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every other youtuber: *channel inevitably dies due to scandal* 

jenna marbles: “we found out that my dog has a soap fetish, so here’s him reviewing different soap brands + we made him bed out of soap bars”

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Even when I sleep twelve hours I feel like I haven’t slept in a week. I walk around in a daze. I’ve known this feeling before and it’s worse than pain. It’s being so incredibly numb.

@fallingtones

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💗💜💙

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A sweet solangelo commission for goldenmoonsilversun :3 

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Rick Riordan won a Stonewall award today

for his second Magnus Chase book, due to the inclusion of the character Alex Fierro who is gender fluid. This was the speech he gave, and it really distills why I love this author and his works so much, and why I will always recommend his works to anyone and everyone.

“Thank you for inviting me here today. As I told the Stonewall Award Committee, this is an honor both humbling and unexpected.

So, what is an old cis straight white male doing up here? Where did I get the nerve to write Alex Fierro, a transgender, gender fluid child of Loki in The Hammer of Thor, and why should I get cookies for that?

These are all fair and valid questions, which I have been asking myself a lot.

I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors.

But also, it’s a call to do better in my own writing. As one of my genderqueer readers told me recently, “Hey, thanks for Alex. You didn’t do a terrible job!” I thought: Yes! Not doing a terrible job was my goal!

As important as it is to offer authentic voices and empower authors and role models from within LGBTQ community, it’s is also important that LGBTQ kids see themselves reflected and valued in the larger world of mass media, including my books. I know this because my non-heteronormative readers tell me so. They actively lobby to see characters like themselves in my books. They like the universe I’ve created. They want to be part of it. They deserve that opportunity. It’s important that I, as a mainstream author, say, “I see you. You matter. Your life experience may not be like mine, but it is no less valid and no less real. I will do whatever I can to understand and accurately include you in my stories, in my world. I will not erase you.”

People all over the political spectrum often ask me, “Why can’t you just stay silent on these issues? Just don’t include LGBTQ material and everybody will be happy.” This assumes that silence is the natural neutral position. But silence is not neutral. It’s an active choice. Silence is great when you are listening. Silence is not so great when you are using it to ignore or exclude.

But that’s all macro, ‘big picture’ stuff. Yes, I think the principles are important. Yes, in the abstract, I feel an obligation to write the world as I see it: beautiful because of its variations. Where I can’t draw on personal experience, I listen, I read a lot – in particular I want to credit Beyond Magenta and Gender Outlaws for helping me understand more about the perspective of my character Alex Fierro – and I trust that much of the human experience is universal. You can’t go too far wrong if you use empathy as your lens. But the reason I wrote Alex Fierro, or Nico di Angelo, or any of my characters, is much more personal.

I was a teacher for many years, in public and private school, California and Texas. During those years, I taught all kinds of kids. I want them all to know that I see them. They matter. I write characters to honor my students, and to make up for what I wished I could have done for them in the classroom.

I think about my former student Adrian (a pseudonym), back in the 90s in San Francisco. Adrian used the pronouns he and him, so I will call him that, but I suspect Adrian might have had more freedom and more options as to how he self-identified in school were he growing up today. His peers, his teachers, his family all understood that Adrian was female, despite his birth designation. Since kindergarten, he had self-selected to be among the girls – socially, athletically, academically. He was one of our girls. And although he got support and acceptance at the school, I don’t know that I helped him as much as I could, or that I tried to understand his needs and his journey. At that time in my life, I didn’t have the experience, the vocabulary, or frankly the emotional capacity to have that conversation. When we broke into social skills groups, for instance, boys apart from girls, he came into my group with the boys, I think because he felt it was required, but I feel like I missed the opportunity to sit with him and ask him what he wanted. And to assure him it was okay, whichever choice he made. I learned more from Adrian than I taught him. Twenty years later, Alex Fierro is for Adrian.

I think about Jane (pseudonym), another one of my students who was a straight cis-female with two fantastic moms. Again, for LGBTQ families, San Francisco was a pretty good place to live in the 90s, but as we know, prejudice has no geographical border. You cannot build a wall high enough to keep it out. I know Jane got flack about her family. I did what I could to support her, but I don’t think I did enough. I remember the day Jane’s drama class was happening in my classroom. The teacher was new – our first African American male teacher, which we were all really excited about – and this was only his third week. I was sitting at my desk, grading papers, while the teacher did a free association exercise. One of his examples was ‘fruit – gay.’ I think he did it because he thought it would be funny to middle schoolers. After the class, I asked to see the teacher one on one. I asked him to be aware of what he was saying and how that might be hurtful. I know. Me, a white guy, lecturing this Black teacher about hurtful words. He got defensive and quit, because he said he could not promise to not use that language again. At the time, I felt like I needed to do something, to stand up especially for Jane and her family. But did I make things better handling it as I did? I think I missed an opportunity to open a dialogue about how different people experience hurtful labels. Emmie and Josephine and their daughter Georgina, the family I introduce in The Dark Prophecy, are for Jane.

I think about Amy, and Mark, and Nicholas … All former students who have come out as gay since I taught them in middle school. All have gone on to have successful careers and happy families. When I taught them, I knew they were different. Their struggles were greater, their perspectives more divergent than some of my other students. I tried to provide a safe space for them, to model respect, but in retrospect I don’t think I supported them as well as I could have, or reached out as much as they might have needed. I was too busy preparing lessons on Shakespeare or adjectives, and not focusing enough on my students’ emotional health. Adjectives were a lot easier for me to reconcile than feelings. Would they have felt comfortable coming out earlier than college or high school if they had found more support in middle school? Would they have wanted to? I don’t know. But I don’t think they felt it was a safe option, which leaves me thinking that I did not do enough for them at that critical middle school time. I do not want any kid to feel alone, invisible, misunderstood. Nico di Angelo is for Amy, and Mark and Nicholas.

I am trying to do more. Percy Jackson started as a way to empower kids, in particular my son, who had learning differences. As my platform grew, I felt obliged to use it to empower all kids who are struggling through middle school for whatever reason. I don’t always do enough. I don’t always get it right. Good intentions are wonderful things, but at the end of a manuscript, the text has to stand on its own. What I meant ceases to matter. Kids just see what I wrote. But I have to keep trying. My kids are counting on me.

So thank you, above all, to my former students who taught me. Alex Fierro is for you.

To you, I pledge myself to do better – to apologize when I screw up, to learn from my mistakes, to be there for LGBTQ youth and make sure they know that in my books, they are included. They matter. I am going to stop talking now, but I promise you I won’t stop listening.”

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Avatar: The Last Airbender – Leaves From The Vine

“Happy Birthday my son. If only I could have helped you.”

“Leaves from the vine, falling so slow. Like fragile, tiny shells, Drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy, come marching home. Brave soldier boy, comes marching home.”

Download here. 

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You say it’s the rain that stopped you leaving the house today. Yesterday it was the cold. Tomorrow, you’re considering saying you’re ‘just too tired’. But in truth? It’s easier to stay indoors. Easier to hide behind closed curtains, easier not to see anyone, speak to anyone, go out into the world, be seen… You’ve tried that already. You’ve been trying for years. And where has it brought you? Right back here: to an empty room, alone on a Friday night, wondering where you went wrong and why you keep trying at all to be part of things.

broken thoughts (via br-o-ken-poetry)

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I'd love to be your pen pal!

✓ ID #28844

Name: Elise Age: 19 Country: Belgium Hi everybody! My name is Elise and I’m from the small kingdom of Belgium. I am a language student (English and Dutch) and was raised bilingually. I have always been kind of a loner with the need for deep connections. Those have been a struggle to find in my tiny country. I am a sucker for rainy days with a hint of warm sunshine, steaming hot tea accompanied by a good book, with indie music on the background, and having endless conversations about the universe and everything it has to offer. I have had a chronical illness since I was about 10 years old, which has resulted in me struggling with mental illness. I suffer from very bad anxiety and often experience panic attacks. This can easily make me feel worthless, sad and alone, which is why I adore the idea of having a pen pal to talk and listen to. I am very much into creative writing (poetry, fiction…) and am a singer-songwriter who is in the middle of jumpstarting her music career (she said hopefully). I am a sensitive, empathetic old soul. My mom likes to describe me as a rebel with a cause, because I am a firm believer in/fighter for social justice and often defend/support the LGBTQIA+ community and women’s rights. I hope to hear from someone soon! Greetings from my little kingdom. Preferences: I would love to talk to anyone between the ages of 18 and 23. Gender identity does not matter. I’d prefer to write in English, but Dutch is also fine. I can also read French and German easily , but I’m afraid I am not competent enough to write properly in those languages. Old fashioned letters are my ultimate jam, but email, instagram, messenger or tumblr are also totally fine! If we truly hit it off, we could also maybe start videochatting.

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- We’re already gonna be late for the ball. - So let us be late.

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new strategy for dealing with straight girls who jokingly refer to each other as girlfriends: take it seriously and watch them struggle to explain how they ‘didn’t mean it that way’ and blunder their way through a justification of why it’s funny to them

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A post shared by Joy (@myeveryjoy)

Never growing up.

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Don’t leave her hanging!  Vote for Elise Bauman ;)

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You fall into a garbage can one day and discover that it tastes delicious. After that, nothing can satiate your craving for trash

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This is the crystal hand of prosperity. Reblog in 300 seconds to have a year of good money management and raises. ⬆💱⬆💲💰💲⬆💱⬆

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before you go talking about how representation isn’t important, I’d like to remind you that as a brazilian, every time I saw my people or my country in ANYTHING that wasn’t from brazil as a child I’d cling to it. that movie Rio? yep. that episode of the simpsons where they make fun of brazil? you bet. rick riordan puts a brazilian character in one of his books? great. and even when I watched coco for the first time I was filled with joy because even if it wasn’t set in my country specifically, seeing a latino boy as a protagonist in a pixar story was very close to home.

Moral of the story: Let black kids have black panther. Let Polynesian kids have moana. Let latino kids have miguel. Let girls have wonder woman and captain marvel. you already have so many white american boys, and that’s okay, you don’t need to erase these characters, but when all the main characters in the media fall into these categories then we have a problem.