imminentsurvival

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ngl i’m dying to know... why do you hate bark? and will the war on bark ever end

it gets continuously pushed from the inside of the plant to the outside like teeth that just keep falling off and being replaced. until humanity conquerors the phellogen i am afraid this process will likely continue

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The interior of a bus station in Mashhad. The walls were lined with aquariums, etc.

Mashhad, Iran

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Busta Rhymes Refers to Trump as “President Agent Orange” During A Tribe Called Quest Performance

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USS Enterprise - Star Trek concept art by Matt Jefferies (c.1964)

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IF YOUR FANTASY WORLD HAS DRAGONS AND ELVES IT CAN ALSO HAVE PEOPLE OF COLOR

It’s literally that easy.

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You know what I want? A transgender store.

It has “traditional men’s,” “traditional women’s,” and “whatever” clothes sections. There are posters converting men’s and women’s clothing sizes. Each stack of clothing item has both sizing systems on it. They carry a wider range of sizes than usual, with lots of extra small clothes in the “traditional men’s” section and extra large/extra tall clothes in the “traditional women’s” section. They have shoes in all sizes. The dressing rooms are gender neutral. There are binders, gaffes, breast forms, and packers, with leaflets on how to use them. There’s a section with makeup and jewelry. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. There’s a stack of handouts with transgender resources that people can take home for free. There are bookshelves with transgender books you can buy, as well as a small library. No one is gendered, and people can buy whatever they want without judgement.

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Kickstarter: ‘Beginnings of my Heart”

“The Beginnings of My Heart is a feature film that tells the story of a Native American girl (“Heart Girl”) who is experiencing love for the first time. Hidden secrets from her past, that she has not yet come to peace with, come back to haunt her and steal her heart. She will have to travel through her apartment hallways to find the spirits that have stolen her heart and convince them into giving her heart back by having them come to peace with their own past traumas.

Our film is one that shows the challenges of insecurities and trauma. It speaks of when you find true love for the first time and have to make sure not to focus on your perceived faults. This could lead to bad spirits, for they will take what you don’t appreciate. A first panic attack can feel like a heart exploding.

As a Native American family growing up on the reservation, we learned to make our own toys and build our own forts in the mountains. Making the choice to steer away from CGI and instead incorporate stop motion and real built sets felt appropriate. Films like City of Lost Children, Fifth Element, The Brothers Quay, Little Otik, The Cream Master Series is how we fell in love with cinema. Using traditional techniques for Heart Girls journey will give us the chance to grab that piece of her heart as a viewer.”

The cast thus far includes Devery Jacobs (Rhymes for Young Ghouls, The Sun at Midnight) and MorningStar Angeline (Drunktown’s Finest, I Am Thy Weapon).

Check out our Kickstarter via https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1245793154/help-us-make-the-feature-of-the-beginnings-of-my-h?token=f4686bc7

You can also follow us on social media:

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

We deeply appreciate all support whether it is actual funding or simply sharing our Kickstarter campaign.

[imminentsurvival]

I think the concept of sacrifice is honestly just foreign to men and that’s why it’s supposed to be so dramatic when a fictional male character sacrifices something. if it’s a fictional woman then it’s something she’s been doing her entire life. womanhood is sacrifice and the fact that we don’t talk about that so as not to hurt men’s feelings is just another example

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(I could not make this shit up)

My apartment has windows facing the street, meaning I can hear pretty much everything that happens on the sidewalk beneath them. And this morning, just as my side of the street was getting the cars cleared for street cleaning, I heard some dude outside go, “C’mon, I just want your number, is that so much to ask? You’re so pretty, you know?”

Well, in light of recent conversations, I was like RED ALERT, and bustled my nosy butt outside to see what was up. Sure enough, a guy in his mid-to-late thirties had stopped his car, gotten out, and was now following a girl down the street. And when I say a girl, I mean a teenager.

Now, I’m brave and stuff, but this guy had shown himself willing to go so far outside the socially acceptable boundaries of behavior that I was pretty sure if I called him on this he wouldn’t take it well, and I was weighing my options when, like an angel of mercy and goodness, a parking enforcement officer came rolling up and she got out. First she saw me and was like, “Is this your car?”

And I was like, “It belongs to that guy down the street hassling that girl.”

And bless this woman’s heart, she gave this great eyebrow and was like, “EXCUSE ME SIR, UNLESS YOU WANT A $75 TICKET I SUGGEST YOU MOVE.”

I will give him credit for balls of steel, because he actually said, “Hold on one minute, I’m talking to my friend,” which, NOPE.

Fortunately the officer is like, “Sure, I’ll wait a minute, and in the meantime I’ll be writing you this ticket.”

So the dude goes grumbling back to his car, and of course he can’t park it anywhere nearby, so he drives off. In the meantime, I ask the girl if she wants to come inside for a minute to make sure the dude left, which she did, and sure enough DUDE CIRCLED AROUND THE BLOCK LOOKING FOR HER (I watched him while the girl was inside getting acquainted with my dog) before taking off. The girl is 18, she didn’t know the guy, and the whole time I was driving her to her brother’s house she kept trying to figure out what she’d done wrong.

Not all men harass women. But all women - and girls - are harassed by men.

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Thousands of scientists in Germany, Peru and Taiwan are preparing for a new year without online access to journals from the Dutch publishing giant Elsevier. Contract negotiations in both Germany and Taiwan broke down in December, while Peru’s government has cut off funding for a licence.

“It’s very unpleasant,” says Horst Hippler, spokesperson for the DEAL consortium of state-funded universities and research organizations, which is overseeing negotiations in Germany. “But we just cannot accept what Elsevier has proposed so far.”

Continue Reading.

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New name, new package!

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Khelsilem's Tips for Acknowledging Territory 1.0

(The above map shows three Squamish Nation reserves and one Tsleil-Waututh reserve along the North Shore of Vancouver.) A common practice in political spaces in Canada (and especially BC apparently) is to acknowledge the Indigenous territory and people whose territory you are living on. It not always simple  of course when there is complicated human history to the area. Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto are good examples of that. However, here are some off-hand suggestions from me on what I like to see in territorial acknowledgements from Settlers:

“Unceded” is language to use with the Crown/Settler State. There is a misconception that BC is mostly unceded due to a lack of treaties – which implies those in areas with treaties are what? Ceded territories? That is not always the case and that assumed distinction is wrong. Elevate Indigenous polity. Use the brief moment of acknowledgement to elevate Indigenous society, governance, and jurisdiction. That is more valuable than perpetuating the ceded/unceded dichotomy and speaking to the Crown instead of speaking to fellow Settlers to connect with what is real in that space and time: the Indigenous people’s whose territory you are on.

Practice unceded territory, not talk about it. The academics call it theory and praxis. “Praxis: a fancy word academics made up for ‘practice”. Talking about unceded territory does nothing to achieve justice or form restitution with the Indigenous people’s who are dispossessed from their land. Instead – actively live it. How are you, through your actions, lifestyle, and attitudes, enacting a life that lives on unceded territory? What systems that perpetuate uncededness and dispossession do you speak out against or subvert? Nothing? None? Then you need to be more.

“I would like to acknowledge I’m on unceded Rubber Indian Band territory….. and now that I’ve ticked off the box of having to say those empty words, let’s move onto the event we’re all here for!” If you’re acknowledging the territory you are on, and you agree it’s unceded or dispossessed territory, then perhaps include a centreing of yourself on what it means to be living on unceded or dispossessed territory and perhaps on how you are actively working for redress or restitution. Move the yard stick. Taking 20 seconds to acknowledge a territory is easy. Actively working to subvert or eliminate forces that are causing the dispossession – well that’s a little harder and that’s what Indigenous people ACTUALLY need from Settlers.

Don’t play into internal political struggles. As mentioned before – there are areas where acknowledging territory is not simple because the tribal politics of the region are going through their own process of dispute resolution or consensus-building. It is not a Settler’s place to insert themselves into that process either knowingly or unknowingly. In Vancouver, for example, many are told that “Vancouver is Musqueam territory!!!! The Squamish only moved in here in the 1850’s”. That’s one perspective. And by going with and elevating that single perspective, you’re inserting yourself into the process that the local Indigenous communities are going through to address historical grievances (mostly caused by the imposition of colonial boundaries and dispossession). Just stay out of it and use your best judgement to seek as many perspectives as you can to find your own understanding of what is respectful and polite. Don’t think, “This single Indigenous person told me this so I’ll just go with what they say. I will elevate them to be the sole authority of local Indigenous knowledge, history, and advice.” Unless it’s me telling you what to do. Then you must follow every thing I say to the word. (I’m kidding…lol)

Make mistakes. It is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn. And we learn from a young age that making mistakes is wrong and we should avoid making them at all times. But this creates a paralyses where individuals do not try things out and they don’t learn from them. Be prepared to make a mistake and be prepared to do it right! And be prepared for feedback that may or may not be useful or true, but be prepared to learn.

These are five short tips I wrote from the top of my head. It is information to consider. I personally won’t care if you follow or not follow my advice. Don’t feel sorry if you’re not doing what every Indigenous person tells you to do because we don’t all agree on what Settlers should or could be doing for us. But if you are making attempt to support justice and looking at being useful or effective at that, we’re all happy with that. And my advice is that it would be good if that is what all Settlers were doing. My name is Khelsilem. And this is my tips for Territorial Acknowledgement. I want to hear what you think. Leave a comment to tell me what you think!

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“Arab literature also has several examples of women [that] were involved in same-sex relationships – a catalog from the late 10th century names twelve books which seem to be about two women. One of the more popular stories was that of Hind Bint al-Nu`man, the Christian daughter of the last Lakhmid king of Hira in the seventh century, and Hind Bint al-Khuss al-Iyadiyyah from Yamama in Arabia, known as al-Zarqa’, who were praised by poets and writers for their devotion to each other.

Also, Arabic texts related to eroticism also mention lesbian women. The thirteenth-century Tunisian writer Shihab al-Din Ahmad al-Tifashi describes the local lesbian community, and how these women taught each other various practices. Amer uses this evidence to explain, ‘Arab lesbians were both named and visible in medieval Arabic literature. Moreover, and in contrast to their status in the medieval West in the same period, for example, Arab lesbians were not considered guilty of a “silent sin,” and there is no clear evidence that their “crime” was punished by death. In fact, lesbianism in the medieval Islamicate literary world was a topic deemed worthy of discussion and a lifestyle worthy of emulation.’ ”

@wlwoc @arabsapphics @middleeasternsarecool

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Listen to our first podcast from Standing Rock. We interview artist that have traveled there to listen, learn, and contribute.

(Hyperallergic)

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Who needs stars on a night like this.

(drawn after this)