#i posted this on facebook hoping my cousin

[princealigorna]

Since so many on the Right are having such a hard time defining it (because they know their interpretation of the word is ultimately too broad and open to have any real meaning at all), here is what we on the Left mean when we say "woke".

"Woke" or "wokeness" isn't a noun at all. It's a verb. It means to "awaken", or to become aware of, the injustices around you to the extent that you are now prepared to fight against them. There's a reason it's mostly high schoolers and college kids that are "woke". It has nothing to do with indoctrination and everything to do with being at that precious age when you start having enough freedom to explore the world around you and realize that, while we have many more freedoms and opportunities than many other places in the world, some things are still fucked up. We still don't always live up to our ideals and obligations. In a country that claims to be about freedom and equality and social mobility, there's still systems in place that make those things harder for certain people to achieve than others. And you start feeling cheated and pissed off about it. It's that feeling of being cheated and pissed off that's "woke".

There is no such thing as "wokeism". It's not a philosophy. It's a certain mindset that (usually younger people) achieve when they start to experience the real world for the first time with clear eyes.

[stuhde]

i had shared what is happening in sudan on a long facebook post last night, but it virtually received almost little to no engagement or shares from the nearly 600 “friends” i have on the site.

this morning, my great-aunt was shot by the soldiers fighting for power, and God forbid, i lose more of my family members before eid this friday.

please read below to understand what is happening and how you can help my country. i hope the tumblr community can show more kindness than the lack of support and advocacy i’ve seen elsewhere.

يا رب اجعل هذا البلد آمناً 🇸🇩

the lack of awareness and advocacy from the African, Arab, and Muslim diaspora and the human rights community has been painful.

while Western media has done little to no coverage of the ongoing conflict in the capital city of my motherland, Sudan, it appears that the rest of the world also partakes in normalizing crimes and violence against SWANA people.

violence and war hurting the SWANA region are NOT ordinary occurrences — no one, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, religion, and gender, should experience the unprecedented amount of violence that harms my two living grandmothers, aunts and uncles, and baby cousins who live in Khartoum.

your decision to ignore reading or educating and discussing with others about what is likely to be a civil war is complicity in viewing SWANA people as individuals who regularly experience conflict and are undeserving of help.

the silence is damaging, and it is up to us as privileged members of the diaspora (or individuals living in the Western world committed to human rights) to support the people of my country and their dream for a stable, democratically elected government.

what is happening in Sudan is a fight that started on April 15 between two competing forces for power — the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither groups are representative of the needs of our people. The Sudan Army is loyal to the dictator, Omar Al-Bashir, and the RSF is responsible for the genocide in Darfur.

with both power struggles backed by different Arab and Gulf nations, the two parties have been fighting for power for the last few years. While they worked together to try and end the people’s revolution, they lost. however, they are now in a constant power play of who will get to rule the nation.

this all means that war is NOT a reflection of my country — violence does not represent the SWANA people. Sudan is a nation of beautiful culture, strong women, intellectual and influential Islamic scholars, poets, and youth at the front lines of the revolution. we are a people committed to a region of peace for ourselves and the rest of the Ummah.

my family and the rest of Sudan’s innocent civilians are at the most risk, with many currently without drinking water, food to eat, electricity, and complete blockage to any mosques during the final nights of Ramadan, our holiest month of the year.

i ask that you please keep Sudan and our people in your prayers — donate to the Sudan Red Crescent or a mutual aid GoFund Me, email your representatives if you live in a country that can put pressure on either competing force of power, discuss this with your family and friends, and please do not forget to think about SWANA people — our brothers and sisters in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and many others need our love and support.

الردة_مستحيلة ✊🏾

#KeepEyesOnSudan

[wintrrliqht]

Cruise gate summary from what I know

-first it was the begging of UConn summer break everyone’s thinking… what’s gonna happen during this break…AND THEN one faithful night a tweet pops up on Twitter of this Random man saying his friend just saw Paige on a cruise with one of her teammates… but there’s no real evidence. The people r wondering is this real? Is it not. We move on. UNTIL the next day a fan picture drops Paige is on the cruise. BUT WAIT who’s that in the back? The one and only AZZI FUDD

- then pictures kept dropping. THE CONTENT KEPT FLOWING. And one day a what we called cruise gate anon pops up with proof that I’m pretty sure her cousin is on the same cruise as them. Cruise gate anon recalls stories of them being attached at the hip and how at the fancy cruise dinner Paige and azzi pulled up in kind of matching fits and Paige pulled out azzis chair for her to sit down.

- time goes on and this mom from a Facebook group from the cruise mentions Paige and azzi dating someone asks how she knows they r dating she said something along the lines of “my son said…mom she (Paige) was grabbing her ass I’m pretty sure they r together”

- Paige posts cruise pics azzi never has (still have hope) and azzi REPOSTS pictures of Paige saying “I wonder who took all 1,000 something pictures of her 🤔” at the time this was a huge deal because pazzi deniers still had the audacity to say azzi wasn’t on that cruise.

-more pictures drop That I don’t have but will for ever be ingrained in my memory

-after the cruise people noticed that Azzis nail polish was missing on her 2 fingers iykyk and YA don’t think I missed anything but I probs did

omggggg

[kpopbestie96]

Looking for you - Bang Chan Cinderella story

Hi lovelies! I know I said I was on a break but I was watching Cinderella with my little cousin when I came up with this short story. So I just wanted to do a quick write, it took me like two hours. So please don't judge it, it was something fun I made because why not. If it's stupid just scroll past it. If you like it...well I hope you do❤❤

Its kind of long, so I separated it by chapters. Hope you all enjoy!

Pairing: Bang Chan x female reader

Notes: When you see italicize, bold it means they're speaking in Korean.

Warnings: cussing, multiple parts, very delusional. Please don't take any of it seriously, it's just for fun.

Chapter One:

"There was an error with your ticket, I'm sorry," your friend Sarah said with a pouty face.

"What do you mean??" You panicked as it was you and your two friends Sarah and Melissa on face time the night before going to see Stray Kids in concert. "I already took off work, we have an outfit planned together, we-."

"I know, I'm sorry," Sarah interrupted you as Melissa sat quiet on the other end. "For some reason I'm only seeing two tickets in my Ticketmaster."

"Did you try calling or emailing them??" Your head was thumping, making it hard to think properly.

"I did! And they gave me an excuse, saying they couldn't do anything." You heard her voice go high pitch, an indicator that you know she is lying as you saw Melissa put her head down. Are they seriously lying to me?? You three have been best friends for years and know every little detail about them.

You stared at your outfit that sat on the chair in front of your vanity, waiting to be worn tomorrow. We were all going to match wearing their case 143 outfits but guess that's not happening now.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked as you were too pissed to even look at her through the phone.

"Yup..." Is all you could let out before piercing your lips tightly together, trying to hold yours tears from falling.

"We'll talk to you tomorrow..."

"K...bye." You hung up the phone and let the tears stream down, frustrated and confused. You tossed your phone away from you, couldn't stand to look at it right now.

Why didn't they want me to go? There's no way there could have been a problem with the tickets...this fucking sucks...

A ding went off, grabbing your phone to see Sarah sending your money back since you paid for your half. And we had floor seats too...this whole day is fucking ass.

You turned your body around and stared up to the ceiling, wonder what you could do. You figured if you go on to the websites, tickets will be marked up to a crazy amount. Let me see if there's a person out there selling tickets online... There's always another way.

You went on to Facebook in the Stray Kids group chat that was purposely made for the city you live in, where they were performing. You typed your question, seeing if anyone was selling tickets for tomorrow night. You even posted your question on Twitter as last resort.

A few hours go by while you tried watching TV, reading A03 stories just to past the time away when you finally heard a notification from your phone, quickly checking to see if it was someone from the group.

Gabby: Hi there! I saw your post in the Stray Kids group chat and I actually have an extra ticket if you're willing to sit with me and my friends. We can get a little loud lol

You: Hi! 🙋🏻‍♀️ That's not a problem at all! I'm ready to fan girl! I don't care where we are sitting but how much?

Gabby: so they're $589 because we're on the floor with sound check. Our friend couldn't make it because she got sick and didn't want anyone else to catch the flu. Is that something within your price range?

You: Yes! I can send you the money. But just want to make sure you're a real person. Lol 😅

Gabby: 😂 I understand! Here, we can face time that way I can tell you what time to be there and everything!

You: sounds good!

You fixed your hair a tiny bit, wiped away the tears that were left and saw her using face time through Facebook messenger.

"Hi there!" Gabby waved.

"Hi, thank you so much for reaching out! And I love your hair, you're so pretty!" You complimented her hair that was black with dark blue highlights.

"Of course! And thank you! I got it done just in time for the concert," she laughed. "Here are the tickets, since I bought them." She held up her laptop, showing them.

"Cool, what's your Venmo so I can send the money?" She told you her Venmo as you typed it in, "thanks!"

"Of course! But may I ask why your asking for tickets so late?"

You could tell she was being sincere and you didn't know why but before you knew it, you were explaining everything that happened.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, that's fucking terrible! They're not good friends."

"Yeah...im realizing it now. It's just...they're the ones who got me into K-pop. My other friends could care less about the music."

"Well, consider us your new friends! We're going to have a fun time! I just got your money...so can't wait to see you tomorrow. Lineup to check in is at 10 and sound check is at four. I'll send you my number so you can call me when you get there. We're planning to arrive at like 9:30 since the seats on the floor are assigned."

"Okay, perfect. Sounds great! See you tomorrow morning!"

You hung up and threw your body back on to the bed with a smile on your face, couldn't believe someone so nice reached out to you. And not with any ticket...but floor seats, plus sound check! Great, I'll run into Sarah and Melissa. You rolled your eyes annoyed but knew you were going to ignore them and have the best time of your life.

You looked over at the outfit you had originally planned, making you think of something else.

You got up, threw the outfit into the hamper and searched your closet for a last minute outfit.

You found a thin yellow long sleeve shirt that your mom got you one year and have only worn once. Paired it with a washout denim short skirt that sat on your thighs and found your light brown Dr. Martens boots that made your a bit taller from the thick bottom. I'll add some jewelry in the morning and I'll be good to go. Maybe I can stop at the store in the morning to get a can of blue hairspray to match his from the music video?

You got ready for bed and quickly fell asleep, excited for tomorrow.

Next Chapter >

[palmtreepalmtree]

Alright tumblr, I need that group think wisdom. This is about to be a long-ass post. My mom is on Facebook, and I am not and have never been. Tonight my mom says to me she 'hopes she didn't make a mistake' but she just accepted a friend request from my aunt's ex-husband.

For context: My uncle is an ex for more than two decades now, and they divorced in part because of his substance abuse. He is allegedly now sober (but who knows) and he has a tense-but-trying relationship with his daughter, my cousin. As far as I know, he has no contact with my aunt (she is also sober, but never talks about it or him).

Last weekend, my mom, my sister, and my nieces and I drove up to central california to visit my aunt and celebrate her retirement. My mom regularly posts family photos on FB without asking permission, and of course she just posted pics from the trip, including my aunt. My aunt's ex-husband apparently liked the photos and commented 'wow!'

I told my mom she had made a mistake and I wasn't sure how to handle it from here, but to consult my sister because I don't use FB and don't know what the protocol is. I told her I would have just ignored the friend request forever, but now I didn't know what was appropriate (block? unfriend? idk!).

My cousin (his daughter) is coming to visit next week. I told my mom that she should not mention it to her. I pointed out that my mom had previously mentioned to my cousin that she was FB friends with one of my aunt's old friends 'Sandra.' My cousin got all upset, said that both she and her mom had no contact with Sandra anymore. She said that Sandra was a manipulator. She didn't want to hear anything about Sandra. My mom did not remember this conversation at all and instead exclaimed, 'Oh, Sandra just messaged me on FB about wanting to get coffee when she's nearby.'

My mom was shocked at my suggestion that at least some of these things were connected (the recent FB posting about my aunt, then the friend request from my aunt's ex-husband, and the private message from my aunt's ex-friend). She acted like I was being paranoid.

I feel like this is actually really common internet behavior -- people using the internet to learn about or reach out to someone that they are no-contact with -- and it's one of the reasons people don't like FB. I reminded my mom that my cousin really DID NOT like that she was friends with Sandra on FB, but again, my mom acted like I was overreacting and she did not remember the conversation with my cousin.

I just begged my mom not to mention any of this when my cousin is visiting next week. I assume my sister will tell her to block my uncle.

I guess I'm asking -- am I right to think these things are connected? My mom kept insisting that they weren't 'Oh, I've been FB friends with Sandra forever!' Am I wrong to tell her not to mention this whole mess to my cousin?

[newpathwrites]

WIP Wednesday! Trying something new! Let’s hope I don’t regret this… 😬

Thank you @handspunyarns for the tag last week.

This is going to be a little different. I’ve been wanting to dip my toes into some original writing. As a teen, I was always outlining and starting novels and series and then never following through due to imposter syndrome. And then life happened, and I let it go until Din and trauma processing inspired me to try my hand at fanfic and attempt to revive my long lost writing skills (that’s a work in progress 😂).

A lot of trauma is coming back to the surface as my divorce becomes more contentious and all these old memories are being drudged back up. I’ll be honest, I had this brief thought that I’d like to write out everything he did and post it on Facebook for the world to see… but that’s not my MO, and furthermore, I can recognize the role of mental illness in his behavior. So instead, I’m going to write my experience for myself and share it here on Tumblr and AO3 as an original work.

Warnings for this snippet: references to verbal and emotional abuse, mentions of death of a family member, alcohol. Please heed warnings if this is a triggering topic for you!

————————————————————

Christmas was your favorite holiday.

It wasn’t the presents. It wasn’t the lights, music, food, or festivity - though you enjoyed those, too.

No.

-

It was the warmth of a loving family.

-

It was a lively Yankee swap, with as many classy gifts as goofy ones.

It was your conservative aunt arguing politics with your die-hard liberal and self-proclaimed ‘fabulous’ grandmother while they cut and served the turkey, the entire exchange ending as always with an agreement to disagree and a hug.

It was crowding into the living room to watch a movie while the little ones fell asleep in their older cousins’ laps.

It was adult siblings who lived too far from each other staying up into the late night hours reminiscing about a shared past life.

-

The holidays radiated contentment and comfort. You looked forward to it all year round.

-

Until you didn’t.

-

You married a man, had children, pursued your professional education.

And then he changed. Or rather, he revealed his true nature.

-

Holidays became a twisted game - one you would never win.

-

He didn’t get enough food… Wasn’t paid enough attention… Didn’t garner sufficient adoration from your relatives…

And it was all your fault.

He didn’t get the gift he wanted in the Yankee swap.

How could you let that happen?

How dare that family friend he dislikes be invited? You could and should have prevented that from happening.

Don’t you care about him?

-

Your family got together one last time for Christmas at your grandmothers’ time shared condo - a celebration of her illustrious life, lost to cancer the year before.

You begged him not to go, not to tarnish your grandmother’s memory with his self-centered toxicity.

He promised to behave, swore he would never do that to you.

-

The entire weekend was a nightmare.

He sulked.

And in between sulking and drinking, he yelled at you in the unit next door, intoxicated and upset about anything and everything.

Again, it was all your fault. And nothing you could do would ever be enough to fix it.

You were perpetually on the verge of tears.

-

Family members kept asking where he was, why he wasn’t joining for dinner. You had no rational answers.

Only your mother understood implicitly what was going on, and even she didn’t know the whole truth.

-

What was the truth?

————————————————————

To be continued…

No clue when or if this thing will be finished. Not sure anyone will care to read it or if I’ll even want them to… 🫣

Low pressure tags to post a snippet of a WIP if you’re so inclined: @court-jobi @sytortuga @the-kittylorian-writes @grogusmum

[urfavmafioso]

most likely deleting this post later

my mum might have to help me get a restraining order because i am being harassed by a girl and her mental mother who encourages insane behaviour.

this girl who i thought would be my first ever real life female friend (cause i’m a lonely homeschooler, i put up a post on a homeschool facebook page stating i wanted a friend) she ended up insanely backstabbing me and my mum is very upset/shocked.

that girl and her mother went out of their way to harass me again from another phone number after i blocked them. she was making fun of my appearance, making terribly rude/jealous statements, used my past sad memories against me and tried to make people hate me. she even started talking rudely about my mum and my cousin angie which we took very personally.

last time i saw the girl, she started angrily yelling and humiliating me for “not cooking for her” even though my mum already had snacks layed out for her. my mum quickly started cooking before she gets more angry at us. she even started to constantly make fun of our house for being “old and dusty”. my mum didn’t like that comment.

we never expected her to turn like this because she seemed genuine and nice. my mum is literally panicking and hoping that girl and her mum don’t show up to our house to try start trouble. they have done some insane things in the past (such as her mother causing harm to the dad and ripping people off for money).

i wish i never made that facebook post saying i wanted a friend, i’d rather go back to being lonely than deal with a psychotic fake friend who backstabbed the crap out of my family and me. i already had trust issues but this truly worsened it.

i tried going to a youth centre to make a new friend but they were really mean and excluding. the area i live in isn’t safe in general and has a lot of criminal kids. i really hope my social life can properly happen when i become an adult one day because this teenage nonexistent social life has been ruining my mental health, especially after this situation.

i needed to get this off my chest, the girl doesn’t know what tumblr is or what a fandom is or anything about modern internet culture so yeah, i can let my feelings out here

[maxwellsuperbien]

Reminiscing & Sketching

I'm currently working on my portfolio and was thinking about what started my desire to work in art and when I started doing so. I guess other people approaching 30 y-o also think a lot about their past.

I believe my presence on the internet started in 2010, when I was 13 y-o. I created an account on Facebook because my favorite cousin moved there and wasn't on Skype anymore.

I was a naïve, sensitive, insecure, undiagnosed and bullied child. Friendships then weren't very good, I was constantly reprimanded for symptoms of my ADHD and probable autism.

However, I won't talk too in depth about it. I'm just giving context about how risky it was for me to have a presence online (less risky than nowadays though).

Back then, I hesitated between becoming an animal scientist or an artist. I think what made me chose the latter (apart from being bad at math) was the desire to share what I did. I used to show what I drew to my "friends" and my art teacher.

I wasn't confident, but I knew I had fun sketching and some pretty good skills. So I went ahead, created my online persona and started to display my art. I tried to gain more followers in the hope to find more people like me, who were passionate about drawing, make friends... I didn't go as far as 80 people until I went on Instagram, in 2016 (it was easy then, just had to post everyday and add the right tags).

I still don't have online ART friends, I wish I knew the steps to have mutuals become friends in a non-creepy way (I also know many minors are more active on social medias and I don't intend on befriending them, I'm 27, that's not appropriate). So most of my online friends are geeks (Wow ! Geeks on the internet ? Nobody would have guessed ! /s) but it's not the same as talking to people who know more about art.

Regardless of all that yapping, I'm still very much into sharing my sketches so here's a bunch of them.

[brehaaorgana]

You still do not understand the point. You are not Black. Therefore your analysis of the situation is not warranted or needed. You should instead, reblog Black bloggers, repost (with credit and links) from Black users of other social media and donate to Black people in need. Adding another non Black voice on the topic of antiblack racist violence is never helpful. You are not the exception.

Okay, so first, I think this is inherently going to be a difficult conversation since you're anonymous.

second, I think we're talking past each other here, and genuinely, I'm not really sure why you think it's unhelpful for me to tell non-black people to stop and ask themselves some questions about a call by a non-black person to go watch a black woman be murdered by the police. I didn't make a huge callout post or demand anything or insist anything.

this is i guess point three, but: in all my time in the world thus far, it has been understood that I, as a non-black person, should tell my fellow non-black people when they don't have the right to decide something or say something or demand something regarding antiblackness or black people.

Like...genuinely, did we stop doing "Somebody come get your cousin?" on the social justice internet in the last decade for some reason?

Was I NOT supposed to say anything when fellow non-black people were trying to make choices/claims/whatever that aren't theirs to make, because we're not black? am i not, as a non-black person, supposed to speak up if i see something potentially problematic about non-black people's behavior towards violence against black people, particularly police brutality and murder, and ask them to THINK ABOUT IT?

also this is just....a Real Take. Like.

i've had my literal (mexican-american, cop) uncle blocked on facebook since Freddie Gray was murdered in 2015 because I told him he was being antiblack, which he was.

was i supposed to just phone a black friend to do the emotional labor of telling him he was being antiblack since non-black people can't speak on the topic of antiblack racist violence? That's sort of what you're implying here.

anyways anon i edited my other post, so here you are:

Black Voices on the topic of Viral videos of Police Killings of Black People:

PBS: White people don’t understand the trauma of viral police-killing videos by Dr. Monnica Williams.

Al Jazeera: Videos of police brutality can perpetuate Black trauma — The wanton display of footage of violent Black deaths re-traumatises Black communities and promotes racist tropes.

Sage Perspectives: When Black Death Goes Viral: How Algorithms of Oppression (Re)Produce Racism and Racial Trauma

Jstor Daily: Viral Black Death: Why We Must Watch Citizen Videos of Police Violence

This whole book: Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism

What to Consider before Watching Videos of Police Brutality

the New Republic: What Does Seeing Black Men Die Do for You? (Apparently re-titled as: Videos of Police Killings Are Numbing Us to the Spectacle of Black Death)

NPR's Codeswitch: A Decade Of Watching Black People Die

hope that works.

edit -- also for context my full comments:

brehaaorgana

2h

Genuinely (as someone who has handled graphic original photo print documentation of genocide/war crimes before)*** I don't see a reason to make a spectacle of a video recording of a black woman's murder by cops in order to understand what happened. It's just not necessary to do. Being a direct eyewitness to this kind of thing is not always necessary or even something desired by surviving family/community/friends.

bolding my own. Generals and specifics my own.

Someone replied:

I mostly agree with you, but I do think there's something to be said about how disconnected most of us feel from these issues, I think sometimes it does help to actually see it, if you can handle it, and if it's done respectfully with intent to educate. I have a lot of thoughts on this that won't fit in a reply.

My response:

that's fair, I also have a lot of thoughts that won't fit in a reply. Another (less about ethics) concern I had was jury contamination when this goes to court. But in general I think it's not…great to encourage people to make a spectacle of black people being murdered, especially in the US, & especially given the horrific history of using black murders as a recreational visual consumption activity by non-black ppl in the US. basically I would say there's a lot of questions I believe ppl need to ask of themselves if they do this. "who decides if, how, and when it is respectful for you/me to watch someone's murder? How does seeing it in the wild on the internet ensure an educational understanding? How is watching a black murder today different from when people made souvenir photos of black lynchings in the past? What makes it different? Does watching murder teach me something new? like ultimately I don't need an answer from anyone or even your answer specifically. That's all hypotheticals. but there's a huge amount of labor, ethical & legal guidelines, praxis theory & usually multiple degreed people that goes into things like "presenting [community traumas and state violence] the Atlantic Slave Trade or Holocaust or Trail of Tears in meaningful, educational, and respectful contexts" and ppl encouraging folks watching a horrific murder online aren't…engaging in any of that.

Someone else just replied to me:

@brehaaorgana thank you so much for sharing your thoughts in such a thoughtful, understanding, & appropriately serious manner. You never admonished but you certainly didn't mince your words/hold back from implying that this is anything but superfluous, unnecessary, and garish. Watching is nothing but gawking, when details and precise relaying of the event exists. One doesn't need to watch to understand that the cop is repellent & unqualified to be armed w/ authority. I don't care how much it helps you to "engage"; you've now admitted that you're watching the butchering of a human life for a self-serving purpose, even if that purpose is part of an otherwise commendable effort to remain informed and critical.

idk i feel pretty okay saying i, personally, am wary of personally making a spectacle of black people being murdered by police.

***I've obviously been to holocaust museums, native american museums, black american history museums, and so on, but I am referring specifically here to personally handling albums of photos taken and developed by Japanese soldiers during World War II while working in a museum research context.

[reelovesbuckybarnes]

I cannot dare post this selfie of me on my Facebook my cousins and some of my late father's cousins and their children (including my mom,sister and brother) will freak out cos i am wearing a sleeveless sweater.

So i am posting it on here for all you lovely followers that are still my best friends on here and for sticking with me too .

I have now put up another selfie on my Facebook but i am wearing a demin jacket on my profile on there ,so yeah...

Hope that you all like it 🥰.

[samkat10423]

It will soon be Easter and this needs to be said. My cousin posted this over on Facebook, and I promised to share it here. Please do NOT use living creatures as disposable "toys." They have feelings and deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.

I euthanized your duck today….You know....the duckling you got for Easter to celebrate spring? Well, he barely made it into summer. You thought he was cute when he was little, but before he was fully an adult, you took him to a pond somewhere and dumped him where he had no one to make sure he got proper food, no one to put him up at night so he could be safe from predators, no one to keep him from harm.

So, 'harm' found him. There are many bad things that happen to domestic ducks that are dumped in ponds. I could list all those things and even show photos of the various conditions that I have seen as kind people rescued ducks like yours and brought them to me for care. But the good people who who properly care for all of their pets don't need to have those awful images in their heads. Having seen them all and having worked hard to save them, I cannot EVER get those images out of my head.

YOUR duck had many problems, including being bone thin. But he got wounds on his feet and the bacteria entered his young body and found a place to settle in the joint of his leg. The bacteria grew into a huge knot of infection that painfully ate away at the ligaments and tendons and then attacked both ends of the bones at that joint. The bone infection, which could have easily been corrected if you'd been there to watch over him, instead, grew unchecked and disintegrated the bones and began working out in both directions to the point that the leg swung freely at the joint. To walk, your duck stepped painfully on that leg anyway and the bottom part of the leg bent at odd angles from the site of the infection, looking as if it were broken.

Many people walked by your duck. Some noticed and kept on walking.

I took your duck to the vet where we did a series of xrays at my expense to see if there was any hope to save this duck. Your duck wasn't even old enough to quack properly. When he was afraid, he still peeped. It broke my heart to hear him peep. However, there was no reasonable way to save that leg. He was not even at his full adult weight and ducks can't hop around on just one leg. So I was not going to condemn him to further suffering and a lifetime of issues by just removing his bad leg, especially when there are not enough homes for the healthy ducks that people didn't want. So we set him free from his body that could not properly support him.

I held his head while the drugs made him sleepy. I kissed his head and apologized for all the bad things that had happened to him in his very short life. I was there when he took his last breath, when the pain and suffering finally left him forever. I was there......you were not. It should have been you seeing the effects of dumping him and walking away. His loss broke my heart. Did you even notice his loss in your life?

I promised as he slowly slipped away that I would not let his death go unnoticed.

I promised to share his story and perhaps change people’s minds of buying ducklings, chicks, and bunnies as temporary living toys for children. If someone wants a duck or chicken or rabbit and plans to keep it for its ENTIRE LIFE, then go ahead and get a duckling, chick, or bunny. And better yes, if you DO want an adult version of any of those, then adopt from a rescue. And DO expect to be thoroughly questioned as to your plans for caring for your new pet. But if you don't want an adult of those species, then don't buy the baby version.....because the little known fact is that baby things grow up into adult things.

Please join with me to share this message to anyone that you know who still gives temporary living toys to their children (or themselves)......NO EASTER PETS. They are not toys. They are living creatures. And dumping unwanted domestic ducks into public ponds where there will be no one to care for them is illegal in most areas and even so, it's morally wrong. I've tried for YEARS to get this message out in a nice, polite way. As I cried my pool of tears over this duck, I've come to realize that people aren't listening. So I'm going to be sharing more of these stories and their faces in the hopes that these messages start reaching the people who are making this whole 'Easter' industry of suffering continue. If people don't buy, then stores won't sell, then breeders won't breed, and the suffering stops. Please help me get the word out.

[animalsandskyyy]

my cousin just posted about her 5 year wedding anniversary

which is weird

because I was there

and legitimately cannot believe that was 5 years ago

time is weird

because I was 15 then

and I started remembering how I was going through an entire gay/ace identity crisis at the time

and I went and looked at my photos from that time

and I was a baby

who was at this wedding with her family

and writing sad and longing poetry

about how she wanted to dance with a girl there

but didn’t

and I just feel so bad for her

because I want better for her

and like mentally and life-experience wise, I’m in a better place than her

but not really

i’m still not out in any way shape or form anywhere, except for the internet

and I can’t even talk about my feelings or identity without feeling uncomfortable and shutting down

i’m still desperately longing for love and devotion

and although I wouldn’t actually start doing so until i was 16, i’m still shitposting on tumblr about these things

i’m still longingly hoping for some kind of love and connection in the future, with no way to actually attain it

and it’s weird

poor baby grace

i, young adult grace, need to do better for her sake

but how

idk

posting this sure as hell doesn’t help

but it cleared my mind

and is reminiscent of how my mother writes posts on facebook

…fuck

….

the end

[gabekidd]

People sure are acting like goddamn idiots

It's too much to even get into or waste effort on, but I need to fucking vent.

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that DJT made some absolutely insane decisions day 1 in office that I'm convinced he KNOWS won't be upheld. He's just signing EOs as fucking ragebait, which is so incredibly unethical, dangerous, and legitimately insane.

Well, along comes my Trump-supporting cousin to say, "Kind of like how Biden pardoned his family even though they 'did nothing wrong'?"

....

It took me about 15 minutes to figure out how I wanted to respond. And all I said was, "No, not like that. Not like that at all."

She didn't respond to me. But she did respond to one of our mutual friends who told her that Trump is acting like a tyrant. But her response was bowing out because she "doesn't want to start shit."

She then got rightfully ratioed by one of my friends from back in my wrestling Twitter days for starting shit and then saying she didn't want to start shit.

That's some spineless, ignorant bullshit. But then there's what my dumb ass nephew (by marriage) did.

I'm paraphrasing, but my husband made a post about how he's shocked and disturbed by how many people are showing their true racist, ignorant, hateful colors now that DJT is back in office.

Well, our dumb ass nephew came along with an irrelevant, deliberately obtuse comment about how no one in politics has cared about the people since the '60s. My husband responded that while it's true that politics in this country have taken a nosedive, only one party is out in public doing fucking Nazi salutes and celebrating fascists being pardoned from committing domestic acts of terrorism.

It devolved from there, with our dumb ass nephew telling my husband that he was parroting the media and continuing to try to give him a history lesson in politics, including bringing up that Germany prospered under Hitler.

...

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, sure. Economically, Germany prospered under Hitler. BUT THAT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU BRING UP IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT OUR FELON PRESIDENT EMBOLDENING FASCISTS TO ACT LIKE FASCISTS.

Jfc, dude. More happened after that, but this post long enough. I like(d) my nephew. And I hope he'll wise up once his frontal lobe is fully developed. But Jesus FUCKING h. Christ.

[c0derra4lyfe]

MERRY YAOISMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YURI!!!!!!

GUYS... You'll never believe what my mom got me for Christmas KYAAAAA~~~ she got me a body pillow of CODDEHHHHHH. After 4 months of begging and crying she finally gave in after I posted her chris McLean shrine on Facebook and used it against her LAWL. #BLESSEDGAL

I got sm stuff from everyone ;-; but I got even more thangs for CODEH. Hope he likes it TvT cuz I didn't hop down his chimney while everyone was sleeping 4 NOTHING... I even got another chunk of hair from him :3 and a pair of underwear... And some socks... And his toothbrush... ANYWAY ;-;

THIS CHRISTMAS WAS #AMAZING

K baiii #visiting distant family... MY YURILICOUS COUSIN IS HER #muhluhmuh

[wild-oats-and-cornflowers]

My brothers' roommate recently asked me to become the guardian of his cat. Their landlord doesn't allow cats, and his cousin is no longer able to keep the cat for him. I said I would think about it, but in the end I asked my parents if they would take the cat instead (they are considering it and are going to go and meet the cat tomorrow to see if it seems like a kitty they could get along with.) The roommate wanted me to take it on because he saw how well I used to take care of Marcus and wanted that kind of care for his boy. (I learned how to care for a cat from my mother, so if they do take kitty in he will live like a little prince anyway.)

The thought of having a cat that wasn't Marcus in my house made me way too sad - even though it wouldn't be my cat, it would still be taking up the place that was Marcus' place, and I still can't handle that thought even though it's been almost a year and a half since he disappeared. I am still actively looking for him every time I go out to my hometown, putting up posters, checking facebook pages/Nextdoor posts/the ring camera neighbors app/local shelter pages. There are hella feral/stray cats living and thriving in the area so his former-feral-kitten ass may still be out there. I would love to befriend roommate's kitty and I hope my parents take it in (if they do, I probably will end up bringing it for visitation to the boys' house sometimes.) I can't think of bringing another cat to live in my house, though. If I still had Marcus, I might have said "maybe if we can get them to get along, I can take him," but I can't do it as things stand. It makes me too sad.

this stripy boy is the roommate's cat. A beautiful baby but not my baby

[turtlecleric]

assumption - others have said in need of a hug (yes true) but also,

may not have been praised in the way that you deserved growing up and instead others tried to dim your light because they were envious or wanted to see you fail (->im here to tell you they suck ass. you're everything and more; skilled; determined; worthy; and i love you so so much and i am so so proud of you)

Did you know that I would die for you? Did you know that I love you so goddamn much? Did you?

This is way too much personal info that no one actually cares to know, probably, but. I'm sort of avoiding work on purpose at the moment and I'm having a really rough day. Who needs therapy when you have asks on Tumblr to rant in? (I'm joking, to be clear. Actual therapy is so valuable and important if you manage to find a competent professional who clicks well with you. The only reason I stopped going is because of Covid, time, and money.)

Warning: VERY long vent ahead, please do not feel obligated to read or respond

My dad was really good about praising me in ways that felt genuine, actually, though that made the times he /was/ upset with me all that much worse. My dad isn't perfect, and he's done some things and said some things that I'll never forgive, that I'll never be able to forget, but I would also do anything for him. I know he's there for me when I need it, I know he'll answer when I call, I know that he actually cares about me. He and maybe like two cousins are the only family I would never be able to cut off.

My mom... I guess it was just sort of the baseline bare minimum expectation that I would do things well, so when I /was/ praised it was just like... oh, good job sweetie! Proud of you! But it didn't feel... I don't know how to describe why but... I don't know. Now, when people tell me I do things well I always have that voice in my head that's like "they're just being nice, they don't actually think it's all that great, they expected you to do a much better job than this, actually, why did you even bother sharing? Why did you think this was something to be proud of?" I read way too far into things, interpreting neutral reactions, or even positive reactions that aren't as enthusiastic as I might have hoped for, as proof that people are simply being nice and don't really like what I do or make or say all that much. I always get stuck in this mindset that I'm not allowed to create mediocre content, like it all has to be Excellent or else it's Terrible.

I also remember in high school, posting some drawings on Facebook that I was really proud of. Two drawings, one with hands in chains and cut up and the other with healed hands glowing with holy light and cradling a cross. It was supposed to show the difference between life without God and life with God (I was... VERY religious as a teenager. I am now agnostic.), but she saw the first picture and freaked out, super pissed, yelling at me to take it down, to not embarrass her like that, because people were going to see that and think I was abused or depressed or something (haha... me? Depressed? Nahhhhh). And that was the moment when I knew I could never ever ever share anything even remotely dark with her, that if I ever were to express something that indicated I was anything other than good and happy and perfect then she would react similarly. She's also very judgemental regarding mental health, often made comments about how "people who are/do x are sick, there's just something wrong with them, make sure you stay away from people like that" while I'm sitting on the couch like... oof. That's me. So all my venting went to Tumblr where she couldn't see, and even now I mostly only vent on Tumblr and through writing. I have many wonderful friends that would gladly allow me to vent to them (I love you all so much I love you I love you I love you, thank you for being so kind), but I simply Cannot. I've had a friend before where it felt like all they did was complain, they were always so goddamn negative, and it became a chore to talk to them. I started to get angry every time they said or did something defeatist, I stopped enjoying talking or hanging out with them, and I refuse to be that person. Even if I'm told over and over that I don't come across that way, I'm so terrified of it that when I think about reaching out I start to think of that friend and about how I shouldn't bother people and I panic. Unless I've gotten to the point where I truly believe that nothing I do or say will ruin the friendship, then it's really hard to push through that fear. But that's so much harder than it used to be because I /did/ lose a friend that I thought I would have literally for the rest of my life, I was so 100% confident that we would be 80 years old still hanging out with each other and goofing around, so sure we could go through anything together and stay friends, I knew in my heart and soul that we would be friends until we died, and I was wrong. I was wrong. I also had a different friend who was always there for me, always praised me, always listened to me when I needed it and told me kind things and made sure I felt welcome and loved and viewed positively, and then he fucking assaulted me one night when he thought I was asleep.

Anyway. When I /did/ fail at things growing up, it was either punished more severely than necessary or straight up laughed at. Mom was very hot and cold, too, you could never tell what kind of mood she was going to be in that day. (She is still like this. It's well known in my family that you never know which version of her you're going to get.) Things are fine one moment and then suddenly I'm in trouble for something I didn't even realize I did wrong (like with the drawings), so I'm just. Terrified of not doing well enough at things, of disappointing people, of people being annoyed with me or upset with me over something I didn't even realize was rude or mean or wrong to begin with.

"Don't overstay your welcome; don't bother people" was pounded into my head. I can't express how often I start to say or type something and then think, "No one cares. Stop bothering people. You're being too much, you're being annoying, they're tired of you, just keep it to yourself." I'm working on it but. Yeah. Half the time I still just stop talking or backspace and stay quiet. Even typing this, I'm like... you should delete this. You're basically just begging for attention, and if anyone says anything about this to you then it'll only be because they felt obligated to and they're going to start seeing you as a whiny, pathetic, manipulative person, and they're going to get tired of you and roll their eyes every time you say anything, even if it's not you venting, or they'll see this and think about how stupid or weird it is for you to put this information out on the internet, and even this sentence right here is proof that they'd be right because you're aware of all these thoughts and you're still doing it.

But then another part of me thinks that if I can't even vent on my own blog on a post that literally no one is required to read that is also hidden under a readmore and clearly states that it's a vent post, then where /can/ I vent? And if someone else posted this, would I be this harsh on them? And what's so wrong with seeking attention and comfort? Why is that unforgivable in yourself but admirable in others? Why are you crying at work? Why aren't you doing your job? Why aren't you better? Why aren't you better?