Day: July 24, 2017

soih:

tate-iyohiwin:

iweon:

A very beautiful image of these smiley blackfoot. It seemed everything was alright…

Photograph by Mary T. S. Schaffer in 1907.

I just love how humanizing this is, it’s the first time I’ve seen us not depicted as the stoic archetype of this period

Pictured here are Sampson, Frances Louise, and Leah Beaver who actually were very close friends with the photographer and were regular subjects of her work. It’s amazing what happens when you view us as people rather than museum objects – you capture us as people, as friends, as lovers, as parents rather than the stoic image of genocide and colonialism in-progress. 

If you’re interested in learning more about female photographers and how they aided in representing native peoples through positive representation and ethical photography, I would suggest reading “Trading Gazes.” Mary T.S. Schaffer and other influential female photographers, and friends, of native peoples are given some much-needed recognition in this book while also discussing the white woman’s place in our genocide and colonization. 

Source: iweon

strongermonster:

it’s so weird hearing americans talk about Target© as some kind of semi-religious holy space of reasonably priced goods and services, bc in it’s short, fever-dream existence up here in the frozen north it was… Not Good. 

in my experience with the three (3) i went to in the surrounding area it was. uh. you know when you step into a place and there’s nothing immediately noticeably wrong but you can just Feel that this is a Bad Space? like the kind of space where if you catch a glimpse of your mother walking down an aisle and turning a corner you know it’s a demonic trick and if you follow her it’ll lead you down a path to a dark space you can’t return from?

or you go in with your friend who’s right next to you but you get a text from them saying “hey i’m in the shoe aisle, you should come here” and you know it’s a trap from the devil? like other things:

  • only half of the dim, washed out, often flickering fluorescent lights were lit at any given time, usually only every-other set, leaving these valleys of darkness that made entire aisles inaccessible for fear of shadow people latching on to your soul like a dark passenger. 
  • entire sections were just Empty. empty shelves with no product, never any employees filling them up, no boxes waiting to be unpacked, no signs saying what should be there.
  • no employees at all actually? wandering around the store even though the parking lots were full and you walked in with a group of 20 or so felt so lonely. you could walk the whole place and it was dead silent and the only other “people” around always were several aisles away with their back turned, unmoving. there was always only one cashier and there was never anyone in her line.
  • there was never any music on or announcements played? another place that does this are all the dollar trees in my area and it gives me anxiety. i feel like i’m being hunted, like i have to hold my breath and listen for the footsteps of beasts in other aisles. 
  • the fitting rooms had a strange, dark energy to them. it felt like if you ever used them, whatever universe you closed the door on would not be the same one you stepped out into when you were done. the washrooms also contained this same dark energy.
  • passing the employees-only doors felt like wandering too close to a bears den. the glass windows never showed anything going on back there, no racks of product, no employees milling around. it was just pitch black, complete darkness. a hungry void.
  • leaving a target was the same disorienting feeling as leaving a dark theatre and exiting into the light. sound and colour and feeling rush back in. you feel like you can breathe again. a weight is lifted from your shoulders. you can’t remember any of the time you spent inside the target.

it is my sincere belief that the targets in canada never existed. the storefronts were put up, yes, but the stores themselves were vast empty caverns filled with dark dreams and sinister interlopers. passing through the automatic doors was meant to teleport us to the nearest american location, but something went wrong and we entered an unnatural zone halfway between the upside down and whatever it was that happened in the langoliers. 

i believe the balls outside target are carefully crafted and powerfully attuned magical artifacts that keep up the illusion known as Target©, but were incorrectly spaced in canada due to a mixup between the metric and imperial systems of measurement, and that is why the brief twilight zone episode that was canadian target collapsed virtually overnight.

elodieunderglass:

thirqual:

elodieunderglass:

yesterdaysprint:

Chicago Tribune, Illinois, September 16, 1900

To say nothing of the kitten!

#celebrate women  #women in history
        

Those were the tags of the person I reblogged that from. You can have a look at the notes if you want more of that kind of thing.

Domestic violence, when it is women hitting, stabbing, and shooting men, is celebrated on this website.                                     
       
   

I think that’s a certain amount of projection talking – but if you need me to trigger warn for parasols, I am happy to do that for you.

See, nobody here mentioned men, still less attacking men, let alone abusing known men in the house. (Domestic violence is a specific term – the aggressor must be attacking someone they know, in a domestic setting.) Women – bless us – are quite capable of attacking one another; and even in the year 1900, women were often observed outside of the home. I think that extrapolating “women abusing men in the home” from “women using weapons” is a purely psychological thing on your part – I’m happy to help you by trigger warning for weapons in the future, but I think you might benefit from talking to someone about it. If you can’t look at a discussion of unconventional weapons without setting off your own feelings about domestic abuse, then it’s officially Above Our Pay Grade to help you.

For those interested in the actual post topic of unconventional Edwardian/Victorian shenanigans: Parasols and umbrellas are mostly defensive in nature, used in public by both men and women to fend off attacking dogs or combat purse-snatchers; articles written in the 1900s by the Vignys, a married couple, explained various ways for men and women to resist robbery and assault with their umbrellas. These crimes used to be fairly common, and people took a real interest in socially acceptable forms of self-defence. Baritsu, a form of self-defence that Sherlock Holmes took an interest in, includes some ladylike – and gentlemanly – moves based around the Defensive Umbrella. (“Parasol of Pain” is the TV Trope.)

Hatpins were famously used as self-defence when women were assaulted on public transport. There were entire marketing campaigns around the use of hatpins for self-defence! Broom handles were traditionally used to drive Robbers and Ruffians away from the kitchen door. Sex workers supposedly favoured carrying domestic scissors or table knives as weapons; if they were stopped by law enforcement, they could state that they were simply carrying the item to be sharpened. Ditto female criminals and pickpockets, who certainly existed and needed to be armed!

And it wasn’t just city streets that termed with chaos – the mistresses of country houses were positively aching for the chance to repel a constant stream of burglars. Any piece of media with a Victorian setting features at least one woman really LUNGING for the burglar in the library. This is likely just a fictional device, but there is clearly some kind of Emotional Resonance happening. I feel like if I was staying at a country house and someone said “there’s a burglar in the library!” Then I would charge down there armed with a poker, NO HESITATION.

Items such as hairbrushes, hand mirrors and the nursing bottle (!) do imply that they were used as improvised weapons in the immediate domestic sphere. However, we don’t know whether it was the nanny defending the baby from a dog, an angry mistress throwing a mirror at her maid, a woman attacking her sister-in-law with a hairbrush, or a suffragette throwing a random item from her handbag at a police officer. (Women at political protests in the 1900s favoured ranged weapons over melee.)

So in conclusion, just because women used weapons, doesn’t mean they only used them to abuse their husbands. Claiming so is more of a personal psychological problem. Regardless, my new tags “cw: parasols and umbrellas” and “cw: weapons and armour” are here to serve you; and I genuinely apologise for not using “cw: violence.”

Source: yesterdaysprint

It’s Not How They’re Raised, It’s How Dogs Are Managed That Managed Most.

thembulldawgs:

Source

How many times have you heard someone say about a dog, “It’s all how they’re raised”?  Probably a lot. If you own a pit bull dog, probably a lot more.

I hear pit bull advocates saying it all the time, as a way to defend our dogs. I hear other saying it as a flippant remark about dogs in general.  This phrase gets tossed around all the time, but no one seems to be aware of what they’re really saying….and how damaging it can be.

This saying does have a kernel of truth  in it, of course, but “how they’re raised” is just one of the factors that contributes to who our dogs are. It’s not the whole story. 

When people believe that “It’s All How They’re Raised”, there are some real-life consequences for the dogs. So we need to check ourselves. 

Here are a few ways our words hurt:

People refuse to adopt adult dogs. This idea, that how they’re raised determines who a dog is, makes adopting out adult and senior dogs a real challenge. Why would adopters take a chance on an adult dog, who has been raised by someone else, when they could adopt a puppy and raise it “right” themselves? Some folks really believe this. Seriously, shelter workers are constantly confronted by this way of thinking. It stinks.

Shelters won’t place victims of cruelty up for adoption. If a dog has survived an abusive or neglectful situation, such as dog fighting, animal hoarding, puppy mills, etc., then it is known they were “raised wrong”. Some organizations use this as proof that the dogs aren’t safe or fit to be adopted out.Thesame thing goes for dogs that are suspected of surviving these situations. If the assumption is made that a dog with cropped ears has been fought, that assumption of their past may wind up costing the dog his life if policies dictate that fight bust dogs are not adoptable because they were obviously “raised wrong.”

Responsible dog owners feel like failures. People who have raised their dogs since puppyhood beat themselves up when they’ve done everything right, but despite their very best efforts, their dogs still have behavioral issues. I hear from a lot of you through DINOS because you feel ashamed and guilty about your dog’s issues, despite having raised your dogs right. Let me just say it now: it’s not all how a dog is raised that matters. You guys have to stop beating yourselves up (even if you’re a dog trainer).

Here’s the reality – dogs are who they are due to many factors: training, breeding, socialization, management, genetics, and environment. All of these things influence who our dogs are.

A dog’s past is a chapter, but it’s never the whole story. Let me show you:

“Raised Wrong”

Some dogs, neglected and abused their entire lives, are well-adjusted, social dogs. Anyone who has worked in rescue has met countless dogs who were not raised in the best circumstances, but despite this lack of early socialization or care (or worse) they turn out to be safe, family dogs. Many of us share our homes with dogs that were raised in less than ideal conditions, but are still wonderful pets.

One example of this scenario are the dogs rescued from fight busts or hoarding situations. Despite terrible beginnings, many of these victims of cruelty are ready to leave the past behind and enjoy family life. They may need training and structure to get used to living with a family in a house (what dog doesn’t?), but some of them are able to adjust to family life with relative ease. Their past didn’t help them do this, you dig?

“Raised Right”

Some dogs, purchased from responsible breeders and socialized properly from puppyhood, still wind up with behavioral problems. Many responsible dog owners, who have raised their dogs since they were puppies and did everything right, still find themselves with dogs who have a variety of behavioral issues. These dogs were “raised right”, but are still struggling, sometimes due to genetics.

One example of this is illustrated in an article written by a dog trainer who shared her problems with her own dog. Despite her very best professional efforts to train and socialize him, aka raise him right, he has significant behavior issues which may be caused by a medical condition. It’s not how he was raised that’s causing the problem. 

Puppies. It’s not just how you raise them.

In both of these cases, the common denominator that is actually determining the success of these dogs as family pets and their safety in the community isn’t how the dogs were raised: it’s responsible management.

Whether they were raised “right” or raised “wrong” in the past, no matter what behavioral problems a dog does or doesn’t have, when owners recognize their dog’s individual needs and provide them the right care and management tools, dogs have a chance to succeed in our crazy world.

More Present, Less Past

So, it’s not “how they’re raised” (what happened in the past) but rather, “how they’re managed” (what’s happening in the present) that needs to be our focus, if our goal is to help our dogs and  also create safe communities for us all to enjoy.

We can look to their past for clues and guidance, of course. I don’t mean ignore it all together. But we do more for our dogs when we look at them right now, without the haze of a bad (or good) past fogging up our thoughts.  Who are they right now? What do they need to succeed today?

Whoever they are, dogs always exists and act in the context of human beings. They don’t live in a vacuum. They live with us. We need to recognize dogs as individuals, then determine what they need from us in order to succeed in the world.

What this means is that when dogs are properly managed by a human, a dog with or without behavior problems has the opportunity to be a safe, family dog. Dogs may need a variety of management tools, depending on what behavioral issues (if any) they have.  Beyond training, various management tools might include: space management (crates, gates, etc.), muzzles, leashes, fences, proper supervision, etc. I’d also include medication in this category, if it’s necessary. When these tools are used, owners are setting dogs up to be successful.

This also means that any dog that is not managed properly can be a nuisance to the community or a danger to others. We see this often in the case of dogs that are running loose in neighborhoods. The dogs may be friendly (or not), but by allowing them to roam the streets or chase other dogs, their owners are setting these dogs up to get into trouble. They are not managing them. They are setting them up to fail.

side note:  This is why I’m such a stickler for obeying leash laws. It’s a management tool.  I just wish the laws were enforced.

I think that dogs are only as successful and safe as humans set them up to be – no matter what their past may be. When a dog gets in trouble or acts dangerously, somewhere along the line, a person has failed to make the right choice. But that’s not the same as “how they were raised”.

How they’re raised may be one factor that influences dogs, but it doesn’t determine the whole being of a dog. Perpetuating this idea only winds up hurting dogs with less than perfect pasts and shaming people who own dogs they’ve had since puppyhood.

The truth is that it’s how we currently manage dogs that determines how any dog interacts with the world. When we focus on managing them in the present, based on their individual needs, we can set dogs up for success despite what may have happened to them in the past.

So can we trash “its all how they’re raised” once and for all? It’s such a drag for dogs and their owners.

Let’s replace it with the truth:

It’s all how they’re managed. Dogs are only as successful as we set them up to be.