lo-watas - Tumblr blog

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its.....been so long.....tumblr... is that you?

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favorites from a studio shoot with Michelle

styled and photographed by me

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Persona | Fuco Ueda 

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Know the difference between being patient and wasting your time.

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Japanese illustrator 矶野宏夫 Isono Hiroo（1945—2013）

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Zuly Garcia’s gorgeous photo series is fighting back against beauty standards and woc stereotypes

Zuly Garcia is not here for traditional ideas of womanhood. 

And with her recent photo series “Flores Políticos”, she is rewriting what it means to be a woman of color in the United States while also representing her indigenous roots. Read more (7/27/17)

follow @the-movemnt

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Such happy babies 🙏🏻💕🌵

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Jizo statue in the forest (Kyoto, Japan). (Source)

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- Stimpy and Olive not being camera shy.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Itchy (@itchy_videos)

Carefree black men 🙌🏽

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Rose Petal PSA

I see a lot of witches drying rose petals for floral arrangements or even making rose water from them. Please keep in mind that roses grown for florists are over treated with pesticides and fertilizers. Anything made from these petals isn’t safe to ingest. 

If you’re doing work that requires making a rose preparation for ingestion or topical application that will be absorbed into the skin, you’ll want to get rose petals from a shop that sells for these purposes. 

Or grow your own organically. Old fashioned varieties rather than the hybrid teas you see in flower arrangements are usually grown for these purposes because they grown more easily without intense treatments. 

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More than a natural disaster: How Harvey and Irma put health care, immigrant communities, the environment, and more at risk

In the past few weeks, severe storms including Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc across the southwest U.S., Mexico, and island territories including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. Dozens of people perished, and many more were displaced from their homes. Some people’s lives will never be the same again.

The truth is that horrifying storms like Harvey and Irma — as well as the earthquake that shook Mexico — reveal the intersections of how natural disasters can impact access to health care, the environment, immigrant communities and folks with low incomes. Here’s how these crises are affecting real people, right now.

Natural disasters = heightened fear for undocumented communities

Donald Trump’s xenophobic plan to end DACA makes Hurricane Harvey even more dangerous for some folks. In Houston, the city with the third largest population of undocumented immigrants, Harvey forced many DACA recipients and mixed-status families to face difficult choices. Already anxious over Trump’s threats of deportation, undocumented people may be even more reluctant to seek out shelter and health care in Harvey’s wake, for fear of being turned away at shelters or facing hostile ICE agents.

The most vulnerable people at risk

Natural disasters affect people with low incomes the most. In Texas and Florida, folks with low incomes are more likely to live in flood-prone areas with deficient infrastructure. This means that evacuating and traveling to get medical assistance is much harder — especially for low-income people with disabilities. There’s an assumption that everyone can and should evacuate when natural disasters happen, but that’s not always possible for everyone. Not everyone can get time off of work, access resources to relocate their family, or find a place to stay.

And in Houston, many families with low incomes live near the city’s oil refineries and petrochemical plants — putting them at risk of contamination, leaks, explosions, and other hazards.

A threat against women’s health

We also can’t forget the danger that natural disasters pose for women. Because of the devastation brought on by Harvey and Irma, women looking for preventive or maternal care and women who need abortions might be blocked from getting help. What’s more, these women could be forced to travel in sometimes dangerous conditions to access the care they need, if they can at all.

In addition, Texas lawmakers have passed medically unnecessary restrictions that have led to health centers closing, jeopardizing women’s health even further. In parts of Texas, some abortion providers offered free safe, legal abortion for survivors of Harvey. But elsewhere, a lot of women don’t have this option.

And it gets worse

Folks with chronic conditions — such as diabetes, endometriosis, or chronic kidney disease — are also at risk. During evacuation, their medications can get lost or destroyed. With dialysis centers, pharmacies, and hospitals closed, there are fewer places for people to get care.

The environment suffers, too

Houston is home to America’s petroleum industry. Significant amounts of flooding spell disaster for those living near chemical factories — and the environment.

With dozens of chemical plants flooding and shutting down due to Harvey, more than one million pounds of toxic pollutants have been released into the air. A flooded factory outside of Houston burst into flames twice, leaking toxic chemicals and sending 15 people to the hospital.

And drinking water — which may have come in contact with sewage systems and contaminated with bacteria like E. coli  — is unsafe to drink in some areas of Houston and Florida. Having safe, healthy environments and clean water is a basic human right, as well as an issue of reproductive rights. Mothers, for example, need clean water to prepare infant formula or to breastfeed their babies.

We stand in solidarity with those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma

The impact of these natural disasters is personal. Planned Parenthood is an essential health care provider in many of the communities hit hard by these disasters. Several organizations are coming to the aid of those affected by Harvey and Irma. Here’s how you can help:

Texas

Hit by: Hurricane Harvey

Help NOW:

Volunteer with Planned Parenthood supporters in relief efforts. Already, more than 150 Planned Parenthood supporters assembled 4,000 period kits for Harvey victims in Houston.

Pitch in to the Houston Food Bank to help Harvey survivors in the Houston area.

Donate to the The Greater Houston Community Foundation and assist those displaced by Harvey.

Chip in to the Texas Diaper Bank and help young families get the care they need.

Mexico

Hit by: Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Katia, earthquake

Help NOW:

Pitch in to the International Planned Parenthood Federation to ensure that natural disaster survivors throughout the continent get the care they need.

Florida

Hit by: Hurricane Irma

Help NOW:

Volunteer with Planned Parenthood and other coalition partners to help communities that are most vulnerable. Volunteer Anna Eskamani says, “I volunteered with this effort last night to pass out free food, and the Friday before Irma made landfall, I also volunteered with a homeless outreach group to let the homeless know of their shelter options.”

Chip in to the Irma Community Recovery Fund to stand with folks in Florida.

U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean

Hit by: Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma

Help NOW:

Chip in to the International Planned Parenthood Federation to ensure that natural disaster survivors throughout the continent get the care they need.

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Social skills: noticing when repetition is communication

So there’s this dynamic:

Autistic person: The door is open!

Other person: I *know* that. It’s hot in here.

Autistic person: The door is open!

Other person: I already explained to you that it’s hot in here!

Autistic person: The door is open!

Other person: Why do you have to repeat things all the time?!

Often when this happens, what’s really going on is that the autistic person is trying to communicate something, and they’re not being understood. The other person things that they are understanding and responding, and that the autistic person is just repeating the same thing over and over either for no reason or because they are being stubborn and inflexible and obnoxious and pushy.

When what’s really happening is that the autistic person is not being understood, and they are communicating using the words they have. There’s a NT social expectation that if people aren’t being understood, they should change their words and explain things differently. Sometimes autistic people aren’t capable of doing this without help.

So, if this is happening, assume it’s communication and try to figure out what’s being communicated. If you’re the one with more words, and you want the communication to happen in words, then you have to provide words that make communication possible. For example:

Other person: Do you want the door to be closed, or are you saying something else?

Autistic person: Something else

Other person: Do you want to show me something outside, or something else?

Autistic person: Something else

Other person: Are you worried about something that might happen, or something else?

Autistic person: Worried

Other person: Are you worried that something will come in, or that something will go out?

Autistic person: Baby

Other person: She’s in her crib, and the baby gate is up. Is that ok, or is there still a problem?

Autistic person: ok

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Hocus Pocus bitch you need to focus

Ancient witch proverb, probably (via sandcraft)

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me: i really need to talk this out with someone 

my anxiety: ur coming off needy. isolate urself and handle it. all u need is U!