its fine i started tumbirds so i could make friends and so other awkward people could make friends and it worked so that’s all that really matters right like this has been the best year of college for me so far because i met so many people and so much ridiculous shit has happened

so yeah

SO LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FRIEND ROBERT, ONE OF THE MOST BADASS MOTHERFUCKERS I KNOW, AND WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN ME IN HELPING TO SEND HIM ON ALTERNATIVE BREAKS.

LOOK AT THIS FINE PIECE OF ACTIVIST ASS.

I first met him last year at Voices of Discovery, a program through Diversity Advocacy at our university, and I was like, INSTANTLY obsessed with him.

“WHO’S THIS PRIVILEGE-CHECKING ASPIRING SOCIAL WORKER WITH PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD?” I would scream to myself in an intense internal monologue every day (until I got his tumblr url).

IT’S MOTHERFUCKIN’ ROBERT.

Not only is he constantly helping to smash the patriarchy and fight systemic racism (this dude drives the White Collection Bus 24/7. Check out his clean driving record.), but he’s making SERIOUS WAVES as an activist for the queer community. He just finished putting together the bid proposal to host MBLGTACC 2015.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL THOSE LETTERS?!

The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference is the largest LGBTA college conference in the nation. And Robert put in almost a YEAR of research, communication and commitment to make this bid possible. All while putting in massive efforts to improve our PRIDE group on campus, being a Resident Assistant, studying to be a social worker, and going to basically EVERY GODDAMN THING HOSTED BY DIVERSITY ADVOCACY.

I don’t know how he does it. I woke up this morning and didn’t get out of bed until, like, 12:10pm.

ALL RIGHT, WE GET IT, ROBERT IS THE SHIT. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

Here’s what’s up. Robert’s trying to get enough money to be able to go on Alternative Winter Break/Alternative Spring Break, which are week-long/10-day volunteer trips to take commitment to social change and put it to use, doing AWESOME SHIT LIKE:

• Building homes for the homeless
• Helping people displaced by natural disasters
• Working with people with HIV/AIDS
• Tutoring young children
• AND OTHER AWESOME STUFF.

Robert is seriously one of my biggest inspirations, and I know he’s gonna like punch me in the heart for saying this publicly, but it’s true. His passion for helping people, especially at-risk LGBTQ youths, is at the core of his existence, and he’s a natural-born leader.

He’s one of those people that just makes you want to be a better person just by knowing him. AND he wants to give up his breaks to help other people instead of sleeping for a week straight, which I think is pretty awesome.

ALSO SCROLL BACK UP AND TELL ME YOU DON’T WANT A PIECE OF THAT. I KNOW I DO. I DON’T EVEN THINK I’M READY FOR THAT JELLY. DON’T MIND ME, I’M ONLY A LITTLE OBSESSED.

What you can do to help is donate to his AWB/ASB fund here, or reblog this post. It’d mean a hell of a lot to me, and I know it’d mean a lot to him.

Plus, he promised that “at the end of all of my trips, I’ll post a photo album and give y’all a shout out!” 

ALSO CHECK OUT THIS BITSTRIP OF US LAUGHING AT PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT REVERSE RACISM. DEM EYES.

So yeah. Whether it’s a penny or $100, absolutely anything to help one of my best friends go on these trips to keep doing the kind of work that he loves would mean a lot to me, and even if you can’t spare anything, signal boosting this would be pretty bitchin’ too.

Thanks guys. <3

A beramiah liked your post: Is tumb-birds still a thing?

1. “restorative justice session” to be held on tuesday at 5pm to ~discuss~. members of the black student union, black grad association, diversity advocacy, naacp and others will be present along with school of theatre members . this is the next CONCRETE step.

2. we can finally pan out the discussion from just this one incident to how it reflects the attitudes and problems of the department and campus as a whole. how having a racist MLK party 4 years in a row demonstrates a lack of awareness and understanding, how defending it does the same, and what can be done to address these issues. it was never really just about this ONE guy (though this one guy is still an asshole and still owes the whole world an apology and public admission of racist action at the VERY VERY least), but the climate that surrounds him and allowed this party to continue for 4 years without anybody saying anything, or being able to say anything

some issues that the MLK party has put a spotlight on  - 

• what it means for something or someone to be “racist”
• microaggressions and how they damage individuals and groups
• the inability to discuss race frankly, instead opting for bullshit silencing kumbayah, we’re-all-a-family, why-can’t-we-just-get-along rhetoric
• the fact that the climate of the department has made people who wanted to speak up afraid because they know it will affect their standing with their peers or their ability to get cast in productions
• the ways that ISU as a school has failed to address issues of racism in any major way
• the fact that the theatre department has one token ~multicultural~ show per season
• the fact that these tokenized productions are not given the same weight, commitment, effort, understanding or respect
• the lack of world theatre history education
• the class called “Theatre History” only representing popular hegemonic western theatre history
• racist comments made by faculty
• general lack of knowledge of white privilege and oppression
• whether ISU is preparing artists who can think critically about their art, or just craftspeople who have pursued a trade

so while i encourage you all to continue circulating the petition, know that this discussion and action will not stop with robert, and if you have any suggestions for where to go next please let me know. right now my top two are proposing a world theatre history class and renaming our current theatre history class 

also, for the record — ISU has a history of having super racist black history month dinners too (check out their idea of hispanic heritage month dinner), and if they’re so bold as to do that again this month, don’t worry

you’ll be hearing from me

thanks for all your support, you guys fucking rock, i hope i’m making you proud

okay so my dad’s from arkansas or whatever and his high school integrated (“consolidated”) in the 10th grade

and it was all the bullshit you would expect, separate proms, etc

10th reunion rolls around the black students weren’t invited

20th reunion my dad writes a letter to the organizers asking if this was gonna be a full reunion for EVERYBODY

the organizers basically said “well, they wouldn’t want to be with US as much as we don’t want to be with THEM” 

so my dad’s just like r u srs like really it’s been 20 fucking years

so he wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper saying basically “it’s been 20 years, what the hell is wrong with these people”

he got a bunch of hate mail, the paper wrote him back asking if he’d write an expanded piece on it, so he did, it got published in the op ed, he got more hate mail

the organizers straight up canceled the 20th reunion because if they had to have it with the black students they didn’t want to have it at all

this all happened the year i was born.

so after getting some letters of support and stuff my dad got in contact with some of the black graduates and some of the other nonshitty white students and organized a 21st reunion for everybody for the following year

and apparently

little 8 or 9 or 10-month-old me was there with my dad

he has a big binder of the article he wrote (where he owns up to the fact that when he was 17 and graduating in 1972 he had been right alongside his white friends hurling racial slurs and being just as bigoted as the rest of them — and expressing deep regret, disgust, and humiliation at the fact that he was once that person), the letters of support he got from people, and articles about it

and like i just kind of want to cry yknow

so yeah

And y’all should know by now that I don’t fuck with oppressors.

So let me introduce you to Rowan Owen Murray, student at Leeds Metropolitan University and general asshole.

Rowan Owen Murray is an anti-Semitic piece of shit.

Rowan Owen Murray skates for Steak Skateboards.

Here’s his Facebook.

Here’s his Tumblr.

Here’s his Twitter.

Here’s his pathetic LinkedIn. 

Rowan Owen Murray is an anti-Semitic piece of shit, and I just wanted to make sure that y’all were aware. Maybe I’ll pass his information along to the Leeds Jewish Society. Who knows.