i've missed them all terribly so

What are some of your favorite pieces of art/ art that has made you think a lot?

this is such a cheesy cop-out answer, but there's a lot of things that im going to struggle remembering because of 1. how situational the experience was (as in, the context in which i experienced the piece) 2. how wide the word "art piece" is. 3. the great fortune to have been born to parents with strong artistic sensibilities and a love of travel/education. so these are like. really weird and specific but maybe thats the way it should be:

let's start with the most overly dramatic: st. paul's cathedral in london has guided tours where they take you into rooms and let you mill around before moving to the next one. my family took a trip overseas as a really, really big special vacation to celebrate my sister and i graduating from high school (we're not twins, we just combo'd it after she graduated) that i was too brain-broken and teenage to fully appreciate. its a beautiful cathedral but i was in my edgy internet atheist stage and refused to be impressed by it until i stood over a grate in the floor. through the grates you can see the crypt that you visit next. but standing over the grate, someone below started to sing something hymnal and very catholic. and i realized i was the only one who could hear it because of the crowd chatter. and it made me feel, in the moment, so special and so lonely in a way that i still think about, a lot. it was for me only. divine providence.

a date with adam to a place i had no idea existed but he had been to before: the bad art museum, which is split over like 3 different buildings in a bizarre way. we only went to the one where you have to buy a ticket to a movie as entry and it was some truly lovely bad art and made me sad how inaccessible it was but resolute about my love of the nuances of uncelebrated anti-art masterpieces. then we watched "assassination nation" and it was fucking terrible. great date.

reading the theory regarding the "venus of willendorf" being a self portrait as a 20-something year old and running into the bathroom to take my clothes off and look down at myself and having my mind blown. not just by how much i instantly understood it, but because of the tugging feeling on my heart when i feel that strand of history connecting women artists driven by that unknown compulsion to create for creations sake!

similarly, seeing artemisia gentileschi's work next to her fathers and realizing how much she outclassed him in every single way and feeling the tugging feeling again, but this time with a dark woe of realization of how history minimizes achievement and talent when it eases a narrative

reading jane erye's descriptions of herself and her approaches to her plights and for the first time feeling like someone had walked a path that i currently found myself lost on.

reading 1984 as a middle schooler and becoming so angry at the ending i threw the book across the room (something i had never done before and never did again in my life) and stormed out of my room to complain to my mom lol. IT REALLY UPSET ME!!!

reading les miserables for the first time and weeping piteously for days after the ending and having it impact my brain so hard it re-wired how i think about the concept of "legacy" and what it means to matter in the world and how love is nothing without the courage to stand up for it. and that mercy should, and will, always supersede unwavering justice (hard lesson to remember, maybe im due for a re-read)

sneaking into my parents room to read the books i wasnt supposed to yet as a really little kid lol. my mom used to get "dykes to watch out for" in a newsletter she was subscribed to! but i didnt read those bc they were dumb relationship comics for grown-ups. i wanted to read about opus the penguin and lee iacocca, as if i knew who that was. my mother's comic collection was the single most influential constant in my life. knowing that i was exposed to bill watterson's commentary about his own work via the big collections my mom owned probably explains a lot about what's wrong with me. but she also had a lot of berke breathed before he fully wussed out

the general experience of playing a video game that you arent supposed to/when you arent supposed to is probably one of the most freeing means of meaningless rebellion as a kid that everyone should experience. i used to be up playing pokemon past my bedtime under my covers with a huge heavy rubber flashlight i stole from the kitchen and had to replace every morning without getting caught once i was done with it. god, the days before backlit screens we had to get really fucking wild with it. in high school i would wake up at 5:00am, sneak into the computer room where the ps2 was and play an hour of FFX bc its the longest fucking non-persona game in the world, stop playing before my mom woke up at 6:00am and sneak back into bed. if i hit a part where i couldnt save i would just turn the screen off and come back to it tomorrow lol. secrets......

reading the "pictures for sad children" arc about paul, who is a ghost, finally losing it and going on a rant about how it has never mattered how thin a computer screen is. they were right and reading it helped me articulate and understand a growing feeling of restless frustration at the world around me that i felt singular and alone in. im glad that last i heard that artist is doing ok. i hope they recognize the incredible value in their work as imperfect as they perceived it to be. i do not think they would be happy to know that their old work was impactful, but i hope they realize that what people are able to tease out of their work is meaningful, at least to me it is. ill transcribe the comic rather than repost it i think: paul [while smashing electronics]: "have i told you about [bam] how nerds destroy the world take conspicuous consumption as a lifestyle choice and combine it with early hardware adoption and you have great swaths of gadgetry out of stock because they're incrementally better than the last model and there are landfills full of functioning electronics wasted time, resources, money, etc. the best part is that these things were never necessary it has never mattered how thing a computer is." [smash]

this is too long. i like art.

Oh Danny Boy from Expansions on Vimeo.

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nypost.com/2022/10/25/rishi-sunak-becomes-uk-prime-minister-faces-economic-crisis/

bigleaguepolitics.com/new-british-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-is-world-economic-forum-globalist-pushing-banker-controlled-digital-currency/

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my mom would be killed in gifted kid discourse

Honestly idk if i have another mental issue or if its the depression/misery

WHEN those few times i have the things i really want in life and am generally content - things dont bother me so much. Ill get a bit irritated but imagine i react the same way as normal people

But usually im miserable and hate being alive

So

This school i HATE requires me to take the 7:11 train because only a few trains go to the area - this is the latest train i can take and it stops AT EVERY STOP along the way (the same train but an express that i can use at 7:48 for the other school only takes 30 minutes to get to the station of the school and that school is a 5 minute walk) this school makes me get off at the first schools station then transfer to get to the other schools station. So i get there at 8:01 because THEN i have to walk 20 fucking minutes to the school. And the initial train is a 15 minute walk from my apartment.

So i leave my apartment at 6:50 to start work at 8:30. And if i catch the earliest train (which i run to catch at 3:48 when i end work at 3:30. Then i get to my home station at 4:25. So the shortest time to this school is an hour and 10 minutes

That said

The principals at this school are always off fucking around when its time for me to get their stamp to go. And for some reason this school ends classes 5 minites before i leave.

I got really impatient and ansy when the principal today when on the phone when i needed to leave. I ended up asking my english teacher who wasnt in the room till it was literally time for me to leave to stamp my sheet

And it really stressed me out and it showed

My first school id the principals were busy i could leave my sheet on their desk and leave and theyd get to it and give it back to me the next day

The other school the teachers can stamp the paper just as easily (this school doesnt like when the teachers stamp it they only want the principal to do it and the teacher only did it once before when the principals were nowhere to be found)

The schools i worked at in the middle of tokyo it didnt matter because the trains came every 3-5 minutes and i never experienced the principals running off when it was time for me to leave

But these fucking principals ALWAYS run off at the end of the day - not home - just fucking off somewhere.

Last week i didnt have class for the last two periods. Meaning ill just sit at my desk and do nothing till i can leave. So i asked the principal to stamp my sheet early (something ive done at other schools no problem. Theyve literally never commented on it for any reason) but the principal was like oh. No this means youve completed your work and its not time to leave yet. And i was awkwardly like oh... ok..

And she asked me a question something like do you have more classes and i said no. And then she told me to get it at 3:30 and i was like oh actually because o have to fax it i wanted to fax it by 3:30

So she ended up stamping it....

But it was awk

And no one was in the teachers room that whole time. And it was strange she never came in cause she deff gave me a look like ‘shes gonna leave before its time 😠’

Ended up making me forget my umbrella (which someone seems to have stolen) because she surprised me at the door chasing me out the door to say bye (at the time i was supposed to leave btw) but it just caught me off guard i also thought she wanted something. Nope. She just wanted to assure me that she was watching

As if i wouldnt expect that in the first place

Just feeling awk cause i threw my hand down to my side and ended up hitting my shitty chair which made a noise. So... yea..

Dude i just wanna leave on time. Its not like i do anything real at work to make me feel like i should make sure my work is completedly correctly before leaving

I stayed late at work at the other school finishing a halloween activity i made for them. Because that school is pleasant to me

Btw i did a whole event at that school. The students who wanted to do it enjoyed it

Im not even asking this school if i can do ANYTHING being they had a fit and got me in trouble for a fucking newsletter that the other school btw appriciated and actually gave to the students

The students at the bad school kinda seem to ignore me cause theyve picked up on that their teachers dont like me. Feel a bit bad cause a bunch of them seemed a bit excited to see me today - leading me to think they might know some of the students at the other school and heard about my activity and are hoping ill do it for them too

Sorry kids. Your teachers are racist assholes so nope

Topless bans are just laws that treat female bodies like sex objects | Arwa Mahdawi

A Utah woman is being taken to court for bearing her breasts in her home an explicit example of a double standard

Sign up for The week in patriarchy, a newsletter on feminism and sexism sent every Saturday.

Welcome to America: where nipples are more regulated than guns

It started with DIY and ended with criminal charges.

A couple of years ago Tilli Buchanan and her husband were installing drywall in their Utah garage. The couple got covered in itchy insulation material, she later told reporters, so they both took their tops off. At that point her three stepchildren (a 13-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy) walked in. The kids were mortified; Buchanan told them not to be. This isnt a sexual thing, she remembers saying. I should be able to wear exactly what my husband wears. You shouldnt be embarrassed about this.

The kids birth mother didnt take quite such a blas view of the incident and complained to authorities. Criminal charges were filed against Buchanan. Under Utah law a woman is guilty of lewdness involving a child if she exposes the part of her breast below the top of the areola in public or in a private place under circumstances the person should know will likely cause affront or alarm. If convicted she faces jail time and may have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, alongside rapists and pedophiles. The judge is expected to rule on the case in the next few months.

The idea that being topless in your own home might land you in jail is outrageous and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah has intervened in Buchanans case. Earlier this week, they asked a judge not just to dismiss the case but to change the states lewdness law which, they argue, is unconstitutional and discriminates against women.

Theres part of [this law] that says this part of a woman is found inherently obscene and this part of a man isnt, an ACLU attorney told reporters outside court on Tuesday. That really sets up an unequal and unfair dichotomy.

It should be noted, by the way, some of the key facts of this case are in dispute. Buchanan says she was topless in the garage when the kids came in. The prosecution alleges she stripped in front of her stepchildren after stating that if it was OK for her husband to take his top off she should be able to do the same. Its perfectly possible that Buchanan may have exercised poor judgment; its perfectly possible she isnt entirely blameless in all this. But that doesnt detract from the wider point: womens chests are sexualized and policed while mens chests arent. This hasnt always been the case it wasnt legal for men to be topless in public in New York until the 1930s.

Theres been a growing global movement to Free the Nipple and get society, social media and the law to treat men and womens chests equally. The movement has clocked up several victories; six states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas or Oklahoma) recently got rid of their bans on women being topless in public. The movement is bigger than breasts: its about treating female bodies like human bodies, not sex objects. Its about bodily autonomy.

Buchanans case isnt just an explicit example of the double standards applied to male and female bodies it underscores just how out of whack Americas priorities are. The right to bear arms is considered sacred; the right to bare breasts is considered obscene. In Utah, which has some of the most permissive firearm laws in America, you can buy a handgun without a background check. You can openly carry a handgun without a permit. You can go grocery shopping with a pistol on your hip. But god forbid anyone see a womans nipples.

Fiona Hill explains how female anger is often dismissed

Hill, formerly the top Russia expert in the White House, has been one of the standout stars of the Trump impeachment hearings. Shes been cool under the pressure, delivered an excellent Richard III joke, and delivered some blunt truths about sexist double standards. I was actually, to be honest, angry with [the ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland] she said during one much-buzzed-about moment. I hate to say it, but often when women show anger, its not fully appreciated. Its often, you know, pushed on to emotional issues perhaps or deflected on to other people.

Hey Alexa, why arent men more polite?

Sixty-two per cent of women report saying please to their smart speakers, versus 45% of men according to Pew Research Center.

Outrage over all-male panel on feminism in Pakistan

The Arts Council of Pakistan thought it would be an awesome idea if they convened an all-male panel to give the other perspective on feminism. Outrage ensued and the all-male panel has now been transformed into a mostly male panel.

137 women killed by their partners in France this year

France has one of the highest femicide rates in Europe and there is a growing public outcry over the problem. I think French society is deeply sexist and its difficult to make it evolve, the countrys gender equality minister told CNN. With the government, Im trying to win a cultural battle against sexism and misogyny, but its true that its very hard.

Majority of murdered Irish women killed by male partners

Eight-seven per cent of Irish women killed between 1996 and 2019 know their killer, according to a new report by Womens Aid. Sixty-one per cent of those women died in their own homes and 56% were killed by a current or former male partner. Womens Aid notes that fits a global pattern and is in stark contrast to male homicide victims, the majority of whom are killed by strangers.

Ivanka Trump defends daddy with fake De Tocqueville quote

On Thursday the first daughter criticized the impeachment proceedings by tweeting an Alexis de Tocqueville quote about the decline of public morals. Two problems with this: 1) the quote was misattributed; 2) the Trumps are in no position to lecture people on public morals.

Joe Bidens foot keeps punching his mouth

During Wednesdays debate the presidential candidate was asked what hed do to address sexual violence. His response? [W]e have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it, and punching at it, and punching at it.

Original Article : HERE ;

Topless bans are just laws that treat female bodies like sex objects | Arwa Mahdawi was originally posted by MetNews

Update on paper #100117

So seeing that i never really admit my problems i tend to write my facts on paper but never all in the same breath or at the sametime, ill let my guard down for this second cause i simply need to clear my mind

Dear Tumblr,

I apologize that i have returned in a moments notice and i know I've been gone for a while. A bunch of controversial drafted post sitting in my file to never see the light of day and fears....excuses as to why i stuck with you so long. I remember when you were as private as a joke carved into a bathroom stall door, now your like the gossip newsletter flying around campus streets. I got dicouraged, knowing i was writing what I considered at the time "blue magic" and my product wasn't reaching the customers in mass quantity.

Lately i have been soul searchimg and quite frankly I didn't find what i was looking for from the moment i left, but i confide in you cause beneath the codes and backgrounds of what you are and the freedom I believe you give me, i feel as if though i have the power to make my stream line of data you keep my world. Ive changed in so many ways and have yet to dound a way to be satisfied by you, so like a battered relationship i guess for now I'll stick with you cause you and I are misunderstood and "I know you love me... i know you do <movie quote "

So ill share how shitty I feel and see what you or the universe will have to say about my open letter to you..

I have been wasting my time with females that i deemed to be a fit for me, just to be dissapointed at the end that they be on some bullshit.

I had a beautiful daughter that i don't have the honor nor the pleasure to be around, because we live in different places and I dedicate my life and time to working and making sure she has a future when she grows up and its not possible where she currently resides. Upon visits their always arguments and fucking ridicule from family begging me to sink everything thats for my daughter down the drain and restart because the memories are more important.

My daughters mother i love with all My heart and never thought I'll see the day we gotta be like this... madd some decisions that wasnt keen as to why we are where we are...on top of the fact that its been years now and forgiveness lesson i still haven't learned. I've told this woman my greatest fears of never wanting my daughter to wake up without me there and etc... and its not easy scraping the plate completely fucking clean to someone who ACCIDENTALLY made you live out that nightmare

So.....suicide would be pointless and selfish now cause you dont live for you cause the moment i seen my daughter and she seen me...I've glady destroyed my world and soley been working to build hers...cause despite the situation im first and foremost a fucking proud parent.

Not eveyone knows she exists, the world is becoming a encyclopedia of open information. Google face recognizing this mf been in multiple pics with you, that you took a shit in this Macy's and their reviews are 4.5, or you spent the weekend in Birmingham's motel 6 and you didn't state how you like your stay.... so due to the confusion i just state needless to say something thats so near and dear to me i don't post, comment, hashtag on cause the world doesn't need to join in that aspect of my life right now. I wanted to take it like it was when I was a kid, you know no twitters and ig's, summers actually spent outside maybe 2 people on the block with a Nintendo but yall all shared games... it funny some people cant remember what they wrote a year ago yet... a memory like that can never be clouded nor replaced..

I work 17hrs out of 24hr days for people who use me like an ox pulling A plough through a fucking field....

Lol... trynna be nice and not simply state its like being what african american always considers on topics pointed to racism... but you get the jist. Knowing everyday your mind wonders off and consider you better, knowing you can do better than this hoping and wishing the boss will shown you some love for a meal ticket to eat and thats no anology js......

To a man who appears to have the comparison of a marshmallow but not in wieght and stature, but color and feelings... dexterities very bleek and immobile. The kind of guy my father say look out for cause they can never look you in your eyes.

Trying to move up in the company and do something i consider something that'll be worth missing my daughters 1st etcs..... had the interviews a month's ago. A flood hits florida and somehow that had something to do with mu fucking response to advancing or not cause some asswipe want to go down and volunteer knowing he's going for the same postion I am and we gotta wait for this non relevant mf to come back to have a "fair shot" are you fucking kidding me? There's 2 slots open and im staring at what I want just fucking sitting there dusting... ok...

My bestfriend that I've loved since I was 15, come to find out basically been lying to me the past couple of years sending me mixed signals about what our relationship is and what it could be and all along she thought lying to me about being happy with the mf she's with and randomly coming up pregnant with twins with the mf was gonna hurt my feelings if she just kept it honest and told me i never had a shot to begin with, meanwhile leaving me looking like the thrist-bucket who's been chasing her and she never looked as like she wronged me...hmmm then to turn around and find another mf you know whos near and dear done the same thing and hid a pregnancy cause they didnt know how you'll feel

Friends are becoming distance from multiple sides of the globe,with the exception of the 3 goats you always keep, love....? Ummm next,

The new company who bought your apt complex decides to waltz they ass in ya spot to call bullshit and try to charge you $300 for something

Uhhhh you get the picture

I say all thst to say it's been a rough little min, thats for those who actually noticed my absence... I'm trying to contain the balst radius for when imma lose it, but this 2'5 9month tape recorder keeps me in check from losing it all and making me retain humbleness, even in my worst of times.....

Consider this a memoir for when I actually get to the sweetspot of life ,the scallops and stallions for breakfast portion

But fuck it we all human I just don't have a problem admitting the shits thats been killing me...

Until I need you again Tum tum

Sincerely yours,

Hypno Umbrella

WHOA! Look Who the Dems SNUBBED at the Convention – She Wasn’t invited at ALL!

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WHOA! Look Who the Dems SNUBBED at the Convention – She Wasn’t invited at ALL!

Stock Up Your Emergency Food Supply! Click Here! http://www.preparewithgary.com Get $100 OFF A 4-Week Supply Today! Sub to Gary’s NEW Podcast on YouTube here: https://nnn.is/subscribe-to-G-Cast Sub to Gary’s original YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hGbKgaf_DK3w_gwQweICg?sub_confirmation=1 Sub to the Next News Youtube Channel here: http://nnn.is/Sub-to-N3 Get on our Email list! http://nnn.is/email-newsletter-next-news Check out Gary’s Kid’s YouTube channel here: ...

Read moreWHOA! Look Who the Dems SNUBBED at the Convention – She Wasn’t invited at ALL!

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16 Writers Reflect On The Magical Meaning Of Michelle Obama

New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/16-writers-reflect-on-the-magical-meaning-of-michelle-obama/

16 Writers Reflect On The Magical Meaning Of Michelle Obama

In her forward to Veronica Chambers The Meaning of Michelle, filmmaker Ava DuVernay describes a historic scene. In the center of her story is, of course, Michelle Obama, the first lady whos spent two terms standing beside and, in some ways, rocketing past her husband, President Barack Obama. On the particular day DuVernay chose to remember, Michelle in a deep red shift dress was touring her then-future home for the first time.

Damn being demure! The sight of her striding up the White House steps was a transformative image to behold, DuVernay writes. In one wardrobe choice, this stellar sister brought a breath of fresh air to the hallowed halls of the worlds most famous residence […] In that one photo op, Michelle infused the image of the First Lady with pride, panache and polish. Many of us saw a woman to be admired. A woman to be trusted.

Scratch that, she adds. Many of us saw a Black woman to be admired. A Black woman to be trusted. There it is.

St Martins Press

The Meaning of Michelle, edited by Mamas Girl author Chambers, is a collection of stories dedicated to the iconic first ladys legacy. With essays from Roxane Gay, Tanisha C. Ford, Marcus Samuelsson, Phillipa Soo, Rebecca Carroll, Sarah Lewis and more, the book is meant to stand as a parting gift to Michelle, set to leave office a mere weeks after the books publication in January. The 16 writers cover everything from representational justice to fashion to stereotypes related to race and marriage to the unapologetic power of blackness.

For many of these authors, the allure of Michelle is both academic and personal, a draw so intimately connected to identities of womanhood, motherhood, blackness and beyond that her influence is rarely described without the object us.She stirs us, provokes us, leads us, emboldens us, so many write. Her achievements can be our achievements, so many intone; she is both singular and a reflection of a rising tide of women leaders. Michelle! DuVernay proclaims. That name now carries a whole world of meaning.

In honor of Michelles birthday on Jan. 17, and the final week of her eight-year run as first lady, here are excerpts from the 16 authors in Chambers collection. Together, they make up an ever-evolving definition of Michelle Obama:

Leigh Vogel via Getty Images

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Veronica Chambers on Michelles intimacy:

Theres an intimacy we felt with her from the beginning. The mainstream media seemed flummoxed by her lack of political posturing: Is she on board with this whole political spouse thing? do the Obamas want it (meaning the presidency) badly enough? But it was that very same lack of fake warmth and glossed-over royal waves that let us, in the Black community, know that she was real, and this is what won our affection.

Shes given us permission to be ourselves, on a national stage, to be proud of our Blackness, our realness, our humble beginnings, our regular-ness, our greatness. Benilde Little

Benilde Little on Michelles pride:

Michelle resonates for us on a deeply personal level. Shes given us permission to be ourselves, on a national stage, to be proud of our Blackness, our realness, our humble beginnings, our regular-ness, our greatness. To not be perfect and to not even have that as a goal, because shes smart enough to understand that perfection is its own prison.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Damon Young on Michelles acceptance:

I believe that defense of Michelle helped many of us acknowledge, accept, confront, and attempt to alter some of the more unsavory and unflattering latent beliefs and sub-conscious feelings we possessed about our skin and our noses and our eyes and our hair. Its a legacy Im amazed by when I think of kids like my 9-year-old niece and 11-year-old nephew.

It’s easier to be brave in our era when possibility is modeled the way that that couple has. Alicia Hall Moran

Alicia Hall Moran (in conversation with Jason Moran) on Michelles place in history:

She has achieved what we Black people have really taken personally, what Maya Angelou called the dream of the slave. It makes living in a contemporary society very easy. Its easier to be brave in our era when possibility is modeled the way that that couple has.

Drew Angerer via Getty Images

Brittney Cooper on Michelle and Beyoncs relationship:

Both Michelle and Beyoncare actively remixing the terms upon which Black womanhood has been cast. The denial of the right to ladyhood that has shaped Black womens lives since the advent of slavery can no longer proceed unchecked into the twenty-first century.

Why should [Michelle] be apologetic? Come to think of it, why should I? Ylonda Gault Caviness

Ylonda Gault Caviness on Michelles fearlessness:

Why should she be apologetic? Come to think of it, why should I? Michelle did not come to play. Yes, she is proud in her role as Mrs. Obama and, rightly so, she gives Barack his propers all day long, loving and supporting his candidacy. But she never set out to function as a mere prop to his or anyone elses agenda.

Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

Chirlane McCray on Michelles self-definition:

When First Lady Obama said her top priority was to serve as mom-in-chief, she was telling us that her family comes first. […] I have tremendous respect for how she defined herself, right from the beginning, defined her role before there was too much speculation about what she would do.

I have tremendous respect for how she defined herself, right from the beginning. Chirlane McCray

Cathi Hanauer on identifying with Michelle:

I wouldnt be surprised if someone suggested Im about as unlike Michelle Obama as two women roughly the same age with two children can be. Yet in one way and its an important one I really identify with Michelle. And thats this: She and I have both had to learn to be The Wife.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Tiffany Dufu on Michelles professional success:

Michelle Obama is only the third [First Lady] to have a professional or graduate degree, public evidence of intellectual prowess and independence, and to have balanced her own high-profile career with her private role as wife and mother. She, along with Hillary Clinton, charted a path that allows future first ladies to do it their way. Her polarity inspires all of us to break the mold.

She, along with Hillary Clinton, charted a path that allows future first ladies to do it their way. Tiffany Dufu

Tanisha C. Ford on Michelle as us:

We, as Black women, respected and admired how she lived between two tensions: the stature and visibility of the office of First Lady and the disturbing social responses to her Black womanness. […] Even though her platform was larger than ours, her daily routine with her team of secret service agents who clocked and coordinated her every move different than ours, she was us. Even if she was the First Lady, first and foremost, she was a Black woman.

Joe Raedle via Getty Images

Marcus Samuelsson on Michelles relevance:

Its an amazing achievement, for her to be so relevant in these conversations, whether its talking about Obamacare or talking about New York Fashion Week or kids food. Always aware that, no matter what she says, shes speaking to the world. She is putting something out there to the world that the world has never seen before.

Authenticity is not an achievement. Yet authenticity doest take effort if you are upending centuries of history with your mere presence. Sarah Lewis

Sarah Lewis on Michelles authenticity:

Authenticity is not an achievement. Yet authenticity does take effort if you are upending centuries of history with your mere presence. It takes work to let people stare, wonder, probe and prod to determine the veracity of your life.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Karen Hill Anton on Michelles determination:

Michelle, what I really like about you is that you did not settle for an assigned role. I imagine you saw early on the potential of the position of First Lady, and determined to use it to full advantage. I guess you also saw the risks, but went for it anyhow. Wow.

She is a civil disruptor with a radical kind of benevolence. Rebecca Carroll

Rebecca Carroll on Michelle as a politician:

She is a civil disruptor with a radical kind of benevolence. She is focused and silly, compelling and humble. It would all be an act if it wasnt. And while some might argue that this is precisely what politicians do and who they are polished, well prepared, articulate, unflappable Michelle Obama is not so much a politician as she is a manifestor; the hyper spectacular incarnation of a Black woman unbound.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Phillipa Soo on Michelles ability to bring people together:

I could tell just from watching Mrs. Obama that she has such an awareness of what it means to bring people together, how important that is. We can all be doing our separate things amazingly, but when you bring groups together the ways she does, it can actually create something better than you could have imagined.

I hope Michelle Obama does whatever her heart most desires when her husband’s presidency ends, but I would love to see her make space for black girls and women in the public sphere. Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay on Michelles future:

I hope Michelle Obama does whatever her heart most desires when her husbands presidency ends, but I would love to see her make space for black girls and women in the public sphere and the public imagination. In a perfect world, she might create and lead a robust and well-funded organization dedicated to black girls and women, one that implements a set of initiatives that encourage black girls and women to flourish.

The Meaning of Michelle, published by St. Martins Press, is available onAmazon or at your local bookstore.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Women Reveal The Exact Moment They Knew They Needed To End A Relationship

My high school boyfriend was extremely jealous. Anytime I so much as spoke to another guy, he would have a meltdown. The first couple of times it happened, I was surprised, but honestly, I was also kind of flattered. He wasn’t abusive or mean… just kind of intense about it. However, it didn’t take long for that to wear extremely thin and go from an ego boost, to annoying, to a deal breaker. It wasn’t always clear in past relationships when to end things because I didn’t know how to know when a relationship is over. But not this time.

I remember the exact moment it was over. I was talking to a classmate when I saw him out of the corner of my eye — well, actually, it was more like I felt his eyes burning into the side of my head. His face was a mixture of pain and anger, and in that moment, something in my mind just clicked. It. Was. Over. The thought of dealing with his insecurity for one more minute made my skin literally crawl.

Turns out, I’m not alone. A Reddit user asked women to tell them “about a time when you knew the EXACT moment your relationship was over,” and the answers are fascinating. The reasons why these women ended their relationships run the gamut, but one thing they all have in common is the fact that when you know, you know.

When The Little Things Were Too Much

When we went to the Science Center (my favorite place) and he refused to do any of the little activities.

– /u/rawrachie

It sounds silly, but we were ordering pizza and I wanted spinach and he wanted pepperoni, so we got two different pizzas

– /u/spooky_jookie

And The Not-So-Little Things, Too

When he thew up on me. He was a weekend alcoholic and that was the final straw.

– /u/projectile_poptart

When The Trust Was Gone

When he apologized for something I told my best friend in confidence about and realized they were discussing every detail of our relationship

– /u/aliteralprincess

I suspected that he was smoking. He lied about it. I found undeniable proof. He fessed up. Trust was gone. Relationship was lost that very moment.

– /u/junjun_pon

When he liked a picture of a girls ass on instagram. It was a girl he went to school with too.

– /u/hiylipr

When They Were Selfish AF

I'd taken my ex girlfriend on a trip to Finland just before Christmas one time. She'd always wanted to go to the Kakslauttanen resort where you can sleep in these beautiful cabins with glass domes so you can watch the Northern lights at night, and I loved her and wanted her to be happy.

She was initially quite happy about it but once we got on the bus to the resort, she was complaining nonstop about how cold it was (of course it's cold babe, it's bloody Finland in winter), then she was snide with the staff at the hotel which I cannot stand, and then she started a fight with me about the blankets the hotel had laid out for us on the couches. I was prepared to let all that slide because people have bad days sometimes but the next day, she woke up and had a fit about my not having ordered her coffee for the exact time she would be awake, and I remember I stepped outside to have a smoke and it was so cold and the sky was almost entirely pink and I was standing in snow up to my thighs and I thought, "aye, that'll be that then."

– /u/LDN_Escort

I was cooking dinner for my college bf. When he got there, I decided to surprise him by making him a nice cocktail while I finished cooking. As I'm shaking the drink, he screams, "What are you doing? Goddammit, I'm hungry!" I'm so glad that relationship is over.

– /u/manicmeli

When we were in scuba class. I had dropped my goggles down to the bottom of the pool for an excercise where you swim down to get them, put them on, and clear them. Anyways, my ex was great at it. I was having a panic attack and I was too terrified to go get my goggles. He was busy bragging and I interrupted to ask him to get my goggles for me and he ignored me. When I asked him again he shouted at me. Nope.

– /u/cl018513

He thought asking me to quit my job was a reasonable thing. For context, full time student, rent and bills to pay. I couldn't afford to. He treated my job like a burden because it wasnt time taking care of him.

– /u/Better_Bit

With true hatred in his eyes, accused me of "withholding information" because I wouldn't do his internet research for him. Lol bye.

– /u/empress_p

When They Were Abusive

When he smacked me so hard across the face I bled for the first time

– /u/BakedBride

his father terrified me. several times, he'd break in drunk and in a rage, screaming in a language i couldn't understand while hitting objects in our apartment. i just cowered and cried. bonus points, he looked like the dude who raped me as a kid.

now, my ex-husband had a looooot of fucking shit counting against him, but what actually broke the relationship was that he told me his father wanted to go out for dinner. i said i didn't want to go. he started yelling at me and i started crying, telling him that he frightened me and looked like a child rapist. he went on this huge tirade about how i was making it all up so i didn't have to do unpleasant things out of love for my husband (which i realized in that moment didn't exist). before, he claimed that he believed every word and he wanted to save me from my previous life.

i told him it was over. he flounced to his mama's house. i spent a glorious weekend cooking whatever the hell i wanted, sleeping without being lowkey sexual assaulted, and watching TV and being at peace. he was so pissed and felt so betrayed when he came back from giving me space to find i still wanted to break up.

– /u/todayonbloopers

When There Were Problems In The Bedroom

The moment I realized I couldn't remember the last time we had sex.

– /u/meliu4456

We had just finished fucking, and he said something to the extend of how it was different that time, like "taking a shit."

– /u/jintana

When They Realized They Had Fallen Out of Love

I suspected he was going to propose soon. When I thought of him proposing and me not being able to say yes. I couldn't put him through that, and at that moment I didn't think I was in love with him anymore. So I broke it off

– /u/knstbs

we were in the car on our way to to Key West, FL having a great time listening to our favorite music, talking our ears off and shmoking some weed.. just enjoying each others company. all of the sudden it hit me.; i was staring into his eyes and realized i wanted to be far away from him- it legit broke my heart into a million pieces.

– /u/terremotico

I didn't want to hold his hand on Valentine's Day

– /u/elsakate

When They Were Jealous

I live in the UK where the legal drinking age is 18 and my boyfriend at the time wouldn't let me go out because "people only go out to have sex".

He also embarrassed me at school by getting overly stressed with things so I was crying in the toilet at lunch time and tried to stop me from seeing my best friend of 15 years at the time.

Thank god I got out of that relationship, it would have ruined my uni experience if I hadn't broken up with him the suer before I went.

– /u/slothygon

I visited my hometown and happened to run into one of my friends. I sent my SO a text alone the lines of 'how lovely I just ran into my friend!', and he replied 'don't even bother coming back to me if you get with him' (there was literally zero chance of anything happening with this friend)

Then when I got home he accused me of lying (he thought I had planned to meet up with this friend and deliberately not told him for some reason) and demanded I apologise to him. I still don't know what I was supposed to be apologising for.

– /u/elsakate

And Then There’s This Monster

The moment he asked me not to get a scan to check if my cancer was in remission because he didn't want another bill.

– /u/VibrantPinwheel

Wow! Yeah, if your partner is more worried about the bottom line than your cancer, that’s a pretty big sign that it’s time to bounce.

Check out the entire Gen Why series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Subscribe to Elite Daily’s official newsletter, The Edge, for more stories you don’t want to miss.

Women Reveal The Exact Moment They Knew They Needed To End A Relationship

from Meet Positives http://ift.tt/2xln3LW via IFTTT

Women Reveal The Exact Moment They Knew They Needed To End A Relationship

My high school boyfriend was extremely jealous. Anytime I so much as spoke to another guy, he would have a meltdown. The first couple of times it happened, I was surprised, but honestly, I was also kind of flattered. He wasn’t abusive or mean… just kind of intense about it. However, it didn’t take long for that to wear extremely thin and go from an ego boost, to annoying, to a deal breaker. It wasn’t always clear in past relationships when to end things because I didn’t know how to know when a relationship is over. But not this time.

I remember the exact moment it was over. I was talking to a classmate when I saw him out of the corner of my eye — well, actually, it was more like I felt his eyes burning into the side of my head. His face was a mixture of pain and anger, and in that moment, something in my mind just clicked. It. Was. Over. The thought of dealing with his insecurity for one more minute made my skin literally crawl.

Turns out, I’m not alone. A Reddit user asked women to tell them “about a time when you knew the EXACT moment your relationship was over,” and the answers are fascinating. The reasons why these women ended their relationships run the gamut, but one thing they all have in common is the fact that when you know, you know.

When The Little Things Were Too Much

When we went to the Science Center (my favorite place) and he refused to do any of the little activities.

– /u/rawrachie

It sounds silly, but we were ordering pizza and I wanted spinach and he wanted pepperoni, so we got two different pizzas

– /u/spooky_jookie

And The Not-So-Little Things, Too

When he thew up on me. He was a weekend alcoholic and that was the final straw.

– /u/projectile_poptart

When The Trust Was Gone

When he apologized for something I told my best friend in confidence about and realized they were discussing every detail of our relationship

– /u/aliteralprincess

I suspected that he was smoking. He lied about it. I found undeniable proof. He fessed up. Trust was gone. Relationship was lost that very moment.

– /u/junjun_pon

When he liked a picture of a girls ass on instagram. It was a girl he went to school with too.

– /u/hiylipr

When They Were Selfish AF

I'd taken my ex girlfriend on a trip to Finland just before Christmas one time. She'd always wanted to go to the Kakslauttanen resort where you can sleep in these beautiful cabins with glass domes so you can watch the Northern lights at night, and I loved her and wanted her to be happy.

She was initially quite happy about it but once we got on the bus to the resort, she was complaining nonstop about how cold it was (of course it's cold babe, it's bloody Finland in winter), then she was snide with the staff at the hotel which I cannot stand, and then she started a fight with me about the blankets the hotel had laid out for us on the couches. I was prepared to let all that slide because people have bad days sometimes but the next day, she woke up and had a fit about my not having ordered her coffee for the exact time she would be awake, and I remember I stepped outside to have a smoke and it was so cold and the sky was almost entirely pink and I was standing in snow up to my thighs and I thought, "aye, that'll be that then."

– /u/LDN_Escort

I was cooking dinner for my college bf. When he got there, I decided to surprise him by making him a nice cocktail while I finished cooking. As I'm shaking the drink, he screams, "What are you doing? Goddammit, I'm hungry!" I'm so glad that relationship is over.

– /u/manicmeli

When we were in scuba class. I had dropped my goggles down to the bottom of the pool for an excercise where you swim down to get them, put them on, and clear them. Anyways, my ex was great at it. I was having a panic attack and I was too terrified to go get my goggles. He was busy bragging and I interrupted to ask him to get my goggles for me and he ignored me. When I asked him again he shouted at me. Nope.

– /u/cl018513

He thought asking me to quit my job was a reasonable thing. For context, full time student, rent and bills to pay. I couldn't afford to. He treated my job like a burden because it wasnt time taking care of him.

– /u/Better_Bit

With true hatred in his eyes, accused me of "withholding information" because I wouldn't do his internet research for him. Lol bye.

– /u/empress_p

When They Were Abusive

When he smacked me so hard across the face I bled for the first time

– /u/BakedBride

his father terrified me. several times, he'd break in drunk and in a rage, screaming in a language i couldn't understand while hitting objects in our apartment. i just cowered and cried. bonus points, he looked like the dude who raped me as a kid.

now, my ex-husband had a looooot of fucking shit counting against him, but what actually broke the relationship was that he told me his father wanted to go out for dinner. i said i didn't want to go. he started yelling at me and i started crying, telling him that he frightened me and looked like a child rapist. he went on this huge tirade about how i was making it all up so i didn't have to do unpleasant things out of love for my husband (which i realized in that moment didn't exist). before, he claimed that he believed every word and he wanted to save me from my previous life.

i told him it was over. he flounced to his mama's house. i spent a glorious weekend cooking whatever the hell i wanted, sleeping without being lowkey sexual assaulted, and watching TV and being at peace. he was so pissed and felt so betrayed when he came back from giving me space to find i still wanted to break up.

– /u/todayonbloopers

When There Were Problems In The Bedroom

The moment I realized I couldn't remember the last time we had sex.

– /u/meliu4456

We had just finished fucking, and he said something to the extend of how it was different that time, like "taking a shit."

– /u/jintana

When They Realized They Had Fallen Out of Love

I suspected he was going to propose soon. When I thought of him proposing and me not being able to say yes. I couldn't put him through that, and at that moment I didn't think I was in love with him anymore. So I broke it off

– /u/knstbs

we were in the car on our way to to Key West, FL having a great time listening to our favorite music, talking our ears off and shmoking some weed.. just enjoying each others company. all of the sudden it hit me.; i was staring into his eyes and realized i wanted to be far away from him- it legit broke my heart into a million pieces.

– /u/terremotico

I didn't want to hold his hand on Valentine's Day

– /u/elsakate

When They Were Jealous

I live in the UK where the legal drinking age is 18 and my boyfriend at the time wouldn't let me go out because "people only go out to have sex".

He also embarrassed me at school by getting overly stressed with things so I was crying in the toilet at lunch time and tried to stop me from seeing my best friend of 15 years at the time.

Thank god I got out of that relationship, it would have ruined my uni experience if I hadn't broken up with him the suer before I went.

– /u/slothygon

I visited my hometown and happened to run into one of my friends. I sent my SO a text alone the lines of 'how lovely I just ran into my friend!', and he replied 'don't even bother coming back to me if you get with him' (there was literally zero chance of anything happening with this friend)

Then when I got home he accused me of lying (he thought I had planned to meet up with this friend and deliberately not told him for some reason) and demanded I apologise to him. I still don't know what I was supposed to be apologising for.

– /u/elsakate

And Then There’s This Monster

The moment he asked me not to get a scan to check if my cancer was in remission because he didn't want another bill.

– /u/VibrantPinwheel

Wow! Yeah, if your partner is more worried about the bottom line than your cancer, that’s a pretty big sign that it’s time to bounce.

Check out the entire Gen Why series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Subscribe to Elite Daily’s official newsletter, The Edge, for more stories you don’t want to miss.

Women Reveal The Exact Moment They Knew They Needed To End A Relationship

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The grace and tarrus story

TO HELL AND BACK WITH LOVE --------------------------------------- Chapter  306 961 6523 "Isn't it unwise to set that much responsibility on a girl who's known none." It wasn't a question.It was a statement. The truth hurts. Chapter 7 Days went by.  I'm still wondering wether my mom has noticed or if she's too out of it. my sister has probably.  I sigh with contempt. "Kin, the hell are you doing down here? With those losers?" Jack asked. I flinched turning around."I was making sure they had , enough entertainment to keep them occupied.." Jack snorted. "Oh come on. You know they are fascinated by their lame club." Jack Briggs home a bunch of kids every day as kin watches. "What the hell are they doing here?" They screamed in public. They stood up against him Kin has to go to community service every day and meets gage. Gage constellation  Has black hair, a lip ring, pale eyes, pale skin, a tattoo and smokes too. They first meet on the job, standing out back having a cigarette. "whoa. Shit dude. Scared me for a second." She said taking a smoke out. He snorted quietly."you wouldn't be the last." She turned to him. "You're way quiet dude." He blew out a puff of smoke. "Yeah?... Hm." He huffed , putting out his cigarette. She stared at his back well after he was walking in. "Weirdo." She said taking another huff. After her trip to the library she finds a book on how to tame a lover boy. "Huh. We'll as long as I'm here." She slipped it into her bag along with many other sad titles. "Hey! Constellation!" She called running after him. He turned around facing her."huh, yeah?" "You up for a task?" "Meh.. These kids are fucking crazy enough, Tal." He said. "Kids shmids, follow me." He rolled his eyes following. "Okay here I hold a book, which I need to try, okay?" "Yeah.. Uh .. The kids are getting wild over there." She stared at the pages. "Step one... Hold out hand.." He stuck his hand out. Meeting hers. "Hey. Whoa." He said. "Step two look into each other's eyes.." He stared down at her beautiful hazel eyes. Grey and hazel met in the shade of the back shed. Kintalia dropped the book, breaking the gaze.  He blinked unsure what to do. "Look Tal.. I-" "Hey! You two! We can use you both by the kids!" Kin fumbled for the book , picked it up quickly. "Fuck, sorry... I shouldn't have" "Kin... Your arms.. What the hell happened?" She struck him so hard he didn't see it coming.  " Don't.ever.call.me.kin." She growled glaring. He held his face a minute before standing taller than ever. "Fold, what the fuck? We're supposed to keep this professional ." "Maybe I don't want to! " "I didn't ask for this! Fuck, go. Then! Run home to your family! Huh?! Your nice warm loving family!" He yelled. She froze. Her eyes widened as she turned around. "Yeah?! You want to fucking talk about family?! When you clearly, know nothing?" Gage narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to resign as your partner. You don't like me. I don't like you." He monotoned. Pushing past her.  (( Ipod note number one.)) "I got it!" Frankie screamed. The excitement in their voice was unexpected and Dee flinched. "Got what? Gosh dont scream like that," she snapped back holding a hand to her head. "A way to stop this!" She said gesturing to the wreckage.  The world had fallen. Buildings were decaying and had collapsed long ago. The sky was blazing with red and orange colours. "Weve looked for a solution for so long Frankie.." Dee said, hope long crushed from her tone. "True... But this one im positive is fool proof!" She said excitedly. Dee stared at her through orange sunglasses. "Al-alright go ahead..." She relented sitting down on a traffic sign. "We get the kids and stop them." She said. Dee stood up suddenly and clutched Frankies shirt tightly in her hands. "Are you fucking crazy?!" She fumed. Frankie gently took her hands and held them. She nodded a little bit. The kid would go and hit up another dimension, where they were top dawg and then take over. Then when they found the three boys they would hold a battle royale. Desparate they would take the chance and summon the gods there. (The gods being very different then us of course) then they would try to kill margo keeping the destruction of this universe to a minimum. Margo and his gang. If crazed is killed then destruction will affect everywhere. Oblivion beginning in every universe and everything will die eventually. (Especially truth?) (( half finished ipod mote cus its shite)))) Dirk shuffled nervously in his spot taking his coat off. He was sweating and not just because of the warm weather. Tonight was the night he confessed to jake. He walked over to the window and looked out. The sun was setting rather quickly exposing the stars beginning to appear. He sighed and picked up his vibrating phone. 'Hey Dirk! Have a great day? I think i did but i was concerned about you. He could only help but manage a small grin. This boy was unlike any of the ones he had met before. Unlike all of them he possessed a charm. 'It was alright' he texted back, fingers gliding over the keyboard. He dug a bowl out while he awaited the answer. ' hey do you want to hang out later?' His heart skipped a beat as he replied. 'Alright lets do it. Ill be over there in five.'  Ipod note three song I look through your profile Looking for answers But your leaving me blank Tell me what number on your pity list did i actually rank?! I call your number too many people times  And when i need your help your leaving me behind Tell me what fairytale did we leave? Ipod note 4 idk fanfictionidea Vriska and aranea live together in a house which was left to them by their away at work mother. Aranea can read minds and vriska is sitting with her at breakfast. Aranea mentions something about going to work and to not wait up. All of a sudden aranea's old boyfriend knocks on the door and vriska is dating him now. Aranea gets angry and leaves. Vriska and cronus sleep together and then she wakes up and her mother is sitting there. She says she thought she could trust aranea to care for vriska but she was wrong. She wipes cronus's memory and sends vriska to a reformmatory school and probably hurts aranea. Vriska remembers a traumatic memory. Aranea hides with vriska and hides her but the mom leaves the boyfriend. She grabs vriska and slaps aranea and abuses her. - to hell and back with love - transgender boy love story - lesbian love story highschool - the notorious gang missing brother story Taurus Ferron high school student at Kings son community school. She is 17 and going into grade twelve for her senior year. She is from a rougher background, but she has a supportive mother who has her back and helps her through school. Taurus is extremely gifted in the math classes and her mother wants for her to become a doctor and because taurus doesnt have the heart to tell her no, she aspires to. Taurus is dark skinned and has dark black hair, that is almost always braided. She is Slim and tall. She wears very cheap clothing from the discount store. Grace Feather a high school transfer who is going into her junior year at Kings son school. Its her first time being in a rougher school, because of her mother. She is 17 going on 18 and comes from a very high class background, she is gifted in music and art and struggles with math. She meets Taurus at a tutor session in the school. She is fair skinned and has blonde hair. She is short and a little chubby. She dresses fairly high class. "Hey, im your tutor? You responded to the ad in the newsletter, so here i am." Taurus said a little put off by the girls beauty. "Its a little embarassing to be here, so can we just go into the back?" Grace asked. "Um.. Yeah, sure." They both go into the back with taurus lazily shouldering her bag, and Grace with both shoulder straps on. They are seated and Taurus begins to take out the calculus textbook. "Ugh, I hate calculus." Grace says, sticking her tongue out at the book. "Why are you taking it? I mean... If you dont mind me asking..." "My mother wants me to get my head out of the clouds with my art. Tells me to get a real job, so here i am." "Oh... So an artist? dont believe ive seen you around here before now." Taurus began flipping through the textbook pages and asked grace to take out her notebook. "I tranferred here after the second semester. I dont know any people here." "Well, you officially know me." "You didnt tell me your name.. Im Grace." "Grace? Elegant name. Im Taurus." "Taurus?" Grace tested it out. "Yep, like the astrology sign i guess. Even though thats not my sign."  "How come.." "My mother only likes the Taurus sign, because it was my sister's." She goes quiet after that, like she had revealed too much. "Sorry, it was none of my business." "Yeah. But, cant keep that shit inside right?"  Grace doesnt answer and they instead get to work. "So, Grace, you need this calculus class, what are you having trouble with?" It goes on like that (Little time skip where the bell rings.) "Theres the bell. Ive got to get to my class. Maybe ill see you around. Grace, right?" "Yeah! I mean, i need help again, so are you free Friday?" Taurus smirks and shoves her books in her bag. "Sure. I mean presuming im not completely booked up."  Grace blinks and quickly composes herself by waving a hand. "Of course. Of course, youre super busy, i get it. Forget it." "Grace, quit being a cute schoolgirl. I was joking, youre like the only one who took me up on the ad. Ill catch you on Friday." Grace nervously laughs, and blushes too.  "Thanks for the help today. Taurus." Grace says sticking out her hand towards Taurus. "Thatll be 25$ Princess." Taurus said smiling. Grace nodded and dug into her pockets. "Whoa, shit.. Sorry, i was kidding. Maybe i took that one a little far... Its free." Grace facepalmed, " you just keep fooling me dont you."  "I wasnt fooling you when i said you were cute." She said smoothly and patted her shoulder. "Catch you on Friday, Grace! You better get to class, junior class teachers are real hard on tardy kids." Grace was left openmouthed and she couldnt wait for Friday. "How did the tutoring session go, Grace? Was he competent?" Her mother asked her. "It was a girl, Taurus Ferron, from grade twelve. And yes, she is very smart." "Oh. Youre going to have to make your own dinner tonight, or order in or something, i have a meeting with the mayor tonight."  "Yes." Grace said. "Yes what?" "Yes, Ma'am." Grace's mother smiled with dead eyes and left the room. "How did the tutoring session go today, sweetie?" Taurus' mother asked her when she came into the living room. Taurus dropped her bag and sighed dreamily. "It went great, had a grand total of one participant." "Oh baby, dont fret over the numbers, how did it go?" "Well, she seemed to grasp the concepts well enough, so i wasnt completely a failure." "Oh a girl?" "Ma, come on, shes out of my league." "Oooh so you like her?" "Come on, ma. Love at first sight is so cliche and it didnt get nobody nowhere." "I said nothing about love, Tori. Still, tell me about her." Taurus sighed but she was actually thrilled to talk to her mom. "Well shes totally rich, and beautiful and blonde." "You sound fond of her after just one session. I sure hope youll keep your head in the grades, and not in this dating game." "Ma, i know what im doing. Ill be fine." Friday session goes well, just shows them having fun and growing closer and learning more about eachother. Then after a couple weeks of seeing each other. "Yo Grace, i thought we would switch it up, youve been working pretty hard, so maybe we should just go chill. You with me?" Grace smiled and nodded. They walk to the bleachers and sit there watching people do their own things. Grace clutches her stomach suddenly. "Whats wrong?" "Nothing." She says too quickly. Taurus sighs and slips her bag off of her shoulder. "Ive got lunch for both of us. I didnt know what you liked so i just went with peanut butter sandwiches."  Grace bites her lip and clutches her stomach again. Taurus widens her eyes and facepalms. "Shit. Youre allergic to peanuts, arent you? Damn it. Why i gotta play around like this? Uh...wait. Ive got just jam. Here." Taurus said panicking a little and handing her the jam sandwich. Grace covered her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. "Oh shit. Are you okay? Do you really hate peanutbutter? Fuck." Taurus swore throwing the sandwich far away. "Taurus... Im.. I cant eat that. Ill get fatter." Taurus clenched her fists.  "You... You cant do that! Its not healthy. Grace. Please, your stomach is fucking starving itself." Grace clenched her teeth and turned to Taurus. "Its the only way! You wouldnt understand... Youre naturally tall and skinny and beatiful." Taurus furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip. "Dont you know... That... Youre perfect just like that? Do you even know how fucking beautiful you are? Ive been stumbling over my words for weeks now, Grace. I really like you," she confesed leaning forward. "Why me? You could have anybody here at this school, why.." She was cut off by the lips that met hers. They kissed awkwardly and Taurus knocked her teeth against Grace's. She pulled away. "Fuck. Sorry. Im terrible at this romance stuff." Grace was shocked and numb, she turned Taurus back to her and kissed her back, this time slower, and not so rushed. The thing that pulled them away was Taurus losing her grip on the bleachers and knocking her chin on the hard wood.  Grace covered her mouth and burst out laughing. "Are you okay?" "This isnt cool. Im supposed to be the smooth one. But this is what you do to me, Grace. You do this to me. You make me nervous and gittery and so excited to see you everyday." Grace smiled that gap toothed smile and helped Taurus up from the bleachers. "Now... Will you please eat my sandwich?" Grace giggled and Taurus beamed handing her the sandwich for her to bite out of. Next scene. Kissing, dating, parties, kissing, all kinds of dates Then when Grace's mother confronts her about finding a suitable boy for prom because her image relies on it. Grace wants so badly to please her mother and for her to love her she goes to school the next day and confonts Taurus under the bleachers. "Whats up babe? Is this about that thing in history with the dude hitting on me? Cause i swear to god i shut him down so fast.." Grace held a hand up to silence her. Grace is crying and Taurus is alarmed and she moves forwards to comfort her in the best way she knows how but grace, puts a hand out to stop her. "Whats.. Whats wrong?" Taurus asks very confused. "I... We... My mother says i have to date a boy for a prom because of her image." Taurus is taken aback. "Well.. Good thing youre not going to fall for that bullshit, right?"  Grace gives Taurus that look and Taurus' heart skips a beat and stops alltogether. "Oh wow... Shit.." She says taking a seat and holding her head. Grace sinks down to her level and takes her hand. Taurus squeezes it. "I really, really like you... But this is important to my mother.." "And you love your mother too. I.. Its a little hard to accept.. But... I understand.." "I still reslly want to be friends. Please?" Taurus runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "Of course. Ill always be your friend." It goes silent, "How are you going to get a boy?" Taurus asks out of the blue. "Ugh, i know. I dont know the first thing about boys. Im really screwed." Silence. "Okay, since you asked so nicely, ill help you get one." Grace faces her wideeyed. "You reslly mean it?!" "Hey, im not a bitter girlfriend. Ive had my fair share of men, Gracie- fuck i mean Grace." Grace grins and Taurus' heart skips another beat. Grace hugs her from the side. 'This will be harder than she thought' Commence movie operation get the boy for the mom "Okay, so you want to be straight? Are you ready to fake it?" Taurus asks pacing around Grace's chair. Grace nods. "First we need a target. Who do you have your eye on?" "What about Kingsley Ford?"  Taurus faces Grace and gives her a dead stare. "Are you in kindergarten Graciecakes? Kingsley is a freshman. Its more than a little illegal." "Calling me names is not helping me be straight, Taurus. Please.." "Sorry. Aim a little higher. Lets go with the same grade?" "Uh... Jaylyn Foster?"  "Jaylyn's gay, Grace." "Oh..." Taurus knkws she must target Jeremy. "How about Jeremy Ryans? Hes cute, collected and smart. Plus, hes in your grade." Grace nods and Taurus writes the name on the whiteboard. "Now all we need to do is collect data on him, and then take the big step for you to talk to him. Think you can handle that?" "I think."  "Okay, hes a basketball player, baseball player, soccer player, football... Hockey... Hes a sport guy. Think you can relate your convos to sports? Also do you know how to flirt." "Good, now i want you to go and walk into him and drop your books. Guys are suckers for that cliche move."  Gracie nods and takes her books and walks into Jeremy. Taurus watches from around the corner. She has bad timing though because hes shouting across the hallway to some of his friends. "Oh sorry, im so clumsy.." "Did you say something? Sorry, I got to go." He apologises and shuts his locker, while stepping on her books in the process. Taurus is in hysterics and is barely on her feet, just laughing so fucking hard its hurting her gut. "You gonna help me?"  Taurus wipes her laugh induced tears away and stoops to help her pick up her bootprinted books up. They mark off the white board plans a-e A) walk into him and drop books. B) go to one of his many games "Okay, we briefed before this. I bought the nachos, just go stand by him and offer them up. Think you can handle it?" Taurus asks holding the nachos in one hand. "Im positive." She says and takes the nachos from her. Its a baseball game so hes in the dugout sitting there all sweaty. Hes cheering and shouting at his teamates and then he notices the girl coming towards him. He doesnt make any move to acknowledge her. "Hey, Jeremy. Im Grace, from your homeroom class? You looked hungry, so i got you these." "Oh, shit, wow thanks. You didnt have to do this, Grace, you say... Ive seen you around class. Youre super smart in calculus, huh?" He takes the nachos from her and they continue to talk and Taurus is frowning. "Yep. Ive done pretty well. Youre not too bad yourself.." "You kidding? I suck, im pretty sure im failing it. Say... You wouldnt have any advice to offer me.." "Well, Jeremy.. I think that i can give you a lesson or two... How about it?" Jeremy smiles and nods. "Sure. My dads on my case about these math grades, says i wont make it into any good universities. When are you free?" "How about Thursday at 7?"  "Sure. My phone number is 780 96789, you text me your address. Okay" Grace comes back to Taurus and Taurus is playing with her rings on her fingers. "You see that? I guess i didnt need your plans after all." "Yeah.. Youre right. Hey look, Ill leave you alone now, okay? Youve got your boy just like i promised. Ill text you later sometime." "Taurus... You said you wouldnt get all bitter and jealous! We are still friends." "You think this is about Jeremy? My mom needs me at home. Not everyhing is about you." Grace is take aback and crosses her arms. "You sure? Cause the way youve been acting lately, has got me doubting." "I dont care! Okay? We broke up, you want boys now. Whats more to understand?" "Taurus, you know this isnt about me liking them. "Oh yeah sure. You expect me to believe that? You never probably loved me," "That doesnt make any sense! I loved you, okay? I still do! But this is about my mother." "Right, i forgot, youre still trying to please her. Look, just go date Jeremy." "I will. And he'll want to kiss me in public." Taurus is hurt and shakes her head and leaves. Next scene is Grace tutoring Jeremy. He actually does understand it and nothing happens. Sad music playing Next few scenes are Taurus looking at a photo of both her and Grace. Them kissing. Then shes crying and laying down on the bed. Grace is trying to make a move on Jeremy and hes pulling away and just being oblivious. Taurus is watching the re runs with her mother.  Grace is looking at photos of her and Taurus and ripping them up. Next scene is jeremy inviting Grace to the party, because shes been such a big help to him. "Yo Grace, you wanna tag along to a party with me?" "When is it? "Its on saturday, me and some friends are going, thought youd wanna come, because youve helped me a whole bunch. How about it?" "Sure. Sure." "Great. See you there. Next scene Grace forgets shes mad at Taurus and texts her the details. 'Jeremy invited me to a party on saturday at Jamie's' 'Wow, hope you have fun.' 'Youre not still mad at me, are you?' 'I hope you can figure that out.' 'Jesus, Taurus, you said you wouldnt be jealous.' 'Go have fun.' Next scene is the before party It shows Grace doing her hair all nice and frilly, and putting on perfume and getting her clothes together. Shes putting on makeup. Next scene shows Jeremy putting on his clothes, making sure his hair looks okay and putting condoms in his pocket. This makes the audience think hes going to have sex with Grace. The next scene shows Taurus looking at their conversation and rubbing her eyes. Shes siting with her mom and her mom has her arm around her daughter and Taurus is just watching tv. The next scene is Grace and Jeremy socializing and having fun and drinking. The next scene is Jeremy telling Grace hes going to the washroom. Grace is sitting there quietly and then she opens her phone and texts Taurus. 'I think we are gonna do it.' Taurus sits up fadt and texts her back. 'Are you sober?' 'Thats a tricky question.' 'Dont move. Im coming." Taurus is driving to the party in her regular street clothing. Grace is still waiting and puts her phone away. She gets up and goes to explore. taurus is there and is walking in through the door. Grace is walking up the stairs and then Taurus sees her through the thick crowd and she has trouble getting through but she does and shes going up the stairs towards her. Grace opens some of the doors and Taurus is up there with her and grabbing her hand. Just then they both see Jeremy making out with Jaylyn. Taurus is shocked and so is Grace. But Grace gasps and Jeremy is startled and Jaylyn is still trying to take his shirt off. grace is ripping her hand out of Taurus' hand and leaving down the stairs fast. Jeremy is pushing Jaylyn away. "Dont worry about it. Ill get her." Taurus reassures and smiles sheepishly at the both of them. She closes the door and the last thing we see of Jeremy is Jaylynn kissing his neck. Taurus runs down the stairs after Grace and finally catches up with her outside and reaches for her arm. "Why are you still here?! Huh? I thought you didnt want to be my friend anymore!" She spits out slurring her words. Taurus furrows her eyebrows, and releases her arm and suddenly Grace is on her knees and bawling. "Go ahead. Tell me. I was an idiot." "Grace... Im not going to say that. Please... Come on. Lets go." Grace doesnt resist as Taurus pulls her up and takes her to her park spot. "Come on. You drank lots, lets get it out of you." They go to the store and she grabs mouthwash and a bottle of water. Theyre at the park and Grace is throwing up and Taurus is there to hold her hair back. Finally Taurus pulls out the mouthwash and gives it to Grace. Then she gives her the water. "Uhhh... Im never gonna drink again..." "You dont mean that. You probably felt like you were on top of the world." "My stomach feels like it was turned inside out... But youre right.."  "Im sorry about Jeremy.. I know it meant alot to you. I didnt know he was gay." "Neither did i... I... Im so fucking sorry, Taurus.. You were just looking out for me.." "No.. I was jealous. I was hurt. I didnt want you to date anyone else but i know that was wrong of me." "Youre really great. I would leave if i were you." "Youre not me." Taurus joked kissing grace's head. A moment of silence passed. "Im so gay that even the boys i date are too." Taurus giggled and pulled away both of them turning towards eachother on the bench. "Youre terrible at being straight." Taurus joked. "I know." Said Grace, leaning in and kissing her softly. Next scene is Taurus coming over for a sleepover and this is the second climax. "This is it. Isnt it?" Taurus said to Grace on her way inside her big house, "Its scary to think about but yeah. My mom is out for a while tonight." "Should make it a little easier." "True. Come in." She invited closing the door behind her. They cook that night and kiss some more and suddenly her mom comes home. With a man on her arm and she looks a little tipsy. "Oh. Grace. And... Whos this?" She asks gesturing to Taurus as if shes gum on her shoe. Taurus grits her teeth and is about to speak up but Grace squeezes her hand behind her back. "This is my g- my friend... Tauri. Shes staying the night." "Dont mess up your room... I expect her out by 5 tomorrow, we have a dinner with the mayor. And we dont have a spare room, so youll have to find some way." "Thank you Ms.Feather, im sure we will find some way to manage." Claire doesnt say anything more and lets her man take her away into the other rooms. "Shes...nice." "Shes terrifying." Grace corrects her and Taurus agrees. "Ayways we have the whole night together." "Indeed we do..." Taurus says seductively and closes in on her. Grace wraps her arms around her neck and they kiss. The next day Claire is up and has a horrible hangover and is irritable. Her man is gone and is replaced by Grace's two uncles who do bussiness with her. Grace takes Taurus into the kitchen and is about to make breakfast. "Grace. And..." She trails off. Taurus introduces herself "Taurus Ferron. We met last night." "I dont live in the past dear, come sit." The two uncles are sitting across from one another. "Ferron. Well known name in my line of work. Your brother was a friend of mine." Taurus nods respectably at them and takes a seat across from Grace. "Your uncle Jason here, says he can get you a boy. It will have to be one of his sons. You know Your older cousin Nathaniel." Taurus widens her eyes and in walks Nathaniel as he is called by uncle Jason Nathaniel is a tall slim boy just like Taurus, with no acne and black hair. He wears glasses and has an air of mischief and trickery to him. He wears a suit just like his father. "Why hello, Grace. Nice to meet you again." "Hes perfect for your date, this is really important to me. Hes nice and trained like a good boy should be." Jason gestures for Nathaniel to sit next to Grace and Grace is looking anywhere but Taurus and Nathaniel is slipping his lanky arm around Graces shoulders and Taurus is seething. And then everything stops and Taurus is standing up and confessing that theyre in love with eachother and how could her own mother force her to date her cousin. "Im in love with her! How could you force her to date boys! Let alone her own cousin?"  The mother doesnt look surprised just staring at her like shes the scum of the universe. "Grace. How long has this little phase been going on?" Everybody is staring at Grace now and shes looking down shes ashamed. "Grace! Tell her! You cant let her boss you around like this! Shes barely around!" Taurus is practically screaming and now Claire is nodding at Jason's rougher looking brother to escort her out. "Grace! Please! Dont let her do this to you! Your own cousin?! I love you." Taurus is in hyseterics. Grace isnt speaking just covering her face while Nathaniel is slinking his arm around her again. Jason and Claire are just staring at taurus as she tries to wriggle out of the uncles grasp. Although jason is looking with sadness and claire is staring coldly. "Grace!" Shes yelling. But the man has already pushed her out the front door. "Look kid. None of this familys worth it. Tell your brother i said hey." Taurus is running her hand through her hair and breathing heavily trying to calm her mind. Taurus leaves and goes home and cries like she ps never cried before and sad music plays. And It shows Grace having dinner with a snaky Nathaniel who keeps feeling her up. Taurus is laying in her bed sadly. They see each other at school the next day. Grace is covered up with a coat and a scarf. She avoids Taurus' gaze and Taurus is somewhat glad and shes licked her wounds and shes fierce. Taurus focuses on her work and Grace keeps coming to school all covered up. Then one day Grace leaves a note in Taurus' locker and Taurus crumples it up and shoves it in her pockets. She slams her locker and it transitions to the bleachers. Taurus walks there very slowly and Grace is just there hugging her knees to her chest and she doesnt even look up as Taurus gets worried. She gives up her hurt act and runs over to her. "Grace?" She asks "Taurus! Oh god Taurus... Im so fucking sorry." She sobs into Taurus' shirt. "Jesus, Grace. I... Im ok. Are you doing ok?" "I..." Thats when Taurus notices the bruises flowering on her collarbones and her cut lip. And the chesply covered black eye. "What the fuck are those." Taurus asks alarmed and taking off the scarf. "Grace... Who did... Your mother?" "No.. Taurus, it isnt that bad." "Who did this to you?" "Taurus, i called you here to tell you... We cant be together." "What? You think i care about that? I mean obviously i do, but.. I just want you to be safe." "Dont make this harder than this has to be, please Taurus." "Grace... Is pushing me away going to make your mom stop?" "I... Yes.." She whispers. Taurus breathes out. And it shows them pAssing each other in the halls. Them eating lunch in different spots. Taurus graduating and Grace clapping the loudest for her. Taurus taking a year off to just sleep. Grace knocking on her door two years later. "Grace? Holy shit. What happened?" She chokes out. Grace is in rough shape, too skinny and trackmarks going up and down her arm. Her eyes are faraway and her cheeks are sunken in. "She stopped. She finally stopped." Grace tells Taurus. "Im relieved to hear that..." "She kicked me out... Apparently shes enabled me enough.." "Shit. You got a place to stay?" "Nope. But i just want you to know you were right." "Grace... You think i care about being right? I just want you safe... Come. Come stay with me." "I couldnt burden you with that... I fucked up your life." "Grace, you could never fuck it up. Come. We have alot to talk about. Grace staggers in and one year later theyre content. Taurus is going to university classes for medical school Grace is getting off her drugs.

On Saturday, a woman well call Maya fed her passport into the customs scanner at JFK airport. Maya is a legal permanent resident of the United States whos in the process of applying for citizenship. She, her American husband, Sami, and their two American children had just returned from a family trip to Saudi Arabia, where Maya was born.

But in Saudi Arabia, citizenship is based on your fathers citizenship, not where you were born. Since Mayas father was a Syrian citizen, she is, too which means that even though she was born in Saudi Arabia, shes subject to President Donald Trumps executive order banning Syrians and people from six other majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. without special permission. In fact, she may have been subject to it even if she had never set foot in Syria. Trumps order appears to be based on nationality, not country of origin.

So when Maya scanned her Syrian passport at JFK on Saturday, the machine spat out a paper with a black X, which indicated she needed to report to a Customs and Border Patrol officer.

CBP agents questioned Maya about her past, about her marriage, and about the address she maintained when studying to be a pharmacist in Syria. They reviewed her social media accounts.

I didnt know if my wife was going to be with me, Sami told The Huffington Post. I didnt know if my kids were going to have their mother. HuffPost is withholding the familys last name and identifying Maya and Sami by pseudonyms so as not to endanger Mayas application for citizenship.

After three hours, CBP let Maya through. Maya and Sami credit an empathetic Customs and Border Patrol agent who, they say, seemed unsure about how the order handed down Friday afternoon should be applied. He eventually asked his supervisors for permission to let Maya go.

But the short-term detention and questioning of a legal permanent resident who wasnt even born in Syria offers an indication that the executive order Trump signed applies much more widely than he initially said.

The order is anything but precisely targeted. Its chaotic implementation Saturday left legal experts confused and Department of Homeland Security officials scrambling to explain who can now enter the country.

I didnt know if my wife was going to be with me. I didnt know if my kids were going to have their mother. Sami, a man whose wife was stopped for questioning due to Friday’s executive order

The order Trump signed bars the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens from seven Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya. But that loose wording could encompass many people who dont live in those countries including people who werent even born there. In theory, its possible to be subject to the ban without ever having set foot in any one of the seven targeted countries.

The text of Trumps order bans people from the seven countries from entering the U.S. But the word from can have multiple legal meanings, said Stephen Legomsky, the former chief counsel to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It could mean someone born in those countries, someone whose parents were born there, or someone who simply passed through, he said although he noted the last interpretation is unlikely to gain traction.

Its terrible wording, Legomsky told The Huffington Post. Theres a big difference between being a national of a country and being born in the country.

The vagueness leaves it up to individual officers of Customs and Border Protection to decide how theyll interpret the order until the Department of Homeland Security sets a policy in writing, Legomsky said.

DHS did not respond to a request for clarification.But State Department officials told The Wall Street Journal that people who hold dual citizenship with any of the seven countries cannot enter the U.S., which indicates the Trump administration is hewing toward a strict interpretation that could affect people well beyond the seven countries borders.Legal permanent residents are also affected, though administration officials have said they will review decisions on a case-by-case basis. Trump advisers Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon pushed to apply the ban to legal residents over DHS officials objections, CNN reported Saturday.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus offered a contradictory statement Sunday morning, saying in a televised interview that permanent residents wouldnt be barred. Without written guidelines, his comments only added to the uncertainty, as several judges issued rulings blocking the orders implementation.

Millions of people have left the seven countries targeted by the order over the last few decades. All seven have experienced war, civil conflict or political instability in the last 30 years, creating large-scale displacement.Other people have left for more mundane reasons that prompt people the world over to migrate reuniting with family members who left before them, or searching for better economic opportunities.

That leaves open the possibility that those migrants and their children might face hurdles trying to enter the United States over the life of the ban, which lasts for 90 days for nationals of all seven countries. The order also suspends the U.S. refugee program for four months and bars refugees from Syria indefinitely.

Many migrants have made new homes in places that dont automatically confer birthright citizenship. Saudi Arabia has particularly strict rules that extend citizenship mostly to the children of its countrys nationals. Although Maya and other children born to migrants may qualify as permanent residents, the Saudi government views most of them as foreign nationals who must look to their country of origin for passports.

Other countries that are home to large diasporasin both the Middle East and Europe have similar, if less exacting, restrictions on birthright citizenship.

Likewise, many governments do not requireapplicants to returnto the country of their ancestry when soliciting citizenship documents. So the dual citizenship restriction also leaves open the possibility that children of migrants from the seven countries might be denied entry from the United States, despite never physically passing through those countries borders.

Putting the order into effect as the country went into a weekend only created chaos and confusion about whos covered by it, said David Leopold, an immigration attorney who spent Saturday afternoon trying to help a Saudi-born Sudanese national who was turned away from JFK due to the order.

They drop this order at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday, Leopold told HuffPost. Everyones leaving the office. Lawyers are gone. Reporters are leaving for the weekend. But planes are coming into the country. Nobody had any notice whatsoever. Nobody knew this was going to apply to permanent residents.

Like Legomsky, Leopold said the preposition from in Fridays executive order made it unclear who was excluded from the U.S. and who wasnt. Its sloppy, he said. I dont know what it means. … But the object here is to keep Muslims out. They tricked permanent residents into being deported.

That lack of legal analysis might have caused the confusion surrounding the scope of the order, said Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

This executive order is and can be expansive in ways that the administration is only now beginning to understand, much less the rest of us, Noorani said. Its chaos.

Sami is glad his familys ordeal is over, but seething at the prospect that Mayas parents cant visit his family and they cant go visit them. When he was in a bus from the terminal at his final destination, he overheard people saying that those upset about Trumps order should move on and get jobs.

I have a job, Im a physician, Sami said. How am I supposed to move on? This man [Trump] is trying to take away my wife.

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A Very Few Republicans Finally Criticize Trump’s Refugee And Travel Ban

WASHINGTON Five Republican members of Congress broke with most of their party and President Donald Trump on Saturday by condemning his executive order to bar refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), along with Reps. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.), said they opposed Trumps executive order, which has already wreaked havoc on the lives of refugees, travelers, immigrants and even U.S. citizens whose family members will now be barred from visiting them.

I urge the admin to halt enforcement of this order until a more thoughtful and deliberate policy can be instated, Dent, a Trump critic who represents a large Syrian community,told The New York Times Jonathan Martin.

Sasse said the order was too broad and potentially dangerous, even if it wasnt technically the blanket Muslim ban that Trump once proposed.

If we send a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. sees all Muslims as jihadis, the terrorist recruiters win by telling kids that America is banning Muslims and that this is America versus one religion, Sasse said in a statement.

Amash said the executive order was unlawful because such a policy change should have gone through Congress.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is third in line for the presidency, issued a statement Saturday night urging the Trump administration to move quickly to tailor its policy.

Dent told The New York Times that some of his constituents family members were informed they could not enter the U.S. when they touched down at Philadelphia International Airport. In fact, many refugees, visitors and even green card holders who reside in the U.S. have been turned away in the 24 hours since Trumps order was issued.

Flake spoke out against the executive order later on Saturday.

President Trump and his administration are right to be concerned about national security, but its unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away at airports and ports of entry, Flakesaid in a statement. Enhancing long term national security requires that we have a clear-eyed view of radical Islamic terrorism without ascribing radical Islamic terrorist views to all Muslims.

Collins told Maines Sun Journal that the refugee ban is overly broad and implementing it will be immediately problematic.

Trumps executive order suspends refugee resettlement entirely for 120 days, bans Syrian refugees indefinitely and temporarily bars individuals from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Legal permanent residents, also called green card holders, from those same countries can be admitted only on a case-by-case basis, according to the White House. Dual-nationals of those countries a British-Iranian citizen, for example are barred from entry.

Most Republicans in Congress have said nothingabout the ban, which is unusual because most controversial White House policy announcements are met with either applause or criticism.

Only a few Republicans have issued statements. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who forcefully condemned Trumps call for a Muslim ban in 2015, said this time that President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country. A spokeswoman for Ryan told The Huffington Post that Trumps order did not constitute a ban on Muslims, pushing back on the idea that Ryans past statement was relevant to the current situation.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) also put out statements saying Trump did the right thing. The vast majority of Republicans remained silent.

This article has been updated to include comments from Sens. Jeff Flake and Susan Collins.

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from A Very Few Republicans Finally Criticize Trump’s Refugee And Travel Ban