so anyway I met a guy when I was walking out of the metro today
“I’m Polish, I just haven’t been here for thirty years,” he said, and even under the stubble and the fucking haggard look that had me make eye contact before he walked up to me because damn bitch, you okay bro? and I know what kind of desperation puts that kind of look on your face, I pegged him at some mid-thirties, so he’d be like, what, four fucking years old when he left the country, “I’ve just been deported from Chicago, I have no family here, I have no home, I have nowhere to go. So I’m trying to get on a train to Berlin, but all I have,” and he shows me a handful of silver and yellow pennies and a crumpled banknote that is very distinctly not Polish currency, “is these and one dollar, I haven’t slept in two days, I haven’t showered in a week, I haven’t had water,” and he really fucking looks the part too and his voice breaks when he says the train from Warsaw to Berlin is so-and-so fucking expensive, BUT it’s cheaper from Poznan even counting the Warsaw-Poznan course and I’m just glad this man had the sense to beg near an ATM and to ask if I speak English before he said all that
and he was dead certain I’m not serious when I handed him enough for that train ticket and as much over as I could spare so he can remind himself he’s a human being
and I guess why I’m making this post is
@America, kindly get your SHIT TOGETHER
STAT.
Please reblog this. Please keep reblogging this. Please make Americans see this and see it again and over again. Their government is doing this to their own people, and it doesn’t result in anything being made great.
all things undead bless your soul, too.
Dear OP,
Gods almighty, we are trying to make our masses get their shit together. What is happening is horrific, idotic, and morally bankrupt. I am not only sorry, but active in getting those around me to belive that thier vote matters in this corrupt nation.
Thank you for being a compassionate soul,
An American who knows we have a duty to do better.
Dear reblogger,
it had been pointed out to me that I am not helping and in fact doing the exact opposite by making that post, and I admit I had recounted that happening, then asked for reblogs, in anger and without thinking about those particular consequences. You and all of your countrymen who are doing your best have my apologies for that.
After calming down, I would like to rephrase my @America:
Please keep going. Please keep going. Please keep going. You’re working hard to fix your country. You are not your government, and not all of your people voted for your current president. Please keep going.
These are a few simple ways that have been pointed out to me by an American, in which other Americans can help:
https://www.dsausa.org/– The Democratic Socialists of America, “which has been organized as a response to democrats in America bending over for the right” in that American’s words, and it’s one of the ways you can keep abreast of what kind of protests and marches are happening.
phoning your reps until they’re sick of you and much longer than that, and volunteering to affect their decisions, to make sure the one you want to win wins, and to make things harder for the ICE.
www.aclu.org– The American Civil Liberties Union is bringing suit against the Department of Homeland Security and looking to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Which you probably know already. But it bears adding to this post.
Please keep going.
Because from here, eight timezones away, I am lowkey TERRIFIED that one of the most powerful countries on the map is currently being run by a fascist.
Thank you for doing real work so far, for doing it still, and for interacting with this post of mine,
a European whose country houses American military bases, and who would hate to see retaliation strikes demolish my country if a no-impulse-control-someone on your end pushes the big red button.
The only thing I would like to add is: Vote.
Please, to those americans who read this, vote in the upcoming elections. Vote for your city, county, and state elections. The Era of “ my vote doesn’t count” needs to end! Learn about who is running and what they stand for. Then go out and vote in the upcoming elections.
The only way to stem the tide of xenophobic and morally hideous government action is to elect those who will stand against those policies.
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be up for grabs this Novemeber. It’s our chance to fill these seats with politicians who will act to right the injustices the current leadership is committing.
This extends across all parties, blue or red, Democrats or Republicans, if you care about the treatment of those around you, please vote to put an end to the threat of a fascist United States of America.
Even if you are too young to vote, get involved. If you have time, volunteer. Many places have party offices who need people to call, text, and write citizens about the upcoming election. Even then, simply asking adults around you if they are voting can have an effect. This is your future, this is the world you will be making a life in. We all need to stop things from getting worse for the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the rest of humanity.
Vote, too. That’s important regardless of which democratic country you live in.
There were 2 things that always stopped me from getting a tattoo: the needles and the pain that it implies, and the knowledge of having something permanent on my body. What if I hate it after a year? Then I read about how women were getting the ‘NC’, or non-compliant, tattoos. I knew what I wanted.
I read Bitch Planet during a dark turning point in my life.
I am a PoC (Filipino to be exact holla!) who finally decided to get a handle on my body dysmorphia (BDD) and anxiety/depression. I get so anxious around social events that I usually end up disappearing without telling anyone and take a walk around the block, usually alone and in sketchy areas, just to calm down. I look in the mirror and see a body not worthy. People see me, they say ‘fit’ and ‘normal,’ even ‘thin’. I see ‘not good enough’. I pinch the areas of my body I don’t like to see if I gained any more fat in that area. My panic attacks get so severe I start injuring myself just to distract myself with the pain and hope that it snaps me out of it. I lost my relationship because I wasn’t ‘healing fast enough’ for him.
At first, reading Bitch Planet was for pure entertainment value. Then I read Penny Rolle’s story. And I started *bawling*.
Penny gets put onto BP because she’s a fat, black woman who decided not to put up with society’s dumb f*ckery. She gets subjected to this device in which what you see in the mirror is the ideal self you want to be. This is who she sees in the mirror.
This panel means the world to me. Physically I’m not Penny Rolle by any means, but with my BDD and self-image and worth issues I can certainly relate. To see this fictional woman see herself in the mirror and believe and *know* that she is beautiful and worthy is so powerful to me. It gives me hope that someday I can look in the mirror and think that way about myself too. If I can’t right now, that’s okay too. I’m awesome now. I’ll be even more awesome then. Damn everyone else who thinks otherwise.
Now there have been comments around the web saying the women with NC tattoos are being a bit too hasty in getting a tattoo based on a comic that’s not even finished yet. Because, you know, us girls have *no* idea what we’re doing and we’re just following the latest fad (tattoos are so rebellious didn’t you know?)
I never felt so connected with a book as much as BP connected with me. The book is not the reason why I inked myself. In Kelly Sue DeConnick’s interview over at NPR, she mentions a friend summing the “NC tattoo phenomenon” perfectly,
"You don’t get that tattoo because you are a fan of something in the book. You get that tattoo because that book is a fan of something in you.“
When I look at the NC emblazoned on my shoulder, I’m reminded of my faults, my imperfections, and that I should love myself more for them and be proud for getting the self-care I desperately need. It reminds me to struggle and be wary of society’s concepts of beauty, gender roles, its racism and discrimination
(both blatant and hidden) on the marginalized. It reminds me that I’m Non-Compliant and don’t fit into the mainstream’s ideals of perfection, beauty and lifestyle.
Leveraged an inventory of established fictional character and setting elements to generate a disruptive custom-curated narrative entertainment asset.
I worked in HR, handling applications and interviews, and if someone turned in that string of techno babble nonsense, I would have rejected them out of hand.
A resume doesn’t need to sound fancy or overly technical, it needs to tell us why we should hire you.
“Independent novelist/writer” is more than sufficient here. If you want to express the skills that fan fiction taught you, something like, “creative writing, editing, and publication,” will get you a lot further than… Whatever that just was.
A resume should be tailored to the position, if you can afford the time and energy for that. But if not, then just think about what writing got fandom taught you. How to respond to criticism, how to present a professional pubic face, how to correct punished mistakes, creative thinking, project planning, persuasion via emotional leverage, html formatting, office suite fluency.
There are a lot of actual, marketable skills that go into fan fiction.
How to put “I was in a zine” on your resume
Writer:
Published short fiction stories for anthology collection
Able to write short fiction within a designated word count for layout purposes (900-1500 words, 1500-2000, 3000-5000)
Wrote short articles for independent publication
Assisted with editing short stories for publication
Able to reduce or expand written content based on layout needs
Able to check for basic spelling, grammar and syntax
Familiar with Microsoft Office and Google docs
Artist:
Produced full-colour digital illustration for independent magazine
Able to produce digital illustrations optimized for both online and print display
Produced full-colour 2-page spread for art anthology
Published 4-page short comic in anthology collection for charity
Able to transfer traditional art to digital illustration
Illustrated the cover (always brag if you’re on the cover) of an independent art publication
Familiar with professional illustration tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Clip Studio Paint and stylus tablet
Merch artist / graphic designer:
Designed 2″ clear decorative double-sided keychain charm as bonus sale item
Designed 5″ x 6″ sheet of graphic stickers included in art anthology
Able to design bold graphics that are measured for laser cutting production
Designed layouts for 65-page art and writing magazine, focusing on (art placement, text layout, etc)
Able to keep layout design simple and in accordance with the project director’s chosen theme
Created promotional art, icons and banners tailored for social media sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, etc
Familiar with professional layout and design software such as Adobe Illustrator and InDesign
Running a zine
Produced an independent art and writing collection for sale / for charity
Managed (10, 20, 30) independent artists and writers out of over 500 applicants to create a short-run independent magazine
Worked in online sales and social media promotion selling an independent comics anthology
If it’s really spectacular you can brag about specific numbers
Our book raised over $4,000 for charity in under six months of production
We sold over 750 copies in two weeks of online sales
Produced a digital PDF and printed version of anthology, mailing to recipients all over the world
Communicated with printers and manufacturers of plastic accessories and paper goods, assembling professional packages of our merchandise for mailing.
Built a custom digital storefront and navigated professional market and payment systems including Paypal and Tictail / Bigcartel / Wix etc
Created promotional events to boost sales, including raffles and giveaways over social media
Organized participants through mass emails and use of social media posts on tumblr and twitter
Familiar with organizational software such as Microsoft Excel, Google spreadsheets and Trello
Just for once I’d like to tell the gate agents and flight attendants that my folding wheelchair is going into the onboard closet and not have them tell me there’s “no room”. Bitch that’s a wheelchair closet, not a “your bags” closet. Move your damn bags where they belong.
Ok, so according to my friendly aviation expert, this is a Big Fucking Deal. In fact, if an airline argues with you about putting your wheelchair in the wheelchair closet or even suggests there may not be room, unless there is already anotherpassenger’swheelchair in that closet, they have violatedfederallaw.
CFR Title 14, Chapter II, Subchapter D, Part 382, Subpart E, Section 382.67, Subsection (e)
“As a carrier, you must never request or suggest that a passenger not stow his or her wheelchair in the cabin to accommodate other passengers (e.g., informing a passenger that stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin will require other passengers to be removed from the flight), or for any other non-safety related reason (e.g., that it is easier for the carrier if the wheelchair is stowed in the cargo compartment).”
This is hugely important because it means that if this happens to you, you should report their asses to the DOT. Why? Because these statistics are published every year for every airline, and the airline gets a huge ass fine for every violation. If we want to see change, we need to make airlines literally pay every time they treat us this way.
@annieelainey you should share this with your followers! This is important info!!
To my mutuals on wheels, print out the law before you fly and whip it out at the gate if they don’t accomodate your wheels.
Thanks a lot for posting this, bro! Flying while crippled is already difficult enough without people pulling this kind of shit. Also, make sure that if there is a piece of your wheelchair or something important missing off of it, that you make a big fucking deal out of it! I’ve had pieces fall off of my wheelchair and nearly lost a decoration I had on it that meant a lot to me because people were careless with my chair. Don’t let them mistreat your wheelchair.
Non-wheelchair folks:
Now that you know, speak up.
You never know when you’re going to see someone who needs an ally.
I was actually looking for this post the other day for someone who was worried about flying with their chair. I can’t remember your username, but here! this is the thing I was talking about!
This reminded me of a study I read about in Cordelia Fine’s book Delusions of Gender:
“Kristi Klein and Sara Hodges used an empathic accuracy test in which participants watched a video of a woman talking about her failure to get a high enough score on an exam to get into the graduate school she wanted to attend. When the feminine nature of the empathic accuracy test was highlighted by asking participants for sympathy ratings before the empathic accuracy test, women scored significantly better than men. But a second group of women and men went through exactly the same procedure but with one vital difference: they were offered money for doing well. Specifically, they earned $2 for every correct answer. This financial incentive levelled the performance of women and men, showing that when it literally ‘pays to understand’ male insensitivity is curiously easily overcome.“ (Emphasis mine.)
(An endnote also states that “Men also scored equivalently to women when the sympathy rating was requested after the empathic accuracy test.”)
The passage goes on to add
“You can also improve men’s performance by inviting them to see a greater social value in empathising ability. Cardiff University psychologists presented undergraduate men with a passage titled ‘What Women Want’. The text, complete with bogus references, then went on to explain that contrary to popular opinion ‘non-traditional men who are more in touch with their feminine side’ are regarded as more sexually desirable and interesting by women, not to mention more likely to leave bars and clubs in the company of one. Men who read this passage performed better on the empathic accuracy task than did control men (to whom the test was presented in a nothing-to-do-with-gender fashion) or men who had been told that the experiment was investigating their alleged intuitive inferiority.“
In other words: men aren’t necessarily worse at sensing and understanding others’ feelings than women are; it’s just that quite a few of them don’t feel the need to put for the effort unless it profits them in some way… and perhaps don’t want to show too much empathy, because doing so would make them feel less masculine/manly.
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