I Can Make Excuses Or I Can Make It Happen

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Today marks the first day of Mental Health Month. Just like last year, we wanted to take up a bit of your dashboard real estate to talk about something important: you.

“Mental health” covers a broad spectrum of complex illnesses and emotions. It’s not always a cut-and-dry diagnosis, or something that goes away when you practice self-care. It can be difficult. It can feel like an uphill battle, especially after the year we’ve had. One of the ways we can move forward is by talking about it. We want to help facilitate that.

We want you to know that there are resources out there. There are people to talk to if you need someone to talk to, and there are organizations to look into if you want to help others.

NAMI (@namiorg and @oktotalk), the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the largest grassroots mental health organization in the U.S. Residents can dial 800-950-NAMI Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. — 6 p.m. ET.

The It Gets Better Project (@itgetsbetterproject) has one mission: uplift, empower and connect LGBTQ+ youth all around the globe. They have a list of over 1,000 resources for LGBTQ+ youth who are struggling with their sexuality, their families, their friends, or anything else. They want to remind you that you do not have go through anything alone.

The Born This Way Foundation (@bornthiswayfoundation) is committed to supporting the wellness of young people and empowering them to create a kinder and braver world. Their goal is to encourage kinder communities, improve mental health resources, and more positive environments both online and off.

Today we want to help you set up your own support system right on your own Tumblr. Some place where you can be honest and open and true. If you feel comfortable with it, we have two questions for you: what are you doing today to make life easier for yourself? And if you feet up to it—if you feet like you are in a good enough place yourself—what can you do to make life a little bit better for someone else?

Animation by KAPWA Studioworks

Citizen activism is as American as apple pie. Whether you call it a protest, a parade, a tea party, a town hall, a march, a sit-in, a patriotic rally, a picket line, a free speech event, or a nonviolent demonstration, your right to stand up peacefully for what you believe in is protected by the US Constitution. Read the  First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

To learn how to turn protest into powerful change, watch this TED-Ed Lesson.

Ready to exercise your constitutionally protected right to protest? Before you go, know your rights. Below, read an excerpt from the American Civil Liberties Union guidelines for protestors. [For a pdf of the full ACLU ‘Know Your Rights’ guidelines for protestors, click here.]

From an almost pitch black underground shelter mostly safe from the bombs, as kids scuffled in the background, 22-year-old Nour Adam filmed himself. “Children eat here, sleep here, and have their life here,” he said. “They don’t have any place to get out. The airstrikes are still in the sky, hitting the buildings and the towns.”

Later, as he has to do every time he wants his videos to be seen by the wider world, he braved more shells to scramble to the roof of the building to get signal and post the video to Twitter, in a process he has repeated hundreds, possibly thousands of times. He hashtagged his tweet “#IAmStillAlive.” Adam lives in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, which has been under siege for five years. As the seven-year anniversary of the Syrian civil war approaches, he is asking himself: Is anyone out there still watching?

Global interest in the conflict is waning, and analysis by BuzzFeed News shows the number of shares on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites of the most-read stories about Syria in the past two months were a 10th of what they were just over a year ago.

One step in the right direction from a giant corporation

The Berlin Wall stood for 10,316 days. Now, Berlin lives with the memory of the wall for longer than it lived with the wall itself.

For a look into the history of one of the world’s most famous dividing lines, check out the TED-Ed Lesson The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall - Konrad H. Jarausch.

“I just don’t understand why we can’t mourn and use our voice to speak out at the same time.”

Abundantly lacking in America....

Because THEY believe health care is a privilege and they’re going to SHOOT YOU with their GUN if you disagree.

“When Anna said she was raped by two on-duty cops, she thought it would be a simple case. She had no idea she lived in one of 35 states where officers can claim a detainee consented.“

One of 35..