sayrj

[sayrj]

When I'm overwhelmed I look at obscure old stuff to shake up my brain for "inspiration" then usually get more overwhelmed. Example:

1963 ad - "There's a little bit if Dixie in Des Moines"

"Electricity from New Orleans, Raleigh or Atlanta can help light lamps in Des Moines. That's all because investor-owned power companies across most of the country are tied together by their power lines..."

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Grateful to have so many people sharing things with me the past few weeks, but today takes the cake. Here’s a picture of a handful of these insane text files I was sent that are the backbone of a DH project related to Jim Crow, racist laws, and data mining. It’s all the laws from Jim Crow era NC. I haven’t even started to get into all of it yet, and I can't imagine how long it took to put something like this together.

The highlighted part reads:

“...AN ACT TO AID IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHESTER AND LENOIR NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WATAUGA AND CALDWELL NARROW GAUGE RATLROAD. Sec. 1 The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact, That the sheriffs and jailors of the counties of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Wilkes, Alexander, Alleghany, Catawba, Gaston and Lincoln, shall, on demand of the president of the Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad Company, and the president of the Watauga and Caldwell Narrow Gauge Railroad Company, or either of them, deliver to said presidents, or either of them, or to their agents, all persons convicted in the superior courts of said counties of any criminal offence, who may be sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for a term not less than one year, other than those convicted of the offences of murder, arson, rape, burglary, manslaughter, or attempt to commit rape, to be worked by said presidents, or either of them, their agents or employees on the said roads, or either of them, until the said roads are completed, or their sentences expire.”

Totally interesting to think about public goods and resources that are in some ways tokens of progressive social reform and potential but have a history tied up in Jim Crow and the criminal justice system.

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Women fighting for healthcare and abortion rights in the 1960s.

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This author dwells for pages on how people gestured (or were still) while *standing in lines* in public places and I can't stop thinking about it and that's why I'm single.

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[sayrj]

From the park today.

Headed home on Friday.

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Pride Month Nightmare 2020

I'll never hand out definitions/prescriptions where they don't belong, but just a heads up as we survive the abominable June "pride month" rainbow capitalist nightmare... (I was going to post pictures of the ads that inspired this post but I don’t want to perpetuate them). 

"Pride" is not about what you are randomly proud of. 

"Queer," though I find few friends in this arena of thought, is not about the meeting that started at 3:01 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. 

"Coming out" is not about coming out as liking an embarrassing band.

"Neutral" language (thinking about "queer" and "they/them" pronouns in particular today, but that’s hardly the whole list) is, in fact, not neutral at all and does not exist to allow for people to avoid awkward conversations and critical work while still appearing woke. This is not (necessarily) about hanging in the balance or bouncing back and forth; this is about (necessarily) being present yet beyond. The social pause is the point. If we lose the pause we’ve “achieved” nothing but assimilation, and if you promote assimilation that does more harm for queer liberation, and is certainly more insidious, than calling someone a f**.

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Beautiful new edition of the book I assigned for next week, Zitkala-Sa's American Indian Stories (1921). Really hard to read this right now thinking about how what I read here as a bitter remark (”If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink”) from the late 1800s has come to be very true. I strongly considered, then decided against, having them write for the prompt “what if water were a human right?” The concept of “right,” especially connected to a natural resource, is why I hesitated. Maybe another year.

[sayrj]

Francesca Ghisalberti

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Feeling naive and egotistical for thinking I was alone in my concerns, my fears, my anger. These two together are getting me through. Glad for the folks far smarter than I am who have already done so much of the work, the work, the work.

[sayrj]

If you ever wondered what an angel is called, the answer is Rahul Dubey!