This, that, and more. My original items are marked. All other items credited to the best of my ability. Please extend the same courtesy to the artists and their copyrights. Reblobs here.
On October 23, 1915, twenty-thousand suffragists marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City demanding the right to vote.
In the photo there is Komako Kimura (1887-1980), a prominent Japanesesuffragist, who arrived from Japan to help out her sisters in America and joined in the parade.
Kimura came from a traditional Japanese family, who had arranged a marriage for her when she was 14 years old to a man she had never seen. Like many women in Japan during that time, she was expected to obey the traditional customs. She was expected to be obedient, she was expected to follow the same traditions that generations of her forebears had followed before her.
But, on the way to the marriage ceremony, Kimura had other thoughts. She would slip out of the carriage and go into hiding. She sold her wedding finery and bought a ticket to another city. There, she would make a name for herself as a dancer.
She then again defied Japanese convention by eloping with a young doctor. She would become a writer, publishing a novel, then edited a woman’s magazine in Tokyo, called Shin Shin Fujin, the first publication in Japan of its kind asserting women’s rights. It would be so controversial that the magazine would be suppressed.
The conservative government of Japan then started watching her and would refuse her to hold suffrage meetings in the streets of Tokyo.
She would also become a well-known actress in her country who would take on daring roles. Again, the government would step in, telling her that she needed to stick with nice and mild roles befitting of women at that time.
She responded to that edict by opening her theater to the public without fee. She would be arrested and put on trial. The government, however, never knew what they were truly dealing with: Kimura would defend herself, providing arguments that were so well thought out that her trial would receive much publicity. Because of her, the word “suffrage”, previously unspoken before in Japan, would be carried into the remotest districts of the empire.
Do not tell me that girls cannot change the world. I grew on stories of a twelve year old Anne Frank in a cramped, silent room weaving hopeful magic with just a pen. And Ruby Bridges facing racist monsters when she was only six, to become the first African American child to desegregate an all white school. And Anandi Gopal Joshi, only 19 years old and the first woman doctor of India. And Mary Shelley changing the face of fiction forever by inventing a whole new genre at 18. I grew up on tales of girls fighting destiny, carving history with their own two hands, breaking down walls. So if my daughter ever doubts herself because she is told she cannot, I will hand her stories as a sword and faith as a shield and tell her, “You know what? They told Anne and Ruby and Anandi and Mary they couldn’t, too. And it didn’t stop them. Because nothing can stop a girl with eyes aflame with courage and a war song in her chest.”
Nikita Gill, Stories of Girls Who Changed The World
Can’t show a perfectly natural female presenting nipple on my tumblr page because ‘too sensitive’ and ‘adult’ but anyone able to read can learn about a king’s really weird foreskin collecting fetish in a bible because ‘holy’.
“Find someone who loves you well. Someone who never belittles you. Even in the heat of an argument. Someone who is gentle with you, but does not treat you like you are fragile. Someone who knows what you are capable of, and celebrates those pieces of you. Not someone who is intimidated by your strength. Someone who doesn’t make you feel guilty for being flawed. It is not love’s job to punish you. And remember the person you love is just as broken as you are when they fall short. No one is perfect – do not hold them to this standard. Find someone who is patient, forgiving, and apologetic. Someone who practices forgiveness freely and often. Love someone who is humble, kind, and empathetic. Not only with you, but with a beggar on the street, or a stranger in the supermarket. Common courtesy is important. Compassion is important. Kindness is important.”
“There are more homeless around you than you’d care to imagine,” said gregador’s post earlier today, reminding me of this scene I encountered last week.
As a kid I was taught not to give a second look to someone unconscious on the sidewalk. It was one of a number of lessons of a city childhood that I still recall today. As I walked through Times Square I passed kinda close to this guy, glancing down and thinking, “nobody knows if this guy is alive or dead.” He looked dead, while all around him fortunate people–including me–went on with out lives.
I normally wouldn’t photograph a scene like this but it gave me a chill so I turned around for a quick pic, noticing the inscription above him. I hope no one thinks this is exploitative…we can’t make a difference in every homeless person’s life. But maybe we can all do more to help. There are more homeless around you than you’d care to imagine.
Aerial view of one of the bridges between Newark and Jersey City NJ, a link in the Lincoln Highway system. The source says this photo is from 1928 although the omniscient Wikipedia says that this, the Pulaski Skyway, opened in November 1932 and a plaque bears it out. Photo comes from the University of Michigan Lincoln Highway collection.
Rudy’s Bar & Grill on Ninth Avenue in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. It opened in the year of Prohibition’s repeal (1933) and its neon sign is probably original.
“When she realizes being herself is the best thing she can do. When she realizes losing herself for someone else is an unnecessary sacrifice. When she realizes that she shouldn’t settle because she’s worth it all. When she trusts her instincts over the beautiful words she yearns to hear. When she knows what she wants and doesn’t stop until it happens. When she recognizes the inspiration that radiates from her, she is then confident she’s walking in the right direction.”
