#intergenerational dance

[sarahbushdance]

Rainy Day Reflections… 2022 Year-In-Review

Sarah takes flight, jumping off a boulder into the blue skyon Native Land of the Ute Indians Dear SBDP friends, family and community, Allow me to share with you my JOY and GRATITUDE — 2022 saw a return to the studio for SBDP! We got to dance in-person again! Lifting each other up in rehearsals, performances, workshops and residencies was life-affirming! We were greeted with the most loving…

[sillybillybillysilly]

singing along to a song from when your parents were young and seeing their eyes light up and ask "you know that song?" with surprise and joy is so beautiful to me. The intergenerational connection I feel is just AAAH <3 even though it's a small thing. I love small joys of human bonding, especially different generations because it's often unexpected!

[bivht]

Astrology Observations

tw: ED

A lot of people in my life with chiron-saturn hard aspects have one parent emotionally (or physically) absent and the other emotionally manipulative. Also common is intergenerational trauma/childhood trauma. This individual has difficulties relying on people for support. It sucks bc it’s quite a common aspect. I’d estimate roughly 25% of my class has this

Chiron-saturn hard aspects also make me think of someone with a wounded sense of restriction and discipline. In extreme cases it can lead to mental health conditions like eating disorders I.e. Karen carpenter with Saturn square Chiron. Eugenia cooney with Saturn opposite Chiron. Tbh this is more of an assumption, both individuals have mars square Saturn which could also be a factor

mars square Saturn is where the ability to feel motivated, take action, and progress is restricted by Saturn. And the square aspect makes it sooo difficult to overcome, it’s locked in place like a safe. Their sense of discipline is also kinda f’ed up. Potential to be self-punishers.

pisces moon with hard aspects to pluto can have emotionally manipulative mother in which the child believes their mother is their best friend but it’s really just an unstable relationship with lack of any emotional boundaries :/

moon-pluto/moon-saturn hard aspects is having at least one traumatic event relating to their mother by age 16

Venus-Chiron/chiron in the 7h can have a fear of people leaving them for someone better

Melpomene (18) conjunct pluto is so frickin’ powerful when they delve into tragic art such as sad songs/dance/writing. Melpomene is the muse of tragedy. Even if it’s a really happy or cute person, they’ll catch you off guard with their suitability in tragic roles

This is obvious but fatme (866) can have weight struggles

pisces moon is asking your mum for privacy and she says “I’m your MOTHER, I’ve seen you naked since you were a baby!”

virgo mercury is the definition of “oh no… anyway”

[waitmyturtles]

Love In The Big City: An Homage to the Best Queer Show I Watched This Year*

(*that actually aired this year, because I watch a lot of old shows.)

(TW: suicide attempt)

The time I spent reading the novel and watching the television drama series of Love In The Big City by Park Sang-Young was some of the very best time I invested in art this year.

(credit: @/khunkinn)

I wanted to try to keep up with the amazing LITBC Book Club (click the tag below to see all the club's meta!) earlier this year, but I couldn't on my mom schedule. So here's a wrap-up homage to my overall thoughts about this amazing book and its equally amazing drama adaptation, and hopefully I won't repeat anyone's points from earlier meta.

Earlier this fall season, as the drama was just released, I noted my overall thoughts on Park Sang-Young's 2021 novel. What's so great about the moment in time when a book and its drama adaptation meet the same levels of excellence in art, is that you get to see what each artistic medium can really offer by way of its specific ability to penetrate and dissect certain emotional states. With the drama adaptation, we got a more in-depth sense of the visual and behavioral whimsy of Go Young's T-aras friend group. We got a living, breathing sense of the simultaneous quiet and frantic pulse of the Seoul that Young occupied. We could almost taste and smell the sweat, the tequila, the apple martinis of the nightclubs that Young danced in at all hours.

I happened to love the novel, as I wrote in my previous piece linked above, because I love to cringe at really well-written, pathetic narrators. Like Proust's narrator, like Karl Ove Knausgard in his hefty autobiographical series, "My Struggle," you can read the internal musings of these narrators, and you squirm and cringe, being all like.... "really, bro? I know I have trouble getting it together -- emotionally, physically, sexually, everything -- but, dude, YOU are taking the CAKE."

The reason for the squirm is because excellently-written narrators like Proust's narrator, like Knausgard himself (okay, we can argue about "excellently written," but that's for another piece), are emotional pathologists, dissecting every minute whim of a feeling into words, cutting words that account for every last iota of mental anguish that these narrators feel at every given moment.

It's a brutal accountability test for us readers to weather. And, of course, as the very best art does -- it forces us, the readers, to face our own recognition of the kinds of emotions these narrators are detailing, and asks us to relate to them, vis à vis how we ourselves understand these emotions. Thus, a resulting squirm and cringe, as we reckon with our own emotional accountability in that very moment.

I had so many of these wonderful moments when I was reading the novel version of Love In The Big City. Go Young was so cringe. So pathetic.

(credit: @/my-rose-tinted-glasses)

And while the novel delved brutally into the reasons WHY Go Young was so pathetic and cringe, I enjoyed the drama's ability to sensually and holistically take me into that WHY place as well.

For me, Go Young's journey into the adulthood he ends up in begins with the intergenerational trauma and the avoidant attachment he must have with his mother. I say "must" because he's all she's got, and Go Young, to his misfortune, knows this, and must deal with it, and with her.

This is despite her utterly rejecting his identity, his sexuality, and forcing him at a young age to face conversion therapy in as abusive a situation as possible, literally being kidnapped into the therapy. We know from the novel that his therapists end up realizing that his sexuality is not his "issue," and that the "issue" is his actually deranged, Christian-devoted mother.

The drama doesn't get into that level of details. I will absolutely estimate that it COULDN'T get into that level of detail due to potential censorship, and the portrayed meaning of such a comparison as to show a devout Christian mother as a neglectful, bigoted mother.

But what the drama showed me, in real time, were the spontaneous movements and moments that punctuated Young's life, that were totally derived from the low self-esteem, the lack of internal love and respect he had for himself for most of the series. The emptiness, the lack of BELIEF that he had in himself, that stemmed from the refusal of his mother to accept him lovingly and holistically. I'd recommend LITBC to any potential parent as a guide on how to NOT parent your kid.

As someone trained in the social services, and as a steadfast lover of intergenerational trauma in shows -- and how dramas demonstrate the long-term impact of intergeneration trauma unto their characters -- Love In The Big City is utterly SUPERLATIVE in this category.

And this kind of neglect that young queer people so very often face in their families NEEDS to be depicted in art, so that we can see the risks of what these young people could, and will, grow up to be, without nurturing love in their life.

So. Man. Go Young goes fucking ham on fucking hipster doofus Yeong Su in a restaurant. Yeong Su, who himself deals with a kind of internalized homophobia that results in him producing bigoted "research" on homosexuality. And Go Young, unconsciously hoping that he could find love with a most unlovable man, subsequently attempts suicide.

Go Young breaks up with Gyu Ho minutes before Gyu Ho is to depart to China. I saw that moment as Go Young "releasing" Gyu Ho from the burden that Go Young assumes himself to be -- emotional baggage, Kylie, and all.

Go Young cavorts with Habibi, a man escaping just about everything by way of luxury hotels and unfulfilling work. After his real relationship with Gyu Ho, Go Young follows Habibi on Habibi's orders, having little to no agency in the coupling until the absolute end, as he leaves Habibi with a note. Habibi, who himself is also a subject of clear internalized homophobia, another example of the absolute wrath that social bigotry can lay waste on a queer individual.

Love In The Big City balanced these brutal moments of internalized trauma, bigotry, and homophobia with LIFE as it could be lived: life spent working, writing, drinking, partying, sucking dick and moving mattresses, catching up with old friends, supporting engagements, comforting friends after break-ups, BEING PRESENT for yourself and your family and your friends.

There was a shift of growth and responsibility in Go Young's life when his cancer-addled mother sank her head down on his lap in the sunlight of a park at the end of the second chapter of the drama. But what was so OUTSTANDING about the drama version of Love In The Big City, is that the drama didn't assume that that shift would be a great dramatic moment. Go Young certainly got into a relationship with Gyu Ho afterwards.... but he damn fucked it up at the end.

AND IT WAS OKAY. Even though we viewers were fucking heartbroken, IT WAS OKAY....

... because I believe Love In The Big City was communicating to us that it's perfectly okay to stumble in one's continued growth, in the movement forward of one's life. Go Young gets a new apartment, new light in his windows and his life, and celebrates the move (and the end of Eun Su's engagement) on his rooftop with his besties.

The novel ends a bit more brutally than the drama. In the drama, we do very much get to see Go Young doing a moving-forward thing. I was screaming and pacing at @lurkingshan when I finished the novel, and I felt slightly more uplifted when I watched the drama.

I love that I felt those two ways about my experience with each medium. Again, it shows what I GOT from the experience of reading and watching this story separately. And the drama very much played up the T-aras group more for kicks and lights (especially in the hospital), but I still got such a brutal sense of Go Young's internal mishegoss, that maybe I needed those gworls, too, the way Go Young always did.

The other best queer show that I watched this year did not actually air this year. That one is 2022's The Miracle of Teddy Bear from Thailand, which I will review soon for my Thai QL Old GMMTV Challenge project. The Miracle of Teddy Bear was rooted in anger and accountability against parents, adults, and society, for the wreckage that bigotry and abuse can render, internally and externally, on the bodies and minds of young queer people. It was an utterly exacting exercise in a brutal breakdown of queer pain.

Love In The Big City, in comparison, was a visual meditation on the mundanity of an individual's life -- depicting all the cringe and the pain associated with it -- vis à vis broken and incomplete love from family and lovers. But Love In The Big City also had LIFE, LIFE LIVED, woven through it all. Go Young kept clubbing with his friends, because he needed it, because he needed his friends, because his FRIENDS needed the club, and because his friends needed HIM.

While I felt a broken heart for his relationship with Gyu Ho at the end of the drama, what I had for Go Young was hope -- a hope that, while I knew the man, in fiction, would still experience hurt while moving forward, would still very much move forward nonetheless, on his own accord.

(credit: @/khunkinn)

(tagging @neuroticbookworm for awareness <3)

[carharttlesbian]

What is RISE?

Reigniting Intergenerational Sisterhood Everywhere

Are you interested in building intergenerational lesbian community? Are you a feminist seeking to make change? Do you want to spend a week in the woods with sisters from all walks of life? Join us at RISE.

What does sisterhood mean to you? The gathering is designed around community dialogue and learning from each other: we differ in age, race, class, ability, life experience, and opinions. Workshops will include topics in intergenerational lesbian community-building, organizing for change, intersectional feminism, and preserving lesbian cultural heritage. We aim to build trust through open sharing and respectful listening in this focused, intimate setting. Aside from the core programming, RISE offers the chance to bond in person with other women during concerts, dances, movies, coffeehouse open mics, skill-shares and swaps. We each bring our energy and gifts to the Land and leave with new friends, skills and ideas. We are participant-driven. If you want to see something happen here, create it!

WPI-RISE

RISE is sharing our week on the Land with WPI music camp for women and girls. All performances and RISE workshops will be open to everyone attending either festival; if you want to attend WPI music classes, you'll need a WPI ticket.

Tickets

Getting your ticket is a 2-step process. First, registerat tinyurl.com/RISE24reg— once you're registered, you'll receive an email from RISEontheLand2020s@gmail.com with the link to purchase your ticket at Goldenrod. The standard rate is $325: sliding scale options & payment plans available (just ask).

Volunteer Opportunities

We have several opportunities for organized women to help with various aspects of RISE. In particular, we're currently looking for sisters to MC a coffeehouse open mic, to help make & serve beverages in our festival coffee shop, and for one more on-call conflict mediator. Email RISEontheLand2020s@gmail.com with your interest & experience. We are also still soliciting workshop & discussion leaders. What topic would you like to bring to RISE? Sign up to lead a workshop or discussion here: tinyurl.com/RISE24workshop

[greenhappyseed]

Do you think Enji and Toya's fate is fitting, specifically Enji's ending as a disgraced crippled hero who will forever be known through his association with Dabi?

How bad of notoriety and threat did Dabi build himself up to be?

How much of a threat was he considered after Dabi's dance?

Sorry, still coping with the Todofam ending

Is Enji and Toya’s fate fitting for them? I think so, but I confess I didn’t come into the Todofam ending with a preconceived notion of how it HAD to go. I never thought MHA would end with teenagers convincing society to say, “you know, those serial killers were right all along.” To me, MHA is about intergenerational & intersectional cooperation, with everyone doing their part (big or small) to be kind and look out for others as much as possible. I did expect that we’d see the LOV turn on AFO, and that the LOV members would each do something to indicate regret or make it possible to argue for their redemption. But I was wrong and Horikoshi didn’t go that route. The LOV members are ending their stories unrepentant, having done nothing to atone or change their ways. (The one exception is Toga, but she was helping Ochako survive the stab wounds that Toga caused. Toya only said “sorry” to Shoto, and that was only after AFO was defeated.) I know it’s hard to square 400+ chapters of what Twitter calls the “Mickey Mouse manga” — or what villain stans call the “save the villains manga” — with the purposeful choice to keep the villains…villainous. But it’s where we are, so I’m keeping it in mind as I think about whether the Todofam ending is “fitting.”

To give a real answer to your q: Enji may be a disgraced, crippled hero, but because Shoto saves his life he does get a chance to connect with Toya. He has all the time in the world to focus on Toya, and to marinate in the realization that his ambition to be #1 was so destructive it tore apart his family, scarred them mentally and physically, and spawned a top-tier one-name villain that will be in the history books. He spent his life chasing a hollow goal and trying to be known and “watched” as a strong man; now he’ll known as the father of Dabi and the weak abuser he is. Enji won’t be watched by any of the public anymore. He’s in the purgatory he made, so yes, I think that’s fitting.

To your other q, how bad a threat was Dabi, especially after his dance? In a word, bad. In the PLF war, he permanently crippled Hawks and he badly burned Nejire, Tokoyami, Jiro, and more. Going into the final battle, he’s one of AFO’s key players and he’s considered as powerful as Endeavor, the heaviest hitter the heroes have. Except, unlike the methodical AFO, Dabi is capricious. He’ll rant against heroes sending students into battle right before he roasts a student. Dabi is also very media savvy, which is highly dangerous in a battle for the heart of society.

Even before the PLF war, Dabi was a serial killer responsible for at least 30 murders — which he admitted himself in his broadcast. That puts him on par with Stain, for those keeping track of body counts.

Maybe Dabi didn’t start the manga as a cold-blooded killer (Giran said he had no criminal record and never seemed to have killed anyone) but by the time of the PLF war he is. As Shoto pointed out, Enji may have fucked up their family, and the brothers are both victims, but it was still Toya’s choice to take innocent lives. Toya destroyed so many other families in order to get revenge on Enji for destroying his family.

In other words, Dabi is a major threat going into the final battle. And that’s before the heroes realize that Dabi doesn’t intend to survive the fight.

[sallysavestheday]

(from dalliansss) prompt request, curufinrod, oranges. 🍊 and caranthir and his son ereinion gil-galad, teaching gil-galad embroidery!

Thank you for the ask! I was taken by your Gil-galad son of Caranthir vision -- that's a new one, for me. Have some intergenerational angst, prior to the Second Kinslaying:

Gil-galad has his great-grandmother’s prophetic hands. As Míriel wove the world before she saw it, so does he. He learned the work at his father’s knee, snug in Thargelion’s winters, stitching and knotting as the fire blazed in the hearth and the assembled courtiers danced and sang. But where Caranthir’s fine fingers brought forth striking images of things they knew, Ereinion’s always found their way into dreaming: unfamiliar blossoms and strange, wild beasts; great, dark towers; the imagined slow waves of the sea. On Círdan’s salty balcony, he keeps the habit, pricking out fine, small works to send to his distant father. Deep caves unfold beneath his touch; tangled forests; small figures in armor, wandering. They should be stitched in earthen tones – soft browns and greys and greens – but his hands keep dipping into the basket of silks and coming out clasping reds.

[threadbareturnbacks]

I think a big problem is that people should be having children.

Okay fair that's clickbait. Not literally. I love bc and abortion and choice. If you want to be childless that's fantastic. Full support.

But children:

a) take up a lot of your time and mental energy

b) are an act of hope and trust in the future even if that future isn't readily apparent or understandable to you

c) are a lot of fun and keep you seeing the world in new and fascinating ways

And I honestly think a big issue is that a lot of people are stuck seeing the world as something horrible and boring and not worth fighting for and they are stuck with a myopic, siloed vision of reality. Children completely upend that. You truly cannot think the world is 'futureless' when you have kids. You just can't.

And again, literal children are not the answer. But a fully consuming hobby that you treat with the same intensity and love as you would your own child is. Getting obsessed with gardening fulfills all of those briefs. Getting obsessed with baking, sewing, carpentry, rpgs, running, hiking, dance, activism etc all do the same thing. They take up your time, they give you hope and something to work towards, and they force you to see a richer more beautiful world.

Most consuming hobbies ask the same thing of you as kids: waking up early, physical and emotional discomfort, learning at a breakneck pace, a community you might not entirely get along with but need to rely on anyway, a kind of fulfilling, radical, self-actualizing love for the world, gross practicalities of life like poop and death up front, intergenerational knowledge, and access to more energy than you ever thought possible.

The issue isn't that people aren't having children. It's that people, humans, are supposed to be actively learning and growing in partnership with each other. We used to all have kids and that was a common thread. And thankfully we have a choice on that issue. But we are still human and we still need something to occupy our time. The more we remove ourselves from community, creation, and hope the bleaker the world seems.

But it's really beautiful out there. I promise you.

[teaspoon-of-salt]

Xiong was born in 1973 in Phab Kheb, Laos, one of 11 children in a family that fled the country in 1975 and spent four years in a refugee camp in Thailand before emigrating to the United States, according to Sahan Journal. He grew up in St. Paul and was valedictorian of his class at Humboldt High School in 1992.

Xiong graduated with a political science degree from Carleton College in Northfield in 1996 and began traveling around the country as a motivational speaker, storyteller and rap artist, billing himself as the country's first Hmong comedian.

Xiong helped organize the first Hmong Minnesota Day at the Minnesota State Fair in 2015, and was named a Bush Fellow in 2019 to earn a master's degree in public affairs.

With Xiong's death, the Hmong American community in the Twin Cities has lost a true leader, "consummate organizer and cultural interpreter," said longtime friend Pakou Hang. In his presentations and writings, she said, Xiong was a teacher who tried to show people how to be kind, generous and do the right thing.

Xiong connected people across generational, cultural and political lines who traveled the United States to speak at schools, colleges and businesses, Hang said. As a friend, he could inspire laughter in every conversation, she said.

[Rest of article under cut.]

A highly regarded Hmong American activist, speaker and comedian from the Twin Cities was found dead Monday in Medellín, Colombia, after kidnappers demanded $2,000 in ransom from his family.

Tou Ger Xiong, 50, was killed while on a vacation to Medellín. His brother, Eh Xiong, confirmed his death Tuesday morning on Facebook.

"The pain of his loss is indescribable. We extend our deepest gratitude to all who have offered their condolences, thoughts, and prayers," Xiong's family wrote in the Facebook statement.

Xiong, who lived in Woodbury, was kidnapped Sunday after a date with a woman he met on social media, according to the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano.

A group of men contacted his family demanding $2,000 — the equivalent of $8 million in Colombian pesos — and killed him a day later without collecting the money.

Three American tourists, including Xiong, have been murdered in the last month, El Colombiano reported.

Kidnappings in Colombia are on the rise, according to authorities. In the first few months of 2022, 35 people were abducted in the country, and that figure is more than double this year for the same period.

Early last month, the father of a Colombian soccer star was freed after he was held for around a week by a guerrilla group.

[The excerpt above came from here.]

Former state Sen. Mee Moua of St. Paul, for whom Xiong worked as a volunteer coordinator in her successful 2002 campaign, said in a statement that she was "weighed down with grief for my friend," and called Xiong "a one-of-a-kind modern-day hero."

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-St. Paul wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Xiong's death was "devastating news" and that his work as a comedian and activist "touched many lives in the Twin Cities and beyond."

Hang said Xiong would perform skits based on his own stories growing up as a refugee and other lessons from the larger Hmong community. She recalled him bringing older Hmong women onto the stage to demonstrate how they would pick corn or fetch water as children, setting it to music and transforming it into a dance.

Xiong sought to connect first-generation Hmong American kids with classmates of other races, and strengthened intergenerational relationships with their families by making them proud to be Hmong, she said.

Xiong and Hang worked together on many community causes, including the formation of the Coalition for Community Relations, a group that traveled to rural Wisconsin from the Twin Cities in 2004 to "bear witness" at the trial of Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong American man eventually convicted for killing six hunters.

"We're not here to defend Chai," Xiong told the Star Tribune at the time. "We're coming together to accentuate the positives in the Hmong community."

Xiong also brought media attention to a hunger strike in Northern California in 2021 after a Hmong cannabis farmer was killed by police, Hang said. He flew to California to lead a march and gather stories. Discriminatory ordinances passed by Siskiyou County were later ruled unlawful.

"We don't have anyone else in the community like that," Hang said.

[sarahbushdance]

Rainy Day Reflections… 2022 Year-In-Review

Sarah takes flight, jumping off a boulder into the blue skyon Native Land of the Ute Indians Dear SBDP friends, family and community, Allow me to share with you my JOY and GRATITUDE — 2022 saw a return to the studio for SBDP! We got to dance in-person again! Lifting each other up in rehearsals, performances, workshops and residencies was life-affirming! We were greeted with the most loving…

[voraciouskingdom]

Ancestral Wisdom

"The whispers of the ancestors guide your path." In the stillness, you hear them - the faint echoes of your ancestors' voices carried through the threads of time and memory. They are the wise ones who have walked this earth before you, their footsteps leaving imprints on the sacred soil of your lineage.

You are but one strand in an intricate web woven by those who came before. Their joys, sorrows, triumphs, and wounds are encoded into the very fibers of your being. To know yourself is to honor their legacy and heed the ancestral wisdom that courses through your veins.

Gaze into the mirror of your soul, and you will see their faces reflected in the depths of your eyes. The grandmother's fierce resilience, the grandfather's gentle strength, the ancient ones' connection to the rhythms of nature - these are the gifts they have bestowed upon you.

Yet, the ancestral path is not without its shadows. Intergenerational traumas and cycles of wounding have been passed down like heirlooms, their weight a burden you did not choose but must find the courage to transform.

You are the alchemist of your lineage, tasked with transmuting the lead of ancestral pain into the gold of healing and wholeness. The shadows that linger are not curses but initiations, beckoning you to step into your sovereignty and break the chains that have bound your ancestors for too long.

Call upon their spirits, and they will answer. Ask for their guidance, and they will illuminate the way. For they have been patiently awaiting your awakening, their ancient voices whispering through the mists of time, "Remember who you are. Remember where you come from."

In your darkest moments, they are the ones who will reignite the flame of your resilience. In your moments of doubt, they will remind you of the strength that flows through your bloodline. And in your moments of triumph, they will rejoice, for your victories are a testament to the perseverance of your ancestral spirit.

Invoke their blessings through ritual and ceremony. Light a candle for those who have walked on before you, and let its flickering flame be a beacon connecting you to the vast expanse of your lineage. Speak their names aloud, and feel their presence embrace you like a warm, ancestral cloak.

Affirmation: "I honor the wisdom of my ancestors. Their resilience flows through my veins, and their guidance illuminates my path."

Ritual: Gather items that hold ancestral significance – heirlooms, photographs, or natural elements that connect you to your lineage. Create a sacred space and call upon the spirits of your ancestors. Share your intentions and ask for their blessings. When you feel their presence, offer gratitude and make a commitment to carry their wisdom forward.

The ancestors have woven the threads of your becoming long before your first breath. They are the guardians of your lineage, the keepers of the ancient ways that have sustained your people through cycles of joy and hardship.

Heed their whispers, for they speak the language of your soul's truth. Honor their sacrifices by living your life as a sacred offering, a testament to the resilience that flows through your veins. And when the shadows of ancestral wounds threaten to obscure your path, call upon their spirits to reignite the flame of your inner warrior.

You are not alone on this journey of radical self-love and transformation. The ancestors walk beside you, their footsteps echoing through the ages, guiding you towards the wholeness that is your birthright. Embrace their wisdom, and you will find the strength to shed the chains of the past and dance freely into your sovereign becoming.

🔥❤️‍🔥

[scarlet--wiccan]

Just out of curiosity but do you read/ hc pietro as neurodivergent? I know it’s a popular hc among fans and there’s certainly some moments that lend to that interpretation (plus I see a bit of myself and my brother in him so personally I hc he has mild autism) but I was wondering if you had any of your own thoughts on it, or for Wanda for that matter?

Yes, but it's complicated. Pietro and Wanda are both characters who spend a lot of time grappling with complex trauma, generational trauma, mental illness, and what are clearly meant to be read as neurological differences. I struggle with many of those things myself, and as a Romani person with an immigrant background, I get a lot out of reading these characters through that lens. It's an intrinsic part of what makes them so human and compelling to me, especially as part of a larger, intergenerational tapestry of mixed-race immigrants and survivors. These issues are a part of our heritages and histories, so I want that to be reflected in the characters who represent me.

I think it's hard to talk about neurodivergence or mental illness-- which, of course, are not the same thing, I just mean that the conversations tend to overlap-- with Wanda and Pietro because this is already, textually, part of the characters, but it's been implemented in really messy ways.

For both of them, their primary mental health challenges and neurological differences are treated as extensions or results of their powers. There is an allegorical element that gets in the way of literal representation. This sort of thing is very common in superhero comics, and I've written about it before regarding transness and genderfluidity. It's entirely possible to still write meaningful and resonant representation, but I don't know if I feel comfortable saying "Pietro is autistic"when the text is saying he doesn't have autism, he has a super-speed-mutation-brain. Does that make sense?

The other problem is that the material that introduced these elements to the characters is really problematic. I'm sure I don't have to explain why House of M is an ableist and sexist narrative, but a lot of people seem to overlook the fact that the depiction of Wanda as a person with specific mental illnesses is rooted in a harmful, ableist storyline. Specifically, the way that schizoaffective disorders are defined and pathologized in Disassembled is cruel, inaccurate, and just unacceptable. That tone is still echoed in a lot of modern comics when Wanda's mental health is addressed.

In addition, I really don't like to put too much stock in the whole "Pietro Maximoff Syndrome" thing from X-Factor. For one thing, Peter David is a hateful, vocal anti-Romani racist, and it is reflected in a lot of his choices with Pietro. While this direction did humanize and justify some of Pietro's personality flaws, I do feel that the tone was overall very derisive towards him.

In Scarlet Witch (2016), Wanda talks about going to therapy and taking antidepressants, and in Quicksilver: No Surrender (2018), Pietro talks about his complex trauma responses in a way that's specifically grounded to the reality of being a severely marginalized person of color. These are the best examples of how their mental health has been addressed-- they bypass the powers and allegory and just allow the characters to inhabit real experiences that actually deserve representation.

That said, it doesn't really represent neurodivergence the same way. I think that's a subject that superhero comics have been dancing around for a long time, but haven't quite figured out how to reckon with. I really hope its something we'll see more positive growth towards, in the future.

[eatmangoesnekkid]

Belly Dance Week 22 or So "Soft Flesh and Ocean"

I originally wrote week 46 but just came to the realization there is no way I could be that far along. That would be mean I have been belly dancing for a year which is not case....let's say maybe at at Week 22.

Today in class my sassy teacher said once again that we are "painting with our hips," a gorgeous reference that immediately turns my hips into two paintbrushes I named “Frida” and “Abo.” When I'm in my belly dance classes, I am always happy that the music is turned up loud. I tend to moan in a low register and talk all kinds of lovely shit to myself (my actual cells)---even speaking my dreams into existence while also moving my body through any lingering fears and distrust. You can consider me as a kind of "dance doula." So much fear and distrust hide out in the folds of a female's body--the hips, belly, breasts, ass, and vocals--these parts so fragile, tender, and worthy of being loved on so I clear the space to allow for more easeful birthing. We must be willing to connect to the parts of ourselves that we hide and feel aren't worthy of being acknowledged for it is there that the portals to new narratives can be opened up. Oh, how shadows need to be noticed first though. Just go outside on a sunny day and look at how many shadows your body naturally makes when you walk through the world.

So I feel arousal energy in my belly dance classes--I imagine it is healthy and "normal" to do so but have never asked the other students if that was the case for them. I know there is shame around an aroused female body unless it is in relationship to a male body, so I don't feel compelled to ask. But what I do know is that when I feel the arousal energy rise, when I'm steeped in arousal, consumed by its warmth and nutrients, it's so innocent and pure, and makes me dance a bit slower and more fluid. The more I relax and allow the movement to come find me, the more I begin to feel like water. The medicine is that you are no wasting energy trying to control your movements but you are courageous enough to allow your body open and be moved by the Soul of the dance, this current of pure energy potential.

We had some lovely ladies in our class from North Africa who grew up in cultures where belly dance is a fertility treasure passed on by the elder women in the family, the mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, to the little girls. Ahh, intergenerational traditions.....how amazing!! Egyptian women. Turkish women. Lebanese women. And to see the water in their bodies move when they danced was a pure gift. Poetry. I'm forever changed by their soft flesh and ocean.

I feel most confident in belly dance when I am doing any hip, ass, or breasts shimmies. They feel familiar due to my West African DNA and sexual proclivities. And what's also true is that I loved mimicking the women who were in front of me and were more culturally attuned to belly dance, moving their bellies like waves in the ocean. They unconsciously breathed more from their bellies when dancing and therefore made very complicated movements radiate an effortless scent and texture.

I am opening up in my belly area after years of tightening it as conditioned by western culture’s unhealthy and weird ass, flat belly, beauty standards and self-imposed misoygny. Studying and/or mimicking in a non-obsessive healthy way is a lost art. Sometimes we mimic people, whether famous, culturally-connected, or not, and deepen into our own truth in the process. Today that was my story.

--India Ame'ye, Author

[everythingisliminal]

Day 20 of 75 Hard

When I complete today, it'll be the furthest I've ever been in this challenge (made it through day 10 then day 19 in 2021).

The journey so far:

Two 45+ minute workouts, 3+ hours apart, at least one of which must be outside. Because I work 10 hour days in wetland restoration navigating mucky, watery, and steep terrain with ~40lbs on my back, I count those 4 workdays as my outdoor workout. Yes it's already part of my routine, but I wasn't going to not do this challenge just because I'm not fitting another workout in before work.

My other outdoor workouts are all walking and/or running around the neighborhood or on trails. My indoor workouts are push, pull, and indoor cycling days with my buddy, bowling with my husband, and following walk/dance/box/lift/yoga vids at home.

Saturdays are wild because I need to get a walk/run in, then go straight to cycling, and then 3 hours later bowl bc my afternoons are booked and I have to get that outdoor workout in but 3 hours away from another workout. Making it work, though!

I did put together an idealized workout schedule to train for the 5 mile trail run my buddy and I signed up for 2 weekends after we complete 75 Hard. Already had to adjust because I twisted my ankle yesterday, so I used that opportunity to try Qigong (followed by 45 min yoga). We'll see if I should stick with walking today or if I can throw in a few 3-4 minute runs.

Honestly, the toughest part of this rule is the scheduling and getting started. I really enjoy the physical activity when I'm in the flow of it.

Take a progress picture. This has been beneficial for me in a way I couldn't predict. The mirror has always surprised me, like "oh, that's what I look like?" It always shows me as curvier, less athletic than I picture myself. Might stem from a grey area of body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria. It's one of the things I'm talking with my therapist about.

But now that I'm taking a picture of my body every day, I'm realizing that what I'm seeing in the mirror looks better than what I'm seeing in the photo, giving an element of valuing what I see in the mirror. Like, I can more positively accept that that's me. So that's cool.

10 pages of reading a "think about your life" nonfiction book. I read The Book on Mental Toughness, which the creator of 75 Hard wrote. 3 of 5 stars. I might write an extended review, but a lot of the book was like watching a car crash. Yeah, the author's mentally tough, but he's not very well read sociologically. It'll be a tougher read for anyone who's nonbinary, living with intergenerational trauma, or can't stand editing/formatting issues. But there was some insightful info about 75 Hard and the continued LIVEHARD program, and I really benefited from the chapter on drinking water.

Currently reading Weave the Liminal: Living Modern Traditional Witchcraft, which I'm fully enjoying.

Books I'm considering reading next are Rest is Resistance: Free Yourself from Grind Culture and Reclaim Your Life / How to Make Friends & Influence People / The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius / Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good / and Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America.

If anyone has a recommendation for books on Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, or Aphrodite/Aphroditus, I'm looking to learn more about their part in trans history.

Drink 1 gallon of water. I have to stick with a 90oz goal. I've tried multiple times in the past to drink a gallon a day and always wound up with a horribly sore throat after a few days. Last time, it made me sick for 2 weeks. So 90oz of unflavored water is definitely way more than I'd drink normally (32oz on a good day) but without dipping back into unhealthy territory. There are some days that I can drink more (allowing me to get in some Gatorade, preworkout, or BCAAs), but I also have a steady supply of good cough drops at hand.

I try to get in 32oz before lunch, another 32oz by 5pm, and 26oz+ before sleepy time.

Follow a diet. No cheat meals or alcohol. I'm focused on getting 100+ grams of protein a day (macro balancing and calorie deficit are secondary but seem to be happening naturally). I've also cut out chocolate (this is how I know I mean business), sugary drinks, gluten, and microwavable mac n' cheese type meals.

This is really forcing me to get my act together when it comes to planning/prepping. No more going to the coffee stand for a burrito and red bull before work. I have to either cook breakfast or nom on a protein bar. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at least 2 snacks all have to be protein-centric for me to meet my goal. It's wild to think of how little protein I must have been getting. But now I'm full, and then I'm hungry! There's no middle ground of kinda-hungry filled with chips and milk teas. All this meal prepping and forcing myself to eat well for 75 days will probably be one of the most beneficial things I've ever done for myself.

Tangentially, cutting out chocolate meant cutting out my herbal calm chocolate supplements I always had at night to help myself wind down. Now I have to get off my phone earlier and stretch/meditate/read to get myself prepped for bed. It's good stuff.

Also, I don't drink alcohol, so there's no challenge for me there.

Overall: I'm so glad I'm doing this. This is helping me live my life the way I actually want to live it. I'm developing daily discipline and gaining insights into myself. I've lost 6lbs, my clothes fit better, and I can navigate terrain more easily. I'm enjoying trails in my free time. I was wishy-washy about my goals when I tried 75 Soft a couple months ago, and so didn't stick with them. With 75 Hard, my commitment is unquestionable. This is what my life looks like for the next 56 days. Afterward, I'll take what I like and ditch anything I don't.

If you're considering 75 Hard yourself, do make a game plan. Figure out what your diet is going to be and shop for it. Know how you'll track your water. Schedule a week or two of workouts that help you fulfill a goal (finding out what's fun for you, increasing strength/flexibility/speed, getting outside, hanging out with someone, whatever). Get a book. Give yourself this Day 0 to set yourself up for success.

Then START :D

[kccinstitutes]

NSS Day

To commemorate NSS Day on September 24, the NSS Volunteers from KCC Institute of Legal & Higher Education embarked on a meaningful mission. They paid visits to both an orphanage and an old-age home, devoting their time to educating underprivileged orphaned children and gaining wisdom from the elderly residents of the old-age home.

Their visit to Gharonda Bal Ashram in Ghaziabad was a heartwarming experience for both the NSS Volunteers and the children. Engaging in various activities with the youngsters created lasting and cherished memories.

Furthermore, during their visit to the Manop Foundation Old Age Home, the volunteers engaged in simple yet profound interactions. Whether it was spending hours listening to the captivating life stories of the elderly residents or dancing with them, the experience served as a poignant reminder of the significance of compassion and the value of intergenerational connections.

[carharttlesbian]

Are you fired up about intergenerational community, organizing for change, and our cultural inheritance as lesbians? Join us at RISE.

What does sisterhood mean to you? The RISE gathering is designed around community dialogue and learning from each other: we differ in age, race, class, ability, life experience, and opinions. We share the Land with WPI music camp for women & girls. Daytime workshops focus on intergenerational lesbian community-building, organizing for change, intersectional feminism, and preserving lesbian cultural heritage. In the afternoon and evening, bond with sisters at concerts, dances, movies, coffeehouse open mics, skill-shares and swaps. We each bring our energy and gifts to the Land and leave with new friends, skills and ideas.

Join our group to stay up to date: https://www.facebook.com/groups/riseontheland