Arieso226

Sing-Off Percy Jackson Style!

Okay, I have this thought that there would be a sing off in CHB, of course when Leo comes back with Calypso and stuff, and that after a few weeks, the Apollo cabin comes up with an idea that the heroes of the prophecy should have an ultimate competition called Battle of the Voices! (Because they were bored)

The only problem : They pick who's gonna be the ones to sing off. And the first are Leo vs. Nico. But Leo and Nico get to pick which songs, of course after Nico gets over how ridiculous this is. Based off their own personality, Leo picks Centuries by Fall Out Boy, and dresses up in complete black. With his voice, it sounded like a dead donkey, but he thinks it's good. But then Nico comes in, dressed up in red collar jacket, jeans and sneakers, and black hat that says, Foxy. Almost everyone is in shock when he comes up on stage and starts singing and dancing to Uptown Funk, and he completely kills it with his vocals. Even makes his own killer moves once the song is done. Then he drops the microphone in front of Leo, Jason, Percy and Will, and says, "Nailed it," before walking off the stage to his cabin

Ra, the Sun Deity

There are many versions of Ra. ‘Ra’ is the Egyptian word for the sun, and since we are talking of the Egyptian pantheon of gods, he was the oldest of them all and later merged with others such as Horus, becoming Ra-Horakhty (the morning sun), Amun (as noonday sun), and Atum (the evening sun) associated with primal life-giving energy. As a solar deity, he was the sun riding in his ship during the day and descending into the underworld come night.

In Egyptian mythology, it is said he battles the giant serpent Apophis every time he goes to the underworld to start the end of the world and prevent the sun from ever-rising and destroying life on Earth forever. Ra was the most important god of Egypt and the most popular one, as he emphasized 'life-giving/bearing.' Worship of Ra was established in the Old Kingdom with the development of funerary rituals dedicated to the god. His image appeared on all royal monuments since the First Dynasty. Later emperors adopted the name “Ramses” as a religious title after the king's grandfather, who was also known as Ramesses I.

The most famous representations of Ra are is found on the Narmer Palette, a ‘‘hieroglyph of King Menes, which established Egypt’s first state religion around 3100 BC. The earliest known depiction of the god appears on one of the oldest surviving mummy masks, dating to the Middle Kingdom. This mask portrays the King wearing the headdress and chest ornaments that were worn by high priests of the temple of Ra during the Middle Kingdom period. Over time, the ram’s head symbol of Ra became widespread in Egypt, including appearing on the King’s banners and on temples as well as royal palaces.’’

Ra is a solar deity that is associated with light and rebirth. Throughout the history of mankind, the Sun has been considered the source of life for humanity, and therefore it has been used as a symbol by many religions to signify divinity. The Sun is associated with Ra because it is at his temple that the rays of sunlight would be most intense, shining on the statue of the god as if inviting him to shine on mankind. The ancient Egyptians believed that their civilization was founded by the gods of the sun. They associated the rising Sun with life and creation and used it to represent the passage of time – between each day and each month, the Egyptians measured the passing of time by counting the hours and minutes until the rising of the Sun again.

The Banning of Books

NO. 1

Books are intellectual properties that are increasingly challenged and criticized for their particular contents on race, sexuality, class, and gender, even fiction! Books aren’t just educational tools but forms of shaping individual experiences and values, and to be able to share the public is an essential part of our democratic society. The opposition claims that parents of young children have the right to keep their minds free and innocent of what is ‘controversial.’ A list of the books banned during this year is here if you wish to check it out.

NO. 2

Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental rights. Banning or censoring books violates individual rights, but how will children learn to express those individual ideas and thoughts if we suppress diverse perspectives? How will society move forward and evolve if we continue to shelter and limit knowledge? From Precocious Knowledge: Using Banned Books to Engage in a Youth Lens’, ‘‘The quest to protect the imagined innocence of ‘the young and inexperienced’ has endured and is today bolstered by differing organizations—Attempts to control language have a long history with youth; The implicit fear seems to be less about what language might do to teens and more about what teens might do with language. Obscenities can be used to wield power over adults or at least unsettle them. When we balk at a text because of its use of profanity, a racial slur, a homophobic remark, or any other language that might be deemed objectionable, we should consider if we are protecting our students or ourselves from feeling uncomfortable. Language that can be at times unnerving often feels reveals charged topics that demand messy and uneasy conversations.’’

NO. 3

In conclusion, this censorship is not only damaging our intellectual growth but another form of suppressing diverse perspectives, in turn trying to make a return to puritan society. Banning books is going to have the opposite reaction conservative politicians, groups, and parents are hoping for—instead of protecting young minds, it will only narrow their understanding of the world and deprive them of valuable opportunities for critical thinking. And no, I am not liberal, nor am I conservative (republican or democrat.) I am a citizen deeply concerned about the vast changes happening extremely quickly to limit and oppress the free flow of information, ideas, and expression. Children learn by example, and they express more than you give them credit for. They deserve the right to learn and explore freely.

If you are talking about the human tragedy and climate disaster impacting Hawai’i ONLY in relation to tourism or your (postponed) vacation plans . . . therein lies the problem.

Hawai'i is not an "eat, pray, love" trip nor is she a cultural theme park.

Hawai’i is a collection of communities with deep indigenous roots and ancestral identities (many queer + colorful) that American + European colonizers once attempted to eradicate.

In the present day, empire-builders and colorblind colonizers are attempting to gentrify and commodify these ancestral spaces, not to benefit the indigenous, diaspora, and immigrant folks (folx) who steward and preserve those waterways and lands, but to protect the interests and properties of billionaires on vacation

Afronaut Note: This is not a discussion about policing language or shaming folks in your neighborhood who are sharing vacation pictures or lamenting their travel plans. This is about expanding our horizons to center decolonized, ancestral, and communal spaces. Imagine if after the Japanese tsunami (2011) or Hurricane Katrina (2005), people shared vacation pictures and complained about having to cancel their graduation trips.

Original post from @seedingsovereignty

——

"Our culture has to be the core of our mana." Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask (1949 – 2021)⁠

A leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement & a fearless leader.⁠

Her memory is needed during these times. ⁠

Support the People of Hawai’i

The Federal Reserve

NO. 1

Today, we’re going to asking some questions all focused on the Federal Reserve. Who created the Federal Reserve? What is its purpose? And how does it continue to control us, poor and middle-class folks, today? The Federal Reserve Act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. Generally speaking, it has five general functions, ‘‘like conducts the nation's monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy; promotes the stability of the financial system; promotes the safety and soundness of individual financial institutions; fosters payment and settlement system safety and efficiency and promoting consumer protection and community development.

NO. 2

The first myth about the Federal Reserve, is that it is controlled by the federal government, hence the name. But in actuality, it is a private institution whose shareholders are commercial banks, hence the term, ‘bankers bank’. The word ‘federal’ is designed deliberately to create the impression that it is a public entity. Indeed, misrepresentation of its ownership is not merely by implication or impression created by its name. More importantly, it is also officially and explicitly stated on its website: ‘The Federal Reserve System fulfills its public mission as an independent entity within government. It is not owned by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution” [1]. To unmask this blatant misrepresentation, the late Congressman Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s, described the Fed in the following words: ‘Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders.”

NO. 3

Henry Ford quoted, ‘It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” In simplistic terms, the Federal Reserve basically controls the money supply, and average citizens, like you and me, work for any valuable company, and in order to receive those paychecks, you used where only a fraction of bank deposits are backed by actual cash on hand and available for withdrawal. This is called fractional reserve banking, and it is done to theoretically expand the economy by freeing capital for lending. Every single person on this planet is working under the Federal Reserve.

For more information, please watch the documentary ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’, based on Thomas Piketty's best-selling book, on Netflix. They give a widespread selling of how far back the plans to implement the Federal Reserve goes.

electing a brown skinned cop who uses imperial feminism to reinforce American exceptionalism all while she backs the same colonial projects and state funded violence that allows for the re-criminalization of poverty, the erasure of civil rights, and the expansion prison industrial complex is not a win.

there are a multitude of ways and workings to disrupt, divest, and dismantle the master’s house. kamala winning this election doesn’t fix this lovecraft country. kamala winning this election means a return to our communities to manifest direct action, collective liberation, and radical abolition that upRoots fascism, imperialism, and white supremacy from our gardens.

Krampus, the legend!

During the Christmas season, every young boy and girl awaits their presents and gifts with eagerness, hoping for Santa to make their way to their homes. The saying, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout is the official song for Santa Claus as he is checking his list for all the good boys and girls. But for those who are naughty children, the invention of the famed horned goat Krampus who works together with St. Nick.

NO. 2

Created in Eastern European folklore, Krampus, meaning ‘claw’, is depicted as a horned, half-demon like monster who terrorizes naughty children, hitting them and beating them with whips, other versions having him with chains, sometimes shaking them to scare the children, equipped with a sack or a basket strapped to his back, to cart off the children chosen to be either eaten or dragged to Hell. He even has a holiday dedicated just to him, celebrated in Germany and now, because of the film, in America as well, called Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night, on December 6. In this long and very funny tradition, spectators dressed up as Krampus appears in the streets, visiting homes and business, along with his devilish accomplices, evil elves and imps, the total anthesis of Santa Claus, who help Krampus scare people and onlookers in the streets.

NO. 3

Because of the resurgence of the celebration of Krampus in the late 19th century, including popular greeting cards with his image and funny rhymes and poems, not to mention the many horror movies or TV shows in North America, gaining traction and popularity every time Christmas comes around. Or maybe it’s because of the intense, heavy commercialization around Christmas time, meant for family and friends. So, here’s the question, do you celebrate Krampus, or Christmas as a whole, or do you think he’s just a myth better left to the children?

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

“Getting newsrooms out from under the management of hedge funds, tech billionaires, and other corporate conglomerates and into the hands of citizen-activists providing oversight for the proper reporting and representation of crucial community issues would be game-changing to the practice and consumption of journalism, promoting real trust and engagement in news through the active participation of the people it serves.”

— Trustworthy News for a New Normal

Norma McCorvey and the story of 'Roe vs. Wade'

It’s been a few weeks since Roe vs. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. It’s been the ideal goal for conservative lawmakers and groups. The case that got it overturned, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, focused on Mississippi’s appeal of a lower court ruling that struck the state’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy as unconstitutional. In Mississippi’s appeal to the Supreme Court, the state’s district attorney asked the court not only to uphold its abortion ban but to overturn Roe vs. Wade. This marks the first time that the U.S has taken away a constitutional right entirely. The overturning got me wondering: Who was the woman who accomplished Roe vs. Wade in the first place?

Norma McCorvey, the woman ‘Jane Roe’ at the crucial center of abortion rights, had flaws, as everyone does. In 1969 she became pregnant a third time and simply wanted an abortion. According to the NY Times, ‘‘‘McCorvey, a young single woman in Dallas, gave no thought to the fight for reproductive rights. She was barely getting by as a waitress, had twice given birth to children placed for adoption, and simply wanted an abortion. She later lied about getting pregnant, saying she had been raped. When, more than a decade later, she came clean and wished to join the movement she had come to represent in earnest, its leaders denied her a meaningful part in their protests and rallies. ‘I think they’re embarrassed,” McCorvey told Texas Monthly in 1993, ‘They would like me to be college-educated, with poise and little white gloves.’’

Because of the fall of Roe, over 13 states in the United States have trigger laws that were put in place to go into effect, and it marks the first time in the country’s history that the Court has taken away a constitutional right, not to mention many abortion clinics across the country have closed down. But this isn’t the end: large companies like Disney, Meta, Apple Zillow, Buzzfeed, Amazon, Levi’s, etc., have offered compensation for their employees who seek abortion procedures. Dozens of elected prosecutors from over 29 states, territories, and Washington D.C, have released a statement, ‘‘We decline to use our office’s resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions….Criminalizing and prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion care makes a mockery of justice; prosecutions should not be a part of that.’’

This video occurred in March, and I think it’s important to hear from an actual doctor. When studying anthropology in school, I was taught to be unbiased and objective, which I tried to do in my past articles. But I cannot keep my objectivity, knowing many women across the states cannot get a safe abortion, especially as this doctor explains in the video, will continue to happen whether or not they are considered legal. Norma McCorvey may not have meant to start the fight for abortion rights when she decided to find lawyers, it is important to know that she started the fight, and it will continue to pave historically on!