i did my research and donated. this is the easiest way to donate to the lebanese red cross.
the Lebanese red cross is a charity that many Lebanese citizens endorse and are asking for others to donate to. As of right now (11:30 EST on the fifth), it’s the most up-to-date info I can find.
If you don’t know what’s up, Beirut suffered a chemical explosion the size of a small nuke (which is still fucking huge.) They have a host of other serious and deadly crises (humanitarian/political/social) going on right now, too, and the explosion destroyed their main port, where a lot of their trade and necessary supplies (such as medical supplies) come in.
Please, if you can, help Lebanon recover from this blow and tackle the rest of their problems. They need help.
Be careful when you donate to different organizations!!!! Because of the way the lebanese system works, some donations may be considered illegal and can’t be accepted! Lebanese Red Cross is one of the legal ones, so if you can donate, do it!
If you know any other organizations that are okay to donate to, please add!!
Right now, Beirut looks like a war zone. The city center is only about a kilometer away from the blast site, and is completely ruined. Buildings as far as 20 kilometers away were heavily damaged.
A lot of people are still missing in the ruins, and families are desperately trying to find them. Lots of people lost their homes and have nowhere to go.
it puts a burden on disabled people to click through to people’s individual blogs in order to have access, instead of browsing their dash like sighted people do
hyperlinks and screen readers don’t always get along, so readmores can actually be more difficult for people using screen readers to access
if you ever change your url or delete your blog, that image is rendered inaccessible
Something I do not want to forget because I’ve been seeing a lot of MisanthropyTM lately and it’s making me emotionally sick
– Humans are animals
– Humans are an intrinsic part of nature, WE’RE NOT A FRIGGIN’ PLAGUE WTF
– Humans are Keystone predators and as such we are fundamental to the global ecosystem and without us it would literally crumble
– Humans have a right to exist like any other animal (and by that I mean all of us. EVERY SINGLE ONE)
– Humans’ natural habitat are the savannahs and forests, the trees are literally our homes. Like seriously we build amazing treehouses I want one
– Humans still live “in harmony with Nature” like we always did since we as a Species came to exist
– The ages-old divide between “Man” and “Nature/Animal/Whatever” is a constructed narrative which is actually very far from the truth
– Global warming may be a thing – a very, very real thing – but it is not your fault
– Nature is NOT out there to kill you/enact revenge to you/some “Gaea Vengeance” bullschist. Nature does not seek goals like that, and even if they DID they’d just want their keystone primate (which is actually v. important to the environment) p. happy
– Human treehouses
– You cannot do anything for those species that are already gone. It’s not your fault. Extinction is a natural event, it would happen sooner or later. And even if numerous species came to extinction near you at a given time, these would pale in comparison to the even more numerous species you helped to save, survive and spread, or just merely cohexist peacefully with you because you irradiate warmth like a star
– COVID-19 IS NOT HUMANITY’S PUNISHMENT AND IT AIN’T HUMANITY’S FAULT EITHER IT WASN’T PORPUSEFULLY BRED OR SMTH UGH (srsly we survived the Black Plague we WILL survive this)
– Treehouses
– It’s your right as a human to eat meat, and it’s your right as a human to hunt for it. (The reason hunting is illegal is not because we hunt our prey to extinction (we did not btw) it’s because of widespread monoculture farming/pecuary invading and destroying their habitats aka. their literal Homes, heck not even Poaching do as much damage to wildlife as widespread invasive Agribusinesses do imo (correct me if I’m wrong) and we have to restrain ourselves to hunt our own food to preserve the environment so these monopolies could sell their crappy manufactured food while not giving a single crap to wildlife but idk this post ain’t about that sorry)
– Do not believe what everyone says. Humans are kind. Kindness, honesty and humility is so hardwired into us everytime someone says “Humans are bastards” or something like this EVERYONE AGREE, we are so altruistic and kind we think so low of ourselves because taking pride on being altruistic and kind is egotistic and selfish or smth like that and whatever and 99,9% of us are simultaneously hurt when someone is being purposefully hurtful. The only reason it doesn’t look like that is because most people are rather humble and far from the center of attention while the other 0,1% tends to be rather loud and obnoxious giving a false impression of Humanity
– Did I say I love treehouses yet
– “Average human kills 3 (nonprey) wild animals a month” (sic) factoid just statistical error. Average human SAVES the lives of 3 wild animals every month. Those 0.1% behind monopolies of agrobusiness and pecuaries, who kill 1000 wild animals a month, are outliers and should not be counted
– “Average human leaves the equivalent of 3 carbon footprints a month” (sic) factoid just statistical error. Average human RECICLES the equivalent of 3 carbon footprints each month. Those 0.1% behind monopolies on industry, who leave 37392828253 carbon footprints on the atmosphere each month, are outliers and should not be counted
– Idk what to tell you but you are important. You are important because you’re Human. Homo sapiens is an important component to environmental health and should be respected with their own habitat preserved like just any other animal idk how to word that
– You are amazing because you’re Human not despite it
what skinny white women have done to thrifting is literally repulsive. not only do they mass buy clothes they don’t need and take them away from poor and plus-sized ppl who have no choice but to thrift, they cut that shit up or sew in one (1) button and then resell it for triple or quadruple the price and call it ethical fashion and girl power. disgusting.
Okay, so former thrift store worker and upcycler here. buying from second-hand and thrift shops regardless of income, is (almost) always a net good and here’s why:
1. The proceeds from thrift stores and charity shops go towards helping people/raising money for charities so people buying from them is much better than buying from your local fast fashion outlet
2. By buying large amounts from thrift stores it frees up inventory space and moves products so the shop can accept more donations and clothing instead of throwing them out or paying for the expense of having them go to another store
3. Buying from thrift stores doesn’t “take away” clothing from poor people most thrift stores can only operate and take new inventory if people continually buy their stock (see point 2) if only the people at the lowest/no income tier bought from thrift stores their inventory would stagnant and they couldn’t stay in business
4. Thrift stores don’t usually have large plus size sections as donations tend to be in median of sizes.
5. Fashion made of secondhand materials is actually really good for the environment. The Fashion industry is a large polluter and buying used materials and upcycling is a great alternative to buying material brand new. Upcyclers are usually young designers with small businesses who want to use their art to help the planet and proceeds from them buying these clothing goes to helping people (point 1) and frees up inventory space (point 2)
You’re not obligated to stay friends with people who make you feel bad about yourself, no matter how long you’ve had that friendship. Your well-being should be your priority!
i feel like the most important piece of wisdom i can impart on teenagers is that no one–no one–knows what the fuck they’re doing
my brother is 26 years old, makes $200k a year, and just bought a house with his fiance. he’s the success story you hear about but never actually meet in person, but it all happened by accident. he wanted to go to college for clarinet performance, but he got rejected from all the top schools. so he decided to major in physics instead, and then went on to get a doctorate to put off being an adult for a few more years. but then he ended up dropping out halfway through the program and accepting a job with google as a software engineer. so to reiterate: my brother majored in something he was not interested in, and then he got a job that had nothing to do with his degree.
he isn’t successful because he had some master plan he followed, he just stumbled around blindly until something worked out. and that’s what we’re all doing–i majored in political science and now i do customer service for a company that makes industrial-sized gas detection monitors. the marketing director at my company has a degree in biology, and my mom has an MBA and works at a middle school. no one knows what they’re doing, we’re all just trying different things until something works out.
so if you don’t have a plan, that’s fine. most of us don’t. and even those of us who do, don’t usually end up doing the thing they thought they would. it’s okay to relax and let life carry you wherever it’s gonna carry you. because even though a lot of us don’t end up doing the thing we wanted, most of us end up happy anyway.
I’ve been thinking about this post since I made it a few hours ago, and I realized that I literally don’t know anyone who’s doing what they thought they’d be doing at this point in their life. I know a girl that has a degree in neuroscience and works in a restaurant (and makes quite a bit more money than I do, might I add), and a guy who wanted to be a parole officer but is now a security guard. I know people who wanted to be lawyers but ended up not having the grades for law school. I have a friend who’s 24 and just finished her bachelor’s, and two friends who decided to go to grad school because the idea of joining the adult world terrified them.
When I was seventeen, I was 100% sure that I was going to get a job as a bureaucrat and save the world. When I was a 21-year-old recent college grad, I found out that it’s impossible to get a government job unless you know someone. So I gave up and found something else. I know my teenage self would be disappointed if she could see where I’m at, but you know what? I don’t care. Because teenage me was an idiot. She didn’t know anything about the world or how it worked, and she couldn’t have possibly predicted the curveballs that life would throw at her. And because I don’t know a single person who’s doing the thing they wanted to do when they were teenagers.
I know a thousand people who aren’t where they thought they’d be, and zero people who are following the path they set out for themselves. All of us are confused and all of us are scared, and it’s okay if you are too.
Honestly thank u, i needed to hear this again
i wanted to add some stories to this!! because its true! no one has any idea, or doesnt realize they have no idea until they’re way in
my dad got a bachelors in chemistry, then applied to a master’s program specifically to work with one professor. after he accepted, he found out that the professor wasnt teaching that program anymore. he finished his degree, said fuck this, i dont want to work in a laboratory, and went to law school instead to practice patent law and adores every aspect of his career. probably never would have happened if that one professor had stayed to teach.
my aunt didn’t have the chance at college when she was younger because her relationship with education (and being poor) just wasn’t conducive to higher ed. now she’s 35, married with 3 kids, and halfway through an associates degree to be a medical tech (and one of the top students in the class), because she realized adult-her was more compatible with college than teenage-her
my uncle was (weirdly enough) so highly experienced that he kept getting laid off from/leaving major companies because they couldnt/wouldnt pay the proper salary for a man of his skill level. eventually, he said fuck that and went back to school to get his doctorate, then a few years later got a job as a professor of business admin/marketing and he’s really really good at it
and even the people you think have linear paths, good news: they dont. my mom grew up in the german education system, and knew from hs she wanted to be a lawyer. went all the way through the law course in uni, then immigrated to the us to go to an american law school. she got a job at a private firm doing translations from german to english (i think??) and when her contract there ended, moved to doing government work in a completely different field. i have no idea what she studied specifically at university, if at all. so even tho on the outside she looks perfectly linear, she really wasnt
education & career paths are not linear ! everyone has weird little twists and turns and some funky loops ! some peoples are just much larger and more noticeable! but please don’t think “that person has their shit together and i dont T_T” because i promise you they’re probably thinking the same thing about themselves
When I say “writers don’t want your unsolicited criticism” and “leaving unsolicited criticism on fanfiction hurts writers” THIS is what I mean.
This isn’t even all of them, this is just from a FEW posts on the subject. Read through these, and then look me in the eyes and say you’re ~helping writers~ by leaving that criticizing comment on someone’s fic when they didn’t ask you to.
You’re hurting or, at best, annoying us. You’re hurting fandom.
You’re not helping us.
Here is what good criticism looks like:
1) Start with something you loved!
You can even stop here, because positive feedback is still constructive criticism.
2) Ask questions that you wish the Author had asked themself
Was there anything that you wish had been explained or developed more? What direction do you wish the Author had taken? Let the author know if there were any places you got confused.
3) Ask the author if they had any specific concerns, then address them.
Maybe the Author stressed over a certain paragraph being too boring. Either offer suggestions, or put their fears to rest.
4) End with something else you liked!
If you are reviewing a hard copy of someone’s work, put lil hearts by the phrases that made you smile!
-Don’t correct spelling or grammar unless you are not able to understand a sentence/paragraph/the whole story because of it. Grammar and spelling will improve naturally as a reader/writer matures, and that is not your job. You are not the grammar police. Anyone who self-proclaims themselves as one needs to grow uo.
-Don’t say anything about who the author is as a person. Feedback should just be a product of the interaction between reader+work.
My life as a writer began when an English teacher decided to take my sappy teenage work seriously. Writing is a journey of constant improvement. The best feedback you can give is: “I’m proud of you.”
You’re obviously jumping into an argument with no idea of the history of it , but this is the exact behavior I’m talking about that’s damaging.
Fandom isn’t a writing class. We are not in English 101 with you. You’re not our teacher, and we’re not students that you need to correct by giving us unsolicited criticism. You’re not even my beta reader. You’re Joe Schmoe on the internet and we don’t want your unsolicited criticism on how to improve.
Listen, I know you mean well, but please take a moment and look at what you just did. You looked at a hundred comments from a hundred people saying “please stop doing this behavior, it’s hurting us” and said “okay, but here’s how to do this behavior anyway.”
No! The point is stop doing it. YOU are the one hurting us.
“My life as a writer began when an English teacher decided to take my sappy teenage work seriously. Writing is a journey of constant improvement.“
I mean, listen.
I started writing fanfiction at eleven–and you can imagine how terrible that was–which my dad found and read.
Despite the fact that it was terrible, thinly veiled Mary Sue self-insert, my dad took it seriously. He told me that it was amazing and imaginative and he never would’ve thought to do the thing I did in that one story, etc, etc.
It was terrible writing, but he only ever encouraged me to write more. He only ever gave me compliments.
You’re right, writing is a journey of constant improvement, but nowhere is it written that that journey must be made on a road where random passersby throw rotten fruit at you under the guise of helping you.
I am the writer I am today not because my dad criticized my work or because of snotty, holier-than-thou comments on the internet. I’m the writer I am today because I’ve been practicing for over fifteen years.
Year after year, fic after fic, fandom after fandom, I have gotten consistently better at crafting stories and it’s not because of so-called “constructive criticisms” on fanfiction that I’m already done writing.
It’s because I got encouragement when I needed it and silence when I needed that.
I’m not saying that everyone’s story is mine or that people even grow the way I do and I’m not saying that criticism is never warranted.
I’m saying that constructive criticism is a beta’s job and that it useless after the fact, which is when the author gets your comment–after the story is posted, after it is done being written–and that are there enough writers out there that DO learn and grow just by practicing that perhaps you should be mindful of what you comment on a fic.
That is literally the entire argument.
How many screenshots of messages and tags have to be posted before people get that they’re hurting writers instead of helping them?
“You’re ruining my fun thing by turning it into homework” is my favorite screenshot from this post.
@ao3commentoftheday I recall a huge discussion on your blog about this sort of thing, and thought might be a addition to offer the masses on the subject of unsolicited criticism and why fandom etiquette is not to give it.
ifesbob 