no shitposting memers allowed

Hello everyone. My name is Ashleigh Cooke and I am attending Temple University in my last year of undergraduate studies. I am the first of my 3 siblings to attend university.

I started at Temple in 2011 and in the same year I had my first relationship. For 3 years, this man emotionally, psychologically and (eventually) physically abused me to get to my money that was intended to fund my education.

By 2014, my money was gone and so was he.

I had collectively failed 2 semesters in this time. I was using financial aid up until then, but they stopped supporting me despite these circumstances.

Since then, I have been paying my tuition by working 3 jobs along with the help of personal loans from others to make ends meet.

However, this January through April has been extremely dead in 2 of my 3 jobs and it’s not nearly enough to pay for the Spring semester that I have already attended and passed.

On top of tuition, I’m also paying my personal expenses like rent and bills as well so it’s overwhelming.

I only have 3 semesters remaining until I graduate next Spring.

All funds donated will be used for tuition and books ONLY.

PERKS (Because you deserve something for helping me out!)

If you donate $10, you will receive a copy of my first book of poetry ‘Absence of Time’.

If you donate $20, you will receive a *signed* copy of my book.

If you donate $30, you will receive a *signed* copy of my book and a ‘Thank You’ video.

**Disclaimer**

If you would like to receive a perk listed above, you can’t donate anonymously because I cannot verify if you have donated or not.

To receive these perks, you must post your donation with;

1)Your name visible then 2)Email me at;  i.am.ashleighcooke@gmail.com to work out the shipping details.

If you don’t want the perks and wish to just donate, emailing me isn’t required.

Thank you for your time. Every dollar helps.

The next hot job in Silicon Valley is for poets - The Washington Post

“Gender is a biological construct”    :(     send Microsoft back to Sociology 101

(via sociolab)

The way that we learn about Helen Keller in school is an absolute outrage. We read “The Miracle Worker”- the miracle worker referring to her teacher; she’s not even the title character in her own story. The narrative about disabled people that we are comfortable with follows this format- “overcoming” disability. Disabled people as children. Helen Keller as an adult, though? She was a radical socialist, a fierce disability advocate, and a suffragette. There’s no reason she should not be considered a feminist icon, btw, and the fact that she isn’t is pure ableism- while other white feminists of that time were blatent racists, she was speaking out against Woodrew Wilson because of his vehement racism. She supported woman’s suffrage and birth control. She was an anti-war speaker. She was an initial donor to the NAACP. She spoke out about the causes of blindness- often disease caused by poverty and poor working conditions. She was so brave and outspoken that the FBI had a file on her because of all the trouble she caused.

Yet when we talk about her, it’s either the boring, inspiration porn story of her as a child and her heroic teacher, or as the punchline of ableist, misogynistic jokes. It’s not just offensive, it’s downright disgusting.

the reason the story stops once hellen keller learns to talk is no one wanted to listen to what she had to say

how’s that for a fucking punchline

It’s not that I disagree that we should all be aware of what a badass Helen Keller became, because she had a long and amazing career as an activist and yes, a feminist hero. It’s that somehow when people talk about the ableism of the way Helen’s story is told they always seem to forget this: Anne Sullivan, her teacher, was blind. Seriously. From Wikipedia:

“When she was only five years old she contracted a bacterial eye disease known as trachoma, which created painful infections and over time made her nearly blind.[2] When she was eight, her mother passed away and her father abandoned the children two years later for fear he could not raise them on his own.[2] She and her younger brother, James (“Jimmie”), were sent to an overcrowded almshouse in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (today part of Tewksbury Hospital). He, who suffered a debilitating hip ailment, died three months into their stay. She remained at the Tewksbury house for four years after his death, where she had eye operations that offered some short-term relief for her eye pain but ultimately proved ineffective.[3]“

Eventually some operations did restore part of her eyesight, but by the end of her life she was entirely blind. Also:

“Due to Anne losing her sight at such a young age she had no skills in reading, writing, or sewing and the only work she could find was as a housemaid; however, this position was unsuccessful.[2] Another blind resident staying at the Tewksbury almshouse told her of schools for the blind. During an 1880 inspection of the almshouse, she convinced an inspector to allow her to leave and enroll in the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, where she began her studies on October 7, 1880.[2] Although her rough manners made her first years at Perkins humiliating for her, she managed to connect with a few teachers and made progress with her learning.[2] While there, she befriended and learned the manual alphabet from Laura Bridgman, a graduate of Perkins and the first blind and deaf person to be educated there.”

So Anne Sullivan, disabled and born into serious poverty, learns the manual alphabet from a deaf and blind friend; passes that alphabet on to her deaf and blind student. This isn’t the story of an abled-bodied teacher swooping in to ‘save’ a disabled child; it’s a series of disabled women helping each other. Helen Keller’s story is the story not of one badass disabled woman, but of two. Anne and Helen were lifelong friends; Anne died holding Helen’s hand. 

Also is there a book called “The Miracle Worker”? I thought that was the movie/movies based on “The Story of My Life” by Helen Keller. But I could be wrong. And I didn’t learn any of this in school in general but that’s neither here nor there. 

I can recommend the ‘62 version of “The Miracle Worker” with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. It’s blatant about Sullivan’s impoverished background and eye problems - her rage on Helen’s behalf isn’t abstract at all, it’s very, very personal. And that’s the most amazing thing about this movie: Anne and Helen are the angriest people on earth. I have no idea if that was erased from the remakes but in the original they are both allowed to have a ton of anger about what has been done to them and what they have been denied. 

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Here’s a picture of Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin:

omfg I am so mad right now because not only did the kids biography of Helen Keller I read when I was younger erase all her activism, but it very explicitly completely erased anything about Anne being blind herself.

There were scenes of her WATCHING Helen from across the room or yard, and it was all very “oh my, I just MUST save this poor little disabled girl, no other deaf blind person has EVER BEEN EDUCATED and basically it was awful and shitty.

I think everyone should read Helen and Teacher. It’s an absolute brick of a book, hundreds of pages, but it is wonderful. It’s about their whole lives, right up to Helen’s death in old age. It talks about Helen’s feminism, socialism, and campaigning for everything from equal rights to sexual health. Helen Keller was not a syrupy, greeting card girl who existed to make able people feel warm and fuzzy, she was a tireless academic, political activist and writer. She was making noise about the issues she cared about from the moment her partnership with Annie Sullivan began, and she never stopped.

Reblogging because I had no idea Anne Sullivan was disabled and that makes this entire story mean so much more to me.

people that don’t signal when they turn there car.

Oh Fuck I Hate That Ah Ha

this is how politicians celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day in Spain

“Today April 26, is the #LesbianVisibilityDay. Sailour Uranus and Neptuno never give up for love and justice” 

*speedruns the exam* yolo

If you crouch while loading the scantron you can clip right through the answers

Every second of the run counts, so shave off those crucial seconds by rocket jumping to your seat.

*Ocelot voice* Boss, take a look at what the R&D team just developed

the snake IS my boot

deacon has a sunglasses tan pass it on

girls loving girls is right and good

And not just in a lesbian way. It’s time for us to stop hating one another for petty reasons. You’re pretty? HOLY FUCK LET ME COMPLIMENT YOU! Smart? Damn girl can you teach me the this thing cuz you’re amazing!

no I meant the lesbian way

Girls loving boys is right and good. Girls loving girls is right and good. Boys loving boys is right and good. Love is right and good, don’t gender it.

no becca, im gendering it. girls loving girls is right and good

once every few months, my “drug users should get food stamps too” post makes its rounds and I get a lot of messages that remind me just how much y'all hate addicts. like I want you to think about how fucked up capitalism has got you when I’m like “everyone should get food” and you’re like “hey now…… that’s taking things a little far…..” and I really hope you don’t pull from this that I’m mild mannered about it because tbh, if you think this way, I fucking hate you. I’ve been an addict most my damn life and I deserve food! surprise! think about how messed up it is that your fucked up ass seriously believes that if people don’t live up to your standards, they deserve to die of starvation. seriously consider why you think drug usage relieves you of the right to eat. I’m serious. why? you don’t like drugs? cool, don’t do em. that’s not your choice to make for others and you really, really have your head up your ass if the process of recovering from addiction in your mind is “stop drugs; the end” and I can’t help you out that ignorance but you can try some googling for once in your damn life and then shut the fuck up

date a girl who has strong opinions about Star Wars and knows that Luke Skywalker is gay

Sexuality is fluid

you are permitted a maximum of one 3.4 oz (100 ml) bottle of sexuality per passenger, all bottles must be carried inside a ziplock bag and placed in a bin for inspection prior to boarding the aircraft