Sara Raasch's Blog, page 528

The Autumn Join the Blizzard contest is in full swing!

cassjaytuck:

camiekahle:

heylookitseli:

rebelyell101:

tom-sits-like-a-whore:

maamsugarswipe:

theinnocenceleft:

fantastic-nonsense:

floacist:

People really don’t believe Ancient Egyptians were ethnically African?

Perri: It’s sad but true, so many people don’t believe it. :(

Yup and if you ask the average American they will automatically say The Middle East…

…

but…

how—

Look at their lips!

This man up there favors my great great granddaddy (I’m of African descent, just so you all know)

EYES, NOSE—LIPS AGAIN.

I MEAN.

OMG. SERIOUSLY.

LIKE.

IT SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD TO GRASP.

White denial.

Remember, around the time white people became obsessed with Egypt and began romanticizing its history, they still were allowed to openly hate POC. They refuse to believe that so much power, grace, and beauty could come from people they despised(read: were jealous of).

It’s all just a superiority complex to mask their innate insecurity. It’s why they happily lump Egypt in with the Middle East and completely erase Black Egypt from the picture and instead focus on Arab Egypt.

It’s also why they have taken to dividing Africa into North Africa and “Sub-Saharan Africa” as if everything that is not of the “exotic desert” is inferior and savage.

Taxonomy and classism are just a few of white people’s favorite things to do to make themselves feel like they run shit.

The term “middle east” didn’t even exist before the 1960s.

Wow, look at all the ignorance in this post. *sigh*

Okay, first of all, the Middle East is a POLITICAL region. Africa is a physical continent. The Middle East is a term usually used to roughly describe ‘Western Asia’, the juncture between Europe, Africa, and Eastern Asia, but the 5 or so African countries situated north of the Sahara Desert (Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco, and it sometimes includes Sudan, depending on who you ask) are often included in this grouping because of similar culture and historical background (aka, they’re all countries that got conquered and were ruled by the Islamic Caliphates for hundreds of years).

A lot of people in Egypt AREN’T ethnically African, and never have been. Cleopatra, for instance, had Greek heritage. Egypt is one of the oldest freaking countries on Earth, one of the birthplaces of civilization. And there was a damn lot of ethnic mixing right from the start. YES, there are loads of ethnic Africans there from various parts of Africa who migrated there and stayed. But there were also THOUSANDS  of people who were not ethnically African, but Greek, Roman, Macedonian, Arabic, Persian, etc etc who came and stayed.

If you’d cared to check up on Egyptian history, heritage of the pharaohs changed from dynasty to dynasty. A lot of the pharaohs in the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (the Third Intermediate Period after the New Kingdom collapsed) were of Libyan descent. The Late Period Pharaohs were of Persian and Macedonian descent. Ethnic origins of most pharaohs up until the Sixteenth dynasty are unknown. Many are simply credited with being part of rivaling factions within Egypt. Persia conquered Egypt in 525 BC. Then Alexander the Great came in. Then you get the Ptolemaic dynasty (hello Cleopatra). Rome conquered them in 48 BC and basically stuck governors that answered to the Emperor as the rulers of Egypt. All this results in a very mixed bloodline for everyone.

The reason ‘Arab Egypt’ as you so delightfully call it, gets more attention is because more of the famous rulers were not black. We know more about the rulers that WEREN’T necessarily black than we do about the ones that were (because, hello, history. Documents and crap are hard to find, especially about Ancient Egypt, whose culture around art and writing was mostly all about death and the afterlife.) Because we have other documents and stuff talking about what happened during the later pharaohs eras, who…guess what, weren’t black. Again, the heritage of ruling families changed vastly from dynasty to dynasty. And most of the reason ‘Arab Egypt’ has become so synonymous with ‘Egypt as a whole’ is because…uh…hey. You guys were ruled by the Arab Islamic caliphates for hundreds of years. You steeped in their culture and their way of life and mixed with ethnically Arab people from the late 600s on.

It also has to do with overall culture and trading that Egypt has. They were intimately connected with all of the other Middle Eastern countries and were so close to them. Egypt is literally the bridge between Africa and Eurasia. So don’t you dare come to me and say that Egypt isn’t a part of the Middle East.

Egypt has ALWAYS been a racially mixed country, more so in the New Kingdom on of course (and they were definitely not without discrimination and prejudice, let me tell you). Aka, NOT ALL EGYPTIANS ARE DARK.

And if you’re seriously going to use ‘Prince of Egypt’ as a completely accurate representation of Egyptian people, let me remind you that the Pharaohs depicted are Ramses and his father (implied to be Seti and Ramses II), who were rulers in the 19th Dynasty, during the New Kingdom period. Like I said before, ethnic heritage varied wildly by dynasty.

‘Near East’ was more often used, but ‘Middle East’ has become more popular in recent years. Contrary to the person above me, the term ‘Middle East’ could have originated as early as the 1850s, but probably originated around 1902/early 1900s, and was used to describe the region ‘between Arabia and India’. The term ‘Middle East’ gained more popularity with Europe and America after WWII. The Middle East Institute in DC was formed in 1946, for example. First ‘official use’ of the term was in 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine.

The traditional countries of the Middle East include: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the UAE, and Yemen.

The Greater Middle East describes the countries located immediately around those countries, including places like Afghanistan, the four northern African countries besides Egypt, Pakistan, etc.

Egypt may BE in Africa, but it’s ALSO in the Middle East. Kindly do not mix up political regions and physical continents. It’s very annoying for the rest of us.

Basically, for the love of god, stop spreading ignorance.

*snaps in Z formation*

….This is the most informative post omg

screaming because i tried to explain this to someone once before but i did not have the eloquence nor the multitude of information to make my point clearly

thank you

The beatdown that occurs later in this post is wonderful.

Pseudo-history belongs in the same place as pseudo-science: In the garbage.

wow man that was worth the length

I would just like to say that you have been served and add that my friend is from Egypt, definitely isn’t black, and her first language was Arabic.

I remain on this site for people like the person above

The first day of autumn this year is VERY unruly and falls on a Sunday. A SUNDAY. Can you believe that? What bloggy things happen on Sundays? So I’m taking matters into my own hands and starting the SLA Join the Blizzard Giveaway: Autumn Edition today. Which means today brings with it another opportunity for you to:

That’s right! SNOW LIKE ASHES, blizzards, giveaways, snowflake charms, and all that goodness, only with a delightful AUTUMN twist! You get the drill. For those of you just tuning in, hop over to the Join the Blizzard page for all the deets.

In SNOW LIKE ASHES, there are four “normal” kingdoms and four season kingdoms: Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. The Autumn Kingdom is one of my most favorite kingdoms in the SLA-world (yes, I pick favorites). The entire kingdom is sleepy and relaxed, and every inch of it is coated in the hibernating beauty of orange and scarlet and gold trees. The cities reflect the beauty of the surrounding forests with tents of midnight-blue wool and maroon stitching and burnt orange borders. Color, color everywhere, as autumn should be displayed. Thus, the SLA Join the Blizzard Giveaway: Autumn Edition is filled to bursting with autumn’s beautiful and sleepy nature.

Behold, the prizes for the autumn giveaway:

A cozy fall scarf to combat the coming autumn chill, a lovely copper leaf bookmark to mark your place in true Autumnian style, and five delectable  Godiva pumpkin truffles! This prize pack is worth over $50 — I told you the prizes would get better and better!

And of course, don’t forget the prize included with every seasonal prize pack: a super-special, handmade-by-yours-truly snowflake charm!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Autumn Join the Blizzard contest starts TOMORROW at 10AM EST!! Get ready for super yummy chocolate and other autumnal goodies, and of course, a chance to win a piece of the SNOW LIKE ASHES Blizzard!! 

Tune back in on Wednesday, Sept 18, at 10AM EST for the Autumn Join the Blizzard contest!!

Every few months, I forget that I hate getting massages, and I think “I’ve been really stressed lately, and my shoulders are kind of sore — maybe I should give it another go.” I schedule said massage session at a different place (undoubtedly remembering from my previous experiences that I didn’t have a pleasant time at whatever place I went to last, so hey, maybe this new place will be better?).

So I go to said massage session, bright-eyed and rearin’ for some relaxin’. The first thing that always happens (always. ALWAYS. I’ve been to a handful of different massage places since I moved to SLC, and they all do this. The act in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, and actually, if it was followed through, would be a very very GOOD thing, but it would appear that this first step is only to lure patrons into a false sense of relaxation): I’m given a form to fill out. Name, address, email, etc etc — along with a handful of questions that, to me, are CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT, such as:

1) What type of massage do your prefer? Light, Medium, or Hard?

2) Are there any areas we should avoid?

Now, I am the world’s most ticklish person. So ticklish, in fact, that I even hate the word ticklish — it is a far too chipper and cheery word for an experience that is more akin to all of the muscles in said area of my body being taken from calm, normal muscular activities into a roaring, raging chaotic meltdown that I liken to being a less pleasurable experience than getting repeatedly poked by a flaming-red iron barb. But as I said, the word “ticklish” does not properly encompass the sheer amount of pain that comes along with being tickled, and so when I tell masseuses that I am ticklish here, here, here, and especially here and here, so please avoid those places, they inevitably respond with:

"Actually, being ticklish in certain areas is a sign that those muscles need extra attention, so I’m going to focus on here, here, here, and especially here and here. And I see you also marked that you prefer "light" massages, but actually, preferring light massages is also a sign that your muscles need extra attention, so I’m going to go a little deeper."

To which my reaction is usually an open-mouthed, wide-eyed, breathless gaping, because last I checked, getting a massage was supposed to be RELAXING, and I have twenty-four years of experience that tell me that being touched anywhere near any of my ticklish areas is a wholly miserable experience. But hey, this is a professional massage person, so surely they know what they’re talking about. 

Famous last words.

So even while my instinct is screaming to run far, far away from the impending torture, I end up on the table in a dark, cozy room listening to a Zen waterfall CD that’s been on repeat for god-knows-how-long, while some supposed-professional masseuse person is surely grinning a maniacal, psychotic smirk over their soon-to-be writhing-in-pain victim, but of course I can’t see that, because my face is smooshed in that padded circle thing on the table, and before I can give in to my better judgment and make all haste out of there, the torture begins. Oh, does it ever begin.

But I power through it, 1) because maybe, just maybe, my muscles will feel better after all this because I’m still holding out hope that this person is a professional and 2) I take this as an opportunity to prove that I am the master of my own body a la some badass assassin who will never ever give in to her torturers no matter what lengths they use and OH MY GOD IS THAT YOUR ELBOW OKAY OKAY I GIVE IN I’LL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT TO KNOW JUST FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TOUCHING ME YOU SADIST. 

I write this post now to remind myself in a few months when I invariably decide that my shoulders hurt and hey, maybe this other massage parlor will be better, that all massage parlors are psychotic. I swear, I KNOW massaging used to be relaxing, and sometime in the last ten years it’s become all about “muscular rejuvenation.” Well, Crazy Massage Liar Who Lets Me Fill Out That Form Then Promptly Ignores It, I paid $100+ (WHY SO EXPENSIVE) to be RELAXED, not TORTURED, and I hope you enjoyed that mindless babbling I spewed at you as an effort to give you the information you wanted, because surely only people who want to know where I hid the flash-drive I stole from that Top Secret government base that one time would ever hurt me like that. 

For shame, massage people. FOR SHAME.

title2come:

Accurate.

@reneecollins_ RELIC signing at The King’s English last night! Renee did a reading (in her BADASS Maggie voice), gave away some awesome relics (so if you hear reports of spontaneous fires or people turning invisible, blame her), and signed books! Also, Natalie Whipple dressed to match RELIC — it’s what all the fashionable bookanistas are wearing this season!

alexisbasswrites:

The Corgis are frolicking.

HAPPINESS.