free-range-organic-ids - Tumblr blog

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID: a lightpole with a sign on it. The sign reads, "a world with out trans people has never existed and never will"]

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID: a foggy forest. There is no underbrush, and the trees are barren of leaves. The branches and trunks of the trees form multiple arches, creating an eerie tunnel. The image overall fades from a cool gray-blue at the top to a warm brown at the bottom.]

renegade_dark 

[free-range-organic-ids]

Image descriptions below the cut.

[Images (8) Description 1: A Twitter thread/twitlonger by Sayed Tabatabai, MD..

It reads: ""Why do you want to be a doctor?"

I answer without hesitation, "I want to help people."

"There are many ways to help people."

"I want to save lives."

"There are many ways to do that too.

So l'll ask you again, why do you want to be a doctor?"

"Because I believe in it."

I think about that exchange now and then, some times more than others.

Why do we do the things we do?

What do we really believe in?

My next clinic patient is one l've known for many years. He is visiting me today via Zoom.

I always look forward to talking to him.

As soon as the visit begins, I notice that his camera is angled off-center so I can't get a clear look at his face.

I ask if he can adjust it, but he says he's having technical issues.

No problem. I can adapt.

It isn't just the camera though.

Something feels off today.

Almost immediately I can tell that he sounds subdued. He isn't cracking his usual jokes.

I'm comfortable with silence, even in the heart of a busy clinic day.

Silence is often where the healing happens.

After asking how he's doing, I let the silence between us grow.

The question, when he asks it, is one I don't expect.

"Doc, which kills you faster? Blood pressure you don't control, or blood sugar you don't control?"

The surprise on my face must register, because he explains further.

"I just can't afford all these medications anymore."

He continues.

"The way I see it, doc, I only need to stick around 4 or 5 more years. That's how long my pet dog has left, then I ain't got no more family and it's me all on my own. So I figure maybe take the diabetes ones and skip the blood pressure? Or every other day?"

As I review his meds and start discussing our options with him, he adds one last remark.

"And I'm real sorry doc. I know we go back a ways, but I can't afford my co-pay. I'll pay you later. Promise."

And just like that, I understand why his camera is angled.

And just like that, I'm again struck by the cruel illusion of what I do.

The system I'm part of.

This patient did everything right; got insurance, paid his taxes. And he still has to barter years of his life.

And he can't bring himself to look me in the eyes as he does so.

Our healthcare system is too often unethical, immoral, unsustainable.

The insurance paradigm is focused on revenue generation. It strips the basic human dignity from patients, to the point where they can't even make eye contact anymore.

I know that I'm part of this system.

He's old enough to be my father. Some part of me imagines that he is my father.

Tears threaten my vision, as a hot anger floods me.

Now I wish I could angle my camera away.

I ask him if I can write about him.

Because people need to know.

His response lingers with me.

"Sure you can doc. But people already know. Lots of people deal with this. It ain't that people don't know. It's just that nobody cares. Nobody gives enough of a damn to change anything. Nobody... cares"

The visit ends.

My Zoom window closes.

His window closes too.

I feel it.

There's something insidious here.

A casual cruelty we're all complicit in.

" can't go to rehab, insurance won't cover it."

"Insurance won't pay for that medication."

"I can't afford any of this."

"I'm uninsured."

This isn't right. None of this is right.

Twenty years ago, I gave a medical school interview.

I wore my best suit. I sat up straight.

I said I believed in medicine. I meant it.

Some part of me once burned brightly, but that fire is down to flickering embers.

Our lives mean more than this.

More than this.]

[ ID 2: Tweet by Albert Lee reading,

"In America, you and your doctor can both agree that you need a surgery but you have to get permission from a third-party for-profit insurance company or it can't be paid for. It's called freedom."]

[ID 3: an image of a rating site for charities, specifically for R.I.P. Medical debt. It reads, "Rating Information" (four stars depicted below)

"Great."

"This charity's score is 100%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence."

"This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 32% Accountability & Finance, 50% Impact & Results, 7% Leadership & Adaptability, 10% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology."]

Our system is broken.  It is cruel.  It is dehumanizing, degrading, and it’s vile nature is so, so unnecessary.

We need universal healthcare today in America.  We needed it 40 years ago.  It’s cheaper, it’s simpler, it’s more efficient, it’s more effective and it is so, so, so much less cruel than what we have.

Additional sources/references:

Universal Healthcare Cost in America would be cheaper by trillions of dollars

The US has worse life expectancies than socialized healthcare countries

We have worse generalized healthcare results

We have the most expensive care

Our system is so cruel and unique that doctors from other countries literally can’t believe what happens here

I can’t tell you where or how to activate to help solve this.  There are politicians, groups, and activists pushing for this in so many ways.  I can tell you when, though.

Now.

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID 1: a Twitter post by Malala Yousafzai, reading, "This Barbie won a Nobel prize. He's just Ken." An image beneath depicts Malala, dressed all in pink patterned clothing, next to her husband, wearing a suit.]

[ID 2: A tweet by Asser Malik, reading "I'm kenough" with a laughing crying emoji.]

malala being the icon that she is 😭

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID 1: A black cat, standing and looking at the camera. The only features visible besdies the silhouette are the green eyes. The pupils are enlarged and the cat says "mrh." Text says, "A void."]

[ID 2: The same cat, now hunched down and awkwardly bent, now-small pupils staring in fear at a hand that's reaching down towards it. Text reads, "avoid".]

✨️Friend shaped✨️

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID 1: Depiction of what i presume to be the Christian hell. Everything is burning and people who are on fire scream and try to crawl out of a canyon. super imposed text reads, "summer lovers be like...so glad there's no snow".]

[ID 2: the same depiction of what i am still assuming is the Christian hell. The text superimposed now reads, "summer lovin'... had me a blast :) (this is an analog smiley).]

[ID 3: Again, Christian hell. Superimposed is a blue tinted image of a North American possum, curled up with its mouth open. The text now reads, "summer lovin'.... 'scream at own ass'"]

[ID 4: not Christian hell. It's a tumblr post reading, "i love how tumblr users play with jpegs like dolls"]

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID 1: a Twitter(?) post reading, "i literally get embarrassed doing anything . i wear sunglasses when it's sunny and i'm like this is so humiliating."]

[ID 2: a Twitter(?) post reading, "walking downhill is so embarrassing like ooo look at me doing a little trot like a stupid fucking horse i'd rather be dead"]

[ID 3: a tumblr post reading, "Itd be funny as fuck if the world operated like how people with social anxiety think it does. Like what if you got on a bus and everyone was like wow look at that piece of shit loser. Get off the bus you ugly bastard"]

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID 1: A tweet by Eli Erlick reading, "telling residents not to use their microwaves but refusing to turn off billboards in Times Square is class warfare"]

[ ID 2: a notification, reading:

"EMERGENCY ALERTS

now

Emergency Alert

Conserve Energy: NYC is urging all households and businesses to immediately limit energy usage to prevent power outages as the intense heat continues. Please avoid the use of energy-intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, and microwaves. Limit unnecessary use of air conditioning."]

Everyone in NYC got a screeching emergency alert telling us not to heat up our food. Yet all the commercial billboards, NYPD stations, and other utterly unnecessary utilities are left powered on. That’s class warfare, plain and simple.

[free-range-organic-ids]

VI culture is realizing the website you’re required to use for school wasn’t designed with high contrast themes in mind and there’s nothing you can do about it

Blind Culture Is

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID: an article headline reading:

" One Tasmanian's 54-year obsession to catalogue all of the world's edible plants to end malnutrition

Landline / By Margot Kelly

Posted 1d ago, updated ld ago"

An image of a an older man with white hair, presumably the man cataloguing the edible plants.

"Agricultural scientist Bruce French has been cataloguing food plants for five decades. (ABC Landline: Mitchell Woolnough)"]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-22/food-plant-solutions-malnutrition-farming-edible-plants/12580732

https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World

This guy is my new hero. I LOVE learning about native food plants that just grow everywhere without human help.

The database is a little clunky to use (especially on a phone), but still loads of excellent information.

[free-range-organic-ids]

Image description under cut:

[ID 1: text reading,

"...entrepreneurs and artists also joined the group. On the surface, the association appeared to be an advocacy group for women in a profession that is overwhelmingly occupied by men. Members of the association did not identify as homosexual or lesbian, but as "single"-a term commonly used in Korea to denote a person who chooses not to marry.

The women in the association followed a rigid hierarchy based on age and butch-femme roles. The butch women, who took on the characteristically masculine roles, were called baji (pants), and the femmes were called chima (skirts). Younger pants had to defer to the older pants as hyong, a term usually reserved for men to call older men. The membership grew steadily over the years, and it is said that at least 1,200 to 1,300 women would gather for events. The members took care of one another by planning funerals, celebrating birthdays, and organizing other activities that are traditionally associated with the family. There were also occasional marriages, which were held at Buddhist temples or wedding halls and attended by hundreds. Some women even adopted and raised children. Even though the individual members were not willing to seck visibility in the public eye, they sought institutional visibility. The Women Taxi Drivers Associations......"

" ...the Likes) was officially launched in 1994, and a cafe/bar called Lesbos in Mapodong in Seoul opened in 1995. Both were covered by a popular news program in 1996, after which Kirikiris membership grew and Lesbos received more than sixty phone inquiries a day. The 1990s also saw further visibility in the media, including a 1995 made-for-television movie, called Two Women § Love, a story about a woman who commits suicide when the woman with whom she is in love marries a man. In June 1997, the first public gay and lesbian rights rally took place in Chongno in Seoul."

Su Hui Judy Han

Bibliography

Bruining, Miok. "A Few Thoughts from a Korean, Adopted Lesbian, Writer/Poet, and Social Worker." In Lesbians of Color: Social and Human Services. Ed. Hilda Hidalgo. New York: Harrington Park, 1995, pp. 43-60.

Eng. David L., and Alice Y. Hom. Q & A : A Queer in Asian America. Philidelphia Temple University Press, 1998.

See also Asian Americans; International Organizations.]

[ID 2: A zine cover in monochrome taxi yellow, with a card with various writing in Korean on it. Text in English reads, "Korean Lesbian Taxi Driver Union." A person, presumably a woman, is depicted at right. Her eyes and identity are censored with a black bar.]

just found out that there were terms equivalent to femme and butch in Korean language used within the lesbian community during the 1970s-80s; 

Lesbians in Korea at the time would often refer to themselves and each other as 치마씨 (chima-sshi = Ms Skirt) or 바지씨 (baji-sshi = Ms Pants) depending on how they presented themselves. Those in between were called 반바지씨 (banbaji-sshi = Ms Shorts) ! my heart feels tenderized.

[free-range-organic-ids]

[ID: An online free response form reading "what's your gender?". The user has typed in ":3", which is a playful cat face. The response field is highlighted red, with a warning underneath, "are you sure you entered a valid gender?"]

I'm being oppressed

[free-range-organic-ids]

Hey all!

I've made an image descriptions blog! The format for my descriptions is as follows:

[Image Description: insert image description here]

You can submit posts in my ask box, or tag me in posts you want described! Feel free to ask anything you like as well, or give tips about my descriptions, what i can do better.

This blog is a safe space for the LGBTQ. The moderator is nonbinary and multi gender. Homophobia and transphobia will not be tolerated here.

Thanks all!