My tweets for 2012-05-06
- @followthelede @jhameia Can probably speak easier to the first, but I'd love either/both. What time EST? #feministSF in reply to followthelede 19:58:55, 2012-05-06
- I earned 643 points for my workout on @Fitocracy! http://t.co/W0KbuyCe 20:00:28, 2012-05-06
- Went indoor rock climbing with @Bazrar, @mamajoan and the cousins. THANK YOU @RenaLeib! (Video evidence to follow tonight) #fb 20:37:57, 2012-05-06
- New blog post: My tweets for 2012-05-05 http://t.co/n1tyFPvr 00:08:37, 2012-05-07
- @air_n_darkness Welcome! 01:48:14, 2012-05-07
- Not my most flattering portrait, but I'm still proud! #fb http://t.co/DfYu0PQp 02:53:04, 2012-05-07
- @fritzbogott Thanks! in reply to fritzbogott 03:03:17, 2012-05-07
- We went rock climbing! The proof is in the video: http://t.co/JNBkj3JX #fb 03:22:58, 2012-05-07
- Before today, I had no idea I was still this flexible. #fb http://t.co/ee0jnpYO 03:31:31, 2012-05-07
- @followthelede @jhameia Should be fine. Do you have a preference for which date/topic I co-mod? in reply to followthelede 03:31:54, 2012-05-07
- @jhameia @followthelede I'm game for 6/3 2PM, feminism in traditional societies. Watch the semantics come out to play. in reply to jhameia 03:59:57, 2012-05-07
My tweets for 2012-05-05
- Someday the crazies will lose their strangle-hold on AZ… Meanwhile: Arizona bans funding to Planned Parenthood http://t.co/jauxKA6s #fb 14:27:54, 2012-05-05
- Tell @EPAgov: Don't let the Army Corps of Engineers rubber stamp the #KeystoneXL #tarsands pipeline! http://t.co/9AoSSBA1 via @CREDOMobile 16:23:33, 2012-05-05
- We completely rearranged out living and dining rooms this AM. It's like having a new apartment. Spacious yet cozy. Party perfect. #fb 16:38:50, 2012-05-05
- Typed ouT instead of ouR in that last tweet… I must be sicker than I thought. ;P 16:46:57, 2012-05-05
- @onesockshort Yay! There is much cheering here at home! "She got our cards!" in reply to onesockshort 23:06:43, 2012-05-05
- Margarita! #fb 01:27:53, 2012-05-06
Linky-dink Eats Delicious Whole Grain URLs for Breakfast
The world is just too interesting this morning!
Smart paint could revolutionize structural safety of bridges, mines and more
Smart clothing could become wearable gadgets
Car folds up like origami (on purpose)
Music training has biological impact on aging
Scientists have found a way to decipher actual words from a person’s brain waves
Marijuana mouth spray for cancer patients tough to abuse
Reading Subversion (Day 6: The End)
The end has arrived. These are the last two stories in the Subversion anthology, but at least they provide a fine sendoff. Both warn us about the dangers of being manipulated by extremism, and both emphasize the value of personal responsibility as the antidote for that social ill.
Timothy T. Murphy’s Received Without Content raises that warning plainly, and makes the point that disadvantaged people are most vulnerable to predation by those who capitalize on injustice instead of resisting it. Readers are also shown that suggestibility and ignorance are no excuse for carelessness. Accepting the consequences for poor judgment is an especially courageous act when the easier alternative is to blame others for dangerous leadership.
In To Sleep With Pachamama by Caleb Jordan Schulz, we’re reminded that establishing freedom in the face of extremism is a risky endeavor at the best of times and never for the fainthearted. Beyond that, standing for the rights of others is a natural maturation of individual freedom, even as it demands a certain willingness of individuals to place their hard-won independence in jeopardy. Oppressors may describe these acts as ‘returning to the scene of the crime,’ but that this messy heroism arises again and again throughout history is a testament of its value to our continuation.
Make the authors happy. Make yourself happy. Buy the book.
Reading Subversion (Day 5)
At first glance, the next three stories in the Subversion anthology don’t seem to have a whole lot in common. They take place in a dreary, futuristic call center, a fantastic world of dragons and their human snacks, and Hell itself. The characters are worker drones, royalty, and demons. No obvious theme besides subversion, the theme for the entire anthology, for me to develop into a clever introductory paragraph for today’s reading.
But who said the connection between them had to be obvious? A closer examination shows us that these are three very different stories about daring escapes from cruel systems that care nothing for the individuals they depend on for maintenance.
Scrapheap Angel by RJ Astruc and Deirdre M. Murphy is the baldest, cheeriest example of today’s unifying theme. I’m particularly fond of this story because, like the main characters, I spend my weekdays toiling in a corporate cubicle. Also like the characters – and probably everyone else working in similar situations – I pass a lot of time daydreaming my escape and quietly undermining oppression. Still, I doubt the contents of my cubicle will ever combine to form anything quite as amazing as a Scrapheap Angel.
CA Young’s story, The Dragon’s Bargain, contains a warning against ignorance and blind trust. Also, plans formed at the last minute often disappoint, and sometimes catastrophically. To escape a messy fate on the teeth of a hungry power, one must come prepared to the fight. Lest one’s sacrifice be for someone else’s gain…
A Tiny Grayness in the Dark by Wendy N. Wagner is a tear-jerker. Although other stories in the Subversion anthology have children as main characters, none give parents credit for much good. It’s true that some parents are simply awful or too wholesome to be healthy, but most parents sacrifice a lot of themselves for the benefit of their offspring. A Tiny Grayness in the Dark shines a light on love as both motive for and quintessential expression of subversion.
This series of reviews will end soon, but why wait for me to finish reading the book? Buy it here.
Reading Subversion (Day 4)
The next three stories in the Subversion anthology are all about germination; growth and change from within. Each reveals a different sort of transformation of a different type of group, but all these stories follow one person taking one step in the right direction. They show us that leaders must first revolutionize themselves before they can expect to lead a revolution.
Jean Johnson’s The Hero Industry possesses more whimsy than most of the other stories in the Subversion anthology, but it’s still a good fit. In it, our heroine makes the most of a bad situation for all involved by bluffing and press-releasing her way to the top of an emerging field. All of her success – for herself and her unlikely clients – would be impossible if she was unwilling to negotiate with chaos.
In Flicka, by Cat Rambo, life in the backwoods gets complicated when the arrival of strange neighbors inevitably spurs identity crises among the locals. One young man, exceptional in his own quiet way, wants to bridge the divide between the ‘aliens’ and their reluctant hosts, but trust takes time to build, and hatred undermines all hospitality. To make things right in his world, the gentle man must start with himself and build from there.
Seed, by Shanna Germain, is a many-layered story. Uniquely among the other Subversion stories, it first leads the reader to accept the unacceptable even before the characters must. It examines the delicate relationship between two vastly different cultures, but doesn’t shy from the double-standards within those cultures which make that cross-cultural relationship so attractive. Sometimes rules must be broken for people to embrace each other’s differences, and oftentimes those two acts amount to the same thing.
There are only a few stories left in the Subversion anthology for me to review. Buy it here, and beat me to the finish.
Reading Subversion (Day 3)
The next two stories in the Subversion anthology are about second chances and trading comfort for purpose.
Barbara Krasnoff’s The Red Dybbuk is the story of a tradition of subversion. It reminds us that even progressive social movements have roots. Times change, the torch is passed, and new generations rise to the occasion. Some generations may be late bloomers, but you’re never too old to stand for something bigger than yourself.
In Pushing Paper in Hartleigh by Natania Barron, a mighty knight’s cozy desk job begins to take its toll. Bureaucratic ennui is a formidable foe, but the battle has become joyless. Our once-hero faces a hard choice between living with his reputation, or living up to it. Either way, he needs to get out from behind his desk more often.
We’re about half-way through the anthology, but hopefully you’re reading along with me by now. If not, you should buy it here.
Reading Subversion (Day 2)
The next three stories in the Subversion anthology are all tales of nurturing resistance against intractable, destructive ideas about human worth. Each in their own way, they describe our equally incorrigible drive toward freedom at the individual level and at the scale of civilization.
Pushaway by Melissa S. Green is my favorite kind of story. It’s about a girl, leaving. Leaving home and leaving her past behind, including her name. It’s about having the best revenge, too: A life well lived. Self-determination, growth, and the pursuit of happiness subvert oppression, absolutely.
In Daniel José Older’s story, Phantom Overload, institutional racism persists even in the afterlife, with dire consequences for the living and the dead. Tricked into choosing between security and justice, our half-dead-half-alive hero wisely engages in a little trickery of his own. Turn-about is fair play, in this story, and comeuppance is coming to those who mistake domination for a virtue.
Cold Against the Bone by Kelly Jennings takes us to a planet far away in the future, where one of Earth’s ugliest legacies lingers. After the corrupt labor system on Julian destroys his family, Jeno makes it his life’s work and his heart’s delight to tear down the system from within. Slavery by another name leads to revolution all the same…
There’s more, but you shouldn’t wait for me to get around to commenting on every story in this collection of fine fiction. Buy it here.