https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-chief-hopes-israel-quickly-effectively-boost-gaza-aid-access-2024-04-05/
that last one particularly, there have been more children killed this year in gaza than the rest of the world COMBINED for the last FOUR YEARS
Symbiosis isn't just mutualism. Parasitism is symbiosis. It's uncomfortable to confront parasitic relationships if you want to see your human ideas of good and bad reflected in Nature.
But gazing into something huge and utterly Other, being uncomfortable means you're engaging your mind with it. "Uncomfortable" is actually a whole spectrum of emotions that become a vivid and satisfying rainbow.
There was a post a while back with some artwork of Dendrogaster, a crustacean that parasitizes starfish, and its body is like this branching fractal of fleshy lobes made to fit inside the body of the starfish mirroring its structure, and I was absolutely horrified to look at this, and this horror was the same emotion as a strangely visceral wave of sympathy for this parasite.
Creative works about parasites often invoke the horror of bodily invasion, which is visceral and strong for me, but this artwork inverted that horror, instead showing the horror of being made so perfectly for fitting within someone else that you lose everything you are and become unrecognizable.
I also think of the post about the cowbird chick. It's awful that the bird pushes its siblings out of the nest as it grows, and the mama feeds it because she instinctively must feed her chick, but the cowbird is just a baby. Was it wrong for him to hatch, to be alive, to be hungry, to be a baby and to need love?
Symbiosis is intensely beautiful, and sometimes it's beautiful because it's grotesque and terrible. Of course, the symbiosis between two organisms isn't an allegory for a relationship, it just is a relationship, but looking at the way organisms become entwined feels like you're seeing things that, if words described them, would also be human experiences.
Being invaded by a parasite is a horror of powerlessness and loss of autonomy, but being a parasite is also defined by powerlessness. In many cases, the parasite will die without the host, but the host can live without the parasite. I wonder why it is expected to sympathize with one and not the other.
Your immune system fights against internal parasites like a tapeworm...Imagine being a tapeworm. The body of your host is your universe. Do you find your world to be kind? Benevolent? Does your god love you?
Sometimes people call disabled people "parasites." When I think about my future sometimes I'm uncertain and afraid.
But when a rare non-photosynthetic orchid blooms in the forest, this is not the forest's weakness and failure, but its crowning glory.
I got accepted onto long-term disability through my employer/the state, but that doesn’t take effect until August 1st because it’s based off of my resignation date with the district.
I’m making monthly $672.01 COBRA payments to keep my insurance until then, which I need for 100% of my nutrition and hydration through feeding tube and central line.
I’ll need $2016.03 to make it via COBRA alone until August. That’s on top of all of our other bills and my spouse working full-time.
If you can’t donate, please support me by reblogging and following my other socials so I can monetize my content on other platforms.
@ paralyzedguts on TikTok and Instagram, I make educational content about disability and other social justice topics. I’ve been featured on NowThis Impact and work with organizations like The Oley Foundation and G-PACT.
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Feeding tubes and port under the cut!
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you may not know it, but this is what peak heterosexuality looks like
It hurts to see someone else living your dream
Lord, I see what you have done for others...
I am once again thinking about digging holes
It's so fucked up that digging a bunch of holes works so well at reversing desertification
I hate that so much discourse into fighting climate change is talking about bioenginerring a special kind of seaweed that removes microplastics or whatever other venture-capital-viable startup idea when we have known for forever about shit like digging crescent shaped holes to catch rainwater and turning barren land hospitable
most of the talk on this website about Game Changer is how Sam Reich psychologically tortures his contestants, but I want to make it clear to the uninitiated that he's actually extremely ethical about it
He sends out a company wide email and asks them to choose episodes based on a chili pepper rating system
meaning he doesn't put 🌶️🌶️ people into 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ episodes
they're also big on consent ie cast and crew have to be okay with it before they'll do nudity or something like that in an episode
it's like the bdsm of psychological torture. safe, sane, and consensual.
the contestants know what they're getting into, and they're full down
everyone in the tags/replies is really knocking it out of the park
is game changer rack or ssc?
an older design re-made
There’s an English crochet book as well! Different author but similar bug patterns available!
Photos from The Loopy Lamb Blog 🧶🪲
She just sat contented in the comfy chair as I built this up around her
I call this installation “The Cat of Amontillado.”
going absolutely feral over this collection of items that washed up on Cornish beaches Lego Lost At Sea on twitter
"Not sea glass but fragments of plastic car tail lights, indicators and brake lights, probably washed into storm drains after heavy rain, eventually making their way to the sea." Lego Lost At Sea on twitter OUGH
Wizard worm just emerged from a wizarding hole! Lucky you!!!✨🪱🪄🍀
Claim this luck! I know you can use it right about now!
The strong urge to snuggle a man.. like c’mere baby let me hold you and run my fingers through your hair. and plant soft kisses all over your face.