crissle

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(2/4) “We didn’t really have any struggles. We had all the newest things: color television, Atari, those big ass cellphones. My dad had a limousine service that drove us to school. And we always went to private Catholic schools. I’d come back wearing my uniform and all my friends would make fun of me. I even had a horse on Long Island named Apples. Each of my siblings had a horse. Mine liked apples so I named him fucking Apples. That was our life. But then one day my parents decided to go legit. I was seventeen or eighteen at the time. They sat us down one Saturday afternoon at the big glass table in the living room. You know how Caucasian people do Sunday dinner? No disrespect, but that was Saturday afternoon for us. They sat us down and told us they were stopping everything. And they did. No more drinking, no more drugging. They sold all the businesses. Both of them worked regular jobs for the next 25 years. My dad became a train driver and my mom became a drug counselor. They told us they wanted to set an example for us. They told us they didn’t want us getting involved in drugs. But that was all we’d ever known.”

take care of yourselves, darlings.  don’t feel bad about it.

Masterpiece (Mona Lisa) by Jazmine Sullivan at Black Girls Rock 2016

Gifs: PinnacleKS

When you build your home on social media, there’s a feeling of impermanence. An awareness that things can end at any moment. An algorithm might change. Or people might move on to newer, or brighter, or shinier things. So I’ve tried to prepare myself for that. With every story that hits just right, and reaches millions of people, and causes them to feel something, I try to remind myself that all of this is a massive privilege. And I should never take it for granted, because it can disappear at any moment. But I’ve been telling myself that for ten years. And for ten years you’ve kept showing up: for the stories, the series, the fundraisers, and the events. You’ve had patience with my failed artistic experiments, and you’ve supported my successful ones. And in the middle of a pandemic, and an election, and a hundred other things, you’ve once again helped a HONY book become a #1 NYT Bestseller. So thank you for that. And thank you for everything. If you haven’t already, you can order a copy of ‘Humans’ here: https://bit.ly/OrderHumans

“My parents are afraid that I’ll be arrested.  I’m their daughter and they love me so much, and they don’t want anything to happen to me.  But we are students and we’re the ones who will own this place in the future.  Yes I’m only a teenager, and I’m still growing, and I’m still learning more.  But I can speak while I’m learning more.  And I know right from wrong.  Our freedoms are disappearing, and I don’t want to live in a place where I can’t speak freely about my opinion.  It’s so important to hear everyone’s opinion.  When you only look at something from one angle, it may seem perfect.  But there might be problems that you can only see from another angle.  So everyone must be free to share their angle, or things will get worse.  Some people think that protesting is pointless.  Yes China is very powerful, but everything is possible because we are fighting for the right thing.  And truth will always win.  Even if it takes one hundred years.  I’m still too young to stand on the front line, but one day I will stand up and tell the whole world that we in Hong Kong are not afraid, and that we will not hide or escape, and that we’ll always fight for freedom.” (Hong Kong)