Everything about this is ill-advised

Disclaimer: I earn nothing from any links, and I don't want to. Some of these things are investments, some are cheap/free. I'm just a sweaty person that has always run hot. I live in Australia.

Kind of long so it's under a cut! ❤️

By Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That’s made America the land it has become.

O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,

And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came

To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the hopes we’ve held

And all the flags we’ve hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

Mitch working with his staff:

Oops it’s me. 😅 There is some joy in planning and acquiring materials for your hobbies, but it does get out of hand sometimes…

If you're about to say some shit ask yourself if you're acting like a hall monitor, cop or jailer to people who should be your community, that's all.

i know that when things are uncertain and society is getting really scary for a lot of us for whom it wasn't so scary ( let's be real, it's been scary for others ) it's frighteningly easy to go with every knee jerk "this makes me uncomfortable therefore it is bad and i need to police it" we get but... there is another way.

we can call out inappropriate behavior that's actually harmful and not just someone's identity that makes you feel weird or someone's kink that squicks you or their expression that makes you uncomfortable but is ultimately their thing while recognizing that when someone does something that makes US feel weird quite often it's because of what WE went through and has nothing to do with the morality or lack-thereof of their actions.

someone's kink, someone's gender expression, someone's contradictory labels, someone's way of saying "hey society, you want me dead but i'm still here" can deeply trigger our own responsive feelings and that's valid but what isn't valid is to act as wannabe oppressors in the midst of our communities.

wild mood swings

constant need for attention

hearing about All my problems

crying

having my latest hyperfixation explained to you in excruciating detail

The weird Oreos don’t sell… but the weird Oreos just being around and visible make people buy more regular Oreos.

Ok I put this on FB but it can't hurt to put here too. We need help with Fantine!

Dog location: Northeast Georgia, just outside metro Atlanta and near the NC/TN/SC borders. TL;DR: Really sweet stray dog has ringworm; current foster is immune compromised; need someone to help by housing her for the duration of her treatment. Only need a short-term foster (approximately a month is the estimate for ringworm treatment? up to six weeks, I guess) and we can help find a permanent placement for her when her treatment is complete.

Details: Fantine is a stray dog we have been fostering for about the last month, she has a wonderful temperament (very sweet and trusting with people, quite resilient, friendly to all the dogs she has met) and is about a year and a half old. She has had all her vaccines and flea/tick/heartworm treatment and was spayed almost three weeks ago. and is healing up from it really well.

She's also ringworm positive, and I have some serious immune-related health conditions. The vet who diagnosed her was worried about her staying in the house with me even though she has been in quarantined in the laundry room and we are being very cautious about biosecurity.

Pip unfortunately does not have a working immune system, and as someone who dealt with a dog with ringworm and an immunodeficiency myself, I know what a nightmare that can be. Pip has always gone above and beyond for its dogs, but it cannot be expected to sacrifice its health in this case, although it already has done so much!

If any of my followers are able to foster Fantine, please reach out to Pip!

That is, when an official told you, a rice farmer, that you owed more taxes than you really did, it was very useful if you were good enough at math to know he was lying (and could prove it) and if you were good enough at writing to write a letter to your government defending your case.