#webinar end of life

[momlovesyoubest]

A Good End of Life- Deliver it-Sign Up for my Free Webinar

Good End of Life Deliver a Good End of Life- Add Death and Dying to Your Care Management Agency FIND OUT MORE  Serve Your Client Until Death Do You Part Want to Deliver a Good End of Life? Join me,on February 25, 2025, & learn why End of Life Services Are a perfect service for care managers  Learn to Deliver End of Life Services in 1 ½ -hour webinar You will learn how to serve Your Client…

[astroismypassion]

✨PART OF FORTUNE IN SIGNS AND HOUSES SERIES: 5TH HOUSE✨

Credit goes to astrology blog @astroismypassion

ARIES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aries and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via attending sport events, competitions, through creative pursuits and creative self-expression. You may also earn money with your personality, you are very lively and animated, so people love to watch you and know what you are up to. You feel the most abundant when you discover new hobbies, develop a new fresh start (or crush haha), when you have more spare time and when you educate yourself in a new topic.

TAURUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Taurus and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via event planning, organising, hosting, party planning or catering, preparing snacks, meals for gatherings. You may also feel the wealthiest when you have financial stability, quality food in your fridge and when you have stable romantic life. You feel most abundant when you treat yourself!

GEMINI PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Gemini and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via being a social media strategist, managing social media for businesses or individuals. You may find wealth through being a motivational speaker, event host or webinar presenter (SpeakerHub).

CANCER PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Cancer and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via hosting events, gatherings at your home. You can help others with making their space more comfortable and stylish. Maybe even therapy, counseling, holistic healing or wellness coaching. You may also find wealth in wedding planning, creating content about home, family and emotional well-being profitable. Investment in creative ventures comes to mind with this placements, such as investing in art, theater productions.

LEO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via motivational speaking, social media influencing, podcasting which can leverage your ability to captivate an audience. You may also be abundant in fitness training, managing sports teams, directing, producing or talent management. You feel abundant when you can use your creative vision and when you are being appreciated for it.

VIRGO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Pisces and Cancer Sun people in your life. You could make money via content creation, copywriting, tehnical writing, editing manuscripts, personal training, yoga instruction, wellness coaching, jewelry making, pottery, party organizing, wedding coordination, event planning. You can find satisfaction and financial reward in childcare, early childhood education or running educational programs, managing administrative tasks for clients.

LIBRA PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Libra and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via matchmaking services, relationship coaching, writing romance novels, creating children's content (books, shows, games for children). You could find abundance in public relations, human resources or via a role in non-profits and community organizations. Working with high-end luxury goods. You may find wealth in teaching, workshops or mentorship programs. You can also do creative writing, whether it's novels, screenplays or content creation for media.

SCORPIO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Scorpio and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via painting, sculpting, writing, filmmaking, music, psychology, counseling, therapy, alternative medicine, energy healing, working as a physical or occupational therapist. Since it's the sig nof Scorpio sex therapy, intimacy coaching or writing about sexual health can be rewarding. You can find abundance in child psychology, working with troubled youth or creating transformative educational content.

SAGITTARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Sagittarius and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via acting, performing, hosting travel and adventure shows, sports, coaching, recreational activities. You could find abundance in planning events, such as cultural festivals, adventure trips, educational seminars, writing a book, creating a documentary or working in the broadcast media.

CAPRICORN PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Capricorn and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via leadership in creative fields (managing a theater company, leading a marketing team or directing artistic projects, industrial design, graphic design or non-fiction, self-help, educational content. You find abundant when you are working on a productive, pragmatic project in your free time.

AQUARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aquarius and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via avant-garde art, experimental music, cutting-edge design, digital media, software development, game design, creatine innovative apps and tech solutions, creating awarenss campaigns, producing media content that addresses social issues. By focusing on activities that allow you to be innovative, embrace originality and contribute to the greater good, you can find both personal fulfillment and financial success.

PISCES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 5TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Pisces and Leo Sun people in your life. You could make money via painting, dance, music, theater, photography, spiritual counseling, energy healing, Reiki, yoga instruction, costume design. You could find financial success as a musician, composer, music therapist, astrology or tarot. You feel personal and financial fulfillment when you connect with others on a deep emotional level and explore your spiritual and imaginative side.

Credit goes to astrology blog @astroismypassion

[fuckyeah-bears]

not that i truly care what rando losers on tumblr dot com think about me but i did just get an obnoxious as fuck message telling me about how internet activism and sharing things online isn't actually activism, trying to shame me into not posting as much or "torturing myself" by watching and sharing pictures and videos of what's going on in gaza. and it pissed me off enough to say this:

One, Palestinians have asked people to share and boost their content. That is a direct fucking ask from people in Gaza and Palestinians around the world. I will keep watching and sharing these photos and videos because it is what we have been asked to do by the people who are themselves experiencing genocide. Yes, it is depressing, yes it emotionally and mentally fucks me up. 100%. But i will keep doing it.

Two, literally none of you have ANY fucking idea what i am doing in real life to fight for Palestinian liberation. I don't need anyone on tumblr dot com's validation or approval and i'm certainly not stupid enough to dox myself online when every zionist shitbag, the police, and every employer out there is already trying to do that. but believe me when i say i have dropped pretty much everything else in my life to fight as hard as i fucking can to stop this genocide and work towards the Palestinian liberation.

Three, everyone needs to be doing shit in real life to fight to end the genocides going on right now. Only posting online does not count as activism, true. So take your conversations offline as well. Talk to people you know about Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. Read books and learn the histories. Write to and/or call your elected officials and government leaders and even the fucking bureaucrats. Join local solidarity and action groups working towards Palestinian liberation: Dissenters; DSA; JVP; SJP; AMP; IfNotNow are all US based groups that have local state chapters (idk too many groups outside of the US, sorry international friends). Participate in BDS, personally boycotting brands yourself, demanding your schools, workplaces, organizations, institutions, and governments divest from Israel. Attend rallies and protests and disruptions and vigils. Write to your local, state, and larger newspapers and demand they cover this genocide without bias, call them out for their shitty zionist reporting; write op-eds and letters to the editors. Sign up for webinars. If you can't leave the house or attend in-person events, you can make signs and banners for people and groups who can go. Start or join a campaign to pass a ceasefire resolution in your town/city; testify at town/city council or public comment about it & write to your local elected leaders. Donate to Palestinian and and relief orgs and charities if you can. And yeah, keep fucking sharing and uplifting and boosting Palestinian posts and voices online. The media is trying to repress the fuck out of them, so you we need to do our part to make sure their voices are seen and heard as widely and as loudly as possible.

And four, don't be a pretentious dick to strangers on the internet. You don't know shit about what people are doing in their real lives. This is just common fucking courtesy

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

[pinkkop]

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide:

Spare Me Your Mercy vs. real life

@elimstilnotgarak has got me thinking about Spare Me Your Mercy and specifically euthanasia again so while everyone is talking about how the screenwriter Lux talked about NC scenes in their interview I wanted to talk about something completely different that stood out to me when I read the interview for the first time (other than the NC scene talk), which is this section:

"Euthanasia doesn’t mean you can request an injection to die simply because you’re tired of life. Even in Europe, where euthanasia is legal, there are strict requirements. You must have a certified medical condition specified in the law, endorsed by at least two medical specialists, and the illness must be truly incurable and that you are waiting for death. The purpose of this law is to prevent these individuals from suffering. Instead of suffering for another year, they can die. It's not about being bored with life or lazy to live or not liking yourself when you're old, so you let them inject you with a lethal dose. They don't do that. Many people misunderstand that if you don't want to live, you can go for euthanasia."

The thing is, euthanasia in the form shown and talked about in the show isn't legal in the majority of Europe. Only 5 countries in Europe have legal "Active voluntary euthanasia" which is what Dr. Kan practices and the rest of Europe (except for a couple of micro nations) only have legal "Passive euthanasia" (refusal of treatment / withdrawal of life support)(source: Wikipedia).

I found this particularly interesting because Switzerland is not one of those countries. This made me want to dig further because as long as I can remember media has always been portraying Switzerland as the place where you go if you want to die.

Like in the movie "Me Before You" Sam Claflin's character goes to Switzerland at the end because he doesn't want to live as someone paralyzed from the neck down anymore and even in the BL Every You, Every Me Top's character is going to Switzerland in episode 3, which was the moment I knew episode 4 was going to be really sad because even if they didn't say it explicitly I guessed why he was going to specifically Switzerland.

So why is it that Switzerland seems to have an image of being the place you go if you want to die legally?

It turns out that what IS legal in Switzerland is assisted suicide which has been legal there for over 40 years but even assisted suicide is only legal in 6 countries in Europe in total, if you only count the countries where it's both legal, legislated and regulated (source: Wikipedia).

Switzerland is one of the few places that allow assisted suicide for non-resident foreigners and I'm assuming this is why Switzerland has the mentioned reputation.

If you're curious about the specifics of euthanasia and assisted suicide and how it is enacted in countries like Switzerland I found a really interesting webinar/talk on youtube where a Swiss Palliative Care Doctor talks about her experience with assisted suicide in Switzerland hosted by a Canadian human-rights charity Dying With Dignity Canada in 2022. I found it super insightful and I would highly recommend watching/listening to it because they get into a lot of specifics about how it works in the real world and since the guest is a Swiss doctor and the organization is Canadian you get a broader focus than just what it's like in Switzerland.

One thing I found particularly interesting about the webinar is how Dr. Erika talks about euthanasia (in the form Dr. Kan practices) as if it is not likely to become legal in Switzerland which makes me think that Spare Me Your Mercy and its source book, Euthanasia, should really have been about assisted suicide, but getting into those kinds of details in the book or show would probably not have worked and the book title of Euthanasia is a little cooler than Assisted Suicide 😂

In the small amount of research I've done it also doesn't seem completely clear whether assisted suicide is considered a form of euthanasia but what Dr. Kan does in Spare Me Your Mercy is definitely not helping the patients commit assisted suicide because for that to be the case the patient themselves would need to be administering the lethal dose of medicine.

Hope you found this insightful and I highly recommend doing the dishes while listening to the webinar!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lil Kalish at HuffPost:

The first-ever mobilization of trans voters around a presidential candidate took place on Zoom on Tuesday, as around 1,000 transgender people, including lawmakers, advocates, health care workers and celebrities, logged on to show support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency. Trans Folks For Harris was one of numerous identity-based webinars to support Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month. Over the last few weeks, many LGBTQ+ advocates have embraced Harris, touting her decadeslong record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, and her decision to make Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who transformed the state into a “trans refuge,” her running mate. This came just after Advocates for Trans Equality released a report showing that 75% of eligible trans voters turned up to the polls in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 67% of the general U.S. population — and that trans voters make up a crucial part of the electorate.

“We know our rights and our progress are on the line, but so is our very sense of belonging,” said Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who was elected as the first openly transgender state senator in the country. If McBride wins her bid for Delaware’s open House seat, she would become the first transgender member of Congress. “We have the opportunity, but more importantly, the responsibility in this election to show a trans young person who fears that the heart of this country is not big enough to love them too, that no matter what extremists say or do, our next president and vice president continue to have their backs,” McBride continued. The Harris-Walz campaign has yet to release any concrete policy plans on civil rights ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, but advocates say Harris and Walz have demonstrated their commitment to supporting LGBTQ+ rights, access to abortion and the rights to bodily autonomy overall. A draft of the Democrats’ platform, which was released in July, outlines their fight to restore reproductive rights, address racial inequalities, and protect democracy.

“It’s a step forward to ensure that trans people, especially Black and Brown trans women, have the representation and the resources they need to live with dignity and pride,” Zahara Bassett, CEO of Chicago trans advocacy organization Life Is Work, said on the call. “We need to make sure that our future is one of equity, justice and liberation for us all.” Harris was one of the first elected officials to publicly back marriage equality in 2004, and she refused to defend Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, in 2008. As a prosecutor, she also led the charge to end the so-called gay and transgender “panic defense,” a legal strategy often used to seek a lesser offense for perpetrators of anti-LGBTQ+ violence or murder by claiming that the victim made same-sex sexual advances. In June 2023, Harris became the first sitting vice president to visit the Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, and the site of the historic 1969 uprising of LGBTQ+ people fighting back against police raids in the New York City bar. And earlier this week, Harris released a video on X outlining how former President Donald Trump vastly restricted LGBTQ+ rights while in office — and how he would do so again if elected. Trump has already promised to roll back several policies, including blocking access to gender-affirming care for minors and rescinding the Biden administration’s Title IX rules that expand protections for transgender students. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, introduced a bill in the upper chamber to criminalize gender-affirming care for trans youth.

[...] Today’s embrace of Harris is in stark contrast to how some LGBTQ+ voters remembered her last bid for president in 2019. Back then, some advocates took issue with Harris’ tenure as a prosecutor for how she pushed for criminal penalties for parents of truant children and which led to the arrest of many Black and brown people. Many also noted how as attorney general, Harris’ office denied an incarcerated trans woman’s request for gender-affirming care. Harris has since apologized and said she takes “full responsibility” for her office’s actions. But still, not all LGBTQ+ voters are convinced. Harris’ support for the Biden administration’s policies towards Israel’s war in Gaza has alienated some of these voters. In the Democratic primaries this year, hundreds of thousands of voters cast “uncommitted” ballots as a form of protest to push for a cease-fire and end U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.

For the first time in American Presidential history, an organized mobilization effort for trans Americans to support Kamala Harris’s Presidency bid has cropped up, featuring a Trans Folks For Harris Zoom call. 🏳️‍⚧️

[booasaur]

When the WCK aid workers were killed, I said nothing would change, they wouldn't get justice, their families wouldn't get justice. There was some noise and I hoped I was wrong, but has anything changed? Was there any kind of justice?

Now we have this situation unfolding:

To attempt to evacuate these doctors, they have to do a trial run to see if Israel will shoot the UN/international aid workers:

Monica Johnston, a nurse volunteering at the hospital, said that a primary concern of those who will be leaving is that new humanitarian workers be allowed in, otherwise the hospital campus is more likely to get overrun by the Israel Defense Forces. The plan, she said, is for the U.N. to do a test run from the hospital to the border Tuesday, only carrying U.N. staff. If those staff are not killed by the IDF — as one international employee was on Monday — then on Wednesday two medical staff will be taken to the border, and two new volunteers will be allowed in to replace them, and so on in coming days.

In the UN vehicle that might have rescued them:

One of the surgeons trapped, in fact, the one who said he'd seen more child amputations in the last two weeks than in his entire career before, saved Tammy Duckworth's life in Iraq 20 years ago.

""Save him." Save him from who? Our ally.

That nurse quoted above about the trial run, Monica Johnston, had more to say in this interview on NPR:

Monica Johnston, a burn nurse from Portland, Ore., had been treating Zain, the 7-year-old patient, since he was admitted last Wednesday with blast injuries that left 90% of his body burned. He never regained consciousness and died early Sunday morning. "When they took him to the morgue to prep his body all his burns were infested with maggots," she said. ' I just want to help. We all just want to help. But we have no tools to do it." ... "I came thinking we could do some good, despite our webinars and preparation explaining how dire the situation was here," said Johnston, a nurse with 20 years of experience. "But as time goes on we're all feeling absolutely useless and helpless and hopeless. It feels like everyone we see in the ICU ends up dying." ... Most of the American medical staff are experienced conflict zone volunteers. This was Johnston's first mission. She said she came because her skills as a burn nurse were needed — but nothing prepared her for the things she would have to do. She said after changing dressings for Zain, the 7-year-old, she decided not to continue the extremely painful process. "You know, I think the local staff understood because I think they've seen that pattern of death. But some of my teammates were taken aback," said Johnston, 44. "It was so hard to get across that it's not that I'm giving up on him. But if I do his dressings as often as they need to, to stay clean, I will deplete our entire wound care resources just on him.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Please for the love of all that is fucking holy, if you're planning of sculpting a doll to sell, TAKE A GODDAMN LIFE DRAWING CLASS. Literally just one class. Too many newbie sculptors out here who want to break the rules, but have no idea what the rules are and we end up with noodle appendages, weirdly lumpy flesh instead of fat and muscle, faces sliding off the skull, propotional horrorterrors and ~more~. Hell, the internet is an amazing resource, I'm sure you can find webinars free on youtube or yohoho it up and get your hands on anartist's anatomy book if you can't afford it. Literally 95% of all critique these artists get would be resolved w/ a basic understanding of human anatomy.

~Anonymous

[sweaterkittensahoy]

what would you think a hallmark-esque fanfic would look like for rosielemmons, and/or Jackharding. I think that both have potential.

Oh, RosieLemmons is big-city lawyer Rosie ends up breaking down driving from the airport to a convention, and tow truck driver and mechanic Ken Lemmons is the one to show up at the side of the road.

Rosie's burned out from working for a big firm, and he was really looking forward to this convention because there were going to be workshops on starting your own firm. He figures he'll get his rental fixed easy enough, and it'll be fine.

But it's the week before the small town festival (Carp Days; Catfish Crawl; something like that), and the whole town basically goes quiet except to get ready for it. Ken promises Rosie he'll have him fixed up in a jiffy, but then it turns out he doesn't have the part he needs, and it's gonna take two days.

Rosie sort of sighs it out and says, "Well, okay, guess I'll get a place to stay."

And Ken has to explain that it's the Gar Jubliee or whatever it's called (I'm not trying to make fun of small town festivals; I grew up with one, and I lived near a place that did Sucker Days, named for the fish. This is all knowing ribbing; I promise). So, no hotel rooms to be found, but hey, his parents have a spare room, just across the hall from his, and his momma works from home, so they've got the manners and the internet connection he needs.

Rosie does his webinars and thinks about what he wants to do with his life as a lawyer, and the third day he's there (the part got delayed by a low-water bridge washing out in a thunderstorm), one of Ken's sisters is over trying to make sense of insurance paperwork because she needs them to pay the accident coverage, but they're saying she went to the wrong hospital. Rosie ends up sorting it out for her, and then neighbors start to show up with similar stuff. It's not that they can't figure it out; it's that Rosie knows the ways the insurance company will try to get out of paying, so he can get it done in about a tenth of the time.

And meanwhile, Gar Jubliee (I've decided that's what it is) is getting set up, and Rosie's really liking everyone he meets, and Ken's just so handsome and so helpful and smart and easy to talk to.

And you see where this goes. Rosie DOES have to go back to New York for awhile to get his affairs in order, but by next Gar Jubliee, Rosenthal, esq. is one of the happiest sponsors for Gar Jubliee.

For JackHarding, it's a little trickier because Rosie and Ken are just so openly affectionate it's easy to find a Hallmark story for them. But JackHarding feels like a classic "Perfectly fine with what I've got until suddenly the literal best man ever walks in" sort of Hallmark story. With Jack being the one fine with his relationship, but then Harding comes in as a consultant or something and at first, they butt heads, but then they end up really liking each other, and meanwhile Jack's trying to get his serious-but-not-quite-longterm boyfriend to agree to just show up to his family's house for one goddamn dinner. And, yes, he knows his family can be a bit stuffy, and yes he knows it's not an ideal Sunday evening thing, but he's asking for him to just suck it up and show up once.

And then on the Sunday the boyfriend finally agrees to show up, he ends up calling with an excuse at the last minute. Jack is actually working with Chick on whatever the project is (hot deadlines and all that) and knows his mother will be very annoyed if he messes up the seating arrangements, so he invites Chick, and Chick says yes. And Jack texts his family to let them know "Hey, my boyfriend had a minor emergency, but I'm bringing along a work friend."

So, like, no confusion from his family that Chick is NOT his boyfriend, but then Jack starts feeling a bit confused because here's this guy he's only known for a few weeks who's showing up to this dinner and doing great but also occasionally muttering smartass remarks about his family's airs under his breath, and Jack's snickering along with him because Chick's 100% right. And, why can Chick do this so easily but Jack's boyfriend was being such a dick about it.

And then, as they leave Jack's family's house, who's walking by just happy as you please definitely NOT dealing with a sprained ankle like he claimed?

Boyfriend.

And Jack is PISSED and just TEARS HIM UP and he shouts, "What's so fucking impossible about doing one goddamn thing for me?"

And the boyfriend snides that the problem is that Jack only asks for shit when it's something annoying but keeps himself closed off otherwise.

And that's when Chick grabs the guy and bodily lifts him into a trash can. And slams down the lid.

Chick takes Jack to bar, and they have a drink, and Jack bemoans that maybe the boyfriend is right. Maybe he's closed off, and Chick refuses to let that stand. Tells Jack that, hey, you're quiet, but you're an open guy. I mean, hell, you invited me to your family's dinner and let me make fun of them a little. Maybe if that asshole had shown he was willing to try, you'd open up to him more. You think about that?

And so on and so forth, they kiss. Final scene is Christmas at Jack's family's house, and he's got a huge smile and Chick's got a huge smile, and they get scolded for giggling as they mutter to each other and refuse to share anything they're saying with the table. Which makes them laugh harder.

[marveltrumpshate]

Education

We’d venture to guess that one of the common threads that unites our fandom is a belief in the power of education and all that comes with it. Taking down barriers to literacy, higher education, and other forms of knowledge-building, these organizations are working to ensure everyone has access to the transformative power of ideas and resources for personal and professional development.

For more information on donation methods and accepted currencies, please refer to our list of organizations page.

Amputee Coalition

The Amputee Coalition supports and advocates for people impacted by limb loss and limb difference as well as their families and caretakers across the globe, and one of the ways they do so is through their educational programs. They developed the National Limb Loss Resource Center which offers information on a plethora of topics related to limb loss/difference, provide educational publications and webinars, and have a youth engagement program that covers everything from life skills and training programs, career development, and more.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network 

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities and have their voices heard. For that reason, the organization is run by individuals on the autism spectrum. In addition to advocating for policies that protect disability and civil rights, ASAN creates tools and leadership training for autistic self-advocates and offers a wide variety of educational resources. 

The Pad Project

Period stigma and lack of access to affordable, safe, and effective menstrual products are a global problem, one that disrupts and limits access to education and employment for many people who menstruate. The Pad Project tackles this issue through increasing access not only to menstrual products but also education. They conduct workshops on menstrual hygiene management and sexual and reproductive health and have an award-winning documentary, Period. End of Sentence. Additionally, they aim to integrate menstrual hygiene management and puberty education into school curricula internationally.

Southern Poverty Law Center

If there is injustice against a vulnerable and/or marginalized group in the U.S., SPLC aims to address and fix it through a myriad of ways including their education program, Learning for Justice. Learning for Justice offers free resources, such as magazines, podcasts, films, training sessions, webinars, etc. to more than 500,000 caregivers, teachers, administrators, counselors, and other practitioners who work with children from kindergarten to high school. Their justice-focused approach helps students and educators learn how to become involved in activism, tackle prejudice, and create more civil and inclusive communities.

World Literacy Foundation

Reading opens doors, both to other worlds and in real life. When someone acquires literacy skills, they're able to access better opportunities and societal integration; they can gain better healthcare access, fill out job applications, and more. The World Literacy Foundation provides disadvantaged children with books, educational resources, and literacy support, and they use innovative tech, e-books, and digital activities to advance the learning of children in remote areas. On a community level, the WLF equips parents to support their children in their learning through mentorship programs and empowers people to advocate for literacy in their communities.

[mylittlediarys-stuff]

Bite Back Part 5

Part 6- https://www.tumblr.com/mylittlediarys-stuff/744448077812940800/bite-back-part-6?source=share

“A car crash?” She said,

“Yes, after you fell asleep there was a car crash that happened right in front of us,” Alfead said as he poured a cup of chamomile tea and gave her some pain killer to Amaka telling her it would help with the headaches. That’s one thing Amaka loved about the old man; he could just look at her and tell something was wrong. Once he found out what was wrong he would do everything in his power to fix it. “I actually almost hit one of the cars and almost hit us too but I was able to maneuver around it at the last second.”

Amaka signed and decided to slouch in the chair a bit. She could only act like this in front of Alfred. She was able to completely relax and it helped that the butler was able to take the hint to be quiet which combined with the tea and painkiller she felt her headache get a little better.

She stayed like that for hours taking a sip of tea even now and then. She watches Alfead leave and enter the kitchen to check up on her rather than leave to do more work. When she had her final sip of tea she wanted to pour a bit more. She put her cup down on the cup just to find out another weird thing was happening.

Her mug was sticking to her hand.

I just love life right now.

The girl kept on shaking her hand to make the mug come off but it didn’t. She was only able to come off when she slammed the mug into the table.

“Yea I love life,” She replied. She went to fetch the nearest boom just to find out that would stick too.

-

Around 1pm Amaka asked Alfead to drop her at the downtown where she wanted to visit her hairdresser. The old man didn’t really want to drop her but she was able to convince him somehow.

“You think you can dye my hair from red to black?” Amaka asked.

“Yes it would take a few tries but it would work.” The lady hairdresser said. “But that red hair you have looked before is the perfect shade of red.”

Amaka couldn't lie that her hair looks pretty good. If she wasn't Bruce's daughter she probably would have kept it. If Bruce found her walking around with red hair out of nowhere she was afraid if he would judge her or what would the media think?

Actually, I don’t think the news knows I exist?

“Can you also cut it too? Like 5 inches” Amaka asked.

“As a hairdresser who needs money, yes I would cut it but as a fellow black woman living in this world I would like to tell you it takes a long time for you to grow your hair this much.”

She thought about it a bit. “You're right, but just maybe 2 inches instead, and can you also put my hair in a cute hairstyle.”

“Don't worry sweetheart, I’ll make sure you look just like a princess after.”

During the whole process, Amaka was deep in thought. The sudden power? The physical changes? It was something out of a comic book.

Like when a character goes to some lab and some accident happens and they get power, just like-

She went to a lab yesterday. Did she have an accident? Yes, she did! She got bit by something probably a spider. And now she has power.

It’s okay Amaka, nothing bad is going to happen. Everything will be okay.

She was practically lying to herself.

“Sweetheart, what’s with the bump on the back of your neck?” The hairdresser asked.

“A bump?”

“It looks like a spider bite? Just bigger.”

“Hey is it okay if I check it out in the bathroom?”

-

When Amaka made it to the bathroom her heart was beating too fast for her liking. She went to stand in front of the mirror. She used her hand to feel the bump. It was the same place where she got bitten. Before she could think probably she decided it was a good idea to try to pop it.

She felt something come out. She begins to try to see what it is. So she started pulling slowly on it. It kept going and going, it looked like a spider web. No, it was definitely a webinar. By the time she she made it to the end, she pulled out at least 4 feet of the web. She took notice of how sticky this stuff was and it was thicker than usual.

At this moment she realized that she couldn’t pretend everything was normal anymore.

When she left the salon her red curls turned back to black and got shorter. She decides to walk around the city for a few hours. Just to think about life and her powers.

So I’m I dying or something?

She walked into some random store. It was filled with people and candles. Frankly, she didn’t know why she walked in.

She looked at the candles everyone looked unique and smelt different. It actually made her head hurt a bit more.

May I should buy one for Mr. Alfred?

She started to pay more attention she hoped she would find something the old man would like. She was looking at candles it felt like a beach but she didn’t think it suited the butler. In her preview vision, she saw a pretty light brown one with a house entered into the glass. She reached out her hand a bit.

A web came out and the candle was in her hand.

A web came out?

A WEB CAME OUT OF HER HAND?

Okay, I officially lived long enough to see everything. But at least this is a cool superpower, I guess.

Note: So i was think about Amaka having so sort of mentor just like peter in the mcu. Lowkey the reason why I posted this was because it was my birthday.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Plant, have you read Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror? She nails it. Read this part and think of Meghan Markle. This is everything!

The two biggest families in politics and culture today—the Trumps and the Kardashians—have risen to the top of the food chain because of their keen understanding of how little substance is required to package the self as an endlessly monetizable asset. In fact, substance may actually be anathema to the game. And with that, the applause roars, the iPhone cameras start snapping, and the keynote speaker at the women’s empowerment conference comes onstage.

Sophia Amouroso’s brand of “Girlboss Feminism,” and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In brought in an era of CEO capitalism as a type of feminism.] #GIRLBOSS is an extended exercise in motivational personal branding … [the memoir implies that] becoming successful is a feminist project. The basic idea here is that, for women, photogenic personal confidence is the key to unlocking the riches of the world. The Girlboss Rallies [pay to attend conferences] are supposed to work the same way: you pay to network, to photograph yourself against millennial-pink and neon backdrops, to take the first step toward becoming the sort of person who would be invited to speak onstage. This is meant to scan as a deeply feminist endeavor, and it generally does, at least to its participants, who have been bombarded for many years with the spurious, embarrassing, and limitlessly seductive sales pitch that feminism means, first and foremost, the public demonstration of getting yours.

A politics built around getting and spending money is sexier than a politics built around politics. And so, at a time of unprecedented freedom and power for women, at a time when we were more poised than ever to understand our lives politically, we got, instead of expanded reproductive protections and equal pay and federally mandated family leave and subsidized childcare and a higher minimum wage, the sort of self-congratulatory empowerment feminism that corporations can get behind, the kind that comes with merchandise—mugs that said “Male Tears,” T-shirts that said “Feminist as Fuck.” (In 2017, Dior sold a “We Should All Be Feminists” shirt for $710.) We got conferences, endless conferences—a Forbes women’s conference, a Tina Brown women’s conference, a Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Females conference. We got Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, which aims to end the “stress and burnout epidemic” through selling corporate webinars and a $65 velvet-lined charging station that helps you keep your smartphone away from your bed. We got the full-on charlatan Miki Agrawal, who was regularly given media tongue-baths on the subject of Thinx, her line of period panties, until it was revealed that Agrawal, who proudly called herself a “She-E-O,” was abusive to her employees and didn’t know much or care about feminism at all. We got, instead of the structural supports and safety nets that would actually make women feel better on a systematic basis, a bottomless cornucopia of privatized nonsolutions: face serums, infrared saunas, wellness gurus like Gwyneth Paltrow, who famously suggested putting stone eggs in one’s vagina, or Amanda Chantal Bacon, whose company Moon Juice sells 1.5-ounce jars of “Brain Dust” for $38. On the wings of market-friendly feminism, the idea that personal advancement is a subversive form of political progress has been accepted as gospel. The trickiest thing about this idea is that it is incomplete and insufficient without being entirely wrong. The feminist scammer rarely sets out to scam anyone, and would argue, certainly, that she does belong in this category. She just wants to be successful, to gain the agency that men claim so easily, to have the sort of life she wants. She should be able to have that, shouldn’t she? The problem is that a feminism that prioritizes the individual will always, at its core, be at odds with a feminism that prioritizes the collective. The problem is that it is so easy today for a woman to seize upon an ideology she believes in and then exploit it, or deploy it in a way that actually runs counter to that ideology. That is in fact exactly what today’s ecosystem of success encourages a woman to do.

Heading out, but posting this so I don’t lose it.

[an--artistic--autistic]

attended a webinar on suicidism (in a queer/disabled context) and it was amazing to actually hear people talking about stuff that i have been thinking about and experiencing for years

thoughts below (cw suicide mentions, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, the entire topic is pretty heavy so please take care of yourselves)

to preface - I am not suicidal.

I was suicidal for about 10 years, and only within the past year or so was I able to sort through everything enough to feel stable and healthy enough to continue living.

The biggest takeaway from today (imo) was the emphasis on by basically forbidding people from talking about suicide and their experiences with suicidality (in both an active and passive context), we are effectively isolating people and adding to negative experiences or whatever pressure they're currently facing.

Most professionals (or suicide hotlines, etc.) will end up reporting people for suicidal ideation, which frequently results in involuntary psychiatric holds, police involvement, legal repercussions, and so on.

Which then results in suicidal people just... not confiding in anyone.

In my experience, I didn't tell anyone I had been suicidal at all until a year after my first (and only) serious attempt. I was terrified of dealing with any reactions that came from it.

I am involved in both the queer community and disabled community, both in real life in my city, and online (to an extent). I rarely talk to people who haven't considered suicide, yet it still feels very taboo to discuss, and it feels like we have to always reassure everyone else that no I'm not going to do it, don't worry about me while simultaneously discussing very heavy details about our lives and our health.

This summer I've also been working on a suicide prevention training program focusing on non-binary and autistic youth. It's important when talking about this to recognize that within these circles, suicidality is extremely common. We can't pretend that it's an isolated thing, or can be solved with "willpower" or medication. Sometimes, an involuntary hold will make things worse. So many queer and disabled people consider suicide due to bigger, systemic issues.

The two biggest factors for me were the risk of not being supported during my transition, and not being able to access effective support for my disabilities.

Something my psychologist did wonderfully when the topic of suicide came up (again, several years after my only serious attempt) was actually listen to my reasoning and understand why I was experiencing that. And afterward, she agreed with me.

I had laid everything out, every concern I'd had with my future, every condition I had placed leading up to my attempt, everything I had felt when I was at my worst, and she had listened, and she understood.

She did not report me to anyone, she did not call the police. The extent of her involvement was to make it clear to me that if I ever found myself in crisis again, to come see her.

I have always been a "problem solver". I get it from my mom, and it's been exacerbated by my autism. I think that in order to support people who are or have been suicidal (myself included), we need to make space to talk about it. We can't truly provide support if we aren't willing to listen.

It's far more helpful to ask how to support someone, what resources they need, find things to try, and treat suicide not as some horrific depressing thing, but as the last option. It's a matter of finding things to put before it rather than eliminating it entirely.

The whole "oh but you have so much to live for" "what about how your friends and family will feel" "oh things will get better later on" frequently isn't helpful to hear as a suicidal person. I didn't have much to live for. I didn't worry about how people would feel. I didn't have a future to strive towards. Hearing that usually just made me feel worse, and made things harder to deal with.

Getting my diagnoses allowed me access to support. Prior to that, I was so overwhelmed by the concept of being a person— to have to keep living like that was the worst possible thing I could imagine. At that point I had no possible future as things were.

Also the absolute fucking ableism that is MAID, going hey you have societal permission to die but only if you're disabled fuck you. It's literally just saying that they don't care enough about our lives to look at other possible solutions. I understand how someone would be interested in MAID. I've looked into it for myself — I've told my mom exactly what circumstances in which I would actually apply for it and I have her full support. But it's insulting to see that expanding the program is more convenient than putting as much effort into other solutions.

I think that's all I have right now, but I might add more later once I've had more time to process (and i have an assignment due in an hour which isn't helping).

I'd love to open up space to talk about this more with people, especially if others would find that helpful. I'm really lucky that my friends and irl community are open about this stuff, but most people don't have a place where they can safely discuss stuff.

if you've made it this far through my rant/infodump on this i am thoroughly impressed, and I apologize for any misspellings or typos. I haven't reread what I've put.

[doggiedrawings]

Kitty Language book, winning awards, and other news

BUY MY NEW BOOK

Kitty Language: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding Your Cat (published by Ten Speed Press, June 2023) is now available from all your local booksellers and major bookstores. This is gift book full of cat illustrations and a fun introduction to learning cat body language. 

Website: www.kittylanguagebook.com 

Order on Bookshop.org

Order on Amazon

Support some of my favorite independent bookstores by ordering from:

Dogwise (yes, this treasure trove of dog-related books sells my cat book!)

Stuart Ng Books (most amazing collection of illustration & animation books)

Endorsements by Jackson Galaxy and Hannah Shaw aka The Kitten Lady.

Please do me a favor and share your review on Amazon or by tagging @kittylanguagebook or #kittylanguagebook on instagram/social media!

----------------------------

DOGGIE LANGUAGE WINS TWO AWARDS

The Dog Writers’ Association of America competition results for 2020-2022 are out!

I am very grateful and humbled that my first book - Doggie Language: A Dog Lover’s Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend (Summersdale Publishers, 2020) has won two awards: Best Series of Illustrations and Best Book in Behavior, Health, and Care. 

The other books in the same category are by dog advocates and authors I really  respect so to be honest, I received this news with some mixed feelings. The fact that a small illustrated book that is relatively light on text has won a Best Book award next to these amazing other nominees tells me that pictures can communicate very important information. Art can be useful and effective in helping people connect with their animals. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported my through the years! I am by no means an expert on anything and am always passionate about sharing what I am learning through my art. The learning doesn’t end!

------------------------

TWO NEW INFOGRAPHICS  

Illustrated by me.

1. What Is Pet Enrichment? - by Pet Harmony Training 

DOWNLOAD HERE

2. LIFE Approach to Animal Training - by Dr. Eduardo Fernandez

WATCH THE WEBINAR and DOWNLOAD these posters here.

You can also find the links to these downloads on my website at doggiedrawings.net/freeposters

---------------------

LAST BY NOT LEAST.... Pet Portrait Commissions

I have been receiving numerous emails asking me when I will be doing pet portraits again. This is a tough question to answer.   

My work schedule has changed radically in the past 2 years, and I am still figuring out how to juggle being a new author (all the time needed for research, drawing, writing, and deadlines!) with managing online retail & wholesale shops, AND doing commissioned work. There is also the matter of work-life balance. What this means is that I have less time that I used to. 

It is likely that I won’t be doing portraits again until 2024 when my next book - Dogs of the World - has been submitted to my publisher.

Thank you for understanding,

Lili x 

[writingtheother]

Webinar: K-Drama Inspirations to Maximize Your Story with Piper J. Drake

Asian dramas have become incredibly popular, K-dramas in particular. They hook viewers and create a voracious fan base. Why? The plots, characters, and settings have a fresh feel – just enough commonality to give readers an anchor while they’re introduced to elements that are new and different from what they’ve previously experienced so they still get the same feeling of escape from their own everyday life.

Students will learn to recognize the most addictive elements in Asian drama stories, leading to complex and satisfying plot lines, fresh yet familiar worldbuilding, characters you can’t help but root for, and compelling hooks to draw readers from chapter to chapter straight through to the end of one book and into the next. We’ll discuss what makes these stories so binge-worthy and how to take inspiration from them to maximize your writing craft.

This class provides illustrative examples and practical craft takeaways for storytellers to apply to their own stories. An interactive brainstorming session will give students the opportunity to discuss immediate ways to apply what they’ve learned to current (or future) works in progress.

When: April 20th, 2024, 10AM – 4PM Pacific Where: Online via Zoom video conference Price: $50 – $75 Scholarships Available | Deadline: April 5th

Please visit our website more details on registration options, required texts (if any), technical requirements, our accessibility statement, class audience, and the scholarship application.

👉🏾👉🏾 Details and Registration 👈🏾👈🏾

[nightguide]

MEET YOUR COURSE LEADERS/LECTURERS OF THE ORIGINAL CAST OF GLEE

those i don't mention are karmic members of McKinley high (the reason the show ended with a claustrophobic mother of all plot holes that ended humanity with a Gomez leading the UN)

even Angelina Jolie went into hiding cuz of her (fear of nazar, ya Allah)

SANTANA LOPEZ: Ocular sciences (english literature (Master of Research (MRes)

RACHEL BERRY (OBERLIN): student

FINN HUDSON: student

KURT HUMMEL: War design (beauty guru's specialising in dermatology: actually a fashion apprenticeship with heartbreak (Master of Arts (MA)

NOAH 'PUCK' PUCKERMAN: Theosophy (Doctorate)

WILL SCHUESTER: student (choir leader spare time)

SUE SYLVESTER: Gym physics (19)

BLAINE ANDERSON: PSCHE (globalisation foundation degree)

JESSE ST. JAMES: Remedial biology (wood work doctorate)

SEBASTIAN SMYTHE: Cancer therapy (Higher National Certificate)

QUINN FABRAY: Arts and drama sociology (degree theory and masters in homeopathy doctorate)

BRITTANY PIERCE: White collar in past-life therapy (podiatry in biology: superhuman abilities to counter alternate realities Higher National Certificate)

SAM EVANS: Lt. sky high (Epistemology = childcare + bereavement Bachelor of Education (BEd)

ARTIE ABRAMS: Webb Degree associates archivists of the Starless Sea (personality pseudo-webinars in Intranet explorer) X-FILES

MARLEY ROSE: super girl (The Mediator enterprises in Shintoism to Ethical Investing Foundation degree)

TINA COHEN-CHANG: The Aquarian Conspiracy (Homo-Deus Apprenticeship)

LAUREN ZISES: Transactional analysis (Wall-Street immunology in bromatology Master's degree)

BECKY JACKSON: Database systems (in Jehovah's Witness Prognosticum Theologicum post-modernism to Unbroken art movement graduate degree)

MERCEDES JONES: The corpus hermeticum (dance therapy doctorate)

EMMA PILLSBURY: Architecture (Bachelor of Science (BSc)

SHELBY CORCORAN: Artificial sign language for remedial energy (Edgar Allen Poe society for wayward losers Doctorate)

TERRI SCHUESTER (MALONE): immunology in stage presence (Foundation degree)

HARPER OBERLIN: Social arts in Dubai and Brazilian architecture (hons in Universal Credits (UC) for post-graduates jobseekers allowance (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB)

PUSHING DAISIES (RETURNING CAST OF HONOURARY BACHELORS DEGREE):

NED WILSON: THERAPY FOR WAYWARD DIMENSIONAL PLUTONIAN WARGODS (warhammer)

EMERSON COD: X-MEN LEADING CAREERS ADVISOR

CHARLOTTE 'CHUCK' CHARLES: PALMISTRY PHYSIOLOGY IN SOCIAL CARE (diploma of higher education)

OLIVE SNOOK: BROADWAY ELYSIUM (actors hell)

NIGHTINGALES DIALOGUE OF GAIMANS HELL: SINGER SONGWRITERS GUILD

TAYLOR SWIFT: Acupuncture/Shiatsu in Latin: morals (Master's Degree in Law (LLM)

DEMI LOVATO: Alexander Technique in Hebrew: eyes body function (Foundation degree)

SELENA GOMEZ: Aromatherapy in Arabic: algorithm (Diploma of Higher Education)

MATT SMITH: Buddhism in Aramaic: kindness (Doctorate)

HOST CAREERS SERVICE IN TOON-FICTION:

FINN THE UNBROKEN (adventure time): Jake the Dog

more yet to come

[properparadox]

A look back at 2023

I rarely wrote anything here nowadays. Having someone to talk to really changed a lot. But hey, this has been a tradition, so let's look back at 2023.

The year started slow, at least for several days, until  I was told to attend a Welding Inspector course. At that time, it had been years since I even hold an electrode holder. Suddenly everything changed. Until the end of March, my days were filled with classes and practice, for six days a week, 10 hours a day. The course were finished, and now I am an IWIP, probably (I haven't even received the diploma, but I wasn't invited for the retest).

This year, I went back and forth between Bandung, Solo and Purwokerto, to meet the love of my life. She graduated this August after such a struggle, so that was great.

Even though I still had less than two years in this job, I became a speaker on two different events. One for a Failure Analysis forum, and the other for a Solidworks event. After finishing my Welding Inspector course, I was also asked to teach the next batch of WI students on Destructive Testing module. For these experiences, I still need to learn a lot on how to speak in front of many people. Especially when teaching, I felt that I messed up on the timing and flow of the class.

Then, my first in-situ metallography job! And the second, and third, and fourth. They were tiring, sometimes we had to work nights, but those were interesting nonetheless.

On that family issue, I think it was pretty much finished, after spending quite a lot of money. Tho perhaps some help is still needed in the future. Oh, and shits still happened. Of course, that single person fucked up.

And all of a sudden, my relationship with @vanilachocolate progressed quite far. Hopefully everything will be a smooth sailing next year *fingers crossed*.

Writing this, I realized that a lot, and I mean A LOT, has happened this year. But again and again, I kept feeling that I didn't really grow much. I still feel lost, having no idea on where to go and what to do to improve myself. The department where I work at now is in a mess, and I'm having a hard time to move on from my previous job. I even attended a webinar that was not related at all to my current job, just because it had some relation to my previous one (the webinar was about Industrial Design). Even I had this crazy idea, to get certified as a national IP consultant, and perhaps I can return to my previous career. It was a very long shot, but honestly, I'm not sure about anything else.

When I finished typing this, light earthquake shook. The second time today. Before various dark thoughts come, let me close this year by wishing that 2024 will be a kind year for all of us here.