Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. BlueSky: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Darren Seals, Ferguson activist, was found shot to death in burning car
Darren Seals, a prominent Ferguson, Missouri, activist, was found shot to death inside a burning car Tuesday morning, The 29-year-old’s body was found inside the charred vehicle on Diamond Street, 12 miles from where he lived, after the flames were extinguished.
Seals’ death is being investigated as a homicide. According to the Times, Seals led protests with the activist group Hands Up United. Seals was oftentimes critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.Described as an assembly line worker and hip-hop artist by the Washington Post in a 2014 profile, Seals was active on Twitter under the username King D Seals, often tweeting about police brutality. Very recently, Seals had spoken out on the Kaepernick controversy.
talking about 9/11 with white people is literally one of the most frustrating things ever because they won’t stop talking about their experiences (even if nothing happened to them personally), and when i, a middle eastern person, try to contribute to the conversation, i can’t get a fucking word in.
like what the fuck, nothing happened to you on that day – which, you know, thank goodness – so why the fuck do you insist on dominating the conversation? my daily life is still being effected by this even now, over ten years later.
but you’re not interested in hearing about how my fifth grade health teacher never again called on me or the arab girl in my class. you’re not interested in how whenever my family travels, all fourteen of us (a number that used to include young children) get “randomly” searched. you’re not interested in the fact that when i was asked to buy a propane tank for a barbecue, i spent the rest of the day stressed out and worried that the attendants at all the stores visited to inquire were all going to think i was making explosives (all stores in the neighborhood mysteriously were out of propane tanks in the middle of summer). you’re not interested in the fact that whenever my cousin prepares to fly on his own, his mother calls him to make sure he’s clean shaven so he doesn’t look “like a terrorist.” you’re not interested in the fact that when i was you’re not interested in the fact that i once witnessed a whole family of white people bypass the x-ray scanner for the old fashioned metal detector, but when i asked for the same treatment, i was denied; when i pointed out the (many) signs claiming that i had the right to refuse going through that machine, the tsa agent who mere seconds earlier berated me for my request went conveniently deaf. you’re not interested in hearing about how my sister was told “sorry about your leader” when osama bin laden was killed.
i could reference personal anecdotes until i went blue in the face.
there are countless people who have stories like this, stories that are grotesque and demeaning and terrifying. these are everyday occurrences.
but you’re not interested in any of that. frankly, you’re not even that interested when middle eastern and muslim (and sometimes non-muslim desi) people are subjected to extreme violence or killed. you guys got over chapel hill pretty damn fast. if you noticed it at all.
you don’t give a fuck about us, or our ongoing 9/11 stories. you just want to tell me about how horrible it was, sitting in class and listening to other kids get their names called on the pa system.
Introverts are notoriously small talk-phobic, as they find idle chatter to be a source of anxiety, or at least annoyance. For many quiet types, chitchat can feel disingenuous.
“Let’s clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people,” Laurie Helgoe writes in “Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength.” “We hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people.”
2. You go to parties -– but not to meet people.
If you’re an introvert, you may sometimes enjoy going to parties, but chances are, you’re not going because you’re excited to meet new people. At a party, most introverts would rather spend time with people they already know and feel comfortable around. If you happen to meet a new person that you connect with, great — but meeting people is rarely the goal.
I rarely see this mentioned so I wonder if people just don’t realize what a national travesty Mt. Rushmore is.
The Black Hills is sacred land to the Oglala Lakota tribe. The Oglala Lakota used to own that land through a treaty with the U.S. I mean, it was their land pre-white-colonization, but then the US started to colonize it and later gave the Black Hills back to them through the Treaty of 1868. Once gold was found on the land, however, prospectors migrated and set up shop in the 1870s. The government took back the Black Hills land, because of the gold. In 1927, Mount Rushmore was constructed into the hills.
In simple terms: the colonizers stole the Oglala Lakota’s land, “gave” it back, found out it had capitalistic value, took it again, and then carved their own leader’s crinkley-ass white fucking faces into the mountains that were considered to be sacred, like do you realize how fucking MONSTROUS that is????
also the guy who designed Mt. Rushmore was a proud member of the KKK, and did Stone Mountain in georgia as a monument to them and the confederacy.
What’s rarely included in photographs is the ridiculous scree of rubble just below the heads, left and never cleared after the money ran out while carving the damn things and they were left unfinished.
Defying age with a sword: Meenakshi Gurrukkal, Kerala’s grand old Kalaripayattu dame
“Meenakshi Gurukkal crouched low, sword poised; her eyes unblinking as she faced her opponent in the mud-paved ‘kalari’ or arena. From the tree tops, a mynah’s call resonated in the silence. In a flash she moved to attack, twirling her sword; metal clashing loudly as it made contact with a shield.
At 74, she is possibly the oldest woman exponent of Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial arts from Kerala. She has been practising Kalaripayattu for no less than sixty-eight years - training and teaching.
Around 150 students learn Kalaripayattu in her school Kadathanadan Kalari Sangam, in a tiny hamlet in Vadakara, near Calicut, Kerala. From June to September every year, classes are held thrice a day teaching the Northern style of Kalaripayattu, including “uzhichil” or massages for aches and pains. Techniques have been passed down through generations, written in a palm ‘booklet’, grey and delicate with age. When school term is over, Meenakshi takes part in performances. “Nowadays, apart from teaching, I practise only when I have a show,” she says nonchalantly. This, from someone who on an average performs in 60 shows a year…”
So one of our friends in the SCA is doing a demo at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention in Philly on May 21. He is a fighter, so his demo will be mostly based on the fighting aspect. But he has asked us to come out to show the family aspect of the SCA, and to show that Yes! There are black folks in the SCA!
Now I will readily admit that I did not know of anything relating to ren fairies, SCA, conventions, etc until I moved to Delaware from Queens and met my husband. I had an interest in fashion and design, and loved historical clothing, but that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge.
I’ve been “playing” since 2005, my husband like 20 years before that lol. And many times we are just a few of the black folks in attendance at these events. But trust me, we are here! Lol
Many times I have learned that there is a combination of things. The main one, at least for me, was just plain lack of exposure. THIS IS WHY REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT! Sure, they will teach you brief bits about medieval history and the Renaissance period in school, but you will Probably not here anything about POC during those times. We are typically not shown in movies and television shows depicting these times also. We were there! We were always there!
So here are some photos of us over the years at various events, and hopefully I’ll have more from this weekends event and the upcoming ones as well!
