floriem
A place to keep my personal art. Expect landscapes, portraits, and feelings-turned-illustrations, with rambles on trying to figure out how to be alive.
94 posts
Latest Posts by floriem
The Crips for eSims for Gaza Bundle will soon be live! https://itch.io/b/2965/crips-for-esims-for-gaza-bundle
Game devs and artists around the world have contributed over 200 video games, TTRPGs, zines, comics, & more in support of this fundraiser for Crips for eSims for Gaza.
Every $16 purchase covers the cost of an eSim activation to help connect Palestinians in the occupied territories and beyond. On sale April 28-May 20!
🇵🇸✊♥️
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!
There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.
I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.
As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.
The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.
The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.
As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.
I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.
The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.
I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.
I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.
All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.
I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.
My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.
If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:
It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.
Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.
Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.
Sources:
• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text
• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)
THE CHAFF PROJECT
Hi! Are you cis in the UK and you'd like to support trans rights? Great!
How: buy a trans flag pin and wear it in public.
Why: chaff is an overwhelming amount of false positives so that when a missile gets close to the plane, it hits the chaff and not the plane.
In practice: the goal is to make it DIFFICULT to identify trans people to target with bathroom bans, and to create many FALSE POSITIVES for businesses.
Basically, you might get accused of being trans and kicked out, because of the badge. You say: I wear the badge because trans rights matter.
You follow up with a letter to the business saying you're fucking furious because some nosy dipshit just tried to play fucking genital police with you in the loos. You know lots of trans people (don't name any, if you do) and you wear the pin in support and you're disgusted at them for allowing this.
Blame the business for allowing the behaviour.
Businesses see that their cis customers are getting bothered over a badge and may clarify trans-inclusive policies, so they can kick out the bathroom botherers instead of nice cis allies.
You only need to buy and wear the badge, and you are protecting trans people. You can be genuinely heroic. Even one cis person doing this helps, and everyone you get to join in helps even more.
Non-affiliated badge link:
https://rainbowandco.uk/collections/trans-pride/products/transgender-pride-flag-badge
I'm sorry but it's way too sketchy to have to "sign up" for a protest. There's no reason you should have to give anyone your full name, email, phone number, and/or address in order to march in the streets. People are getting arrested left and right because cops have access to information that connects people to the protests they were at. If an organization is having people "sign up to join the fight," all the cops need to do is access that list.
Just go. Don't leave a fucking paper trail.
Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor
Uk peeps!! Let’s get this going! 🏳️⚧️🇬🇧
Brennan and the Intrepid Heroes photographed by Cole Wilson for Rolling Stone
"Mama, Are We Next?" – The Reality of War on a Family 🥺🍉
✅ Vetted by @savefami
✅ Vetted by @happaliff
I'm trying to be vetted in @gazavetters @90-ghost
I never thought I’d hear my child ask me, “Mama, are we next?” But here we are.
In Gaza, survival is not guaranteed. Hospitals are gone. Medicine is rare. Clean water is a privilege. But through all the pain, we still believe in kindness.
What We Need to Start Again:
💔 $5,000 for the father.
💔 $5,000 for the mother.
💔 $2,500 for Khaled.
💔 $2,500 for Intesar.
📌 The rest is for the basics of life—shelter, food, and safety.
If you can donate or share, you’re giving us more than money. You’re giving us hope.
💙 Donate here:
Support a Family in Need ❤️
Mohamad has endured immense loss and is now burdened with debt while trying to protect his sister and her five children. He desperately needs our help to secure their safety and give them a fresh start.
We’ve reached 16% of our goal (€3,224/€20,000), but there’s still a long way to go. Every euro makes a difference. Every share spreads hope.
This isn’t about names, backgrounds, or beliefs. It’s about humanity.
✅ Verified by Association:
@bilal-salah0 Here
🔗 Donate & share: Donation Link (gofundme.com)
One Day at a Time 🙏💙
It’s hard to describe what it feels like to lose everything. To wake up and realize your entire life has been erased.
But here we are—$1,580 raised so far.
It’s a small step in a long journey, but it proves that there are still people who care. That hope isn’t completely gone.
💙 Please, if you can, help us move forward. Every share, every donation, every kind word helps us hold on.
🙏 If this post reaches you at the wrong time or feels intrusive, I sincerely apologize please ignore it .
✅️ Vetted by ✅️
@bilal-salah0
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. ❤️
in your automatic arms, your electronic arms. your petrochemical arms, your military arms.
200 Palestinian children held in Israeli Occupation prisons.
here’s a link to operation olive branch, which provides aid to gazans who critically need to evacuate:
you can choose a family you want to send aid to, and click the link to send money. the spreadsheet also has bar graphs showing how much money each family is getting.
sharing some gofundmes of Palestinians that haven't reached their goals yet
Help Rani Escape Gaza
Help majd's family evacuate from death in Gaza
Help me to evacuate my family from Gaza
Support the Future of AbdalRahman from Gaza
Help Nael to survive and complete his studies.
Help Baraa and her injured family out of Gaza
Help Sana’a and her family evacuate from Gaza
Help Sara get treatment leave Gaza with her family
Reda in Gaza to survive the war
Help me and my brothers flee Gaza
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
VIA Palestinian Youth Movement
Walid Daqqah left the world today due to medical neglect by Occupation Forces in Israeli prison 7/4/2024
@robertvonthaden
Photos from the late 1800s - early 1900s
Palestinian women grinding coffee beans 1905.
Bedouin woman in Jerusalem circa 1898-1914.
Palestinian family of Ramallah, circa 1900-1910.
Shepherds in Palestine 1912.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre festival, Palestine, 1890.
Coffee house in Palestine, circa 1900.
Friday prayer, al-Aqsa, Jerusalem, 1920.
Painting You, Painting Me
Illustration for my work in progress novel about artists titled 1000 Words Unframed
HD images and painting videos on my Patreon.com/Yuumei
I am almost out of the trenches.. I did all my taxes.. I finished two big comms I was really nervous about because of my own insecurity.... I sent my cousin some of the money I made from my commissions for her biopsy.. and we repaired all the holes in my sisters room and got rid of the mold.. I only need to do legit three more big comms and work will be less crazy. The electricity bill dropped today and its like 90 usd.. please.. if you like my art would you consider getting a print.. ! I have most of my gallery there n would love to get this electricity stuff out of my hair.. I have not had a break since January.. have not had time to make personal art.. please.. would love a break
N also. My patreon n tipping jars if you want. I have nearly 200+ exclusive art on patreon. I feel the last three art I posted there was especially good. It's not posted anywhere else....!!!
N for anyone with disposable income. Everything will go to the electricity bill. Anything extra goes to insulin, rosuvastatin and anti seizure meds on g-d.
Took me until about halfway through college before I realized “study” means “play with the material in a variety of ways until you understand it” and not just “read the assigned chapters and do the homework” and I think that probably should have been discussed at some point prior to that.
melissa barrera (the actress who got fired from the scream franchise for being pro palestine) has started a fundraiser with unrwa!
