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Shaedon Wedel is an 18-year-old student in Newton, Kansas.

Shaedon has been friends with his date, Carlie, for many years because he is best friends with her brother, Carlie’s mom, Angie Wittman, told BuzzFeed News.

Carlie, who has Down syndrome, was dying to go to the dance because her brother, Carson, and his girlfriend were going, her mom said.

However, she said she told her daughter she could only go if she was asked, since she is a freshman.

“She was sad about it because Carson was going and she wasn’t,” she said.

Little did Carlie know, Shaedon had been talking for a while about taking Carlie to prom with Carson and his date. After getting permission from her parents, he came up with a promposal themed around her favorite snack: Doritos.

Keep reading.

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It’s October 3rd

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Good Christian people, … I have come here to die. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.

“The crowd could…could also see beyond the humility to the silent point Anne was making. There was no public admission of sin, even in general, still less any confession that she had wronged Henry. Anne spoke firmly, ‘with a goodly smiling countenance’, and soon the news would be all round London that she had died ‘boldly’, without the acceptance of the morality of the sentence which a truly penitent adulteress would show.

“The speech done, the ermine mantle was removed, revealing the proud neck Sanuto the Venetian had noted years before, and a low collar which would present no obstacle to the sword. Then Anne herself lifted off her head-dress, and the crowd saw for the last time the brief glory of her hair as she tucked it into a cap one attendant had ready. […]

“A brief farewell to her weeping servants, a request for prayer, and Anne kneeled down, saying all the while, ‘Jesu, receive my soul; O Lord have pity on my soul.’ Continentals were amazed that she was not bound in any way […] ‘To Christ I commend my soul!’ And while her lips were still moving, it was suddenly over.” | Eric Ives

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She had been a remarkable woman. She would remain a remarkable woman even in a century which produced many of great note. There were few others who rose from such beginnings to a crown, and none contributed to a revolution as far-reaching as the English Reformation. To use a description no longer in fashion, Anne Boleyn was one of the ‘makers of history’. […] What Anne really was, as distinct from what Anne did, comes over very much less clearly. To us she appears inconsistent - religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of the politician - but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? […] Yet what does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early twenty-first century. A woman in her own right - taken on her own terms in a man’s world; a woman who mobilized her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell’s assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage.

Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (via peremadeleine)

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these are not the stories we deserve but they are the ones we need right now.

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I didn’t find it sexist, either. When I saw it, I remember thinking how great it was that the other birds/animals in love didn’t have clear gender roles, so they could either be a male and a female, two males or two females. 

The Pixar Short ‘Lava’

As we’ve seen, the movie Inside Out is deeply problematic for portraying the emotion of sadness as a sad-looking person. But what we haven’t discussed is the incredibly problematic nature of the short that preceded it, “Lava.” Fortunately, one of our Tumblr Bros is on it:

PS. can we talk about how deeply sexist Lava was? Was it necessary to gender the volcanoes? And to make them hetero? And to give a young bride to an old man?

Yes! Thank you! I’m glad someone pointed this out. “Lava” is about a volcano that sees other things in the ocean falling in love and wonders why he has to be alone. So he sings and sings and right before he dies he finds a young, attractive female volcano who has heard his pleas and loves him back. 

Shameful. 

I just cannot with this. 

Despicable.

I hadn’t considered the gentrification angle to Inside Out; must circle back to that when I get a moment. Seems deeply troubling.

That’s a big ole yupper.

Just goes to show: Everything’s a problem, even cute short films that no sane person could find offensive.

I give the transgression of depicting two volcanoes falling in love with each other two problematics.

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puppy in converse…nough said

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Amasing series by Brad Wilson Photography that captures up-close gorgeous portraits of different owl species for The National Audubon Society: “Who’s Who”.

Barn Owl

Great Horned Owl

Western Screech-Owl

Eastern Screech-Owl

Spectacled Owl

Eurasian Eagle-Owl

Mexican Spotted Owl

Flammulated Owl

Long-Eared Owl

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The Cool Mom never gets respect from the kids. They see themselves as the kids’ equal rather than an authority figure. While they shouldn’t outright ban alcohol, they shouldn’t offer to supply the keg for a house party, either. If they want to teach the kid about responsible drinking, when they get to a certain age, maybe they could, say, offer them a glass of wine at dinner. 

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You see these fuckers? They’re my pointe shoes. Now, I don’t know how much you guys know about ballet, but pointe is a style of ballet where the dancer dances on their toes. There’s a wooden box like thing on the tips, and is flat on the front, which makes us able to dance on our toes like we do. It’s called the box or platform. These shoes need to be the perfect size, otherwise the dancer can easily seriously hurt themselves. If the shoes are too small, their toes could break, but if they’re too big, they could snap their ankles. No two pairs of shoes are the same, so you can’t borrow anyone else’s. They need to be yours because otherwise the shoes won’t fit with your foot and how you dance. 

These shoes range from 50-85 dollars, depending on where you get them and what they’re made out of. They’re stiff as a board when you first get them, so you need to break them in. Breaking them in takes months. You have to dance in stiff, hard boxes until the shank and vamp finally takes to your foot. You will bleed. Some people actually cry because the pain of breaking the shoes in is so bad. Once they’re finally broken in, dancing in them is wonderful, even if it still hurts a little. But when they’re broken in, they only last a few more months until they fall apart completely. Then you need to get a new pair and break those in. 

In order to dance on these shoes, you need the proper cushioning for your toes, whether it be cotton, a soft gel slip over your toes, or wool. Your toenails need to be as short as you can make them, so that your nail can’t splinter and dig into your skin as you go up. Sometimes it happens anyway. Before a dancer can even consider dancing on the floor away from the bar, they need to practice for months, perfecting their balance, the set of their core, where their shoulders need to be, and how to go up. 

Going up is key to staying safe while dancing pointe. If you go up wrong, theres a 95% chance you will hurt yourself. To go up, you need to roll up from your heels to the tips of your toes, flat, and with precision. If you hop up, you’ll break your ankle. If you roll the wrong way, you’ll break your ankle. It literally needs to be perfect. Before leaving the bar, you need to be able to balance for about sixty seconds, to assure your instructor and yourself that you will be save doing forte turns and pirouettes, as well as gran-jete, glissade, leaps, and even waltzes. 

The next step is grace. You can’t blunder across the stage. You need to glide, flowing from each step to the other. The dance needs to look like a single step, moving continuously from each pose to another. Fingers need to be extended, necks elongated, shoulders down, chin up, stomach and butt tense and in, legs and back straight and toes pointed and turned out. The dance must always continue, even if you hurt yourself. If you can still move, you can still dance. If you’re bleeding in your shoe, there is no stopping and fixing it. You finish the dance and when it’s over you patch yourself up in the dressing room and continue on with your next dance if you have one. If you fall, you make it look like it was supposed to be in the dance. Your facial expressions and body need to reflect the music, so if you have a melancholy song, you must look forlorn, and depict it through your body and eyes, as well as the set of your mouth. Same as if your number was happy and upbeat, you need to reflect that. 

There are two major styles of ballet: Russian and Italian. An ideal ballerina knows both forms, and can tell the difference between the two. A dancer must follow the song with it’s beat as well, and the tempo can go from counts of four to sixteenth counts. 

Pointe dancers sometimes need to put resin on their shoes so that they don’t slip and risk breaking an arm, or even their neck. But if you put too much resin on, your shoes will stick, and you’ll fall while trying to turn. 

In conclusion, DANCE IS A FUCKING SPORT, OKAY? ESPECIALLY BALLET. WE RISK OURSELVES EVERY PRACTICE AND SHOW, SO DON’T YOU DARE FUCKING TELL ME THAT WHAT I DO ISN’T A SPORT. I PRACTICE FOR HOURS, JUST AS EVERY OTHER PERSON WHO PLAYS SOCCER OR FOOTBALL OR LACROSSE. I GET HURT AND I FALL AND I GET BRUISED AND I BREAK THINGS, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE WHO PLAYS ALL THOSE OTHER FUCKING SPORTS. 

DANCE.

IS.

A.

SPORT.

So kindly fuck off if you think otherwise. 

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Happy March 32 to you, too! 

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Today I was lucky enough to see a bodice that was worn by none other than the Marie Antoinette. I visited a fashion & textile museum in my city, a place where they store 30,000 fashion & textile related items - from embroidered wall hangings from the 1800s to Queen Victoria’s dresses to shoes from the 1960s! It was truly an amazing experience, and I feel very lucky to have visited with my college today.

This bodice is the only item they have of Marie Antoinette’s - the collection is mostly British - it was part of a full dress, however, all that truly remains of it is this bodice. The story behind this is that a governor from her court moved to England, and was sent this dress after her death. At some point, one of his family members got a hold of the dress, and cut up the skirt to make a more modern dress (the more modern version is also in the box, and you can see it has been altered as it is nothing like the skirts Marie would have worn.) One of his more recent family members donated this to the museum.

I was quite amazed that someone went and cut up this most beautiful dress that once belonged to her - something that I was so excited to be in the presence of, I mean, Marie Antoinette seriously wore this bodice! However, I do know the history and the story of Marie and the general feeling towards her before and after her death, so while I was annoyed I was not extremely surprised.

As much as I’d have loved for it to be a full dress - huge skirts and all - of hers, I was thankful enough to see this bodice. The detailing was beautiful. While the fabric was a simple blue and white striped pattern, it is made entirely of silk (which has sadly started to disintegrate over time, despite the museums utmost care.) The fabric was gorgeous and I imagine it would have looked splendid with it’s full skirt and a beautiful hairdo, I can picture it in my mind. It was very small - Marie must have been so tiny! It had gorgeous small buttons carefully sewn onto it, and the back piece was a beautiful shape. It had all its original boning as well! I even got to closely view the absolutely amazing hand stitching that holds it all together - so intricate and tightly done long before the time of sewing machines came. I hate to think how long it must have taken to sew - however, it was something that they were used to in those days, and my god does it show in the detailing of this dress.

I have every intention of going back to view it again, along with the two of Queen Victoria’s dresses that they have!

EDIT: the city i live in is called Norwich, in England. The museum is the study and research centre for the castle, under the costume and textiles department. I wasn’t comfortable adding my location in before, which is why I didn’t include it originally. 

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Forget about the co-pilot who killed everyone. He WANTED everyone to know his name. 

Remember the pilot. Remember him. He was kicking that door as hard as he could, he was trying to save everyone. 

I want to know his name. 

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