[Content Note: Police brutality; racism.]
"I told [police] if there is no indictment, please only come through neighborhoods when called. Please do not continue to traumatize our community. They don't want to meet with the youth. I honestly believe they are planning to kill us in the streets."—Tory Russell, one of the founders of the Hands Up United group, which has been protesting the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and subsequent police actions.
Preparing for the likely eventuality that the grand jury fails to indict Officer Darren Wilson, Russell "said the group had been hoping to negotiate terms of engagement with law enforcement authorities that might help keep protests peaceful, but that such talks had gone nowhere."
This is something to bear in mind if and when the grand jury fails to indict and there are protests in response. Protestors, anticipating a failure of justice, are trying to work with police to ensure that protests are safe and peaceful, and police are refusing to engage.
Quote of the Day
Queering Fat Embodiment
Cat Pausé, Jackie Wykes, and Samantha Murray have edited a collection entitled Queering Fat Embodiment, which "brings together the latest scholarship from various critical disciplines to challenge existing ideas of fat and fat embodiment. Shedding light on the ways in which fat embodiment is lived, experienced, regulated and (re)produced across a range of cultural sites and contexts, Queering Fat Embodiment destabilises established ideas about fat bodies, making explicit the intersectionality of fat identities and thereby countering the assertion that fat studies has in recent years reproduced a white, ableist, heteronormative subjectivity in its analyses."
I haven't yet read the anthology myself, but I wanted to bring it to your attention, as I imagine it may be of interest to a lot of readers here, given our many conversations on intersectionality, privilege within fat advocacy, natural alliances between cis fat and trans* people around bodily agency, and related topics.
Below is an excerpt from the introduction, "Why Queering Fat Embodiment?", written by Jackie Wykes, shared with the authors' permission:
Is fat queer? The specious stereotype of the fat lesbian who 'turns to women' because she's 'too ugly to get a man' suggests it may be. Conversely, even the most cursory analysis of contemporary Western media culture reveals that only slender bodies are presented as legitimate objects of heterosexual desire.Amanda Levitt also has an excerpt here.
These brief examples begin to make apparent some of the ways in which compulsory heterosexuality and compulsory thinness are mutually constitutive.
…Questions of sexuality are always implicated in questions of the body, since 'any account of embodiment is also always an account of sexuality' (Grosz 1994: viii). Indeed, as many of the pieces in this collection show, body shape and size are profoundly implicated in questions of gender and sexuality, often in ways that are far more complex and intimate than the conventional discourses of 'body image' and 'self-esteem' can allow.
The pieces in this collection do not simply draw parallels between fat and queer experiences, investigate the intersection of fat and queer, or even argue that fat necessarily is queer (although these ideas are explored). Rather, the chapters in this collection point to the ways that heteronormativity operates as a regulatory apparatus which underwrites and governs the discourse on – and management of – the fat body.
Furthermore, fatness cuts across lines of gender, sexual orientation, class, race, and ability. While these 'identity-constituting, identity-fracturing discourses' many not necessarily be subsumed under gender and sexuality, they are, however, mutually implicated in the discursive and material construction and circulation of meaning, identity, and power that fall under the critical rubric of queer critique. Importantly, 'identity-constituting' discourses such as heterosexuality, able-bodiedness, whiteness, middle-classness and slimness are unmarked – they appear natural and universal and thus have a profoundly normative and disciplinary power. By 'bringing forth' these discourses and making their hidden assumptions visible, queering can work to destabilise normative categories and denaturalise dominant ways of seeing, doing, and being.
[Used by permission of the Publishers from Queering Fat Embodiment eds. Cat Pausé, Jackie Wykes and Samantha Murray (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014). Copyright © 2014]
The Walking Thread
[Content Note: Violence; rape culture. Spoilers are lurching around undeadly herein.]
Insert all the jokes here.
Was this the worst ever episode of The Walking Dead? MAYBE! It's certainly a strong contender! I definitely hated it A WHOLE LOT!
After spending last week with Beth at Indentured Servitude Asylum, we give Grimes Gang another week's rest by catching up with the Doctor Mulletsworth Gang—now comprised of Doctor Mulletsworth, Sgt. Red Bull, Rosita Espinoza, Tara, Maggie, and Glenn—who are still heading to Washington, DC, so Doctor Mulletsworth can save the world.
He is an unlikely (VERY unlikely, in case you hadn't NOTICED!) hero with strange hair. And his strange hair prominently features in this episode, which opens with Rosita Espinoza pawing at Sgt. Red Bull's ginger locks and telling him he needs a haircut, to which he responds by telling her that one day soon she'll be able to shave him smooth like a dolphin. Gross.
Suddenly the bus in which they're traveling has a mechanical failure, and the bus skids then flips over. OH NOES! I hope everyone isn't dead! Ha ha of course they are not dead, because we are three nanoseconds into this episode, and this show hates real tension like Doctor Mulletsworth hates suggestions that he should get a haircut!
We flash back to Sgt. Red Bull's origin story, and my head immediately almost rolls off my shoulders from boredom. Although this entire origin story happens in segments throughout the entire episode, as if it's interesting enough to stand as its own secondary story, I will give you the whole summary now: Sgt. Red Bull was married to a lady and they had two kids. He had to murder the fuck out of some dudes with a soup can to protect them, and, freaked out by his display of wanton violence, they bugged out, leaving behind a note telling him not to go looking for them. He goes looking for them, and finds them dead. RIP characters we don't care about in the slightest. Sgt. Red Bull is just about to kill himself when Doctor Mulletsworth comes fast-walking toward him screaming for help, zombies in pursuit. Sgt. Red Bull offs them, then Doctor Mulletsworth secures Sgt. Red Bull's protection by telling him he's on a very important mission.
You might be thinking: "That does not sound particularly informative or interesting. Surely you have left something out." I assure you I have not.
Back at the overturned bus, everyone has survived. "Phew! I was so worried!"—Literally no one. A bunch of zombies descend, and they kill them. Tara nicely tells Doctor Mulletsworth to get his shit together and be brave. Gee, we all think, it's sure lucky he's got the cure to the zombiepocalypse in his brainz so he has protectors, since he's SO FUCKING USELESS!
Eventually, Doctor Mulletsworth manages to stab one zombie to save Tara. Huzzah. Give the brave boy a cookie.
The bus is now in flames, because of course it is, and Doctor Mulletsworth wants to head back to rejoin Grimes Gang (HEY THAT SEEMS SUSPICIOUS TO ME BUT NOT TO ANYONE WHO IS RISKING THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT HIM), but Sgt. Red Bull insists they walk forth. So they do. The man has spoken.
Up the road a ways, they find an abandoned bookstore and make camp for the night. Over low, manly humming, there is a montage of them setting up camp and burning books to make a fire. Neat!
Sgt. Red Bull and Glenn have a manly conversation about manly things in virtual darkness. It is a scene I can barely see and barely bother listening to, and it doesn't even matter. Finally, Glenn tells Sgt. Red Bull to go get some sleep, because he's on second watch, and Sgt. Red Bull says he will, but he's gotta "get some ass first." This fucking show.
Cut to Sgt. Red Bull and Rosita Espinoza doing it, while Doctor Mulletsworth watches them from the self-help section. (Get it?! Ho ho oh this show. So delightful!) Rosita Espinoza complains about it, and Sgt. Red Bull laughs and tells her Doctor Mulletsworth is harmless. NOT REALLY THE POINT, PAL.
Tara catches Doctor Mulletsworth being a creeper, and tells him to knock it off, but he tells her he considers it "a victimless crime." Even though he can hear Rosita Espinoza saying it makes her uncomfortable. OH OKAY THEN.
Tara moves on to more important topics, like thanking Doctor Mulletsworth for saving her life, and giving him a cool pep talk. To which he responds by confessing he sabotaged the bus because he's afraid of failing when they get to DC and making everyone mad. RED FLAG! RED FLAG!
Tara pets him and gives him a biscuit. Basically. He says he doesn't know why he told her that, and she says I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP, "I do. Welcome to the human race, asshole." And then they fist-bump.
WHAT?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! THAT IS NOT A REAL SCENE IN A REAL TELEVISION SHOW WHICH MILLIONS OF ADULT HUMAN BEINGS WATCH!
Maggie and Glenn have a throwaway conversation about how they shouldn't feel guilty for having abandoned Grimes Gang to join their new garbage crew, because it's nice to look forward to something. OH SHIT. That is called "foreshadowing," kids. In case you didn't already know that by being hit over the head with FORESHADOWS for the previous 40 minutes or so.
And, btw, Maggie: No, you should not feel guilty for wanting to be with a little more forward-looking group of weirdos, but maybe you should feel a little guilty about not caring about or mentioning or mourning your missing sister, whose entire existence you appear to have forgotten. Whooooops!
Bippity-bop the next morning, Sgt. Red Bull declares they're rolling out of town on a fire engine just sitting in the street across the bookstore. Blah blah it starts just long enough to roll forward a few feet and unblock a door, out of which comes pouring a bunch of zombies. Fight fight fight. Kill kill kill. Spray spray spray with the firehose.
(I'm not even going to try to tease out the gross metaphorical implications of a zombie horde in Georgia being firehosed into submission by an entire not-black group of people.)
Blah blah down the road, the firetruck breaks down OH MY GOD. Down the road is a superstench, which turns out to be fully an army of CGI zombies waiting to destroy them. Sgt. Red Bull, who is losing his mind, declares they're going through, and everyone else is like THE FUCK WE ARE, BRO.
It comes to blows, and, to stop the fighting, the very sensitive Doctor Mulletsworth finally shouts, "I'm not a scientist!"
And everyone freezes and looks at Doctor Mulletsworth and says, "Ehhya?!" like a bunch of Tims Allen.
At which point, Doctor Mulletsworth probably realized he should have said, "I'm pregnant!" Or anything else at all. But he's committed to the "not a scientist" thing, aka THE TRUTH, so he blurt-babbles his whole story about how he's weak and pathetic, so he invented a story about being a scientist so that people would protect him and get him to DC where he imagined humans would have the best chance of survival. But he started having second thoughts, and that's why he sabotaged the bus etc.
Sgt. Red Bull punches him and he falls to the pavement. Everyone runs to Doctor Mulletsworth to console him (?!), while Sgt. Red Bull collapses to his knees and sobs.
THE END.
Oh, and also Doctor Mulletsworth lied when he said some dude liked his haircut.
THE END.
Daily Dose of Cute
This will never not be funny, every time it happens.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by swirls of color.
Recommended Reading:
Happy 11th blogiversary to Mustang Bobby!
Kali: [Content Note: Misogynoir; abduction; violence] Missing Black Women Are Usually Ignored Until They're Proven Worthy
Davey: This Device Diagnoses Hundreds of Diseases Using a Single Drop of Blood
Atrios: Net Neutrality
Julianne: [CN: Child neglect; anti-immigrationism] 94% of Child Migrants Who've Received Removal Orders Had No Attorney
Sean: Discovering Tesseracts
Trudy: Grace Jones Always Has Amazing Cover Artwork
(Maude, I love Grace Jones.)
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Homophobia] Last Thursday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld same-sex marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky, which will likely force the issue of same-sex marriage before the US Supreme Court, possibly as soon as this term. *bites nails*
[CN: Class warfare. Video may autoplay at link.] President Obama has asked the Federal Communications Commission "to set the 'strongest possible rules' to protect net neutrality as agency writes new Internet traffic regulations. ...He said the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service to be regulated more like a public utility." GOOD. More here.
[CN: War] In not-good news: "President Barack Obama has authorized the doubling of US troop levels in Iraq for the war against Islamic State militants, further straining his pledge against 'boots on the ground'. Obama ordered an additional 1,500 troops to Iraq on Friday to bolster the performance of Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting Isis in ground combat. The training, the Pentagon said, is expected to last the better part of a year... The new troops, the Pentagon emphasized, will not be used in a combat role, similar to roughly the same number of 'advisers' who have been performing a similar role in Iraq since June. Troop levels in Iraq will soon stand at about 3,000."
Welp: Indiana, which has one of the strictest voter ID laws in the nation, ranked as the worst state in voter turnout in last week's midterm elections. "Only 1.35 million of the 4.8 million adults eligible to vote showed up to the polls on Tuesday, giving the state a horrifically low turnout rate of just 28 percent."
[CN: Class warfare] Hey, speaking of the Conservative Legislation Lab: Nearly half of Indiana's 76 charter schools are doing poorly or failing.
[CN: Racism; misogynoir] Two pictures of women breastfeeding their babies while wearing graduation caps and gowns. One of them is black, and one of them is white. See if you can guess which one of the two women was praised and which woman was criticized!
Are you watching the CW's new show Jane the Virgin? Because you should be! It is very good! I like it A LOT.
This week, the Rosetta spacecraft may finally land on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: "European scientists will this week make the first attempt to land a probe on the surface of a comet, the climax of a decade-long project to unlock some of the secrets of the universe. ...On Tuesday night, the team at the European Space Agency (ESA) will decide whether to give the final go-ahead to release a lander from the craft." Eeeeeee! So exciting!
And finally! Animals with majestic hair. Obviously.
Film Corner: Interstellar
[SPOILER WARNING]
So, I saw Christopher Nolan's new film Interstellar this weekend, and I wanted to open up a thread for anyone else who saw it and would like to talk about it. And let me be very straightforward about the fact that it's definitely a polarizing love-it or hate-it kind of film, and I've already seen huge flamewars (!) over this film in other spaces, so let's all go into the discussion with a resolution to respect opposing views.
I fell into the love-it camp. The film is very weird and very beautiful. I saw it in IMAX (not 3D, because no thanks), and it was visually one of the most epically stunning films I've ever seen. I also liked the story, for the most part.
Which is not to say the film is without its flaws: It's US-centric; there are no major roles filled by women of color; it just barely, and not meaningfully, passes the Bechdel Test (I'll come back to that); some of the science is flawed; some of the plot is implausible; there was no Tom Hardy.
That last criticism is not one I'd normally make of any old director, but Tom Hardy was in Christopher Nolan's Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, so I feel it's important to note that Nolan missed one of the most crucial scientific equations in making this film, which is:
Anyway! Like Gravity, there's a potential that Interstellar might trigger people who get motion sickness with hand-held camerawork and/or very immersive shots of sweeping or spinning movement. It's not as intense as Gravity, but it's definitely something to consider. Seeing it in 3D likely enhances this effect.
Also: There were parts of the film during which the mixing was off, and the score obscured some important dialogue. I have a slight hearing impairment, but Iain also had trouble with certain scenes, and I've read that this is a problem with the IMAX print particularly. So that's another thing to consider, if you're trying to decide which version to see.
Although, for whatever it's worth, the occasional struggle I had to hear dialogue was worth seeing the film in IMAX for me.
Following comes plot spoilers, at least one of them a major spoiler, so you might want to stop reading here, if you don't want any spoilers.
Also like Gravity, Interstellar highlights the limitations of using the Bechdel Test exclusively to evaluate the importance of female characters. As I said, Interstellar does just pass the test, but blink and you'll miss it. Still: The entire film is centered around a male protagonist and his relationship with his daughter. (Dads, take your daughters to see this film!) And, unlike most father-daughter stories, she is not an only child. She has an older brother, with whom their father also has a good relationship, so this is not yet another variation on "daughter as surrogate son" story.
[Here comes a spoiler] One of the central theses of the film, which I have seen dismissed as a bit of fluffy silliness by countless (and usually male) reviewers, is an observation about humanity and love, delivered by Anne Hathaway's character. And McConaughey's protagonist is rather unreceptive, but she is ultimately proved right.
[Here comes a major spoiler] And, at the end of the film, McConaughey finds himself in a place that shares his name. He believes it was named after him, only to be informed that it is, in fact, named after his daughter.
YES. Yes.
I always seem to find progressive messages in Nolan films, where other people find conservative stuff, but it seems to me that Interstellar is a film about (US) humankind's history and our potential future. If McConaughey's character represents our past, our curious and adventurous and exploratory history, then his children represent our two possible futures. His son represents the desire to cling to an unsustainable way of life, even as it literally kills his wife and children. His daughter represents the desire to find new technologies and a new way of survival, even if that means leaving traditions behind.
There is more to say on this theme, but I don't want to give away too much.
We often see in films what we want to see. I saw in Interstellar a story about the importance of faith in our fellow humans, as a means to progress. Like!
Also: A really gorgeous film with tons o' space porn and amazing cartwheeling robots. Thumbs-up.
This F@#king Guy
Over the weekend, former President George W. Bush appeared on Face the Nation, because of course he did, and Bob Schieffer asked him if he had any regrets about the Iraq War (video should start playing at 1:21):
Schieffer: Do you have any regrets about that, Mr. President?Got that? Bush doesn't regret the decision to go to war in Iraq, even though it is now being overrun by IS, a group he describes as "al-Qaeda plus," because that is obviously President Obama's fault for ending the war, not his for starting it.
Bush: Ah, no. I have regrets that, uhh—[deep breath]—that—
Schieffer: I mean, do you ever feel that maybe it was the wrong decision?
Bush: No, I think it was the right decision. My, my regret is that, uhh, a violent group of people have risen—risen up again. This is [long pause; shakes head] al-Qaeda plus. And, um, I put in the book that they need to be defeated. And, uh, I hope we do. It's, uh—I hope the strategy works.
(And note that his implication Obama is to blame for ending the war is completely disingenuous, because the drawing down date was decided before Bush left office.)
It's tough to imagine how everything could have gone so wrong with a man in charge whose foreign policy ideas literally have all the sophistication of: "Terrorists need to be defeated. I put it in my book."
Someone go pat him on his head.
Loretta Lynch Nominated for Attorney General
[Content Note: Police brutality; sexual assault; sexual harassment.]
Current Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder resigned in September, and President Obama has nominated as his replacement US Attorney Loretta Lynch, who, provided the Republican Party will actually approve her nomination, will be the first black woman to be the US Attorney General in the nation's history.
Holder leaves at a time when the Department of Justice is deeply involved in investigating notable civil rights and police brutality cases, including the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Lynch's background should be a reassurance to those of us keen to see those investigations continue.
Loretta Lynch was a federal prosecutor in New York when she encountered an astonishing case of police brutality: the broomstick sodomy of a Haitian immigrant in a precinct bathroom.A+.
The 1997 assault on Abner Louima set off street protests, frayed race relations and led to one of the most important federal civil rights cases of the past two decades — with Lynch a key part of the team that prosecuted officers accused in the beating or of covering it up.
...Lynch has overseen corruption, terrorism and gang cases in her years as a federal prosecutor. But it's her involvement some 15 years ago in the Louima prosecution that gave her high-profile experience in step with a core priority of the Justice Department.
"It is certainly significant that she has a personal history of involvement in prosecuting police misconduct," said Samuel Bagenstos, the former No. 2 official in the department's civil rights division. "Obviously that will be helpful, and probably suggests that police misconduct cases will continue to be a priority of the Lynch Justice Department just as they were with the Holder Justice Department.
...Her office, which encompasses Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and Staten Island, won convictions in a thwarted plot to bomb the city's subway system, successfully prosecuted a New York state assemblyman caught accepting bribes in a sting operation and, more recently, filed tax evasion charges against Republican Rep. Michael Grimm. She's also worked closely with Justice Department leadership by heading a U.S. attorneys committee that advises Holder on policy.
But it was the case of Louima, tortured with a broken broomstick on a bathroom floor, that elevated her profile. In a Senate questionnaire for the job of U.S. attorney, she placed the case second — behind only a sexual harassment matter involving a city councilman — in a list of the most significant cases she personally handled.
...The president said Lynch "has spent her life fighting for fair and equal justice that is the foundation of our democracy."
Senator Mitch McConnell, current Senate minority leader who will soon be the Senate majority leader, says: "Ms. Lynch will receive fair consideration by the Senate. And her nomination should be considered in the new Congress through regular order." Sounds good. Now let's see that actually happen, pal.
Of course, I suspect McConnell and I have different definitions of "fair."
In related news, conservatives are already covering this nomination in spectacular fashion. Good grief.
Open Thread + Programming Note
Hosted by Ziggy Stardust.
I have some personal stuff to do today, so I'm taking the day off. I hope everyone has a nice weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday!
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Dr. Jan Itor: "What is a pop culture 'phenomenon' that you just never got the appeal of? It could be because you find the subject uninteresting, you find it problematic, or you sort of like it but can't understand why so many people are so passionate about it."
I could never get into Harry Potter. Just wasn't my cup of tea. Shrug.
Awww
Here is just a terrific video of a dog and a horse playing keepaway. Enjoy!
Video Description: A yellow, medium-sized dog runs around a pasture with a piece of white fabric in its mouth. A young brown horse chases after it, and the dog playfully dodges just out of the horse's reach. For a moment, the horse grabs it, and they play tug-of-war, and then the dog takes off again. And on and on they go!
Welp
The upcoming J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Wars installment finally has a name. And it is... *drum roll*
So, there you have it. The Force Awakens. And it totally has morning lightsaber.
They're Not Even Bothering with the Compassionate Conservatism Pretense Anymore
Just aggressive ruination as quickly as possible:
Legislation allowing the construction of the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, repealing Obamacare and reducing the nation's debt are at the top of Republicans' 2015 agenda, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday.Anyone want to hazard any guesses? Tax sunshine? Privatize rainbows? I can't wait to hear their terrific plan.
In his first news conference since Tuesday's congressional elections that saw broad Republican victories, Boehner also said that if President Barack Obama unilaterally loosens some immigration regulations, he will "poison the well and there will be no chance of immigration reform moving" in the next two years.
...Boehner also said he and Senator Mitch McConnell, who is scheduled to become Senate majority leader in January, will work in tandem to address the nearly $18 trillion U.S. debt. He did not elaborate.
Update on Ghomeshi Investigations and Allegations
(CN: descriptions of physical abuse and sexual assault, workplace harassment, bullying, rape apologia, rape culture, graphic description of the treatment of murder victims.)
There have been a number of developments in the ongoing case involving Jian Ghomeshi. According to CBC news, these include:
*More details have emerged about the former Q staff member who tried to complain about Ghomeshi. The union member to whom she spoke has confirmed that she talked to him about remarks but says he has no memory of her complaining of physical harassment. The producer to whom she spoke and who allegedly asked her to make the workplace less toxic for herself is identified as Arif Noorani. Noorani has taken leave.
*Employment lawyer Janice Rubin will be heading the CBC's in-house investigation of allegations of workplace harassment.
*Toronto police chief Bill Blair had this to say about people demanding mandatory or forced reporting:
"I will tell you that I have been somewhat surprised by the number of men who have written to us or come forward to suggest that we should force people to come forward.… Quite frankly, that attitude is shocking to me in the 21st century."It is up to victims themselves to decide whether they want to come forward, he said. "As they go forward in the criminal justice system or not, it is their choice."
While I am glad Blair made it clear this wasn't acceptable, the fact that he is "surprised" and finds this attitude "shocking" says to me he doesn't grasp rape culture. Demanding that survivors pursue legal action or be silent is one of the first ways that rape apologists seek to undermine those survivors and/or shut us up. It cetainly does not inspire confidence in the police if their chief is ignorant of how extensive that is.
Jian Ghomeshi will not be included in the upcoming Walk of Fame broadcast. His publisher, Random House Canada, has announced that they will not publish his next book.
Apparently, Jian Ghomeshi was a really shitty person to work for, even when sexual harassment wasn't directly involved. Colour me unsurprised that a man who violently ignores consent cultivates a "culture of fear" at his workplace. A group of Q staff presented their complaints to the CBC in 2012; apparently, no formal action was taken.
New allegations have emerged from Ghomeshi's undergraduate days. Jim Hounslow, now an e-learning specialist in Winnipeg, was an employee of Ghomeshi's at the time. He describes an incident in which Ghomeshi grabbed his genitals while the two waited for an elevator. Other information has emerged from York U suggesting that RAs had been told about Ghomeshi hitting women while they were on dates. It is suggested that the survivors did not wish to pursue formal action.
In maybe-related news, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne has "taken action" against sexual harassment in Liberal Party circles. Whooops it seems like this is a bad time to cover up or ignore that shit! The right-wing National Post draws a connection and says that sexual violence is definitely A Thing. Even reliably stodgy Maclean's has an editorial talking about changing the culture of sexual assault. (And it is not a completely terrible editorial!)
However, survivor Denise Balkissoon has a few words to say about this talk of a "turning point" about violence against women:
Why is now that moment? Why wasn’t it when Robert Pickton dismembered dozens of women’s bodies in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and fed them to his pigs? During the investigation into that horror, RCMP officer Catherine Galliford was told by a male colleague that he fantasized that she was one of the victims. I wonder why she didn’t just call the police.If only there had been other opportunities: hundreds of indigenous women in this country are missing, going back decades. Don’t be fooled, their lost bodies aren’t lying in nice coffins in proper graves with their hands crossed peacefully over their chests. Unlike Mr. Ghomeshi’s alleged victims as described by the Toronto Star, these dozens and dozens and dozens of women generally weren’t “educated and employed.” That’s why they can’t ignite change, I guess.
The post includes other descriptions of violence; if you have the spoons, it is well worth a read. It really lays bare the intersectional racism, classism, and other structural issues that are still unexamined in this discussion.
I will continue to update this story if there are significant developments. Please feel free also to leave (appropriately content-noted) updates in the comments below. As ever, please do remember to keep the space safe.
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda vs. The Red Chair. This epic battle happens at Shakes Manor on a near-daily basis. She can easily spend an hour or more leaping and twirling in that chair, and basically just being the colossal goofball that she is.
Video Description: Matilda the Fuzzy Sealpoint Blue-Eyed Cat sits in a red pleather chair in the living room, her ears back and her tail flicking. She jumps to one side, and paws at the arm of the chair, then hops back up and paws at the seat of the chair, as if there is something there that's she hunting. (There's nothing there.) She paws and leaps from one side of the chair to the other, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. She dances around, then pauses, then begins again. Eventually, she flops on her side and twists her head around and looks at me. Fin.
* * *
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
