activism

The cost of visibility

Submitted by Robyn on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:37pm

Yesterday was International Transgender Day of Visibility. I've had some concern with the existence of a single day for that. I pretty much try to make transgender issues and/or people visible every day.

In honor of the event, there were some special presentations.

In the UK, the beautiful people put together a video.

The video was produced by Jake Graf of the Danish Girl and features model Laith Ashley, blogger Evie Andrew, YouTube veteran Kieran Maloney, DJ/model Munroe Bergdorf and British Army Officer Captain Hannah Winterbourne:

What Are You FOR?: A Call For Your Stories Of Local Progress

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 9:26am

Good morning, my dear friends of c99. Please consider posting your stories of personal and local progressive activism and success. I yearn to read them. What are you or folks in your area doing to make things work? It would help make c99 a place where local progressive victories are celebrated. Below I will tell you more about one such conversation I had yesterday with one of my new friends here on c99 below as an example.

Bernie's Magic Carpet Ride To Victory Began In The Bronx Last Night

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 6:13am

Good morning my dear friends, here is the first of what will be an avalanche of good Bernie news from here on out. The Bernie campaign turned the corner last night and the magic carpet ride is on. "All right, G! What are we smoking today?" :=) I've watched a whole lotta Bernie speeches. Last night's speech was in a whole different league. Remember the pleas for Bernie to "draw the contrasts" sharper? Heh, heh, heh, if you watched last night's speech, you woulda done the same chair dancing I did. He waited until NYC. Why? Bernie is smarter than us.

Bread and Roses

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 11:08pm

I love protest songs, of all kinds, all eras, all genres, pretty much all the time. Like many here, I'm particularly fond of protest songs from the 60s & 70s; I'm such a folkie, it's embarrassing. I have no expertise but lots of enthusiasm, and I so hope you'd contribute some of your knowledge and experiences of the songs. First, what is a protest song? Phil Ochs has the best definition of them all. Please see below.

Personal Climate Resilience: The Underground Greenhouse

Submitted by Gerrit on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 4:05pm

This is a follow-up from conversations here on c99 on runaway climate change. "Um, G, tell me you're not a nutbar survivalist." No. Well, not yet :=) I'll write more later on the various options or levels of personal sustainability for climate change. Here is a follow-up on structures for growing plants year-round in a climate-controlled greenhouse (in an economical and fairly low-tech manner.) There are a number of existing technologies. Our family has chosen the underground greenhouse as a forthcoming project. Saving up every loose penny! I've got lots of photos and some links below.

2016 Global Temps Send Shockwaves Through Climate Scientists

Submitted by Gerrit on Thu, 03/24/2016 - 2:51pm

Hi Folks, I've been away. (You've all been real busy here! w00t!) Only to return with shocking news on global temperature records in 2016. You may well ask, "WTF, G! We're not even three months into 2016 and winter just ended last week (although tell that to the Great Lakes region, eh)?"
Well, dear friends, it is pretty bad. How bad? See more below.

February of 2016 was About 1.57 C Hotter Than 1880s Averages

Submitted by Gerrit on Wed, 03/16/2016 - 5:35pm

Woah. According to NASA, the planet hit the second of the red lines noted by climate scientists long before the 2010s. The first was +1C above 1880s averages, +1.5 was the second, and there be dragons beyond +2C. I've placed an extract, link, and graphic below.

Stormi pwns bigot

Submitted by Robyn on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 2:44pm

photo stormi_zpsermrfcft.jpgStormi is a Girl Scout. She lives in Herrin, IL. When she tried to make a cookie sale to one of her neighbors, he told her,

Nobody wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress.

You see, Stormi is transgender. She joined the Scouts last fall.

It made me sad, because I’m a girl.

--Stormi

She immediately wanted to go home, said Kim. She cried when she got home.

Stormi was put into foster care and placed with Kim three years ago through an emergency placement plan. She told Kim she wanted to donate cookies to other kids in foster care.

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