despot of the freshwater @monsterblue@dragon.style

Hey all.

I'm almost there!!! In addition to the cost for my marijuana card, I also ended up with a surprise bill for my echocardiogram of $500 which was just straight overdrafted from my checking account. Thanks to everyone's generosity I'm more than halfway to being back in the black!!! Please keep sharing <3

Marijuana helps me keep my panic attacks in check and reduces their severity when they do happen, and recently this has been very very needed. And this echocardiogram is essential in diagnosing the nature of my afib. Please, anything you can offer to help pay off this $500 so I don't get addressed further fees helps.

Paypal: https://paypal.me/gaydragongirl
Venmo: @GayDragonGirl
Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/gaydragongirl

Anyone by any chance have an unwanted Pantone color card book? Coated or uncoated, doesn't matter. Also doesn't matter if it's like decades old, the basic colors haven't really changed aside from some new additions.

after a months-long battle to better my situation, i've run out of cards to play - i'll be resigning on monday both from a principled and logistical standpoint, as i've been pigeon-holed into an even more untenable and financially unsustainable situation

on the plus side, i get to finally leave the abuse behind for good after years

on the negative, i'm obviously out of work as a result

any donations are appreciated!

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/cutienojutsu

i'we writes this from unceded Santiam lands, where colonizers allow me to live in a lockable box, inside their exacting boundaries, upon a machine of thinking wires that burns my soul to interact with.

Today, it is time for i'we to write, and write i'we shall. Please pardon my brevity and bluntness.

Before you #riot, and there will be much #rioting, there are several things that i'we would ask you consider.

Yes, you, specifically, dear reader.

My message today is for you alone.

Please take the time necessary for these words, expressed with deep intent towards better futures, to be digested by your mind into understanding, and strive to hear the understanding that burns in i'we to write so many words, in this medium, today of all days.

The first, being that direct action is meaningful, and aligning with others of similar values is essential in any venture, the next step, deciding on what you will do together and when to take those actions, rather than being driven to it, is the distinction between riots that work, and a terrorist attack.

Those are words which come charged with meaning. Please, consider that this is not my first language, and likely is not yours. Listen beyond what you hear with your heart. Listen with your mind. Listen with your body. Listen with your spirit, and let whatever you experience, be what it is.

When you choose to do something, do it well. Do it thoroughly. Do it with knowledge that it could result in some, or all of you, ending up dead. If you cannot make decisions in that sort of an environment, avoid riots, and work from the outside, learn the tactics that weaken and overload the system in the current local lens.

If you try to fight everywhere at once, you will be defeated. Choose where to burn your energy, and burn them you shall.

To those who burn out, alone and fighting for the last...i'we are one of you. Please know that you are never alone.

My words are said with heavy heart. Words are such impractical things. Especially across networks we cannot trust with our most vulnerable selves. There will never be the perfect victim, and you break the chain by asking "why" instead of assuming that your feeling of the moment could not lie. That which passes the test of skepticism and simplicity will stand the test of time.

All this to say, before we go further into my point, that i'we, the tessalation formerly known as the commonwealth of @jakimfett (@hackers.town, for those of you who are in to that), says the following things with *love and support to those of you in the shadows and in the streets, in support, and in functional, practical solidarity of action with those who are vulnerable in these upcoming times.

If your riot would burn down what someone needs for survival, please reconsider it.

Know who your damage hurts, and be ready to mitigate the worst of it.

And, if the billionaires of the world are hiding behind me, take the shot without asking. Balance future survival of our world with actions that destabilize things in your favour.

If it's something that we can fix, between us, reach out. That's how we get through this. Each from their ability to other's need, because 'interdependence' is something that is living on a scale much larger than me or you.

i'we says this with holistic intent towards replacing the #kyriarchy with something better.

Build bridges, meet needs, and for fuck's sake, start planting seeds.

i'we says this with hope that you hear these words as my full support, as an individual who disavows ownership and violences of all sorts, to swing your fists.

If your #pacifism is an excuse for inaction, you are doing the opposite of acting in peace and life...enabling war.

i'we hates war.

help i'we end it, for all of us.

fight better.
fight harder.
fight together.

Learn to un-clench, let go, put away your armor and weapons when you are with friends, practice being vulnerable and caring, containerize your need to externalize feelings to protect friends.

Be self-aware, and know where your weapons, especially words, are pointed.

And please, kick all neo-nazis in the dick. My own patient way is compatible with your direct actions, and if you do your best, doing what you can do best, so will i'we.

That is how we get through this.

This is where we prove collectively that "never again" is now, and we can learn from our past mistakes.

Believe carefully, and be ready to act whenever your privilege could safely protect you.

To those who are angry, and waiting for a leader:
Seek mentors that you already know, and learn to lead yourself towards healthier life-acts.
Act together. Live together.
Take care of one another, across boundaries of all kinds, physical or not.

Believe yourself, though not too much.
Disbelieve everything, though not too much.

Talk to older union persons.
Please cultivate the ability to listen to people speaking about their experiences without being threatened in yours.

Learn about and of the places where decentralized people have been allowed to exist, do your best to support them with your privilege and financial stability, and take their best ideas and use them towards bringing together your neighbors and the people with Sovereign right to the land you occupy.

Listen when people speak.
Digest and refine your own actions before expecting that of someone else.

i'we, and you, will continue to make mistakes.

We will all become better for it, and learn, and acknowledging incremental and ongoing progress will cultivate a better future for us all, where blame-finding will destroy what we need for our most basic survival.

Grieve, today.
Grieve when your heart aches.

But we get up again.
And we do our best.

Keep doing what only you can do.
Refuse to do things that harm others.

Believe in people, even if only a few.

Let go of the things where you no longer find meaning.

===

further reading:

('usa' specific: https://landback.org/ )
Decolonize: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xXhHallb7HDdaiK5MrV3U9VzwUuoD4-VPe-0qyf_JzM/

mostly for white people:

https://xtramagazine.com/love-sex/why-are-queer-people-so-mean-to-each-other-160978

Fund transportation to get Alabama abortion patients out of state who had scheduled appointments:

https://twitter.com/robinmarty/status/1540344773457989635

RL stuff: I need to share this photo of a waterfall with you, because it is so pretty :)
and yes, the pond beneath is very swimmable.

.
#waterfall #wildlife

if anyone in these areas wants to protest:

brett: 3706 Underwood St, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

clarence: 6665 Rutledge Drive, Fairfax Station, VA 22039

those are the only addresses i have for em. if anybody knows any others (amy, john, sam, and neil) feel free to add em to the list

Hi friends. Here's some things to think about from The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America by Robin Marty for folks who might be panicking right now and planning to stockpile emergency contraceptives (Plan B):

"1. Are you buying locally, or online?
-If you are purchasing emergency contraception for future use, please consider only buying it from online sites. This ensures that for those who have an actual emergency and need medication immediately, there is still a supply on the shelf for them to buy and it isn’t out of stock. Waiting two days or more for delivery because there is no place to purchase locally is the surest way for a person to end up with an unwanted pregnancy.

2. Do you really need that many doses?
-Yes, buying a bunch of EC feels like a really proactive way to stick it to anti-abortion politicians. But remember, most EC has a shelf life of three to four years, and in some cases the clock may already be ticking. Twenty packs of EC do no one any good if they all expire because you really only needed four. Unless you have a real reason to think that you might end up as a distribution channel for your friends or neighbors, limit how many you get at once. Odds are, you will be able to buy more later.

3. Is there a local organization that offers EC? Can you help them, instead?
-Let’s be frank, getting emergency contraception from a stranger is a sort of freaky idea. Preventing a pregnancy—especially after intercourse—is a pretty private activity. No one really wants to reach out to someone they don’t know in order to get medication, but they are more likely to contact reproductive rights and justice groups, organizations that support marginalized communities, or feminist groups than private individuals. Don’t recreate the wheel when there are already organizations distributing EC—offer those groups money or medication, or even offer to help distribute through their channels rather than try to do this alone.

For people looking for medication that will be delivered straight to their home, Afterpill.com is a website where you can purchase single-dose or three-dose packages of EC for twenty dollars each—less than half of what you’d pay at a pharmacy.

Or if you are already getting birth control pills by mail, either through a Planned Parenthood clinic or via an online pharmacy, ask about having a dose or two of EC added to your next delivery. Some outlets—especially Planned Parenthoods—will offer one or two doses a year that they will send along as part of your prescription. Or you can ask your doctor to write a prescription for her to fill now and have on hand for later, when you or someone you know might need it."

i wonder how much of a difference it'd make for this stuff to be something Everyone Knows. put it on album covers etc. https://vajenda.substack.com/p/stop-talking-about-coat-hangers-and