Shout out to my Arabic teacher that looked at us yesterday mid-lesson and said, “I’m worried. You all look exhausted and depressed.”
Of course we were all like, “Oh yeah we’re dead inside, you haven’t noticed?”
And he snapped shut the textbook, threw up his hands and said, “That’s not healthy! No more vocab! Time for dancing!”
And he taught us a dance from Iraq and we danced instead of doing vocab. We didn’t stop dancing until he saw all of us laughing and was satisfied that we were all feeling better. It was perhaps the coolest, most kind-hearted thing I’ve ever seen a college instructor do.
But you know exactly how much work you put into your art, how many hours and how much care and love went into your pictures and no matter the amount of likes or retweets you get, you KNOW the worth of your work.
I’ve had this feeling bothering me a lot lately and I know I’m not alone out there, so here’s some positivity for all of you from my main artblog!
Yesterday a man came into my work, all scruffy and dirty with a big backpack on his shoulders, and as he was leaving I told him to stay dry because it’s been raining almost none stop for a few days.
He stopped and turned around and laughed, and then he showed me his new shoes that he just bought and said “I’ve been walking the perimeter of the United States; these shoes will last me another month, rain or sunshine.”
We talked for a bit and he told me about how he’s walking around the perimeter of the entire U.S. to raise awareness and money for the homeless. He told me about some things he’s seen and the places he’s been so far. Before he left, he gave me a big smile, said “God be with you,” and walked out the door with the happiest strut I’ve ever seen.
He started off in Virginia and made it all the way down here to Florida on foot, and he’s still got a long way to go. He was very kind and very optimistic.
I’ve never met someone like him before, so I want to try and spread him and his effort here on tumblr.
He isn’t very popular yet, but I really want to try to spread his word and raise awareness of the homelessness issue here in the U.S., and try to help him raise money for this cause.
His name is Leroy Bailey and if you want to follow him around the U.S. his facebook is here.
I didn’t get a photo of him so I took this one from his facebook
It’s been almost 3 months since I posted this and Leroy is now in Texas! He still has a really long way to go though so let’s keep this circulating, get his name and his cause out there!
I left my house in the middle of the night and walked to a bridge to jump. By the time I had walked all that way and was at the bridge. The effort to climb to a spot to jump didn’t seem worth it all of a sudden.
When I was 17 i decided I wanted to kill myself. I hiked up to the top of this mountain to a summit called “Maidens Cliff”. there was a plaque at the beginning of the trail that told the story of a girl who had accidentally fallen and died while on a family hiking trip and how the cliff was named after her. By the time I’d made it to the top I’d changed my mind about jumping. About two years later I went back to that trail and hiked it with my family (they were completely unaware of what I had planed to do to myself on that cliff years prior). My mom read the story on the plaque aloud to all of us and I was so thankful that I had changed my mind about jumping because all I could picture was my name on that plaque instead of the girls. Time helps put life into prospective. The things you are going though are not worth ending your life over. Keep fighting. For your friends, for your family, and for your future self. You are worth it, life is worth it.
London-based student Lewis Hornby is a grandson on a mission. When he noticed that his dementia-afflicted grandmother was having trouble staying hydrated, he came up with Jelly Drops—bite-sized pods of edible water that look just like tasty treats.
Each of these colorful “candies” is made up of mostly water, with gelling agents and electrolytes making up just 10% of their composition. Available in a rainbow of colors and presented in packaging reminiscent of a box of chocolates, Jelly Drops are an easy and engaging way to avoid dehydration—a common problem for those suffering from degenerative neurological diseases.
“It is very easy for people with dementia to become dehydrated,” he explains. “Many no longer feel thirst, don’t know how to quench thirst, or don’t have the dexterity to drink.” With this in mind, Hornby set out to find a solution. In addition to seeking advice from psychologists and doctors, he opted to “experience” life with dementia himself through the use of virtual reality tools and a week in a care home.
Once he was familiar with what dementia patients need, he brainstormed what they want. “From my observations, people with dementia find eating much easier than drinking. Even still, it can be difficult to engage and encourage them to eat. I found the best way to overcome this is to offer them a treat! This format excites people with dementia, they instantly recognize it and know how to interact with it.”
Case in point? Hornby’s own grandmother’s reaction: “When first offered, grandma ate seven Jelly Drops in 10 minutes, the equivalent to a cup full of water—something that would usually take hours and require much more assistance.”
you don’t need anyone’s permission to love yourself. you don’t need to look at others for validation. you’re you, and that’s all that matters 💜 (trans)
Vogue and the CFDA
announced that they will no longer book models under 18 in an effort to
make the fashion industry less exploitative.
In an article in the
September issue announcing the move, Maya Singer explains that the
fashion industry has developed an unhealthy cycle of hiring young,
vulnerable models who will fit tiny sample sizes, failing to give them
adequate support for the pressures and temptation (drugs, alcohol)
they’ll face, then dumping them once they’ve grown too large for sizing
that’s supposedly marketed at adult women.
This is damaging to the young
models themselves, who all too often face long, exhausting hours,
pressure to undertake extreme diets, and exploitation of their lack of
knowledge of the industry, and to fashion lovers who are subconsciously
told that the beauty ideal is someone underage.
‘No more: It’s not right
for us, it’s not right for our readers, and it’s not right for the
young models competing to appear in these pages,’ writes Maya. ‘While we
can’t rewrite the past, we can commit to a better future.’
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