If you like taking photos of street art, you have to be quick. Something that's here today could be painted over or ripped down tomorrow.
I am pretty bummed that someone painted over these beautiful drawings that were in the windows of an abandoned theater on Front Street.
This piece on Frankford is gone too.
I can't take hormonal birth control. I have an anxiety disorder, and the hormones make my panic attacks worse. They make me feel crazy and awful.
It's a shame, since the Pill works so well for most people. And when I was taking it and doubling up with condoms, I felt really good about how I wasn't going to get pregnant.
Because I really don't want to have a kid.
(I was going to bow to societal pressure here and explain all my very good reasons for not wanting a kid, but you know what? I won't.)
A few weeks ago, we had a whoops moment. An oh, shit, now what? moment.
So I took a dose of Plan B. And it was awful. A couple of weeks of the bad symptoms that got me to stop taking the Pill in the first place. Why it didn't occur to me that since the Pill is hormones and Plan B is hormones = panic attacks for me, I do not know.
Maybe it's because I can only keep so many things in my head at one time, and right now it's all Game of Thrones and Doctor Who.
(Look just because Plan B doesn't work for me, doesn't mean anything about it. Plan B should be available to anyone who wants it, any time. And it will be soon! Hell yeah, federal court!)
I made a decision. I hope there is not a next time, but if there is-- I am going to just have the abortion.
I'll just wait and see if I'm pregnant, and if I am, I'll have the abortion.
I said it twice, cause it's probably a shocking thing to say. Is it? I don't know. I'm not a good judge of what other people find shocking.
Having a panic attack is no fucking joke, you guys. I would rather have my uterus scraped out than have to spend a solid 2 weeks freaking out and thinking crazy thoughts. No. I do not want that.
Here's another reason-- it's my body and I'll do what I fucking like with it.
Fuck you! (In pretty colors!)
So why write about abortion, since I could possibly get furious emails about this? Because we need to talk about abortion and birth control. The anti-choice nutjobbers aren't going to stop talking about it, making shit up and trying to control women.
But it's a baaaaaabeeeeeee, people wail. Ok. Let's say it is. I mean, it's a zygote which is not the same thing as a baby, but let's say I gave you that argument.
Ok, it's a baby. By not letting the 'baby' stay inside my body, I've killed a baby.
Ok. So what? I should still be able to have the abortion, and here is why--
No one has the right to force me to use my body or even parts of my body to keep someone else alive.
If my sister needs a kidney transplant, and I am a match to give her a kidney-- I don't have to. You might think that makes me an asshole, but that doesn't mean THE LAW should tie me down to a hospital bed and do surgery on me against my will.
No one can force you to give blood. But if you don't give blood, people could die. People will die if everyone stops giving blood. Yet no one would propose that people be forced to give blood.
This is a body autonomy argument, and I first heard it on the podcast Godless Bitches.
So what we're really talking about is control over women, because if the body violation involves men too (forced organ or blood donation), it would never be tolerated.
Another right winger statement-- "You just want abortion on demand". The liberal response is to usually mumble something like-- Well, no. I agree abortion is bad.
Don't do that. I totally do want abortion on demand. I demand control over my body and my future. I think abortion is a good thing, just like the Pill is a good thing. The ability to control when and if we have children and how many is the fundamental basis of gender equality.
Why do you think right wingers want so badly to take it away?
You should use windows to take your selfies. They kind of look awesome.
If I do say so myself.
I love weird sticker art.
Always check the newspaper boxes. You can see all sorts of tiny art work.
They're been doing construction on Richmond Street for what seems like forever.
Sometimes I like to take pictures while I'm waiting for the bus.
It's called-- If I made myself prettier, would I have a chance?
Detail shots, so you can read the fortunes.
I never used to defend the American South. Never. I always hated it. I hated everything about it, and I hated living there.
It felt wrong to me, that I lived in Alabama. I could feel the wrongness of it every day. I think other people could tell too. I stood out, no matter what I did. I was in the wrong place.
But once I moved up north, to the East Coast, I became frustrated. People I worked with asked me crazy questions about the South- always assuming I must have grown up poor and stupid.
And racist, except mostly no one said it.
People would parrot back to me everything I said in their best Hee Haw accent-- see? This is what you sound like.
Here's a secret. No one likes this. It is rude.
And I don't sound like that, thank you. Also, almost no one I've met in Philadelphia sounds like Rocky.
I only began to struggle with being a Southerner once I left.
Here are some facts about the American South--
-Not everyone who lives in the South is conservative or a Republican. In Alabama, in 2012, 38% of people voted for Obama. That's almost 800 thousand people. 15 entire counties went entirely Democratic.
-There are people who live in the South who are not black or white.
-Racism is not a thing that only happens in the South. The entire country is racist. We are living on land that was stolen from Native Americans and build by slave labor. Yes, you too, people on the East Coast.
The rest of the US loves to point at the hicks down South and throw shade. Look who doesn't have their act together. Look at them. Over there. Don't look at ME. Don't look here, at MY re-segregating schools. At MY racist stop and frisk policies. At MY rates of incarceration for people of color.
No matter where you live, you are living somewhere racist. And if you actually gave a damn, instead of playing laugh at the cracker redneck, you'd take a hard look at yourself.
Now. All that said. It would be super helpful if the South would... I don't know. STOP BEING FUCKING RACIST. Maybe you could stop trying to prevent black people from voting. Maybe you could stop talking shit about people on "welfare". WE KNOW YOU MEAN BLACK PEOPLE.
Maybe you could stop waving the Confederate flag around? If you would like to be proud of the South, here is a list of things you can be proud of.
-Southern food is the best damn food in the country, and everyone knows it.
-The music. The blues are from the South. AND rock and roll!
-We own American literature. Eudora Welty. William Faulkner. Tennessee Williams. Flannery O'Connor. Alice Walker. Harper Lee! And look at how many of them are women! How awesome is that?
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
So, I said all that to say this-- Brad Paisley and his stupid Accidental Racist song needs to shut the fuck up. For one thing, dude? You are from West Virginia. That ain't the South. In fact, we only have a West Virginia because they didn't want to secede with the rest of Virginia.
It is not ok to wear the Confederate flag. Find a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt without the flag on it. They exist.
If you think the Rebel flag is about Southern pride, you are wrong. You are doing it wrong! Do you know what the Rebel flag means to me? Not the Civil War or hometown pride-- it means the Klan. It's from the KLAN, you guys.
Also, slavery wasn't that long ago. Just because something happened before you were born, doesn't make it go away. Actions echo into the future. Not to mention, that the people who tried to burn the Freedom Riders to death, who wanted to kill James Meredith for going to Ole Miss, who DID kill and terrorize so many people it makes my soul ache just to think about it? Those people are still around!
If you are my age, those people are our grandfather's and parents' generations. Tons of those people are STILL ALIVE. And John Lewis, who was almost killed in Selma on the march to Montgomery, is still alive too. He's working in Congress and just generally being a BOSS.
It was not that long ago!
Jesus fucking Christ. Sometimes I see people in New Jersey or PA with Confederate flags, and it just makes me want to go lie down in a dark room until my fucking brain stops hurting.
You guys, I seriously forgot why I went to Youtube in the first place or what I am even supposed to be doing at the computer.
You can download this vid on http://noweline.distant-sky.org This is a birthday present for my dear friend Vanessa aka FelicityKing. Note; I cut the song because I wanted to upload the vid tonight :p All copyrights belong to their respective owners. No profit intended.
I love you, Jane Austen.
Misandry is not a thing.
NOT A THING.
NOT.
That is all.
How freaky is this Polaroid? It's from a Barbie diorama at the Trocadero on Arch Street. (Just assume I'm always talking about Philly cause that's where I live.)
Note- Gross and weird is a good thing to me.
I probably should have known this photo was going to turn out weirdish. I was shooting thru glass, which is always iffy with Polaroids (for me, anyway). Super up close, which is not always the best. And I'm using the discontinued Impossible Project film, which came out super brown in this pack.
I'm a little bummed that Impossible seems to have burned thru all the really iffy film from their first batches. Sure, I had multiple packs where almost none of the shots even developed. But I also had some really interesting photos too.
I've been a bit distracted and broke lately, so I haven't had a chance to buy any new film. Also, it's cold as hell lately. I don't shoot much when it's this cold.
More street photography as it warms up!