Harpsichordical

small town diner waitress voice: Omelas? Oh, oh no, easy mistake, you're in oh - MAY - las right now, with an A. Plenty' people get the name mixed up. Nope, no utopia here, just our small little town. *face gets really grim* We do still.. Okay well we do still have a kid that we... I mean it isn't working but- well- You know. It- It's fine. I'm sure it'll start working soon.

for real tho it feels exhausting that ive seen this whole "woman should be allowed to abstain from X beauty standard" -> "i perform X beauty standard, am i evil? do you think im evil? please forgive me i came up with a dozen excuses 🥺" since like 2015 (and i know its been going on longer than that) like girl thats not the poiiiiint

look me in the eyes. repeat after me. "i face societal pressure to perform this beauty standard. i should not face that pressure. i conform to this standard. i am rewarded for performing to this standard. i need to respect women who do not perform this standard. this is not about whether or not i am a sinner for wearing makeup."

the emphasis on mental health services above things like reliable access to food and housing as a means to curve chronic homelessness is an attempt to sidestep the core issue by hoping that people facing the constant violence of being unhoused can simply bootstrap their way into better circumstances (or at least being less evidently homeless in public), but what's especially jokerfying is when you see exactly how even people who do it "right" are being set up to fail. housed people who work shitty minimum wage jobs get depressed. housed people spend their off time doing recreational drugs as a way to unwind after a long day. housed people who work full time can still barely make rent. what lies at the end of getting clean is a pressure cooker of forces cornering people back into poverty, mental illness and addiction. it's affirming in a way to know that no matter how many institutions wax about compassion and concern, "gaslight yourself into thinking everything is fine" is still the advice that everyone gets from the top down.

as someone who studies this: statistically speaking, child abuse (including “spanking”, because all forms of hitting children are abusive) is pretty much equally prevalent in households of all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. so yeah, don’t let people use the “culture” excuse on you, but also, don’t believe others are experiencing it less just because it’s less normalized in their culture to talk about it. we all gotta work together to fix this shit.

IDENTITY EMERGES ORGANICALLY FROM ACTION

IF YOU DONT DO ANYTHING YOU ARENT ANYONE. SORRY

joining the war on kids reading any book they want on the side of kids reading any book they want. simply you will be fine. it's even good to be confronted with things you don't understand and even find upsetting, uncomfortable and difficult. it's a surprise tool that will help you later.

And this is a perfect illustration of why it is important for kids to read or variety of things, and why abusers don’t want them to.