Madame Thursday

theegyptianpenguin:

so when does the world start treating this as a genocide? what number is enough?

thekindthorn:

starryhours:

dionthesocialist:

Message me. I’m writing an article about Tumblr’s lack of support for black users who have been threatened or racially abused. 

signal boosting

booooosting!

You remember when there was that post about why it’s not logical to assume that traditional publishing means better quality than self-pub/vanity press?

I present even further evidence: a seven figure deal for yet another Twilight fanfic turned non-fanfic novel.

I just can’t even. I don’t even really know how to make commentary on this because it just shows how fucked up the U.S. publishing industry is. I don’t know whether to be angry, sad, or never pay for a book that this company publishes ever again in my life. 

Because seriously, the individuals involved in giving seven figures to an author who pretty much ripped off already shoddy characters and just changed the names? Never get another dime of my money and will never be taken seriously by me again. 

blackgirldangerous:

by Mia McKenzie

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about why I don’t talk to strange white people about race. Basically, what it boils down to is that those conversations are too unpredictable (or, too predictable, maybe), can be scary, and are almost always pointless. Most of the response to the post was very positive. But one response that really sticks out in my mind is:

“I’m a strange white girl but I get it. There are plenty of whack jobs on this planet, and we’re not going to convert them any time soon. I’ve wasted enough time and energy on them myself to know by now it’s not worth it. All so well said BGD!!!”

This person is trying to understand. She is trying to show some amount of solidarity. Notice how she uses the word “we”. As if we are the same. She wants me to know that she “gets it”. Only she doesn’t.

She really doesn’t.

Because racism isn’t really about “whack jobs” at all.

Racism isn’t crazy motherfuckers in white hoods. It isn’t cowards slinging racial slurs from behind anonymous keyboards. I mean, it is. But it is so, so much more than that. Really, if racism were just those things, just whack jobs, it wouldn’t be nearly the force in this world that it is.

Racism is, in reality, a huge, systemic, deeply-rooted plague that exists everywhere and affects everything, that degrades and starves and rapes and murders people without losing its breath. It is built on hundreds of years of oppression and genocide. It is in our government, in our entertainment, in our literature, in our corporations, in our language. This entire country was built on it. It is everywhere, and it is insidious and subtle just as often as it is open and obvious.

It is not that crazy dude over there.

I see the appeal to white folks in thinking about racism this way. The “whack job” approach allows people to separate racist thinking and behavior from themselves. It’s that crazy screaming dude over there who’s racist. It’s your drunk uncles. It’s your he-was-so-quiet-and-seemed-so-normal-before-he-walked-into-the-mall-and-started-shooting-people neighbors. All of whom you can shake your heads at with furrowed brows while proclaiming that you’re “not like that.”

But you are.

White people, you need to get this: you are racist. Whether you want to be or not.

I am not going to tell you why or how you are racist. I’m not here for your education. If you want to understand, read a book. Read a hundred books. Take a workshop. Read as many books and take as many workshops as you need to be able to stop pretending it’s other white people and not you.

Trust me. It’s you.

*

Mia McKenzie is a writer and a smart, scrappy Philadelphian with a deep love of vegan pomegranate ice cream and fake fur collars. She is a black feminist and a freaking queer, facts that are often reflected in her writings, which have won her some awards and grants, such as the Astraea Foundation’s Writers Fund Award and the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award. She just finished a novel and has a short story forthcoming in The Kenyon Review. Her work has been published at Jezebel.com, and recommended by The Root, Colorlines, Feministing, Angry Asian Man, and Crunk Feminist Collective. She is a nerd, and the creator of Black Girl Dangerous, a revolutionary blog.

Follow @BlackGirlDanger

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hamburgerjack:

Was that in many cases, in addition to trying to get people to vote and organizing people for marches or other cases of Civil Disobedience

Most of the “civil rights” movement was organization of neighborhoods and people

To help each other. To help the poor.

To find jobs, to keep lights on, to feed children, to clothe children.

And adults.

Shut out of the system, shut down by the system, oppressed by the system

the NAACP and other local organizations or sometimes those notorious bussed in agitators, came with legal help and advice, workshops, training, food, skills

Sometimes just fucking money.

Money to help people get on their feet.

And sometimes, the results weren’t always positive.

White folks have one, never liked Black folks and they especially have never wanted to see us do well.

Add in the factor of “outsiders” and they were continuously losing their shit and ratcheting up the violence to put people in “their place”.

Build a house, they’d burn it down, get something new, they’d ruin it. Finally have funds to buy something, they’d deny you, maybe beat you up or take your money or over charge you.

Maybe they’d put the men in place by going around in groups to beat them up, usually to lynch and kill. Maybe they’d ride through neighborhoods, not dressed up as the notorious KKK, but just with their guns to teach them niggers their lesson.

On the few nights that in certain places Blacks were allowed in town, the White folks would show up with guns and hate and intimidation to ruin it, and they would show up in our bars and clubs and stores to do the same.

They would rape women, going to and from work, school girls, any woman to prove their point and put them in place.

It has always been their intention to break us.

And that’s why what we really do and what we really speak on is survival.

Once again, marching in the streets don’t mean shit when the folks you claim to support are starving, can’t pay their bills, and can’t join you because they have jobs they can’t leave.

Folks do realize in those early days when organizations realized folks couldn’t help them because of those things, they reached in their hearts and pockets and said, “We’ll pay you, we’ll feed your children” and things like that?

“We’ll watch your kids, we’ll teach your kids”

Folks don’t realize that.

The danger of the Black Panther movement was not only did they want to do those things, they added the element of self-defense.

The problem with the now sanitized and mythologized Civil Rights movement is, the danger was mostly large groups of agitated Blacks int he streets. It psychologically scared White people.

But with the self-defense aspect added, they really could not have potentially armed and knowledgeable negroes mobilizing.

The leaders of the Black Panthers were educated men who sought to pass that education on, our history, our place, a sense of pride.

If Marcus Garvey hadn’t been deported and hadn’t committed some financial foolery, they eventually would have killed him. And that’s the truth.

They did kill/jail/discredit the leaders of the Black Panther movement.

They continue to do this till this day, but now, since they’ve got the grips on the education of Black youth, they don’t have to do as much work to discredit, because they’ve got an army of Kool-Aid men to do it for them.

That and all their little child satellites spouting the “equality” rhetoric that holds no weight or water and isn’t based in reality.

Not every Black person from that era was “involved”, even as “involved” as conscious survival. Some Black folks turned their children away from those ideals purposefully because they didn’t see “survival” in it. Sometimes they throw their lot in with the enemy, figuring it is more “fortunate”. And the results are often terrible. Haven’t you seen those Sifu Kisu posts? It doesn’t matter if you grow up through it, there’s something about the conditioning of having White folks green light you continuously that poisons the heart and the mind.

Some Blacks really think they’re protected by all that White money, they really do. They don’t realize that they regard us as a dime a dozen and if they can find someone White to do it they surely will and that your ass is replaceable as soon as you make them mad.

“I just want work!”

“I just want money!”

“I just want…”

What Price a Soul, you decide.

We all have to decide.

That’s the lives we lead.

It’s a lot more than money or happiness.

It’s literally choosing to ignore a reality and a suffering and murder and genocide and rape and ruin and erasure

to throw your lot in with people who don’t want you, have never wanted you, and if they do “want” you its to fill your roll as a money maker, no matter how high you think you are.

I think Oprah is finding that out right now. Even Tyler Perry’s dumbass, despite his disfunctions, knows what would happen to his happy ass if he turned his powers and money to actual supporting and uplifting narratives. For now, he gets away with his Minstrel Mammy shows and the narrative they play against Black women. But if he turned into someone like Spike Lee? He’d always be scrambling for money, just like Spike Lee.

There are projects right here, talked about on Tumblr, by PoC being pulled down, torn down, set on fire because Whites don’t want you to have a lick of success, especially without them. Someone is on here saying, “I’ll make up what I have to!”

That’s how they’ve worked, that’s how they’ve always worked and when you point to their crimes and say, “Look and see!” they’ve got a whole system and network to tell YOU to shut up, to hush up, to rationalize and justify and okay it.

But don’t let you do it. Don’t let you begin to do it. And even if you don’t, even if you’re above board, even if everything is a row

The very fact that you’re a PoC means there’s something SUSPECT about it all.

So there’s no win.

There’s no win but to help each other and to deed each other and to clothe each other and to educate each other.

And that’s not to exclude those folks who actually do get it, who actually continue to learn (because it’s not a one note thing. There’s no test to pass and be in and stay in, you have to STAY learning and unlearning)

That’s not to discredit and dismiss the White folks who did help when we were or are hurt and while we’re still helping

But we sought to help each other first, we should seek to help each other first, we should be prepared for the timeless reaction which has been historically documented and literally happens every day when we choose to help each other or when we try to succeed without them.

I am always thankful to those who are sincere in their help, but I won’t truck with the chest pounders and the gold star winners and the cookie monsters. I won’t.

Those who live with a myth of what activism is or was and what are struggles are or were need to go away. Immediately. “Oh I know about the struggle!”

I’m sure you do, I’m sure you read about it every February First then forget about for 364 days.

So to end it, don’t ever tell us what we do or are not doing isn’t “true” activism when you’re on some warped white text book shit that says what is or what isn’t because definitions and actions have been set up and promoted to benefit them ONLY. The only actions they want you to engage in, them and their Kool-Aid men are those that help Whiteness and spread Kool-Aid smiles.

Put your hand over the cup and walk away.

madamethursday:

Did I say July 1st? I mean almost August 1st. 

You waited patiently, so here it is. The entirety of The City of the Hand as an e-book, free for download in PDF, Mobi, and EPub formats.

Instructions for Download

1. Right click on the file with the format that you want

2. Select “Save Link As”

3. Select the “Save” button

4. Enjoy!

1. City of the Hand (PDF) - Complete Novel

2. City of the Hand (MOBI) - Complete Novel

3. City of the Hand (EPUB) - Complete Novel

Let me know if anyone needs this in a different format, if the formatting is wonky on your e-reader, or if you have any other questions or concerns. 

And for those who want to put into the tip jar (which would be really welcome right now thanks to some medical bills), you can do so by going to this page and clicking on the donate button.

Also, signal boosting and telling any friends or fellow readers who might enjoy this book about it and where to download it is very welcome. Feel free to share this widely.

As always it’s under a Creative Commons licence so you’re free not only to share it with everyone you know, but derivative and transformative works (fan art and fanfic, for example) are welcome (hell - loved!) with credit given to the original source. 

Thank you to my spouse person, who has been with me this entire time. All those who have encouraged me. The brave souls who read my first drafts (and who get thanked in the acknowledgments), everyone who’s signal boosted, donated, or just cheered me on, and to everyone who’s read whether I know it or not. You’re awesome.

witchsistah:

wildeblackseoul:

white people, just because you’re friends with POC doesn’t mean you know what being a POC is like

try again

And same for being “related” to a PoC, especially related via marriage, a marriage you had no choice or say in.

endorphinique:

face-down-asgard-up:

pressingheaven:

stultifyandstupefy:

derpes:

And God said unto Abraham, “Abraham.”

And Abraham replied, “What.”

God said to John, “Come forth and receive eternal life.” But John came fifth and won a toaster.

So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “If you say so, I guess.”

I’m trying to breathe right now but I have to be quiet about it because my mom’s on a conference call pffffftaHAHAHAHA

so-treu:

i could really use some help right now.

so, it turns out my car was even more fucked than i knew. although i got it fixed earlier this year, apparently there’s still major shit wrong with it that’s gonna cost around $500 to fix. on top of that, my registration just expired and i dont have the $154.57 to pay for it. and this is on top of, just, a whole other bunch of shit (that costs so much money that i dont have).

i managed to find a job this month and i have a separate interview today as well, but im not sure when i’ll start working that job if i get it and i may be about to lose the first job because of racism and general ineptitude. and my partner’s working but due to immigration restrictions he can’t bring in but so much. so there’s money coming in, but not nearly enough for all of this shit. there would be if i had stayed in school, but i took a leave for sake of my mental health and said partner had been less than supportive of that move and now all of this is happening so im feeling really overwhelmed and kind of dumb right now. but another year in that program would have pushed me over the edge so im really trying to make this work.

so if you’re able to give anything, i would really really really really really really appreciate it (and by appreciate i mean clutch my computer and cry). i live in a city where not having reliable transportation isn’t really an option, and we’re actually moving to a new spot in about a week so this is really a bad time for my car to give out/for me to be driving around with expired tags.

thank you.

Did I say July 1st? I mean almost August 1st. 

You waited patiently, so here it is. The entirety of The City of the Hand as an e-book, free for download in PDF, Mobi, and EPub formats.

Instructions for Download

1. Right click on the file with the format that you want

2. Select “Save Link As”

3. Select the “Save” button

4. Enjoy!

1. City of the Hand (PDF) - Complete Novel

2. City of the Hand (MOBI) - Complete Novel

3. City of the Hand (EPUB) - Complete Novel

Let me know if anyone needs this in a different format, if the formatting is wonky on your e-reader, or if you have any other questions or concerns. 

And for those who want to put into the tip jar (which would be really welcome right now thanks to some medical bills), you can do so by going to this page and clicking on the donate button.

Also, signal boosting and telling any friends or fellow readers who might enjoy this book about it and where to download it is very welcome. Feel free to share this widely.

As always it’s under a Creative Commons licence so you’re free not only to share it with everyone you know, but derivative and transformative works (fan art and fanfic, for example) are welcome (hell - loved!) with credit given to the original source. 

Thank you to my spouse person, who has been with me this entire time. All those who have encouraged me. The brave souls who read my first drafts (and who get thanked in the acknowledgments), everyone who’s signal boosted, donated, or just cheered me on, and to everyone who’s read whether I know it or not. You’re awesome.

brashblacknonbeliever:

Yo, if you’re gonna shit on women who wear burqas or hijabs, please let me know now so I can unfollow your ass.

seekingwillow:

bankuei:

An amazing excerpt from the book.

You should just click the link and read.

I think the reason I saw this linked on a mainstream site isn’t the writing, but rather, that there’s probably a significant number of white folks who are nodding at the point of self hate, but ignoring WHAT IS CREATING the self hate to begin with.

White violence.  White amnesia.  White projection.  It’s the thing that gets people to focus on black on black crime while ignoring police violence, banks lying to people and jacking them out of money, policies of neglect for schools, neighborhoods, healthcare, apartheid-style race imprisonment, job discrimination and more.

Always easier to say the victim does it to themselves and magically erase the person who set it up, encouraged it, kept it going, and profited at the end of the day.  It’s like torturing people in a prison cell and leaving a noose hanging and then when they finally kill themselves going, “See?!? They did it to themselves!”

Yeah, we see you.   And you’ve never had the courage to see yourself.   And we see that too.

___

 ”…It’s like torturing people in a prison cell and leaving a noose hanging and then when they finally kill themselves going, “See?!? They did it to themselves!”

This bit here hits hard, just reminding me of a kaliscope of life possibilities and memories; of bullies from all stripes and placements in life who point to people who self-harm physically and go ‘See, they’re doing that to themselves’ as if they weren’t pushed, prodded, poked and driven to it. “They’re nothing but trouble”; As if trouble hadn’t long found them and reached in and started clawing.

At how fighting, drinking, ‘swinging back’ and more isn’t seen as self-harm. Self-harm somehow is only young white girls who cut and mark themselves; which is bad enough for any human being feeling that much pain. But it’s never a brown girl, far less a brown or black boy doing such a thing. It’s never getting into fights cause it’s the only time you feel. It’s never drugs. It’s never lashing out at others cause nothing you do makes you feel anything on yourself anymore and you end up numbly angry-envious that OTHER people can feel anything at all or worse even feel good things.

A whole subset of peoples slowly drowning in PTSD, and no one wants to pay attention to how they go all banged and bruised up in the first place.

Day when I have lots of free time and would love to have asks to answer: even the damn crickets won’t chirp for me. Tumbleweeds blow by. 

Day when I have a shit ton to do and am just checking in for five second between running around doing stuff: “All right, everybody in the ask box. It’s a fucking clown car, we can all shove our asses in. Come on, that’s right. Pile it on. ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS”.

The ask box is always open!

witchsistah:

brashblacknonbeliever:

afternoonsnoozebutton:

(Trigger warning: rape)

Did you see this piece Jezebel did about the reddit “other side of the rape story” thread? This is why we can’t have nice things. Quote from the article: 

“We have to acknowledge that the people telling these stories and making these decisions are the men (and women) next door, not necessarily inhuman savages. Otherwise, anti-rape campaigns will continue to tell victims to dress and act differently as a matter of “prevention,” college campuses will continue to report high rates of sexual assault, and people will continue to take advantage of others without even looking them in the eye while doing so.”

Yes, Jezebel, that’s right. Sympathy for rapists is what will really solve the problem here. Instead of acknowledging the dehumanization of the victims, let’s just focus on the dehumanization of the victimizers. 

THIS IS WHY NOBODY LIKES YOU JEZEBEL!

Jezebel just stays losing.

This article is bad and you should feel bad, Jezebel.

I’m probably never going to be the kind of person who hands out generalized advice about writing. 

First, because I don’t feel qualified or that I’ve succeeded so much at the craft that my opinion would be any more worthy than some random person behind you in line at the store or sitting beside you on the bus. 

Second, because there is only one rule to writing: WRITE. That’s it. Everything else is sort of wobbly, bendable stuff that may or may not work depending on your individual situation and story.

Which isn’t to say that writing advice as a whole is bunk or you should never listen. It’s just that…well. There are billions of stories and storytellers out there in the world and they all have methods that differ from each other. There’s going to be precious little that’s universally useful or even applicable. 

So, I give you my one and only piece of advice: Go thou forth and write. However, wherever, whenever, whatever. Just write.

quelola:

In order to create safe space for the rest of us, those of us that are not white cis women who are the mainstream definition of “beautiful” and acceptable fat, we have to hold each other accountable, utilize the spaces we share (tumblr is a space we share) and make them safe. So, with that spirit in mind, I’m puttin this list together because these are active and popular white “fat acceptance” or “fat” bloggers who make tumblr an unsafe space for the rest of us. Feel free to add more people and give us a brief description if you want about their bullshit.

This list goes out to all the fat poc, disabled, queer, death fat, trans*, femme, othered beautiful people. So we can help each other in solidarity.

Being on this list means:
They have to stop talking about fat politics until they address their privilege.
They actively participat/particpated in body shaming of someone else.
Have little to no concept of intersectional experiences and how their privilege allows them to shame those who are not on the same axis’ as them.
I do not want to see them on my dash unless there is critical commentary attached.
They actively participate in white supremacy, whether blatantly or covertly.
They make tumblr an unsafe space for anyone who doesn’t identify with their privileged perspective on body an fat politics.
Do not hold themselves accountable when called out.
I will unfollow and hold you accountable if you reblog them knowing they create unsafe environments for a lot of us or you perpetuate and
support their bullshit.
They refuse to do the necessary work in checking themselves, placing the burden on others to educate them.

If you would like me to edit this list to include someone and/or provide links or anecdotes or “reciepts” please message me. Some of these are included per the recommendation of others.

The List (Name and reason for inclusion. I’ll add links at a later time to said call outs when I have computer access or feel free to add them in yourself. I will not provide links to their blogs though. Their names below are their tumblr names but I will not directly link to them.

AmeliaButter: her participation in that PORK Magazine bullshit.
Red3blog: has spoken over a women of color in defense of white supremacy. Adds commentary to posts by woc in an attempt to recenter conversation on white fat issues.
Kylathegreat: Does not hold herself accountable when called out, covert white supremacist, shamed a poc on more than one occassion, is ableist and racist.
Queerfatfemme: Reblogged racist posts and posts by people knowing theyre white supremacist.
PussyBow: White supremacists who promotes racist regalia and doesn’t hold herself accountable when called out.
Chubby-Bunnies: Ableist and doesn’t hold herself accountable to call outs.

jay-z-r-us:

tumblr is great because I know the plotline of at least fifteen different tv series without ever having seen an episode

There are entire shows where I think I’ve seen at least of half of every episode in gif form.

And honestly? The gifs are better than the shows. Fans cut out of the boring parts, play up the funny or really badass parts, add commentary and depth, and oh yeah. The fans that I like to hang with also can take the whitest shows on TV and make them about the CoC’s who should’ve been the stars.

Or: There’s this show called Vampire Diaries that’s just about Bonnie, right and she has some friends and there some vampires but mostly it’s the Bonne Does Badass Witchcraft Show, right?

True Blood is about the adventures of Tara and Lafayette trying to live life in Louisiana but there’s all sorts of vampires and werewolves and crap and there’s this annoying minor character named Sookie or something who has a magic vagina given to her by fairies or something that everyone hates and maybe she’ll get killed off? IDK. I just know the show is about Tara and Lafayette, that’s what the gifs tell me. 

Like I said. GIFS = Like a TV show BUT BETTER. 

holyhomoeroticbatman:

cynicalapathy:

that their beauty is forced down every woc’s throat. that’s why we can’t handle a movie claiming they suffer the most from oppressive beauty standards even if it was fictional, because in reality beauty standards are exclusively made with white women in mind and values you higher than the rest of us.

this

eshusplayground:

stfuconfederates:

It’s shit like the last post I reblogged that really highlight the absurdity of this ‘switching-racism-to-make-white-people-feel-like-the-victims’ phenomenon. We (white people) really need to understand that it’s pointless to search for parallels between what we experience and actual racism.

This Save the Pearls thing isn’t new. It’s not creative. It’s recycled racism, continuing the trend of casting white people as being victimized daily by the fact of the existence of People of Color. It suggests (like certain blogs on Tumblr) that anti-racism is code for white genocide. No different from the Confederate bumper sticker that reads ‘if I had known this, I would have picked my own cotton’. And while we eat up books and films that suggest that the very existence of People of Color victimizes white people, we continually fail at acknowledging our privilege. Nothing new. Nothing creative. Nothing even remotely thought out. 

But we do, however, keep trying. Not only to wipe away our own sense of guilt but to imagine ourselves as victims (without even understanding the fact that it takes a far-fetched work of fiction to even imagine white victimization). This is why I skimmed over Jane Elliott’s ‘Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes’ workshop and immediately loathed everything about it. A child should know that white people won’t understand racism based on a few days or a week or preferential or differential treatment. We won’t begin to understand at 18 or 25 or 50 what many PoC are forced to realize from birth and for life.

We won’t understand what it’s like to experience lifelong racism because you experience a watered down version of discrimination for a week out of our lives. We won’t understand what it’s like to experience racism because we read or wrote a book in which white supremacy turns literate to ‘turn the tables’  on racism when all it continues to present is white supremacy.

That’s simple shit. So simple. Being white and imagining that we can in any way understand what it’s like to experience racism is a function of privilege, it’s further oppressive because it again turns the focus to white people and our feelings being more important than the lives of people who are murdered and abused because we can’t stop thinking of ourselves long enough to mentally solidify them as people.

This author, supposedly, was called the n word when she was a kid and was so offended by being compared to a Black person that she had to go on in life to write a book highlighting how white genitalia is the only precious commodity on Earth.

You can’t victimize white people without being a white supremacist. And this book isn’t proof, because it’s been proven plenty of times over already, long before this useless pile of shit was published.

As the person who initially posted that Jane Elliott video that got some 10,000+ hits (and one who is really fucking tired of White people taking things that people of color create and/or vouch for and distorting that to make an intellectual argument), perhaps you should have looked more closely and paid attention. The Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes workshop is as different from Save the Pearls as real-life BDSM is from 50 Shades of Grey.

The fact that you can blithely dismiss a resource that many POCs have vouched for and have used to provide deeper analysis, not only takes away from the overall point you’re trying to make but undermines the work of someone who is doing what many so-called White allies (yes, including Tim Wise — in fact, I consider Jane Elliott more of a White ally for this and a host of other reasons) fail to do: transform an intellectual understanding of racism into a visceral one.

I’ve always kind of doubted the entire extrovert and introvert thing. Not because I don’t believe that some people are introverts and some are extroverts. Certainly, many are.

I just don’t believe that it’s a simple as a basic binary like that. 

I mean, pretty much every other facet of human identity is pretty damn complex and is more than just Choice A or Choice B. Gender, race, ability, weight, etc. It doesn’t mean certain identities don’t exist.

Take gender. Men exist. Women exist. But it’s not an “either/or”. People who identify as both, neither, or something else not at all covered by those two words also exist. Same with other types of identity or other personality traits. 

So why are there just “introverts” and “extroverts”? I guess I’m dubious of any classification of human identity or behavior that only allows for Choice A and Choice B. Especially when it seems possible - indeed highly probable - that there are people who are both or neither or who float between the two categories based on situation. 

Anyway, carry on. That is all. 

jhameia:

moniquill:

wildunicornherd:

that self-publishing/”indie” means there is, by definition, no quality control.

This goes triple for vanity presses.

Side. Fucking. Eye.

With a side order of Moff’s Law.

We can and do analyze shitty shit that goes on in fandom and fanfic communities, on message boards and in advertizements, EVERYWHERE IT IS.

Right now it’s in a shitty vanity press novel that’s come to our attention.

It’s as worthy of analysis as anything else.

My tits shall not be calmed.

And I expected more from you.

Remember 50 Shades of Grey? 

Self-pubbed, picked up by Random House. 

Remember Twilight?

Shitty writing, shitty science, shitty racism, shitty sexism, still got pubbed, became blockbuster moneymaker. 

George R. R. Martin? Grimdark rape fest. Still keeps being published, still keeps making money. Although conceivably Martin is a decent writer. 

See Forgotten Realms? Shitty world-building. Beloved by geeks and continues churning out shitty books. 

Quality control… is not exactly a feature in conventional publishing either =(

THANK YOU. 

God, but the number of rants I could let forth on the idea that:

a) there is quality control in conventional publishing 

and

b) that it’s quality control worth having in the first place

Is just endless. There was a time when I really set my heart on being conventionally published, and as I’ve become more aware, I’ve become less convinced that the publishing industry in the U.S. - especially the big name publishers - are worth working with.

(Apologies in advance, this will be US-centric!)

Because not only do you have a system that supports and publishes the kind of crap listed below, but there’s an even bigger list of really great literature that doesn’t make it. And yeah, it has to do with whiteness, straightness, etc and general privileged gatekeeping that greatly favors and selects for college educated, middle to upper class, straight, cis, able white folks and stories about and appealing to that demographic.

I can’t help thinking that those who work for and align themselves with the big name companies complain endlessly about how limited their resources are and how they’re at the mercy of falling book sales and how they have to try to only publish what will hit it big and make them money - and how they just can’t take the chances they once did. 

Maybe you’d have more book sales if you didn’t tell large swaths of people with every action you take - from how you market to what you publish to even how you operate business wise - that they’re not welcome, and that these stories are not only NOT for them, but are probably going to be painful. Especially in genre fic. 

I mean, shit, how many people do you get to ignore, abuse, and slap in the face before maybe it’s your own fault that your sales are falling?

[/opinion]

brashblacknonbeliever:

That “Pearls” bullshit ain’t even original. It’s been done to death. Why do we need another one?

*nods*. 

Also, the YA dystopia with white girl as protag is so tired that it’s about to fall into a permanent vegetative state.

The only thing that makes the “Save the Pearls” book different is how bad and how fucking bigoted it is. 

yukidama:

The Roma who lost their homes to make way for the Olympics

themisanthropichumanist:

The construction of the athletes’ village broke up a community that had been on the site legally since 1972.

As athletes settle in to the Olympic Village in East London, a “home away from home” for officials and competitors, some may wonder who lived there before them. The complex now is studded with luxury flats for the 17,000 Olympic athletes and the 4,500 Paralympians who will follow them. With karaoke facilities, an on-site gym with more than 50 treadmills and a 5,000-seat dining room, the architecture has a watery theme “accentuating the closeness of the River Lea”.

The site’s previous inhabitants also prized the proximity of the Lea, as well as the meadows where they used to graze horses, the cycle track where the kids played and the hill where the older residents sat watching the horizon. More than 15 families of Gypsies had lived here legally – on land no one else wanted – since 1972, paying rent to the council and for all their utilities.

“Clays Lane weren’t much to look at,” says Esther Smith, 31, a mother of four whose extended family had lived on the site for over three decades. “But it was home. There was a strong sense of community. You had room to think.” Her cousin Lisa Smith, 36, nods. “It wasn’t like living in London. It felt very safe.”

For the Clays Lane families, the journey since London won the Olympic bid on July 6th 2005, has been one long nightmare. “The first thing we knew about it was a big notice stuck on the gate,” says Tracie Giles, a mother from Clays Lane who became a campaigner for the families evicted by the Olympics. “It was a compulsory purchase order from the London Development Agency.”

Alternative sites proposed by Newham Council horrified the residents. “They wanted to put us on Jenkins Lane, a terrible place underneath the A406 by a sewage gully and facing Burger King,” Tracie remembers. “Another one was directly under the flight path for City Airport.” For a while, the families were poised to move to Chobham Farm, next to Westfield Shopping Centre. But after months of consultation, the offer was withdrawn.

“Meanwhile, Clays Lane was getting worse,” Tracie says. “Demolition was going on all around. We were fenced in, choking with dust, surrounded by massive machinery. There was nowhere safe for the kids to play.

Backed by the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit, Tracie and the other families fought the closure of Clays Lane with a legal challenge in the high court and a judicial review. “I really thought we’d win,” Tracie says. “But we didn’t. They said we were moving to Parkway Crescent.” In July 2007, five months after the building work had begun, families were given a month’s notice to move. “We packed up all our belongings,” Tracie says. “The council cut off the street lighting and stopped the postman coming. But still we didn’t move.” Their leaving date was postponed 11 times. “The new site wasn’t ready. We were prisoners on a building site.”

The families finally moved in mid-October 2007. “I remember waking up the last morning,” Tracie says. I just felt this huge sense of loss, looking at all the empty pitches.” The new site was next to the athlete’s entrance to the Olympic complex, surrounded by busy roads. Each family had a pitch with space to put a caravan and a ‘shed’ – a prefabricated block with a bathroom and kitchen.

“The water comes in the windows when it rains, the rain was coming in the front door,” Esther Smith says. “The boiler went, I had a water leak that went on for months. Plug sockets were held on by an elastic band. Baths aren’t sealed properly. There’s no privacy. The tube runs underneath – it’s so loud!”

Tracie’s sister Lisa shakes her head. “We’ve been four and a half years now living on Europe’s biggest building site. I’m 36, and I feel 100. I’m out of breath. Two minutes after you’ve cleaned it’s dusty again. Kids round here have developed asthma. The stress has been unbelievable. Just for two weeks of sport.

“I was happy about London getting the Olympics, but we haven’t been treated right as a community. They wouldn’t have done it to any other people. No-one’s even offered us a free ticket.”

Once the Olympics and Paralympics end, Parkway Crescent will be prime land for legacy development. “We’ve never been given a permanent licence, they’ve just kept renewing a temporary one for four and a half years,” Tracie says. “Will we get moved somewhere even worse?”

Newham Council declined to comment on the families’ future at the site or their experiences since being forced to move from Clays Lane. Elsewhere, speaking about the Athletes’ Village, British Olympic medallist Colin Jackson called it “the heart and soul of everything… a place that you feel comfortable, where you feel there’s a sense of belonging.” Five years after London won the bid for the Olympic Games, the Clays Lane Gypsies can still only dream of such a place.

so-treu:

panasonicyouth:

theblacksupremacist:

so-treu:

alostbird:

Official Website: http://www.SaveThePearls.com/

Youtube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/savethepearls

http://www.sanddollarpress.com/

Victoria Foyt website: http://www.victoriafoyt.com/contact

https://www.facebook.com/SaveThePearls

Report, send email, messages to let them know this isn’t okay at all. 

FLOOD THEM. ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO DO BLACKFACE IS A FUCKING PROBLEM.

I am formulating a letter as we speak.

Can’t believe I have to, early in the morning, tell a grown ass bitch NOT to encourage BLACKFACE.

like i keep reading the book premise and watching the videos and reading the Facebook posts and i just

how

how did this leave “conceptual stage”

how did this idea leave someone’s head andmultiple people approved it and allowed it to happen.

what a HORRIFICALLY racist idea, a racist execution, and a racist disaster. IF YOU HAVE TO DO BLACKFACE TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK, YOU ARE 100% DOING IT WRONG.

fuck this

twitter account is @SaveThePearls

signal boost. We need to let writer, publisher, and everyone else know THIS IS NOT EVER ACCEPTABLE. 

LEAVING SOME TRIGGER WARNING SPACE FOR THOSE WHO MAY NEED TO SCROLL PAST REALLY FAST. 

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING HERE!

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turnofftherain:

stfurapeculture:

lemuffinmistress:

I’m posting this because this is a guy admitting to doing all of the things that we recognize as part of rape culture. He admits to having been a serial rapist during his college years, and using alcohol and his physical strength to overpower women.

He also says he took advantage of the fact that most girls thought he was a good guy, and thought he would stop if they just acted uncomfortable enough. He *knew* this, and took advantage of it to rape them.

Here’s his post:

This is probably not going to surface to the top being as I’m coming to this thread late in the game, but I am a young post-colleged age male who raped several girls through use of coercion, alcohol, and other tactics over a course of 3 years.

First off, I must say, I was at a strange place in my life. I’m ashamed of the person I was, if the people who I’m close to know knew who I was, I would be ruined. I’m known for being a great guy, friendly and easy to get along with, a community activist, a fervent volunteer in the community, and a person who rises through the ranks quickly due to successes at work. That was my mask, and I was good at it, so good that maybe I convinced myself along the line that was who I could really be, and that may of helped me change, and stop doing what I did.

I’m somewhat remorseful for what I did to those girls, but I don’t think I could ever face them to apologize. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I had this certain insatiable thirst that brought me to do what I did. I didn’t know how to stop, and just when I thought maybe I could, I’d find myself back in my pattern, back on the hunt.

I’m a good looking guy, and I can get girls pretty easily. I’m currently married to a beautiful woman that I met during this time of my life (not someone I raped, but someone who knew my mask during this time). So, anyways, after a while it became boring to go after the sluts and sorority girls that would easily throw their cunt after you. I wanted the thrill of the chase, and that’s what led me to forcing myself on girls. I would find attractive girls that were self-conscious about their looks. Girls who were pretty in their own unique way, but not the outgoing sort, mostly introverts, and girls that didn’t party or do wild things. Hopefully a girl who was a bit damaged, had a shitty ex-boyfriend, or family issues, came from a small shut in town, that sort of thing. So, when I showed interest in them they’d be completely enamored, they’d almost be shocked that a popular, good-looking, and well liked guy would be talking to them. I’d have that initial meeting at the library, a coffeeshop, a work function, or a party where I had them convinced of what a great guy I was. I listened to them, and made them feel special, like they were a princess. Sometimes we might sort of hook-up that night (kissing, making-out, never anything more). The next day I’d call, and see when they wanted to get together again. I’d feign some excuse for not going out somewhere, but having them come over late in the night. It was college, and not a lot of people had transportation off campus, so it was typical for people to come over and watch a movie or something on a date.

They would come over, and I’d always make sure it was real cold in the room, cold enough so that when we started watching the movie I’d say something about being chilly, and grab a big fleece blanket for the both of us. We’d get kind of close, and then maybe ignore the movie for some kissing. After a while, we’d talk some more, and I’d start edging my hands around the under strap of the bra, or maybe a bit into her pants, just kind of playing on the edge to gauge her response. Some girls would stiffen up a little, and that’s when you knew they didn’t like what was going on. We were in my studio apartment, so the bed served as the couch, and it was easy to start sliding down throughout the movie so we’d be laying down. It was then that I could turn around and get on top of her. The girls usually didn’t know how to respond. Some of them were into it, and those nights were usually consensual and boring sex, sometimes followed up by a few more nightly visits before getting the boot. However, the great nights were the ones who squirmed, ones who didn’t want to give in. I‘d have to shush them down, and try to work on them slowly enough so they didn’t know what was going on until it was pretty much already happening. I’m a muscular guy, over 6’ around 200 lbs. and most of these girls may have been 125-130, really tiny and easy to pin down. To be honest, even remembering it now, the squirming always made it better, they didn’t want it to happen, but they couldn’t do anything about it. Most girls don’t say no either. They think you’re a good guy, and should pick up on the hints, they don’t want to have to say “no” and admit to themselves what’s happening.

Alcohol helped. Having a few drinks during the movie, or doing a few jello shots that were “prepared for a party that weekend” would usually do the trick.

The aftermath was always different. Some girls left after about 15 minutes after. Some girls would stay until the morning and then leave. A few tried to call back, maybe blaming themselves for what happened or something. I never worried too much about being caught. Everyone knew me, and I worked with the police a lot, with administrators, and campus officials. I was on first name basis with the Chancellor and the President of Student Affairs, so if anything came down to a he/she-said I figured I’d be in the clear. Having her come over to my place also made it seem less predatory, as she came into my domain, and “could leave at any time”.

I guess that’s about it… If you have any questions about my life now or then, ask away.

Fucking disgusting.

I’m also really grossed out that he said he’s “somewhat remorseful for what he did”.  Just somewhat.

Also he’s married now to a woman who doesn’t know about his rape-y past.

Original post found here.

EDIT: FUCK THIS ASSHOLE TO THE FIERY DEPTHS OF HELL

I’m still a shitbag, but I’m also still married. Probably for the better, to be honest if I hadn’t met my wife, I don’t know if I would have evolved, and made the change in my life to stop when I did.

It’s not a woman’s job to provide the catalysis for your fucking evolution.

This made me sick. And the comments. The fucking comments. Giving a serial rapist cookies because he ‘honestly’ (and anonymously where it can’t hurt him at all) talks about being a rapist and he claims to have reformed? 

I hope his wife is safe. I don’t trust him to know what real consent looks like, or to seek it out from someone he’s married to.

I just…it pretty took all I had to read through this because I…I don’t have a lot of words. I have a lot of anger, and a heaping load of disgust and a really sick feeling in my stomach that I don’t think is going to go away for a long while.

The thing is? This guy is still a shitbag rapist predator and he’s a liar and a sociopath. This entire thing is so much bragging and posturing and posing to get off on revisiting how he VIOLATED AND RAPED women.

This man is a bad man. He’s not even “somewhat” remorseful. He’s not even 1% remorseful. He knows he has to say that or else too many people will get too angry, and even the rape apologists won’t have a lot of room to defend him. So that’s what he does. He admits to being remorseful.

Oh, and note how he uses the phrase “sluts and sorority girls who throw their cunts after you”. Yeah. See, his mask slipped for a moment and he let us see what he really thinks about women. Sluts. Cunts. Ways to satisfy himself and feel better about being a pathetic loser. 

Because it’s not really about sex with this asshole. It’s about feeling better, it’s about using women for whatever need he has. He needs to feel powerful, he tricks, lies to, and rapes a woman. He needs to have a nice guy mask, he finds a wife. Women are objects to him. Make no mistake. 

I fear for his wife and any daughters he may have and any women around him in general. I fear for the women who are his co-workers, I fear for the women who may find themselves at the same store or on a train or bus or parking lot as him. I fear for any friends who are women, any friends-of-friends who are women who might have the bad luck of being a Christmas or New Years party with this evil pathetic loser. 

He’s not too afraid to face his victims. He’s too afraid of losing his nice guy mask, as he puts it. He’s afraid of being unable to fall back on being a rapist when he gets bored or tired or just wants to feel powerful. He hasn’t changed a fucking bit. He’s afraid of getting named. Because that nice guy mask is still there for him. He’s safe and anonymous. His cozy little world, his sense of safety can’t get ripped away. 

He will rape again. It’s not if, it’s when. This is what a serial fucking rapist looks like.  He’s a nice, clean cut, college educated white man with a nice guy face. And he’s thinking all the while about the women around him and what use he has for them as objects - as cunts and sluts and whatever else he wants. 

You know, this is why sometimes I just want to start taking a sledgehammer to some people’s faces.

This is why any time anybody wants to impugn the right of any woman anywhere to fucking say “no”, to dismiss men’s attention from verbal harassment to out and out and assault, to get angry when men don’t BACK THE FUCK OFF when told no, both verbally and with unmistakeable cues, I get fucking outraged and I say something. 

Because it’s that kind of impugning that lets this evil motherfucker operate. 

Go die, rapist scum. I hope you get exposed. I hope someone manages to find you out, posts your name and your history and everything else all over everywhere, gets you fired, costs you your marriage, and then gets you put out on the street with the trash where you belong so that you can crawl into a hole in the sewer and die, you piece of shit. You deserve nothing but bad things for the rest of your life. 

pityplease:

lol oops

ktempest:

spastasmagoria:

iheartchaos:

[Image: Candid photo of Sherman Hemsley in a tuxedo at a TVLand event, looking to the side, head slightly tilted.]

In recently deceased celebrity news that I didn’t expect to hear, apparently actor Sherman Hemsley, best known for his manic comedic roles on television was quite a fan of the LSD. So much so that he apparently had an LSD lab in his basement at one point.

Read More

Awesome. 

I appreciate him even more now.

I’m with ktempest.

kinkyturtle:

[Image: Gif from an animation of a gray cat riding on the back of a bicycle, side eyeing and looking unimpressed with EVERYONE.]

Seriously white people: Not everything has to be ours. You do not, for any reason, ever, need to have dreads. I promise. 

Again, anyone have any questions they’d like me to answer in a video? Seriously, almost anything goes (well, anything within reason). 

Ask box is wide open. It’s hungry like Cookie Monster. FEED IT. 

highvoodoopussypope:

So you can block her pre-emptively before she stalks you again.