Quite right.
And we might even discover that FTL travel really can happen.
(Source: thepocketuniverse.com, via brain-food)
Bravo, Apple. Thanks for making this. It Gets Better.
Applause.
Important and lovely. This made me cry a little bit.
This was a brilliant video.
And YouTube took it down due to its “policy on depiction of harmful activities”.
*golf clap*
Edit: YouTube put it back. Well done.
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Inner City 4th Graders Share their Stories
Two years ago, Judy Gelles was volunteering at an inner city public school and was assigned to a fourth-grade class. The school was as diverse as they come with children from African American, Hispanic and Asian immigrants. After several months of helping the students with their reading skills, she felt the need to connect with them on a deeper level. Mostly, she wanted to find out their stories.
She asked each student the following three questions:
Whom do they live with?
What do they wish for?
What do they worry about?
The project turned out to be an eye-opening experience. “Their stories seemed to capture the gamut of societal issues that we face today; violence, immigration, the demise of the nuclear family, global hunger, and the impact of the media and popular culture,” she tells us. “The gray fortress door of the school became a blank slate for their words. Since the student is not be facing the camera, he or she remains anonymous. The words and images become more universal, rather than specific to that particular student.”
People keep saying that kids have it easy, that things were simpler when they were young. It might have been like that once, but probably not so much any more.
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Will there be a world tour?
Parents of adolescents everywhere rejoice. Wonder which Disney star will headline the tour…
I think the better question is, which Disney star isn’t going to give it up before the tour ends, or end up in a scandal about some sex bracelets, a damp cat-suit, mobile sex pics, etc.
(Source: msnbc)
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In the longest-running study of lesbian families to date, zero percent of children — not one! — reported physical or sexual abuse. Given that in the general population 26 percent of children report physical abuse and 8.3 percent report sexual abuse, it seems that if we don’t want abused kids, the answer is obvious.
This news is just the latest in a long line of research showing that children of gay parents are happy and well-adjusted. Research published in 2010 in the Journal of Marriage and Family, for example — a five-year review of 81 parenting studies — found that children raised by same-sex parents are ‘statistically indistinguishable’ from those raised by heterosexuals in areas including self-esteem, academics and social adjustment.
"— Jessica Valenti in “The kids are all right,” her debut column for The Daily. (via thedailyfeed)
(Source: bit.ly, via thedailyfeed)
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Just heard about this group from Lateline. The Listening Well Club or kiki jōzu kurabu [聞き上手クラブ] in Japan. The article describes it as a line for lonely people to call in and talk to someone, but I don’t think it’s meant to just be for the lonely.
In a place where open expressions of emotion or opinions can be construed as crass or impolite, it makes sense that a service where people are invited to vent and say what they think or feel to a complete stranger would be a beneficial service (albeit a commercial one).
I suppose it’s a notch down from Lifeline here in Australia. While the Listening Well Club isn’t a suicide prevention line, it does seem to catch that area of emotion that could build up to stress and depression, so I guess it could be considered preventative prevention?
Either way, such a wonderful idea to fill a niche market.
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Cell phone site for women tells you about menstruation, contraceptives - TOKYOMANGO
It’s marketed as a specialty web site where women can ask questions about contraceptives, menstruation, and diet without embarrassment.
If you look at the stats for teen pregnancy an abortion in Japan, it’s kind of crazy that the idea of a place where women can talk anonymously about ‘wimmin issues’ has taken this long to pop up. I’ve also been told that stuff like sex education is somewhat lacking or incomplete in Japan.
But then it’s a bit difficult for me to imagine a school in a modern society not being inflicted with those educational videos like “Where did I come from?” and “What’s happening to me?”.
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(via @mmalone26, @kailoi)
In the US, if you’ve worked in the sex industry in any capacity, you could be screwed (in more ways than one) for life.
Louisville, Kentucky has just introduced new guidelines for strip clubs where all strip club employees, including performers, will be required to buy yearly licenses. Just recently, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg requested that a teacher be let go because she worked as prostitute for four months while at graduate school, presumably because of the implications to her moral fibre and position as a role model.
I’ve heard of people, both men and women, ‘working’ their way through uni/college to pay their tuition/living costs whether as prostitutes, dancers or otherwise[1]. And not just in countries where the government doesn’t subsidise tertiary education as fully as Australia (presumably the UK and US?) . Certainly you can argue that they could have taken other part time jobs as many others in their position have done. But should it really make a difference to their future job prospects if they’re qualified and generally ‘decent’ people, who don’t make it part of their schtick to promote sex work to their peers or those under their care (or corrupting them in other ways)?
There are definitely other people who have never worked in the sex industry whose moral fibre is questionable and who probably shouldn’t be in the work they are actually in. Teachers and religious leaders who abuse students, doctors who take advantage of patients. Not to mention some of the patrons who pay the wages of the sex workers. If they’re found out it causes a scandal and they’re arrested or made a pariah or whatever the justice system sees fit to do to them. But if we’re talking moral fibre, what about the generally promiscuous who do it for free? The teachers and other ‘role models’ who jump everything that moves, or who frequent the establishments in question? They don’t have to be registered. Are they any better or worse than those who do it to pay the bills?
If you’re going to brand and label the people who work in the industry, it only makes sense that you do it the other way as well. Why shouldn’t Louisville require patrons to have their IDs scanned upon entry of a strip club facility to be entered into a database as a registered user of services if they require the workers to do it too.
And what an easy way to gather information about the moral fibre of your county or burrough! Think of all the details you can gather of people who attend bucks and hens nights, businessmen and politicians who entertain clients and themselves as part of their dealings. Underage kids looking for a risqué evening. To paraphrase Michael Bloomberg “We’re just not going to have these people in society.”
And where do you draw the line? Do you brand those who supply inventory or other services to these businesses for aiding and abetting the corruption of the community as well? Drink and food vendors, receptionists, janitorial services, utilities, the local council who approved the use of the venue for adult entertainment purposes, the organisation that allowed them to register as a business, the government for receiving taxes from the business or worker? Okay, that’s getting a little extreme but really, where are you going to draw the line?
[1] There are others who will work in the industry for other reasons such as because they want to, and various other circumstances. But due to the context of the article referring to transients in the industry, that’s what I’ll be referring to.
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