I play the boot.

jpjopj:

Adolf Hitler and Helen Keller are pretty much universal winners…in Apples to Apples anyway.

jpjopj:

Squirrels Occupying
Are we underestimating the intentions of squirrels these days?

How will you talk about it?: What's in a name?

tabutalk:

Just found a Patch.com news article discussing a name change of Pasco County’s Sexual and Domestic Violence Task Force to Family and Community Enhancement Task Force. The article asks, “Are we that afraid to talk about the issues of domestic and sexual abuse that now we cannot even name these…

jpjopj:

Happy birthday, Prince! I hope people shower you with gifts. I hope the sky pours velvet and jewels. Prince reigns.

[insert purple rain joke here]

juhsphotography:

dermolo:

juhsphotography:

This is big for me. Im in the last stages of getting my Gallery ready. If youre in Seattle come by, its open from the beginning of May till the end of May, the reception is on Friday the 20th from 4pm to 7pm. All the pictures in the gallery will be for sale. 

If youre in Seattle please reblog this to get the word out,

Thanks

Yo, check this guy out. He’s a close bro, and he has some HUGE talent!!! Pleaseeeeee go to his gallery. If you like his shit, BUY IT. If you have connections, get the word out!! He needs exposure. This kid’s got a future.

2 More days!!

C is for…

As a small-town, Missouri native one thing that stands out is the connectivity relief Brian found at McDonalds. For many small towns the chain restaurant is more of a community center than a burger joint. A place where retired farmers meet up for their morning coffee and chat about the latest news <gossip> heard on their scanners. Its parking lot is the high school hangout on weekends, full of trucks and teenagers just people watching for lack of “anything better to do.” Where, like me just a few years ago, college kids home on summer vacation catch up on email and Facebook with free WiFi because they can’t bear the slow speeds of their parents’ dial-up…

Read this account of what it was like to cover the disaster in Joplin, MO…

thedeadline:

I’m going to write this in a stream of consciousness, the same way I experienced Joplin.

It was my first time covering — more accurately, trying to cover — a disaster. The National desk knows I am a weather geek, so I came close to covering the tornadoes in North Carolina in April, and then the tornadoes in Alabama earlier this month. But the timing wasn’t right.

This time, it was. I was awake at 2 a.m. for a 6 a.m. ET flight to Chicago on Monday morning, just 12 hours after the tornado struck in Joplin. While in the air, I wondered if I should volunteer to go there. When I landed, I looked at the departure board and saw that a flight was leaving for Kansas City in 45 minutes. On a whim, I walk-ran to the gate and asked if I could buy a standby ticket. The agent said yes.

Two calls to New York later, I booked the 8 a.m. CT flight. I told the National desk that I’d be in Joplin at noon local time. I had no maps, no instructions, no boots. I had a notebook but no pen.

What I learned: always carry extra pens.

My cell phone was dying, but I reserved a car online before take-off. On the flight, I wrote a blog post about Oprah.

I was in the rental car at 9:45 and on the highway three minutes later. 176 miles to go, fueled by granola bars purchased at Whole Foods the day before. On the way, there was a conference call with the National desk. I was to travel to the ruined hospital and try to interview doctors, patients and other survivors. My worry, of course, was that the survivors would be far away from the hospital.

Monica Davey, a Times correspondent in Chicago, texted me the hospital address. My iPhone, now charging through my laptop, showed the way. But as I approached Joplin, cell service began to degrade.

I’m aware that what I’m going to say next will probably sound petty, given the scope of the tragedy I was witnessing. But the lack of cell service was an all-consuming problem. Rescue workers and survivors struggled with it just as I did.

What I learned: It’s easy to scoff at the suggestion that satisfactory cell service is a matter of national security and necessity. But I won’t scoff anymore. If I were planning a newsroom’s response to emergencies, I would buy those backpacks that have six or eight wireless cards in them, all connected to different cell tower operators, thereby upping the chances of finding a signal at any given time.

This is my first time coming upon a natural disaster as a reporter. I suppose my instinct should be “first, do no harm.”

Entering Joplin, I drove along 32nd Street, the south side of the devastated neighborhood, getting my bearings, wondering if it was safe to drive over power lines, looking for a place to leave my car. I parked a block from the south side of the hospital and approached on foot, taking as many pictures as possible, knowing I’d need them later to remember what I was seeing.

I tried to talk to a couple of nurses. They said they were not allowed to.

I started trying to upload pictures to Instagram. It sometimes took what seemed like ten minutes of refreshing to upload just one picture.

A view of the north side of the hospital in Joplin. http://instagr.am/p/EoTHO/

What I learned: In areas with spotty service, Instagram and Twitter apps need to be able to auto-upload until the picture or tweets gets out. (I’m sure there’s a technical term for this.)

I walked to 26th Street, north of the hospital, where the satellite trucks had piled up, and found The Weather Channel crew that had arrived in Joplin just after the storm. After interviewing the crew, we watched the search of a flattened house. That’s when I was able to see the extent of the damage to the neighborhood for the first time.

I’m speechless.

Part of me thought, “This is a television story more than a print story.” It was an appeal to the heart more than the brain.

I started trying to tweet everything I saw — the search of the rubble pile, the sounds coming from the hospital, the dazed look on peoples’ faces.

Read More

byow:

DOWNLOAD

Jacques Dutronc “Les Gens Sont Fous, Les Temps Sont Flous”
Alex Winston “Locomotive” (Beach Fossils remix)
———
Cat’s Eyes “Over You”
Wild Beasts “Reach A Bit Further”
Regina “Jos Et Sä Soita”
David Bowie “Modern Love”
Frank Ocean “Songs For Women”
———
The Antlers “I Don’t Want Love”
Peanut Butter Conspiracy “Why Did I Get So High”
Morrissey “Nobody Loves Us”
Priscilla Ahn “Vibe So Hot” (Benji Hughes cover)
Pete Yorn “Just Another”
———
Deerhunter “Nosebleed”
Phoenix “On Fire”
Junip “Howl”
R.E.M. “The Flowers From Guatemala”
———
Connan Mockasin “Forever Dolphin Love (Erol Alkan Rework)”

How will you talk about it?: Getting to know us: Jacque's proudest moment

tabutalk:

Last week we did a little exercise to write about our proudest accomplishment to date in 3,000 words or less. I believe it came about after we had to answer this question for the New Media Women Entrepreneurs grant. So here’s our Fund Developer, Jacque’s proudest moment. (Her’s may be a bit over…

How will you talk about it?: Getting to know us: Leslie's proudest moment

tabutalk:

Since graduating college, I’ve moved to New York and have been working to make my own way in the big city. I moved here without a job and searched for six weeks and was rewarded with a fantastic job doing social media. The thrill of a salary was short-lived however, as lay offs came around and…

How will you talk about it?: Getting to know us: Colleen's proudest moment

tabutalk:

Two years ago I was a senior at the University of Missouri pondering life after graduation. With journalism career opportunities shrinking I made a vow to find meaningful work beyond the traditional newsroom setting. During that final semester of college I found my niche between advocacy,…

jpjopj:

I heard you had a rough day. Here’s the customary ass-grab to make you feel better.
xoxoxoxo

Northern Departure @ Conor Byrne 04|23|2011

tabutalk:

Healing Through Art

Nikita, another artist shares her story of using her art to send a message about rape.

“My work deals with a whole plethora of various issues, but one thing ties all of them together and that is the issue of rape and how it affects the lives of those that have gone through it during their lifetime. I hope that my artwork will speak to many people, however in reality it is all very personal in nature. My own voice was silenced very early in life when I was barley in high school. I dealt with some very traumatic experiences and instinctively shut myself down and refused to talk about what I had gone through. As is the case for many others in my position it continued to eat away at me for the next few years until it had grown into something I could no longer handle. As a result of the stress of it all, I ended up turning to some very destructive habits to cope with all the feelings I had been harboring. I ended up in a treatment center for anorexia nervosa which specialized in trauma resolution. It was here that I was first introduced to art as a means to express what I was dealing with. For almost a year I was surrounded by girls who had experienced rape in every form and fashion, and contrary to what it’s like in general public settings, there, it was a normal daily occurrence to share our stories and experiences. Needless to say, when I left, I continued the healing process using art. I became a painting major and since then all of my work has focused on the psychology behind rape. It speaks not only to the event of rape itself, but also to how it can affect the way women (and men) view their bodies after, what it’s like to have gone through a pregnancy as a result of rape, the sense of empowerment that comes from finally speaking out about it, and most importantly, the messages that go through the heads of people who have gone through such experiences.

 When I first saw Colleen McDevit’s video “I am a Survivor of Rape” it brought tears to my eyes. FINALLY, someone was making it their mission to make rape okay to talk about. It impacted me a great deal. There were a number of paintings that I had never displayed in public shows because I still harbored some embarrassment about what I had gone through and was terrified that by showing them, people would instantly know my story, and judge me. Seeing the courage of the women willing to speak out in the video gave me the last shove I needed to get my works out for people to see instead of literally hidden like skeletons in my closet.  The praise I received from people was thrilling. I had friends come and speak to me about their experiences and tell me how my art had impacted them by taking something that they had never been able to put words to right in front of their eyes. I am still a practicing artist and my work will be ever-evolving, but I attribute much of my success to “I am a Survivor of Rape” for finally making it okay to talk about.”

countryandwestern:

Johnny Cash, The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle - Were You There When They Crucified My Lord