Bioluminescence Oil, 18 x 24 in, 2015, First in the Bioluminescence series.
The light of life and the natural world. In all the vastness of space, as of yet, we know of only one planet that supports life. At least within some great distance from here, life is rare. Each organism being the exquisite and detailed product of billions of years of evolution, life is precious. This point of light and inspiration stands in contrast to the lanterns and lights that are historically thought to be sources of illumination but are now dimmed; mythologies and superstitions humans have created as we struggled in the dark of ignorance to understand our world. But the process of science has revealed a luminous, living planet, more amazing than we could have ever imagined. Where the intricacies of biology are miracles of evolution and our consciousness is a gift of natural processes that allow us to experience what it is to be alive.
Also yes they did wear sunscreen. Just not in the way most people think of it today. But people in extremely sunny areas have been wearing light fabric but long sleeved and full pants, or smearing mud on their skin for millennia.
Yes, your ancestors had more ozone layer, and yes, your ancestors did have skin cancer, but ALSO they did wear “sunscreen” just not the kind in a bottle from Walmart.
some 18th and 19th century beauty/home apothecary guides recommend wearing cold cream (sometimes set with powder) when you go outside to prevent sunburn
some 18th and 19th cold cream and powder recipes contained zinc oxide, to give a white makeup effect due to the racist/classist belief that Pale Skin Was Better
do you see where I’m going with this
Also: Hats. Every society and time period I’m familiar with prior to the mid 20th century really leaned into wearing something on your head outdoors, which does help keep sun, wind, rain, snow, dust, etc. off your scalp (and potentially face/neck/shoulders).
There was at least one very long and fiddly labour strike in ancient Egypt where the workers refused to build a pyramid until conditions improved, and among their demands was a demand for more “cosmetics” to be supplied to the workers. Egyptian ‘cosmetics’ were, of course, used as sunscreen.
it’s because the bear wouldn’t kill me just for being a woman. the bear doesn’t kill me for fun. the bear can be shouted at, and will leave me alone. the bear won’t make a tiktok complaining about how i crossed to the other side of the path when i saw him coming. if a bear kills me, it’s just being a bear: it cannot understand logic. it is not acting out of malice - just fear or hunger.
bell hooks once wrote about how porches might be the only outside space left for women - it is still the domain of the house while it is also outside-but-safe. when i am in the woods, i am in the bear’s home, and he has a right to defend his property. outside spaces - anywhere at night, certain parks in the day - those are often implicitly “owned” by men. i cannot explain the feeling of knowing when you have entered a man’s “territory.” you walk into a place and just know you are in their space. you get a sick sense - you’re in danger.
the other day a group of about 8 men were fooling around in the woods while i walked my dog. i had to go around, take the extra 3 miles just to avoid them. it’s okay, i like walking. this wasn’t even a #feminism moment. it was just a tuesday.
what a plain and easy question. only one of the situations is seen as a tragic accident. i would rather die and have a park bench erected in my honor rather than have my family questioned about why they let me, an adult, walk in the woods in the first place when i should really be at home in the kitchen.
i worked in retail and food service. i have had women say and do absolutely heinous and abusive things to me - not because i was a woman, but because i was there, and they were angry. the way men treated me when angry was different - it was because i was a woman. you can always feel the difference, how there’s an undertone of i’d hurt you worse if i could get away with it. i keep seeing people try to cite stupid statistics. why is there always a strange rage whenever women agree on things? like men can argue their way out of our lived experiences? it isn’t a buzzfeed quiz - which of these traumas are you? 10 super cute ways not to fear strange men.
i have actually (thrice!) seen a bear in the wild, by the way. i died each time, obviously, and am a ghost writing to you. (it was scary but completely and utterly fine). the second encounter was a black bear with her cub. she looked at me like - do we have to do this or are we good? my dog was busy sniffing a bush, completely nonreactive. i felt like i was in a sitcom: feminist poet reacts - does she actually mean she’d choose the bear? my only thought was - she’s so beautiful.her paws are massive.
and there’s a part of me that feels the rage spinning out in a corner. why do we have to come up with quippy little comments in order to teach men empathy. would you rather die in a car accident or due to a mugging? and would you rather your house burn down due to an electrical fire or due to arson? gee willikers - it’s almost like we’re human people, and want to risk the accident versus the intention.
i would rather my last thought be oh shit, a bear rather than i’m a person too. why doesn’t that matter? why don’t you care?
WRONG! Your pride month is over! Me and all the other disabled queers are having pride month two: disability edition
Reblogging this again bc people in the notes are asking a lot of “Am I included? Am I disabled if I have x?” and I just wanted to add the flag here to show people who the pride month is for.
ALT
This is the new flag, the old one was more vivid and in a z shape, but it’s been made more neutral to be inclusive of people with seizures or sensory issues.
Each stripe represents a different aspect of disability:
Red: Physical disabilities
Yellow: Cognitive & intellectual disabilities
White: (And this is the key one I think) Invisible AND undiagnosed disabilities
Blue: Mental illnesses
Green: Sensory disabilities
If you’re autistic or have ADHD? this is your pride month. If you have a mental illness, it’s your pride month. If you’re hard of hearing, this is your pride month. If you have an autoimmune disorder, this is your pride month. If you are not diagnosed with anything but you know something is up with you: THIS IS STILL YOUR PRIDE MONTH.
Just an FYI for those in the US with insurance issues
Important information! Insurance coverage decisions are made by medically ignorant bean-counters. Until we can dismantle the whole shitty system, know how to scare them into submission.
This is like that procedure Mr. Incredible told that old lady
Reblogging for visibility
[Image Description: Text: Medical Hack: So, your doctor ordered a test or treatment and your insurance company denied it. That is a typical cost saving method. Okay, here is what you do:
Call the insurance company and tell them you want to speak with the “HIPPA Compliance/Privacy Officer” (By federal law, they have to have one)
Then ask them for Names as well as Credentials of every person Accessing Your Record to make that decision of denial. By law you have a Right to that informantion.
They will almost always Reverse the Decision very shortly rather than admit that the committee is made of low paid H.S. Graduates, looking at all “criteria words,” making the decision to deny your care. Even in the rare case it is made by medical personel, it is unlikely that it is made by a board cerified doctor in that specialty and they Do Not Want You to Know This!
Any refusal should be reported to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR.gov) as a HIPPA violation. Description ends]
Reblogging for visibility!
Fuck evil insurance companies, fuck corporate greed, fuck modern capitalism
Just an FYI for those in the US with insurance issues
Important information! Insurance coverage decisions are made by medically ignorant bean-counters. Until we can dismantle the whole shitty system, know how to scare them into submission.
This is like that procedure Mr. Incredible told that old lady
Reblogging for visibility
[Image Description: Text: Medical Hack: So, your doctor ordered a test or treatment and your insurance company denied it. That is a typical cost saving method. Okay, here is what you do:
Call the insurance company and tell them you want to speak with the “HIPPA Compliance/Privacy Officer” (By federal law, they have to have one)
Then ask them for Names as well as Credentials of every person Accessing Your Record to make that decision of denial. By law you have a Right to that informantion.
They will almost always Reverse the Decision very shortly rather than admit that the committee is made of low paid H.S. Graduates, looking at all “criteria words,” making the decision to deny your care. Even in the rare case it is made by medical personel, it is unlikely that it is made by a board cerified doctor in that specialty and they Do Not Want You to Know This!
Any refusal should be reported to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR.gov) as a HIPPA violation. Description ends]
Reblogging for visibility!
Fuck evil insurance companies, fuck corporate greed, fuck modern capitalism
this is a joke with no audience but I really wish there was a Wii U game that told you to look at the gamepad but then the gamepad just said “psyche” while simultaneously an enemy on the TV screen attacked you
Joanne’s just upset because she’s a little whinging fucker.
She does know that she can just not publicly react to things right she has the human ability to not open her social media apps and type words about every little thing
one billion lions could do it. they could find a way.
thank you!! theres like a whole billion of them those rats and birds stand no chance
The lions would not be able to beat Diglett because they can hide underground, as can most ground types. They probably couldn’t bite through any of the steel types also.
lions have paws and can dig, and if you bite a steel bar a few thousand times itll break. nerd
today’s vetted fundraisers. please please continue sharing and donating in whatever capacity you can. your help is giving life and hope to those in the direst circumstances.
every effort counts, no matter how small it may seem to you. whatever you can contribute is urgently needed and extremely valuable. let’s keep putting in all we can for these families.
“The emblem of the red cross on a white ground and the words "Red Cross” or “Geneva Cross” shall not be used either in time of peace or in time of war, except to protect or to indicate the medical formations and establishments and the personnel and material protected by the Convention.“
When you’re autistic, it’s impossible to miss how much society normalizes child abuse.
I could dedicate my entire life to studying how to interact with people and I’d still never master the social skills that young children are expected to have on command.
Say the wrong thing? That’s disrespectful and you’re punished. And you don’t even have to actually say anything wrong. Pretty much anything you say can be considered “giving lip” if your parent wants some excuse to punish you. But if you say nothing, then you get punished for ignoring. You also have to calculate your response to their mind game quickly because taking too long to respond is considered ignoring. Also, if you’re being wrongly accused of something, saying nothing is considered a confession. And even if you somehow manage to say exactly what your parent wants in exactly the correct tone, they’ll still punish you for “sarcasm” or “not really meaning it”.
silliest thing about my body is that I regularly experience precordial catch syndrome, which is basically the medical term for an extremely painful “twinge” in your chest cartilage that’s not medically significant & which we can’t really explain.
anyway, mine falls in the extreme in that the “twinges” can last several minutes and they range anywhere from “agh, minor inconvenience, I just need to sit still for a moment” to “this is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, the ethical thing to do now would be to shoot me.”
the problem is, when it’s the latter, I literally look deranged. the “catch” comes on so fast, mid-breath, I gasp in sudden agony, clutch my chest, and seethe in agony as I struggle for as much oxygen allowed in the shallowest breaths possible. sometimes it’s so bad I end up on my knees or even lying on the floor, basically writhing in pain, clenching my teeth like I’m turning into a werewolf or something. and of course people are terrified. they’re asking what’s wrong, but I can’t talk. They’re asking if they should call 911, and I’m just shaking my head and holding up a “just a minute” finger and also groaning in anguish,
and then the silliest part of all is that the minute it ends, there’s no residual pain. not even the ghost of it. it’s gone as suddenly as it came and I catch my breath and I say, “WELL! Anyway,” and I immediately try to get back to the conversation but nobody’s ever quite receptive to that for SOME reason
I have never seen someone escape the cycle of suffering and reach true and perfect zen the way that one of my D&D players, an honest-to-god tenured college dean and professor, does when he inhabits his 7 INT bardlock elf prettyboy. Brain goes in a jar on the shelf for two hours. Nothing between those pointy ears but one jingle bell rolling back and forth. Refers to his patron as his “sugar mama” and That Warlock Cantrip as “Elvis blast.” You can SEE the player knowing and suspecting things and gleefully not acting on them. I love it so much. Next week I’m gonna see if I can bait him into fucking a vampire milf. I bet it’ll work
UPDATE: despite the best efforts of the orc fighter/paladin, he did in fact fuck the vampire milf
turns out there’s a slightly differently fine-tuned universe where a 1 in 10^60 variation in the coupling strength of the weak nuclear force means that rust is incapable of forming on iron and hope never turns into shame
having a little jingly keychain is all fun and games, until you’re walking around somewhere that’s dead quiet…..like oh i’m sorry i just my trinkets are jangling around……n suddenly your the court jester and everyone is pointing and laughing at you for your noisey fucking keychain…..bobo the clowncore
not reblogging the original cuz i do not want to open that tomb of rats but i’ve seen this floating around and i just gotta say there’s nothing wrong with having a human fetish. humans are hot. as long as you’re being respectful you’re not a bad monster for being into humans i promise.
👻 corpsecorse-backup Follow
vampires will go around like “it’s totally fine for vamps and humans to date” and then make posts proudly proclaiming their human fetish
choke on a garlic bulb leechdick
🧛🏻♂️ coffincreeper Follow
reblog this post if you: think it’s okay for vamps to date humans, fetishize humans, or have a leech dick (no one will know which)
🦇 can-i-suck-ur-dick-i-mean-neck Follow
g*d i’d give anything to have a warm little bloodbag to toy with
👤 bloody-lurker Follow
chr*st id give anything to be a vampires warm little bloodbag to toy with
My (late) contribution for Make A Terrible Comic Day! I’ve been going to the library more often lately so this has been coming up a lot, cause I want something to read but have had trouble finding anything that I’m comfortable with.
If anyone has recommendations please please let me know because I am struggling.
The fun other side of this too is when you are afraid of making other people feel that way so you just let shit go 90% of the time even when it’s reasonable and valid to make a comment/critique/etc
Rejection sensitive dysphoria is wild. Someone will be like “hey just so you know the thing you did was a little bit loud/uncomfortable/insensitive but it’s ok I know you didn’t mean it” and my brain will instantly translate “you should be shot”
Ao3 is actually massively culturally important and very very good at being what it is. I’m so serious when I say that ao3 needs to be protected as the anti censorship, by fans for fans, nonprofit, volunteer run, expertly designed archival site that it is. You don’t have to read or like fanfiction to understand that on principle, ao3 is a site that should be defended.
Don’t get sucked into the “if they really cared I wouldn’t have to say something” spiral. No matter how close you are with someone, it’s unfair to expect them to know things you haven’t actually communicated.
Not shaving and not wearing make up are literally nonbehaviors. They’re a complete lack of action. But doing nothing is considered masculine because women are not allowed to just be. this goes double for trans women.
reblog this version because transmisogynists don’t know how to fuck off.
THERE! IS! A DIFFERENCE! BETWEEN! CULTURAL APPROPRIATION! AND! CULTURAL APPRECIATION!
To completely disregard a person from appreciating a culture or language simply based on what group they’re from and not because they disrespect it is literally trying to isolate people from spreading awareness of said culture, or that many people would not even attempt to research it because of the fear of being “not good enough because I’m not part of the group.”
ALT
ALT
ALT
