Spelled The Way It Sounds

Yes (homeschooled)

No (homeschooled)

It depends (homeschooled)

Yes (not homeschooled)

No (not homeschooled)

It depends (not homeschooled)

The founders of Jane, an underground network in Chicago, US that assisted people in getting abortions. From the left moving right: Martha Scott, Jeanne Galatzer-Levy, Abby Parisers, Sheila Smith and Madeline Schwenk.

Martha Scott was 19 in 1965, when her friend's sister became pregnant and Scott helped her find a doctor to perform an abortion. The group connected individuals seeking abortions with doctors, and later, performed abortions themselves. Their clients were informed they were not doctors, but doing abortions themselves allowed them to keep costs low. They made people aware of the services through signs with slogans like "'Pregnant? Don't Want to Be? Call Jane." The group operated for seven years and performed an estimated 11,000 abortions; no deaths were ever reported.

Quote from Scott: "You're messing around inside somebody else's body. It's not necessarily given that you won't do harm. It wasn't perfect, by any means. But we were dealing with women who really didn't have other options."

Quote from Galatzer-Levy: "I hadn't had so much as a speeding ticket [when I joined]. But abortion really was the front line, it was where women were dying."

They started messaging. Cachét complimented his drawing of a human-bug threesome and asked for a print. Three years later, Cachét and David got married. The human-bug threesome drawing hangs on the wall of their home.

Next up someone is going to claim that the Narnia series isn't kids books.

We need to stop thinking "children's book" = "picture book". That's not true.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a children's book series.

Narnia is a children's book series.

The Hobbit is a children's book.

Watership Down is a children's book.

The Jungle Book is a children's book.

A Secret Garden is a children's book.

A Little Princess is a children's book.

Animorphs is a children's book series.

Hatchet is a children's book.

Bud, Not Buddy is a children's book.

The Day No Pigs Would Die is a children's book.

Charlotte's Web is a children's book.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is a children's book.

Alice in Wonderland is a children's book.

Out Of The Dust is a children's book.

Many of these books have won children's book awards for being such good children's books. None of them are picture books though. I have read all of these as a child. And a lot of these books contain death, because that is not inappropriate for children, it's part of life and children need to learn about it. These books contain stuff like abuse, racism, hunting, battle, survival, suffering, and other things I've heard some people say children should not be "exposed to". Reading about them in these books did not do me harm, in fact it did a lot of good because it taught me about those things and that they can be survived and are extant and there are words for them. Which is part of what books are supposed to do!

Any book written for children, pictures or no, is a children's book. Large thin picture books that rhyme are not the only thing that counts as a children's book. Those are picture books. The ones specifically designed for reading practise are traditionally called readers. Cat in the Hat is a reader, a picture book, AND a children's book. The Talking Eggs is a picture book and a children's book. There used to be readers that did not have pictures!

You need to read stuff that has death and upsetting things in it in order to understand those things exist and how people might cope with them. You cannot just go around saying that children should only read Dick and Jane. Have you MET a child, do you REMEMBER being a child??? Being a kid is often horrifying.

We do not tell stories about monsters to tell kids there's monsters in the world--they know that, they experience that every day. We tell them stories about monsters to show them kids like them and unlike them experience the monsters and survive, sometimes even defeat them.

[ survey.gendercensus.com ]

The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th August 2026.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

I haven't sent out the mailing list email yet, but I'm about to get to that. That usually bumps things up significantly... 😰

The absolutely pervasive mentality that unwanted criticism or critique shouldn't be given and should be ignored is why fans of color don't stay in fan spaces.

And I am not going to mince words here:

A lot of you are racist. A lot of your fan works are racist.

That might have been difficult to hear. And if it was, you should probably reflect on why that was.

"Fandom etiquette" has created a space where fans of color either bite our tongues and eventually leave or say something, get dogged on, and then eventually leave.

you gotta marry a weird little freak that commits to you and the bit and that's IT

Like my husband doesn't not ever EVER text me "on my way" or "headed home"

He made a sticker of that one cat meme and he just sends that every

single

time

And I laugh every single day.

It's actually in decent shape, though, so I'm going to see about getting it into usable form as a backup/storage tent for historical and fantasy camping And I've been wanting to experiment with dying a tent, but haven't wanted to risk ruining an expensive one--so this is perfect as a test.

I used a clean trash can, 30 gallons of water, and half a gallon of flat interior acrylic paint to get this robin's egg blue. It's still drying--I wanted a pale color to use as a base, with the intention of either painting darker stripes or contrasting patterns as an accent. I dunked the whole tent into the trash can of paint water, and spread it out to dry. It is a bit splotchy, but it's probably close to 80 lbs dry, so with the added weight of water saturation, and a 12x14 normal footprint, it gets pretty hard to maneuver by myself. I am going to have to reapply waterproofing to this tent, due to its age, but for now it works to my advantage while dyeing it. I will update as this process continues, but for now it seems like a good way to get non-manufacturer color onto a natural fiber tent.

Author/illustrator Trung Le Nguyen has been live posting reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time on bluesky and just hit the first proposal. The replies are basically the sickos meme

Northern Cardinal, 4/10

I'm sometimes worried the male is sexually harassing the female but I'm pretty sure they're just doing some elaborate public pickup roleplay. The rest of us didn't agree to participate in your kink, guys.

American Robin, 1/10

Literally just some dude hanging out. Never bothered anyone but worms. Big fan of the way you just stand there in the middle of the grass like you forgot what you were supposed to be doing.

House Sparrow, 10/10

You're a gang. You're participating in gang violence. There's ten billion of you living in a single wood pile and it's been civil war for three years now. When will the bloodshed end?

Tufted Titmouse, 1/10

A shy baby. A pretty little guy. I saw you on the neighbor's garage roof and time stopped. There were anime sparkles around you. Come back.

European Starling, 9/10

Why is it always you? Listen, I know, I KNOW the sparrows are the problem, and YET. When the fighting starts, it's always you in the middle of it, provoking them and then screaming like you're an innocent bystander defending yourself. I'm onto you.

Carolina Wren, 3/10

This rating is not for physical violence, which you don't engage in, but for your role as an incurable narc. A tattle tale. I know they're fighting again, okay? I see it. Our yard has been a warzone for years, you don't have to make a big announcement every time someone misbehaves.

Eastern Wood-Peewee, 0/10

If this were "birds who think they're better than everyone else," you'd get 10/10.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, 6/10

It's a utility pole. It's not a tree. You're surrounded by trees that are full of bugs. But there you are, on the utility pole. Committing vandalism.

American Crow, unrated

For who am I to cast judgment on the actions of La Famiglia? I assume you are doing what is best for the neighborhood. If I could, though, without criticism, make a single observation. That when large numbers of you gather in the ominous dead cottonwood - no? No, you're right. None of my business.

Great Crested Flycatcher, 5/10

Frankly, I think you could be doing more. I think your name implies a great potential. I think you should massacre the insects. I think your beak should drip with viscera.

Common Grackle, 7/10

La Famiglia does not suffer you to stop in our neighborhood long, and I trust their judgement in this manner. You have the look of a guilty bird.

Tennessee Warbler, 2/10

You keep to yourselves, and I respect that. I get the sense that you could defend yourselves if it came to it, though.

Brown-Headed Cowbird, 3/10

You're not a crow, and eventually they ARE going to figure it out, kiddo.

Gray Catbird, 5/10

Would you. Respectfully. Would you shut the FUCK UP.

Eurasian Collared-Dove, 0/10

You're doing great, sweetie, everyone loves you.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch, 4/10

A comedian. A little jester of a bird. You're so silly. Sure sometimes you incite violence in others but, really, is that your fault? If it is, we forgive you.

Blue Jay, 12/10

If you could learn any human behavior you wanted, it would be how to build a bomb.

Honorable mention:

Turkey Vulture, 5/10