Sara Raasch's Blog, page 538

nicolemcinnes:

Demitria Lunetta (IN THE AFTER) Jennifer McGowan (MAID OF SECRETS), Caela Carter (ME, HIM, THEM AND IT), Kate Karyus Quinn (ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE), Debra Driza (MILA 2.0) and Nicole McInnes (BRIANNA ON THE BRINK). At The Book Cellar, Chicago, during ALA 2013.

This picture is so full of awesome my Tumblr acct may crash. WANT ALL THE BOOKS. 

lbardugo:

thescarletpirate:

Alina Starkov from the amazing and addicting Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I got the lucky chance to meet Leigh at Barnes and Noble, she’s so funny and very likable! :D

http://society6.com/The_scarlet_pirate

art by me :)

Smitten. (And thanks for coming out to B&N!)

Leigh has SO MANY flippin’ awesome fan art drawings, but I think this one is my favorite. Alina’s eyes!! Cannot stop looking at it…

ryannmurphyuden:

snowsiah:

there was a kid in my elementary school who constantly wrote land before time fanfiction and he would bind it up and staple it all together and just put it on the library bookshelves and wait for someone to read it

I don’t know that kid, but I love him.

<3

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howtofightwrite:

Divorce yourself from this idea right now, author. While I’m sure it is the narrative you’ve been presented with your entire life, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t true. Women do find building up muscles in the upper body more difficult than men, but since power does not come from the arms, it’s…

In the wake of all that happened in Texas, and all that happened in the SCOTUS, I watched Atlas Shrugged: Part 1. I haven’t read the book (I know, I know, *wrist slap*), but watching it got me on a bit of an overload of emotion, and I have to get this overload out all over Tumblr, as one does. 

So, one of the many overall emotions of this movie was a sense of…loss. Chaos. The US government going batshit crazy, with thousands of DC Fat Cats controlling everything while the majority of the population suffered in a pre-apocalyptic sort of waste. This theme — that our government will overrun us, destroy us, and control us — is not an unusual theme, and is one I’ve seen in a lot, a lot, of movies/books/shows, as I’m sure you all have. Understandably so — it’s a natural fear, that people stronger/more powerful than ourselves will seize our lives in a way that we can neither control nor stop. And for the most part, these fears can stay safely in our TV sets, in our movies, and we can brush it all off at a safe distance and go on with our lives. 

Every so often, something happens that makes those fears real and close — a terrorist attack, a slump in the economy, a law that restricts freedoms — and we gobble up those movies and shows with a new reason — anticipation. Some small part of us wants to feel like we’re prepared, in case our world really does crap out, because those movies are all too real, all too close, all too possible, and it terrifies the snot out of us that we can’t do anything to stop it.

But as Wendy Davis proved, as the SCOTUS proved, that is a complete load of bullshit.

We CAN stop it. We are proving how united we truly are, growing in our resolve and our confidence in what we believe, and as a group we are getting more and more capable of stopping horrific events like economic implosions, horrific laws, and unnecessary wars. We are gaining momentum — we being the majority of people who always get the short end of the stick in pre/post apocalyptic movies, the ones who flop around in poverty while the powerful people dance on our misfortune. We being the ones who are gathering together, developing our voices, telling ourselves and all who will listen that we are more than carcasses on which Fat Cats feed.

So when movies/TV shows/books come out that depict the world crumbling into chaos, the “little people" getting squashed beneath powerful boots, we should not be afraid of this eventuality. We should not fear being swept into oblivion while a select few remain on top.

Because we are becoming strong enough to stop this from ever happening, and the powerful ones should fear us.

There is a concept called body autonomy. Its generally considered a human right. Bodily autonomy means a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. Its why you can’t be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. Even if you are dead. Even if you’d save or improve 20 lives. It’s why someone can’t touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent.

A fetus is using someone’s body parts. Therefore under bodily autonomy, it is there by permission, not by right. It needs a persons continuous consent. If they deny and withdraw their consent, the pregnant person has the right to remove them from that moment. A fetus is equal in this regard because if I need someone else’s body parts to live, they can also legally deny me their use.

By saying a fetus has a right to someone’s body parts until it’s born, despite the pregnant person’s wishes, you are doing two things.

1. Granting a fetus more rights to other people’s bodies than any born person.

2. Awarding a pregnant person less rights to their body than a corpse.

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sarahreesbrennan:

thenewwomensmovement:

theovarianbarbarian:

kat1712:

Senator Wendy Davis is a fucking badass.

There’s this bill that they are trying to pass in Texas that would make it illegal to get any abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and would make it very difficult for abortion centers to continue doing what they do. Governor Rick Perry has already said that if the bill makes it to his desk, he will sign it. And Wendy Davis said fuck no that is not happening.

So she’s filibustering it. That means she asked to talk on the subject at 11:18 this morning, and if she can continue talking about abortion until 11:59 tonight, the bill won’t reach Governor Perry, and they would have to start all over with the bill next time they meet- 2 years from now.

But Wendy has to keep talking. She can’t pause for even a minute, not for food or a sip of water or to go to the bathroom or sit down. She can’t even lean up against anything, or she’s out. So she’s wearing motherfucking PINK NIKE TENNIS SHOES in the middle of the state senate.

She also has to continue talking about the topic. She sent out tweets an other messages last night asking for anyone and everyone’s abortion story, and received a shit load of answers. Her staff is still collecting them, and she’s reading them aloud to the senate. Not only is she making this bill impossible to pass, she may just change some minds while she’s at it.

This is history, guys. Wendy Davis is a motherfucking badass, and we are watching it happen.

She’s putting on for my state and city! Yehyuh!

And she’s doing incredible! 

(What a badass.)