DeeAnn Marie

laughingsquid: Swedishness, A Satirical Look at Swedish...

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:58:22 -0600

laughingsquid:

Swedishness, A Satirical Look at Swedish Culture

Seems a lot like Canadians too.

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:51:07 -0600

"Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by concentrated poverty and a..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:03:19 -0600

“Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by concentrated poverty and a vulnerable middle class, a society where it is harder to pay for education, harder to find a job, harder to buy a house and harder to hold onto those things even if you manage to get them. You are entering adulthood during a period of mass incarceration and near constant war. There is a lot for you to do. Service is the rent you pay for the space you take up on the earth, and as a relatively privileged American you take up a lot of space. We are the most consuming, polluting, wasteful nation on earth. So your rent is steep. Pay it with service.”

- Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry’s advice to Class of 2013

This little company from Kenya makes toys from slippers that...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:56:18 -0600

This little company from Kenya makes toys from slippers that wash up on the beach. Pictures by Ben Curtis

"WHEN TO ABANDON SHIP: If Tumblr requires an account somehow linked to Yahoo. If David Karp..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:16:21 -0600

“

WHEN TO ABANDON SHIP:

If Tumblr requires an account somehow linked to Yahoo.
If David Karp steps down, no matter what the reasons are.
If you have to pay to reach all of your followers (FACEBOOK!)
If Yahoo begins censoring legal images and videos.
If your dashboard becomes three columns by default.
If more than 10% of the dashboard is taken up by advertising.

”

- Thoughts on the Yahoo! Thing - Hank’s Tumblr

Should I be worried?

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:25:47 -0600

Should I be worried?

Jesse Lava on mass incarceration: "Fear drives an awful lot of our criminal justice policy"

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:53:44 -0600

Jesse Lava on mass incarceration: "Fear drives an awful lot of our criminal justice policy":

current:

Jesse Lava, campaign director of Beyond Bars, and Preston Shipp, a former prosecutor and a professor at Lipscomb University, join Current TV’s John Fugelsang to discuss the need for mass incarceration reform in the United States.

“The United States spends more than $200 billion a year locking people up, once you count cops and courts. If we took a fraction of that money and invested it in prevention programs, rehabilitation programs, community supervision – taxpayers would be a lot better off because they’re not paying to have people behind bars, and our streets would be safer,” Lava says. “Meanwhile, families wouldn’t be ripped apart by mass incarceration. Right now 2.7 million children have a parent behind bars.”

Good meals are even better when eaten in our backyard.

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:06:43 -0600

Good meals are even better when eaten in our backyard.

Learning secrets from my husband’s childhood. @jumpjules...

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:07:33 -0600

Learning secrets from my husband’s childhood. @jumpjules Scouts in PA.

Photo

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:30:21 -0600

Photo

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:24:05 -0600

Disabled Rights: Couple Fights For Right To Live Together At Group Home

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:18:51 -0600

Disabled Rights: Couple Fights For Right To Live Together At Group Home:

With the beaming smiles of newlyweds, Paul Forziano and Hava Samuels hold hands, exchange adoring glances and complete each other’s sentences. Their first wedding dance, he recalls, was to the song “Unchained …” “Melody,” she chimes in.

They spend their days together in the performing arts education center where they met. But every night, they must part ways. Forziano goes to his group home. His wife goes to hers.

The mentally disabled couple is not allowed to share a bedroom by the state-sanctioned nonprofits that run the group homes – a practice the newlyweds and their parents are now challenging in a federal civil rights lawsuit.

“We’re very sad when we leave each other,” Forziano says. “I want to live with my wife, because I love her.”

poptech: And the highest paid public employee in your state...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:33:02 -0600

poptech:

And the highest paid public employee in your state is…

Seems the US has got their priorities in order.

"Don’t plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:14:00 -0600

““Don’t plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke ‘em down to nothing.””

- Tom Waits

vicemag: America’s Worst Housing Project Is Being...

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:05:46 -0600

vicemag:

America’s Worst Housing Project Is Being Gentrified

Have you ever simultaneously regretted that the poor had been pushed out of a neighborhood, but wished you could have gotten in when rents were still cheap? Have you ever admired the pluck and ingenuity of the first few nonpoor bastards to move into a poor area? I have.

The Los Angeles City Council just unanimously voted to tear down Jordan Downs, nearly the oldest housing project in America and probably the title holder for ugliest. Jordan Downs is comprised of 103 spookily identical buildings in the low-income, violence-ridden neighborhood of Watts. While notorious for its gangs, its racially tinged police brutality, and its intractable poverty, Watts is also noteworthy for its cultural vibrancy and the palpable neighborhood pride of its residents. I wrote that last sentence by the way, not the Watts Chamber of Commerce, but they can have it for free.

“URBAN VILLAGE”

They’re not just tearing down Jordan Downs, they’re turning this Orwellian nightmare-scape into an “urban village,” including four story townhomes, condos, retail restaurants, and a farmer’s market. Residents have been hearing about this pie-in-the-sky renovation for years, or even decades, but about ten months ago, a developer was chosen, and the City Council’s decision on Wednesday, April 17 marked a big step forward. But optimism on the part of lifelong residents might not be the most practical emotion.

Continue

1980’s Businesswoman Comics by Kate Beaton

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:30:13 -0600

1980’s Businesswoman Comics by Kate Beaton

This video shows how ridiculous media portrays gender roles and...

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:18:38 -0600

This video shows how ridiculous media portrays gender roles and stereotypes in advertising through presenting gender roll reversals.

But the best part is seeing my friends recreate ridiculously stupid, sexist ads.

Illustrations by Sungwon

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:30:23 -0600

Illustrations by Sungwon

"One final thing. I’ve been very disturbed about this for years but I think its particularly..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:14:06 -0600

“One final thing. I’ve been very disturbed about this for years but I think its particularly important for this audience. Please stop referring to yourselves as ‘consumers’. ‘Consumers’ are different than citizens. Consumers do not have obligations, responsibilities, and duties to their fellow human beings. And as long as you are using that word ‘consumer’ in the public discussion you will be degrading the quality of the discussion we’re having and we’re going to continue being clueless going into this very difficult future that we face.”

- James Kunstler, How bad architecture wrecked cities

Things we almost bought at the Montgomery yard sale.

Sat, 04 May 2013 10:25:05 -0600

Things we almost bought at the Montgomery yard sale.