"Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it." -Camilla Williams, 1919-2012 by Rebekah Hakkenberg

Camilla Williams has passed way at the age of 92. A trailblazing soprano, Williams was the first African American to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company. She debuted with the New York City Opera nearly nine years before Marian Anderson became the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1963, Williams sang the U.S. National Anthem to a crowd of 200,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., right before Martin Luther King delivered his iconic I Have a Dream speech.

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Friday Fiction: The Worst People or Characters Who'd Make Great Republican Nominees by Alex Snider

In honour of the Ron Paul post last Friday at The Little Red Umbrella which has inspired an incredible backlash of Paulbots to flood the comments with their incoherent (hilarious) ramblings illustrating once and for all that extreme Republicans and Libertarians are the fucking worst, this Friday Fiction is a compilation of some characters who I think would give the current Republican contenders a real run for their money. 

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Rebekah Likes Larry Bird, Stories About Fabio Posted by Alex Snider

As a way of further procrastinating, I started a Tumblr yesterday of things Rebekah likes called Rebekah Likes.

John Duncan is The Worst by Alex Snider

Current Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan has a nasty habit of saying things that serve only to highlight just how uneducated and under qualified he is for his post. At this point it's hard to tell if he's just maliciously trying to shit all over Aboriginal communities and people or if he's just really fucking stupid. 

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Dr King: "We Have Come a Long, Long Way But We Have a Long, Long Way to Go" by Alex Snider

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr Day in America and there have been many incredible things written across the internet in honour of Dr King and his life's work. I won't add more but to say that more than ever, it's important to remember that although there has been so much progress made in the United States (and Canada) in regards to race relations, there is still so much more to be done. In his own words, from his April 10th, 1957 speech, A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations, Dr King says it best:

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Sh*t People Say by Alex Snider

The viral videos Sh*t Girls Say have spawned a lot of awesome videos. Taking the original videos that mocks things that (some) women say based solely on the punchline that women are kinda dumb (my feelings on the series are summed up perfectly by this article at  She Was So Disarming), the other videos have used the format and turned it around to show the ignorance, thoughtlessness and cruelty that those with privilege from dominant groups often approach groups who have been oppressed. I love the videos because they demonstrate the power of words, the prevalence of stereotypes, the dynamics of privilege and the subtly of racism and prejudice all with humour and all under five minutes. 

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Freaks & Pekes Posted by Rebekah Hakkenberg

What is this I don't even know.

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