it’s disability pride month so i want to talk about one of my least favorite stigmas around celiac disease
in lots of media, being gluten free is played as a joke or something someone is to be annoying/pretentious. the amount of times i’ve heard jokes like that is honestly disheartening.
it also doesn’t help with the general population’s belief that celiac disease/gluten sensitivities are not serious. i’ve been diagnosed with celiac disease for 3 years now, i’ve been gluten free for about 4, and it has substantially improved my quality of life. i can’t afford risking cross-contamination because it leaves me sick for days. nearly every time i have a reaction to gluten, it’s hard for me to even drink water the next day because my body is an absolute mess. i’m miserable and fatigued for days until my body heals. not to mention the long term effects that have left me unable to stand/walk around for extended periods of time because my joints are pretty weak.
being gluten free NEEDS to be taken seriously. it’s not a choice i’ve made because i’m hoping on the latest fad, its not a preference, it’s an autoimmune disorder.
I know for a fact that if Edric and Emira had made it to the human realm with the rest of the gang that Edric would be trying to lick things left and right for "science" and "research". Amity would've had to make a child leash out of abomination goo
If you’re an adult, do the stuff you couldn’t as a kid.
Like, me and my sister went to a museum, and they had an extra exhibit of butterflies. But it cost £3. So we sighed, walked past, then stopped. We each had £3. We could see the butterflies. And we did it was great. We followed it up with an ice-cream as well because Mum and Dad weren’t there to say no.
I was driving back from a work trip with 2 other people in their early 20s, and we drove past a MacDonalds. One of the others went “Aww man, I’d love a McFlurry.” And the guy driving pulled in to the drive through. It was wild. But it was great.
I went to a park over the weekend and I was thinking “Man, I’d love to hire one of those bikes and cycle round the park.” It took me a few minutes to go “Wait, I can hire one of those bikes!”
I guess what I’m saying is, those impulsive things you wanted to do as a kid - see the dinosaur exhibit, play in the fountains with the other kids, lie in the shade for 2 hours - you can do when you’re an adult. You have to deal with a whole lot of other bull, but at least you can indulge your inner 8 year-old.
This is the beginning of a beautiful evil friendship
TOH except the characters are replaced by my failed Google searches
Parents think it's a sin for their children to disobey them. Parents think it's okay to assault their children in order to instill the fear of God in them.
Those parents are prime examples of using the lord's name in vain. But they don't want their children to know that. So they instead invent some bullshit definition.
So, okay, fun fact. When I was a freshman in high school… let me preface by saying my dad sent me to a private school and, like a bad organ transplant, it didn’t take. I was miserable, the student body hated me, I hated them, it was awful.
Okay, so, freshman year, I’m deep in my “everything sucks and I’m stuck with these assholes” mentality. My English teacher was a notorious hard-ass, let’s call him Mr. Hargrove. He was the guy every student prayed they didn’t get. And, on top of ALL OF THE SHIT I WAS ALREADY DEALING WITH, I had him for English.
One of the laborious assignments he gave us was to keep a daily journal. Daily! Not monthly or weekly. Fucking daily. Handwritten. And we had to turn it in every quarter and he fucking graded us. He graded us on a fucking journal.
All of my classmates wrote shit like what they did that day or whatever. But, I did not. No, sir. I decided to give the ol’ middle finger to the assignment and do my own shit.
So, for my daily journal entries, over the course of an entire year, I wrote a serialized story about a horde of man-eating slugs that invaded a small mining town. It was graphic, it was ridiculous, it was an epic feat of rebellion.
And Mr. Hargrove loved it.
It wasn’t just the journal. Every assignment he gave us, I tried to shit all over it. Every reading assignment, everyone gushed about how good it was, but I always had a negative take. Every writing assignment, people wrote boring prose, but I wrote cheesy limericks or pulp horror stories.
Then, one day, he read one of my essays to the class as an example of good writing. When a fellow student asked who wrote it, he said, “Some pipsqueak.”
And that’s when I had a revelation. He wanted to fight. And since all the other students were trying to kiss his ass, I was his only challenger.
Mr. Hargrove and I went head-to-head on every assignment, every conversation, every fucking thing. And he ate it up. And so did I.
One day, he read us a column from the Washington Post and asked the class what was wrong with it. Everyone chimed in with their dumbass takes, but I was the one who landed on Mr. Hargrove’s complaint: The reporter had BRAZENLY added the suffix “ize” to a verb.
That night I wrote a jokey letter to the reporter calling him out on the offense in which I added “ize” to every single verb. I gave it to Mr. Hargrove, who by then had become a friendly adversary, for a chuckle and he SENT IT TO THE REPORTER.
And, people… The reporter wrote back. And he said I was an exceptional student. Mr. Hargrove and I had a giggle about that because we both knew I was just being an asshole, but he and the reporter acknowledged I had a point.
And that was it. That was the moment. Not THAT EXACT moment, but that year with Mr. Hargrove taught me I had a knack for writing. And that knack was based in saying “fuck you” to authority. (The irony that someone in a position of authority helped me realize that is not lost on me.)
So, I can say without qualification that Mr. Hargrove is the reason I am now a professional writer. Yes, I do it for a living. And most of my stuff takes authorities of one kind or another to task.
Mr. Hargrove showed me my dissent was valid, my rebellion was righteous, and that killer slugs could bring a city to its knees. Someone just needs to write it.
be free!!
my sister and I were talking about how different smurfs would look if they had hair and she asked me to draw vanity smurf with pink hair for her, so I did and here's the result 😄🌸💗
It's a wonder Brainy doesn't have a traumatic brainy injury- I know cartoon logic and all, but like. Good grief. I watched the Magic Flute today and like- Clumsy gets hurt and Papa immediately treats his injuries. Brainy gets hit with a mallet, and he's just. Left there. Papa even says 'he talks way too much' or something, like- why would you say that about your own kid? And then let the others attack him over it with no repercussions?? Even with Grumpy he says 'we love him' but Brainy? 'Haha, no. He's our village punching bag, see, he has more than enough brains to cope with a little brain damage.'
Great parenting, Papa.
Anyway have some happier Brainy doodles :)
Just doing my best :) please search '#mystuff' for my art and original posts :320Coeliac disease sufferer of 18 yearsDwi'n dysgu Cymraeg
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