Two lost souls

after who knows how many months of puzzling out the geometry, running out of the right colors, & feeling like i'd NEVER be done making flower motifs, HERE HE IS!! in all his orange glory!!

the cutest, sweetest, most huggable spider in the WORLD!!! ✨️💖🕷💖✨️

OK

final one

for all the marbles,

this one doesn't have an illustration bc i think it was just a kids novel but i haven't been able to find ANYTHING about it on my occasional internet queries:

kids is staying with his (grandmother?) in the woods and she warns him not to look a fox in the eyes bc they're tricksy and will swap places with you. obviously that's the first thing the little boy does and gets body snatched by a fox who uhhhh proceeds to pig out with his new little boy human hands and the boy has to trick the fox into looking him in the eyes again to switch back...

i cannot express how much these are from memory, that's how internalized these artists and writers have become, they're a part of me now

The second one is likely Stellaluna.

I dont care if 9/10 of the people who use the wheelchair ramp arent actually in wheelchairs. As long as the 1 person who needs it has access to it.

I dont care if 9/10 people who use the automatic push button on the library door can actually push the door open themselves. As long as the 1 person who the door is too heavy for gets to use it.

I dont care if 9/10 people who buy the can tab opener, or the little guitar clamp that holds the chords for you, or the hand grip that helps you hold chop sticks, don't need any of it and just get it to "be lazy". As long as the one disabled person who needs it gets access to it.

I do not care. Oh my GOD I do not care. As long as there's a disabled person on this planet who the accessibility device will benefit, the accessibility device is necessary.

We have got to stop using it to imply "malingering".

And yeah, the curb cut effect is great.

Let's say you have a town of 100 people. Two are in wheelchairs.

There are no curb cuts.

Nobody sees why there should be. I mean, that's a lot of money to spend tearing out sidewalks and redoing everything for two people, and they hardly even go anywhere anyway (gee, I wonder why), it's not really worth it....ugh. The law says we have to. We can put them on the downtown main crossing I guess.

...oh, but hey, we also have two people with walkers, and one of them is Mrs. Jane Doe, who works a lot with the church and is deeply respected in town. Maybe it's not a great look if we're so nasty about putting these in. Okay. Two crossings and it looks good--

--oh. And we have...seven moms with strollers? Who've been saying how much they love those crossings because taking a stroller up and down a curb is such a hassle? Well...when you put it that way...and them being more easily able to shop has been stimulating the local economy...I guess we can do most of the downtown curbs, especially with the extra reven--

--what? And the mayor's wife broke her leg, and she's considering it such a blessing to not have to take curbs on crutches?

...oh hey. Twelve percent of the community is actively using those curb cuts now. And all seven of those moms have partners. That's nineteen percent who are in favor. And Jane Doe is a widow, but her pastor and the head of the ladies' Bible study and her son have all seen how much safer it is for her going from the church to her house. That's 22%. Oh--and the jogging group? There are six of them and they've had no slips, stumbles, sprains, or falls since the curb cuts went in. It's easier to cross in morning fog when you don't have to look for the edge.

Now elections are coming up. 28% of town is like "hell yeah curb cuts." We'll say 30% can't vote, because some of them are kids and some aren't citizens and, yes, some just can't be assed. That means you need 36 votes to win the mayorship.

One candidate says the town has already met their legal obligations and it's silly to add more curb cuts. The other says the curb cuts have been such a boon to so many townspeople, it seems only natural to have them on every corner.

Who do you think is winning this election?

Who do you think is more likely to be responsive to "hey, we have some blind folks in town, we should consider those street crossing buttons that talk to you"?

Which scenario--the one in which people say "oh, I can't use those, those are only for wheelchairs," or the one where everyone uses them and the two percent in wheelchairs go "heck yeah ma'am, I'm glad it helps you too"--do you think is more likely to result in the people in wheelchairs getting the resources they need?

If everyone else had said "those are only for wheelchairs," do you think full curb cut expansion would even have been on the mayoral candidates' radar?

That's what V-coding is. That is why they are so adamant about sending trans women to men's prisons, because sex trafficking trans women within the men's prison system is an essential part of that system. Being misgendered by this isn't even an issue that's on our radar!