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Consider this the obligatory (-ish) introduction sticky.
Having said that, I have no clue where to start... I did a life update thing a few posts back, but that was more of a 'what I've been doing since' sort of thing.
I'm a teacher/professor (depending on what gig I can get), and I specialize in history, medieval history in particular. However, I taught a bang-up English class for 7 years, and I have taught art, literature, religious studies (as in history, not theology), culture, and even graduate-level courses in video game studies. Lately, though, it's middle school history, which is insanely frustrating, and not just because it's middle school.
I'm a gamer (shocking given above, I know!), artist, frustrated reader (who has the time?), and I dabble in fanfic (by 'dabble' I mean I have two 75K+ word fics and a handful of shorter ones on AO3 & FF.net). I have an amazing adult son who lives at home (because economy, also we're kind of besties), and 4 cats, I bake like a fiend over holidays, drink too much coffee, and have been vegetarian for..let's just say decades and leave it at that.
I am unapologetically left, atheist with a mostly stylistic & literary witchy streak, anti-capitalist, feminist, anti-racist, totally supportive of LGBTQ+ folks. I am also strongly pro-science, evidence, reality, and that sort of thing.
Here you will find everything from life updates, political commentary, tales from the (junior) academy, fandom squeeing, and fair warning: I can never see one of those 'fill out these weird questions' kind of memes.
Beyond that, welcome!
I have been reeling in the wake of the constant barrage of insanity from the White House, as I am sure most of us have. I remain convinced, now more than ever, that the Christo-fascists want to create a neo-feudal society, and everything being done now seems to indicate that is not hyperbole.
Forcing farmers out of business while Vance's firm enables wealthy oligarchs here and abroad to buy up that land for pennies on the dollar, while he has deported the large part of the workers who work that land. How will these 'investors' see a return on their new 'manor farms?' By getting peasant serfs to work them, of course. And where will they get a massive workforce who will accept such conditions? All the veterans, low-income workers, unemployed, and the other poor, hungry, and vulnerable whose protections, safety, and education he has been gutting.
When there is nowhere else to go, no other place to work, no other way to eat, those of us who survive that long will be the new peasant class. It's funny, I just taught the Three Orders of Medieval society: Those who fight, those who pray, and those who work. Those who fight are the monied aristocrats, owners of the land, the wealth, and the power. The notion that they actually fight is now obsolete, of course, but they will, as the gluttonous nobles did, lord over their little kingdoms with all the smug superiority of a fat, 9th C duke.
Those who pray, the clergy, the Joel Otseens and the Pat Hagees of this new feudalism will also hold land, wealth, and power. If the excesses of the medieval clerical class in the Middle Ages have shown us nothing else, it is that 'men of god' like to eat fine food and sleep in silk sheets just as much as any noble. Those who are the luminaries of the new Christian Nationalist Regime will stand at ease beside the oligarchs whose rule they endorse.
And those who work. All the rest of us. I have said many times that the wealth inequality in the US today is most closely mirrored by that of the feudal Middle Ages, before the 12th C Renaissance recreated the lost 'skilled, craftsman, or middle class. That inequality has been growing, and under the new regime being crafted before our dumbfounded eyes, it will continue to grow. With healthcare made inaccessible, birth control a distant memory, food insecurity the reality of life for the vast majority of Americans, and education reduced to the bare minimum needed to ensure compliance with basic directives, the new peasant class will be created. Call them proles, serfs, or whatever pseudo-patriotic and paternalistic moniker the oligarchs will craft, a peasant is still a peasant.
If you think this all sounds a bit too much like some tawdry Russian novel, well, I think the recent White House debacle makes clear why that is. Russia has always struggled with democracy, and even at those rare moments when some regime or other had the chance to elevate the peasant class, they have demurred (sometimes in fear for their lives, yes, but still.) If Russia has readily absorbed American Evangelical misogyny and bigotry (as evidenced by their oppression of LGBTQ folks, and the recent decriminalization of wife beating for example), then the US, or a certain red-hatted segment of it, has just as readily embraced the oppressive totalitarianism that would sacrifice its own wellbeing and that of everyone around them in the name of being able to shit on someone they hate more than the ruling class whose favor nd approval they crave.
The time to resist is now, but it is, I think, a window that will close far sooner than most of us think. The damage is being done now, there is no 'waiting it out for four years.' Barring extraordinary upheaval or some meaningful pushback, I genuinely think this reshaping of the American experiment will be fait accomplis by the time spring turns to summer. I know that Godwin's Law exists, as does its corollary, but it would be wise to recall that it took Hitler less than two months to dismantle German democracy. While the true effects of that may not have been evident until a year or two later, the core work was done in only 53 days. Fifty-three days, or one month and three-quarters, or seven weeks; however you phrase it, it is a mind-numbingly short time. 53 days. We are on day 45.
Forcing farmers out of business while Vance's firm enables wealthy oligarchs here and abroad to buy up that land for pennies on the dollar, while he has deported the large part of the workers who work that land. How will these 'investors' see a return on their new 'manor farms?' By getting peasant serfs to work them, of course. And where will they get a massive workforce who will accept such conditions? All the veterans, low-income workers, unemployed, and the other poor, hungry, and vulnerable whose protections, safety, and education he has been gutting.
When there is nowhere else to go, no other place to work, no other way to eat, those of us who survive that long will be the new peasant class. It's funny, I just taught the Three Orders of Medieval society: Those who fight, those who pray, and those who work. Those who fight are the monied aristocrats, owners of the land, the wealth, and the power. The notion that they actually fight is now obsolete, of course, but they will, as the gluttonous nobles did, lord over their little kingdoms with all the smug superiority of a fat, 9th C duke.
Those who pray, the clergy, the Joel Otseens and the Pat Hagees of this new feudalism will also hold land, wealth, and power. If the excesses of the medieval clerical class in the Middle Ages have shown us nothing else, it is that 'men of god' like to eat fine food and sleep in silk sheets just as much as any noble. Those who are the luminaries of the new Christian Nationalist Regime will stand at ease beside the oligarchs whose rule they endorse.
And those who work. All the rest of us. I have said many times that the wealth inequality in the US today is most closely mirrored by that of the feudal Middle Ages, before the 12th C Renaissance recreated the lost 'skilled, craftsman, or middle class. That inequality has been growing, and under the new regime being crafted before our dumbfounded eyes, it will continue to grow. With healthcare made inaccessible, birth control a distant memory, food insecurity the reality of life for the vast majority of Americans, and education reduced to the bare minimum needed to ensure compliance with basic directives, the new peasant class will be created. Call them proles, serfs, or whatever pseudo-patriotic and paternalistic moniker the oligarchs will craft, a peasant is still a peasant.
If you think this all sounds a bit too much like some tawdry Russian novel, well, I think the recent White House debacle makes clear why that is. Russia has always struggled with democracy, and even at those rare moments when some regime or other had the chance to elevate the peasant class, they have demurred (sometimes in fear for their lives, yes, but still.) If Russia has readily absorbed American Evangelical misogyny and bigotry (as evidenced by their oppression of LGBTQ folks, and the recent decriminalization of wife beating for example), then the US, or a certain red-hatted segment of it, has just as readily embraced the oppressive totalitarianism that would sacrifice its own wellbeing and that of everyone around them in the name of being able to shit on someone they hate more than the ruling class whose favor nd approval they crave.
The time to resist is now, but it is, I think, a window that will close far sooner than most of us think. The damage is being done now, there is no 'waiting it out for four years.' Barring extraordinary upheaval or some meaningful pushback, I genuinely think this reshaping of the American experiment will be fait accomplis by the time spring turns to summer. I know that Godwin's Law exists, as does its corollary, but it would be wise to recall that it took Hitler less than two months to dismantle German democracy. While the true effects of that may not have been evident until a year or two later, the core work was done in only 53 days. Fifty-three days, or one month and three-quarters, or seven weeks; however you phrase it, it is a mind-numbingly short time. 53 days. We are on day 45.
(no subject)
February 19th, 2025 02:27 pmJust sat in a long meeting about how 'traditional' ways of educating are 'no longer enough.' I have a few things to unpack here.
1. 'No longer enough' implies there was a time when they were, in fact, quite adequate. What's changed? I suggest that what has changed is this very mindset, the bloated pedagogy and jargon soup that has utterly eclipsed actual teaching. The other thing that has changed is the value we, as a society, place on learning things. 'Alternative facts' and 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge,' and 'experts are just arrogant shills' have eroded any value on education or academic success, and this starts long before they get to school. And no, it's not technology. There is no reason students cannot learn technology, but NOT be glued to it every moment.
2. If 'traditional education' is no longer enough, why are traditional schools, whether private or the traditional schools within public school systems, the highest performing academically? Oh, well, they get the brightest students, you say? Hmm, you may be onto something, but all I hear is how we have to create the same opportunities for all students, and there are no 'AP and regular students.' So which is it?
I am so fucking sick of this self-aggrandizing, pseudo-scientific, pedagogical garbage! No, what we need is NOT more 'balloons, tape, and string' 'project learning.' We need kids who are taught early HOW to learn, and then we need to teach them the stuff. OK, yes, I get that learning how to learn is more important than subject content - in first grade! I watched kids come from shirty public schools and flourish under far more demanding standards. The difference was small classes, and teachers who were thoroughly versed in and passionate about their subjects.
This kind of hand-holding, 'everyone gets an A' nonsense is, in my opinion exactly why we are where we are as a nation.
1. 'No longer enough' implies there was a time when they were, in fact, quite adequate. What's changed? I suggest that what has changed is this very mindset, the bloated pedagogy and jargon soup that has utterly eclipsed actual teaching. The other thing that has changed is the value we, as a society, place on learning things. 'Alternative facts' and 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge,' and 'experts are just arrogant shills' have eroded any value on education or academic success, and this starts long before they get to school. And no, it's not technology. There is no reason students cannot learn technology, but NOT be glued to it every moment.
2. If 'traditional education' is no longer enough, why are traditional schools, whether private or the traditional schools within public school systems, the highest performing academically? Oh, well, they get the brightest students, you say? Hmm, you may be onto something, but all I hear is how we have to create the same opportunities for all students, and there are no 'AP and regular students.' So which is it?
I am so fucking sick of this self-aggrandizing, pseudo-scientific, pedagogical garbage! No, what we need is NOT more 'balloons, tape, and string' 'project learning.' We need kids who are taught early HOW to learn, and then we need to teach them the stuff. OK, yes, I get that learning how to learn is more important than subject content - in first grade! I watched kids come from shirty public schools and flourish under far more demanding standards. The difference was small classes, and teachers who were thoroughly versed in and passionate about their subjects.
This kind of hand-holding, 'everyone gets an A' nonsense is, in my opinion exactly why we are where we are as a nation.
Feb 1: Serpent Day: How do you feel about snakes? Would you ever keep a snake as a pet?
Feb 2: Optimist Day: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?
Snakes - I love them, actually. I don't have snake motifs all over the place or anything, but I think snakes are awesome creatures. I also know that the presence of snakes is a very positive sign of the eco-health of a place. When I had a house out on 10 acres, I had a contractor who screamed like a 6-year-old girl on seeing a little rat snake. I never let him live it down, and absolutely refused to let him kill the snakes. He nearly quit!
I would not mind having a snake, but if I'm being honest, I don't need the extra work. Four cats are enough, thanks! And even if that were not an issue, I could not stand feeding living creatures to a snake. I respect the predator/prey dynamic in nature, but I don't want to be the one dropping some helpless, struggling creature into certain doom. (There are reasons I'm a vegetarian, and that's one of them!) Feeding live crickets to a handful of anoles back when my son was little and just HAD to adopt the class pet was more than enough of that!
Optimism: Ouch. Not a good time for that one. Overall, I think I generally assume the best of humanity as a whole, but rarely like people in reality. I'm sort of a misanthrope, but these days, can you blame me? I think I am more of a realist if I'm anything on that scale. My grandmother always said 'expect the worst, hope for the best, and work with what you get.' I guess that Northern European practicality runs in the blood, to something. Though, these days, it's getting really damned hard to even hope for the best, especially when you realize the worst you can even think to expect is probably not as bad as what you will get.
Feb 2: Optimist Day: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?
Snakes - I love them, actually. I don't have snake motifs all over the place or anything, but I think snakes are awesome creatures. I also know that the presence of snakes is a very positive sign of the eco-health of a place. When I had a house out on 10 acres, I had a contractor who screamed like a 6-year-old girl on seeing a little rat snake. I never let him live it down, and absolutely refused to let him kill the snakes. He nearly quit!
I would not mind having a snake, but if I'm being honest, I don't need the extra work. Four cats are enough, thanks! And even if that were not an issue, I could not stand feeding living creatures to a snake. I respect the predator/prey dynamic in nature, but I don't want to be the one dropping some helpless, struggling creature into certain doom. (There are reasons I'm a vegetarian, and that's one of them!) Feeding live crickets to a handful of anoles back when my son was little and just HAD to adopt the class pet was more than enough of that!
Optimism: Ouch. Not a good time for that one. Overall, I think I generally assume the best of humanity as a whole, but rarely like people in reality. I'm sort of a misanthrope, but these days, can you blame me? I think I am more of a realist if I'm anything on that scale. My grandmother always said 'expect the worst, hope for the best, and work with what you get.' I guess that Northern European practicality runs in the blood, to something. Though, these days, it's getting really damned hard to even hope for the best, especially when you realize the worst you can even think to expect is probably not as bad as what you will get.
In my school, 4% of students read at grade level. (We have grades 6-8). 40+% read at grade 3-5. That means 50+% red at a kindergarten to 2nd grade level. Over half of the kids age 11-13 read at the level of a five- to seven-year-old.
Think about that. Yes, it's only one school (one of the better schools in the region, alarmingly enough), but it is a glimpse.
Fun fact, these are NOT the COVID kids. Apparently, the district decided to not teach phonics for a few years. And now, the Dep't of Ed is under fire, including halting a billion-dollar service that targets quality of education for poor schools.
We are so fucked.
Think about that. Yes, it's only one school (one of the better schools in the region, alarmingly enough), but it is a glimpse.
Fun fact, these are NOT the COVID kids. Apparently, the district decided to not teach phonics for a few years. And now, the Dep't of Ed is under fire, including halting a billion-dollar service that targets quality of education for poor schools.
We are so fucked.
Oh, my head!
February 6th, 2025 12:11 pmAbout seven years ago, I was in and out of the hospital for a month on account of, of all things, an ear infection. It was a doozie, no question. That sucker tore right through most of my outer ear, worked its way through the labyrinth, and stopped just short of the cochlea. I lost a good chunk of bone to that beast. I also lost roughly 90% of my hearing on one side.
I mention this because today I realize the loss of 90% of my hearing on one side was not nearly enough.
You see, we often have to cover classes for out-of-school teachers. For me, on this day, that means I am sitting in a large room with two dozen beginning band students and as many instruments (from a tuba to drums and everything in between) ineptly (if earnestly) blatting at me and I cannot describe the headache.
My nerves are already frazzled to the very edge, and never have I wished more sincerely to be fully, completely deaf.
I mention this because today I realize the loss of 90% of my hearing on one side was not nearly enough.
You see, we often have to cover classes for out-of-school teachers. For me, on this day, that means I am sitting in a large room with two dozen beginning band students and as many instruments (from a tuba to drums and everything in between) ineptly (if earnestly) blatting at me and I cannot describe the headache.
My nerves are already frazzled to the very edge, and never have I wished more sincerely to be fully, completely deaf.
I mean, it takes effort, because every day there is some absolutely insane thing happening, but here we go; a list of Good Things™.
It is a sunny, gorgeous day, supposed to hit almost 70. For February, that is a wonderful thing. Feb. is hard because it's usually so grey, so this is most welcome!
I splurged and ordered myself some new colored pencils (I do not need these; y'all have no idea how many colored pencils this gal has!) in hopes of getting my drawing groove back on. I've been at that place where I feel the itch, just not the motivation.
I am working on what I hope will be a cool thing for the kiddos at school. We're studying China, so I had them all color circles (about 7" across) with Chinese motifs but didn't tell them what for. Another SS teacher and I are going to assemble them with added head and tail, into two gigantic dragons that we will hang in the hallway outside our classrooms. It won't last the week, I am sure, but I hope it will be at least a little bit of a 'wow' for some of them. (Yes, I will post photos if it works out!)
My next unit will be the Middle Ages, which is something of a mixed blessing. Yes, it's my medieval jam, so that's awesome! I get to talk about the 12th C Renaissance and Dante and manuscripts... But I can't teach it in anywhere near the depth I'd like, and the studied indifference of the middle schooler stings a little extra when it's something I'm super enthused about. Alas... but Middle Ages! Yay!!!!
My tinkering project lately has been getting a somewhat 'modernized' (i.e. modded) version of Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion running and stable. Mixed success, but I'm discovering a lot of things that seemed incongruous in Skyrim actually make sense now, so that's cool.
I found a new place that has amazing (and cheap!) falafel, and the deliver to my school. I positively gorged on falafel and hummus for lunch, and it was glorious. It's funny how really good food can make things seem a bit better. Now I need a nap, though. Grrr.
So there we go. It's far from ground breaking, but it felt good to think about some positive stuff for a change.
It is a sunny, gorgeous day, supposed to hit almost 70. For February, that is a wonderful thing. Feb. is hard because it's usually so grey, so this is most welcome!
I splurged and ordered myself some new colored pencils (I do not need these; y'all have no idea how many colored pencils this gal has!) in hopes of getting my drawing groove back on. I've been at that place where I feel the itch, just not the motivation.
I am working on what I hope will be a cool thing for the kiddos at school. We're studying China, so I had them all color circles (about 7" across) with Chinese motifs but didn't tell them what for. Another SS teacher and I are going to assemble them with added head and tail, into two gigantic dragons that we will hang in the hallway outside our classrooms. It won't last the week, I am sure, but I hope it will be at least a little bit of a 'wow' for some of them. (Yes, I will post photos if it works out!)
My next unit will be the Middle Ages, which is something of a mixed blessing. Yes, it's my medieval jam, so that's awesome! I get to talk about the 12th C Renaissance and Dante and manuscripts... But I can't teach it in anywhere near the depth I'd like, and the studied indifference of the middle schooler stings a little extra when it's something I'm super enthused about. Alas... but Middle Ages! Yay!!!!
My tinkering project lately has been getting a somewhat 'modernized' (i.e. modded) version of Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion running and stable. Mixed success, but I'm discovering a lot of things that seemed incongruous in Skyrim actually make sense now, so that's cool.
I found a new place that has amazing (and cheap!) falafel, and the deliver to my school. I positively gorged on falafel and hummus for lunch, and it was glorious. It's funny how really good food can make things seem a bit better. Now I need a nap, though. Grrr.
So there we go. It's far from ground breaking, but it felt good to think about some positive stuff for a change.
Post-a-day - this one's perfect!
January 29th, 2025 12:56 pm29 – Curmudgeons' Day: What is a curmudgeon? Do you know any curmudgeons? What do you think of them? Today is also Freethinkers' Day. Do you think a curmudgeon might be just a freethinker?
___
I am a curmudgeon. Loudly, proudly, and with great intention. A curmudgeon voices the doubts everyone else has, but won't say, the flaws everyone else sees but won't point out, and the idiocy everyone recognizes but is too intimidated to call out. That's me. I am always the curmudgeon in my work life, at least. To be fair, I am an old-school academic surrounded by School of Ed folks - it's inevitable!
I am also a freethinker (by certain lights), and no, I don't really see the two as interchangeable, particularly with how 'free thinker' is used nowadays. In the more common (more correct, perhaps?) use, 'free thinker' as I know the term means more or less the same as 'atheist' or at least 'actively questioning religion.' In a slightly broader sense, it can also mean, 'actively questioning the powers that be,' to whatever that may refer in context. In that sense, yes, definitely, I am a 'free thinker.'
However, too often, I see it used to excuse, justify, or gussy up otherwise unacceptable or unsupportable opinions. Anti-vaxxers, for example, consider themselves 'free thinkers,' though if there is anything that less exemplifies 'free thinking' than succumbing to mass panic over blatantly counterfactual nonsense, I can't think of it offhand.
People who are vaguely disreputable, disagreeable, irresponsible, or generally dissolute seem often to invoke 'free thinking' as their raison d'etre, in much the same way they do 'enlightened.' (The Buddha weeps, or he would if he existed.) The notion that somehow, someone's utter disregard for order, rules, or just common decency is the result of 'free thinking,' 'enlightenment,' 'thinking on a higher level' or some other Deepak Chopra gobbledegook and the rest of us are simply to dim to get it is precisely why I hesitate to claim either moniker.
Then again, what can you expect? I AM a curmudgeon, through and through.
___
I am a curmudgeon. Loudly, proudly, and with great intention. A curmudgeon voices the doubts everyone else has, but won't say, the flaws everyone else sees but won't point out, and the idiocy everyone recognizes but is too intimidated to call out. That's me. I am always the curmudgeon in my work life, at least. To be fair, I am an old-school academic surrounded by School of Ed folks - it's inevitable!
I am also a freethinker (by certain lights), and no, I don't really see the two as interchangeable, particularly with how 'free thinker' is used nowadays. In the more common (more correct, perhaps?) use, 'free thinker' as I know the term means more or less the same as 'atheist' or at least 'actively questioning religion.' In a slightly broader sense, it can also mean, 'actively questioning the powers that be,' to whatever that may refer in context. In that sense, yes, definitely, I am a 'free thinker.'
However, too often, I see it used to excuse, justify, or gussy up otherwise unacceptable or unsupportable opinions. Anti-vaxxers, for example, consider themselves 'free thinkers,' though if there is anything that less exemplifies 'free thinking' than succumbing to mass panic over blatantly counterfactual nonsense, I can't think of it offhand.
People who are vaguely disreputable, disagreeable, irresponsible, or generally dissolute seem often to invoke 'free thinking' as their raison d'etre, in much the same way they do 'enlightened.' (The Buddha weeps, or he would if he existed.) The notion that somehow, someone's utter disregard for order, rules, or just common decency is the result of 'free thinking,' 'enlightenment,' 'thinking on a higher level' or some other Deepak Chopra gobbledegook and the rest of us are simply to dim to get it is precisely why I hesitate to claim either moniker.
Then again, what can you expect? I AM a curmudgeon, through and through.
Post a day, Jan 23 (Yeah, I know)
January 25th, 2025 10:13 pmHandwriting Day: Do you still write by hand? Can you write (and read) cursive? Do you think cursive should be taught in schools?
Yes, Yes, and OMG, Yes!!!!
It infuriates me that the defense of cursive has become an 'ok, boomer' topic, when there is solid science indicating considerable benefits to learning cursive. I'm also a huge calligraphy geek, AND a fountain pen nerd (I need to get some pen porn up in here....), so handwriting and cursive are incredibly important to me. As a historian, it's so blindingly obvious how important it is to be able to read cursive - there are already tons of forms of script that we must employ experts to read—one word: Sütterlin.
If you're not familiar with it (or if you didn't have half a dozen generations' worth of German ancestors and their ephemera milling about), Sütterlin was the last iteration of a class of scripts known collectively as Kurrent, which evolved alongside German blackletter in about the 16th C. Sütterlin was developed as a 'modern' form of Kurrent around 1911, and used widely in Germany, or then, Prussia. Up into the 1940s, it was taught as the sole form of written script in German schools. It was briefly banned by the Nazis, and while enjoyed a brief resurgence after the war, it never came back into prominence. Now very few people are left who can read it without special training. All the letters, postcards, diaries, and journals written in that period by an entire nation, including those that lived through and documented both World Wars - unreadable to most.
Already, people interested in things like history or genealogy struggle to read census records and other documents written in cursive. The current political climate already threatens to destroy any meaningful past. Much of that past is recorded in cursive. To me, it almost seems like knowing cursive is, if you will pardon the unintended and klunky rhyme, almost subversive...
Yes, Yes, and OMG, Yes!!!!
It infuriates me that the defense of cursive has become an 'ok, boomer' topic, when there is solid science indicating considerable benefits to learning cursive. I'm also a huge calligraphy geek, AND a fountain pen nerd (I need to get some pen porn up in here....), so handwriting and cursive are incredibly important to me. As a historian, it's so blindingly obvious how important it is to be able to read cursive - there are already tons of forms of script that we must employ experts to read—one word: Sütterlin.
If you're not familiar with it (or if you didn't have half a dozen generations' worth of German ancestors and their ephemera milling about), Sütterlin was the last iteration of a class of scripts known collectively as Kurrent, which evolved alongside German blackletter in about the 16th C. Sütterlin was developed as a 'modern' form of Kurrent around 1911, and used widely in Germany, or then, Prussia. Up into the 1940s, it was taught as the sole form of written script in German schools. It was briefly banned by the Nazis, and while enjoyed a brief resurgence after the war, it never came back into prominence. Now very few people are left who can read it without special training. All the letters, postcards, diaries, and journals written in that period by an entire nation, including those that lived through and documented both World Wars - unreadable to most. Already, people interested in things like history or genealogy struggle to read census records and other documents written in cursive. The current political climate already threatens to destroy any meaningful past. Much of that past is recorded in cursive. To me, it almost seems like knowing cursive is, if you will pardon the unintended and klunky rhyme, almost subversive...
Post-a-Day Jan 21
January 21st, 2025 01:06 pmI see this is already not an 'every day thing!' I'm choosing the question for Jan 18th, since the one for today is sort of dumb (sweatpants to work - whatever.)
Thesaurus Day: Do you own a thesaurus? How often do you consult a thesaurus to find just the right word?
I do own a couple, actually, the physical, bound paper kind, even! And while I don't use the book versions as often, I do use a thesaurus quite often, usually when writing fiction. I have always been a verbivore and had a thing for weird, wacky, and wonderful language facts and oddball words. What I find disappointing, however, is how often someone comments (roughly 50/50 whether it's complimentary) on my word choices. Like, dude, 'viscerally' is not an especially lofty word...seriously?
Thesaurus Day: Do you own a thesaurus? How often do you consult a thesaurus to find just the right word?
I do own a couple, actually, the physical, bound paper kind, even! And while I don't use the book versions as often, I do use a thesaurus quite often, usually when writing fiction. I have always been a verbivore and had a thing for weird, wacky, and wonderful language facts and oddball words. What I find disappointing, however, is how often someone comments (roughly 50/50 whether it's complimentary) on my word choices. Like, dude, 'viscerally' is not an especially lofty word...seriously?
Have you ever had the sneaking suspicion that public education in the US doesn't have time to help the best and brightest reach their true potential, and ignores completely the students who struggle the most, have the biggest gaps in their knowledge or abilities, or are at the bottom of the grade scale?
If so, I have bad news for you: you are 100% right, and ( it's probably worse than you think. )
If so, I have bad news for you: you are 100% right, and ( it's probably worse than you think. )
Post-a-Day, Jan 17
January 17th, 2025 12:00 pmToday's question: 17 – Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day: Do you make New Year's resolutions? If so, how successful are you at keeping them?
Generally, no, I don't make New Year's resolutions. An age ago, I answered a similar question that I don't really care for making sweeping declarations once a year. It seems disingenuous and sort of show-offy. Instead, I try to always be self-reflective and undertake small, but meaningful and sustainable changes. I don't always succeed, mind you, but I try. Offhand, I'd say I have been more successful with this approach than when I have made NYE resolutions.
Generally, no, I don't make New Year's resolutions. An age ago, I answered a similar question that I don't really care for making sweeping declarations once a year. It seems disingenuous and sort of show-offy. Instead, I try to always be self-reflective and undertake small, but meaningful and sustainable changes. I don't always succeed, mind you, but I try. Offhand, I'd say I have been more successful with this approach than when I have made NYE resolutions.
I found this (slightly dated) gem second or third hand (from jo's journal originally, I think), so I thought I'd at least post it. I'm a sucker for memes, and while I am positive I will not get to all of these, its might be fun to have handy. Feel free to grab it if you. like!
( It's seriously long, be warned before clicking! )
( It's seriously long, be warned before clicking! )
Welcome and onto the steppes...
January 14th, 2025 12:38 pmBack at it today, though yesterday was a weird schedule - we were on a 2-hour delay. Zthe kids are not quite as feral as I expected, which is nice! Then again, we aren't out of the woods - we have the looming threat of NTI (online learning) at some point this week, and another storm possibly around the end of the month.
There are several new folks here, and please let me say WELCOME! I know I have not gotten to respond to all of you in person yet (I pretty much got home from school and was out cold by 6-ish?), but I will, and I am SO glad you're here!
This week we started on the Mongols. It's a fun unit to teach, and it leads nicely into our upcoming coverage of medieval China. Of course, I had to introduce the kiddos to the Mongolian metal band, The Hu. If you haven't ever seen them, check them out below!
(Not sure if iframes still work here; I guess we'll see!)
There are several new folks here, and please let me say WELCOME! I know I have not gotten to respond to all of you in person yet (I pretty much got home from school and was out cold by 6-ish?), but I will, and I am SO glad you're here!
This week we started on the Mongols. It's a fun unit to teach, and it leads nicely into our upcoming coverage of medieval China. Of course, I had to introduce the kiddos to the Mongolian metal band, The Hu. If you haven't ever seen them, check them out below!
(Not sure if iframes still work here; I guess we'll see!)
Teaching here is a strange journey. It's so wildly different from teaching Uni (more than the obvious stuff, I mean), and even from teaching at the private school (to distinguish from the Islamic School. More on that here.)
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Back to the grind soon
January 11th, 2025 11:45 pmWell, it's one more day and a wakeup before I'm back in the classroom. I can't complain - I got a full extra week on account of the snow, which I will never turn down. It makes going back seem so surreal though.
It will be a day of reteaching expectations (how to be a student as opposed to a feral meerkat), and then it's on to Mongols, then China, then the Middle Ages. I think for China, we will do the blue pottery art project again, and for the Middle Ages, I'm thinking of having them make manuscript pages... I've done it in a one-week, half-day summer camp, so maybe? No calligraphy pens, though! I'm not that brave!
For now, though, one more lazy, snowy Sunday ahead... Time for cocoa, I think.
It will be a day of reteaching expectations (how to be a student as opposed to a feral meerkat), and then it's on to Mongols, then China, then the Middle Ages. I think for China, we will do the blue pottery art project again, and for the Middle Ages, I'm thinking of having them make manuscript pages... I've done it in a one-week, half-day summer camp, so maybe? No calligraphy pens, though! I'm not that brave!
For now, though, one more lazy, snowy Sunday ahead... Time for cocoa, I think.
Moar snow days!
January 9th, 2025 11:00 pmYes, folks, I was off today, and they called it around 2pm for tomorrow. That's a FULL extra week of break. Which is awesome!
It's also weird! I didn't have anything planned, and the snow made going anywhere impossible, which isn't a problem by itself. But I just sort of feel like I'm in some weird time bubble. There was already a sense of strangeness about the holidays this year, and now I'm in this long liminal thing... I know, cognitively, what day it is, but I don't have any feeling of time, if that makes sense.
It doesn't help that I know the kiddos will be freaking insane after the extra long break. They are not as bad as the crew last year, but gawd, they can be tiresome at times. Ah, well, I have three more days to chill, anyway.
It's also weird! I didn't have anything planned, and the snow made going anywhere impossible, which isn't a problem by itself. But I just sort of feel like I'm in some weird time bubble. There was already a sense of strangeness about the holidays this year, and now I'm in this long liminal thing... I know, cognitively, what day it is, but I don't have any feeling of time, if that makes sense.
It doesn't help that I know the kiddos will be freaking insane after the extra long break. They are not as bad as the crew last year, but gawd, they can be tiresome at times. Ah, well, I have three more days to chill, anyway.
I think I really need to write a book about my year at the Islamic School. Suffice it to say I certainly got an education, if the kiddos, somewhat less so. This will be long, so if you're not interested, have a picture of Jinx, being the cutey-pie goblin she is for tax, and enjoy your day. If you're curious about the inner workings of Islamic education in America however, grab some popcorn, and settle in. ( Read the sordid tale here... )
Snow days!
January 7th, 2025 10:57 amSitting here with a cat on my lap, a cocoa at my elbow, in my jammies, enjoying the second of three (three!) snow days. Gotta be grateful for the gifts that come, eh? Though, I will admit, there is a touch of 'delaying the execution' in terms of the dread of going back. And I know the kids will be bonkers! At least I will only have them for 2 days before the weekend, right?
It's been a weird holiday...
January 3rd, 2025 12:46 pmOn the one hand, this is the first year I've felt holiday-ish in quite a while (and if you've known me for a while, y'all know I love Christmas, godless heathen notwithstanding). Last year I was just too beaten down by the School year from Hell to where we didn't even get a tree (more on that later, too; I have a lot of backstory to fill in, don't I?), and the year before Dad had just passed. But this year, I was into it!
I've been baking up a storm (as usual, if a week or so behind schedule), and was all set to host the family Christmas morning brunch. It's a lovely event if I do say so - roughly 8-12 people, a big breakfast including eggnog pancakes, and of course, all the bakery in the world: cookies, stollen, fruitcake, and this year a few new entries, like a snowberry crostada.* I had invited everyone on Thanksgiving, and gotten enthusiastic acceptance. So, I called around the 23rd to confirm the time, and got a shock. Apparently, since I had not been calling and flogging this thing every week since Thanksgiving people didn't feel like they'd actually been invited ('didn't feel invited enough,' that's a direct quote). So none of them showed.
Now, just between you, me, and the lamppost, my son and I both ended up being sick as dogs Christmas day, so it was, cosmically speaking, for the best, but they didn't know that, so I'm not letting anyone off the hook!
SO we've been baking at our leisure (still at it, actually), and enjoying a quiet, lazy sort of holiday. Which is nice. But...
I still feel like I'm caught in the week before Christmas, and here I am three days from returning to school (blech; not as bad as last year, but...blech.)
*About the baked goods: don't @ me about fruitcake, this is great-great-grandma Ada Sue Winchester Dunn's famous Southern fruitcake, and it is nothing at all like the doorsteps hawked by the 'cheese and sausage pushers.' It's spicy, moist, and boozy as heck. It's delightful, I swear. And if the snowberry crostada sounds vaguely familiar, you might have played Skyrim. It--and a number of other new regulars on the house menu--come from the Elder Scrolls Cookbook. I cannot recommend it enough; even if you're not a fan of the game, there are some real gems in there.
I've been baking up a storm (as usual, if a week or so behind schedule), and was all set to host the family Christmas morning brunch. It's a lovely event if I do say so - roughly 8-12 people, a big breakfast including eggnog pancakes, and of course, all the bakery in the world: cookies, stollen, fruitcake, and this year a few new entries, like a snowberry crostada.* I had invited everyone on Thanksgiving, and gotten enthusiastic acceptance. So, I called around the 23rd to confirm the time, and got a shock. Apparently, since I had not been calling and flogging this thing every week since Thanksgiving people didn't feel like they'd actually been invited ('didn't feel invited enough,' that's a direct quote). So none of them showed.
Now, just between you, me, and the lamppost, my son and I both ended up being sick as dogs Christmas day, so it was, cosmically speaking, for the best, but they didn't know that, so I'm not letting anyone off the hook!
SO we've been baking at our leisure (still at it, actually), and enjoying a quiet, lazy sort of holiday. Which is nice. But...
I still feel like I'm caught in the week before Christmas, and here I am three days from returning to school (blech; not as bad as last year, but...blech.)
*About the baked goods: don't @ me about fruitcake, this is great-great-grandma Ada Sue Winchester Dunn's famous Southern fruitcake, and it is nothing at all like the doorsteps hawked by the 'cheese and sausage pushers.' It's spicy, moist, and boozy as heck. It's delightful, I swear. And if the snowberry crostada sounds vaguely familiar, you might have played Skyrim. It--and a number of other new regulars on the house menu--come from the Elder Scrolls Cookbook. I cannot recommend it enough; even if you're not a fan of the game, there are some real gems in there.Where indeed? It's been a ride, I can say that much. I'll try to keep this short, but in as much as it's supposed to be a journal, I suppose I should at least fill in the gaps a bit, no?
And if you're new here (Hiya, if so!) consider this something of an introduction.
( Read the tale here )
And if you're new here (Hiya, if so!) consider this something of an introduction.
( Read the tale here )
The implications of AI are huge and very, very worrying. In the realm of social media and internet culture, AI has become a tool of misinformation and disinformation, both intentional and simply as a result of how AI works.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
I'm realizing that this journal has become a series of 'hey, I'm back and gonna try again!' So, I'll forgive you for any skepticism if I say, well, yeah. After years of more or less living on LJ, LJ got squirrelly, DW was pricy (compared to my lifetime permanent, Cadillac, all the perks (aka icons) membership at LJ, and FB became a thing.
FB has become increasingly toxic, and while I have so many people and communities there which I cherish, the insane influx of sponsored, forced, 'recommended,' and otherwise unwanted BS has been getting more and more annoying. I spend more time blocking unwanted accounts than I do reading the people I love. And now, AI.
I have my own run-ins with AI, which I will describe in another post, but I am becoming convinced that AI and the inevitable dumbing down of the population that comes with it pose an even more salient threat to humanity than fascism, climate change and nuclear war combined. If nothing else, it will be the complete loss of any kind of objective reality that will allow these other threats to reign unchallenged.
So when FB has made AI inescapable, even as the AI itself admits that it is programmed to prioritize 'engagement over accuracy,' I think it may be time to do as others have done and just bow out of FB entirely. I left Twitter ages ago, but FB is a two-decade record of my life and experiences. It's hard to let that go. It's also the only point of contact I have with some people I really don't want to lose track of. I'm not quite there, but I think it's becoming inevitable.
I'm on BlueSky, and looking at Mastadon, and of course, I've been here for ages, even when I haven't 'been here.' We shall see. I think it is time for me, personally, to return to recording more of what I see happening in the world anyway.
FB has become increasingly toxic, and while I have so many people and communities there which I cherish, the insane influx of sponsored, forced, 'recommended,' and otherwise unwanted BS has been getting more and more annoying. I spend more time blocking unwanted accounts than I do reading the people I love. And now, AI.
I have my own run-ins with AI, which I will describe in another post, but I am becoming convinced that AI and the inevitable dumbing down of the population that comes with it pose an even more salient threat to humanity than fascism, climate change and nuclear war combined. If nothing else, it will be the complete loss of any kind of objective reality that will allow these other threats to reign unchallenged.
So when FB has made AI inescapable, even as the AI itself admits that it is programmed to prioritize 'engagement over accuracy,' I think it may be time to do as others have done and just bow out of FB entirely. I left Twitter ages ago, but FB is a two-decade record of my life and experiences. It's hard to let that go. It's also the only point of contact I have with some people I really don't want to lose track of. I'm not quite there, but I think it's becoming inevitable.
I'm on BlueSky, and looking at Mastadon, and of course, I've been here for ages, even when I haven't 'been here.' We shall see. I think it is time for me, personally, to return to recording more of what I see happening in the world anyway.
Art is awesome!
January 19th, 2020 01:12 pmIn better news, I have my kiddos making hand-bound books, and it's awesome! I'm also working on perfecting a way to marble paper that I can have the kids do. I have always loved marbled paper, and I am so excited about being able to make my own. My first forays have issues, but I'm getting there. Pics soon, promise!
What a New Year...
January 5th, 2020 02:38 pmOr, rather, what a train wreck! The tragic losses in Australia - half a billion animals lost for fire... yes, Billion, with a 'B.' And the political community seems not to care. Heaven knows the PTB there are doing little, and the denial of what is happening all around us remains as vociferous as ever.
Then the travesty of impeachment. This problem has so far exceeded what was ever envisioned by the framers of the Constitution that the law has no tools for addressing it. We are discovering what power a president has, and how easily the rule of law can be subverted. The crimes are clear; but what authority can bring the charges, prosecute them, and enforce proper consequences?
And meanwhile, the proven criminal is sitting in his lair, starting a war with a nation with whom we had a treaty, by which they were abiding, for no other reason than...what? Pride? Self-aggrandizement? Self-preservation? Or to serve his masters who are working for our destruction?
The new year is supposed to be full of hope. So far, it has offered little. We must fight. But how?
(I had retired this icon when Obama took office, and Bush was no longer the embarrassment of our nation. Oh, those innocent days...)
Then the travesty of impeachment. This problem has so far exceeded what was ever envisioned by the framers of the Constitution that the law has no tools for addressing it. We are discovering what power a president has, and how easily the rule of law can be subverted. The crimes are clear; but what authority can bring the charges, prosecute them, and enforce proper consequences?
And meanwhile, the proven criminal is sitting in his lair, starting a war with a nation with whom we had a treaty, by which they were abiding, for no other reason than...what? Pride? Self-aggrandizement? Self-preservation? Or to serve his masters who are working for our destruction?
The new year is supposed to be full of hope. So far, it has offered little. We must fight. But how?
(I had retired this icon when Obama took office, and Bush was no longer the embarrassment of our nation. Oh, those innocent days...)
Wow. Back again.....
September 9th, 2018 01:38 pmMaybe it's just a matter of having the right people to talk to. This place was always about connections. So, let's see. Besides, maybe I'm due for a crazy leap of faith. Because sprouting wings on the way down is easy, right? Right?
Ah hell, banzai!
Ah hell, banzai!
Been a loooong couple weeks....
May 20th, 2017 04:23 pmSorry to have gone somewhat AWOL. It's been a strange and not at all easy few weeks. My general state of mind has been 'I can not even' more or less 24/7. One week of school left (thank heavens!) and then I can chill and get my brain/life/laundry under control....
Be back soon with substance; maybe not wit or interesting stuff, but some kind of substance....
Be back soon with substance; maybe not wit or interesting stuff, but some kind of substance....
I am, at best, a peripheral comics fan. I more or less know the 'verses, and I like the characters (admittedly more via the films and fan-created media than the comics themselves), but I am by no means a core fan. But seriously? 'Hydra Captain America,' and comic shop employees wearing Hydra t-shirts? Seriously? In THIS political environment, in the era of Trump, Bannon, and Richard Spencer; THIS is what you think is a good idea?????? Oh, fuck no!
For those of you not familiar with this controversy, there is a summary (from this article) ( below the cut: )
For those of you not familiar with this controversy, there is a summary (from this article) ( below the cut: )
Things I am very, very tired of:
May 3rd, 2017 06:27 pm1. Being told how to feminist, how to call out racism, and how to phrase my critiques lest I drive away potential allies. Really? Like being an ally should be conditional on getting ego strokes and cookies! If you want to be a gorram ally, then be one! If my being angry AF b/c black boys are being killed and women are getting assaulted every damn day makes you not want to be an ally? Guess what, jackass, you weren't one to begin with, so take your sexist/racist arse the hell outta my way.
2. Being told that I am angry at god and cannot be moral/ethical b/c as an atheist. Punk, which one of us needs a book and an invisible sky-nanny to tell us right from wrong? (Spoiler alert; it ain't me!)
3. Explaining over and over, using as many one-syllable words as possible, why Tantrump is a disaster, and Sanders is neither a progressive nor a Democrat.
4. The weather flailing wildly about from 40 to 80 in a matter of hours. My sinuses are seriously about to explode. OMG, staahhhp!
5. Humana's customer phone service. OMG, just shoot me now! How can any one company have such dedicatedly bad service and make so many completely ridonkulous mistakes and still be the 800-pound corporate gorilla that it is astounds me.
6. Probably a bunch of other obnoxious garbage that I don't want to think about long enough to list. I am going to take a nap and then play games with my kid. Because reasons.
XOXO
2. Being told that I am angry at god and cannot be moral/ethical b/c as an atheist. Punk, which one of us needs a book and an invisible sky-nanny to tell us right from wrong? (Spoiler alert; it ain't me!)
3. Explaining over and over, using as many one-syllable words as possible, why Tantrump is a disaster, and Sanders is neither a progressive nor a Democrat.
4. The weather flailing wildly about from 40 to 80 in a matter of hours. My sinuses are seriously about to explode. OMG, staahhhp!
5. Humana's customer phone service. OMG, just shoot me now! How can any one company have such dedicatedly bad service and make so many completely ridonkulous mistakes and still be the 800-pound corporate gorilla that it is astounds me.
6. Probably a bunch of other obnoxious garbage that I don't want to think about long enough to list. I am going to take a nap and then play games with my kid. Because reasons.
XOXO
What a strange week it's been...
May 1st, 2017 03:54 pmSorry I've been semi-away, but it was a very odd week. For one thing, it's finals for my college classes, and those always get squirrelly; papers to grade (so far actually pretty good this time, knock on wood!), and panicky students...
After my unpleasant Monday, things looked up a bit, in part because himself kept to himself. Then Thursday, I got his with I don't even know what; either the short-lived stomach bug from hell, or I ate something that disagreed with me, violently! I ended up calling in sick to my middle school classes (first time this school year), but was begged to come in for my evening 'other person in the building' shift anyway. Meh - three hours to play games and surf - I can do that. I did feel better by then, after a horrible morning. By Friday I was fine, though I felt like I'd run a marathon, and my stomach muscles were threatening mutiny....
I was able to take Friday easy, but then turned right around and worked my butt off in the yard on Saturday (for which my back has not stopped chastising me...ouch!) Still, good work was done...
Then Sunday was a brief D&D session with the kiddo, his friend, and my cousin. And grading papers. Have I mentioned I kind of hate grading papers? *sigh*
More than you ever wanted to know about my Struggle for the Yard (See, that's me, in the icon, holding back the ebil weeds...LOL): ( Read more... )
So first final exam given, one to go, then one school DONE! Huzzah!
After my unpleasant Monday, things looked up a bit, in part because himself kept to himself. Then Thursday, I got his with I don't even know what; either the short-lived stomach bug from hell, or I ate something that disagreed with me, violently! I ended up calling in sick to my middle school classes (first time this school year), but was begged to come in for my evening 'other person in the building' shift anyway. Meh - three hours to play games and surf - I can do that. I did feel better by then, after a horrible morning. By Friday I was fine, though I felt like I'd run a marathon, and my stomach muscles were threatening mutiny....
I was able to take Friday easy, but then turned right around and worked my butt off in the yard on Saturday (for which my back has not stopped chastising me...ouch!) Still, good work was done...
Then Sunday was a brief D&D session with the kiddo, his friend, and my cousin. And grading papers. Have I mentioned I kind of hate grading papers? *sigh*
More than you ever wanted to know about my Struggle for the Yard (See, that's me, in the icon, holding back the ebil weeds...LOL): ( Read more... )
So first final exam given, one to go, then one school DONE! Huzzah!
Music Quiz
April 24th, 2017 10:03 pmA sort of song quiz. (Warning: my musical tastes have been described as 'schizophrenic,' and all answers subject to change on a daily basis...)
1. A song you like with a color in the title
Tangled up in Blue (Dylan)
2. A song you like with a number in the title
I am the One (Inon Zur)
( The rest here )
1. A song you like with a color in the title
Tangled up in Blue (Dylan)
2. A song you like with a number in the title
I am the One (Inon Zur)
( The rest here )
My note to the Jerk
April 24th, 2017 09:16 pmAgain, more drama, I just wanted to keep a copy of this...for some reason. Less angsty posts soon, I promise. (I'm really not usually a drama-lama; my ex is just pulling out all the stops recently. :/ )
( angsty angry note; feel free to scroll past )
( angsty angry note; feel free to scroll past )
OK, this is going to be much whinging and drama and *hand*staple*forehead*, so feel free to skip if you like.
So my ex, with whom I have a...complex (and that's being kind, actually), relationship, decided to buy a condo literally right across the street from my house. I thought that was insanely creepy and stalkerish, and way too close for comfort, and told him so. His reasoning was that he wanted to be close to my...our..son. And I get it. But damn, right across the street?
This morning dawned, the first sunny day we've had in a few, and I'm in my bedroom. I open the curtains, look out at the lovely spring morning.... and BAM! Right there, under my fucking nose is the ex and his skanky fat ho (no, I would never say that normally, but in this case I think I'm entitled) leaving his place together.
This is the same guy, incidentally, what was all gooshy and lovey-dovey like just a few weeks ago.
I don't want hm back. I really, truly don't. I don't love him anymore. Sometimes I don't even like him! But this still unleashed an absolute shit-storm of emotions that had me literally shaking. This is exactly why I did not want him moving in across the damn street! I shouldn't have to be afraid to look out my window! At least he could have parked on the opposite side of the building, ferfux sake!
I texted him and said not to come to the house tonight and not to talk to me for a bit. And what did he do? The son-of-a-bitch threatened a custody battle. I ask him to stay away for a damn day or two and he pulls that. You know what? Sometimes I fucking hate that bastard.
So my ex, with whom I have a...complex (and that's being kind, actually), relationship, decided to buy a condo literally right across the street from my house. I thought that was insanely creepy and stalkerish, and way too close for comfort, and told him so. His reasoning was that he wanted to be close to my...our..son. And I get it. But damn, right across the street?
This morning dawned, the first sunny day we've had in a few, and I'm in my bedroom. I open the curtains, look out at the lovely spring morning.... and BAM! Right there, under my fucking nose is the ex and his skanky fat ho (no, I would never say that normally, but in this case I think I'm entitled) leaving his place together.
This is the same guy, incidentally, what was all gooshy and lovey-dovey like just a few weeks ago.
I don't want hm back. I really, truly don't. I don't love him anymore. Sometimes I don't even like him! But this still unleashed an absolute shit-storm of emotions that had me literally shaking. This is exactly why I did not want him moving in across the damn street! I shouldn't have to be afraid to look out my window! At least he could have parked on the opposite side of the building, ferfux sake!
I texted him and said not to come to the house tonight and not to talk to me for a bit. And what did he do? The son-of-a-bitch threatened a custody battle. I ask him to stay away for a damn day or two and he pulls that. You know what? Sometimes I fucking hate that bastard.
Blargh kind of day
April 22nd, 2017 08:48 pmI am a bit under the weather today. Nothing serious, just that sort of achy, cranky, icky kind of thing you get when you have't *quite* caught a cold, but you might? Yeah. Doesn't help that it suddenly dropped from 80 to 48 overnight. (Fuck you, climate change!) Although, since my AC is acting up, this is maybe an OK thing, since they can't get here to look at it til Friday. At least I won't bake in the meantime. (Bad things happen when I try to sleep and get too hot... LOL)
Anyway, not a lot of posting happening for a bit, I think. Much sleeping, though....
I hope everyone else is doing swimmingly!
Anyway, not a lot of posting happening for a bit, I think. Much sleeping, though....
I hope everyone else is doing swimmingly!
FYI (US-centric)
April 20th, 2017 08:10 pmIn case anyone is getting distracted by the Russian spy drama, North Korea, Bill O'Reilly being fired from Fox News, etc. the following bills have been introduced to Congress:
1. HR 861 Terminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
2. HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education
3. HR 899 Terminate the U.S. Department of Education
4. HJR 69 Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife
5. HR 370 Repeal Affordable Care Act
6. HR 354 Defund Planned Parenthood
7. HR 785 National Right To Work (this one ends unions)
8. HR 83 Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill
9. HR 147 Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”)
10. HR 808 Sanctions against Iran
Please copy/paste and share widely. Call your House Representative and ask them to not only vote "NO"...but to speak up for our rights, health & safety, and our beautiful country.
If your senators and reps aren't saved in your phone yet, text your zip code to 520-200-2223. You'll get a text back with everyone's contact info. It gives you Federal and State.
PASS IT ON (copy and paste to share since you can't share from form this page)
1. HR 861 Terminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
2. HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education
3. HR 899 Terminate the U.S. Department of Education
4. HJR 69 Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife
5. HR 370 Repeal Affordable Care Act
6. HR 354 Defund Planned Parenthood
7. HR 785 National Right To Work (this one ends unions)
8. HR 83 Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill
9. HR 147 Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”)
10. HR 808 Sanctions against Iran
Please copy/paste and share widely. Call your House Representative and ask them to not only vote "NO"...but to speak up for our rights, health & safety, and our beautiful country.
If your senators and reps aren't saved in your phone yet, text your zip code to 520-200-2223. You'll get a text back with everyone's contact info. It gives you Federal and State.
PASS IT ON (copy and paste to share since you can't share from form this page)
(no subject)
April 20th, 2017 04:57 pmSo, real life entry! Been a pretty good week, actually. This is my last full week of uni classes (thank goodness!) though my HS/MS classes will go through the end of May.
The yard is pretty much stabilized, so if I can keep up with the few weeds/vines that pop up for a few more weeks, I think I will have a good handle on it not becoming a jungle again! Imagine: I might even be able to USE my patio! Who'dd'a thunk it???
The niblet is in the Chamber Choir at his HS, and last night they did an amazing rendition of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem with the choir and orchestra. There were a few squeakers from the orchestra, but it was a really good performance, especially for such an incredibly complicated piece! I'm so proud of that kid I could burst sometimes. Of course I was geeking out all over the place that they did it in Latin...LOL
Otherwise, I'm just waiting for the weekend! I have a pretty big stack of grading to do, but I should have a good bit of downtime, too. And we should be back to our D&D campaign, which is a lot of work (I'm the DM, and it's an all-original campaign), but a heckuva lot of fun! Mostly, though I'm looking forward to sleeping!
I adore my HS/MS teaching; the school is amazing, the kids are fantastic, I can throw pretty much anything at them and they will tackle it head on. But OMG, I am so not a morning person! At least they start a bit later than Niblet's school, but I still have to get up to get him up, and even so, it's not by much. :( *yawn* Sooooooo sleepy.....
The yard is pretty much stabilized, so if I can keep up with the few weeds/vines that pop up for a few more weeks, I think I will have a good handle on it not becoming a jungle again! Imagine: I might even be able to USE my patio! Who'dd'a thunk it???
The niblet is in the Chamber Choir at his HS, and last night they did an amazing rendition of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem with the choir and orchestra. There were a few squeakers from the orchestra, but it was a really good performance, especially for such an incredibly complicated piece! I'm so proud of that kid I could burst sometimes. Of course I was geeking out all over the place that they did it in Latin...LOL
Otherwise, I'm just waiting for the weekend! I have a pretty big stack of grading to do, but I should have a good bit of downtime, too. And we should be back to our D&D campaign, which is a lot of work (I'm the DM, and it's an all-original campaign), but a heckuva lot of fun! Mostly, though I'm looking forward to sleeping!
I adore my HS/MS teaching; the school is amazing, the kids are fantastic, I can throw pretty much anything at them and they will tackle it head on. But OMG, I am so not a morning person! At least they start a bit later than Niblet's school, but I still have to get up to get him up, and even so, it's not by much. :( *yawn* Sooooooo sleepy.....
Please come join ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
anti_theocracy
April 19th, 2017 05:21 pm(X-posted to a few relevant communities; please pardon me if you see this more than once, but do feel free to share!)
I've been trying to find some of the migrated communities that concerned themselves with the religious right in the Bush era, and found a few, though they seem to have gone dormant since, well, about when Obama took office. I guess we stopped worrying for a while.... But things have changed; a lot.
I do hope that they will revive themselves (I've been trying to contact admins, and not gotten much response), but in the meantime, I have gone ahead and startedanti_theocracy, a new community dedicated to gathering resources & information on theocracy and the activities of the religious right in the post-Obama era.
It is more imperative than ever that we be aware of what our politicians, religious and cultural leaders are up to, and what they stand for. I hope to makeanti_theocracy, a clearinghouse and resource for anyone concerned with religious overreach both in the US and abroad.
Please come by and join! I hope to have some solid informational pieces up in the next few days, and I welcome contributions from members.
Here is our Profile Page that has posting guidelines, and a little bit about the purpose of the community.
It's open for everyone to join, so I hope to see some folks there!
I've been trying to find some of the migrated communities that concerned themselves with the religious right in the Bush era, and found a few, though they seem to have gone dormant since, well, about when Obama took office. I guess we stopped worrying for a while.... But things have changed; a lot.
I do hope that they will revive themselves (I've been trying to contact admins, and not gotten much response), but in the meantime, I have gone ahead and started
anti_theocracy, a new community dedicated to gathering resources & information on theocracy and the activities of the religious right in the post-Obama era. It is more imperative than ever that we be aware of what our politicians, religious and cultural leaders are up to, and what they stand for. I hope to make
anti_theocracy, a clearinghouse and resource for anyone concerned with religious overreach both in the US and abroad.Please come by and join! I hope to have some solid informational pieces up in the next few days, and I welcome contributions from members.
Here is our Profile Page that has posting guidelines, and a little bit about the purpose of the community.
It's open for everyone to join, so I hope to see some folks there!
Bad dreams....
April 18th, 2017 03:38 pm(Non sequitur: Why is it that when I'm looking for a cheerful, upbeat icon, I think all I have is doom and gloom, and then when I'm looking for a sad/stressed icon, I think ;why the hell are all of you so damned chipper?')
SO I had a nap today, and regretted it. Generally speaking, the worst nightmares I have are actually 'nap-mares,' and today was a doozie.
As with dreams, I don't know how it started, but my ex was being invasive and intrusive (which he actually was this morning to my great irritation), and kept making all kinds of come-ons and getting handsy (which he also does, and it makes me want to freaking scream).
Well, in the dream he got pushy, *really* pushy to where I was literally struggling to get away and yelling 'No, no, no, no' over and over, except in dreams you try to shout or scream and no noise comes out. SO I finally got away, and kicked him out, and he came back a little while later and said he would take all the dirty pictures and movies we made when we were first married, and put them on the internet and send them to everyone I work with if I didn't have sex with him. I don't know what I replied, because then I woke up. I drifted off again a minute or so later, and had a more pleasant dream (which I can't remember now, damn the luck), but even when I got up I was pretty wigged out.
Mind you, while he has some serious comprehension issues about consent and sex and stuff on a conceptual level, he has *never* used violence or force on my or anyone. But I think it says a lot about how I feel about him, our relationship and its end, and how sex became a power play between us, with me on the losing side every time. It's just kind of surprising for it to crop up NOW - it's been almost 2 years that the divorce was final.
Clearly, I still have issues with his control in and sometimes meddling in my life. But at the same time, he's also typically extremely supportive and helpful, and I'm not entirely in a position to tell him to fuck off. And sometimes he's still my best friend, in some ways, anyway. Then there's my kid - I want them to have a good relationship, and my getting draconian about barring him from my presence isn't going to help that at all. But clearly I do need to modify my boundaries a bit.
The question is, how?
And why can't I have delicious, sexy paladin/templar/warden/hunter type dreams instead of ooky issues ones?
SO I had a nap today, and regretted it. Generally speaking, the worst nightmares I have are actually 'nap-mares,' and today was a doozie.
As with dreams, I don't know how it started, but my ex was being invasive and intrusive (which he actually was this morning to my great irritation), and kept making all kinds of come-ons and getting handsy (which he also does, and it makes me want to freaking scream).
Well, in the dream he got pushy, *really* pushy to where I was literally struggling to get away and yelling 'No, no, no, no' over and over, except in dreams you try to shout or scream and no noise comes out. SO I finally got away, and kicked him out, and he came back a little while later and said he would take all the dirty pictures and movies we made when we were first married, and put them on the internet and send them to everyone I work with if I didn't have sex with him. I don't know what I replied, because then I woke up. I drifted off again a minute or so later, and had a more pleasant dream (which I can't remember now, damn the luck), but even when I got up I was pretty wigged out.
Mind you, while he has some serious comprehension issues about consent and sex and stuff on a conceptual level, he has *never* used violence or force on my or anyone. But I think it says a lot about how I feel about him, our relationship and its end, and how sex became a power play between us, with me on the losing side every time. It's just kind of surprising for it to crop up NOW - it's been almost 2 years that the divorce was final.
Clearly, I still have issues with his control in and sometimes meddling in my life. But at the same time, he's also typically extremely supportive and helpful, and I'm not entirely in a position to tell him to fuck off. And sometimes he's still my best friend, in some ways, anyway. Then there's my kid - I want them to have a good relationship, and my getting draconian about barring him from my presence isn't going to help that at all. But clearly I do need to modify my boundaries a bit.
The question is, how?
And why can't I have delicious, sexy paladin/templar/warden/hunter type dreams instead of ooky issues ones?
I just posted 87 Character & NPC portraits for Diablo 3,with three different styles for each. Head on over and grab a few. :)
Teasers:
| 
| 
Nab them here: Welcome to Sanctuary
Teasers:
| | Nab them here: Welcome to Sanctuary
Easter-ness
April 16th, 2017 06:48 pmMy lily of the valley seem to have survived having been transplanted, and I even have a few little flowers under my window. Now if I can keep the utility workers with their ginormous feet from trampling them, I should have a lovely patch of them in a couple of years. I have planted new foxgloves and lavender, and I think I have saved the heirloom climbing rose in the back, while at the same time going Rambo on the weeds and generally out of control jungle that is my backyard (this is a years-long struggle, and recently took a 30 ft dumpster to clear the bulk of the crap that had taken over my yard. Long story.) So generally, I am very happy to have reclaimed the outside of my house!
In other news, I had a lovely Easter dinner with family (well, most of them anyway).
My cousin (well, technically my ex-husband's stepmother's brother's wife, so 'cousin' it is!), is awesome. We play D&D, go antiquing (and junk shopping) together, and fiddle with pens and crafts and who knows what all. She is also pretty much a full on lefty liberal, and I'd say about 99% heathen, too.
Well, she typically does the family Easter meal. These things can, as I am sure many of you know, be fraught with tension, but this was nice. Niblet (my son for new folks) and I went over, as did my ex, his dad (also my 'Dad,' and always will be), and his wife (also known as SMiLfH; step-mother-in-law-from-hell, because she totally is), and Dad's father. The last three are hopelessly religious (though I suspect Dad fakes it to avoid the wrath of SMiLfH). But my ex, my son, my cousin, and her husband are really not. SMiLfH and ex's grandfather are also super republican conservative types, and while Dad is as staunch a liberal as anyone, he keeps it rather mum for the same reasons as he pretends to rather more religious sentiment than I suspect he really feels.... All in all it is sometimes a bit of a tinderbox awaiting a match...
Nevertheless, there were no disagreements, no bickering, not even very much shade thrown. Signs of relief all round! And then my son and I stayed around to rant about Tantrump with my cousin. Good food, good folks, no conflict? As good an Easter as about the best a heathen like me can hope for!
So a happy walking dead/zombie Jesus/Easter to all of you, as well! ;)
In other news, I had a lovely Easter dinner with family (well, most of them anyway).
My cousin (well, technically my ex-husband's stepmother's brother's wife, so 'cousin' it is!), is awesome. We play D&D, go antiquing (and junk shopping) together, and fiddle with pens and crafts and who knows what all. She is also pretty much a full on lefty liberal, and I'd say about 99% heathen, too.
Well, she typically does the family Easter meal. These things can, as I am sure many of you know, be fraught with tension, but this was nice. Niblet (my son for new folks) and I went over, as did my ex, his dad (also my 'Dad,' and always will be), and his wife (also known as SMiLfH; step-mother-in-law-from-hell, because she totally is), and Dad's father. The last three are hopelessly religious (though I suspect Dad fakes it to avoid the wrath of SMiLfH). But my ex, my son, my cousin, and her husband are really not. SMiLfH and ex's grandfather are also super republican conservative types, and while Dad is as staunch a liberal as anyone, he keeps it rather mum for the same reasons as he pretends to rather more religious sentiment than I suspect he really feels.... All in all it is sometimes a bit of a tinderbox awaiting a match...
Nevertheless, there were no disagreements, no bickering, not even very much shade thrown. Signs of relief all round! And then my son and I stayed around to rant about Tantrump with my cousin. Good food, good folks, no conflict? As good an Easter as about the best a heathen like me can hope for!
So a happy walking dead/zombie Jesus/Easter to all of you, as well! ;)
Oh my sweet nellie jesus!
April 16th, 2017 06:41 pmThis is an amazing post about the worst written sex scenes (because apparently there is a competition for these things, among actual, serious, published writers, even) and wow. Tumblr hits the nail on the head though - we are spoiled by fanfiction - I don't think even the worst fanfic sex scene I have ever encountered was this bad! (Not even the ones I struggled writing....)
http://dduane.tumblr.com/post/159648336531/azriona-i-blame-this-on-sherlock-bmwiid
You must go and read this - I guarantee you will get a few laughs! (And go give your fave fanfic authors some love while you're at it - thank goodness we have them!)
http://dduane.tumblr.com/post/159648336531/azriona-i-blame-this-on-sherlock-bmwiid
You must go and read this - I guarantee you will get a few laughs! (And go give your fave fanfic authors some love while you're at it - thank goodness we have them!)
Spring has sprung...
April 14th, 2017 04:00 pm...and with, Spring Fever!
My students were positively insane today! It doesn't help that I have them for the last class of the day in Friday. I adore them, but OMG, there were a few I wanted to stuff in a sack!
These are my middle schoolers, BTW, and they are amazing and smart and inspiring, but also wiggly as hell....
Doesn't help that I'"m not immune to the spring fever myself. I am pretty over this semester/year. Oh, and then there is that other spring fever, also known as hayfever.... *achoo!*
Still, I love spring here - I fall in love with living here all over again every spring, and every fall. (Which is a good thing, since the summers nearly cook me, and Jan/Feb just suck in general....)
My students were positively insane today! It doesn't help that I have them for the last class of the day in Friday. I adore them, but OMG, there were a few I wanted to stuff in a sack!
These are my middle schoolers, BTW, and they are amazing and smart and inspiring, but also wiggly as hell....
Doesn't help that I'"m not immune to the spring fever myself. I am pretty over this semester/year. Oh, and then there is that other spring fever, also known as hayfever.... *achoo!*
Still, I love spring here - I fall in love with living here all over again every spring, and every fall. (Which is a good thing, since the summers nearly cook me, and Jan/Feb just suck in general....)
Someone posted this as 'pushback' to the fear, anger, and bewilderment many people are feeling in the wake of Trump’s election and subsequent (so far) disastrous presidency. I felt the need to reply.
( Cut for length and dodgy formatting (doh!). )
( Cut for length and dodgy formatting (doh!). )
Voices (not all in my head)
April 13th, 2017 08:10 pmI have a thing for voices. I recognize them with a weird sort of accuracy SO I started keeping a list. This is highly specific to stuff I watch/play, but it might be amusing.
AtLA Commander Zhao = Lucius Malfoy
Dragon Age II’s Fenris = Diablo 3’s Crusader = C.O.D. Adv. Warfare’s Commander Gideon
Dragon Age II’s Male Hawke = Dragon Age: Origins’ Ser Bryant/Arl of Denerim
Dragon Age II’s Varric Tethras = StarCraft II’s Matt Horner
Diablo 3’s Kormac/Templar = Star Tek: Enterprise’s Malcolm Smith
Fable III’s Ben Finn = Star Trek Reboot’s Scotty
Fable III’s Sir Walter Beck = LoTR’s Theoden
Diablo 3’s Headrig Eamon = Dragon Age: Origin’s Loghain MacTyr = Mass Effect’s Adm. Han Gerrel
Dragon Age II’s Arishock = Diablo 3’s Imperius
Bioshock Infinite’s Booker DeWitt = Diablo 3’s Lyndon/Scoundrel
Dragon Age: Origins’ Alistair = Crossing Jordan’s Nigel Townsend
Dragon Age: Origins’ Morrigan = Diablo 3’s Cydea Mistress of Lust = Farscape’s Aeryn Sun
Bioshock’s Rosalind Lutece = Diablo 3’s Leah = Mass Effect FemShep
Mass Effect’s Grunt = StarCraft’s Abathur = Diablo 3’ Zoltan Kuhle = Dragon Age Origins’ Oghren
Dragon Age: Awakening’s Anders = Dragon Age II/Inquisition’s Cullen (how’s that for ironic?)
Mind. Blown.
AtLA Commander Zhao = Lucius Malfoy
Dragon Age II’s Fenris = Diablo 3’s Crusader = C.O.D. Adv. Warfare’s Commander Gideon
Dragon Age II’s Male Hawke = Dragon Age: Origins’ Ser Bryant/Arl of Denerim
Dragon Age II’s Varric Tethras = StarCraft II’s Matt Horner
Diablo 3’s Kormac/Templar = Star Tek: Enterprise’s Malcolm Smith
Fable III’s Ben Finn = Star Trek Reboot’s Scotty
Fable III’s Sir Walter Beck = LoTR’s Theoden
Diablo 3’s Headrig Eamon = Dragon Age: Origin’s Loghain MacTyr = Mass Effect’s Adm. Han Gerrel
Dragon Age II’s Arishock = Diablo 3’s Imperius
Bioshock Infinite’s Booker DeWitt = Diablo 3’s Lyndon/Scoundrel
Dragon Age: Origins’ Alistair = Crossing Jordan’s Nigel Townsend
Dragon Age: Origins’ Morrigan = Diablo 3’s Cydea Mistress of Lust = Farscape’s Aeryn Sun
Bioshock’s Rosalind Lutece = Diablo 3’s Leah = Mass Effect FemShep
Mass Effect’s Grunt = StarCraft’s Abathur = Diablo 3’ Zoltan Kuhle = Dragon Age Origins’ Oghren
Dragon Age: Awakening’s Anders = Dragon Age II/Inquisition’s Cullen (how’s that for ironic?)
Mind. Blown.
OMFG We just bombed Afghanistan!
April 13th, 2017 01:59 pmThe US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission.
A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs," was dropped at 7:32 pm local time Thursday, the sources said. A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb...Officials said the target was an ISIS cave and tunnel complex and personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
We bombed a cave.
He's mad. He's utterly fucking power-mad. We have let an insane child run loose in the world's biggest arsenal.
THe story on CNN here.
A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs," was dropped at 7:32 pm local time Thursday, the sources said. A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb...Officials said the target was an ISIS cave and tunnel complex and personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
We bombed a cave.
He's mad. He's utterly fucking power-mad. We have let an insane child run loose in the world's biggest arsenal.
THe story on CNN here.
I got my old* Icon Community's posts straightened out, so if you're looking for icons, check it out!
artis_ex_corvus
I am still working on getting the tags fixed, but there aren't so many posts that it's a problem. I'm thinking I might start making icons again; I always sort of loved the amazing range of what can be done in 100 x 100 pixels....
*OK, yes, some of them are a bit dated, but really, they were quite 'au currant' when they were made!
artis_ex_corvusI am still working on getting the tags fixed, but there aren't so many posts that it's a problem. I'm thinking I might start making icons again; I always sort of loved the amazing range of what can be done in 100 x 100 pixels....
*OK, yes, some of them are a bit dated, but really, they were quite 'au currant' when they were made!
...you're like that ex who always finds a new way to disappoint....
I have been trying to get back here, again, as I have before, and have actually had a little success. Right in time for the new "Service Agreement." Where to begin? There are, of course, the censorship implications. And then there is the idiocy of making me sign an agreement that LJ itself declares is non-binding, but my consent to it (required to use the site), implies agreement to the version I can't read because it's in fucking Russian? Really? THat's taking Orwellian to a whole new level....
So, despite my what? 15 year-history here, I am am trying to actually commit to the transition for Dreamwidth. This really grind my gears since my account here has been a permanent one for...oh, a decade or so, and DW will end up costing me a pretty penny that I *really* can't exactly afford right now. And, my whole getting back here has a lot to do with those of you who are still here, and there seems to be a dearth of anyone I know on DW, or at least that I can find.
MY plan is to begin using DW full-time, while still reading and commenting here. Eventually, I will probably turn off commenting and essentially set this whole thing to private. I don't know if I can *quite* bring myself to delete it, though the new Soviet Overlords may take care of that for me - I've never been subtle about my liberal views, after all.
I will keep up here, but please, look for me on DW (link below) if you too have made or are contemplating the move there. Peace, all!
Look for me on my mirror journal, LunaDelCorvo on DreamWidth. If you are on DW too, tell me at this post so I can add you there!
I have been trying to get back here, again, as I have before, and have actually had a little success. Right in time for the new "Service Agreement." Where to begin? There are, of course, the censorship implications. And then there is the idiocy of making me sign an agreement that LJ itself declares is non-binding, but my consent to it (required to use the site), implies agreement to the version I can't read because it's in fucking Russian? Really? THat's taking Orwellian to a whole new level....
So, despite my what? 15 year-history here, I am am trying to actually commit to the transition for Dreamwidth. This really grind my gears since my account here has been a permanent one for...oh, a decade or so, and DW will end up costing me a pretty penny that I *really* can't exactly afford right now. And, my whole getting back here has a lot to do with those of you who are still here, and there seems to be a dearth of anyone I know on DW, or at least that I can find.
MY plan is to begin using DW full-time, while still reading and commenting here. Eventually, I will probably turn off commenting and essentially set this whole thing to private. I don't know if I can *quite* bring myself to delete it, though the new Soviet Overlords may take care of that for me - I've never been subtle about my liberal views, after all.
I will keep up here, but please, look for me on DW (link below) if you too have made or are contemplating the move there. Peace, all!
Look for me on my mirror journal, LunaDelCorvo on DreamWidth. If you are on DW too, tell me at this post so I can add you there!
What a week (and it's only Wednesday!) Tantrump's got Korea rattling its own sabers in response to his threats and swagger routine, he's authorized oil drilling on the Atlantic seacoast, he (or one of his muppets, DeVos - I'll do a whole post on her, soon), overturned protections for student load borrowers, and the nation's first female Muslim judge, Sheila Abdus-Salaam, was found floating in the Hudson River Wednesday afternoon after she was reported missing.
If it were less terrifying, it might be amusing to take bets on which way Tantrump and his GOP puppet show will get us all killed first..... *sigh*
I promise I won't go all doom (or politics) all the time, but there will be political posts (hopefully mostly more analytical than ranty, but...)
If it were less terrifying, it might be amusing to take bets on which way Tantrump and his GOP puppet show will get us all killed first..... *sigh*
I promise I won't go all doom (or politics) all the time, but there will be political posts (hopefully mostly more analytical than ranty, but...)
The journey so far....
April 11th, 2017 07:24 pmIt's funny - this shift over to DW has me going back and reading entries from well over ten years ago. It's funny how many things have changed, and even funnier how many things haven't. The first couple years are from when I was still working for that horrible ad agency - man, that place almost did me in! And My return to school & academia.... I've never been one to wallow, but it's nice sometimes to look back over where you've been, and how you got where you are....
(Not that I'm going to go so far as to thank LJ/SUP for the prompt; they still suck!)
So now the big question: do I accept the new LJ TOS so I can make a post there telling everyone to find me here? Right now I can't post or comment at all w/o accepting the new TOS.....
(Not that I'm going to go so far as to thank LJ/SUP for the prompt; they still suck!)
So now the big question: do I accept the new LJ TOS so I can make a post there telling everyone to find me here? Right now I can't post or comment at all w/o accepting the new TOS.....
When your past speaks....
April 11th, 2017 02:11 amI was reading back through some old quizzes from the early days of my LJ, and...apparently this was a quiz result:
Mad Girl's Love Song
By Sylvia Plath
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"
Wow. It's like they know me.....
Mad Girl's Love Song
By Sylvia Plath
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"
Wow. It's like they know me.....
