i mean, people suck, but we as a species made an instrument to send hurtling through space at 31,000 miles per hour for 9 years so we could learn more about things 3 billion miles away from us, with a small sample of the ashes of the guy who discovered Pluto on board the spacecraft, so i tend to think that not all hope is lost.
While progressives are justifiably celebrating the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, the Court made another decision that spells the beginning of the end of the Prison Industrial Complex. The Court decided that the Federal three-strikes law is unconstitutionally vague.
With the Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States, support for imprisoning blacks comes full circle. By an 8 to 1 margin, the most conservative Supreme Court in US history decided that the Federal Law that authorized strict penalties for 3rd strike felonies is unconstitutional. This reverses decades of cases where the Court ruled that locking up people for minor crimes and throwing away the key is just fine.
The question now is, “Where do we go from here?” This decision only affects federal cases, but it does mean that thousands of federal prisoners will have their sentences reviewed. In California, which has already changed its 3rd-strike laws, the total number of prisoners dropped nearly 9.4% (15,493 people) between 2010 and 2011. But federal prisons hold twice as many prisoners serving drug-related terms, so it is possible as many as 15%, or 30,000 will be released in the first year.
Will legislatures be able to resist pressure to keep these laws on the books? Given the changed political landscape with regard to racial profiling (which is now outlawed in many jurisdictions) and Marijuana use (which is now legal in 3 states and the District of Columbia), we can hope that many legislatures will correct their racist laws. At least, we can all work to force them to do it by electing Democrats to state legislatures.
oh my god, this is big.
Please let this be the beginning of something more… please….
Thomas Knox has been hitting up train platforms across the city with a table, two chairs, a simple vase of flowers and, occasionally, a game of Connect Four. Then, he waits for idling commuters to take a seat and, well, get to know him a little better.
“I wanted to do something fun in the subway due to all the negative things that happen,” says Knox. “I wanted to make people smile and enjoy the commute. I feel each date has been successful in its own unique way. The general reaction has been positive and hopeful.”
Me: *explaining to my lil bro what having a period feels like because he was curious*
Dad: Hey shut up literally no one wants to hear about that ew
Dad: Besides women are exaggerating the so called pain they go through anyway
Me:
Bro:
Bro: No wonder mom left you.
Me: OH MY GOD oH MY gOd OOOOOOOOOOOH
I went to the post office to drop off some mail and there was a quilt waiting for me. a woman from new zealand, a total stranger, wrote me a letter on a page from my book and basically explained that she follows me on Instagram and can see that sometimes I “struggle a bit with days that feel blue.”
she wanted me to remember that things are okay and sometimes a hug is the answer. she sent me a beautiful quilt that she made herself. she went on to explain how making quilts got her through her own rough patch.
the part that kills me is that she described herself as a “nobody who lives at the bottom of the globe” when actually she has proven the exact opposite. SHE IS A SOMEBODY and I AM A SOMEBODY and the world can be a very hard place sometimes but LOTS OF GOOD PEOPLE are out there, connected in ways now that we weren’t before.
I try to remember that when I feel like shit, that there are good humans and I’m hopefully one of them, and emoting outwardly and online helps us all find each other. it’s easy to forget sometimes that it’s okay and feelings are okay and sharing is okay.
I am still completely floored by this act of generosity and pure human kindness. I can’t believe someone out here in the world used their own two hands and made me a quilt. it means so much and I’m not sure I deserve it but I’m very grateful.
This is so sweet and the quilt is so lovely!
It’s easy to forget that what we do on the internet affects others. Social media makes it easier to connect with random strangers across the world, and those connections can be just as meaningful as ones that happen face to face. ❤
The Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan was started by an Indian man named Bunker Roy. The organization is essentially a college that teaches women from all over the world (but primarily “developing” countries) how to be solar engineers.
That’s right. Solar engineers.
Classes are attended by local women and women from Peru, Fiji, Rwanda, Nepal, Belize, Ethiopia, Bhutan, and more who are illiterate or semi-literate. Most of them are from rural and poverty-stricken areas. The school does not take attendance, have exams, demand their students speak English or have prior education, and does not ask for fees. These women learn how to make solar panels and bulbs, how to plug them into an electrical grid, and how to provide clean renewable energy to their entire village. They then take this knowledge back to their hometowns in distant countries.
How are they taught without a common language? Everything technical is color coded. The women learn important words “LED, wire cutter, copper, connection, etc.” They communicate through common sense and the desire to learn. The college accepts anyone and everyone, mothers, lower castes (still an ongoing problem in India), older women, young women, women who have never attended school, married women.
Since 2004, the College has taught at least 250 women from 41 different low-industrial countries to be solar engineers. 5 out of their 8 engineer professors are women. 35 out of 200 workers are physically disabled. The BC is currently powering both their own facility, homes in nearby villages and towns, and their former students are powering homes all across the world from wisdom and materials imported from the BC. Their local villages pay their salary.
Roy did try to teach both men and women, but they didn’t stay in the harsh conditions or wanted jobs that paid more (as the BC doesn’t hand out “official” diplomas or degrees). Eventually, the college became largely female. “Why not invest in women, older women, mature women, gutsy women who have roots in the village?” Roy said.
I cannot emphasize how amazing this organization is. The Barefoot College is a safe and accepting place for anyone who wants to learn about clean and renewable energy. It encourages women’s empowerment, helps them out of poverty, and provides solar energy to places where the prices of kerosene and batteries are excessively high.
Sources (please look over them as there are more pictures and I could never do justice to how incredible this entire thing is with just my own words): [x][x][x][x][x][Bunker’s Ted Talk][Donate]
“To date, Barefoot College has trained about 15,000 women, most of them previously uneducated, to become teachers, construction workers, water testers, artisans, photographers, dentists, social activists, and solar engineers. The women, in turn, have brought basic services–such as water, light, education, and healthcare–to at least half a million people.”
Kimchi and Justice 