I'm Melody. I have taken twenty-one turns around the sun and reside in Texas.
Actually a Muppet.
Elementary Education major.
Book Reader.
Cat Lover.
Day Dreamer.
Sometimes Misanthrope.
Nice to eat you.
My parents conferring my ‘little’ brother’s diploma. It was, of course, a homeschool graduation so there were only 27 graduates total and they played a slideshow while the parents came up to give the diploma and say a few words. Less boring than the regular kind of graduation.
So my ‘little’ brother graduated today. Huzzah! My mom is now retired. She began homeschooling with her first child 23 years ago and now she has finally graduated the last. All five of us were homeschooled all the way through from pre-k to high school graduation.
I think that’s a pretty darn impressive achievement. We’re making her a cake. (by ‘we’ I mean Charis, but I support the idea)
Here’s the thing. Men in our culture have been socialized to believe that their opinions on women’s appearance matter a lot. Not all men buy into this, of course, but many do. Some seem incapable of entertaining the notion that not everything women do with their appearance is for men to look at. This is why men’s response to women discussing stifling beauty norms is so often something like “But I actually like small boobs!” and “But I actually like my women on the heavier side, if you know what I mean!” They don’t realize that their individual opinion on women’s appearance doesn’t matter in this context, and that while it might be reassuring for some women to know that there are indeed men who find them fuckable, that’s not the point of the discussion.
Women, too, have been socialized to believe that the ultimate arbiters of their appearance are men, that anything they do with their appearance is or should be “for men.” That’s why women’s magazines trip over themselves to offer up advice on “what he wants to see you wearing” and “what men think of these current fashion trends” and “wow him with these new hairstyles.” While women can and do judge each other’s appearance harshly, many of us grew up being told by mothers, sisters, and female strangers that we’ll never “get a man” or “keep a man” unless we do X or lose some fat from Y, unless we moisturize/ trim/ shave/ push up/ hide/ show/ ”flatter”/ paint/ dye/ exfoliate/ pierce/ surgically alter this or that.
That’s also why when a woman wears revealing clothes, it’s okay, in our society, to assume that she’s “looking for attention” or that she’s a slut and wants to sleep with a bunch of guys. Because why else would a woman wear revealing clothes if not for the benefit of men and to communicate her sexual availability to them, right? It can’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that it’s hot out or it’s more comfortable or she likes how she looks in it or everything else is in the laundry or she wants to get a tan or maybe she likes women and wants attention from them, not from men?
The result of all this is that many men, even kind and well-meaning men, believe, however subconsciously, that women’s bodies are for them. They are for them to look at, for them to pass judgment on, for them to bless with a compliment if they deign to do so. They are not for women to enjoy, take pride in, love, accept, explore, show off, or hide as they please. They are for men and their pleasure.
Stunning Landscape - Cappadocia, Turkey
The mysterious rock formations and underground cities of Cappadocia make this region of Turkey one the most beautiful in the world. The rich history of this site can be told through the villages, subterranean churches and fortresses that have been carved straight into the soft, porous, eerily eroded rock.
Popular activities in the region include visits to the underground cities, viewing the ancient Christian cave art, seeing the “fairy chimney” rock formations, and taking sunrise hot air balloon rides for a view of the breathtaking landscape from above.When I am certain everyone else in the world is following odditiesoflife I will not reblog everything she puts up quite so industriously….
Steven Moffat on The Ponds’ final scenes (Doctor Who The Companions Special )
(Source: watson-sighs-and-tuts)
… Tolkien’s own misadventures with his first automobile, purchased in 1932, were the source of some of Mr. Bliss’s escapades. Tolkien was known to accelerate across busy intersections crying out ‘Charge ‘em and they scatter!’ and once knocked down a stone wall during a family vacation.
“you shouldn’t be depressed, people have it worse than you”
finally, after years of searching, the person with the worst life ever is found. formally, they are granted permission to be sad. but only them. only they have earned it. no sads for anyone else at all ever
![yeahwriters:
jirasol:
it’s called AAVE, you [oh let’s censor this]
I hate how people here think that “proper general English” is the only way to speak English and all the others are considered “idiocy” like if language has anything to do with intelligence. I’m not even from the U.S. and I know this better than most of you.
Below is a list of all English dialects in North America:
American English - Standard American English is the general form
Cultural
African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)
Chicano English
New York Latino English
Pennsylvania Dutch English
Yeshivish
Yinglish
Regional
New England English
Boston accent
Boston Brahmin accent
Hudson Valley English
Lake Dialect or Lake Talk
Vermont English
Inland Northern American English (includes western and central upstate New York)
Northeast Pennsylvania English
Mid-Atlantic dialects
Baltimore dialect
Philadelphia dialect
Pittsburgh English
New York dialect
New Jersey English dialects
Inland Northern American English (Lower peninsula of Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, Chicago, part of eastern Wisconsin and upstate New York)
North–Central American English (primarily Minnesota, but also most of Wisconsin, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa)
Yooper dialect (Upper Peninsula of Michigan and some neighboring areas)
Midland American English
North Midlands English (thin swath from Nebraska to Ohio)
St. Louis
South Midland (thin swath from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania)
Southern English
Appalachian English
Tidewater accent
Virginia Piedmont
Virginia TidewaterCoastal Southeastern (Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia area)
Cajun English
Harkers Island English (North Carolina)
Ozark English
Southern Highland English
Gullah or Geechee
Texan
Yat dialect (New Orleans)
Ocracoke
Western English
California English
Boontling
Pacific Northwest English
Hawaiian Pidgin
Canada
Canadian English:
Newfoundland English
Maritime English
Cape Breton accent
Lunenburg English
West–Central Canadian English
Northern Ontario English
Quebec English
Ottawa Valley Twang
Pacific Northwest English
Bermuda
Bermudian English
Native/American indigenous peoples
Native American/indigenous peoples of the Americas English dialects:
Mojave English
Isletan English
Tsimshian English
Lumbee English
Tohono O’odham English
Inupiaq English
From the New England accents Wiki:
Some speakers of the Western New England dialect—especially those from the region surrounding the major cities of Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut, along theConnecticut River—replace “t” with a glottal stop and replace “-ing” with “in’”. This would mean that those who do such would pronounce (for example) “sitting” as “sih-in’”, New Britain as “New Brih-nn”, and Clinton as “Clin-nn,” etc. T-glotallizing is found in other parts of the country as well, to varying degrees; however, it is prevalent in Southwestern New England.
I totally do this. I can’t say “mountain” or “kitten”; I say “mau-in” and “kih-en”. My parents always give me a hard time and it’s SO FUCKING ANNOYING. One time my stepmom told me that it made me sound less smart, which is ironic because I’m the most educated person in my entire extended family, and I wouldn’t think that a speech affect that makes you sound like you’re from Connecticut would dumb you down.
Seriously though, I met so many ultra-intelligent people with thick Southern accents when I was at UNC, and met so many idiots with perfect British accents when I lived in London. The accent=intelligence stereotype has totally been broken for me, which I’m quite thankful about.
Okay sorry /end rant.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/05045839904737a7e3389f952367d125/tumblr_ml1onoOWo01rg83yuo1_500.png)
it’s called AAVE, you [oh let’s censor this]
I hate how people here think that “proper general English” is the only way to speak English and all the others are considered “idiocy” like if language has anything to do with intelligence. I’m not even from the U.S. and I know this better than most of you.
Below is a list of all English dialects in North America:
American English - Standard American English is the general form
- Cultural
- Regional
- New England English
- Inland Northern American English (includes western and central upstate New York)
- Mid-Atlantic dialects
- Inland Northern American English (Lower peninsula of Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, Chicago, part of eastern Wisconsin and upstate New York)
- North–Central American English (primarily Minnesota, but also most of Wisconsin, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa)
- Yooper dialect (Upper Peninsula of Michigan and some neighboring areas)
- Midland American English
- North Midlands English (thin swath from Nebraska to Ohio)
- St. Louis
- South Midland (thin swath from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania)
- Southern English
- Western English
- Hawaiian Pidgin
Canada
Bermuda
Native/American indigenous peoples
Native American/indigenous peoples of the Americas English dialects:
From the New England accents Wiki:
Some speakers of the Western New England dialect—especially those from the region surrounding the major cities of Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut, along theConnecticut River—replace “t” with a glottal stop and replace “-ing” with “in’”. This would mean that those who do such would pronounce (for example) “sitting” as “sih-in’”, New Britain as “New Brih-nn”, and Clinton as “Clin-nn,” etc. T-glotallizing is found in other parts of the country as well, to varying degrees; however, it is prevalent in Southwestern New England.
I totally do this. I can’t say “mountain” or “kitten”; I say “mau-in” and “kih-en”. My parents always give me a hard time and it’s SO FUCKING ANNOYING. One time my stepmom told me that it made me sound less smart, which is ironic because I’m the most educated person in my entire extended family, and I wouldn’t think that a speech affect that makes you sound like you’re from Connecticut would dumb you down.
Seriously though, I met so many ultra-intelligent people with thick Southern accents when I was at UNC, and met so many idiots with perfect British accents when I lived in London. The accent=intelligence stereotype has totally been broken for me, which I’m quite thankful about.
Okay sorry /end rant.
danielle-carey replied to your photo: My ‘little’ brother who is graduating tomorrow.
You have lovely teeth! Ugh is that weird? I always notice peoples’ teeth!
Thank you! I don’t think it’s weird. I like them too.
thelightofthingshopedfor replied to your post: thelightofthingshopedfor answered your question: …
Oh, trust me, I’ve been talking to my doctor about headaches for years. I think in college I mostly got morning headaches from not sleeping enough, so when I graduated it got better, but lately I’ve been getting afternoon headaches instead.
That’s interesting. Could it be caffeine related? Caffeine heachaches either from withdrawal or just a low tolerance are pretty common (so I expect you and your doctor have already thought of this).
thelightofthingshopedfor replied to your post: Long personal text post ahead
You are awesome and you can do it. Also I love you for making an ATLA reference in a serious post.
I’m glad other people have faith in me. I don’t have much faith in myself in this area because I have a track record of saying I’m going to work harder at it and then not doing jack squat/working for maybe a week or two before quitting. If other people believe in me I don’t want to let them down, giving me more motivation.
I really honestly appreciate the support and encouragement you are all giving me. This is one of the hardest things for me to talk about and I’m always afraid of being judged for it so it really means a lot to me.
