Author: alicehoffmans

TIL that the phrase “It gets better” infuriates me in a way I’ve never experienced.

For the first time in a long career of being a depressed human being, I was told “It gets better” un-ironically during an otherwise constructive conversation. It made my face flush and I immediately had the urge to end the conversation. So I did. And now I feel like an ass.

The phrase “it gets better” doesn’t seem terrible at face value. I mean, it really isn’t terrible. But I feel as though in past years, at least in the US, there has been a rather prolific ad/PSA campaign based around the phrase “it gets better”. It feels contrived and inauthentic. It’s the poor man’s way of saying “I get what you’re saying, but I don’t have the emotional capacity to support you right now”. And that’s fine, if that is the purpose it’s supposed to serve. It’s a slogan, a catch-phrase, and not an effective means of providing emotional support or insight. It’s the “Got Milk?” or “Just do it!” of depression support advocates. I’m genuinely not sure what aspect of depression it is supposed to hint at, aside from perhaps the small percentage of MDD/GAD sufferers that feel drive toward self harm and suicide – and even then, I think would hate to hear this if I were in that position.

https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_p8m92ne3041rm3n0co1.mp3?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio
https://alicehoffmans.tumblr.com/post/174877640833/audio_player_iframe/alicehoffmans/tumblr_p8m92ne3041rm3n0c?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fa.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_p8m92ne3041rm3n0co1.mp3

come-from-outer-space:

Grab me by my ankles
I’ve been flying for too long
I couldn’t hide from the thunder
In the sky full of song … 

almostfrenchrevision:

tenitchyfingers:

papatulus:

papatulus:

papatulus:

found this site that lets you like, look at all the radio stations around the world, lets you connect to them and listen in

and obviously you can flit around between all the big stations, but it’s quite fun to go to the isolated green dots

I discovered a new band thanks to a station in cyprus, and now I’m listening to ‘chillout’ music being broadcast from kazahkstan

(http://radio.garden/)

ok i found this russian station way out in remote siberia which apparently according to the website is somewhere that looks like this

i cant understand a word of what’s said during the breaks but its fun

you just tuned in to my computer by mistake

that’s when my evening went from good to great

This is weirdly soothing to know what all of these people are doing around the world at this particular moment, who’s waking up and who’s going to sleep…

kuanios:

“You’ve walked those streets a thousand times and still
you end up here. Regret none of it, not one
of the wasted days you wanted to know nothing,
when the lights from the carnival rides
were the only stars you believed in, loving them
for their uselessness, not wanting to be saved.
You’ve traveled this far on the back of every mistake,
ridden in dark-eyed and morose but calm as a house
after the TV set has been pitched out the upstairs
window. Harmless as a broken ax. Emptied
of expectation. Relax. Don’t bother remembering
any of it. Let’s stop here, under the lit sign
on the corner, and watch all the people walk by.”

— Dorianne Laux, Antilamentation (excerpt).

thequeensofbeauty:

“When it comes to fashion, we all know what looks most flattering for our bodies, but sometimes you have to be brave and think outside the box. I think sometimes people are scared of the critique. I get it— it’s terrifying when images go online within half an hour. But passing judgment on someone else is a reflection of your own insecurities. We all make mistakes. We all have a fashion faux pas, choose the wrong script, write the wrong song. But it’s only by taking chances and occasionally getting it wrong that we grow.”