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Returning

I stumbled upon an old email from Tumblr the other day. I haven't blogged in awhile but was recently encouraged by a friend. Anyone still using Tumblr? I am taking things day by day. I think it is important for me to document this time and any reflections that I have gained. I use to be so committed to writing for myself. I want to recommit to this and allow my Tumblr to be a place I create that allows me to process thoughts and feelings but also to be a place of hope. 

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TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

Howard Zinn

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“We belong to nobody, and nobody belong to us”

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) dir. Blake Edwards

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Watch the full event, A Ballerina’s Tale with Misty Copeland, on 92Y On Demand.

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Hoy el Zócalo se llenó de almas y las fuentes de la Ciudad se tiñeron de rojo en un llamado para despertar conciencias en México.

1 año de Ayotzinapa.

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Guanajuato, México.

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We are not meant to stay wounded. We are supposed to move through our tragedies and challenges and to help each other move through the many painful episodes of our lives. By remaining stuck in the power of our wounds, we block our own transformation. We overlook the greater gifts inherent in our wounds — the strength to overcome them and the lessons that we are meant to receive through them. Wounds are the means through which we enter the hearts of other people. They are meant to teach us to become compassionate and wise.

Caroline Myss (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

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*I have begun writing letters to my future daughter. And the more I write,  I realize that I am really writing to myself.

Dear Mija,

Lay with only those worthy of your force field of living and loving

Kneel with prayers for the light when the darkness seems to consume all around you

Sit with feelings of uneasiness and the not knowing how the path led this way. Despite the worn-out map you carried. The one tearing at the edges from the  unfolding, turning, and refolding.

Stand with strength and boldness. Don’t you ever apologize for your existence or being.

Fly with the wings by your side. Towards the life you envision for yourself. Be guided by that voice that many are too afraid to listen to and may never hear.

And above all, do not forget that I love you. Even now, as I write this years before your birth on earth.

-HLR

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Finally – US to Protect Child Farmworkers From Pesticides

For the first time, the EPA’s Agricultural Worker Protection Standard will ban children under 18 from handling pesticides in fields where they work and from re-entering fields where pesticides have recently been sprayed.

I’ve interviewed more than 100 child farmworkers in the United States, and far too many of them have told me stories of being exposed to pesticides at work. Sixteen-year-old Theo D. said he used a backpack sprayer to apply an insecticide on a tobacco farm in Virginia. “I got home and felt dizzy and started puking,” he said.

Read more

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Huehueteotl (the old god) - Mexica god of fire

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Las Patronas Celebrate 20 Years of Service

This February 14, the collective of women known as “Las Patronas” celebrate 20 years of service to migrants on their way north to the United States.

The migrants often travel atop freight trains with ominous nicknames such as “El tren de la muerte,” La bestia,” and “El tren de los desconocidos.” Most of them coming from Central American countries where US-backed wars and coup d’etats have forced many to emigrate.

As they attest in this short doc, what were once trains full of men are now packed with pregnant women and entire families, including young children.

Check out this short doc and help celebrate their 20 years of remarkable contributions to the lives of thousands. A salute to Las Patronas!

Video via Deborah Bonello, Global Post

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blade and silk - rupi kaur

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the wounds have changed me. i am so soft with scars my skin breathes and beats stars.

Nayyirah Waheed  (via unamalditaflorecita)