(no subject)
Went to the herb store so that I can make lavender cupcakes; saw cranesbill for the first time in a store. I thought about getting some for Joey because of his Crohn's disease and all, but every time that I get herbs for Joey and his Crohn's disease, I feel pretty officious for shoving things in his face and telling him to take them because it's gotta be better than being dosed on steroids and all of his other medications all the time, right? That isn't really true, though. Or it might be, but there's no way that I can say that. I don't know medicine, and I don't know his body.
I have been sending out a ton of handwritten letters lately, which is fun, as is decorating various parts of these packages:
YO, I WANNA SEND YOU LETTERS! Let's keep in touch!
I drove through the U Dstrict for the vegan corner of Seattle yesterday, and on the way there was a prominent billboard which read, "IS IT MS? Dizziness is a symptom!" 1.) okay, George Costanza (or, "LUPUS!? IS IT LUPUS!?"), and 2.) I've already been through my "do I have multiple sclerosis" phase and have moved onto bigger (or, at least more accurate) things to be worried about (y'know, lupus). But props to that billboard for sounding exactly like an e-mail to my mother about what diseases I probably have.
And somehow my mother puts up with all of those e-mails from me and still bothers to suggest fun things to do with me, like what she wrote in a card recently: "We'll go Queen Anne's lace hunting when you come down to visit," and for some reason I'm really excited by this.
Also, I wrote this to someone who said something about being afraid to eat mushrooms that he finds outside lest he mix up edible and poisonous species, and I'm afraid that I sound like a really big dick in it: "I've read a few accounts of the death cap mushroom in the UK, how it would pop up in people's yards, and they'd assume that it was safe to eat. (Big mistake!) I feel like these sorts of instances where people are totally ignorant of what they're doing sadly gives such a poor reputation to foraging in general. I don't know how many places I've read things like, 'DON'T EAT ANY MUSHROOM OR PLANT YOU FIND OUTSIDE; IT COULD BE DEADLY POISONOUS.' It gives so much power to profit-motivated businesses that sell plants that can be easily found outside! As long as people are meticulous, informed, and can positively identify it without a doubt, there's no harm.
I really hope that this doesn't seem like a criticism in any way. It's more just a big product of my frustration about the way that the natural world has been commodified. That being said, I can definitely understand your trepidation about eating mushrooms found outside, as well as certain plants, for that matter. I try pretty hard to be familiar with the living land that sustains me, but I am still wary of a lot of things out there, due to poisonous lookalikes and my ridiculously paranoid nature. But yeah, mushrooms rule. And they're so beautiful."
And something else completely different and uncool:
I’m not going to bother refuting anything in this article (as it is full of a ton of straw-man arguments that paint a very skewed picture of consent and other products of queer and feminist action) since so many wonderful people have already given well-thought responses to it, but a neo-con douchebag at American University in D.C. wrote the following article for the student newspaper about how asking explicit consent and fostering consent-focused spaces are “anti-sex,” and that women who accompany men to their rooms during a party are asking for sex and therefore date-rape is essentially a false concept:
Dealing with AU’s anti-sex brigade by Alex Knepper
The aftermath of this article has spurred some action, as well as countless news articles, spots (I will sum up Alex Knepper’s argument in that particular interview: ‘taking measures to keep oneself safe negates any need to have a discussion on the dynamics of power and violence in this culture, as the burden is on the victim to avoid violence’), and more opinion pieces on the matter. (Look up “American University” on Google News. Also, this is a pretty basic but valuable response to it.)
I just have to say that I’m really tired of (mostly conservative) people crying “censorship! fascism!” if someone calls them out on oppressive behavior and asks for accountability. I’m really tired of the amount of ignorance and entitlement espoused by people constantly downplaying rape by grasping at straws of assuming the authority to distinguish between real and not-real rape, bringing up the incidence of false rape claims, labeling survivors and allies and all women as ‘emotionally crippled’ (ie. too sensitive), and trying to intellectualize some convoluted idea of the supposed inequality of consent (one which is false, by the way), all to avoid actually taking a step back and analyzing issues of privilege and oppression in our society.
All of this cultivates a rape culture that shames and silences survivors of sexual assault, minimizes their experiences, and continues to give power to perpetrators with no accountability or self-reflection. It is disgusting that issues of consent and assault are laughed off and belittled by such a vociferous percentage of the people in this society.
Consent-based sex is about excited, mutual interest in fucking, exploring our sexualities in an empowering way, and fostering spaces to feel desired, sexy, and safe, without fear of miscommunication or oppressive behavior. And I’m so tired of trying to explain that to people.
PS. I love chickens. Been reading this for a good portion of the day. Sigh, my life.
And it is Jawbreaker Day. refer here
I have been sending out a ton of handwritten letters lately, which is fun, as is decorating various parts of these packages:
YO, I WANNA SEND YOU LETTERS! Let's keep in touch!
I drove through the U Dstrict for the vegan corner of Seattle yesterday, and on the way there was a prominent billboard which read, "IS IT MS? Dizziness is a symptom!" 1.) okay, George Costanza (or, "LUPUS!? IS IT LUPUS!?"), and 2.) I've already been through my "do I have multiple sclerosis" phase and have moved onto bigger (or, at least more accurate) things to be worried about (y'know, lupus). But props to that billboard for sounding exactly like an e-mail to my mother about what diseases I probably have.
And somehow my mother puts up with all of those e-mails from me and still bothers to suggest fun things to do with me, like what she wrote in a card recently: "We'll go Queen Anne's lace hunting when you come down to visit," and for some reason I'm really excited by this.
Also, I wrote this to someone who said something about being afraid to eat mushrooms that he finds outside lest he mix up edible and poisonous species, and I'm afraid that I sound like a really big dick in it: "I've read a few accounts of the death cap mushroom in the UK, how it would pop up in people's yards, and they'd assume that it was safe to eat. (Big mistake!) I feel like these sorts of instances where people are totally ignorant of what they're doing sadly gives such a poor reputation to foraging in general. I don't know how many places I've read things like, 'DON'T EAT ANY MUSHROOM OR PLANT YOU FIND OUTSIDE; IT COULD BE DEADLY POISONOUS.' It gives so much power to profit-motivated businesses that sell plants that can be easily found outside! As long as people are meticulous, informed, and can positively identify it without a doubt, there's no harm.
I really hope that this doesn't seem like a criticism in any way. It's more just a big product of my frustration about the way that the natural world has been commodified. That being said, I can definitely understand your trepidation about eating mushrooms found outside, as well as certain plants, for that matter. I try pretty hard to be familiar with the living land that sustains me, but I am still wary of a lot of things out there, due to poisonous lookalikes and my ridiculously paranoid nature. But yeah, mushrooms rule. And they're so beautiful."
And something else completely different and uncool:
I’m not going to bother refuting anything in this article (as it is full of a ton of straw-man arguments that paint a very skewed picture of consent and other products of queer and feminist action) since so many wonderful people have already given well-thought responses to it, but a neo-con douchebag at American University in D.C. wrote the following article for the student newspaper about how asking explicit consent and fostering consent-focused spaces are “anti-sex,” and that women who accompany men to their rooms during a party are asking for sex and therefore date-rape is essentially a false concept:
Dealing with AU’s anti-sex brigade by Alex Knepper
The aftermath of this article has spurred some action, as well as countless news articles, spots (I will sum up Alex Knepper’s argument in that particular interview: ‘taking measures to keep oneself safe negates any need to have a discussion on the dynamics of power and violence in this culture, as the burden is on the victim to avoid violence’), and more opinion pieces on the matter. (Look up “American University” on Google News. Also, this is a pretty basic but valuable response to it.)
I just have to say that I’m really tired of (mostly conservative) people crying “censorship! fascism!” if someone calls them out on oppressive behavior and asks for accountability. I’m really tired of the amount of ignorance and entitlement espoused by people constantly downplaying rape by grasping at straws of assuming the authority to distinguish between real and not-real rape, bringing up the incidence of false rape claims, labeling survivors and allies and all women as ‘emotionally crippled’ (ie. too sensitive), and trying to intellectualize some convoluted idea of the supposed inequality of consent (one which is false, by the way), all to avoid actually taking a step back and analyzing issues of privilege and oppression in our society.
All of this cultivates a rape culture that shames and silences survivors of sexual assault, minimizes their experiences, and continues to give power to perpetrators with no accountability or self-reflection. It is disgusting that issues of consent and assault are laughed off and belittled by such a vociferous percentage of the people in this society.
Consent-based sex is about excited, mutual interest in fucking, exploring our sexualities in an empowering way, and fostering spaces to feel desired, sexy, and safe, without fear of miscommunication or oppressive behavior. And I’m so tired of trying to explain that to people.
PS. I love chickens. Been reading this for a good portion of the day. Sigh, my life.
And it is Jawbreaker Day. refer here