“You are not helpless. You are not heartless. And you have time.”
— Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard
@pscentral mini event: get to know the members
↳ RENT (2005); how can you connect in an age where strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray?
HEAVEN IS HERE IF YOU WANT IT
Dance Fever - 13th May 2022
Anna Higgins 1. Flower Arrangement, 2018 2. Rose in the Dark, 2018 (Pigment print on german etching paper)
ON TRANSFAGGOTRY, Dante Émile
rewrote this piece from 2019 that i still kinda like. picture is lou sullivan after his top surgery, circa 1980.
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
— The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien (b. 3 January 1892)
this art is by trans artist rae senarighi! their website is transpainter.com! they are on instagram! they create art in support of the queer and trans communities and their shop has shirts, mugs, posters, and flags!! their flags are on pre-order right now and you can donate to their pay-it-forward fund to help send flags to those who can’t afford them!
@pscentral event 09: comfort → comfort movie: pride (2014) dir. matthew warchus
And why should gay people like me support the miners? Because miners dig for coal, which produces power, which allows gay people like you to dance to Bananarama till 3 o'clock in the morning.
jules joseph lefebvre (1836-1911)
“the grasshopper” details 1872
“I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence, it’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for.”
— Toni Morrison, from The Paris Review Podcast (via mesogeios)
The Stroll - Martin Gale
Irish, b. 1949 -
oil on linen , 25 x 30 cm.
quick what is everyone doing right now
I made this Gentleman Jack vid for TGIF/F premieres! Enjoy.
The recognition of the sacredness of every man’s life is the first and only foundation of all morality.
Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You
“Under the new bill, Illinois libraries would be required to either issue a statement that they will prohibit banning controversial materials and books or show they follow the ALA Library Bill of Rights, which says “materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
The best part? If they don’t comply, the libraries will NOT be eligible for state grants. [...]
This is so incredibly important and necessary.
As a librarian myself I'm not the biggest fan of it being based on the Ala bill of rights because that thing has some history, but I get that that's a good authority and probably the most easily agreed upon, so it'll do. I'm willing to compromise if it means safety, security, and access of materials.
This matters so much to me. Our library is currently dealing with our board trying to remove the book Gender Queer from our shelves and this would give us the power to fight back.
While I don't like that all this is tied up in grants because I can see it being manipulated against a library in more conservative areas or it ending badly for some libraries (poor leadership should not be the reason a community loses a library, imagine having to fight to get your library back after it loses funding), ultimately it hands a lot of control back to the libraries/library leadership rather than the boards (more on how bad board control of a library can be here). Allowing for that 1 to 1 comparison of intellectual freedom=grants (money) is enough to get a lot of people off our backs. It also definitely motivates libraries to update their policies immediately.
Anyway feelings aside, I'm so happy this is in the works. I hope it passes. I'll do my part to support it as I'm currently living Illinois and working at an Illinois library and this very much directly effects me. (and even if it didn't I would start championing this elsewhere).
And just a reminder: YOUR VOTE AND HOW YOU VOTE MATTERS.
And vote especially in your local elections!
One of our local libraries is in desperate need of a new building. The current one is genuinely dangerous (mold, falling apart, old electrical, structural issues, etc). They managed to get a matching grant, raise a bunch of money, and then needed the town to vote for the final funding required.
And they lost that vote by 53 votes, which has completely scuttled the project for now. They're going to try again, but seriously, your elections--especially the local ones--matter so incredibly much. A few people can make a massive difference.
Please vote.