one is always bigger.

Dirty Minds/ Mirror

Shot by: Dennis London

IG: @dennislondon.jpg

i was on duolingo, reading a discussion, and saw a link to a free swedish grammar book! and when i checked the website, there were loads of free language books in downloadable pdf form just waiting to be put in a tumblr post. i even used proper capitalisation for the book names! but that was shortlived, as i have a nonchalant online presence to consider. 

Arabic- Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic, Colloquial Arabic (Levantine), Arabic: An Essential Grammar Cantonese- Basic Cantonese, Intermediate Cantonese Catalan- Colloquial Catalan Croatian- Colloquial Croatian Czech- Czech: An Essential Grammar Danish- Colloquial Danish Dutch- Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar, Dutch: An Essential Grammar English- Colloquial English, English: An Essential Grammar Estonian- Colloquial Estonian French- Colloquial French, Modern French Grammar, (another) Modern French Grammar, Student Grammar: French Georgian- Georgian: A Learner’s Grammar German- Basic German, German: An Essential Grammar, Intermediate German, Modern German Grammar, (another) Modern German Grammar, German Synonyms Greek- Essential Grammar: Modern Greek Hebrew- Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar Hungarian- Hungarian: An Essential Grammar Icelandic- Colloquial Icelandic Irish- Basic Irish, Colloquial Irish, Intermediate Irish Italian- Basic Italian Grammar, Colloquial Italian, (another) Colloquial Italian, Intensive Italian Workbook, Modern Italian Grammar, Modern Italian Grammar Workbook Japanese- Colloquial Japanese Norwegian- Colloquial Norwegian Polish- Intermediate Polish Portuguese- Portuguese: An Essential Grammar, Portuguese of Brazil Romanian- Romanian: An Essential Grammar Russian- Colloquial Russian, Contemporary Russian, Intermediate Russian, Russian Grammar Scottish Gaelic- Colloquial Scottish Gaelic Serbian- Serbian: An Essential Grammar Swahili- Colloquial Swahili Swedish- Colloquial Swedish, Swedish: An Essential Grammar Tamil- Colloquial Tamil Thai- Thai: An Essential Grammar Turkish- Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar Yoruba- Colloquial Yoruba

obvious disclaimer: i don’t own any of the rights etc etc to any of the above etc etc, i just thought i’d share.

and while i’m here, if you want an actual free online course to do, FutureLearn has some language ones (as well as lots of other disciplines too!) i did a few modules of their Italian For Beginners which i really had fun doing and i learnt a lot of the basics- unfortunately they don’t offer those at the moment, but do check back as they introduce new courses all the time! 

Open University offers loads of free courses, including some language ones. i haven’t done any language specific ones through OU, but i have done a few history ones which i enjoyed (although personally, i prefer the format and structure of FutureLearn, if i’m being honest). 

Open Culture seems to have lots of language courses (48 languages, to be precise), although i have never personally used their resources they have been recommended to me, and they seem to offer a lot of languages not previously covered by any of the above, so it may be worth a look! 

For years after 9/11 we were constantly told “NEVER FORGET” and the idea was basically “keep feeling sad and afraid and especially ANGRY forever; don’t let time dull your emotional response like it’s naturally supposed to; continue to justify the injustices by feeling this way all the time.” And the 3000 deaths were constantly pointed to as this huge deal that justified any lengths to go to.

And then Covid hit. And there were several points during the height of the pandemic (because fun fact, according to the actual definitions of a pandemic, *it’s not technically over yet!* ) where we were having a 9/11’s worth of deaths every week or so. And suddenly 3000 deaths were not a big deal at all. Instead of being enough reason to go to war far away and strip us at home of many rights too, they weren’t even enough justification to make people wear a damn piece of fabric over their face.

3000 people died once and now the government can legally wiretap anyone without a warrant, and hold people at Gitmo under suspicion of terrorism (no need for due process)… 3000 people dying every week but we should all still be going out to brunch and concerts and who cares about the disabled and immunocompromised?

* Kentucky overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to undermine the public education system by offering private school vouchers:

* Delaware has elected a transgender woman to the House of Representatives, the first out trans person of any gender ever elected to congress:

* For the first time in history, two Black women will be serving in the senate at the same time, and they are only the fourth and fifth Black women ever elected to the senate:

* New York State has passed a constitutional amendment enshrining the rights of pregnant people (including the right to an abortion), LGBTQIA+ people, the disabled, immigrants regardless of legal status, and other at-risk groups:

* Democrat Josh Stein has beaten self-avowed Nazi Mark Robinson to become governor of North Carolina:

That's everything I know off the top of my head. It's not many bright spots, but it's not zero. I'm going to try to find more and I'll add them to the post. It's the only thing I can think of to do that isn't sobbing and throwing up or looking up Canadian immigration rules.

* Colorado has passed amendment 79, guaranteeing the right to an abortion, with more than a 20 point spread between the Yes and No vote:

* Maryland Question 1, also focused on reproductive rights and abortion, has passed as well: https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/results/maryland/issue-1

* Likewise, Amendment 3 has passed in Missouri, overturning a near-total ban to add reproductive rights to the state constitution:

* Arizona Proposition 139 to protect abortion rights also passed:

Every glimmer helps.

BATHS AT NIGHTTIME

June 2015

Alba H. Andersen

maybe i should have wanted less. maybe i should have ignored the bowl in me burning to be filled. maybe i should have wanted less.