Run to the End of the Highway

queennubian:

agirloficeandfire:

andtherebyhangsatale:

OH MY GOD THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS.

<3

you gonna learn today!

So today I was walking a dog I’m taking care of in this cool park by the river. And there was a little kid (probably between 10 and 12) by the side of the path on a bike calling something out to different people walking by. They were all ignoring him, so when I went past I stopped to see what he wanted. He said, “Hey, can you go down there (a beaten down, grassy path that led into a brushy area)?” At first I thought he might be trying to pull a gag with some friends who were waiting to scare some random stranger or something, but soon I realized that he was curious about the area and didn’t want to go alone.

I kinda felt bad for him and he seemed pretty insistent, so down the path we went. As we walked, he kept saying how “wavy” the river was today and doesn’t it look really scary? We got to a tiny tributary about 15 feet across, almost completely dried up, that we needed to cross to get to the other side of the path. He just froze and said he couldn’t make it. The water was literally trickling over mostly dry bricks that made the floor of this stream.

I tried to show him how easy it was to walk on, even my skittish pup was coming along, but he just shook his head. I came back and said, “What if I told your bike and the dog leash and we both go across?” He thought about it and pretty soon decided maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. And just a few nervous giggles later we were across the stream and he was all smiles. I felt pretty good too since I rarely get to even do a small favor for someone so much younger than myself. Then out of the blue, as we walked up the bank he said, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

I was totally unprepared. I haven’t been asked that question in person since I was probably seven or eight when I figured a person’s sex defined those kinds of questions. I almost said, “That’s kinda complicated” or even “Well…I’m not really either,” but something inside of me freaked out and I wondered what his parents might say if he told them he had met someone who wasn’t a boy or a girl. So I just went with, “I guess I’m a girl.” He nodded and I started saying, “But I don’t think that’s very important…” but he just said, “Yeah, I could tell because of your…” He looked sideways and up at me, but not up to my face. “Because of your voice.” I just kinda smiled and laughed.

So I was wondering, for anyone else out there who reads this and considers themselves not completely male nor female or not at all, how would you have responded? I’m not really used to talking to kids at all, but this is a pretty complicated subject no matter who you’re talking to.

We’ll probably never know how many women inventors there were. That’s because in the early years of the United States, a woman could not get a patent in her own name. A patent is considered a kind of property, and until the late 1800s laws forbade women in most states from owning property or entering into legal agreements in their own names. Instead, a woman’s property would be in the name of her father or husband.

For example, many people believe that Sybilla Masters was the first American woman inventor. In 1712 she developed a new corn mill, but was denied a patent because she was a woman. Three years later the patent was filed successfully in her husband’s name.

— FactMonster.com (via stfuconservatives)

gaywrites:

Sometimes change is a good thing. 

lickystickypickywe:

The Netherlands can sometimes sweep you off your feet with her beauty.

zintecktable:

everyoneisgay:

-Question submitted by Anonymous

—

Dannielle Says:

I have a few things to say about this topic. I think we gaywads need to stop saying things like ‘heteronormative’ …bc like 1. you sound like an asshole. and 2. you’re literally reinforcing this thing you say you can’t stand. If you don’t…

Got as far as Dannielle calling this person an asshole before I got disgusted. Are you kidding me, Dannielle? Do you even understand the term heteronormative? Consider this blog unfollowed.

^Exactly. Some of us don’t live in rainbows and unicorns land where no one cares about your gender identity or sexual orientation. I get crap thrown at me from complete strangers for just appearing gay/queer. And that comes from our intensely heteronormative coulture.

prox-plosion:

So little written, yet so powerful…..

fingerprintripples:

transfeminism:

I support trans women

it’s sad that this isn’t a given for all feminists/people that don’t suck :(

oldhollywood:

Sissy Spacek & Martin Sheen on the set of Badlands (1973, dir. Terrence Malick)

Sheen: “One night I got a call saying that [Malick] decided to use me and would I be willing to do it. And I said, ‘Why sure, I’d be happy as Larry’. [The next morning], I was driving along Pacific Coast Highway and I was listening to a Dylan song called Desolation Row..and suddenly it dawned on me what had just happened - that I had the role of my life. And I began to weep uncontrollably with joy and I had to pull off the side of the road and just stop and reflect on what was happening. And it was one of the most profound moments of my life because it was the realization of a dream that I never thought would happen to me.”

Spacek:”It was a very passionate kind of working experience. No one was making any money and everyone was there because we were desperate to work on the film…It was probably the first film that I felt creatively engaged in. Terry would ask me questions about the character. I felt like I wasn’t just an actor for hire…After working with Terry, I was like, ‘The artist rules. Nothing else matters.’ My career would have been very different if I hadn’t had that experience.”

(via)