gwydion | The Rough Sort Is Extra Rough and I Didn't Weed Older Stuff (Reply)

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* Tell me you get turned on by dead fish without telling me. "Ohio mayor concerned ice shanties could lead to prostitution:" https://apnews.com/article/ohio-cleveland-bf6a9817a5d910411679a2781e23210c

* "Governor Glenn Youngkin accused of ‘toxic culture’ after aides attack teen on Twitter:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/07/virginia-governor-glenn-youngkin-aides-attack-teen-on-twitter

* "Fla. Republicans ditch Texas-style abortion law for what they call a ‘generous’ 15-week ban, drawing criticism from all sides:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/abortion-ban-florida-texas-roe-supreme-court/

* "Florida Republicans move toward abortion ban with new proposed restrictions:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/florida-republicans-move-toward-abortion-ban-with-new-proposed-restrictions-133003333930

* "Vermont moves forward on becoming first state to guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/08/abortion-roe-vermont/

* "BBC's 'transphobic reporting' called out in international human rights review:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/15/ilga-europe-transphobia-uk-bbc/

* "Netherlands could be next country to ban 'medieval' conversion therapy:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/14/netherlands-conversion-therapy-ban/

* "Staff quit UK's so-called equalities watchdog en masse over relentless 'transphobia':" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/04/ehrc-baroness-falkner-staff-quit-transphobia/

* "Queer students feel ‘betrayed’ after Cambridge college bans Pride flag:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/05/cambridge-college-pride-flag-gonville-caius/

* "The Importance of Seeking Social Security Survivor's Benefits:" https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/2/04/importance-seeking-social-security-survivors-benefits

* "South Dakota Governor Signs Anti-Trans Sports Bill Into Law:" https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2022/2/03/south-dakota-governor-kristi-noem-signs-anti-trans-sports-bill-law

* I'm so happy for them both! "Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta Marries Fiancé Dr. Matthew Jordan-Miller:" https://www.advocate.com/people/2022/2/06/rep-malcolm-kenyatta-marries-fiance-dr-matthew-jordan-miller

* "Paralysed man with severed spine walks thanks to implant:" https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60258620

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* "Study finds Western megadrought is the worst in 1,200 years:" https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/1080302434/study-finds-western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years

* "Venezuela opens probe into table-top mountain 'party':" https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220210-venezuela-opens-probe-into-table-top-mountain-party

* "Plastic crisis needs binding treaty, report says:" https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60026748

* "The fast fashion graveyard in a desert:" https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-60249712

* "SpaceX satellites falling out of orbit after solar storm:" https://apnews.com/article/spacex-space-launches-storms-science-business-4ac79ca2d9341f91f9c2897cb07363d4

* "Texas sues Meta's Facebook over facial-recognition practices:" https://www.reuters.com/technology/texas-sues-meta-over-facebooks-facial-recognition-practices-report-2022-02-14/

* CW: Animal Death. I really hope it works! "Vaccine trial for killer elephant virus begins:" https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60222464

* "The Actual “Assassins” Were Not What You Think:"

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* "10 Facts: Black Patriots in the American Revolution:" https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-black-patriots-american-revolution?fbclid=IwAR23B3fedgZUszN1wcJgIypLZCIRumPBqPCxtKAKkNZBGJ-sgGp_eZwN6l4

* "Zora Neale Hurston: Crash Course Black American History #30:"

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* "Chernobyl, The Worst Nuclear Disaster in History:"

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* "432 Park Ave: Luxury Apartments From Your Worst Nightmares | Corporate Casket:"

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* "Why World’s Finest Chocolate Isn’t So Sweet :"

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* "Russian skater Kamila Valieva can compete, but medal ceremony won't be held | CBC Sports:" https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/figure-skating/doping-hearing-russian-figure-skater-kamila-valieva-ruling-expected-mondady-1.6350402

* "Russian anti-doping agency allowed Kamila Valieva to compete in Olympics despite failed drug test:" https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/10/sport/kamila-valieva-roc-drugs-test-olympics-spt-intl-hnk/index.html

They need a hard ban. Last time it was a slap on the wrist, so of course they are still doing it.

For the record, I don't blame an abused 15 year old for doing what her abuser told her to do. I blame every single adult involved.

* "U.S. Figure Skater Vincent Zhou Addresses COVID Diagnosis In Tearful Video:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vincent-zhou-covid-winter-olympics_n_6202353fe4b0500424322946

* Every time that piece of shit Dick Button would body shame Irina Slutskaya, I'd throw up in my mouth a little and think about stabbings. https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/status/1492547898390708224

* We need to talk about Zhu Yi.

So here's the thing, in both the elite sports and the ballet world, people have been switching countries significantly longer than I've been alive. It a thing that happens. It's normal. There are a lot of reasons for it. sometimes, as during the Cold war, people outright defect(ed) because they think they will have a better life in the other country. This is an extremely familiar narrative even to people who don't follow figure skating (or ballet, or certain other sports), but it's not the only reason people do this.

In figure skating, it's incredibly common for people who are good, but live in a country with a large number of good skaters to, you know, move somewhere where they have more opportunities. People with duel citizenship will often pick the country with less competition for top slots because things like the Olympics max out a countries entries at three. If there are say four or even five of you vying for a limited number of slots at say Worlds or the Olympics, maybe it's worth staying, but what if you have an option to grab the one spot some other country has instead of fighting your way into those limited slots?

Keep in mind, a lot of those smaller countries very much want an elite skater to help build a program in their country and for the international prestige. They will welcome a duel citizen with open arms. Similarly, the child of emigres. Some of them will actively recruit athletes who've signaled an interest in leaving despite a lack of ties. (This happens in lots of Sports. Remember that Belarusian runner who defected in a Japanese airport who got taken in by a third country?) So if your country has no potential Olympians, or only very weak contenders, it really does make sense on both sides.

Last I checked eight Russian figure skaters were expected at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, five of them skating for other countries because the Russian women's single skate program is so incredibly dominant right now. If you are in the top four or five, might as well go be the best woman's single skater in some other nearby country.

You also get good skaters from smaller countries moving to live somewhere else without changing citizenship to be where the best coaches are. This is incredibly normal. you also get pairs and dance skaters who end up deciding to partner with someone from another country, who have to change citizenship so they can skate together. My point is, a lot of people live and train in one country and compete for another, or have moved between countries as they think is best for their development as skaters.

Would I want to pick China to switch to? No. Surveillance, genocide, concentration camps, rising anti-queer sentiment, etc., but I can see why the level of state support china gives their elite athletes might attract someone who was talented but not likely to get much support or exposure in the US. It's not the choice I would likely make, but I can understand someone who did, especially someone with her background. This really likely was her best option, possibly her only option besides skating here. Keep in mind, most athletes above a certain level have lived and dreamed and sacrificed most of their childhood and teen years to try to do this one thing very, very well. It's easy for people who never were that kind of choice to judge that choice harshly. I prefer exercising a little empathy.

Last winter Olympics, there was a Kazakhstani ladies single skater who was good enough to score two slots for her country. There were not two women at the right level to fill those slots and there was a controversy, because the second best Kazakhstani lady figure skater came anyway instead of that slot to the next eligible person from another country. and yes, it sucked that that other woman didn't get to go, but realistically, neither of these women were going to medal. So picture for a second if you were an amateur Kazakhstani skater and you had a once in a lifetime chance to travel to Korea to skate on televisions all over the world wearing your tiara. Realistically, I'd guess 99% of us would have been skating in our tiaras even if the world called us selfish. It's nice to say, oh, you'd cede that slot, but no one offered you one. I don't think any of us know we'd for sure say no.

Also, you know why Zhu Yi was skating for China in Beijing? They literally had no woman single skater better than her. No really. When I heard China was going to the team event, I thought, "Huh. Who's they get for the woman's single skate?" Because I could think of anyone this cycle at that level to take the slot. when I saw who it was, I was like, oh! I vaguely remember her from pre-pandemic. Which means she was good enough for me to have seen her and for to have made some sort of impression though not a strong one either way. If China had a woman with a 60+ short, she'd have been in that slot. Ask yourself seriously, in her place, given a chance for better coaching and a ticket to the Olympics, would you really say no? Because I think a whole lot of armchair skate fans would say yes, even with all the stuff going on in China.

And then there is the extreme cyber bullying which makes me furious. She was clearly doing her best in the short. I have been listening to Canadian skate commentators every year since I moved up here in '98 and I have never heard them as quietly furious as they were during the long program at the harm people on social media heave done to this young woman. She is nineteen. A teenager. her whole life has been about trying to do this one thing she loved. She's not a murderer, like Kyle Rittenhouse, or a monster. She is a teenager who wanted to skate more than anything in the world and now hate is pouring down on her from all sides with no thought at all to her humanity or her youth. The cruelty of it. I just have no fucking words.

Of course she couldn't skate well under those conditions. Could you? Could anyone?

I don't know her. I'll never meet her, but oh do I have empathy for her, because this is a terrible thing for anyone to have done to them, especially a young woman with all the pressures that the world piles on young women just in general.

Fuckssake, can we think before we pile on? Expend a little empathy like the Canadian Skate commentators, instead of being the gears of hate grinding up young athletes trying to do their best in one of the most high pressure situations is possible for an athlete to be in.

* "Kamila Valieva and Zhu Yi are victims in Winter Olympics’ puppet theatre of pain:" https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/11/kamila-valieva-zhu-yi-victims-winter-olympics-puppet-theatre-pain-beijing-2022

* "Vladimir Putin Blames the West & Inside the U.N.:" https://www.cc.com/video/jrahoy/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-vladimir-putin-blames-the-west-inside-the-u-n

* "The NFL's Black Coaching Crisis:" https://www.cc.com/video/nfqbdg/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-the-nfl-s-black-coaching-crisis

* "Tesla's Auto-Pilot Problem & Road Rage Ends in Gunfire:" https://www.cc.com/video/fx5bsb/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-tesla-s-auto-pilot-problem-road-rage-ends-in-gunfire

* "Sexual Harassment in the Metaverse & Pence vs. Trump:" https://www.cc.com/video/9ztvhd/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-sexual-harassment-in-the-metaverse-pence-vs-trump

* "Joe Rogan's N-Word Controversy:" https://www.cc.com/video/2kdhuy/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-joe-rogan-s-n-word-controversy

* "Project Conspiracy - Sewer Tunnels:" https://www.cc.com/video/853gsx/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-project-conspiracy-sewer-tunnels

* "Black in Business - Legacy Cereal Company's Nic King:" https://www.cc.com/video/qy6ri6/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-black-in-business-legacy-cereal-company-s-nic-king

* "‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Universalized the Trans Experience (& Why Its Great):"

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* "Why Gay Men Love WandaVision:"

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* "Andrew Lloyd Webber on Roller Skates!? | The Painful Spectacle of Starlight Express:"

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* "Drunken Ghost Hunters: Sydney Quarantine Station:"

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* "True Facts: Proboscis Monkey:"

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* I had one of my perennial plague dreams. (I'm a life long plague watcher. 1 was a 14th century specialist before I parted ways with academia. I was dreaming about epidemics since the mid-to late 70's. So no, it's neither an AIDS thing nor a Covid thing.) In this one there was an outbreak of a weaponized... okay, not really small pox, but best described as some sort of Anthrax/smallpox cross? But not really. It was sort of an Anthrax timeline on latency and infection, with both pox and lesions and a small pox like rash following the lesions by about 12 hours, and lung symptoms.

A High school was the target, so the authorities locked it down and were trying to do quarantine and triage, but given how infectious small pox is... yeah. which is why the small town also had perimeter quarantine, since people could be infectious before the fever started and airbourne pathogens are bad.

I was lucid dreaming as is often the case. so I took to the air on the theory that a couple stories up was safer, grabbed a bedroll, provisions, etc. and was setting up camp on a roof top with a structure that could provide an overhang, as is a thing I often do in zombie outbreaks and epidemic scenarios in my dreams.

So I'm up on this roof top watching a massive crowd of parents and families gather in the sports fields around the school, all breathing on each other without masks and trying to press up on the National Guard as they worked themselves into an angry frenzy and it suddenly dawned on me: Anti-vaxxers are panicky nonsense south Park parents.

Bear with me. I hate south Park. I used to watch it while I was teaching because the kids were watching it, and it's good practice to read, watch, and listen to what they are consuming. It was essential to watch south Park in particular because 1. They'd tried to get around you using stuff from there and catching them every time taught them you were hard to trick that way. the more pop culture one was up on, the more they assumed one was basically omniscient and it solved a lot of problems before they started, and 2. The middle Schoolers would come in Monday morning with serious questions and concerns about what they saw and if they knew you knew south Park they'd ask you and you could use it for teachable moments, and things like that were where I did some of my best work as far as media literacy and getting kids to really think about what they are consuming.

But I fucking hate South Park for all the ways it's regressive and toxic. It's fed antisemitism and homophobia and transphobia and sexism and science denial and a whole host of toxic things in American culture. I hate it.

But, this connection I made in this dream has haunted me for two days. There's this thing the adults in South Park do where they hear something or something happens and they don't actually listen properly and they just panic and wildly over react and lose their shit and the next thing you know there's this mob of incensed nonsense spewing people who are violent or borderline violent.

I can't say one way or another if 25 years of this shitty regressive show being on the air and popular has caused this or merely reflects the shittiness always under the surface in American, but I saw that irrational nonsense and pathogen spewing crowd reacting exactly the wrong way in a pandemic and I thought of the anti-semetic South Park show with it's hysterical nonsense adults and the Neo-NAZIs making Ottawa unlivable right now and and Trumpist swastika waving anti-vaxxers beating up teachers and storming American state capitals and trying to overthrow the government and it just... felt like the same thing. idk. It's not deep, just an image stuck in my head from a dream.

* Classical Valentines: https://twitter.com/eduardo_garcmol/status/1492438829768269828

* Jorts and Jean, Please never change: https://twitter.com/JortsTheCat/status/1492226999360040960

* "Sunday Sweets: Be My Valentine:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2022/2/13/sunday-sweets-be-my-valentine

* "Reverse Plots:" https://www.thechatner.com/p/reverse-plots?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNjEzMzc4LCJwb3N0X2lkIjo0ODc0ODkzOCwiXyI6IngwWHkwIiwiaWF0IjoxNjQ0ODkwOTM2LCJleHAiOjE2NDQ4OTQ1MzYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi01Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.rTPZ7J68L5ieYr9Zg329mFgOVZCx7LJN1XAL3eAyaRk&r=ykw2

*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* "Stop the EARN IT Act to Save Privacy:" https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-privacy

* My Oldest Continuous friend's Elder Cat is getting up there and her special diet and health care for kidney failure is expensive. Gigi is a sweet, extremely cuddly girl and could use extra help. "Click here to show your support to Karrin Jackson's story *SupportGigiInHerOldAge:" https://www.spotfund.com/story/18393388-9914-4f6c-9f99-876aa019bdee

* Help LGBTQIA+ people escape Afghanistan: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lgbtq-afghan-refugees-rebuild-their-lives

* "The Rainbow Railroad:" https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/take-action

* Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/796848.html

* Even more Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://wendelah1.dreamwidth.org/788132.html

* Want to help Kimi Cole run for statewide office in Nevada? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kimi-cole-4-nevada-1

* I used all the bill money to fix my brakes. I need about 250.00-300 to cover bills for the month. Paypal Lethran@gmail.com or paypal.me/Gwydion

* Want to help get Rand Paul out of the senate? Support Charles Booker:" https://secure.actblue.com/donate/cb-ads-dd-google-senate-launch?source=ads_ms_CHB_20210701-DD-GS-SenateLaunch_brandedkw-Natl-1865U-MF_a003-CHB-cbfuss-gstxt-txt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxJqHBhC4ARIsAChq4auMxkyB4EqbiJYINuvQfZwWndHRj6juSW_B_MPhbIc8BhM8dJPkZbEaArBaEALw_wcB

* Want to help Chris Jones against Sarah Huckabee sanders in Arkansas? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/chrisjonesar

* Chicksaw bead artist and cool person has Kiamichi Beading suitable for non-native sale: https://www.instagram.com/kiamichi_beading/

* My oldest continuous friend made this. "Echoes of Kyrill:" https://www.dmsguild.com/product/366097/Echoes-of-Kyrill

* Mutual Aid Link Round Up: https://laughingacademy.tumblr.com/post/645696532415447040/popss-great-big-mutual-aid-masterpost

* Want to help the Asian Community?
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-to-help-asian-communities-2021.html
https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/stop-aapi-hate
https://www.advancingjustice-atlanta.org/

* Cat Rescue Fundraiser: https://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/642429918533304320/design-a-tea-where-tea-leaves-dream-custom

* "The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund!:" https://secure.actblue.com/donate/midwestibf

* What to help fight for queer people in Africa? Try the Initiative Sankofa D’Afrique de l’Ouest www.ISDAO.org

* Organizations to help trans folk: https://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/620857152453640195/about-us

* "How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct:" https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-film-police-safely

* Master Post for how to help organizations fighting Police violence: https://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/620861026680881152/oberynmartell-list-of-black-lives-matter-and

* How to donate to Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm?source=ADD200U0U00&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=googlepaid&utm_content=brand&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz8D9kYu46QIVqh6tBh2WogxQEAAYASAAEgK4FfD_BwE

* My oldest continuous friend's next project. "Goblingrief: A D&D 5e Adventure:" https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/482738549/goblingrief-a-dandd-5e-adventure?fbclid=IwAR0jBz9AdmIPSOk4KiCxiykxktX_ePCGTI0iCv9YFcnN2ENmdj5zna3LZnk

* Want to help Maxwell frost go to congress? https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/119806

* Want to help Val Demings unseat Marco Rubio? https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/117824

* Want to contribute to Morgan Harper's campaign? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ads_ms_mh_gs_202109_dd_launch?source=ads_ms_MH_20210903-DD-GS-Launch-National_mhkywrds-Natl-1865U-MF_a003-MH-ad3-gstxt-txt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqKuKBhCxARIsACf4XuGuQ_qm_8NW3mAhIySgB61jwTijPejfpvU6Gkt_JHp3b5YG4E75aWAaAhwTEALw_wcB

* Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey

* The Indivisible guide exists to help you organize effective resistance: https://indivisible.org/

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely protest in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: paypal.me/Gwydion

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/2108835.html

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Touched By a Zombie

The Rough Sort Is Extra Rough and I Didn't Weed Older Stuff

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May 2025

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