ECCE HOMO

so every dot on this map is basically someone’s queer experience: coming out, meeting their future wife, seeing another gay man in public for the first time, anything you can think of that truly left a mark on them

It’s no secret to the Japanese that Shinjuku nichome is the gay district of Tokyo but about half the pins left there are for the same club in that area named gold finger. Definitely a place to check out if you’re looking to get involved in the Japanese queer community for whatever reason, it seems.

I have a sneaking suspicion this submission is a haiku when written in Japanese…

This guy got the scenic view I guess

Is this how people feel while reading deep romantic poetry because wow I’m moved.

Honestly the best feeling is learning we’re not as alone as we’ve been led to believe

small town australia vibes

VILLA OF LIVIA, PRIMAPORTA

Second-style frescoes from the villa suburbana at Primaporta, belonging to Livia Drusilla (57 BC - AD 29), the wife of Augustus Caesar and mother of Tiberius.

Hey guess what?

We have a homeschool-to-prison pipeline now.

https://www.propublica.org/article/a-teenager-didnt-do-her-online-schoolwork-so-a-judge-sent-her-to-juvenile-detention

Grace is a 15-year-old with ADHD and a long history of behavioral difficulties who ended up on probation after a fight with her mom led to the confiscation of her phone and her briefly stealing a classmate’s phone.

Grace is now in a juvenile facility where her life is at risk from covid because one of her probation conditions was to do her homework, and when her school in Oakland County Michigan went online only, she struggled to complete her distance education homework.

As a result, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ignored the Michigan governor’s orders to minimize the incarceration of children and ordered Grace imprisoned…for not doing her homework.

The Propublica story on Grace and her single mother Charisse - written by Jodi S Cohen - is a heartbreaker and a half. It paints a picture of a kid whose need for extra educational attention was met by a stern and uncaring system, from caseworker to judge.

Judge Brennan does not come off well in this story. She ordered Grace to appear in person in court - the only case of the day with that requirement - and then refused a continuance when Grace’s lawyer said he would NOT come to court and risk his life to argue her case.

Brennan’s sentence was handed down after Grace’s caseworker Michelle Giroux admitted that she did not know the details of Grace’s learning disabilities and had not familiarized herself with the legally mandated supports for them that Grace had not recieved.

Brennan called Grace a “threat to the community” for missing her homework, denied Grace’s pleas for more time to adjust to homeschooling, and had her taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

It goes without saying that, like the majority of Michigan teens sentenced to youth detention in defiance of the governor’s orders, Grace is Black. Black children in Michigan are four times likelier to be imprisoned than their white peers.

Grace has not been permitted to see her mother, except by videoconference. Her mother’s attempts to bring her clothes and toys have been rebuffed by the facility, because of petty rules like those stipulating that underwear must be briefs, or that jeans can’t be “too tight.”

When Grace is brought out for videoconference status meetings with the court, the child is handcuffed and put in ankle shackles. She makes heartbreaking pleas to be returned to her mother. The judge has ordered her held until at least Sept 8.

‘She had told her special education teacher that she needed one-on-one help and began receiving daily tutoring the day after the probation violation was filed. 

Giroux filed the violation of probation before confirming whether Grace was meeting her academic requirements. She emailed Grace’s teacher three days later, asking, “Is there a certain percentage of a class she is supposed to be completing a day/week?”

Grace’s teacher, Katherine Tarpeh, responded in an email to Giroux that the teenager was “not out of alignment with most of my other students.”

“Let me be clear that this is no one’s fault because we did not see this unprecedented global pandemic coming,” she wrote. Grace, she wrote, “has a strong desire to do well.” She “is trying to get to the other side of a steep learning curve mountain and we have a plan for her to get there.”’

and when she was placed in detention:

‘The local school district provided packets of material but no classes. She said that she has not yet worked with a teacher in person or online, and that she meets less regularly with a therapist at Children’s Village than she did at home.’

There’s a change.org petition here: https://www.change.org/p/oakland-county-family-court-division-and-judge-mary-ellen-brennan-stop-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-grace-should-not-be-incarcerated

The petition also lists these emails to contact the judge and the school district if you’re unable to phone or get through:

Email Judge Mary Ellen Brennan’s clerks:

[email protected] [email protected]

Email the Communication Director for Birmingham Public Schools, Anne Cron:

[email protected]

If you want to bring this to the attention of the BPS Board of Education:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Zone plate. Physical optics. 1911.

500g strawberries

500g white sugar

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Rosemary leaves (a bunch, it’s not precise, add it to your taste)

Rince and remove the leaves of the strawberries.

In a big large pan add the strawberries, sugar and the lemon juice and zest

High heat first until it boils, then medium heat for about half an hour.

Towards the end, pour a few drops of jam in an cold plate to let it cool fast and see the texture. Do it regularly until you are happy with the texture.

Add the finely chopped rosemary leaves.

Once ready, pour the jam in sterilized pots.

Enjoy!

Wildlife photographer being followed by a baby Tapir 

MAILING ADDRESS 

Town of Tusayan 

P.O. Box 709 | 845 Mustang Drive

Tusayan, AZ 86023 PHONE +1 (928) 638-9909 

EMAIL

Mayor Craig Sanderson 

[email protected] 

Vice-Mayor Becky Wirth 

[email protected]

Councilor | Brady Harris 

[email protected]

 Councilor  |  Al Montoya 

[email protected] 

Councilor  |  Robb Baldosky 

[email protected] 

if you don’t have time to write an email, here’s a pre-written letter: https://pastebin.com/Cc3YBWYA 

just copy, add your name, and send the email to a town member!

another article that goes more into the issue of water (May 28, 2019) (“The Havasupai Tribe has, in fact, voiced concerns about groundwater pumping near the Grand Canyon. In 2016, the tribe sued the city of Williams and other well owners, saying the drilling of more wells for resorts, developments, theme parks and uranium mines, among other businesses, increasingly threatens the tribe’s water. […] Duthie said those sorts of concerns shouldn’t hinder Stilo’s proposal for the hotel on Kotzin Ranch because the company wouldn’t use a well.”)

as of January 24, 2020, Stilo had submitted a “a revised proposal for roads and utility easements connecting to parcels of land they own that are surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest” (unanimously approved). opening these roads would require “some blasting.” as regards the groundwater:

Gitlin also worried that the new proposal did not adequately protect the area’s groundwater.

The proposal promises that commercial water needs — which during peak season, would be 275,000 gallons a day — would have to be hauled in by truck. It still allows “residential uses” to be met by pumping groundwater.

In the proposal, Stilo offered to agree to a “complete prohibition” on commercial groundwater use, except in the event of “technological breakthroughs resulting in proven zero-impact upon groundwater resources.”

It suggested a restrictive covenant or a conservation easement to enforce that restriction, but it’s not clear who would be responsible for that enforcement.

effectively, plans for development are going forward, & previous reassurances that no immediate proposals were being made seem like lies.

it’s worth mentioning in light of some other comments going around that the issue here isn’t preserving the untouched pristine beauty of nature or something–this kind of terra nullius-inflected rhetoric in fact relies upon colonialist & genocidal logic–but rather the responsibilities & livelihoods of the people who belong to the land & stand to be harmed by these proposals.

[link to tweet]

if you are a Black trans woman seeking HRT or other treatment in the US and your doctor isn't listening to you, i will help write letters to your providers for you at no cost. this offer does not expire. @erykahonmain on twitter / eryloveserybody on IG ❣ please RT for visibility

(not pictured) i do offer services to all trans / lgbt people at large. i always work with people's budgets and give free labor when i can afford to, so please don't let cost be a factor in reaching out to me if you need help!

And Esmeralda?! Like, you’re questioning why this bih has funny color eyes when she is LITERALLY NAMED ESMERALDA BECAUSE SHE HAS GREEN EYES. She had such striking features as a baby, particularly her green eyes, that she was named Esmeralda, but you wanna question why she has green eyes I’m-

ALSO none of the white-haired ladies have European features AT ALL, except the eyes and hair! Kida in particular- it is shown that her entire culture has white hair and it probably has to do with the crystals they use, but having a striking color palate is apparently bad I guess. We need more POC of every kind but that includes letting us have funky hair colors!

(The point I’m making isn’t that wacky hair colours on POC is bad but if it’s ONLY used for characters that would—genetic mutations and animanga aside—have black or dark brown hair and never for any white characters then it just gives off the sense that POC are inherently different. Like no white person would dye their hair pink just for kicks but every East Asian girl have a purple streak in her hair)

Imo a good way to interpret some of the items on this list is like. You shouldn’t have ALL or even like. Half of your characters fall into these tropes. (Some of them are definite no-gos tho)

Like if ALL your non-white characters only exist to shill your white characters with no real depth or story of their own. If ALL your non-white characters have unnatural hair and eye colours but none of your white characters do. If ALL your non-white characters have minimal agency in their plotlines while the white characters get to drive their own stories. Then that’s a problem.

And obviously you can’t just toss in one throwaway character that subverts these criteria and say that’s good enough. In the same way that having one gay background character isn’t adequate representation for gay people, having one background not-iffy-POC-archetype isn’t a good idea either.

Imo if you think you might have a problematic characterisation, it’s a good idea to have another (somewhat important on their own, as in they’re not simply a plot device you could replace with a helpful lamp) character to subvert it. If you only have one black character and they’re a hip-hop loving street kid then 100% of your black representation is limited to that.

Also subverting doesn’t mean INVERTING. You’re still transparent af if your alternate characterisation is Black and Nerdy or an Asian Airhead. Inverting a racial stereotype isn’t original nor does it make it less of a stereotype. Also in general don’t rely on stereotypes to characterise. Archetypes are fine to use as bases to flesh out characters, but if they fall into racial stereotypes that just not a good idea. (Nothing says you have to make the quiet goth kid white, but you should think twice before making your delinquent bad boy black.)