neohood

[neohood]

Reasons I Transitioned (College Edition)

dorm room is closer to the men's bathroom and I'm lazy

had to take a gender studies class and wanted extra credit

wanted to be the only guy at creative writing club

needed to make a friendship homoerotic (success)

had friends desperately in need of a gay bestie

there was a girl at work who had the same name as me and I don't tolerate that shit

to help two (2) separate men realize they were bisexual

making the men-to-women ratio in STEM that much more uneven

met a drag queen

someone asked me for my pronouns in class

started listening to a LOT of Against Me!

couldn't figure out the gender of someone I was crushing on and decided to cover all my bases

wrote an essay about being transgender and then decided to try it out

an ex-friend hates men and I wanna make sure she never talks to me again

i have fun making straight men question why I have pride flags in my room

to make finding post-graduation roommates that much harder

[neohood]

I attended a conference on activism this week (with a specific group, but I figure it's better to keep it vague when posting online). The organizing board led a structured Q&A session where one of them (an elderly black lady) happened to mention she'd been arrested during a protest before. When they opened the floor to questions from the audience, I got the first question, and I asked "So what's it like to be arrested?"

I was genuinely curious. I haven't found myself in that position through my activism yet, but I figure I might in the future.

She said, "Oh it's all planned" and then went on to detail how she and many other members had been through a specific training on being arrested during activism, that they each left for every protest with $50 and the business card of the organization's lawyer, and that they predetermine who is going to be arrested before they go out.

Another member then explained that when they protest in D.C. at the Capitol, the Capitol police are very used to this, so there's basically this theatrical performance that takes place where they protest; the Capitol police show up and warn them that if they continue, they will be arrested; the people who are not predetermined to be arrested leave; and the remaining people wait for the police to come back, handcuff them, and lead them out of the building. It makes the headlines, they go to jail, and then they get let right back out same day.

This is something that I knew happens, but I left with the impression that a large percentage of the people you see getting arrested in activism went out with the intent to have that happen. Additionally, the board members are all volunteers, so some have day jobs. They predetermine who is going to be arrested basically based on whose life will and won't be wrecked by it. The board members with serious jobs that would fire them if they found out they were arrested at a protest are never in the arrest pool. The elderly black lady who was speaking is retired, so an arrest record can't really do anything to her, therefore she's always in the arrest pool.

Side note: They also told us about a member in a powered wheelchair who tries to get herself arrested at every event just because the police don't know what to do. When last did you see a cop car that could take a person in an electric wheelchair? I find that hilarious.

Long story short, some people you see at protests really are risking it all, but there's also a significant portion of people who are literally trained in being arrested at a protest, so if you've ever felt bad for fearing what a police record could do to your life, just know that that's a legitimate concern that large organizations take into account when deciding who to place in conflict with police. Also know that you don't have to completely wing being arrested at a protest if that's something you're willing to do; you can seek out an organization that will offer you training and backing in exchange for your willingness to be arrested for publicity.

[neohood]

Do you perchance have the masterlist of all daily hermits? I can't seem to find it

noooo I think @daily-grian has it tho

[neohood]

oh my god

[neohood]

[neohood]

i think it is unjust to deny a child their right to dig a hole motivelessly

[neohood]

i think im just incapable of making art that doesnt hurt to look at

palette here

[neohood]

Would you get the Devil this dance?

[neohood]

[neohood]

Transphobes often say gender is like a coin, either heads or tails. They're more right than they realize.

Gender is a coin. Everybody is given one at birth, and they're given it either heads or tails. You can flip it over. You can flip it back. You can keep flipping it all you want. You can balance it on its side. You can throw it away. You can get a new one. You can take it to the zoo or museum to one of thise penny press machines. You can melt it and reform it. You can keep it melted. You could even take someone else's. You can glue fun things to it. You can paint it. You can take the paint off. You can trade them for cool shit.

Transphobes often say gender is a coin. They say this not realizing how easily coins can be changed.

[neohood]

i'm begging you guys to start pirating shit from streaming platforms. there are so many websites where you can stream that shit for free, here's a quick HOW TO:

1) Search for: watch TITLE OF WORK free online

2) Scroll to the bottom of results. Click any of the "Complaint" links

3) You will be taken to a long list of links that were removed for copyright infringement. Use the 'find' function to search for the name of the show/movie you were originally searching for. You will get something like this (specifics removed because if you love an illegal streaming site you don't post its url on social media)

4) each of these links is to a website where you can stream shit for free. go to the individual websites and search for your show/movie. you might have to copy-paste a few before you find exactly what you're looking, but the whole process only takes a minute. the speed/quality is usually the same as on netflix/whatever, and they even have subtitles! (make sure to use an adblocker though, these sites are funded by annoying popups)

In conclusion, if you do this often enough you will start recognizing the most dependable websites, and you can just bookmark those instead. (note: this is completely separate from torrenting, which is also a beautiful thing but requires different software and a vpn)

you can also download the media in question (look for a "download" button built into the video window, or use a browser extension such as Video DownloadHelper.)

[neohood]

My favourite example of the domino effect

[neohood]

on this day, 6 yrs ago, bruno mars was surprised to see pete wentz

[neohood]

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

"don't look away" is a meaningless phrase. who are you benefiting by inundating yourself with misery porn?

DO something about things you care about. Go to a protest for something you believe in, if you can. Donate money to a cause if you have it to spare. Volunteer your time to help people if you have the energy. Write a letter to your political representatives if that's something you can do. These are meaningful ways to try to make change in the world.

And then? don't feel bad about insulating yourself from horrible news. Don't make yourself look at images that make you feel sick. Don't read endless things that depress you. Because frankly it gets harder to actually do the more you doomscroll. Reading constantly about things you can't change because they're happening at a systemic level or on the other side of the world is paralyzing. It makes you less able to help where you can.

I'm not saying be willfully ignorant. I'm not saying pretend horrible things aren't happening. I'm saying don't destroy your mental health going in-depth and cycling through horror after horror on your phone. I'm saying there is no virtue in making yourself experience other people's traumas because mere awareness is not activism. you inflicting suffering on yourself is not activism.

doomscrolling is literally sapping your energy and focus away from doing anything useful to help other people. you can burn yourself out without ever lifting a finger by exposing yourself to all the bad news in the world and who does that help? no one.

[neohood]

ah yes they call me “No Queue” Jones because I post everything I reblog at once with no breaks in between and then vanish into the night for extended periods of inactivity

[neohood]

[neohood]

Time to cook!!