Hey,Parents of kids who went on a field trip to a Coca Cola factory in Atlanta….

Hi,there.

If your child recently went on a school field trip to The Coca-Cola Factory in Atlanta, there is a blogger who took pictures of children on that trip with the express purpose of using them to illustrate a point about childhood obesity. Their faces are blocked out but as a parent, I know that I would recognize my child in a heartbeat with giant blocks on their face…as would I’m sure anyone who knew them in real life.

View the blog post here.

The blog post is no better than a playground bully picking on a kid about their weight. The message behind the words are entirely beside the point…I don’t care what her point is, if one of my children, were in these pictures ,I would demand they be removed.

I haven’t had soda in over a decade. I am anti-soda, for me,for my kids…
but I’m even more against  fat shaming random children ,especially in such a public and debasing manner.

The author of the blog has closed comments (and I believe deleted every comment that did not support her exploitation fully) but you can contact her at the following places:

Email: michelleelizabethlim@gmail.com

Twitter: @mishlovinlife

Instagram : mishlove

Bloggers should also feel free to tell her how inappropriate and unethical this post is. A blogger who feels concern and passion for an issue can write with credibility without relying on exploitative pictures of children without parental consent. It makes the practice of blogging look like shit when people do stupid things like this.

“We want a feminism that stays up late at the kitchen table convincing us that we deserve better.”

Comic Book Covers Featuring '80s Post-Punk/New Wave Singers as Superheroes

Reblogged from Flavorwire:

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If you're a regular-ish reader, you might remember that Flavorwire has featured the work of a pop culture and Smiths-obsessed Brazilian artist by the name of Butcher Billy a couple of times over the last few years. Well, he's back, and this time he's designed a series of faux comic-book covers featuring '80s post punk/new wave singers (including Morrissey, of course) as superheroes.

Read more… 34 more words

[Living Free] Ramps!

Nearly 100% of items that make their way into our household are free or second hand. From time to time, I share some of our thrift and free scores here. To check out past free scores, look here. Second hand stuff…go here.

Crossposted from my other blog DIY OR DIE.

Three of my Little Preppers went on a walk along the creek in back of our house the other day to hunt down some ramps. 

(I don’t know if “Little” would be the correct way to describe my older kids. They’re not so little anymore. One is actually an adult. So, I haven’t quite figured out a better thing to call them yet )

Ramps are pretty awesome. Some people call them wild leeks and they are close to real leeks but not quite. For one thing, ramps are much easier to clean and prepare. They grow in wet ,woody places, usually near streams or ponds and lakes. In the springtime , you’ll be able to smell them before you see them usually. They have a garlicky -oniony scent. To harvest, you just give a yank and they come right up out of the ground.

They’re really  pungent,actually. My whole kitchen reeked for a day or two after the kids brought them home. There’s a festival in Pennsylvania celebrating ramps that’s called “Stinkfest”.  Not hard to smell why.

In my area in upstate NY, local restaurants that feature local,in season foods love the springtime and ramp season. You use ramps in dishes just like you would onions or leeks but it does have a distinctive flavor of it’s own.

If you’re lucky enough to know where a huge patch of ramps is, you can make some nice extra income in the Spring selling your harvest to local restaurants.

There have been some problems in some places due to over harvesting and environment destruction. In Maine, Rhode Island, and Tennessee, ramps are on the “special concern” list . In Quebec, ramps are a protected plant species and you can only harvest a limited amount.

If you can harvest ramps where you live, it’s worth exploring woods and clearings to find them. Obviously not on private property but I didn’t really have to say that,did I?
They’re high in Vitamin A & Vitamin C and also a good source of selenium and chromium. Selenium is one of those super helpful antioxidants that may be helpful in relieving symptoms of asthma,cystic fibrosis…and dandruff. Chromium helps metabolize fats,carbs ,and insulin.

To use ramps, all you need to do is clean the dirt off of them and trim the bulb from the stem and roots.Use the bulbs as you would onions. You can use them fresh or store them in airtight containers in the freezer. I’ve never tried it but I do know that you can also use the leaves to make pesto. Some people also pickle and can them.

For those who were Sexed-Up Sunday fans…

I used to have a few different blogs for each facet of me. There was the Mommy one and The Soapbox and The Sex and another one for reviews of books I’d read and stuff I’d watched or listened to. It felt rather ridiculous to have such a divisive representation of myself as a person, so I said fuck that and started this blog. I mixed the parenting with the political and talked about things I liked as a person…well, if you want to be specific, a woman. Like, sex.

It seemed like if you were a Mom who blogged than you had to have a lot of tender, touching lessons and thoughts on motherhood with some “edgy” Sometimes I don’t like my kids! I’m a bad mommy! confessions…and that was about it .If a blogging mommy wrote about sex, it had to be tempered with a lot of humor to make it reader palatable and it helped if she included the word vagina a lot because that shit is fun-neeee.  It couldn’t be too kinky or graphic and god forbid you have naked pictures that shows how babies are made for real. I also noticed from my own readers that they LOVED the opportunity to talk about real sex but way,way too many were embarrassed and uncomfortable to talk about it,even if they wanted to. Grown- ass women who had already done the deed many times and squeezed babies out their vaginas as evidence.

So, I decided to not sanitize the sex here on this blog and included erotica and naked people and even porny gifs of blow jobs and outright fucking. I just thought some women  needed to have access to sex positive “porn”.

But then…feedback from other people not so interested in the sex bits but interested in other things I have to say mentioned how off-putting it was to navigate around the blog or come back for updates and see porn that they didn’t really want to see.

As much as my immediate reaction might have been, “But sex is normal! Rawr rawr rawr! ” , I understand that some of these people had a point. I felt bad when one woman said that she would have liked her church group to participate in the SNAP Challenge but felt that it was inappropriate to direct people to the blog with so many things others might feel offensive. She thankfully was speaking only about the sex related stuff and not things pertaining to rape,sexuality,or abortion.

Then over the weekend, a high school teacher emailed me to tell me that he had taught a unit on nutrition and poverty and three of his students had cited my blog as a source. He just thought I’d like to know. I really had to concede then that maybe the sex and the nudity belongs elsewhere. Yeah, high schoolers need to know what real sex and naked people are like but their teachers and parents shouldn’t have to worry about the finding it while looking for information about how poor people eat in America. When I write about important issues here, the last thing I want to do is alienate someone because I felt it necessary to make a point about societal views about sex and nudity. I think it’s important to still explore and discuss and maybe just look at sex and naked people but not here.

So, I started a blog on tumblr  just for The Sex. It will be a mix of sex,sexuality, & relationship information, body & gender issues,kink,erotica, and sex positive porn.  It’s NSFW or for viewing with small children or easily offended people in the room with you.  Those of you who want to, have at it and enjoy.

Poly Wanna Canoodle

Feminazi Stole My Ice Cream

 

 

[ via brokeymcpoverty ]

[A to Z Music Challenge] F is for Fucking Fantastic…Fusions?

YES, finally getting to letter F for  DeBie Hive’s A to Z Music Challenge . I’ll probably end up milking the 26 letter for the whole year. I’ m a slacker like that. I’m making this one sort of brief and not so wordy…much to do around here today.

So, F. Here we go.

Flobots

These guys are awesome. Thoughtful,pissed off activism through music. They have much to say about poverty and the fucked up state of the world. Give it a listen.

Foo Fighters

Obvious,right? I love Dave Grohl and all his musical endeavors.

Michael Franti

Another guy I love for his activism through music. He also has his sunnier,chill songs,too. If you have the inclination, check out his documentary I Know I’m Not Alone . He traveled with a few friends, a camera and his guitar to war zones like Iraq and Israel & Palestine to get perspective from the people there. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, but I remember he gave a very good explanation of what the Israeli & Palestinian conflict  is about (for anyone who would like to get caught up)

Florence + The Machine

Yep, obvious here. She just has such a fantastic voice.I love this song.

Fleet Foxes

I recommend these guys to everyone looking for new music and generally? I get, “Meh,not my thing.” . Don’t know. I guess they’re one of those bands you either love or are meh about.

Flight of the Conchords

Yeah, it’s a TV series you have to watch ,too. It’s a must-do. I had no idea which song to pick so I just picked this one. Because I think of it almost every time it’s Business Time in my house. Usually when I take my socks off.

Fugazi

Representing my younger years, it’s Fugazi.