Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

giggle-fit:

missmaialibre:

iammyfather:

heavenearthandhoratio:

stfueverything:

bltpastasalads:

Freaking THIS

Yes, that’s right, it’s obviously the worker’s fault, not the systemic and pervasive problem of crony capitalism. Duh. 

Let me tell you some fun stories, OP. 

My best friend has a degree in early childhood education AND teaching home economics (there is an actual name for this degree, I just can’t remember it right now, she would kill me). Yes, she has an ~actual degree from a university~. I know it’s hard to believe, because we so adore thinking that everyone making minimum wage are barely high school graduates (as if there’s anything wrong with that). 

Here’s the thing though, she can’t get a job with her home-ec degree because all of the things she could be teaching (culinary arts for example) are being cut from school’s budgets. So they’re downsizing those teachers, not hiring more. 

So she uses her early childhood education degree, and she works at a preschool. Bear with me. I know it’s more fun to pretend that the only low-wage jobs in our country are in retail and fast food. Because it’s easier to look down on the people busting their asses to make sure you can shop and eat.  

She teaches her students their letters and numbers, how to write their names, counting and sharing and art. She gives her students a solid foundation to be able to enter elementary school. 

She makes $8 an hour.

In the city she lives in, depending on what preschool she works at she could make anywhere from $8-10 and hour. It’s not a matter of skill, it’s not a matter of ‘rising above’. There is no above in a preschool, unless it’s the director. And someone making $16,000-$20,000 a year and working 40+ hours a week doesn’t really make enough to go back to school for their master’s degree just for the hopes of making $15. 

Before I got into my current field I worked at a different non-profit. Oooh, that’s right. A Non-profit organization. With my degree. I actually did ‘rise up’. I rose up as high as I could withing that organization. As high as ANYONE could, actually, without being either the Executive Director or Assistant Director. I went from making 7.25 to making 8.25. That’s right. I rose as HIGH AS I COULD GO and was still only making a dollar more than minimum wage. 

That wasn’t because of my skill, or my drive. I rose from the most entry level position to the position directly under the assistant director in THREE YEARS. But it didn’t matter because greed is everywhere, even in non-profits, and the AD and ED were making six figures a year while the rest of us were starving. The AD and ED were also the only people in the org allowed to work full time. This wasn’t because there wasn’t enough work, this was because they didn’t have to give us any insurance if we didn’t work full time hours. 

Greed is everywhere. THAT’s why people don’t have living wages. Corporations are making billions of dollars a year, their employees are getting their food from food banks. 

Look at caregiver pay.  These people are taking care of Nana and can’t afford to live.  remember that next time you complain about staff “Ignoring” her.  Understaffed, overworked, and minimal wages, and they have licenses and certifications.

The entire state university system in my state is preparing to strike for a 5% wage raise because the average faculty salary is $45,000 - which works out to about $22/hr, taking winter and summer breaks into consideration - for 50-70 hrs/week of work. 

These are people with Masters and PhDs, people who worked their asses off to get to where they’re at, people who work their asses off on and off the clock to provide an education. These are tenured professors who have worked ~10 years without a raise. 

Don’t even get me started on K-12 educators.

Louder for the entitled asshats on their high horses! I’ve yet to see a single person with their hands out for money. How about decent wages for all of us, so we have the time and money to rise higher? And some respect for workers, retail and education, as human beings?

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

norvicensiandoran:

reconfemmandoforares:

infearofblankpages:

egalitarianqueen:

berniementum:

Identification info has been removed because the original poster was being called names for not understanding the voting process. This person is NOT idiotic or dumb. They are just one more person out of many out there who don’t understand that the voting process doesn’t work like it should, that you can’t just go up and vote for whoever you want on the fly.

TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS! Make sure they understand how voting works. And if they are confused, make sure they visit VoteForBernie.org/

This is why it’s important to educate people on the voting process

Even if a school has a civics requirement, that doesn’t mean they go over the voting process in detail. Often it’s just about how voting is important and that there are primaries and a general, but that doesn’t mean you get it.

My parents walked us through the registration process and our first time voting; they even took us with them to the polls as kids. Don’t judge other people for not knowing these things, especially if they’re asking for help. Just answer their damn questions.

this election cycle is too important to mock people for this being their first time. for fuck’s sake.

Most people assume you can write in because in general elections it isn’t a separate ballot by party.

!!!Primaries are different!!!

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

psych2go:

I Study Psychology Not Mind Reading

You can order this as a sticker here: https://teespring.com/not-mindreader-coffee

Hmm, should that be “have a tea” or “have a coffee”? Your thoughts?

(via im-lost-but-not-gone)

roachpatrol:

rainbowbarnacle:

xploren:

My cousin, ashamed after building a chair from IKEA.

Oh god I feel terrible for cackling at this.

Help every time I stop laughing I just look at that fucked up chair again. 

(Source: metrolosangeles-blog-blog, via academicfeminist)

(Source: mysharona1987, via ailleee)