#ohio discourse

[injustice-of-toren]

So I just watched (the documentary) How To Dance In Ohio, and I have a lot of questions about ... a lot of it.

First, why is a school dance such high priority in terms of social skills for autistic folks to learn? The dresses, the getting-your-hair-done, etc. It's not useful like skills the way, say, job skills or safety skills might be. It's just mandatory fun modeled on the rituals of neurotypical high school that we all age out of anyway.

Like, the fact that they all have to do one dance with each other if asked, and the fact that Meredith said she doesn't like to be touched but Dr. Amigo is like, "we'll break you of that."

This is at best a fake and empty model of how life should look -- real life has no mandatory dances, and you should be able to say no to touch or anything else.

I say this as a neurodivergent person who was lucky enough to have a minimally pathologized girlhood. I can't help but see myself in the young woman who was worried about her strapless dress showing too much cleavage or falling down when she dances.

I can't know what was in her mind at that moment -- maybe she loved the dress and felt beautiful but was just a little worried -- but I do know that as a quirky and cagey teen without a label beyond "anxiety" I would have felt uncomfortable and would have thankfully been granted the right to say no.

I still don't understand my own complicated feelings around showing my body, but I do worry about how they would be pathologized if I were diagnosed young with something like autism.

And beyond that, I think autistic youth -- and everyone else -- should be able to draw a line between entertainment and work. A formal dance shouldn't be "work." And add to that the sensory difficulties caused by touch and loud music, it's really weird to use a dance some kind of universal teaching situation.

And if it's building connections that's the goal, the activities shouldn't need to be so neurotypical and formulaic. They could form an anime club or ride bikes, etc, as long as it's something everyone enjoys.

[the-entity-down-the-street]

Stop using neurodivergent just to refer to ADHD/autistic people

Brought you by someone with autism!

I have a story from my recent wedding I'd like to share.

The ceremony and reception were held at The Ridges, an old mental asylum turned art museum in Athens, OH. I made a point of giving a brief history of the property to our guests, acknowledging the cruel treatment mental patients have faced at the facility, and honoring their humanity. I didn't want the venue for shock value, especially considering that our wedding party was made up almost entirely of mentally ill queer people.

During the reception I was talking to my spouse's grandmother, who had performed our ceremony, and learned that she herself had been locked up in an asylum! She was thankful for my little intro, and when I offered my condolences for her traumatic experience, she expressed how her mental struggles were a part of who she was. In fact, she said: "I wish there was a word to describe it other than mentally ill."

I told her there was a word! Neurodivergent!

And let me tell you, the way this little 89-year-old woman lit up.

"Neurodivergent! I love that!"

What a gift that is. What a gift it is to be able to give someone language to describe themselves. Just because she's not autistic or ADHD, it doesn't mean she hasn't faced adversity for the way her head works. I think she has every right to call herself neurodivergent, and I think we'd do well to accept all mental differences into our community.

[punkitt-is-here]

Hey i used to be someone who thought bi lesbians were not valid and i want to add an argument i haven't seen. IF A MAN THINKS A LESBIAN IS AVAILABLE TO HIM IT IS THE MAN'S FAULT. No woman, bisexual, bi lesbian, used-to-be straight, whatever, NO women are responsible for the behavior of shitty men. Only the shitty men are! Also yeah it is like none of our business how someone identifies ya weirdos (i.e., the people arguing with you)

YEAH whenever i see people be like "oh this muddies the definition of lesbian. itll just make men hit on us." sister that is not your fault!!! it is not the other persons fault!! it is the shitty guy who's hitting on you!! team up and explode him with your mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good lord

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

Listen I know the US education system sucks, but I know for a fact "Nazi's are bad" is something taught over and over again. Yet here we are with people shouting "hail hitler" with full seriousness thinking their not the bad guys.

Link to article with nazi protesters at a public drag event on March 11, 2023 in Wadsworth, Ohio.

[adhdo5]

Okay ykw I’m making a post. Very sorry about this because a) the adhdo5 blog is where I sit on the porch and shoot the shit and you shouldn’t come to me for news and b) I am very tired right now and can’t think very well so you’ll have to bear with me. I am NOT editing this shit so if it has typos or I sound incoherent very sorry again maybe you can like decipher it with your comrades or w/e

Long post; tl;dr at bottom

So I’ve seen posts going around about the Ohio train derailment. This is good and fine in itself. This is a serious issue that should be discussed and absolutely an environmental disaster, BUT there r some serious framing issues going on and while there’s other posts that discuss this better than I can or am interested in doing, I’d like to address one specific thing as kind of a microcosm/example

So there’s a version of the post going around where a commenter links some articles and pulls relevant quotes from them. Most seriously they pull this quote

While vinyl chloride itself is a carcinogen, the burning of the chemical, which releases hydrogen chloride and phosgene, can be immediately lethal. Phosgene, a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor, was notoriously used as a weapon during World War I. 

Now, that’s a scary fucking quote. That shit is frightening and it is a true assessment of the risk of vinyl chloride leaks. Put it in context of the earlier post, which is going on about a supposed media blackout and claims of mass death of pets etc., and claims that police blew up the tanks, and it evokes a truly terrifying image of these tanks being detonated carelessly and possibly leading to deaths.

But try on for size the literal first sentence of this article: (emphasis added)

The toxins that burned in the wreckage of the train derailment in Ohio had the potential to be deadly if officials did not order evacuations in the region, experts told ABC News.

And from an article from CNN: (emphasis added)

The wreckage burned for days, threatening a widespread, deadly explosion before crews Monday managed controlled detonations [...]

Workers used small charges to blow a tiny hole in five rail cars carrying vinyl chloride. The hazardous substance spilled into a trench, where it was burned away. [...]

Analysts have been conducting air monitoring and sampling over the last 24 hours in the East Palestine area, James Justice, a representative of the United States Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday. "All of the readings we've been recording in the community have been at normal concentrations, normal backgrounds, which you find in almost any community," he said, and that's "what led to the fire chief lifting the evacuations today."

And a few paragraphs down in the very article the first quote is from:

A release from a vinyl chloride tank car creates a dangerous situation. The chemical, which is a gas at ambient temperature, is shipped in pressurized tank cars. “If you have a release, it vaporizes and it’s extremely flammable,” Kreuz says.

This is a completely different picture. Don’t get me wrong -- shit is still awful. It’s a dangerous situation that DID kill some beasts this IS a bad thing this IS a policy failure that it happened

But the tanks were detonated by professionals so that the fumes would be concentrated in one area that they could give evac orders for, and those evac orders have since been lifted because said controlled burn went off as planned. If they’d let it escape or explode by itself, the phosphene etc would likely still have been released, but in a way that would be way harder to Give Evac Orders For

Officials etc can still suck and be bad. It’s not like this is over or a solved issue. But this was not the cops. This was the EPA. This was people whose job is to deal with environmental catastrophes (which AGAIN this WAS). There are people who are trying to get third party tests done! Fair enough! But this is NOT something that people are left completely alone with 

So what IS an issue here specifically? Where do we point scrutiny?

This is my biggest issue with that first quote pull; the text block immediately after it is possibly the most widely relevant thing in the article. Here’s a slightly longer quote: (emphasis added)

While vinyl chloride itself is a carcinogen, the burning of the chemical, which releases hydrogen chloride and phosgene, can be immediately lethal. Phosgene, a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor, was notoriously used as a weapon during World War I.

The accident raises questions about safe rail transportation of vinyl chloride, a chemical that is predominantly converted to polyvinyl chloride on the site where it is produced. It also shines a light on general rail safety—the accident was the third freight train derailment in Ohio since last October.

I mean, in hindsight it’s clear -- this was a rail accident. But losing oneself in panic about the chemical spill itself being not dealt with or dealt with worse can cause one to lose focus. I know I certainly did until I looked .2mm further into the situation and found that paragraph, and then the focus Did become clear: remember the rail strikes? Hey, how are those going?

It’s extremely easy to get lost in panic and conspiracy-adjacent thought, especially because officials are extremely frequently bad at their jobs, because cops DO do stupid shit like this, because these are extant problems. But it’s also easy to get paralyzed by a nebulous fear of bad actors in the government and lose sight of the immediate issue that these chemical spills happen in general, that they happen because of something wrong with our rail system, etc.

This probably isn’t the One Secret Key to this, either, and there’s probably uglier nuances to the response, but it’s important to keep an eye out for this propensity in ourselves for panic, for catastrophizing, and to think about what and whom that benefits, to get a clearer view to see how one can genuinely help and if this is a thing to which you can afford to lend your concern, what you can do about it yourself. Be careful. Be conscientious about what you allow to take space in your brain and how much good it does you and the world really. Watch out for these kinds of nasty rhetorical traps, these kinds of framing subtleties that can vastly color how you see a situation

Now I am NOT trying to say that OP or commenter did that on purpose or out of malice. I think it’s very likely that they themselves panicked to some degree, quoted and reported on what caught their eye, etc.. I’m ALSO absolutely not saying that they or people who saw these quotes are stupid or gullible. I am Thirdly not trying to say at all I’m an authority on this part of the situation. My intent with this and what I hope anyone who read this far takes away from this is that this was, intentionally or more likely not, there’s been a rhetorical issue in how people are discussing this situation, and it’s one that can vastly increase distress and decrease efficacy of diagnosing the problem for people who ARE involved

Anyway

TL;DR (because god do I talk so much it’s the ADHD)

train carrying some very toxic shit derailed in Ohio

posts going around rn where OP talks about the tanks being exploded in a way that misleads people about the operation

some additions feature a commenter pulling a very frightening quote about those fumes

the truth is that it was a controlled burn done by professionals so the toxic shit wouldn’t catch fire and release horrible fumes in random residential areas 

it was under evac order

it was successful and the evac order was since lifted 

this is really bad but catastrophizing helps no one

REHAUL THE US RAIL SYSTEM NOW

support rail workers and if you have some dollars to spare maybe go see if anyone affected by the evacuations has a Ko-fi

[motsimages]

Getting my news from Tumblr means that a) they will be all from the US and b) I get all the discourse tiny little details and nuances and rants first and work my way up to whatever it is that happened later and be like "why weren't you speaking about the news themselves but were nitpicking details around it?"

I will take it as my "oh right, news of the world again, time to check the Hoy newspaper, see if they inaugurated a bench in the Central Square of Aliseda or something" sign.

[renchant]

woahhhh what happened??

clutch got outted as a misogynist andrew tate supporter who basically thinks hes done nothing wrong

[wolfgabe]

The discourse on East Palestine is getting out of hand.

The problem I see with East Palestine is the same issue we are seeing with long covid in that its extremely difficult to get accurate factual information because of a group of people who have made screaming the bloody apocalypse about it part of their identity as well as because of right wing agitprop cosplay actors that are basically exploiting this disaster just to make a quick buck.

[pinene]

What is a "30something midwest pokemon gay?"

He’s in his 30s. Probably lives in Ohio in a mid-sized city with his quiet boyfriend in a carpeted duplex. They have a lot of Pokémon plushies. Probably some funko pops. He’s in like 10 discord servers, 3 of which are rupauls drag race related but he never contributes, just scrolls the memes channel. He has costar installed but it’s on the third page of apps, by Grindr. He posts selfies and tags them GPOY. He will call guys “sweetie” and “honey” online when they touch a nerve. His tumblr has a cover photo from a 90s anime. His profile pic is himself, potentially a cartoon version he commissioned. The title is some quote from a game. His bio is something like “Nick | lvl:34 | Cincinnati | Charizard | Leo | Taken”. He just reblogs 90s nostalgia bait, food tik toks, vague fandom discourse, gay_irl posts, twunk thirst traps (he has a tag for them), and occasionally he’ll post something about the pasta he made for dinner, or maybe a grainy pic of him out at drinks with his bf. sometimes a drunken vent post about how how shallow the men in his town are or about his very stressful female friend. Got it?

[genderqueerpositivity]

Not to be controversial this morning, but I have to say that seeing this dramatic increase in discourse on my social media feeds because of pride month is hilariously sad.

We are currently seeing a massive surge in transphobia and homophobia.

Republican governors are passing anti-trans bills, literally harming trans people to build support for their party. Trans youth are losing their healthcare and being banned from playing sports. LGBTQ+ teachers in certain states are at risk of losing their jobs. The supreme court stands to dismantle the legal right to medical privacy, abortion, and bodily autonomy literally any day now, with marriage equality likely to follow.

Conservatives in North Carolina are threatening pride organizations for planning to host a drag queen story hour event, while Texas Republicans are seeking to ban such events entirely. Montana has made it almost impossible for trans people to correct their birth certificates and in Florida (already home to a "don't say gay" law) they want to ban Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care for everyone regardless of age. Last month South Carolina banned trans kids from playing on teams that align with their gender identity and everyone has already forgotten about it, while Ohio may soon pass a similar bill that could also force a kid whose gender is questioned to have a pelvic exam in order to continue playing on a girl's sports team.

Do you know what Republicans don't care about? They don't care if "aces are inherently lgbt" and they don't care if "queer is a slur". They don't give a shit about the differences between bisexual and pansexual and they don't give a fuck how many letters belong in the acronym, and they especially don't give a shit about "kink at pride" discourse because they already believe that we are all sinful deviant perverted gr/oom/ers and no amount of engaging in respectability politics will ever convince them otherwise.

LGBT community discourse is so fucking disconnected from reality. Republicans are really trying to make it impossible for us to exist, I'm over here worrying that my state government will pass the bill that will make it legal for medical professionals to refuse to treat me due to their "conscience" because I'm queer and trans, and folks in my Instagram feed are having flag discourse. It's fucking surreal.

[shaunashipman]

lmao you really thought you were doing something posting that bland ass bumfuck ohio kiss asdfghj

please by all means continue, but this is the level of discourse you're gonna be met with

so while you're sitting there seething over something you claim is nothing, i'm gonna continue with my fun

oooh look another angle

[qqueenofhades]

Eye will say on this election night that being a resident of northern virginia and working in dc i have been walking on my knees thru glass during youngkin's tenure and i know i KNOWWWW Blirginia is real and possible but all my neighbors are terminally online posters who dont show up in off years. 2021 was such a lightbulb moment in terms of how useless these people really are. Literally so frustrating seeing NoVa refuse to come out SMH and now we have stupid crt discourse and m4l terror in public schools in loudoun

That's the thing about any Democratic-leaning state, whether solidly blue, swinging blue, or deep purple: if blue voters don't vote, the Republicans win. I have no idea why we have to agonizingly go through this process every two to four years and spend months begging people to exercise the minimum of their civic franchise against fascism..... but.

Anyway, we've had two good harbingers thus far with Beshear's win in Kentucky and abortion rights passing in Ohio, so now all eyes are on Virginia. Obviously it goes blue in presidential elections now, but it won't stay that way, or blue on the state level, if the Terminally Online can't be arsed. Which is the same thing everywhere, so yeah.

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

No way Tim Misny got an actual video ad. I've seen this man on every billboard in the area for miles and miles and your hear to tell me he doesn't say that line with a strong authoritative angry and stern voice?!?!?!

He just says it super casually?! Wtf is wrong with this man?!

[droughtofapathy]

The DroughtofApathy Theatre Awards Nominations:

Best Ensemble Stereophonic Jaja's African Hair Braiding Merrily We Roll Along Illinoise

Best New Song "Evanesce," Days of Wine and Roses (Adam Guettel) "Masquerade," Stereophonic (Will Butler) "East of Eden," Stereophonic (Will Butler)

Bad Accent Eddie Redmayne's Muppet Voice Whatever the fuck Jeremy Jordan was doing Colton Ryan's Muppet Voice from last season, I'm still not over it

Diva Performance of the Year Jennifer Simard, Once Upon a One More Time Jessica Lange, Mother Play Emily Skinner, Suffs

Most Incredible Scene Transition The I Need That home cleanup transition Opening up Jaja's African Hair Braiding shop Mary Jane's apartment set lifting up to reveal the hospital set Doubt revolving set Appropriate house falling into shambles with a tree and everything De-renovating the Broadway Theatre after Here Lies Love flopped

Most Beautiful Woman On Stage Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret Kelli O'Hara, Days of Wine and Roses (bonus points for The Hours) Jessica Lange, Mother Play Anika Noni Rose, Uncle Vanya

Moment So Horrifyingly Bad I Physically Recoiled Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" BEFORE the party Everything Gayle Rankin did on that stage "My name is Ponyboy//I'm the youngest of the three," lyric from The Outsiders The Hell's Kitchen book being allowed on Broadway at all

Most Hated Sound Designer Gareth Owen, The Who's Tommy Jon Weston, The Wiz Gareth Owen, Hell's Kitchen (hey, a doubly-bad showing) Brian Ronan, The Great Gatsby, but specifically those gunshots

Floppiest Flop Show How to Dance in Ohio Lempicka Here Lies Love Grey House Once Upon a One More Time

Weirdest Marketing/Publicity/Social/Design Decision How to Dance in Ohio only emphasizing "AUTISM REP" over everything that might have drawn in any kind of crowd at all.

The Lempicka social media team just straight-up lying with their pull-quotes and then doubling down and getting snide.

Broadway producer Greg Nobile's twitter discourse.

The Cabaret social media brand refusing to acknowledge Bebe Neuwirth exists and is the only thing holding that show together.

Who did the Days of Wine and Roses cast album design and like...why?

Can You Spell Miscast? Eddie Redmayne, Cabaret Gayle Rankin, Cabaret Eden Espinosa, Lempicka Basically all of The Wiz Doubly so for The Great Gatsby

Star-in-the-Making Sarah Pidgeon, Stereophonic The Grey House kids Hannah Cruz, Suffs Amber Iman, Lempicka Anna Zavelson, Encores! The Light in the Piazza (not Broadway, but I said what I said)

Criminally Underutilized Older Character Actress Jayne Houdyshell, Uncle Vanya Emily Skinner, Suffs Andrea Burns, The Notebook Beth Leavel, Lempicka Mia Katigbak, Uncle Vanya Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret

Worst Audience Behavior The couple who stayed on their phones the whole time at The Wiz.

The guy who started screaming and fighting at the top of act two at Hell's Kitchen.

The drunk women at Melissa Etheridge who were singing and flailing the whole show.

Shrieking girls at Bad Gatsby whenever the leading man did anything.

Family in front of me at Heart of Rock and Roll.

Guy behind me at Cabaret crunching wine chips through all of act two.

Iconic Merch Item Rosie the Elephant, Water for Elephants: she's so soft and well-made and perfect and I love her and need her. Great American Bitch clothing, Suffs Mother Hat, Mother Play Tissue box, The Notebook

Moment that Had Me in Tears When *spoiler* off-stage, Jaja is taken in by ICE and her daughter can't find her and may face deportation herself.

Merrily We Roll Along overture.

Mary Jane breakdown over the music therapist.

All of Maryann Plunkett's masterful performance in The Notebook.

Me going home to sob over how they butchered Cabaret.

Kimberly Akimbo final performance, it might've opened last season, but fight me

Reading an article on the opening of the Bad Gatsby where a car hit a pedestrian right next to where all the celebrities were getting their photos taken and no one noticed. (tears of laughter-pedestrian was not hurt badly)

Single Best Costume Emily Skinner's Dorothy Louden coat Jennifer Simard, titties up and out as the Stepmother Sara Gettlefinger's fun jumpsuit and headscarf combo Anika Noni Rose entrance blue gown with the plunging neckline and deep v back Bebe Neuwirth's little pink nightie and phenomenal shawl Kate Baldwin's off-the-shoulder outfits in the regional production of A Little Night Music

Best Playbill Design Stereophonic - 10/10 no notes Suffs - Like the art style Illinoise - I really like the colors and art style Here Lies Love - I like the colors

Worst Playbill Design Cabaret - you should be ashamed of yourself. Not even the title Doubt - I know there was a last-minute replacement, but c'mon Lempicka - whoever did this should be taken out back and shot Spamalot - it's just the same damn design as the original, but brighter and worse

Tony Snub Laurie Metcalf, Grey House Jennifer Simard, Once Upon a One More Time Chip Zien, Harmony Days of Wine and Roses, Best Musical Grey House, Best Scenic Design of a Play

Cars on Broadway The Bad Gatsby cars that actually drive The Lempicka silver car that isn't green and doesn't drive The Illinoise concept car made out of props and actor's bodies The Back to the Future car that files and spins and shit

[amazingabby300]

Random Ohio head-cannons / thoughts

Jessica buys the book Fourth Wing and instantly fell in love. Then buys the second book Iron Flame.

Remy and Tommy cosplay Marvel and Star Wars on their channel. Tommy will do Peter Parker Spider-Man and Remy will dress up as Miles Morales Spider-Man. Drew will dress up as Harry Osborn. Mel will be Spider-Gwen. Jessica dresses up as Mary Jane. Caroline dresses up as Peni Parker. Meredith is Spider-Noir.

Tommy gets into NASCAR and Formula One (European Motorsports) and watches it every Sunday. Decks his room out in Motorsports stuff.

Caroline tries to get the whole Spectrum 7 club to go to the Renaissance Fair and all of them come in different costumes. Jessica would instantly go up to a both selling mini dragons that would rap around her hand. Meredith would fact check every building and if it was from the Renaissance period. Tommy and Jessica found the fake sword both and bought two and had a fake sword fight and Jessica wins. Tommy “fake dies” and Jessica carries him in her arms and will avenge his death. Remy gets face paint down of a butterfly on their face and buys stuff for their cosplay channel. Mel starts quoting Shakespeare stuff. Mel and Remy get an idea for Drew and Meredith to reenact Romeo and Juliet. They get Caroline in there plan as well and she imagines Meredith on Juliet’s balcony and Drew is down below.

Drew - It is my lady, O, it is my love!

O, that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?

Her eye discourses; I will answer it.

I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks.

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,

As daylight doth a lamp. Her eye in heaven

Would, through the airy region, stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand.

O, that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!

Meredith - Me!

Drew - She speaks.

O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,

As is a wingèd messenger of heaven

Unto the white upturnèd wond'ring eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Meredith - O Drew, Drew! Wherefore art thou Drew?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.