Darlene Mackenzie

Music Luvvah

[Darlene Mackenzie @alanisized]

Pretty sure I'll never forget this sensational night as long as I live! https://t.co/522YNXQPmd @YouTube @RobertPlant @SherylCrow

[Why you should have a cat @ShouldHaveCat]

bro is in heaven

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

Every morning, he’s there. Silent. He doesn’t meow, he doesn’t scratch at the door. He simply places his paw gently against the glass, as if to say, “I’m still here…”
At first, I thought he belonged to someone in the neighborhood—that he’d wander off after a few minutes. But day after day, he kept coming back. Always to the same spot. Always with the same look in his eyes, full of waiting and hope. So I started asking the neighbors.
That’s when I learned the truth. A family used to live in the house on the corner. They moved out a few weeks ago.
And they didn’t take him with them.
They left him behind.
Since then, he’s returned, tirelessly. He waits. Maybe he still believes they’ll come back. Maybe he’s hoping to see a familiar face, to hear a soft voice, to feel a gentle hand stroke his head again. But all he finds is a cold window and heavy silence.
So today, I opened the door.
Because animals don’t forget. Their memories are built from scents, from gestures, from deep bonds. But they also have this incredible ability to forgive—to learn to trust again—if they’re met with a kind hand.
I let him in. And he gently rested his head against my leg, as if he understood his waiting was over.
He won’t have to sit outside in the rain anymore, staring through a window hoping for the impossible.
From now on, this is his home.
Because sometimes, all it takes is one person to change a life. One simple act to heal a broken heart.
And I’m grateful I could be that person for him.
Welcome home, little one. You’ll never have to wait again.

Credit: Julia James

[Darlene Mackenzie @alanisized]

https://t.co/Dk1sW5eij6

[Cole & Marmalade @ColeTheBlackCat]

Today is all about recognizing the beauty and charm of black cats while debunking the myths that often surround them… SHARE your mini panthers! 🖤🐈‍⬛

#NationalBlackCatDay #BlackCatsRock #BlackCats

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

"Can you not at least put a sane woman among us?"
The words came from a terrified patient inside the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. She was begging the doctors, the nurses, anyone who would listen.
She was talking about the new patient. The one who seemed too calm. Too aware. Too sane.
That patient was Nellie Bly. And she was exactly where she wanted to be.
In 1887, New York City's asylums were shrouded in mystery. Rumors swirled about horrific conditions, abuse, and women disappearing behind locked doors, never to be seen again.
But they were just rumors. No proof. No witnesses willing to speak. No way to know the truth.
Nellie Bly, a 23-year-old journalist for the New York World, decided to find out for herself.
Her editor, Joseph Pulitzer, supported her plan: get yourself committed to the asylum, document everything, and expose the truth.
It was dangerous. It was unprecedented. If something went wrong, Nellie could be trapped there indefinitely—declared insane with no way out.
She did it anyway.
Nellie checked into a women's boarding house and began acting erratically. She stayed up all night, spoke incoherently, stared at nothing, and claimed not to know who she was.
The landlady called the police. A judge declared her insane. And on September 25, 1887, Nellie Bly was committed to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.
The moment she arrived, Nellie dropped the act. She behaved completely normally. She spoke clearly. She answered questions rationally.
It didn't matter.
Once you were inside, you were insane. No amount of sanity would set you free.
What Nellie discovered inside was worse than anyone imagined.
The asylum held over 1,600 women. Many of them weren't mentally ill at all.
They were poor. They were immigrants who didn't speak English. They were women whose husbands wanted to be rid of them. They were girls who'd been raped and were considered "damaged." They were inconvenient, unwanted, and discarded.
And once inside, they were tortured.
The "treatment" was barbaric. Patients were forced to sit in freezing cold baths for hours—punishment disguised as therapy. The food was rotten, inedible. Rats roamed freely. The halls were filthy.
Nurses beat patients with sticks. They tied women to chairs and left them for days. They mocked them, starved them, and ignored their pleas for help.
Nellie watched women scream for help and be silenced with violence. She saw patients beg for warm clothing and be denied. She witnessed daily cruelty designed not to heal, but to break.
And she wrote it all down. In her mind. Memorizing every detail.
For ten days, Nellie endured the same treatment as everyone else. She froze in the baths. She choked down spoiled food. She slept on a hard bench in a freezing room with no blankets.
She didn't complain. She didn't fight back. She documented.
On October 4, 1887, after ten days inside, an attorney hired by her newspaper secured her release.
She walked out of Blackwell's Island and immediately began writing.
On October 9, 1887, the New York World published "Ten Days in a Mad-House"—Nellie Bly's firsthand account of life inside the asylum.
The article was explosive.
Nellie described everything in vivid, horrifying detail. The cold baths. The rotten food. The rats. The beatings. The women who didn't belong there.
She wrote about a woman who spoke only German and was declared insane because doctors couldn't understand her. She wrote about girls as young as sixteen locked away for being "difficult." She wrote about women who begged to be released and were told they'd never leave.
The public was horrified. Outraged. Demanding answers.
A grand jury was convened to investigate. They toured Blackwell's Island. They interviewed patients and staff.
They confirmed everything Nellie had written.
The city of New York immediately allocated an additional $1 million to the Department of Public Charities and Corrections to reform asylum conditions. Staff were retrained. Oversight increased. Patients gained new rights and protections.
Some of the women Nellie had met were released. Others received proper care for the first time.
"Ten Days in a Mad-House" became a sensation. It was published as a book. It was read across the country. It sparked a national conversation about mental health, women's rights, and institutional abuse.
Nellie Bly became famous overnight.
But she didn't stop.
In 1889, at 25 years old, Nellie set out to break the fictional record set in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. She traveled around the globe in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes—by steamship, train, and sheer determination.
She became an international celebrity.
But it was "Ten Days in a Mad-House" that cemented her legacy as the mother of investigative journalism.
Nellie Bly proved that journalism wasn't just about reporting what happened. It was about uncovering what was hidden. It was about giving voice to the voiceless. It was about risking everything to tell the truth.
Before Nellie, undercover journalism didn't exist. She invented it.
After Nellie, investigative reporters followed her lead—going undercover in factories, prisons, sweatshops, and more to expose injustice.
Nellie Bly died in 1922 at the age of 57. By then, she had revolutionized journalism, traveled the world, and advocated for women's rights and workers' protections.
But her asylum exposé remains her most enduring achievement.
Because of Nellie, over 1,600 women were seen. Their suffering was acknowledged. The system that imprisoned them was forced to change.
Because of Nellie, mental health reform began in America.
Because of Nellie, journalists learned that sometimes the most important stories require more than a notebook—they require courage.
Nellie Bly didn't just write about injustice. She lived it. She endured it. And then she made damn sure the world knew.
She was 23 years old.
She faked insanity to get locked in an asylum.
For 10 days, she endured freezing baths, rotten food, and beatings.
She did it to expose the truth about 1,600 women who'd been abandoned by society.
Her story changed mental health care in America.
Her courage invented investigative journalism.
Her name was Nellie Bly.
And she proved that one person, willing to risk everything, can change the world.

[lets heal and recover @recovery_your]

Dear algorithm,

Help me find kind caring people who are full of compassion and empathy.
Who don’t judge who would sit with you in the darkness.
Who understand mental health illness issues.
Help me find my people.

[Cats and Kittens @catsnkittys]

Maru, the internet’s beloved box-loving cat, has died aged 18 after a short illness, his owners announced earlier this week 🙏 😿
Maru rose to fame in 2008 when clips of him diving into cardboard boxes went viral. In 2016 he won the Guinness World Record for “most views for an animal on YouTube,” with more than 325 million views.
RIP Maru ❤️ 24 May 2007 - 6 September 2025

[I AM Canadian 🇨🇦 @honouringgord]

Fully, completely, missed. 💙🎩🍁 
~ Eight years ago today we lost our beloved Tragically HIP frontman, Gord Downie. Gord was a one-of-a-kind human, a talented singer-songwriter, musician, writer, poet, and activist who is missed beyond measure. ❤️

[lets heal and recover @recovery_your]

Depression is,nt just sadness.
It’s hating yourself.
Having no motivation to do ANYTHING .
Never being able to sleep.
Struggling to get out of bed.
Knowing you have stuff to do, But can’t do it.
Ignoring hunger.
Forgetting about self care.
Depression isn’t always sadness.

[We don't deserve cats 😺 @catsareblessing]

Since my friend came over with her dog I haven't seen my cat anywhere, then I noticed this

[Posts Of Cats @PostsOfCats]

The eye contact is insane 😈

[We don't deserve cats 😺 @catsareblessing]

I was looking for my other cat everywhere, then I saw this...

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

When you are forced to be in the family picture.

[Antidepressant Content @depressionlesss]

"Fine, go work. If you need me I'll be in my
cup" 😹😹

[We don't deserve cats 😺 @catsareblessing]

Cat copies dog in order to get owners attention

[Nate Postlethwait @nate_postlethwt]

Not a damn soul has ever healed from being traumatized by thinking more positive.

[Darlene Mackenzie @alanisized]

@recovery_your ❤

[Alanis Morissette @Alanis]

30 years. so happy i can stand by everything that was written then. thank you thank you for coming along with me. 51 years of ongoing capturings. here is to at least 51 more. i love you ❤️❤️❤️❤️🥹

[Alanis Morissette @Alanis]

'jagged little pill' is 30 years old!  🤩😍🥰 to celebrate there are new shirts, a signed record player, a commemorative postcard that’s free with a purchase from the collection, and more available in the webstore now 💓💓 https://t.co/v2hDWmMDBc