yesterday, i was talking to my brother about trying to reconcile my desire to fit in with white america, living the privilege of flippancy though i cannot afford it, and finding strength in adversity. most of the time i am just like, i don’t think i will ever fit…
(via nomadmanifesto)
Wish I could drop out and attend a language, activism, and entrepreneur-focused school. Vietnamese, Somali, Amharic, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Croatian, and Arabic while learning how to dismantle the weapons of today from the hands of treacherous institutions and then thriving in creativity in business/lifestyle approaches?! Yes x 297248008240201.
So today Angelina Jolie had double mastectomy, which is the removal of one’s breasts, to prevent Breast cancer. So instead of praising Angelina on her bravery, men on Twitter decided to ridicule her, even calling her stupid for removing her breasts. For those of you on Tumblr that are attacking Feminists about being delusional about sexism against women and misogyny here’s your fucking proof that sexism and misogyny exists.
This honestly is making me really fucking sad and making me want to cry
I hate everyone.
you’re right because ALL men on twitter were being sexist and saying shes dumb for removing her breasts
and no girl said a word ridiculing her or saying stuff about her breasts
but you’re right it’s only the guys
Though I am not exposed to critical thought (Nor do I actually perform it often unfortunately) on the topic, I do find it to be useless to bring in the “But not all _______ do that!” argument. I find that we use encompassing words just to make it simpler - AS WELL AS to introduce the fact there is something completely wrong in how men are expected to socialize and interact with others, especially women and the bodies of women. Not all of anything act in a certain way, but it does not invalidate the idea that there are problematic ideas practiced and normalized by a people.
(via falsetongue)
Since tomorrow will be the beginning of my reign (unless someone rises and runs just before speech time, by which I will curse them egregiously) as NHS President (it feels fun to say that), I should bust out service ideas:
1. INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS. I really liked Adam&Walker’s pooling of everyone’s own ideas at such a late notice - I need to use that, especially since no one likes to speak at meetings and it will be fun to see others squirm because of their silence.
2. COMMUNITY CENTERS. Jefferson or even better, identity-related centers (Ethiopian, Somali, Vietnamese, etc.). The advantage of having a school population like Cleveland is that we have a plethora of countries, languages, and ideas stemming thousands of miles away and still presenting an impact to the environment we enter when the bell rings at 7:50. It would even be amazing to have those who are Vietnamese, Chinese, or Filipino to attend community centers for those who are Somali, Mexican, Jewish, etc.
3. PROGRAM AWARENESS. I found the best opportunities - summer especially - through my own research. And unfortunately, not everyone can afford to do such a task while juggling millions of other duties. Especially when caring for a family. From experience, I would say families typically buy into the succession plan - one child going to a set of schools, my other children will follow suit; my child needs to do such&such program, so they will attend here. I regret my attending Cleveland - not so much out of hate, but because I followed my brother. I didn’t look towards other opportunities, like that of the Ida B Wells School for Social Justice (sounds amazing&allthefeels). Point is, shit is hidden from a whole lot of people, for a whole lot of reasons, and as someone who has been accepted by said opportunities, I need to pass the torch on. TASP. SAMS @ Carnegie Mellon. Bioquest. MSUB. TIPS. Azerbaijan. These things exist and parents THESE DAMN TEENAGERS THAT ANGER ME NEED TO KNOW. But yes - I am thinking hosting nights, personal meetings, little books/profiles to email families, etc.
4. STUDY GROUPS. Not at all a service project idea, but a method to garner connections within the group. A lot of people are choosing Running Start/AP for senior year and I find it to be worthwhile if said groups of people meet up to study, share tips, get through the stress together.
5. ORGANIZE EVENTS. It was certainly stressful, but organizing an Opportunity Fair was fun. Calling organizations/programs, leaving messages/emails, imagining all the fun that could take place. It would be great if NHS could dedicate days to career options, certain non-profit work locally, world topics, etc.
Lisa looked like she wanted to annihilate me today, when I told her my decision on Azerbaijan vs UMich. It seems reasonable to choose the latter because:
BLACK FEMINISM
US UNIVERSITY
TASP
ACADEMIA
BLACK STUDENT UNION @ CLEVELAND
Versus
A three-week long program funded by the US to build a relationship with Azerbaijan - it being very touristy.
I want to be as great as those men and women of religion, who long ago did great feats that continued to be recycled in activists decades past. People were selfless and died and fought and won and changed. Why am I not taught to follow suit?
It seems like we’re all in a competition.
Who can get the higher score. Who can get into the best/most universities. Who can get the most likes on Facebook. Who is smarter. Who is better.
I don’t think I have many friendships anymore. I can’t share what I want to share with silence. I can’t speak without a response from some other self-invited and self-labeled therapist. I have to defeat them.
I reallyreallyreally would like a Skins/VD friendship, where the perfect line hits and the music plays and the acting is decent and it all makes sense.
Vivaldo: Want to come to a birthday party?
Ida: No, thank you, sweetie. You want to educate your family, you get them some slides, you hear? Colored slides.
V: I’d like to take you over there with me one of these days. It might do them some good. They’re such cornballs.
I: What might do them some good?
V: Why - meeting you. They’re not bad people. They’re just very limited.
I: I’ve told you, I’m not at all interested in the education of your family, Vivaldo.
V: Don’t you think there’s any hope for them?
I: I don’t give a damn if there’s any hope for them or not. But I know that I am not about to be bugged by any more white jokers who still can’t figure out whether I’m human or not. If they don’t know, baby, sad on them, and I hope they drop dead slowly, in great pain.
V: That’s not very Christian.
I: It’s the best I can do. I learned all my Christianity from white folks.
And there you have it, one of the best conversations in Another Country by James Baldwin.
I know I passed that exam. Way too easy (has to be the easiest exam compared to the fiery abyss that is Chemistry) - hoping everyone in the class passed and hoping I got a 5!
But yes, exams are over, but I am stressed out about everything else. Booked my flight to Detroit for TASP and freaking out that I will miss my connecting flight because I only have 40 minutes for my layover. The ticket was expensive, but TASP covered 78% of it. Still leaves my parents to stress, which leads me to feel angry.
Black Student Union better work out and I + others shall make it work out because I am tired of feeling things and not having a space to be active and open a conversation with students I know feel/face the same way/things.
