Smrt Lernins

To all the bigots,
To all the bashers of any[one/thing] non Xtian,
To all the misogynists and the homophobes,
To all the ones who equate being gay with being a sexual predator,
To all the ones who subtly or not-so-subtly blame women for their assault because of how they are dressed,
Or because of how they act,
Or how they don’t act,
Or because they had already had sex once anyway so what does it matter,
Or because they had the misfortune to be born with dirty-dirty vaginas and uteri instead of Paul-approved penises,
To the ones who throw around the word “heretic” as though it were the 16th century,
To the ones who throw around the word “heretic” without realizing how incredibly damn ironic it is for a Calvinist Protestant to call someone a heretic,
To the ones who call anyone who believes in a different flavor of Christianity a sinner,
To the ones who shame their daughters for being anything other than their primitive and controlling version of “feminine,”
To the ones who shame their sons for being anything other than their primitive and controlling version of “masculine,”
To the ones who claim to “love the sinner, but hate the sin,” when you obviously hate both,
To all of you who would rather keep your children ignorant than risk them learning something that’s outside your teensy little bubble…

We will win.

We “heathens” and “heretics” and “sinners” will win.
We will win because we have less shame about our bodies.
We will win because we aren’t afraid to accept new ideas.
We will win because we can distinguish between evidence-based science and something written by men, translated by men, voted on for inclusion by men, preached by men, and enforced by men.
We will win because we don’t think someone or something made us inherently wrong or bad.
We will win because we will not teach our children to hate who they are.
We will win because we will not let our children tell other children to hate who they are.
We will win because we will accept your children into our families with love and tolerance when you have driven them away with shame and hellfire.
We will win because we won’t accept victims being blamed for the crimes against them,
Because we don’t equate “purity” with character,
Because we don’t equate individuality with sin,
Because we don’t equate intelligence with heresy,
Because we don’t equate pettiness with godliness.
Because we don’t equate shaming with modesty.

One day those hateful seeds you sow
In your churches,
In your communities,
In your children,
Will grow into ugly plants,
And when that is all you will have to reap,
You’re going to have a lean, lean winter.

Enjoy your harvest. You’ve earned it.

Love,

The Heretic The Heathen The Sinner Smrt Mama

For those invested in gender [stereo]typing, it is very important that you do not allow your son to do this (if you can’t find it, upper right hand picture — PINK TOENAILS? On a BOY? WORLD IS ENDING!). People might say ridiculous things like this. They’re afraid you might turn him into this [which, to the gender-typing, is a BAD THING(tm)].

On the other hand, the gender [stereo]typing set strongly encourages you to buy these and these, because it would be awful if your baby girls were mistaken as boys.

So, to summarize:

Playful bonding time with mom and son: BAD!

Dressing your infant daughter like a can-can dancer: GOOD!

UPDATE: Reader Sandhya would like to share this link so we can all learn how long-standing is the history of boys wearing blue and girls wearing pink (hint: it’s not really all that long-standing).

They’re actually size 13 knitting needles, but whatevs. Chopsticks is chopsticks.

That big stack of Tournaments Illuminated I have been hanging onto from my SCA days has finally come in handy (And yes, I also have several issues of The Compleat Anachronist. Shuttup!). Who’s a geek now, mister?*

Captain Science is working on his big history project to wrap up the year, the “Persona Project,” as I have dubbed it. His job is to pick a time period and come up with a solid persona for who he would have been in that time period. His only limitations are that he must choose from a time period between 1100 and 1600, that he must be his same age (10), and his same sex (male). The first rule is because that’s the time period we’ve focused on this year. The other two rules are not because we lack imagination or want to confine him to rigid gender constructs, but because I want him to get a better understanding of what life would have been like for him — not just a child, but Captain Science his own self — during his time period.

Child of my heart, he chose 1389, which puts him in the same period that I my old SCA person was in, back when I was a SCAdian. He’s going with 1938 England (“London, England!”) and while his original plan was to be a page, now he’s considering some appropriate trades in which he could apprentice. This afternoon, he’s been reading and highlighting the “Growing Up in 12th-16th Century Europe” article from TI. I pulled a few other Tournaments Illuminated issue for him, including one with an article on observing Lent in the middle ages and one on recreating a medieval village.

Before this is done, he’ll have a well developed persona with a thorough past, he’ll have clothes to wear, and he’ll really be able to get a feel for what it might have been like for him in the middle ages.

*Still me

I finally wrapped up March’s non-fiction themed Four Books a Month. Due to travel and illness and a general disinterest in one of the books I’d picked to read (which I ended up discarding in favor of something else), it was a bit of a tight squeeze. I sneaked a little fiction in there during the month, but that doesn’t count towards my four books!

This month, I read:

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou. Less a book, more a collection of vaguely related essays (and the relationship strained at times). The essays offered a look into Angelou’s history, her perspectives on several issues, and an assortment of advice/lessons for her “daughters,” her female readers. I particularly enjoyed the essay on her changing attitudes about the South. She captured my feelings very well. If I can find a copy of that essay online, I’ll link it here later. A quick, easy, enjoyable read.

Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin. This is the birth-related book I’ve been waiting for. The ideas Ina May shares in this book aren’t new, but that’s kind of the point. The “birth options as a feminist issue” idea is one that we in the birth advocacy community have been kicking around for year, but it really takes someone like Ina May Gaskin to bring the idea to the forefront. The writing in more in line w/ her Guide to Childbirth — no “rushes,” nobody feeling groovy. It’s a great introduction to the idea that the US obstetrical system is not a woman-centered system. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with the slightest interest in women’s rights, whether or not you plan to ever have (more or any) children.

Primal Mothering by Hygeia Halfmoon (who is, suffice it to say, a whackadoodle). I feel a little guilty mentioning this book, because I really do NOT want anyone to buy it and ever more, I want to make sure nobody uses this book as a source of advice. While there is plenty of good information in this book (normal unhindered birth, breastfeed, babywear, keep your babies/kids close), all of that good information is available from far better, saner sources. Mixed in with this, is advice to eschew eating anything other than fruit (including most vegetables), that all illness (from colds to cancers) are caused by “toxins” that must be fasted out of the body, and to “fast your babies” (ie. withhold food fromt hem) when they are sick, to get the toxins out, donchaknow. Whack.a.doodle. The book is also peppered with suggestions to buy her other books if you want more information — the whole thing read like a giant ad for her various whackadoo-library. I initially bought this book to include in raffles at one of our upcoming red tent events, but realized there is no way I could give this book to a new mother. Get a book by Ina May Gaskin. Get a book by Dr. Sarah Buckley. Get a book from the Sears library of books. Don’t waste your money on this nonsense.

Shakespeare: A brief insight by Germaine Greer. This wasn’t exactly what I expected. I thought the book was a biography of Shakespeare, but it turned out to be more of a literary criticism overview of Shakespeare’s works. I still enjoyed it, but it didn’t offer any great insights into Shakepeare’s life that I hadn’t already gotten from my college courses. I did appreciate Greer’s take on the themes in Shakespeare’s plays, with a nice emphasis on women’s roles(Greer is a noted feminist). Not light reading, but worthwhile.

Ok, now to start April’s FBAM theme: translations!

[Quick note: I've signed up to do Amazon's affiliate program, just because any teensy amount of money coming in is helpful, but I really don't want to clutter my blog or spam my readers with links. If you click on the above links and buy any of the books, I'll get a small percentage for having linked you. However, if you don't feel like doing that, I won't be too fussed, either. I always said I'd be 100% on the level with reviews, ads, solicitations, etc.]

I haven’t been blogging much and when I do, it hasn’t been all that related to homeschooling.

This isn’t because we haven’t been homeschooling. We have been. It’s primarily that I am simply exhausted from the daily task of pulling a decent amount of work out of Captain Science right now. It’s like pulling teeth. We have maximum “tween” attitude and minimum actual effort being applied towards his school work. It’s also wildly inconsistent. The essay he wrote today had the depth I would expect from a 7 year old. The previous essay, about Theodore Roosevelt, was great. I don’t know if it’s that he thinks he has to be completely interested in and invested in the topic for it to be worth his while, or if he simply can’t be bothered to try, because eh, what’s the worst that can happen?

I do have things I want to write about. I don’t want any advice on things to do to motivate Captain Science (I am resourceful and intelligent; he’s just having one of those phases where nothing is going to make much difference). I really kind of need a vacation from my life for a couple of days.

As an aside, as Captain S trudges away at another version of his essay, Babypie is stark nekkid and trying to convince Badge the Beagle to poop directly into one of the tiny blue poo-scooper bags (without success, thankfully).

Now just tell me this isn’t the cutest thing:

Of course, Rhubarb was there, too:

What could be more adorable than four teensy girls (ranging from two today to three next month) waiting oh-so-patiently for those delicious cupcakes?

I had to wrestle her new plastic shovel (a gift from Patchfire and PC) out of her hand in order for this picture to be taken, but here’s the mama and her birthday girl.