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Time Passes

15 100-year-old photos that prove beauty is timeless.

15 100-year-old photos that prove beauty is timeless.

A vintage post-card collector on Flickr who goes by the username Post Man has kindly allowed us to share his wonderful collection of vintage postcards and erotica from the turn of the century. This album is full of exquisite photographs from around the world of a variety of people dressed in beautiful clothing in exotic settings. In an era well before the internet, these photographs would be one of the only ways you could could see how people in other countries looked and dressed.

Take a look at PostMan's gallery of over 90 vintage postcards on Flickr.


Vintage erotica c. 1920

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

Japanese woman c. 1913

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden an American stage actress c. 1895

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Cambodian girl c. 1906

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Vintage erotica  c. 1913

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Beduinin woman c. 1919

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Japanese woman c. 1920

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Gypsy girl with Mandolin c. 1911

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Luzon Woman c. 1909

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Nepalese lady c. 1905

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Vietnamese woman c. 1908

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Vintage erotica  c.1919

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Actress Anna May Wong  c. 1927

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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English actress Lily Elsie c. 1909

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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Two women from Bou-Saâda c. 1911

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man

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All images used with UN Foundation's permission

Equality is a birthright that belongs to everyone.

True

Equality is a birthright that belongs to everyone. But for girls and women around the world, equality isn’t yet their reality.

Despite the persistence of gender inequality in our societies today, tireless changemakers are fighting to end gender discrimination everywhere so that women’s voices can be heard in all spaces—champions who not only dream of a better tomorrow, but understand the actions needed to make it possible. UN Foundation aims to amplify the stories of those advocates with its fourth annual #EqualEverywhere campaign.

The yearlong campaign, which peaks on International Women’s Day, elevates inspiring stories of gender equality champions from around the world in an online series and on UN Foundation’s digital platforms—from those advocating for more health care access, to transgender rights, to better STEM opportunities, and many, many more. No matter what singular topic these leaders focus on, the message remains the same—girls and women have a right to be equal everywhere.

Here are just a few of those #EqualEverywhere champions working to achieve equality for all girls and all women, wherever they are.

Pelumi Obisesan: supporting women survivors of Boko Haram in Nigeria

While living in northwest Nigeria from 2014-2015, Pelumi Obisesan witnessed firsthand how women in the country are treated as people who wield no political or social power. This lack of agency that women experience was only exacerbated during violent conflicts like the Boko Haram-led insurgency, and their debilitating aftermath. Despite the grave injustices that women suffered as a result—having their sons go missing, being abducted from their own homes and subjected to violence—their experiences, needs, and perspectives were (and are) often relegated to the background in post-conflict efforts. Through personal interviews, Pelumi’s doctoral research has helped their perspectives and experiences play an important role in how policymakers in the Nigerian government move forward in their peace building process, by taking both genders into account. In addition, she is the co-founder of Social Good Lagos, a network dedicated to harnessing the power of new media and technology to make the world a better place.

Saro Imran: fighting for transgender rights in Pakistan

At only 15 years old, Saro Imran was attacked for being transgender in her home country of Pakistan. Since then, she’s been an outspoken defender of transgender rights and justice, speaking with people across the globe about what sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice means for transgender individuals like herself through the Universal Access Project. Her efforts have helped make huge strides, as with the passing of Pakistan’s landmark Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, which safeguards the access transgender people have to education, employment, and voting rights, in addition to protecting them from having to undergo nonconsensual clinical assessments of their bodies to determine gender identity. However, Saro notes that “cyber-harassment of transgender people in Pakistan is on the rise.” By organizing local workshops focused on financial education, Saro hopes to give transgender people more independence, and ultimately, the freedom to fully embrace who they are.

Andrea Wollitz: advocating for access to health care for all

As a domestic violence survivor and a mother to a 14-year-old girl, Andrea Wollitz is both motivated by the past and the future in her efforts to advance gender equality and equal access to health care. When volunteering at SafeSpace, a hotline and shelter for survivors of gender-based violence, Andrea helps empower other women who have been through a situation similar to hers, listening to their stories and providing potential resources that might help. And while pursuing a degree in nursing, she became involved with Shot@Life to help more women get access to vaccinations. Mothers typically handle the vast majority of child care without pay, making it especially challenging if they or their children get sick. That’s why having access to vaccinations “gives all of them the ability to reach their full potential,” Andrea says. She’s also involved in other projects related to improving gender equality in health care, including organizing feminine hygiene supply drives to address period poverty and collecting clothing for survivors of sexual assault, whose clothing is often retained as evidence following examination at the hospital.

Whitney Mwangi: helping girls across Africa own their story

Knowing that everyone has a unique story to share, Whitney Mwangi teaches girls and young women across Africa to express themselves through writing. Her platform, The Story Book, is a fun, safe space where young people can find their voice, gain more confidence and learn from others through storytelling. Whitney often saw women (especially young women) sidelined. She even experienced it herself on more than one occasion. Now she takes every chance she can get to offer mentorship and encouragement so that women can live up to their full potential.

Whitney is equally passionate about ending infectious diseases across Africa, especially the three deadliest diseases: AIDS, TB, and malaria. Malaria in particular is a threat to Africa’s younger generations, both for their health and their education, as it prevents them from being able to go to school. By working with global campaigns like United to Beat Malaria, Whitney helps ensure that the voices of young African girls and women are fully accounted for and represented in the global fight to end malaria for good.

Isabel Liu: championing STEM for Girls

17-year-old Taiwanese American Isabel Liu is reimagining what’s possible for the next generation of computer scientists. As a Teen Advisor for Girl Up and a Community Ambassador for the free coding camp Kode with Klossy, Isabel became moved by the glaring gender disparity in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The underrepresentation, she notes, is “consequence and a curse” that leaves women “more likely to be excluded, manipulated, and powerless.” So now she graces stages to share her own stories, and those she’s gathered from others, whether that’s in the form of spoken-word poetry, emceeing, or interviews. Often surrounded by men, Isabel introduces ideas that put female and genderqueer youth at the forefront of social change.

Lady Tee Thompson: creating opportunities for women to grow

Lady Tee Thompson's experiences as a disabled, marginalized, and minority female entrepreneur have shaped and inspired her lifelong efforts to ensure women of all backgrounds have access to education and opportunity. Back in 1989, Lady Tee spoke to the Board of Education as a young student to keep open Highland Park Community College, Michigan’s only Historical Black College at the time, where women made up a majority of the student body. Her efforts kept the school open for several more years, helping more women and marginalized students change their lives. Lady Tee has since shifted from local to global advocacy with a focus on supporting women entrepreneurs around the world. In 2015, after speaking at a women’s empowerment conference in West Africa, where she learned that female farmers were denied training and land rights to scale up their business, she launched a training firm called AgroBiz.org. Their U.S. Study Tours offer a variety of learning opportunities, everything from special farming practices to entrepreneurship. To date, AgroBiz has mentored over 50,000 girls and women across the U.S. and 14 other countries.

In addition, Lady Tee acts as co-Chair of the Women’s Affinity Group for The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA).

UN Foundation’s #EqualEverywhere campaign makes it easy to support these champions and spread their message. Take a stand for women and girls everywhere by posting their stories to social media using #EqualEverywhere and take the pledge at equaleverywhere.org.

via NASA

Back in the late '80s, NASA was looking for ways to detoxify the air in its space stations. So it conducted a study to determine the most effective plants for filtering the air of toxic agents and converting carbon dioxide to oxygen.

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Family

This daddy-daughter hair-braiding class is heart-explodingly adorable.

My kid's hair kind of intimidated me. Until I learned from this guy.

Image via YouTube video.

Dad gets the high-five for being a Dad, and it's great.

Philippe Morgese is a single dad with a daughter named Emma. She, like many children, happens to have hair.

Like most parents, Morgese is really hoping to do his part to make sure Emma becomes a fully-functioning and responsible member of society. He wants to make sure she grows up confident and well-adjusted. He also wants her to have a good male role model in her life. Ya know, like most of us dads do.

And he wants to make sure her hair looks nice. He didn't have any people in his life who knew how to braid hair, so he taught himself.

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Health

Interesting video explains why people looked a lot older in the past than they do today

Were people unhealthy? Did they spend too much time in the sun?

Norm was only in his 30s?

Ever look at your parents' high school yearbooks and think people looked so much older back then? All of the teenagers look like they’re in their mid-30s and the teachers who are 50 look like they’re 80.

When we watch older movies, even those from the 1980s, the teenagers appear to be a lot older as well.

Why is it that they looked so much older? Was life harder? Did people act more mature? Did they spend more time outdoors and less time playing video games? Is it their sense of fashion? Were they all smokers?

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Image pulled from Youtube video.

Heading to the dentist brings with a big smile.

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What Dads Do

Parenting can be a little stressful. There's no checklist for how to do it perfectly.

As the father of two young daughters, Doyin Richards has a lot of experience in that department. Like most parents, he hopes he's doing it right. And like most parents, he has a little voice in his head that sometimes makes him second-guess his choices.

What if he's doing it wrong?

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Joy

Check out a human library, where you borrow people instead of books.

A surely unforgettable experience reaching all corners of the world.

Image via Pixabay.

Libraries no longer store only books.

There are libraries popping up around the world where you can see the books breathe.

You can watch the books blink, cry, laugh, and think. You can ask them any sort of question and get a real answer.

It's what the books hope you'll do.

At the Human Library, the books are people!

It's set up just like a normal library: You check out a "book" on a certain topic and have an allotted amount of time with it. Only at the Human Library, the book is, well, a human.

People who volunteer to become "books" make their experiences open and available, usually on issues that people tend to have a difficult time discussing. "Readers" are encouraged to ask questions freely, and they'll get honest answers in return. It's brilliant.

What kind of books can you borrow there?

1. Borrow a person with autism.

With 1 in 68 kids diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) today, there's no better way to learn about it than by interacting with someone who has it.

2. Borrow someone who has modified their appearance.

Ever make assumptions about people with lots of piercings and tattoos? Here's an opportunity to stop judging a book by its cover and get to know the inside.

3. Borrow a refugee and hear their story.

You've heard about the Syrian refugee crisis in the news. Why not put the media on hold and talk to an actual refugee?

4. Borrow someone who is transgender.

Perhaps you've always had questions about being transgender but didn't know how to ask them. Go ahead. Get your questions ready.

5. Borrow a homeless person.

What stories do they have of a life you may never know?

6. Borrow someone with deaf-blindness.

Just because they communicate differently doesn't mean their stories are less.

7. Borrow someone who is obese.

Society loves to put people in categories. Break through those boundaries to get a fuller picture.

You can borrow a police officer. A veteran with PTSD. A single mom. A Muslim. Someone in a polyamorous relationship. A former gang member. A sex worker. A welfare recipient. A teacher. The list goes on.

The libraries are bringing people who would otherwise never interact together in a way that many communities long for.

That's what Ronni Abergel has sought to do since the library's launch in 2000. During a four-day test run at the Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen, organizers and festival attendees were stunned at the event's impact.

"The policeman sitting there speaking with the graffiti writer. The politician in discussions with the youth activist and the football fan in a deep chat with the feminist. It was a win-win situation and has been ever since," Ronni said on the Human Library's site.

A no-judgment zone is one key to its impact.

"It's meant to be a safe space to ask difficult questions and not to be judged," he told Upworthy. "To try and gain an important insight into the life of someone you think you know something about, but..."

You don't.

In our quick-to-judge, increasingly polarized world, it's no wonder these events are growing in size. We need them.

When asked what has changed since these events started, Ronni responded, “The world has changed, for the worse.”

He points to there being less tolerance, less understanding, and less social cohesion than when he first had the idea back in 2000. And unfortunately, he's right.

When we have states discriminating against transgender people using the bathroom, presidential candidates campaigning to ban an entire religion from entering the United States, and countries still facing stigma around Ebola, it can be hard to want to high-five humanity.

There's so much to learn about one another. A group of readers here borrowed a nudist.

It's time to face our fears and confront our stereotypes. To embrace the diversity of this world will allow us to feel more secure in it.

"When you meet our books, no matter who you are and where you are from or which book you will be reading, in the end, inside every person, the result will say: we are different from each other, we see things differently and we live life differently. But there are more things that we have in common than are keeping us apart." Truth.

If there's one immediately impactful way to bring communities together, a Human Library might just be it.

Learn more about it in the YouTube video below:

This article originally appeared on 02.18.16

Image created from Pixabay.

Stan Lee entertained us for most of his life and he stuck with us until he was 95.

Stan Lee will almost certainly go down as the most influential figure in comic book history.

With his passing, people are celebrating his long and illustrious life. A World War II veteran, comic innovator and someone who truly pushed the needle forward on social progress, here are some of the legendary quotes and deep thoughts that helped define his life:

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