I miss London...

When someone finds out I went abroad, the first thing they usually asks me is "What was your favorite part?"
Well that's easy. Everything.

I mean, not everything is amazing. Rush hour on the Tube was a hot mess. The food was overall pretty bland. Everything was at least twice as expensive as I was used to. Public restrooms cost money. But even the shitty stuff was still amazing because I was in London.

And I learned so much about myself. I learned just how capable I was at being independent. I learned that I could adapt to a lot more than I was every able to before.

My entire reality kind of shifted, and opened.

I miss pubs, true English pubs.
I miss seeing a massive, sleek contemporary office building next to a cottage-y 6-hundred-year-old inn.
I miss public transportation.
I miss the accents.
I miss that Dublin and Paris and Rome are only a hop, skip, and a train/plane ride away.
I miss traveling, being somewhere new every single weekend.
I miss exploring. New parts of town, a new city, and new person.
I miss the diversity. In Iowa, everyone I'm surrounded by is the same. We all went to that kind of high school, and go to that kind of college and had the same experiences and the same views.
I miss being on the same continent as Lisa.
I miss Camden Market.
I miss all the walking.
I miss the National Gallery. I went there like 15 times, I swear and I still didn't see everything.
I miss how much more liberal Europe is than America.

I miss the history. Every building, every street, every city has a history. Antiques aren't 150 years old, like in the states. They're like 800 years old. It's mindblowing.


After being in London, I knew I had to get out of Iowa. I want diversity and things to do and places to be and people to meet.

I want London.

Tumblr Tuesday

Feminist Friday: How people react to feminism

So I got an idea to make gif reactions of when I talk to people about feminism. It wasn't totally my idea. I was cruisin' the Hollaback DSM webpage and discovered Becca's Holladay Gifs, and I realized how accurate those were, and how many times stuff like that happened to me, especially when I talk about feminism. So ladies and gentlemen, here you go.

How people react when I bring up feminism, as told by gifs:

When I hear another Republican politician mansplaining to be about how my body works.

When someone tries to tell me how "friendzoned" they are and deserve sex.

When I get catcalled in pasta aisle at the grocery store:

Trying to change the perception of feminism in popular culture:

Trying to find a redeeming quality in Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann:

But finally, I'm just like:

Society's perception of feminists:

My future, most likely:

Tumblr Tuesday: Cuddlefest

Meow Monday: Frightened Felines

One Billion Rising: Des Moines Style

This week I had an amazing opportunity to go to the Des Moines 1 Billion Rising Flash Mob. Although I wanted to join in, I decided to be the mob's photographer and took a ton of photos of the event. It was empowering and moving, to say the least. 

What's 1BR? Glad you asked. Here's how Eve Ensler describes it, which is way more eloquent than any way I can explain it:

"One in three women on the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime. That is ONE BILLION WOMEN violated. One billion daughters, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, lovers and friends. On 14th February 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, we are inviting ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence. ONE BILLION RISING will move the earth, activating women and men to dance across every country. V-Day wants the world to see our collective strength, our numbers and our solidarity across borders.

ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY
ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION

One Billion Rising is:
A global strike
An invitation to dance
A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends
An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers
A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given
A new time and a new way of being"

 This is a video 1BR put out to raise awareness. (TW - It's very graphic and triggering)

And here's the Des Moines flash mob. This is how we rise:

Meow Monday: Aristocats

Job Hunting as told my Disney Gifs

At first you're like, "Yay! I'm all set for this! Let's get started!"

And you dream about a job that I love, that uses you skills, that's in the perfect place, with the perfect people, and actually pays you. 

And you're all ready to go, but life is like, "haha sucks to suck, there's no jobs out there for you."

 You look everywhere...but to no avail

And so despair takes over.

But then you find a job that is PERFECT for you

And you're like, "Hi. Hi. Hi. PICK MEEEEEE"

But then it turns out they want you to move to bumfuck nowhere Arkansas. And you're like uhhhhhh...

 no.

And so you sick in to a deep depression.

And there's no happy ending. You're just three months away from graduation with no job and mounting student loan debt.

Feminist Friday: Responding to Sexual Assault

(Trigger Warning!)

A few weeks ago, there was a Thought Catalog article (yes, another one) titled "What if We Responded to Sexual Assault By Limiting Men's Freedom Like We Limit Women's?" Indeed...how would we respond? Reading the article and thinking about it I was reminded of a few analogies:

Here's a favorite of mine:

Let’s imagine a world in which women cut men’s dicks off. Like, frequently. To the extent that one in five men has had his dick cut off by a woman or had a woman attempt to cut his dick off.

Sometimes it’s a clear-cut case where a woman attacks you in the street, out of nowhere, and cuts your dick off. But more often it’s a situation where you actually know the woman, maybe you trust her, maybe you think everything’s okay, and then one day she cuts your dick off.

Okay, now let’s also say that the shame and guilt around having your dick cut off is so strong that many dick-cuttings go completely unreported. After all, someone is likely to raise the question of whether or not you were “asking for it” in one way or another. And if you do accuse a woman of cutting your dick off, you can expect to see people (quite naturally) rally to her defense and slander your character in response.

You can expect to see her friends … who are maybe also friends or yours … shrug their shoulders and say “Well, I don’t know, it’s complicated … it sounds like something was just happening between the two of them and maybe it got out of hand. I dunno. But I know that Sarah’s not a bad gal. I know she would never, like, MALICIOUSLY cut a dude’s dick off.”

Now imagine every time it says "cut a man's dick off" replace it with "rape" and you'll see why I get really pissed off when people don't take sexual assault seriously.

Finally, some Rape Prevention Tips (for men!):