Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"'Black woman' is not a specific enough demand. The white establishment responded to demands for a Black replacement for Thurgood Marshall by installing Clarence Thomas.

"If we're not precise in our language & political demands beyond 'someone who LOOKS like us', they will absolutely scour the earth for the most conservative, white-adjacent Black woman they can find, celebrate themselves for being bipartisan & tell us we can stop protesting now."

BreeNewsome

[emphasis added]

"And while, as I've said, my trans identity is only one part of myself, it has also been the source of easily the biggest rewards I've gotten from this experience. The first one is personal: a few months ago, deep down, I simply did not believe that I could ever really be accepted for who I was. That is, I had come to believe (not without some difficulty) that at least some people accepted me: my family, my girlfriend, my inner circle of friends. But I always believed that most people would see me as trans people have so often been seen: a freak, a pervert, a man in a dress, a liar, mentally ill. And as the days counted down to my episodes airing, I braced myself for the rejection I was sure would come. And then... it just didn't. Sure, there have been a few isolated voices trying to bring me down, but the overwhelming reaction has been of support and acceptance. People actually believe me when I say who I am. They don't think there's something wrong with me. And because of that, for maybe the first time in my life, I'm starting to think there really isn't anything wrong with me either.

"[...] The acceptance I've received is the fruit of long, violent struggles -- some famous, some forgotten -- in which generations of trans people have risked their lives to secure their basic right to exist. Frances Thompson and Billy Tipton, Lili Elbe and Dora Richter, Sylvia Rivera and Felicia Elizondo, Laverne Cox and Gavin Grimm, and so many more who are lost to history, have devoted themselves to creating the conditions that exist today, where a trans Jeopardy! champion can be, for most people, uncritically accepted and celebrated as the person she is. And the most rewarding thing I've gained from my Jeopardy! run is the ability to finally say that I, too, have helped that cause. I haven't thrown rocks at the police, or fought for my rights in the Supreme Court; all I've really done is chase a lifelong dream of appearing on Jeopardy!. But I knew that I was taking on a burden of representation, and I will always and forever be proud to say that I've done my little part to ease the path for future generations of trans people to live free, open, and happy lives, and that feeling is worth more to me than any financial gain could ever be."

-- Amy Schneider (Jeopardamy), holder of second-longest winning streak on the Jeopardy! game show, "What I Learned From My Jeopardy! Experience", 2022-01-26

"don't need anyone to mispronounce my name ever again except the greek bank clerk who just pronounced it 'your highness'" -- johannes (yo-han-ehz) / semi-professional cuntboy (JohannesTEvans), 2022-01-13

"Discovery was the return-to-flight orbiter after the loss of Challenger and then again after the loss of Columbia. To me, this gives it a certain feeling of bravery and hope. 'Don't worry,' Discovery seemed to tell us by gamely rolling her snow-white self out to the launchpad. 'Don't worry, we can still dream of space. We can still leave the earth.' And then she did." -- Margaret Lazarus Dean, Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight

"I was not quite 6 when Apollo 1 caught fire, and crazy about rockets. I cried." -- Steve Liewer (SteveLiewer), 2022-01-26

"My wife's grandfather is buried next to them in Arlington. I feel the same about Challenger, I was 13 and it shattered dreams." -- Ian Synge (isynge), 2022-01-26

"I wish people understood that COVID becoming endemic would mean that we had to think about it all the time, not that we never had to think about it again.

"'You can't avoid this, we can't eradicate it, it's here forever' is not the 'oh now we can all go to brunch' solution that you seem to think.

"At this point, realistically looking at gestures at flames, COVID is going to become endemic, and I'm exhausted thinking about what that is going to mean.

"Our current reality is what endemic COVID looks like: one in which we have to pay constant attention to whether a variant is particularly deadly and/or transmissible, where we risk hospital overrun every 4-6 months or so, where large gatherings are never safe.

"If you do not WANT this current reality to persist, and I am so, so fucking tired of it, we all need to pull together to do something different."

-- Courtney Mil(4)an (courtneymilan), 2022-01-21

[If this shows up twice, it's because something has gone wrong with the QotD script and I'm posting this manually while I try to figure it out.]

"Fourteen, a sonneteer thy praises sings;
 What magic myst'ries in that number lie!
 Your hen hath fourteen eggs beneath her wings
 That fourteen chickens to the roost may fly.
 Fourteen full pounds the jockey's stone must be;
 His age fourteen - a horse's prime is past.
 Fourteen long hours too oft the Bard must fast;
 Fourteen bright bumpers - bliss he ne'er must see!
 Before fourteen, a dozen yields the strife;
 Before fourteen - e'en thirteen's strength is vain.
 Fourteen good years - a woman gives us life;
 Fourteen good men - we lose that life again.
 What lucubrations can be more upon it?
 Fourteen good measur'd verses make a sonnet."
  -- Robert Burns (b. 1759-01-25, d. 1796-07-21), "A Sonnet upon Sonnets"

[Wishing a safe Burns Night to everyone celebrating -- which, alas, probably means either a very small gathering or a computer-mediated one (e.g. Zoom) for most people. A pale shadow of the kind of proper supper with poetry and music and dancing that I've enjoyed performing at with the Homespun Ceilidh Band (@HomespunCeilidh), but better to stay safe, and still be here to celebrate in style whatever year the pandemic eases up enough to do it right.]

"Members of the gender critical movement are increasingly sharing anti-trans content from members of the far right. In addition, members of the far-right are showing growing appreciation for the gender critical movement. This growing accord between the far right and the gender critical movement over their anti-trans stances is a worrying trend that suggests both a mainstreaming of the far right, using transphobia as a ticket into other spaces, as well as a radicalisation of people who would otherwise not praise open fascists.

[...]

"This syndication of far-right figures and sources by the gender critical movement is not an isolated incident. Trans Safety Network have previously documented this convergence, and noted when mainstream gender critical figures have shared information from far right sources, including their direct communication with those sources in order to help construct narratives.

[...]

"The gender critical movement and the far right appear to accord very strongly on the topic of trans rights. This pattern of GC groups sharing content from far-right sources, and far-right sources sharing content from GC sourc es is worrying in that it both demonstrates a potential entrypoint into far-right radicalism for GCs, as well as a route for fascists and the far-right to enter more mainstream conversations and spaces, using transphobia as their invitation."

-- Meryl Links (minusplnp) and Mallory Moore (Chican3ry), "Gender Critical and Fascist social media increasingly promoting each other" 2022-01-22 (the evidence is in the bits I elided, so click on through for supporting examples)

"[...] There is something about nature that invites this kind of attention. In the quiet of nature, it's easier to let your attention focus on the way the leaves move in the wind, the sound of birds and the rustle of squirrels in the undergrowth, the drifting clouds. You can give your attention fully to the moment. You can notice your thoughts and emotions as they come into your mind and gently turn your attention back to the moment you're in: the feeling of the grass beneath your feet, the chill of the wind against your face. There is a certain calm, a sense of peace-and a gratitude, a sense of love for the world-that happens when you turn away from distractions and simply let yourself be.

"It's not only in nature that we can do this. The purpose of Ignatian spirituality is to train yourself to be attentive in every part of your life, whether this is in the small decisions you make about what to say in conversation, or the big decisions about what job to do, where to go next. It's about becoming aware of the wild and persistent love which underlies everything, which we call the Holy Spirit. The world is not made up of sacred places and empty, unsacred ones-all of reality is sacramental, enlivened by God's creative love for the world, shot through with grace. We don't discover that by an effort of will: by concentrating really hard and beating ourselves up for not being quiet enough or prayerful enough or good enough. We just have to give our attention."

-- Rose (roselyddon), 2022-01-12

"God grant me the serenity to close all the tabs I'm never going to read
 The courage to read the open tabs that really ought to be read
 And the wisdom to know the difference"
  -- Barred and Boujee (AudreLawdAMercy):  , 2022-01-10

"You long for
 crowded bars
 full theaters
 sweaty dancehalls
 and noisy restaurants
 but the normal you miss
 that you ache for
 is not a physical location
 it was the peace of mind you had
 when you believed your society
 could manage a pandemic
 that is a normal
 to which you cannot return"
  -- Plague Poems (PlaguePoems), 2022-01-11

"That Justice Sotomayor is choosing to participate in #SCOTUS arguments remotely because Justice Gorsuch (and *only* Justice Gorsuch) refuses to wear a mask on the bench is such a perfect microcosm of how millions of Americans are experiencing the pandemic-from both perspectives." -- Steve Vladeck (steve_vladeck), 2022-01-18

In response to replies critical of bothsiderism, Vladeck later clarified:

"Saying that this is reflective of two very different prevailing perspectives on-and individual approaches to-the COVID pandemic is not the same thing as saying that those perspectives are equally legitimate.

"It seems a matter of fact that there are lots of Gorsuch's out there."

"As a disabled person you sometimes grow up naively thinking if you work hard, stand out in the 'right' ways & succeed you might achieve your way out of ableism.

"Sotomayor is part of the 'supreme Law of the Land' & her colleague can't even do the least to keep her safe."

-- [object-replacement-character glyph] (HijaDe2Madre), 2022-01-18, quote-tweeting Steve Vladeck

"I'm so tired of being disposable." -- sabotabby, in a reply to yesterday's QotD

"some christians are like 'it's only people who already have health conditions who are dying from covid' as if jesus didn't tell a whole ass parable about leaving 99 sheep to find the lost one" -- Mason Mennenga (masonmennenga), 2022-01-10

Excerpts from a long-ish but entirely worthwhile thread by excessively black (afrodesiaq), posted between 2022-01-15 and 2022-01-17:

it's odd to see people say they're glad the hostage situation ended "without violence" when the hostage-taker was killed. i am so thankful for the safety of the hostage, and keenly observing what violence goes unmarked in our society.

calling it "without violence" when police kill a person is a political choice itself: decoding that the state exerting violence doesn't count as such, that the lives of violent criminals don't count as such.

calling it "without violence" when the police kill a person also ties into the vitriolic pushback black jews receive when we say we do not want their violence in our shuls.

[...]

i know, it's not good etiquette to express even a dollop of care or concern for the life of Someone Evil, but it is, i believe, fundamentally jewish to do so.

[...]

previously to hearing about HOW the standoff had ended, i had not, actually, weighed in on whether or not it WAS necessary, despite the many comments on this thread with no reading comprehension that claim i "side with" the instigator;

despite the terminally twitter-minded on here not being able to read this thread for what it was, i do in fact think there are instances where violence is necessary and justified.

i can safely say that i don't think the state extrajudicially executing people for their crimes when their victims have all gotten safely away is one of those times."

"My father was for the global, comprehensive eradication of Militarism, Poverty & Racism.

"Poverty & racism inform the death penalty

"Racism & other isms suppress voting

"Poverty & racism facilitate environmental injustice

"Militarism enforces it all

"We have BIG work to do."

-- Dr. Bernice King (BerniceKing), 2022-01-16

Today is Gregorian: 2022 January 17 -- Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US (3rd Monday in January)
Julian: 2022 January 04
Hebrew: 5782 Shevat 15 -- "New Year of the Trees", for counting the age of fruit trees for religious purposes
Islamic: 1443 Jumada al-Thani 13
Persian: 1400 Dey 27
Mayan: 0.0.0.13.0.9.3.14
Indian (civil): 1943 Pausa 27
Coptic: 1738 Tobi 09
(It feels funny to write "5782 Shevat 15 is Tu B'Shevat" when "Tu B'Shevat" literally means "the fifteenth of Shevat", much like we in the US often refer to Independence Day as "the Fourth of July". Chag sameach to everyone celebrating it!)

"Our destiny often looks like a fruit-tree in winter. Who would think from its pitiable aspect that those rigid boughs, those rough twigs could next spring again be green, bloom, and even bear fruit? Yet we hope it, we know it." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (b.1749-08-28, d. 1832-03-22) [I'm not certain which work i's in, and have not tracked this quote down in German.]

Chag sameach to everyone celebrating Tu B'Shevat tonight & tomorrow!

"You may well ask: 'Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word 'tension.' I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue." -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (b. 1929-01-15, d. 1968-04-04):  , "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", 1963-04-16

"the biggest problem we'd face in a zombie apocalypse wouldn't be the people hiding zombie bites, it would be the people who informed their employer they'd been bitten and got told 'we still need you to come in and work your shift until you turn'" -- Janel Comeau (VeryBadLlama):  , 2022-01-11

Today is
Gregorian: 2022 January 13
Julian: 2022 January 01 -- New Year 2022
Hebrew: 5782 Sehevat 12
Islamic: 1443 Jumada al-Thani 10
Persian: 1400 Dey 24
Mayan: 0.0.0.13.0.9.3.11
Indian (civil): 1943 Pausa 24
Coptic: 1738 Tobi 06
It is also the 70th anniversary of the debut of Today on NBC Television in the US, Mark Antony's 2104th birthday, World Logic Day (birthday of Alfred Tarski and anniversary of death of Kurt Gödel), and the sidereal (as opposed to solar/tropical):   winter solstice.

"Folks who say 'survival of the fittest' in a political context seldom acknowledge that for our species survival and fitness has always been about working together in a community with diverse talents, interests, and expertise. We don't have claws or fangs. We have cooperation." -- Jarod K. Anderson (JarodAnderson), 2022-01-11

"Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free. Such things did not need as much emphasis a generation ago, but when the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries, by exiling scientists, artists, musicians, writers and teachers; by disbursing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art; an added burden, an added burden is placed on those countries where the courts of free thought and free learning still burn bright. If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1882-01-30, d. 1945-04-12; President of the United States 1933-03-04 to 1945-04-12), Address to the National Education Association, 1938-06-30