The 2013 TIME 100 was released a week ago. I’m always suspicious of lists. Often, they are nothing more than self promotion and mutual masturba back scratching. But I think Time Magazine got it right on at least three of it’s picks.

Rebecca Smeyne / Corbis

John Legend writes of Frank Ocean as a respected colleague and close friend. “Frank is brilliant,” he writes. “The day I started writing with him, it was clear that he has a very interesting mind and a distinctive way of expressing himself. He was fearless and innately creative. You talk to some people in this business and you get the sense that they’re very focused on radio: what will be a hit or won’t be a hit. You never get that from Frank. The focus is on creating something that’s beautiful, that’s great art.

Illustration by David Despau for TIME

Maya Angelou wrote one of the most beautiful pieces on a First Lady I have ever read. Of Michelle Obama, she writes, “Modesty is a learned affectation. It’s just like decals. As soon as the world shakes the modest person against the wall, that modesty will drop off them. But humility comes from inside out. It says someone was here before me; I have already been paid for. All I have to do is prepare myself to pay for someone else who is yet to come. And that’s exactly what Mrs. Obama’s doing with the fight against obesity. She considers all children her responsibility: black or white, pretty or plain, all the children.The philosophers tell us that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Mrs. Obama is as if it doesn’t touch her. She hasn’t tried to become anybody else’s idea of the First Lady. She has remained herself, with her grace, her gentleness and her sense of humor. That she would dare to wear clothes off the rack. Or go out and garden. Or have a grandmother in the White House. She knows how to be a public creature without being separate from her family.” Beautiful words for a beautiful First Lady.

But my favorite by far is what Chelsea Clinton wrote of 15 year old accidental activist, Malala Yousafzai  

Mark Seliger for TIME

“People whose courage has been met by violence populate history. Few, though, are as young as Malala was when, at 15, a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus in northwestern Pakistan and shot her and two other girls, attempting to both kill Malala and, as the Taliban later said, teach a “lesson” to anyone who had the courage to stand up for education, freedom and self-determination, particularly for girls and women. Or as young as 11, when Malala began blogging for the BBC’s Urdu site, writing about her ambition to become a doctor, her fears of the Taliban and her determination to not allow the Taliban — or her fear — to prevent her from getting the education she needed to realize her dreams.Malala is now where she wants to be: back in school. The Taliban almost made Malala a martyr; they succeeded in making her a symbol. The memoir she is writing to raise awareness about the 61 million children around the world who are not in school indicates she accepts that unasked-for responsibility as a synonym for courage and a champion for girls everywhere. However Malala concludes her book, her story so far is only just beginning.”

This post originally appeared on adignorantium.wordpress.com

advocatephotos:

The Stigma Project completed it’s Winter 2013 campaign, titled Know HIV this week. The colorful array of educational graphics were shared daily for the last month on the organization’s Facebook page, as well as a number of other social media outlets. The intent is to provide easy to digest memes that would hopefully teach the public something they may not have known about HIV/AIDS, then share with their friends to educate them. Each graphic proclaims the clever slogan “KNOW HIV = NO HIV” in the caption field.

In a day when HIV is a manageable disease, the stigma associated with the virus has become a catalyst for new infections. Fear, apathy, ignorance, and lack of education cause people to not get tested, and in turn pass the virus onto others much more easily due to a high viral load (see the letter V) while putting their own health at risk.

After the jump, we present  a preview of the campaign with the letters A-F. You can see the entire alphabet (and yes there’s even an X,Y, and Z) at www.thestigmaproject.org or on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thestigmaproject.

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Conservatives say they don’t want Tax Dollars to pay for Safety Nets for the poor; Specifically, Food Stamps, Child Care, WIC, and Welfare

Conservatives also don’t want Tax Dollar funded Contraception; Specifically, Women’s Contraception.

Using the Conservative model of thinking, where everything is reduced to Dollars and Cents, their logic is flawed. Doesn’t it make fiscal sense to pay for contraception? Contraception is cheap, compared to eighteen plus years of food, clothing, housing and healthcare for mother and child.

Education would be cheaper still, but conservatives don’t like to admit that sex exists. For centuries there has been this failed battle to force morality on the populace.    Even at the height of the AIDS crisis, when people were dying at an alarming rate, conservatives pushed ‘Abstinence-Only’ education. In the face of a deadly disease, Conservatives refuse to consider Sex Education and the proper use of Condoms.

Here’s the thing…

• If you’re not going to pay for contraception, you’ll have to pay for child care.
• If you refuse to teach reality, you will have to pay for healthcare.

It’s a matter of National Security. When poverty and disease spread, the economy and health of the country fails.

The origins of the once popular ‘Hide and Seek’ phrase. …and No, it wasn’t an Amber Alert for Escaped Oxen…

• “…In the case of “Ollie ollie oxen free” and its many variants, we have a mutated form of the original “all clear” signal. This was probably something like “All’s out come in free” or “All ye out come in free,” meaning that anyone still hiding (“out”) can now come back into the group without fear (“free”) of being tagged “It.” Since the game “Hide and Seek” itself is at least four centuries old, there’s been plenty of time for that original phrase to be filtered through small ears clogged with dirt and come out almost unrecognizable…”

Read More about the origin of “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” from The Word Detective… http://www.word-detective.com/2011/07/ollie-ollie-oxen-free/