Jessie Nicole

ianthe: Hundreds of Chicago Students Walk Out of Standardized...

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:40:40 -0400

Hundreds of Chicago Students Walk Out of Standardized Test

Hundreds of Chicago students are taking up the mantle in the fight against the role of standardized tests in public school closures as they walked out of a state exam Wednesday. Their message: “We are over-tested, under-resourced and fed up!”

Over 300 students from over 25 different Chicago public schools boycotted the second day of a state-wide standardized test.

Ahead of a school board meeting, at which the demonstrators were banned from speaking, the students rallied outside the district headquarters carrying placards and forming a human chain.

“We’re just trying to make a statement that tests should not determine our future or the future of our schools,” said student organizer Alexssa Moore, a senior at Lindblom High School.

Brian Sturgis, senior at Paul Robesan High School and boycott organizer with the group Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools (CSOSOS), declared in an op-ed “We are Chicago students and we are here to save our schools!”

He writes:

Mayor Emanuel and his Board of Education want to close 54 grammar schools around the city, all of which are in black and Latino communities: this is racist. These schools are also being judged based on assessments and tests given throughout the year: this is foolish. These school closings will leave neighborhoods dismantled, parents lost, students unaccounted for, and more importantly, will put children in harmful situations: this is dangerous.

Sturgis explains that Mayor Emanuel and the Board of Education

are putting too much pressure on standardized testing and threatening to close schools that don’t have high test scores. When schools are under so much pressure to raise test scores it leads to low-scoring students being neglected, not supported. This is what happened when 68 low-scoring juniors were demoted to sophomore status at a southwest side high school in Chicago last month, right before the state test.

The student boycott follows a protest earlier this month, Occupy the Department of Education, during which teachers and education activists descended on the Capitol to draw attention to the rampant privatization of public schools and the rash of recent school closures.

In February, a nationwide day of action led by the Seattle school teachers’ boycott of a standardized test brought this issue to national attention.

emigrl: During an interview about sex workers’ rights, I told the interviewer that arguments for...

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:20:49 -0400

emigrl:

During an interview about sex workers’ rights, I told the interviewer that arguments for and against legalization, decriminalization, criminalization, and “Swedish model” all miss the point. “What is the legal structure that you want to see?” He asked. I said, “redistribution of wealth.”

sexworkerproblems: A Submission from a friend of the...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:20:30 -0400

sexworkerproblems:

A Submission from a friend of the site

(please note that not all sex workers agree that “whore” is a slur, or that reclamation of the word “whore” should be restricted to full service sex workers)

SW6

Reclaiming whore was actually pretty important for me. Gives me feelings.

ave-atque-vale: foradayofsky: marpotish: phaelsafe: Anita...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:40:38 -0400

ave-atque-vale:

foradayofsky:

marpotish:

phaelsafe:

Anita Sarkeesian faces backlash for disabling Youtube comments.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, people are taking to the Internet to complain about Anita Sarkeesian. The first installment of her long-awaited video series about sexism in video games was released yesterday, inspiring an inevitable torrent of backlash. Aside from suggestions that she “stole” the Kickstarter funding for the Women vs. Tropes in Video Games series, much of the criticism is because she disabled comments on the YouTube video.

[…]

Leading the charge against Sarkeesian’s decision is Tumblr user amazingatheist, who posted a ten-minute video entitled “Who’s The Damsel Now?“ Arguing that Sarkeesian’s “censorship” of YouTube comments counteracts her message about strong women, and that her TED talk about online harassment amounts to “whining,” amazingatheist says:

“What are you afraid of, Anita? Why can’t people have a discourse about your material? Why can’t people make their opinions towards your content known? I understand that some comments will be abusive in nature — probably most will — but so what?”

Ironically, the existence of this response means by definition that amazingatheist is making his opinion known, as well as participating in a discourse about Sarkeesian’s material. [READ MORE]

The amazingatheist destroyed his own chance at participating in these discussions by being a misogynistic MRA. Just in case, that link needs a trigger/content warning so TW: rape, misogyny, abusive language.

The woman got bombarded with rape and death threats when she talked about the idea of doing this series. And people are up in arms about her not wanting to deal with that during her actual work??

So aside from the misogyny aspect here (and that isn’t to downplay it at all, because holy fucking shit you ASSHOLES,) I would like to point out something that appears to be lost on 95% of the denizens of The Intertubes:

No one is required to let you air your opinion in their space.

This includes the comments section of anything they upload to YouTube.

Seriously, the number of people who think that they are somehow owed the right to comment on things boggles me. You want to bitch about someone’s videos, comment on news articles, disagree with someone’s Facebook post? Go do it in your space. No one owes you shit.

And in particular, no one you are abusive and violent toward owes you shit.

I’m still boggling at this bit: “I understand that some comments will be abusive in nature — probably most will — but so what?”

Abusive in nature…but so what?

That comment says everything, doesn’t it?

After all, who fucking cares about what it’s like to receive death threats, rape threats? About what it’s like to have people barge into your space to pour violent, abusive vitriol all over your work? They are owed that opportunity, apparently. They are owed the opportunity to abuse you, and if you deny them that, you’re “censoring” them.

I would like everyone to think about that for a moment. @amazingatheist thinks it’s OK to threaten & abuse women he disagrees with - he’s done it himself, and he’s certainly never had any problem with anyone else doing it.

Abuse is OK. But protecting yourself from abuse? OH NO, CAN’T HAVE THAT.

What a shitstain.

Poetry At Work

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:20:29 -0400

My boss just recited this to me, first in Russian then in English:

Goodbye, my friend, goodbye
My love, you are in my heart.
It was preordained we should part
And be reunited by and by.
Goodbye: no handshake to endure.
Let’s have no sadness — furrowed brow.
There’s nothing new in dying now
Though living is no newer.

It’s the last poem written by Russian poet Sergei Yesinin. That he wrote in his own blood. Right before he committed suicide.

It was much creepier and weirder once he got to that part of the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Yesenin

"The food movement has been slow to recognise the fact that worker rights and working conditions..."

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:40:25 -0400

“The food movement has been slow to recognise the fact that worker rights and working conditions should be a key part of any discussion about the ethics of food. Reforms to the food system need to incorporate workers and their welfare, not just better farming practices, more humane treatment of animals, and other measures focusing on food as an end product. Food is also a process, and the people involved in that process have a right to fair treatment, something they don’t have currently. The continued marginalisation of farmworkers and the focus on other issues in the food movement speaks poorly of the movement overall, and reveals some telling attitudes about labour, race, and entitlement.”

- KNOW YOUR FOOD SYSTEM: INDIGENOUS FARMWORKERS IN CALIFORNIA by s.e. smith at this ain’t livin’

dentonsocialists: No, seriously, stop comparing them. I’m...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:20:42 -0400

dentonsocialists:

No, seriously, stop comparing them. I’m pretty sure Malcolm X would’ve been outraged to be compared to JFK. And MLK spoke against wars, Obama continues them. Oh, & seriously? If you call MLK “Dr. King” but Angela Davis, “Mrs. Davis” you should get that checked on. She’s got a Ph. D too.

I’m embarrassed that this is the first time I’ve noticed the discrepancy between how I often I hear “Dr. Martin Luther King” as opposed to “Dr. Angela Davis” which I think I’ve literally ONLY heard when she was being introduced to speak. Fucking hell.

Audrey Hepburn foreeevvveeerrr

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:40:38 -0400

Audrey Hepburn foreeevvveeerrr

trashprincesss: I want nothing to do with a feminism that excludes trans* women. Go be a cisterhood...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:20:41 -0400

trashprincesss:

I want nothing to do with a feminism that excludes trans* women. Go be a cisterhood without me.

"My (Russian) Boss: Jessica! What’s wrong with American people that they don’t know their..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:40:44 -0400

“My (Russian) Boss: Jessica! What’s wrong with American people that they don’t know their own literature?
Me: It’s a consequence of undervaluing and underfunding education, and cynically speaking a social undervaluing and mistrust of people who read in general
Boss: But you Americans actually have some decent writers! We even read them in Russia!
Me: I know, but the way educational institutions are designed…
Boss: Mark Twain! I love Mark Twain! He’s part of your history! How do you not know Mark Twain?!
Me: I love Mark Twain too! I wrote a paper on…
Boss: And Jack London! And Fennimore Cooper! Fitzgerald!
Me: There’s great American female author too, like…
Boss: I know! I know! But nobody reads them! You Americans are so stupid!
Me: Well… Yeah.”

- Real conversation at work

classwarkitteh: It’ll be ok when we make it ok. Luckily, we do...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:20:51 -0400

classwarkitteh:

It’ll be ok when we make it ok. Luckily, we do that by acting collectively, not alone. And while we organize, at least there are ponies in sweaters.

Maybe it's a sex work thing?

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:40:41 -0400

Friend: How many drinks would it take to sleep with the waiter? (part of an ongoing game...)
Me: I dunno, probably only 2
Friend: Really??
Me: Yeah, he seems like he'd be super eager to please and I could get exactly what I wanted out of him... and that'd be fun... you know... for me... and then he'd leave proud, feeling like The Man for getting me off even though I was running the show
Friend: Wait... you can talk with someone for a few minutes and totally analyze what they'd be like in bed? You can just read what they want like that?
Me: It's not an exact science, it's only like 70% accurate... isn't that just how everyone interprets everyday interactions??

astrostatic: Triceratops on a bike

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:20:45 -0400

astrostatic:

Triceratops on a bike

Photo

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:41:44 -0400

Photo

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:20:30 -0400

Photo

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:40:41 -0400

redupnyc: The San Francisco District Attorney’s office has...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:20:40 -0400

redupnyc:

The San Francisco District Attorney’s office has announced that “we will no longer introduce physical evidence of condoms in our criminal prostitution cases.”

girljanitor: lleviticusthegay: 44

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:41:39 -0400

girljanitor:

lleviticusthegay:

44

fatgirlopinions: anarcho-queer: How To Be A ‘Reverse-Racist’:...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:20:33 -0400

fatgirlopinions:

anarcho-queer:

How To Be A ‘Reverse-Racist’: An Actual Step by Step List For Oppressing White People

by A.D Song and Mia McKenzie

White people who are confronted with their white privilege and the white supremacist acts they perpetuate have been known to cry, “You’re being a reverse-racist!” That is completely true: people of color have the power and control to create, perpetuate, and maintain brutal systematic reverse-racism that oppresses white people every day. As such, we have created this handy list on how to continue this oppression.

1. Enslave their bodies.

Ship them from Germany, Sweden, and other exotic countries. Force them to build entire cities, roads, bridges. Force them to plant and harvest all the food everyone eats. Let an entire economic system be built on their backs, with their blood and sweat. Later, deny them access to the system they have been used to build, and accuse them of being extremely lazy.

2. Steal their land.

If they were here before you, steal their land. This is essential. Basically, just go in there and take it. If you have to kill some of them to get it…no worries. If you have to kill almost all of them to get it…shit, no worries. After you steal their land, make sure you create laws to keep them from ever returning to it. If they try to return anyway, build fences, and let bands of POC vigilantes patrol the borders with guns. If they somehow get past the borders and into your country, no worries, you can always just deport them.

3. Enslave their minds.

From these systems, build a long lasting institution of reverse-racism until all the violence and microaggressions make many white people into suspicious people with a lot of internalized self-hatred, health problems, and mental illnesses. Then deny them access to adequate mental health care. Or, adequate health care of any kind, while you’re at it. ‘Cause, you know, fuck ‘em.

4. Wipe out and/or appropriate their customs.

Since many of their customs are savage and unworthy of preserving, wipe out their traditions of eating mashed potatoes and meatloaf, playing miniature golf, buying khakis at Banana Republic, and sleeping with thousand-count Egyptian cotton sheets. For the customs you think are kinda cool, culturally appropriate from them. Sometimes wear a beret and lederhosen, because Swedish culture is really exotic even though it’s inferior to ours.

5. Break their espresso machines.

With baseball bats or large hammers. Or, you know, just unplug them all.

6. Call them “honky”.

As people of color, we have been rightfully accused of being racist to white people, especially when we call them “honky”. As we all know, calling them “honky” is egregiously offensive and horribly shocking because of this long, violent, reverse-racist history.

7. Just keep being terrible to them.

Do everything you can think of to make it so that white people make less money; their children are shot by cops; white women are at higher risk for assault and they are exotified until they no longer seem human; white men are beaten and thrown into jails because they look “suspicious” and “threatening”; they are racially profiled everywhere they go.

8. Make sure most representations of them in the media are negative.

They should almost always be portrayed as pasty, stringy-haired, rhythm-less, sexless, uptight, and booooring. Also, there should be very few representations of them and when they’re portrayed at all, they should always only be the comic relief, the silent exotic sex object, the Debbie Downer, or the incompetent sidekick. They are only allowed to be easily forgettable, one-dimensional characters. Sometimes use POC actors in white-face to portray these white people. By presenting this ONE image of them all the time, you will be able to convince the rest of the population that all white people are like this, thus ensuring a widespread belief in their inferiority.

9. Keep telling them how beautiful they are not.

White people know they will never be beautiful with their boring sour cream complexions and blonde hair (that was actually caused because of mutations). Plaster people of color on every magazine, show them in every television show and movie, and praise them as the most beautiful. When white people cry at these injustices, bottle their tears and sell them as health creams for people of color. Nothing like a soothing lotion made from the pain of white folks!

10. Go bananas!

Force them underground and away from the sun to become even whiter, while you laugh manically like the cruel, bloodthirsty, oppressive person of color you are! Take their thousand-count Egyptian cotton sheets to make POC-supremacist flags and hoods and march through the streets, spreading fear and terror. Every time a white person thinks your behavior is unfair or wrong, tell them that they should stop being so sensitive! We live in a post-reverse-racial society now! Jeez.

I hope this is appropriate for me to reblog because it’s greatness.

Photo

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:40:35 -0400