Arogeoturtle

after gaining "independence" from portugal in 1822, the ruling portuguese prince nominated himself emperor and made us an 'empire' before we ever became a republic

the current president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (from the Partido dos Trabalhadores, workers' party, our left-wing party) was elected in 2022, and the next presidential elections are actually later this year!

brazil holds five victories at the FIFA Football World Cup since 2002 and is the only country to have as many

we have 26 states + one federal district, Brasília, which is the country's capital

slavery was abolished on May, 13 of 1888, and the event is usually attributed to Princess Isabel signing the Lei Áurea out of the kindness of her heart, but it actually was a result of the abolishment movement that had been going on for years and of international pressures

speaking of international pressures, did you know that in 1964, we underwent a military dictadorship that lasted until 1985 and was backed up by the US?

another not so fun a fact, abortion is illegal here with a penalty of up to 3 years in jail for performing one on yourself or consenting for someone else to do it

neutral pronoun usage in official documents/speeches by government entities directed at the general population was also made illegal this year

on the brighter side, gay marriage was made legal in 2011, and refusing to acknowledge legal recognition to gay couples was made illegal in 2013 (same source)

simone de beauvoir has visited us before! she passed by the then-in-construction capital of Brasília in 1960 and she fucking hated the city lmao

due to the criminalization of african spirituality and religion during the slavery period, lots of black folks disguised their talk of certain entities as catholic saints instead. for example, St. George (São Jorge in Brazil) was used as a disguise for Ogum (or Ogun, yoruba orisha), and the association still pertains to this day

you can ingress a public university for free if you have a passing grade in the ENEM, the "national exam of high school" (exame nacional do ensino médio, in portuguese). it is a two-day test with each day being one week apart on a sunday every year, held on the entire country, and consists of 180 questions pertaining to the areas of Humanities, Languages, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, as well as requiring undertakers to write a strictly-structured 7 to 30-long essay discussing the theme elected by the exam comittee. last year, the ENEM essay theme was "perspectives pertaining the aging of the brazilian population", and in the year before, it was "challenges to the valorization of african heritage in brazil". this year's theme will not be officially announced until after the exam has ended. a "passing grade" depends on the course you choose to apply for and it might change every year (usually they range in the 400-700pts zone), but the max grade is of a thousand points.

if you look at it, the brazilian flag has a small phrase written on it: it reads "ordem e progresso" (transl. order and progress)

racism is technically illegal here

Over 500 years spent trying to cut down a whole trunk of human culture.

last night i dreamed that maggie started hanging out with some guy named Jake and Jake was really mean to me. they met in a college course called “mixed drinks” (unclear whether they learned to make mixed drinks or learned the history of mixed drinks)

and then they decided to go on a date so I went to Maggie and I was like hey I’m super uncomfortable with you going on a date with someone who’s mean to me and Maggie was super dismissive.

I walked away crying and then I caught a reflection of myself in a store window and my hair was the wrong color. I was staring at myself and I suddenly was like “there is No way Maggie would EVER treat me like this. I’m in one of my dumbass stress dreams right now, aren’t I?”

I stomped back up the street to Maggie and I was like “this is a dream! How irritating!!”

And Maggie was like “maybe you should take seroquel less, if you’re struggling to separate sleep from reality.”

And I went “SEE!! Maggie would NEVER call me crazy! This is a stupid dream!”

And Maggie was like “okay? What do you want me to do about that?”

And I was so mad I stomped off again to my bedroom and sat there annoyed til I woke up.

Then when I did wake up I was messaging Maggie about it and laughing like, “if I knew it was a dream, why did I even try to convince you of it? I knew it was fake, what was my goal arguing with you?”

Then I looked at the text I’d sent last night while I was falling asleep on seroquel:

and now mourning is political, too.

i'm so sorry, murry foust. i keep thinking about how tired you must have been. how tired all of us are. how humiliating it is that even when we die alone, people still laugh and debate whether we deserved to live a happy, dignified life at all.

there are trans kids online right now learning your name – and the names of juniper blessing, lucas redbeard knapp, aleanna belcher, and davonta curtis – through grief. through fear. through that horrible, familiar ache of "that could've been me." and i hate that this is part of our inheritance from one another. not just chosen family and resilience and beauty – but memorials. vigils. apology letters to ghosts.