your bright friend

resurrected dead wife watching her own montage: wow I looked so hot in that

it never sits well with me when people associate beauty with morality like i remember when i was in my early 20s and my friends would compliment each other like “that’s what happens when you’re not racist—you get a banging body” or “you can tell she’s homophobic because of her ugly mug” like it’s never felt right to me. beauty as a reward or a virtue feels so bizarre to me. ugliness as a punishment feels so bizarre to me. it all feels like 19th century phrenology and physiognomy

The book you all need to read is Ugliness, by Moshtari Hilal, who writes about this exact thing and the origins of beauty as morality, and how it originated (as OP already says!) in racist discourse about physiognomy.

a funny thing about having conversations with people within institutions (academic in this case but also others) about gatekeeping, is that you end up having a conversation over and over in which you're like, "hey this alligator spike pit moat you have erected around your institution is keeping a lot of people out," and they're like, "well *I* navigated the alligator spike pit moat just fine," and you're like, "right. by dint of us having this conversation, you within the institution and me without, it is understood that you navigated the alligator spike pit moat. due to that being an inherent requirement of entering the institution," and they're like, "I don't think you understand the prestigious history of our alligator spike pit moat," and you're like, "is there a reason why there needs to be an alligator spike pit moat encircling the concept of higher education?" and they're like, "look, the alligator spike pit moat isn't for everyone. some people just aren't cut out for the alligator spike pit moat :)" and you're like, "right, yeah, like disabled people and people coming from poverty or unstable home environments or underserved communities or people dealing with difficult to navigate life events like pregnancy or abuse or prison or addiction or the death of a loved one, for example" and they're like, "how dare you imply that we are keeping those people out on purpose. it's their own problem if they can't wrestle the alligators and avoid the spikes while also disabled and/or poor and/or pregnant etc" and you're like, "well that seems evil," and they're like, "it sounds like maybe you're just bitter about the alligator spike pit moat because of your totally random individual experience with ONE bad alligator spike pit moat. have you considered therapy?" and you're like, "did you know that there's some patterns here in terms of how y'all are handling this stuff?" and they're like, "actually yes. we even have a department of alligator spike pit studies :)" and you're like, "that's great, how do I get access to and participate in those conversations?" and they're like, "well firstly you must cross the alligator spike pit moat"

Having a job is an awesome way to stay hydrated because you get so bored you start drinking water just for a little excitement