In which she finds herself watching trailers and reading about lions and speaking pronouns
Well, speaking of pronouns. And watching trailers about lions. A trailer, in fact,that I saw the other day when blackjack and I went to see What We Do In The Shadows (which is a mockumentary about a few vampires sharing a house in New Zealand, and highly recommend.)
There were other trailers, but I don't really remember them particularly well. The one I do remember, though, is Roar. Go watch it. Remember that we were watching it right before a vampire comedy. It looked like another hilarious mockumentary. Or something satirical at least. In any case, we were dying, laughing, probably in part because we were in a theatre and everything is funnier with others who are laughing. It's why sit-coms film with studio audiences or add laugh tracks*.
Here's the thing, though: As it turns out, it's a rerelease of a real 1981 film. And the young Melanie Griffith lived for 5 years in a house full of lions.
Um.
Anyway, the other thing that has me awake right now while I should be sleeping is that over on FB I've been involved in the construction of a community that will be devoted to making dance classes more accessible to those with permanent or temporary disability, whether physical or mental. We've been having a bunch of trouble coming to a description blurb, what with disability wording and all manner of other stuff. Somewhere more recently someone suggested an introduction thread, where people could mention their pronouns and whether they self described as a person with disabilities or a differently abled person or a disabled person or whathaveyou. I liked the idea of an introduction thread, but worried that people would then expect that everybody would have memorized it. And then someone said something about pronouns, and I started getting punchy:
me: I think it might be educational and interesting to ahve such an introductions thread, but I do worry about managing not just the pronouns but everything else. (I'm perfectly happy to just default to zie and zir when I don't know, but then there are people who feel strongly about 'not this nongendered set but this other nongendered set' and others who feel strongly about using 'them' and the occasional person who wants 'it' and at that point I throw my hands in the air, mutter somethign about language being for communication, and wander off.)
...[someone turns out to ]teach workshops for teachers that include a segment on creating grammatically correct gender-neutral speech. I'm working on making a video of that part. Look for it in Safety Dance in the next week or so.. ..
me: Oddly, I find that I'm fine with nonspecific singular 'they' but not specific singular 'they'
"Go choose an audience member and bring them onto the stage with you" doesn't wig me out at all; "I asked Lee when they would like me to come over and they said 3p" makes me wonder if Lee is talking about another few people.
I far prefer singular nongendered alternatives, often use them in type, and switched over to zie and zir from sie and hir in order to start using them in speech when context is clear enough that those who are not already familiar will be able to follow my meaning.
And in fact, if you've noticed I've swiched from sie and hir to zie and zir it is entirely because it is more clear how to pronounce the latter pair.
And dang. I was so very tired on arriving home. Because I did partner acro in the park and then partner acro at the studio, and worked on inversions and star and a lot of spotting and entirely too many feelings of being the odd one out. But it was generally a good day.
I suppose I should retrieve the phone from the car.
Nah.
Oh, and also, rolling stone redux Short form: Rolling Stone has retracted the story because of an astonishing number of journalism Fails, starting with writing the whole thing off of one source who refused to allow them to talk to any other sources, including her friends, and failing to disclose that this was the case.
Perhaps "always supporting/believing the victim" should be more strongly interpreted to mean "believing the victim has indeed experienced a trauma zie as opposed to assuming every word and memory of same reflects what happened? Memory is fallible, particularly around trauma.
(My other usual rant about those who think they have consent vs those who know damned well they do not is not applicable to the above.)
*This was especially made clear when Dude, Where's My Car? came on the TV while badmagic and I were down at Dad's a decade and change back. We had seen the movie and nigh to hurt ourselves laughing, because it was so very stupid it was just that funny. When we weren't in a dark theatre free of other distractions, and it was just us? Nowhere near so funny.
There were other trailers, but I don't really remember them particularly well. The one I do remember, though, is Roar. Go watch it. Remember that we were watching it right before a vampire comedy. It looked like another hilarious mockumentary. Or something satirical at least. In any case, we were dying, laughing, probably in part because we were in a theatre and everything is funnier with others who are laughing. It's why sit-coms film with studio audiences or add laugh tracks*.
Here's the thing, though: As it turns out, it's a rerelease of a real 1981 film. And the young Melanie Griffith lived for 5 years in a house full of lions.
Um.
Anyway, the other thing that has me awake right now while I should be sleeping is that over on FB I've been involved in the construction of a community that will be devoted to making dance classes more accessible to those with permanent or temporary disability, whether physical or mental. We've been having a bunch of trouble coming to a description blurb, what with disability wording and all manner of other stuff. Somewhere more recently someone suggested an introduction thread, where people could mention their pronouns and whether they self described as a person with disabilities or a differently abled person or a disabled person or whathaveyou. I liked the idea of an introduction thread, but worried that people would then expect that everybody would have memorized it. And then someone said something about pronouns, and I started getting punchy:
me: I think it might be educational and interesting to ahve such an introductions thread, but I do worry about managing not just the pronouns but everything else. (I'm perfectly happy to just default to zie and zir when I don't know, but then there are people who feel strongly about 'not this nongendered set but this other nongendered set' and others who feel strongly about using 'them' and the occasional person who wants 'it' and at that point I throw my hands in the air, mutter somethign about language being for communication, and wander off.)
...[someone turns out to ]teach workshops for teachers that include a segment on creating grammatically correct gender-neutral speech. I'm working on making a video of that part. Look for it in Safety Dance in the next week or so.. ..
me: Oddly, I find that I'm fine with nonspecific singular 'they' but not specific singular 'they'
"Go choose an audience member and bring them onto the stage with you" doesn't wig me out at all; "I asked Lee when they would like me to come over and they said 3p" makes me wonder if Lee is talking about another few people.
I far prefer singular nongendered alternatives, often use them in type, and switched over to zie and zir from sie and hir in order to start using them in speech when context is clear enough that those who are not already familiar will be able to follow my meaning.
And in fact, if you've noticed I've swiched from sie and hir to zie and zir it is entirely because it is more clear how to pronounce the latter pair.
And dang. I was so very tired on arriving home. Because I did partner acro in the park and then partner acro at the studio, and worked on inversions and star and a lot of spotting and entirely too many feelings of being the odd one out. But it was generally a good day.
I suppose I should retrieve the phone from the car.
Nah.
Oh, and also, rolling stone redux Short form: Rolling Stone has retracted the story because of an astonishing number of journalism Fails, starting with writing the whole thing off of one source who refused to allow them to talk to any other sources, including her friends, and failing to disclose that this was the case.
Perhaps "always supporting/believing the victim" should be more strongly interpreted to mean "believing the victim has indeed experienced a trauma zie as opposed to assuming every word and memory of same reflects what happened? Memory is fallible, particularly around trauma.
(My other usual rant about those who think they have consent vs those who know damned well they do not is not applicable to the above.)
*This was especially made clear when Dude, Where's My Car? came on the TV while badmagic and I were down at Dad's a decade and change back. We had seen the movie and nigh to hurt ourselves laughing, because it was so very stupid it was just that funny. When we weren't in a dark theatre free of other distractions, and it was just us? Nowhere near so funny.