Or: An Exegesis on The Book of Loretta “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” excelled at generally absurdist, often surreal comedy. In comedy terms, it rarely “punched down”: Common real world targets included the rich, the pompously religious, and middle class housewives that can’t mind their own business. For the housewives, because the troupe was all men…
Category: Other essays
Self-Realized Autism
Yesterday I left an Autism community because of gatekeeping. I was already on the verge of leaving anyway: I hadn’t made any posts, and the posts and comments seemed consistently toxic and unfocused. But the “Yeah, no, bye” moment was when someone posted about self-diagnosis and they got dogpiled about how invalid that is. Once…
Gender Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Yesterday I was watching a TikTok when I heard something a bit odd that touched on something I’ve been struggling with. In the video, Sunn m’Cheaux refers to language such as “people” as being non-binary; the standard term is “gender neutral”, but that touched on a puzzle my brain’s been working on for a while….
Gender on Passports
During this discussion of gender markers on passports, one question lingers in the background: Why do US Passports have gender markers in the first place? It makes sense that some legal documents would need a sex indicator, for medical purposes. There’s some argument to be had, although I find it questionable, that driver’s licenses and…
Autism and Sarcasm (Draft Take)
I was reminded today of the belief that Autistic people don’t do sarcasm. This is completely, utterly, and totally true. Yeah, right. While it’s true that many Autistic people do in fact enjoy being sarcastic, there are some reasons why someone, especially a Neurotypical person, might wish to be careful. One: It depends on the…
Autism: Social vs Medical Model
A part of the conversation on Autism is the distinction between the medical model and the social model of disability. Some Autistic people, particularly those who are “level 1” or “high functioning” (terms that are problematic in themselves), insist that Autism is not a medical disability at all. I personally disagree. Under the medical model,…
On the (potential) TikTok ban
The TikTok ban looms this month, while it could still get an unlikely temporary reprieve from Biden or an even more unlikely permanent reprieve from SCOTUS. Either way, Hank Green (talking ON TikTok, but impishly wearing a YouTube shirt) points out that, whatever the government’s motivation for wanting to ban TikTok, TikTok itself is not…
My Custom Tarot Cards
Disclaimer: All base images below were generated by AI. I am aware of the ethical considerations here. I am sharing these for entertainment purposes only; these are not commercially available. If you feel any of these images infringes on your or someone else’s copyright, please let me know and I will proceed accordingly, including deleting…
The Ghost of My Mother
I My mother taught me how to needlepoint, but not to cross-stitch or embroider. Those other things were too complicated. She taught me to hook rugs and macrame, but not to knit or crochet. She* knew she was supposed to be able to do those things, but she wasn’t good at them. My mother taught…
Trans Rights and the Overton Window
Here are some possible positions on transgender rights: I have marked the position of these statements based on where I think society was perhaps a decade ago, before this topic became front and center in an ongoing culture war. The Progressive Left would likely prefer (2) to be the “Moderate” position. The Regressive Right is…