#that others are afforded!

[fagitsukareita]

thinking about how warped tori’s sense of privacy must be considering there are ALWAYS ghosts everywhere to him, to a point where he actually gets more weirded out when there AREN’T any ghosts around him

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[vebokki]

i present to you for your consideration: luo binghe and sha hualing as roommates. also they're both going to be late to their respective dates

[serialunaliver]

lovely post. however you snuck in a defense of intellectual property so I shan't reblog

[chimaeraonwards]

no ai generated content will ever compare to the absolutely cartoonishly evil plot to cut down trees to prevent workers from striking to get livable wage.

[aro-bird]

Okay, for aro awareness week, I need you all to start recognizing that:

NOT EVERYONE IN THE ARO COMMUNITY IS FROM THE UNITED STATES OR EUROPE.

Please, when we're having discussions about aphobia, allonormativity amatonormativity, and other issues for the love of god STOP PRETENDING THAT WE DON'T EXIST AND LISTEN TO US!

We aren't just your token aros that exist in the other side of the world just for you to prove that we are everywhere or whatever point you're trying to make, we are living, breathing human beings and members of the aro community and we deserve respect and to be remembered not as a point in your discourse but as equals.

I am sick and tired of people just assuming that everyone in the community is either from the United States or Europe and only centering those voices in the discussion. We exist too.

[why-the-heck-not]

20.12.23, wednesday

My main hobby is just procrastinating in any way I can. The plan was to make a cup of coffee and then start working. What actually happened is that I watched a 3 part video series (by james hoffmann ofc) on Aeropress coffee and made a few cups with different variables. Still not sure if I found The Recipe for me, but it’s getting better (tho I don’t love the coffee beans I have)

[hoaxghost]

Time to unveil new splat character: Ame! Theyre a selfish rather snobby octoling- previously being a pretty respectable member of Octo valley but upon escape- realizes that the land above doesn't automatically hand them all the freshest gear immediately and they gotta start running shifts

[margareturtle]

SUNSHINE COURT END SPOILER

[phleb0tomist]

one thing no one tells u about being a wheelchair user is that if you’re anything like me you will probably need like 3 wheelchairs. and yes that means triple the expense, triple the storage, triple the hassle. my best chair is my powerchair, and in my ideal world i’d take it everywhere but it can’t manage slopes steeper than 7 degrees, or rainy weather, or kerbs. so on rainy days or at places with sloped driveways, i have to take my manual wheelchair instead, which is annoying because someone else has to push me, but hey, at least it can tolerate rain and slopes. HOWEVER! the manual chair can’t manage nature. so if i go anywhere that has grass or dirt paths, i have to bring my outdoor manual chair, which is much tougher - but! the outdoor chair is bulky and can’t fit through a lot of doorways.

i only leave my room for a couple of hours a week and yet i still need 3 wheelchairs to cover all variables. this is wild to me. why isn’t there a chair that just works. maybe ive got my head in the clouds

other variables - you can get tougher powerchairs which can do outdoor terrain, BUT, those types of chairs are never foldable and they often weigh over 100lbs. my powerchair needs to be foldable and VERY light (under 50lbs) because it has to be possible for my carer to lift it into our car by hand bc we don’t own an accessible van - yet another variable. unless your chair is foldable and liftable, you will need a modified vehicle. you can’t have a strong chair and a normal car. it never ends bro

[robotpussy]

this tweet was about taylor swift but this applies to so many of you I have no more things to count with to explain how many people this applies to

tweet 1: "y'all are having sex with racists instead of killing them with hammers and that's why we're never getting anywhere"

tweet 2: "the poor girl just wanted to bang a dirtbag before settling down like the rest of us in their late 20s/early 30s and no one would let her do it in peace. sad"

(also *love* the framing of a Nazi just being a dirt bag....)

[fayoftheforest]

warning to all south park fans 😱

anyone who follows me will know that I am 🤬ENEMIES🤬 with 🏴‍☠️PIRACY🏴‍☠️ and will stop at nothing to bring it down 😡 FROM 😤 THE 💪 INSIDE 😩. So I am here to 😱 WARN 😱 YOU 😱 because I have recently discovered that someone has uploaded 🤢 EVERY 🤢 EPISODE 🤢 OF 🤢 SOUTH 🤢 PARK 🤢 onto Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_bCeYxekGm4CG1np1occgxPGnjizbR00?usp=sharing

that’s right!! 25 seasons, plus specials and the movie, all for free with no paywall, adverts or risk of viruses. which is of course 🤮 ABSOLUTELY 🤮 DISGUSTING 🤮. but luckily now you know exactly where it is stored so that you can avoid it!! 😅 PHEW 😅 that was a close call!!

[justmenoworries]

Small neat detail I noticed: Vox's and Sir Pentious' use of their hypnotism kind of reflects their characters.

Vox actively uses his hypnotic eye to influence people into believing him and buying from him. And he uses it very often. To the point that when any kind of obstacle comes his way, the hypno-eye just seems to activate on instinct.

Pentious has only used his hypnotism once so far and it's when he's defending himself from Angel Dust. His hypnotism is also much weaker than Vox's. Whereas Vox seems to be able to brainwash people and the effects last for some time, Pentious's hypnosis only stuns Angel and Angel manages to break out of it after like a second.

I just thought that was really interesting.

[episims]

The interior of the newly claimed rowhouse

[handweavers]

i've been so fucked up for months i haven't been able to go downtown to pick up my work from last spring from my school's textile studio and they always have a cutoff date like if you don't pick up your old work by x date they toss it and they're pretty strict about that unless you arrange with the studio tech beforehand, and the studio tech doesn't like most people she's pretty curt with most students. not rude but just keeps things professional and a bit distant, a very serious person. but i know she grew to like me over the past few years/warmed up to me a lot and we'd chat a lot about different textile things and she would say really kind things to me a lot which felt rare and special, and she let me have special treatment with some of the equipment because she trusted me to use it properly. and i haven't seen her in nearly a year and i expected her to have tossed my work out when i didn't come to pick it up last fall and emailed her to explain why and dropped off the face of the earth, i made my peace with losing that work and accepted it, it is what it is, i will survive, etc.

but she emailed me earlier this week and said she didn't have the heart to toss my work and has kept it safe in her office for me if i'm ever able to come pick it up and if not she's going to keep it as an example piece to show other students when teaching weaving because it's too lovely to get rid of and my heart swelled like 10 times its size bc she didn't have to do that and it meant so much to me that even a year from seeing her last she was still thinking about me and being kind to me. and i emailed her back and picked it up today and saw her and we chatted for a bit and it was so nice. I love her I miss my school's textile studio and weaving in there and talking craft with her... sigh

[love-3-crimes]

BUT THAT DON'T MEAN SHIT IN A TOWN THIS SMALL!!!