loving representation

Image taken from Upworthy, and totally copyright Braden Summers please don't sue me for showcasing your beautiful work. 

When we think of the epitome of romantic love, when we summon up an image of what it means to be in love, who are the participants?

One photographer, Braden Summers, though gay himself, realized that even he automatically conjured heteronormative images of same-sex couples.  He realized how much this deeply exclusive image fails to represent the fullness of humanity and of love, so he set about (via Kickstarter) to travel around the world combatting this representation issue with his camera.  And the results are breathtakingly gorgeous.

You rock, dude.

Kickstarter video and photograph set available here.  It makes my heart go pitter-pat.

awesome thing of the day: rupert grint and an ice cream truck

So Rupert Grint, of Ron Weasley fame, is apparently an amazingly cool human being.

What did he do with his (probably massive) wealth from rocketing to stardom via the Harry Potter franchise?

He bought an ice cream truck.

He drives it around, looking for kids, and then gives them ice cream.  For free.  Cuz the kids looked like they were 'in need of ice creams.'

This dude is seriously awesome.

awesome thing of the day: kickass a capella of epicness

Welp.  This performance of FSU's AcaBelles a capella troupe performing Lorde's "Royals" is pretty much the best thing ever.

I couldn't get the video to embed properly for some reason, so follow the link and go watch it.  Now.

homecoming, or the kids are all right

A school in Florida elected a couple with Down syndrome as homecoming royalty.

An Illinois school elected a gay homecoming king and a lesbian homecoming queen.

In New Hampshire, they have a transgender homecoming king.



As we grown-ups work to confront entrenched and shitty biases that keep people from really seeing and accepting each others, the kids are figuring this shit out too.  Not to say that social justice work is irrelevant (hardly!) but that it really does work to change the world, tiny piece by tiny piece.  Continuing to bust our asses to make the world a more accepting place has real results, and here's a lovely bit of proof.

The kids, they are okay.



Also, happy Ada Lovelace Day!

awesome thing of the day: kickass six-year-old dancer

This little dancer is beyond amazing.  Holy crapmonkies, but she's six year old and kicks so much ass.  Also, she has seriously impressive poise and stage presence.  Go watch her.  Impressed you will be.  B-girl Terra, you freaking rock.

awesome thing of the day: best treehouse EVAR

This is probably the most badass tree house ever constructed.  Can I move in, please?

today gets THREE awesome things because apparently today is extra awesome

This is possibly the best Ted talk to date.  (Link for in case the embedding doesn't work.)

This dude cuts through the bullshit and asks all the right questions about gendered violence and gender issues.  Complete with a call to action.

<3

today gets two awesome things

This video.  This video is amazing, and not just because I adore Sara Bareilles.

(Link for in case the embedding doesn't work.)

Being brave is not easy.  Paths of least resistance abound, and they usually involve staying silent and going along.  It takes a hell of a lot of courage and dedication and strength to break that mold, even in tiny ways.  And it's scary as hell.

But so, so worth it.

I want to see you be brave.

awesome thing of the day: X-wing

Life sized 5-million-brick lego X-wing. 

Neat.

awesome thing of the day: Emma

Photograph yoinked from link and please don't sue me for using it, Jaime Moore.  Thanks.

This little girl is awesome and has an awesome mom.

You should totally go read about her.

back in the saddle, and some fabulous

This space hasn't updated for a while due to a pesky lineup of out of town trips.  But, I'm back!  And to celebrate, you should totally watch this awesome fabulous thing of the day: a public service announcement from George Takei on marriage equality.

awesome thing of the day

...kitty light-up bow ties.   Because bow ties are cool.

Though I'm not sure whey they have to be gender coded.  Why with the blue and pink theme, guys?  What about herringbone, or houndstooth?

Clearly, we can improve on this.  Fashionable light-up kitty bow ties!  Someone go invent that.

today in marriage equality

I tend to get more excited about country-level acceptance of same-sex marriage, because I'm so hopeful that we'll all join the civilized world in this matter.

But states matter too, in that they at least add to the momentum going on and may eventually contribute to the USA finally getting over itself and noticing that this is what people want.

So!  Yesterday Rhode Island became the 10th state to adopt same-sex marriage!  Woo double digits!  Apparently they were the last holdout in New England, so now that whole region has come to its senses.  Nice!

today in marriage equality

As of today, New Zealand is on board as the 14th country to recognize same-sex marriage.  Woot!

Apparently two thirds of their parliament voted for the bill, and after it passed the gallery broke out into a traditional Maori love song, along with cheers and applause.

It's been a big month for marriage equality.  I am way stoked about all this rapid progress.

Congratulations, Kiwis!

awesome thing of the day

Darth Vader doing the MC Hammer dance.  With Stormtrooper backup.

Yep.


(via Erika)

Scalzi is amazing, part eleventy

Have I mentioned lately how very very super-duper much I adore John Scalzi's blog Whatever*?

I do.  It's so juicy and delicious and full of patriarchy-smashing awesomeness. 

I also read and adore a lot of blogs written by women and other people in other demographics and I don't want to look like I'm awarding disproportionate cookies to Scalzi because of being white and male and intersectionality is complicated.  

Also, one of the extra awesome things about Scalzi is that he sees and acknowledges the clusterfuck of intersectional privilege working for him, and thinks that's a load of steaming poo and says so.  

Anyway, he's great.  

For todays installment of why Scalzi is awesome, I present his treatise on women in geekdom.  

There's been a lot of hubbub lately (where lately is the past decade or so) about people of the female persuasion (gasp!) daring to be interested in geeky things and even (!!!) go to cons and participate in fandoms for the things they like.  And predictably, there's been a lot of pushback from Real (read: male) Geeks shunning and criticizing and even assaulting those damn Fake Geek Girls because they're obviously just here for attention and what the hell are ladypeople doing at my con anyway?  

Those ladypeople are tired of putting up with that shit.  As well they should be.  

Anyway, it's a mess.  Scalzi's input on the subject is insightful and on target.  You should read it.  

*Incidentally, while I've been reading and loving Scalzi's blog for a while now, I hadn't gotten around to reading any of his actual books (you know, the thing he does professionally and is kind of famous for).  Today that changed, and on my morning commute I started Old Man's War, being the only Scalzi book we happened to have in the house.  So I'm fixing that situation!  Whee. 

picture of the day

Corgis having an adorable swordfight on a beach.

You're welcome.

today in marriage equality

Two awesome marriage equality measures in as many days.  Woot!

Adding another country to the list of those who are more compassionate than the US with regard to gay people being citizens too: France.  

Come on, guys.  France is ahead of us.  Let's get our shit together here. 

According to marriageequality.com and updating for the past two days, this is the list to date of country-level acceptance of same-sex marriage:

• Netherlands
• Belgium 
• Canada 
• Spain 
• South Africa 
• Norway
• Sweden
• Portugal 
• Iceland
• Argentina
• Denmark
• Uruguay
• France

Congrats to the governments and people of all these countries for being truly decent.  May we follow their example.  

today in marriage equality

Added to the list of countries who are ahead of the US on this whole people-with-other-types-of-love-lives-are-citizens-too-and-should-have-civil-rights thing: Uruguay.  

Can we just step up to the plate already and stop being so resolutely shown up by everybody else out there?  Isn't this supposed to be a 'civilized' country?

guilty pleasures

John Scalzi on guilty pleasures:

...I don’t feel guilty about my pleasures. 

My pleasures make me happier to a greater or lesser degree, they don’t hurt anyone else, and in any event one of the great advantages to being a grown up is being able to do what the hell you want and not have to apologize for it or run it past anyone else. The reason we call things “guilty pleasures” is usually because we substitute someone else’s judgment for their value over our own.

This is an amazingly healthy outlook, and it's a topic I've been working on in myself but had not elucidated nearly this clearly and effectively.   Not feeling guilty about things that make you happy is a rather important and advanced adulthood skill.  Scalzi, as always, you rock.