jinian

Passed on the torch to the next crop of Rainbow Grads officers at the meeting today. We lame ducks are still doing a few things, but as of summer quarter's beginning, in a week and a day, it's all them. It's hard to let go, but this right here is success. We made something to reach out to all the queer grads who might be the only one in their program, and help the law students talk to the med students and the social scientists if they want to -- and people believe in it enough to carry it forward, cultivate it, and promote it however they want to.*

I pointed out the shape of our journey, and that this was the triumphant end of a story, but I think I'm the only one who's quite so touched by it. marzipan_pig, you would have understood. :) May it all continue working out. I want to have my social group without having to run it myself now!


* Facebook in this case will apparently become a bigger deal; I will be over here threatening people with my cane if they don't also use email notification.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-bill-sent-back-to-the-drawing-board-in-wake-of-internet-protests.html

Go us. However: eternal vigilance!

You may know Cunningham as a web cartoonist. He did the excellent graphical exposé of the vaccine scare that made the rounds quite deservedly a while back.

Nonfiction in comic form was interesting enough to get a library checkout from me. Cunningham worked as a psychiatric nurse for some time and, as a cartoonist, chose to address the misconceptions and prejudices people have against mental illness by telling stories about how he found the inpatients he worked with. Each graphic story covers a particular diagnosis or theme, such as "People with mental illness enrich our lives" or "Bipolar disorder." One irritating note -- the "Schizophrenia" section begins by saying that it's not the same as "multiple personality disorder," so I waited the rest of the book to see what he had to say about multiples, but there was nothing.

His spare, slightly messy line-and-black-fill drawings look simpler than they actually are. The layouts don't add as much to the presentation as I would have liked, but overall I think the style is effective in conveying the idea that the events presented are (black-and-white) factual. Occasional reverses into white lines on black and heavily posterized photographs ranged from pointless to powerful.

Possible triggers are permanent awful self-harm, suicide, scat, vivid descriptions of mental illness.

( minor spoiler, for structure as much as anything )

If it's handy, this is worth reading, and I'm very much looking forward to Science Tales.

Holy shit, the Google doodle is scary mice! Wim has a shirt like that!

Also, I believe that the religiously appropriate thing for me to do today would be to sleep all day. This would ensure that the sun will go away again in its appropriate cycle, like staying up all night in winter. Funny how no one seems to advocate that. Anyway I have a class to go to.

Mirabai Knight led a free software project to make a free steno emulator, Plover.

Krystal Ball is a modern feminist badass running for Congress despite a racy photo. She also speaks to the obvious awful name issue.

Who else is wonderful today?

[ I succeeded in crawling into the breast of my big boss! ]
A Maru (the cat who does everything more cutely than you, on Japanese video) fic of amazing hilarity.

Wait Wait Don't Eat Me is pretty great too.

I haven't known what to say about all this. I am angry and miserable that my friends are being hurt, but that's not really the point. oyceter, in her high-octane awesomeness, has made a great post analyzing the problems at work that made it clear to me what I want to say.

I am not a part of most SF fandom. I've read the rasf* groups off and on, I certainly read piles of speculative fiction, and I used to really enjoy Making Light. However, I barely watch TV, I've never been to a con besides Wiscon, and I absolutely hate certain fannish social norms. I can't pretend my peripheral involvement has had much to do with privilege or prejudice. I am just some white chick who's never really been that interested in fandom. But at this point I need to make this clear:

The Racefail '09 is not okay with me.

As Oyce describes, the debate is being yanked aside by people who are at least partially immune to criticism. I don't know if it's there any more, but I remember TNH strongly implying that those she claimed as enemies had better not try to publish anything. People are squelched by such exercises of power. I don't understand how this is not obvious to some people. (I have to think that it's really not evident to them. Right? Because it is seriously fucked up.)

What to do? My customary "shut up and listen" strategy may need elaboration here. Pay attention to verb_noire and fight_derailing; donate when appropriate and possible. Continue to talk about race issues in person. Read more. Think more. Continue to support people doing work I value and continue not to support people and organizations doing the opposite. Post about stuff even when I know I'm not adequately eloquent or energetic.

It seems to work poorly for getting to my shell account, for some reason, but I can do some stuff. (It is called The Golden Hub, so OF COURSE they have wifi even though there is no reliable cellular service within 100 miles.)

(Okay, that's not really why.)