Milla Marie 💙🖤🩵

Not all men are calling out their friends when he says something to a woman he would never say to a guy. Not all men are looking up these phrases, learning what rape culture really is, how misogyny really operates. And no, not all men are perpetrators, of course they’re not. But all the once who aren’t should be solving this with us. Because maybe if they were, we’d be living in a society where when I talk to guys or male politicians about sexual violence, they want to solve it with me more than they want to prove that they’re not the problem.” - Gina Martin, TED talk on YouTube

https://youtu.be/_K_n-x-W7pY

https://youtu.be/CiprQC0e-xo

Mini-Comic: Dear Diary

12-year-old Nick writes a journal entry about his friends.

Read Heartstopper Online

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Heartstopper updates three times a month, on the 1st, 11th, and 21st at 11am UK time.

But in 2018, we got Natasha.

There are about a dozen pictures like that, but I always adopt adult cats, so we figured this just came with having a kitten in the house. She was just this tiny little fluff who still fit in my cupped hands despite being about six months old, so we put away the ornaments, shrugged it off, and took advantage of the opportunity to have a really cute Christmas card the next year.

Then, 2019 came around.

Natasha escalated to sleeping in the tree in between trying to eat all the branches, and honestly, it was too funny to make more than a cursory effort to stop her. My partner and I assumed that since she was still pretty tiny, she had more growing to do and would surely get to a point where her own body weight would keep her from doing this. In the meantime, we left the tree without ornaments that year and just called it good.

But then 2020 came around, forcing us to acknowledge that:

Natasha was not going to get too big to do this. At this point it had become clear that she wasn't developing slowly. She was just a really tiny cat. She's less than half the size of any other cat I've ever had.

Natasha was also not going to chill out enough to stop doing this.

But hey. Who needs ornaments with a face like that poking out of the branches at you all the time?

Sure enough, 2021 Natasha also had zero chill about the tree, but at this point it would have been weirder if she did leave it alone.

I thought I had seen everything, but this year I'd been kind of down and my partner decided to surprise me by setting up the tree and stuff while I was at work. It was an incredibly sweet gesture considering they don't actually even like Christmas decorations. It also meant I got to come home to this.

I kept expecting her to fall out, but she just chilled there, surveying the room until she got bored. And yes, that is absolutely a big, fancy cat tree she's ignoring in favor of scaling the Christmas tree.

I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.

My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.

I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.

I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.

I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.

They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.

Then I found out.

Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.

Salvation Army reached out to Milknmuffins and asked what shelter she’s at with the promise to address the abuse in it. She…ended up saying where she was. She was thrown out onto the street. It’s also all on Twitter.

They invited her to a personal talk so she could explain the situation in person.

And then they threatened her with a screenshot of a rape-threat made supposedly by her:

And then threw her out into the street while claiming she broke house rules that

(please click for better quality) 

a comic for tdor featuring lyrics from “famous last words” by mcr. that song hits different today.

this trans day of remembrance, remember not only those we have lost, but our trans brothers, sisters and siblings that are here with us, struggling along side us. we are each other’s family; we are each other’s home.

honor the dead. fight for the living. stay safe.

[image ID: a digital comic set to lyrics from the song “famous last words” by my chemical romance. the comic starts drawn in white on a black background, and gradually shifts to being drawn in white, pink, and blue.

it begins with a hand next to the text: “now I know;” followed by a bust of a short haired person next to the text: “that I can’t make you stay;” then a partial bust of a person with long hair in a jacket covered in patches and pins, one of which is a heart patch with a trans symbol in it, next to the text: “but where’s your heart?” then it shows the tops of some powerlines with the text: “and I know there’s nothing I can say.”

next it shows a memorial site with a poster and flowers at the bottom of a lamp post with the text: “to change that part;” then there are a large collection of lit candles with the text: “so many bright lights that cast a shadow;” next, a person in a puffy coat holding a piece of paper with the text: “but can I speak?” where the word speak is scribbled out; next shown in a group of transphobic protestors holding anti-trans signs and yelling with the text: “is it hard understanding.”

next shown two figures with hatched wrists and ankles reaching out to each other with the text: “why I’m ‘incomplete’?” where the word “incomplete” is in quotation marks; next is a panel of a mourning crowd, with three crying young people at the front, paired with the text: “I see you laying next to me;” then there is a picture frame with a portrait next to a burning candle, where the face of the portrait is replaced with the words “rest in power” and paired with the text: “with words I thought I’d never speak.”

next shown is a line up of five silhouettes in blue, pink, and white with the text: “awake and unafraid, asleep or dead;” next is a drawing of a thin person with brown skin and a shaved head dressed in blue and pink holding up a large trans flag and shouting, shown next to a transparent figure with curly hair wearing a dress, who is also shouting and supporting the first person’s wrist as they hold up their flag, wrapped with the text: “I am not afraid to keep on living.”

(please click for better quality) 

a comic for tdor featuring lyrics from “famous last words” by mcr. that song hits different today.

this trans day of remembrance, remember not only those we have lost, but our trans brothers, sisters and siblings that are here with us, struggling along side us. we are each other’s family; we are each other’s home.

honor the dead. fight for the living. stay safe.

[image ID: a digital comic set to lyrics from the song “famous last words” by my chemical romance. the comic starts drawn in white on a black background, and gradually shifts to being drawn in white, pink, and blue.

it begins with a hand next to the text: “now I know;” followed by a bust of a short haired person next to the text: “that I can’t make you stay;” then a partial bust of a person with long hair in a jacket covered in patches and pins, one of which is a heart patch with a trans symbol in it, next to the text: “but where’s your heart?” then it shows the tops of some powerlines with the text: “and I know there’s nothing I can say.”

next it shows a memorial site with a poster and flowers at the bottom of a lamp post with the text: “to change that part;” then there are a large collection of lit candles with the text: “so many bright lights that cast a shadow;” next, a person in a puffy coat holding a piece of paper with the text: “but can I speak?” where the word speak is scribbled out; next shown in a group of transphobic protestors holding anti-trans signs and yelling with the text: “is it hard understanding.”

next shown two figures with hatched wrists and ankles reaching out to each other with the text: “why I’m ‘incomplete’?” where the word “incomplete” is in quotation marks; next is a panel of a mourning crowd, with three crying young people at the front, paired with the text: “I see you laying next to me;” then there is a picture frame with a portrait next to a burning candle, where the face of the portrait is replaced with the words “rest in power” and paired with the text: “with words I thought I’d never speak.”

next shown is a line up of five silhouettes in blue, pink, and white with the text: “awake and unafraid, asleep or dead;” next is a drawing of a thin person with brown skin and a shaved head dressed in blue and pink holding up a large trans flag and shouting, shown next to a transparent figure with curly hair wearing a dress, who is also shouting and supporting the first person’s wrist as they hold up their flag, wrapped with the text: “I am not afraid to keep on living.”

Not forgiving and admitting I didn't forgive him was like a breath of fresh air. I felt lighter. I felt able to move on. Trying to forgive because I was "supposed" to actually kept me stuck in it. Not forgiving was me saying that what he did was wrong, and I didn't deserve it. It was me realizing I wasn't at fault and to blame. Not forgiving was healing to me.