it is absolutely time for white allies to have uncomfortable ass conversations with their racist parents and friends and neighbors. it is absolutely time for you to speak tf up in class when someone says something racist or misogynistic or homophobic. the social justice movement has been built almost entirely by black women. it is time for white allies to step the fuck up and educate themselves and have difficult conversations with the people around them that say intolerant things. 

“Don’t fight hate with hate” is an example of subtle gaslighting, where our legitimate hurt & anger at the injustices we suffer is being equated to the bigotry & abuse of our oppressors.

Being angry doesn’t mean you are being hateful, it means you love yourself enough to get upset at your own mistreatment.

My piece for RELEASE, a Cardcaptor Sakura zine ✨🌸✨ Today’s the last day for pre-orders so make sure to snag one while you still can! Elizabeth B. 

Whimsical cabins by Christopher Kerksieck

Beautiful things I have seen at Gaymer X thus far, and the panel I’m waiting for. This is SO GOOD.

Please tell us all about this panel!

Your wish is my command:

The panellists were Dante Douglas, Amr Al-Aaser, and Ayla Arthur.

First things first, an early quote was “We’re gonna try not to use the phrase Dark Souls a lot” which just hooked me as a person who would like to talk about other kinds of difficulty/accessibility issues without having to talk about that series every single time.

This panel also introduced me to the phrase “skill fetishisation” which is perfect. They discussed how git gud was once simply a dismissive phrase but has become central to an identity and culture among a subset of gamers, and to the idea that being able to criticise a game is dependent on your ability above all else.

They discussed how some people see games as a meritocracy, but this assumes that everyone begins with equal skill and therefore blames those who cannot achieve mastery for things they can’t control. It assumes video games are inherently fair - but they’re not.

Game design itself is political, with presupposition of who is playing and what their abilities are. Many games companies just haven’t thought much about accessibility, such as Uncharted 4 adding lots of features that weren’t in previous games when they were raised by a disabled player.

And games that brand themselves as difficult make people feel special for being part of the group who can play, meaning it’s necessary for others to struggle/suffer in order for them to get their sense of achievement. Though we couldn’t establish why there is such rage against optional story modes in some widely accessible games.

They also discussed what we count as difficulty - it has to be a delinated failstate. It can’t be something like emotional difficulty (e.g. horror), it’s always focused on the mechanical and dexterous, and can’t have to do with randomisation (which is why competitive games always come down to the purest skill, with no randomised elements allowed).

Finally, they discussed how game testers are usually those proficient at games, so they might not realise a “story” or “easy” mode is actually too difficult for unskilled players, and how let’s plays can be conduits for accesing games. And encouraged pushing back against get good culture, which, yes please!

Bibliography from the talk you might like for further reading:

on my drive home today my gps took me a different way (i wasn’t sure what traffic would be like so i used gps for the fastest route)

at one point i was alone on a mostly empty road, with lots of trees and farm land, and the odd house, but otherwise nothing

then i passed this one place, and it had a wooden fence, and on every other wooden stake was a pumpkin, carved up and semi rotted like these ones, and it made me think of those heads on spikes meant to ward off trespassers in scary stories or medieval times  

naturally i no longer trust my gps to keep me from being murdered 

How to tell if you are emotionally abusive

I feel we talk about signs of abuse from the victims standpoint but not from the abusers standpoint. In order to stop emotional abuse and recognize when we engage in unhealthy behaviors I made this list.

All of these things are abuse tactics. Obviously even the healthiest of us will do these sometimes but if any one becomes a regular habit that’s when the problem starts.

this is super important, i feel like this website makes it easy to put yourself in the role of the victim but never the abuser. It’s also important to note that being a victim does not preclude you from being an abuser.

I find this esp. important. I’ve exhibited some of these behaviors. I know abuse perpetuates abuse and that victims of abuse learn abusive behavior. I also know that having mental illness can make reacting and dealing with feelings even more difficult. That being said: being mentally ill does not mean you cannot be held accountable for your actions. Nor does being a survivor of abuse. I gotta take care of myself & heal and recognize how trauma and mental illness plays a role in how I treat others. Being a victim doesn’t mean you cannot be an abuser too. 

this is the most important post on this website.

Thank you for this.

some little things from summer of steven

Finnian MacManus  -  http://fmacmanus.tumblr.com  -  http://fmacmanus.com  -  https://www.artstation.com/artist/fmacmanus  -  https://www.behance.net/fmacmanus  -  https://twitter.com/fmacmanus?lang=es  -  http://drawcrowd.com/fmacmanus  -  http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-1469656857/fmacmanus/photos  -  https://www.instagram.com/fmacmanus  -  https://www.blogger.com/profile/16800537392558764132  -  https://www.facebook.com/FinnianMacManus

Designer: Agnieszka Osipa

24 Invaluable Skills To Learn For Free Online This Year

Here’s an easy resolution: This stuff is all free as long as you have access to a computer, and the skills you learn will be invaluable in your career, and/or life in general. 

1. Become awesome at Excel.

Chandoo is one of many gracious Excel experts who wants to share their knowledge with the world. Excel excellence is one of those skills that will improve your chances of getting a good job instantly, and it will continue to prove invaluable over the course of your career. What are you waiting for?

2. Learn how to code.

littleanimalgifs.tumblr.com

Perhaps no other skill you can learn for free online has as much potential to lead to a lucrative career. Want to build a site for your startup? Want to build the next big app? Want to get hired at a place like BuzzFeed? You should learn to code. There are a lot of places that offer free or cheap online coding tutorials, but I recommend Code Academy for their breadth and innovative program. If you want to try a more traditional route, Harvard offers its excellent Introduction to Computer Science course online for free.

3. Make a dynamic website.

You could use a pre-existing template or blogging service, or you could learn Ruby on Rails and probably change your life forever. Here’s an extremely helpful long list of free Ruby learning tools that includes everything from Rails for Zombies to Learn Ruby The Hard Way. Go! Ruby! Some basic programming experience, like one of the courses above, might be helpful (but not necessarily required if you’re patient with yourself).

4. Learn to make a mobile game.

If you’re not interested in coding anything other than fun game apps, you could trythis course from the University of Reading. It promises to teach you how to build a game in Java, even if you don’t have programming experience! If you want to make a truly great game, you might want to read/listen up on Game Theory first.

5. Start reading faster.

Spreeder is a free online program that will improve your reading skill and comprehension no matter how old you are. With enough practice, you could learn to double, triple, or even quadruple the speed at which you read passages currently, which is basically like adding years to your life.

6. Learn a language!

With Duolingo, you can learn Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, or English (from any of the above or more). There’s a mobile app and a website, and the extensive courses are completely free.

Full disclosure: BuzzFeed and other websites are in a partnership with DuoLingo, but they did not pay or ask for this placement.

7. Pickle your own vegetables.

Tired of your farmer’s market haul going bad before you use it all? Or do you just love tangy pickled veggies? You too can pickle like a pro thanks to SkillShare and Travis Grillo.

8. Improve your public speaking skills.

You can take the University of Washington’s Intro to Public Speaking for free online. Once you learn a few tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to go into situations like being asked to present at a company meeting or giving a presentation in class without nearly as much fear and loathing.

9. Get a basic handle of statistics.

UC Berkeley put a stats intro class on iTunes. Once you know how to understand the numbers yourself, you’ll never read a biased “news” article the same way again — 100% of authors of this post agree!

10. Understand basic psychology.

Knowing the basics of psych will bring context to your understanding of yourself, the dynamics of your family and friendships, what’s really going on with your coworkers, and the woes and wonders of society in general. Yale University has its Intro to Psychology lectures online for free.

11. Make your own music.

Step one: Learn how to play guitar: Justin Guitar is a fine and free place to start learning chords and the basic skills you’ll need to be able to play guitar — from there, it’s up to you, but once you know the basics, just looking up tabs for your favorite songs and learning them on your own is how many young guitar players get their start (plus it’s an excellent party trick).

Step two: A delightful free voice lesson from Berklee College Of Music.

Step three: Have you always thought you had an inner TSwift? Berklee College of Music offers an Introduction to Songwriting course completely for free online. The course is six weeks long, and by the end of the lesson you’ll have at least one completed song.

Step four: Lifehacker’s basics of music production will help you put it all together once you have the skills down! You’ll be recording your own music, ready to share with your valentine or the entire world, in no time!

12. Learn to negotiate.

Let Stanford’s Stan Christensen explain how to negotiate in business and your personal life, managing relationships for your personal gain and not letting yourself be steamrolled. There are a lot of football metaphors and it’s great.

13. Stop hating math.

If you struggled with math throughout school and now have trouble applying it in real-world situations when it crops up, try Saylor.org’s Real World Math course. It will reteach you basic math skills as they apply IRL. Very helpful!

14. Start drawing!

All kids draw — so why do we become so afraid of it as adults? Everyone should feel comfortable with a sketchbook and pencil, and sketching is a wonderful way to express your creativity. DrawSpace is a great place to start. (I also highly recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you can drop a few dollars for a used copy.)

15. Make your own animated GIF.

BuzzFeed’s own Katie Notopoulos has a great, simple guide to making an animated GIF without Photoshop. This is all you need to be the king or queen of Tumblr or your favorite email chains.

16. Appreciate jazz.

reddit.com

Have you never really “gotten” jazz? If you want to be able to participate in conversations at fancy parties and/or just add some context to your appreciation of all music, try this free online course from UT Austin.

17. Write well.

Macalester College’s lecture series is excellent. If you’re more interested in journalism, try Wikiversity’s course selection.

18. Get better at using Photoshop.

Another invaluable skill that will get you places in your career, learning Photoshop can be as fun as watching the hilarious videos on You Suck At Photoshop or as serious as this extensive Udemy training course (focused on photo retouching).

19. Take decent pictures.

Lifehacker’s basics of photography might be a good place to start. Learn how your camera works, the basic of composition, and editing images in post-production. If you finish that and you’re not sure what to do next, here’s a short course on displaying and sharing your digital photographs.

20. Learn to knit.

Instructables has a great course by a woman who is herself an online-taught knitter. You’ll be making baby hats and cute scarves before this winter’s over!

21. Get started with investing in stocks.

If you are lucky enough to have a regular income, you should start learning about savings and investment now. Investopedia has a ton of online resources, including this free stocks basics course. Invest away!

22. Clean your house in a short amount of time.

Unf$#k Your Habitat has a great emergency cleaning guide for when your mother-in-law springs a surprise visit on you. While you’re over there, the entire blog is good for getting organized and clean in the long term, not just in “emergencies.” You’ll be happier for it.

23. Start practicing yoga.

Most cities have free community classes (try just searching Google or inquiring at your local yoga studio), or if you’re more comfortable trying yoga at home, YogaGlohas a great 15-day trial and Yome is a compendium of 100% free yoga videos. If you’re already familiar with basic yoga positions but you need an easy way to practice at home, I recommend YogaTailor’s free trial as well.

24. Tie your shoelaces more efficiently.

It’s simple and just imagine the minutes of your life you’ll save!

Monument Valley honestly kept me from having a panic attack a few weeks ago. 

I was on hold with my bank for roughly a half hour because someone had stolen my debit card number and had charged a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff to it. All I could think about while I was on hold was what if my rent check bounces, I can’t afford the late fee I’ll be slapped with and I’m already on bad terms with my super - and I felt that horrible grip around my chest squeezing down and my breathing getting faster. 

Normally I can just drink a cold glass of water and sit in front of my ac (to remind myself that no, my throat is not actually closing up, and that yes, I can still successfully get air into my lungs with the help of a fan) but this time neither of those tricks did anything. Well actually that’s not true, they reminded me that I was alone in my apartment, and if couldn’t find a way to calm down, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to get help - which only scared the shit out of me even more. 

So I sat in front of my AC and pulled up the brightest, happiest looking app I have on phone, which is Monument Valley, and within ten minutes of building pathways to guide the princess through the castle I was breathing normally.  I found myself thinking, look at this bitch, you’re already solving this, this will be cleared up with your bank in the next half hour, and in case your check bounces, you’ll have documentation as to why to show your landlord. On good days, it’s sometimes honestly as simple as helping a tiny me walk through a beautiful castle while solving simple puzzles to remind myself:

I got this.

GASP DOWNLOADING THEM ALL

Monument Valley is an absolute joy and beauty of a game, and I’m definitely checking out some of the others now.

monument valley is fantastic and i’ve been thinking about trying some of these others :3

abyssrium is also really relaxing! you basically raise marine life! the art is also really pretty

@mesospheros its ALWAYS ok to request more pearl

Space freckles and galaxies and shit. Totally feeling myself today.

Steven Crewniverse Zine #2 (part 1)

Illustrations (in order) by: Lamar Abrams, Hilary Florido, Aleth Romanillos, Jane Bak, Amber Rogers, Emily Walus, Christy Cohen, Mary Nash, Ben Levin and Alan Pasman. (Photos found here.)