Latest Posts by ghiblibiotch - Page 4

I remember this time where my class had a math substitute, and we couldn't be paying her less atention. There were a couple of guys who were trying to do the bottle flip challenge in every possible surface (and failing), and after a while the substitute got tired of their bs and told them to stop. One of those guys offered her a deal: if she could do the challenge in the first try, the class would get extra homework. So she went (fun fact she was pregnant) and did it. Everybody went fucking wild it was amazing

Voltron characters as troubled birds

Shiro:

Keith:

Pidge:

Lance:

Hunk:

Allura:

Coran:

Zarkon:

Haggar:

Lotor:

If you're ever bored, here's a list of Studio Ghibli films you can watch for free.

Castle In The Sky (1986) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) Only Yesterday (1991) Porco Rosso (1992) Pom Poko (1994) Whisper of the Heart (1995) Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) Spirited Away (2001) The Cat Returns (2002) Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) Tales from Earthsea (2006) Ponyo On A Cliff From The Sea (2008) The Secret World of Arrietty/The Borrower Arrietty (2010) From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

If any of the links stop working, please let me know so I can fix it.

For Castle In The Sky, wait for the free user button to be clickable and it will send you to the video.

A book series in which every book starts the same way but ends up different every time due to some tiny thing, or a change in a crucial decision from the characters. Kinda like a choose your own adventure book, but you're still not choosing anything.

x

Rick Riordan won a Stonewall award today

for his second Magnus Chase book, due to the inclusion of the character Alex Fierro who is gender fluid. This was the speech he gave, and it really distills why I love this author and his works so much, and why I will always recommend his works to anyone and everyone.

“Thank you for inviting me here today. As I told the Stonewall Award Committee, this is an honor both humbling and unexpected.

So, what is an old cis straight white male doing up here? Where did I get the nerve to write Alex Fierro, a transgender, gender fluid child of Loki in The Hammer of Thor, and why should I get cookies for that?

These are all fair and valid questions, which I have been asking myself a lot.

I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors.

But also, it’s a call to do better in my own writing. As one of my genderqueer readers told me recently, “Hey, thanks for Alex. You didn’t do a terrible job!” I thought: Yes! Not doing a terrible job was my goal!

As important as it is to offer authentic voices and empower authors and role models from within LGBTQ community, it’s is also important that LGBTQ kids see themselves reflected and valued in the larger world of mass media, including my books. I know this because my non-heteronormative readers tell me so. They actively lobby to see characters like themselves in my books. They like the universe I’ve created. They want to be part of it. They deserve that opportunity. It’s important that I, as a mainstream author, say, “I see you. You matter. Your life experience may not be like mine, but it is no less valid and no less real. I will do whatever I can to understand and accurately include you in my stories, in my world. I will not erase you.”

People all over the political spectrum often ask me, “Why can’t you just stay silent on these issues? Just don’t include LGBTQ material and everybody will be happy.” This assumes that silence is the natural neutral position. But silence is not neutral. It’s an active choice. Silence is great when you are listening. Silence is not so great when you are using it to ignore or exclude.

But that’s all macro, ‘big picture’ stuff. Yes, I think the principles are important. Yes, in the abstract, I feel an obligation to write the world as I see it: beautiful because of its variations. Where I can’t draw on personal experience, I listen, I read a lot – in particular I want to credit Beyond Magenta and Gender Outlaws for helping me understand more about the perspective of my character Alex Fierro – and I trust that much of the human experience is universal. You can’t go too far wrong if you use empathy as your lens. But the reason I wrote Alex Fierro, or Nico di Angelo, or any of my characters, is much more personal.

I was a teacher for many years, in public and private school, California and Texas. During those years, I taught all kinds of kids. I want them all to know that I see them. They matter. I write characters to honor my students, and to make up for what I wished I could have done for them in the classroom.

I think about my former student Adrian (a pseudonym), back in the 90s in San Francisco. Adrian used the pronouns he and him, so I will call him that, but I suspect Adrian might have had more freedom and more options as to how he self-identified in school were he growing up today. His peers, his teachers, his family all understood that Adrian was female, despite his birth designation. Since kindergarten, he had self-selected to be among the girls – socially, athletically, academically. He was one of our girls. And although he got support and acceptance at the school, I don’t know that I helped him as much as I could, or that I tried to understand his needs and his journey. At that time in my life, I didn’t have the experience, the vocabulary, or frankly the emotional capacity to have that conversation. When we broke into social skills groups, for instance, boys apart from girls, he came into my group with the boys, I think because he felt it was required, but I feel like I missed the opportunity to sit with him and ask him what he wanted. And to assure him it was okay, whichever choice he made. I learned more from Adrian than I taught him. Twenty years later, Alex Fierro is for Adrian.

I think about Jane (pseudonym), another one of my students who was a straight cis-female with two fantastic moms. Again, for LGBTQ families, San Francisco was a pretty good place to live in the 90s, but as we know, prejudice has no geographical border. You cannot build a wall high enough to keep it out. I know Jane got flack about her family. I did what I could to support her, but I don’t think I did enough. I remember the day Jane’s drama class was happening in my classroom. The teacher was new – our first African American male teacher, which we were all really excited about – and this was only his third week. I was sitting at my desk, grading papers, while the teacher did a free association exercise. One of his examples was ‘fruit – gay.’ I think he did it because he thought it would be funny to middle schoolers. After the class, I asked to see the teacher one on one. I asked him to be aware of what he was saying and how that might be hurtful. I know. Me, a white guy, lecturing this Black teacher about hurtful words. He got defensive and quit, because he said he could not promise to not use that language again. At the time, I felt like I needed to do something, to stand up especially for Jane and her family. But did I make things better handling it as I did? I think I missed an opportunity to open a dialogue about how different people experience hurtful labels. Emmie and Josephine and their daughter Georgina, the family I introduce in The Dark Prophecy, are for Jane.

I think about Amy, and Mark, and Nicholas … All former students who have come out as gay since I taught them in middle school. All have gone on to have successful careers and happy families. When I taught them, I knew they were different. Their struggles were greater, their perspectives more divergent than some of my other students. I tried to provide a safe space for them, to model respect, but in retrospect I don’t think I supported them as well as I could have, or reached out as much as they might have needed. I was too busy preparing lessons on Shakespeare or adjectives, and not focusing enough on my students’ emotional health. Adjectives were a lot easier for me to reconcile than feelings. Would they have felt comfortable coming out earlier than college or high school if they had found more support in middle school? Would they have wanted to? I don’t know. But I don’t think they felt it was a safe option, which leaves me thinking that I did not do enough for them at that critical middle school time. I do not want any kid to feel alone, invisible, misunderstood. Nico di Angelo is for Amy, and Mark and Nicholas.

I am trying to do more. Percy Jackson started as a way to empower kids, in particular my son, who had learning differences. As my platform grew, I felt obliged to use it to empower all kids who are struggling through middle school for whatever reason. I don’t always do enough. I don’t always get it right. Good intentions are wonderful things, but at the end of a manuscript, the text has to stand on its own. What I meant ceases to matter. Kids just see what I wrote. But I have to keep trying. My kids are counting on me.

So thank you, above all, to my former students who taught me. Alex Fierro is for you.

To you, I pledge myself to do better – to apologize when I screw up, to learn from my mistakes, to be there for LGBTQ youth and make sure they know that in my books, they are included. They matter. I am going to stop talking now, but I promise you I won’t stop listening.”

Izzy Abreu  -  https://areu.tumblr.com  -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzyabreuart  -  https://www.instagram.com/izzyabreu  -  https://www.etsy.com/es/people/sproutscouts  -  https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/izzyabreu  -  https://twitter.com/izzyabreu  -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvp59irQ5lvRNIzqqg2s_7A

Capucha La Pucha  -  https://www.instagram.com/soycapucha  -  https://www.facebook.com/capucha.lapucha  -   http://soytrafico.com/capucha  - http://capuchalapucha.wixsite.com/capucha

help a trans boy safely move

hi guys so as some of you might know i left an abusive and toxic environment to stay somewhere safer. i am an 18 year old trans boy that has been struggling with bpd, anxiety, panic disorder, and severe depression, all of which have worsened under the care of my abusive and manipulative mother.

a few days ago i got the opportunity to get away from that environment and took it, which has already had a huge positive impact on my mental health and well being. i was closeted from my transphobic mother and now that i’m away, i finally have had the opportunity to come out to my peers with a new school, job, and life. right now i am living with my wonderful boyfriend, jeremy, who is also trans and mentally ill. because i chose to leave suddenly, up until i can completely transfer jobs we are relying solely on commissions to provide us with food, internet, and the transportation needed from day to day. getting to and from the school, the grocery store, and even the post office adds on costs that we are struggling to pay with that we need to make sure i am able to complete highschool here. my mom still has control over my bank account and uses it as leverage against me. right now i have $4.98 to my name and am asking for help to make this new step possible for me. any donation, no matter how small, could help make sure we are able to eat, enroll me in highschool, and keep me away from being forced back into living with my mother. 

my paypal is paypal.me/danxiously and to anyone who even considers donating, it means the absolute world to me and can help ensure i am safe. even if you can’t donate anything, reblogging and sharing this post is very helpful, and i appreciate it. i love you all, and thank you so much for helping make this possible for me! ♡

Favorite Animated Movies [7/?]

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

my gender is bees. thats it. just bees thats all there is to it

Don’t panic. It’s just a spacesuited mannequin named Starman. As the sunlit crescent of planet Earth recedes in the background, Starman is comfortably seated at the wheel of a Tesla Roadster in this final image of the payload launched by a Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6. Internationally designated 2018-017A, roadster and Starman are headed for space beyond the orbit of Mars. The successful Falcon Heavy rocket has now become the most powerful rocket in operation and the roadster one of four electric cars launched from planet Earth. The other three were launched to the Moon by historically more powerful (but not reusable) Saturn V rockets. Still, Starman’s roadster is probably the only one that would be considered street legal.

I just can’t

👑Queen and King 👑

Hufflepuff: I bet I could fit the whole world in my hands!

Slytherin: Hufflepuff, that's physically impossible.

Hufflepuff: *cups Slytherin's face* Are you sure?

Slytherin: *blushing* Stop it, I have a reputation.

At the very centre of the image above is something incredible - a single, positively-charged strontium atom, suspended in motion by electric fields.

Not only is this an incredibly rare sight, it’s also difficult to wrap your head around the fact that this tiny point of blue light is a building block of matter.

The image was captured by physicist David Nadlinger from the University of Oxford, and it’s been awarded the overall prize in the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council photo competition.

To give you a little perspective on the size of this set-up, the atom is being held in place by electric fields emanating from those two metal needles on either side of it.

The distance between them is about 2 millimetres (0.08 inch).

The atom is being illuminated by a blue-violet laser. The energy from the laser causes the atom to emit photons which Nadlinger could capture on camera using a long exposure.

The whole thing is housed inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber and dramatically cooled to keep the atom still. Nadlinger took this photo through the window of the vacuum chamber.

To learn more, click here.

My “draw the squad” memes so far

A few friends and I are thinking of making an animated something based on His Dark Materials. We’re taking our time on this one to get it right. 

Here, the people I’ll be working with. From top to bottom:  @shliten, @matthieudaures, @leareymauzaize , @kojad and @cy-lindric with their daemons ! 

So fucking awesome

HEY ARTISTS!

Do you design a lot of characters living in not-modern eras and you’re tired of combing through google for the perfect outfit references? Well I got good news for you kiddo, this website has you covered! Originally @modmad made a post about it, but her link stopped working and I managed to fix it, so here’s a new post. Basically, this is a costume rental website for plays and stage shows and what not, they have outfits for several different decades from medieval to the 1980s. LOOK AT THIS SELECTION:

OPEN ANY CATEGORY AND OH LORDY–

There’s a lot of really specific stuff in here, I design a lot of 1930s characters for my ask blog and with more chapters on the way for the game it belongs to I’m gonna be designing more, and this website is going to be an invaluable reference. I hope this can be useful to my other fellow artists as well! :)

http://bemyeyes.com

This app is so great, guys, really check it out

I'm dead

This National Park Just Shoots Poachers to Protect The Rhino Population

culturenlifestyle:

Kaziranga National Park has been successful in the conservation of rhinos — to protect the fellow critters, its workers will shoot and even kill a potential poacher. To date, the park has killed 50 people.

Keep reading

I don’t think people understand how stressful it is to explain what’s going on in your head when you don’t even understand it yourself.

Stranger Things 2: Sassy Mike Wheeler appreciation post

You know you've got far enough with fangirling when YouTube puts a Stranger Things 2 ad before a Stranger Things cast video

Historic Black and White Pictures Restored in Color

Women Delivering Ice, 1918

Times Square, 1947

Portrait Used to Design the Penny. President Lincoln Meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862

Marilyn Monroe, 1957

Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of Titanic’s sinking the night before. (April 16, 1912)

Easter Eggs for Hitler, c 1944-1945 

Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942

Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin in 1919

Painting WWII Propaganda Posters, Port Washington, New York – 8 July 1942

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge ca 1935

Fuck I love them

“I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"  "353 days. I heard.”

Stranger Things is now my new obsession

A Painting Made From Pieces of Glass