questionsandcontradictions

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happy 100th birthday, billie holiday // april 7, 1915 - july 17, 1959 // “no two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music.”

“Behind me, Billie was on her last song. I picked up the refrain, humming a few bars. Her voice sounded different to me now. Beneath the layers of hurt, beneath the ragged laughter, I heard a willingness to endure. Endure - and make music that wasn’t there before.“ President Barack Obama “With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing…" Frank Sinatra “Once, when I was playing at the Apollo, Billie Holiday was working a block away at the Harlem Opera House. Some of us went over between shows to catch her, and afterwards we went backstage. I did something then, and I still don’t know if it was the right thing to do - I asked for her autograph.” Ella Fitzgerald “If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it’s Billie Holiday.“ Barbra Streisand "I have the ability to sing with emotion and feeling, but if you say I sound like Billie Holiday, that’s cool. Let’s look at who Billie was: she was this person, this singer, this beautiful diva who could move the audience with the slightest gesture of her hand." Erykah Badu "Billie Holiday….she is so subtle, she can milk you with two notes. She can go no farther than from a to b, and she can make you feel like she told you the whole universe…" Janis Joplin "My great hero is Billie Holiday." Tim Curry

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"We shall overcome…" #Selma50

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Roses are red / Gender is performative / Mass-market romance / Is heteronormative

(via excalibur-red)

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Someone has made fake London Underground signs, and whoever did it is a ruddy genius.

http://imgur.com/a/lUWTG

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"Yes, all lives matter, but we’re focused on the Black ones right now, ok? Because it is very apparent that our judicial system doesn’t know that. Plus, if you can’t see why we’re exclaiming #blacklivesmatter you are part of the problem."

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When Congress returns from recess there will be a small window for a vote on raising the minimum wage. We’ve come up with a few ways you can help increase the public pressure: http://www.uusc.org/updates/the-pressure-is-on

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farscape + negative space // requested by glenannes

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South Dakota church at sunset.

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Colors to remember by Jan Geerk

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I was tagged by docsmartypants

Name: Laura

Nickname: The Rev

Birthday: November 12

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight-ish

Height: 5’7

Time zone: US East Coast

What time and date is it there: 8:31pm August 28th

Average hours of sleep I get each night: 7 hours

OTPs: Sherlock and John 

The last thing I Googled was: “Sin-Namma”

First word that comes to mind: Cameo

What I last said to a family member: “OK. Talk to you tomorrow. Love you."

One place that makes me happy and why: Alfred, New York because it is perfect. 

How many blankets I sleep under: Two in the summer. Two-four in the winter

Favourite beverage: tea

The last movie I watched in the cinema was: Guardians of the Galaxy

Three things I can’t live without: Friends, music, books

Something I plan on learning: Bharat Natyam (Indian Classical Dance)

A piece of advice for all my followers: Be brave and be kind. We're all in this together.

You have to listen to this song: Coming Home by Firelight

My blog(s): this one

I tag: heatherary, sgtcyanide221b, psycho-locked, thelimetree, yeezymandias, twwcbm, sadderbutwiser, iwanttobeacompanion14, hurryuppond, and paigedoerner

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John’s polite finger.

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When your office is remodeled to create a more \"collaborative working space\"

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John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893), Victorian artist, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and best-known for his landscapes and night scenes.

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“My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for.”

 Neil Gaiman (via jaynestown)

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Will always reblog.

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Braden Summers traveled all over the world to create dramatized romantic scenes featuring only gay couples.