All posts filed under: norms

Secondhand Smoke

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Originally posted on Serve With Me:
I use public transportation to travel to and from my service. While there are many positives to traveling via public transportation such as reduced air pollution, increased physical exercise, saving money and more, there are also negatives. As you can tell from the title of this post, the main negative I have recently become concerned with is secondhand smoke. Up until this point I have been satisfied with my efforts to avoid smokers. If someone is smoking at the bus stop, I keep my distance so that I don’t breathe in the smoke. In addition, I time my trips so that I am able to wait on the bus where smoking is prohibited rather than outside where it is allowed. Now I have realized that these two tactics are not enough. The tactics I mentioned above have resulted in me breathing in smoke when I am at the train station transferring from bus to train or vice versa. As I exit the bus, often times a person walking in…

FUCK SELFIES!

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Originally posted on John Lee Taggart:
I feel like such a grumpy old man for saying this…but I still hate the whole selfie thing. Not just like taking a photograph of you and your ice cream (or whatever) and then sending it to your friend all: “haha – you don’t have a fucking ice cream, and I do!” – because of course, that is fantastic and I would never want to deprive anyone of such a perverse pleasure… I’m not even talking about getting a quick snap of you and your friends together to mark some kind of occasion…actually you know what I have no problem with the selfie in itself at all… But what I do have an issue with is the non-stop: KA-CHURR! … KA-CHURR! … KA-CHURR!  (That was supposed to be the camera sound on phones by the way; was a difficult one to recreate phonetically!) You see I’m sitting here in Starbucks – probably (definitely) drank too much coffee, but this person is sitting next to me taking photos at every angle – and has been doing so for over half an…

A Time to Reflect

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Originally posted on Metal and the Geek:
I know in my previous post I wrote about my reading and writing slump. That currently hasn’t changed much. See I was starting to feel like I could break it, and then Friday night happened. The attacks in Paris, shocked me deeply. Now, I realize this kind of stuff happens in other parts of the world, I pay attention, I am not clueless, but does humanity really need to have a Misery contest along with everything else? One tragedy does not trump another. Stop being clueless and asinine. I cannot, and will not speak for others, I will write here what I have been feeling the past few days. You do not have to agree, or even understand, I just finally felt the need to write something, and it needed to be more than just a book review or a book post. The reason why the Paris attack hit a little closer to home for me, was not because I live in Europe and a train ride away…

There’s Nothing Christian About Blocking Non-Christian Refugees to the US

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Originally posted on Millennial:
Millennial co-founder Christopher Hale has a new article at Time. He writes: In light of the terrorist attacks on Paris Friday, some, including Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, have called on President Barack Obama to focus on accepting Christian refugees from Syria. But there’s nothing Christian about only prioritizing Christian refugees into the U.S. In fact, such an idea flies in the face of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself was an immigrant child in a strange land. When Mary and Joseph were looking for a place for Mary to give birth to Jesus, Bethlehem’s innkeepers denied the Holy Family a hotel for the night. After Jesus’s birth, Mary and Joseph fled with their refugee child to Egypt to avoid King Herod’s despotic rule. They did this even though their Judaism was a visible minority in the North African land full of indigenous and polytheistic beliefs. If ancient Egypt can make room for refugees of religious minorities, why can’t the U.S. do so today? You can read…

We’re Black in Havana, and Still Can’t Breathe

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Originally posted on Black Millennials:
By Jasmine Hall and Moriah Ray Displaced: to force someone to leave their home, typically because of war, persecution, or natural disasters. This war being waged on black bodies is resulting in our persecution, and there is nothing natural about this disaster. It is methodological, institutionalized and heavily funded.   As we entered our embassy, which is supposed to serve as our “safe haven,” we found ourselves displaced. As we nervously walked through a barrage of bulletproof doors and body scanners, the face of a black man on the wall – our Commander in Chief – provided us momentary relief before we entered the main lobby. There, we were reminded of the threat that black women pose to the system. Posted on the edifice walls, we saw nothing more than a freedom fighting black women labeled a “TERRORIST.” She fought – and continues to fight – against the system so we can breathe. One million dollar reward for anyone who could return the women in “traditional African clothing” who was…

Creeping At The Gym

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Originally posted on A Couple Talks:
Is it ever appropriate to holler at a chick at the gym? If there is a right time to do so, then I don’t know of such things. It’s one of those places where we are the least presentable. The sweat, the groans, the lack of breath – these are not ideal conditions at all. I remember many years ago spotting a very cute girl working out by herself. It was a Saturday afternoon, the gym was less busy, and she was on the treadmill. I was on a treadmill myself, a few to her left. I tried my best to be discrete, giving her a few casual glances here and there. Look, let’s face it, girls get checked out all-of-the-fucking-time, so why would the gym be any different? I believe I did a good job of concealing my glances – I’m Asian after all, which means my chinky eyes are harder to spot (a win for the yellow man for once). I was single at the time, so of…