Taking A Break From Original Stuff

Welcome back - hope you had a happy January 1st! Everyone has been talking about their hopes for 2018. I’ve heard themes of unity, peace, and working towards a better future. I’m happy that everyone is talking about about a better new year, but I’ve been thinking about something else. 

Climate change is an issue that is more important than ever. To kick off the new year, I wanted to take us on a short, much-needed tour of what it is and what could happen. Hope this answers some questions~ 

True or False: Climate change is real.     True. Climate change refers to the change in global climate patterns, seen from the late 20th century onward. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are produced by fossil fuel emissions; as atmospheric gases damage the ozone layer, heat from the sun’s rays is trapped between the earth and space. More heat means warmer weather, and scientists everywhere agree that temperatures have risen drastically in recent years.     There will be many negative outcomes of climate change, especially if nothing is done to prevent it. The earth’s temperatures are changing too much and too fast, and so many places will suffer - if they aren’t already. If a global effort to battle this issue doesn’t kick in, we’ll face the consequences.   

True or False: Humans have nothing to do with it.     False. Humans have everything to do with it: we’re the reason it’s happening. There are many harmful effects human activity has on the environment, and we have to understand what we’ve done before we can decide what to do.     With rising populations, more resources will be needed to provide the world’s population with food, transportation, medicine, and more. Countries need space to develop and harvest food for their citizens. Cars, trains, and other forms of transportation take people where they need to go every day. Public institutions like hospitals and schools are vital to a community. All these factors of daily life required energy sources and materials; often, those efforts end up creating excess waste.     Every day, humans produce trash just by going about their daily lives. Using a paper napkin, bagging groceries with plastic bags, ordering takeout - all these actions will result in something being thrown out. Our trash ends up in landfills, bodies of water, or as litter blowing around the street. When bits of plastic or other discarded materials make their way into the environment, habitats are polluted and species suffer. While we can’t totally eliminate the waste we produce, we can make those numbers smaller. By reducing how much we use, reusing what we can, and recycling what we can’t, we can make the environment a cleaner, healthier place.     ‘The Greenhouse Effect’ refers to the increasing levels of atmospheric gases harming our planet. As I said before, increased amounts of gases cause heat from the sun to be trapped in the earth’s atmosphere - the main culprit of climate change. Many of our activities require the burning of fossil fuels, which emits carbon dioxide and other gases. But there are better ways to power your home or car, such as solar power instead of electricity, or vegetable oil rather than gas. Unless we switch to these renewable energies, the main cause of climate change will remain.   

True or False: Ecosystems and species will suffer.         True. A warming planet will negatively effect many environmental patterns, habitats, and species.     In the arctic, ice is melting at an alarming pace because of warmer temperatures. Sea levels are rising, endangering many land habitats and the animals who live there. Polar bears, for example, are loosing homes and hunting grounds because of climate change.     Heat waves, shifting rainfall patterns, and other weather-related events will become stronger. A warming planet causes more heat waves and droughts, while excess rainfall and worse storms have become more frequent in recent years. All these disasters will cause global ecosystems to suffer, forcing threatened species to migrate - or go extinct.     Everything in nature is connected. Rising temperatures cause more water to evaporate into water vapor, which makes up precipitation in storms and hurricanes. If more ice is melting, there is more water in the oceans, which contributes to that risk. Underwater temperatures are rising as well, which harms the inhabitants of coral reefs and other habitats.     When an animal or plant species faces extinction, the biodiversity of its habitat suffers. Species that depend on it may loose a vital food source; if that species’ population shrinks, those that depend on it will suffer as well. When the food web takes enough hits, the entire structure could unravel at the seams. Climate change and what it means for the natural world is an issue with multiple moving parts, and some of those could be disastrous.   

True or False: Climate change effects us.     True. Rising sea levels threaten coastal cities, many of which could be underwater in just a couple of decades. Without biodiversity or stable ecosystems, the plants and animals we depend on for food could be wiped out in a similar time frame. Storms and other weather-related disasters have already damaged many people’s lives, and so many more would be uprooted. With these desperate possibilities, all your sic-fi movies could come true.   

True or False: We can’t do anything.     100% False. There’s so much we can do, as individuals and as an international community. But larger steps must be taken sooner, if we want to slow down this global catastrophe.     Today, many people are ‘going green’, a term that refers to making more environmentally friendly and responsible decisions. Cutting down on how much you throw out, driving a car less often, and being conscientious about the effects of your actions all will lead to a healthier planet. Changes in your daily habits have a larger effect than you think.     Human emissions of greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change - energy transition is the key. Conversion to solar and wind power, among other alternatives, will offer more jobs and be safer for the environment. But while citizens are taking action, international policy isn’t doing nearly enough. Society has put off action for so long, scientists say that the worst outcomes of climate change might not be that far off. Widespread change must happen ASAP, if we want a chance at winning the war against climate change. And that starts with you! Join organizations that do research on renewable energies, provide aid to damaged ecosystems, or advocate for government action. Find ways you can go green within your own home. Talk to others about what you know, and what needs to be done in the future.      

The way I see it, all the rights in the world won’t matter if this planet isn’t sustained - & that fate rests in our hands. My hope for 2018 is that people everywhere will crack down on preventing climate change. My New Year’s resolution is to play my part by doing what I can for environmental efforts - I hope you will too. Happy New Year! 

Bayard Rustin was an American civil and gay rights activist, a leader in the social movements of socialism and nonviolence, and the founder of organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality and the March on Washington Movement. He was an openly gay black man, Martin Luther King Jr.’s right hand man, a pioneer for equality even before the Civil Right’s movement - and he has been erased from history.

Bayard was born in Pensilvania in 1912. He was raised by his grandparents, only later learning that his older “sister” was actually his mother, having gotten pregnant at 16. In the 1930s, he studied at two historically black colleges, and briefly joined the Young Communist League. During World War II, he fought for racial equality in war-related hiring, and was sentenced to two years in jail for refusing to register for the draft. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, he played a huge role in the Civil Rights movement, the organization of the March on Washington, and advising MLK. He died of a ruptured appendix in 1987. 

Bayard was arrested over 20 times in his life for both his work in activism, and for being openly homosexual. Throughout his career, he faced backlash from allies and enemies alike for being open about his sexual orientation. He is an inspiration to us all for his work as an activist, organizer, and leader, never apologizing for being who he was.  In 2013, President Barack Obama granted him the Presidential Medal of Honor for his groundbreaking work - Bayard’s lifelong partner, Walter Neagle, accepted the award on his behalf.   

Happy Monday - I hope you’re enjoying your day off. This weekend, I was with my mom and brother up in Wells, Vermont, staying in our modest family cabin for a few nights. On Saturday night, the nearby Larson Farm hosted their annual Columbus Day weekend party, with friends and townspeople coming in for a potluck, dance, and auction. My family and I have been going up for years. 

After everyone had grabbed some dinner and apple pie, the patriarch of the farm, Rich Larson, stood up on a wagon and explained to us the premises of the auction. He’s told the same story every year as long as I can remember: Over a decade ago, a young man from Uganda had come to live with him and his family. One night at dinner, Rich was asking him about his home, and the Ugandan education system came up.Their guest explained that school in Uganda is free - however, a family would need to purchase a school uniform and basic supplies to actually be able to enroll their child. For primary school students to get the necessary goods, that’s 35 US dollars; for a secondary school student, that’s around $60; for university, it’s $100. With those steep expenses, most families were unable to send their child to school. (Those prices have gone up in the past decade. These are relevant to the story, though with my addled memory I might be getting them wrong too. Go do some additional research if you’re interested.) 

  Rich and his family wanted to do something about that. So they joined the Uganda School Project, and every year since they’ve had an auction to send the money to families and students in Uganda. Paintings, farm antiques, plants, hats - it’s all on the table, and Rich’s son does that entertaining auctioneer voice. I stood with my mom in the crowd, still not allowed to bid, but watching with excitement.  At one point, Rich’s daughter and someone else got into a bidding war over two floral watercolors - the price went up to $250 dollars before the friend at the back of the crowd won. That night, over $3,000 were raised - all to go directly to the fund. 

  Rich told us in the barn that “The way we’re going to reach world peace is if everyone in the community is self-reliant and self-sustainable, and the best way to get to that point is to provide everyone with a good education.” Everyone cheered, and that was definitely a source of motivation that evening. Even better, one of the items actioned off was actually made by a university student from Uganda - after graduating, the young man had started his own business weaving prayer rugs, and making sandals out of old tires. The best part? His $100 tuition was payed by the money raised at the auction a few years back. Rich climbed up on the wagon next to his son to tell us that we were responsible for that young man’s success. 

  When people near and far get together to help others and better their communities, what is achieved benefits everyone. Rich Larson was absolutely correct in his message about world peace - education is the single most powerful weapon that can be used to better the world. And for those of us already blessed with that tool, it’s our job to give that same gift to others - just what the Larsons and their guests have been doing for over a decade. If a single farm in a tiny Vermont town can put dozens of kids in school each year, what impact can this blog have? Or you, for that matter?

I am the challenger. Standing in the ring,  your foolishness thundering at me, two beady eyes of human hate, two sharpened horns that prick where I’ve wounds. That turn on others when it hurts them most. I challenge you, counter you, shouting in rage at what you’ve done to hurt us; what you’ll do to hurt anything you fear. And you fear me, my swift foot, bent knee, flick of red from muscled knowledge. (I might be young, but I’ve the strength of a thousand fighters) Reading has done me so well, but experience, out in the real ring, is where I present my skill. Crowds are stomping, howling. You charge at me. I am the challenger - I will cut you down. Because I know I deserve better than this. As does all. You run, I swoop; You stomp, I switch; You bellow, I roar, and we are at it again, a bullfight of wit and change and progress. Your bright eyes are misinformed. Mine know enough to prove you wrong, to slow you, cut you down, and then we will be human again. I am the challenger, of all I see to be wrong, of all I know I can change. I am proud. You can be changed. Changed by I, the challenger. 

“Words have the power to change the world, and that realization inspires me everyday.” ~Amanda Gorman

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but don’t be racist during the COVID-19 scare.

My mom’s friend was out shopping when a (very not asian) woman came up and started berating her for not wearing a mask. Asian businesses in my area are suffering. Some people are refusing to interact with anyone who looks Asian.

Asian-Americans have been through racism already. We’re fucking sick of it. We’re not flea-infested rats; we are actual people who most likely have never been to China.

And if you’re not Asian and see someone being racist and giving a poor schmuck a hard time for having squinty eyes and dark hair, tell them to knock it off and they’re being a butt.

NON ASIANS PLEASE REBLOG

lgbt terms listed by date of first use in writing

according to merriam-webster:

-lesbian - 1732

-bisexual - 1793

-nonbinary - 1863

-homosexual - 1891

-intersex - 1908

-hypersexual - 1915 (not inherently lgbt ofc)

-pansexual - 1926

-hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - 1945

-gay - 1953

-transsexual - 1957

-omnisexual - 1960

-gender dysphoria - 1973

-transgender - 1974

-asexual - 1975

-gender identity disorder - 1978

-queer theory - 1988

-top surgery - 1992

-polyamory - 1992

-gender confirmation surgery - 1993

-trans man - 1996

-trans woman - 1996

-aromantic - 2004

-agender - 2006

there are probably more, but i couldn’t find them!

In the darkened corner of a spicy club, two people. Green skirts and navy tees. He ought to be focusing on his band members, the drums and claves and maracas and musicians with the music in their soul, pumping out a rhythm that sparks those high-up lights meant for Navidad. The noise will wake the neighbors’ kids, whose mother works long hours in a bustling sweatshop, the noise and voices holding no joy like the sunshine of the meringue band. She works hard for the children she has raised, and to keep them away from the fascination of her home in La Vibora.

The lights are bright and warm: not blinding, calm like a happy day. He can just avoid the spotlights shining on him and his friends, who practice long and play longer, drink and have fun and remember what their mothers taught them. The women on the block, the one’s too young to be raising a child or a husband, scoff and assume they will flirt. Uncertainty.

It is loud and hot and sexy, but no one feels threatened. It’s just fun, and those who know each other know. Xenophobia, like in the rest of the neighborhood, where all are foreigners in La Ciudad de Nueva York.

In the darkened corner of a spicy club, two people. He leans in, singing along to her. His cowbell sharp and sassy like the slips and flicks of her fingertips. She pays him no mind, her curls and lips and hips smiling for no one but herself. Dark chocolate shards and caramel brooks. Bubbly and laughing, taunting him. Caution, but intelligent humor.

Quick feet, flashing eyes. Wink, smirk, arched brow, blissful eyelids.

She is dancing fast beside him, her movements all her own. He will not contain her, and she will not indulge. The hard-working Mexican, her eyes bright as the muddy mangoes her father brings home to her, telling her the stories and memories of his childhood with the family’s orchards, lush before fire took them, and his family starting new and happy until fire took her, and left him with a daughter who is slipping away to a better future, that girl who is slender in a green dress, her long curls churning, her feet outpacing his self-esteem. Friendly, platonically, and he doesn’t take the blow.

Her voice clear, singing along to the rhythms, she won’t give him any satisfaction of hearing her voice compliment his cultures’ words, the sunshine of a music that others mistake for merengue, when Puerto Ricans have a culture all their own, and stereotypes are easy, especially for a young man who wanted more as a descendant of slavery, who felt trapped in a place like that, whose differences keep her wondering. Wondering like the histories of his skin that differs from the music that is like sunshine. Subtle in the darkened corner of a spicy club.

Sleeveless green like los flores, navy tee shining behind eyes like estrellas. Loving wisdom hidden by twinkling humor, shining down on simple happiness.

Xenophobia, racism, hostility, friendzone? Feminism, she dances.