Monday Miscellany

Hi! Remember me? I’m Kate, and I used to write regularly.

[Everybody: Hi, Kate!]

I disappeared last week when stress piled onto writer’s block piled onto school and my brain decided that food was THE MOST STRESSFUL THING EVARRR. But I’m back! And more importantly, this guy just started living with me:

This is Boo. He is the most rascally of rascals.
This is Boo. He is the most rascally of ratty rascals.

His name is Boo, and he loves sitting on my shoulder and nuzzling my face while I’m internetting and blogging. I cannot possibly overstate how cute it is.

Together, we found links!

Ozy Frantz puts words to my feelings about “sex-positive”.  Relatedly, here’s an old post about another phrase that just doesn’t quite fit: enthusiastic consent.

Successful and schizophrenic, thirty years after diagnosis.

This post captures how much an eating disorder disorts your thoughts–something I’m going to be writing about shortly.

You could make an argument that I don’t want anything more than I want to be skinny. You would probably be right.

Actual research about drug research! For ages, I’ve been very uncomfortable talking about the problems of the pharmaceutical industry, because the conversation sounds a lot like the one I see driving the alt-med community. (You Drew Big Pharma! Go Directly to Woo and Collect $200 of Herbs.) This article, plus this one by s.e. smith, have reminded me to bring skepticism to the table.

Musings on veganism:

I have access to produce, to grains and nuts, to soy and specialty “health” products; a family and community that value or at least tolerate that decision. Because I am able to eat vegan, I do. In my experience, being a vegan (if it is economically and nutritionally feasible) is easier than being a feminist. In my diet I can draw very clear lines for myself, which requires only that I obey a habit at each meal. In contrast, responsible feminism requires the mental exercise of regularly throwing off thepatriarchy’s kyriarchy’s hold.

Responsible eating, like responsible feminism, requires learning to question previously held beliefs. It requires tuning one’s ear to try to hear more voices. Who have you not listened to before? Who has society not listened to yet? I find that the many new voices I have been exposed to via feminist, environmentalist, and queer theory feed into my conscience, affecting my understanding of how I affect others, and the physical world, with my decisions. Pardon me for the synesthetic metaphor, but very few things taste better.

Paul Fidalgo wants you to shut up. Or something.
No, really. Go read it.

I’m starting to pick up some ASL, and here’s a fabulous gloss of Still Alive. For everyone who desperately needs to know how to sign ‘cake’.

Promote yourself in the comments! Alternatively, I’m trying to make one new recipe a week as I learn to de-escalate the experience of eating. Share your favorite [vegetarian] stuff in the comments!

{advertisement}
Monday Miscellany
{advertisement}

5 thoughts on “Monday Miscellany

    1. 2.1

      Oh, this is fabulous 😀 I live with people who are vegan and I try to make food everyone can eat, but I didn’t want to limit commenters to vegan food when I can tweak most recipes anyways. Also, I keep trying to find a replacement for alfredo. Yay!

  1. 3

    I enjoyed the NYT article written by Dr. Elyn Saks. I had read her memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness a few years ago, after I had been diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. It was quite moving and inspiring, and I recommended it to my parents to get a little better idea of what I had been going through (minus the multiple hospitalizations, thankfully). I would recommend it to anyone who has a friend or family member with schizophrenia or any other metal illness, especially those involving psychosis.

  2. 4

    My husband and i have been so cheerful Michael could complete his investigation through your precious recommendations he had through your weblog. It is now and again perplexing just to find yourself offering ideas which often others might have been selling. And now we keep in mind we have got the writer to give thanks to for that. The most important explanations you’ve made, the straightforward blog navigation, the friendships your site give support to create – it’s all overwhelming, and it’s leading our son in addition to us feel that that subject is cool, which is exceedingly serious. Many thanks for everything!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *