ellen

"I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage." -John Steinbeck

[scottydame]

[nbcnightlynews]

In a somber visit to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau today, Pope Francis wrote in the guest book: “Lord, have pity on your people. Lord, forgive so much cruelty.”

[micdotcom]

Watch: George Takei sends a message in Spanish about how we can defeat Trump

[archivesfoundation]

Happy 116th birthday, Ernest Hemingway! 

The great American novelist was born today in 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois.

Before becoming the acclaimed author of such novels as The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway responded to an American Red Cross recruitment drive to assist the troops fighting in Europe during World War I. In June 1918, he arrived in Italy and began his assignment as an ambulance driver. In July, he was badly wounded by shrapnel when mortar fire hit his ambulance, however he still managed to rescue a number of Italian soldiers and was awarded the Italian silver cross for his efforts.

After six months recuperation in an Italian hospital, Hemingway returned America began a career in journalism and writing. The horror of the battlefield informed Hemingway’s later writing, and he described what he saw in his nonfiction book Death in the Afternoon. By the end of his life, Hemingway had published 7 novels, 2 nonfiction works, and 7 collections of short stories. He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954 for his novel The Old Man and the Sea.

An extensive collection of Hemingway’s drafts, personal papers, photographs, and more now resides at the jfklibrary in Boston: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/The-Ernest-Hemingway-Collection.aspx

Images:

Portrait of Ernest Hemingway as an American Red Cross volunteer during World War I, Milan, Italy. 1918. Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. 

Ernest Hemingway sitting at a desk with a typewriter in London’s Dorchester Hotel during World War II. Summer, 1944. Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. 

Ernest Hemingway in the cabin of his boat, Pilar. Circa 1950s. Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. 

[todaysdocument]

Happy Birthday, Ernest!

[micdotcom]

Watch: Stephen Colbert went to visit Jon Stewart — and then brought back “Stephen Colbert” to rip on Trump

[micdotcom]

http://weareheremovement.com

[actualfarmerclintbarton-deactiv]

[wittyusernamed]

My buddy read an article about octopus intelligence. It was feeding time, and the handler dumped some shrimp into an octopus’ tank. Then he went into another room and sat at his desk.

A while later, a shrimp was tossed onto his desk.

The octopus, upon finding one bad shrimp in the lot, had grabbed it, escaped its tank, crossed the hall, and threw the expired shrimp at its caretaker. Not only does this showcase their problem-solving capabilities, but also that it could have escaped at any time. It just broke out this time to chuck an off shrimp in indignation at its handler. That’s not just intelligence, that’s a human-like reaction. Kinda make you wonder exactly how smart these guys can be…

[rocketxsurgeon]

OH MY GOD

[teaandtime]

I went to the aquarium once and we had a tour and we walked past the octopus tank and it was duct taped shut so I asked why and the guy was like. “Well, we had a problem before because these fish were disappearing randomly at night and we had no idea why. Turns out the octopus had memorised the night guards rounds and would creep out of its tank, crawl across the floor to the fish tank, have a little snack and be back in its own tank with the lid shut before the guard came back.” they are super smart

[manynamedshe]

I love octopuses so, so much.

[thecheshirecass-deactivated2018]

@_@

I am both delighted and FUCKING TERRIFIED.

[vin-goghsts]

Once I went to the aquarium where they had a baby pacific red octopus in a tank. I had gone there to work on a few real life sketches, obviously I wanted to do one of an octopus. So I kinda just kneeled in front of the tank, and started sketching. The octopus didn’t mind, he sat happily. Then, 5 minutes later, he started moving to the front of the tank, where I was. This tiny octopus faces me directly and starts posing. I don’t know how other to explain it but he started curlung his tentacles in this really graceful way then wouldn’t move for a few minutes. Then again, a new pose. That tiny cute motherfucker knew I was drawing him.

[cozmeesah]

EXCUSE ME?!?? Bring it BACK? I wasn’t aware it was gone. But, oh that’s right, it must have been because there’s been a black FLOTUS for 8 years. She couldn’t possibly be glamorous, right?

[somethingratchet]

The white house will never look this good again

[mindblowingfactz]

In a private cemetery in small-town Arkansas, a woman single-handedly buried and gave funerals to more than 40 gay men during the height of the AIDS epidemic, when their families wouldn’t claim them. -Source

[wildwomanofthewoods-archive-blog]

One person who found the courage to push the wheel is Ruth Coker Burks. Now a grandmother living a quiet life in Rogers, in the mid-1980s Burks took it as a calling to care for people with AIDS at the dawn of the epidemic, when survival from diagnosis to death was sometimes measured in weeks. For about a decade, between 1984 and the mid-1990s and before better HIV drugs and more enlightened medical care for AIDS patients effectively rendered her obsolete, Burks cared for hundreds of dying people, many of them gay men who had been abandoned by their families. She had no medical training, but she took them to their appointments, picked up their medications, helped them fill out forms for assistance, and talked them through their despair. Sometimes she paid for their cremations. She buried over three dozen of them with her own two hands, after their families refused to claim their bodies. For many of those people, she is now the only person who knows the location of their graves.

How have I never heard of this?

[fieldbears]

People like her should be remembered. And even more importantly, we must remember that there was a time in our history when we needed someone like her.

[maudnewton]

“When Burks was a girl, she said, her mother got in a final, epic row with Burks’ uncle. To make sure he and his branch of the family tree would never lie in the same dirt as the rest of them, Burks said, her mother quietly bought every available grave space in the cemetery: 262 plots. They visited the cemetery most Sundays after church when she was young, Burks said, and her mother would often sarcastically remark on her holdings, looking out over the cemetery and telling her daughter: ‘Someday, all of this is going to be yours.’

‘I always wondered what I was going to do with a cemetery,’ she said. ‘Who knew there’d come a time when people didn’t want to bury their children?’" 

Wonderful woman. Wonderful story.

[aloadofuntitledshit-deactivated]

[intersectionalfeminism101]

Re: Sick and tired of hearing “source?” or having to explain white privilege and systemic racism? [reformatted]

Hello all! This is a reformatted version of this post originally compiled by randymusprime​.

On Preparing for Arguments… Identifying and Avoiding Logical Fallacies

On White Privilege & Systemic Racism… 7 Facts That Prove White Privilege Exists On Racism and White Privilege The New Jim Crow Where White Privilege Came From White Privilege from Taking Action Against Racism Denying White Privilege White Privilege: An Insidious Virus 1 in 3 Black Males Will Go to Prison in Their Lifetime What is a ‘System of Privilege’? White Privilege 101 Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack 14 Examples of Systemic Racism in the US Criminal Justice System Black Student Graduation Rates Young Black Men and Gun Violence Operation Ghetto Storm Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color in the US Racial Profiling in Vermont DoJ Stats Show Clear Pattern of Racial Profiling OK, fine. Let’s talk about ‘black-on-black’ violence. Why Police So Often See Unarmed Black Men as Threats

On the Difference Between Racism and Prejudice… Toward an Understanding of Prejudice and Racism Ferguson Cops More Inept Than Strategic 10 Simple Ways White People Can Fight Everyday Racism Ferguson’s Massive Cover-Up How Moral Leaders like MLK Approach Neutrality Why It’s So Hard for Victims to See Justice America’s Stop-And-Frisk Policies Proof of Racism Examples of Institutional Racism in the US On Why White People/Americans Are Afraid to Admit Racism Exists… The Racism That Still Plagues America Why We’re Still Unwilling to Admit to Systemic Racism in America Why American Racism is Impossible to Defeat

On Reverse Racism… A Look at the Myth of Reverse Racism Why Reverse Racism Isn’t Real Why There’s No Such Thing as ‘Reverse Racism’ Enjoy my lovelies, and feel free to add to this post or to the original!

- Mod D

[blacksurfrebel]

Thank. You.

[lookatallthosereblogs-deactivat]

You’re a godsend.

[black-to-the-bones-deactivated2]

Solange Tweets Heartbreaking Messages From Black Parents

Black kids are traumatized by seeing things like deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile on the TV or social media. They are scared, they are terrified and they wanna know if they are next. And what do you even respond to questions like this? How do you tell your kid he’s not the next if you are not sure you would come back home the next day yourself?

We need changes. 

Click for more from BlackMattersUs

[moisemorancy-deactivated2022061]

Obama about to tell the TRUTH about Black Lives Matter & Police Brutality and the media CUT HIM OFF!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!

[owning-my-truth-deactivated2022]

#blacklivesmatter #altonsterling #philandocastile (11.24.14- Washington, D.C.)

Photography by: Mikael Chukwuma Owunna (@owning-my-truth) www.mikaelowunna.com

[extraordinary-heroes]

this blog believes 100% that black lives matters.

[micdotcom]

Two police officers reportedly shot at the Dallas #BlackLivesMatter protest

Early reports suggest an assault rifle was used at the end of the rally, which, until that point, had been peaceful. One suspected shooter has been reportedly shot down, with the on-going pursuit of a potential second shooter.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

[micdotcom]

Update: Raw footage posted by those present show police officers and civilians frantically running, while some duck behind a car for cover. Multiple gunshots can be heard in another video taken on the scene.

[micdotcom]

Update: No motive or affiliation with #BlackLivesMatter has been stated. Images from earlier in the protest that surfaced on Twitter showed a peaceful scene, with police officers stopping to pose for pictures alongside protesters.

[micdotcom]

Update: The above image is a statement by the DPD’s Chief David O. Brown. 3 officers are dead and 10 are wounded after two snipers opened fire following police brutality protest. CBS DFW has quoted a witness who provided a detailed, first-hand account. 

[micdotcom]

Update: The Dallas shooting started as a peaceful protest, not a #BlackLivesMatter attack. Unfortunately, people were quick to blame the protesters for the shootings, despite reports that the shooting was carried out by snipers separate from the protest.

[onlinecounsellingcollege]

The worst thing in the world can happen, but the next day the sun will come up. And you will eat your toast. And you will drink your tea.

Rhian Ellis (via onlinecounsellingcollege)