The Ugly Duckling

Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease and while it’s progress can be slowed down, it currently doesn’t have a cure. People suffering from Parkinson’s will experience a gradual loss of coordination and ability to perform even the most basic of every day tasks, including feeding themselves. 

This spoon is HUGEfor them. Look at that gif of the man just trying to eat with the regular spoon and compare it to the liftware device. It’s NOT just a spoon, by the way, it comes with a fork as well, for example. 

I found the website for the project where you can purchase a spoon for someone you know/love and even possibly donate money to help someone out who can’t afford it themselves right: HERE.

At the very least, please spread this for all the people who have Parkinson’s or loved ones with Parkinson’s. 

magnoliabox.com

Snow and Dirty Rain Richard Siken

About the French Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira:

February 2, 1952: birth in Cayenne, French Guiana

1993-2012: she joins the National Assembly of France for French Guiana

1994-1999: she joins the European Parliament

May 2001: she is the principal author of Loi n° 2001-434, a law that officially recogizes the atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity [english], [french]

2002: she becomes the first black candidate and first black woman to run in the French presidential elections

2002-now: she publishes multiple books on the status of black people in French history and society

November 2012: she introduces Projet de Loi n° 344 to the parliament. this bill goes on to become Loi no 2013-404, which legalizes same-sex marriage in france in may 2013 [x]. [here’s one of her speeches with english subtitles x]

May 2013: she calls for the French government to redistribute land in the dom-tom (France’s Overseas Departments and Territories) to favour the descendants of slaves [x]

October 2013: she (justifiably) calls out the front national for being racist, antisemitic, anti-arab and homophobic. the party retaliates by threatening to sue her [x]

November 2013: she becomes the first black woman to be picked as Elle France’s Woman of the Year [x]

June 2014: she encourages the parliament to pass a reform that emphasizes the use of probationary periods and rehabilitation for young offenders (as opposed to harsh jail sentences with no rehabilition), in order to prevent repeat offenses and reduce overcrowding in french prisons [x]

July 2014: the court in cayenne gives anne-sophie leclère a 50 000 € fine, a 9 month jail sentence, and a 5 year ban from politics for comparing Taubira to a monkey [x] [video]

Fuck you, Steinbeck. (via theangelofbucephalon)

Steinbeck based his book on reports made by Sanora Babb (leaked to him by her boss, Tom Collins, to whom Grapes of Wrath is dedicated). Sanora Babb was planning to write her own book, but Steinbeck published before she did. Babb was told that the market could not bear another on the same subject. Her book, ‘Whose Names are Unknown’, was finally published in 2004. I haven’t read either book yet, but am now definitely going to be reading ‘Whose Names are Unknown’ soon. Babb’s novel is described as showing how by re-creating rudimentary democratic practices the refugees restructure their lives as a unified community, resisting violent discrimination. In ‘Whose Names are Unknown’, we hear the whole powerful story from the point of view of a woman who had actual experience with both the origin and the destination of the migrants.

Sanora Babb was a member of the US Communist Party in the 1930s and 40s, dropped out of the party due to the authoritarian structure and in-fighting.

(via jinerviet)

here are some sources, in case you were looking for them