Girl vs The Multiverse

woodendreams: (by Carlos D. Ramirez)

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:12:31 -0400

(by Carlos D. Ramirez)

The Problem with 'Boys Will Be Boys'

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:53:57 -0400

For months, every morning when my daughter was in preschool, I watched her construct an elaborate castle out of blocks, colorful plastic discs, bits of rope, ribbons and feathers, only to have the same little boy gleefully destroy it within seconds of its completion.

No matter how many times he did it, his parents never swooped in BEFORE the morning’s live 3-D reenactment of “Invasion of AstroMonster.” This is what they’d say repeatedly:

“You know! Boys will be boys!”

“He’s just going through a phase!”

“He’s such a boy! He LOVES destroying things!”

“Oh my god! Girls and boys are SO different!”

“He. Just. Can’t. Help himself!”

I tried to teach my daughter how to stop this from happening. She asked him politely not to do it. We talked about some things she might do. She moved where she built. She stood in his way. She built a stronger foundation to the castle, so that, if he did get to it, she wouldn’t have to rebuild the whole thing. In the meantime, I imagine his parents thinking, “What red-blooded boy wouldn’t knock it down?”

She built a beautiful, glittery castle in a public space.

It was so tempting.

He just couldn’t control himself and, being a boy, had violent inclinations.

She had to keep her building safe.

Her consent didn’t matter. Besides, it’s not like she made a big fuss when he knocked it down. It wasn’t a “legitimate” knocking over if she didn’t throw a tantrum.

His desire — for power, destruction, control, whatever- - was understandable.

Maybe she “shouldn’t have gone to preschool” at all. OR, better if she just kept her building activities to home.

I know it’s a lurid metaphor, but I taught my daughter the preschool block precursor of don’t “get raped” and this child, Boy #1, did not learn the preschool equivalent of “don’t rape.”

Not once did his parents talk to him about invading another person’s space and claiming for his own purposes something that was not his to claim. Respect for her and her work and words was not something he was learning. How much of the boy’s behavior in coming years would be excused in these ways, be calibrated to meet these expectations and enforce the “rules” his parents kept repeating?

There was another boy who, similarly, decided to knock down her castle one day. When he did it his mother took him in hand, explained to him that it was not his to destroy, asked him how he thought my daughter felt after working so hard on her building and walked over with him so he could apologize. That probably wasn’t much fun for him, but he did not do it again.

There was a third child. He was really smart. He asked if he could knock her building down. She, beneficent ruler of all pre-circle-time castle construction, said yes… but only after she was done building it and said it was OK. They worked out a plan together and eventually he started building things with her and they would both knock the thing down with unadulterated joy. You can’t make this stuff up.

Take each of these three boys and consider what he might do when he’s older, say, at college, drunk at a party, mad at an ex-girlfriend who rebuffs him and uses words that she expects will be meaningful and respecte, “No, I don’t want to. Stop. Leave.”

The “overarching attitudinal characteristic” of abusive men is entitlement.

I’d extend this to “people,” and given how few parents seem to punish their children for anything at all, we should all be very, very afraid.

exaggeratedspecificity: Sandworms by A.J. Trahan

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:49:22 -0400

exaggeratedspecificity:

Sandworms by A.J. Trahan

zooophagous: earthandanimals: violentbaudelaire: ”This is my...

Fri, 24 May 2013 06:11:39 -0400

zooophagous:

earthandanimals:

violentbaudelaire:

”This is my favorite photo in the world - me and Linus, born to a dairy cow and ordered to be killed when the farmer saw he was a male (and thus useless in the dairy industry). A compassionate individual intervened, and he was brought to a sanctuary. I met him when he was a few days old and 60 pounds, and he would always try to sit on my lap. Today, 7 years young and 1500 pounds, he still tries to sit on my lap.”

- Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

I freakin’ love this cow and this woman.

What a cutie puff

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 06:07:31 -0400

woodendreams: (by Miroslaw Brzozowski)

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:36:27 -0400

woodendreams:

(by Miroslaw Brzozowski)

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:06:21 -0400

asaya: by brianchapman

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:05:13 -0400

asaya:

by brianchapman

depressedproblems: people don’t understand just how much...

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:04:08 -0400

depressedproblems:

people don’t understand just how much depression impacts you.

it does stop you from doing homework, it’s not just us being lazy.

it makes it really hard to wake up, so yeah sometimes we need to miss school

it makes you isolate yourself, we don’t actually want to lose all our friends

it makes you really nervous about weird things, so sometimes we just don’t want to do new activities or sports or whatever

why can’t people accept that?

dreadtroll: heylovelyy: loonylunalovegood97: tiger-in-the-flig...

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:32:44 -0400

dreadtroll:

heylovelyy:

loonylunalovegood97:

tiger-in-the-flightdeck:

AND THEY WERE PERFECT PARENTS TOO!

They were fiercely proud of their children’s accomplishments.

They played together as a family.

They went to school plays, parent/teacher interviews, and helped with school work.

They co-parented, Gomez was just as active in raising their children as Morticia was.

When their children wanted something that they disapproved of, they were disappointed but relented because it would make them happy.

Plus, all TV married couples kind of hate each other and argue 90% of the time for the sake of comedy, but these two have always seemed to be forever and always in love, which is kind of sweet.

And if that’s only possible because they’re weirdos, what does that say about us?

Is it odd I actually really like this post?

if it is, i don’t want to be normal

little-deathhh: bedussey: dootzy: this video will make your...

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:29:46 -0400

little-deathhh:

bedussey:

dootzy:

this video will make your day better

hOLY HSIT

omfg

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:23:58 -0400

johnlaughingalonewithgushers: feminishblog: fuckyeahsexeducatio...

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:07:56 -0400

johnlaughingalonewithgushers:

feminishblog:

fuckyeahsexeducation:

justwordsandatune:

thescienceofreality:

You don’t need to be in school to improve your education. Check out Coursera!

One of the biggest issues that I continue to see pop up for people, especially within the young adult generation[s], is the problem of being at a loss for readily available, and seemingly ‘affordable’ educational sources, information, and courses. I recently reblogged a post with a brilliant list of 500 FREE online courses from top universities, which was pretty popular. Then I received a suggestion from a lovely follower of mine to check out Courseera, as I might be interested. So, in addition to the previous online free courses post, I present you with yet another amazing and FREE resource for personal mind expansion. Courseera offers dozens of free online courses from various universities such as Princeton, Stanford, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania.

Below you can view the different types of courses offered on this useful site:

Mathematics and Statistics

Healthcare, Medicine, and Biology

Society, Networks, and Information

Computer Science

Economics, Finance, and Business

Humanities and Social Sciences

Knowledge is power. Educate yourself, explore, and expand!

UPDATE: Within the last few weeks 12 World-Class Universities[new to Coursera] have added more than 100 courses to be available for FREE on Coursera, in addition to the already spectacular selection!

Below is a list of the newly accessible Universities and the courses they each provide:

California Institute of Technology

Duke University

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Georgia Institute of Technology

Johns Hopkins University

Princeton University

Rice University

Stanford University

University of California, San Francisco

University of Edinburgh

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

University of Toronto

University of Virginia

University of Washington

You can also view a list of all courses available here. Enjoy & keep expanding!!

This is the real deal, folks. Utilize this fantastic, FREE resource!

mother of god

Marchesa Fall 2012

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:43:10 -0400

Marchesa Fall 2012

We all have that one mutual follower we try to impress with every post.

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:40:05 -0400

We all have that one mutual follower we try to impress with every post.

Character Traits Meme

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:37:52 -0400

Character Traits Meme:

thatfrenchhelper:

I just found this while lurking around deviantart for writing resources and thought it could be useful to some.

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:28:18 -0400

pancakeghost: sackoftheweedduh: my grandpa always had some of...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:27:49 -0400

pancakeghost:

sackoftheweedduh:

my grandpa always had some of these pictures hanging in his house, and now we’ve got them in our house. i’ve had a crush on this lady since i was like 12.

tomoatmeal: If some dummy is standing out in the yard blowing...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:25:49 -0400

tomoatmeal:

If some dummy is standing out in the yard blowing bubbles and you walk up talking about maple syrup and the moron’s like, “What’s maple syrup?” the best thing you can do is to yank that bubble wand out of his hand and dip it into the jar of maple syrup you carry around.

Coat the wand generously and then blow a huge bubble. Watch as it floats across the street, faster and faster until it collides with some geek who is crossing the street with a gigantic stack of books. The maple syrup bubble explodes against the geek and the books are transformed into an electric guitar!!!

Hand the bubble wand back.

“THAT is maple syrup.”

Exit.

Surnames Master Post.

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:12:45 -0400

phoeberpc:

Surnames are just as important as given names. So, I compiled a list of the websites I use to find my surnames.

English Surnames

Dutch Surnames

Spanish Surnames

Scottish Surnames

German Surnames

Italian Surnames

Irish Surnames

French Surnames

Scandinavian Surnames

Welsh Surnames

Jewish Surnames

Surnames By Ethnicity

Most Common Surnames in the USA

Most Common Surnames in Great Britan

Most Common Surnames in Asia