Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, “palestinian love poem”
when I'm old and wrinkled and my skin doesn't hold to the bone my breasts sag and the mind does not work as it once did
i'll hear my mother calling. she'll call me in between the fog through the mist covering my eyes and i'll hear with a clarity long gone.
the staff in my hand will guide my way — limping, though the opposite image of the fallen king — to a rather dignifying destiny
I'll have lived long enough to see me coming home to the call of my mother to become again the earth that once made me.
Is there anything I can do to help Palestinians besides call my representatives and beg them to stop killing people?
This is a great question. There are a few things you can do—just off the top of my head:
BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) https://bdsmovement.net/
Direct Action https://www.palestineaction.org/
Urge your University/School/Organization to put out a statement denouncing Israel
Organize a Protest/Participate in a local one
You might already be doing this but while calling your reps, tell them that as a voter, you're unwilling to support them in the upcoming election unless they urge the White House to take a stand against Israel and stop funding them
Share art/writing/films around Palestinian culture
If you're part of a union, ask them what they're doing to urge their industry leaders to take a stand against Israel + pressure the White House OR urge them to start a strike/walkout/etc if they're not doing anything already
Talk with your friends IRL about Palestine, whether in an activist capacity or watching a movie or literally anything
Reach out to a mosque to see if you can help them with anything
See if your city/state council has put out a statement in support of Gazans. If not, try to push them to do so.
Donate to Palestine Legal or Direct Action if you have some money to spare
KEEP TALKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know some of these don't feel like they have as big of an impact on helping Palestinians, but we do need to make an effort not to forget their humanity in the face of continued erasure and the media's sensationalist rhetoric.
Talking on social media and posting—while not seeming like a lot—does SO much. I know in USAmerica, it's like yelling into a void, but political analysts are saying that most of the "Global South" has completely lost any amount of goodwill it may have had the past few years. Hopefully, countries will start to put sanctions and embargoes en masse on the US and Israel soon.
Our goals here are BOTH short-term and long-term. We hope for the life and liberation of the Palestinian people, so anything that you can think of might help at some point in the future is encouraged to at least try.
If anyone else has any more ideas, feel free to reblog and add on. Thank you for asking, and here is to a liberated Palestine where Palestinians can live and thrive without fear.
fr
hot evil characters who i want to fix but will make me cry if i actually meet them in real life>>>>>>
You literally give me anxiety before my bed time
Patrick Nunn, from "The stories of oral societies aren't "myths"; they're records", pub. Aeon
Okay that's so deep. It's like you love your parents and they know about it without need for you to tell them about how u feel about them.
“Platonic love is vital, essential, and perhaps the one thing left in this wretched landscape that could save us all for a little bit longer than we deserve. I love my friends even when I don’t tell them enough. I have crawled from the wreckage of enough heartbreak to know who will still be standing when I emerge and who won’t, and I hold those still standing close to me.”
— Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, “Carly Rae Jepsen and the Kingdom of Desire” in MTV (via merulae)
Hannibal: If I promised you to go vegetarian from today on, would you promise me in return never to keep your feelings towards me under lock and key again?
Clarice: Feelings that you only imagine, Dr. Lecter...
Hannibal: Feelings you haven't been able to explain since we first met. Let me explain. Your voice changes when you speak to me, Clarice. It becomes rough and deep with desire, your breathing is faster than usual. An inexperienced psychologist like Chilton would say it's pure fear. I know better. You want me here and now. Just a promise. A word that stands between us.
Clarice: Allright. Promise.
(Spoilers, a very long piece of personal opinions and interpretations, ahead)
Let’s talk about Lin Beifong. And it’s kind of impossible to talk about Lin Beifong without talking about “LinZin”, but that’s the point. I remember her from way back in Season 1 Episode 6, “And the winner is”, when Lin’s voice and eyes soften when she tells Tenzin they are helping each other out at the Pro-Bending finals “like old times”. What a contrast that was, from the anger and coldness we saw from her before. I remember Lin asking Tenzin not to turn back when she jumps onto the Equalist airship for a battle to the death, all so Tenzin’s family has a chance to escape. I remember Lin turning her battle of words with Su to a real battle when Su flippantly brought up Tenzin in their argument. I know everyone has their own interpretation of the show, but I always thought it’s so painfully obvious that Lin hasn’t moved on from Tenzin, and I love LoK for showing us that despite all this, Lin can survive.
There are too many stories – books, movies, TV shows – that focus on people finding the one, the one true love of their life, who will make their life and happiness complete. But what if the world doesn’t work like that? What if the world didn’t miraculously pair us all off for a happy ending? What are the stories of those people who end up alone for one reason or another?
I love the “LinZin” story because it’s one of those stories. As far as I can tell, Lin’s separation from Tenzin was not rooted in a lack of love but differences in what they wanted in a future together. Tenzin wanted children. Lin didn’t. Perhaps they have always loved each other, but they won’t be happy together. In the end, they separated to pursue their own paths, and it doesn’t feel fair because Tenzin ends up with the family and Airbender legacy he wanted but Lin is still alone after all these years. And the loneliness bothers Lin. Lin, who withstood having her face scarred and her bending removed with determinedly dry eyes, broken down in tears when Korra reminds her that she is still a bitter, lonely woman. Although that happened during the “Metal Clan” episode, and the loneliness likely referred to Lin’s relationship with her family as well as her past with Tenzin, the fact still stands – Lin is alone, and she doesn’t really want to be.
Unlike your typical relationship storyline, Lin’s romantic journey doesn’t end with Lin and Tenzin choosing their relationship over everything and everyone else, nor is about Lin resenting Tenzin for finding happiness with Pema, and nor is it about Lin finding love with someone else. It ends with Lin and Tenzin rekindling a friendship that probably defined their childhood, with the children of heroes becoming heroes in their own right, with two platonic friends fighting side by side to save the world. Lin chooses justice, kindness, and not to sacrifice the sense of self she held onto even as it drove her and Tenzin apart. Lin can bear the pain of losing a love, not by denying love or repeating it, but taking the best of it – the understanding, empathy, and camaraderie – and make something good out of that. Even though it takes a long time, Lin finds a place in the world despite her heartbreak. Maybe she will always feel the heartbreak in some parts of her, bur Lin’s life carries on in a meaningful, positive manner, even as she stands alone.
(Toph and Suyin are no less pivotal figures in Lin’s story, but this post is getting too long as it is.)
I love Lin’s story because in the end, it ends well even though it isn’t perfect. Her relationship with Tenzin is such a big part of her, yet she has to brave the emptiness and bitterness of being without him. She seems to have so much less, compared to Tenzin. She seems to have it so much harder, compared to Suyin. She ends up alone not because she wants to be alone, but because she didn’t find the right person with whom to share her life. Many villains in fiction have turned to the dark side for less. And yet for all the horrible hands fate has dealt her, Lin comes out a hero.
It takes strength to accept and bear the pain that will inevitably enter into our lives. It takes strength to stand alone in a world that focuses so much on the idea of romance and love. But that’s the kind of strength that helps Lin find peace in the world, and I think that’s the kind of strength that allows Lin the clarity to make decisions that make her a hero.