The Moral Undergound

pantslessprogressive: “Today, I’m announcing my support for a...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:44:21 -0500

“Today, I’m announcing my support for a law that gives same-sex couples in our state the right to receive a marriage license in Washington - the same right given our heterosexual couples. It is time, it is the right thing to do, and I will introduce the bill to make it happen.” - Washington Governor Chris Gregoire.

Gregorie says she will propose legislation to legalize same-sex marriage when the legislative session begins Monday.

Dear Customer who stuck up for his little brother,

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:53:36 -0500

dobbaaa:

stayceerantsandraves:

stfuconservatives:

purdoom:

socialistscum:

sweetupndown:

you thought I didn’t really notice. But I did. I wanted to high-five you.

Yesterday I had a pair of brothers in my store. One was maybe between 15-17. He was a wrestler at the local high school. Kind of tall, stocky and handsome. He had a younger brother, who was maybe about 10-12 years old. Thy were talking about finding a game for the younger one, and he was absolutely insisting it be one with a female charcter. I don’t know how many of y’all play games, but that isn’t exactly easy. Eventually, I helped the brothers pick a game called Mirror’s Edge. The youngest was pretty excited about the game, and then he specifically asked me.. “Do you have any girl color controllers?”

I directed him to the only colored controllers we have which includes pink and purple ones. He grabbed the purple one, and informed me purple was his FAVORITE.

The boys had been taking awhile, so their father eventually comes in. He see’s the game, and the controller, and starts in on the youngest about how he needs to pick something different. Something more manly. Something with guns and fighting, and certainly not a purple controller. He tries to convince him to get the new Zombie game “Dead Island.” and the little boy just stands their repeating “Dad, this is what I want, ok?” Eventually it turns into a full blown argument complete with Dad threatening to whoop his son if he doesn’t choose different items.

That’s when big brother stepped in. He said to his Dad “It’s my money, it’s my gift to him, if it’s what he wants I’m getting it for him, and if your gonna hit anyone for it, it’s going to be me.”

Dad just gives his oldest son a strong stern stare down, and then leaves the store. Little brother is crying quietly, I walk over and ruffle his hair (yes this happened all in front of me.) I say “I’m a girl, and I like the color blue, and I like shooting games. There’s nothing wrong with what you like. Even if it’s different that what people think you should.”

Big brother then leans down, kisses little brother on the head, and says “Don’t worry dude.”

They check out and leave, and all I can think is how awesome big brother is, how sweet little brother is, and how Dad ought to be ashamed for trying to make his son any other way.

Rad.

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wow. I definitely teared up.

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Again: why feminism still matters, to everyone.

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This makes my heart smile.

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This reminds me of my youngest brother.

He likes purple and sparkly things and looking “beautiful.”

And if anybody thinks they can change that, I will crush them.

tkriii

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:42:16 -0500

tkriii

latikaaaa: thelanguageofghosts: kigale, rwanda: july 22,...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:52:44 -0500

latikaaaa:

thelanguageofghosts:

kigale, rwanda: july 22, 2007

some days i wake up and remember that the world is a very ugly place.

singing to a crying child who took a machete to the head, holding a man with aids until he died, and a young girl named joy asking me to be her mother because she was orphaned by the genocide. this is one just one trip. one trip of over two dozen i have taken in the past 14 years. sometimes the memories come flooding back and my heart feels so heavy that i can’t stand so i sit on the floor and i wait until i either fall asleep or come to terms with the fact that this is my life and i will continue to expose myself to the ugliest parts of the world, because that is where love is most needed.

Tali (latikaaaa) has a beautiful heart and soul and is a person who you should follow. Her calling is to show compassion to a hurting world.

Primatologist Jane Goodall on gender roles...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:46:40 -0500

mohandasgandhi:

therecipe:

“I think if I had been male, I wouldn’t have been pushing these anthropomorphic ideas. I was told I shouldn’t have given the chimps names, that it is more scientific to number them, and that you shouldn’t talk about their personalities, their minds, or their feelings because those are attributes of our own species. Fortunately, I was able to think back to the wonderful teacher I had as a child who taught me that animals do have personalities, minds, and feelings, and that was my dog Rusty. I had the courage of my convictions, and learned how to write in such a way as not to be open to intense criticism from my peers. In fact, I think my gender helped me. When I began, feminism wasn’t really a concept. Going out into the field as a woman, there wasn’t that urgency most young men felt back then to be the breadwinner. I wasn’t interested in academia. I didn’t want tenure in a university. I wanted to get my PhD because that was the only way I’d get my own [research] money. In Africa, it was a benefit to be a woman because, in 1961, with their newly acquired independence, the Tanzanians were not very at ease with white males, because white males had lorded over them in the colonies. But they didn’t perceive me as a [threat]. When I first wanted to go to Africa, everybody laughed at me: We didn’t have any money, World War II was raging and Africa was “the Dark Continent,” but most importantly I was a girl. “Jane, get real: Girls don’t do this kind of thing, living with animals in the forest.” But my mother was a very strong woman, and she used to say, “If you really want something and you work hard, take advantage of opportunity and never give up, you will find a way.” That’s the message I’ve taken to children, particularly girls, all around the world.”

Jane Goodall - GreenGlobalTravel interview.

Jane Goodall has been one of my long-time heroes for several reasons, this being one of them.

"You need to accept that there’s no shame in being who you are and that the only shame is thinking..."

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:17:50 -0500

“You need to accept that there’s no shame in being who you are and that the only shame is thinking that the gift that God gave you and the person that you were created to be is not good enough to show to the rest of the world. That’s where shame comes.”

- Mike Manning on coming out

Love Makes a Family (video)

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:48:09 -0500

Love Makes a Family (video):

Many of you are probably aware of a young man named Zach Wahls who spoke before the Iowa legislature earlier this February. Within a few days the video became viral, and about a month ago MoveOn.org picked it up and it became viral once again. If you haven’t seen, I highly recommend it.

The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.

This kid really is a hero! After that testimony, he is now in the process of writing a book entitled My Two Moms. Here’s more about what Zach along with MoveOn.org are doing:

YouTube said on Monday that more people watched me speak about my two moms than any other political video this year. More than 18 million people in total!¹

Testifying before Iowa’s state legislature was the best way I knew to fight back against attempts to codify discrimination into our state constitution and protect my moms’ marriage. But I never imagined that my speech would touch a chord with so many people.

Frankly, I’ve been overwhelmed and humbled. And most importantly, I’ve been inspired that so many strangers care about protecting my family and families like mine. So to spread that inspiration this holiday season, MoveOn members have joined me in creating a new online project: Love Makes a Family. Hundreds of families of all stripes have sent in Love Makes a Family holiday photos and we’ve put together a great video featuring them.

I’m strong enough to admit that I choked up a little watching it.

One of the things that I have learned along this amazing journey is how simple acts like sharing a video have a huge effect on people. I’ve gotten so many emails from people who saw my speech and were moved so much by it that they changed their perspective on marriage equality. Simply put, love opened their hearts.

It’s why I am so excited about this Love Makes a Family video. We can touch people’s hearts and change the conversation about equality for all families with something as easy as hitting share on Facebook. Can you help me change a few more hearts by sharing the video right now?

"The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their..."

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:31:32 -0500

“The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach. We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer. We need the courage of the young. Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you.”

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Oglethorpe University Commencement Address, 1932. (via pantslessprogressive)

The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:18:32 -0500

The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy:

Between 2001 and 2008, I spoke with hundreds of lower- and middle-income people about the economy, work, schools, health care, and what they saw happening around them. When this research began, I was focusing on parents in low-wage families, documenting their accounts of working, being poor, and trying to keep children safe. But that changed when I spoke with Jonathan, a middle-aged “top manager” in a chain of grocery stores in the Midwest. I was asking him about the stresses of running a business that employed lots of low-wage parents. He acknowledged there were plenty. I was getting toward the end of the interview and he seemed to sense that, so he stopped me and asked, “Don’t you want to know what this is doing to me, too?”