disgruntled pelican

Being in close contact with people who give a shit and are also witnessing the descent of our country into fascism and ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT is actually mad refreshing in contrast to the pointless noise that is the internet.

You'll make such fast friends if you:

show up

say "where do you need me"

do what they say

have a good attitude

Done. Easy. Volunteering is awesome and will put you right in the lap of the best people in your area. They're the helpers, they're the people Mr. Rogers told you about!

Doing an easy task like potting trees for a community garden or helping at a food bank will also connect you to people who are doing more, like immigrant support or things that tackle more urgent, dangerous issues going on. So you can scale up your involvement easily by just showing up repeatedly.

Or don't scale it up-- maybe you stop at helping at the food bank and you're stacking cans for a few hours. You're feeding your neighbors. That's a load-bearing part of any revolution. (I use that word optimistically.) The people you meet will be the people you lean on when shit gets worse.

AND VICE VERSA, prove that you are someone to lean ON by showing up and helping. Offer things to people. Your skills may be helpful. Already, just because we've done local volunteering, we have made at least 5 or 6 new friends, got a potential firewood connection, and WELL-PAID EMPLOYMENT (??? OMG)

(and free lunches and snacks and fruit trees) And it's healing as fuck to have people genuinely tell you, in the flesh, to your face, "I'm so glad you showed up today. I appreciate you so much. This would have been harder without you." That shit makes you feel AWESOME and REAL and PURPOSEFUL

The connection between football and domestic violence isn’t uncommon. A study shows that police receive increased calls reporting domestic violence every Sunday during football season [iii]. Researchers analyzed over 700 cities and counties using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) of police reports, revealing that these spikes are linked to teams losing a game [iii]. In fact, domestic violence incidents rise by about 10% on days when NFL games are played, usually occurring in family homes and most of the time affecting women [iii].  This shows that the outcomes of football games can have a real impact on people’s lives off the field. It’s important for fans, teams, and communities to recognize these patterns and work together to raise awareness and prevent domestic violence from happening, especially during football season.

via Seattle Times:

Local Ballard raccoon has been spotted thriving in a remarkably unique and charming body

Food Empowerment Project maintains an updated list of chocolate brands they recommend based on the following standards:

transparency about the country of origin for cocoa

if sourced from Western Africa, the workers must own the companies/be in charge of the profits from their labor (this standard is because child labor and slavery have been widely documented for decades in this area)

if sourced from Brazil, the workers must own the company and/or be in charge of the profits from their labor, or the company must be going above and beyond to support the workers and their families (this standard is because "child labor and slavery only recently have been documented in cocoa in Brazil" and they are "giving Brazilian companies that are trying to address the issue by supporting the workers and their families the benefit of the doubt.")

[Source: "Understanding Our Chocolate List" from their website]

So, Tony’s allied with Barry Callebut to get its cocoa. Barry Callebut is one of the biggest chocolate companies in the world, and it is unethical, obviously. This led to Tony’s revealing in February 2022 that 1701 child laborers were in their supply chain. Barry Callebut had over 21K at the time. Both of those numbers have risen, and Tony’s has outright admitted they don’t give a fuck about child labor laws when asked about it, content to let children to continue farming their cocoa instead of actually doing the activism they claim to do. (business-humanrights.org, feb 6 2022)

About a week ago, Tony’s joined Barry, Nestle and Ferrero in pushing against the reinstatement of important EUDR deforestation legislations. Under that regulation that they pushed against, they would’ve had to be more transparent about their supply chains for their more key ingredients - So Tony’s is lobbying against the exact thing they claim to stand for. (confectioneryproduction.com, mar 18, 2026)

Won’t restate @closet-keys’s addition, of course. That’d just be redundant and maybe annoying since, yknow, it’s already been said.

If you wanna find a better chocolate brand it’s really damn easy. There’s lists on slavefreechocolate.org of both the ethical and unethical companies. Both lists can be found here:

Play time 

RESILIENCE-“LIVING IN A PANDEMIC SINCE 1492”

This Plague Doctor mask and headdress was designed to remind Native American people that they are survivors and warriors. Sickness and plagues are nothing new to Native people. Ever since first contact, Natives have faced new illnesses never before seen. Through it all, our people survive and thrive today. This work of art commemorates the fighting spirit of Native Americans.

The mask is made from premium Wicket and Craig tooling leather, and is hand sewn. The mask is done in a ledger art style. Written on the mask are various diseases that Native people have faced such as smallpox, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, and COVID-19. The lenses are wrapped in sweet grass and hand sewn as well. The plants and flowers are actually medicinal plants used by Native Americans for centuries. Marsh Marigold (yellow); Pokeweed (cone shape with purple berries); Purple Coneflower (lavender color with orange center); Skunk Cabbage (burgundy with bright green).

Hairy Bush Viper (Atheris hispida), family Viperidae, Uganda

Venomous.