Around the Interwebz: Almost My Birthday edition

Birthday is in less than two weeks. Very excited.

Disgraceful

Cause fixing the fucking economy would be too much ask.

Disgusting (TW for racism)

Smaller house

We love having a smaller house. It is much easier to clean and it has more character than these McMansions thrown up in five seconds.

Student Loans

In the shadow of these onerous, misguided policy decisions, we find ourselves facing a student loan burden so enormous that its present value has actually eclipsed our national credit card debt. Incredibly, the fundamental problem is quite simple: Our current system offers no incentives for loan originators to deny risky borrowers; consequently, student loans are much too easy to obtain. Huge amounts of cash are offered to students without regard to the school they might attend or the major they might choose. Colleges and universities happily raise prices (at a rate significantly faster than inflation), secure in the knowledge that larger loans will be provided to cover increasing costs.

I remember every April, checking my own campus mailbox and receiving the "Oh, so sorry, we have to jack up your rates-again" letter. Meanwhile, my payments went to a building I'll never get to use. And the financial office still treated me like a disposable wallet, despite the fact that I was putting myself through school.

Exactly

That song is disgusting.

Amazing read

What? You thought you were one of the “good ones” why because you didn’t burn burn down a black church or wave the Confederate flag. How could you not be one of the good ones, you didn’t do anything?The silence and apathy of most whites is nearly deafening, until you rightfully indict them on their privilege and then they come out in droves demanding to be counted among the “good ones” and the speshul white allies.

Here’s the truth. You’re not one of the good ones. If you have to say you’re about it, you’re not about it. Unless you’re willing to do the right thing at your personal expense, don’t lecture blacks and other POCs about being one of the good ones. Don’t tell us to look for the good in whites.

Really good news

On Monday, CHICAGO HOUSE cut the ribbon on the TransLife Center (TLC), a first in the nation facility for members of the transgender community, located in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood.

Mmm, autumn

Truth

Important History

So use it trans people, allies and supporters to dispel the lie that we Black transpeople haven't contributed anything to the advancement of trans human rights, our people's advancement, aren't part of the Black community or made some history in our own right. 

Fucking Clear Channel

More Truth

Cause absolutely nothing can go wrong with this

Clearly, the state of North Carolina agrees with me, because they’ve just decided that it is now legal to carry guns in bars in their state. And playgrounds!

Around the Interwebz: Is Spring forever lost to us? Edition

Here on the East Coast, we had snow again today. For those playing at home without a calendar, it's March 18th. At this rate, I'll still be bundling up in my winter coat in July.

This is bullshit

Really? A six year old? Awful that they are putting her through that.

One of the many downsides of Facebook

I think we've all been there. I know there a few on my friends' list that always seem to be perfect, have the cutest pictures, etc. I don't think we've begun to understand how social media affects our lives fully yet.

And then there's this

The maternal instinct is a real thing, Kelly argues: Girls play with dolls from childhood, so “women are raised from the get-go to raise children successfully. When we are moms, we have a better toolbox.” Women, she believes, are conditioned to be more patient with children, to be better multitaskers, to be more tolerant of the quotidian grind of playdates and temper tantrums; “women,” she says, “keep it together better than guys do.”

This was just from the first page! Way to win with the gender stereotyping!

“I feel like in today’s society, women who don’t work are bucking the convention we were raised with … Why can’t we just be girls? Why do we have to be boys and girls at the same time?” 

I can't even with this shit.

Granted, the article is mostly about one woman who is helped by her husband with the "low six figure income." And therein lies the rub. This is about a white able bodied upper middle class woman and her family.

The whole article made me want to slam my head into a wall.


For something lighter.....this would be my cat.

Transgender Day of Rememberance

Melissa McEwan, of Shakesville, says it best:

The rest of the year, we must always be fierce advocates and allies together, so that we may never add a new name on a victims list ever again.

Today we remember the precious lives lost due to the hate and the fear still shown against transgender people.

Other reading:

From Shakesville

Also from Shakesville 

Womanist Musings 

Trans Griot