protect trans kids

I used to backpack for a living as part of my job and the logistics of how much food I could carry was very much a limiting factor of how far we could get in a week before we had to turn around.

We had to do so much planning about food, I counted calories for the first time in my life not to lose weight but to establish a bare minimum of how much food I needed. I started with 2000 calories before realizing that they decided that number was an average for people who hiked way less then 8 hours in a day. I went up to 2400 calories a day, I would have done more but reasonably I could only carry so much food on my back. I made sure a good portion of it was salty because after the first day my sweat would taste like water and if I didn't pack enough gatorade powder my legs would cramp. Pringles have never tasted as good as they would on day 3 of a hike when my body craved salt the most, at home they were disappointing. Food was about what my body needed and what would let me keep hiking.

I would often train new volunteers and impressing upon them how much food they needed to pack and how they needed to think about it differently was always hard. The hardest was young woman. They would tell me they only ate 1400 calories in a day, they were never hungry after that, they couldn't possibly eat that much. They always listened to me in the second week. No one ever brought enough in the first week man or women.

black vampires + witches

akasha, queen of the damned (2002)

louis & claudia, interview with the vampire (2022-)

tara thorton, true blood (2008-2014)

blade, blade (1998)

marcel gerard, the originals (2013-2018)

sarah fox, my babysitter's a vampire (2011-2012)

alex & camryn, twitches (2005)

rochelle zimmerman, the craft (1996)

bonnie bennett, the vampire diaries (2009-2017)

vincent griffith, the originals (2013-2018)

marie laveau, american horror story (2011-)

favourite 2024 albums → THE GREAT IMPERSONATOR by Halsey

on fathers

I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.

Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:

Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.

No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.

So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:

Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:

Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.

Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.

POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.

When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)

If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.

In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.

You’ve heard of employee unions using collective bargaining to force the bosses to provide better pay and better working condiditions. But did you know if you rent an apartment in an apartment complex, you can do something similar?

It’s called a Tenant Association, and it’s basically a union for renters.

Here’s an overview of the why and how of forming a tenant association

Here’s a more thorough organizing manual