Happy Birthday Harvey Milk

One Rape to Many. Game of Thrones Finally Crosses the Rapey Line.

***Trigger warnings for discussion of sexual assault. Major Game of Thrones spoiler warnings. Also note that I haven’t seen the majority of season 5 yet so most of this article is based on events through season 4 and much reading about a particular episode in season 5***

The current backlash over the most recent rape scene on Game of Thrones has taught me one thing. Rape only matters if it happens to someone we care about. Sure there was some tsking when Cerise was raped by her brother right next to their dead son but  no one quit the show over it, because really this is Cerise, no one likes her. There were some quips when Daenerys is raped in season 1 back before she was the Khaleesi white savior we’ve all grown to love but the only real complaint was it wasn’t rape in the book (true). But where were the complaints about the scene where the Mutineer Crows rape at least 3 of Craster’s Wives in the background of one scene? We don’t even know those girls names all they are is tits and tears to us. I also haven’t seen anyone discuss the sexual aspects of Theon’s torture except to say it went a bit too far. After all Theon was kind of a jerk most of the time. But the rape of Sansa is apparently the tipping point.

Send a Little Empathy

I have a chronic condition. It’s shitty. When I first got sick it was really bad, like lost 20 pounds in six months could barely get out of bed, bad. I was in an out of the hospital and I got to know the staff at my big city doctors office real well. I learned a lot about people in those first few months. That people want details but only to a point. That people want you to have an easy explanation for what’s happening to you. But mostly what I learned is that a lot of people are really shitty at making others feel better even when that’s really all they’re trying to do. People wanted to cure me, which was understandable, I really wanted to cure me.

The problem is when you’re dealing with doctors telling you, this condition will never stop, it will never go away, being told about some miracle cure from the depth of the inter-webs doesn’t help you cope. But on the flip side I’ve also watched friends deal with chronic and sometimes life threatening illnesses and there really is no right thing to say because there are no magic words to make someone better. There are however words that help people feel not alone and Emily McDowell has put many of them into her empathy cards for serious illnesses

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Really what you want to do when some one you love is sick is let them know that they are still loved. That their situation sucks and they have every right to fucking hate it but that even in the worst of times there is still some twisted humor to be found. These cards manage to do just that.

He’ll fuck your shit up. Elegantly.

Planetary Favorites

Do you choose your jewelry based on how many amazing nerd points you’ll earn if anyone at all recognizes what you have on you? If so you hit the fucking jackpot here. Etsy crafter Chrysalism has created these stunning necklaces made to look like your favorite made up planet. Because really if a someone recognizes that you’re wearing Arrakis around you’re neck you clearly need to get to know that person. Maybe biblically.