Web 2.0 is all about sharing and collaboration. There have been lots of stories lately that have shown something of a backlash against that sharing, pointing out how oversharing makes us easy targets for criminals, talking about cyberstalking, etc. That’s not where I’m going. I’ve found myself thinking recently about what people don’t share, about what, […]
About Depression
People who haven’t experienced serious clinical depression are seldom able to understand how different it is from “being down” or “the blues,” those dips every adult human has felt at some point. They’re often judgmental, and see those who are severely depressed as being of weak character. I’ve had one such person apologize to me for […]
Thought-Provoking Quote: Mignon McLaughlin
It’s impossible to be loyal to your family, your friends, your country, and your principles, all at the same time. ‑Mignon McLaughlin, author (1915-) It makes sense to me in that you can’t have four “number one priorities.” Even with being loyal to my family, my daughter comes first, then my partners, then my family of […]
What to Say?
A friend just posted one of those “anonymous confession posts,” enabling anonymous commenting and disabling IP address logging. I never have anything to say in those threads. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t just say as me. I don’t honestly care to read anything that someone wouldn’t stand behind as themselves, either. What […]
Revisiting the April Divilbiss Case: Alternative lifestyles and encounters with the state
A nice lady wrote to me recently, provoked by my post about our DFCS experience. She wrote about it on her blog, too. The Divilbiss case was a topic of constant discussing in forums related to polyamory back in 1999. Loving More magazine and others raised money to pay the family’s legal fees. The assumption […]
Defining Hate
One of the questions in that last post made me think about the definition of hate. I also think that adding “is there anyone you hate?” might make sense. In fact, I went back and did so. sambear taught his children that to say you hate someone means that you want that person dead. I find it useful […]
Self-Interview Questions
Taken from starwolf. My answers aren’t nearly as poetic as hers. silenceleigh wrote a post about the interview she gives to new characters she’s thought of. It’s more interesting than most of the interview memes, so I’m going to use it. If you do the same, please let me know so I can read your answers, […]
Community Building
I run a mailing list for people in Georgia who are interested in creating communities, cohousing, etc. It’s a fairly private list, as it grew out of our homeschooling group. We don’t advertise its existence and are always rather surprised when someone from outside the HSing group asks to join. Anyway, one of the members’ wives […]
Navel Gazing
How do I reconcile treating people with respect with enjoying snarking at them when I think it’s deserved? Damn. I’m not sure that I can. Do I have to give up the snark? It’s possible that I should always communicate with ozarque’s guideline about nobody losing face in mind. Hmph. There are times when this whole […]
Responding to Verbal Attacks
ozarque said something in her journal that I’ve been thinking about: There is a metaprinciple for the entire Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense system which says that in verbal confrontations and disagreements your goal is that there should never be a loss of face on either side. That applies to every technique, and is intrinsic to […]