(no subject)
Today is strange. The weather cannot make up its mind between wind and rain and sun and happy and sad. I'm feeling a bit unmoored in light of it all, and following links willy-nilly, and they all seem to stick like bits of iron onto a magnetized board, so that maybe I have a false moustache now. Metaphorically. Or literally. But if literally, then invisibily. Or at least, I can't see it.
And now that I have made no sense at all, let me share with you some of the things that you all have shared with me:
Here is a story by Alice Sola Kim, which came recommended by haddayr. I cannot possibly describe it to any good effect, but will tell you what I said in the comments on the story page: "As I read this, the sky outside darkened, and the wind picked up, and I heard some children howling along with it in the street on their way home from school, and I thought maybe time was moving forward very fast, and that when I next stepped out the front door it would be a hundred and seventy years later. I haven’t stepped out yet, so I don’t know that I’m wrong. Which is to say, you have enweirdened my day somewhat more than I might have done on my own, and for that I thank you."
Here is Patti Smith reading aloud, which came to my attention via matociquala. Listen. You may find it starts slowly, but just listen. If you are not enthralled and amused and saddened by the end of the 7 minutes, well, then you may berate me accordingly.
Here is Amal El-Mohtar talking about fantasy and the Middle East and Islam with Saladin Ahmed, as pointed out by csecooney. They both have scads of interesting things to say in that post, but here's one of the bits of my (possibly metaphorical, but certainly invisible) moustache:
"Over the last nine years, I’ve had occasion to be startled, and then to cease to be startled, by the extent to which my Middle-Eastern-ness gets conflated with Muslim-ness as a matter of course, as well as the extent to which people feel entitled to learning my religion along with my name."
So says Amal, who then goes on to say she's not going to explore the why of it there, but it sticks to me all the same. Something to think about. And that's only a very small start of the things worth thinking about over there.
There have been other links, too, but I'll stop at three. If you want to see Daniel Radcliffe sing Tom Lehrer's elements song, or the cat who scares off two alligators, or Neil Gaiman's wedding surprise flashmob party, I trust you know how to use the Google. And if you want to share more links in the comments, please do. I'm off to walk in the bluster and grey (and yellow and red and wind and stillness), but I'll come back again in time, and I may need a full beard to face the oncoming cold months.
And now that I have made no sense at all, let me share with you some of the things that you all have shared with me:
Here is a story by Alice Sola Kim, which came recommended by haddayr. I cannot possibly describe it to any good effect, but will tell you what I said in the comments on the story page: "As I read this, the sky outside darkened, and the wind picked up, and I heard some children howling along with it in the street on their way home from school, and I thought maybe time was moving forward very fast, and that when I next stepped out the front door it would be a hundred and seventy years later. I haven’t stepped out yet, so I don’t know that I’m wrong. Which is to say, you have enweirdened my day somewhat more than I might have done on my own, and for that I thank you."
Here is Patti Smith reading aloud, which came to my attention via matociquala. Listen. You may find it starts slowly, but just listen. If you are not enthralled and amused and saddened by the end of the 7 minutes, well, then you may berate me accordingly.
Here is Amal El-Mohtar talking about fantasy and the Middle East and Islam with Saladin Ahmed, as pointed out by csecooney. They both have scads of interesting things to say in that post, but here's one of the bits of my (possibly metaphorical, but certainly invisible) moustache:
"Over the last nine years, I’ve had occasion to be startled, and then to cease to be startled, by the extent to which my Middle-Eastern-ness gets conflated with Muslim-ness as a matter of course, as well as the extent to which people feel entitled to learning my religion along with my name."
So says Amal, who then goes on to say she's not going to explore the why of it there, but it sticks to me all the same. Something to think about. And that's only a very small start of the things worth thinking about over there.
There have been other links, too, but I'll stop at three. If you want to see Daniel Radcliffe sing Tom Lehrer's elements song, or the cat who scares off two alligators, or Neil Gaiman's wedding surprise flashmob party, I trust you know how to use the Google. And if you want to share more links in the comments, please do. I'm off to walk in the bluster and grey (and yellow and red and wind and stillness), but I'll come back again in time, and I may need a full beard to face the oncoming cold months.