Dear McDonalds,
I am a middle-class white woman who lives in Texas. I don't know if you would consider me a frequent consumer, but I do get breakfast at your nearest franchise every Tuesday and Thursday morning when I drive back from my local YMCA. I love your sausage-and-egg biscuits almost as much as I love sunrises.
I know your corporation isn't perfect, but I've been pleased to see you using your corporate power to promote cruelty-free conditions for animals. I've also written positively about your presence in hospitals and how your food is valuable to my family when we're in unfamiliar places.
I am writing to strongly urge you to pay your workers a living wage of $15 an hour. I know your position thus far has been that your prices will go up, but I am a customer who would rather pay fair prices for her food in order to contribute to a better economy and a better America. And if I am willing to pay more, surely you and your executives can pay a little more back into the pockets of the workers who make you so successful?
Cruelty isn't just something that we care about when it comes to animals and chickens. Please support a living wage for your workers so that they can live comfortable lives and reinvest in our great country. I thank you for (hopefully) leading the industry in this important step.
Your customer,
Ana
Letter-writing is an activist activity that I engage in because I believe enough letters from enough people can prompt changes in behavior. I encourage readers to write their own letters, and they are welcome to borrow my words or link back to this post. Thank you.
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Letters: McDonald's and Living Wages |
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Open Thread: Technical Difficulties |
Due to technical difficulties, there is no picture for today's open thread. Infinite sorrow.
This thread was going to be about bananas. Now it's about technical difficulties. Share your stories about frustrating computer misbehaving!
(You know the open thread drill, guys - have fun.)
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Feminism: Transcripts! One Month Later! |
It's probably time to update everyone on the on-going transcript project! So let's do this thing!
I was going through my filibuster tweets the other day in order to make a Storify of the whole thing, and was amused by my panic when looking for the full filibuster video and my announcement to spend The Rest Of My Life transcribing the filibuster. Was that really only one month ago? Did I really know so little about Texas legislative politics back then? I feel like I've aged a decade in a matter of weeks. It's a amusing-yet-sobering feeling, and the fact that so many of you are here with me is worth more to me than words can convey. It's a tingling in my heart that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time, only the tears are joyful ones mostly untinted by sadness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We have had quite a few volunteers forced to drop out of the project because of various life events. (I wish them/you all the best, they/you will still be listed as supporters of the project unless they/you prefer not to be, and they/you are all encouraged to write me for emotional support and solidarihugs because I love them/you all and worry about them/you all. Seriously.) If you've not yet volunteered for the project but would like to but assumed that you weren't needed because of the 100+ number, let me assure you that you are absolutely needed. Every helper is invaluable.
Here are some links and Ways You Can Help (WYCH):
1. My email address is AnaMardoll@gmail.com, and I generally respond to emails within 72 hours of receipt. WYCH: I run on sunlight and solidarity emails, so don't hesitate to email me for any reason. I also love receiving typo-reports by email (see links below) and general readability feedback on the transcript formatting.
2. My YouTube channel is here, where you can access the video segments as they go up. WYCH: I've received warning that our project may be targeted by anti-choice groups who may try to abuse the YouTube report buttons to try to take down the public domain video. I don't know if higher "like" stats on a video help YouTube to look at reports manually instead of via automation, but I'm encouraging people to "like" the videos if they like them, as a potential buffer against fake challenges.
3. The transcripts sheet are posted below. WYCH: The transcripts can use eyes on them. Everything is proofed at least twice before it goes up, but things get missed nonetheless. Things to check for: (1) do links go where they claim to go? (2) is there confusing material that needs an editor's note or a link? (3) is material being quoted (for instance from the bill itself) but not marked as a quote? (4) are there places with too much "word noise" (ums, uhs, ahs, stutters) such that the material is difficult to read? (5) does the uploaded material sound correct/complete all the way through? (I'm not re-listening to everything on YouTube to verify the upload.) Etc.
a. Texas Senate Filibuster of SB5 (06-25-2013) Transcript
b. Texas House Amendments of HB2 (07-09-2013) Transcript
c. Texas Senate Amendments of SB1 (07-13-2013) Transcript
d. Texas Senate Committee Hearing of Citizen Testimony (07-08-2013) Transcript
4. Progress report! The transcript work assignment sheet is here: Transcript Work Assignments. Posted transcripts are marked with a yes. Transcripts which have been uploaded and sent out are marked with a sent. Transcripts which have come back and are being proofed are marked with a proofing. We are about 50% through posting the filibuster transcript (a). I am about 80% through in splicing and sending out the House amendments (b). If we don't run out of volunteers and willpower, I would like to add a fifth video to the above: the citizen testimony prior to the filibuster which was cut off early by the committee leaders. WYCH: If you can volunteer to have your name added to the list, that would be great! If you have already volunteered and are waiting for a video, THANK YOU.
5. Signal Boosting! If you can make Wendy Davis or Kirk Watson or Royce West or Rodney Ellis or Gene Wu or Planned Parenthood or The Texas Democratic Party or President Obama or Hillary Clinton or anyone else aware of these transcripts, please do so! I would very much ideally like this stuff to start going out on campaign posters; there's a lot of good quotes here for reasons why this bill will hurt people with uteri and reasons why this really is a misogynistic vendetta and not just a wub-of-baybees. The thing is, I'm not politically connected, so if YOU are, you can totes help by bringing all this up at your next dinner party with Cecile Richards. (And tell her I said 'hi'.)
I think that's it. Thank you all so, so much for your help and support. Someday I hope to sleep again, lol.
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Narnia: Living With Sadness |
[Content Note: Body Transformation, Dehumanizing Language, Reproductive Rights, Silencing]
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Chapter 7: How The Adventure Ended
(Once again, today will be a short one as I'm still buried in transcripts. If you would like to volunteer to help, I could so very much use the help. More here.)
On the evenings when he was not being used as a hot-water bottle he would slink away from the camp and lie curled up like a snake between the wood and the water. On such occasions, greatly to his surprise, Reepicheep was his most constant comforter. The noble Mouse would creep away from the merry circle at the camp fire and sit down by the dragon’s head, well to the windward to be out of the way of his smoky breath. There he would explain that what had happened to Eustace was a striking illustration of the turn of Fortune’s wheel, and that if he had Eustace at his own house in Narnia (it was really a hole not a house and the dragon’s head, let alone his body, would not have fitted in) he could show him more than a hundred examples of emperors, kings, dukes, knights, poets, lovers, astronomers, philosophers, and magicians, who had fallen from prosperity into the most distressing circumstances, and of whom many had recovered and lived happily ever afterward. It did not, perhaps, seem so very comforting at the time, but it was kindly meant and Eustace never forgot it.
This passage is well-written. I can't remember if I've said that yet about a passage in this book, though whether I've said it or not I'm sure there are other well-written passages that I could point to. Still, for the record, I think this passage is well-written.
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Open Thread: Writer Workshop |
A couple of you have requested a special monthly open thread dedicated to talking about writing projects (and other artwork-creation). So here it is!
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| Pencil by Elisa Xyz |
What are you working on? How are you feeling about it? What thoughts and/or snippets would you like to share? How does your activism work into your art? What tropes are you hoping to employ and/or avoid? Open thread writing workshop below!
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Storify: Infertility and Abortion |
[Content Note: Infertility, Reproductive Rights, Christian Upbringing]
A collection of tweets on being a pro-choice infertile woman.
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Metapost: Storify and YouTube Buttons |
There are two new buttons on the blog header and they are both super sweet and should probably be clicked sometime. ;)
But, just, you know. I mean, if you want to. No pressure.
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Letters: Amazon Profile Pages |
Dear Amazon,
I want to strongly register my opinion against the new profile pages.
As a person with a visual information processing disorder, clumps of images scattered semi-randomly over the screen is almost impossible for me to visually parse and gives me literal pain behind the eyes. The old profile is much better to process, as it has been “anchored” with words and with set, predictable places for images to appear.
Please reconsider the use of the new profile, out of consideration for your reviewers with information processing disabilities.
~ Ana Mardoll
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Open Thread: Horses |
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| Hosted by a black horse |
I got to play with horsies yesterday!!
Technically, I was trained to be ground crew for SCA equestrian events - which basically just means running around and making sure everyone's safe and taken care of, the games are set up properly, and the riders have the equipment they need. But! Horsies!
(The SCA, for liability reasons, cannot give riding lessons. However, if you show up to an equestrian practice and show willingness to work, you're going to make friends with people who own horses who may be willing to teach you on their own time... so, y'know, I'm kinda excited!)
Open thread! What are your thoughts on horses? Does anyone ride or own horses? Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with them?
Monday Reminder! While I have fun coming up with pretty pictures and/or interesting “prompt” questions for open threads, you aren’t limited to those! These threads are open - go wild, talk about whatever moves you! (Just remember that this is still a safe space, please!)
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Storify: 2013-06-25 Texas Senate Filibuster |
Previous Post: Filibuster Retrospective Part 4
I have posted my complete filibuster retrospective on Storify. You are welcome to discuss it there on the page or here in the safe space. Thank you again, everyone, for being supportive both then and now.
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Open Thread: Toaster |
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| Hosted by a dragon |
Friday Recommendations! What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately? Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s coming up, give us something new to explore!
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
Twilight: Unwanted Attention |
[Content Note: Perfectionism, Impostor Syndrome, Abuse]
Hi, I'm Silver, and I have issues with the idea that nobody is perfect, because I've long since known, with the unshakable certainty that comes with being laughed at as a child, that the only way to maintain harmony in intimate and work relationships is to be flawless in everything. Which may mean I can understand some part of the things that drive Isabella Swan, even though that understanding is of a negative trait, rather than a positive one.
Let me unpack myself for a bit. My second grade teacher was convinced I needed special education, because she never saw me do my work in class after she had handed out the worksheets, just that I was reading. The work got done, but the part she had missed was that while she was explaining what was going on to the other students in the class, I was doing the worksheet and completing it, then reading so as not to disturb the others. (Certainly not her fault - she was teaching, which meant turning her back to the class and such.) The tests note out that I was definitely in need of special education, but gifted rather than not.
And for my entire elementary career, the thing I got recognized for was "academic achievement"...even in the year where I specifically asked not to be recognized for that. Which meant, of course, when I was wrong, it was something to be remarked upon by classmates, when they weren't already remarking about how weird it was that I used weird words and was so interested in doing well in school. The only way to make sure things didn't go there was to make sure there were no mistakes. Pressure, anyone?
So let's take a look at Bella Swan. At the beginning of the book, she is leaving Arizona for Forks, presumably because there's a new man in her mother's life. (Later on, we find out that Bella was the responsible child forced into adulthood and having to take care of both of them.) Baseball Phil is probably just trying to get to know someone who could be his stepdaughter, and he doesn't want to have frosty relations with her while she finished high school. To Bella, though, it probably feels too much like someone prying into her life.
The ease with which Bella slips into the domestic role with Charlie makes it likely that it's the role she's most comfortable with, plus Charlie doesn't ask about her day or anything else. (Until the narrative forces him into the role of Protector Of My Daughter's Hymen, anyway.) And her behavior in class is designed to minimize her exposure to anyone and make her utterly forgettable. Bella does not want to attract attention from anyone. Although we don't know why, Bella knows, with the certainty of...something, that the only way to maintain harmony in intimate and work relationships is to not attract attention.
Now, as an adult, and now that I have a Significant Other, zie thinks I'm just a wonderful person, and zie enjoys showing off what a wonderful person I am, and especially to some people, zie really wants to show me off. The anxiety that comes with this is substantial, because imperfection, based on childhood, means I'm really a horrible person and it didn't take much to show that off in front of her friends and RUN AWAY AND HIDE SO THAT YOU DON'T DISGRACE YOURSELF FURTHER.
And then I thought to myself, "Great Maker, what if I had the perfect boyfriend?" Because Edward is described in such wonderfully purple prose, we're not supposed to conclude anything other than that Edward is Objectively Perfect. In body at least. What Edward does with his mind, his voice, and the way he behaves toward Bella is clearly not perfect, but it's not something you can see on the outside when looking at the two of them as a couple. Adding in that Bella is also Objectively Prettier than the other girls, they make the "perfect" couple, which can only serve to put additional pressure on Bella to maintain that facade, because saying something is wrong when it's not obvious garners attention. And skepticism. Mostly, though, attention.
Attention. The thing Bella hates. The thing she has been getting from Forks High since she arrived. Mike Newton latched on to her because she was novel. "Every human male" in the school is paying attention to her because of her being Objectively Prettier, which also produces attention from human females because their man's attention is not where it should be. (According to Edward, anyway, whose reliability and credibility as an honest witness and observer approaches SQRT(-1) whenever he speaks.) She's clumsy in gym, which draws attention to her. She's involved in a freak incident where she was saved by someone else. And then the Objectively Perfect person tells her that she's irresistible to him and that he wants to hang out with her more. Even the locationally-impossible Port Angeles assault mob zeros in on her effortlessly. Attention, attention, attention.
By this point, everyone knows who Bella is and is eagerly waiting to see what happens next in her life. Which is the utter antithesis of what Isabella Swan "knows" is the right path to harmony in relationships. This theme continues throughout all the books, with greater and more powerful entities paying attention to her in succession, such that the only way for her to be properly left alone in the end is to be a vampire with special powers and have fought the self-styled world government of vampires. (Note as well that Bella gets a superpower that allows her to cancel things from entering her sphere of influence. I strongly suspect that Bella learns, soon after Breaking Dawn, how to turn her negation power into a perception filter / SEP field so that she can basically force everyone to not pay attention to her if she doesn't want attention.)
I have to wonder what kind of iron core Bella developed while taking care of Renee that apparently allows her to take a "keep calm and carry on" attitude. And that waits an entire book before showing any signs that all this attention from the residents of Forks is doing damage to her psyche. Perhaps because of narrative spite, we see the damage happening because of a lack of attention, instead of too much of it. Because when the Perfect Boyfriend, the one person whose intense attention to you has occasionally had positive results, instead of always negative consequences, leaves you, it must be All Your Fault and you can hear everyone judging you silently and RUN AWAY AND HIDE...
I don't find Isabella Swan to be a sympathetic character, because of other parts of her written personality, and even as I'm writing this, I'm trying to think of textual justification for this possible interpretation. (Perhaps in a cruel joke, the series is this way because even in telling us the retrospective of how Renesmee came to pass and how Bella became a vampire, she still fundamentally doesn't want us to pay attention to her.) It's a different idea. Maybe the series would be better if this were more explicit. Maybe not. But for this one aspect, maybe we can both empathize.
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Open Thread: Daisies |
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| Hosted by colorful daisies |
Open thread! What are your favorite flowers, and why? What colors do you like, and do you prefer the natural colors or the bright fake ones? Do you prefer flowers that are visually pretty, or ones that smell nice? If you DON'T like flowers, why not? What other plants do you like better?
Wednesday Reminder! Open threads are meant to be fun, chatty places to discuss anything that doesn’t “fit” into a deconstruction or other regular thread. This can be something totally off-the-wall and random, or it can be something interesting that a deconstruction prompted you to think of, but which would be derailing to get into in the deconstruction thread. When in doubt, move it over here - that’s what it’s for!
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Narnia: Books and Their Covers |
[Content Note: Body Transformation, Racism, Zimmerman Trial]
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Chapter 7: How The Adventure Ended
When we last left Eustace, he was a dragon and no one really understood how or why that had happened... nor how to fix it.
These are points that I have made before. I have grumbled that the so-called protagonists of this book are happy to sit passively by and neither learn Eustace's past nor try to direct his future, preferring instead to leave everything in the disinterested paws of Aslan. I have also pointed out the detriment that this philosophy has on any associated religion (as well as the characters of the people who practice it) when the world-building has explicitly been set up to make action worthless and reaction a waste of time. A world where the reigning god wants you to sit around and do nothing until he turns up to fix everything is a very different worldview from how most people (including most Christians, the Left Behind crowd notwithstanding) view our own world. So there's that.
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Film Corner: Skyfall |
[Content Note: Death, Rape, Skyfall Spoilers]
I'm not sure how I feel about the new Darker and Edgier route that they've been trying to do with the Bond movies ever since they ditched Pierce Brosnan and brought on Daniel Craig. James Bond, as a franchise, was already pretty Dark and Edgy, despite the sillier moments in the series when villains targeted Bond with heat-seeking lasers harnessing the power of the sun, etc.
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Open Thread: So Wacky, It Just Might Work |
The above image is a demotivator I made a few years back, based on an actual thing that actually happened in an actual D&D game, when our wizard actually summoned an actual Cthulhu-esque being, on the theory that it and the thing attacking us would focus on each other while we slipped out the back.
What still boggles my mind is that it worked.
Open thread! What's the wackiest, zaniest, most one-in-a-million-chance you've seen actually work? It could be in a movie or book - a scene that should have been ridiculous but was just too awesome to fail. It could be in a roleplaying game or a story you've written - something where you or your friends had some influence on how the plan went down. Or - best of all - something from real life, when sheer luck and chutzpah carried the day! And if you don't have any, make one up! Pretend it happened to your best friend's brother's cousin's roommate, we're not going to check up on it!
Monday Reminder! While I have fun coming up with pretty pictures and/or interesting “prompt” questions for open threads, you aren’t limited to those! These threads are open - go wild, talk about whatever moves you! (Just remember that this is still a safe space, please!)
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Feminism: Transcripts, Transcripts Everywhere! |
It's time for your irregularly-scheduled transcription update! Woo-hoo! In numbered format, of course, as that is the only way I know how to communicate! Which possibly makes me some kind of robot or possibly an ELIZA engine! QUICK SOMEONE GET A TURING TEST UP IN HERE.
Ahem.
1. I have sent out every piece of the Wendy Davis filibuster. I HAVE SENT OUT EVERY PIECE OF THE WENDY DAVIS FILIBUSTER. I cannot tell you how excited I am about that!
2. Transcripts are flowing in from volunteers through the intertubes! Other volunteers (and you know who you are, and you are the kindest, bestest, most patient people on the face of the planet) are proofreading them! Then I put them in the mega-transcript for public viewing FOREVER AND EVER.
3. This also means the whole filibuster is spliced and uploaded and ready to be saved for posterity! You can view the whole thing in playlist form on YouTube or you can download a nearly 16 hour mp4/mp3 file (your choice!) through Dropbox (no dropbox account needed!) Sadly, YouTube file limits prevented me from uploading the full file there.
4. I am now splicing and sending out videos from the House amendments session! This is very important work because everything said in that session needs to go on a campaign poster, like, NOW. These are being sent out, so check your inboxes! Because I'm pretty sure that Gmail thinks I am now a very excited email virus!
5. I have gotten SO MANY NICE EMAILS from people who couldn't see the filibuster when it went up and/or who have hearing disabilities and are excited to be able to participate in the democratic process after the fact. THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU. YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN. I AM CRYING AS I WRITE THIS. Because a bunch of institutionalized privilege and ableism has been overcome -- or at least held off a bit -- entirely because of YOUR volunteer work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
6. Some of you have asked about the technical aspects of this process, and I keep promising an answer and then not delivering because of the Busy. The very short version here is LiteCam HD to record the live-stream as it plays (over RealPlayer). This takes multiple cuts because the live-stream can't play 16 hours straight without timing out, so Freemake Video Converter splices the pieces together into the "full" file. Then I watch the full file and pick out logical start and stop points for each video. Then Bigasoft Video Converter slices out the chunks. Then it's back to Freemake Video Converter again to shave off the rough "edges" because Bigasoft doesn't chunk perfectly cleanly. AND NOW YOU KNOW WHY I DIDN'T ANSWER SOONER, ha.
And this is, by the way, the fastest and most efficient method I have. The method I was working early in month had about 18 more steps. Whut.
7. Some of you have also asked how I'm doing, which is very sweet of you. I'm fine, which is the Polite way of saying that I could be better. I kind of wish I lived in a world where I was doing other things with my time simply because I wasn't living in a corporate dystopia nightmare anti-choice reality. HAHA, DON'T WE ALL! But I'm happy to be doing something productive and I'm so happy to be doing it with 100+ of my new favorite people.
8. I have been answering emails a little slowly because something weird is going on with my hands and arms such that I have to keep Ace bandages wrapped tightly around them to keep something (muscles? tendons? HAHA, I AM AN ENGINEER AND NOT A DOCTOR.) from spasming. So if you get an email from me and it seems a little terse, I swear it is NOT because I hate you. It's just the Ace bandages limiting my word count. :)
I think I had more to say, but it's gone now so I will just say again: THANK YOU. To all you wonderful, supportive, amazing, incredible, activist-superheroes and -superheroines.
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Disability: Infertile and Happy |
[Content Note: Infertility]
Two years ago, my fertility doctor delivered the crushing and wholly unexpected news that my husband and I were genetically incompatible with one another. We would never be able to have healthy children.
I was crushed. Something I had always wanted, something I had taken for granted I could have, given the right circumstances, was now forever walled off from me. And after a lifetime of being denied the things I wanted because of my scoliosis disability, this seemed like more than I could take. I remember sitting at my computer, staring straight ahead into space, and then doing that thing where you type meaningful life questions into Google on the off chance that maybe someone else has already answered all the hard questions for you.
I asked the oracle: Can I be happy without children?
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Open Thread: Recovering Spoons |
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| Hosted by a boy daydreaming on a bench |
French Leave
This morning. I have courage steeled to say
I will be lazy, conqueringly still,
I will not lose the hours in toil this day.
The roaring world without, careless of souls,
Shall leave me to my placid dream of rest,
My four walls shield me from its shouting ghouls,
And all its hates have fled my quiet breast.
And I will loll here resting, wide awake,
Dead to the world of work, the world of love,
I laze contented just for dreaming's sake
With not the slightest urge to think or move.
How tired unto death, how tired I was!
Now for a day I put my burdens by,
And like a child amidst the meadow grass
Under the southern sun, I languid lie
And feel the bed about me kindly deep,
My strength ooze gently from my hollow bones,
My worried brain drift aimlessly to sleep,
Like softening to a song of tuneful tones.
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Feminism: Rick Perry Day! |
[Content Note: Reproductive Coercion]
So these arrived in the mail for me today, a gift from one of my dearest friends:
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Twilight: Chastity Culture |
[Content Note: Purity Culture]
Twilight, Chapter 14: Mind Over Matter
Today we're going to dip our toes into some abstinence porn (which is 8 parts longing to 13 parts Not Doing It) to go with last time's creepy over-protectiveness by fathers of their daughter's sacred hymens. And if all goes well a side conversation about pacing in relationships (particularly ones where neither has been in a relationship before).
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Feminism: Transcripts! |
An update on the on-going project to transcribe the Wendy Davis filibuster and (volunteers willing!) the Senate debates, House debates, and citizen testimony.
1. I have sent out thirteen hours worth of filibuster to transcribe. That's a lot of hours! If your codename was reasonably low on the assignment list, check to see if you have something, because you very well might!
2. The filibuster was 16 hours of footage but the last 3 hours or so was mostly milling about while the senators talked behind closed doors. So I'll probably put up a big in-which-nothing-happens block on YouTube that won't need to be transcribed.
3. Speaking of empty space! If your assigned video goes all quiet while they argue up at the dais for a looooong time, I probably cut the video off before they started talking again. So zip to the end and if there's still talking, you're done with your clip.
4. I'd like to do the remaining videos in the following order: The House debate, the Senate debate, and then the citizen testimony. This is slightly out of order from how events transpired, but I'd like to get it on record with the Republicans turning down amendments that would save lives. Campaign posters will need this stuff, I think. (I hope!)
5. I continue to be the bottle-neck and I apologize. I've been working this day and night, but it just takes a tremendous amount of time to cut, upload, send out, and take in everything. I know bunches of you are still waiting for an assignment and it will come. I apologize for the delay.
6. If you'd like to help in the meantime, I could very much use eyes and ears on the mega-file on Google Docs. Do all the links lead to where they're supposed to lead to? Are all the words right? Is something confusing that needs an editorial note? That sort of thing.
I think that's all for now. I cannot thank everyone enough for the overwhelming amount of support you have all given. Thank you so, so much.
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Open Thread: Promotion |
We have several authors in this community. Here is a good place to promote your book, blog, fan fic, etc. and ask for readers or reviewers of same. Have at it! And if you feel shy about self-promotion, just remember that a promotion thread without comments is worthless. So you're basically helping me out. (Does that help?)
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| Book by Petr Kratochvil |
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Feminism: Boycott ALEC Corporations |
For those who haven't seen me talking about ALEC this morning and what it is, it's a right-wing organization that writes and shops laws like Stand Your Ground and the recent round of anti-abortion legislation sweeping the country. It's hugely well-funded by corporations and is something to be legitimately concerned about if you're not sold on the whole corporate dystopia thing. (More information here and here.)
So remember that cool app that Deeky found a few weeks back that let you organize boycott campaigns? I've used their site (Buycott.com) and this listing of corporate members and sponsors of ALEC to create this handy campaign which lists known members of ALEC to avoid and known ex-members to support. (If you feel like it. Several of them are still pretty evil. Personal needs and teaspoons will vary.)
If you'd like to join my list (oh please oh please oh please do. It will make me so happy as I spent a lot of time on it), you can do so via the following steps:
1. Download Buycott to your smartphone. (Google Play Store & Apple Store have it.)
2. Create a login.
3. Click on the Campaigns tab.
4. Scroll down to All Categories.
5. Pick Civil Rights.
6. Pick Boycott ALEC Corporations. (It should have my name way down in the campaign description.)
7. Join!
Please note: Not everyone has the spoons or ability to boycott any or even all of the things on this list. (And that's okay because that's just how life is.) If you do have the capability and resources to write or call the organizations on this list to ask them to discontinue their ties with ALEC, that would also be hugely powerful. Several of these corporations are big enough that boycotting them might not make an dent, but convincing them that ALEC is too toxic to fund would be just as good in this case.
Update: Thanks, JarredH for the info that Buycott is available in the Apple Store!
Feminism: For Wendy Davis |
For Texas Women
a poem by Bald Soprano
my story,
mine
standing in the texas legislature
standing in the galleries
standing in the hallways
standing in the streets
my story,
mine
my pain, my health
my agonized decision
or easy one
my story,
mine
you cannot shut me up
you cannot tell me
to sit down
you cannot tell me
to be quiet
you cannot tell me
that I learned
the wrong lessons
you cannot tell me
that nothing I say
is germaine and
everything you say
is
my story,
mine.
shouting in the legislature
shouting in the galleries
shouting in the hallways
shouting in the streets
my body,
my story,
mine.
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Open Thread: Injustice |
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| Hosted by hands in chains |
On June 30th, Ohio passed a restrictive abortion bill into law.
On July 5th, Wisconsin passed a restrictive abortion bill into law.
On July 11th the North Carolina House passed a restrictive abortion bill (which will go to the State Senate next.)
As we all know, on July 12th Texas passed their restrictive abortion law.
And in case you missed it, on July 13th George Zimmerman was found not guilty for the murder of Trayvon Martin.
...How're y'all doing?
I'll be honest, I'm not okay. Ana has said she's not okay. I... may have alienated a good chunk of my friends last night, and I can't bring myself to be sorry about that. Right now I'm kinda getting by on alcohol, distraction, and whatever tiny crumbs of hope I can scrape up from various news articles. Which isn't a whole lot.
Here's an open thread to talk about it. Vent, yell, philosophize, be hopeful, be angry, be grieved, whatever. I think we all kinda need it.
(Fair warning: I'm not normally easily triggered, but like I said, I'm not doing too good right now. If I see anything that even whiffs of trollishness on this thread, I will come down like the Banhammer of the Gods. Be told, people who may have stopped by with that in mind.)
~ Kristycat
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Feminism: Filibuster Transcript (Part 5) |
Previous Post: Filibuster Transcript (Part 4)
© 2013, Ana Mardoll
ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is
prohibited. No part of this transcript may be reproduced without
express written permission from Ana Mardoll, excepting cases protected
by Fair Use.
These rights are reserved because I
and the others who worked on this project are activists for choice and
reproductive rights and we do not want anti-choice groups profiting from
this material. You are welcome to contact me at AnaMardoll@gmail.com if you would like permission to use this material. If you enjoy these posts and are in a place where you can comfortably donate, I would appreciate it as the online space for sharing the files for download comes out of my pocket. Thank you.
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Feminism: Filibuster Transcript (Part 4) |
Previous Post: Filibuster Transcript (Part 3)
© 2013, Ana Mardoll
ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is
prohibited. No part of this transcript may be reproduced without
express written permission from Ana Mardoll, excepting cases protected
by Fair Use.
These rights are reserved because I
and the others who worked on this project are activists for choice and
reproductive rights and we do not want anti-choice groups profiting from
this material. You are welcome to contact me at AnaMardoll@gmail.com if you would like permission to use this material. If you enjoy these posts and are in a place where you can comfortably donate, I would appreciate it as the online space for sharing the files for download comes out of my pocket. Thank you.
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Feminism: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 4) |
Previous Post: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 3)
Twitter feed from last night (not counting my Jail account), courtesy compilation of Matt Venhaus, who is literally saving me from having my fingers fall off from overuse. THANK YOU.
(NOTE: Still being compiled. Fully one billion tweets after the jump.)
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Feminism: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 3) |
Previous Post: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 2)
Twitter feed from last night (not counting my Jail account), courtesy compilation of Matt Venhaus, who is literally saving me from having my fingers fall off from overuse. THANK YOU.
(NOTE: Still being compiled. Fully one billion tweets after the jump.)
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Feminism: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 2) |
Previous Post: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 1)
Twitter feed from last night (not counting my Jail account), courtesy compilation of Matt Venhaus, who is literally saving me from having my fingers fall off from overuse. THANK YOU.
(NOTE: Still being compiled. Fully one billion tweets after the jump.)
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Feminism: Yesterday Retrospective (Part 1) |
Twitter feed from last night (not counting my Jail account), courtesy compilation of Matt Venhaus, who is literally saving me from having my fingers fall off from overuse. THANK YOU.
(NOTE: Still being compiled. Fully one billion tweets after the jump.)
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Feminism: SB1 and Transcript Updates (Part Something) |
[Content Note: Illness]
If you were following my tweet stream last night, you know that SB1 has passed. There followed about 5 hours of uncontrollable shaking in my bed followed by some vomiting. Today I am continuing the transcription process, because I can think of nothing else constructive to do.
1. Welcome to all current and future volunteers. If you haven't already, please skim the initial request which may answer some questions. And thank you again, SO MUCH for your help.
2. Because of some storage and cost issues, we will probably be switching over from SugarSync to Dropbox this weekend. I don't think this will impact anyone.
3. Because there is SO MUCH to transcribe and because I'm already a bottle-neck, I'm going to delegate transcript-proofing to volunteers as much as possible. This will keep me nose-down on the videos.
4. I really do not know when the next Twilight or Narnia post will be. I am unbearably sad at having to break my schedule, and I'll try to work something in as best I can, but ... right now, I am in such a depressed headspace over this law that it's a struggle to find clever things to say about Bella Swan. I'm sorry. That's all I can say: I'm sorry.
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Feminism: Tampons and Guns |
BREAKING: The DPS guards on the Texas Senate floor are confiscating all tampons and maxipads from women. Concealed-carry handguns are still allowed on the floor.
I am not making this up. I COULD NOT MAKE THIS UP.
Update 1: Also, tissues.
Can't take tissues in. #HB2 https://t.co/B9u4P93aio
— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) July 12, 2013
Update 2: Here's something nice to offset everything terrible about everything.
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Open Thread: Strawberries |
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| Hosted by piles of strawberries |
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Feminism: More Transcript Updates |
Holy mackerel, ya'll, I have ninety-nine volunteers for transcript work. I'm pretty sure that if we haven't broken some kind of Volunteer Transcripting Feminist Brigade then we will soon if I keep getting more folks on board. SOMEONE CALL GUINNESS.
I have sent codenames to everyone who sent me an email offering to help. If you haven't got one, send me another email 'cause yours got lost in the intertubes.
I have also sent out videos 3-10 as of tonight. ABOUT WHICH I AM VERY EXCITED. What is really awesome about having lots of volunteers is that I can break the videos up into 10 minute chunks instead of 15 minutes ones, which means I can churn out more videos faster. Yeeeeah!
Also cool: If you were wondering what happened to Sarah Slamen after state troopers hauled her away, she is fine and well and doing AWESOME television interviews, raising awareness about both TX and NC. Now that's a big teaspoon.
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Twilight: Best Thing Evah |
From Ian, who is consistently awesome and gave me something nice to wake up to:
And if that image doesn't remind you of the comment thread on this post, I want to take time to say that the thread on that post is still my most favorite Twilight thing EVER. With this image included in that assessment, of course.
I've had no time to write Twilight this week! Which is sad! So let's have a discussion thread! And I will touch off the thread asking how you feel/felt about ALL THE BOYS falling for Bella? (Anything Twilight-related is open for this thread, but this is just for Blank Page Syndrome.)
Enjoy, and thank you all for your patience and support! AND THANK YOU, IAN!
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Open Thread: Swimming |
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| Hosted by pool water |
...immersing herself in as much water as possible, as often as possible.
No joke, if it were up to me, I wouldn't walk on dry land until October. The minute someone invents a waterproof Nook, y'all'll never see me again :P
I also have to say - in water, especially in the ocean, I am extremely happy to be a fat girl. My bony husband and my friend's muscle-bound boyfriend both sink like stones. I, however, am my own floatation device, and can happily drowse away on the surface of the water, as secure as if I were in my own bed :) It's also one of the few mediums where I actually feel athletic - swimming laps will wear you out like nothing else, but it doesn't give me that bone-deep achy pain like running does, and I never have to worry about tripping or overbalancing!
Open thread! Do you like to swim, and do you live in an area where it's feasible to do so regularly? Have you ever swam competitively or played any swimming-related sports? Do you prefer pools, rivers/lakes, or oceans? If you don't like swimming, what don't you like about it? And do you have any other water-related recreational activities that you prefer to cool off in the summer? What's the deepest/roughest water you've ever swum in?
Wednesday Reminder! Open threads are meant to be fun, chatty places to discuss anything that doesn’t “fit” into a deconstruction or other regular thread. This can be something totally off-the-wall and random, or it can be something interesting that a deconstruction prompted you to think of, but which would be derailing to get into in the deconstruction thread. When in doubt, move it over here - that’s what it’s for!
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!
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Feminism: Transcription Update |
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. I am blubbing and it is so wonderful and it is all because of YOU wonderful people.
Yesterday afternoon, I put out a call for people to help me with the project to transcribe Wendy Davis' filibuster. I have about 15 hours of filibuster left and have been taking them in roughly 15 minute chunks. That means I have 60 videos left to cut and transcribe.
As of this morning, twelve hours after I asked for help, 73 people have volunteered their services. I officially have MORE volunteers than I have video to GIVE them. I am crying and so happy and cannot stop. I love you all. So, so much. So here are some words.
1. More work! More volunteers!! If ya'll are game, I'm going to expand the project to reflect the support. In addition to the 15 hours Wendy Davis testimony, there is 15 hours of citizen testimony from Monday, and 15 hours of House hearings from Tuesday. If we don't get any more help (and people are VERY welcome to PLEASE keep volunteering!!), that would mean ~3 transcripts per person. If that all gets done, well, I'm sure there will be MORE hearings.
2. Videos Soonish! I'm the bottle-neck here, and I know that. I will start cutting and posting videos either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. (Several of you have asked how I'm recording and cutting the videos. It's a complex process involving no less than 5 programs, string, and some fairy dust. I'll post something longer later for the aficionados, but it's not a process I would willingly inflict on others.)
3. Way Forward Plan! I plan to divvy out the work this way. I don't want to share everyone's email addresses, so you will all be given Kickass Code Names (TM). The work to be done will be put in a spreadsheet against your code name, and only I will have the corresponding key of who is who. I'll post the "to work" spreadsheet on Google Docs for all to see, and it will look like this:
| Name | Segment Name | YouTube Link | SugarSync Link | Finished? |
| Mother of Dragons | SB5-001-Wendy Davis Opening Remarks | http:// | http:// | yes |
| Mother of Dragons | SB5-002-The History of SB5 | yes | ||
| Mother of Dragons | SB5-003-Testimony of Texas Medical Association | yes | ||
| Apples | SB5-004-Bob Deuell Opens His Mouth | no | ||
| Bananas | ||||
| Canteloupes | ||||
Back on my desktop, unshared with the world, will be another table that says something like:
| Name1 | Name2 | |
| Mother of Dragons | Ana Mardoll | anamardoll@gmail.com |
| Apples | Patrick Stewart | |
| Bananas | Margaret Atwood | |
| Canteloupes | That guy from the 70's show |
You will get an email from me (soonish!) saying "Your code name is [xyz]."
I think that's it! Some of you have asked for an open thread for talking about transcription methods, so please feel free to use this thusly. Note that I'm cross-posting this in my usual manner. And, again: THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. This is the happiest I have ever been, ever.
A quick note: If you have any spoons left to give, please follow Kristen Rawls on twitter today. She's covering the exact same stuff going on in NC. And if you can, send her a tweet and ask how you can help or if there's anyone she recommends you follow for on-the-scene updates in Raleigh. Thank you.
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Feminism: Texas Tonight |
House Bill #2 has passed. I don't have the strength to put up a retrospective now, but I will try to get one up. Maybe tomorrow. The debate went from 8am to 9pm without breaks, so I think that means I've been on it for 13 hours. I don't know, because math.
It was terrible. It was so terrible. I am so sad. I cannot describe how sad it is to see my legislature rule that my body is property of the state. At the very end, the bill's author Laubenberg pretty much outright said this was about ending abortion rather than about women's health. We knew it, but she pretty much said it. And there was nothing we could do. Nothing I could do. Nothing.
I've got a huge deadline tomorrow at work, which means I won't be doing much internet activism tomorrow. And I'm wrecked from doing this all day and yesterday, literally physically and emotionally wrecked. My hips and back are screaming from sitting in one spot for thirteen hours without break. So I'm going to go take a hot bath and drink something tasty and cry a little in my tub. There will be more later this week.
For everyone who follows me for things other than constant, non-stop Texas politics: Right now, it does not look like there will be a Twilight on Thursday. If you've always had a burning desire to write a Twilight guest post, there's a opportunity here, I think. Email me something and it'll probably go up. For everyone else, I do apologize.
If anyone wants to repost this, or pieces of this, elsewhere on my behalf, please do so.
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Feminism: Transcriptioning Help |
To anyone interested in helping me with the transcriptioning of the Wendy Davis filibuster:
1. First, THANK YOU. OMG THANK YOU.
2. Please email me at anamardoll@gmail.com so I'll be able to contact you with a list of links.
3. Sometime, probably Thursday, I will split the video that I have (I have the first 7 hours of the filibuster; I'll have to manually record the rest) into approximately 15 minute segments based on the content. I'll load the material onto SugarSync for direct download and YouTube for people who can't download. I'll send out an email (with BCC, so that addresses aren't shared with anyone but me) to everyone and we can dole out who transcripts what. This will probably be done in batches of work (i.e., like 10 videos uploaded to YouTube at a time) as opposed to the whole thing at once.
4. Any help is appreciated. I have no training as a transcriptionist and am just listening for 5-8 words, pausing, typing, playing, listening to 5-8 words, pausing, typing, playing, etc., so if you think you aren't qualified you probably are! I'll also re-read everything before posting, so don't worry too terribly much that you'll make a mistake. Reading a transcript is still so much faster than writing one from scratch.
5. I do ask that transcripts which are provided be sent to me with an explicit statement that no rights for your work are reserved. I ask this because I'd like to compile all these into a single document and make it available for download at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. for government students to read. Currently these stores have limitations against "always free" works because they want to make sales to offset bandwidth and delivery costs.
Which means that I would theoretically be making some small profit from 99 cent purchases, and I can't do that unless I own rights to the material (either because I did the work myself or someone else gave it to me without rights reserved). I will credit individual transcriptionists if consent is given for that (otherwise the credit will go to anonymous). I completely understand if this isn't okay with someone, but wanted to let everyone know in advance.
I think that's everything. I'm live-tweeting the House committee meeting, so I'm booked up for today, but your email will go to a velvet-lined box in my inbox. Thank you.
ALSO! Please be aware of Jessica Luther's post about how to help today: Call Your Texas State Legislators NOW (and other things you can do, even if not a Texan). There's lots of good points in there. And, if you can, call EVEN IF your representative is anti-choice, like Nelson or Laubenberg. It's still important to let them know that voters CARE.
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Narnia: Silenced Stories and Child Activists |
[Content Note: Body Transformation, Genocide, Racism]
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Chapter 7: How The Adventure Ended
It's Friday as I write this, and I want to thank everyone again for being so schedule-flexible as I deal with stuff. After my food poisoning last week, I took a long rest and also re-watched the Disney version of Voyage of the Dawn Treader and was struck with SO MANY THINGS to say about it, so that was energizing. I'm very much looking forward to finishing out this book if only because then I can talk about Disney for pages.
I've also spent fully 70 hours and 70 dollars trying to pull the Senate filibuster feed into something that can be transcripted and posted on the blog, but I don't have anything to show for that yet, either, and I deeply appreciate everyone being patient with me. Thank you. (Maybe this paragraph will be inaccurate by the time this posts on Tuesday! How wonderful would that be?!)
So where were we? Oh, yes: Eustace is a dragon, and he's wearing Octesian's armlet. Nobody is quite sure what to do with this information yet, but they have decided that Octesian is either dead or the dragon, since a Telmarine lord would sooner part with his homeland than he would with his shiny bling. Remember kids, that riches are fleeting but privilege is forever!
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Feminism: Texas Monday Retrospective |
[Content Note: Stories of Reproductive Coercion]
So, yesterday was a day.
No. Stop. Back up. I want to point out something first. Again. None of this activism? Is free. NONE OF IT. Everyone who testified before the senate committee yesterday had to take off of work or drive to Austin or rearrange their schedule or just spend the spoons it takes to wait around and stand in lines and hang out at the capitol for fifteen hours to testify. Every person who live-blogged or live-tweeted the witness testimony had to take time and energy and spoons to do this. And the witness testimony took a LOT of spoons. A lot of tears, a lot of rage, a lot of feels.
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Open Thread: Belated Fourth of July! |
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| Hosted by fireworks |
Did everyone (at least those in the US) have a nice 4th of July?
Ours was a little interesting - as you may or may not know, July 4 is my daughter's birthday, so I got to combine the traditional cookout/hangout party with a first birthday party! The two actually went well together - replaced red, white, and blue, for instance, with pink, cream, and teal :) Made a red velvet cake with white and blue cream cheese frosting, and of course the young 'un enjoyed running around in the yard while a million and a half adults made a big fuss over her.
We had small fireworks in the backyard, but sadly, didn't get to go see any big ones - though we could hear them going off all night!
(Wish I could say I felt especially patriotic, but I didn't - although I DID sing the Star Spangled Banner, just because I like the song and it feels corny to sing it any other day!)
Open thread! Did you get to celebrate the Fourth? Anyone do anything interesting or fun? Anyone see any cool fireworks? Do you get into the patriotism of the holiday, or are you mostly in it for the ribs and beer? Do you have any nifty holiday traditions, or are you starting any new ones?
Bonus open thread prompt! For those who don't celebrate the 4th of July (either because you're not estadounidense or for any other reason): make up a holiday you would rather celebrate on July 4! Tell us all about it! What's the reason for it? What sort of activities should people do on your holiday? Does it have its own songs, colors, foods, traditions, etc.? Get creative! If it's awesome enough, maybe convince some folks to celebrate it with you next year!
Monday Reminder! While I have fun coming up with pretty pictures and/or interesting “prompt” questions for open threads, you aren’t limited to those! These threads are open - go wild, talk about whatever moves you! (Just remember that this is still a safe space, please!)
And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!