I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.
My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.
Do not give to the Salvation Army.
Do Not. Give. To. Salvation. Army
My turn.
I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.
I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.
I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.
They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.
Then I found out.
Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.
Don’t FUCKING give to the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army is also ass to the workers. A good number of people join it, naively thinking that it’s doing good, and end up leaving cynical and beaten down. The management is hostile, if not outright abusive, and demand some ridiculous hours of it lower to mid-level staff. Don’t support these people.
Unsettling update
Find better local charities and shelters and give to them instead!
Also just for even more horrific context on the original twitter thread?
Salvation Army reached out to Milknmuffins and asked what shelter she’s at with the promise to address the abuse in it. She…ended up saying where she was. She was thrown out onto the street. It’s also all on Twitter.
They invited her to a personal talk so she could explain the situation in person.
And then they threatened her with a screenshot of a rape-threat made supposedly by her:
And then threw her out into the street while claiming she broke house rules that
So yeah, the Salvation Army is a bunch of entitled assholes that will treat the most vulnerable like shit if they dare try to do anything that makes them look bad
The “Fuck Salvation Army” posts are making the rounds again, so conisder this your reminder:
Do. Not. Give. These. Assholes. A. Single. Fucking. Penny.
This weekend I was told a story which, although I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, because holy shit is it ever obvious, is kind of blowing my mind.
A friend of a friend won a free consultation with Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear, and she was very excited, because she has a plus-size body, and wanted some tips on how to make the most of her wardrobe in a fashion culture which deliberately puts her body at a disadvantage.
Her first question for him was this: how do celebrities make a plain white t-shirt and a pair of weekend jeans look chic? She always assumed it was because so many celebrities have, by nature or by design, very slender frames, and because they can afford very expensive clothing. But when she watched What Not To Wear, she noticed that women of all sizes ended up in cute clothes that really fit their bodies and looked great. She had tried to apply some guidelines from the show into her own wardrobe, but with only mixed success. So - what gives?
His answer was that everything you will ever see on a celebrity’s body, including their outfits when they’re out and about and they just get caught by a paparazzo, has been tailored, and the same goes for everything on What Not To Wear. Jeans, blazers, dresses - everything right down to plain t-shirts and camisoles. He pointed out that historically, up until the last few generations, the vast majority of people either made their own clothing or had their clothing made by tailors and seamstresses. You had your clothing made to accommodate the measurements of your individual body, and then you moved the fuck on. Nothing on the show or in People magazine is off the rack and unaltered. He said that what they do is ignore the actual size numbers on the tags, find something that fits an individual’s widest place, and then have it completely altered to fit. That’s how celebrities have jeans that magically fit them all over, and the rest of us chumps can’t ever find a pair that doesn’t gape here or ride up or slouch down or have about four yards of extra fabric here and there.
I knew that having dresses and blazers altered was probably something they were doing, but to me, having alterations done generally means having my jeans hemmed and then simply living with the fact that I will always be adjusting my clothing while I’m wearing it because I have curves from here to ya-ya, some things don’t fit right, and the world is just unfair that way. I didn’t think that having everything tailored was something that people did.
It’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t know this. But no one ever told me. I was told about bikini season and dieting and targeting your “problem areas” and avoiding horizontal stripes. No one told me that Jennifer Aniston is out there wearing a bigger size of Ralph Lauren t-shirt and having it altered to fit her.
I sat there after I was told this story, and I really thought about how hard I have worked not to care about the number or the letter on the tag of my clothes, how hard I have tried to just love my body the way it is, and where I’ve succeeded and failed. I thought about all the times I’ve stood in a fitting room and stared up at the lights and bit my lip so hard it bled, just to keep myself from crying about how nothing fits the way it’s supposed to. No one told me that it wasn’t supposed to. I guess I just didn’t know. I was too busy thinking that I was the one that didn’t fit.
I thought about that, and about all the other girls and women out there whose proportions are “wrong,” who can’t find a good pair of work trousers, who can’t fill a sweater, who feel excluded and freakish and sad and frustrated because they have to go up a size, when really the size doesn’t mean anything and it never, ever did, and this is just another bullshit thing thrown in your path to make you feel shitty about yourself.
I thought about all of that, and then I thought that in elementary school, there should be a class for girls where they sit you down and tell you this stuff before you waste years of your life feeling like someone put you together wrong.
So, I have to take that and sit with it for a while. But in the meantime, I thought perhaps I should post this, because maybe my friend, her friend, and I are the only clueless people who did not realise this, but maybe we’re not. Maybe some of you have tried to embrace the arbitrary size you are, but still couldn’t find a cute pair of jeans, and didn’t know why.
This post is one of those things that I will reblog every time it appears on my dash. This is so important, and no one ever tells you about it.
I almost didn’t read this but then I did and I’m really glad that I did.
Super important
Tldr: The reason clothes never “looked right on you” is because models and celebrities always had their clothes tailored to fit them perfectly.
I love this post but it always frustrated me just a little because I can’t even afford to buy new clothes let alone get the clothes I have tailored. But then I remembered that a lot of things are easier to do than you think they will be, so here’s some resources on how to alter your own clothes!
Please read this, it’s an opportunity to learn about yourself, possibly a new skill and why it isn’t you, it’s the industry.
I want to preface this by saying this is not victim blaming. This not calling people online lazy or grifting or whatever.
But an underlooked proponent on why some people are nearing homeless and crowdfunding heavily rn is bc society has failed you by making it as inconvenient as possible to learn about social systems and programs that already exist to help your situation as well as not having enough programs and aid.
Lemme give some examples. I have been unemployed for 10 months. My mom told me about a paying job training program a month ago after I already decided to mive in with her to find work, because nothing was coming up in my own city. My best friend didn’t know about affordable housing assistance in my state until she talked to my dad about it on a chance encounter. Some people on here have to see posts about much cheaper alternatives to their current prescriptions or medical plans because its not in the interest of their doctors paychecks to tell them about it. I would have waited to get vaccinated and not have crowdfunded for Uber money if I had known they were going to give free vaccine rides the next month. But I wouldn’t have really known this until I opened the app once that program started, because it is in their interest to keep taking my money until its their desired time for me to reap their “generous” services.
What I’m trying to say is that this is an under discussed aspect of how capitalism fails people. When you are forced to make your life and work and finances so singular and self interested, you are cut off from community and equivalent social services to proper government assistance. You literally don’t know that there is help somewhere out there for you unless you’re told.
I believe a professor I had called this “cultural wisdom” but I haven’t been able to find the social science articles that expanded on this. It’s a practical knowledge of local systems that allows someone to function and thrive in that system. The example she used was having an understanding that banks can hold your money, but the practical aspect of accessing your money (in a convenient and easy manor) was knowing about ATMs and how to use them. But unless you have an account or someone ready to inform you, there’s no dedicated time or milestone where someone learns this.
And that’s just with a machine designed to give you YOUR money, let alone complex social service programs.
I want everyone who crowdfunds for hospital bills to know they probably don’t have to oay them at all. Just find the financial aid office of the hospital. It’s on the website BY LAW. Find the form. Fill it out. Get the bills canceled or lowered! You don’t need crowd money, you need the government’s money that’s already set aside for your medical care.
GO TO, MESSAGE, OR CALL YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. Libraries are focusing more and more on community resources, support, and outreach. If you genuinely don’t know something or feel uncertain or are in a new situation, a reference librarian will not only help you sort your thoughts through their reference interview but then help you arm yourself with knowledge from reliable and often local sources. It doesn’t even have to be a question to Ask A Librarian. You can simply say “I’m in this situation now. I don’t know what to do next./I’m not confident I know everything I should or want to know.”
More tips:
Bookmark the your city’s webpage and check it any time you might need something that you don’t know how to get. Your city may have a social worker at city hall whose job is specifically to help you with that. Your city probably has a coronavirus task force page with info about free testing and vaccine clinics.
Read your local newspaper; there’s usually a local community paper that is free online or set out in front of businesses that will have about 60% ads, 20% random gossip, 10% news, and 10% local info/programs/opportunities that they have crammed in random corners to fill space. My job used to literally be laying out this kind of paper, and one of the things that I was always doing was checking for “free X day in a ten mile radius” so I wouldn’t have a weird gap on the science page.
Check if your city has an adult education program. My city offers free adult literacy classes that also have a lot of practical financial information.
Check your *county* website for resources. This will usually be a bit farther away but you might find out that you qualify for free bus passes in the whole county, or that there’s a meals on wheels plan that is supported in your area that you can sign up for.
If it is possible for you, enroll for a low-unit class at a community college. Community college are inexpensive, you may qualify for fee waivers, there are flexible class schedules, and if you are taking even just a couple units at a time at a community college you count as an enrolled student at that school - which means that you get access to the health services center (basic nurse visits, diagnostics, prescriptions, and blood tests at little to no cost - I paid nothing when my college health services nurse practitioner x-rayed my chest and diagnosed me with pneumonia then gave me antibiotics when I didn’t have insurance), counseling, students-in-need programs, and a bunch of other random shit. My school is currently giving a $150 bookstore voucher to students who provide proof of covid vaccination - the bookstore sells clothing, food, and electronics in addition to books. That is a LOT of stuff that you can get if you’re able to pay $40-100 a term and can take a class at a time. It’s a lot easier plan for the cost of enrolling in a semester at a community college than it is to plan for an unexpected doctor’s visit or an expense that leaves you low on food.
If you are ALREADY a student at any college or university, go to the student services page on the website and see what they’ve got. A shocking number of students don’t know that their schools offer food assistance and often work with local food pantries.
The student health center thing is… highly variable based on state. My local community college growing up doesn’t actually offer on campus health services at all. They try to hook you up with free options nowadays, but there is nothing on site. And uh… tuition for a single class for in state and in district is going to be upwards of $700 before you count things like parking permits. Out of district it goes higher. It at least doesn’t make you pay a part time tuition penalty… but yeah.
Definitely check it out, because not all states are as hellish as my home state. But if tuition is insane, be prepared for very few on campus services.
Also if tuition is nuts you should file a fee waiver. Even in places where minimal services are available you are likely to qualify for free registration and access to services; there are usually some limitations on how long you can get fees waived at a school, but it it absolutely worthwhile to try (and honestly, it’s probably faster than applying for state aid)
And yes, this is highly variable: In Pennsylvania a 2-unit class is about $360, in California it’s about $80.
And it’s totally free to take a look at your local community colleges and see what they offer in terms of health services, food services, certifications, etc.
And even if you think you know, look again. I know that a lot of services my school offers now aren’t services that they offered when I was a student ten years ago. However, ten years ago I didn’t even know how to figure out what services my school has, now I know how to explore that a lot better AND my school sends out emails constantly about free flu shots, vouchers for proof of covid vaccine, food assistance programs, etc.
This school doesn’t even require you to be a student, they just have scheduled dates when people can come by and pick up food and toiletries:
This school has its own dedicated food pantry:
This school has weekly boxed food handouts, a monthly food delivery, rent assistance and low-income housing assistance, a matched savings plan, tax preparation, and financial coaching available for students taking 6 units. (They also have an upcoming workshop on tenant’s unions): https://www.bellevuecollege.edu/benefits-hub/
This community college system in nebraska has its own food pantry also, and shows a list of all the local businesses that offer free and discounted services to students; i can see the cost of tuition being worth a fee waiver to the YMCA and a food pantry: https://www.cccneb.edu/
This school in Texas will help you with getting ongoing mental health care and has emergency grants for rent.
You should *definitely* take a look at the schools in your area and see what’s available and what the requirements are.
I can sign up for 2-unit, remote, zero-textbook-cost art classes forever and have access to the services that my school offers for $80 a term without parking fees or class schedules to worry about; I know that’s largely because I live in California and a lot of other places don’t have those sorts of services. However, none of the California schools I looked at had rent assistance, though Texas and Washington did.
And again, I cannot emphasize enough, if you are currently a student at any variety of college you should go check out what resources are available to you through the school. You can usually find it under the “student services” label and it’s usually grouped with financial aid, but if you can’t find something try searching the site for “pantry” or “health services” or something like that.
So, okay, fun fact. When I was a freshman in high school… let me preface by saying my dad sent me to a private school and, like a bad organ transplant, it didn’t take. I was miserable, the student body hated me, I hated them, it was awful.
Okay, so, freshman year, I’m deep in my “everything sucks and I’m stuck with these assholes” mentality. My English teacher was a notorious hard-ass, let’s call him Mr. Hargrove. He was the guy every student prayed they didn’t get. And, on top of ALL OF THE SHIT I WAS ALREADY DEALING WITH, I had him for English.
One of the laborious assignments he gave us was to keep a daily journal. Daily! Not monthly or weekly. Fucking daily. Handwritten. And we had to turn it in every quarter and he fucking graded us. He graded us on a fucking journal.
All of my classmates wrote shit like what they did that day or whatever. But, I did not. No, sir. I decided to give the ol’ middle finger to the assignment and do my own shit.
So, for my daily journal entries, over the course of an entire year, I wrote a serialized story about a horde of man-eating slugs that invaded a small mining town. It was graphic, it was ridiculous, it was an epic feat of rebellion.
And Mr. Hargrove loved it.
It wasn’t just the journal. Every assignment he gave us, I tried to shit all over it. Every reading assignment, everyone gushed about how good it was, but I always had a negative take. Every writing assignment, people wrote boring prose, but I wrote cheesy limericks or pulp horror stories.
Then, one day, he read one of my essays to the class as an example of good writing. When a fellow student asked who wrote it, he said, “Some pipsqueak.”
And that’s when I had a revelation. He wanted to fight. And since all the other students were trying to kiss his ass, I was his only challenger.
Mr. Hargrove and I went head-to-head on every assignment, every conversation, every fucking thing. And he ate it up. And so did I.
One day, he read us a column from the Washington Post and asked the class what was wrong with it. Everyone chimed in with their dumbass takes, but I was the one who landed on Mr. Hargrove’s complaint: The reporter had BRAZENLY added the suffix “ize” to a verb.
That night I wrote a jokey letter to the reporter calling him out on the offense in which I added “ize” to every single verb. I gave it to Mr. Hargrove, who by then had become a friendly adversary, for a chuckle and he SENT IT TO THE REPORTER.
And, people… The reporter wrote back. And he said I was an exceptional student. Mr. Hargrove and I had a giggle about that because we both knew I was just being an asshole, but he and the reporter acknowledged I had a point.
And that was it. That was the moment. Not THAT EXACT moment, but that year with Mr. Hargrove taught me I had a knack for writing. And that knack was based in saying “fuck you” to authority. (The irony that someone in a position of authority helped me realize that is not lost on me.)
So, I can say without qualification that Mr. Hargrove is the reason I am now a professional writer. Yes, I do it for a living. And most of my stuff takes authorities of one kind or another to task.
Mr. Hargrove showed me my dissent was valid, my rebellion was righteous, and that killer slugs could bring a city to its knees. Someone just needs to write it.
This is the first time I’ve seen this post but I know I’m gonna love reading it every time it shows up on my dash
In addition to #TakeBackThanksgiving I wanted to do a separate event since I know Christmas shopping starts right about now.
If you are Native American / First Nations / Indigenous and need extra help with Christmas shopping, reblog and drop your Cash Apps / Venmo / Paypal or Amazon Wishlists.
Use the hashtag #NDNCHRISTMAS so we can find you on other social media.
Let’s all help each other out this time of year.
So I only have had one person reach out with their venmo/cashapp information. I’m going to compile a list here for the people who need assistance from other websites (Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc).
In the mean time, feel free to reblog this post with your information, or make your own posts using the tag #NDNCHRISTMAS so I can find it and share it here.
I honestly just need a little help with buying basics like work shirts, socks, and covering prescription copays at the moment… Things are looking up for the future, but starting a new job can be expensive until you start getting paid. Thank you @alinahdee@the-aila-test@doesthendnlive for starting this #NDNCHRISTMAS hashtag/initiative!
I’m @Duendecilla on Venmo, $Duendecilla on CashApp, and for PayPal I’m on ko-fi.com/genevieve ♡
I was literally just posting about maybe getting some help with Christmas 🥺 I literally have no extra funds for gifts and my siblings are waiting on my part for group gifts. heartemojie on cashapp & venmo, paypal.me/13thead (u do not see my birth name) 💓
My birthday is on December 9th, too.
Part of my family celebrates Christmas and Día de Reyes, etc. (I’m a mixed Black-Native Dominican so on and so forth, with different family.)
Good wishes to everyone in these trying times.
bit.ly/MagzDonate
ko-fi.com/cristaldotgema
List of online shopping items (DM me): wishlist.com/magzie
(preview art with alt text description embedded)
I’ll open up art commissions again soon, too, if anyone is interested.
Information and commission availability would be updated on my blog’s about page when I do: cristaldotgema.ga/about
If anyone wants to help me, I’ve been struggling to keep up with my bills because my partner’s in school and only working part time now/I haven’t gotten the money from a raise promised to me for the last 6 months/have some other work expenses I haven’t been paid back for from both my regular job and freelance work. My PayPal is here and there’s no cashapp or venmo in Canada but if you message me/send an ask I can give the email for interac e-transfer.
im not in an emergency situation but things are going to be really tight through the rest of the year at least since ive had to reduce my hours at work by half because of health issues. i really want to be able to get birthday and christmas presents for my cousins since this year has been really hard on them both, especially since we have had multiple deaths in the family and our community. my cousin’s 11th birthday is tomorrow, and one of my other cousins 8th birthday is on the 30th.
Marvel movies have completely eliminated the concept of practical effects from the movie-watching public’s consciousness
Not just practical effects just like. Basic set design lol
How… How do they think sci-fi was done before CGI?
Really badly? Do you remember sci-fi before CGI? It was shit. And don’t say Star Wars because they went back and fixed that with CGI later.
*big sigh* *puts head in hands* heathens who’ve never watched pre-MCU sci-fi movies OR the unedited Star Wars movies, my beloathed
So first of all, most people agree that the majority of the “CGI fixes” in the Star Wars original trilogy (excluding minor visual/sound effects like lightsaber colors and blaster sounds) are unececssary, extremely conspicuous, and/or bad. This is not news to literally anyone older than about 20 who has consumed Star Wars content on any level. There are quite literally two very famous ‘despecialized’ fan projects explicitly dedicated to un-doing all of the shitty “fixed” CGI effects while simultaneously restoring the OT in HD.
And yes, I do, in fact, remember sci-fi special effects before CGI was the foundational cornerstone of moviemaking. It was not, in fact, shit:
Also, ironically I can show you by….*gasp* using fucking Star Wars, of all things. Welcome to the Tatooine pod race set of The Phantom Menace, which was not, as popularly believed, CGI’d but was instead a fully-built miniature set:
Yes, they built the entire set as a minature, built life-sized pod racers for the actors, then spliced the two together using digital effects. Yes, they did such a fantastic job that people think the entire set and scene sequence was basically completely CGI’d to this day. You’re fucking welcome for undervaluing the time, effort, and talents of set designers by implying that set design and practical effects inherently mean things will look like shit.
CGI also ages really poorly. What you think looks incredibly realistic now is going to look terrible in a few years. Just look at the original vs remastered Star Trek. They “restored” Star Trek around 2006 and replaced a lot of the practical effects with CGI, and maybe it looked ok in 2006, but it looks so bad and fake now.
In the 60s they built a whole model of the Enterprise, complete with blinking lights and beautifully sculpted/painted details. It looks stunning! Then they replaced it with that horribly smooth and fake looking cgi ship.
Just look at this beauty
You can see the model at the Air and Space Museum in DC
Unfortunately the remastered version is the only version available to stream, but you can still find DVDs with the original effect.
made in 1968 and still stunning 2001 A Space
Odyssey
the designers worked with engineers at NASA to make realistic futuristic special effects using models and matte paintings no computer effects at all! - and incidentally inspired David Bowie to write Space Oddity, later performed in space by astronaut Chris Hadfield
The CGI of the original Jurassic Park may not be aging well (though arguably still better than some), but the practical effects will always look stunning.
This wild-looking shot (and similar manipulations) was famously achieved by having a professional juggler in a duplicate of Bowie’s jacket and gloves sitting behind him, basically with Bowie in his lap, doing the handwork while Bowie kept his arms behind the juggler. You may have seen a game based on this on Whose Line Is It Anyway.
This? Wires! Splicing! THE CGI TO DO THIS DIDN’T EXIST YET! (The juggler is hidden under the cape. If there’s a scene where he’s wearing a cape, that’s actually probably why.)
—CGI THAT WAS USED TO ERASE THE SHADOW FROM THE PRACTICAL EFFECT.
The shot itself hasn’t changed. The lift itself was done with wires and Bowie was given some propulsion with an air cannon so he could make that turn at speed. A minor amount of CGI was used in the 30th anniversary to “touch up” the work done in 1986, and one of the things they did was to remove a shadow on the wall from one of the wires.
You don’t know it, but you’re looking at a practical effect. In real life, the Ruby Slippers are almost orange. That luxe, rich ruby color showed up on the film as black when the shoes were the correct color, so the costumers adjusted the actual costume to give the color they wanted.
And this? This is where it would’ve been useful to have CGI. Margaret Hamilton got really badly burned on the steam doing one of her entrance/exits, and ended up in the hospital. THIS is what you use CGI for.
You come into my house and insult practical effects?
I’ll just finish off by reminding you THIS IS ONE, TOO.
That last one, iirc, was there was a double in a sepia-toned costume, and the interior door and wall there was painted brown, so when it was lit and shot it all appeared to still be in the sepia tone of the Kansas scenes, and part of why Dorothy stepped back out of the frame was so the double and Judy Garland (in the proper blue-and-white costume) could swap.
You are correct. The double’s name, by the way, was Bobbi Koshay.
This bad girl was operated by 20 people with THIRTY TWO piano strings, and has no cgi whatsoever. Not to mention the rest of the pre-Monsterverse Godzilla franchise!
and here’s some article links to what’s talked about in the video xxxxx
[Text ID :
A TikTok video made by @shinanova shows a woman in a black sleeveless shirt, dangling white (feather? fur?) earrings, and a gray fur cuff on her wrist pointing to captions between still photos illustrating the issue. Soft electronic music plays on the background.
Captions read : “Did you know how insanely expensive food costs in indigenous communities?”
Cartons of strawberries are shown on grocery shelves for 14.39. Kraft smooth peanut butter jars for 11.19. Bottles of Heinz ketchup for 16.79. Bags of green grapes for 28.19. Photos of protestors follow : Two tall men in ball caps and a third, shorter person in a fur lined hood. The man in the middle holds two signs on pieces of cardboard that read “Stop the crazy prices!” and “I have to feed my family!” The third person also holds a sign on a large yellow piece of posterboard, but the text is cut off by the framing. Two more people holding signs on orange and yellow posterboards, respectively. Posters read “High cost food in Nunavut” and “Food is expensive in Nunavut”. Returning to the woman making the video, she points to more captions : “What can you do? Spread awareness about the issue. Support Indigenous People’s and donate. Share the causes you find most important at Www.UnwreckTheFuture.Com to fight food insecurity” followed by an emoji of a solidarity/fight the power fist (hand closed into a fist, viewed from the thumb curled in front of the knuckles)
/end text]
hi op here please try to reblog the version with the id now please
