Finding and displaying my feminine has been a stepwise process of normalizing this way of being. Normalizing for myself, my family, my friends, my community. As we get used to this way of my presenting, I normalized and become comfortable in my new “two spirit” way of being. Here is today’s look:

Our “We’re NOT Going Back!” flag arrived yesterday…

Flag with words “we’re not going back” and “vote blue.”

I like this way of thinking about myself…

The term “two spirit,” which is a modern term adapted by First Nations peoples in North America, reflects this idea. Serving as a catch-all phrase for the many different ways of recognizing these variations in individual tribal cultures, two-spirit people are recognized as being physically sexed one way while also having aspects of the other sex. In many tribes, such people are seen as having essential spiritual roles in the community precisely because they have feet in both worlds.

(Rhyd Wildermuth, Here Be Monsters)

If you boil the strange soup of contemporary right-wing ideology down to a sort of bouillon cube, you find the idea that things are not connected to other things, that people are not connected to other people, and that they are all better off unconnected. The core values are individual freedom and individual responsibility: yourself for yourself, on your own. Out of this Glorious Disconnect comes all sorts of illogical thinking. (Rebecca Solnit, Call Them by Their True Names)

I have been experimenting with diagraming concepts in an attempt to open portals to deeper understanding of them… here i am trying to diagram capitalism… i am particularly amused by packman eating the cosmos and pooping it out at the bottom… i am trying to do one a day…

A diagram with the words “draw capitalism” at the top, a square toothed line below it, a grid of squares below that, a grid of lines below that, a packman creature eating the cosmos and pooping it out behind.

August 21, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

The message of joy as we protect democracy, backed as that message is with four years of extraordinary accomplishments that have bolstered the middle class and spread opportunity among poorer Americans, has taken off. The convention has heard from three Democratic presidents and a range of other speakers, including a number of Republicans who have turned against Trump and are backing Harris and Walz. In July, Harris raised four times the money Trump did: $204 million to $48 million, much of it from small donors.

Deadpool-Wolverine was abysmal. Wish I could unsee it. Horrible gratuitous violence. Some humorous moments which didn’t come close to redeeming it.

True enough… the trick is to get sufficient numbers to adopt this approach…

The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy. It starts with seeing our opinions of ourselves and of others as simply our take on reality and not making them a reason to increase the negativity on the planet. (Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart)

I have finally moved on to third volume of this book… i think i have been reading it for two years now…

And then there is the third point, that quantity in and of itself changes quality. (Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)

Sitting in movie theater waiting to watch Deadpool-Wolverine… i wasn’t sure i wanted to see a movie advertised as bloody and violent… but then our yoga teacher said she saw it and loved it… i gave in at that point…

Loving justice for themselves and others enables men to break the chokehold of patriarchal masculinity. (bell hooks, All About Love)

When we begin to experience the sacred in our everyday lives we bring to mundane tasks a quality of concentration and engagement that lifts the spirit. We recognize divine spirit everywhere. (bell hooks, All About Love)

August 16, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

I believe in free speech, but telling flat out lies that harm people’s ability to choose knowledgeably ought to have serious consequences…

You could see that demonization of immigrants today in Vance’s straight-up lie that Vice President Kamala Harris “wants to give $25,000 to illegal aliens to buy American homes.” In fact, Harris today called for Congress to expand plans already in place in the Biden administration, and none of those plans call for giving money to undocumented migrants.

August 14, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

On Tuesday the United Auto Workers union filed charges against Trump and Musk with the National Labor Relations Board for threatening and intimidating workers. “When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” said UAW president Shawn Fain.

August 14, 2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Trump continues to insist that Biden’s replacement at the top of the Democratic ticket was a “coup,” partly because he wants to face off against Biden, rather than Harris. But he also is priming his supporters to believe that those Americans who want the government to work for them rather than the very wealthy are illegitimate.

There is among many of the public, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb points out, ‘a religious belief in the unconditional power of organised science, one that has replaced unconditional religious belief in organised religion …We have managed to transfer religious belief into gullibility for whatever can masquerade as science.’ (Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)

The heart of justice is truth telling, seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be. (bell hooks, All About Love)

From this morning…

Arched entry to old bank building. Vintage black and white filter applied.

American Spirit cigarette pack on asphalt pavement. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Driftwood sculpture of a moose. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Quinn’s Restaurant sign and storefront. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Female mannequin with shorts and short sleeve top in shop window. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Shirts hanging in shop window. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Refrigerated drinks case in shop. Vintage black and white filter applied.

From today…

Utility pole, wires, buildings. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Top of the entry corner of a new brick building with clear sky beyond. Nostalgic black and white filter.

Chrome rear view mirror closeup. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Vine growing across wires from mid right edge of frame to 3/4 left edge of frame. Nostalgic black and white filter.

Empty Marlboro cigarette pack on asphalt.

Toy rabbit and tree on floor boards painted white. Board joints run from upper left to lower right.

… why should we be surprised about the Trumps and Musks and Thiels or our world?… of the Putins for that matter… until there is a sea change in cultural attitude away from capitalism and patriarchy, it will be this way…

The very concept of “being a man” and a “real man” has always implied that when necessary men can take action that breaks the rules, that is above the law. Patriarchy tells us daily through movies, television, and magazines that men of power can do whatever they want, that it’s this freedom that makes them men. (bell hooks, All About Love)

A culture that is dead to love can only be resurrected by spiritual awakening. (bell hooks, All About Love)

From today…

Streetscape with black umbrella dominating the lower right corner and a row of three story buildings on the left receding into the distance. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Weed vines covering a brick wall. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Mannequin in shop window with outdoorsy hat, button up shirt and t-shirt. T-shirt says Beacon and has a graphic of mountains above the word Beacon. Vintage lamp in foreground lower light, vintage mirror and frame in background. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Aloe plant in shop window. Closeup. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Mannequin bust hanging in the midst of reflected tree branches and leaves in a shop window. Bust has a leopard print blouse. Vintage black and white filter applied.

From yesterday…

Steel metal storage cabinet on wheels in the corner of a room with white walls and tiled floor. Vintage black and white filter applied.

White plastic construction barrier with construction fencing visible behind. Arranged artistically in a vertically oriented rectangular frame. The overall effect with light and shadows is an abstract composition. Vintage black and white filter applied.

Slice of pizza on a paper plate on a table with checkered floor visible in distance in upper right corner. Vintage black and white filter applied.

… tomorrow i am looking forward to ordering my new MacBook Pro Max… i expect it to solve the worlds political problems… cure cancer… stop climate change… you know, it’s gonna be a God machine!… all right, all right, i will accept blazing fast at doing what i want it to do…

Self portrait…

Head shot portrait of androgynous person in nostalgic black and white. Person is wearing black headband, black shirt dress and thick rimmed tinted crystal framed glasses.