Cognitivedissonance:

Examples of overwhelming kindness following the Boston Marathon explosions.

The Rainbow Crosswalks Of Sydney, Australia

A popular rainbow crosswalk has been suddenly removed from Sydney, Australia’s gay and lesbian district because the city claimed it was a traffic hazard. The crosswalk was created to honor the 35th anniversary of the gay and lesbian carnival, and supporters want to keep the crosswalk because they say it serves as a symbol of the city’s tolerance.

In response to the city removing the crosswalk, people have started creating their own rainbow crosswalks.

Harry at the Burberry Prorsum A/W14 show today (17/2/14)

Another summer quickie, which became so tedious I started skimming it. I was so excited to get this book I ordered it from the UK. Felt very similar to Prozac Nation. How's that for a literary reference generation X? Anyway, too depressing, and I'm not interested in cutting. 

Devouring a whole cheesecake on the other hand, I can totally get on board with that.

Alice Pasquini

James Rhodes: 'Find what you love and let it kill you'

My life as a concert pianist can be frustrating, lonely, demoralising and exhausting. But is it worth it? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, says James Rhodes

Tubing it home, setting the score, pencil, coffee and ashtray on the piano and emerging a few days, weeks or months later able to perform something that some mad, genius, lunatic of a composer 300 years ago heard in his head while out of his mind with grief or love or syphilis. A piece of music that will always baffle the greatest minds in the world, that simply cannot be made sense of, that is still living and floating in the ether and will do so for yet more centuries to come. That is extraordinary. And I did that. I do it, to my continual astonishment, all the time. 

Stuff I like - strong, competent women

13/1/14

Met Edith Windsor: The 83 year old woman who is fighting to strike down DOMA With the Supreme Court hearing arguments for and against DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) in the case Windsor v. United States, I thought an info post about the woman who brought suit against the U.S. federal government was necessary. If the Supreme Court strikes down DOMA, her last name will live forever in constitutional law, but her life with the woman she loved for over 40 years, is really the heart of story. — Edith Windsor was a top IBM programmer in the 1960’s… in other words, bad-ass! Windsor moved to New York City after divorcing her husband to work as a secretary while earning a master’s degree in mathematics from NYU. She also had a a fellowship at Harvard University, you know, just because she was awesome. — Edith Windsor didn’t know how to get a date with a lady Like a lot of lesbians who move to a big city to be free, gay versions of themselves, Edith didn’t know exactly how to pursue a dating life (sound familiar, Tumblr?). She asked friends, “If you know where the lesbians are, please take me.” Her friends took her to a Greenwich Village restaurant called Portofino where she caught the eye of Thea Spyer, a psychologist. They danced. “We immediately just fit, our bodies fit,” said Thea. — Edith Windsor was engaged to Thea Spyer from 1967 to 2007 Thea proposed to Edith with a round diamond pin. She got down on one knee during a drive to the countryside in 1967. “She was beautiful,” Edie said in a recent interview. “It was joyful, and that didn’t go away.” At 45, Thea was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and in 2007, the doctors gave Thea the grim news that she didn’t have much time left. Edith and Thea flew to Toronto and on May 22nd, 2007 they were married. — Edith Windsor’s case is about estate taxes, but about so much more Despite being together for more than 40 years, in a relationship that most of us can only dream of and having a marriage that is legally recognized in Canada, when Thea passed away in 2009, Edith was saddled with a tax burden of $600,000 in state and federal estate taxes because her marriage isn’t legal in within the borders of the United States. This is one of the 1,138 benefits afforded to couples who are married in the United States. DOMA only recognizes a legal union between a man and woman and thus these benefits do not extend to same sex couples EVEN IF their marriage is legally recognized by the State. But in reality, this case is about so much more than just benefits and protections. Edith Windsor says, “The fact is, marriage is this magic thing. I mean forget all the financial stuff, marriage symbolizes commitment and love like nothing else in the world. And it’s known all over the world. I mean, wherever you go, if you’re married, that means something to people, and it meant a difference in feeling the next day.”

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/a-speculative-list-of-jay-zs-99-problems/

Awkward street cred issues re: recent events with “the 99%.”

Discomfort with monogamy and upcoming fatherhood, esp. w/in the context of being a very powerful individual (i.e. sex from whoever he desires widely available yet unattainable due to moral obligation).

Increasing existential distress re: fatherhood, fame, identity, public image.

Trouble figuring out which is the healthiest cooking oil.

cont...