emily grace

I never thought much about feminism growing up. I’m lucky...

Mon, 27 May 2013 02:42:39 -0400

I never thought much about feminism growing up. I’m lucky to have a father that taught me how to use power tools and change tires, but who himself changed diapers and knew the art of making perfect Thanksgiving stuffing and Sunday morning pancakes.

But as I grow up and observe the world around me, I meet people both home and abroad who have been affected by discriminatory attitudes, abuse, and ridicule. I sigh at the omnipresence of impossibly thin feminine “role models,” cringe at the voyeuristic advertising of companies like American Apparel, shout back at the men who shout “hey, baby!” or grab my arm several times a day on the roadsides in Uganda.

And hope for humanity when I see projects like this video, calling out advertisers for their damaging campaigns. Watch the video, and read more here.

I think these things are probably interrelated.

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:11:00 -0400

Wal-Mart CEO makes more in an hour than most employees make in a year:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/walmart-ceo-pay-hour-workers-year/story?id=11067470#.UVz7yqtLWfM

In America, on minimum wage, you have to work between 63 and 138 hours per week to afford an apartment.

http://www.upworthy.com/how-many-minimum-wage-work-hours-does-it-take-to-afford-a-2-bdrm-apartment-in-yo

Children who’s parents have time/ambition to be involved in their lives get better grades.

http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/40/parental-involvement-and-childrens-well-being

House Committee votes to freeze welfare benefits to families where children are getting bad grades.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2013/04/03/house-committee-votes-to-starve-welfare-kids-for-making-bad-grades

Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda.

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:35:09 -0400

Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda.

Articles on Meaning, Purpose, and Passion

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:25:49 -0500

Emily Esfahani Smith for the Atlantic: There’s More to Life Than Being Happy

“Nearly a quarter of Americans do not have a strong sense of what makes their lives meaningful.”

James A. Pearson for the Ember Arts blog: Get Excited in 2013

“This sort of reasonless love mixed with deep belief makes passion. Or for the mathematically minded: Passion = Belief + Love. The overlap of belief and love, I think, is where we find the sort of sustaining passion that will keep us excited about our lives day after week after month after year.”

Seth Fischer for the Rumpus: That’s Life

“Lately, for unspeakable reasons, everyone has been talking about how everything in the world is terribly wrong. People are blaming guns and poor mental health services, but I get the sense that these are not the only things wrong, that there is something more.

It goes beyond this problem of “the stigmatization of mental illness.” Sure, that scares me, but there’s a thing that runs deeper. I can’t name it, exactly, and I certainly don’t know what to do about it, but I think it has to do with how we think about compassion and empathy and cruelty and survival.”

Nature has a formula that tells us when it’s time to die?

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:07:19 -0500

Nature has a formula that tells us when it’s time to die?

Census Dot Map. Everyone in the U.S. and Canada. By Brandon...

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 03:44:14 -0500

Census Dot Map. Everyone in the U.S. and Canada. By Brandon Martin-Anderson.

Uganda cloudscape.

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:51:19 -0500

Uganda cloudscape.

Truth and Illustrations

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:27:00 -0500

“Riding bikes everywhere? Using recyclable diapers? Carpooling? We’ve been doing that in Eritrea for decades. Where’s our reward for saving the Earth? Why aren’t we plastered all over Time magazine? If we lived in the same disgusting, gluttonous fashion that Americans lived, this planet would no longer be able to sustain the human race. But yet, they blame the world’s environmental ills on “overpopulation” (code: poor brown people existing) and then usurp our lifestyle habits, trademark it as their own and pat themselves on the back for doing the bare minimum.

How convenient of such a narcissistic nation.”

Source

19 things to stop doing in your 20's.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 02:22:02 -0500

19 things to stop doing in your 20's.

Finding Your Purpose.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 02:21:25 -0500

Finding Your Purpose.

Taken with Instagram at Crawfordsville, IN

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 12:01:14 -0400

Taken with Instagram at Crawfordsville, IN

Taken with Instagram

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:38:17 -0400

Taken with Instagram

Just in case you’re not tired of this yet. (Taken with...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:54:37 -0400

Just in case you’re not tired of this yet. (Taken with Instagram at Make Good)

Kevin Kelly’s ‘One Minute Vacation,’ a tour of...

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:23:03 -0400

Kevin Kelly’s ‘One Minute Vacation,’ a tour of Asia in 90 seconds.

"I see people in the world Throw away their lives lusting after things, Never able to satisfy their..."

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:27:43 -0400

“I see people in the world
Throw away their lives lusting after things,
Never able to satisfy their desires,
Falling into deep despair
And torturing themselves.
Even if they get what they want
How long will they be able to enjoy it?
For one heavenly pleasure
They suffer ten torments of hell,
Binding themselves more firmly
to the grindstone.
Such people are like monkeys
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water
And then falling into a whirlpool.
How endlessly those caught up
in the floating world
Suffer.”

- Ryokan, a Zen Buddhist monk and poet

eighteenth-century Japan

Monitor in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 11:06:08 -0400

Monitor in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

Produce in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 11:05:54 -0400

Produce in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

Half a pair of shoes in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 11:04:02 -0400

Half a pair of shoes in the alley. (Taken with Instagram)

A stop motion video directed by Vincent Pianina and Lorenzo...

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 17:16:10 -0400

A stop motion video directed by Vincent Pianina and Lorenzo Papace The song, Østersøen was also written, composed, and recorded by Papace for his band Ödland.

Nava Lubelski. Thread and canvas. Too much good stuff. More...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:16:55 -0400

Nava Lubelski. Thread and canvas. Too much good stuff. More here:

http://www.navalubelski.com/artworks.html