Schizo

I had a strange sort of epiphany today. I decided to go public with my blog by posting it on my facebook. I also decided to finally change my profile picture to something that more closely reflects my identity (whatever that means, see my previous post "Identity"), as opposed to that picture of the Columbia Basin gorge. And I engaged in a pretty interesting blog-off with Kaseido/John.

When I first set up this blog, I didn't know what it would be about. Still don't, really. But I knew I didn't want to be constructed as female. I loved the idea of being able to be anyone or anything on the internet. But that's not what happened. My blog wandered, directionless, and my online identity floundered, essentially meaningless and context-less. I couldn't escape being me.

A Voice in the Wind

I just saw yet another article on Engadget about how Android sales are overtaking the iPhone (and other smartphone OS). I rarely actually read these any more because I am so tired of the media (yes, I'm referring to Engadget and its tech-blog cronies as media) constructing this Apple vs Android war.

Identity

Last week I started a D&D game with some fellow grad students. Three of them I know and have socialized with before. Two, including the DM, I had never met in person. I was approached by the DM about what type of character I'd like to play. I'm fairly new to D&D, only ever having played a few times with the older version in 2003/4, so I had a vague idea of who I wanted to be. Negotiating that sort of vague and nebulous identity with the DM via facebook prior to the game, while being simultaneously aware that I would be meeting him in person and having to relate with him on that level was really interesting to think about rhetorically, after I stopped panicking about it.

Compromise

Compromise is a part of every relationship. Usually I think when people imagine compromise, they imagine some magical solution that everyone is 100% happy with. But that's not what compromise is. It's more likely that at least one of the parties will be distinctly unhappy with a portion of the compromise.

People don't like to hear that. In politics, voters don't appear to understand compromise. They see that their politician has betrayed them and their interests. And unfortunately, this is where compromise would be really helpful. Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity (link here, embedding messed up my formatting) is based on the idea that 70-85% of the population could live with the compromises that politicians could probably come up with, but they are too busy having "shit to do" that they are not as vocal as the other 15-30%, thus, compromise never happens. I really hope that's the truth.

Females: how dangerous is the knowledge we give them?

From an opinion piece in the Denver Post:
Beauty meets brute force: Are tough screen heroines empowering, or do they send a dangerous message?



yuck. yuck. yuck yuck yuck.