I keep reminding myself that, poll after poll, a majority of Americans SUPPORT mask and vax mandates, so (what small comfort this is), the whiny brats getting their way are the loud minority, not the majority. Ooof. A friend-of-a-friend (who I’ve never met) posted this on FB regarding masks in schools. The “brats” they are referencing are the parents protesting mask mandates for kids/teens. I avoided responding on FB (as stated, I don’t know this person myself) but it has been bothering me. Enough I went and found the post to copy-and-paste the words to make this post. I decided responding would be tone policing and that I shouldn’t say anything. People are allowed to be frustrated and sometimes (especially in a text-only online environment) tone can be misunderstood. This person is allowed to be frustrated that their children (possibly high-risk, immuno-compromised) are being put at greater risk. It is not my job (as a stranger) to call them out
Manners
Writing: Appropriation
I recently watched Raya and the Last Dragon (I know, I’m slow on these things). I wanted to see it because it said “dragon” in the title AND because I’ve heard some stuff about appropriation in it. Some hub-bub around the film’s release said it was insensitive to other cultures. You know, Disney perhaps not being known for their cultural sensitivity… I get it. Mulan is…. well it is based on Chinese legend but VERY westernized. Specifically, when I use this term I mean social appropriation, which Dictionary.com says is: the adoption, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers from subcultures or minority communities into mainstream culture by people with a relatively privileged status. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cultural-appropriation Examples include white people wearing clothing/styles of Native Americans, or (white people) making art based on African cultural style(s). You have probably heard some of these things. In the past several years, there have been conversations about people dressing as Michael Jackson (if you aren’t
Life: Quarantine Life
Life is full of stress right now. I am fighting my anxiety basically daily, like pretty much everyone else. I am avoiding the news for the most part because I want to hear something that is NOT “the world is ending.” So I am trying to cope. I am cleaning my kitchen a LOT. I am sewing masks. My first attempt was OK, but not great. Fortunately, I have lots of 1 yard scraps of material I hated to get rid of, so I have had plenty to work with. I’m pretty proud of some of my later masks. I am back on anti-anxieties. I can’t concentrate. I feel like I am losing my mind regularly. I feel like I’ve become agoraphobic because leaving my house only increases my anxiety. A walk around the neighborhood is an Event. Grocery shopping is an exhausting juggle of requirements. But worse than the ever-present stress is the frustration interacting with the world. We
Manners: Social Justice Warrior, Christian, or other…?
This is at least attempt #3 to write this post over the past 12 months. I keep starting it, writing a few hundred words, and deleting it all again. Because this is a tough topic – how to live a socially conscious life. And I am going to start by saying, we all probably doing it wrong. That is really the conclusion on the manners of it that I’ve come to. It might be possible to live a truly “socially conscious” life, but not everyone can manage it. Because it isn’t easy. Beginning: Defining the Problem Let me begin by defining “socially conscious life.” This entire post was inspired about a year ago when my LBGTQ friends began (again) to boycott Chick-fil-A. Hell, SCOTUS just heard oral arguments to determine whether LBGTQ employment will be protected or not. It’s not like we got marriage equality and suddenly all the issues LBGTQ people face were magically solved. As a straight person,
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Manners: Sidewalks & bicycles
GA law is clear (and this is apparently true in more places than not): Bicycles are not allowed on sidewalks. I disagree strongly with this law. For several reasons, but not the least is manners. Manner FOR cyclists, and manners FROM cyclists. I object because I think most people riding bikes (at least that I’ve ever dealt with) have a few problems: 1. They don’t know the rules. I’m big on following the rules. The number of people who don’t know how to signal while riding a bicycle is upsetting. The number of times a pack of cyclists will be 3-4 abreast (the law says no more than TWO). The number of times people have been riding against traffic…. Seriously, I need to start a YouTube channel and call it “illegal shit I see on the road every day” – I could do a monthly bicycle video (at approximately 5-15 seconds per sighting, I’d need to collect a few to
Manners: Terry Crews’ tweet
This started flipping up every once in awhile on my screens late last week and at first I thought it
Manner: Bagging Groceries
I was a grocery store cashier during high school. It is NOT a thrilling job. It is not mentally demanding. Emotionally – but not mentally. So in order to stave off boredom I came up with my own mental games to play. Things like racing the computer to compute change (I always lost). And optimizing grocery bagging. This past weekend, I went to the grocery store. I bought some pasta, pizza rolls, a bunch of yogurt, and lettuce. Not a ton of groceries, enough to get me started this week. Somehow my yogurts (granted, I bought like 10 of them), ended up in 3/4 bags. The pizza rolls were alone in the first bag. Then the spaghetti noodles and ~3 yogurts were in a bag. The lettuce and ~6 yogurt were in another bag. The mac n cheese and the rest of the yogurt were in a third. What is wrong with the bagger?!?!?!?! So when I get home I need to carry
Theory: Pregnancy Brain
This is 100% my own theory based on my own (still relatively short) experience with pregnancy. So, with that disclaimer – take it or leave it on my theory. Let’s start with “What is Pregnancy Brain” WebMD has an entire article on it, but the jist of it is – pregnant women struggle to continue to function at full use – “momnesia” I never understood how real it was until I was pregnant – nor how early it starts. I always assumed it was a 3rd trimester thing and because you feel so weird and out of sorts. Nope, it definitely started late 1st trimester for me and has only gotten more noticeable as I move through the 2nd trimester. So here’s the theory: Momnesia is because there is a cycle or two of the brain always processing the pregnancy. My brain continuously cycles anywhere from 3-6 different things at the same time. I don’t necessarily control these cycles. On a “normal”
Manners: “Caravan” language
I don’t really want to talk about the racism inherent in the discussion of “brown” people “invading” our country. The UN did a good job talking in broad terms, there are articles comparing it to conversations/books in the mid-1900s, and calling out politicians for using racist language. It’s definitely part of this conversation, but there is something I want to address that I haven’t seen before. There has been a lot of conversation in the news about this “caravan” coming up from Central America. And I realized the other day – this is coded language. And let me start by defining “coded language” – it is terms or phrases that are designed to bring forth certain cultural images & context (negatively). Collins English dictionary defines it as “If someone is using coded language, they are expressing their opinion in an indirect way, usually because that opinion is likely to offend people.” An example of “coded language” is Thug. (I hate this word so much).
Manners: Remove Thyself!
I read this comic this week: https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3837 (and if you don’t read QC – you should!) And I don’t want to talk about the content per say – but rather when it’s time to remove yourself from a bad spot. I definitely had that in 2 jobs. I knew things were turning sour and I couldn’t see how to fix it without compromising myself/my ethics. So it was time to start job hunting. And this is true of relationships too. Sometimes it’s a catalyst like Basilisk (the purple lady in the comic) experienced that just makes her see it. Sometimes it builds up over time and one day you look at the mountain of evidence and say, “Oh. Wow. Ok, that isn’t good anymore.” Knowing this is hard though. I’ve always been afraid I’m going to “give up” on stuff too quickly, which sometimes means I “stick with” it MUCH longer than I should. I hate giving up. I hate admitting defeat. I
Dream by Day 