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i can’t handle this much worrying about the fate of the world (us elections)

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I would pay at least $3 for nandor

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I keep having these dreams where I’m in an endless house. Years ago it was some weird version of an apartment I was apparently living in and I would just keep finding more and more rooms as I explored and the apartment would end up being massive and had these weird outer walls that were like a grey bounce house. I had the dream so many times that I ended up exploring like the building hallways and other apartments and even outside.

This time it was some chaotic house where a bunch of other people were living and I felt trapped cuz people kept coming in through my windows and stuff (casually not maliciously) and just making themselves at home and for some reason my least favourite uncles were in it with their kids. my most least favourite uncle had brought this weird cheese dip that was only for him and being such a people pleaser even in my dreams I was like oh why don’t I go put that in the pantry where it’s cool so that it stays fresh but it’s also out of sight so no one takes it.

And then I woke up.

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I’m sorry…. I …. had to

strong, confident, and stupid is the total package in a woman if i’m being honest

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answering a couple questions i got on this post since i realized ppl genuinely wanna know:

tl;dr:

israel lets very, very little aid get into gaza. even the UN can't get in as much as they want to. funding individual families, gazan led initiatives, and mutual aid collectives operating out of gaza ensures gazans can provide for themselves and pay for the extremely expensive aid that is available.

with all the civil infrastructure destroyed by israel, the situation on the ground has devolved into unrestricted capitalism, driving up the price of aid (that should be free!). this makes it more urgent for people to have funding for daily survival.

the post linked above has examples of how donating to individual families can help a lot. if you want to help more than one family at a time, there are many gazan-led initiatives focusing on rebuilding their infrastructure and distributing aid fairly that are worth donating to instead of large charities that already get the majority of donations.

as i mentioned in the last post: @/careforgaza on twitter is a nonprofit started by gazans, it's been endorsed by multiple palestinian journalists.

the sameer project is a collective organized by diaspora palestinians offering emergency shelter to gazans.

ele elna elak is a project aiming to bring water, food, shelter, etc. to gazans and has been promoted by bisan owda.

and the municipality of gaza itself is fundraising to rebuild water infrastructure.

all of these organizations are active inside gaza right now and are being run by gazans. if anyone knows of other gazan-led mutual aid projects, nonprofits or charities feel free to link them in the notes! hope this helped!

long answers under the cut!

if you wanna donate to a charity that's absolutely fine, but the thing is most charities (and even the UN!) are unable to make it into gaza in the first place, leaving aid rotting at the egyptian side of the border or subject to israeli settler attacks

not to mention, charities and nonprofits also maintain a paternalistic colonial relationship with the indigenous people they are trying to help, determining what aid they need for them instead of returning power to them and letting them make their own choices

i'm not here to say that one option is better than the other, just that they achieve different things and are equally legitimate. there's an attitude among people who question the legitimacy of these gofundme campaigns that somehow the people promoting them are telling them not to donate to charities. nobody is stopping you from donating to charities. we are just asking that you do not dehumanize the very real gazans in your inbox just because their method of asking for aid is more direct and risky.

unfortunately that's exactly what has happened. because israel destroyed all of gaza's more formalized infrastructure, it seems that organized crime and rampant inflation has taken its place. aid is supposed to be free, but in order to save for evacuation or the cost of living, people have started selling them at an inflated price. and aid that is truly free attracts intense, large crowds that are dangerous to navigate.

this was posted on abc a few days ago

it's pure, unrestrained capitalism. i've had multiple palestinians describe this situation to me confidence. that's why everything's so expensive now. why people have to rent out tiny plots of land for their tents to sit on, why my friend @siraj2024 still has to buy tarps to cover the broken windows of the overpriced bombed out apartment he rented, and why a bag of flour can cost a thousand bucks in the north.

even before israel closed and then bombed the rafah crossing, the egyptian hala travel agency was only allowing people to cross the border if they paid a hefty $5000 USD per adult / $2500 USD per child bribe. it denies doing this, but the hundreds of stories from palestinians say otherwise.

with regard to the economy, here in america we saw something similar happen in the wake of hurricane helene and milton. the podcaster margaret killjoy describes how she saw dual economies rise after asheville was fully cut off from the rest of the country - some people offered each other supplies for free in a sort of mutual aid honor system, and some people required payment when they lent supplies because they themselves needed to buy stuff for their families. these dual economies exist in gaza too. and this means they all still need money to survive.

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I just nearly spent $90 on veilguard before clocking that once again a game is not available on mac and im sooo annoyed now. I could have sworn that I’d looked into this and seen that it would be available but clearly that was a dream. sigh. I was hoping I’d have something new and fun to focus on but nvm that!

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actually now that i'm thinking about it. every single video game that lets you costumize characters but doesn't let you be fat is extremely revealing to the fact that most people can't imagine fat as something a person would want to be. there's other examples but like, fuck, i can't even choose to be fat in imaginary spaces. My size isn't accommodated for because they couldn't imagine a player who wants to be anything other than skinny.

Like, you see it right. How media shapes people's beliefs, and people construct beliefs into the things they create? If all you can ever choose to be in a game is one of two body shapes, and you have to physically alter the game to be anything bigger, like. "why would i imagine a world with you in it."

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halloween highlight: little kid wearing bad ass light up kitty cat headphones (way too big for her head) chattering to us and her mom mentions she’s autistic and this is only the second halloween she’s done and last year she didn’t talk to anyone!! I grew up with a cousin who’s non-verbal with most people, so I can imagine how amazing it is to see your kid actually enjoying themselves doing something they weren’t comfortable or weren’t able to do just a couple years ago 🥹🥹

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idk how yall sustain the energy to give like 1000 boops. I will try my best…… but I may be left behind again lmfao

we’ve finished handing out candy. I remember going to trick or treat and entire streets would be decked out, going all out for Halloween. now it’s like a few houses per street if the kids are lucky which really bums me out. oh, but stickers were a surprise hit with everyone! several kids were way more interested in the stupid lil stickers I bought than the candy and chips so hot tip

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Trick or treat!

treats only!!

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getting ready to treat some tricksters!!!!!!! siri play halloween by aqua

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boop hims snoot

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think I’m gonna dress up as cheese toastie Eddie to give out the special halloween candy bags I’ve made up to kiddos (all ages) on Thursday and have the pups as Kevin (no costume will just have them lay down in inconvenient places)

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the writers can give up torturing hen & karen any minute now

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there is no way in hell you open that coffin and your first thought isn’t “hang on now, this is a real desiccated body.”