thehi8usza

[thehi8usza]

I am currently reading about the history of The Naming of Johannesburg. The book, written by Niel Hirschson, is a commentary of the historical happenings which can be attributed to the naming of the city. Especially the concealed and truer meaning of its naming.

But more than that, I’ve been trying to read more. Or just read, in general, because I’ve been trying to use social media less (a battle I am having a hard time winning).

While my reading is fluent, and my pronunciation is close to flawless, I often find myself reading and not actually understanding the content. It reminds me of when I had to cite journal articles for my academic papers. Trying to grasp the meaning of what the scholars are getting at with their big English and verbosity.

So I ask, is it possible to immediately understand the author’s intent when reading a sentence, paragraphs and chapters in one go? Or is common to go through the pages more than once to extrapolate the author’s intention?

[thehi8usza]

Why is history taught in a linear way?

I’ve been seeing this discussion all over my TikTok feed about how history is taught in a certain way to push a certain narrative. Rhetoric, if you will.

So I’m currently trying to learn more about architecture. The history, to help me understand what is being signified when one alludes to a building as Mid-Century modern.

In that spiral, I’ve learnt that the Cradle of Civilisation is Mesopotamia. And obviously, as I always wonder. What is civilisation? Who decides what civilisation is?

So let me define and unpack the idea of civilisation (in western thought). Civilisation according to the Oxford Dictionary is “the stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced”.

These advancements are determined most specifically by scholarly advancement. Through cultural, scientific, technological, economic growth or development.

But there is also a set criteria on how scholarship is classified as such. For the West, it is through epistemologies and certificates to show that one has indeed gone through the rigorous and systematic process of schooling.

So for the global south cultures, where learning does not follow the same set of principles. Or as a matter of fact, has been deprived of the ability to develop and immortalise their epistemologies in writing. The knowledge systems and architecture are not regarded as examples of great civilisation.

And to link this back to architecture. Our cyclical structures, and sustainable material such as mud and thatch are seen as primitive. Which then effectively excludes us from being seen as civilised.

Any way, that’s all I have to ramble about today.

[thehi8usza]

🥺

[thehi8usza]

Ep 3: Learning to Love the Black Body

You are allowed to be more than one thing in life. The same way you are able to exist in multiple forms in the lives of others, you are allowed to become all that you’ve ever dreamed of.

Stop measuring success and talent by how much you can make from it, rather by how much you can learn, inspire and grow from it.

To me success is being able to embrace my talents and inspire other people. How about you? 🎤

[thehi8usza]

Ep 2: Learning to Love the Black Body

Even though we may not want to believe it, but as people we form our identities based on how others perceive us. This applies to family, friendship and even romantic relationships. The whole world has been subjected to Eurocentric ideas which we all have and still internalise. These consciously and unconsciously affect how we relate to other people. Understanding your black body and how it allows you to manoeuvre in society is an important step towards gaining self love. Please don’t mistake this idea as being the path of complacency to the status quo, because it should always be challenged. But love your body and remember not to internalise a criteria set by people who do not even meet “the standard” (Thehi8us, 2022).

[thehi8usza]

There is such great emphasis on history because it shapes the present.

We regard the past so much because so much of what happened then, manifests presently in such different form.

Poverty and greed has existed since the dawn of time.

Capitalism then, unnamed, existed as asset acquisition, whether through cattle or surplus farming with the intention of commercialisation.

Increased individualism is ending community. And that’s one conversation we need to have more often (Thehi8us, 2022).

[thehi8usza]

If it looks like FREEDOM. And feels like FREEDOM. Then it must be Freedom, right?

Wrong ! The decline in social activism breaks my heart.

We’re meant to work towards a better society that caters to all. For a gini coefficient that resembles freedom and equality of and for the people.

Yet, that is not the case. The Bantustans are still deteriorating and everyone can’t wait to make it out of “the hood”. And nobody can even fix “the hood”.

[thehi8usza]

The hardest part about societal discourse has to be the need to pick a side. The battle lines are always drawn and anyone who doesn't not fall into any one of the two sides is usually outcast and deemed as weak because they don't have a solid opinion. However, thehi.8us is not that kind of space.

Here we realise the existence of the grey areas. This is a space that acknowledges difference and does not ostracise it. Discourse is not as simplistic as it is made out to be. Things are not only black and white because there will always be a grey area. And that is what THE HIGH ATE US stands for.

[thehi8usza]

For anyone interested in social justice issues, please learn about youth rights/youth liberation. The subjugation of children and young adults isn’t called out enough in mainstream circles! The justifications used to deny young people rights are similar to ones that targeted BIPOC, women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, and people with mental illnesses.

[thehi8usza]

i know we're not an united ideological movement in any way, but i do wish trans people and trans allies had well-known guides for deradicalizing terfs.

terfs, like most cults, are pragmatic - they'll take whoever they can get. but many of us on the left, be we lgbt+ or allies, are steeped in irredeemability politics. we don't reform bigots, we exclude them.

and understandably so! but that also means the closest we get to actually bringing someone back from the brink is to just be hostile and tell them to fuck off. i get it, because we're all dealing with our own trauma and these people are obviously partially responsible. but i do think there's a way to deradicalize people.

terfs know people can change, that's how they recruit. we have to believe people can change the other way too... otherwise, we're dealing with an exponential number of terfs and terf-adjacent people who can seemingly only be radicalized in one direction. and that's not a good numbers game.

so uh. yeah. if there was like an organized effort to create a "general guide" to deradicalize terfs, that'd be cool. and it can take many forms - literature and other texts which debunk their talking points, creating welcoming communities for previously isolated and lovebombed individuals, feminist circles which emphasize the harmony and interdependence of trans and feminist movements to destroy patriarchy and gendered expectations, or whatever else.

its a cliche to say at this point, but i think its still true - if we want to "win", i think we need to work harder than to just say "its not my job to educate you." if someone is in a gray area, or have yikes or outright offensive questions, we need to do something other than just tell them to fuck off. it doesn't have to be you, but it has to be someone.

i say all of this because i'm trans and i'm scared. terfs are "rising" in politics. they are cited in transphobic legislation. they are able to stop good legislation. i want to deradicalize terfs not because i want you to personally forgive the people who hurt you, but because i want us to work together to protect trans people in society.

[thehi8usza]

How is making friends in your older years hard, and simultaneously something we're all looking for ?

[thehi8usza]

“Distance doesn’t separate people. Silence does.”

— Jeff Hood