When public services are affordable and convenient, people will always choose those resources. They are not supposed to be a capitalistic profit-seeking initiative, they are developed for the benefit of the people, for a better life, just as government resources should be used. (tweet)

Update from Boston, where they have removed fares from 3 bus lines and ridership is up 48% in low-income areas.

Yeah it fuckin is

Want more go to a meeting about it

chronic fatigue from mental illness and neurodivergency isn't something you can just will your way out of. your nervous system is part of your body. your brain is an organ. the fatigue is real. you're not lazy. so be kinder to yourself. be gentler with your bodymind.

further, trying to will it away takes a massive amount of energy so you’re better just trying to rest as best you are able

not overthinking things is hard when you have overthinking disease but if you can work out a way to get your brain to not get caught up wasting precious kilojoules trying to outpace fatigue, it’s helpful

Let's Talk About Missing Persons

So, I've seen this post circulating last week, and a few others like it in the past year. I think this probably needs to be discussed every few years, and it feels like time.

First, a few caveats: there are reports on the post that Abby has been located and is fine, so no need to reblog and also that's great news, I'm very happy she is safe. Second, I did not especially doubt the veracity of the post, so I'm not impugning the people who made and posted it, but I also declined to reblog it for reasons I'll get into. Third, I know that especially in marginalized communities it can be dangerous to involve the police, and that Missing White Woman Syndrome means it can be difficult to get media coverage. I understand why Abby's community may have chosen to search for her in the way they did.

However, for everyone's safety, I do not link any missing persons post that requires you to contact an individual to report the missing person's whereabouts. If the poster doesn't ask you to contact the police or a known missing persons organization, I won't do it.

This is for the safety of the missing person.

When you see a post with someone's photo, name, and last known whereabouts, and you are asked to contact an individual -- a family member, partner, friend, etc -- what you are being asked to do is report on the whereabouts of one person you don't know to another person you don't know. You don't know that the person you're talking to isn't an abusive partner or parent, a stalker, or a person who means them material harm. One of the Insta accounts in the missing image doesn't appear to exist, and another has no bio and very little captioning on their images. I couldn't verify that Abby even knew these people.

Again: when I looked at the image, it looked sincere to me. I didn't doubt those people were earnestly searching for a friend they were worried about. But also, an abuser doesn't look like an abuser until they do. So I don't make exceptions, because a missing person is missing but a victim outed to their abuser has strong odds of being murdered. The most dangerous time in the life of an abused person is when they are leaving their abuser. Even if a victim simply logs on to say "Hey, I'm fine, these people mean me harm" the abuser has now flushed them out of hiding, and manipulated them into making a public statement.

If you can't verify positively that the person searching does not mean the missing person harm, you should not be circulating a post, full stop. At the very least, if the community doesn't wish for the help of the police (understandable) or can't get the help of an organization or community (frequent), the missing persons poster should advise you to speak to the missing person, not the searcher, and notify them they're being sought, as long as it's safe for both you and them to do so.

This isn't intuitive. We want to help, and search posters like that tug on the heartstrings. We know that when the police get involved even in something this innocuous, it can be perilous for everyone. But in situations where someone is so vulnerable, we have to concern ourselves first with harm reduction, which in this case means not spreading someone's photo with a stranger's contact information on it.

I'm glad Abby was found and is fine and that her searchers were in earnest. But that will not always be the case, and it's important to remember that.

🔹 Saying that it's okay to write or read about dark and taboo topics but only when they're portrayed in a certain way is still censorship.

🔹 Wanting to ban or forbid media that you believe portrays a negative topic in a positive light, by glorifying, romanticizing, or fetishizing it is still censorship.

🔹 There is no objective metric to decide if a story is portraying a negative topic the 'right' way.

🔹 Just because a piece of fiction doesn't explicitly condemn or portray an evil action in a bad light in the text doesn't mean the author thinks its good or is trying to persuade the audience that it is good.

🔹 Survivors of trauma will not always write fiction about their trauma in a way that seems 'right' or 'normal' to you.

🔹 Banning fiction because it portrays dark, taboo topics in a way you consider gross or disgusting is still censorship.

[Tags reading, "#I've said it before and I'll say it again #I create art for adults #and as an adult I expect you to already know that hurting people is wrong #I'm not gonna hold you're hand through that like you're a toddler #"hurting people is wrong" is something you should have learned in kindergarten #not at 24 from an m-rated dark romance novel"]

you bottle Miette??

You crush Miette like the grape?

brick up mother in basement for ONE THOUSAND YEARS

I have been saving this since last year. Happy Earth Day everyone.

Happy earth day

Pond for @muskroom !

I could not not share this.

“SO MR CLAUS

ONCE MORE WE SEE THERE IS NOTHING YOU POSESS THAT I CANNOT TAKE FROM YOU”

YULE CAT! NOOOOOO!!!

palamedes sextus was so real for writing an insane sequel to a shitty erotica book on the walls of his fucked up little river bubble prison. nothing else going on in there, just the same awful romance novel on repeat 600 times and his own little silly headcanons scrawled all over the nearest surface. outside there’s a million screaming ghosts and the only way to stay sane is to hyperanalyze the same story for eight months. that’s literally exactly what it feels like. he gets it

man this year is gonna be the year i either die or become someone else i dont know which one maybe both

Everytime i think of the future i nearly throw up

hate to say it but the cow is right

Oh plush cow we're really in it now

I don't know why, but I find it even more comforting to look at it this way:

Ah Neil said something about real fans way back in 2014, that has stayed with me all these years

I WANT A FOUR DAY WORK WEEK

I WANT A SIX HOUR WORK DAY

I WANT A $25 MINIMUM WAGE

I WANT A MINIMUM OF 20 PAID DAYS OFF PLUS PUBLIC HOLIDAYS OFF

I WANT AN AUTOMATED INCOME TAX SYSTEM THAT PUTS THE OWNESS ON THE GOVERNMENT TO DO THE LEG WORK AND TELL YOU WHAT YOU OWE

Circumstantial!

Rumple + textpost memes [Part 1]

💛BMO