Today I learned that Van Halen have that rider in their contract about “a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed” in order to know at a glance if the promoter read the entire contract. And the reason they do THAT is because they once had a stage collapse because a promoter hadn’t read the proper way to set up all the specific technical stuff.
So if the band goes in the dressing room or catering and sees brown M&Ms, they know they have to double-check the stage setup for safety.
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles traveled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hungry
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i don’t know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here
Hello! My name is Claude and I am a Texas cosplayer who also workers as a hotel housekeeper. I haven’t been working in housekeeping for very long but I’ve seen the impact of all sorts of guest and I have to say that Anime/Comic Con attendees are honestly some of the messiest guests and it puts a lot of strain on the housekeeping staff. Did you know we are warned in advance about you guys? I even have horror stories about con guest. This job is very physically demanding and we’re under a lot of pressure to meet our room cleaning times. Below are some tips about being a more helpful and respectful guest. These are only a suggestion. Not rules. Courtesy is a choice.
1.) Before leaving don’t make the bed. We understand you mean well, but all sheets need to be washed and therefore the beds stripped. The best way to leave the bed? Place all the sheets on top of the bed and remove the pillowcases from the pillows. You can leave them bunched up, that’s fine.
2.) Place all your trash into trash bags, tie it up, and leave the trash next to the door before leaving.That way we can just toss it in the trash cart and move on. Leave anything that we can vacuum. You can also leave the dirty towels next to the door before leaving.
3.) Please check all the drawers, cabinets, and closets to make sure you have all your things. Anything found will be placed into lost and found for 90 days. If you’ve left something, just call the hotel and tell them what you’ve lost and in what room.
4.) If you place a DND sign on your door we CANNOT ENTER at all. We mark it down and move on. If you later remove it and decide that you want service call the front desk and let them know because housekeeping usually end up leaving anywhere from 3pm-5pm.
5.) When housekeeping refreshes your room we make the bed, refill amenities, place fresh towels, take out trash, and do a quick wipedown. Don’t want your bed made? Need extra amenities? Need extra trash bags? Etc? Let us know! We leave notepads and pens in every room and you can write down any instructions for us. Ex: “No need to make the bed, just fresh towels and extra shampoos please.” “Extra trash bags and bath towels please, no more shampoos please.”
6.) Housekeeping cannot make the beds when you have personal belongings on the bed. Simple things like clothes and towels we move while making the bed then put back but anything else we DO NOT TOUCH. Laptops, jewels, suitcases, etc. Please keep this in mind if you want your bed made.
7.) Please do not leave your hair curlers and straighteners plugged in the bathroom. Guest always leave them connected usually next to the sink with water all over and it’s a safety hazard. Housekeeping will usually unplug them but I, personally, fear that maybe one day we won’t reach the room in time.
8.) If a hotel is Pet friendly, you still have to let the hotel know that you are bringing a furry friend along. We need to know what rooms need the pet treatment. What if the next guest is allergic and we weren’t notified about the previous guest?
9.) Try and bring some supplies to clean up after your pet. We’ve had guest allow their pets to pee and poop on the carpets and it not only affects the housekeeping staff but maintenance staff as well.
10.) Most hotels are non-smoking and we ask that you please respect that. We are trained to find out if a guest has been smoking and when we catch it, you get a $250 charge. Don’t risk it!! There are smoking areas that you can ask about.
11.) Have left over alcohol that you can’t take with you when you leave? You don’t have to throw it away. It’s very common for guest to leave them as a tip for housekeeping staff.
12.) Yes! You can tip housekeeping! It’s not required. But we constantly get tips and little notes to thank us for our work and we deeply appriciate it. (I actually have all my thank you notes!) How much you tip is up to you. Ive gotten anywhere from change to 25$.
13.) If you’re sick (like influenza, strep throat, cold, etc.) let the hotel staff know. That way we can notify the housekeepers to take extra precautions. (mask, gloves, etc) and provide a deeper clean. (I actually got Influenza B and ended up in the hospital from this one!)
14.) You don’t have to leave your room if housekeeping comes by to refresh it. You can stay and tell us how to make your stay more comfortable. Plus, we appreciate the conversation.
15.) Please notify ANY of the hotel staff when you encounter a problem. (bedbugs, clogged toilet, broken lamps, etc) We are committed to make your stay as perfect as possible and can be reached at anytime for help.
16.) If you throw up or bleed (excessively) in the room please notify us as soon as possible and we can have maintenance come clean up. Please do not leave it for us to clean until after your stay. It causes stains that won’t come out and a deeply embedded smell in the room.
17.) Things you can ask for that guest don’t usually know about (can vary by hotel. Some hotels require purchase.): cribs, extra blankets, shower caps, slippers, toothpaste, toothbrush, tampons, pads, razors.
That’s about all I can think of so far. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about how to be a more courteous guest or anything about hotel service. I’ll be happy to help to the best of my ability. I cant wait to see you all at San Japan! :)
Any questions?
@etoile-ami-cosplay (Tumblr)
@etoile_ami (instagram)
School dress codes aren’t only sexists, but there’s also racist and islamophobic.
I (First Nations, Mohawk) used to have hair past my chest but my middle school forced me to cut my hair because “boys couldn’t have hair past the tips of the ear” (I’m not a boy either, but they assigned me ‘boy’ as a gender) but even when I begged them to let me keep my hair because of spiritual beliefs, they forced me to cut it. A classic move of the white school system against native children. I got a referral everyday for the 65 days I refused to cut my hair. I cried for two weeks after the principal took scissors to my hair. I’m still growing it back.
My best friend (who is an aboriginal Egyptian) was once told to remove her hijab (also a gift I had given her) because “hats weren’t allowed” (a mixture of racism and islamophobia), she reluctantly took it off.
In middle school again, my friend Nemo ( First Nations, Navajo) was told she couldn’t wear her traditional clothing on her 13 birthday, celebrating her reaching puberty. She was sent home and forced to spend her birthday alone while her parents worked.
Tomorrow is my 18th birthday, an important life event in Mohawk culture (becoming an adult) and I want to wear my traditional clothes to school, especially because I’ll have to celebrate all alone this year since I live far away from my nation. Even though my school doesn’t have uniforms or a strict dress code, I’m afraid they’ll tell me that my clothes or very light face paint are “distracting” and tell me to take off my traditional jewellery (headband, choker, bracelets) or wash off the face paint.
I’m sure these are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to racism in the school dress code, and general school systems. White culture is enforced in everything from the dress code to the curriculum.