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PLUTO 2015

NASA

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A new series of prints by artist Roger Peet aim to address a tricky topic: cultural appropriation. In his series In//Appropriate, which debuted at Portland State University’s Littman Gallery this month, Peet printed images of white Americans engaging in cultural appropriation in black ink on tall banners. Frozen in time, Miley Cyrus joyfully twerks with her tongue in its signature position, a hipster wears a keffiyeh, and Katy Perry smiles in her American Music Awards geisha costume. Behind them, another vision of whiteness—a violent one—is printed in red: Miley is starkly framed against a scene of police in Ferguson, a bohemian white girl in a feathered headdress is juxtaposed with an iconic photo of a mountain of buffalo skulls.

To accompany the images, Peet constructed special glasses made from cardboard and red plastic. These are “whiteness goggles,” a sign explains. When you put them on and look at the images, suddenly the red, violent image disappears. Viewers are left with just the visions of Miley, Katy Perry, and Elvis with none of the violence behind them. The viewers are forced to consider the blinders that race creates: one of the privileges of being white is the ability to ignore racism. All too often, the reality of the white supremacy is rendered invisible to people who don’t want to see it.

“When you put on the Whiteness Goggles, the colonial, military and police violence that underpins casual cultural consumption disappears,” explains Peet, in his artist statement of the project. Peet himself is a white immigrant to the US from Britain—he works as a politically minded printmaker with the Justseeds Collective. In addition to well-known celebrities engaged in cultural appropriation, the In//Appropriate show includes an image of Peet, foregrounded holding an American flag against a backdrop of the war in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Including himself in the show was important, Peet says, to show that as a white person coming from England, he faced few hurdles in immigrating to the United States. “I was welcomed with open arms,” he says—a contrast to the racial stereotyping many people of color face when they immigrate the US.

Read more about the show—and listen to voicemails from people calling in to discuss cultural appropriation—on Peet’s Tumblr.

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omg

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That moment when these people are supposed to be from your department, but  you’re a lieutenant and don’t have any idea who they are and you no longer own that style ambulance, life pack, or duty uniform...

I should have added especially when working a frequent flyer…

emergency-baby emsonthebrain mainemedicstudent and all you other amazing EMT/ Firefighters out there!

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I fight Rape Culture because When I told my ex boyfriend about my rape He ‘forgave’ me. I fight Rape Culture because I saw my baby sister age overnight As she told me about her best friend getting molested. I fight Rape Culture because My closest friend was abused as a child And he told nobody but me. It took him 13 years to open up. I fight Rape Culture because My friends admit to letting their partners fuck them when they don’t want it Then laugh it off as typical male behaviour. I fight Rape Culture because Saying that you’re raping someone is perfectly acceptable If you’re playing a video game. I fight Rape Culture because Men tell me they are insulted when women walking in front of them start to walk faster. As if their ego is more important than our safety. I fight Rape Culture because If I tell somebody their rape joke isn’t funny I am told that I’m uptight. I fight Rape Culture because It won’t die out Unless we kill it ourselves.

I Fight Rape Culture (via praisethetrees)

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Last Week Tonight s02e12

“And to the people of Venezuela, I say this: keep doing it. Send him your mango demands.”

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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt s01e08

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“She might only be here for a part of your life, but for her, you are her whole life.”

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It’s strange being in a relationship then having it end. You know so much about them, what makes them happy, what gets under their skin. You could probably write a book full of the little details you spent so much time trying to remember, because you cared so much about getting to know them. But now, now that it’s over, you can’t even bring yourself to say hello. But yet you walk around knowing them like the back of your hand but at the same time you don’t really know them at all. Because something has changed in them, in you. And over time they become less and less like the person you used to know so well. That person becomes just that book in your head of their favourite Chinese restaurant and the reason why they can’t stand rainy days.

SPARKLEPRETTY (via staypozitive)

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Secure your load!

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a conversation i had with a 96-year-old woman

96 yr old: You know how your parents probably say things like, "you were BORN with the internet, you don't know what it's like to live without!"

Me: yeah

96 yr old: Well, my parents said that to me about electricity.

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i have this crazy urge to txt you cause i miss you so much but then i remember you probably don’t miss me at all.