A Mid-June update - June 02021
Jun. 16th, 2021 11:36 pmGreetings. Let's begin with the reality that without the platform of the US government to give him eyeballs, it turns out far fewer people care what the previous Administrator has to say.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand gave criticism to a biography of her that she had initially given an interview to based on the original proposal of the book being about several women political leaders. She has also criticized a movie about the Christchurch attacks, claiming it sidelines the real victims in favor of lionizing her. That is certainly a refreshing perspective compared to the many self-aggrandizing politicians in the world that would quite love if they were the subject of positive movies and media attention.
Writing in the Western tradition has focused its efforts significantly on the idea of the protagonist, the one (or ones) for whom the plot waits, and at some point, people start believing reality mirrors fiction. Which, also, since, at least in the States, we get taught a hero-villain form of history as well, leads to a lot of people thinking of themselves as NPCs in someone else's story, because they sure as hell don't have any agency to do anything, big or small, to change the world. Even if reality is much more about intertwined causes and a whole bunch of little things that then create something big. This is definitely a thing that I struggle with, because I got the cultural narrative that I'm supposed to be a protagonist, even though I wasn't born with all of the privileges I would need to actually do that thing, and there's very little space for someone to unpack that idea and find something better. Instead, there's all sorts of places for me to go and complain about the fact that I'm not a protagonist and then get recruited by people who want me to turn that anger against others, the people, they assure me, who are keeping me from my protagonist destiny, instead of giving me the tools to use what advantages I have to get everyone involved against the people who are really holding us all back. Because there aren't a whole lot of shows on that focus on people living from day to day and still accomplishing great and small things against a society that fundamentally doesn't care about them.
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cosmolinguist on the situation of atemporality, not just in the current pandemic-related pause, but in that two, possibly three generations now have been told they have to live by rules that worked for the context of the post-war boomers, in a world that looks nothing like what the Boomers insist is reality. And because the Boomers are flexing their longevity and refusing to give way to anyone until they're sure they've extracted every last bit of wealth, you get both Gen X and Millenials cast adrift without any of the signs of "adulthood" they were told was the key growing up, and Gen Z shoving hard behind them, both eager to change structural problems and expressing a new way of the world that wants to be profoundly more conservative than the two generations in front of them.
In honor of Pride month, a description of a criminal case from less than 100 years ago about the police using their resources to spy on men who gathered together and then were raided and charged with having unacceptable sexual preferences and gender presentations (or the facilitation of such things.) The current situation is still fairly new and fragile, and as people who are paying attention will tell you, still strongly under assault.
Using Pachelbel's Canon and musical instruments to illustrate the experience of gender and its performance. As someone who has played that canon enough to hate it, I appreciate the metaphor involved extremely well. I also really like the idea of gender as a symphony, with each of us playing the instruments that suits us best, even if it wasn't the instrument we were assigned at first. And like any good symphony, it takes some learning to recognize that the other people playing their parts and instruments are doing it right for them, rather than falling back on a default that insists everyone only has one or another parts or instruments. (And this can be really more difficult to achieve consistency on when it's your child who is telling you who they are, as the Blogess points out in that piece.)
( Yet more inside )
Last for tonight - sound and sensible advice given to a man that was ignoring what his partner was saying about his size and technique to focus on whether or not his penis measures up to her past. While there are physical consideration to take into account when it comes to sex, for most people, it's how it gets used, rather than how big or small it is, that's most important. (And even beyond that, it's how you treat your partners with everything else other than a penis that'll often determine whether or not you get to use that penis.)
And a whole bunch of stories that I've been sitting on, meaning to read, and then finally deciding to do so. The Swarm of Giant Gnats I Sent After Kent, My Assistant Manager is all about making sure someone knows they've been cursed for being handsy and inappropriate without incurring the wrath of HR. And finding out the giant gnats make decent roommates.
I'm With Muni, How Can I Help reimagines what support people might be able to receive in a world where the money that had been shoveled into policing instead went to all of the social services teams who could actually help. We Are Not Phoenixes is about providing a spark of joy in the lives of people who may not have much left, while also acknowledging that doing the magic hastens along the reality that soon the magician will be joining those they give happiness to.
Open 27 hours is about finally finding that food you remember from your childhood and realizing that the entire experience was a lot more reality-bending than you initially thought.
Southside Gods is about those who make sure that the elements under their control behave, and those who go to others to help them remember how to fight for their own elements.
Work Ethics is a small flare of resistance against corporatism using technology to make things terrible, where a creative person gets a little help from an AI to make connections that would eventually come to them. Just a little faster. And that makes for some great ad campaigns.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand gave criticism to a biography of her that she had initially given an interview to based on the original proposal of the book being about several women political leaders. She has also criticized a movie about the Christchurch attacks, claiming it sidelines the real victims in favor of lionizing her. That is certainly a refreshing perspective compared to the many self-aggrandizing politicians in the world that would quite love if they were the subject of positive movies and media attention.
Writing in the Western tradition has focused its efforts significantly on the idea of the protagonist, the one (or ones) for whom the plot waits, and at some point, people start believing reality mirrors fiction. Which, also, since, at least in the States, we get taught a hero-villain form of history as well, leads to a lot of people thinking of themselves as NPCs in someone else's story, because they sure as hell don't have any agency to do anything, big or small, to change the world. Even if reality is much more about intertwined causes and a whole bunch of little things that then create something big. This is definitely a thing that I struggle with, because I got the cultural narrative that I'm supposed to be a protagonist, even though I wasn't born with all of the privileges I would need to actually do that thing, and there's very little space for someone to unpack that idea and find something better. Instead, there's all sorts of places for me to go and complain about the fact that I'm not a protagonist and then get recruited by people who want me to turn that anger against others, the people, they assure me, who are keeping me from my protagonist destiny, instead of giving me the tools to use what advantages I have to get everyone involved against the people who are really holding us all back. Because there aren't a whole lot of shows on that focus on people living from day to day and still accomplishing great and small things against a society that fundamentally doesn't care about them.
cosmolinguist on the situation of atemporality, not just in the current pandemic-related pause, but in that two, possibly three generations now have been told they have to live by rules that worked for the context of the post-war boomers, in a world that looks nothing like what the Boomers insist is reality. And because the Boomers are flexing their longevity and refusing to give way to anyone until they're sure they've extracted every last bit of wealth, you get both Gen X and Millenials cast adrift without any of the signs of "adulthood" they were told was the key growing up, and Gen Z shoving hard behind them, both eager to change structural problems and expressing a new way of the world that wants to be profoundly more conservative than the two generations in front of them.In honor of Pride month, a description of a criminal case from less than 100 years ago about the police using their resources to spy on men who gathered together and then were raided and charged with having unacceptable sexual preferences and gender presentations (or the facilitation of such things.) The current situation is still fairly new and fragile, and as people who are paying attention will tell you, still strongly under assault.
Using Pachelbel's Canon and musical instruments to illustrate the experience of gender and its performance. As someone who has played that canon enough to hate it, I appreciate the metaphor involved extremely well. I also really like the idea of gender as a symphony, with each of us playing the instruments that suits us best, even if it wasn't the instrument we were assigned at first. And like any good symphony, it takes some learning to recognize that the other people playing their parts and instruments are doing it right for them, rather than falling back on a default that insists everyone only has one or another parts or instruments. (And this can be really more difficult to achieve consistency on when it's your child who is telling you who they are, as the Blogess points out in that piece.)
( Yet more inside )
Last for tonight - sound and sensible advice given to a man that was ignoring what his partner was saying about his size and technique to focus on whether or not his penis measures up to her past. While there are physical consideration to take into account when it comes to sex, for most people, it's how it gets used, rather than how big or small it is, that's most important. (And even beyond that, it's how you treat your partners with everything else other than a penis that'll often determine whether or not you get to use that penis.)
And a whole bunch of stories that I've been sitting on, meaning to read, and then finally deciding to do so. The Swarm of Giant Gnats I Sent After Kent, My Assistant Manager is all about making sure someone knows they've been cursed for being handsy and inappropriate without incurring the wrath of HR. And finding out the giant gnats make decent roommates.
I'm With Muni, How Can I Help reimagines what support people might be able to receive in a world where the money that had been shoveled into policing instead went to all of the social services teams who could actually help. We Are Not Phoenixes is about providing a spark of joy in the lives of people who may not have much left, while also acknowledging that doing the magic hastens along the reality that soon the magician will be joining those they give happiness to.
Open 27 hours is about finally finding that food you remember from your childhood and realizing that the entire experience was a lot more reality-bending than you initially thought.
Southside Gods is about those who make sure that the elements under their control behave, and those who go to others to help them remember how to fight for their own elements.
Work Ethics is a small flare of resistance against corporatism using technology to make things terrible, where a creative person gets a little help from an AI to make connections that would eventually come to them. Just a little faster. And that makes for some great ad campaigns.
