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aceofsquiddles new blog

@aromanticduck / aromanticduck.tumblr.com

This is my new blog I made since the Man tried to silence me. I'm aroace, I'm from the UK, and I'm in my late 20s (being vague so I don't have to update this every time I have a birthday). They/them pronouns please. All posts ok to reblog unless the tags say otherwise. Don't follow if Alt-Right, TERF, transmed, exclusionist, MAP, or porn blog (occasional nsfw is fine if that's not all you post)
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reblogged

Help a disabled woman struggling with her rent!!!

**URGENT: PLEASE READ/SIGNAL BOOST**

Saturday, May 18th: Hello everyone, I’m Gemma, a bi, mentally ill, and disabled woman in desperate need of help, as I'm struggling to pay my overdue rent, which is now outstanding by £232.72!!

As most of you are already aware from my previous posts, I have been struggling financially these past few years due to COVID-19 and my welfare benefit (Universal Credit) being under continuous reviews, which is due to my worsening mental/physical health and the UK’s controversial changes to how benefits are assessed and assigned. After a lengthy health assessment, I was declared unfit for work and received the basic ADP, which I won't receive until the end of the month (May 31st)

To be quite honest, these past few months have been absolute hell for me, and with no other income, I've been relying on the kindness of others to get by. However, due to my outstanding debt, I wasn't able to clear my rent balance from last month, and I received this letter today stating that I owe £232, which to be honest, will leave me with next-to-nothing from my welfare if I can't clear it by the end of the month!!

I know this is a lot to ask, but if anyone could spare any amount to help me, even if it’s just £1/$1/€1, it would save my life, and sharing definitely helps just as much.

£0/£233!!

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khangi

What Native people say about the use of sage: you can use sage, but you cannot smudge as nothing you are doing (waving sage around) is actually smudging. Smudging is a ceremony and you are, we promise, not smudging. Please buy sage from either us, or someone who sources the sage from us. White sage may not be considered endangered by the US government but corperate sourcing is making it difficult for us to source sage for our own religious purposes. Let alone to sell it.

What white people hear: never use sage ever, don’t ever buy it, don’t own it, don’t even look at it.

Look, y’all. There’s a couple of facets to my talk today.

1) Yes! You can buy sage! You really, truly can! Buy it from either native sellers (go to a powwow! Eat our food, buy our stuff, watch some dancing!) Or buy it from a seller who sources the sage from native people. Pick one. And no, buying it from 5 Below doesn’t count.

2) you CANNOT smudge. This isn’t just you “shouldn’t”— this is a YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF SMUDGING. Waving a sage stick around your doorways IS NOT SMUDGING. It is smoke clensing. Smudging, depending on the tradition and tribe, could easily have dancing and drums involved. You, as a white person, do not have the cultural BACKGROUND to even know how it works. At all. Period.

3) please, for FUCKS SAKE, stop making posts here on tumblr where you tell other white people about cultural appropriation and what they can and cannot do. Please stop, your license has been revoked because none of you bother to get the facts right. We native people are FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING IT OURSELVES. Consider instead: a) reblogging our posts where we talk about it! We’re here! We have made posts!! b) Making a post that states what we said and then LINKS BACK TO US. Screenshot with a link if you must. Stop centering your own voices in these conversations. You are already centered in everything, stop centering yourselves in a native space.

I’m tired of this nonsense, y’all.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk ™

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reblogged

There are 2 brands of Fantasy: LotR & Dune

I love them both, for different reasons

LotR Fantasy is defined by a struggle between good and evil, with a happy ending. I love it because it makes me feel happy & safe. It gives me hope that things will end well

Which do you prefer

Dune Fantasy is defined by Grey Morality, and has bittersweet (or straight up miserable) endings. I love it because it makes me think. Both sides are fully justified in their point of view. I have to consider whether I agree with the Protagonist (God-Emperor Leto ii is a prime example. He does atrocious things, but only for the ultimate survival of humanity. Can I abide a self-admitted genocidal dictator for the greater good of humanity)

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libraford

Park Cleanup Pet Peeves

I'll be starting my seasonal gig at Parks and Rec in a couple months and I've got a couple things I wanna say. I know that this will probably not reach the people who need to hear it, but if ONE LESS person leaves the parks a mess, I will be That Much Happier.

-You're not supposed to smoke, drink, or have sex in public parks but I know that people will anyway. But if you are going to do those things, please dispose of the evidence in the trash cans. A human has to pick these things up.

-Dog poop goes in a bag. Bag goes in the trash can.

-The little wax paper liners in the women's room? See you're supposed to put your pad/tampon in that wax paper bag, take the bag out of the bin, and then dispose of it in the actual trash can. Don't feel bad, no one told me either. Also no one told the dudes I work with. But this reduces direct exposure to bodily fluids, especially as the summer gets on and it gets hot in those bathrooms.

-On that subject! The little bins that they go in next to the toilet? Don't stick trash in there. Don't put diapers in there. Also don't put beer cans crushed in such a specific way that I slice my hand on them as I try to jimmy it out of there. Literally, that bin is too small for most things. They are meant specifically for those brown bags. Please for the love of god, throw things in the trash can.

-As for the urinals, please no solids. Most commonly gum and chewed tobacco, but you can use your imagination.

-If you're doing a photo shoot or an event with confetti, please use a paper confetti instead of a plastic one- its easier to get rid of.

-If you're doing a pizza party, we'd rather you stack the pizza boxes in a pile next to the trash can instead of trying to fit them in the trash. Because then we can just throw the trash bag over the top and tie it instead of trying to fish it out. This kind of goes for any big trash- if it won't fit in the trash can easily, don't try.

-Please don't call cops on people sleeping in the parks if they're not bothering anyone. Even if they've been sleeping there all day. Dude's just trying to chill.

-Destruction of the toilets will result in the indefinite locking of the restrooms. You ruined them and now everyone at the softball tournament can blame you for it.

-Parks people are not the police. We are maintenance workers who are not trained to handle most emergencies and the most we can do in any situation is report to the proper department. Please don't look to us for answers if someone is starting a fight.

-Also please don't spit on us for driving on the path. We're permitted to. Its essential for us to drive on the path to do our job.

-please don't abandon animals at the park. Rehome them properly. I spent a whole week trying to catch a rooster last summer.

-look, I get it- 'oh no, your pretty building has writing on it!' Grafitti is so edgy. We get it. But it means Jacob has to sand it off now so that the kids at the birthday party don't see a giant drawing of a weiner. Acts of rebellion that create more work for the working class are not revolutionary.

-please do not set fire to the Tiny Free Library. Why did you do that? That's mean.

-please do not feed bread to ducks and geese. Corn, birdseed, lettuce- those are better for them. If you want to reduce tge amount of goose poop in the parks, shop feeding them bread.

-also do not anger tge geese. They remember what its like to be dinosaurs.

I'll have more later, probably, once the season wears on.

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Today I discovered that "bro visited his friend/the visiterrrrrrr" isn't necessarily a widely known meme outside of tumblr after I referenced it irl and seemingly came across as a complete maniac, ironically exactly creating the circumstances of the original meme

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someone posted a photo of their kid’s to do list on reddit and two of the items were “be weird” and “be content” and i am unironically going to carry that with me

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i just watched the omen (1976) and while i really enjoyed it, i couldn’t stop myself from laughing at JUST how much neil and terry stole from it when writing good omens 😭😭

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neil-gaiman

When we wrote the book the film The Omen was popular currency, much like Jaws or Star Wars, and people knew we were (among other things) parodying it. These days people have forgotten. It’s as if Spaceballs had gone on to have a longer media life than Star Wars.

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reblogged

Random worldbuilding: A culture where everyone's social status is expressed through how their hair is braided.

Children all have the same kind of a simple, unisex "child's braid" which is meant for their parents to be easy to do - traditionally boys were only taught how to do a "wife's braid" while women braid both their husbands and their children, but a modern man is naturally an attentive father and contributes to both cleaning and feeding, and clothing and braiding his children.

While this kind of knowledge is more accessible in the modern age, the art of braiding is still seen as an intimate family thing, and it's not unusual for a youth to come out to their parents by the way of braids - for example a daughter asking her father to teach her how to do the "wife's braid", or a son asking her mother how to weave the "husband braid" for their future spouse. Or a trans kid asking their parents to give them the other gender's braid when it's time to transition from the child braid into the "unmarried youth" one.

It is nonetheless still somewhat common to see an older gay man with a "wife's braid" or two older women both wearing "husband braids", because that was the only way they were taught to braid a future partner's hair when they were young. They could learn the "appropriate" braid now, but it has become a part of the culture, an old-fashioned gay thing to do. It's pride - if you wear this braid to show that you're an adult with a spouse, why try to hide who braids your hair every morning?

The only braid that one is expected to do on themselves is the widow's braid - the only one that is also unisex, braided in reverse from the simple children's braid. Sometimes, young unmarried adults who have no interest in starting a family switch directly into wearing a widow's braid to signify that they are not looking for a partner and are independent adults on their own.

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At the lesbian meetup, met a kind of transphobic woman. Started gearing up to get fighty and then realised... she wasn't an actual terf. She was just older, genuinely didn't know stuff, had heard some terf talking points in passing and had been made kind of anxious by them, but hadn't made it her entire personality. She was open to learning that trans women weren't actually roaming around coercing unwilling cis lesbians into sex, thanked me earnestly for giving her a basic explanation of what "non-binary" meant and truly seemed to be relaxing bit by bit the more she heard. Obviously I'm aware that I can't be sure I've given her a sufficient dose of anti-transphobe vaccine to immunise her permanently against the shit that's out there, but overall it made me hopeful. Most people just aren't dyed-in-the-wool bigots. People can be curious and relieved to hear the fearmongering they've been exposed to is untrue. Telling people this stuff isn't a lost cause.

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ddalgimoon

biden officials have confirmed that a shipment of b0mbs to israel has been paused. please call the state department line at (202) 647-6575 to demand the end of future aide and a permanent ceasefire ! below is a great script to use when calling 🫶🏽

ID: Hi my name is ___. I'm calling to demand that President Biden stop sending weapons to Israel and leverage every tool he has to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

President Biden has said repeatedly that Israel's invasion of Rafah would be a "red line." As Israel now begins its ground invasion, President Biden must take immediate action. He must stop sending weapons to Israel, and use his immense leverage to protect the more than one million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have already been killed in the past 7 months because of President Biden's military and political support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.

The administration must take action now to stop the invastion of Rafah by ending all US military funding to Israel. / end ID

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