So I've done my first aid + CPR a few times. And every single time I try and bring up scenarios for fat folks

Specifically like 'what if someone is too large for me to wrap my arms around then to do the heimleich'

And its incredibly rare I get a decent answer.

How absolutely insane is it that me, as a fat person, is asking how to have MY life saved or to save ANOTHER life, is an impossible feat if someone is fat.

Most of the time they tell me to 'just try anyways uwu'

The heimleich is scientifically as effective as slapping someone VERY hard on the back. The only reason it's so well taught is the man that invented it did a lot of great PR for himself. It's also a bit easier for smaller framed people to get the necessary force in, because people are often extremely scared to hurt people, even in life threatening situations.

With larger bodied people, whether they be fat, tall, muscular, etc. If you cannot get your arms around them, literally just slap the shit out of their shoulders. You want hard, open palmed slaps right in the center of the shoulders or slightly below.

If they are too tall for you to reach that high, guide them to lean over the back of a chair, and then slap slap slap slap slap.

It's been proven to be just as effective through many studies. It just doesn't have a trademarked name and a dramatic effect in film.

If you have to do CPR on a larger bodied person, again, fat, body builder, tall and broad, whoever, the trick to finding where you want to put your hands if going to be to take your hand and shove it in their armpit. No seriously. Put your hand in their armpit, then drag it in a straight line towards yourself until you're in the center of the chest, then put your other hand beneath that one. This is where you push. Then you are going to move the arm closest to you out of the way so you can get closer to them, and get the leverage you need to press down for compressions. The more of your body weight that is over your hands, the better the compression will be. Act like you are trying desperately to pack the last of your clothes in a suitcase, and just slam down hard on their chest.

They will make *horrible* noises. You might even break ribs.

But a broken rib is better than being dead.

And sometimes I think, “Well, two hundred is technically less than four hundred.” And I have to stop myself, because - I am writing half as much as Terry Pratchett. Terry fucking Pratchett, who not only published regularly up until his death, but published books that were consistently good. 

And this has also been an immense help as a writer with ADHD, because I don’t feel bad when I take a break from writing - two hundred words works up quick, after all. If I take a break at 150, I have a whole day to write 50 more words, and I’ve rarely written less than 200 words and not felt the need to keep writing because I need to tie up a loose end anyways. 

like ava’s biggest fear is being alone, being abandoned, and bea fucking showed up in shannon’s old room and kicked sister crimson’s ass and then just?? never left??  and they end up in the tiny one-bed apartment in the alps for two months together and that was awesome

and then they get separated and ava wakes up with no bea but also no idea what happened to her cos she got knocked out, then she ends up in a church with miguel picking a fight with waaaay too many people and??? bea just fucking shows up??? again??? because she told ava she’d never be alone and she fucking meant it

and thats what this hug is, this hug is holy shit you meant it, you came for me – of course i did it’s my job and my pleasure, i said you’d never be alone – you’re here and that automatically makes everything better even though we’re surrounded

Headline: The U.S. government’s witch hunt of gay men and lesbians was front page news in the 1940s and 1950s. But as the firings continued well into the 1980s and ‘90s they would draw less and less attention.

Frank Kameny Picketing:  Frank Kameny leads a picket line in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1965.  Forty activists joined the protest, making it (at the time) the largest public demonstration for LGBT rights in world history.

First White House Protest: The U.S. government’s anti-gay witch hunts helped ignite the gay rights movement years before the Stonewall riots. This 1965 picket in front of the White House in Washington D.C. was the first demonstration of its kind.

Producer/Director Josh Howard

Gay Man Arrested: The government encouraged local law enforcement agencies to aggressively pursue, harass and arrest gay men and lesbians who were breaking no laws at all. Even private homes were not off limits to surprise raids by police.

Joan Cassidy, a retired Navy captain, discusses her experiences during the anti-gay witch hunts with Josh Howard during a filming for The Lavender Scare.

Frank Kameny and Josh Howard:  Producer/Director Josh Howard with Dr. Franklin Kameny during a 2010 filming for The Lavender Scare.

Two men photographed in the 1950s.

Senator Joseph McCarthy ignited the Red Scare with his claim that Communists had infiltrated the government, the news and entertainment industries and academia.  But the Lavender Scare, the fear of a spreading homosexual menace, would become an even more powerful political weapon.

Two women photographed in the 1950s.

Two women photographed in the 1950s.Two women photographed in the 1950s.

Two men photographed in the 1950s.

The Lavender Scare, the award-winning documentary film tells the story of the vicious witch hunt where tens of thousands of gay men and lesbians were fired from their jobs in a decades-long effort by the U.S. government to rid the federal workforce of homosexuals.

Happy birthday to Lillian Faderman!! The critically acclaimed author and historian who pioneered the study of lesbian history turns 77 years old today!

Lillian Faderman is photographed giving a talk by Donn R. Nottage (x). 

Lillian was born on July 18, 1940 in New York City. Her mother and her Aunt Rae had managed to flee their shtetl in Latvia, but tragically, the rest of their family were murdered in the Holocaust. Her mother Mary was young, unmarried, and working in a garment factory when she gave birth to Lillian; although Lillian’s biological father had tried to pressure Mary into getting an abortion as she had done with their first two pregnancies, she refused with the third one, and so, Lillian was born. Lillian recalls having a hard childhood living in New York’s working class, Jewish community and being greatly affected by her mother’s grief for her murdered family back in Latvia.

When Mary eventually married when Lillian was a teenager, the family moved to Los Angeles. In the heart of the American entertainment industry, Lillian took up acting classes for fun and began a brief modeling career to help bolster the family income. It was through her connections in the performing world that Lillian discovered L.A.’s booming gay bar scene of the 1950s and found that she was a lesbian. In her senior year of high school, Lillian married one of her friends who was a much older gay man. Although the plan was for them to act as each other’s cover ups, the hiding put much emotional stress on the two’s relationship and the marriage was dissolved within a year.

Lillian with her partner Phyllis (left) and their son Avrom in 1979 (x). 

Out of both high school and her unhealthy marriage, Lillian began attending University of California, Berkeley and then later transferred to UCLA. Her first book was published in January of 1975 and was titled Speaking for Ourselves: American Ethnic Writing. Today, she has written over 17 novels. Her work includes her multiple memoirs, lesbian fiction, and several tomes of crucial LGBT history. She was one of the first authors to ever dissect lesbian history and culture as something independent of gay men’s history and culture; her most popular novels include Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America - A History, and Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, And Lipstick Lesbians. To date, Lillian has been awarded 6 Lambda Literary Awards, 2 American Library Association Awards, and her work has been translated into over 7 different languages! She currently enjoys life with her partner of over 40 years, Phyllis Irwin, and their son Avrom. Thank you for paving the way, Lillian!!

Edythe Eyde, better known as her pen name Lisa Ben, was born on this day in 1921. She was a literary editor, publisher, and musician who created the very first known lesbian publication in America – Vice Versa – which was printed and distributed in the 1940s.

“Edythe Eyde looking glamorous in an undated photo. Courtesy of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.” Listen to Edythe’s interview with the Making Gay History podcast! 

Edythe was born on November 7, 1921 in San Francisco, California. She was an only child and grew up on an apricot farm in the rural town of Frement Township, California. Her love of music began as a young child when she entered violin lessons, which she would take for 8 years. Although she would not become aware of the word lesbian until well into her adulthood, Edythe had her first relationship with another girl when she was in high school. Heartbroken after her girlfriend broke off the relationship, Edythe attempted to open up to her mother, but her mother reacted poorly to the news that Edythe had been in love with another girl. The event effectively ruined any personal connection Edythe had previously had with her parents.

Edythe Eyde, c. 1950s. Lisa Ben Papers. ONE Archives at the USC Libraries (x).

After three years of saving up money and two years of taking secretarial courses at her parents’ insistence, Edythe finally left the nest and moved to Palo Alto. She would not stay in Palo Alto for long and eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1945. Finally in a city with an active gay and lesbian community, Edyth first learned the word lesbian and began identifying as so in 1946. She discovered that there were several other lesbians living in her apartment complex and she had soon found herself a close-knit group of friends. While working as a secretary at RKO Studios, Edythe’s boss told her that it was important for her to look busy at all times. In need of something to keep her fingers busy, Edythe began typing Vice Versa.

A friend photographs Edythe after visiting an ice cream struck in 1950 (x).

A fun passion project for Edythe, she initially just distributed Vice Versa around to her close friends, but she soon began mailing copies to her long-distance friends and even passing them out to the patrons of the lesbian club, If Club. She personally wrote and published nine issues of Vice Versa from 1947 to 1948. She eventually lost her secretary job at RKO when the company went under and was forced to take on a new job that left her with no free time to continue creating Vice Versa. When the lesbian magazine The Ladder began in the 1950s, Edythe was a frequent contributor under the name Lisa Ben, an anagram of the word lesbian. Copies of Vice Versa can still be read today at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.

Edythe smiling with her guitar in 1964 (x).

Dubbed by the Daughters of Bilitis as “the first gay folk singer,” Edythe enjoyed a successful music career in lesbian circles throughout her life. Her music was also featured on several documentary films. She was honored in 1972 by ONE Archives as one of the “fathers of the homophile movement,” was featured in the 1984 documentary Before Stonewall, and was also inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s hall of fame in 2010. Edyth passed away on December 22, 2015 at the age of 94.

The names of the Club Q victims are out. Let’s pay our respects to each of them and celebrate their lives.

Daniel Davis Aston, 28

Daniel was a bartender at Club Q. An outspoken trans man, he continuously helped raise donations for Black trans people on his Instagram. He was “the light in every room” according to his close friend.

Raymond Green

Raymond was celebrating his friend’s birthday when the shots broke out. His friend Rich apprehended the shooter as he died. After his death, his girlfriend posted on Facebook, “u are my home. my heart. my everything. u changed my life. u made life worth living.”

Kelly Loving, 40

After moving from Florida, Kelly was new to the Colorado scene. A nurturing soul, she was “like a trans mother” to her friends. “She was loving, always trying to help the next person out instead of thinking of herself. She just was a caring person,” her sister told the New York Times.

Ashley Paugh, 35

Ashley and her friends decided to go to Club Q after spending time shopping and getting dinner together. She was a family woman and “lived for her daughter” according to her sister. She is survived by her husband and 11-year-old child.

Derrick Rump, 38

Always bubbly and joking, Derrick had no shortage of friends in the community. He was a part owner of Club Q. “He was a kind loving person who had a heart of gold,” his mother told reporters. “He was always there for my daughter and myself when we needed him also his friends from Colorado which he would say was his family also. He was living his dream and he would have wanted everyone to do the same.”

I mean I know we’re all talking about this scene but

Beatrice is so free here. She’s touching Ava without restraint (or at least with a lot less than usual). This might be the first time Ava sees Bea with her hair completely down.

And Ava can’t take her eyes off her. Even when the other dancers in the bar bump into them she glances away for a second before immediately looking for Bea again. I don’t think this is the first time Ava has noticed her feelings for Beatrice but I do think that this might be the first time she’s let herself hope for more.

i think we know who this is