attempting to erect iron clad boundaries between transness and butchness is as fruitless as trying to snuff out the stars. and either way ur left with a lot less light

The law allows any medical provider or insurer to deny care based on "ethical, moral, or religious beliefs."

There is NOTHING "ethical" or "moral" about a medical practitioner letting someone die because they don't approve of the LGBTQ+ community.

Even doctors who work on battlefields know it is the ethically and morally correct thing to do to care for enemy soldiers who are wounded.

The Florida legislature appears to be enacting laws that are about as hateful and corrupt as Southern legislatures enacted during Jim Crow.

They are turning Florida into a dystopian society.

We cannot let DeSantis anywhere near the Oval Office or he will turn the entire nation into a far right dystopian nightmare.

“The Florida legislature appears to be enacting laws that are about as hateful and corrupt as Southern legislatures enacted during Jim Crow.”

The Republican “culture wars” focus on every hateful thing except whatever could actually help people

From the article [emphasis mine]:

You would have to be willfully ignorant and aggressively naive to believe that Republicans won’t change any of the qualifiers at some future date. Clarence Thomas already implied that he thinks Marriage Equality should be overturned. If they’re coming for the “T” and the “Q” in LGBTQ today, you better believe they’ll be coming for the “LGB” tomorrow. And they won’t stop there.

Which is why I always find it wild when all the TERFs out there side with conservatives (knowingly or otherwise), foolishly thinking that they’re safe.

If you aren’t a wealthy, white, heterosexual, “Christian” male, then you’re fair game for Republican ChristoFascists—you are not safe.

Anyway,…

👉🏿 https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-bill-legalizing-anti-lgbtq-medical-discrimination/

Republicans want us dead. There's no two ways about it, and nothing they can justify this level of cruelty and evil with. We do not fit into their idea of a perfect world, therefore we must be exterminated.

This is a war for our survival now. Do not be so foolish as to think it is anything but.

This doesn't just affect trans folks, btw. A doctor who doesn't believe it's "ethical" to say, treat a disabled person because they "have poor quality of life already" could easily kill folks. They did it, and are still doing it, throughout the COVID pandemic and before

Major Arcana Tarot Meanings

The Fool  – 0

Upright: Innocence, freedom, originality, adventure, travel, foolishness, carelessness, idealism, youth, spontaneity, lack of commitment, new beginnings Reversed: Recklessness, carelessness, negligence, stupidity, distraction, apathy, irrationality, lack of fun, hope or faith

The Magician  –  I

Upright: Power, influence, willpower, resourcefulness, skill, ability, logic, intellect, concentration and psychic powers Reversed: Manipulation, greed, unused ability, untrustworthiness, trickery, conniving, cunning, lack of mental clarity

The High Priestess  – II

Upright: Desirability, unattainability, mystery, sensuality, spirituality, thirst for knowledge, mystery, subconscious, higher power, creativity, fertility Reversed: Repression of intuition, blocked psychic powers, unwanted attention, uncontrolled outbursts and sexual tension, lack of self-belief, fertility issues

The Empress  –  III

Upright: Pregnancy, fertility, motherhood, sensuality, nurturing, creativity, beauty, femininity, nature, harmony, art Reversed: Insecurity, infertility, lack of confidence, lack of growth, overbearing tendencies, disharmony, negligence

The Emperor  –  IV

Upright: Older man, stability, dependability, fatherhood, father-figure, structure, protectiveness, authority, logical, practical Reversed: Abuse of power, excessively controlling, rigidity, stubbornness, lack of discipline, lack of control, absentee father, paternity issues

The Hierophant  –  V

Upright: Traditional institutions, traditional values, conventional, conformity, marriage, commitment, religion, beliefs, knowledge sharing Reversed: Challenging tradition, unconventional lifestyles, unconventional relationships, reversed roles, non-conformity

The Lovers  –  VI

Upright: Love, soulmates, kindred spirits, perfect unions, partnerships, relationships, major choices, romance, desire, sexual connections, shared values Reversed: Disharmony, trust issues, imbalance, conflict, disconnection, lack of accountability, disunion, detachment

The Chariot  –  VII

Upright: Victory, overcoming obstacles, success, ambition, determination, willpower, control, self-discipline, hard work and focus Reversed: Forcefulness, lack of direction, lack of self-control, powerlessness, aggression, coercion, being blocked by obstacles

Strength  –  VIII

Upright: Inner strength, courage, bravery, confidence, compassion, taming, control, overcoming self-doubt Reversed: Vulnerability, self-doubt, weakness, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, feeling inadequate

The  Hermit  –  IX

Upright: Spiritual enlightenment, soul searching, self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, inner guidance, solitude Reversed: Loneliness, paranoia, isolation, reclusiveness, withdrawal, anti-social, restrictive, paralyzed by fear.

The Wheel of Fortune  –  X

Upright: Good luck, destiny, change, karma, soulmates, decisive moments, cycles of life, fate, fortune, upheaval, chance Reversed: Bad luck, upheaval, disorder, external forces, lack of control, disruption, unwelcome change, delays, set backs, karma

Justice  –  XI

Upright: Justice, karmic justice, consequences, legal disputes, law, truth, honesty, integrity, cause and effect, life lessons Reversed: Injustice, karmic retribution, dishonesty, corruption, lack of accountability, dishonesty, unfairness, karmic avoidance

The Hanged Man  –  XII

Upright: Feeling trapped, confined, self-limiting, uncertainty, lack of direction, needing release, letting go Reversed: Discontentment, apathy, disinterest, stagnation, impulsiveness, negative patterns, detachment

Death  –  XIII

Upright: Spiritual transformation, new beginnings, letting go, endings, change, transition, sudden or unexpected upheaval Reversed: Inability to move forward, fear of beginnings, repeating negative patterns, resisting change, dependency

Temperance  –  XIV

Upright: Balance, peace, patience, moderation, inner calm, perspective, tranquillity, harmonious relationships, soulmates Reversed: Imbalance, self-indulgence, excess, clashing, lack of perspective, discord, antagonism, recklessness, hastiness

The Devil  –  XV

Upright: Addiction, depression, mental health issues, secrecy, obsession, cheating, dependency, bondage, materialism, sexuality, powerlessness, hopelessness, abuse, violence, assault Reversed: Detachment, independence, overcoming addiction, freedom, revelation, reclaiming power, reasserting control

The Tower  –  XVI

Upright: Chaos, destruction, sudden upheaval, trauma, unexpected change, disaster, loss, tragedy, revelations, confusion, pain, divorce, abuse, violence, bankruptcy, natural disasters, inevitable endings Reversed: Resisting change, averting disaster, avoiding tragedy, delaying the inevitable, avoiding loss, lack of insight, codependence

The Star  –  XVII

Upright: Hope, inspiration, creativity, calm, contentment, renewal, serenity, spirituality, healing, positivity Reversed: Hopelessness, despair, focusing on the negative, lack of faith, lack of inspiration, lack of creativity, boredom, monotony

The Moon  –  XVIII

Upright: Intuition, illusion, dreams, vagueness, instability, deception, anxiety, fear, misconception, subconscious, insecurity, clouded Reversed: Releasing fear, unveiling secrets, subsiding anxiety, truth, regaining composure, self-deception, blocked intuition

The Sun  –  XIX

Upright: Positivity, freedom, fun, success, optimism, vitality, joy, confidence, self-expression, good luck, enthusiasm, happiness, truth, openness, pregnancy Reversed: Lack of enthusiasm, excessive enthusiasm, sadness, pessimism, unrealistic expectations, ego, conceitedness, oppression, infertility

Judgement  – XX

Upright: Judgement, self-evaluation, awakening, renewal, composure, decisiveness, homesickness, snap judgements, apportioning blame, forgiveness, judgemental Reversed: Indecisiveness, self-doubt, malicious gossip, lack of self-awareness, unwillingness to learn karmic lessons, unfair blame, false accusations

The World  –  XXI

Upright: Success, achievement, accomplishment, travel, completion, fulfillment, sense of belonging, wholeness Reversed: Lack of success, stagnation, lack of achievement, disappointment, burden, lack of completion

common outdoor items & their uses

a guide to common outdoor items and their magickal uses.

will add more as i can, feel free to add your own!!

someone invents a recipe > their child loves it > they grow up and replicate it for their own child > their child loves it > they grow up and replicate it for their own child > their child loves it > they grow up and replicate it for their own child > their child loves it > (this continues indefinitely)

The funny thing is as a parent you always think, “mine isn’t as good as Nana made it.” But your kid adores it and one day will say “it isn’t as good as my mama made it but the kids like it.”

and on it goes

and so love is passed down the chain of generations, on and on, from mouth to mouth to heart to heart

Every person need to be taught disability history

Not the “oh Einstein was probably autistic” or the sanitized Helen Keller story. but this history disabled people have made and has been made for us.

Teach them about Carrie Buck, who was sterilized against her will, sued in 1927, and lost because “Three generations of imbeciles [were] enough.”

Teach them about Judith Heumann and her associates, who in 1977, held the longest sit in a government building for the enactment of 504 protection passed three years earlier.

Teach them about all the Baby Does, newborns in 1980s who were born disabled and who doctors left to die without treatment, who’s deaths lead to the passing of The Baby Doe amendment to the child abuse law in 1984.

Teach them about the deaf students at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf, who in 1988, protested the appointment of yet another hearing president and successfully elected I. King Jordan as their first deaf president.

Teach them about Jim Sinclair, who at the 1993 international Autism Conference stood and said “don’t mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we’re here waiting for you.”

Teach about the disability activists who laid down in front of buses for accessible transit in 1978, crawled up the steps of congress in 1990 for the ADA, and fight against police brutality, poverty, restricted access to medical care, and abuse today.

Teach about us.

Oh! Oh! I got one! Meet Edward V. Roberts-

Ed Roberts was one of the founding minds behind the Independent Living movement. Roberts was born in 1939, and contracted polio at age 14, two years before the vaccine that ended the polio epidemic came out (vaccinate your kids). Polio left Roberts almost completely paralyzed, with only the use of two fingers and a few toes. At night, he had to sleep in an iron lung, and he would often rest there during the day as well. Other times of the day, he breathed by using his face and neck muscles to force air in and out of his lungs.

Despite this being the fifties, Roberts' mother insisted that her son continue schooling. Her support helped him face his fear of being stared at and ridiculed at school, going from thinking of himself as a "hopeless cripple" to seeing himself as a "star." When his high school tried to deny him his diploma because he had never completed driver's ed, Roberts and his mother fought the school and won.

This marked the beginning of his career as an activist.

Roberts had to fight the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation for support to attend college, because his counselor thought he was too severely disabled to ever work or live independently. Roberts did go to school, however, first attending the College of San Marino. He was then accepted to UC Berkeley, but when the school learned that he was disabled, they tried to backtrack. "We've tried cripples before, and it didn't work," one dean famously said. The school tried to argue the dorms couldn't accommodate his iron lung, so Roberts was instead housed in an empty wing of the school's Cowell Hospital.

Roberts' admittance paved the way for other disabled students who were also housed in the new Cowell Dorm. The group called themselves "The Rolling Quads," and together they fought and advocated for better disability support, more ramps and accessible architecture like curb cut outs, founded the first formally recognized student-led disability services program in the country, and even managed to successfully oust a rehabilitation counselor who had threatened two of the Quads with expulsion for their protests.

After graduation from his master's, he served a number of other roles- he taught political science at a number of different colleges over the years, served on the board for the Center for Independent Living, confounded the World Institute on Disability with Judith E. Heumann and Joan Leon, and continued to advocate for better disability services and infrastructure at his alma mater of UC Berkeley.

Roberts also took part in and helped organize sit ins to force the federal government to enforce section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stated that people with disabilities should not be excluded from activities, denied the right to receive benefits, or be discriminated against, from any program that uses federal financial assistance, solely because of their disability. The sit-in occupied the offices of the Carter Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare building in San Francisco and lasted 28 days. The protestors were supported by local gay rights organizations and the Black Panthers. Roberts and other activists spoke, and their arguments were so compelling that members of the department of health joined the sit in. Reagan was forced to acknowledge and implement the policies and rules that section 504 required. This national recognition helped to pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

Roberts died of cardiac arrest in 1995 at the age of 54, leaving behind a proud legacy of advocacy and activism. Not bad for a "hopeless cripple" whose rehab counselor thought he was too disabled to ever work.

every time i see discourse about pedohysteria amidst a trans genocide i think about that news article from 2016 about the mexican immigrant who voted for trump because trump said he’d get rid of all the “bad hombres” from mexico, only to be deported himself because it turns out what trump was really saying was that he wanted to deport all mexicans, not just “the bad ones”

not just him, but there were many other examples too, like white conservatives who have mexican immigrant friends and family or people in the community important to them who were mexican immigrants, and they voted for trump because they thought trump was just getting rid of “criminals”, and then they regret it when their families and communities get torn apart by deportations of their spouses, their friends, their favourite restaurant owners, etc.

anyways, i hope young queers, trans people esp, understand that when conservatives talk about “pedophiles” and “groomers”, they’re not talking about actual child abusers, they’re talking about all queer people. they’re talking about all trans people. it’s why in florida, they’re categorizing “drag” as a child sex crime, and making sex crimes against children punishable by death. they’re trying to execute every single trans person, and that’s just the rhetoric they’re using

so stop buying into the pedohysteria. it’s easy to think “well, i’m not a pedophile, so i’ll be safe” when you don’t realize that in the eyes of conservatives, every single queer person is a pedophile and deserves death, and contributing to their rhetoric by trying to figure out which trans woman is a pedophile is just accelerating your own march to the gallows

not to piggy back on this, but you can observe this phenomenon in a lot of conservative and fascist political priorities.

it’s not about actual pedophilia; your average right winger doesn’t even know what the first thing about addressing pedophilia looks like in the U.S. about how it has largely been turned into a diagnosis, and how our society manages the existence of pedophiles has largely turned into the domain of the field of mental health management. is this better for the safety of children than carceral justice, or worse? wrong question! because it’s literally not on the radar for most fascists. pedos are monsters, and so any undesirable you can associate with pedos can be similarly banished. it’s literally never been about actual pedophiles

the gamergate outrage was never about videogames

the trumpies have never actually cared about the logistics of legal immigration

the trans athlete ‘debate’ has never been about the sanctity of women’s basketball, or marathons, or whatever sport it is this week

the hillary truthers never cared about political integrity

anticommunist reactionary outrage has never been about positively righting the minutia of political hierarchy

reactionary outrage over minimum wage has never been about providing a logistically sound alternative to compensating the poor

the antiblack focus on ‘tough on crime’ politics has never been about actually mitigating crimes and keeping people safe because they don’t fucking care

every. last. one. of these conversations are proxy conversations. what’s actually being discussed? who gets to participate in society, and who doesn’t. fascist authorities will give any reason, no matter how ridiculous, and fascism enjoyers will parrot any party line, no matter how ridiculous, because no matter what is the Biggest Issue On Earth this week, what they’re actually saying is quite simpler: this is why we’re getting rid of minorities.

you cannot debate fascism, because it has never cared about the truth.

I feel like the only person not tempted to use ChatGPT like it doesn't even occur to me as an option

Anyway shoutout to the person next to me who just got GPT to do their whole essay. I know you're in the trenches.

top surgery tip 1)

get yourself used to sleeping on your back (and possibly elevated depending on your surgeon) BEFORE surgery.

top surgery tip 2)

have cough drops on hand because your throat will probably be sore from the breathing tube they use with anesthesia.

Top surgery tip 3)

Get and use straws. You'll have T-Rex arms for a while but you still need to hydrate.

top surgery tip 4)

the post surgery compression binder is more comfortable than youd think but it still gets pretty itchy. so dont be afraid to take benydryl, itll help you rest and stop the itch

top surgery tip 5)

sounds weird but try not to flex your pecs… watched a horror game play through and every time there was a jump scare my whole body tensed up including my pecs which hurt like a bitch

Top surgery tip 6)

Have hand sanitizer/ body wipes incase you cannot reach across sinks easily and to also put under your armpits if you cannot get deodorant there

top surgery tip 7)

you might be numb in some areas affected by the surgery. especially if your surgeon does any liposuction along with just cutting your boobs off. right now my armpits are numb which makes cleaning them weird. less of a tip and more its normal for early in recovery

top surgery tip 8)

about a week in stuff starts to feel like pins and needles. i thought that meant my one nipple was falling off. turns out its the opposite and its them coming back to life. the post op compression binder while annoying does help the tingling feel less weird

top surgery tip 9)

you surgeon may be ripped to hell and back like mine and put the compression binder on super tight. ITS OK TO LOOSEN IT A LITTLE.

its there for compression to keep the swelling down but same rules apply as a regular binder: it might be a little uncomfortable and feel tight but you need to still be able to BREATHE

top surgery tip 10)

invest in a long pair of tongs or one of those claw grabber things. i just made ramen that was in a cabinet above the microwave. how? tippy toes and tongs.

I really underestimated the power of networking but thanks to just existing in a crowd once after a big fashion show I've made friends with a chairman of an international nonprofit organization who is probably singlehandedly the reason why my proposed project to spearhead the creation of an ecological garden on my college campus is getting actual attention from the dean's office and assorted higher-ups.

Y'all don't need to fuck around with LinkedIn (or at least I haven't needed to yet) but genuinely don't ever forget to be an opportunist. Fuck grindset culture, and fuck always being in that sort of productivity-seeking mode, but definitely always be paying attention to how your surroundings and choices could benefit you by being in them. Take the chance. The worst that happens is nothing.

Being an adult means being okay with the fact that you scheme. It is morally sound to be scheming. It's enrichment. I don't "make plans" I "foment plots" and "consider my numerous options". If you think of yourself as a cartoonish supervillain mastermind you will not become one but life DOES become significantly more enjoyable and sometimes it even lets you get shit done.

i’ve noticed a lot of people lashing out in response to the posts celebrating and being positive towards men lately and it’s… not great.

in the past few days alone, i’ve seen lot of “wow men are so weak they can’t take ANY criticism or stand posts not praising them” and “in the real world men don’t see women as humans so i don’t care.”

look. i get it. i’m a queer woman who was abused by men. i used to say “all men,” too. but then i got older and met more people and stepped back from my trauma to realize that viewing all men as a single, malevolent group with inherent traits and equal power over women is a broken mentality.

I am very serious if a game both negatively impact your mental health and is the source of all your joy, it means you have an addiction problem and you need to delete your account and uninstall it and cry for however many hours you need to get it out of your system.

Your lifeline CANNOT depend on a mobile game they're predatory as fuck.

I'm not here to be like mobile game bad evil. But if you love something, you need to 1) recognize it's flaws and 2) cultivate a healthy relationship with it.

Think of your hobbies as a relationship. If your friend is constantly trying to extort your money and is making you feel awful whenever you're not giving them your full attention or failed the tasks they gave you, then you probably wanna set some boundaries with that friend no matter how much you love them.

That's the boundaries you need to set with your mobile games.

If you don't wanna quit cold turkey here's what I suggest.

Anti-addiction PSAs regarding mobile games always focus on how much money people are spending. And that's an adult problem. It's bad but it's not all of it.

Increasingly I am also seeing young people who doesn't spend a cent but has their mental health hanging on their performance/participation of these games. And you deserve to know that's also an addiction issue. Ultimately it's up to you how you choose to deal with it.

Display Shelves // The Hickory Rose on Etsy

Will Tumblr make a big deal out of Dracula Daily this year too?

It fucking better

I hate the cosmetic surgery industry for so many reasons I really do. But the line between cosmetic and medically necessary plastic surgeries is as a cloud, and we cannot sacrifice bodily autonomy for bans so. We need to dismantle white supremacy and the patriarchy in order to effectively tackle the issue. I should be able to get elective top surgery without medicalising my transness you get?

I had a breast reduction when I was 16. I was so top heavy that my back had started spasming badly by the time I was 12, if I hadn’t been able to get my reduction, I would’ve been in more extreme pain for much longer. The relief was almost instant. Just one example of medically necessary plastic surgery, in case people aren’t sure what that looks like.

Medically necessary plastic surgery also includes removing excess skin when someone loses a lot of weight: skin folds can become infected. Burn victims’ skin grafts, those are plastic surgery too. The field covers a lot more than people think.

Harold Gillies, now considered to be the father of modern plastic surgery, developed most of his techniques (many of which are still in use today) specifically to reconstruct the faces of men who'd been injured in WW1.

Advances in weaponry meant that, for the first time, men were coming home from war with literally half their faces blown off, on a regular basis. This was not only traumatic— there were cases of men cancelling engagements or being afraid to see their families, because of their disfigurements— but also caused problems with every day tasks like speaking and eating, in which your face plays a pretty key role.

Gillies arranged for a whole ward, and later a hospital, to be dedicated to the treatment of these men, and took steps to ensure that all soldiers who received these kinds of injuries on the battlefield would be sent to him directly. He developed methods for applying skin grafts so that larger portions of the face could be repaired.

He continued his work treating wounded soldiers throughout WW1 and WW2, and when both wars were ended— just in case he hadn't done enough to establish himself as a full on hero— he was then approached by a medical student named Michael Dillon, a trans man, and was able to use the same techniques he'd developed to reconstruct the penises of wounded soldiers to give him a phalloplasty. The first one ever performed on a trans man. He even diagnosed the guy with a condition to explain the frequent operations, so as to avoid outing him.

Dillon later wrote a book about trans-ness, which inspired Roberta Cowell, who became the first British transwoman to get a vaginoplasty, also performed by Gillies.

In both cases, the techniques he developed were still being used in similar operations decades later. Gillies himself stated that he wanted no publicity for performing these operations, saying that "If it gives real happiness, that is the most that any surgeon or medicine can give.”

guys