docFridays

I had my Mandarin midterm yesterday and I’m proud to say...

urballife — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:40:01 -0400

I had my Mandarin midterm yesterday and I’m proud to say that I understand this!

sociablesociopath:

that time of the week again

This happens this weekend, who’s down?! bluerapture: I...

urballife — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:40:11 -0400

This happens this weekend, who’s down?!

bluerapture:

I would totally do the private investigator one if I had a crap-ton of money to waste.

Franz and Faith

urballife — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:28:00 -0500

Franz Kafka was a 20th Century German writer. His pieces usually explored the absurd and how we as...

thiscitycalledearth: by Julien Simshauser, location unknown.

urballife — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:23:12 -0500

thiscitycalledearth:

by Julien Simshauser, location unknown.

“Slum tourism has its advocates, who say it promotes social...

urballife — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:54:44 -0500

“Slum tourism has its advocates, who say it promotes social awareness. And it’s good money, which helps the local economy.

But it’s not worth it. Slum tourism turns poverty into entertainment, something that can be momentarily experienced and then escaped from. People think they’ve really “seen” something — and then go back to their lives and leave me, my family and my community right where we were before.”

-Kennedy Odede, a Kenyan university student

sociablesociopath: lumpy—cake—princess: thelegendofcat: methyl...

urballife — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:15:22 -0500

sociablesociopath:

lumpy—cake—princess:

thelegendofcat:

methylbenzene:

prometheus and bob

Omg I remember this

I remember watching this with my dad and wondering why he was laughing harder at it than I was.

beingblog: A. Philip Randolph as Inspiration for Change by...

urballife — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:13:34 -0500

beingblog:

A. Philip Randolph as Inspiration for Change

by Susan Leem, associate producer

March 6, 1963: A. Philip Randolph (third from left) meets with other organizers of the March on Washington at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands to his right. (photo: OFF/AFP/Getty Images)

When we asked Grace Lee Boggs to speak about a leader who inspired her across her 96 years, the “elder stateswoman of the Black Power movement” credited labor leader A. Phillip Randolph as her inspiration:

“In 1941, I was working for $10 a week in the philosophy library of the University of Chicago. I had got my PhD the year before. But $10 a week didn’t allow me to live very luxuriously, in fact, I was living rent-free in a basement. One of the disadvantages was that I had to face down a barricade of rats in order to get to the basement. And that put me in touch with the black community which was also facing rat-infested housing.

It was July 1941 and A. Philip Randolph was calling upon blacks to march on Washington to demand jobs in defense industries. Because the depression that ended for white workers were not for black workers. When Franklin Roosevelt heard about the march, he begged Randolph to call it off. Randolph refused. Mrs. Roosevelt begged him to call off the march, Randolph refused. And eventually FDR issued executive order 8802 (Fair Employment Act) banning discrimination in defense plants for blacks.

That changed the life of blacks and made me decide I was going to become a movement activist. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I’ve been so fortunate!”

The 1941 March on Washington never happened. FDR did issue an executive order, which was enacted into law as the Fair Employment Act. Randolph’s idea later came to fruition over 20 years later when he directed the 1963 March on Washington. With 250,000 people attending, it was the largest peaceful demonstration for human rights in U.S. history, and the setting for Martin Luther King Jr.’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.

The audio above features A. Philip Randolph speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. His voice is deeply sonorous and moving in its call for equality not only for the sake of African Americans, but for all people.

Getting over it!

urballife — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:16:08 -0500

Yesterday at my “fairly easy job,” my boss called me up for a powwow to discuss my...

xoxonico: misskatie: kittykittybangbang: clambistro:brown...

urballife — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:11:12 -0500

xoxonico:

misskatie:

kittykittybangbang:

clambistro:brown cardigan

and i just spit my tea everywhere.

HAHAHAHAA OH GOD

5 Things I've Learned this Week from Sloppy People

urballife — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:05:20 -0500

I consider myself very lucky. I have a fairly easy job and work with fairly decent people....

Photo

urballife — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:14:59 -0500

somewhereintheworldtoday: Shalom! Happy Hanukkah! Hanukkah (or...

urballife — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:19:20 -0500

somewhereintheworldtoday:

Shalom! Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah (or Chanukah) is the Jewish Festival of Lights which dates back a time over 2500 years ago when Antiochus, the then King of Syria, wanted the Jewish people worship Greek gods and some of the Jews rebelled.

The first candle of the Menorah is lit at nightfall on the eve of the festival’s first day.

More on Hanukkah by Somewhere in the world today…

Picture: Hanukkah menorah by skpy, on Flickr

beingblog: Jay Smooth TED Talk about Race and Pockets of...

urballife — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:18:08 -0500

beingblog:

Jay Smooth TED Talk about Race and Pockets of Prejudice

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

“We are not good despite our imperfections. It is the connection we maintain with our imperfections that allow us to be good.”

Don’t you just wanna stand up and shout Amen! when you read this? Or at least nod in solid agreement with this profound statement that cuts to the quick of the essence of being human?

Jay Smooth, the video blogger of Ill Doctrine and founder of New York’s longest-running hip-hop radio in New York, WBAI’s Underground Railroad, gave a refreshing talk at TEDx Hampshire College about the ways we can have better discussions about race and racism. He’s funny and this talk is truly enjoyable. More importantly, it’s his astute observations about the ways in which these discussions devolve that’s worth noting.

He points out that discussions about race often border on matters of being a “good person” or a “bad person” — a matter of “who you are” rather than “what you said.” He reminds us that talking about issues of race is like bodily hygiene: it’s something you have to do and keep up every day. And, he says, when we embrace our own imperfections we are on the path to becoming a good person, a better human being.

What's on my plate 12-16-2011

urballife — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:23:45 -0500

Napa Cabbage!!! now I’ve had Kimchee before (and it was delicious!) but I wanted to know what...

Photo

urballife — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:26:06 -0500

Doing Better n Sh*t in 2012

urballife — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:54:42 -0500

As a proud member of That Nation (ihustlenation.com), I can’t wait on Jan. 1st to change. It...

Yes!

urballife — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:10:41 -0500

Yes!

I worry that I’m not making the most of each day…

urballife — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:04:18 -0500

I worry that I’m not making the most of each day…

Milos does things to my heart…

urballife — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:58:54 -0500

Milos does things to my heart…

I hate Turkey

urballife — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:53:06 -0500

I’m so happy I’m at a point in life where I can eat whatever I want. whenever I want. My...