Category Archives: Viva!

Catalans defy Spanish government and call independence vote | World news | The Guardian

“Catalonia has the right to decide its political future,” said Mas. “We know that democracy is the most civilised way to resolve difficulties between nations.” The 9 November referendum would see two questions put to Catalans: whether Catalonia should be a state and, if so, whether it should be an independent state.

The central government has repeatedly insisted that any regional vote on independence would be illegal, pointing out that the country’s 1978 constitution means major questions must be put to all Spaniards and that only they can call a referendum. Barcelona, in turn, asserts that the non-binding nature of its regional vote allows it to take place within the legal confines of the constitution.

via Catalans defy Spanish government and call independence vote | World news | The Guardian.

102-Year-Old Woman Celebrates Birthday At White Castle: Gothamist

Turpan has been eating at White Castle “at least once a month for more than 80 years,” and in a seemingly contradictory statement, asserts that eating properly is very important to a long life. At some point, she hopes to get around to learning the White Castle recipe.

via 102-Year-Old Woman Celebrates Birthday At White Castle: Gothamist.

Me? I am a vegan but who’s to tell a 102 person what they should or should not eat – grin

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Mom’s Hands

When I was born you held me in your hands.

When I couldn’t sleep you gave me your hands and sang Lalayi for me.

When I got dirty you washed me with your hands.

When I wanted to stand you put my hands in your hands and lifted.

When I fell down your hands picked me up.

You cleaned my clothes, brushed my hair, and gave me food, all with your hands.

When I grew bigger you walked me to school, hand-in-hand.

Do you remember how I cried because I didn’t want to go?

You dried my tears with your hands.

My daughter, you have to go to school.

I am illiterate. I have to work at home. But you must go.

You told me to become a doctor, an engineer, a teacher.

You prepared my books, polished my shoes.

You shook my teacher’s hand and told her to take care of me.

Every step of my life, always, your loving hands are in my thoughts.

When I was young I saw society’s view of women and was discouraged.

You touched my hands.

My daughter, I am always with you.

Don’t be afraid. Go ahead.

You taught me that conditions will never be as I wish, but I can turn them in my favor.

Now your hands are old and wrinkled because of me.

You worked hard with your hands so that I can be at peace.

Mom, you are the reason for my success, the reason for my happiness.

You are the source of my good fortune.

These kind and helping hands of yours

Mom, I am thanking you.

And kissing, your hands.

By Arifa H.

via Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Mom’s Hands.

Cats of Aleppo

Alaa, an ambulance driver, feeds cats in Masaken Hanano in Aleppo. Alaa buys about $4 of meat everyday to feed about 150 abandoned cats in Masaken Hanano, a neigbourhood in Aleppo that has been deserted because of shelling from forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad. Alaa said that he has been feeding and taking care of the cats for over 2 months.

via Cats of Aleppo.

Bundeswehr signs up 2,000 to fight Ebola in West Africa | News | DW.DE | 24.09.2014

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced that 2,000 German soldiers had volunteered for duty in Africa to aid in the battle against Ebola. The deadliest outbreak on record has infected almost 6,000 people in West Africa and killed nearly half of them, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

via Bundeswehr signs up 2,000 to fight Ebola in West Africa | News | DW.DE | 24.09.2014.

It’s on us to go beyond ‘It’s On Us’

(Photo credit: Larry Downing/Reuters)

“Identify situations in which sexual assault may occur.

If you see something, intervene in any way you can.

If something looks like a bad situation, it probably is.

Get someone to help if you see something.

Get in the way by creating a distraction.”

The White House’s flashy new bystander intervention campaign, It’s On Us, makes sexual assault sound a lot like a bad thunderstorm — unfortunate, inevitable, striking seemingly out of nowhere, and devoid of human agents. The solution, then, is easy and comfortable: “Identify situations in which [a-tornado-I-mean-sexual-assault] may occur” and guide your friend to safety; remember: “If something looks like a bad situation, it probably is.”

Gender-based violence is not like the weather. It has direct, immediate human agents and is structural and systemic at its core. But the new campaign de-politicizes and de-genders sexual assault, portraying it as an easy-to-avoid problem solely between individuals, and making perpetrators out to be vague “someones” who do “something” to other “someones.” In reality, perpetrators are disproportionately likely to be men and their victims are disproportionately likely to be women (particularly queer and trans women, women of color, and women with disabilities), queer men, and gender non-conforming folks.

The It’s On Us campaign’s failure to conceptualize of violence as systemic and structural guts meaningful responses to it. While bystander intervention more broadly may be usefully integrated into a more comprehensive anti-violence approach, it has serious limitations. And the way it’s framed in It’s On Us, it offers a strategy to avoid violence, not meaningfully reduce it. The campaign’s tips — like guiding your friends away from perpetrators at parties — might help an individual woman avoid a rapist in an individual instance but it won’t stop that rapist from turning to the next girl down the bar. It makes the problem seem discrete and manageable, with a quick fix that fits comfortably within an existing structure of how our world works, who has power, and who doesn’t. It enlists men, for instance, to protect their female friends at a bar but not to recognize their own power and privilege, the subtle ways in which they enact violence all the time.

via It’s on us to go beyond ‘It’s On Us’.

Photos: Fearless “Daredevil Caulker” Risks It All For The Love Of Caulk: Gothamist

Tipster “angelmay1978” sent us photos this morning of a man she describes as a “Daredevil Caulker,” observed in the building across the street from her. “He’s on the 10th floor standing/squatting on the window sill caulking the outside of the window frame…no harness,” our witness reports, noting the building in question is located at Madison Avenue and 49th Street. “I’m about to have a panic attack,” she adds.

Yes, this definitely seems dangerous, but the caulker’s courageous work this day will be remembered in that office for generations. Fortune favors the bold.

via Photos: Fearless “Daredevil Caulker” Risks It All For The Love Of Caulk: Gothamist.