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Much ado about black nightshade

Today I went for a look around a local community allotment project, and was guided by the head gardener round the various tunnels and patches. Whilst we were walking round we came to a plant which had berries and the lady said 'these are blackberries, taste good' and ate a couple. I thought, they clearly aren't blackberries, or any common edible berry. They were on a slightly leggy plant with dull lilac-like leaves, and hung in groups, some green some black.

I didn't say anything there and then as I wasn't 100% on my identification, but quickly realised upon referring to a few books at home that the plant is a Black Nightshade, or Solanum Nigrum.

There seems to be much debate as to whether these berries are poisonous, some cite them as being edible in small quantities when cooked, some describe them as being 'injurious to children, but tolerated better by adults', and some warn against them with 'POISON!' The clear thing is that much of this plant is poisonous, as are most of the solanaceae family, the toxin being solanine, the same that causes green potato poisoning. (And on a side note, let's not forget how many advocates there are of eating the flesh and syrup of yew berries, which are most definitely very harmful.)

My dilemma is whether to inform them that they have a plant which is poisonous. I wouldn't have thought it would have been planted if its dangers were known, especially as the allotment is used by local schoolchildren. My main concern is the fact that the head of the allotment didn't recognise this plant as a member of the nightshade family, and believes it to be a blackberry bush. This may result in larger numbers of the berries being picked and eaten in large quantities, or it being foraged by visiting children.

So, do I mind my own business and leave them to it, or inform them about this plant?

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Coming out at work (take 2)

Explained to my store manager (I work at asda/walmart) around 6 months ago that I wanted to come out at work and was there any procedure etc.

Nothing happened. I went back to him a few weeks later and he had completely forgotten the conversation we had had.

Spoke to my line manager and she said she had no clue and needed to get 'legal advice' (wtf), but was going on holiday for two weeks to would hand it to another manager to deal with. Following week I asked when this other manager was in and was told he had also gone on holiday, so nothing was being done. Back to square one. So I asked yet another manager about it and that seemed very positive, I explained that I was going to be known as James etc, until the point at which I tried to follow up our conversation with a phonecall and he constantly referred to me as 'hun' and 'darlin'. I was so annoyed. After feeling like I may have been getting somewhere it all went wrong. So I'll have to wait and see what comes of it, if anything.

In the mean time I've been trying to tell as many people as I can, but have encountered no end of problems at that end as well.

I cant help but be surprised at how lacking in knowledge cis people are when it comes to trans issues.

I've tried to explain to a person I am closest to at work and she seems to understand to some degree but despite me saying that I will be known as James from now on, she was extremely taken aback when I asked if she could use male pronouns. I really don't understand how a person can fail to make that link. Just such a small thing makes so much difference to my day and I hate being that way as it leaves me very vulnerable.

Ah well at least I don't have to go there for another week.

[jamesandsumes-blog]

Wow. That’s the exact subject I’ve been looking for a better perspective on. I’m really glad I found this, and I really like Charles Asher….

I came to the same conclusion recently, that acceptance is the answer. If I can’t change it, I have to accept it. The problem was HOW exactly I’m supposed to do that. I really liked what he said about thinking about who he would’ve been if he hadn’t been born trans; that really made sense to me. Thinking like that allows me to realize that there actually are some good things about being born the way I was. The education I have from living my life like I did/am is worth a damn lot. Had I been born a typical cis male… well I can’t even really picture just how different that would make me. I would have had a boring, privileged, shitty life. And another thing I liked about what he said is remembering the privileges I do have. Being in a body at all is incredible. Being in a body that works well and is healthy is a great thing.

It’s hard to resent my situation so much when I think about the fact that I really wouldn’t choose any other life, because I would be so much different, in a bad way. For a while now I’ve been trying to ignore the fact that I’m trans and just cross it out of the equation, but that just caused more grief and I couldn’t come to terms with everything. I guess embracing it really can be a better thing… I really can’t pretend that I’m just a typical male; trying to do so makes me much more anxious and depressed. I have to accept my body as it is.

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left my dogs at home with 2pac playing came back to this.

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My hometown :)

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Class 45 The Royal Artilleryman by Jared Benney on Flickr.

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My favorite drink :)

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When people still have you as your birthname in their phone

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Fuck Facebook

Let's get derogatory comments about facebook trending on OTHER networking sites.

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