The internet is a place where you can get all the information and all the perspectives that the world holds. That’s a good thing (mostly). But without relationship, it’s just words. No matter how passionately someone speaks, no matter how many followers they have, no matter how quickly the ideas take hold – without relational context, it’s just words. You don’t know how the stuff they’re advocating works in real life. You don’t have a feel for how anyone *but the speaker* responds to their plan of action. You don’t have any longitudinal data. Just a tiny window, showing you a carefully curated picture.
Becoming Indigenous
How could we become indigenous? I don’t mean that we can, or should, replace the indigenous people who are already living here.
I’d want to build in abundance. I’d want to steward the land so it could feed many people, and wouldn’t take back-breaking labor to maintain the food. Not everyone will farm or make baskets, we’re going to want doctors and engineers and fire-fighters. I wouldn’t want to make my homestead perfect at the cost of my neighbor’s – because in five generations, we’ll likely have some g’g’g’kids in common.
Torchbearer
Torchbearer. Light is your calling, fire your weapon.
Torchbearer. You walk in front, showing the way. In the darkness, you shine like a star. Your fire burns away fog, leaving clarity in its wake.
Dune 2 Review – Women’s Roles
Chani – and the actress who played her – were done *wrong*. Fremen weren’t equal. They were survivors. And survivors in desperation don’t have time for androgyny. Men are needed to do man things, and women are needed to do women things. Those things are equally important, equally needed. The women in Dune weren’t weaklings. They weren’t soft. They weren’t lazy. They weren’t one-dimensional. Androgyny isn’t feminist. Repeat after me, please. The women of the Fremen had power. Influence. My head hurts.
Women’s Work vs. Deep Work
In all but the most modern of times, men and women have had very different work. There is, and was, a varying degree of overlap. “Women’s work” is something that the group could rely on being done while child care happened. But what makes up “women’s work” is what will always get done while the…
Wardrobe Foundations
Wardrobe Foundations means the building blocks of your wardrobe. These items are likely to be boring and/or invisible and some of your more expensive items.
Bra: Buy one that fits. Be fit, quite probably. Skin tone and smooth. If you haven’t replaced your bras in a year, this may be what’s meh-ing up your wardrobe. Bras stretch, and they have a short life-span. You will be hand-washing this bra and air-drying it in order to have it last for you as long as possible.
Shoes: Buy a pair of shoes that are fit-for-purpose (comfortable enough to do life without thinking about your feet) in your base dark color. This is likely to be your largest foundational investment.
Bottoms: Buy a pair of pants or a skirt in a basic color for you, in a fairly durable fabric.
Why You Don’t Know How to Plan Your Wardrobe
Why don’t you know how to plan your wardrobe? Because you’ve never been taught. And not only have you never been taught how to plan a wardrobe, you haven’t been taught any of the sub-skills you’d need to get there. Since you can’t plan your wardrobe, you can’t budget your clothing expenses. Since you can’t plan your wardrobe, you’re at the mercy of snap decisions. Since you haven’t planned your wardrobe, you spend money on clothes that don’t fit in with your lifestyle or goals. Your lack of skill in this area makes you a great consumer – from the vendor’s point of view.
The Marginalization of Productivity
The marginalization of productivity is a feature of our modern world. It keeps us good consumers, because we can’t make the things we use on a day-to-day basis. If we can make them, making them is seen as low-status, and/or the things we make are seen as low-worth. ”Bought” things are better. At least, that’s how it’s been. We are seeing a turn-around as, to cut prices, the “bought” things are being made so cheaply that their quality has dropped below middling-well-made home items. How did we get here?
Daydreaming of a New Life
Why would you want to leave your home? I was born here, raised here, I married here, raised a family here, my parents are here. I know the pathways and the taste of the wind after a good rain.
A change of location would mean that I would have to build new community networks. It would mean learning the land, the people, the weather, and their ways. In daydreams, everything goes perfectly. In reality, there is no such thing as a ‘perfect place’.
Daydreams vs. reality – there will always be a tug-of-war.
Main Character Energy
But what if we stepped up and decided to embrace that main character energy? If we slapped on our tiaras and got on with the business of being beautiful, got on with the business of being kind, got on with the business of doing the -whateverthings- we know we have been called to do in this world, if we got on with the business of creating change. Our main character energy might move mountains, if we showed up.