Hello All!

So, as you probably know, I am going to Russia (yay!) to study the language. Because I want to immerse myself in it as deeply as possible, my use of English media will be limited. I will use Skype to check in with people, and I will continue to check my email, but I will probably not be on Facebook that much, and I'm definitely not going to write long blog posts in English (and I don't think any of you are interested in long blog posts in Russian).
I get back to the states in early July. If you really need to contact me, you should know how (or ask my parents), and I'll try to keep checking in so you know I'm not ded, but your regularly-scheduled internet obsessed Anna will return in approximately six weeks.

See y'all then.

I am unsure whether there will be more blogs before my life gets crazy again. I would like to do one summing up my last few weeks here in Denmark, and maybe one talking more about the Avengers and what I liked and didn't like, but these entries take time (several hours of time) and I'm leaving the country tomorrow. So, uh, for the time being, have some linkspam. The theme is Gay Things.

Superheroes Are Gay (video) I've linked to this before, but it's horrible and hilarious and I'm linking again.

Top 8 Reasons To Be Gay (video)

100 Real Tweets From Homophobes Who Would Murder Their Gay Child

Defenders of Marriage (song)

8 Ways to be Traditionally Married According to the Bible

In case you forgot, Obama supports Gay Marriage guys (includes video w/ article)

Marriage Equality and Symbiotic Evolution (video) reaction to Obama's support of same-sex marriage.

Except there are problems with the whole marriage thing, and some of the arguments for gay marriage seem to say "if two people love each other then they can get married" but no one asks straight people if they are really in twu wuv before they get married

If This video Makes You Uncomfortable Then You Make me Uncomfortable (video)

Simmons College: It Gets Better (video)

GAY is NOT an INSULT (video) "You want to call me a gay virgin nerd? That's fine. Believe me when I say you are not embarrassing me, you're embarrassing you."

NO SUCH THING AS STUPID-GAY! (video)

Coming Out of the Closet: Do's and Don'ts (video)

On Parents, "Parents have never been parents before, you guys. They are on the same rollercoaster ride as the rest of us and just doing their damndest to keep up… and there are things that make them feel super awkward and silly and scared."

Gay Marriage is legal in DENMARK! Not just civil partnership (which they legalized in '89) but marriage. This is cool.

Gay rights in the US, state by state

A Gay Marine Reflects on the End of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'

On "gays in the military"

Convicted of being gay, and the slowness of change (video)

Just putting it out there: it gets better

Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it!
-Tony Stark, the Avengers (2012)

So today I saw the Avengers and now I want to do some more research and find enough information to write a really good paper analyzing it. You'll probably just get a blog post at some point and that will be it. Overall, I think it was a fun movie with explosions, yay! I wish there was more depth to the characters and exploration of their interactions, and the final battle was not as epic simply because there were too many heroes, basically, but I came away from that movie thinking my money was well spent.
Also, there's a part in the movie where Black Widow is being interrogated in Russian and since the movie had Danish subtitles, we had no English subtitles, and I translated fairly well! So that was pretty cool.

Uh, link spam, link spam theme is... Doing Good:

The Retail Dance (video)

Compliments for Strangers (video)

Nerdfighting in Bangladesh (video) "There is no them, there is only us. Every time in the past six months that I've tried to imagine a 'them' there has been someone out there to prove to me that 'them' is part of 'us.'"

The Bank of Nerdfighteria (video)

How to Be a Microfinancier (video)
Part Two (video) Poor people are also people! Oh man!

Compound Nerd Fighters (video)

Seven Billion People (video)

Trying to connect to people you don't know (video)

BookWish is an excellent charity, this is a video about it by John Green (video)

You Are Not An Activist (video) Think about the causes you support. The ones you really support. The ones you would look uncool for, lift up some of the weight for, put something of yourself on the line for. Now do something for them. Something more than liking a facebook page or changing your profile picture. When you learn about an injustice and you want to change it, set yourself out to do something. If more of us did this, more things would change for the better.

In other news, my professor told me that my blog entry on Auschwitz was the best thing he has ever read on the subject written by a student. *faints* In celebration, have some links on Education:

The Education Continuum (video)

DonorsChoose.org helps out teachers to be more awesome (video)

Shit High Schoolers Don't Say (video)

How to Become An Adult (video)

Book Banning (video)

This Isn't Hogwards! A song about high school and Harry Potter. (song/video)

Answers for the questions a child is predicted to ask (video) Informative, cute, and also kind of a good idea.

And so, on Thursday, May 3, I was jerked out of my "sleep, wake-up, hide-from-work" cycle by two things: one was a very persistent friend in my kollegium, and one was the trip to Auschwitz. This friend - who I have nicknamed Amit for sake of anonymity - was going to London, and we both had to meet at the same location to catch our buses to the airport. We were going to head out together. This deal meant no more hiding, Anna. He got me out of the dorm, and once we were out of the dorm and at the buses, there was no turning back. I was going to Poland to see Auschwitz, I had paid for the trip and couldn't turn back because I felt sick or overwhelmed, and so I got on the bus to the airport and I went. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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So, I will have another post for you really soon, probably later today, but it's just not finished yet (it's a combination blog post/optional final essay so I'm putting some extra work into it). I think a lot of the post is going to be about why we are here (without getting too ridiculously philosophical) so here's a linkspam on a related topic, Religion:

Shit Christians Say to Atheists (video)

Alex Reads Creation (video)

Do You Believe in God? (video)

It's Hard To Define Religion (video)

On Religion (video)

RELIGION IS NOT MONOLITHIC, and why Iran matters, y'know (video)

Nobody Gives Jesus Presents on Christmas (video/song)

Possibly a post for you later today? Still working on it. But here's some linkspam! Theme is Conservation and the Environment:

Pretty places in nature that will kill you (cracked)

Your Yard is EVIL (video)

Gotta Get Outside! (video)

Climate Change (video)

Proof Global Warming Is Totally Made Up?!

Remember that time that all of Georgia flooded and we were all distracted by Kanye West? (video)

Carbon Neutralizing Youtube (video)

Tiny Cars Suck! a satirical song by founder of EcoGeek (video/song)

GRACE Mission Data Informs Climate Science: Getting Beyond the Spin About Sea-Level Rise (video)

Football Disease, Moon Base Dreams, and the Deepest Vents Ever! (video)

Click here for the soundtrack to this entry, the 2012 entries to Eurovision.
But that comes later. Let's start where we left off.
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If I study 8 pages of the Russian-English dictionary every day, I will have gotten through it by the time I return to the states. >.>

(Obviously to build vocab you need to do more than just see the word once, the idea is to create an ongoing list of useful words/words I should know, and continue studying that list as it grows and then especially once I get back home. This might be a stupid idea.)

Linkspam today because I don't have a post for you. The theme is Gender Identity:

First, something old: In Defense of Cris Crocker (video) and how we get giggly-uncomfortable when people don't comform to our expectations

Five Gender Stereotypes That Used To Be The Opposite (cracked)

Gendering Free: Exploring Outside the Binary

Gender smörgåsbord

Confuse Cold Callers (comic)

Sex, Sports, and Caster Semenya (video) Talking about the ambiguity of human existance in relation to sports and intersex folks.

Not Trans* Enough (video) Lots of swearing, but excellent.

Trans Enough vs Trans Too Much

Games for boys, games for girls (comic)

Even the f*cking deoderant is gendered!

I don't know exactly how to label this one...? (comic)

Cis Privileges

Size Doesn't Matter (comic)

How many penises do YOU have? (comic) (potentially triggering?)

My Boyfriend's a Tranny and I Have Grilled Cheese (video) I'm sure I've linked to this before, but I really like it, so I'm posting it again, damnit.

Transgender: The journey to identity (potentially triggering)

New TSA site improving the travel experience, or so they say. At least there is aknowlegement of trans* people in a formal way. *sigh*

"Obama's Transgender Ex-Nanny Outcast" (trigger warning) The language is problematic, but they also seem to be trying really hard to get it right? I dunno, I find the reporting problematic, but it's an important story and not one I've seen anywhere else, so here it is, I guess...