beltainefaerie:

John
took a sip of his eggnog, desperately wishing his mum hadn’t suddenly decided
to pour all the brandy down the drain last night. She probably wanted to
prevent another drunken brawl, though wasn’t that just another family tradition
at this point? He sighed heavily. At least a smidge of brandy would have dulled
the pain of listening to the giant row Da and Harry were still having. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate
her fashion sense.

Of
course, deciding to wear her ‘Dyke the Halls’ sweater to Christmas Eve service
probably wasn’t her most politic decision. 

John walked outside, letting the door fall shut behind him. It
was cold and clear as he walked down to the pavement, far enough away that at
least he couldn’t hear the exact words anymore. He missed Sherlock and the coziness
of their flat keenly. Despite having a flatmate who might blow things up at any
moment, John still felt safer there. It had been years since Da had tried to
land a blow on any of them, but he was still a sight when he was mad and it
brought back too may uncomfortable memories in this house.

He wondered how Sherlock was faring. Mrs. Hudson had left some
of Sherlock’s favorite biscuits on a plate by his microscope, but John realized
he hadn’t left anything. Maybe they’d do a little something when he got home.
Not that Sherlock celebrated. Was Sherlock even home, or had Mycroft convinced
him to come to the country cottage after all? In all likelihood he was puttering
around Baker Street alone.

John smiled, as he recalled a dream from the night before. Sherlock
had been analyzing Christmas decor like Jack Skellington in Nightmare Before
Christmas. The more he imagined Sherlock bent over his microscope looking at
holly sprigs and running experiments on powdered ornament glass, the more
tickled he got, until he was giggling like loon. God, he missed that
madman.

The door slammed behind him
and Harry grabbed his glass and drained it. “Damn. You out here sounding mad
as a hatter I thought you’d found a nip of something.”

“No such luck. Mum.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Has Da simmered down yet?”

“Nope. I’m still queer.”

John snorted a strangled sort
of chuckle without much mirth. If his increasingly frequent thoughts about
Sherlock these past weeks meant anything, he might be too. He still liked
women. Always had. But something niggling in the back of his mind told him it
wasn’t <i>just</i> women.
It wasn’t often that a bloke caught his attention, but it had been easy to
ignore before. But now? He had stopped dating months ago. Unfortunately,
Sherlock didn’t feel things that way. Maybe at all, maybe just about him. He
took a deep breath and said, “Me, too.”

Harry looked up, eyes wide
for a second before they narrowed again. “I knew it! You’re shagging him aren’t
you.”

John blushed and muttered, “In
my dreams” before he could stop himself.

He figured she’d be angry,
with her taking the brunt of the fighting ever since their parents had caught
her having more than a sleepover with Sally Jane when they were 16. Instead she
just fixed him with a look which softened into such sympathy he nearly teared
up as she laid a hand on his arm and said, “Oh, John. Does he know?”

“I figure he must. He’s
Sherlock. But then, maybe not. Emotions aren’t really his area.”

“You should tell him. Clara
dated that bloke from chem class and I thought she’d never like me. We wasted a
year dancing around each other because she thought I was one of those lesbians
that wouldn’t go with a girl who liked guys too and I,” she laughed in self deprecation,
“I forgot both was an option so I didn’t ask her out after they broke up. Then
she snogged a girl at my end of term party and that was that. You never know if
you don’t ask.”

John sighed. Maybe she was
right. There was that first night, but they barely knew each other then and
John hadn’t been trying to hit on him. Not consciously. Anyway, that was a long
time ago.

“Don’t bollocks it up like I
did. One of us should get to be happy.”

Harry rarely admitted fault
for their break up, but it was definitely her drinking that pushed a wedge
between them. She and Clara had been so happy until Harry lost her job and
befriended the bottle again. They tried getting help, but Harry had to lose the
one thing she loved before she was willing to crawl out again.

John squeezed her hand. “I’m
not sure happy is a Watson trait.”

She shook her head. “Maybe
not, but you deserve it.“

“Thanks, Harry.”

“Happy Christmas, John.”  

“Happy Christmas, Harry.”

Now posted to AO3 and there’s a second chapter and the third is nearly done and should be posted next week:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/13709316/chapters/31492371

queeranarchism:

nokiabae:

The best thing coming out of Black Panther is the renewed calls for the release of jailed Black Panther members who’ve been incarcerated for decades. The FBI’s terrorism unit had labeled them “black identity extremists”, claiming that activists fighting police brutality posed a violent threat. 

An incomplete list of
Black Liberation political prisoners

(Black Panthers and other groups) still inside:

glitteringeva:

If you ever doubt whether you should leave a comment on a fanfiction you loved or not, please keep in mind that the only reason why I wrote and published 170k words of fanfiction over the last year is that every time I posted something, every time I updated a fanfiction, someone left a comment on it. Those comments included things like just a simple “Loved it!”, people writing down everything that has happend in caps, people yelling at my characters, and all sorts of thoughts people had after reading my stories. All of those comments are valid and great and I appreciated the hell out of every single one of them.

So yes, you should definitely leave a comment, because they will make the writer’s day and more comments = more of the content you loved.

Blackfeet Researcher Leads Her Tribe Back to Traditional Foods

botanyshitposts:

plantyhamchuk:

“Many of the traditional foods, plants, and teas are still available on the reservation, and some are even sold in health food stores, Beck says, so younger tribal members can learn to integrate them into their daily lives. For example, traditional medicine like willow bark or blue root can replace Tylenol, and bison or venison can replace fatty beef. Local berries can either become a traditional berry soup or be mixed into other recipes like pancakes, muffins, and smoothies.“

Some Westernized foods and medicines are not best for tribal people,” says Carolyn Angus-Hornbuckle, director of public health policy and programs at the National Indian Health Board. “These health disparities are happening throughout Indian Country, and we could see positive health impacts if Blackfeet chose to share Beck’s report and their knowledge with other communities.”

Most scholarly research reports are concealed behind paywalls and easily accessible by only those in academia, but Beck removed that barrier for the Blackfeet people by making her report available for free.“

Blackfeet Reservation Community Food Security & Food Sovereignty Assessment (by Marissa McElrone); the survey that prompted action. This report provided evidence that although younger members were willing to use traditional medicine, they were largely inhibited by lack of knowledge that was being lost over generations.

You can read the 68-page study/report booklet prepared by the 23-year-old (!!!!) American History researcher and Blackfoot Nation member Abaki Beck to help preserve Blackfoot culture (what this article is referring to) here!! It’s a beautiful report that assesses the state of food on Blackfoot reservations, Native and traditional sources of natural food, traditional recipes, the history of food struggle on the reservations, sustainable living within the community, health within the community, more info on the plants (and animals) themselves, and more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blackfeet Researcher Leads Her Tribe Back to Traditional Foods

Republicans Are So Afraid Of Fair Elections, They Want To Take Away Your Right To Vote For Senator

reverseracism:

ananiujitha:

yipyap:

karadin:

quakerjoe:

This one is pretty fucking serious. It’s not about voter fraud, it’s about shitcanning everyone’s ability and right to vote.

Instead of being elected by the people, Senators would be chosen by the State legislatures, guaranteeing that the majority party would pick Senators of their own party.

If there is a vacancy the Governor would appoint a Senator for the remainder of the term. The pick could not be changed by the legislature or the public.

State legislators can recall a Senator at any time.

.If successful, they will reverse one of the great strides toward democracy in American history: the 1913 decision to end the corrupt practice of letting state legislators barter off Senate seats in backroom deals with campaign donors and lobbyists.

It seems gerrymandering the House is not enough for Republicans who want to completely shut out opposing voices. Yet, gerrymandering does fit with a long-term plan to turn America into a permanent single-party-rule nation. 

With control of 32 state legislatures, the GOP would have an easy time hand-picking fascist-conservatives to fill up the senate.

WHAT. THE FUCK

This means, as long as one party can gerrymander their statehouses, they can pick their senators too.

See, they call themselves the “silent majority” which is a lie they very much are the political minority.

Usually, the only way they’re able to win elections (whether they be national or state wide) is by dishonesty, lies, trickery, double speak, and making voting polls difficult to reach.

Pathetic.

Republicans Are So Afraid Of Fair Elections, They Want To Take Away Your Right To Vote For Senator