I’m there. More than once I’ve had someone call me “it” or confront me about my gender in public settings. I’ve had people try to tell me to leave.

But the only place I’ve had someone physically try to remove me from a bathroom was in London.

Some random middle aged woman thought that she had the right to put her hands on me simply because I don’t match her ideas of what femininity is, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this happened in a place where transphobia is running rampant. Of all the weird stuff that’s happened to me in pretty conservative parts of the US, they simply are not as emboldened here as they currently are in the UK; but don’t think for a moment that they don’t intend to get there.

Trans people are reason enough to fight these bigots. It’s a good enough reason. Trans people deserve respect, dignity, compassion, and protection. But if you think they’ll be satisfied with only pushing trans people back into the closet, you’re utterly deluded. They want absolute conformity, simple as that, and they’re increasing their push here too.

Any lesbian who aligns herself with transphobia is a traitor. Simple as that.

guerrillatech

jaubaius

A bird explaining to a hedgehog crossing so it doesn’t die.

serialreblogger

!!! ok but that’s legitimately what it’s doing!! That’s a corvid right there (looks like a hooded crow, to be precise), which means it’s intelligent enough to recognize, a) cars are dangerous and streets should be treated with a certain degree of caution, b) this car’s slowing down for them–cars do that sometimes–which means they’re not in imminent danger, so it doesn’t have to fly away just yet, c) that hedgehog’s still gonna get killed if it doesn’t MOVE, FAST (cars can change speed very quickly and the hedgehog’s still in the way), and almost certainly also d) if the bird does nothing it gets a free lunch.

Y’all, Y’ALL. This bird is consciously deciding to put itself in danger in order to save the life of a very stupid creature. A creature which, if the bird did nothing, could be free food.

i can’t - look if you follow me you know I have a thing for corvids, but this is - like!!! People are always saying “ah yes they have sub-human intelligence and don’t consider anything that isn’t immediately necessary for their own survival/pleasure,” but! Whether or not it can do philosophy, this crow is clearly demonstrating compassion. Even if it’s just the kind of compassion a toddler shows to a snail, a social creature that instinctively recognizes the potential for emotion in other beings, that’s still huge and cool and important and corvids!!! are! neat!!!

pg-chan

Also, by the car stopping for them, that hedgehog has two other species actively working to help it stay alive for no gain of their own.

portentous-offerings

Reminds me of that professor who said the beginning of civilization was when someone took care of another. The broken thigh bone thing.

“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts. We are at our best when we serve others.” - Margaret Mead

shake-down-the-stars

Always a reblog ❤️⭐️

moringmark

runcibility

I liked this post, scrolled for like another minute before I went “SHIT FUCK SHIT” and scrolled back to reblog it

aleshakills

If you are someone who likes to watch a lot of cop shows, I want you to ask yourself a few questions.

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, hate Internal Affairs? Isn’t the job of Internal Affairs to root out the “bad cops”? Isn’t their job to make sure police follow the rules? Why is that presented as inherently evil or antagonistic?

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, hate defense attorneys? Isn’t the defense attorney’s job to protect the rights of all citizens? Isn’t it their job to make sure police follow the law? Isn’t it their job to make sure everyone is treated fairly under the system? Why is that presented as inherently evil or antagonistic?

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, get upset when citizens invoke their constitutional rights? Don’t those rights exist to ensure all citizens are treated fairly? Don’t they exist to ensure innocent people are not wrongfully incriminated? Why are citizens who invoke their rights presented as dishonest, untrustworthy, or antagonistic?

To be clear, I’ve watched Brooklyn 99 and enjoyed it. I was watching Elementary the other day. But even when I watch shows I like, I make a mental note every time a cop lies, breaks the law, subverts someone’s basic rights, or just generally acts like an asshole to the people the are meant to serve and protect.

How often are they called out on their behavior? How often are they punished for it? How often is it reinforced as correct by the narrative?

When I tell people to be critical of the media they consume that is what I mean. Not simply calling it terrible and moving on, but actually engaging thoughtfully, asking questions, and forming conclusions about what that media is trying to say to you. Then decide whether you want to keep listening, or if it will be better for you in the long run to move on.

obviousplant

Super Best Christ Jesus Force

superauthor

PRAY TO SKY GHOST

thehierophage

Just so we all remember - here's what the New York Times posted in 1992 when AIDS had claimed 100,000 American lives.

first-son-of-finwe

I’ve realised that what I miss about fantasy is it being truly escapist. I miss it depicting places where I would actually want to go.

Every dang kid I knew waited for their Hogwarts acceptance letter. Reading the books and seeing it on screen gave you this warm, fuzzy feeling and a feeling of longing, even when they were in danger and fighting monsters and evil wizards, you want to be there.

You want to go to Middle Earth, see hobbits and elves and dwarves and run through this land of incredible beauty, mysticism and magic.

You want to be in the TARDIS, seeing the universe.

The more recent trend of fantasy is this gritty, dark realism and places where you would just never want to go. I don’t want to go to Westeros. I don’t want to be in The Hunger Games, I don’t particularly want to be in The Witcher universe. I’m living in the world of Black Mirror and I hate it.

Fantasy used to say “hey our world kinda sucks but here’s a cooler one”, but now it says “hey our world kinda sucks, but here’s an even worse one.”

That isn’t to say that the above are bad. They’re not.

But I miss beautiful, escapist fantasy that gives me a break. That takes me somewhere magical, somewhere otherworldly and gives me messages of hope and optimism in the face of darkness. I really, really miss that.

vardaelcntari

As a great man once said, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory”. If I want to live in a world full of injustice and suffering, I can just watch the news.

militant-holy-knight

Same fam tbh.

barbarian15

“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it”

J.R.R. Tolkien

“[M]y friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, ‘What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?’ and gave the obvious answer: jailers.”

Quoted by C. S. Lewis. "On Science Fiction"

heroofthreefaces

Just because it’s “escapism” doesn’t mean you’re not running to something.

normal-horoscopes

THERE IS A FOX TRAPPED IN YOUR RIBCAGE GNAWING SLOWLY ON YOUR FLESH BUT YOU WILL NOT LET IT OUT BECAUSE WHAT WOULD MOTHER THINK WHAT WOULD MOTHER THINK

cytharatunes

Florence really went off with this one

grizzlyadventures

Okay, but the actual truth behind this random story is even stranger... young Spartan boys in the agoge “bootcamp” were trained to trained to be self-sufficient and survive on their own. Part of this training included the expectation for the boys to go steal food to supplement their meals that were intentionally not enough to fully satisfy. However, being caught stealing was punished to an extreme; the lesson here was to learn how to steal the food without getting caught and by extension how to sneak through an enemy’s camps if need be.

The story goes that one young boy had stolen a fox off of someone’s property and, when caught, hid the young fox under his tunic. It gnawed on his innards and the boy did die, but the story was told as an example of how honorable the boy was for maintaining composure while being eaten alive and the boy’s mother would have been proud that her son died as a true Spartan.

pet-lovememorial

the-last-girl-scout

solitarelee

Considering how commonplace the advice of “just LET your children TALK TO YOU about their INTERESTS” is on Tumblr, it’s astonishing to me how few people seem to realize/accept that that’s a two-way street, especially as adults.

I’m not telling you how to relate to parents who were shitty/abusive to you, obviously, but given a relatively healthy relationship or the ATTEMPT to build one as adults, you’ve genuinely got to let your older relatives talk to you in their own way about the things they’re interested in. Yes, sometimes it is painfully boring, yes, sometimes they do it in a slow or round-about manner or tell you way too much, but sometimes it’s boring listening to a twelve year old talk about fortnite. I still do it, because people, adult or child, need and want people to talk to about their interests.

My dad is into the cringiest possible anime. I am halfway to dissociation every time he spends 30-60 minutes walking me through the entire plot of an anime, one episode at a time. One time we had an eight hour car ride and that was the ENTIRE trip and by the end I wanted to DIE. But I still let him do it! Because he needs someone to talk to his passions about, and I care about him and know that being that person for him makes him happy and improves our relationship. Because of that, we spent the SECOND eight hour car ride talking about the history of unions, something I spent 27 years not even knowing my father had an interest in!

Let your parents talk to you about the dumb facebook videos they saw or the funny ancient wine mom memes they like or that time they went to korea and over-reacted to kimchi. Kids aren’t the only ones who just want their family to be interested in what they have to say.

naamahdarling

this is such a good take.

concerningwolves

This is something that’s difficult to learn when you’re a child, but I think it’s also particularly difficult for neurodivergent people of all ages to learn and remember. One way that I’ve conceptualised it to help me remember is this: communication is a two-way street, and if you go barrelling down the street at full speed, other people will need to move out of your way. Remembering to slow down is difficult, but it’s worth it in the long run.

leoreturns-deactivated20110811

I have been waiting all year to post this.

tumboner

omg

merspers

This has been in my queue for months.

mcgooglykins

I missed it last year and I vowed that would NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.

thatsoundsprettynice

YES

xbstnmnr-deactivated20241116

omg i didnt reblog this last year!

unknowabledaily

“It was April 24, St. Mark’s Eve. For most people, St. Mark’s Day came and went without note. It wasn’t a school holiday. No presents were exchanged. There were no costumes or festivals. There were no St. Mark’s Day sales, no St. Mark’s Day cards in the store racks, no special television programs that aired only once a year. No one marked April 25 on their calendar. In fact, most of the living were unaware that St. Mark even had a day named in his honor. But the dead remembered.”

— The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

sifu-kisu

styro-sometimes

REMINDER TO PEOPLE SHOPPING FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING: If you’re paying with cash or debit or credit card, and the item you’re grabbing has a WIC symbol beside the price on the shelf–get something else. People who use WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) to feed their kids can’t switch to another brand or another kind of food, and their options are fairly limited. If the grocery store runs out of the WIC-approved option and brand, they can’t grab the other kind of milk, the other bag of beans; they have to go home empty-handed.

blueandbluer

I did not know this. Thank you!!

pftones3482

An Ongoing Daily List of Good Shit Because I'm Tired of All The Corona Talk:

Australia is no longer on fire

U-Haul is offering free 30 day storage for displaced college students and discounted rates on moving services

The second person in the world was just cured of HIV!

There's going to be a new Dr. Seuss book this fall, published from a manuscript he wrote that was discovered 21 years after his death

Student loan payments are being halted with no interest until the pandemic clears

A zoo in Indiana recently announced the birth of two Chacoan Peccaries, an animal that is currently endangered (and also adorable)

On that train, two cheetah cubs were recently born in an Ohio zoo via vitro fertilization, which could seriously boost efforts to help endangered species survive

One more about animals - a komodo dragon in a Tennessee zoo just gave birth without male involvement! Which isn't something new, but it is rare and cool.

The state of Virginia has banned conversion therapy for minors recently, and is the first Southern state to do so

Scotland has created the worlds first Carbon Positive Gin made from peas instead of wheat, which reduces the carbon footprint created by normal gin making. Without wheat....it might also be a gluten free alternative (not certain on that one, you'd have to reach out to the creators). You can buy it here

The worlds first 3D printed houses were just created in Mexico, with the hopes to combat homelessness. They are designed to withstand seismic activity and come with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom.

Disneyland is donating all acceptable food to food banks in Orange County during their closure

The Olympic Games are hoping to become "climate positive" by the year 2030, and by next year they plan to start planting an "Olympic Forest" in Africa in an effort to combat desertification

Hopefully I can add more day to day, but even the small stuff makes you smile sometimes. Yesterday at my coffee shop, a woman tipped me five dollars because, and I quote, "Just because there's a virus doesn't mean I can't tip you for my coffee."

The small shit matters as much as the big shit. Good luck, try to look at the good and also try and DO some good, and wash your hands.

pftones3482

Today's list (3/15/2020):

Cleveland Clinic has found a way to make the Corona Virus test go from a 5+ day waiting time for results down to 8 hours, which helps speed up treatment and quarantine and slows the spread of the virus

You've definitely heard about this one, but citizens in Italy (including famous opera singers) have been singing with and playing music with each other during their quarantine

Hundreds of local restaurants (and some chain restaurants) are offering free meals for kids who rely on school lunches as their primary source of nutrition.

On this note, hundreds of teachers across the country are pulling from their pantries to make their less fortunate kids care packages (I know, they shouldn't have to, but they are, so let's celebrate the kindness)

Students of a school in Pembroke got together for the 13th year in a row to shave their heads for cancer research, earning more than 100,000 dollars

Feel free to add your own personal ones!

pftones3482

Day 3 (3/16/2020):

Woolworths has dedicated a set period of time for letting only elderly clients shop so they can stock up on supplies with less risk of catching covid19

A customer at a bar in Columbus tipped the staff $2500 on a $30 bill because of the shutdown of in house service for all bars and restaurants in Ohio, which will severely impact servers wages and tips

The last patient with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was just released with a full bill of health

Scholastic is offering free courses for kids stuck at home during school closings

Reporters Without Borders have opened an uncensored library.....in MINECRAFT. In countries where a lot of books or articles are banned, Minecraft is still available, and they have made these books and articles readable through the platform. You can download it here

Today is National Panda Day!!!!! Here's a picture of a Floof Panda looking wistfully to their left:

Michael Symon is hosting free online cooking videos during the Corona Virus on Facebook

Ballet Nova Center for Dance is live streaming classes for all levels (beginner adult included!) on Facebook for the next week for anyone who might be interested in learning

Uber Eats is waiving the delivery fee for all local businesses so that you can keep supporting your mom and pop shops without risking getting sick or getting others sick. They're also offering contactless deliveries, giving affected drivers financial aid, and are donating meals to first responders and healthcare workers in the US and Canada

Its a struggle y'all, but there's good shit happening out there. Keep trucking, tip your delivery drivers and servers because they're making nothing now, and stay inside unless you absolutely can't. And please remember to wash your hands.

(Image ID: Black and white photo of Fred Rogers smiling. Quote reads: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" End ID)

theirroyalbiness

I’d like to add: Canada is looking to propose a nation wide ban on conversion therapy as well! :)

heller-obama

Okay so not as epic but still great (3/17/2020):

A favorite baking blog of mine, Hummingbird High, by Michelle Lopez, is creating recipes people can make during quarantine for less servings and without some ingredients that are hard to find right now like butter, eggs, milk, etc.

Some school districts are giving kids who don’t have any devices or internet connection a laptop and/or a hotspot so they can do online learning too

They’re also allowing families who rely on school lunch to come in and get meals from the cafeteria throughout the day

Restaurants who are closing down are allowing employees to take the extra produce/food the restaurant has that will spoil during the quarantine that they might need or want and can’t get at the store

Since many people are panic shopping, stores like Trader Joe’s are monitoring how many people are going into their stores (they only were allowing 50 I think) and telling everyone to use the sanitary wipes for their hands and carts before going in

And it’s Saint Patrick’s day so here’s an aesthetic pic of some four leaf clovers:

Also here are some really cute animal pictures:

Happy thiccie boi corgi

And

Chonky ankles kitty looking wistfully to her righ

pftones3482

(3/17/2020 - Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)

First of all, big thanks to all the kind comments and asks I’ve gotten!! I seriously never expected this to blow up so hard (it was the panda, wasn’t it?) but I’m really glad that it did, given how much people seem to enjoy it.

Quick notes: Yes, a few things are incorrect (mainly that student loans aren’t paused, just the interest on them). That comes from trying to find good news right now and having to really dig deep into the internet.

Also, if it wasn’t clear: TERFs, racists, homophobes, transphobes, and the like are not welcome here. Negative and bigoted comments will be deleted and the users blocked. If you see someone saying nasty stuff, and I haven’t seen it, please message me so I can get rid of it. This is a place of positivity in a world that feels like it’s going to shit.

Now, without further ado, my list - actually, your list. I’ve gone through the comments to pull out some really great things I’ve seen you guys posting about, because I know there’s a million different versions of this post now, and I want as much good to spread as possible.

First, from anon:

(Image ID: Anon message on tumblr that says, “For your good things: around noon today [3/17/2020], medical students nationwide [in America, presumably] were suspended from their clinical rotations for their safety. Before they had even been officially notified of this, students were contacting hospitals and asking our school for ways they could volunteer to help instead.” End ID)

~ @cryauto13 : The Cincinnati Zoo is offering daily digital Home Safaris that are gonna be great for children to still see zoo animals and learn while the zoo is closed to the public. They are live every day of the week starting 3pm EST. Yesterday featured Fiona the hippo!

~ @mallorymaedke: Children’s author Mo Willems is doing a free class online for kids to learn to draw. You can find the first episode on YouTube here

~ @zaera-d: Gail Simone is doing a free comic writing class on Twitter. Anyone can join, and they also have a Discord server. First thread is here

~ @itsdrarrybaby: Comcast is giving free internet for students without it for 60 days throughout America

~ @maytheskitty: Some Canadian service providers like Bell and Videotron are lifting the data caps on phone plans so people don’t worry about going over their limit while in isolation

~ @woahzaina: Sixty LAUSD schools are giving meals to students who live in the LA area. You can visit their site here to find out more

~ @jenroses: Ireland just announced a test for C19 that takes only 15 minutes!

~ @nightsshadow1: The worlds fattest parrot species (located in New Zealand) was just saved from the brink of extinction against a rare fungus! Here’s a picture of the fat boi!! He is green and speckly and LARGE:

~ @khunagueroagneswifey: Country music star Hunter Hayes, after having to cancel his tour, filmed his entire concert in a warehouse and uploaded the video to YouTube so people could still see the show for free! You can find it by searching his name in YouTube

~ @paperuniverse: A man in Toronto is buying hand sanitizer and giving it out to people for free so they don’t have to pay for it

~ @fantabulisticity: The Metropolitan Opera will be streaming a new opera every night during the C19 shutdown, starting as of yesterday (3/16/2020) on their website

There were a lot more that I didn’t touch on in the comments, so if you want to smile a little more, take a scroll through.

Since you guys did all the hard work for me today, I just want to give a couple shout outs to a few small, personal happy things that happened to me today:

~ Nearly everyone tipped $2-$3 at my coffee shop, which meant that myself and my coworkers actually went home with a reasonable amount of money despite the severe lack of business

~ Every single person in my supermarket was delightfully pleasant to each other - the fighting over product has stopped, and instead, people are helping each other find scarce products, complimenting outfits, and I even heard two people exchanging cookie recipes while they waited in line.

~ A ton of you guys have shouted me out in the notes or messaged me directly saying such incredibly nice things, and it means so much to me. I’m glad this has reached so many people, and I’m looking forward to keeping it going (though I might have to drop to only one or two things a day, otherwise this is going to get absurdly long lol)

I hope you guys have a safe night (or morning or afternoon, depending on where you are!). Wash your hands, text your friends and family, and try to smile. We’re gonna get through this shit.

As a parting gift, here’s a platypus sitting on a person’s hand and looking soft and fluffy and precious:

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