First off, I am indebted to @Wossy (Jonathan Ross) for starting the Twitter book club.  Great idea!  I love the thought of reading a book every week and sharing reviews on Twitter.  Awesome.

Except for this:  I cannot afford a new book every week, or even every two weeks, maybe not even once a month.  I'm not saying I can't pick up a new-to-me book at a sale, but I can't actually afford a shiny new-new book every month, certainly not every week. 

Ah, but there is the library, Brother Jack.  Can't you go to the library?  Not actually feasible for a book-per-week format.  My local library (which is a small town library) is not necessarily going to have even one copy of the week's book.  Even if they have one, I might not be the first person there to check it out .  I can get on the waiting list, but the book most likely will not come back that week.   I could request an inter-library loan, but that can, and often does, take weeks.

Having worked in the Memphis library, I can tell you that a book-a-week format does not work even with a huge city library.  A book club book will most likely already be checked out when you walk in--even if the library knew about the book club ahead of time and ordered more copies--sure, you can get on a waiting list, but you might not get the book for weeks, even if the library orders even more copies due to the number of holds on the book.    Orders take time to be delivered.  They also take time to process.  Most people probably don't  think about book processing, but library books have to have book covers and labels and security strips and listings in the catalog, and that all takes time.  Oh, and money, in case you were wondering about public library budgets. 

No library can actually afford to get enough copies each week for a book-a-week book club (or even a book-a-month club) for every person who wants to read  the new book each week (or month--seriously, I've seen per month tried).  To be brutally honest, these books would

1) possibly no longer be that popular to check out after it's week (or month) in the spotlight

2) take money from the overall collection that could have been spent on several different books for people with a wide variety of tastes instead of multiple copies of the same book

3) take up shelf space that could have been used for several different books instead of multiple copies of the same book.  Part of the price of a book for a library is the price of its shelf space in terms of building upkeep. Unlike Unseen University's library, most local libraries do not have infinite shelving.

OK, so the library is not going to work.  Well, Jack, you are S.O.L., and so is everyone else who has to limit their book budget.  I know.  Sucks to be us. 

But wait.  There are like a metric ass-ton of free books on the web.  Not kidding.  You could be reading those books and sharing them with your friends.   The web has an answer.  Free books that everyone can check out at once.  A virtual lending library.  Rock.  A great source for a book-a-week club that is not going to eat your book budget (or the food budget that you would gladly parlay into a book budget), or for that matter the ever-dwindling budget of your local library.

Oh, and hey, apparently there are some new/up-and-coming authors out there who have free books available on the web.  Authors who need an audience.  They would, I am sure, love to see their books discussed on-line.  This could be a great venue for up-and-coming authors.  Did you hear me, up-and-coming authors? Get your free-for-download book discussed on Twitter this week.  Be what the buzz is about. 

Yeah, so that's my idea.  Thanks again to @Wossy.  This is my open-source version of your idea. Speaking of open-source--book reader software is out there if you need it.  

I'm thinking it might take a bit to get things rolling, so, I'm going to start on a bi-weekly, and see where this goes.  First book for review is a short story collection by Derek J Goodman @derekjgoodman available here: http://bit.ly/IJFhx

Oh.  I"m @howlingmadjack on Twitter.  See you there. 

At first I admit I was somewhat taken aback by sannion 's opinion of Twitter: " Why should anyone else care about someone's brief conversations with others and random thoughts they can't even bother to flesh out into a decent paragraph? It's like a toddler coming up to you holding the turd they just made and expecting you to be just as excited by it as they are."

However, after thinking about it I realized that what he wrote is true. Once I extended the metaphor, it explained my recent use of Twitter.  Because poop is useful.

You see, I have come to think about Twitter as a sort of community composting toilet for the brain.

I go there to dump thoughts out and to collect my brain droppings and those of others together to allow them to ferment into useful brain fertilizer.  What grows in that fertilizer is sometimes an LJ post and sometimes an idea for action. 

Of course, I have to admit that my inner toddler is fascinated by the brain droppings.  Sometimes the droppings have funny shapes.  "Yes, inner toddler, it is neat that Nathan Fillion has two different action figures of himself, now put that down and allow it to compost."  Adult me is more concerned with composting  the brain droppings of people who I know grow the most magnificent gardens of thought. 

Extending the poop metaphor in a different direction, I submit that Twitter can also be like an antidiarrheal for the word processor.  Having to constrain one's thoughts to 140 characters tuns out to be an excellent exercise in editing out excessive elaboration, much as the Imodium draws out excess water.  Given the length of my LJ posts, I could use a little Twitter ADWP now and then.  I'm debating further limiting my Tweets to iambic pentameter (that would be some fancy shit).

Hi all,

That's right.  I'm posting for no other reason than to show off my shiny new icon, Howler of the Drak Pack, recolored in the GIMP by yours truly. 

I really enjoyed working on this today, and have added to my arsenal of GIMPtastic skills.  For those not in the know, the GIMP is an open source art program similar to photoshop. 

Shiny.

Now I want to create an Orc Mekboy icon.  Because Mekboyz rule.   

Perhaps tomorrow.

Of course, I'm also wondering how many of my friends actually remember the Drak Pack. 

Smiles,

Howling Mad Jack

Yesterday I ended my post on hate by questioning how Islam defines itself and asking for someone who knows more about it to point me in the right direction.  Before I had a chance to do some research, the universe provided me with the answer I sought.  This week one of my favorite webcomics (which I receive daily in my email), Unshelved,  came in under an ad for the book Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha.  Once I got over to his web page, my eye was instantly drawn to a link to his blog article The Big Lie About Muslim Silence on Terrorism.  (Also, take a look at the book.  Looks like it could get passed around amongst the Daughters of the Moon.) 

He asks “Why does the media fail to report on Muslims who condemn terrorism?”  

I could not quite articulate that  yesterday--why doesn't the media report on those who speak out against hate?  I mean, seriously. 

Let's look at some of the links that Mr. Pasha provides us with in his blog:

Muslims Condemn Terrorist Attacks  Wow--provides a really long list of links with condemnations of the terrorist attacks from Muslim leaders, specific Muslim scholars, and everyday Muslims including links to three Muslim charities who solicited donations to help victims in New York City.   Muslim awesomeness abounds. 

Friedman Wrong About Muslims Again and the Amman Statement on Ecumenism  This one talks about (and contains links to) Muslim condemnation of and fatwas against Osama Bin Laden.  Did you know that Muslim Imams had condemned Osama?  Now you do. 

Pay attention people!  Your major news media does not bring you the messages of peace and love that are out there.

I'm pretty sure there must be people out there who do report the peace efforts and anti-hate efforts of others.  If so, I hope someone will point me in the right direction there as well.  However, I will research as soon as possible and get back to you all on that.  In the meantime, do what you can to publish love, to publish peace, to counteract those who publish condemnations of good things.  Also, has anyone got a letter campaign going to write to the news agencies and tell them we really want to see more articles on love, peace, and anti-hate movements? 

Maximum good things in your direction,

Jack

In my shiny early morning surfing, I have come to one horrifying conclusion:  everything in the world, good or not-so-good, gets turned into nasty-pus-dripping-feces-filled-evil by hatred and bigotry.  Seriously. 

OK, let us look at Asatru and Odinism.  Even among Neo-Pagans the perception continues that we all embrace racial hatred and like to beat up gay people.  Well, Ulfar Kindred does not play that.  And neither do several other Heathen groups. See the Wodensharrow Heathens Against Hate site and this other  Heathens Against Hate site for more information. 

Skinhead culture.  Did you know, have you achieved awareness of the fact that the Skinhead cultural movement does not define itself by  racism or bigotry?  Why didn't you know that?  Maybe because some hatey-hate filled a$%holes have become the public face of the movement.  After taking a look at Red and Anarchist Skinheads (RASH) and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP), I learned that I was guilty of misjudging an entire cultural movement thanks to the actions of hate-mongers.  I can't say that I agree with Skinhead culture in general, but they don't represent what I thought they did.  See the article The Other Side of Skinheads. 

Christianity.  More and more of us find ourselves judging Chrisitanity by its militant right wing followers rather than its message of love.  NOM and its continual harping on the history of marriage as one man and one woman coming together for the children (which does not come close to the historical definition of marriage and don't get me started) and general anti-gay sentiment wrecks the message of love that Christianity has to offer.  Seriously.  Look at the open and affirming churches in the United Church of Christ for example.  Or, for that matter, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco (I heard about them on an episode of 30 Days).

So I have to wonder...do we really need to define Islam by its vocally bigoted members.  Surely Islam does not define itself that way.  Can someone who knows more about this religion point me in the right direction?  Of course, I'll research it after I get back from Fulton today.

What can we do, oh loving and peaceful friends, to end the reign of hate?

I'm having a bit of a brainstorming session on a calendar application for people with ADHD and/or Dyscalculia (i.e., me).

Here's what I need it to do:

( and the list is a bit long for an LJ post. )

For those of you wondering what's going on in the Wonderful World of Jack...I'm in Amory, MS, with kiarapixie  and I still don't have a job.  However, I have finally decided to get some help with what I suspect may be ADHD.  My parents are solidly behind this move.  I've seen a counselor in Tupelo, and will be going to see a nurse practitioner next month.  I'm also looking into alternative therapies, and thinking about writing my own guided meditation to help with my ADHD-related issues.  I have made the decision to wait until I have a better handle on my ADHD issues to deal with my gender identity issues, but I hope to move forward with that as well in the near future.  

I miss all of my wonderful friends in Memphis, and especially the Scoobies.  I know this is festival season, but ya'll know you can feel free to drop in on us down here if you happen to have the gas money. With any luck,Tiff and I will have gas money for a visit soon.

I really found myself missing lostgamers  Friday night when I couldn't remember what Rodan looked like. And  I miss tannenwynn constantly.  When I think of craft and kitchen projects, I think of them in relation to sharing them with her.  I hope ya'll get ya'll's power back soon, if you haven't already. 

I'm sorry we couldn't be at Daughters of the Moon this year as this was to be my farewell weekend as a Daughter.  I will not be attending again.  With luck and love, kiarapixie will be able to attend again in the future. 

Love,
Jack

"There is a compulsion to take into yourself the qualities you feel you're lacking and someone else has. Eroticization is one of the ways to do that." Barry Levy, Christian counselor and licensed clinical social worker, quoted in "My gay therapy session"

Funny,  I explain my previous attractions to a number of men that way--that I kept .looking for what I felt I lacked, prior to opening myself to my trans-ness.

Generally, that describes how many people approach finding relationships.  We look for someone to complete us rather than trying to achieve completion in and of ourselves.  So many of us were raised believing that a man and a woman are two essential halves of a whole.  We might later modify that in our heads to say that our partner, regardless of gender, will complete us.  However, making the concept of two halves gender-neutral does not remove the inherent wrongness of the concept. 

No, my children.  You must complete you.  Oddly enough, it takes two or more whole people, not two or more half-people, to make one whole healthy relationship. 

I did not say that you cannot have personal problems and still have a relationship.  Of course you can.  Because the fact remains that few if any human beings ever attain perfection in this lifetime.  However, you must acknowledge those problems within yourself and work towards solutions.  Work towards becoming a whole and healthy you.  Do not expect your partner to make up for what you lack.  Because they cannot.  Only you can truly  do the work required to make you a whole and healthy person.  Can your partner help you?  Of course they can.  And they should.  But all the help in the world will not matter if you do not do the work yourself. 

In pondering the concept of eroticization of that which we would like to make part of ourselves and also the concept of  autogynephilia  (look it up if you don't know what it means, eh?) I have come to this startling conclusion: one should find one's self  sexually attractive.  Seriously. Countless articles I have read about having a fulfilling sex life talk about the importance of finding one's self sexually attractive.  About acknowledging one's own beauty.  I say, "Make finding yourself attractive a moral imperative." 

Yes, my children, find yourself to be a fine and whole person, a person who you could love, a person who you would have sex with, in fact, a person who you would happily spend the rest of your life with.  

Welcome to another extended ramble about metaphysical stuffs! 

Caveat: I believe both everything and nothing whatsoever. 

( On with the ramble... )

I've been giving this a lot of thought.  And it comes down  to this, for me:

Separation of Church and State.

OK, nerdlings, we got some good news and some bad news...

In the good news: 

George Takei to wed.

Pretty exciting stuff there.  While I was checking out George Takei's website, I decided to follow one of the appearance links over to the Dragon-Con website where I found out the bad news:

Robert Asprin died yesterday. 

I haven't thought about him in a while.  I remember reading several of his books as a happy way to scrub out my brain after reading the horror and depression that was Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.  I've read a little of the Myth series, a little of the Phule's Company series, and I think I've read a bit of Thieves World.  He was quite the talent, and a wielder of the blindingly bad pun.  We will, of course, myth him terribly.    

Oddly enough, I just found out that Takei and Asprin wrote a book together. 

Wicca Is Not Celtic!

OK, I knew that already.  But it's just so amusing to see it in print.

Wicked Grin,
Jack

...for thegreenyear because finding this article requires using The Wayback Machine:  Epistemology and the Pentacles of Feri.

Kenneth J. Zucker PhD has been selected as the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Chair for the DSM-V Work Group.

A number of folks in the trans community are worried about this as many are troubled by his methodology with children, and I think rightly so.  It's a gut feeling I get when I read this. 

However, what is needed is good hard scientific arguments against Zucker's stance, not the horrified gut-wrenchings of a mad gender outlaw. 

I was going to indulge briefly in some whinging about the possibility that Zucker might have changed how my parents decided to raise me if they had been influenced by his ideas.  And then I thought about the children who have died because they couldn't conform to their parents' and other people's  ideas about gender.  The murdered dead we remember on the Transgender Day of Remembrance.  The suicides who couldn't handle the pressure to conform. 

What I don't want to see, more than anything, is people winding up dead because this Zucker has decided that forced gender conformity is the Right Idea.  Then again, I also don't want to see well-meaning parents force their perfectly good kids into lives of desperate longing for the "kids' own good."

I'm thinking the answer, or at least part of the answer, may be found here.   I'm not sure yet how I may best to support their work other than to get the word out about their existence. 

Meanwhile I'm also taking a  look at the wonderful work being done at home and abroad based on work done in the Netherlands.

OK, this is in the way of being a response toqueerunity's  post which was cross-posted to several lists that I am on.  This will be crossposted in part to transfeminism. 

( Read more... )

My ex-husband has been in great denial of all things mystic for lo the many years that he and I have known each other.  He was for a while of the opinion that I with all my Gods-bothering and visions was stark raving mad.

It may be that it's his current wife (and soon to be mother of his child) has changed him.  If I understand him correctly, she is involved with Thelema and O.T.O

On the other hand, it's me he calls about these things, as he says she doesn't tell him much (trade secrets and all). 

For most of the time I've known him, he's considered himself a Deist, saying that God does not interfere with the world now that He's got it rolling.

He knows the lore, though, most likely better than I do, as I've been lax about the homework. 

On Thursday he called, and with a good deal of embarrassment (as if I were going to tell him that it was all nuts) proceeded to tell me that he had sworn himself to the God he's always been drawn to since reading the Eddas and such. 

And that God, dear readers, is Loki.

Ya know, I didn't know that one of the Missionary Sisters (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, that is) has a mission in Nashville, TN.

Ladies and Gents: Sister Right Sarong

Feeling the need to support this sister, especially since one of her causes is Transgender Awareness.

OK, look, here I am entangled in my great name debate.  I know who I am.  Well, sort of.  Yeah, OK, maybe that is the issue.  Heh.  I'm thinking of re-changing my name.  (I never changed it legally, ya know).  Let's be honest.  Evan never stuck. Not even with me.

I'm going to try Jack.

Let's experiment with this, shall we.  Ya'll who are my friends, if you could try and call me Jack, see if it fits, that would be great. 

I'm not changing my livejournal name, cuz Angersson was the middle name, actually, and I think I'll maintain that. 

--Jack

Dear Ms Walker,

You told me in the voices of the women you wrote about that white women had always shown anger, that we had been angry with black men and black women.  I acknowledge that this was so.  When we said we are now allowed to be angry, what we should have said is "We are now allowed to act and speak in anger to the people we are actually angry with, which is white men.  We should be asking your forgiveness for turning on you in our pain, for continuing the cycle of abuse.  And we must be constantly working to stop the cycle of abuse.  To become whole people, each of us. 

I am aware that we are not all whole people, that some of us, and maybe all of us in ways we cannot see, are still abusing you the way we were and are abused. 

Of course we fear your anger.  We know the debt of pain we are owed for what we have done and what we still do.  Because we are paying back the debt of anger now towards our men.   And still we are not whole people.  We are just angry people. 

Wholeness requires the forgiveness and acceptance that you have spoken of, again, in the voices of your characters.  It is so hard to forgive when you are still being mistreated.  Can we, should we, forgive while we are still carrying on the cycle of abuse?  We cannot forgive them, you cannot forgive us, until the abuse stops.  Until all people can truly mean Namaste in all that we say and do to one another.  Can we forgive while we are still being hurt?  I heard that question too, reading your words.  And I saw the answer.  We must forgive.  We must let them into our hearts. 

But who are our men angry with, that they must take it out on us?  Is it indeed the Great Mother they are angry with? What is it that makes  white men so angry?  How can we heal our men, how can we help them find wholeness, so that they do not need to be angry?  And we in turn will not need to be angry? Then you in turn will not need to be angry?  Where is their wholeness?  Why are they so broken, that they needed to break us? Oh, we cannot fix them by screaming at them. Goddess knows I've tried.

Why did Marduk kill Tiamat, and Perseus kill Medusa?   Why was Ashera cast out of the Hebrew faith, and Lilith her Priestess also?

You were looking for this answer too.  Did you find it? 

Is men and women living separately indeed the way life should be? 

Another question I have.  If we white women worship the Great Mother as Isis, have we returned to the African Mother of Us All, or have we we appropriated that which does not rightfully belong to us, taken something away from you as we have taken so much already?

If we worship Kali Ma, are we colonizing a Goddess not our own, or are we recognizing our True Mother?

For me the answer is two-edged.  We are colonizing when we act like we can use Her like a tool in our hands.  We are returning to Her when we are a tool in Her hands.

And still I would love to hear your answer.

I owe you much, Alice Walker.  It was you who told me about Medusa. 

For all wrong that I and my ancestors before me and even my selves before this one (though mostly I was a cat) have done to you and your ancestors before me, and your selves before this one, I ask forgiveness.   I must now work to be whole.

Speaking to you on paper, as I did this morning, before I came to write this here, I found someone I needed to forgive.  My birth mother.  Much of me is glad that she gave me to my parents.  But much of me was hurt.  I called her today, at last. I found her nine years ago.  And I spoke to her briefly on the phone, but I was not ready then.  Your words have helped me be ready.  

I recognize the Goddess in you.  I want only to love you. 

Now I just remembered that I am writing this under my man's name.  And here I am speaking with my woman's voice.  So I will sign myself off with both my names (though I am thinking sincerely of changing my male name to Jack).

Namaste,

Minda/Evan