I didn’t think I could respect Ian Mckellen or Harrison Ford any more but this made them a billion times better.
Help Me by Alephunky
For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice
The assault rate on tribal lands is higher than the national average, and reservation residents who report being attacked often confront gaps in medical and legal help.
Marriage 101
I was single until I was 39. I had gotten used to being focused primarily on my own needs, wants, responsibilities, future. That’s not to say that I didn’t care about others, of course I did. But I cannot have children, and aside from relationships here and there, my main priority was me.
Then, M (my husband) came along…
I had this idea of marriage that is totally laughable now. I thought somehow that marriage would mean me, but now MORE me, since there’d be another person to have me as a priority. This probably makes me sound like the most self-centered person alive, but I’m trying to be honest, so that’s ok. The truth is that I spent remarkably little time thinking about the sacrifices I’d make for him — instead, I imagined the ways that my life would be better because of him.
I’m so glad I was wrong about marriage. And right. In countless ways, M. has made me his life’s priority and almost every day, he shows me in ways small and large that he values me/us. But the greatest joy in our marriage for me has been in learning that once I felt safe in our relationship, I also felt secure enough to really give, trust, sacrifice plans for me to turn them into plans for him or for us.
As a child, I learned a painful truth: that often the ones you love most can hurt you the most terribly. It was a lesson that might have kept me isolated from love. I am so, SO glad it didn’t.
Weight-less
When I was 13, my father decided that I was too fat. My younger sister, too. I was 5’7” tall, a size 12. My sister was 5’9” tall, size 14. Anyway, it was summertime, we lived on a farm, and we got up very early and worked (hard!) for most of the day, almost every day.
His homemade solution to our weight issue was to put us on a 500 calorie a day diet. 500. For breakfast, I’d have a piece of fruit and a cup of milk. Lunch, chicken soup. Supper, a rice cake with peanut butter.
The first day, I cried. It was hot, we’d been moving bales of hay all day, and I was exhausted and starving. I knew my sister and I would go to bed hungry and wake up hungry. Disobedience was not (yet) a viable option. If he caught us, he’d beat us, and we’d still be hungry.
3 days later. Both my sister and I had collapsed multiple times while working. My father saw me crumple once and accused me of doing it to get my mother’s sympathy. He dragged me by my hair to the barn and told me that if I wanted lunch, I’d better ‘drop the dramatics’. My sister and I cried and whispered to each other, wondering what we could do — both of us were afraid we’d fall again and be beaten for it.
We decided to steal food…just enough to keep ourselves upright. This went on until my father decided we didn’t look ‘fat’ any more.
To this day, I’m obsessed with food. I’m obsessed with my weight. And I’ll never ever understand the contemptuous and hateful way some people talk about fat people. My father wasn’t fat, but his insides were rotten to the core…and to my knowledge not one person ever shouted insults at him, denigrated his appearance, or worthiness. Sad.
Dogs can soak the bad out of a bad day better and faster than anyone or anything else.
Oh god, I laughed.
Yes, please!
awesomepeoplehangingouttogether:
Stephen Colbert and Stephen King
1. They are holding hands!
2. Ohmygod Stephen King is the grinch.This picture makes me so happy.
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