Updated This week in The Slacktiverse, July 21/22 2012

The Blogaround

Nick Kiddle writes: I updated the Iron-On Line this week: a post about my trip to the sexual health clinic (Trigger Warning: sex talk, sexual anxiety, cissexist microaggressions, polyamory)

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Deconstruction: Love Is...
(Trigger Warning: Hospitalization, Cancer, Religious and Political Homophobia)
I'm blessed and privileged that the love from my parents and my spouse has social approval and government sanction. And I hope to someday live in a world where that statement will also be true for the millions of QUILTBAG peoples on this earth.

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
(Trigger Warning: Depression, Ableism Language in Text, Ethics of Mind-Reading, Bad Friendships, Disordered Eating)
Twilight: Protagonist-Centered Everything
It's a fantasy that is essentially self-centered, that places Bella -- or the reader -- at the literal center of everyone else's emotional universes. Sexual orientation, personal preference, monogamy, and respect for one's position as a person of authority are all tossed out of the window in order to bolster Bella's desire to be overwhelmingly beautiful.

Literata discussed another writer's take on Christian privilege, tackled the subject of how to speak from (thin) privilege, and described how landbase begins at home.

victoria writes: I wrote a friendly reminder about discussing alleged mental health issues w/r/t the recent shootings at a Colorado movie theater: when the "crazy talk" starts.

Coleslaw writes: The book Lost in Translation, which uses two of my pictures, has been published, so I have Even More Fame (as in more than none). If you like cinnamon flavored candy and gum, like Red Hots, you may be surprised to find out what's in there. There's a bleeding statue in Baton Rouge. It's a Miracle, unless it isn't. Attending a talk by the author of Now and Always: a Louisiana Love Story reminded me of a WWII era letter written by my mother that I got from my dad.

Michael Mock reports: This week at Mock Ramblings: the Deranged Cultist checked in with some Reflections on Meetings; Firstborn and I made up new Skylanders to go with the hypothetical Silly Element and I shared some pictures and video to help explain The Upside of Parenting; I briefly considered Mitt Romney's ongoing battle with Batman in Bane Capital; and I collected some reactions to the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey in a post called Fifty Shades of WTF.

chris the cynic reports: This week I wanted to write the beginnings to several stories to possibly include in Acacia Moon's anthologies, to let people see what they would be like and see if there was any interest. Unfortunately I only wrote one, the beginning of a ghost story involving computer games, and added one written years before set in a world where mechanical prostheses are considered legitimate grounds for legal discrimination.

When I saw the matching ads I thought I'd just take a picture of each and then make a post about the signals they sent about gender, but then things at the store got much more personally frustrating in non-gender related ways. I recounted the whole experience in: Boys make music - Girls only listen, and other lessons from an unpleasant trip to Walmart.

In .hack//Sign: How not to respond to a depressed kid's first success, I talked about Tsukasa's apparent taming of the Guardian, his general situation from the perspective of limited in-world information, Mimiru's devotion to helping those in trouble, and Bear's mishandling of his meeting with Tsukasa.

In Deus Ex Training: Snippets of Information, I finished talking about the Deus Ex training mission six months after I began, touching on the use of the word “occupation” the phasing out of mechanically augmented agents, the goals of the NSF, and stuff.

TRiG passes on: * An old story, but I like it: A strict Catholic school put out a banned books list, so one of the students took it upon herself to run an illegal library out of her locker.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
(Trigger Warning: Discussion of depression)
Health: Depression Diaries and Unconditional Love
If you aren't depressed, but know someone who is, go take a moment to reassure them that you love them, no matter what. Telling them they aren't total suck won't work; the depression has logic and reason and copious footnotes on its side. Telling them that you'll love them forever even if they are total suck is the only thing that the logic can't defeat because logic is helpless in the face of tautologies.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
(Trigger Warning: Discussion of depression, discussion of cancer)
Health: Depression Diaries and The Theory of Relativity
One of the "fun" things about depression is how easily it can downplay itself as Nothing Serious and you, the sufferer, as a Big Whiner. It does this by the tried-and-true fashion of somebody else has it worse.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
(Trigger Warning: Politics, Racism, Jackwagonry, Food Poisoning, Swearing)
Deconstruction: "You Might Be A Racist If..." Special Political Edition
I don't usually do political posts on the blog. However! Today I am holed up in bed with food poisoning, and I made the Very Big Mistake of saying so on Twitter and in doing so I noticed this hashtag: #ThingsRomneyShouldSaytotheNAACP.

In case you missed this

TRiG writes: There are interesting parallels between the Deaf experience and LGBT experiences. The Deaf are a distributed minority, and have to actively form a community. Most Deaf people have hearing parents. And, as is mentioned in the video, at one time Deaf people were discouraged or prevented from marrying (in Ireland, this went so far that boys and girls were taught different sign languages!). Nowadays, parents are often taught to sign, but that was not always the case.

I’ve seen Deaf publications drawing parallels between Deaf culture and queer culture.

Anyway, in the US, the National Association of the Deaf is now supporting marriage equality.

Egypt TV Channel Gives Veiled Women a Face (The New York Times, July 18 2012): [Abeer Shahin] has found a job she hopes will change how Egyptian society views niqab wearers once and for all: she is going to work as a TV anchor for a new channel being managed and run exclusively by women who wear the full veil.

Frustrations of an Asian American Whedonite
A Whedonite asks Whedon why there are so few Asian or Asian-American performers in future Whedon described as a fusion of American and Asian culture.

Laiima has changed the name of hir blog to Fiadhiglas muses and capers.

In case you missed this in The Blogaround section of this post--Coleslaw wrote: The book Lost in Translation, which uses two of my pictures, has been published, so I have Even More Fame (as in more than none).

Things you can do

kisekileia reports: The ex-fundamentalist blogger at The Phoenix and Olive Branch, Kate Townsend is trying to send her mother back to university. Kate's mother spent many years staying home to teach Kate, but wanted to finish her own education and eventually got one semester away from a bachelor's degree. However, a clerical error meant that Kate's mother's financial aid fell through, and the university refused to correct it, with the result that she has been unable to complete her last semester. The online program through which Kate's mother studied is shutting down as of June 2013, so this year is the last chance for her to go back. You can donate here to help Kate's mom go back to school--it's not nearly as hopeless as it looks, because Kate is in the process of renegotiating the amount of the fee, and because the page only went up a few days ago. If you want to help someone finish their education, this is a great opportunity.

kisekileia writes:
(Trigger Warning: graphic anti-LGBTQ violence, including in my description below.)
This is about a woman who was bound, had anti-LGBTQ slurs carved into her body, and had her house set on fire. Nebraska, where she lives, has hate crimes legislation, but she doesn't have health care coverage to pay for her substantial wounds. There's a donation link at the bottom of the page, if anyone has anything to spare.

You can check out the newest addition to Blogs of the Slacktiverse
Laura writes: commentators may enjoy my new blog: Dictionary of Peril. Every couple of days I use a new word from the Collins Dictionary as a prompt for a piece of short fiction about how this noun causes peril. http://dictionaryofperil.wordpress.com/ for the Rules, and short stories about the danger of Aardvarks, Ba's, and Cab's. If any of your readers would like to join in, then I would welcome that!

--Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community

---

The Slacktiverse is a community blog. Content reflects the individual opinions of the contributors. We welcome disagreement in the comment threads, and invite anyone who wishes to present an alternative interpretation of a situation to write and submit a post.

Comments

[Timothy (TRiG)]

Just to say that I'd already read chris' post about Walmart, and it is absolutely excellent.

TRiG.

[Nick Kiddle]

I actually updated the Iron-On Line this week: a post about my trip to the sexual health clinic (TW for sex talk, sexual anxiety, cissexist microaggressions, polyamory)[http://ksej.livejournal.com/284092.html]

[hapax]

@chris the cynic -- totally tangential, but you've been very upfront and honest about your struggles with depression. May I say that as someone who has been there, and knows how hard it can be just to maintain basic life functions, let alone do anything creative -- I find your writing output positively heroic?

And the same to all y'all who are linked here. When I look at the thoughtful, funny, inspiring, heartfelt, educational, beautiful work you do every week, despite the major upsets and minor grinds of life...

... well, you just awe me.

Go you!

[kisekileia]

For "Things You Can Do":

The ex-fundamentalist blogger at The Phoenix and Olive Branch, Kate Townsend is trying to send her mother back to university. Kate's mother spent many years staying home to teach Kate, but wanted to finish her own education and eventually got one semester away from a bachelor's degree. However, a clerical error meant that Kate's mother's financial aid fell through, and the university refused to correct it, with the result that she has been unable to complete her last semester. The online program through which Kate's mother studied is shutting down as of June 2013, so this year is the last chance for her to go back. You can donate here to help Kate's mom go back to school--it's not nearly as hopeless as it looks, because Kate is in the process of renegotiating the amount of the fee, and because the page only went up a few days ago. If you want to help someone finish their education, this is a great opportunity.

[Timothy (TRiG)]

There are interesting parallels between the Deaf experience and LGBT experiences. The Deaf are a distributed minority, and have to actively form a community. Most Deaf people have hearing parents. And, as is mentioned in the video, at one time Deaf people were discouraged or prevented from marrying (in Ireland, this went so far that boys and girls were taught different sign languages!). Nowadays, parents are often taught to sign, but that was not always the case.

I’ve seen Deaf publications drawing parallels between Deaf culture and queer culture.

Anyway, in the US, the National Association of the Deaf is now supporting marriage equality.

TRiG.

[chris the cynic]

@TRiG

Thank you for the praise.

You know, I called that post totally wrong. I thought people would be interested, but I thought they'd be more interested in the ads and it would be sort of a, "Why is all this junk about what happened at the customer service desk here?" reaction. Yet, so far, not one comment on the ads, everything about customer service.

-

@Hapax

Thank you.

[kisekileia]

Again, for "Things You Can Do":

‎(Trigger warning: graphic anti-LGBTQ violence, including in my description below.)

This is about a woman who was bound, had anti-LGBTQ slurs carved into her body, and had her house set on fire. Nebraska, where she lives, has hate crimes legislation, but she doesn't have health care coverage to pay for her substantial wounds. There's a donation link at the bottom of the page, if anyone has anything to spare.

[chris the cynic]

Oh good god. I don't think I've ever wanted so badly to have money to contribute to something. That is horrible.

[Mmy]

Yeah -- I just "promoted" that to the OP -- and will keep on eye on it -- if they are still accepting donations next weekend I'll run it again.

It isn't enough that people are terrorized and brutalized --- they are then made to beg for help from their community?

[kisekileia]

Thank you, Mmy. I have an online friend who lives in that community, and she says LBGTQ people she knows are really scared.

[MercuryBlue]

tw, abortion, suicide

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/24/12930591-south-dakota-abortion-suicide-advisory-upheld-by-federal-appeals-court

I don't know where to go to find the text of the ruling. If the ruling does not cite (actually cite, not just assert the existence of) at least one study not funded by anti-abortion activists, preferably multiple such studies, I will be pissed. If the study/ies are, as the article says, comparing women who get abortions to women who give birth, miscarry, or never become pregnant, I will be pissed, because the appropriate comparison group here is women who get pregnant in circumstances where they do not want to be pregnant and/or raise a child (or alternately very much want to be pregnant and raise a child but something goes wrong with the pregnancy) but who do not get an abortion. Of course a woman who gets an abortion is more likely to commit suicide than a woman who never gets pregnant. A woman who gets unwantedly pregnant is also more likely to commit suicide than a woman who never gets pregnant. I don't have cites but an unwanted pregnancy is a stressful event and stressful events always bump up the chance of suicide. If women who get abortions are compared to women who don't get pregnant, how are we to know how much if any of the difference in suicide rate is due to the abortion and how much is due to the being unwantedly pregnant?

[chris the cynic]

Does anyone know how to contact ZMiles? Because it's important that I do so quickly.

It doesn't matter if it's public or private, just that I get in contact with ZMiles.

-

This seemed like the best thread for asking that question without derailing.

[Anonymus]

Chris: I googled, and at the bottom of this post, which he submitted some time ago, his name shows up as a link which is an e-mail address. If he's still using that e-mail address, that might be a good way to go. http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2011/10/on-checkers.html

[chris the cynic]

Thank you.

Email sent, I hope it reaches the right person because if someone else gets it they're going to be very confused.