Source

SER-EE-OUSLY!

I honestly don’t understand why there aren’t more people who, when given the platform to discuss minimum wage, don’t simply distill it to the simplest of facts:

A forty hour work week is considered full time.

It’s considered as such because it takes up the amount of time we as a society have agreed should be considered the maximum work schedule required of an employee. (this, of course, does not always bear out practically, but just follow me here)

A person working the maximum amount of time required should earn enough for that labor to be able to survive. Phrased this way, I doubt even most conservatives could effectively argue against it, and out of the mouth of someone verbally deft enough to dance around the pathos-based jabs conservative pundits like to use to avoid actually debating, it could actually get opps thinking.

Therefore, if an employee is being paid less than [number of dollars needed for the post-tax total to pay for the basic necessities in a given area divided by forty] per hour, they are being ripped off and essentially having their labor, productivity, and profit generation value stolen by their employer.

Wages are a business expense, and if a company cannot afford to pay for its labor, it is by definition a failing business. A company stealing labor to stay afloat (without even touching those that do so simply to increase profit margins and/or management/executive pay/bonuses) is no more ethical than a failing construction company breaking into a lumber yard and stealing wood.

Our goal as a society should be to protect each other, especially those that most need protection, not to subsidize failing businesses whose owners could quite well subsidize them on their own.

Me and my siblings once crawled up to the edge of this with my mother holding on our ankles.  It was quite something.

cliffs of moher // county clare // ireland october 2014 x

Truth. 

I wonder if it is because they don’t have the holes in them yet...

Kerry Washington gives a perfect three part course on how to handle yourself when you are called out for making an offensive statement:

1) Don’t push back 2) Apologize sincerely and quickly 3) Learn from the feedback

It’s that simple people.

stop. whitewashing. history.  stop man, male, masculine washing too. 

if that’s isn’t a thing it is now 

Meet the Women of Stonewall

Since the trailer of the atrocious Stonewall movie was released, people are rightfully upset that it white-washes and erases the trans women and lesbian who started the Stonewall Riots. Posts are going around reminding us of these women, but usually only mentioned one or two, which I find a little a-historical. We should know who all these women are as they each played a significant role in what happened in June of 1969.

Stormé DeLarverie (December 24, 1920 – May 24, 2014)

Stormé was a biracial butch lesbian, drag king and considered the “Rosa Parks of the Gay Community”. When the police raided the Stonewall Inn, she was one of the women arrested and clubbed on the head by the police. She is credited with yelling  “Why don’t you guys do something?” which sparked the bystanders into action. (x) In her own words:

”[The officer] then yelled, ‘I said, move along, faggot.’ I think he thought I was a boy. When I refused, he raised his nightstick and clubbed me in the face.” It was then that the crowd surged and started attacking the police with whatever they could find, she said.

I asked my last question hesitantly. “Have you heard of the Stonewall Lesbian? The woman who was clubbed outside the bar but was never identified?” DeLarverie nodded, rubbing her chin in the place where she received 14 stitches after the beating. “Yes,” she said quietly. “They were talking about me.”

And then, almost as an afterthought, I asked, “Why did you never come forward to take credit for what you did?”

She thought for a couple of seconds before she answered, “Because it was never anybody’s business.” Stormé DeLarverie(source)

Marsha P. Johnson (June 27, 1944 – July 6, 1992)

Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson was a black trans woman, drag queen and LGBT activist. She, along with Sylvia Rivera, co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and is credited as being the first to fight back at Stonewall Inn. (x) Happy Birthday, Marsha! is a film project in the works to honor life, please consider donating. 

“This was started by the street queens of that era, which I was part of, Marsha P. Johnson, and many others that are not here" Sylvia Rivera (Source)

Sylvia Rae Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002)

Sylvia was a Latina trans woman, drag queen and LGBT activist. As mentioned above she co-founded STAR with Marsha P Johnson, as well as a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. She is also credited with being one of the first women to throw a bottle at the police. 

“You’ve been treating us like shit all these years? Uh-uh. Now it’s our turn!… It was one of the greatest moments in my life. “ Sylvia Rivera (Source)

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (October 1940)

Also known as Miss Major, is a black trans woman and community leader for transgender rights with a focus on women of color. Miss Major was a leader in the riots who was struck by police and arrested. While in custody an officer broke her jaw. (x) A documentary called Major! is in the works to portray Miss Major’s role in the transgender activist community. (x) (I hope people watch this instead of Stonewall). 

Many more people were involved in the riots, but one thing is clear, it was not started by cis white men, it was by these 4 women of color. Don’t let men take away our history. 

Where is that sequel...

What girls say: I’m fine

What girls mean: but in the 2001 American comedy hit film Legally Blonde, when Enrique (Greg Serano) lies and says that he and Brooke Taylor-Windham have been having an affair, he’s committing perjury in open court which is and of itself a felony with a punishment of up to five years is prison. Why is he doing this? What’s the motivation behind this crime? Is he in a conspiracy with Chutney to take down Brooke? Will this man and his sequin vest ever face justice?

--

I literally thought about this the other day... is anyone going to follow up on this guy - dude LIED UNDER OATH - where is THAT sequel.

Things that cannot screen for breast cancer and things that can.

And for those who are yelling about PP not doing mammograms, “screenings” are not just mammograms.  "Screenings" are also breast exams, which are the first line of defense. Those breast exams are done every time a woman has a pelvic exam, which she needs in order to get birth control or STI testing. Get it together. Semantics do not change the facts. 

For more information on supporting REAL pro-women organizations, check out this great article by Kaili Joy Gray.  

#Wisdom #Quote: When you have more than you need build a bigger table - not a higher fence.

- Pooja, Om Holistic Wellbeing

www.omholisticwellbeing.com

*sips tea*