#Youth Homelessness Matters Day

[thevoidstaredback]

How To Balance Your Daytime and Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have

In Danny's defense, dying scared the hell out of him. Living in a house of ghost hunters was a bad idea, so he left. It didn't matter that they were family. He was a ghost living in a house of Ghost Hunters whose life's work was the very thing that killed him in the first place. He died turning on the portal his parents had spend nearly thirty years working on with two witnesses to his demise. The natural response was to destroy the portal and leave without telling anyone.

He didn't get to that point, though. The first few months after The Accident had been constant ghost attacks, one after another. Danny had tried t understand what was happening, but between his friends on some level denying his death, the ghosts attacking on sight, and the powers he was developing not getting themselves under control, he was reaching his breaking point.

On top of all of it, the portal destabilized.

No one had been in the lab, thank god, but the ghost portal collapsed in on itself. The running theory his parents had was that the ghost boy had been the one to break it. Danny's running theory was that the constant back and forth and overloaded the system. No new actually knew what had been the thing to turn it on in the first place, so no one could actually prove anything either way. At least, that's what Danny hoped.

Danny knew, in the deep recesses of his mind, what to do to get it working again. He knew what to do to keep it open if he so chose.

It had never been his choice in the first place.

Danny had known it wasn't entirely safe for him when the house started to turn on him, but that had only been solidified when the portal had gone down, Jack and Maddie Fenton doubled down on hunting down the Ghost Boy. He was the only ghost left in Amity Park, so he was the only one the trackers would lock onto.

Six weeks before he turned fifteen, Danny left his home. He didn't tell Jazz or Tucker or Sam, and he most certainly didn't tell his parents. Quietly, he packed his things - only those of which that would be easy to carry - and left. He didn't bring his phone or laptop with him. He thought about leaving his wallet, but figured that'd be useful to him.

The last thing he did before leaving Amity Park was go to the police station and tell them he was leaving willingly. He refused to elaborate as to why. They didn't need to know that. He didn't tell them where he was going, either, just that he was leaving.

It was an accident that he ended up in Bludhaven. Four weeks of traveling had tired him out. His powers only making it worse. He was low on money and food, he'd been sleeping on benches and in alleyways, his clothes were all filthy, he hadn't showered in days- He was ready to collapse.

Bludhaven, from what he understood, had a much smaller homeless population that her mother city Gotham, but it was still a lot of people. Particularly homeless youth. Danny was just another kid in an alley when he'd finally collapsed.

It took three days of sleeping behind a dumpster before anyone noticed him. In that time, he'd only woken up once. Not having eaten in a while, he had no waste to expel, so his body had focused on keeping he rested before allowing him to wake up. That was when he'd realized the actual danger he was in.

He had no idea if human weapons could still work on him or not, and he was not trying to figure that out any time soon. So, before the group of armed guys who'd just come into the alleyway noticed him, Danny let the invisibility wash over him before he flew up and away.

On the rooftops is where he found the city's vigilante. He was dressed in a black suit with blue accents and a black domino mask. His weapon looked like a broken bo staff and was strapped to his back.

Danny was not inclined to meet this man, but he'd never seen another hero in action before! Sure, he knew they existed, but he'd never actually gone looking for any. No one in Amity had, actually. It was a peaceful place. Well, until he opened the portal on himself, but that was hardly his fault.

Sure, he wasn't going to meet him, but maybe following him around wouldn't hurt? As long as he didn't get caught, he should be fine. It was only for the night, anyway. He'd probably never see this man again after this.

At least, that was the plan until he accidentally followed the man home at three in the morning. In his defence, though, he didn't know that it was that early or that Nightwing - as he'd heard a few guys call him - was going home! Regardless, he was going to take this to the grave. He was going to leave Bludhaven come dawn and he was never going to tell anyone the he knows where Nightwing lives.

Again, that was his plan. Danny ended up falling asleep on the rooftop opposite the building Nightwing lived in. He slept through the day, only waking up when rush hour foot and road traffic got too loud to ignore. Just as he was getting ready to leave the rooftop, he spotted movement in Nightwing's apartment.

Now, he couldn't even begin to say what had made him stay, but he did. He sat back down and watched as Nightwing moved around his apartment.

It was messy, messier than he'd have expected, but he wasn't one to judge. What really caught his attention, though, was the uniform Nightwing was wearing. Now that begged the question as to why the hero - vigilante was probably the better term here - fought crime at all hours of the day. Why approach the problem both legally and less legally? Why align yourself both ways?

Danny was always a curious boy when something sparked his interest.

He was swift in his movements as he pulled out the binder of paper and scholork he'd taken with him. Opening up to the first blank page, Danny started to write.

He was a hero, whether people thought of him as such or not. He only ever wanted to help. Maybe he could help this guy. Maybe he'd feel some kind of accomplishment if he managed to help Nightwing.

Step one is to observe.

Part 2 Part 4

Tag List: @flame-343

I need to point out that I have gone off of the original prompt, if that wasn't already obvious. In the og prompt, Danny is an adult. In this one, as I continue my take on it, Danny is a child. I didn't mean for it to happen, but the words don't listen to me, I listen to them.

[firewalkzwit]

chemical world || simon / john q. x reader (dinner in america)

just a blurb because im up the ass with school and the one-shot i wrote was rubbish sorry. "x reader" might be a stretch its just hqs and stuff i think of simon with song sneaks in the middle coz when do i not

Chemical World - Blur

Simon of extreme hedonistic beliefs above all prioritises nothing other than pleasure, and takes pride in the aesthetic disruption this signifies. Having a shower around won't be enough to pinch his personal hygiene urges, even if it is for the sake of others. He'll bathe if he can and if he wants to.

This obviously extends to his deliberately controversial haircut. It amuses him to watch the discomfort and confusion it creates in those who see him. It's neither a mullet nor a mohawk (matter of fact, he despises either of the groups who wear such hairstyles), but rather his own third thing.

Obviously he's slightly taken aback when you fancy him for it. Not that it has ever prevented him from getting laid (he would have eventually buzzed it if it did), but the occasional compliments and caresses on his greasy hair from your tender hands never fail to remind him that he too is just a mere mortal beneath things like female affection.

Saints - The Breeders

He praises womanhood just as much as he teases it. There is an adolescent air in the way he speaks derogatorily about your mother, or even when he gets turned on out of insulting you in bed. Still, slurs that come and go only wind up humiliating him when he kneels before you, eyes wide open and hungry.

He's very versatile in that department, he'll take any place in bed as long you ask. Nothing is more arousing than your gratitude. He won't be picky about how you express it, but he has favourites; the scratching of nails in a useless attempt of grabbing the wall makes him feel like he really did his job well.

I Am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses

Not having to be functional to work timings or tedious 9 to 5-s allows Simon to have an ample disposition to, what he calls, "fuck around" any day, anytime. Although he resents the fact that you occasionally choose your adult responsibilities above him, he'll hardly hold you to it for too long. Instead, decompression is highly recreational and experimental. A wide range of psychedelics, psychotropics, psycholeptics... all to be found in some dubious corner of his backpack.

Frankly, open-mindedness is one of the few must-have traits to date him. He wont tolerate uptight or rigorous personalities. This does not imply that it was ever a requirement for you to be an avid drug consumer, but he'll take no reprimands if he chooses to pop a Percocet.

Simon's open-mindedness policy is fairly restricted when it comes to music. Not that he only listens to one genre, as his enthusiasm for punk has inevitably derived in enjoying all of those that influenced or derivate from it, but he believes most are acquired tastes. Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Melvins and Fugazi sit around in his record collection.

He loves it when you ask about his records, and far from judging you if you ever don't know, he'll sit down on the floor with his back rested against the bed and his records in hand. Encyclopedic narrations of the socio-cultural context of the origin of most of his favourite bands could be biography-worth if it weren't for all the "fuck"s between them.

"Fuckin' Christ, Pink Flag? That fuckin' invented post-punk. Would I care for that shit if it didn't? Probably not, but because of fuckin' Wire now I have to give a fuck about these snobby fucks from Bauhaus and the idiots in PiL."

Strange - Galaxie 500

The record player in your room is mostly crowded around by his own collection, which was homeless up until recently. There's many things Simon likes about you, but taking in his records was to him what to others is a ring on their finger.

In a relationship with someone who thinks music is sacred, you cannot miss his gigs, they are mass. He loves to parade you around backstage to his bandmates and sing to you when they play, loves that you take your friends with you; so they can see you seeing him. Nothing makes him feel more desired than spotting you in the crowd mouthing his lyrics.

Post-shows getting wrecked in a local bar until they kick you out is his favourite thing to do, but he'll take backseat sex if he sees you're in the mood for it, subtly letting everyone know as he guides you holding you by the wrist. On colder seasons, the night dew will curtain the windows of the pick-up truck he borrows just in hopes that you'll give him the special look, inviting him for a quickie before heading home letting you pick the radio station.

Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain

[chronicallycouchbound]

Intelligence Doesn't Equal Morality

Intellect is rooted in ableist systems and stupidity and intelligence are pointless social constructs that don't relate to morals or character.

I try to be a pretty good person, I fight for human rights, I regularly engage in mutual aid, and I care for my community. I try to do the right thing and support causes I care about and make positive changes in the world.

But I also am not very smart. I have several neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as cognitive disabilities. I can’t do simple, basic math, it’s hard for me to remember facts or algorithms, I rely entirely on spellcheck and speech-to-text to write, I failed many classes in high school and I barely passed with a low GPA, I had low pSAT scores and I never took the SATs. I moved around a lot all through school starting in third grade, and I missed a lot of basic fundamentals in learning (like how to do division and multiplication) so when I went to a different school they had already passed it and expected me to know. After my TBI, I could barely read AFTER I was cleared from my “concussion” symptoms because letters and words would flip around and I’d get headaches. Which still happens sometimes.

A lot of people see me as smart because I've learned a lot of academic language and can formulate thoughts into cohesive posts. But I lack a lot of necessary skills and rely on my caretakers to assist me. Things like budgeting and planning are extremely difficult for me. If I need to do simple addition or subtraction, even with a calculator, I quickly get confused and struggle. I forget basic information about myself all the time, let alone other subjects. I'm talking, has to check my ID for my birthday type confused. Doesn't know my name or address or what year it is confused. It happens daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Being able to type out posts like this often takes weeks and many adaptive tools to get there. Focusing is extremely difficult on many fronts, severe chronic pain, ADHD, dissociation, fatigue, migraines, and TBI, are just some of the contributing factors. I struggle daily with many things because of my lack of intellect.

I’m also privileged in the fact that I had some access to education as a homeless youth, that I had some supports in place to help me (towards the end of school), that I was somewhat able-bodied at the time and could walk or bike to and from school when the school system didn’t provide transportation. I was fortunate to have a chance to succeed, and I’m proud that I graduated high school because it was a difficult task for me, and others often aren’t offered that chance or get accommodations. I almost didn’t and I dropped out many times before graduation. I passed on sheer luck and what little privileges I had. 

That all being said, me being stupid (reclaiming it here) doesn't make me a bad person. I don't hurt people because I can't do math. I may mess up things or get confused but it doesn't make me want to harm others.

We often (wrongfully) equate morals with intellect. Being ‘stupid’, ‘dumb’, or an ‘idiot’ doesn’t automatically make someone a bad person. Plenty of evil, awful, and abusive people are extremely intelligent. 

I see this most notably with people advocating for IQ tests to be able to vote. Often from left-leaning people, in hopes it'll make the right (that they view as unintelligent), unable to vote. The reality is, it just hurts some of our most vulnerable members of the community while not actively doing anything to restrict some of the most dangerous members of our community-- those who know what they're doing to harm others and deliberately doing so. My voice matters, and I speak up against injustice and participate in dismantling oppressive systems. Taking away my right to vote won't make the right stop oppressing minorities (which also puts a lot of faith into the two-party voting system, which is a post for another day).

Additionally, legislative measures that discriminate against intellectually disabled people such as IQ tests for voting are also rooted in racism and classism. 

Yes, education can be a vital tool when it comes to addressing discrimination and creating safer communities. But the kind of education that is measured with an IQ test (or any test) isn't the same. Building compassion and caring for others can (and should) happen at any IQ level. We can all practice this, we can all participate.

It harms our communities and stagnates our progress when we equate intelligence with high morals.

[deadboydetectives-confessions]

Replying to the billboard person here,

Why do you care so much about what people do with their own money? Sure, I agree that the concept was silly and there was better things that the money could have gone to, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you think.

If you care so much go donate to trans youth or volunteer at a homeless shelter jfc. And I can’t pretend to know anything about your life so if you do those things then good on you! But if you were doing those things i doubt you would be criticizing other people and how they choose to spend their money. I hate this ‘holier than thou’ mindset that some of y’all have. I am sorry that people’s social ignorance pushed you away from the fandom. It is an obscene amount of money to go towards something so trivial. But let’s not pretend like a fun project is destroying philanthropy

.

[fandomfreakstudios]

now i'm thinking about how jay will react to her father's interview when she finds out about everything he's done. it is unlikely, of course, that she will do the same as hollyhock, removing him from her life forever, but maybe something similar will happen. in any case it will be a complete angst xx

Alright so… this is something I have thought about extensively, actually.

I feel like one thing I need to highlight is the fact that around the beginning of the series, round her late teens early 20’s, Bojack has kind of… given up. Slowly but surely he loses his rose coloured glasses around parenting, it’s not sitcom-esque like he was hoping, so he just stops REALLY viewing her as a vulnerable kid/young adult because he can’t recognize that outside of youthful tv-cuteness.

Anyways! What i’m getting at is that their relationship becomes a bit more toxic enabling co-dependent then is ideal… the two very often drinking and being dumb together (think of the 2 week bender that he goes on after Diane gets engaged. Stuff like that she would end up roped into).

So unlike Hollyhock she is VERY desensitized to it, and she has been knee deep in his bullshit since day one. I feel like, similar to how Bojack drunkenly confessed the Sarah Lynn thing to Peanutbutter. In his crazy attempt at processing the Penny thing, I think he would drunkenly confess that to Jay. He would deep down be seeking the confirmation that he’s not awful, and dangerous, and fucked up and whatever else… and I think Jay would comfort him.

But she has this deep hidden desire to distance herself, especially with todd leaving… but she can’t. This is her Dad, and she loves him and she NEEDS to be his support. Philbert era was terrifying for her. She was watching Bojack decline in real time, and she was so incredibly unequipped to help him.

Obviously this means she supports his sobriety, couldn’t be happier for him… And in all honesty she was relishing in the space she had from him… She’s happy for his new job, his new life, he leaves the house to her when he moves to Connecticut (she still lived with him up to this point. She never had a job or any funds of her own).

So the interview, and the aftermath, is absolutely devastating to her. All that progress, that new better life, that new beginning was all tossed away. That’s the worst part of the interview. It doesn’t destroy her perception of him in the way you may think, it’s just devastating to see him fall so far.

There is one line though, that makes her feel sick. When he says that Sarah Lynn was like a daughter to him. She was around during the events of Prickly Muffin. She was around for that, she was living with him through all that horrible bullshit, definitely at least a bit traumatized by that, but that was just… yuck.

From there, Bojack loses his job, loses his house, which is really JAY’s house, and they both need to move in with Peanutbutter. Her stifling financial dependence on Bojack made her homeless right alongside him.

Bojack going to jail, hate to say it, is jay’s saving grace. She’s living rent free Peanutbutter’s house, and living rent free in her Dad’s house is one thing, but she’s grown too independent and prideful to mooch off peanutbutter, no matter how adamantly he insists she’s always welcome.

She gets a job, and moves out on her own for the first time at 28, and… she gets a one room apartment, with only enough space for her and not Bojack. It was a hard decision but she knew something needed to be done to separate the two…

And she admits that, full stop. She directly forwardly tells him that she’s her own person, she needs her own space and independence. She’s able to stand her own ground and separate herself from a toxic and difficult situation

so yeah, a bit yappy and I went in a few different directions aside from your ask but I had a good time writing :3

[CHECK REBLOGS FOR ADDED CONTEXT]

[connorthemaoist]

It’s been ten years since the Ferguson rebellion, and the police continue to kill Black and other oppressed people with impunity. A few killer cops have faced charges, trial, and prison time, but most of these murderers with a badge get away with their crimes. The police keep serving and protecting white supremacy and capitalism, and in that role, they are sanctioned to brutalize and kill.

Over 1,200 people were killed by police nationwide in 2023. The police respond to people in a mental health crisis with taser guns and bullets. In response to rising homelessness, homeless people are being criminalized, with police carrying out brutal raids on encampments. Squad cars creep through the hood, where the police harass Black, Latino, and proletarian youth, brutalizing them and throwing them into the prison pipeline. On reservations and in border towns, police murder Indigenous people at disturbing rates. And protestors have faced brutal repression from militarized police, including those opposing the construction of the Cop City police training facility in Atlanta, along with the college student encampments opposing the US-Israel genocidal war on Gaza.

Why haven’t waves of protests against police brutality changed this state of affairs? Because the protest movement has been derailed time after time by politicians promising reforms and grifters using the movement for their personal gain. Justice Department investigations, legislation, police review boards, and other reforms cannot end police brutality because it’s baked into the system that government on all levels serves. It’s a fundamental tool, alongside mass incarceration, to keep oppressed people controlled and subjugated. On top of this, grifters from the Black Lives Matter organization to Robin DiAngelo, Shaun King, and Ibram X Kendi have anointed themselves the spokespeople of the movement and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, corporate sponsorships, and book deals while serving themselves rather than the masses of people subjected to police brutality. (Look up the interview of Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, in New York Magazine to see what we’re talking about.)

This Fall, Dare To Struggle is working to rebuild the movement against police brutality and the oppression of Black people on solid foundations. Join us for protests on October 22nd, the national day of protest against police brutality. The movement we’re seeking to build will put the families and loved ones of the victims of police murder on the forefront, reviving a powerful weapon against police brutality. We will work to mobilize the youth under the gun of police brutality to stand up and speak for themselves. We will unite all who can be united in this struggle, regardless of identity. And we will reject begging for reforms in favor of mass action, outside the official political channels, to exert the just demands of the masses. Grifters and lawyers looking to cash in on grief will be exposed and removed.

Join us on October 22nd to demand:

No more murders and brutality by the police! Send killer cops to prison!

End the criminalization of Black, Latino, and Indigenous youth!

End the criminalization of homelessness and mental illness!

No more militarized police repression of protest!

Rally / Protest Locations:

Los Angeles: City Hall 4:30 pm

(200 N Spring Street, Los Angeles)

New York City: Betsy Head Park 7pm

(154 Dumont Ave, Brownsville, Brooklyn, NYC)

Chicago: Outside the killer cop 11th Precinct 5:30 pm (3151 W Harrison St, Chicago)

More to be added!

DareToStruggle.org

[md-guel]

you know I'm just gonna ramble here and I'm gonna focus on guel and shaddiq for now because this episode is too thicc a steak to chew on without slicing it up (and I am Not Ready to think about laupet and 5nore yet, I think I need a heart surgery to prepare for them)

I think in the light of all these...flashy suits and operatic space fights and explosive anger is that we forget that they're kids. and essentially what happened to guel and shaddiq is if guel marched up to shaddiq in the campus parking lot while he's getting in the car and he wants to punch his face but shaddiq actually has a knife (which his suit hilariously did)

like guel is so gallant and noble right now, talking about bearing their own sins and how they just can't keep taking. but if you think about it, he's not there because of purely heroistic reasons. that's the same childish rage we saw from him all the way back from episode 5, and that's still him processing his grief about killing his own father. when shaddiq told him about vim's shady dealings, there was obviously no way he's going to take it just like that, he has an idolized view of his father! so—yes, he may have somehow somewhat saved some part of the day but he wasn't even thinking about the company or what's happening on earth during that fight, that was purely and simply revenge and he just happened to win it because he learned a new moveset

and shaddiq, yes he's a scumbag, yes he's framed more as a villain than a side character in these past few eps, but he's clearly the idealistic youth. he's the young man who saw the oppression with his own eyes and decided, believing he can do it, he wants to change that. like in a normal school setting, he'll be more like the homeless scholar who made it to an elite school and became class president, editor-in-chief, school valedictorian, etc. and as a kid, he must have been more like nika with his ideals about improving life on earth (and being half-earthian, he would be in the spot-on position to do this)! but, unlike nika, he's unfortunately in a unique position of being invited to all these dark room meetings where only elderly spacians have a say and so it's easy to see how he felt powerless and decided to light things up. like I would even go so far as to say there are similarities between him and enjolras and we all know what happened at the barricade! but sad fool that he is, he probably saw himself more as a marius with miorine as his cosette :(

so them clashing—this earthian who went to space and this spacian who went to earth—what happened was like getting the right answer in a math problem with the wrong solution. they're both young hot-blooded men who went out for the wrong reasons and, you know what? in the end, it doesn't matter. what happened has already happened and they're both a mess and so lost in this whole thing that led them to this point

[drst]

Folks, do yourselves a favor. Set aside 10 minutes, and read this. This is one of the best pieces of writing I've seen in months. In fact, the last piece I saw that was this good was a previous Cat Valente post from last December.

This piece distilled all my anger and hopelessness about not just AI art but the state of creative industries right now and somehow, by the end, I was crying happy tears. I found reassurance and inspiration and solidarity. This is a symphony in written form. Also she coined "WORDROOMBA" for AI which I think we should all adopt.

An excerpt:

"I find it pretty interesting that when most other advancements in automation have arrived, the sales pitch has usually involved describing ways in which it will improve the lives of every day people as a kind of sugary treat to drown out the taste of a dystopian future. Yeah, yeah, full self driving is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER but everyone will be able to operate their own robo-taxis and get SO MUCH passive income with JUST THEIR CAR it won’t matter (don’t think about truckers or infrastructure or the supply chain)! You don’t want to have to make small talk with cashiers anyway, right? Everyone is going to have their own 3D printer manufacturing plant in their living rooms, so it’s fine if factory work gets Thanos-snapped! Tipping is just so onerous, wouldn’t a robot waiter be super fun and even less social interaction? COME ON HUMAN CONSUMER, GET ON BOARD, I’M LOVIN’ IT.

But with ChatGPT, literally the first thing I heard about it was a Reddit donkey-chorus of HA HA WHITE COLLARS ARE ALL REPLACED GET FUCKED. DOUBLE FOR WRITERS, YOU’RE NOT ENTITLED TO A CAREER JUST DOING BOOKS AHAHAHA CAN’T WAIT TIL IT CAN CODE BETTER AND MAKE YOU HOMELESS, TECHIES.

There was real hostility to some of this sentiment. Maybe. It’s been hard to say who online is a real person and who is a script for some time now. Perhaps it’s because one of the canned responses to other industries falling to automation was: writing code is always safe because someone has to make the robots go. Or that art would be safe because human creativity can’t be automated. But now we’re all seeing that it’s entirely possible that it can, and no one is safe at all. So perhaps there is some schadenfreude at play as a big cultural domino falls and virtually no profession remains a safe bet to get out of the first half of the 21st century intact.

But fucking hell."

[lara635kookie]

Red Crackle Week Day 8: Bonus Day for Asphaltis

I honestly didn't have the opportunity to know her, as I entered the fandom pretty recently, but from what I've heard of her, I can tell she was pretty dedicated to Carmen Sandiego and I appreciate that. She was a writer, just like me, so as she also enjoyed Red Crackle, I did this little writing in her memory. It's kind of a continuation of yesterday's ending, with Carmen and Gray with their granddaughter. I hope you all enjoy it and I hope I can honor her and her works right:

=================================

-So, how's school going?-Gray asked her granddaughter while taking chocolate drops from one of the kitchen's cabinet.

-Made new friends?-Carmen asks.

-Yes, it's going good. Thanks!-She answers, taking the chocolate drops.

Carmen and Graham were the proud grandparents of a girl that had a natural talent and gift for baking. Her handmade pastries were out of this world! Today, they were making cookies together to share with the rest of their family.

While cooking, Carmen and Gray told her stories of their youth and their countless adventures around the world. When they finished, they shared the cookies with the other members of the Calloway-Sandiego clan.

A few were left, so they handed out those at the local homeless shelter.

At the end of the day, their granddaughter left to her own home, saying goodbye to Carmen and Gray. They had a really deep bond with her, so they promised they would do a different recipe together all the weekends.

The day ended with smiles and happiness all around in the air. After it all, Carmen and Gray's family was united, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

=================================

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

Gavin Grimm, the now-25-year-old trans man who made headlines for suing his Virginia school district over its transphobic bathroom policies, is struggling with mental health challenges, poverty and looming homelessness, according to The Guardian. Grimm sued the district after the Gloucester County School Board voted to ban him as a 15-year-old from using the boys’ bathrooms, even though he had already been doing so for months without incident. After years of litigation, he eventually won a landmark federal decision asserting the constitutional right to protection against educational discrimination.

But even though the school district ended up settling Grimm’s case for $1.3 million in legal fees and other legal costs, the settlement didn’t provide him with stable housing or financial security. He only received $1 as a symbolic share of the settlement. To settle for personal damages, Grimm would have had to have given the school district’s lawyers access to medical records showing the impacts of the school’s discrimination on his health. After years of court battles, he didn’t like enduring another fight. As his court victories mounted, Grimm gained notoriety: Trans actress Laverne Cox told people to Google him at the Grammys, Whoopi Goldberg interviewed him on The View, and in 2017, he served as the grand marshal for New York City’s Pride parade. But he hasn’t been invited to any paid appearances as the LGBTQ+ community’s focus has largely moved on to others.

“I’m someone who has had worldwide visibility. I represent an outer crust of privilege most people will never see, and I cannot make ends meet no matter how hard I try,” he told The Guardian. He is one of the 8% of trans adults who have gone unsheltered over the last year. Grimm now suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder and stress-induced seizures in addition to having autism which affects his sensory processing. In May 2021, he spent four days in a coma after a grand mal seizure which seriously impaired his ability to work or drive. Combined, these have prevented him from keeping a job or finishing higher education, even though a generous benefactor helped fund it. “The PTSD at its core is about not being safe or understood, being rejected, and the adults in my life not acting responsibly,” he said. “In high school, I was picked over and hyper-analyzed. I was tortured, harassed and bullied.” While he receives some financial support from disability payments, his mother, and an ongoing GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, he recently moved out of his apartment in Newport News, Virginia.

His mother has begun caring for his 19-year-old cat Rascal, but Grimm has begun couch-surfing with friends, occasionally staying with his mother, and spending some nights at a local dog park. He avoids houseless shelters, fearful of discrimination.

Trans male Gavin Grimm, who won his bathroom lawsuit, is now struggling with homelessness and mental disabilities.

See Also:

The Guardian: Gavin Grimm won a landmark victory for US trans youth. He now struggles to survive

[bettie-may-page]

Yup, it happened again! Third times the charm? May 23rd. 2023

The mural of Bettie Page on the side of Jessica Baxter’s house is one of the few works of art you can see from Interstate 5 in Seattle. But it seems not everyone is happy about it: Earlier this week, vandals used red paint to deface the mural, which features the 1950s pinup model, with her signature black bangs, and John Waters’ drag queen muse Divine. Also severely damage was the unprotected Britney Spears/Laura Palmer mural by Two Thangs that was destroyed.

The mural, located at the intersection of Seventh Avenue Northeast and Northeast 59th Street, was attacked at 2 a.m. Sunday, Baxter said. The vandal wore a compressed air tank which was filled filled with a red oil-based paint, she reported, “slowly walking around the house, soaking the mural as well as coating a separate kitchen that helps feed the homeless, leaving a mess behind”.

She said the vandals also made off with a “Black Lives Matter” sign.

The attack happened so quickly, Baxter said, that by the time she’d woken up and gotten to the window, whoever had targeted Bettie and Divine was gone.

Baxter said she had no idea who was behind the nocturnal attack. They “didn’t leave a calling card or manifesto,” she said wryly. She reported the attack to the police.

The mural has been more positively received by others. This is also the third time the Baxter home was targeted.

A GoFundMe page set up to cover the expenses of the repainting had already exceeded its $4,000 fundraising goal as of Thursday afternoon. “That mural is tied to many good summer memories and it is a beautiful piece of art!” wrote one donor.

Originally painted in 2005 by artist John Green, the mural was previously attacked in 2016. Also in late June of that year, vandals threw gray paint on the mural and, reported The Seattle Times at the time, left a message — “Stop exploiting women’s bodies” — signed only “some feminists.”

Contemporaneous accounts and comments from those who knew or engaged with Page’s work would suggest this is a misreading.

As artist Olivia De Berardinis told the Los Angeles Times in a 2008 obituary of the model: “[I]t took me years to understand what I was looking at in the old photographs of her. Now I get it. There was a passion play unfolding in her mind. What some see as a bad-girl image was in fact a certain sensual freedom and playacting — it was part of the fun of being a woman.”

After the 2016 vandalism, artist Two Thangs repaired the damage to Page and added the second image, this one of drag queen Divine.

“The ladies became fast friends and we were so proud to have such incredible and unique art on our house to share with the I-5 passersby,” wrote Baxter on the GoFundMe page. “People tell us all the time that they love the painting and it makes us so happy to contribute to a sense of community that was once [a] hallmark in Seattle but has been on the decline.”

Baxter said Two Thangs would be returning this month to repair the work again. “We’re gonna keep putting it back up,” she said.

On her GoFundMe page, Baxter said that house painters she’d already hired for a different project “sprung into action” the morning the mural was defaced, using a pressure washer and paint thinner on a historically hot day to clean up most of the “oil-based red glop.” But Bettie and Divine “will still need touch ups.”

For that, Two Thangs will be flown in from Rhode Island to work his magic on the icons. “We just want our girls back and we want him to be well compensated for it,” said Baxter. Any donations over the goal will go to support the LGBTQ Youth organisation at Lambert House.

If you with to contribute i have added the link to the Baxters Go Fund Me page which includes further information on the destruction.

[cator99]

The other day I mentioned to my male coworker that I'm planning on moving to Toronto very soon and he just started gawking like why would you do that its sooooo expensive what a huge risk! then he like opened up chat GPT I don't even know what the fuck that is but he was like I guess asking this AI questions about the cost of living in Toronto versus Calgary because he was too lazy to google it or whatever and trying to tell me that it was like unlivably expensive I'm sorry but Alberta is unlivably garbage so I dunno maybe I have my reasons that make this decision worth every penny like it's so fucking condescending, you think I haven't thought of this? You really think I'm just doing this entirely on a whim and I'm too stupid to do my own research and come to my own conclusions about what I want to do with my life and where I want to do these things... it would be one thing if he seemed genuinely concerned and wanting to like help me figure out the logistics but this wasn't that he was just trying to instill me with a sense that it's better here and discourage me from doing something I've been planning for a while now and I made that very clear and in response he made it very clear that not only does he think I'm stupid but that he doesn't perceive me as having any sort of interiority or whatever like I'm just toddling about the world thoughtlessly and if I didn't have Dumfuk Dylan here to guide me back onto the right path staying in yeeyee ass goofsville then I'd end up... what, exactly? Like what's the worst that could happen ? I end up homeless in Toronto? I've been homeless how many times... in a youth shelter and couch surfing regularly and all that shit.... I did my first round of couch surfing at 14 I'm sure for someone like him the idea of risking the comfort of monotony and the ability to do the same boring pointless shit for decades straight with little variation and no actual goals beyond Stay Here And Be Comfortable At All Times Find Wife Have Kids Move Back To Suburbs And Continue The Cycle Save For Retirement And Kids College Fund blah blah blah im sure it seems unfathomable to people like him and my goals incomprehensible but that's the thing asshole I have goals and they do in fact require risk but the truth is that no matter how much it might look like I'm risking anything I'm really not and I will always be in a better place (physically, mentally, all of it) than I started pretty much no matter what and that sense of perspective makes it easier to fuck off and do whatever I want. Also- and I'm being real here, baring my soul type shit- I don't need retirement savings. I'm going to live the way I want to live, and die the way I want to die. More or less.

[wxldhxrt]

Prompt 007 : The beast tamer...

"I didn't need a collar or a leash to tame you, not when I'd branded my pet with ink..."

Name: Adam Darkwood Age: 43 Last Contact: 3 months ago

TW: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death.

A chance encounter was how they'd met and another was how Greyson believed they'd ended up together in the first place. Little did he know it had been orchestrated ever since that first meeting.

Adam Darkwood was a man that once he knew what he wanted he got it no matter the price, time, dedication or manipulation it took. And when he'd happened upon a freshman in college, struggling to make ends meet, surfing from friends couches after being made homeless - it was all too easy to be the saviour, the knight in shining armour with the promise of the world on a silver plate.

After his mother's passing and his stepfather kicking him out with only an hour after her funeral to collect his belongings, Greyson had been at rock bottom. Living on his best friend's couch while working as a bartender between his studies to try and save up enough money for an apartment, Grey had met Adam, just another customer he'd thought at first, but little did he know that he owned the Dark Star as well as many other clubs, bars and casinos across Manhattan.

It had never been entirely clear to Greyson what Adam had seen in him that he liked, maybe it was the vulnerability of his situation, his youthful naivety at 18 with no where to go, maybe he'd liked the only minor ink and piercings at the time. But whatever it was, it had caught his attention and desires.

Grey had been easy to win over, in awe of Adam's wealth, connections, lavish and exciting lifestyle and so quickly fell into the role that his now boyfriend wanted him to play.

It started out sweet, loving, caring or so Greyson thought but soon things turned darker. While he never explicitly knew what Adam did beyond owning businesses around the city, it wasn't hard to see the guns, drugs, excessive amount of man power at the other's command and on many occasion Greyson had been present for obvious illegal activity while living under Adam's roof.

But his college was paid for, he never had to worry about a place to stay, he could focus on his studies and all he had to do was be the perfect boyfriend that Adam wanted - easy enough. Until it became clear that Adam was more interested in a pet than a boyfriend.

But he liked Greyson's spirit, his wild nature, he liked trying to tame it. His first attempt had been to brand his initials onto Greyson's neck, convincing him the tattoo was romantic. But between the romance, there was pain, when Greyson's wild side got too out of control, Adam happily used fists to put him back in his place. If he strayed, coercive words would bring him back.

Their relationship was always one of turbulence, between explosive fights, fists, fury, fucking, there were moments of tenderness, sweetness but all hiding the ownership. For 11 years Greyson remained with Adam, on and off, but ultimately never able to escape the other until he met a certain Sommelier at a production of Romeo and Juliet. Their secret affair had been the push Greyson needed to break away from Adam for good.

The last contact Greyson had was a heated phonecall the day he felt the song, trying to convince Adam they were over. That he wouldn't be collecting his belongings and didn't want to see him, despite being on his way over to the other's penthouse apartment.

If the son of Pan hadn't left for camp in that moment who knows what would have happened to him had he made it to that door...

[whitehairedanimeboyfriend]

Saw some posts going around about being homeless and wanted to throw my own two cents in on strategies you can use.

A lot of people think that once you lose your home, your two options are either spend a bunch of money on motels or sleep outside. There are many other options you should exhaust first.

Pack light. Bring a couple changes of clothes, but don't over burden yourself. Fresh underwear and socks are more important than anything. You can swing wearing the same jeans for longer than the same shirt.

Don't break the habit of brushing your teeth often. It's important and a difficult habit to build up again.

Get a good phone charger, and a good portable battery. You can get ones on Amazon that will fully charge your phone up to 10 times on one charge of the battery. If you don't have a place you can accept deliveries, try dollarstores, Walmart, and best buy, or other electronic stores.

High data plans are really cheap right now, so if you're already paying 30-40 for your phone plan, check to see if you can switch to a higher data plan for the same price on your phone provider's website.

Have utensils. You can get packs of portable and easy to wash ones that come with fork, spoon, knife, and straw. Or you can just pack normal ones. It's up to you.

Get a multi-tool. Theyre really handy to have.

If you buy a weapon of any kind to defend yourself, make sure you know how to use it and really have an indepth check in with yourself: if you were in a fight, would you be willing to use it on another person? If you are unsure even a little bit, don't carry it. Knife, gun, any of those specialized self defense items. They're more likely to be taken and used on you. Especially if you hesitate.

Get on welfare, income assistance, food stamps, or whatever other government program you can. These often provide access to resources and if you get a social worker, they will often be familiar with resources and programs you can access.

Be kind and respectful to other homeless people but don't make friends with them. This may sound harsh but people in these situations are desperate and if you drop your guard around some individuals you will get robbed. Plus, it's really easy to get sucked into toxic mindsets where you spiral into self destruction if there are other people to go down with you. You will feed off of each other's bullshit. It's just better for you and them to focus on yourself right now.

Having a baby right now will not save you or fix your situation. If you have sex, use protection. If you get pregnant, highly consider getting an abortion if you're able to. Being pregnant complicates homelessness a lot and your kid will almost definitely be taken from you, which is heartbreaking.

Keep a low profile. Don't get into fights or arguments, don't yell at service workers, don't be a nuisance to retail. Sometimes you will be wronged and it'll feel unfair, but often it's best to swallow your pride and to remain in good standing with the people around you.

Sell or leave any laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices you can't keep on your person. If someone doesn't steal them they will most likely just get broken or damaged.

Look up all the soup kitchens and foodbanks in your area. Most of the time, there will be at least one place open any given day of the week. Churches are the ones that will do this more often than not, and as long as it's not Salvation Army they usually do not care who you are or how you got there. Missions tend to feel more secular than say, Catholic churches, if that matters to you. (but getting a hot meal is often worth sitting through the Lord's Prayer.)

If you're under thirty, look up Youth resources. Usually there will be services tailored specifically for you that won't be as in demand as general population services.

Employment centers, libraries, food banks, etc, should have contact information regarding shelters. If you're a woman running from an abuse situation there are even more options.

Shelters tend to be hit or miss. I've stayed in really awful ones, I've stayed in really good ones. The best you're going to find are the ones where each resident gets their own room. They're hard to come by, but one of the shelters I stayed at the most when I was homeless let you stay up to two months on your first go. Then youre out for two weeks, then you can come back for up to a month at a time. If you're lucky, you'll find a shelter that provides meals as well. This is a great place to have a warm bed to sleep, meals, and showers.

Couch surf. Now's the time to call on your friends for favours. I try not to stay in any one place for longer than five days. Mixing this with staying at a shelter got me through about five years of homelessness.

Group homes, supervised living programs, etc. These tend to be the next step up from shelters. Almost all of them give you your own room and are more long term than shelters. Often, you have to actively be working and/or participating in an education or employment program to stay, but it's way more stable than staying at a shelter.

Do not bother with Facebook marketplace queer housing groups. In a lot of cases you'll be out on your ass again in a couple of months. There's a reason people in these groups can't keep roommates.

When you can, have a set of clothes that make you not "look homeless." You will find situations where you need to blend in. If you have a secure place to store your belongings even better. Dead giveaways for homeless people are often their huge backpacks and a lot of people know this.

Out of the cold shelters open up in the winter. They're more temporary than regular shelters and it's usually sleeping on the floor of a church or community center, but they're okay options in a pinch.

If you have to sleep outside, go off the beaten path if you can. It's easier to do this outside of city centers but this is obviously not always an option. Tents are great but tarps are even more portable. Sleeping bags help maintain body heat far better than blankets. Use your backpack as a pillow, or grab a pillowcase and stuff it with your clothes when it's time to sleep.

This may go without saying but if you have a car, sleep in that. You won't need to bother with shelters or sleeping outside.

Showering at gyms and truck stops is obvious, but if you can find a drop in center, you can shower, get something to eat, and often even do your laundry. Some drop in centers require membership but it's often not difficult to get and it's free. They just want to register you and keep track of who is coming and going. You will often be assigned a case worker that will help you with finding a place to stay or even a job.

Short hair is easier to maintain in these situations. Moreover, I highly recommend against dying your hair at this time, especially bright unnatural colours because the colour will fade fast, and it'll be really difficult to blend in with non homeless people when you have to.

Spend your days in libraries charging your phone, keeping warm, and entertaining yourself. You can stay from open until closed without being disturbed. Look at bulletin boards and pamphlets while you're there and you might find programs you can join or resources you can access.

I personally have never gone dumpster diving. I've never had to. I don't live in a very rich city but there was still always resources I could access before it came to that. Personally, I would exaust all my other options before I start rooting around in trash cans but that's just me.

If you keep food on hand while you're outside, be mindful of animals. Look up methods of keeping your food safe from bears if you are staying in wooded areas. Even places you think are too close to civilization can have bears wandering around. Also, be mindful of "refrigerate after opening" warning labels on food. It's best to get shelf stable items when possible. Condiment packets that are single use are better than bottles because they'll keep longer.

Stealing from grocery stores is easier if you buy some things, too. You can get toothpaste, shampoo, etc from drop in centers and foodbanks but I would personally suggest buying larger items like sandwich meat, and stuffing small items like water flavoring into your pockets when you're wandering down an unoccupied aisle. On that note if you have a hard time drinking plain water, get water flavoring! It's important to stay hydrated.

This might just be the country I live in, but one other place you're very unlikely to be bothered is hospital cafeterias. This is one example, I think, of a place where you don't want to "look" homeless. If it's an especially cold night though, sitting in the corner quietly and being on your phone won't look suspicious. You may need to stay up for the night and then take a nap outside in the day. Or, go to a Library in the morning.

Wear sunglasses and hold your phone or a book in front of you and nap when you're indoors. Especially if you're in a corner by yourself and especially if you're "blending in" with non homeless people, no one will bother you. Best place to do this is libraries.

Food courts are also a decent option. Usually there are so many people that no one is going to bother a random person that's there all day. One of those other instances of its easier if you don't look homeless.

Cycle through places you stay at during the day. It'll look a lot less suspicious if you only spend one day a week at any given place.

Depending on your age, if you live in a university town, you can spend time in university areas. Cafeterias, libraries, computer labs. This one is not something I'm quite as familiar with but I know people that did it. Try to blend in, look like you're busy. Students are easier to blend in with than probably any other population you can think of. You're going to really have to choose your own adventure with this one, but I would aim for places with a large student body that you don't need a key card to get into, and make yourself look busy.

If all else fails, ride around on public transit. Take long lines from start to finish. Catch a nap if you can. This is an especially great option if you have a bus pass, and while it is easier to do if you blend in, depending on the size of your city and how many people are on, you will be mostly undisturbed.

[vaguefiend]

Today, I want to tell you all a story. I tell a lot of stories, but this one is much more important. This story hasn't had the end written yet. And depending on how we act, right now, we could change and save lives.

If you care about Black trans women, please read and share.

The fight for trans liberation is often seen as a purely western phenomenon, but this view does a massive disservice to those who are fighting to exist and thrive all over the world. These people matter, and their stories matter.

I want to introduce you to Shinah.

I had the incredible privilege of speaking to Shinah personally, and I was absolutely blown away by her courage, her resilience, and her tenacious optimism. She inspires me and humbles me.

She is a trans woman living in rural Uganda and she is a defender of human rights.

In 2018, she founded the Pride for Youth Initiative Uganda to protect fellow trans women in rural Uganda. In 2019, her life fell apart.

In Uganda, queer people are illegal. They suffer incredible harrassment and violence not only from law enforcement, but from their communities.

In 2019, Shinah was at a gay bar when the police raided it. She was arrested. When she was tried, neither her lawyer nor her were even permitted to speak. She was sent to jail.

But that was only the beginning.

The police outed Shinah as queer to her family.

Shinah's family responded by kicking her out of their home and lives. She was homeless, with nowhere to go. It was through her own inimitable spirit that she managed to survive.

This experience inspired her to create a shelter for trans women, especially sex workers.

She did it. Through the Pride for Youth Initiative, Shinah established a shelter for trans women in rural Uganda. The need was great. This shelter is the last place trans women in rural Uganda can turn, in an environment where their communities and governments are against them.

But their troubles didn't end there. The surrounding community has pressured their landlord into evicting them from the shelter. If the landlord won't evict these trans women from their shelter, the community threatens mob violence.

So Shinah and the other trans women staying at her shelter are now faced with the impossible; raise enough money to relocate 13 incredibly vulnerable Black trans women in rural Uganda in the next 8 days.

They only need 7,500 dollars. They have 2,000 dollars to go.

So this is an emergency. These women are at incredibly high risk of not only homelessness, but violence from their community. Their courage in simply existing is unimaginable to many of us in more privileged positions.

Shinah told me this morning that she is afraid, but that won't stop her, because she is fighting for human rights. She told me she is prepared to be arrested again, or to even be killed, to do this work. She told me those are simply the risks one must accept.

To say I am humbled and inspired by her and the other women staying at her shelter is an understatement. Our entire conversation, even while recounting her traumatic experiences, Shinah was smiling. The strength of her person and her convictions is an inspiration to us all.

This fundraiser could be life or death for 13 Black trans women in rural Uganda. To say that the struggles they have already faced are immense is an understatement. They are willing to keep fighting, not only for themselves, but for others. They have 8 days left before eviction.

If we claim to care about trans people, that must extend to the most vulnerable trans people. If we claim to care about trans liberation, that must extend globally, especially to exploited regions. Trans people are everywhere.

Again; this is an emergency. 13 Black trans women in rural Uganda are facing eviction and community mob violence unless they can raise enough money to relocate in the next 8 days. Please open your heart and your wallet. It could literally save lives.

https://gofund.me/bd4d26d2

I also want to emphasize that people in exploited regions are more than capable of saving themselves. They are fully capable, with advanced knowledge of their issues and communities. They know what they need more than those from more affluent areas.

Exploited regions have been shaped by colonization, racism and imperialism. It is not only kind, but morally imperative that those of us who benefit every day from this ongoing exploitation try to reduce this imbalance of power and affluence. This is a wonderful opportunity.

PLEASE keep sharing this and donating if you are able. I have been speaking to Shinah over Whatsapp today and none of the women have eaten today because they cannot afford food. This is still URGENT and these women are still in crisis.

Also relevant; I have spoken personally to both Shinah (over video) and Alexis, the American trans person organizing the GoFundMe, and can confirm this is legitimate and not a scam. If you would like confirmation or to get in touch with either of them, please reach out via DMs.

[arirose1303]

What is my purpose in life?

Throughout my time on Earth, many inquisitive people have asked me the same question: what is my purpose in life? My purpose is to help people; and today I will dive deeper into what I mean.

There are many ways to help people, some ways may be more obvious than others, but they are all extremely important. When you think of helping people, you might mostly think of doctors and saving lives through surgery and medicine. But, some people might think of picking up any litter they see and tossing it in the correct trash can. That aids the Earth into being a cleaner and eco friendlier system for all beings of life to safely live on.

Helping people could also mean fighting for human rights, becoming an important figure and using my power for good fortune, teaching the youth, being a part-time lifeguard at the beach, enlisting in the military, volunteering at homeless shelters, event decorators, therapists, and just cheering people up whenever needed.

Many of your favorite musicians have helped people. From Taylor Swift, to Frank Ocean, to Arctic Monkeys, to Michael Jackson, they have all saved people’s lives. I'm not even a celebrity, and I've seen numerous comments from people spilling their hearts out to these artists for saving them from whatever situation they were in previously. When Make-A-Wish kids use their wish to meet their favorite celebrity, that’s helping people.

All jobs are created to help people. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t exist. Even the most boring job helps people every single day. Accounting helps people be more efficient with their money; without accounting many people and businesses could go bankrupt.

What do I want to be when I grow up? The truth is, there’s many things I would love to do. I would love to be a writer, like an author or lyricist; and I would love to be a fashion designer and design dresses or purses; and I would also love to be a human rights activist and give a voice to those who struggle with theirs; but no matter what I end up doing in life, whether it’s those three paths or not, I will be happy because I know that whatever I am doing is with the intention of helping people. My goal in life is to help people whenever possible. I will speak up when there’s an issue or something I disagree with and I will educate those who have not been.

People have asked me what my purpose in life is as a way to try to insult me for not knowing yet, but I do know what my purpose is; I just find it difficult to say and easier to write in full detail. especially since I know my purpose is vague and I have to elaborate it the best way possible.

But asking a 15 year old what their purpose in life might be is crazy, right!?