nonbinary storytelling jawns
Hi.
The temps are above freezing and the sun is out. Remember all my rambling about spring an issue or two back? Hope you're well. I know just about everyone I've been talking to has been deeeeeepressed. Winter is rough. Are people in all the time sunny places really happier, though? That's what I ask myself sometimes. I know it's a trope that Japanese ppl (well they tell you this when you're seriously studying 日本語) are like we have four seasons and it's so special!!!! As if other places don't have four seasons. Why do people have British rose gardens in the California desert hillside? Why are succulents the rage when so many places don't even get enough warmth and sunlight for them? Why are so many popular houseplants from equatorial and southern hemisphere regions? What was up with Victorian scientists? Categorizing every last damn thing...
Cutlass sent me this wiki page on bioprospecting from some research she was doing... The shit where imperial powers take indigenous knowledge and profit from it?
Anyway, I'm like oh shit I better hurry up and do some front-of-the-rented-house pruning on this bush now before it starts growing again. I know last year I started to see new growth and plants coming out of dormancy in February.... =/
In other news, the homie Estraven interviewed me about non-binary storytelling for a trans n women youth mag, Shameless. I liked this interview! Here's an excerpt:
Often when we hear the word binary it’s associated with the gender binary. But are there other binaries that you are exploring with your work?
ALL OF THEM.
Ok, well I think the numerical binary (0/1; on/off) coding and computer programming are at the foundation of perhaps all our modern computer tools and devices. Many of them were developed for use by and for the military, in fields of medicine, communication, and behavior prediction and control. Sorting and categorizing, identification and surveillance technologies have brought great economic wealth and power to governments and individuals who control, develop, and distribute them onto others. These technologies are powerful and efficient at what they do because they have been standardized and ubiquitous – meaning introduced to the whole of society as “normal” – but to work they often reduce and force very complex things into one of two options and discard what can’t or won’t fit. That’s where language comes in.
When I was a pre-teen surfing the dial-up internet, I came across an anonymous document called the Laws of Life. It’s also known as the Laws of Magick or Laws of Reason, but here are two of the laws that stuck with me ever since: (8) Law of Infinite Universes: change your perspective in one area and you change your universe. There are always three choices available; and (12) Law of Polarity: everything contains and implies its opposite.
So keeping those in mind, I think many of us are raised to use binary phrases in language. For example:
this or that
if X, then Y
on one hand/on the other hand
on one side/on the flip side
with us/against us
always/never
Many, many people will try to make you act or choose something using this kind of language, and many times it will be to disempower you for their benefit. In arguments, someone may try to get you to admit that you “always” do one thing and “never” do another, but what if the reality is “sometimes” you do both or all, or you are both or all, depending? What does your opponent have to gain by forcing you to make one of two choices, when there’s so many more available?
I don’t believe in just two aspects of anything, and I question anytime someone uses binary language to describe a problem or solution or issue. There’s always more than two sides to any story, you know? The moon has cycles. The earth rotates. We are not flat or two-dimensional in body or spirit, and so binary language does not serve us well.
Read the full interview here.
IN OTHER NEWS...
The 25% OFF sale at my experimental product line, DHD HEAVY INDUSTRIES, ends tonight at midnight EST.
Use the checkout code ENDSMEET01. Minimum spend is $8. Loungewear, planners, and other gear for cyborgs available. Frankly, this sale is to generate income to pay off my housemate's standing debt (hence the code name), so the sales $$$ aren't going to me this time around.
For your information, I will be tabling a First Friday event in Fishtown, February 2nd, in case you've wanted to buy IRL. Once it's officially announced, I'll share that info.
Other DHD gear that's in the works is 1) an home/life organizational zine (tentatively titled Discipline Invites Beauty or Discipline Fosters Calm hmmm), and 2) a lightweight waterproof tote bag... I'm hoping to price it in the $40-60 range, depending on how streamlined I can make my sewing process. And after that I still want to release a story zine + audio tape... But it's been personally disappointing trying to prioritize writing over developing a secondary income stream sooooo we'll see how long that takes. Still have ep #03 (4th ep) of the DHD storycast to edit and get up too!! >.<
Did anyone read that excerpt story draft I sent a few issues back? Did you like it? Can you let me know what you thought? I want some encouragement if you are feeling generous.
ALSO IF YOU MISSED IT OR FORGOT, METROPOLARITY HAS AN OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Remember,
leather
iron
wood
all need regular upkeep to maintain their utility as tools.
love and healing to you
monk