[Caption: picture of Ruth Ellis as an elderly black woman smiling at the camera. She has short white hair and is wearing a light pink jacket over a black shirt with a partially visible white drawing on the center.]
🏳️🌈 Ruth Ellis (1899 - 2000) was the daughter of former slaves. She came out as a lesbian when she was 16-years-old to the complete acceptance of her family. In 1937, Ruth and her longtime partner moved to Detroit from their hometown of Springfield, Illinois for the promise of higher wages. There, she became the first woman in Michigan to run her own printing business. She printed fliers, posters, and stationary in the front room of her home, which also quickly became a hotspot for Black LGBTQ social life. Before long, Ruth was helping those who came around in any way she could, including by paying for college tuitions. After the Stonewall uprising, 70-year-old Ruth began giving speeches in support of gay and lesbian rights all across the country. She remained an activist for the rest of her long life and even spent her 100th birthday leading the San Francisco Dyke March. At the time of her death at 101, she was recognized as the oldest out lesbian in the US. She is the subject of the documentary "Living With Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100" and is the namesake of the Ruth Ellis Center, a shelter for homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth in Detroit.
Tearing your favourite article of clothing and discovering that it’s
irreplaceable because the technique of its manufacture has been lost
Realising you’ve thought of the perfect comeback to someone who’s been dead for three hundred years
Not being able to eat your favourite dish anymore because the source of some critical ingredient has gone extinct
Having strong opinions about sports that are no longer played
Getting a song from the 13th Century stuck in your head and being unable to get it out because you don’t remember how it ends and you’re the only person on Earth who knows it
Having that perfect pun you’ve been waiting forever for a chance to use stop working due to linguistic drift
