Below are the most recent 6 friends' journal entries.

Sunday, December 6th, 2009
elfwreck	8:16p	Bloggable moments: the evil ex Rob came home this evening, and said, "I have something to talk to you about. Some guy showed up at the coast, and said he's a friend of mine." He was busy unpacking the van (model airplanes), so this was scattered over moving planes and boxes of batteries and whatnot into the house. "Where'd you know him from?" "I don't. But he said we have something in common." More moving planes around, hauling in the toolbox & cooler. I make with the little circular hand gestures: c'mon, more, tell me dammit. "We should be great friends because... we both survived the bitch-slut [Elf]." ( It takes me very little time to figure out who he would have to be. ) Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 4th, 2009
elfwreck	7:53a	Racism at MobileRead I posted an entry at racism_101 called Seeking advice: discussions on topic-focused forums. The Mobileread thread in question has a full collection of classic racist tropes: OBAMA MEANS NO MORE RACISM: Are you calling whites in America a "more privileged category"? In what way? What "power" do they have over non-whites? Last I heard, the most powerful man in America and the whole world was black. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS DISCRIMINATION: Hiring someone on basis of race, gender or whatever, instead of going for the best qualified, regardless of race gender or whatever, makes absolutely no sense. (This sentiment was repeated by several people with different and generally more offensive phrasings.) BUT THEY CALL THEMSELVES BY THOSE WORDS: But if *I* were to use those words, even to close friends, I'd be reviled and castigated. So if they're so damned offensive, why would those who call them offensive *ever* use them? MY FAMILY WAS TOO POOR TO BE PRIVILEGED: *MY* parents are - on my mother's side - dirt-poor immigrants from Potato Famine Ireland and - on my father's side - peasant and serf stock from the Austria region. They settled in Montana and northern Ohio where they busted their collective butts off to survive. Privileged? I wish! I WILL DECIDE WHAT TERMS ARE OFFENSIVE: I think the reason I asked is because the N-word is a racial slur. The I word isn't. Or at least isn't in my area. (Word in question is "Indian," relating to author Sherman Alexie.) RACISM = BELIEVING RACE MATTERS: Assuming that because someone's race is not white that they are at a disadvantage is bigotry. Hands down. Aaaaand I've maxed out my boggle-meter on that last one. Advice on how or whether to continue would be welcome. Sympathetic boggling would also be welcome. This entry is crossposted at http://elf.dreamwidth.org/286393.html. You can comment there with OpenID from your LJ or IJ account. Comments so far: (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
elfwreck	10:34p	OD'd on tryptophan The post I wrote last night and didn't send 'cos I'd just posted something else and I always feel ridiculous making two posts in an hour: I like the dressing. Rob makes the best turkey dressing in the world. He makes croutons from sourdough bread & italian dressing, and it's got sausage and ground beef and celery and onions, and chantrelles & crimini mushrooms and cherries and water chestnuts. And Blossom came down from Wolf Creek and made cranberry relish; yaaay! and I made mashed potatoes, and Gail made apples-and-sweet-potatoes with the recipe Rob got from the WitchesWithBrains yahoogroup, and we had brussels sprouts and candied carrots, and pumpkin pie that Rob made yesterday. And turkey. And gravy made from the turkey drippings. Mygods I'm stuffed. It's all really, really yummy food. And we'll have leftovers for daaaaayz. Including enough cranberry relish to make piroshkis tomorrow and maybe to have to take to work next week. And I'm, like, DRUGGED. From the tryptophan. I want to sleep now and wake up... Tuesday. Instead, we have four extra people in our room who are watching the movie "Crowley" while I try to find new fanfic. This entry is crossposted at http://elf.dreamwidth.org/284746.html. You can comment there with OpenID from your LJ or IJ account. Comments so far: (Comment on this)
elfwreck	10:20p	Pagan terminology meta I put together a list of Pagan terms for use by nonpagans, specifically writers, at writing_religion: Pagan terminology for nonpagan writers. It's about 2700 words long. I'd welcome any feedback or questions; part of me thinks it's okay, and part thinks it's about 1/3 done and needs at total rewrite--but if I waited until I thought it was "finished," I'd never get it posted. And there really isn't enough info available *about* Pagans that's not written for people who are joining/members of Pagan religions. And incompleteness is not necessarily wrong, in this case. It's more important to me that nonpagans understand the complexity of the issues than that they learn the details involved. This entry is crossposted at http://elf.dreamwidth.org/284671.html. You can comment there with OpenID from your LJ or IJ account. Comments so far: (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
elfwreck	7:56a	More Hmm. I'm not finding a couple of the blog posts I'd spotted yesterday, that aren't related to the adult privs checklist but were about child agency and the concept that kids, acting like kids, in public, is something the public should just deal with--kids are people, and age-appropriate behavior isn't something that should be kept out of sight of nonparents. Some of these have fascinating comment threads. And by "fascinating," I mean "soaked in privilege and offensive as hell." Related but not necessarily connected posts: Nov 3, Noble Savage: On Child Hate and Feminism "Participating in child-bashing is participating in the oppression of a vulnerable group. … admitting that motherhood went from overrated to undervalued in 40 years flat isn’t something many of us want to acknowledge." Oct 23, Look Left of the Pleiades: People who dance between tables "Having a need for age-specific support should not make anyone any less human." Apr 23, Have A Lovely Time: I'm sorry, does my children's presence offend you? "HOW do you cope when your arrival leads to an immediate and sharp intake of breath from the other customers?" Aug 8, Syracuse.com opinion blog: Discrimination against special needs is unacceptable "They had just as much a right to patronize that restaurant as anyone else. They deserved to be welcomed with respect and kindness. This was not the case." (Does not mention whether younger children without disabilities would be equally accepted.) Adult Privilege Sound-off: Nov 24, Dr. Helen: Your right to bring your screaming child on a plane ends where the rest of our ears begin. "If a kid does not understand how to act in certain settings, teach him or her or don't put them in that setting until they are older. The world will be a better (and quieter) place." Nov 24, Tim Cavanaugh at Reason: No Child's Left Behind "here is (very unscientific) evidence that spanking is poised for a comeback" (With special bonus racism in the comments!) April 8, Guardian: There comes a time when you want to live without children "To buy a property in the village, you have to be 45-plus with no dependent family in tow, and you must sign a contract agreeing not to sell property on to those with children." ETA: Link back to other Adult Privilege linkspam. This entry is crossposted at http://elf.dreamwidth.org/284210.html. You can comment there with OpenID from your LJ or IJ account. Comments so far: (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
elfwreck	11:54p	Adult Privilege Linkspam I may or may not find time to make a coherent post about this anytime soon. This one's important to me; the way we treat children in this country ranges from atrocity to tragedy. But it's late; I have to be up in five and a half hours (because, heh, one of my kids does not mesh well with public school). As a placeholder, have some linkspam: Nov 16 @ Shut Up, Sit Down: Adult Privilege Checklist Reading a post by Elena Perez at California NOW made me think about privilege checklists (like the Male Privilege Checklist and the White Privilege Checklist, for example) and I came to the realisation that, as yet, nobody had written an adult privilege checklist. So with some help from my good friend Jenny, using some of Elena Perez’s ideas from the aforementioned post, I set about writing the Adult Privilege Checklist. Background; older posts: April 13, Mothers For Women's Lib: You’ll never truly be “child free” Oct 22, Raising My Boychick: Dancing between the tables: on the personhood of children Nov 11, California NOW: Feminist Parenting: The Larger Picture Nov 4, Left of the Pleiades: Dear Kate Harding Reactions: naraht: Adult privilege hl: The Opression of Chilhood. In which I try for emotionless and hard analysis (and fail) sqbr: Intersections of youth and other aspects of the kyriarchy Saraspeaking: Mind. Blown. flourish: Adult Privilege prettysock: Adult Privilege Online Link fwd to More adult priv links. This entry is crossposted at http://elf.dreamwidth.org/284122.html. You can comment there with OpenID from your LJ or IJ account. Comments so far: (Comment on this)