#c: blackburn

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Queer Literary Fiction about Grief and Mourning

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi Some Hell by Patrick Nathan Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke Bonus: Coming next month, Model Home by Rivers Solomon

[caliburn-the-sword]

your initial, your reminder: tlc character edition

L: perhaps if you hadn't been so reckless, things wouldn't have ended the way they did

I: everyone you love will leave you one by one. until you have no one left, and you are all alone

K: you left them when they needed you the most, and they paid the price for it

S: you will never get to be the girl you once were, the one without the weight on her shoulders

Z: if only you had communicated properly, you wouldn't have driven away the ones you love

C: no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to connect with your peers as well as or as easily as they can with each other

T: you're just waiting for everyone else to realise what you already know: that you're not a good person

W: you will never truly know if someone sincerely loves you, or if they just have something else to gain

J: it will be impossible to absolve for the things you've done, no matter how good the intention was

[iwatcheditbegin]

Idk I think it’s very telling that the worst humans l can think of all have massive issues with Taylor

[sapphicides]

in honor of black history month 2025, i’ve put together a list of books written by black sapphic authors for you to read in the month of february

non-fiction essays/memoirs:

all about love: new visions by bell hooks

black lesbian in white america by anita cornwell

sister outsider: essays and speeches by audre lorde

mouths of rain: an anthology of black lesbian thought by briona simone jones

blues legacies and black feminism by angela davis

does your mama know?: an anthology of black lesbian coming out stories by lisa c. moore

fiction:

the color purple by alice walker

loving her by ann allen shockley

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez

in another place, not here by dionne brand

pomegranate by helen elaine lee

the summer we got free by mia mckenzie

these letters end in tears by musih tedji xaviere

dead in long beach, california by venita blackburn

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo

young adult:

escaping mr. rochester by l.l. mckinney

this ravenous fate by hayley dennings

faebound by saraa el-arifa

so let them burn by kamilah cole

where sleeping girls lie by faridah àbíké-íyímídé

adult:

honey girl by morgan rogers

the deep by rivers solomon

sweet vengeance by viano oniomoh

come back (love concealed) by terri ronald

house of hunger by alexis henderson

short stories:

the secret lives of church ladies by deesha philyaw

additional info:

-> “why wasn’t this book listed?” probably because it wasn’t black sapphic-centric, the author isn’t a black sapphic themself, or i just simply haven’t heard of it! so feel free to add on if it meets those two criteria

many of these books require trigger warnings, especially some of the older ones that are more likely to feature racial struggles of the time. please do your due diligence and search for tws if you want to read them!

please feel free to add onto this list in the rbs or comments! happy black history month

[words-of-tomatoes]

Wolf’s eyes widen as Jacin pulls him in, momentarily caught off guard by the doctor’s willingness to show physical affection. He knows that Jacin finds it awkward, knows that he typically doesn’t let anyone aside from Winter and, on occasion, a very stubborn Iko this close to him. Gratitude washes over him as he lets go of Jacin’s hand, dipping his head in acknowledgement of Jacin’s words. It’s what any friend would do. While he doesn’t know if that can be said for everyone’s friends, he does know that it can be said for every member of the tight-knit group they’ve created for themselves over the past few years. 

--- 

Wolf’s muscles are tense the entire walk down the hallway as they approach the room where Scarlet waits. Waits is a looser term, Wolf soon comes to realize however, as he takes in her still-unresponsive form looking far too small in the hospital bed. His nose wrinkles at the overwhelming wrongness that masks what usually makes up Scarlet in his mind, but the sight of her at least calms his nerves somewhat. 

His gaze doesn’t stray from her face even as both the nurse and Jacin address him, his only acknowledgement to hearing the words being a small nod as they finish speaking. He hesitates for a long moment before walking slowly to her side - the one without the IV marring its skin. He crouches down carefully and cups her hand in his, both thumbs brushing gently over her knuckles before he presses a kiss to the back of her hand, holding it against his skin as his eyes fall shut for just a moment. Just a moment, he tells himself as he breathes in. 

Continued from x; @words-of-tomatoes

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🩷 sapphic books by black authors for Black History Month

🦇 happy black history month, my bookish bats! part of my mission on this account is to amplify queer, bipoc, & diverse voices. with that in mind, here are some sapphic books by black authors to add to your tbr for Black History Month!

Escaping Mr. Rochester - L.L. McKinney The Relationship Mechanic - Karmen Lee Thirsty - Jas Hammonds So Let Them Burn - Kamilah Cole Broughtupsy - Christina Cooke Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters Incendiant - Virginia Black Faebound - Saara El-Arifi Dead Girls Walking - Sami Ellis

Dead in Long Beach, California - Venita Blackburn Flirting Lessons - Jasmine Guillory The Payback Girls by Alex Travis Faebound - Saara El-Arifi A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins French Pressed Love - M C Hutson Brewed with Love - Shelly Page Something Kindred - Ciera Burch These Poisons We Drink - Bethany Baptiste String Theory - L.M. Bennett

Where Sleeping Girls Lie - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Those Beyond the Wall - Micaiah Johnson These Letters End in Tears - Musih Tedji Xaviere This Ends in Embers - Kamilah Cole Pomegranate - Helen Elaine Lee Where Shadows Meet - Patrice Caldwell Taste the Love - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters

The Secret Crush Book Club - Karmen Lee

Cursebound - Saara El-Arifi The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye - Briony Cameron Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn - Renee Swindle Sleep Like Death - Kalynn Bayron Iron Tongue of Midnight - Brittany N. Williams Fate’s Bane - C.L. Clark

Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories - Demree McGhee Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love - Jessica Lewis Out of Step, into You by Ciera Burch Ready to Score - Jodie Slaughter If We Were a Movie - Zakiya N. Jamal One Summer in Miami - Amber Rose Gill Call Your Boyfriend - Olivia A. Cole & Ashley Woodfolk An Arcane Inheritance - Kamilah Cole I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Mariama J. Lockington

[pure-ablution]

Please can you post the philosophy reading list?

This is what I read, in order (the order is important!), as a teenager when I wanted to learn about philosophy in my own free time. You can read them in whichever language you like—I read them all in translation so that I could properly understand what was being said, and only really tried to reread the classics in the original languages much later, when I started at university.

How to Read a Book, M.J. Adler & C. van Doren

The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, A.G. Sertillanges

The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, J. Baggini

Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, S. Blackburn

Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy, K.A. Appiah

What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy, T. Nagel

The Problems of Philosophy, B. Russell

Charmides, Plato

Protagoras, Plato

Gorgias, Plato

Meno, Plato

Euthyphro, Plato

The Apology of Socrates, Plato

Crito, Plato

Symposium, Plato

Phaedrus, Plato

Republic, Plato

Phaedo, Plato

Parmenides, Plato

Sophist, Plato

Timaeus, Plato

Laws, Plato

Sophie’s World, J. Gaarder

A History of Philosophy (vol. I–XI), F.C. Copleston

Rhetoric, Aristotle

Poetics, Aristotle

Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle

Politics, Aristotle

Organon, Aristotle

Physics, Aristotle

On the Soul, Aristotle

Aristotle for Everybody, M.J. Adler

All of Aquinas’s commentaries on Aristotle (order here is somewhat less relevant, and I can’t remember the exact order in which I read them)

This ordered reading list is designed so that you’re properly prepared to grasp and understand each text in turn. After this point, I think that there’s enough of a solid basis in general philosophical thought and influence that you could read more freely, though I tried to read in a vague thematic order from canon to antithesis (e.g. Descartes → Spinoza → Leibniz). The series by Copleston (№24 in the list above) is a very helpful guide in this way, I think.

[hxtties]

See? She's crumbling already. Though you can't blame the blonde for that when her pussy's never been worked over like this before. And one thing that Lola prided herself on was making other girls cum their brains out. Just too bad she didn't have a camera on hand to catch the look on Abigail's face when the mounting pleasure started to build to a point she didn't seem to think was possible.

Though the day's still young...

Juices were dripping off the brunette's fingers to an almost obscene degree. An obvious sign of a job well done if you asked her. She could feel the blonde tighten and clench around them. Closer and closer to hitting her peak. Another sight Lola had grown familiar with. To the point where she had the foresight to move to the side, if only a little bit, just in time for that sweet pussy to explode in orgasm! The blonde being able to do little more than sob and shake and tear up.

And yet, Lola didn't stop.

Fingers still dove straight into that tight cunt, the brunette looking to fuck Abigail through her orgasm. Her hand would shift underneath the blonde's head, pulling it upward, letting her watch that pussy gush for her. "Look at you, cumming so hard for me." she hummed, almost impressed with the blonde.

continued from.... @hxtties with ABIGAIL X LOLA

💋 —— Her head tilted back with a shuddering moan, making way for a whimper. Legs stretching out further, so brazenly wide for the brunette. Lola's tongue and mouth worked so well against her clit, Abigail had only known what it felt to touch it with her fingers. Rub it against a pillow. It was nothing like this. To feel the wet tongue swirl and lap against it, sometimes so tortuously slow and other times the quickest flick... Her hand shaking, reaching toward the raven black locks at the back of Lola's head, sharp gasps of breath as fingers entangled themselves into the locks, urging the other woman to stay as Abigail's chest heaved with a moan. Writhing against her...

Then there was Lola's fingers, stretching such a tiny pussy... They weren't all too different from Abigail's own fingers, except she wasn't in control. Which made the blonde all the more wet, the blonde never quite reaching so deep, and when the third finger was slid in? Jesus Christ above... "...Oh my god!" Her legs starting to shake, squirming, deep, shallow breaths escaping in huffs. The pleasure mounting, as she whimpered and cried. She could hear it, how wet she was, coating the other's fingers, her hand, probably dripping and making a mess on the couch. It was so...dirty. So sinful. But she couldn't stop, not when the pleasure was building up so fast, feeling so full, moving her hips, faster, faster. Her mouth hung open, moan after moan, whimper, a hushed cry released into the air. Fucking herself against Lola's fingers. "Oh god, Oh God, that feels so good... That feels so good... I..." It felt so wet. A feeling she hadn't experienced before. It was new, the pressure building inside her. "I can't... Oh god, I can't... I can't... Ah... Fuck.... Oh god... I...!"

A release came she never knew before, a rush of liquid escaping her as she cried, sobbed into the air as her body trembled, shaking uncontrollably, tears trailing down from her eyes.

It felt.... Like heaven.

[katelyn102]

Below is the full Q&A between The Enquirer's Kelsey Conway and Rocky Arceneaux

Conway: When did you feel like you could get both of these guys signed together and stay in Cincinnati?

Arceneaux: Post combine. I would think that's when I felt like it was starting to come together.

C: Can you go through the process with me for each one?

A: It was a little different. Prior to the combine, I didn't feel like there was a chance in hell to get both of them to stay in Cincinnati. And after the combine, obviously after they had tagged Tee, we had some opportunities to talk to other teams and try to position Tee in the best case scenario for him with his career going forward. And we later learned that the Bengals were declining conversations about compensation for Tee. And that's when I realized that they were more inclined to reward him instead of trading him. So, at that point, I think the structure and the tone of the negotiations took a turn for the better.

C: Why did you not think it was possible for both guys to get deals done in Cincinnati prior to the NFL scouting combine?

A: Well, prior to the combine, we talked about the franchise tag and what impact it could potentially have on Tee. And when they decided to tag him, I had assumed, because we had talked about it prior to the tag with the intent of trading. So we proceeded along those lines, and once the process started, it became clear and evident that the Bengals, like I say, it was more inclined to pay him rather than trade him.

C: Specific to Ja’Marr, can you walk me through the process from last year when you began negotiations to now?

A: Last year, it was very different because he obviously had two years left on his contract. So, I think the negotiations were at a point where both sides needed to feel like they were doing something that benefited the other side, and I think at that point it was just some inequities there. And I think the Bengals felt like they were doing us a big favor and we were doing them. And I think that's where I wouldn't say a lack of communication, but we just had different core philosophies on what was on the bill. And also, you know, Ja’Marr and I decided that it would be in our best interest to play it out, and it worked out.

C: Did it beat your expectations in terms of what you thought you would be able to get because of the season that he had?

A: Yeah, I mean, I think we had some help. Obviously, the salary cap went up. Ja’Marr had an unbelievable season. And I think, you know, the timing was right for it.

C: When did you agree to terms on the contract for Ja’Marr?

A: They were very close. But actually, Tee’s was done first, then Ja’Marr’s was done, then Tee’s was redone, if that makes any sense. But we were very close for a long time.

C: Did Myles Garrett and D.K. Metcalf’s contracts impact the deals for Tee and Ja’Marr at all?

A: Not really. I mean, not to really talk about the numbers. We were pretty much at Jamal's number from our perspective, and I want to thank Caitlin Aoki, who works with me, who did an amazing job of valuing the contracts and doing all of the analytics. And, you know, she was very much involved, but she had nailed it. I mean, our numbers in early January were exactly what he came in at.

C: The guarantees in both deals are huge because typically the Bengals don’t structure deals like this. How important was that in the negotiations?

A: Well, it was very important. And I think, you know, it would not get done without the Bengals. You know, you have to thank Katie (Blackburn) and Mike (Brown) for trusting us and having the fortitude to say, you know what, this is something we need to do. And it was very important, obviously on Tee because we felt like he was somewhat stifled from free agency, and we knew going into free agency he could get, you know, probably the first three guaranteed. So I said you're going to have to at least do two (years fully guaranteed), you know, we'll make the concession there. But with Ja’Marr, that was pretty much a non-starter with the year he had had and the career he's had to this point. But it was important for both of them. But again, you know, kudos to the Bengals for seeing it and breaking their precedent, I'm sure that was tough. And, you know, I'm sure every player from now on is going to want this. But, yeah, that's a part of it.

[garadinervi]

Philip Corner, PoorManMusic, (Vinyl/LP), plana-C alga048, Alga Marghen, 2015 [midcenturyclassical. Art: © Philip Corner]

Performed at The Judson Dance Theater, Judson Memorial Church, New York City, March 21 and 22, 1967

Adaption: Jerome Rothenberg Choreography: Carol Ritter Music: Philip Corner

Musician: Alison Knowles, Bill Friedman, Billy Fisher, Carol Marcy, Carol Reck, Carolee Schneemann, Cyrelle Forman, David Reck, Edward Goldstein, Ferdinando Buonanno, James Tenney, Malcolm Goldstein, Maud Haimson, Max Neuhaus, Steve Reich, Susan Hartung

Performer [Poets]: Carol Bergé, Clayton Eshleman, David Antin, Dick Higgins, Eleanor Antin, George Kimball, Hannah Weiner, Jackson Mac Low, Jerome Rothenberg, Paul Blackburn, Robert David Cohen, Susan Sherman

[freetheshit-outofyou]

"

Ner-a-Car ca. 1924   Model  “C “   350 cc side valve Blackburne  

During WW1 American Carl Neracher designed a motorcycle that should be clean, easy to operate, stable, comfortable and reliable.   He came up with an unusual machine that was constructed more like a car than  like a motorcycle; it had no frame but a chassis made of beams,  221 cc two stroke engine, friction drive and hub-centre steering. This rather unique means of transport  was  aptly named  the Ner-a-Car. Nearacher had some trouble to find investors and manufacturers for his machine. In 1919 he signed an agreement with the British Sheffield Simplex firm to produce the Neracar for England and its Colonies, excepting Canada. Production started in 1921.  Having found financial support in the USA as well, the Ner-a-Car Corporation started production in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1922.  In November 1922 Cannonball Baker rode a Neracar from New York to Los Angeles, a distance of 5420 kilometres. He averaged 30 Km/h and used 2.7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres. In less than 8 days he spent 179 hours in the saddle… In 1923 the  model B with larger front mudguard and 285 cc engine was brought out in England. A year later the model C came out, powered by a 350 cc Blackburne engine and fitted with a conventional clutch and gearbox.  This rare  model “C”is unrestored." Source

[bantarleton]

Thomas Dowdeswell, by Joseph Blackburn c. 1778. Dowdeswell was a Lieutenant and Captain (a ranking convention peculiar to the Brigade of Guards that I won’t get into here) in the 1st Foot Guards during the American Revolution, and this portrait shows him in the modified campaign uniform he wore in the early years of the conflict.

Superficially it follows what we might expect from an officer’s garb, but differs from standard regulations in many interesting ways. Firstly, Dowdeswell’s hat is not the cocked “tricorn” (to use the later term) that we’re used to – it’s been modified by being cut down into a small round hat, with the lace left off and only one side pinned up, plus a few feathers.

He carries a fusil and bayonet and the accoutrements that go with it – belting and a cartridge pouch, making him appear in this regard almost indistinguishable from a regular private soldier. It seems he doesn’t have a sword. He has kept his gorget and sash, but removed the gold lace from around his buttons. In fact, his regimental coat has been cut down to a jacket, with the skirts shortened.

Besides these more obvious modifications, there are many minor ones that set him apart, from the pointed design of the cuffs to the slender trim of white cord around his collar and turnbacks. It is an ensemble that doesn’t match most regulations, but fits with reality.

Officers rarely modified their uniforms wholesale during the war, but nor were they all strident followers of the 1768 regulations. The traditional rank signifiers of sash, gorget and epaulettes were sometimes present in different combinations. Not, of course, that a formal portrait necessarily denotes exactly what was worn during active service, but in Dowdeswell’s case he seems to have specifically worn his “campaign uniform.”

There are further caveats to this – the Brigade of Guards made a lot of specific uniform modifications prior to deploying to North America in 1776, but didn’t keep all of them up throughout the war. Officers dressed differently in different theatres and at different times.

But I think the Dowdeswell portrait gives a nice indication of some of the variation at play. Much of this comes from the brilliant research of Professor Gregory Urwin, who has studied and analysed hundreds of portraits of British officers from the period. For the full modifications undertaken by the Brigade of Guards in 1776, see this excellent article by William W. Burke and Linnea M. Bass https://www.military-historians.org/company/journal/guards/guards.htm 15/15

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🩷 sapphic books by black authors for Black History Month

🦇 happy black history month, my bookish bats! part of my mission on this account is to amplify queer, bipoc, & diverse voices. with that in mind, here are some sapphic books by black authors to add to your tbr for Black History Month!

Escaping Mr. Rochester - L.L. McKinney The Relationship Mechanic - Karmen Lee Thirsty - Jas Hammonds So Let Them Burn - Kamilah Cole Broughtupsy - Christina Cooke Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters Incendiant - Virginia Black Faebound - Saara El-Arifi Dead Girls Walking - Sami Ellis

Dead in Long Beach, California - Venita Blackburn Flirting Lessons - Jasmine Guillory The Payback Girls by Alex Travis Faebound - Saara El-Arifi A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins French Pressed Love - M C Hutson Brewed with Love - Shelly Page Something Kindred - Ciera Burch These Poisons We Drink - Bethany Baptiste String Theory - L.M. Bennett

Where Sleeping Girls Lie - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Those Beyond the Wall - Micaiah Johnson These Letters End in Tears - Musih Tedji Xaviere This Ends in Embers - Kamilah Cole Pomegranate - Helen Elaine Lee Where Shadows Meet - Patrice Caldwell Taste the Love - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters

The Secret Crush Book Club - Karmen Lee

Cursebound - Saara El-Arifi The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye - Briony Cameron Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn - Renee Swindle Sleep Like Death - Kalynn Bayron Iron Tongue of Midnight - Brittany N. Williams Fate’s Bane - C.L. Clark

Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories - Demree McGhee Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love - Jessica Lewis Out of Step, into You by Ciera Burch Ready to Score - Jodie Slaughter If We Were a Movie - Zakiya N. Jamal One Summer in Miami - Amber Rose Gill Call Your Boyfriend - Olivia A. Cole & Ashley Woodfolk An Arcane Inheritance - Kamilah Cole I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Mariama J. Lockington

[bostonwalks]

73 fun facts about Israel To celebrate Israel’s 77th birthday, we bring you 73 weird, wacky and remarkable things about this tiny country in the Middle East you may not know. https://www.israel21c.org/73-fun-facts-about-israel/

By Nicky Blackburn

1. Israel has the highest number of altruistic kidney donations per capita in the world: 1,775 in the past 15 years, and counting. 2. The oldest tree in Israel is an 11-meter jujube tree in Ein Hatzeva on the road to Eilat, thought to be between 1,500 and 2,000 years old. For most of its life, the tree was watered by the spring at Ein Hatzeva. Today the spring has dried up, and the Jewish National Fund keeps it irrigated. 3. Israeli scientists managed to grow fresh dates from sixth century seeds found at Masada and Qumran. 4. Eating the Israeli peanut snack, Bamba, at an early age has been proven to reduce peanut allergies in children by 75 percent, according to a five-year study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 5. The Israel Postal Service has a special Letters to God department, for all the letters arriving in Jerusalem from around the world addressed to God. They are opened and placed into the cracks of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. For those who want to save on postage, the Western Wall Heritage foundation offers a digital alternative to this service. 6. About 1 million notes are left in the Western Wall every year by people of many religions. The earliest known account of this practice came in 1743. Many famous people have left notes in the wall including Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and yes, Donald Trump. Twice a year, ahead of Rosh Hashana and Passover, the notes are cleared from the wall and buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. 7. The Mount of Olives is the oldest continuously used cemetery in the world. It’s been in use for over 3,000 years. 8. The glue on Israel’s postage stamps is kosher. 9. At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an old wooden ladder has been propped up against a window since the 18th century. No one can move it because the building is managed by six different churches and none of them agree on who owns the ladder, which has been named, rather appropriately, the “immovable ladder.” 10. Israel is the only country to have revived a dead language and made it the national language. Hebrew had remained the language of sacred literature, but it was revived in the 19th century as a spoken language. 11. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Israel was 54.4 degrees Celsius (129.9 Fahrenheit) in June 1942 at Kibbutz Tirat Zvi in the northern Jordan Valley. (The highest temperature ever recorded worldwide is 56.7 °C/134.1 F in Death Valley in July 1913.) 12. While Jerusalem has snowstorms every few years, and even the Negev Desert gets occasional snow, Tel Aviv has only had one snowstorm in its history. In 1950, 12-18 centimeters of the white stuff thrilled locals, many of whom had never seen snow before. 13. More than half the landmass of Israel is desert, yet it has an Olympic bobsled and skeleton team. 14. An Israeli startup, Tevel Aerobotics Technologies, developed agricultural drones that can pick ripe fruit from a tree and gently lower it for collection, helping solve one of the main issues facing farmers today – a shortage of labor. 15. Israeli agritech company BlueWhite developed a technology that can turn any conventional tractor into a self-driving robot. The robotic system is already helping farmers across the United States deal with a dwindling workforce. 16. Israel recycles nearly 90% of the wastewater it creates, using innovation to beat its water crisis. This makes it the leading nation in the world for water recycling. By comparison, Spain, the next largest water recycler, recycles only 20% of its water, while in the United States, only 1% of wastewater is recycled. 17. Sheba Medical Center in Israel has been listed as the world’s eighth best hospital by US magazine “Newsweek” this year. Last year the hospital was ranked ninth, and the year before 10th. 18. Israel is a global leader in medical clowning. It was the first country in the world to send medical clowns into Covid-19 wards, and regularly sends medical clowns on aid missions around the world....

CONTINUE READING

[transkeiichi]

update on my house:

lower 2 ft of walls and all floors have been ripped up, nearly every single piece of furniture has been trashed, all appliances have been trashed. our clothes were high enough in the closets that they are okay. many sentimental items were put up high to keep out of the water.

todays agenda is ripping out the a/c duct work and beginning the process of scooping mud out from our crawlspace.

our gofundme is up to $6k but that is a drop in the bucket of home repairs. my brother does construction stuff so he is trying to get us some deals on material but that is still uncertain.

yesterday, both governer bill lee and our congresswoman marsha blackburn stopped by house. we have given licensing rights to storyful to sell our videos to news agencies, and we are talks with fox weather for an interview.

everything is so crazy and happening so fast. there are dozens of volunteers all over our street helping remove debris and other manual labor, not to mention people delivering food, water, and hygiene products to us.

my whole body is sore, my legs are covered in bruises from stuff slaming into me while we were inside and the water was so rough. my cousin lives in asheville and its like a warzone there, she is hoping to get out sometime today because she hasnt taken a shower or had a hot meal since friday, or probably thursday even since it hit so early in the day.

the cats act like nothing bad has ever happened to them in their life...our dog is staying with my brother who has 4 dogs already so he is well taken care of at least even if we miss him like crazy. we saw our outdoor cat* the day after the flood, but we havent seen him again because there was no way to get him calm enough to move locations, a neighbor saw him get swept away before he saved himself so im sure hes terrified, but we have food out and a little house for him were hoping he will come back to at night when all the craziness is less.

i wish i could be there helping but i honestly feel im just in the way. i feel so overwhelmed when im there and everytime the rain starts i panic. i went back to work yesterday so i can make some money to support us a little more for now. i should get paid for my friends wedding dress either today or tomorrow depending on when i can go see her.

every day gets a little easier, but also more difficult. its starting to sink in just how different my life is and will be for who knows how long.

[northern-fail]

I'm not sure how I feel about the new style train announcements where it's that one teenage boy/guy in his early 20s basically saying "welcomeaboardtothisnorthernserviceto..." "...Preston..." "...thenextstationstopis..." "...Accrington..." (but the guy pronounces the C's in Accrington as G's, so it sounds like he's saying "Aggrington") in a bit of a monotone voice, since I find it very jarring to listen to because he speaks way too quick and leaves awkward and dramatic pauses for no reason.

Bonus points if that lad's pal (which I assume is a youngish 2nd/3rd generation British-South Asian hijab wearing woman in her 20s/early 30s that sounds like she's either from Blackburn or Bradford) tells you to mind the gap as you're leaving the train, although I don't mind the female announcer since she says things at a decent pace.

Even more bonus points if it's the teenage boy/twentysomething guy basically giving you a full on lecture everytime the train pulls up to a station it's scheduled to stop at, especially if there's stops every 2 minutes.

Just give me that announcer that sounds like a middle aged man that's fed up with life but announces everything clearly or the announcer that they use at the train stations, and let's leave it at that instead of using different announcement styles on different trains.

Honestly at the minute I’m just scared that at any minute my 333s will get new announcements replacing the “Welcome to the Leeds train” style we have now.