Posts by Emma Hart
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As for the actual point of the article, is there anything about the Out to Dinner thing that isn't a film clip? If it is what it seems to be, it doesn't have to be a middle-class thing - it could be "out to the pub" or whatever.
Linking to a clip of the guy behind it, Zach Wahls, on The Daily Show. I think it's very deliberately aimed at "Middle America", and I don't think there's anything wrong with that - not every action has to be equally applicable to everyone. And like Tracy says, the general idea is easily transferable to a bunch of different settings.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-30-2012/zach-wahls?xrs=share_copy
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Up Front: Making It Better, in reply to Tom Beard,
where people are more likely to form friendships through suburban neighbourliness, schools, sports groups and the like
I've often described the school gate as "where you meet people you'd otherwise avoid", and that's how I know the people I had in mind when I heard that "on the fence" phrase. They don't think of themselves as homophobic, they're perfectly "nice", they just don't believe LGBT people have as much personhood as they do themselves. It's nothing personal. They're just better human beings.
I do miss attending National party campaign meetings in the town hall, one seldom gets a real chance to express one's anger directly to the powers that be any more.
One year (1990) we found out at the last minute that the Nats were having their conference at my old high school. About a dozen of us shot over there. We had to argue to be allowed to stand on the grounds (the school principal was a member of the Labour Party; we made a phone call) and then we were very nearly outnumbered by cops. Who stood around while we were aggressively verbally abused by young Nats. One of whom responded to my brother's reasonably complex position on nuclear ships with the telling point, "At least I shave, arsehole."
Which, yes, is another thing to take into account when you're taking children on protests.
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Southerly: Liveblog: Moving House (Literally), in reply to Islander,
The first half of the house has arrived;
http://twitpic.com/9dyged -
I have absolutely got up out of bed to get some writing done, and not to keep watching David on Jen's Twitter feed at all...
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Southerly: Bricks and Mortar, in reply to Lilith __,
Well done to you and Jen and all your helpers!
Somehow (and I suspect it's the result of years of near-pathological niceness) David and Jennifer have produced this effect in our household, and I suspect those of all their friends.
Me: David wants to know if we can-
Karl: Yes. Whatever. Anything we can do to help.I still don't quite feel that we've really evened up the assistance:beer ledger.
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Lilith __,
Thank you Lilith, that was brilliant.
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Sacha,
Language shapes possibilities about how we understand the world.
When I reflect on it, I've spent ten years working to get a few words into the world in a particular way, so the right thinking and actions can follow.
Yes. Absolutely. That said, it's still important to pay more attention to people's intentions, to what they mean, than the words they use to say it. Or you end up spending all your time and energy Language Policing, and alienating allies.
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Chris Waugh,
As for "re-introducing a second-person plural", we never lost it. It's the 2nd person singular 'thou' that we dropped.
Yes, but then we shifted 'you' to do double duty. And as a result, people find 'thou' really formal, when it was the __in__formal. Language is basically awesome.
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The most commonly-used versions I've seen from people who are Really Concerned about this stuff are zhe/zhir. But catching on more generally? Using "they" as a singular. Which is obviously hugely problematic and confusing in a whole new way, but the soluation is going to come from useage, not from imposition, because it's language.
I'm working on re-introducing a second-person plural. Or at least making it more acceptable to use the one we already have - yous.
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Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Pete,
Whoever wrote The Chocolate Manifesto - I would buy them a drink anytime - excellent work
That would be Max, who, as it turns out, is not averse to the odd drink. Nor the even ones...