Dreamed I Was Swimming With Fish, Then I Jumped Out Of The Water And Flew With The Birds, Then I Fell
Dreamed I was swimming with fish, then I jumped out of the water and flew with the birds, then I fell and turned into a rock, then I grew into a tree.
More Posts from Willowyandcerebral and Others
just learned that magnolias are so old that they’re pollinated by beetles because they existed before bees
"Seeing you even briefly would be reassuring."
"Reassuring of what, my long lost from another lifetime?"
anyone who told you much ado about nothing is good and worth watching was RIGHT and you should listen to them
This is a resource post for all the Good White Person™s out there. You know, the ones who say things like “It’s not my fault I’m white! Don’t generalize white people!”, or “I’m appreciating your culture! You should be proud!”, or “Why do you hate all white people, look I’m a special snowflake who’s not racist give me an award for meeting the minimum requirements for being a decent human being”. Well, if you are actually interested in understanding racism and how it ties into cultural appropriation, please read instead of endlessly badgering PoCs on tumblr with your cliched, unoriginal arguments and repeating the same questions over and over.
On White Privilege aka don’t blame me just because I’m white:
It’s Not My Fault I Was Born White: Basics of White Privilege x
Racial Divide x
Endless Examples of White Privilege x
You Cannot Know What It’s Like To Be A Racial Minority x
Intersectional Feminism x
White Privilege Does Not Mean White People Have Perfect Lives x
White Privilege and White Supremacy: A Presentation x
You Will Never Experience Racism x
Understanding White Privilege x
White Privilege and Double Standards x
Systematic White Ignorance x
The Invisibility of White Privilege x
The Luxury of White Privilege x
White Privilege: The Harry Potter Analogy x
Privilege Denial Bingo x
Privilege and Cost x
Check Your Privilege 101 x
Whiteness x
Whiteness is Not A Culture x
White Privilege and Racism x
Deeply Embarrassed White People Talk About Race x
When White Anti Racists Talk About ~Their Struggle~ x
White Privilege As A System x
On Reverse Racism aka you are being racist against white people:
Are White People Racially Oppressed x
White People, the new Racial Minority x
People Don’t Value Pale Skin!! x
There Is No Such Thing As Reverse Racism x
Racism vs. Not Racism x
But White People Are Discriminated Against In Foreign Countries x
The Myth of Reverse Racism: Why Cracker is Not N**** x
Satire: A Step Wise Guide on Being Reverse Racist x
Racism Against White People vs. Racism Against POCs x
On Cultural Appropriation aka I’m just appreciating your culture:
The Basics x
Identifying Appropriation x
But When We Wear It … x
Why Can’t I Wear It (Hipster Headdresses) x
Not Yours x
If You Take The Bindi x
White People Do It Better x
Multiculturalism and Appropriation x
Cultural Appropriation and Portrayals In Print Media x
Diminishing the Cultural Significance of the Bindi x
The Cultural Appropriation Bingo x
Why We’re Fed Up of Your Responses x
Identities Are Not Costumes x
Hinduism And Appropriation x
Religion and Privilege x
Bindis Are Cool x
Exotic India x
What’s Wrong With Cultural Appropriation x
Racism, Bindis and Ganesh Tattoos x
BUT YOU’RE SPEAKING ENGLISH! x
Cultural Appropriation Trolls x
Guide to Being An Appropriating Douchefuck x
New Age ~Culture Mixing~ x
In case you’re tired of the prose, here’s poetry x
Why You Shouldn’t Wear A Bindi x
Appropriating and Sharing x
Our Culture is A Punchline Until It’s a Trend x
Homage Or Insult x
Tattoos and Appropriation x
Bollywood is Not Synonymous With Indian x
College Party Costumes and Stereotypes x
Dotheads x
Bindis and Racist Humour x
Hindu Iconography xÂ
Misuse of Hindu Iconography x
Your Appreciation Doesn’t Help Us x
Assorted Vials of White Tears and Miscellaneous Antidotes aka I can’t change that I’m white/not all whites are racist/we are all humans:
Unoriginal Arguments Refuted x
Quick Checklist: You Might Be Racist If x
Your Opinion Isn’t Necessary x
I’m Not Responsible For My Ancestors x
The Kumbayah Myth x
Proud to Be White x
Good White Person x
We Don’t Hate White People x
Brutality of Colonialism And Why You Can’t Tell Us To Forget the Past x
People Who Claim Not To See Race Are More Likely to Be Racist x
All Races are Beautiful Said the White Girl xÂ
Race Blindness Is A Luxury x
Well, You’re Racist For Calling Me Racist x
I’ve Read About Its Significance, I Know What It Means
Angry Because Someone Called You Racist x
We’re Not All Like That x
People Only Care About This Trivial Shit On The Internet x
I Can’t Apologize for Being Born White, It’s Not My Fault x
Why Can’t You Tell Me What I’m Doing Wrong x
It’s Easy to Be Color Blind When You’re White x
A Diagrammatic Guide To White Tears x
Conversations I’m Sick Of Having With White People x
Why Do You Hate White People x
I’m Trying To Be Cultured x
Sisyphean Conundrum x
What is Your Problem x
We Are All Human, We All Bleed Red x
It’s Just A Bindi x
How Not To Respond To Accusations of Racism x
I’m Italian And 0.009% Native American x
What White People Think Racism Means: A Venn Diagram x
White Guilt x
White Pride!!!111!!! x
I Like *Insert Foreign Country* I Want To Live There x
You Have So Much Hate, Fighting Fire With Fire Won’t Help x
BooHoo, Don’t Call Me Racist x
Not Everything Ended With Your Ancestors x
The Racist Reaction x
I Don’t See Why That Is Racist x
Crummy Apologies x
Okay. I agree. I’ve been socially conditioned not to notice racism and recognize my privilege. What can I do?
Listen x
A Step Wise Guide x
I don’t care about this bullshit; you’re making a big deal out of nothing, go home and delete your blog:
The Clueless White Person Bus x
My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s
Yesss, beautiful, so beautiful! I love this dearly. <3 <3 <3
Kingcup - Youth, innocence, dawn - Bog/Dawn :3
There’s abrightness about her that pulls, likethe lure of the sun’s first warmth after a cold winter. And there’s frost inhis veins and frost on his bones but one note of her song and he’s lost, lostall over again, drawn and held and wrapped in an innocence that hasn’t touchedhis kingdom in long years. She thaws the cold, melts the clinging frost, and for all his attempts, for all his preventive measures he can’t help it (can’t help falling, tumbling, crashing, helpless once again, how did this happen, how did he let this happen?)
He’s old,gnarled and dark where she’s a new sprig, a pale, rosy morn, and it’s not right, it’snot natural. It’s the potion thatmakes her eyes curve the way they do, with a pleasure the sight of him shouldn’tpossibly be able to evoke in anyone. But in thedark he can pretend, just for a moment, that she sings with sincerity; that thesmall, delicate hands reaching for his do so with a desire beyond thewhims of a magic potion.
It’s not thetruth, but then the truth has always hurt him. This is better. She is better, more so than he could ever hope to be, and so he keeps her, this bright sundrop; keeps her in the dark and keeps her for himself, andpretends that her light is meant for him.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it a thousand more times: No piece of dystopian fiction has ever been a prediction of the future. They are observations and criticisms of the present.Â
To Hell with Those “Date a Girl Who...” Essays; Date Any Girl You Want
It seems like every other essay on ThoughtCatalog these days claims to have discovered the perfect kind of girl to date, the girl who will be your other half, the girl for the relationship that will finally work out this time. Date a girl who reads, they’ll say. She’ll spend hours in your bed with the latest novel, she’ll wear those round patterned reading glasses that make her look so sweet you could just eat her right up. Date a confident girl, they’ll say, a girl who isn’t afraid to wear black lipstick or dance on the bar with a dozen guys leering at her.
But the idea that girls come in prepackaged categories, that girls come in different kinds like Barbie dolls or chocolates, is bullshit. Date any girl you want, because no girl is perfect like what they’ll try to convince you of in those essays. A girl with anxiety who constantly worries about the color of her hair or whether everyone in her life is about to abandon her can still be the one you’ll want to be with for the rest of your life. A girl who has never read a book in her life can still teach you as much about love and adventure as a girl who reads voraciously every single spare second. A girl who would rather stay home and eat frozen pizza and watch old TV reruns instead of going out for drinks or heading to loud house parties can make you feel just as whole as the girl who wants to spend all her Saturday nights out on the town. And the girl who eats five thousand different versions of macaroni and cheese for lunch and dinner can still teach you about healthy relationships just as well as the girl who exercises several times a day and eats nothing but vegan flatbreads and salads.
Every single star in the entire galaxy comes in a different color, size, rate of decay than all the other stars. Red dwarfs, blue giants, pulsars - but they all still put on a spectacular lightshow. And although the death of some stars may end in the formation of other stars while the death of still other stars may end in black holes, each ending still paves the way for a new beginning. A relationship with all those girls you were told to date have just as much of a chance at ending in a black hole as a relationship with all those girls that were written out of the equation, just as all of them have an equal chance of ending as a beautiful star.
Because when you tell someone to date this kind of girl, you’re really saying, but don’t date this other girl. She’s not good enough. She doesn’t burn as brightly.
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life. You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.
Neil Gaiman
