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#election – @heckyeahponyscans on Tumblr
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Heck Yeah, Pony Scans!

@heckyeahponyscans / heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com

All the ponies, all the time!
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ponyguru

Yesterday was a sad day. I didn’t feel like I could post something blithely happy about my ponies without saying something about the election, so I’ve been musing on what to say.

Before 2016, I ran more of a ‘general fandom’ type blog on Tumblr, which skewed more heavily towards politics and activism as the orange demon began to come into the limelight. Surely, we thought, nobody would be stupid enough to vote for a reality TV star with zero credentials and so many crimes surrounding him. The election seemed like a slam dunk, since everyone had working brains.

While I had to watch people I thought I could trust celebrating the downfall of our country’s (and my) future, I realized I couldn’t carry on any kind of activism blog and keep myself alive. I leaned into 100% pony toy blogging, just to try and keep my sanity. Pony blogging became an escape, a safe place that was focused wholly on cute, comforting nostalgia. Worrying about finding the latest pony release was easier than worrying about Prop 8 removing gay marriage rights, or the overturn of Roe v Wade. Even if politics always managed to edge into my life, girls toys at least were a space where women and LGBTQIA (usually) weren’t on the fringes and marginalized.

Which leads me back to today, staring down another brutal four years in a wannabe orange dictatorship. I don’t want to simplify it with “don’t worry, we’ll all make it through again!” because a lot of us didn’t make it. I’m glad that I am in a blue state that’s working to preserve my rights, but so many others don’t have that luxury, and I’m deeply afraid for them, too. I’m scared, and a lot of us are scared, with good reason to be.

Ponies aren’t a cure all, and escapism isn’t a fix. We need to keep fighting, but you can’t fight 24/7. Many of us are already fighting just to exist in a country that doesn’t feel welcoming right now. So I’m going to keep posting about my ponies, who are comforting to me, and do my best to create a space that feels safe for me to return to, when the rest of the world isn’t. If you want to come hide in Ponyland for a little while with me every day, you’re welcome to.

I hope you all stay safe, and find a place or activity that helps you to stay alive, too. Staying alive is doing enough, in a world that wants you dead. Anything else you can do is just gravy.

I will share useful resources when I find them, usually via Insta stories, and I will keep posting ponies. Ponies bring me comfort, and I hope you can find something that comforts you, too. Stay safe, and remember that there is a better future coming. We just have to make it there. 💖

OH and I forgot to mention, I tried to comfort myself by washing some ponies from the recent doll show, hence the photo! They all cleaned up very nicely, even if Yum Yum still has a frizzball tail, LOL!

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To my fellow Americans, don't forget to vote!

Even if you live in a state where you feel certain what the outcome will be for the Presidential race, there will ALWAYS be more candidates / issues on the ballot and local laws / politicians can have just as much of an influence on your life as national politics!

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Hello again my fellow Americans!

So in our country we have some disingenuous officials first purposely slowing down the mail (by removing automatic letter-sorting machines and selling them for scrapmetal), THEN trying to force into place “late mail-in ballots won’t be counted” rules.  When it is their fault ballots will be late, due to sabotaging the mail!

So, can I ask a favor of you?  Can you pause your online shopping--from Amazon, from eBay, from Etsy, from wherever--until, like, a week after Election Day?  To lessen the bulk of mail so that, hopefully, more mail-in ballots arrive in time?

(We shouldn’t have to take such steps, but here we are.)

I’ve also temporarily ended all my eBay listings, so I won’t be contributing to unnecessary outgoing mail.

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VOTE!!!

Hello my fellow Americans!

Remember to exercise your right to VOTE!

Are you voting by mail this year?  The post office is slower than it used to be!  So drop-off your ballot in a secure ballot box if possible.  

Otherwise, mail your ballot ASAP!  You want to make sure it arrives in time to get counted!  Be sure to check if it needs a stamp--this varies by state.

Voting in person?  Yeah!  Do it!  Bring along snacks (and your mask) and entertainment in case of a line. (Good thing the Nintendo Switch is portable!)

Confused on where / how to vote in your state?  Check this website!

And remember . . . if voting didn’t matter, there wouldn’t be people fighting so hard to suppress it.

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VOTE

The right to vote is so important; it makes me cringe when I hear people say “I never vote” or “I don’t bother to vote.” 

If you have enough time to follow a sports team or an anime, if you have the intellectual capacity to remember the name of all the TAF ponies or list off all of the Mane 6′s pets, then you need to take a fraction of that passion, intellect, and time, read up on the issues, and vote. :)

If you live in a state that is strongly blue or strongly red, you may feel that your vote doesn’t matter.  “The electoral votes will go to So-and-So no matter what I do.”  BUT YOUR VOTE DOES MATTER.  Blue states can turn red, red states can turn blue.

Besides, the presidential candidates are NOT the only thing on the ballot!!  Your state senators and representatives, your local laws, and yes even the boring jobs like “State Treasurer” and the unending list of judges will all have an impact on your state . . . your city . . . your neighbors . . . your life.

Let’s all get out there and vote.  It’s a civic duty, but also a civic privilege.  :)

BTW this is the image I found when I searched for “Fluttershy voting”, so this is what you get.  Go make . . . Fluttershy girl?? . . . proud.  ;)

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I don’t usually post political stuff on this blog, but I want to take a moment to talk about mail-in ballots, how awesome they are, and how lucky I am to have them in my state.

I live in Washington State. We ONLY have mail-in ballots.  No physical polling places. Our ballots are mailed to us a couple weeks before election day, we fill them in, and we mail them back (or put them in dropboxes sprinkled around the cities/towns).

  • Mail-in ballots mean rural people don’t have to drive a million miles to vote.
  • Mail-in ballots mean urban people don’t have to stand in line a thousand years to vote.
  • Mail-in ballots mean you don’t have to worry about crazy people harassing you at / just outside the polling place.
  • Mail-in ballots mean that people who work long shifts, or who work the graveyard shift, or who don’t have cars, or whose health problems make it hard to get around, get a chance to vote.
  • Mail-in ballots are physical, so they can’t be hacked.
  • Mail-in ballots can be physically counted if a recount is necessary.
  • Mail-in ballots are much cheaper than physical polling places.

Does this sound like a good deal to you?  It seems like a good deal to me!  I remember when Washington State still had physical polling places, and they were a pain in the patootie. Especially if you forgot to bring along a list of all the judges you intended to vote for.  (Other people have this problem, right?  The judges are always people you’ve never heard of, and you have to dig through the voter’s guide and newspaper articles to figure out what the heck they stand for.)

If you like the idea of mail-in ballots, contact your state’s elected officials and let them know.  Washington State got them due to our initiative system (where an issue gets a vote if a citizen gathers enough signatures for it), so if you live in a state with a similar initiative system that is a good way to go.

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