http://ephemeraltimes.tumblr.com/

"In one 1962 survey roughly 90 percent of White people believed Black children had an equally fair..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:25:47 -0400

“In one 1962 survey roughly 90 percent of White people believed Black children had an equally fair opportunity to get a quality education as White children. Wise recognizes that White Americans’ lack of awareness—and denial about the extent of racial inequality in America—is dated, calling it “borderline delusional”.”

- (Unpacking the Snowflake - Kevin M. Hemer)

In 1962— before Civil Rights legislation, when Black people were literally having their houses bombed for moving into white neighborhoods, and Black neighborhoods were being bombed in entirety for having nice houses, white people were literally releasing dogs on Black children (my parents) for walking to school, Black children and teenagers were literally leaving school to protest and then being arrested for demanding to be treated equally, police commissioners were driving through Black neighborhoods in tanks to instill fear in them for wanting to be treated equally, everything was separate with Black people getting the shittier end, they literally had lower education standards for Black schools and Black people were still getting lynched and the KKK was strong—

White people when surveyed said “there is equal opportunity“… So don’t think it’s weird that 93% or so of white people still think “there is equal opportunity” today. They’ve literally always been wrong and still are.

(via fuckyeahcracker)

This post isn’t about welfare, but it beautifully illustrates a point I’ve been making (or trying to make) since I started this blog:

Privileged people do not understand the realities of people who lack their privilege.

White people assume PoC have the same education and job opportunities.

People with permanent addresses assume homeless people can just fill out an application for McDonalds or Burger King, be hired, and immediately use their paychecks to secure housing.

People who don’t receive welfare assume people on welfare are lazy and intentionally having multiple children and not looking for jobs.

This is why I am always, always asking people if they’ve ever considered that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they don’t have the whole story about their cousin/neighbor/friend’s sister. Because people in privilege tend to ascribe their own circumstances to everyone, even when that’s the exact opposite of reality.

(via getoutofthewelfaretag)

"Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions."

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:23:22 -0400

“Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions.”

- Will Smith (via beefysquirrelz)

"If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be impossible to embrace the..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:44:37 -0400

“

If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be impossible to embrace the myth of war. If we had to stand over the mangled corpses of schoolchildren killed in Afghanistan and listen to the wails of their parents, we would not be able to repeat clichés we use to justify war. This is why war is carefully sanitized. This is why we are given war’s perverse and dark thrill but are spared from seeing war’s consequences. The mythic visions of war keep it heroic and entertaining…

The wounded, the crippled, and the dead are, in this great charade, swiftly carted offstage. They are war’s refuse. We do not see them. We do not hear them. They are doomed, like wandering spirits, to float around the edges of our consciousness, ignored, even reviled. The message they tell is too painful for us to hear. We prefer to celebrate ourselves and our nation by imbibing the myths of glory, honor, patriotism, and heroism, words that in combat become empty and meaningless.

”

- Chris Hedges (via wakethesheeple)

The word ‘brilliant’ looks so brilliant and I can’t get over it. I love that word....

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:58:03 -0400

The word ‘brilliant’ looks so brilliant and I can’t get over it. I love that word. That is one of my favorite words. Brilliant things are just supremely brilliant to me.

writing thank you cards to my teachers ugh there are too many tears I can’t handle this right...

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:43:19 -0400

writing thank you cards to my teachers ugh there are too many tears I can’t handle this right now

"She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris."

Mon, 06 May 2013 21:28:25 -0400

“She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris.”

- Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (via fuckyeah-literature)

fuckyeahspaceshuttle: (via xkcd: Girls and Boys)

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 03:06:34 -0400

fuckyeahspaceshuttle:

(via xkcd: Girls and Boys)

colchrishadfield: I have no idea what this Brazilian outcrop...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:33:47 -0400

colchrishadfield:

I have no idea what this Brazilian outcrop looks like on the ground, but from orbit, it’s a brain.

inothernews: Google marks what would have been Swiss...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:33:11 -0400

inothernews:

Google marks what would have been Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler’s 360th birthday.

colchrishadfield: Sometimes Mother Nature uses a protractor,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:31:14 -0400

colchrishadfield:

Sometimes Mother Nature uses a protractor, like here in New Zealand’s South Island.

"I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?"

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:25:24 -0400

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?”

- Ernest Hemingway (via aquaticwonder)

colchrishadfield: The river hiccups like a zipper on an old...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:49:58 -0400

colchrishadfield:

The river hiccups like a zipper on an old coat.

"People think of education as something they can finish."

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:11:43 -0400

“People think of education as something they can finish.”

- Isaac Asimov (via pfelps)

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:09:09 -0400

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

- Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (via rusticpoems)

Don't Daydream

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:04:47 -0400

fakescience:

"There are no limits to how excellent we could make life seem."

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:04:42 -0400

“There are no limits to how excellent we could make life seem.”

- Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated (via bookmania)

"If we are interested in building a movement that will not constantly be subverted by internal..."

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 08:59:20 -0400

“If we are interested in building a movement that will not constantly
be subverted by internal differences, then we must build from the
inside out, not the other way around. Coming to terms with the
suffering of others has never meant looking away from our own.”

- Cherríe Moraga, This Bridge Called My Back (via matryushka)

"I sat at the foot of a huge tree, a statue of the night, and tried to make an inventory of all I had..."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:52:29 -0400

“I sat at the foot of a huge tree, a statue of the night, and tried to make an inventory of all I had seen, heard, smelled, and felt: dizziness, horror, stupor, astonishment, joy, enthusiasm, nausea, inescapable attraction. What had attracted me? It was difficult to say: Human kind cannot bear much reality. Yes, the excess of reality had become an unreality, but that unreality had turned suddenly into a balcony from which I peered into - what? Into that which is beyond and still has no name …”

- Octavio Paz - In Light of India (via veemignon)

I am happy happy happy.

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:27:28 -0400

I am happy happy happy.

"Sometimes I’m walking along the street and a shaft of sunlight falls in a certain way across the..."

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:03:28 -0400

“Sometimes I’m walking along the street and a shaft of sunlight falls in a certain way across the pavement and I just want to cry.”

- Take this Waltz (via deaf-ears)