| Just created a new group. |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|08:26 pm] |
I just created a new LJ community: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) clueful_gamers. Yes, this is partially in response to some recent events on RPGnet. Please join if you're interested. |
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| Dreamwidthified as well |
[May. 2nd, 2009|12:38 am] |
You may remember a while ago when I asked what an alternative to LiveJournal would need. In that thread, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) heyiya mentioned that a new project, Dreamwidth, was trying to add many of those features.
A couple days ago, I got myself one of those Dreamwidth accounts: http://jiawen.dreamwidth.org/ (I signed in via OpenID a couple weeks ago, and got an automatic invite last night.) So far, it looks quite good. Avoiding the term "friend", and distinguishing between 'people you want to follow' and 'people you trust to read your content' is very good.
As I said in the earlier thread, if Dreamwidth doesn't also attract all the cool people I know on LJ, it won't be enough. But for now, I'll be waiting to see. |
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| RaceFail '09 and me |
[Mar. 8th, 2009|04:34 pm] |
SF/F Fandom should be for all people who are at least minimally moral, somewhat socially able and interested in science fiction or fantasy. It should not be an instrument for people with privilege to find yet another area of life in which they can exclude and oppress people.
This whole situation really hurts for me because a lot of the instigators (the vast majority of them white) are only one or two steps away from my social circle. There's a local con that I don't think I'll be able to attend any more because many of the instigators are so prominent at it (both in front of and behind the scenes). (Which is not to say that what I've faced has been anywhere near as serious as some of the people of color involved have faced. Potentially losing jobs, losing any feeling that there's a safe place for them... All these are horrible things.) I've been working for years to build up friendships, and to help as I can to build my chosen fannish groups into forces for good. For now, I'm still working towards that, but I have seriously considered of late how much I've been building bridges and how much I've been banging my head.
For what little it's worth, I'm trying to point out privilege when it occurs (including pointing it out to myself), trying to include a more diverse portion of humanity in my fannish groups, trying to apply my principles to myself as well as to others, trying to make sure that there are places where people can have serious, deep, wonderful conversations about speculative fiction without having to worry that they don't have PhDs or a long enough bibliography or the right friends or the right skin color.
I don't have a lot of privilege in terms of fandom-based power, I think. Compared to the instigators of this mess, anyway, which is to say, compared to many white fans. I've been on the board of one local group, and I've been head of programming for a local con. (And I'm currently still involved in both, to lesser extents.) I've tried to use both positions to make fandom a better place for everyone, to the tiny extent I can do that. That is probably the pinnacle of my power. I'm not a publisher or an editor or a major star in fandom -- I'm not even a pro, strictly speaking -- so my fandom-based power isn't huge. But I certainly have the privilege that any white person has in fandom -- I have very rarely felt awkward or unsafe because of my race in fannish circles, for example. (I've felt awkward and unsafe for plenty of other reasons, though.) And that is a privilege that I work to offset with my actions.
I guess what I want to say is that I am one anecdotal example of someone without a lot of power in fandom who is at least trying to make fandom a better place. That feels a little like I'm begging for my gold star, but some of my friends in fandom are expressing how unsafe they feel here, and I need to do what I can to help them feel safer. |
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| Amy, Amy, Amy... |
[Dec. 31st, 2008|05:12 pm] |
Amy Klobuchar is trying to earmark $500,000 for Minnesota Teen Challenge, which discriminates against non-Christians, demonizes things like Halloween and tarot cards, and has links to organizations that believe GLBT people can and should change their identities through prayer. Such organizations have a right to exist, I suppose, but they certainly don't deserve my tax dollars.
I've already registered my protest via Mrs. Klobuchar's website. You may want to do the same. |
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| Another reminder: Transgender Day of Remembrance tomorrow |
[Nov. 20th, 2008|12:56 pm] |
In case you didn't see my last post: Tomorrow is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we commemorate all the transgender people who've been killed in the past year for being who they are. There will be a memorial ceremony starting at 7:00pm at Spirit of the Lakes Church (2930 13th Avenue South in Minneapolis), as well as locations around the world. If you're in the Twin Cities, I hope to see you at the ceremony. |
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| Transgender Day of Remembrance, Thursday -- are you going? |
[Nov. 18th, 2008|12:57 am] |
This Thursday is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the Twin Cities, there will be a ceremony at 7pm:Minneapolis/St. Paul area will hold a Transgender Day of Remembrance service at the Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ on Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m. . Spirit of the Lakes is at 2930 13th Avenue South in Minneapolis. TransVoices, the Twin Cities transgender chorus will sing during the Remembrance service. For further information, contact Barbara Satin at barbsatin@aol.com or 612-670-1978.
Will I see you there? I'll be late, because my class goes until 7:45pm, but I'll definitely be there. |
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| Trying to think through some things |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|10:47 pm] |
Something that the whole dumb "Prop 8 is black people's fault" meme seems to illustrate: While we all like to think that everyone who's oppressed should and will try to educate themselves about other oppressed people's struggles, it's not reasonable to expect that they actually will. If some black people don't educate themselves about GLBT issues, they're no more to blame than I am for not educating myself more about the struggles Sikh Americans have had, or about the origins of "redneck" stereotypes, or about the good work PETA does (rather than the transphobic ads they seem to love), or all the other issues I haven't had time to educate myself about.
I'm not trying to absolve myself of guilt here (or at least I don't think I am), and I understand that I, as a white person, have a stronger requirement to address white privilege than a black person does. I'm not trying to excuse ignorance here, at least not consciously. I think everyone should try to educate themselves on oppression issues of all sorts, and everyone should address their own privilege (of whatever sorts). But the fact is that time is limited, our brains' processing speeds are limited and passions are limited. I think we should all try to educate ourselves all the time, but if there's someone who's, say, non-deaf and is trying to address their privilege as a hearing person, do I have a right to demand that they educate themselves about transgender issues? Or if there's a deaf person who has cisgender privilege, and I have non-deaf privilege, is there a way to establish who's got the more valid demands on whose time? Is that even a valid question? Clearly, the "oppression Olympics" aren't the way to go. But what are the alternatives? Demanding that everyone educate themselves about everything? It seems like all too often, as in the recent example, it becomes "I demand you educate yourself" rather than "We should all educate ourselves". Demanding that non-queer black people educate themselves about GLBT issues, without a complementary effort from non-black GLBT people, is clearly also wrong-headed.
I go through periods where I'm totally sick of educating supposedly liberal people about transgender issues, or orientalist issues, or the other issues I seem to know at least a little about. And I completely understand those who decide that battle X is no longer a battle they wish to partake in. But at the same time, I think it's important to be a bit pragmatic about it, and realize that there are a lot of other people out there who are doing good work but who can't be held responsible for knowing everything all the time, and there are always new people and new issues in the world, and so education and work is a constant necessity.
Just trying to think through some of this... Help is appreciated! :) |
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| Anyone wanna go observing tonight? |
[Oct. 3rd, 2008|05:46 pm] |
It looks like the MAS is having a star party at Onan Observatory, near Norwood-Young America, tonight. The weather looks good, the moon isn't too full, and it may be the last chance before cold weather sets in. Wanna join me? |
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| Astronomy this coming weekend? |
[Sep. 23rd, 2008|07:20 pm] |
This coming weekend will be a new moon. The Minnesota Astronomical Society will (weather permitting) be having star parties at their Cherry Grove and Metcalf sites. Cherry Grove is about 1.5 hours' drive from the Cities, and Metcalf is just east of St. Paul, near Woodbury. If the weather's good either day, there will be observing (possibly even both days).
Would you like to join me for some astronomy? I'd love to go out with you and do some observing. I'm up for either site, though I prefer Cherry Grove (much darker site, with much better observing). This may be one of your last chances to do astronomy before the weather turns. If you're reading this, you're invited! Let me know if you'd like to go! |
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| Palin? |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|03:19 pm] |
I, for one, think it's wonderful of McCain to have a former Monty Python member as his vice-presidential candidate. Palin is well-traveled, generally quite liberal, friendly, self-effacing and, furthermore, British. It shows remarkable open-mindedness and generosity of character for McCain to put a British person on the ticket with him. |
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| Comments and posts |
[Aug. 19th, 2008|10:36 am] |
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If a given LJ post has no comments, does that mean it's boring? If no one comments on a post of mine, does that mean the post is boring, or that there's just nothing to say? If there's nothing to say, what (if anything) does that mean about the quality of my LJ as a whole? |
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| Another passing in RPG circles |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|06:30 pm] |
N. Robin Crossby, the creator of Hârn and Hârnmaster, passed away today.
Gygax brought me into the hobby, but Crossby showed me what it was truly capable of. Thank you for all the inspiration and fun, Robin. |
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| What would an alternative to LJ need? |
[Jun. 24th, 2008|04:14 pm] |
On the way to Wiscon, naomikritzer and I talked about what it would take to draw people away from LJ. Here are some of the things, it seems to me, such an app would do:
- Distinguish between "people whose goings-on I'd like to know about" and "people I trust enough to tell my inner feelings to"
- Avoid using loaded words like "friends"
- Make security settings easier, especially for things like single posts, single comments, parts of a thread, groups of posts, etc.
- Not compress threads over a given number of posts
- Not be as politically charged as LJ has been in the past (which, it seems to me, would mean the potential LJ-killer would have to be run by a non-profit organization with a very apolitical agenda)
- Otherwise have all the great features LJ does: easy networking, easy access from the Web, easy use of CSS and other style tools, a pre-existing critical mass of People I Like, etc.
What other things would you like to see LJ have, or would draw you away from LJ? |
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| Another poem |
[Jun. 7th, 2008|11:33 pm] |
Old aluminum
Banded chevron clouds against
Radiant pearl
Suggested by the weather tonight. |
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| Late-night Indian food? |
[Jun. 3rd, 2008|12:57 am] |
Does anyone know a place in the Twin Cities where I can get samosas and malai kofta in the middle of the night? (I don't think you can call a place truly civilized until you can get good Indian food at 2:00am.) |
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| Wiscon 32 con report |
[Jun. 2nd, 2008|04:52 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | china, cons, east asia, exploring, friendships, gaming, glbt, language, politics, transgender, weird little observations, worldbuilding | ] |
The longer I let this stew, the more out-of-date and out-of-memory it gets. So here goes.
PanelsI went to many panels. Programming is one of Wiscon's strong suits, in spite of some glitches this year.
Mod SquadLast year, it was a panel of several people including wild_irises; this year, it was just her. Many good insights on the difficult job that is panel moderation. Wish I'd written more of them down, though.
I remember something I came up with at a previous con: starting the panel off by giving the strong/extreme formulation of the basic debate, and then making it clear that we all know the answer is somewhere in the middle, and that we're looking for nuance. Another topic that we discussed was what to do when someone brings up something off-topic but offensive. Do you, as mod, address it and possibly take the panel into uncharted territory? Or do you let it pass? Or something in between? The answers are tricky, but worth thinking about.
Not Just Japan: Asian SF&FI was a little intimidated by this one, largely because I was moderating it. I did some pre-discussion by e-mail, and got a pretty good handout worked up. But we were dipping our toes into the ocean; a survey of all the SF&F from Asia, even excluding Japan, is a huge job, and to then add all the many issues we wanted to discuss means we had much more than 1.25 hours' worth of material. The discussion touched on many topics; as Vandana succinctly put it later on, it went sort of octopus-shaped.
If I had it to do over again, I would've shut up and let my fellow panelists talk more. Hopefully, the panel will generate lots of cool ideas for next year that will allow a more focused approach to some of the subsets.
Fanfic & Slash 101I'm not much into fanfic. I'm not at all opposed to it, but there are just too many cool hobbies out there for the limited time I have to pursue them. I got a good sample of the varieties of slash and fanfic that are out there, and then ducked out.
The Joy of Fat SexI ended up going to the tail end of this, I think because some people I knew were in attendance. It sounds like it was a very practical and useful discussion.
Critiquing Maureen McHughChina Mountain Zhang is probably my single favorite book ever, so I had to at least try this one. I assumed I would end up gagging on lit-crit terminology and then ducking out, but both of the presentations ended up being riveting. The first was about how McHugh's work (specifically Nekropolis) deals with the difficulties of life, specifically the difficulties of being a woman, and how cypertech doesn't make those difficulties easier or tougher, just more complicated. McHugh doesn't allow her characters to have easy endings, or easy choices, or even easy beginnings, really. And she also isn't easy on her readers. All of which serves to drive home the points she makes.
The second presentation was specifically about China Mountain Zhang, and how its structure serves to evoke the experience of diaspora: its divided narrative shows the sides of a many-faceted experience, while its unwillingness to give characters easy plot vectors shows the uncertainty of living in a complex world. Or something like that; I'm not doing a very good job of summarizing it. Being an academic paper, its point was subtle and nuanced.
About halfway through, a certain guest of honor snuck in. When the two panelists asked for questions, there was an awkward pause, so I asked Maureen "Were they right?" She gave a very Maureen answer, stating that she doesn't have any more authority to say what her stories are about than the readers.
As the panel was dispersing, I asked Maureen if she named one of the characters in Mission Child after me. (I had given her a little bit of advice in the writing of it.) She said no. Well, it's good to know, after all!
Here's Where the Story EndsAnother Maureen panel. This suffered because the basic points were established very early on: there are plot endings, and there are theme endings. Both are possible; authors do not have a contract with readers to provide any certain type of ending. It seemed to kind of flail around from there.
lyda222 appeared to be fading from consciousness as the panel went on; she later said she was waiting for me or one other person to ask a cool question that would move things along. I was thinking of asking if there's such a thing as a "character ending", where the character gets the resolution they need even when the plot and the theme don't, but it didn't seem to be on topic again. Appropriately, the panel ended without a clear wrap-up.
The Ship Who KnittedOne of the best panels I attended. Many great ideas came out of this. Perhaps we don't want our vehicles to be as intelligent as we are; maybe the ideal intelligence for a ship going to Mars is, say, the equivalent of a dog who knows how to play fetch, or a horse who's satisfied just taking people to and fro. But maybe human-level intelligence is a necessity for the complexity of running a starship? Maybe it's impossible to create a flexible intelligence that isn't at least human-level?
The panel briefly moved to the topic of intelligent weapons, which are consistently portrayed in SF as a bad idea. It also went to the difficulty of describing a truly super-human intelligence; Iain Banks' Minds are not really ever shown satisfyingly in their full capacity. I brought up a bunch of other examples of intelligent vehicles in SF, all usually shown to be a bad thing. In retrospect, I probably should've shut up and let the panelists talk. (I seem to have done poorly in this respect; I talked when I shouldn't have in panels, and was quiet when I should've talked.)
A question that seemed to be coming up a lot was: Do we think that intelligence is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing? Is it a good thing to give our tools intelligence or not? And as a corrolary, are humans a curse or a blessing for the universe? Lots of well-informed people talking about cool ideas.
Male Feminists: You Don't Get a CookieThis unfortunately went down a path that I can already tell is too well traveled. It started well enough, with the panelists discussing how, as men, they deal with the emotions that sexism forces them to have, and how they view themselves as feminists or allies.
Someone asked what to do about a situation his wife had been put in. One panelist said to do X; another said to do Y; I said that he should ask her, while being fully prepared for the answer to be "Go away and don't bother me"; someone else said that asking her puts her in the position of having to be responsible for two people instead of just herself, and that instead he should come up with some possible solutions and present those. Had I had time or topic, I would've pointed out that that is largely an example of Male Answer Syndrome. I may have to propose "Dealing with your Male Answer Syndrome" as a topic for next year. The discussion otherwise went into what I felt were equally well-trodden areas. It certainly helped the man who asked the original question, I think, and the panel was therefore successful, but I feel like it could've made even more progress.
What If You Don't Want to Have Children? ReduxAn interesting discussion of the issues. Why do people who don't want kids have to deal with the crises of those who do? Why do women who want to be child-free (or is it childless -- there's apparently an important distinction here, but I came in late and missed it) end up doing the work of women who want to take care of their kids? Many of the panelists recognized that this is a very thorny issue, and that it's hard to both be a woman who wants to be recognized for her work and be a woman who wants to support others who want to take care of children.
There was a point when the panel went into issues of immigration and whether immigrants are a good thing or a bad thing. I think the moderator was dealing with the exact issue we dealt with in the Mod Squad: when someone brings up something offensive that threatens to take the panel on a big tangent, what should the moderator do? Addressing it allows the tangent to start flying; ignoring it means being complicit in offensiveness. The moderator addressed it, meaning there was about a 20 minute tangent, but it was good to get it out of our systems and deal with it.
A key point for me came when one audience member pointed out that these kinds of questions are often asked by men who feel they're having to lift the burdens of women who want maternity leave. How are the questions different when it's women asking them? A lot of the answers depend on how important we think it is for humanity as a whole to continue. Do we think humanity is ultimately something worth continuing, or something that would be best left to fizzle out?
Transgender People Discuss Transgender BooksI didn't go to this panel. There are apparently people who are disappointed that I didn't. (Boo, now I'm going to be known for panels I don't go to*.) Simply put: Programming glitches. I specifically asked not to be put on anything before noon (because I know how minuscule my ability to get up before noon during cons is), and still ended up on it despite several attempts to figure out what was going on. Sorry if you were expecting me to be on this. Programming is difficult at the best of times, and with database explosions it is even harder. I don't think anyone is really to blame.
Let's Build a WorldThis panel was almost worth the price of the membership all by itself. Wonderful wild fun. It started slightly serious: Hmm, oxygen/chlorine atmosphere, yes, interesting idea... What's that, the islands float around and collide with each other? Cats are the main form of currency and the nobility of the planet? Fire-breathing platypi inhabit the extradimensional tunnels? And let's throw in squid anywhere we can. It got weirder and weirder, until it started to actually make sense, in a scary but amazingly cool way. I suggested the last line for the novel: "I almost couldn't smell the meat."
Ben (the moderator) was brilliant, pushing everything to be funnier, deeper, more connected and just plain greater. Doselle kept coming up with the best lines, including a gaggle of portmanteau words (a "gaggleteau", if you will). I feel like some of naomikritzer's suggestions got trampled on in the excitement, but she got some of the key details (including the aforementioned platypi). The whole panel was brilliant; the whole hour was brilliant.
Revealing Your WorldHow do you clue the readers into all the amazing things you've developed for your world without boring info-dumping? One primary way is to "paint it a different color", as one of the panelists said; show something that's slightly out of the ordinary, so you can note what 'ordinary' is. The panel diverted to general world-building, and how to create worlds that are interestingly different, so there was discussion of learning languages, travel and generally exposing yourself to things you haven't experienced as prep for writing. I would've liked more about how to explain without "As you know, Bob"bing.
Faux Diversity vs. Actual DiversityThe second panel I was actually on. I originally proposed a similar topic focusing solely on Firefly. I started off by grinding my huge axe against the weak portrayal of China, Chinese people and the Chinese languages in Firefly. We went into a general discussion of why Hollywood so rarely makes anything with actual diversity, and how fans are often torn between our love for a show/movie and our hate for its dumbnesses. What do we do when Joss Whedon has some strong women characters, a totally un-diverse cast and some serious issues about women's bodies, along with his totally ass-kicking dialogue and character development? I almost suggested BitTorrent as a form of conscientious objection; I forgot until the very end to point out that I'm not actually Chinese.
Trans 101bcholmes suggested that, since I wasn't going to be on the TG Books panel, maybe I should be on this one instead. The cruelty of some humans towards their fellow humans almost didn't allow me to be on this panel, but (after plenty of danger and drama) I was. We got into some interesting areas -- basics on what gender and sex are, some of the interesting ways people have found to combine them, definitions for some of the many terms that get slung around, some of Julia Serano's points, etc.
I would've liked to take more questions from the audience, especially from those who really didn't know much about TG issues; as it was, I think the only really basic question we got was "How do I know which pronouns to use for someone?" sparkymonster had some really good things to say about this (namely, there's almost always going to be some awkwardness, and if you're cisgendered, you're just going to have to deal with that), and in combination with her comments from the Faux Diversity panel, I was rightly impressed.
PeopleI didn't meet as many people as I did last year. This was my second year, so that's just logical. But great people and great conversations were still everywhere.
It was good to talk with merovingian; I feel like I know him much better now. He's a really interesting guy, sagacious and compassionate in the same way his boyfriend is. I'd only known him from the mind-expanding and laugh-inducing stories on his LJ; now I feel that I know him, his boyfriend and their metal resin skull much better.
I only saw a small amount of sparkymonster but she seems really insightful. She's the kind of panelist I want to be: the one who doesn't say anything until she says something that totally brings everything into a new light, makes it all make sense, and pushes the conversation to a new level of awareness and interest.
heyiya ended up being one of my lunch companions one day. We talked about grad school, and how theory is both very important and very obscure. She seems really enthusiastic about her work, which is a very good thing; the world needs more academics who are actually interested in what they're doing and in making sense of the world with it rather than staying on ivory towers. And anyone whose LJ handle comes from Always Coming Home has just got to be cool.
It was also good to talk with bcholmes. We'd resolved to do so after last Wiscon, and made good on it this time. We first talked at dinner (along with merovingian and others) about the necessity but also uselessness of language, and the constant tension between maps and territories and our desire to make one into the other. Later, we talked about RPGs (Fading Suns, Hero system and others), Haiti, our jobs, relationships and many other things. I kept her up far too late Saturday night, but I don't feel too guilty about it, because it's good to know her better.
Earlier that night, I think it was, I hung out with lyda222 a bit. Not much, though; she's very popular and busy. She introduced me to Tim, one of her students, who as it turns out needs some advice about publishing in China. Maybe something will come of that. She also introduced me to xochiquetzl, who is her biggest fan and one of the best squee-ers in the world.
Seeing sevenmpls interacting with Wiscon for the first time was nifty. She really got into some of the programming, which was neat; it seems like Wiscon may be the first con whose programming really grabbed her.
cinnamyn77 asked me about the question I asked her last year, and we got talking about TG issues. She's very interested in the topic, and pointed us in some interesting directions at the Trans 101 panel.
naomikritzer and I talked about a million things as we drove to and from the con: Raising kids, Asperger's, socialization, writers' groups and the value thereof, LJ politics & the many drawbacks of LJ, Obama vs. Clinton, marketing & its disconnection with reality, the bizarre bridge over I-94 in St. Paul, the sense of rootedness & nuclear war, group morality, what panels we went to and many more things. We also hung out a bit at the con, partially cut short by my mysterious exit from the Guest of Honor speeches.
There were many other cool people I talked to briefly but not enough. There were many people I hoped to talk to more but didn't get a chance to. Well, future Wiscons.
Scattered NotesAs usual, there are small things worth noting but hard to categorize.
I walked to Netherworld Games with heyfoureyes. We discussed family, politics, relationships, gaming and other things. I got my only purchases of the con there: a bunch of used 80s gaming magazines. She had to take off, so I wandered back by myself. It was good to see more of Madison than State Street; I don't know a place until I see its neglected corners, I think. And I love the feeling of being in a place that's completely new to me.
There was more gaming going on this year. Some people got together a game of Arkham Horror one night; the Twin Cities folks were playing Zar in the Diversicon room; I saw a Cthulhu-based word game (hey, isn't everything better with Cthulhu?); I'm sure I saw other games, too. I talked about gaming with quite a few people, including John T., bcholmes and merovingian. But I didn't play anything, even though I brought What Game Should We Play? and paper for EPYC.
It felt like there weren't as many people as last year. Maybe that's because this was my second time, so the experience wasn't as intense; maybe I was managing not to be in the right place at the right time; or maybe it's because lots of people were laid out with the virus.
But opening ceremonies, the auction and the GoH speeches were very well attended. "Filk Music Ain't Got No Soul" was probably the highpoint of opening ceremonies for me. klages was hilarious, funny as could be while thinking on her feet, at the auction, as was Sharyn November. The raiders from Queso Grande were great, as was the epic Jan-Ken-Pon match. At that point, I had to duck out for a panel.
I also had to duck out of the GoH speeches because of the horrible events of that night. But what I saw was pretty interesting. I'm not convinced Alternate Reality Games are really all that new; I don't think Maureen has seen much of the indy RPG movement, for example. But it was great food for thought, and it will be cool to see what happens when "ARGs" become less a marketing tool and more a true artform. Plus, it's cool to know that Maureen is a gamer.
ThemesSometimes the collective unconscious** shows itself in interesting ways.
Octopuses & other tentacular creaturesMany times, in many independent places, the topic of octopuses came up. A panel went octopus-shaped; squid are the main form of transport on Carnitopia; and apparently Nomura's Jellyfish are one of humanity's primary antagonists. And there was the "Not Enough Octopusses" panel that I didn't go to, which may have set the whole thing off.
The trials of WisCon 32Database crashes; tornadoes; vomit & viruses; hateful cretins. If there weren't coincidences, that would be the strange thing. But there really were a ridiculous number of catastrophes this year.
Are humans a good thing or a bad thing?Is the universe better off with us or without us? This question also raised its head in many ways throughout the weekend. Deciding whether kids are a good thing to have, as discussed in the "Don't Want to Have Children" panel, partially depends on whether or not humans are a good thing. And whether or not to imbue our vehicles with intelligence (as discussed in "The Ship Who Knitted") depends on just how useful we think human intelligence is.
The issue became especially highlighted to me with the conflict and hatred of Sunday night. A lot has already been said, and hopefully the worst people have gone on to poopier pastures. But it hit me very personally; someone I know was hurt very deeply and directly by the hate. It's always painful when my illusions of fandom as a safe cocoon get violently shattered.
It all made me wonder, yet again, whether human nature is good or evil. Deliberately going out of your way to make other people suffer is, to me, evil -- and there was certainly a lot of that going around. My answer is what it has long since been: human nature, if you can even talk of such a thing, is complex. The reasoned, strategic, compassionate and just-plain-wise responses of many involved have shown me how it's possible to face up to that kind of hatred and survive. That is a skill I want to learn; I tend to talk a good talk but then react poorly when the real deal rears its head. I have a lot to learn, but luckily, I have friends who are good teachers, and I seem to be meeting more. 三人行，必有我師焉, 但吾能與之學乎？
* If, that is, I don't gain even more infamy for having the same first name as the infamous instigator.
** Or subconscious, or just the universe's tendencies towards coincidence -- whichever you prefer. |
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| Poor communication |
[May. 22nd, 2008|06:53 pm] |
All day long, people have been communicating poorly around me. Asking questions three times, inferring things that haven't even been mentioned, ignoring what I've specifically and clearly stated already, giving poor turn signals. Grr, it's like I'm 说中文或什么干嘛的话。 |
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| Earthquake in Sichuan |
[May. 13th, 2008|02:34 am] |
A large earthquake happened several hours ago in Sichuan, China.
When I traveled in China during Spring Festival in 1992, I spent some time around Chengdu. Chengdu is a great city: just the right balance between busy and laid back, with spicy food, friendly people and some amazing temples. My fellow students and I took a side trip to Dujiangyan, which we heard had some irrigation projects, and a mountain that was supposed to have some nice scenery. I thought it sounded kinda boring, but it was either that or something even more boring, so I took the trip.
I'm very glad I did. Dujiangyan 都江堰 is an amazing, ancient project where they split a river to irrigate a vast area of land. It also has some great temples, really cool rope bridges over the river and an amazing view of the Himalayas. And it's been irrigating the region for over 2500 years.
Qingchengshan 青城山, the mountain we went to, turned out to be a major center of religious Daoism and a World Heritage Site. The temples were utterly first-rate; still in use, with superb southern-style roof 'horns' and lots of monks in residence, all dripping in history. Paths through caves, misty mountain peaks and hidden waterfalls -- like being in one of those Chinese ink paintings. And the trek up the mountain made me understand the appeal of pilgrimages. I felt like I was going to collapse as we reached the summit, but then someone said "Hey, look at that", and stretched out behind us were the upthrust mountain peaks and the intense green Sichuan plain stretched out beyond. It was a religious experience, I think I can say.
Dujiangyan is very close to the epicenter. Apparently a school collapsed there, trapping over a thousand kids and teachers. And the official website of Qingchengshan is not responding, which is a bad sign.
My heart goes out to all the people who've been hurt in this earthquake. I lived through a major earthquake while I was living in Taiwan; that was pretty terrifying, and it was a full magnitude lower than yesterday's quake. I hope deaths are as few as possible, and that the government response is quick and effective. I also hope that this makes a few more land developers in China understand the importance of building codes.
As an aside, there was apparently a rumor going around that Beijing was going to be hit by an earthquake "on May 12, between the hours of 22:00 and 24:00". It was serious enough that the China Earthquake Agency 中国地震局 issued a statement denying this as pure rumor. Interesting in that it sounds ever so slightly like a dynasty trying to prove that it still has the Mandate of Heaven, especially when the earthquake happened in a province next to Tibet. |
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| Grr. |
[Apr. 30th, 2008|03:16 am] |
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I so fucking hate losing earrings. |
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