links (and the night before)

[tielan]

The night before I start the Rations Challenge. I've put the congee (jhook) on to cook in the slow-cooker so I don't risk burning it on the stove from absentmindedness.

I'm not too worried about not being able to stomach the food - I don't mind rice, chickpeas, or lentils. But the blandness worries me. I'm used to plenty of tasty food - and snacks. And those are no longer an option.

Anyway, relevant to the challenge - an article from a couple of years ago.

Seven days, one ration pack, a few humbling truths...

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The divide between the haves and the have-nots is not as simple as the urban/rural divide.

Some interesting reading about the way the western world is shaping, and the Great Economic Divide. I don't recall there being much by way of solutions, though.

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arsenokoitai and when the word 'homosexual' actually appeared in biblical translations.

I've been reading Rachel Held Evans' Inspired about the Bible as a book, and I recently read Penny In The Air by Sarah Bessey, which is her story of becoming affirming and which I found helpful: to see it as a journey of discovery and realisation, not a switch that gets flicked on.

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Akashinga Women Rangers fight poachers in Zimbabwe

The rangers train with rifles, though some conservationists argue that arming the women increases the threat of violence. Akashinga founder Damien Mander disagrees. “With the women, [the rifle] is more of a tool. With the men, it’s more of a toy,” he says.

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE FOOLS IN THE BACK.

Also references the acknowledgement that if you pay a woman, she'll put 90% of that back into her family and her community, while a man will only put 35% back into his family and community. Where does the rest of it go? My instinctive answer is 'beer and prostitutes'. But I'm cynical like that.

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The Anger Of The White Male Lie by Ijeoma Oluo.

Basically, white guys have been sold a lie that the world is theirs for the taking, and now that the lie is being exposed, they'll do anything to hold onto it. That's why they're angry.

Comments

[kore]

OMG, the cat looking at the rations box like "WTF is this, mom?"

ETA I think her question about long-term effects re nutrition, and also probably mood and energy, is a very good one. It's like that Woolf quote -- one cannot think well, love well, rest well, &c &c if one has not dined well. How well does most of the world dine? and how secure is that food supply?


With the women, [the rifle] is more of a tool. With the men, it’s more of a toy,” he says.

THE MAN SPEAKS TRUTH


white guys have been sold a lie that the world is theirs for the taking, and now that the lie is being exposed, they'll do anything to hold onto it. That's why they're angry

Seems legit. Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about that a lot in his book We Were Eight Years in Power, which I think is one of the best books of the decade. We expected this, we were promised that, blahblah. (Shit man, I expected having both a brain and a body that worked right and were more or less under my control and didn't sabotage me at important points of my life. Didn't mean that was what I freaking got.)

[tielan]

Having gotten through Day 1, the sheer blandness of the food is terrifying. I mean, it feeds the body, but there's little to no pleasure in it. Food and eating and mealtimes are a connection point throughout all humanity - to break bread together, to share salt - and then to just whittle it down to the bare caloric value of it.

Another of the reasons for the rations issued is because they keep a long time without spoilage. But, yes, there's always the danger of supplies and short supplies. :(

We expected this, we were promised that, blahblah.

I think that's the hardest part for progressives to acknowledge: that the system was stacked against Obama from the start. And the thing that I'm not sure they're noting is that the people who are likely to vote Trump back in are actually happy with what he's done - he's done what he said he would; the fact that he's trampled all over political norms is seen as a function not a bug.

[velithya]

Thank you for sharing Penny in the Air - I was nearly in tears reading it.

I worked with a Christian last year on my TV show and I was really pleased to be doing so right up until I said I was looking forward to the next set of episodes and she said that she didn't like some of the storylines; that she didn't like that it depicted a positive storyline for the gay character, because she didn't like that that would be normalised on tv for society to watch. It still shakes me when I meet other Christians such that I almost expect the prejudice and rejection of queer people.

It was deeply moving to me to read Sarah Bessey's account of her journey into acceptance of queer people and her acknowledgement that we have a place at the table.

So thank you for sharing. I've bookmarked it so that I can always go back and read it again when I need to.

[tielan]

*hugs*

I'm so sorry you've experienced that. And I'm so glad that Bessey's essay helped.

[velithya]

*hugs back*

Sometimes I just want to skip 15, 20 years to the time when the hearts of the more conservative Christians are opened and these things are no longer up for debate. I listen to the local Christian radio station here in Perth (98.5 - they play a mix of Christian and contemporary music & I like hearing a bible verse on the hour if I'm in the car at the right time!) & most of the time it's great but now and then they talk about a topic like queer people, or trans people, or the safe schools program, etc etc, and I just have to change the channel. :|

Hearts are going to change. I just wish it could happen faster.

[wpadmirer]

I love that quote about the women with the rifles!

White males need to get a fucking grip. Pat and I talked about this when we were driving to Jacksonville for me to climb. He recently read an article about incels, and he was absolutely horrified. He's a white male, but fortunately he's sane and reasonable, and very, very liberal. Several of the many reasons I love him.

[tielan]

But it's really true for women overall given the way we've been socialised. The things we receive - the gifts we have, the skills we acquire - are to be used to benefit overall, because if we try to boost ourselves individually then they just slap us down again. So weapons aren't to make us look big, they're a tool for protection; money isn't to be spent on ourselves (unless it's to make us more 'socially appropriate'), it's to go towards the community...

[wpadmirer]

Yeah, women think differently, in general, than men.

There are exceptions. (I've met them!)

And some men are like Pat, who think more about community than themselves.

It's just too bad that with men, it's the exceptions that think like women!

[lynnenne]

Basically, white guys have been sold a lie that the world is theirs for the taking, and now that the lie is being exposed, they'll do anything to hold onto it. That's why they're angry.

Yup.

[tielan]

Terrifying, isn't it?

[deird1]

Well. I now need to go and read everything Sarah Bessey's ever written...

I'm envious of you reading Inspired! I tried purchasing it after RHE died - but so did the rest of the world, so Book Depository had to apologise and refund my money. I'm going to try again in a few months, once they've had time to reprint.

[tielan]

See, I went to my local Christian bookstore and hunted it up on the shelves. It tends more right-wing evangelical (although it stocks a fairly broad variety of books) so there was still a copy of her book on the shelves...

[deird1]

Hmm. Possibly I need to go check out my local Koorong. (As you say, the physical bookshops tend to be more conservative, so I've mostly given up on them. I also used to work at this one, which practically destroyed my faith – but that's a long story...)

[tielan]

Yeah, Koorong is our local, too. I go maybe once, twice a year, but usually with something very specific in mind.