just three raccoons in a skinsuit

lgbtq+ youth doing cool things (as usual):

this is Geo, and last year his robotics team applied for one of our Changemakers grants to help get more lgbtq+ youth interested in STEM and robotics. and it's workinggg!

so far, they've created the Rainbow Robotics initiative, to help other robotics teams learn how to create more inclusive environments. through Rainbow Robotics, they're planning on hosting 15 events(!) with workshops, forming the Rainbow Robotics alliance with other teams, hosting a teen resource fair to get kids interested in robotics, and are planning an inclusive children's book!

annnd they just revealed the robot they built.

Can be done in low light.

Can be done lying down flat.

No mess, ie paint or small beads that could get lost in a bed.

Can be done in intervals of 5-10 minutes - easy to put down and pick back up without messing it up.

Does not require a lot of arm movement - can be done with just hands, with upper arms and elbows at rest.

All necessary items can fit in a fairly small pouch, like a pencil case or toiletry bag, to remain self contained and take up minimal space.

Setup and takedown takes a couple minutes max.

Learning curve is cognitively gentle, ie no complex knitting math type thing.

For now I'll just clarify - lying flat on back or side. If I could lie on my stomach that would open up a lot of options because it would be much easier to look down at something I'm doing in front of me with my hands.

I've picked just one to start with. I want to try everything! But I am now too old and sensible to indulge that impulse. I'll start with one, and if that becomes habit or doesn't work out I'll try something else.

Not gonna say which one yet, because I think there's some truth in the concept that talking about something you're gonna do in advance can sap the motivation to actually do it, by prematurely triggering the internal reward signals.

We have this idolized AND sanitized version of what happened then, and so we do not recognize it when it happens now.

Resistance fighters assassinated nazis and blew up weapons and infrastructure and destroyed records and forged paperwork and raised secret funds and smuggled people in vehicles and yes, hid them in their homes.

“Well it’s sad he got sent to an ICE camp but he faked his permit :/“

Whoever helped him fake his paperwork did what fighters in ww2 did. People who cut through chain link fences do what fighters in ww2 did, people who blow whistles chasing after ice cars do what fighters in ww2 did, people who destroy arms factories and cop city cranes do what fighters in ww2 did, people unmask agents do what fighters in ww2 did.

People are doing it now! They’ve been doing it now! You keep saying “oh if this happened here__” it HAS! It IS!

i dont care if someone's preferred pronouns bring you discomfort, use them or dont talk about them or interact with them.

"but indi! it/its pronouns are dehumanizi-"

NOPE! i dont care!

"but, this person goes by he/him but dresses femininely-"

so? is it actually hurting you?

"but neopronouns are hurting the trans communi-"

Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez is an assistant professor in the Department of History, specializing in the socio-legal history of child migration to the United States. The daughter of formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants, her research in and outside of academia is rooted in her longstanding commitments to immigrant communities.

She is currently working on a book project, which is based on her quadruple prize-winning doctoral dissertation, that exposes the long history of child migrants’ cruel reception in the U.S., as well as the resistance and organizing by migrants, their children, and local advocates.

A reminder that this tumblr is not a safe place for any kind of bigotry.

You'll never be "too gay",