Living Life With Passion

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Christopher Columbus was a terrible human being who doesn’t deserve to be celebrated. He caused the death and suffering of many people, and in case no one ever told you, you cannot “discover” a country if people already live there. Dumbo Columbo.

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Of course, you should never be guilty before the opportunity to proven innocent, but you know what else you shouldn’t be before being proven innocent? ...A Supreme Court Justice. VOTE NO. STOP KAVANAUGH.

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1984 called and they want Big Brother back.

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RIP (Rest in Perpetuum) Patriarchy Since the day I was born, I have been conditioned to believe that my existence as a woman is a burden to the society I live in, that I must always comply because that is my role. Since the day I was born, I have been told that I cannot be independent, that I need a man to survive, that I will never be anything in this world on my own. Since the day I was born, I have been forced to believe that I am something lesser because my gender will always be inherently inferior – too soft, too delicate, too irrational, too feminine. Since the day I was born, I have been brainwashed to believe that my body will never be perfect, no matter how smooth my hair is, how clear my skin is, or how thin my waist is. Since the day I was born, I have been expected to “behave like a lady,” that I cannot express myself however I see fit because to do so would be inappropriate of my gender. Since the day I was born, I have been a part of a society that celebrates the sexuality of men while women are perpetually objectified and slut-shamed simultaneously. Since the day I was born, I have been lied to about sexual assault and the hydra that it is – misinformed about the myriad of shapes it takes, the places that it hides, and where the blame lies. Since the day I was born, I have been told that I must take it – whatever “it” is – and I must take it with grace and dignity or face shame for resisting. Since the day I was born, I have had to fight the discrimination, oppression, and disenfranchisement that the patriarchy has placed on my voice, my actions, my body… my existence. Since the day I was born, society has under valued and under appreciated my talent, my skill, my intelligence, my drive, my future, my beauty, my love. Since the day I was born, I have carried these burdens with pain in my heart but I cannot be silenced anymore. I am a woman. I am here. I matter. I have value. I have worth. I have passion. I have knowledge. And I will fight. Because no one can take that away.

TS, December 9, 2016

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R.I.P. to another summer of adventure, learning, beauty, and love. 

Until next time.

Love,

TS

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The United States of America is a Nation built upon the promise of religious liberty. Our Founders honored that core promise by embedding the principle of religious neutrality in the First Amendment. The Court’s decision today fails to safeguard that fundamental principle. It leaves undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” because the policy now masquerades behind a façade of national-security concerns. But this repackaging does little to cleanse Presidential Proclamation No. 9645 of the appearance of discrimination that the President’s words have created. Based on the evidence in the record, a reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus. That alone suffices to show that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their Establishment Clause claim. The majority holds otherwise by ignoring the facts, misconstruing our legal precedent, and turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering the Proclamation inflicts upon countless families and individuals, many of whom are United States citizens. Because that troubling result runs contrary to the Constitution and our precedent, I dissent.

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor

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Once the familiar turns strange, it’s never quite the same again. Self knowledge is like lost innocence. However unsettling you find it, it can never be unthought or unknown.

Michael Sandel, Harvard Law School

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When you're young, four weeks feels like a lifetime, When you're old, four weeks is the blink of an eye, While my body felt you come and go too soon, My heart feels as if you have always been in -- and will stay in -- my life forever

TS

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Scary Love - The Neighbourhood

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Brother - Kodaline

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We are bodies of broken bones. I guess I'd always known but never fully considered that being broken is what makes us human. We all have our reasons. Sometimes we're fractured by the choices we make; sometimes we're shattered by the by the things we would never have chosen. But our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion.

Thomas Merton

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‪"We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others."

Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson

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I look away before you have the chance, Because my heart is pounding embarrassingly loud in my chest. I know one thing in this exact moment: I have never wanted anyone more than you.

2 am thoughts

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I don't know what I would do if I lost you If I lost this feeling If I lost this beauty If I lost this meaning

2 am thoughts

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In which John Green discusses the outcome of the 2016 election, the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, the astonishing and beautiful persistence of hope among humans, and offers somewhat lost thoughts on where to go now. People quoted in this video include: Saladin Ahmed https://twitter.com/saladinahmed Kamala Harris: https://www.facebook.com/KamalaHarris/ Lin-Manuel Miranda: https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel Emily Dickinson: She doesn’t have a social media account.

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2016

Heartbroken by the election results this evening.  How a campaign built and fueled by hatred and discrimination could ever win the presidential election is an absolute mystery and tragedy in my mind.  

Why is it so difficult to understand that oppressing populations in our country is not just an attack on minorities, but an attack on all of the United States?  How can we value our constitutional rights, our religious beliefs, our freedom as a nation, if we don’t believe in love, equality and justice first?  When will we acknowledge the countless isms and phobias that plague our society?  Is there hope for fixing the gaps in society or are we doomed to grow farther and farther away from each other until our nation tears itself apart?

Despite the fear and uncertainty that is lodged in my chest, I try to see the light. This election has screamed racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and xenophobia but the rebuttal has and will continue to be even louder and stronger.  Tonight, and every night, I will be hoping and praying for all members of this nation to find safety, peace of mind, love and acceptance.  We must grow together as a nation or we will never grow at all.

“The sun will rise in the morning.” - President Barrack Obama

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 - Looking for Alaska, John Green