wondering&wandering

comforting indeed… nedhepburn: ZING.

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:03:51 -0700

comforting indeed…

nedhepburn:

ZING.

inspiring. fuckyeahhardfemme: tw: sexual and physical...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:18:41 -0700

inspiring.

fuckyeahhardfemme:

tw: sexual and physical abuse

oppressedbrowngirlsdoingthings:

badasswomen:

Meet Aparna Bhola, India’s teen sex educator

“There’s nothing to giggle or be shy about; there’s no shame in it. It’s important for us to learn about these things. Be totally bindaas (carefree) and ask me questions,” says Aparna Bhola, with a wide smile.

It’s a hot Sunday afternoon, but the stifling Mumbai summer air does nothing to curb the enthusiasm of the girls surrounding her. Aparna, a spunky 16-year-old, is in the midst of giving a group of her peers a candid sex-education class, and today’s topic is pregnancy. She leads the class confidently, dispelling superstitions with funny stories and apologizing disarmingly for her chalk drawing skills.

Aparna is member of a nongovernmental organization called Kranti, meaning “revolution,” which strives to give young women rescued from prostitution access to education and new opportunities. She was teaching the class as part of a partnership with an organization called Project Crayons, which runs a shelter for girls in Mumbai’s Malad neighborhood.

The daughter of a sex worker, Aparna grew up in Kolkata. Her mother, Malti, was married when she was 9 and was beaten by her husband. When she ran away and returned to her hometown in the Sundarbans, her aunt took her to Kolkata under the pretense of sending her to school. There, Malti was sold into sex work for 10,000 rupees ($180 at current exchange rates) when she was 12 years old. When she initially refused to be a prostitute, the brothel owner stuffed chili powder in her genitals to force her into submission, says Aparna.

Growing up in red-light districts, Aparna says she was distressed by the way doctors routinely mistreated sex workers because of the stigma against their profession. Her mother, diagnosed with uterine cysts, was unable to get treatment for them because of the bias against sex workers. Aparna remembers a niece being refused treatment by a doctor who said he didn’t want to bother with such poor people.

When sex workers like Aparna’s mother would become pregnant, the “doctors would treat them so badly,” Aparna recalls. “They would yell at them, and even slap them sometimes. They would say things like ‘You go and pick up anyone’s child and come to me with your stomach swollen. When you were doing it, you enjoyed yourself and now what happened?’ ”

These encounters made Aparna want to become a gynecologist. Even when she was younger, she would share with her friends and peers whatever sexual health-related information she could find.

“I want to work with gynecology to cater to sex workers because I know the issues they faced,” says Aparna, her face set in a determined expression. “If I became a doctor, I could give whatever information the mothers need when they are pregnant. There would be someone to talk to them nicely when they are in pain.”

In the time that she has spent at Kranti, Aparna has stopped drinking, improved her English, gained confidence and branched out into a number of extracurricular activities. She just completed grade 11, and is working toward her dream of becoming a gynecologist. This year she will enter the 12^th grade and is planning to take the entrance examinations for medical school.

She also represented Maharashtra state in the Youth Parliament, an advisory group to the state government, where participants recently discussed whether sex education should be introduced in Indian schools.

“I used to think that my whole world is within the four walls of my room, of the house,” says Aparna. “Now I see that there is a big, big world beyond that where many things are possible for me.”

“What I really want is that girls become powerful and aren’t scared of anyone,” says Aparna. “They should think in their minds that ‘I will go ahead and progress and no one can hold me back.”

Now THAT’S a fierce woman.

"How we need another soul to cling to."

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:00:13 -0700

“How we need another soul to cling to.”

- Sylvia Plath (via pavorst)

playing all morning and, i imagine, for the rest of the day as...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:45:24 -0700

playing all morning and, i imagine, for the rest of the day as well.

nprfreshair:

Music for Your Summer: NPR Music put all the Songs of the Summers of the past 50 years in one playlist. Enjoy!

"Am I arguing that girls and women shouldn’t be held responsible for their behaviour? Not at all. If..."

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:03:03 -0700

“Am I arguing that girls and women shouldn’t be held responsible for their behaviour? Not at all. If a woman drinks to excess, then falls over in the street, loses her wallet and vomits all over her shirt, she has only herself to blame. But rape is not a consequence of getting drunk. It’s a consequence of a man deciding to rape someone.”

- YES. every time, yes.

Emily Maguire, Princesses & Pornstars: Sex, Power, Identity. (via starsgowaltzing)

(via sonofbaldwin)

love this band so much. their performances were definitely a...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:34:45 -0700

love this band so much. their performances were definitely a highlight of my sasquatch weekend.

nprmusic:

Being from Iceland, the members of Of Monsters And Men are no strangers to natural beauty, but the indie-folk group was nevertheless stunned by the picturesque backdrop of the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington as they performed “Mountain Sound.”

“We sleep until the sun goes down,” they sang repeatedly while the sun instead broke through the clouds as if called out by the song’s radiant optimism.

Watch now.

barackobama: If you think that sucks, here’s where to say so.

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:53:04 -0700

barackobama:

If you think that sucks, here’s where to say so.

anthropologie: An aerial view of Dutch tulip fields. Nature...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:02:40 -0700

anthropologie:

An aerial view of Dutch tulip fields. Nature makes modern art!

Via: Iran Proud

Photo

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:51:21 -0700

yes. so much yes. stfuconservatives: All day every day.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:46:17 -0800

yes. so much yes.

stfuconservatives:

All day every day.

kateoplis: 24-year-old Shamsia Hassani w/one of her creations,...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 10:32:55 -0800

kateoplis:

24-year-old Shamsia Hassani w/one of her creations, Kabul. Photo: Omar Sobhani/Reuters

Inside the blackened ruin of Kabul’s cultural centre, a spray-painting of a woman in a burqa sits at the foot of a staircase to nowhere, beside a line of poetry mourning everything that has been lost to Afghanistan in three decades of violence. […]

An associate professor of sculpture at Kabul University, she draws, paints in oil, and is a founding member of a contemporary art collective, Rosht, or “growth”. She was introduced to graffiti when a British artist, Chu, flew out in late 2010 to hold a week-long course in street art. She has embraced the discipline. Spray cans and stencils have more impact than traditional art, she says, because the latter is a luxury.

my hometown. chattanooga has made huge efforts to position...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:29:10 -0800

my hometown. chattanooga has made huge efforts to position itself as a creative, cutting edge city. this continue this effort.

via good

Can a Font Help a City Make a Comeback?

Designers in Chattanooga, Tennessee have distilled the city’s burgeoning creative spirit into a typeface called Chatype. The goal is to help the city and its businesses forge a distinct and cohesive identity through custom typeface, sending a visual message to the world that Chattanooga—a rapidly growing city in the midst of a creative renaissance—is “more than just your average Southern town.”

“If you think of a brand as a story, [Chattanooga] has an amazing story,” Trischler says. “If you look at the visual brand, it doesn’t back up that story.” Perhaps the sleek new font can help tell that story a little better.

Read about it on GOOD→

love this. via dustinabel

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:53:58 -0800

love this.

via dustinabel

"You know I was married for 23 years to the love of my life, and he died six years ago. And I think..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:08:22 -0800

“

You know I was married for 23 years to the love of my life, and he died six years ago. And I think of all the years we had, and the wonderful fringe benefit of having three beautiful children. I don’t miss the sex, you know? And to me that’s kind of what this boils down to. I don’t miss that. I mean, I certainly miss it, but I don’t, it’s not — (Laughter from chambers) — it is certainly not the aspect of that relationship, the incredible bond that I had with that human being, that I really, really, genuinely wish I still had.

And so I think to myself, how can I deny anyone the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life? To me, it seems almost cruel.

You know, years ago, my daughter went to, she was in elementary school. Many of you have met my daughter. She’s a fabulous girl. She’s wonderful. My boys are great too, but my daughter is just something special, and she was the light of her father’s eyes. And she went to school and there were some kids that were, a whole group of kids that were picking on another kid. And you know, my daughter stood up for that kid, even though it was not the popular thing to do. She knew it was the right thing to do. And I was never more proud of my kid, knowing that she was speaking against the vocal majority on behalf of the rights of the minority.

And to me, it is incumbent upon us as legislators in this state to do that. That is why we are here, and I shudder to think that if folks who had proceeded us in history did not do that, frankly I’m not sure I would be here as a woman. I’m not sure that others would be here due to their race, or their creed. And to me, that is what’s disconcerting.

And someone made the comment that this is not about equality. Well yes it is about equality. And why in the world would we not allow those equal rights for individuals who truly were committed to on another in life to be able to show that by way of a marriage?

You know, my daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago. And you know what? I thought I was going to just agonize about that.

Nothing’s different. She’s still a fabulous human being, and she’s met a person that she loves very much. And someday, by God, I wanna throw a wedding for that kid. And I hope that’s exactly what I can do. I hope she will not feel like a second-class citizen involved in something called a ‘domestic partnership’ — which frankly sounds like a Merry Maids franchise to me.

”

- cue the tears. thank you maureen walsh.

Washington State Representative MAUREEN WALSH, Republican, on why she voted to legalize marriage equality in her state.

(via stfuconservatives)

really powerful. gave me chills. jessicavalenti: Ten Responses...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:35:54 -0800

really powerful. gave me chills.

jessicavalenti:

Ten Responses to the Phrase “Man Up” from an amazing slam poet.

kateoplis: “I feel that it’s necessary for me to request that my nomination for...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:09:26 -0800

kateoplis: “I feel that it’s necessary for me to request that my nomination for...:

love it.

kateoplis:

“I feel that it’s necessary for me to request that my nomination for best male artist be withdrawn and furthermore any awards or nominations for such awards that may arise in later years be presented to those who feel more comfortable with the competitive nature of these award ceremonies. I…

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:49:00 -0800

“For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.”

- great reminder. perspective.

Andy Rooney (via outcamethesun: georgiegirlnyc)

"There’s the life you live and the life you leave behind. But what you share with someone else -..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:48:19 -0800

““There’s the life you live and the life you leave behind. But what you share with someone else - especially someone you love - that’s not just how you bury your past. It’s how you write your future.””

- Brad Meltzer, The Book of Lies (via ventriloquistic)

"Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:33:17 -0800

“Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.”

- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals • On today’s 2-1 panel ruling, which overturned California’s gay marriage ban on constitutional grounds. This is a validation of a previous ruling against Proposition 8 back in August 2010, made by now retired Judge Vaughn Walker. ProtectMarriage, the group that backed Proposition 8, still has legal recourse, however; they can seek the ruling of a larger 9th Circuit panel, or try to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The likely “swing vote” in that case is thought to be Justice Kennedy, who could therefore occupy the unusual position of holding millions of people’s future marriages and families in his hands. source (via • follow)

stfuconservatives: Always reblog…

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:42:08 -0800

stfuconservatives:

Always reblog…