In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

a pair of llamas, one black, one white, cross a busy highway. Traffic around them has stopped to let them cross.

Open Thread with Llamas On The Loose

tigtog

Well I just had to, didn’t I? Those llamas that escaped from a show and tell presentation in Sun City Arizona feature for this week’s Open Thread. Please natter/chatter/vent/rant on anything* you like over this weekend and throughout the week.

A pair of llamas, one small and black, one large and white, cross a busy highway. Traffic around them has stopped to let them cross.
Two llamas disrupting traffic in Sun City, Arizona (screencapture from TV 2015/02/26)

So, what have you been up to? What would you rather be up to? What’s been awesome/awful?
Reading? Watching? Making? Meeting?
What has [insert awesome inspiration/fave fansquee/guilty pleasure/dastardly ne’er-do-well/threat to all civilised life on the planet du jour] been up to?

* Netiquette footnotes:
* There is no off-topic on the Weekly Open Thread, but consider whether your comment would be on-topic on any recent thread and thus better belongs there.
* If your comment touches on topics known to generally result in thread-jacking, you will be expected to take the discussion to #spillover instead of overshadowing the social/circuit-breaking aspects of this thread.

43 thoughts on Open Thread with Llamas On The Loose

      3. I can see either, depending on how large the photo is and how it’s cropped. I just can’t stand seeing it every five seconds.

    2. At first I could only see gold and white. Then I read this article about the science behind the misperceptions. I still don’t understand the “why” of it completely, but if I focus hard I can see blue and black.

      Damn thing’s given me a migraine…

  2. Leonard Nimoy died today. I cried in my car when I got the news. He’s been this constant presence in my life–not as just Spock, but seeing his play Vincent was the first time my parents ever took me to the theatre.

    In a strange way, he was a true friend, through many years. I will miss him.

    1. I know, I’m so sad. I’ve not been this sad about someone famous dying in a long, long time. Spock was always my favorite character on Star Trek, and I loved “…In Search Of” as a kid, too. Even if it was just a cheesy show based off of silly myths.

    2. Yes, Nimoy was a great actor and innovator. They can make new movies with new actors, but he was the original and will never be matched. RIP.

    3. I am very sad about it, and spent much of the day reading articles about him, and reading about people’s reactions to his death. I was a fan of his beginning when I was about 11 years old, and — like many others — identified with his “outsider” status.

      Plus I liked the fact that (unlike many Jewish actors) he openly identified as a Jew, and talked a lot about his childhood and family background, and the anti-Semitism he experienced growing up in Boston. Here’s a link to an interview with him from a few years ago, about his Mameloshen — his mother tongue (Yiddish) — and his childhood and parents. The portions where he speaks in Yiddish are subtitled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QAYvI5CC5s

      I also loved his photography; my son and I were in the Berkshires a few years ago and saw the exhibition of his work at MassMOCA, and liked it so much that I bought the book.

      1. Thank you so much for the link, I found what he had to say very touching. It truly is sad to think that soon we may lose Yiddish as a living language, with all the history and sense of identity/community that came with it.
        In Star Trek he managed to add such nuance to what could have been a very one-dimensional role.

        1. You’re welcome. I found it extremely touching as well.

          Although there are still Hasidic and other ultra-Orthodox communities (especially those founded by Eastern European refugees in the 1930s or 1940s) where Yiddish is people’s first language, spoken at home.

          But as a language spoken by millions of Jewish people (and some of their non-Jewish neighbors), of all varieties, throughout Eastern Europe as well as among most immigrant families in other countries, including here in New York City, as it was only 75 years ago?* Despite the “Yiddish revival” movement, it’s almost gone, except among the very elderly, and has become a language that’s primarily learned and studied academically.

          * I’m speaking of Eastern Yiddish, which, as I understand it, was mutually comprehensible wherever it was spoken, despite geographic differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. Western Yiddish (what my mother called jüdisch-deutsch), as spoken in Germany and Alsace, had pretty much died out by the early 20th century; my mother and her parents spoke only German, although her grandparents (who lived in a village in the Black Forest) still sort of spoke it.

        2. I agree with Eliza. Nimoy’s public embrace of his Jewishness is one of the reasons I admire him as well. And he did the right thing on more than one occasion. Here’s an example:

          Takei shared this story: ‘One extraordinary thing about him I remember: When Star Trek was going to be done as an animated series, they cast Leonard, Bill Shatner, Majel Barrett and Jimmy Doohan only for the voice acting on that. And when he discovered that Nichelle Nicholls and Walter Koenig and I were not cast because of budgetary considerations, he said, “Star Trek is about diversity, and if the two people that represent diversity to most, Nichelle and George, then I’m not interested in doing it.”‘ ‘That was an extraordinary thing for an actor, to give up a gig on behalf of other actors. And because Leonard was so necessary to the project, they cast Nichelle and me and offered Walter an opportunity to write a script.

        3. Yes, his openness about his Jewish background and use of it in his acting was important in helping confront bigotry, and making people at least think.

          It is still important that people are vocal and open.

          A few months ago I was volunteering in the local history bookshop (the upper floor of which is the synagogue) and a guy came in and asked loudly for a book by David Irving.
          I pointed out that we did not carry any of his work (!) and he then started to lecture me about how Poland was responsible for starting WWII (the Danzig raid), the death toll for the Holocaust had been greatly exaggerated etc.
          I gently refuted each point and tried to engage him in a proper discussion, this seemed to calm him down and he left soon after.

          Anti-Semitism is most certainly still alive and well.

        4. I admire your calm and restraint. You are, I am certain, far more effective in changing the minds of such people than I ever could be.

          Living where and how I do, it’s easy to lose sight of contemporary anti-Semitism. I have never come face to face with someone like that. I hope that if ever I do, I am able to maintain half your self-possession.

    4. He’s one of those guys you kind of expected to be around forever. No matter how old they are, it always seems too soon…

      I don’t like how people are upset with Shatner for choosing to appear at a charity function and miss the funeral.

      1. I hadn’t heard that. I didn’t know Nimoy, but Shatner did, and I defer to his judgment. From what I read, it’s hard to think that Nimoy would disapprove.

  3. Ontario is getting a new sex ed curriculum and people are predictably losing their shit, because all people seem to hear is ‘Starts in grade one’ and suddenly people think first-graders are going to be taught about anal sex (no, seriously.. people ACTUALLY think this).

    http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health1to8.pdf

    It’s actually pretty good. The curriculum is going to topics beyond just the functions behind baby-making and basic contraception.. it also covers consent, and acknowleges differences in HOW people have sex, and discusses sexual and gender identity.

    I, for one, am excited about this. It’s for sure going to have it’s issues, but it’s a huge step ahead from our current curriculum that hasn’t been updated since 1998.

    I’m pretty disappointed and unsurprised at the rhetoric being thrown at Kathleen Wynne, our first openly lesbian premier. The word ‘agenda’ is being thrown around a lot, like that’s not coded at all.

    1. How wonderful. It amazes me that we can’t all get it together and give children age-appropriate sex education in the United States. Where I live, in Arizona, we’re just trying to change sex ed from “opt in” to “opt out” (i.e., currently, only children whose parents sign a permission slip get sex education … We’re trying to change it to an opt-out system where everyone gets sex ed unless their parents object). One of our Democratic legislators wrote a bill, but whether it ever sees the light of day is the question. SIgh.

      Although honestly, if I had a kid here, I’d probably opt him/her out of sex education if it was just going to be a bunch of abstinence-only lies.

  4. Hey everyone, one of my friends desperately needs help. Recently, the truck she has had for several years, which has been with her throughout all her years of homelessness and has been her primary means of transportation, was towed away. She parked it legally, in front of the place she’s staying at, but it was towed merely because some neighbors found it ugly to look at (how entitled and self-centered cam you get? JFC)

    Her high estimate cost of getting it back is $2000 total. Her insurance can’t cover it, now does she make nearly enough income for even her basic living expenses. She’s also disabled and can’t get a job other than self-employment as a result, a job which like I said makes too little money. So please, if any of you can donate or somehow spread the word, my friend would be extremely grateful. You can use the PayPal address cryptowomyn@gmail.com. Thank you so much.

    1. It’s also important to note that she needs the money as soon as possible, because for every day the truck resides at the place it was towed to, she gets an extra $100 charge (which is part of the high estimate she has given)

    2. If it was actually parked legally and was towed for no reason (which certainly happens) then it is an “illegal tow.” In theory she should be able to get it back without paying the fee and may be able to sue for damages. Towing companies have often been known to do that since they can be pretty scammy.

      Check w/ the local consumer rights attorneys; check w/ the cops (did she get a parking ticket? If not, why was she towed? Do they have a picture? Do they have an explantion for the tow?) and google the towing company to try to find other complainers.

      Good luck.

      1. +1 to a lawyers comment. Towing companies often rely on people just paying up regardless of whether it was a legal tow, and when they’re in the wrong, they usually know it and fold quickly (i.e. it isn’t usually necessary to go to small claims court or anything like that).

        1. Hospitals are the other one. I stayed in the hospital for an extended psych ward visit last year, and suddenly got a bill for $600 last month. When I called, they had the explanation of benefits on file that said I didn’t owe more than $200. Scumbags.

  5. I opened my morning paper to see a headline that the U.S. Justice department has found that the Ferguson police department is racist. (Here’s an on-line article on it.)

    In the next “breaking” news, the Justice Department will find that water is wet….

    The real question is whether anything effective will be done about it. My impression, from 2 years on a federal grand jury, is that the justice system on the federal level is pretty racist, too.

  6. I just got my visa (2 years… Exceptional Talent…can you believe that? I mean I never thought I’d see either of those words apply to me, even in jest) and fly back to London for good tomorrow (weather permitting – was supposed to leave today.)

    I flew in and out of Newark specifically so I could have some New Jersey Mall/DIner/Chain experience alongside my last clearout from the loft and my annoying visa stuff.

    I am currently enjoying a Strawberry Fribble at Friendly’s while waiting for my clam strips platter and listening to Taylor Swift. The fact that I’m enjoying this SOOOO much makes me even happier with my decision to move!

    2. If you feel undeserving of your U.K. visa, just remember the U.S. granted an O-1 visa to Justin Bieber for “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics”. :-p

  7. [Content note for transphobia in linked article. – Mod]

    Yay, Planet Fitness!

    A Michigan woman lost her Planet Fitness membership over the “inappropriate” manner in which she complained about a transgender woman in the locker room, a gym spokeswoman said.

    3. That’s a really great story, especially since (maybe this is just me) it seems like the last couple weeks have been particularly full of stories about corporate/governmental transphobia.

      This almost is enough to make me want to go back to Planet Fitness, actually. Now if only they could become an actual gym… 🙂

      1. Haha, what makes an actual gym? All I need is an elliptical. If I had one installed in my apartment, my apartment would become a gym, as far as I’m concerned.

        1. Haha, fair enough. I got a free membership and went to the one near my apartment a couple times.

          Memorable issues for me: they banned free weights, in between my first and second visit they actually removed the squat machine and the deltoid press because they were too ‘intimidating,’ they had a London-Blitz-volume alarm they would set off if you breathed too loudly while you were lifting, and they had a weird fitness-shaming culture where there were posters making fun ‘lunks’ who were ‘too muscly’ or took exercise ‘too seriously.’ I asked if they had a heavy bag and the person working at the front reacted like I’d strangled a puppy right in front of her.

          Also in general the machines were pretty low-quality, only had extremely minimal weight settings (up to 30kg on the upper body machines, which really isn’t enough to do anything), and they sponsor the Biggest Loser, which is super irresponsible if you purport to understand fitness.

          If all you want is a treadmill I’m not judging or anything, I just found it kinda absurd.

        2. I don’t mean to talk shit, just thought it might be useful info if you were thinking about going there.

    4. I think it’s great also. Of course, right wing media have been falsely portraying this, with suitable outrage, as “woman expelled from fitness club for complaining about naked man in shower” — as opposed to repeatedly complaining about a fully-clothed trans woman in a locker room, who supposedly “looked like a man” — and a lot of others have been spreading this false story in an attempt to incite an anti-trans backlash. Forcing others to waste time trying to explain what actually happened.

      As an example, see this comment in another forum in which I sometimes participate, as a rather obvious derail on a thread about Wellesley’s new policy of admitting trans women:

      http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18176867/#Comment_18176867

      So there was a woman in Michigan who walked into the shower room of her fitness club and saw a man. But he identified with being a woman, so he was allowed and she lost her membership for complaining about it.

      For many women it would be uncomfortable to see, let’s say, Bruce Jenner, who now identifies as a woman in an area where one expects female privacy. Seeing male parts in the women’s shower area would make a lot of modest women very uncomfortable.

      This was my response: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18178342/#Comment_18178342

      Hopefully I succeeded in persuading people of the truth, although one person actually tried to cast doubt on my correction by suggesting that my citation to Cleveland.com was unreliable: “I know it’s all west of the Hudson and that’s all the same to NYC residents, but if the story took place in Midland, MI, a Cleveland newspaper may or may not be the best source!” Which I thought was pretty obnoxious. See that comment and my response at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18179467/#Comment_18179467 and http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18180453/#Comment_18180453.

      1. I think that was an awesome response, and I also am incredibly impressed by your strength and carefulness in the face of unmitigated douchbaggery. I hope that doesn’t sound condescending, I just know that I’m not nearly as composed in the face of repeated racist/misogynstic aggression and I admire you a lot.

    5. Part of a comment in moderation:

      I think it’s great also. Of course, right wing media have been falsely portraying this, with suitable outrage, as “woman expelled from fitness club for complaining about naked man in shower” — as opposed to repeatedly complaining about a fully-clothed trans woman in a locker room, who supposedly “looked like a man” — and a lot of others have been spreading this false story in an attempt to incite an anti-trans backlash. Forcing others to waste time trying to explain what actually happened.

      [Examples omitted; perhaps the citations are what put everything in moderation.]

      1. perhaps the citations are what put everything in moderation

        Yes, that was it. Any comment containing more than 2 links is automoderated.

Comments are currently closed.