miss zoltan

What? Tumblr? What is tumblr?

So I know it’s been a while - I’ve had life and school stuff to contend with and just not really time for tumblr. But as we are sitting snugly and excitedly in the middle of this year’s Project for Awesome, I thought I should make a post talking about my video this year.

Before I get in to my video I want to say: whatever P4A videos you watch this year, DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT. Youtube comments on the video raise 1 penny each, which John and Hank will personally be donating. SO GO COMMENT. And say something nice about the video, because being nice to fellow youtubers decreases worldsuck too.

This is my first year making a video for P4A, and this increased involvement has brought me so much closer to fellow creators and fostered a warm and fuzzy sense of community in me. This event is one truly appropriate use of the word “awesome.”

(trigger warning for sexual & interpersonal violence) My video this year promotes RAINN - Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. Watch the video for information about the organization and its excellent affiliates - here I want to talk a little bit more (from a very personal place) about why these organizations are so important.

John and Hank have framed P4A in terms of creating opportunities for those who otherwise might not have them, of balancing out the severely unbalanced dynamics of privilege. To me, at the center of sexual and interpersonal violence is one person removing the strength, agency, sense of self, and/or sense of security and well-being from another, taking control over that person using sexual, physical, emotional, and verbal violence. In my experience as a survivor of these traumas (and please remember that everyone’s experience and handling of these traumas is different) - it feels as though these experiences have left me less of a person, less of my self, smaller and unsure and blocked psychologically from working to my full potential in all aspects of my life. It is therefore essential that survivors have access to counseling, advocacy, sheltering and medical services to help them heal physically and psychologically and protect them (as leaving an abusive situation can be a very dangerous time for the survivor). Without organizations like RAINN and its affiliates, these services would be extremely expensive and only accessible to a very small percentage of the people who need them. Please take the time to seek out your local RAINN affiliate and volunteer your time or money, or donate directly at rainn.org.

Thanks for watching/reading, have a great remainder of P4A, and DFTBA.

Below I’ve included a few relevant emergency hotline numbers:

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1.800.656.4673
or
http://rainn.org/get-help/national-sexual-assault-online-hotline
http://rainn.org/dod-safe-helpline
Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696
National Suicide Prevention LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255
Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-843
Self Harm Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

fishingboatproceeds:

movingon15:

Was Hitler gay? Did he only have one testicle? What was Hitler’s sex life all about? Allow John Green to educate you. 

Domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)  http://www.thehotline.org/

Ima reblog this one, because it has the domestic violence hotline number. You should never be afraid to call such numbers, by the way. The people on the other end of the line are good people, and—best of all—they can help.

I was really happy with how this video turned out. In the first minute or so, I was scared that it would just be John talking about Hitler’s sex life in a comical way and parodying silly history channel specials. Then, when he started talking about how most of Hitler’s former girlfriends committed suicide, I got really nervous he would trivialize the topic (as someone who was at one time driven to suicidal thoughts and attempts and self-harm by an abusive partner, I actually physically wouldn’t have been able to handle that). And so, as soon as John said “I wish that story were unique,” and started talking about how we indulge ourselves in these tragic stories because we want to escape the reality that these people are no different from so many of us, I was pretty damn moved and relieved. SO: I think the song is funny, too, fellow Nerdfighters, but while we’re making gifs and extracting all the comedy possible from John’s last video, let’s also take it as a great opportunity to talk about how relationship violence (read: not limited to physical violence) contributes to worldsuck and why we let it be so tragically common and what we can do to decrease that commonness by just a little bit. Also, I just want to say thanks, John, for saying something that’s so often too hard to say; this video meant a surprising lot to me.

(Source: aimingforsomething)

Video response to Feeling More Alive: Fahrenheit 451’s The Hearth and the Salamander.

This made my morning. Thanks for making me feel loads better about not being at VidCon, Hank.

An extremely refreshing, earnest discussion of The Hunger Games. My very personal connection to these books is due in large part to the metaphorical implications of the series, including, but in no way limited to, those that Hank puts forth in this video. I think Suzanne Collins has masterfully weaved together themes of self-discovery and agency, feminism, social awareness and activism, corruption, and class into The Hunger Games series, but these topics seem largely ignored by the fandom because the author has also written realistic and relatable threads of love, insecurity, and friendship. I don’t mean to chastise Collins for that, it is the combination of the two that makes the plotting so brilliant and the characters so rich. But I do think that The Hunger Games merits more serious discussion. Thank you Hank for making this.

(Source: youtube.com)