These heartbreaking and incredibly moving images show the affection and love shown during the height of the Aids crisis. Photographer Gideon Mendel’s project The Ward began in 1993 when he spent a number of weeks on the Charles Bell wards in London’s Middlesex Hospital. All the patients on the ward were dying with the knowledge that there was no cure for the disease. During this time antiretroviral medications were not available and patients on the ward faced the prospect of an early death.
Freelancing in technical theater means you’re on a lot of different email lists. People need a crew, they send out an email, you respond with your availability. Now, most people start these with things like “hey folks” or “hi everyone”. Neal is not most people.
His openers started off innocent enough.
Then, he started to push boundaries.
And as you can see, it has spiraled out of control since then.
Tag yourselves. I’m the anteater in a suit who thinks he can pass.
THEY JUST KEEP COMING
He’s even witty in real time.
I am 1000% going to start emailing my students this way
I’m about 90% sure the economy is never gonna “improve”
this is capitalism in it’s final form
this is it honey
except, you know, those companies that do a charitable thing for every thing they sell
that’s kinda new and interesting. benevolent capitalism
lmao
Pay attention, class: This is what it looks like when one is unwilling to consider new information.
It’s not new information, though. It’s misinformation.
First, it’s not that new.
Did you know that there was a time in U.S. history—which is by definition recent history—when a corporation was generally intended to have some sort of public interest that they served? I mean, that’s the whole point of allowing corporations to form. Corporations are recognized by the commonwealth or state, and this recognition is not a right but a privilege, in exchange for which the state (representing the people) is allowed to ask, “So what does this do for everyone else?”
The way the economy is now is a direct result of a shift away from this thinking and to one where a corporation is an entity unto itself whose first, last, and only concern is an ever-increasing stream of profits. What you’re calling “benevolent capitalism” isn’t benevolent at all. It’s a pure profit/loss calculation designed to distract from—not even paper over or stick a band-aid on—the problems capitalism creates. And the fact that you’re here championing it as “benevolent capitalism” is a sign of how ell it’s working.
Let’s take Toms, as one example. The shoe that’s a cause. Buy a pair of trendy shoes, and a pair of trendy shoes will be given away to someone somewhere in the world who can’t afford them.
That’s not genuine benevolence. That’s selling you, the consumer, on the idea that you can be benevolent by buying shoes, that the act of purchasing these shoes is an act of charity. The reality is that their model is an inefficient means of addressing the problems on the ground that shoelessness represents, and severely disrupts the local economies of the locations selected for benevolence.
(Imagine what it does to the local shoemakers, for instance.)
The supposed act of charity is just a value add to convince you to spend your money on these shoes instead of some other shoes. It’s no different than putting a prize in a box of cereal.
Heck, you want to see how malevolent this is?
Go ask a multinational corporation that makes shoes or other garments to double the wages of their workers. They’ll tell you they can’t afford it, that it’s not possible, that consumers won’t stand for it, that you’ll drive them out of business and then no one will have wages.
But the fact that a company can give away one item for every item sold shows you what a lie this is. A one-for-one giving model represents double the cost of labor and materials for each unit that is sold for revenue. Doubling wages would only double the labor.
So why are companies willing to give their products away (and throw them away, destroy unused industry with bleach and razors to render them unsalvageable, et cetera) but they’re not willing to pay their workers more?
Because capitalism is the opposite of benevolence.
“Charity” is by definition exemplary, above and beyond, extraordinary, extra. “Charity” is not something that people are entitled to. You give people a shirt or shoes or some food and call it charity, and you’re setting up an expectation that you can and will control the stream of largesse in the future, and anything and everything you give should be considered a boon from on high.
On the other hand, once you start paying your workers a higher wage, you’re creating an expectation. You’re admitting that their labor is more valuable to you than you were previously willing to admit, and it’s hard to walk that back.
Plus, when people have enough money for their basic needs, they’re smarter and stronger and warier and more comfortable with pushing back instead of being steamrolled over. They have time and money to pursue education. They can save money up and maybe move away. They can escape from the system that depends on a steady flow of forced or near-forced labor.
So companies will do charitable “buy one, give one” and marketing “buy one, get one” even though these things by definition double the overhead per unit, but they won’t do anything that makes a lasting difference in the standard of living for the people.
Capitalism has redefined the world so that the baseline of ethics is “How much money can we make?” and every little good deed over and above that is saintly.
But there’s nothing benevolent about throwing a scrap of bread to someone who’s starving in a ditch because you ran them out of their home in the first place.
This is one of the best anti-capitalist posts on the entire site.
I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.
I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled
I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered
OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered
SURPRISE BITCH Revealed
IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted
BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased
Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz.
“Even with my vast experience and superior intellect, it would take me years.”
“You know what this means? It means that all that treasure is only a boat ride away.”
“Whoever brings it back would hold an eternal place atop the pantheon of explorers!”
“This is it. This is the answer to all our problems.”
“Don’t you remember all those stories?”
“With that treasure, we could rebuild our home a hundred times over.”
“Would you please explain how ridiculous this is?”
“It’s totally preposterous traversing the entire galaxy alone. That’s why I’m going with you.”
“All my life I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this and here it is screaming.”
“Okay, you’re both grounded!”
“I know that I keep messing everything up and I know that I let you down, but this is my chance to make it up to you.”
“There are much worse remedies than a few character-building months in space.”
“Are you saying this because it’s the right thing or because you really want to go?”
“This should be a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to get to know one another.”
“You know what they say, familiarity breeds, well, contempt.”
“I’ve checked this miserable ship from stern to stern, and as usual, it’s spot on.”
“Nasty business, but I won’t bore you with my scars.”
“You’ve met my first officer, sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave, and true.”
“Oh shut up, you know I don’t mean a word of it.”
“I’d like a word with you in my stateroom.”
“To muse and blabber about a treasure map in front of this particular crew demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic.”
“In the future you will address me as captain or ma’am.”
“With the greatest possible respect, zip your howling screamer.”
“Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible.”
“I don’t care much for this crew you hired.”
“I said something rather good this morning before coffee.”
“I’d love to chat with tea, cake, the whole shebang, but I have a ship to launch.”
“Who does she think is working for whom?”
“I’ll not tolerate a cross word about our captain!”
“There’s no finer officer in this or any galaxy.”
“Old family recipe. In fact, that was part of the old family!”
“I’m nothin’ if I ain’t a kidder.”
“Who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain?”
“We best be keepin’ a sharp eye on this one, eh? We wouldn’t want him straying into things he shouldn’t.”
“Come on, you scurvy scum! I’ll race you!”
“Brace yourself.”
“Tis a grand day for sailing, captain.”
“You can keep that kind of flim-flammery for your spaceport floozies.”
“You cut me to the quick. I speak nothing but my heart at all times.”
“Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business.”
“You know the rules. There’ll be no brawling on this ship.”
“If you pardon my plain speaking, gentlemen, are you all stark-raving, totally blinking daft?!”
“After all my finagling getting us hired as an upstanding crew, you want to blow the whole mutiny before it’s time?”
“Didn’t your pa ever teach you to pick your fights a bit more carefully?”
“Your father’s not the teachin’ sort.”
“Since the captain has put you in my charge, like it or not, I’ll be pounding a few skills into that thick head of yours to keep you out of trouble.”
“I am a question to the world, not an answer to be heard.”
“What do you think you’d ever say? I won’t listen anyway.”
“You don’t know me and I’ll never be what you want me to be.”
“I’m a boy? No. I’m a man.”
“You can’t take me and throw me away.”
“How can you lean what’s never shown?”
“They don’t know me cause I’m not here.”
“I want a moment to be real, want to touch things I don’t feel.”
“I want to hold on and feel I belong?”
“How can the world want me to change? They’re the ones that stay the same.”
“You see the things they never see.”
“All you wanted, I could be.”
“Now you know me and I’m not afraid.”
“Can you help me be a man?”
“They can’t break me as long as I know who I am.”
“The words are just whispers and lies that I’ll never believe.”
“If I could maneuver a skiff like that when I was your age, they’d be bowing in the streets when I walked by today.”
“They weren’t exactly singing my praises when I left home.”
“I got some plans, gonna make people see me a little different.”
“Sometimes plans go astray.”
“You give up a few things chasing a dream.”
“Make sure all lifelines are secured good and tight.”
“I have a lot of help to offer anatomically…er…astronomically.”
“He was finer that most of us could ever hope to be, but he knew the risks, as do we all.”
“It wasn’t your fault, you know?”
“Look, don’t you get it?! I screwed up!”
“For two seconds, I thought that maybe I could do something right…”
“You got the makings of greatness in ya, but you gotta take the helm and chart your own course.”
“When the time comes and you get the chance to really test the cut of your skills and show what you’re made of, I hope I’m there catching some of the light coming off ya.”
“I’m getting in too deep here. Next thing ya know, they’ll be saying I’ve gone soft.”
“What we’re saying is we’re sick of all this waiting.”
“I say we kill ‘em all now.”
“That boy, methinks you have a soft spot for him.”
“You think I’d risk it all for the sake of some nose-wiping little whelp?”
“I cozied up to that kid to keep him off our scent, but I ain’t gone soft.”
“Well, I was never much good at games.”
“Strike our colors.”
“Pirates on my ship? I’ll see they all hang.”
“Defend this with your life.”
“Did you actually aim for that?”
“That was more fun than I ever want to have again.”
“I just want to hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me.”
“Would you just let go of me?”
“I’ve been marooned for so long. I mean, solitude’s fine. Don’t get me wrong.”
“Look, I’m kind of in a hurry, okay? I got to find a place to hide, and there’s pirates chasing me.”
“Oh, pirates! Don’t get me started on pirates!”
“But then….you gotta know about the treasure?”
“I’m sorry. My memory isn’t what it used to be.”
“I’ve lost my mind!”
“If you’re gonna come along, you’re gonna have to stop talking.”
“Touching and talking, that’s my two big no-no’s.”
“I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don’t you?”
“How about drinks for the happy couple?”
“Stop giving orders for a few miliseconds and lie still.”
“If it’s all right with the captain, I’d like a short word with ya.”
“Whatever you heard back there, at least the part concering you, I didn’t mean a word of it.”
“Had that bloodthirsty lot thought I’d gone soft, they’d have gutted us both.”
“If we play our cards right, we can both walk away from this rich as kings.”
“You get me that map, and an even portion of the treasure is yours.”
“At least you taught me one thing. Stick to it, right?”
“I’m gonna make sure that you never see one doubloon of my treasure!”
“The treasure is owed by me, by thunder!”
“You still don’t know how to pick your fights, do you boy?”
“I’m an astronomer, not a doctor. I mean, I am a doctor, but I’m not that kind of doctor.”
“You can’t help people with a doctorate. You just sit there, and you’re useless.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to see my life pass in front of my eyes. At least I think it’s my life.”
“I smell treasure a-waitin’.”
“This is all seeming very familiar, can’t remember why.”
“A life time of searching, and at long last, I can touch it.”
“A mind is a terrible thing to lose!”
“If I’m not there in a few minutes, leave without me.”
“All my life, I dreamed of an adventure like this. I’m just sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful to you.”
“Aren’t you the seventh wonder of the universe?”
“I like you, lad, but I’ve come too far to let you stand between me and my treasure.”
“It’s just a lifelong obsession, I’ll get over it.”
“Didn’t I say the lad had greatness in him?”
“I’d be proud to recommend you to the intersterllar academy. They could use a man like you.”
“I know you don’t like touching, but get ready for a hug big guy!”
“Oh, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry! Does anyone have a tissue?”
“If you don’t mind, we’d just as soon avoid prison.”
“Being in a cage, it’d break his heart!”
“What say you ship out with us, lad? You and me, full of ourselves and no ties to anyone!”
“Look at you, you’re something special. You’re gonna rattle the stars you are.”
“I need you to keep an eye on this here pup.”
“Stay out of trouble, ya old scalawag!”
“It’s good to see the sun and feel this place. This place I never thought would feel like home.”
“I always thought I’d end up here alone.”
“Somehow the world has changed and I’ve come home to give you back the things they took from you.”
“When I see myself, I always know where you are.”
“Sometimes it’s got to hurt before you feel.”
“I’m strong and I won’t kneel, except to thank who’s watching over me.”
men have set the bar is so fucking low, where i think a lot of girls get distracted by the questions of “is my boyfriend a good person? does he respect me? will he hurt me? is he interested in anything other than my appearance?” rather than “are me and my boyfriend compatible? do we have fun together? do we have interests that align? am i enthusiastic about my love for him?”
there was this guy who liked me on okcupid, and he would message me a LOT, and i never ever responded. his profile was basically, paragraphs of assurances that he’s a good person like and was all long versions of saying “i like consent, i dont like cops, i dont like racism, i don’t like toxic masculinity, i dont abuse people, i dont condone pedophilia” and i feel like all that stuff should be a given. all that stuff shouldn’t be what i’m thinking about when looking for a long term romantic partner. his profile didn’t have much about his interests, or much about anything at all. it was all about his politics and morals. all i knew about him from his profile is that he probably passes the very low bar of not being a horrible person.
“people are more than their politics” shouldn’t mean “people can be horrible racists and still be good people.” it should mean “you deserve to seek out more in friends and partners other than just the lowest bar of not being a horrible person”
And this isn’t about whether a man’s politics are genuine or not. Its about whether they have any other redeemable characteristics besides their politics. A man can have great politics that are completely genuine and still be just a boring dude whose future interests don’t align with yours.
My abuela used to say” dating/marrying a person because they’re good is like buying the car because it came with the steering wheel.
Your wife changes her hair color every season and her personality adjusts slightly. You’re secretly only in love with Autumn wife. She just came home sporting her Winter color.
it’s my fault. it’s just that when we met it was autumn; her red-orange hair and crackling laughter. there’s a little spooky in her, a lot of play. and what a better time for falling?
i didn’t realize it for the first few years – something shifting, something so subtle. the winter makes us all cold, the summer makes us all a little out of our minds. i just loved her, because she was incredible, and i was the luckiest person alive.
it’s just that i realized that spring came with sudden bursts of cold. it’s just that summer frequently raged in with fire sprouting from her lips. it’s just that winter was the worst of all, her eyes dead. it’s just that autumn loves me different; throws herself into it without the clingy sweat of summer. i used to love that summer girl, you know? i loved how wild she was, the way in summer she took every risk she could. but i carried her home drunk one too many times, cleaned up one too many of the messes she made for no reason than to enjoy the sensation of burning. and winter was worse; the shutdown, the isolation. how she became distant, a blizzard, caught up in her own head, unable to tell me what was wrong and unable to think i actually wanted to listen.
she comes home, her hair bleached white. a dark smile on her lips. the shadowy parts of her are back. they loom like icicles overhead. she kisses me with her body held at a distance, a peck on my cheek that feels like an iceberg. she makes polite conversation and we go to bed early, our bodies untouching.
it is a lonely season, i think on the ninth day of this. winter is cold. winter is known for the death of things. when i look at her, i see the girl i fell for, inhabited by an alien. she was the first women i loved so much i felt it would kill me. i can’t leave. when i wake her up with my crying, she tells me to shush and go back to sleep. she’s different like this, quiet, doesn’t eat.
three days later i stare at myself in the mirror. i wonder if it’s me. if the fat on my body or something in my face or the wrinkles and she doesn’t love me. i try prettier lingerie, lean cuisine, i try different hair, more makeup, try harder. it doesn’t work. she looks at me the same; that empty gaze that neither loves nor condemns my actions.
somewhere in februrary i lose it. we’re fighting again, from car to restaurant to car to home again. we fight about stupid things, small things; i tell her i feel she doesn’t love me, she says i’m not listening. the circle goes around and around, old pain peeling back, new pain unhealing. i sleep on the couch.
i wake up when i hear her crying, white hair around her all messed up. the kind of sobbing that only comes at two in the morning, heavy and thick and hurting. my winter girl. my heart is breaking. she looks up at me like i’m her anchor. “i’m sorry i’m like this,” she says. and i start saying, it’s okay i’m here we’re married, but she just shakes her head and says, “I know this isn’t the real me.”
i hold her cold hand. she stares at the blankets. “i am different in winter,” she whispers, “i know i am and i’m sorry.” she looks at me. “why do you think i dye my hair? cut it off? get rid of the old me?”
i tell her it’s okay. we’re together and it’s okay, and then she whispers, “i’m sorry you married four of me.”
we lay there like that, her head on my chest. she falls asleep. i stare at the ceiling, thinking of the way she sounded when she was crying. how i helped put her in that pain. how i promised in sickness and in health and everything in between.
the next day i spend at the library. there aren’t enough books on how to love someone with seasonal affective disorder so i make my own, notes and pages and little ideas on post-its. and i take a deep breath and make myself a promise.
she comes home to her favorite dinner and we kiss and she’s uneasy but that’s okay. the next day i bring home flowers and the next day she finds little love notes in her pockets. i love her quiet, the way winter demands, understand her sex drive is faltering; spend more time just cuddling. we drink wine and we kiss and some part of her starts relaxing.
the truth is there is no loving someone out of their mental illness. the truth is that you can love someone in despite of it; love them loud enough to give them an excuse to believe they can make their way out of it.
and i learn. i remember the rebirth of spring, when she starts thawing. we kiss and have picnics in pretty dresses. i remember her joy at little birds and her rain dancing. i fall in love with the flowers in her cheeks and the little bursts of cleaning. i fall in love with summer’s slow walks and milkshakes and shouting to music playing too loud on the speakers. i fall in love with her dancing, with the sunfire energy. and when winter comes; i am ready. i remember that snow used to look pretty. i fall in love with the hearth of her, with the holiday, with the slow smile that spreads across her face so shyly. i fall in love with how she looks in boots and mittens and every day i find another reason to love her the way she deserves – they way i always should have.
she comes home with her white hair and dark smile and a package in her hands. i ask to see what it is and that small shy grin comes creeping out. it’s a sunlamp packed in with medication. she looks at me with those wide eyes and that beautiful winter blush. “i’m trying to get better,” she whispers, “i promise.”
recovery doesn’t look immediate. sometimes it isn’t neat. i can’t say we never fight or that we’re suddenly complete. but each day, that tiny girl’s strength gives me another reason. i love her. i love her while she tames the roller coaster of spring; i love her for reigning in the summer storms; i love her for taking her winter and trying to be warm. it is hard, because everything worth it is hard. she spreads out her autumn leaves; mixes the best parts of her into everything. learns to take winter’s silence for a moment before yelling in summer. learns to take autumn’s spice and give it to spring. we are both learning.
one day she comes home and her hair is different, but it’s a style i don’t know. i kiss it and tell her that she’s beautiful and the inside of me swells like a flood. i’m so glad that she’s mine. every part of her. the whole. i am the luckiest person on earth. and i always have been. but she’s hugging me and saying, “thank you for helping me,” and i can’t explain why i’m crying.
this is what love is; not always an emotion but rather your actions. the choices we make when we realize our lives would be empty if the other was absent. this is what love is: letting them grow, helping them find their way in out of the cold. this is what love is: sometimes it takes work to see how the thing you planted together actually grows.
this is what love looks like in an autumn girl: it is winter and she glows.
people in fanfiction are so good at identifying v specific smells. I literally struggle to identify vanilla when I’m sniffing a candle labelled “VANILLA” how are these kids getting woodsmoke, rain, mint, and a whiff of byronic despair from a fuckin tshirt
Once I read a fic where they were like “he tasted like” and I’m expecting the typical formula (1 cooking ingredient + 1 natural phenomenon + “something uniquely [character name]”) but instead they said “he tasted like mouth” and it was one of the greatest fic moments of my life
click and drag to find out what your shitty fanfiction kiss tastes like
*if ur on moble screenshot it
whiskey sunshine and warmth…..this is literally true
coffee thunder and desperation. accurate
Honey, soft rain, and warmth.
I am down for this fanfic kiss, someone send my fave over here right now…
cherries, a hurricane and ambition
Sugar, Thunderstorm and ambition
Coffee, soft rain, and ambition.
Well I just walked into a Starbucks from a rainstorm and I’m determined to write something today so…yeah.
Penhales 