(no subject)
Sep. 26th, 2025 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
There’s this essay I read in college—I want to say it was by Sartre? A philosophy student asks the author “Should I go fight in the war, or take care of my family?” The author talks about the different people the student could ask, and how each of them has an answer they will give. By choosing to ask someone who’ll give that answer, the student has already made a choice of what to do. Therefore, there is no way the student can avoid making his own decision.
Argument 1 for why this is full of shit: there’s a porn story called “Pick a Laine” where the main character decides whether to enter a 24/7 BDSM relationship. She asks several friends about this, one of whom is already in such a relationship. The friend in the relationship points out that she’ll obviously say “Go for it,” but the main character synthesizes the different things the different friends say. Even if the choice is ultimately hers, the act of asking the question matters!
Argument 2 for why this is full of shit: when you ask another person whether to fight or take care of your family, that person makes a decision on what answer to give. If that decision is predetermined—a certain kind of person will give a certain answer—then why is your decision not predetermined? What makes your decision more free than the decision of another person you might ask? (I think this ties into stuff @liskantope talks about.)
Argument 1 for why this is full of shit: there’s a porn story called “Pick a Laine” where the main character decides whether to enter a 24/7 BDSM relationship. She asks several friends about this, one of whom is already in such a relationship. The friend in the relationship points out that she’ll obviously say “Go for it,” but the main character synthesizes the different things the different friends say. Even if the choice is ultimately hers, the act of asking the question matters!
Argument 2 for why this is full of shit: when you ask another person whether to fight or take care of your family, that person makes a decision on what answer to give. If that decision is predetermined—a certain kind of person will give a certain answer—then why is your decision not predetermined? What makes your decision more free than the decision of another person you might ask? (I think this ties into stuff @liskantope talks about.)
Gayle Rubin on Categories
Sep. 25th, 2025 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
“Our categories are important. We cannot organize a social life, a political movement, or our individual identities and desires without them. The fact that categories invariably leak and can never contain all the relevant ‘existing things’ does not render them useless, only limited. Categories like ‘woman,’ ‘butch,’ ‘lesbian,’ or ‘transsexual’ are all imperfect, historical, temporary, and arbitrary. We use them and they use us. We use them to construct meaningful lives, and they mold us into historically specific forms of personhood. Instead of fighting for immaculate classifications and impenetrable boundaries, let us strive to maintain a community that understands diversity as a gift, sees anomalies as precious, and treats all basic principles with a hefty dose of skepticism.” —Gayle Rubin, “Of catamites and kings: Reflections on butch, gender, and boundaries,” The Persistent Desire: a Femme-Butch Reader, Boston: Alyson Publications, 1992, pg. 477-478
Rubin was talking about lesbian political fights about trans people and the overlap and boundaries between butch and transsexuality (and there’s LOTS of expressions of what we’d nowadays call trans and gender dysphoria in A Persistent Desire), but I think the same ideas apply to multi/plural/many-selved stuff too. Goodness knows I spent enough time chewing on my arm because I couldn’t figure out how to express a concept without it turning into a hopeless argument over the terms in use. This whole essay has a lot of great quotes (“sexual preference, gender roles, and political stance cannot be equated, and do not directly determine or reflect one another”) and is worth reading.
Also it’s just really nice to see an essay over thirty years old saying “cool your jets about trans people, it’s fine. Your politics will survive.”
Mori wants this book like burning. Too bad used paperbacks start at $100.
Rubin was talking about lesbian political fights about trans people and the overlap and boundaries between butch and transsexuality (and there’s LOTS of expressions of what we’d nowadays call trans and gender dysphoria in A Persistent Desire), but I think the same ideas apply to multi/plural/many-selved stuff too. Goodness knows I spent enough time chewing on my arm because I couldn’t figure out how to express a concept without it turning into a hopeless argument over the terms in use. This whole essay has a lot of great quotes (“sexual preference, gender roles, and political stance cannot be equated, and do not directly determine or reflect one another”) and is worth reading.
Also it’s just really nice to see an essay over thirty years old saying “cool your jets about trans people, it’s fine. Your politics will survive.”
Mori wants this book like burning. Too bad used paperbacks start at $100.
(no subject)
Sep. 25th, 2025 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Reading about how Megalovania was inspired by music from Brandish 2.
If I’d had to guess based on zero information, I would have said the Final Fantasy VI boss music was the inspiration behind Megalovania:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ksnA3Qjx5Q
If I’d had to guess based on zero information, I would have said the Final Fantasy VI boss music was the inspiration behind Megalovania:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ksnA3Qjx5Q
(no subject)
Sep. 24th, 2025 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I don’t go here, but that purple-haired ninja girl as a T. rex: “Ninkoro ninkoro ninkoro ni . . .”
Headaches
Sep. 24th, 2025 08:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We have gotten way behind in digital communications and want to apologize. Since last Tuesday, we’ve been getting rolling migraines that we keep staving off, only to have them come back the next day, and screens make it worse. So much of our work involves computers that we’ve really had to strangle our digital activity if it’s not the most important. This is unusual for us and we don’t know why it’s happening; hopefully it’ll pass soon. If not, we may have to make more lifestyle adjustments.
Our brain and eyes just really don’t like bright or LED lights, guys.
Our brain and eyes just really don’t like bright or LED lights, guys.
Loss of Consort
Sep. 23rd, 2025 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Rogan: Okay, so, in the "Summary of Legal Survey Data from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation" paper we talked about, we came across this contorted sentence:
Mori asked what the fuck "loss of consort by non-accused husbands of wives who are developing images of parental child abuse" meant. I replied that it sounded like "women dealing with memories of being abused don't want to fuck their husbands and that's so hard FOR THE HUSBANDS," but that sounded so over-the-top evil that even I couldn't believe the FMSF would say it.
Readers, I checked, and that's EXACTLY what it means. But why is this bad?
( aaaaAAAAAAaaaah )
"The most dramatic toll on families queried by the Legal Survey is loss of contact with children and grandchildren, loss of consort by non-accused husbands of wives who are developing images of parental child abuse, loss of privacy, injury to reputation, increased health problems and marital stress." (4)
Mori asked what the fuck "loss of consort by non-accused husbands of wives who are developing images of parental child abuse" meant. I replied that it sounded like "women dealing with memories of being abused don't want to fuck their husbands and that's so hard FOR THE HUSBANDS," but that sounded so over-the-top evil that even I couldn't believe the FMSF would say it.
Readers, I checked, and that's EXACTLY what it means. But why is this bad?
( aaaaAAAAAAaaaah )
Recommended Reading Order
Sep. 23rd, 2025 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Rogan: Someone who bought the Ebook mmmMEGAPACK confessed being overwhelmed by the gazillion titles, where to start, and how to read it. Which... fair. There's dozens of works in there.
(Some of these works may not be in the Megapack yet. Don't worry if you can't find a title.)
STANDALONES (READ WHENEVER)
RECOMMENDED READING ORDER FOR THE STUFF WHERE THAT MATTERS
Hope that helps!
(Some of these works may not be in the Megapack yet. Don't worry if you can't find a title.)
STANDALONES (READ WHENEVER)
RECOMMENDED READING ORDER FOR THE STUFF WHERE THAT MATTERS
Hope that helps!
I’m reading A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace
Sep. 22nd, 2025 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Nothing so far has indicated the angels are anything less than perfectly good.
Magic comes from the angels, and is prepared by prayer and philosophical contemplation.
Even magic-users assume other magic-users can be evil.
Make it make sense!
Magic comes from the angels, and is prepared by prayer and philosophical contemplation.
Even magic-users assume other magic-users can be evil.
Make it make sense!
I’m reading Notorious Sorcerer
Sep. 21st, 2025 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Notorious Sorcerer would make a good name for a DJ.
Anyway, I’m not loving this male lead. He hates the rich almost as much as he desperately wishes he were one of them. He says the rich don’t have to follow rules, and he uses that as an excuse to ignore rules as well. He’s 22, but he reminds me of the kind of characters who’re expected to be “relatable” to 15-year-olds.
Anyway, I’m not loving this male lead. He hates the rich almost as much as he desperately wishes he were one of them. He says the rich don’t have to follow rules, and he uses that as an excuse to ignore rules as well. He’s 22, but he reminds me of the kind of characters who’re expected to be “relatable” to 15-year-olds.
(no subject)
Sep. 21st, 2025 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So many issues where the left wing tells the right wing “You don’t have to be a Hard Man making Hard Decisions. It’s possible to make everyone better off.”
Then you get to environmentalism, and the left goes “Yeah, we’re boned unless we can make some Hard Decisions here.”
Then you get to environmentalism, and the left goes “Yeah, we’re boned unless we can make some Hard Decisions here.”
Many-Selved-Portraiture at New England Graphic Medicine Summit!
Sep. 20th, 2025 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hey guys! Friday, October 24th will be the New England Graphic Medicine Summit, and I'm gonna be giving a presentation! Remember when I was gathering up all those many-selved family portraits? THEIR TIME HAS COME!
But now that I'm looking back at all those portraits I accumulated almost a year ago, jeez, I realize I have no memory of whether anyone's consent was given. So: if you've given me a selves-portrait, please let me know whether you'd be okay with me using it at a live event in Boston, which will then be recorded (and probably put on Youtube). Those of you I have contact info for, I've gone to poke!
For other folks who missed all this a year ago: please, send us your selves-portraits! All mediums and skill levels welcome, all interpretations of “family portrait” and “many-selved.” Please give a date and artist/s name for attribution and citation purposes. You can link in the comments below or send them to us at loonybrain at healthymultiplicity.com
But now that I'm looking back at all those portraits I accumulated almost a year ago, jeez, I realize I have no memory of whether anyone's consent was given. So: if you've given me a selves-portrait, please let me know whether you'd be okay with me using it at a live event in Boston, which will then be recorded (and probably put on Youtube). Those of you I have contact info for, I've gone to poke!
For other folks who missed all this a year ago: please, send us your selves-portraits! All mediums and skill levels welcome, all interpretations of “family portrait” and “many-selved.” Please give a date and artist/s name for attribution and citation purposes. You can link in the comments below or send them to us at loonybrain at healthymultiplicity.com
(no subject)
Sep. 20th, 2025 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Comment on a negative review of Someone You Can Build a Nest In:
“If you can get past all of the incel shit Everybody Loves Large Chests has more of what you're looking for”
Personally, I don’t think I can get past the incel shit.
“If you can get past all of the incel shit Everybody Loves Large Chests has more of what you're looking for”
Personally, I don’t think I can get past the incel shit.
Still reading Chum
Sep. 20th, 2025 06:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I like how most of the time we get a villain perspective, they show some kind of positive trait, even if they’re largely a bad person. The only perspective I’ve seen so far who’s just a complete and unmitigated tool is Aaron.
MST: "Summary of Legal Survey Data from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation," 1993
Sep. 20th, 2025 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Rogan: I am making the terrible mistake of staying up late, reading the False Memory Syndrome Foundation's "Summary of Legal Survey Data from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation: presented FMSF Conference Memory and Reality: Emerging Crisis" from April 17, 1993, so Y'ALL ARE COMING WITH ME.
( I hope y'all packed your shit-wading boots! Lawsuits, sexual abuse, and gaslighting behind the cut! )
( I hope y'all packed your shit-wading boots! Lawsuits, sexual abuse, and gaslighting behind the cut! )
(no subject)
Sep. 19th, 2025 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hot take: “hick” should be considered offensive for the same reason “trailer trash” is offensive.
(no subject)
Sep. 17th, 2025 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I think I said this before, but the Royal Road comments section is so demanding. Change X, don’t do Y, I’m gonna stop reading because of Z . . .
Still reading Chum
Sep. 17th, 2025 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I’m joining the crowd in the comments section who are not a fan of the fame-seeking edgelord who named themself after a manga villain.
I’m reading Chum
Sep. 17th, 2025 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
“Jawn: (chiefly in eastern Pennsylvania) used to refer to a thing, place, person, or event that one need not or cannot give a specific name to.”
So far, this is sounding less like “thingamabob” and more like “smurf.”
So far, this is sounding less like “thingamabob” and more like “smurf.”