My Brothers Share Special Interests And My Favorite Thing To Do Is Walk In A Room And Be Like "hey Guys

How “Solitary Gardens” Help Envision a World Without Prisons

Volunteers team up with people currently held in solitary confinement to build empathy, compassion, and advocacy for a world without prisons.

In a small patch of green space on Andry Street in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward, nine garden beds lie next to one another, each 6 feet by 9 feet, each the size of one standard solitary-confinement cell. Each garden bed grows a mix of herbs and flowers, among them pansies, stinging nettles, onions, mugwort. They are a mix of plants with medicinal properties and some that just bring pleasure to the eyes, and their growth is limited to the parts of the tiny space where a person would be free to move in a solitary cell, with space blocked off for where the furniture—nothing more than a bed and a toilet—would be. The plants in each garden are chosen by someone in solitary confinement and planted by a volunteer gardener on the outside.

The result is both symbolic and produces plants with tangible uses, says jackie sumell (who does not capitalize her name), who conceived the project; plants with healing properties will be redistributed to people who need them through what sumell calls a “prisoner’s apothecary.” The solitary beds are eventually overrun with plant life, a visual representation of a world without prisons, an idea that forms the project’s core mission.

Typically, a volunteer gardener on the outside will send a list of plants to an incarcerated gardener. The list provides plenty of options but is limited to what will thrive in the climate and season. They collaborate on a gardening plan and a calendar, often with a small floor plan filled in by the incarcerated gardener laying out the positioning of plants.

Ancient lock mechanism

If you aren’t totally quaking in your boots at the news of millions of bees dead, yet again, you’re nuts.

I'll believe that governments want to "empower disabled people to achieve employment" when they actually:

Legislate broader work-from-home abilities for jobs that don't actually require in-office presence

Strengthen employment discrimination laws so employers stop thinking that the easiest way to get around having to accommodate a disabled employee is just to fire them

Actually create systems where they, the government, monitor and enforce accessible environments and building codes. The onus shouldn't be on us to get the money to hire a lawyer and sue our own workplaces to get our basic access needs met.

Include disabled people in minimum wage legislation, instead of leaving legal carve-outs where "substandard workers" can be paid subminimum wage.

Allow disabled people to keep savings accounts of our own, which we don't need anybody else's approval to create or spend

Let us form supportive households, relationships, and marriages without taking away our benefits (especially because this means we have no money of our own if we want to leave those relationships)

Until then, nuh-uh. Fuck off. You're not "empowering" us. You're just pushing us further out onto a perilous ledge because you think you can use inspirational supercrip narratives to force us to perform or die.

This is from the 2019 Denver Pow Wow that my dad walked in. I was lucky enough to be one of the photographers on the floor for the event. ❤

I need help feeding my family

I'm 22, non-binary, and disabled. I am currently 3 months behind on rent, behind on my utilities, and only have enough food left for one more day. There are 3 adults and 3 dogs in my house. We have food stamps, but got our first two months at the same time and don't get any more until the 18th of June. My partner and I do tattoos and piercings, but business is slow rn and we are really struggling. If you are able to help at all it would be greatly appreciated, and if you are not comfortable sending money but want to help we would really appreciate an instacart or some other grocery delivery, I'm really most worried about having food. If you do want to send money, my cash app is $enbymickie . Whether you are able to help or not, please share!! Thank you 💜 feel free to message me if you have any questions

For anyone looking for free zines on Black resistance, policing and activism, Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin, Texas, United States has a huge online collection for you to explore.

The vegan to ecofascist pipeline

02/14/2025