Mary Kay

cristalia @ 08:56 pm: Here, put this on my holiday wishlist.
I wish people would spend less time ragging on other genres, whichever genre it might be, and spend more time figuring out what it is about those styles, settings, tropes, and thematic preoccupations that makes someone else's brain go ping!

Why? Skipping the stuff about how talking to an audience of like-minded readers about how the people in the church across the way aren't real Christians that other genre is bad and wrong is a real gutsy stance there, tiger, and skipping the stuff we've been over before about how people who have different tastes from you are not evil and also deserve books?

The act of reading is not actually about being confirmed in your concept of the world at all times. Sometimes it's about looking at what someone else finds important and interesting and worthwhile, and considering those things. Sometimes you have to learn how to do that or read those texts, say by talking to a friend or taking a class to get the necessary context, and sometimes it comes easy; actually, in some of the better-written cases, it comes easy. You can get as much of this out of something that's uproariously entertaining as you can something that's serious and dense. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's profoundly uncomfortable.

We call this learned skill of learning to see how someone else looks at the world empathy.

That skill is why people ban and burn books which portray experiences or accounts of the world that frighten them and, incidentally, why we're not supposed to read Mein Kampf. It's why authors in every minority consider it so important to get works by and about people of their particular minority group read. It's why reading -- it doesn't matter what -- is still considered educative in most if not all societies with high literacy. A book contains a whole lived experience, just in the nuances and spotlighting and wording of metaphors; it is the thing that permits you to understand some of what it is like in someone else's head, since we don't yet have mind melds or telepathic unicorns.

You will probably now see where this is leading.

Saying that a kind of story is wrong and bad, when you think about it this way, goes farther than the story. If every genre, every literary mode, expresses the lived experience and priorities and desires and concept of the world of a kind of person -- those authors, editors, and readerships -- then it translates very easily into saying how that person sees the world is stupid, wrong, and bad. I dismiss their priorities and desires and worldview as legitimate.

This can be what you, in fact, want to say. Dismissing someone else's worldview as legitimate is a choice that we, as humans, can make. It can range from minor to profoundly hurtful to the person who hears it -- in fact, I'm pretty convinced now that I think about it that this is why people get really worked up about these genre fights -- but wanting to make others feel dismissed, either to hurt them or to shore up one's own position in a particular social hierarchy by peeing on the outsiders, is also a choice adults can and do make. People choose to close their ears or minds, to disdain something instead of trying it or finding out about it or admitting that it is not to their taste but valid as someone else's every day. People choose to disdain others every day.

I think, though? If that's the choice someone's making, let's not make it about the books, because that choice has nothing to do with the books. Let's have that choice be made in full awareness and expressed in full awareness.

Let's own our shit, shall we?

(And that is why I wish people would spend less time ragging on other genres.)

Tags: blank page and a grubby apartment, raised in the woods by books

kalimeg @ 07:30 pm: Killing Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Um. With the military, the Commander in Chief is the next best thing to a dictator.

(To the Joint Chiefs) Gentlemen,

Today is the last day of "Don't ask, don't tell." From this day on, homosexuals will be accepted into the military. They will not be persecuted or prosecuted for sodomy any more than the heterosexual members of the armed forces are so prosecuted and persecuted -- in other words, not at all.

If any of you cannot execute this policy, I'll have your resignation at the end of the day."

And that is ALL HE HAS TO DO. IT IS A DIRECT ORDER.

Jesus.

matociquala @ 08:26 pm: i got the moon. i got the cheese. i got the whole damn nation on their knees.
Right. Only two things left on that to-do list, and they can be done in bed while drinking Chartreuse. I think I'll get right on that.

523 words on "The Unicorn Evils."

So tomorrow's to-do list is....

invoice!
blog about Lovecraft
bio and photo
make sponge for bread
write rec letters
work on "The Unicorn Evils" or Grail
bank
post office
buy replacement bulbs for holiday lights
clean kitchen
sweep floor
fold laundry
yoga
climb

...fall the hell over.

Tags: honeydew, the glamour!

lorien_79, posting in criminalxminds @ 02:21 am: hi ^^
Name: Lily
Location: Germany
Favorite TV Show: Doctor Who, Supernatural, Stargate
Other Shows Watched: Merlin, CSI, House
Favorite Quote: Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas
Favorite Color: dark yellow
If I was a criminal, I'd be... confessing five seconds into interrogation, 'cause I could never hide my nervousness.

After watching the first four seasons in a row over the last three weeks I'm totaly hooked up now and can't wait to see the new episodes. What could take some time. *sighs* So I need some distractions.

Mostly I'll be reading your fanfictions, maybe make some icons or use my rare sparetime to make one of these:
Reid/MGG drawing here @ my livejournal

supergee @ 08:10 pm: And everyone had a pony
Michele Bachmann says that we lived in Libertarian Heaven last year.

Thanx to Fragano Ledgister on Facebook.

Tags: teh stoopid

allanh @ 04:53 pm: Bad news on Mike Jacobs. [Square Dancing]
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

cristalia @ 06:53 pm: December Ideomancer live!
It gives us great gratification to announce that the December 2009 issue of Ideomancer is live!

Our last issue of 2009 tosses out a shout-out to folktales told against the cold with a lineup of more traditional fantasy fiction and poetry. If our folktales are a little more modern, well, that's par for the course.

C.S.E. Cooney's "Oak Park Eris" dips into the everyday problems of a middle-aged witch -- in the suburbs of Chicago; Mari Ness reimagines an old fairytale with "Rumpled Skin"; and Autumn Canter narrates the impact of magic on one woman, one family, and one mid-20th century town.

Our poets this month -- Megan Arkenberg, Michael Meyerhofer, Jennifer Jerome, and Marcie Lynn Tentchoff -- all tackle traditional fairytale material with a modern sensibility: reimagining, recasting, and reconsidering those oldest winter stories.

---

We're also taking a bit of a winter break and will be closed to submissions until March 1, 2010, due to some hefty (and pleasant!) overstock of stories and poems. We'll have some shiny new stuff to roll out for 2010, including a new web design, new features, and some really funky fiction and poetry, so do not adjust your sets.

Tags: editor smash!

kate_nepveu @ 06:49 pm: Physics with Animal Puppets!

You guys, you guys, Chad's recreated the debates between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein over quantum physics with puppets. With cameos from a bunch of other physicists of the era and, of course, our dog Emmy.

It is adorable and historically accurate (reasonably) and so very silly—and SteelyKid approved, as in, she giggled all through it. You have to check it out behind the cut (smaller) or at Vimeo (larger). Or if you don't like Vimeo, it's at YouTube in three parts: one, two, three. (It's eighteen minutes, but some of that is credits, and it moves right along.)

( embedded video )

dafydd, posting in seattle @ 03:43 pm: Alaskan Way self-defense shooting?
So, this recalled to my mind the guy on Alaskan Way a couple years ago who shot someone and had it ruled self-defense. Unfortunately, my google-fu is weak, and I can't find any references to that earlier case. Help?

scalzifeed @ 11:03 pm: Albert Einstein As You’ve Almost Certainly Never Seen Him Before

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/12/01/albert-einstein-as-youve-almost-certainly-never-seen-him-before/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=9225

feorag @ 11:32 pm: Remembe [red]
This year, I (or rather, Brother Bimbo del Doppio Senso, OPI) went to the World AIDS Day event organised by Waverley Care. I've been avoiding it for several years, because I don't really feel that comfortable in churches, even though the event itself was not at all religious. But this year, I decided to give it a go.

I was accompanied by Sir Jane General, plus Pastor Best and Sir Tys Major were also there, but as members of Loud and Proud.

The proceedings basically involved a series of performances and films, and between each item there was a pause as the names of people who died of AIDS related conditions were read out and a large candle brought down the aisle and placed on a table in front of the stage. Breaking up the names this way was a good idea. The impact of the numbers was not lost at all, as none of the lists were short, and needing five sessions to get through them really reminded us how much Edinburgh had been affected by the disease.

The first item was film of Annie Lennox speaking in Edinburgh last August, calling on everyone to challenge the stigma faced by people living with HIV. She explained that was why she was wearing a T-shirt reading "HIV Positive".

The next item was billed as being two users of Waverley Care's services, but stigma struck again. One of the accounts was read out as the individual didn't want to be "out" at such a public event; the second user was there, but wasn't willing to put a name to their words.

There was a short film about HIV+ asylum seekers, a performance by a visiting Zimbabwean theatre company, which again tacked the issue of stigma, and finally a few numbers from Loud and Proud. I shouldn't really be surprised that the acoustics in a 19th century church were fantastic for choral music, but I was. They sounded incredible and their final number, the Soweto Gospel Choir's arrangement of U2's Pride (in the name of love) sent shivers up my arms whenever the sopranos joined in the chorus.

And then there were mince pies (we recognised them as being from the Co-op - no real surprise there) and mulled wine. Outside the church afterwards was a little blustery, and Sir Jane has a photo of my veil being blown about that she's promised to post to Facebook.

Tags: nuns, world aids day

mjlayman @ 06:17 pm: DC Council Votes for Same Sex Marriage
The religious people are vowing to take it to Congress (since that can happen with DC laws), but the general opinion is that Congress won't interfere. Particularly because most of the agitating leaders don't even live in DC.

Today is the 54th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus. Other folks did civil resistance earlier, but hers is one of the best known.

Sally Jenkins is a Sports Columnist for the WashPost and I normally don't read her columns (and it's not because she's a creationist and believes blacks are a lesser kind of human -- yes, she wrote that in the paper and had to apologize) but today's is a nice satirical version of Tiger Woods' statements.

I went to get labs today and was going to then go to PetSmart and get dry food for the kitties, but I'm not walking well enough today. I'll try tomorrow, although I already have trash & recycling scheduled, but Thursday & Friday are free and I can slide that.

Tags: errands, news, politics

madrobins @ 03:15 pm: As of 3:15
Feed Avocado and make her lunch
Read NY Times (especially Science section)
Do crossword puzzle
Make cake
Do all dishes other people are supposed to have done, but never mind
Shower
Write until noon
Drag dog
Frost cake
Pick up car
Deliver Avocado from after school play audition to doctor's appointment
Go to market
Work on editing book
Make dinner
Fall over

Somewhere between Editing and Dinner, there is a glass of wine in my future.

wheel_of_life, posting in seattle @ 02:52 pm: Change in bus transfer use
Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, only Metro transfers are valid on Metro buses. Also, Metro transfers are not valid on Sound Transit, Pierce Transit and Community Transit buses. If you use more than one transit system you will have to pay a fare each time you board a different bus. If you use an ORCA card that is loaded with a bus pass or E-purse, you will get a two-hour transfer credit for the fare paid.

ORCA cards will cost $5
ORCA cards are available at no charge until Jan. 31, 2010. There will be a $5 charge for an ORCA card beginning Feb. 1, 2010.

Question: I will have to make trips three times a week from Bellevue to Renton...what would be the most cost effective option? in the morning during off peak hours and in the evening during peak hours

I ordered an ORCA card through my company but it costs 99$ for one month for 2 zones (2.50$ value)! I'll have to transfer in Bellevue from SoundTransit to King County Metro I have a number of colleagues who are facing the same problem starting Jan 2010. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

pegkerr @ 04:36 pm: Now BOTH my daughters are on Livejournal!
Delia has started her own livejournal. We went to see the movie "Julie and Julia" this weekend, and fired up by that example, now she is interested in possibly trying a recipe-a-day project, perhaps for a month to start out. Please drop by ooh_pretty_mine to welcome her to livejournal and say hello, and you are welcome to follow along, if you'd like to see Delia blog about her various artistic endeavors.

(For those who missed the earlier announcement, Fiona now has her own livejournal at bookloverfio.)

Tags: delia, fiona, livejournal

supergee @ 05:30 pm: Tommy Henrich (1913-2009)
An excellent baseball player from my childhood, and he made astute comments on the nostalgia TV shows about those days.

Tags: memorial

cakmpls @ 04:17 pm: Non-favorite Christmas music
I don't dislike the song, but I am always irritated by the grammatical error in "I Wonder as I Wander":

"For poor ordn'ry people like you and like I."

Tags: christmas music, grammar

nellorat @ 05:12 pm: Unfortunate Business Names
Thanks to a billboard by the academy, in Manhattan, I have discovered there is a brand of outdoor wear called Marmot. I assume their slogan is, "Our clothes are full of fleas that will give you the plague."

And a diagnostics lab that has a pick-up box in my shrink's hallway is Enigma, Inc. I see their intention, but it seems to me to have the opposite effect: Use us, and your problem remains an Enigma.

Mood: puckish

wolfette @ 10:10 pm: Rainbow Landings
a bit open indoor aviary in Edinburgh Zoo, filled with Rainbow Lorakeets, Blue Faced Honeyeaters and some odd little marsupial animals. The Lorakeets are numerous and noisy and rather dominate the whole area. They like to "buzz" visitors and even land on top of them.

le_trombone, posting in think_galactic @ 04:09 pm: December: The Shadow Speaker, and Next Year's Book List!
This is a double reminder. First, December's book is The Shadow Speaker, by Nnedi Okorafor (formerly Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu). We meet Thursday, December 10^th at Myopic Books.

Aside from being at a discussion of an excellent author, you also have the opportunity to influence next year's list. Yes, it's that time again, and we have a whole new year's worth of books to select from, not to mention the books from last year that missed being selected by a single vote.

You don't have to have read this month's book to attend, and voting is open to anyone who attends.

Just to get the ball rolling, it looks like Filter House by Nisi Shawl will be a possible choice, and in another venue rambleman suggested Mythmakers and Lawbreakers for a source of essays (the last time we had an essay was in 2003).

Feel free to pop in even if you've never attended (or posted here) before. Some of our most interesting choices have been selected that way.

Tags: scheduling