jophi/el

i've noticed a lot of leftists struggle with the distinction between individual action and structural systems. people accused me of "replicating the punitive systems we're seeking to dismantle" because i didn't want an ex to have access to my apartment...

I went to a paramilitary school and held myself to the same physical standards the boys were placed on (like girls only have to do x amount of pull ups but boys have to do y), and the body i developed from that made me happy but also had my mom saying I looked like a man

Hey a dear friend of mine and neighbor is facing eviction due to racial discrimination and as requested by her family I made a a mutual aid campaign for her!! She needs $2500 as a starter point to get a retainer for a housing lawyer and housing stability if she is displaced! racist neighbors have been aggressive with harassment and assaults... and im worried about her safety..!!This will be my pinned till full her goal is met! Please reblog and actually donate! Even $2 is still impactful. Nothing is too small ,❤️❤️

I cry every day from the weight of this heartbreak. I stand beside my husband with nothing but prayer, watching his pain and feeling my heart shatter because I cannot do more to save him. I try to stay strong for my little girl, but there are moments when I weaken as I imagine her life without her father. All I want is a chance to save Ahmed, a chance for him to remain a father to our daughter and a husband to me, and for us to see a better day after all this pain.

The doctor told me that Ahmed’s condition is critical, that the cancer is spreading rapidly through his body, and that his only hope for treatment is to get him out of Gaza as soon as possible to receive urgent medical care. Since that moment, I have been living in constant fear, terrified that I may lose my husband at any moment.

Getting Ahmed out of Gaza for treatment is extremely costly, and we need to raise more than $25,000 to cover the urgent medical expenses and give him the chance he desperately needs. Every moment matters, and we are racing against time to save his life.

Our little daughter cries every day, calling for her father. She does not understand what cancer means, but she feels his pain and clings to him with all her strength. All she wants is for her father to stay by her side, and for this war and this illness not to take him away from her.

As for me, I am suffering from severe malnutrition because of the famine and the war. My body has become weak, but I keep holding myself together in front of my daughter so she does not feel the full extent of the pain we carry inside.

I say this from the depths of my heart: I will never forget everyone who read my words, saw my family’s suffering, and chose to turn away without even sharing our story. A simple share may help our voice reach someone who can save Ahmed’s life.

You are our only hope. Every donation, no matter how small, and every share could be the reason our story reaches someone able to help us.

Please, do not leave us alone. Ahmed’s life is in your hands. Help us reach our goal as quickly as possible and save Ahmed before it is too late. Give our little daughter the chance to keep her father by her side.

To donate, please click here⬇️

GoFundMe

PayPal

I downloaded the PDF to my hard drive and I open it again whenever I'm feeling too suicidal to do much else, but not enough to start booking a ride to the hospital. And every time without fail I only go up to a few pages before backing off and choosing to live another day just because suicide suddenly seems even more unbearable than whatever the hell upset me in the first place.

All the book really does is [I'm pulling a summary from GoodReads here as, again, I've read no more than 5 pages] "discusses the social aspects of suicide, the right to die, anger, loneliness, depression, stress, hopelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, the consequences of a suicide attempt, and how to get help."

But it also starts with the author kindly asking the reader to complete the book before going through with anything, and for some reason I'm compelled to really just try to read it all before finalizing everything. Despite not yet completing it (hopefully never will) I think I can safely say it's saved my life at least a few times now.

the image of the voodoo doll as a magic doll you stab to hurt people actually comes from a practice by english pagan witches of making poppets. the poppet would be made in the shape of someone you hate and filled with their hair and then stabbed with big needles repeatedly. and the poppets got conflated with voodoo dolls later on.

voodoo dolls were actually a way of keeping records when black people were prevented from reading or writing. a voodoo priest who would serve as a communities doctor would make a doll that looks like the patient, and stick a pin in it where the patient was experiencing symptoms, this would let the doctor keep track of who was having what issues. for example if a patient has a headache, the voodoo priest puts a pin in the dolls head. the priest gives the patient a treatment, when the patient comes back the priest knows which doll is theirs because it looks like them, and they know they're dealing with a headache because the doll has a pin in it's head. when the symptoms resolve the pin is removed, until then the doctor has a reminder that this is an ongoing issue for a specific patient.

I wrote this because when I saw it this post had a TL;DW that conflated the information about poppets and the information about voodoo dolls, creating new and original misinformation about voodoo dolls that comes from confusing them with poppets so like don't reblog that one maybe.

also someone else in the chain included this freeze frame so you can read it