It’s here. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours. It’s an album I wrote alone about the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas and tragedies I lived out as a young woman between 18 and 20. I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story. I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now. Therefore, you have 6 From The Vault tracks! I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still growing up, now) and the memories it brought back filled me with nostalgia and appreciation. For life, for you, for the fact that I get to reclaim my work. Thank you a million times, for the memories that break our fall. 💥🐉🏰 Speak Now (MY VERSION!) is out now.
Tumblr is known and also spoken of by its user base for its high proportion of lgbt+ users, but I’m curious as to if the lgbt+ user base is actually as large as though or if its just confirmation bias, so…
On Saturday, in New York, a group of friends pulled into a strangers driveway to turn their car around. The homeowner came outside, shot at them, and killed one of the 20 year old women in the car.
Last Thursday, in Kansas City, a 16 year old boy ended up at the wrong address by mistake trying to pick up his younger siblings. He rang the doorbell. The homeowner shot him in the head. He is, miraculously, alive and recovering.
Yesterday, in Texas, a group of high school cheerleaders stopped at a grocery store on their way home. One of them opened the door to the wrong car by mistake, realized her mistake, and quickly retreated and found her friends car nearby. The man in the car followed her and shot at the group. 2 were shot. One remains hospitalized.
In less than a week- 3 people, doing normal, nonmalicious, nonthreatening, everyday things. Turning around in a driveway, ringing the wrong doorbell, going up to the wrong car by mistake. And with no escalation, no warning, it turns to gun fire.
It’s a terrible intersection of easy access to firearms and an entitlement to use violence against others. All 3 of these recent incidents were so unprovoked and unjustifiable, and the core thread remains the same.
A man who felt entitled to use violence and had the means to do so with a firearm.
I don’t even know what to say.
How many of these incidents happened in dangerous communities?
How many of these people are victims of violence themselves?
And most importantly of all, how many of these guns were purchased illegally and therefor gun control laws wouldn’t have done jack shit?
The eagerness you have to write off and ignore gun violence and intra-community violence in general speaks terrible volumes.
None of the news articles I have read have mentioned the guns being purchased illegally or a history of being the victim of violent crime. Kansas City and Upstate New York are not known for being dangerous and I *know* the town in Texas where that incident occured- its a small town with very few issues.
But maybe more importantly, it’s more than just gun control laws, or our lack thereof, that’s the issue here. It’s our entire gun culture and the willingness to use deadly force against another member of the community with so little provocation. It’s about the paranoia and distrust of strangers and the ability to wield a lethal weapon against them despite no escalation or threat.
Better gun control measures, particularly things like registration systems, background checks, and ammunition limits would help some. But clearly there is more at play here. The entire mindset that Americans should be armed because they might need to defend themselves against a stranger with a gun, this perpetual paranoid arms race against an imagined neighbor- needs to be fundamentally challenged. The notion that not only should all Americans be ALLOWED to have a gun, but that all Americans SHOULD own a gun, that mass gun ownership for “self defense” is a good and noble and rational thing, is *bad.* it’s killing people.
It should not be this easy for us to kill each other.
learning to stop hating yourself isn’t something that happens overnight.
it’s a series of negotiations you make with yourself over your whole life. it’s making one less self-deprecating joke. it’s looking at yourself in the mirror with a little more generosity. it’s forgiving yourself for that little mistake.
it’s not one thing and then you’re good. it’s many small choices you can make that slowly make your brain and body a little less uncomfortable to live with
