#live in the divine history

[saydesole]

Our story is forever

Black is history

History is Black ✊🏿

[blackisdivine]

BLACK LIVES MATTER ❤

Artwork source: https://www.instagram.com/kenslerb/?img_index=1

[eleanor-arroway]

“The job is the unquestioned goal for all free citizens of the world – the ultimate public good. It is the clearly stated exit goal of all education and the only sanctioned reason for acquiring knowledge. But if we think about it for a moment, jobs are not what we want. We want shelter, food, strong relationships, a livable habitat, stimulating learning activity, and time to perform valued tasks in which we excel. I don’t know of many jobs that will allow access to more than two or three of those things at a time, unless you have a particularly benevolent owner or employer.

I am often told that I should be grateful for the progress that Western civilization has brought to these shores. I am not. This life of work-or-die is not an improvement on preinvasion living, which involved only a few hours of work a day for shelter and sustenance, performing tasks that people do now for leisure activities on their yearly vacations: fishing, collecting plants, hunting, camping, and so forth. The rest of the day was for fun, strengthening relationships, ritual and ceremony, cultural expression, intellectual pursuits, and the expert crafting of exceptional objects. I know this is true because I have lived like this, even in this era where the land is only a pale shadow of the abundance that once was. We have been lied to about the “harsh survival” lifestyles of the past. There was nothing harsh about it. If it was so harsh – such a brutish, menial struggle for existence – then we would not have evolved to become the delicate, intelligent creatures that we are.”

- Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World

[fluffytimearts]

Happy black history month ya'll!!!

[bestworstcase]

something something "your mother said those words to me" being the cruelest retort salem can think of when ruby upsets her

ruby shatters trying to be who summer was and now she's trying to put herself back together with "i'll be who you were and i'll be even more"

salem's father punishes her for her mother's death in childbirth by imprisoning her literally in her mother's "favorite place" and treating salem herself as a proxy, an inadequate replacement for her mother with no personhood of her own.

(the way ruby's self-identity is so distorted by the reflection of summer is in itself a fractal repetition of salem's story; of course salem is both the one who "took [her] mother" and the one who cracks the mirror)

[ep-voiceofreason]

Day 3: Kerry James Marshall

I find Mr. Marshall's work to be an exciting way to discuss positive representation. Showing the line between artwork intended to reclaim something that can be seen as problematic for a positive message, and that in which is contextually damaging.

Kerry James Marshall depicts his forms powerfully in vivid black tones in beautiful representational scenery. Outside of visual context, and compositional elements, his goal was to reclaim those labels against him for his own use. To bury the canon of damage through recontextualization with his own hands. "Here I am, Black and proud no matter how you see me". There is no left on him, no fear, only understanding and power.

Reminds me of a lot of modern-day discussions about using reclaimed slurs, or racial gestures in the hands those things were used against. Outside of my personal opinions of such talks, I think it's important that oppressed voices are leading these discussions. These topics have no place for those not in the insider group here. Doesn't matter if it makes you uncomfortable, scared, or disgusted. This is ours now, and you can't take that away from us. We decide how it will be used, not you.

Learning about Kerry and his art is very insightful. It teaches us to own our differences that others see as "weaknesses" as badges of honor. Because WE should have the final say if those perceived differences are weaknesses, or in most cases, things that make us powerful; that make us beautiful. Fuck the system, we can exist outside of that which is imposed upon us.

The Interview

"All of our expectations are calibrated in one way or another against that codified narrative of art history. So that's the system..."

[iamtyraash]

Every great dream begins with a dreamer Happy Black History Month!!

[extreme-technicality]

Happy new year everybody, I just showed my roommate the fellowship of the ring for the first time in his life and yes I infodumped over most of it :D

[fshoulders]

Hate to be the odd cis woman who can’t stop thinking about Ancient Rome, but…if you think misogyny cannot affect people who aren’t female, I invite you to take a Roman history class. Or just read Plutarch’s Lives.

There are two sticks* that are used to beat men with and try to make them conform to a largely unattainable (and under Empire, increasingly unrewarding) ideal of Roman Manhood. One is “Eastern/Greek/effete”. The other is “womanly”. They are absolutely cut from the same tree, and you can see how one amplifies into the other. Look at the widespread story that Julius Caesar bottomed for King Nicomedes (the Romans differentiated a man penetrating another man — not approved of, but just pervy and outré — and being penetrated and thus totally disgraced, debased, and ruined), shorthanded in the epithet ‘Queen of Bithynia’. You might also look at the elaborate stories where Cleopatra (an Eastern, ethnically Greek, sexually aggressive woman in power, the nightmare!) not only made Mark Anthony abandon Rome and Romanness, but unmanned him through cross-dressing, et cetera. These stories are probably made up, but they’re made up to demonstrate values, and lack thereof: this is what a man shouldn’t be. This is why Catullus responded to ‘kinda girly of you to write poetry’…the way he did. (Content note on Catullus 16 for rape threats!)

The worst thing a man can be, according to Roman culture, is a woman. Rome is in the DNA of the modern (imperial!) world. And misogyny still works this way.

The idea that misogyny, ‘the hatred of women’ — the poisoned tree around which patriarchy’s house is built, its family lineage, its root and foundation — can only be used against women, or against people you recognize as women by your own criteria, is astonishingly blinkered. It assures you will continue living in the ashes of the master’s hearth forever. This doesn’t mean that misogyny stops hurting women for a moment. We’re still the stick. When the blow lands, the ‘woman’ stick and the beaten target both feel the impact!

But it does mean that if we want to uproot the tree of patriarchy and stop living in its noisome shadow, cis and trans women need to ally with trans men, with men who have sex with men, with gender-non-conforming men, with men with girly hobbies, with people who are men maybe twice a week, with people who default to ‘woman’ or ‘man’ but don’t really feel it strongly, with non-binary people, with every erased gender, with none-of-the-aboves. With everyone who’s willing to acknowledge the bruises of patriarchy on their flesh and say ‘no more’. It’s going to take, not a village; but the scum, underclass, rebels, dreamers, and discontents of an entire world-empire.

If that makes you feel less SPECIAL? That misogyny permeates a system of oppression that hurts basically everyone? Then maybe you only wanted to feel special, and didn’t want to attack the root at all. That doesn’t sound very radical.

[bijoumikhawal]

Rotating siskarak in my mind again

[blackisdivine]

Celebrating Black History ✊🏿

[katiep18]

Our ancestors never died but rather were reborn, generation after generation, always keeping their secrets with them until now; they are us.

[mindfulldsliving]

Discovering Your Purpose in God’s Work: Insights from Joseph Smith — History 1:27–33

NOTE TO READER: Be sure to download the PDF document attached at the end of this post. It includes the content of the post along with a study guide using the inductive scripture study method. Please consider making a donation by leaving a tip as a thank you for the study guide. Latter-day Saint Christians possess a unique role where the Gospel of Jesus Christ invites all people to come unto…

[innovativejunction]

Sunlit Reverence: Celebrating Chhath Puja, the Ancient Festival of Devotion

Sunlit Reverence: Celebrating Chhath Puja, the Ancient Festival of Devotion As dawn breaks over the riverbanks of Bihar and the plains of northern India and Nepal, a beautiful, ancient tradition comes to life – Chhath Puja. This festival honours the Sun God (Surya) and his sister, Chhathi Maiya, embodying themes of purity, gratitude, and resilience. My own memory of this celebration is rich with…

[compassionmattersmost]

Understanding the Roots of Religious Tensions: A Historical Perspective on Divine Righteousness Across Cultures

As we embark on our journey through the Caravan of Love: Interfaith Healing & Harmony, it’s essential to explore the historical and cultural contexts that have shaped the way different religions view the divine. One of the most significant sources of tension between religious traditions has been the concept of idol worship and the worship of multiple gods. However, when we delve deeper into the…