(no subject)

* The fire in Colorado has eaten at least 346 houses. People have lost pretty much everything. Its only 10% contained. It's now expected to burn until mid-July.

il_volpe's fire update: http://il-volpe.livejournal.com/31740.html

* Health care Reform has been upheld. Chief justice Roberts (!?!?!!!) backed the law. O.o

* It's looking like Fast and Furious is pretty much the exact opposite of the way FOX is reporting it. It turns out it was an effort to stop straw purchasers buying large quantities of guns for Mexican cartels stymied by Arizona gun laws that make this a legal endeavor. They weren't walking guns across the border, instead they were begging prosecutors to let them arrest folks trafficking in guns. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47989040

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* "Plague confirmed in Oregon man bitten by stray cat:" http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2018441336_apusplagueoregon.html

* "Closeted LGBTQs Owe You Nothing:" http://neo-prodigy.livejournal.com/1074592.html

I live all the way out. I am aware of that being a matter of privilege. I'm on government disability, so I don't have to deal with work discrimination. I live in a fairly quiltbag friendly town in a left leaning region. I still face risk when I leave my house, but to a certain extent my disability shields me. (Would you want to be the guy in court explaining why you beat up a helpless cripple?) For me, the risk is acceptable, but it isn't for other people with other circumstances. Out or in, open or stealth is and should remain a personal decision.

Unless you are a public figure doing material harm to other Quiltbag folks, outing is completely unacceptable. So is shaming people who have made their own calculations about how out they want to be.

As always, I ask "Let's stop oppressing each other and instead to make things better for everyone."

* "Some things on my mind: Women of color and the virgin/whore dichtomy:" http://eshusplayground.tumblr.com/post/25381853559/some-things-on-my-mind-women-of-color-and-the

* "Sharon Needles' Clueless Bigotry:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/06/sharon-needles-clueless-bigotry.html

* I've been reading Sisters Red (also rereading Magic Labyrinth, the forth Riverworld novel, and some non-fiction I had to barrel through when I was getting my MA that deserved more leisurely consideration). Sisters Red is a modern twist on Little Red Riding hood with Werewolves with strong female leads. It's a fast read, with strong plotting, interesting world building, and whole lot going on under the surface as far as sister relationships, sacrifice and necessary self interest, and what it means to be a woman in a society full of dangers. I think the theme in it about choices and identity is a really important one, and handled in a fairly organic way. I did guess the plot twists but I generally do, and it was a satisfying read.

* I spent a disappointing hour or two today physician hunting. Sigh. Most of it with Hector howling at me because he objects to phones. Note to self: distribute goosh before trying to do internet research/phone calls.

* It looks like I may get lasiks when probate goes through, as it's reasonably priced and it's a reasonable car trip to get. This will be a huge help as there is no longer eye doctor/glasses coverage for the poor and I think I'm going to need bifocals soon. It looks like a good investment. Even the minimalist bottom surgery I am sort of interested in is way expensive and requires travel, so while I'm still pursuing a lead, it's likely not going to happen. (My choices are basically get a passport and try Canada or take a plane to one of the US providers. My documents are still in limbo, also waiting for probate, which means five or six steps between now and me seeing a Doctor. Just thinking about it makes me tired.)

* I think I confused folks with the goat milk thing. 1. I love goat cheese, but do not drink milk of any kind ever for the same reason I don't eat mayonnaise or swallow sperm. It's a texture issue mostly. 2,. I was given a thing of goat milk. I tried it in tea and it was too much/overwhelming for the tea. 3. I am looking for suggestions of things that it would be good to bake with.

Sorry for being unclear.

* Tumblr continues to baffle me. The picture I posted a while back of e. coli is now the most popular thing I've posted over there, with more than double the attention that the thing about Internment camps got, the previous winner. These are not popular by tumblr standards, but they are by things I post standards if that makes sense. I posted it as part of a serious of microbe photos in support of my belief that often terrible and deadly things turn out to be beautiful. Here it is in case you are curious: http://gottabeki.tumblr.com/post/26109839951/realcleverscience-gwydionmisha-e-coli

(no subject)

* The fire in Colorado has eaten at least 346 houses. People have lost pretty much everything. Its only 10% contained. It's now expected to burn until mid-July.

il_volpe's fire update: http://il-volpe.livejournal.com/31740.html

* Health care Reform has been upheld. Chief justice Roberts (!?!?!!!) backed the law. O.o

* It's looking like Fast and Furious is pretty much the exact opposite of the way FOX is reporting it. It turns out it was an effort to stop straw purchasers buying large quantities of guns for Mexican cartels stymied by Arizona gun laws that make this a legal endeavor. They weren't walking guns across the border, instead they were begging prosecutors to let them arrest folks trafficking in guns. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47989040

( Embed: )

* "Plague confirmed in Oregon man bitten by stray cat:" http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2018441336_apusplagueoregon.html

* "Closeted LGBTQs Owe You Nothing:" http://neo-prodigy.livejournal.com/1074592.html

I live all the way out. I am aware of that being a matter of privilege. I'm on government disability, so I don't have to deal with work discrimination. I live in a fairly quiltbag friendly town in a left leaning region. I still face risk when I leave my house, but to a certain extent my disability shields me. (Would you want to be the guy in court explaining why you beat up a helpless cripple?) For me, the risk is acceptable, but it isn't for other people with other circumstances. Out or in, open or stealth is and should remain a personal decision.

Unless you are a public figure doing material harm to other Quiltbag folks, outing is completely unacceptable. So is shaming people who have made their own calculations about how out they want to be.

As always, I ask "Let's stop oppressing each other and instead to make things better for everyone."

* "Some things on my mind: Women of color and the virgin/whore dichtomy:" http://eshusplayground.tumblr.com/post/25381853559/some-things-on-my-mind-women-of-color-and-the

* "Sharon Needles' Clueless Bigotry:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/06/sharon-needles-clueless-bigotry.html

* I've been reading Sisters Red (also rereading Magic Labyrinth, the forth Riverworld novel, and some non-fiction I had to barrel through when I was getting my MA that deserved more leisurely consideration). Sisters Red is a modern twist on Little Red Riding hood with Werewolves with strong female leads. It's a fast read, with strong plotting, interesting world building, and whole lot going on under the surface as far as sister relationships, sacrifice and necessary self interest, and what it means to be a woman in a society full of dangers. I think the theme in it about choices and identity is a really important one, and handled in a fairly organic way. I did guess the plot twists but I generally do, and it was a satisfying read.

* I spent a disappointing hour or two today physician hunting. Sigh. Most of it with Hector howling at me because he objects to phones. Note to self: distribute goosh before trying to do internet research/phone calls.

* It looks like I may get lasiks when probate goes through, as it's reasonably priced and it's a reasonable car trip to get. This will be a huge help as there is no longer eye doctor/glasses coverage for the poor and I think I'm going to need bifocals soon. It looks like a good investment. Even the minimalist bottom surgery I am sort of interested in is way expensive and requires travel, so while I'm still pursuing a lead, it's likely not going to happen. (My choices are basically get a passport and try Canada or take a plane to one of the US providers. My documents are still in limbo, also waiting for probate, which means five or six steps between now and me seeing a Doctor. Just thinking about it makes me tired.)

* I think I confused folks with the goat milk thing. 1. I love goat cheese, but do not drink milk of any kind ever for the same reason I don't eat mayonnaise or swallow sperm. It's a texture issue mostly. 2,. I was given a thing of goat milk. I tried it in tea and it was too much/overwhelming for the tea. 3. I am looking for suggestions of things that it would be good to bake with.

Sorry for being unclear.

* Tumblr continues to baffle me. The picture I posted a while back of e. coli is now the most popular thing I've posted over there, with more than double the attention that the thing about Internment camps got, the previous winner. These are not popular by tumblr standards, but they are by things I post standards if that makes sense. I posted it as part of a serious of microbe photos in support of my belief that often terrible and deadly things turn out to be beautiful. Here it is in case you are curious: http://gottabeki.tumblr.com/post/26109839951/realcleverscience-gwydionmisha-e-coli

Stonewall Meditation

I watched the Stonewall Documentary on The American Experience. This is a bit of history I know well, but I think it's important to remember what they risked and to record and listen to the voices of our elders before they disappear. I was born in the year of the Riots (There were two), and I think it's important to take a little time now and then to think about how different my life would have been without them, even though I didn't hear about them until much later. It was Stonewall that opened up the discussion of LGBT rights in the mainstream. It was the March after Stonewall that really crystallized a new, more dynamic protest movement and led to widespread organizing for change. It was Stonewall that made it possible for me to grow up with a few positive portrayals of queer folk in the media mixed in with the crap. I have so often said that it was the drag queens and the butch lesbians and most especially the people of colour, the ones with the least power and societal support who put it the most on the line at Stonewall, who took the risks. I have always thought it shameful that the movement as it developed tried so hard to marginalize those same people who were the bravest and risked the most. It's been pointed out that most of the drag queens at Stonewall later transitioned. It was heartwarming to see that they included a trans woman of colour amoung the documentary interviewees. I'd have liked to see more diversity, but at least they tried. The thing that I did see that was new to me, was they included a retired policeman who had been on the other side during the riots, and his remorse at the end was touching.

We can measure our progress in the length of my life time. In the trans community sometimes we look across this huge chasm at each other, the pre Stonewall folk and the post Stonewall folk, our experiences and perspectives leaving us struggling to make sense of each other. The gap is there in LGB gatherings too, though I don't think it's quite as wide. I have found myself at the Big Gay Potluck or at trans gatherings trying to explain my generation and the millennials to well meaning folks who were adults before they even had a word for themselves, for whom the modern diversity and complexity of labels, orientation, gender, and identity has evolved at light speed, leaving them gasping. I have similarly found myself trying to explain to Millenials why the boomers and olders are so different, what they suffered, or sat trying to wrap my head around the experience of someone who's isolation growing up was so absolute they really did think they were the only one

Stonewall Meditation

I watched the Stonewall Documentary on The American Experience. This is a bit of history I know well, but I think it's important to remember what they risked and to record and listen to the voices of our elders before they disappear. I was born in the year of the Riots (There were two), and I think it's important to take a little time now and then to think about how different my life would have been without them, even though I didn't hear about them until much later. It was Stonewall that opened up the discussion of LGBT rights in the mainstream. It was the March after Stonewall that really crystallized a new, more dynamic protest movement and led to widespread organizing for change. It was Stonewall that made it possible for me to grow up with a few positive portrayals of queer folk in the media mixed in with the crap. I have so often said that it was the drag queens and the butch lesbians and most especially the people of colour, the ones with the least power and societal support who put it the most on the line at Stonewall, who took the risks. I have always thought it shameful that the movement as it developed tried so hard to marginalize those same people who were the bravest and risked the most. It's been pointed out that most of the drag queens at Stonewall later transitioned. It was heartwarming to see that they included a trans woman of colour amoung the documentary interviewees. I'd have liked to see more diversity, but at least they tried. The thing that I did see that was new to me, was they included a retired policeman who had been on the other side during the riots, and his remorse at the end was touching.

We can measure our progress in the length of my life time. In the trans community sometimes we look across this huge chasm at each other, the pre Stonewall folk and the post Stonewall folk, our experiences and perspectives leaving us struggling to make sense of each other. The gap is there in LGB gatherings too, though I don't think it's quite as wide. I have found myself at the Big Gay Potluck or at trans gatherings trying to explain my generation and the millennials to well meaning folks who were adults before they even had a word for themselves, for whom the modern diversity and complexity of labels, orientation, gender, and identity has evolved at light speed, leaving them gasping. I have similarly found myself trying to explain to Millenials why the boomers and olders are so different, what they suffered, or sat trying to wrap my head around the experience of someone who's isolation growing up was so absolute they really did think they were the only one