5 things make a post

[capri0mni]

1) A recent dream I had:

There was a giant whiteboard in a public square, where people could add their personal messages. And someone before me had written, in great big letters, high up on the board and centered: "Some Black People Spaces are Dirty." -- clearly racist intent, but with just enough deniability to get away with: "I didn't say all black people are dirty!"

I wanted to write a counter message, but, being in a wheelchair, I could only reach one corner of the whiteboard near the bottom, so whatever I wrote would barely be noticed.

So I flagged down a tall, able-bodied Black man to write the following message for me, high up, centered, and large enough to counter the previous message:

"Some White People Spaces are filthy." (knowing, in my head, that thanks to White privilege, "some white people" would in fact, be read as some).

And he was happy to do it.

...But when I went back, my message had been erased. And the Whiteboard had turned into a blackboard -- with white chalk to write with, instead of black marker.

2) There's much talk, in recent news (at least, on NPR), of how the political upheaval in France, South Korea, Germany, and Syria, are all connected in a web of general Global Populism. What I've not heard much about is how the murder of the United Healthcare C.E.O. is also part of this great wave. Sure, he wasn't Technically part of a national government, but considering how much power corporate conglomerates have over the daily lives of U.S. citizens, he may as well have been.

3) On a happier note (unintended pun), this video was in my recommendations, this morning:

Watch on YouTube

White the sheep that gave the wool
Green the pastures where they fed
Blue and scarlet side by side
Bless the warp and bless the thread

May the charm of lasting life
Be upon your flocks in full
From the hill where they rest
May they rise both whole and well

Bless the man who wears this cloth
May he wounded never be
From the bitter cold and frost
May this cloth protection be

Bless the children warmed within
Three times three our love enfold
Peace and plenty may they find
May they grow both wise and bold

Now is waulked* the web we've spun
Winter storms may rage in vain
Bless the work by which we won
Comfort from the wind and rain

White the sheep that gave the wool
Green the pastures where they fed
Blue and scarlet side by side
Bless the warp and bless the thread


*A process of pounding and squeezing soaked, freshly woven, wool cloth so that it shrinks on purpose, and becomes denser and waterproof

4) Speaking of spinning yarns, I recently watched another video (It's (still) okay to lie to your kids about Santa) about studies that show, at a certain age, children learn to look for evidence to back up the stories their parents (and their societies) tell them. But they're less likely to learn that skill if they are protected from untruths at all costs. And that got me thinking two things:

• So never letting your kids be exposed to fictional stories has a similar negative effect on their intellectual health as never letting your kids be exposed to dirt has on their physical health (they can't build up a healthy resistance to 'infection')?
  
• So (in general) at what age do kids learn the distinction between manipulative lies and playful stories?

5) Subtle sign of my culture's amatonormativity: Recently had cause to call for a heating tech to come figure out why my heater wasn't responding to the thermostat (It turns out, someone had flipped the emergency switch that shuts off the heater, and I'd forgotten that switch existed; it's around a corner that's hard to get to in my chair), and I called the company whose name is on my thermostat cover. When I gave the address to the receptionist, she asked if I were Mrs. Ann [Last Name]; I (while sighing internally at the assumption that all adults of a certain age must be married) answered: "Not 'Mrs.,' but yes."

Comments

[spiralsheep]

1) "the Whiteboard had turned into a blackboard -- with white chalk to write with, instead of black marker"

Who is marked and who gets to "make their mark" indeed (and colour-coded spaces too). Interesting where your brain was going with this. Complicated but meaningful in a pointed way. Very you, I think. :-)

2) Am I allowed to express how much I hope his life insurance refuses to pay out on a technicality?

3) I used to know a very repetitive Breton lullably about shearing, washing, carding, spinning, weaving, etc that we might have discussed before.

4) I like the idea of fiction as a teaching tool for discernment beyond the "moral of this story" and into more subtle frameworks (and metafictions).

"So (in general) at what age do kids learn the distinction between manipulative lies and playful stories?"

Never, because there isn't a clear boundary, and humans are tricksy.

5) I'm Ms in all circumstances and always have been. I notice when an official piece of paper chooses to "Mrs" me - it's unlikely to be a computer error that changes stored data.

(We are having weather. I want a bath but I don't want to be plunged into darkness when I'm wet. Please excuse me if you reply and I'm offline for a while.)

[capri0mni]

1) Even my in-dream-persona saw that and thought:"Huh! Well, will you look at that -- how ~Ironic~!" (reminds me of Ian Dury's lyric from Spasticus Autisticus: "You can read my body, but you'll never read my books!"

2) I saw one comment on Tumblr that said "Sorry, that shot was not authorized. And it was out of Network."

4) Have you seen the movie Galaxy Quest? The whole plot hinges on that question. Also: I don't think there's a clear boundary between anything in this universe (even between what is and is not the Universe)).

5) Being raised Quaker(-ish), I've never used an honorific prefix to my name of any sort. And it always rubs me the wrong way when forms insist that I give them one. Forgive you? Always. Enjoy your bath when you have it.

[spiralsheep]

1) Ian Dury is Mr Quotable.

2) Lol.

5) Necessary paperwork over here requires a status before the first name and, annoyingly, sometimes also a middle name that I don't have (should just've made one up when I was a teenager - how about Ms spiral Trespasser sheep? I suppose I'd be more likely to get away with Trespassa but then I'd keep being asked which country it originated from...).

No power cut here but there are 350 households without power on the network next to ours so we were lucky. I hope something good happens for you today. :-)

[capri0mni]

5) If that field were ever free choice (fill in your own term), I might put something like "Hmn." for "human."