sundries

[rm]

Folks, sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I don't have all the data, sometimes the answers aren't clear cut. I often assemble these sundries as I'm going through my day, which particularly means the "sometimes I don't have all the data" thing comes into play a lot. There are also lots of cases where I feel information should be out there, even if it's not information I feel qualified to make a thorough judgment on.

Anyway, last night (when I had no Internet! it's broken at home again) rosefox alerted me to this thread regarding an ICFA-related scholarship opportunity for PoC. Talk about: 1. me not having all the data at first (yikes!), 2. the situation not being clear cut (more opportunity for more people; GOH is Nalo Hopkinson vs. ugly RaceFail history) and 3. Me being entirely not qualified to say how anyone should proceed as a I am not an ICFA member/participant, a person offering a scholarship, or a PoC.

So! There's a scholarship opportunity. And there's some important concerns about it. And now you have links to both. As always, I appreciate when you guys have got more than I've got on things and can help me fail better.

Meanwhile! Patty and I are seeing Quartett at BAM tonight. It's based on Dangerous Liasons.

Link from keori: Alan Grayson truly gets how and why politics should be theater.

Bath & Bodyworks employee fired for being Wiccan. Thanks to hughcasey for the thorough write-up.

Large Hadron Collider now felled by birds and baguettes! No, really. Via firefly_124.

"Kiss me where I can't" -- Gilded Age Monuments and Secrets.

WHUT?

Apparently only men tell important stories. Wait, haven't I heard this before? From unpublished exes of mine that wanted my career to be as non-existent as their own?

via lipsum: What the whole God, guns and gays thing is really about -- one particular construction of masculinity as an excuse for irrational, fear-based behavior.

Instead of The Innocence Project's results being taken seriously, the involved students grades have now been subpoenaed to find out the "real motivation" for their justice-related work. Northwestern is refusing to comply.

LGBTQ issues that should be on everyone's radar right now? ENDA. Sadly, I imagine it will be a tougher sell in a bad economy -- the evil gays may take your job. Also, a moment of rage: President Obama, where are you? If you are such a strong advocate for my rights why not even one mention on the Maine situation? Why no emails to Dems in Maine before the vote?

I'm totally worried about how this whole Ft. Hood shooting thing is going to play out. We should probably be discussing the mental health of our soldiers, but instead, I (and many others) worried that it will just be one more excuse for anti-Islam rhetoric. On another note, the civilian police officer who stopped the shooter happens to be a woman.

I'm glad Precious is getting good reviews.

I am up to 7,247 words on ConSweet. The quality of some of my writing is going downhill, because I haven't figure out how to do everything I need to do, but the quality of my first draft writing is actually usually much higher than first draft quality, so me actually writing a first draft and Getting Shit Done is probably fine. Oddest thing current in book: a shopping cart full of pineapples.

via feyandstrange: Doctor Who cufflinks. The rubber Dalek ones are supercute I think. Ianto cosplayers, note Cybermen cufflinks; yes, I fucking dare you!

Comments

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm a little surprised about the 'why didn't he get help' comments. Unfortunately, one of the manifestations of certain mental illnesses is the inability to perceive that it is you rather than everyone else who is off balance. And I don't think psychiatrists are exempt from this.

That being said, if he was behaving inappropriately as a physician, particularly if this was a change in behavior, someone should have done more than 'write him up.' I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that he was a psychiatrist deterred anyone from making him get some help.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

People don't get mental illness. I have the sort of depression that is really not environmental, it's due to brain chemistry and I've had it all my life, and I cannot count the number of times I've been told to just look on the bright side or cheer up or get more exercise and eat fresh fruit and blah blah blah blah blah. Even when I'm in a really really low phase, my reasoning seems completely rational to me, and that's knowing what's wrong with me, knowing that it's illogical - but part of me doesn't believe that it's illogical.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I have a close relative who is bipolar. She knows when she's depressed (an absence of feelings) but trying to tell her that she's in a hypomanic (excess of feelings) state is very difficult. Because what she feels is real to her - so if you say anything at all its very likely to be perceived the wrong way. That's why I'm wondering if he wasn't aware of his feelings being out of balance and because he was a psychiatrist everyone figured he'd know.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

You bring up a good point. I guess my puzzlement over Maj. Hasan not getting help was based on a presumption that by being in the mental health field, he wouldn't have the stigma issues against seeking it out for himself.