hello.

You can’t believe what happens next when a Japanese person asks them politely and privately not to use “Oriental” as an adjective! Or maybe you can.

Día De Los Muertos is not “A Mexican Halloween”

If you did not know that, it is alright it is not your job to know everything about ever culture but allow me to explain exactly what Day of the Dead is: 

Día De Los Muertos/ Day of the Dead is a celebration but not so much of one like Halloween, 

In the mornings there are typically parades all filled with laughter, dance, beautiful decorations, and music of course it is fun we celebrate the life we have

But we don’t paint our faces and go parading down the street for nothing, its not a thing we do just because it is fun 

We MOURN

We honor those who has passed and made the journey to the afterlife

Each year families to to Grave sights (which are NOT for your aesthetically pleasing selfies please) to pay respects and visit those who have already gone

Mexicans and Hispanics are very family oriented people, at the grave sights you can often hear mother wailing out for their children who passed too soon or men knelt over their mother’s grave sobbing and of course children crying for their parents

People pray and cry out, they sob and scream

Yes it is a day of remembrance and we honor them but it is still painful, we miss those who once walked with us

Families and friends typically bring favorite food, flowers, drinks, etc to the graveyards 

Do NOT make fun of that. Please.

DON’T post skeleton memes aimed at Day of The Dead, the calavera/sugar skulls are meant to represented the parted souls of loved ones with names etched onto the forehead and the skulls painted on our faces are meant to ward off more death

DON’T disrespect grave sights, this is an obvious thing not to do people 

DON’T  celebrate if you do not intend of respecting and honoring those who have passed and just want it as a second Halloween 

DON’T mock people celebrating or any of the traditions 

DON’T mess the with petals, those orange petals are from a flower called  cempoalxochitl, and they are meant to help guide the dead back to their homes so their spirits can too visit 

I made some state tourism ads and left them outside a local travel agency.

This blog will NOT post:

- Screamers 

- Gore

- Blood 

- Purposefully triggering content 

It is not down to luck. 

Almost 22 years ago on the 13th March 1996 a man killed 16 children, a teacher and injuring 15 others before committing suicide in Dunblane Primary School. 

It was, and still is, the deadliest mass shooting in British history. 

People were obviously outraged by the atrocity and by the next year it was illegal to own handguns (basically any gun not barrell loaded) unless they were of ‘historical importance’ i.e. made before 1919.

Owning a gun legally in the UK is hard. You must get a 5 year licence i.e. a background/capability check (yup it runs out), you must give a valid reason for needing a gun (i.e. the humane slaughter of animals/vermin); self defence is not a valid reason for owning a gun. You must be subjected to an inspection of your home where you have to show police where you are keeping the guns and ammunition, these must be kept in separate locked containers, and if you are needing to move the guns you must show that these containers can be moved whilst the guns are locked away.

Through all of this we have one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the word and last year only 26 people died in a gun related incidents (this includes air rifles and imitation guns), and most of these are from illegally obtained guns. It’s got to the point that if someone does die of a gunshot wound it is on the national news.

This being said we have a healthy National Rifle Association in the UK, but instead of demanding people be allowed to own weapons they teach marksmanship (traditional and modern) and promote shooting sports like clay pigeon shooting, which is very fun and we often have it at village fêtes.

The fact that gun control is still a debate in the US is astounding to me. 

The fact that Sandy Hook was 5 years ago and there is still a debate on whether gun owners should be subjected to background checks is astounding to me.

The fact that someone can get an automatic or semi-automatic weapon and shoot hundreds of innocent people from the 32nd floor of a hotel is astounding to me.

The fact that each year we hear on the news that there has been the ‘deadliest mass shooting in American history’ is astounding to me.

How is this even a conversation?

Call your senators, your representatives at all layers of government, tell them you want stricter gun laws, tell them that this can’t keep happening.