i never really liked
my name
much
until i found out
what it tastes like
when you sigh it
into my
mouth
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"
I’ve seen extraordinary change in my lifetime, some of it in the last decade. I was born in a country that had been galvanized and unsettled by the civil rights movement, but still lacked a meaningful environmental movement, women’s movement, or queer rights movement (beyond a couple of small organizations founded in California in the 1950s). Half a century ago, to be gay or lesbian was to live in hiding or be treated as mentally ill or criminal. That 12 states and several countries would legalize same-sex marriage was beyond imaginable then. It wasn’t even on the table in 2003. San Francisco’s spring run of same-sex weddings in 2004 flung open the doors through which so many have passed since.
If you take the long view, you’ll see how startlingly, how unexpectedly but regularly things change. Not by magic, but by the incremental effect of countless acts of courage, love, and commitment, the small drops that wear away stones and carve new landscapes, and sometimes by torrents of popular will that change the world suddenly. To say that is not to say that it will all come out fine in the end regardless. I’m just telling you that everything is in motion, and sometimes we are ourselves that movement.
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"Ask yourself if what you’re doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow."Unknown (via onlinecounsellingcollege)
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A catcall is entirely about reminding you that you are not yours. The purity myth is entirely about reminding you that you are not yours. The fetishization of female purity in a world where catcalls are an acceptable form of communication telegraphs one thing very clearly:
“Women, stop sexualizing yourselves—that’s our job, and you’re taking all the fun out of it.”
The sexualization of women is only appealing if it’s nonconsensual. Otherwise it’s “sluttiness,” and sluttiness is agency and agency is threatening.
"“Female ‘Purity’ is Bullshit”, by Lindy West (at jezebel.com)
I FUCKING LOVE LINDY WEST. SHE’S FROM SEATTLE AND SHE’S DA BEST.
(via abbigshmail)
^ Perfectly sums up why slut shaming is a load of misogynistic bullshit <3
And why these pathetic, limp dicked little weaklings need to get it through their dense skulls that we don’t give a fuck if they don’t like us ‘Dressing/acting like sluts’
We don’t give a fuck what they think/feel about us doing ANYTHING for that matter
The only person whose opinion of the way I dress/behave matters to me is MINE
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“A LETTER TO MY DOG EXPLORING THE HUMAN CONDITION”
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When searching for the lost remember 8 things.
1.
We are vessels. We are circuit boards
swallowing the electricity of life upon birth.
It wheels through us creating every moment,
the pulse of a story, the soft hums of labor and love.
In our last moment it will come rushing
from our chests and be given back to the wind.
When we die. We go everywhere.2.
Newton said energy is neither created nor destroyed.
In the halls of my middle school I can still hear
my friend Stephen singing his favorite song.
In the gymnasium I can still hear
the way he dribbled that basketball like it was a mallet
and the earth was a xylophone.
With an ear to the Atlantic I can hear
the Titanic’s band playing her to sleep,
Music. Wind. Music. Wind.3.
The day my grandfather passed away there was the strongest wind,
I could feel his gentle hands blowing away from me.
I knew then they were off to find someone
who needed them more than I did.
On average 1.8 people on earth die every second.
There is always a gust of wind somewhere.4.
The day Stephen was murdered
everything that made us love him rushed from his knife wounds
as though his chest were an auditorium
his life an audience leaving single file.
Every ounce of him has been
wrapping around this world in a windstorm
I have been looking for him for 9 years.5.
Our bodies are nothing more than hosts to a collection of brilliant things.
When someone dies I do not weep over polaroids or belongings,
I begin to look for the lightning that has left them,
I feel out the strongest breeze and take off running.6.
After 9 years I found Stephen.
I passed a basketball court in Boston
the point guard dribbled like he had a stadium roaring in his palms
Wilt Chamberlain pumping in his feet,
his hands flashing like x-rays,
a cross-over, a wrap-around
rewinding, turn-tables cracking open,
camera-men turn flash bulbs to fireworks.
Seven games and he never missed a shot,
his hands were luminous.
Pulsing. Pulsing.
I asked him how long he’d been playing,
he said nine 9 years7.
The theory of six degrees of separation
was never meant to show how many people we can find,
it was a set of directions for how to find the people we have lost.I found your voice Stephen,
found it in a young boy in Michigan who was always singing,
his lungs flapping like sails
I found your smile in Australia,
a young girl’s teeth shining like the opera house in your neck,
I saw your one true love come to life on the asphalt of Boston.8.
"
We are not created or destroyed,
we are constantly transferred, shifted and renewed.
Everything we are is given to us.
Death does not come when a body is too exhausted to live
Death comes, because the brilliance inside us can only be contained for so long.
We do not die. We pass on, pass on the lightning burning through our throats.
when you leave me I will not cry for you
I will run into the strongest wind I can find
and welcome you home.Michael Lee, “Pass On” (via 33113) -
I wish self-esteem campaigns would focus less on “everyone is beautiful” and more on “who the fuck cares if you are beautiful or not”
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"Do you ever think about all the people who you might have fallen in love with if only you’d taken a different way home or stood a little longer in the bread aisle at the supermarket? All the people who might have been an integral part of your life but instead you’ll never know them. The unimaginable impact that our mundane choices have on our lives really gets to me. Think of how many times I might have died if I’d made different choices. Maybe I’d be homeless. Maybe I’d be famous. Maybe I’d be rich. Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by the impact of my choices that I can’t choose anything at all because I’m afraid today will be the day that I make the choice that changes everything."
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"Knowledge is learning something everyday. Wisdom is letting go of something every day."Zen Proverb (via this-quarter-life-crisis)
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Baby grave tree, Tana Toraja, Indonesia. If a child dies before he/she has started teething, its mother wraps the tiny body in cloth, makes a hole or finds a natural niche in the ‘Baby Tree’ and places the dead infant inside. The hole is then sealed and as the tree begins to heal, the child is believed to be absorbed.
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ughhhhhhhhhh saw the most perfect dude today who had the most perfect amount of scruff and was wearing an avett brothers shirt
that’s literally all it takes for me to find someone attractive
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"People think they need big experiences, interesting experiences. And it’s true that gigantic, traumatic experiences sometimes bring people, for a fleeting moment, into a kind of enlightened state. That’s why such experiences are so desired. But it wears off fast and you’re right back out there looking for the next thrill. You don’t need to take drugs, blow up buildings, win the Indy 500 or walk on the moon. You don’t need to go hang-gliding over the Himalayas, you don’t need to screw your luscious and oh-so-willing secretary or party all night with the beautiful people. You don’t need visions of merging with the totality of the Universe. Just be what you are, where you are. Clean the toilet. Walk the dog. Do your work. That’s the most magical thing there is. If you really want to merge with God, that’s the way to do it. This moment. You sitting there with your hand in your underwear and potato chip crumbs on your chin, scrolling down your computer screen thinking “This guy’s out of his mind.” This very moment is Enlightenment. This moment has never come before and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. You are this moment. This moment is you. This very moment is you merging with the total Universe, with God Himself."Brad Warner: Zen is Boring (via theuniverseworks)
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I took a 7 week coast to coast road trip after being laid off from Boeing. I didn’t have a camper but realized that being able to pull off the road at a rest or truck stop was the way to go to make the trip affordable. With a few sheets of 1/2” plywood and misc. hardware this is what I came up with. The effort was well worth the time and materials.
Well this is everything I could ever possibly want.
Greatest ever??
I need to do this
fuck a van this is the way to do it
