#Culture Strategy

[billherbert23]

The Dundee Patchwork Poem, OR, A Real Frankenstitcher

The editors were approached by Claire Dow, the Culture Strategy Lead Officer for Leisure and Culture Dundee, to assemble a Patchwork Poem for Dundee’s latest strategy. We put out a call tae the citizenry, whether concerned or blithe, including the folks who had contributit tae the Dundee Renga ower the years. This was because the principles of assembly of a ‘patchwork poem’ are in some respects…

[khruschevshoe]

You know, it's rather interesting to me that Taylor Swift's parasocial relationship with her fans is honestly more akin to a YouTuber than a writer's. When I scroll through her tag on tumblr/Twitter, it's far more regarding the connection to her personal life/relationship developments than the actual metaphors/fictional story she might be telling. Everything comes back to how her songs reflect back on her relationships with Joe/Matty/Travis/Jake/insert ex-boyfriend here. And what fascinates me about it is that even though she complains about it, she leans into that very perception because it strengthens the parasocial bond.

The marketing for TTPD so clearly being about Joe Alwyn and the songs to Matty Healy. The marketing/video for Red TV so CLEARLY being about Jake Gyllenhaal, with so many of the new lines in All Too Well specifically being digs at him (I'll get older but your lovers stay my age, casting an actor that looks like him for the video, specific lines in I Bet You Think About Me). The fact that songs like Getaway Car and Bejeweled and Gorgeous and London Boy and Lavender Haze being picked apart at time of release and long after for signs of relationships crumbling. The way she uses surprise songs in relation to her relationship development with Joe/Matty/Travis. The damn TTPD "stages of grief" playlists where she deliberately undid/changed the meanings of old songs just to keep her audience speculating on her love life.

It's not sexist to point out that her wielding her love life is a marketing tool and that the strongest connection to her audience isn't the strength of her writing/the composition of her music- it's her deliberate crafting of a connection between her music and her personal life, leaving the audience invested in her music as an extension of Taylor the Person/Girlfriend rather than Taylor the Artist.

[alwaysbewoke]

x

[yeoldenews]

A mother's word for word transcription of the imaginary phone call her four-year-old made to Santa Claus in 1911.

(source: The Harbor Beach Times, December 22, 1911.)

Through some outrageous case of serendipity I found a recording of another phone call this same child made 60 years later. Though I have to say his choice of conversational partner is a definite downgrade from the first call.

[frenchie-fallen-angel]

French leftists are making edits and Fancams of French left politician to increase our chance to beat the far-right next month.

You might see it as stupid or funny, but this is actually a very smart strategy. We know a part of the people who voted for far-right this weekend don't care about politics and just voted for the guy because he has an active tiktok account.

So if people want to be dumb let's play at their level.

[wafflesrisa]

Oh wait is it a toxic family when the father refuses to take accountability and instead blames the kids for his mistakes? And as a result the kids are unwillingly shoehorned into roles where one is the golden perfectionistic never allowed to criticise the family child, and the other is the black sheep difficult selfish disobedient child?

And the golden child is about to explode because he’s never allowed to have his own opinions and so when he feels real frustration at his father, he can’t land the blame there and so he’s conditioned to blame his sibling instead?

And the black sheep child just takes the criticism and the blame and learns to become overly defensive, because he’s learned no one will watch his back but himself, not even his sibling?

Oh wait it’s not a toxic family.

It’s Scuderia Ferrari

[thepersonalwords]

Who are we, and how do we relate this idea in a way that’s meaningful to our customers and the values they hold dear?In other words, one must define something meaningful. To do that, one must identify to whom this must be meaningful.

David Brier

[fvckw4d]

The concept of queerbaiting annoys me. I was told that it refers to a work of fiction pretending to cater to a queer audience but then pulling back from it to avoid alienating homophobes, which is an incredibly specific thing. But a lot of people seem to think that it instead means "any time there's any gay subtex, metaphor, or ambiguity" or "whenever something from 1995-2012 was being a normal amount of homophobic for the era."

[stumbling-towards-the-light]

Free Folk & Their Adaptive Strategy

Adaptive strategy was a term first coined in 1974 by anthropologist Yehudi Cohen to describe a society's means of economic production. Cohen also further postulated that certain means of economic production adopted by a society also led said society to adopt certain social features, by which I mean shared political organization, and similar ways of choosing leadership, if they had any.

Now, in most anthropological circles, it's generally agreed there are five adaptive strategies to be linked to five types of political organization. This is a general pattern across a majority of human societies, but not a written-in-stone rule; some societies do not land in these neat, categorized boxes. However, this is a fictional culture, so for the sake of mine and the dear reader's sanity, we are going to assume the Free Folk fall into these categories.

It is largely implied that the Free Folk's main adaptive strategy is foraging, employing “traditional” hunter-gatherer means of survival. Now we see some Free Folk use pastoralist means of survival, with mentions of sheepfolds and pigstys found in various Free Folk villages, as well as a mention of a reindeer herding, however, baseline the Free Folk are foragers. Usually, in forager societies, the main type of political organization are bands, relatively small groups of people all tied together by some form of kinship. This seems to be supported in the text itself, where Jon refers to Rattleshirts’ group as a “band” several times.

This type of society does not lend itself well to permanent homes, usually moving seasonally in accordance with where herds of wild animals have moved. The idea of private property is virtually nonexistent. However, there are reports of forager societies all coming together in one place, usually when there is a surplus of food. This occasion is usually treated like a holiday, with lots of celebrating, dancing, singing, and trading being done.

Leadership: Fascinatingly enough, forager leadership structure is usually based around who can give the most, rather than who is the strongest or the toughest. This is due to the tendency of forager societies to develop social mores involving hospitality and shared social responsibility. 

Social Values: We already know the Free Folk hold proper hospitality to be absolutely sacred, with even Crastor, the worst of the worst, following it like gospel. (He is not the one to break hospitality during the Night’s Watch coup, after all.) The shared social responsibility part is simply an expansion of this core idea. If you can’t even take care of your own, why should your hospitality, your word be trusted? Societies like this one, also will ostracize any hoarders who take more than they need. We see this pattern with Crastor, with every other Free Folk we meet despising him. Granted, this is probably due to his practice of marrying his daughters, but he is also the only Free Folk to have a designated “keep”, where his family lives, with it’s own pigsty and sheepfold. Every other pigsty and/or sheepfold we see north of the Wall, appears to be shared. Some of that disgust could also be due to his hoarding tendencies.  

Gender Roles: White there is the traditional idea of men doing the hunting and fishing and women doing the majority of the foraging, these roles are not set in stone by any means. Again, this is supported by the text, where both men and women are raiders and accepted leaders of their groups. This is even supported in the Free Folks’ concept of marriage, which doesn’t seem to be set in stone. They do have a concept of one man and one woman being tied together, but it doesn;t seem that the two are bound by marriage; there is no expectation of fidelity for either party, or at least there are no social consequences for sleeping with someone who isn’t your spouse. This kind of openness is usually found in societies that give their women a lot more freedom.

Religion: Due to their heavy reliance on the land, almost all foraging societies are animistic, worshiping the spirits found in and around nature, rather than a specific, titled entity. Again seen in the Free Folk, who worship the Old Gods, nameless spirits inhabiting the world around them. 

Inheritance Customs: As there is no concept of private property, there is no concept of someone inheriting that private property. Further support the Free Folks’ lax gender roles. When there is nothing to inherit, why should there be a huge fuss over whose child is whose child? Why should a husband need to control who his wife sleeps with, when he has nothing to pass down? 

Descent Customs: Forager societies are often bilineal, children are considered to be descended from both parents and thus kin to both parents’ extended families. This is a way to ensure that there will always be someone to rely on in hard times. I see no reason why the Free Folk would not adopt a similar strategy. 

This is just some of the things, affected by the Free Folks’ larger adaptive strategy, there are probably a hundred more different ways this idea could be expressed. But anyway, let me know what you think!

[mactiir]

I am tired of being in the DSM-V, please put me in another book. am i irritable, hyperactive and and forgetful because i have adhd or because i am a werewolf on my lunar week. is it the depression or my ancestral curse coming to bear. Is it anxiety or am I haunted by the ghosts of the city around me. let's keep some whimsy in the world plz and not make literally everything about how we're incorrect in some way.

[willowways]

While it’s important to not let the ( suspected; not yet convicted) shooters politics overshadow what he did it’s weird how many people believe that the revolution will begin with people of color and other minorities “getting over themselves” and keeping their mouths shut about his views altogether

[laestoica]

By: Kody Lukens

I recommend using a weekly pill box, that solved my problem.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.

- Albert Einstein

[dykeofmisfortune]

girlpower slayqueen #girlboss era hilary clinton -> femininomenon brat era kamala harris. welcome back 2010s capitalist feminism

[narcissisticpdcultureis]

NPD culture is people assuming you're inherently manipulative by virtue of being a narcissist, despite having become significantly less so upon entering adulthood and gaining maturity/better coping mechanisms.

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[an-anodyne-constellation]

you might think the hardest thing about being plural is the memory loss and dissociation or maybe the general instability or perhaps even the extreme difficulty relating to other people. really the hardest part is that today Maya wanted to write poetry and Sarah wanted to air-drum to The Mountain Goats' Lovecraft in Brooklyn for 3 hours straight and Aio wanted to beat a twink until he stops moving and Sarah wanted to organize our google calendar but we only have one body which also needs to spend lots of time doing things like "eating" and "sleeping" and "exercising"