tarthistory:

the creative process - ira glass

Tokyo’s oldest man has been dead for 30 years, family collects widowers pension payments and chases away government officials.

Let’s get our priorities straight. First you beat fruit bloody, then you tweet about it. Duh.

See, now this is awesome.

It is not until the governments and powers that be are put in their appropriate places that mankind can continue on the path of enlightenment. It has happened before.

Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses and the subsequent rebellions it caused is the perfect embodiment of the strength of an idea, the strength of a sudden realization occurring on a large scale, led by few, and embodied by an image. Luther, the face of the protestant movement, was not the only one leading this movement. In fact, there were many influential and motivating leaders, both locally in Germany and throughout Europe. If not for these people who refused to rest until they had informed and incited as many to act as they possibly could, the status quo would never have been changed. If they had never chosen to act, Luther would never have had the influence over the development of the Christian faith that he did. Regardless of whether or not you adhere to Christian beliefs, the acts of Luther serve as an example of the infectious nature of an idea. He became the icon of the Protestant Revolution, the face used to incite the people to bleed out the toxins that had been allowed to enter into the Church.

Today, groups like Anonymous and movements like Occupy are spreading like wildfire around the world. Anti-ACTA protests throughout Europe and the US. Demonstrations against police brutality in cities around the States. The people are beginning to find a unified voice, and, it would appear, a singular image to represent them. I am of course speaking of the Guy Fawkes mask of the character V from “V for Vendetta” (released in 2005 by Warner Bros Pictures, a SOPA/ACTA supporter), the Martin Luther-type image of today’s struggle against censorship. There is a fight beginning against the current degree of control various governments have over their peoples, and it seems that various supporters of bills like ACTA have realized they either have to listen or fight back.

I have often ignored current events, placing them as inferior to other priorities such as school, relationships, work, and play. Even after numerous trips to visit my family members in the Middle East and witnessing first hand the, for lack of a better word, repression of its people, I remained unwilling to speak out, or even to adequately educate myself on the state of our nation and of the world. In such a huge country, it’s easy to feel powerless, or that it’s not my job to solve its problems. Recently however, as major and minor social media outlets have enabled people to interconnect, communicate, and be influenced at such a rapid rate, information from a huge number of sources is accessible to all. It is impossible for me to ignore any longer the events taking place around the world, and their implications. Governments, frightened of the possibility that its peoples are not informed enough to make beneficial decisions, become the unloving, dictatorial parents of its unruly adolescent nation who is, in turn, driven to rebellion.

The beauty of democracy is that—in its most idealistic form— the leaders are chosen by an informed populace in order to organize and facilitate legislation that its people support.

However, as power corrupts, and as disorganization and miscommunication mislead, even once rebellious and admirable governments such as that formed after the revolutionary war can grow into frightened, hyper-controlling tyrannies. If the American people, if the people of the world, do not open their eyes to the possibility that a government that creates bills like ACTA has lost touch with the citizens it’s supposed to represent, then our nation will continue down the path to dystopia.

I am now choosing to become informed, because the education of the population is the only thing keeping our nation’s head above water. I encourage each and every person to consider this, to actively pursue information on current events from multiple perspectives and sources, and to formulate your own educated opinions on the state of our nation. If the US federal and state governments do not represent the true desires of its people, they could, as groups like Anonymous claim, one day have a revolution on their hands. They won’t listen, though, unless we speak out intelligently and speak out loudly. (photo taken by Ivo Krusamaagi of anti-ACTA protest in Tartu, Estonia)

I’ve always envisioned myself in a big city, and it’s finally happened. I guess what I’m constantly surprised by in life is the drive for survival that’s in all of us. More than survival, though, led me here. More specifically the pursuit of happiness. It’s completely up to the individual to engage in that pursuit, and engage I have. I see beauty and humor in everyone. This sometimes leads to me getting kicked in the ass by my naïve faith in people. I am often disappointed when people don’t fight for their right to be happy, and to live joyful, rich lives.

Maybe it’s because there’s has been this nagging voice in my head for the last four years that I’m not happy and I need to let go of my fear of failure and loneliness and get off my ass and just go. Where? Anywhere but the sludge I’ve chosen to slump around in all this time. I set my sights on dry, firm land and, strenuous inch by emotionally depleting inch I got out of that fucking sludge. Now, everyone do a little dance or twirl your fingers around with a big silly 1930s entertainer grin to celebrate my escape from the sludge.

This story isn’t exactly about me, though. I mean, I’m in it, but I can hardly say I’m the only main character. I’m about to show you my new world. My new home. There’s a view of the San Francisco skyline. There are four cats. There’s tons of amazing antique furniture.

And, most importantly, there are the goddesses.

I was talking to a male friend of mine last night and the subject of sexuality came up. It’s a topic we’ve discussed before, as I’m the first person to whom he’s ever admitted having homosexual desires. (And he admitted it to me the second time we ever talked, which I thought was interesting. Then again, people open up to me all the time, so I wasn’t surprised.) For him, especially because it’s not as accepted to be a straight man with gay tendencies as it is to be a straight woman with lesbian tendencies, it’s something that he’s just now learning to accept. It’s an inner struggle to which I can relate 100%.

Having been raised to believe that homosexuality is a “sin”, it created some deep confusion when I began to make friends with people in the LGBT community. Even more confusing was my own sexual identity. I considered myself straight, had a boyfriend, and was a self-proclaimed Christian, and yet I found myself at times sexually attracted to women. At first I thought I had to purge myself of this impurity, this blight in the eyes of God.

And then an idea struck me:

“What if there are varying degrees of hetero/homosexuality, and they exist in everyone?”

I am so used to seeing people suffer from the guilt of having homosexual “urges”, as though in order to be a human we must be completely devoid of animal instinct. I’ve heard people say they know for a fact that God wants them to deny that sinful nature, to eradicate all the evil from their hearts. I’ve seen this same shame and denial lead to people leading secret lives, cheating on spouses, hating themselves, and even committing suicide. All of these terrible things have been caused by denying something that is present in everyone, and that could be completely benign if only it was accepted instead of feared.

The fact of the matter is that I can’t believe in a God who would create a spectrum of sexuality and then declare half of it sinful. Once I discovered and accepted the boundaries of my sexuality, it just made sense that everyone must have their own boundaries. I am so proud to have so many friends who have come out to their friends and families, especially because just the idea of telling my parents that I have homosexual tendencies (I call myself a semi-bi) is petrifying. And I’m proud that my friend, who considers himself a semi-bi as well, is being more open with those around him and exploring his world on a new level. It’s important that people learn to accept others by learning to accept themselves, and that, no matter what lifestyle they choose to lead, they live with respect and love for themselves and others.

This issue is one about which I am extremely passionate. It’s one of those issues about which I often go on long rants to my friends, while they sit back and roll their eyes. (“Here she goes again.”)

Long story short: am I straight? Yes. Am I gay? Meh, a little bit.

hookersorcake:

…I finally decided to schedule my ‘misery and depression’ for two to three evenings a week. I schedule ‘feeling ok’ for 2 random evings as well. That leaves two to three evenings to be completely ‘unaware of my life that I am living’.

If perchance I still feel depressed more than 3 days a week I just eat psychedelic mushrooms and listen to Beethoven or Astral Weeks. If this doesn’t work I allow myself one eight ball, a bank heist, and a three way, but if I’m still down in the dumps I’ll then eat a ton of icecream, which in turn will cause me to gain mass at my core at such a phenomenal rate that I’ll become a hyper giant star that devours entire galaxies. This never fails to pep me up or if it does… hey by then its a new week and I start all over.

From my self help book entitled “How to be infinitely delicious, baby!”

Garage Halloween

What has this world come to?