If you come away with me

Forcing the Last Blossoms - Joseph Keiffer , 2018.

American , b. 1952 -

I just came across this website called Reasons To Stay that a man named Ben West created in memory of his brother who died by suicide at 15. If you’re desperate and looking for a kind word to get you through the next 5 minutes or a little something, even a stranger’s words, to help you find a ray of hope, please go visit the site. And if you wanna reach out a hand across the internet to others in need of gentle support, you can write a letter that’ll randomly populate to countless visitors.

As someone who wanted to stop existing for the better part of three years, I can only imagine what this site would’ve meant to me back in college. I couldn’t envision then when the darkness would end, but it did. I’m so lucky I stuck around to see my sisters have kids and to become a speech therapist who gets to help little ones communicate more effectively. My life got so much better cuz I hung in there. I hope if you see this, you’ll stick around to find out how you make your mark on this world and understand how much you can be loved and how hard you can love others. 💓

The term "beta" in this context is short for "beta reader" - a person who reads a fic while it's still in the editing stage and helps the writer get it ready to post. Some betas check grammar. Some check canon compliance. Some are sensitivity readers. There are lots of things that betas can do.

So functionally, saying "no beta" means that the writer didn't get this checked by a second person before they posted it. It's a warning that there might be errors or typos etc. It's mostly used when an author has written something quickly and is posting without doing a lot of (or any) edits first.

As for where it comes from? It all started with a bumper sticker.

This image was an internet meme at one point, and it got meme'd on in the form of "no ___ we ___ like men"

Here on tumblr, one of the versions that got really popular was from now-deleted user @grec1a who created this version:

13k celebration ★ top 10 tv pairings, as voted by my followers: #1 → jake peralta and amy santiago (brooklyn nine nine)