All i do lately is read about diesel engines and veggie oil conversions, and lurk on kijiji's classified listings
In a week we're gonna buy this truck and trailer we've been saving for.
Or maybe it'll be a motorhome. Or maybe it'll be a school bus. Whatever it is, we've got one week to find it and buy it and inspect it and insure it and bring it back to winnipeg. Which maybe includes installing a good hitch and a brake controller and maybe sway bars? And how to get to alberta to buy it? Will we have enough time? Will we have enough money? Will we be able to find something we want?
And then, vegetable oil conversion! Adding tanks and fuel pumps and fuel lines and filters and switches! And figuring out how to process the oil for ourselves!
I'm mostly excited, mildly apprehensive.
And we've already been confirmed as vendors at the dawson city music festival, so there's no looking back. Here goes.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Busking Zine: Done!
Ta-Da!
If anyone wants a paper copy, it's here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/71453366/busking-zine-1
Or, if you're not a buying-stuff-on-the-webs type, just email me and i'll send you one.
Hooray!
If anyone wants a paper copy, it's here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/71453366/busking-zine-1
Or, if you're not a buying-stuff-on-the-webs type, just email me and i'll send you one.
Hooray!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Busking Zine pages 17-20
The zine's finally done! The rest of it will be up shortly! An actual paper version will be available by the weekend.
Woot!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A compromise, one of many, necessary?
So i've been sort of following this minor debacle in hfx where some folks had an offensively themed party and then didn't respond well to the suggestion that they were being shitty. (http://unbeatablehigh.blogspot.com/ march 18-21)
I recently had a similar situation where i tried to call someone out on using the word "faggot" inappropriately. It was a long, painfully drawn out conversation, which started with that person arguing that people just "shouldn't be so sensitive" and ended with him finally conceding my point and, hilariously, whining about how harsh i'd been with him. Apparently gay people shouldn't be so sensitive about him reclaiming slur words for them, but he's totally allowed to be sensitive about having his privilege and ignorance pointed out to him. Right.
So anyway, i've been thinking about this thing a lot, this "what is the correct amount of 'harsh' to use on people who are somewhere in the range of ignorantly offensive to blatantly and deliberately offensive?" question.
I think this is what i've got it narrowed down to:
1. People who are using oppressive language are not the ones who deserve sympathy. Everyone is capable of thinking about the consequences of their actions and they should already be doing that.
2. That being said, i think it's possible to tell someone clearly that something they've done is offensive or inappropriate without decimating them. I feel like there's times when i need to be reminded to think about my language (i had a good conversation lately about use of the word "crazy" in daily speech, ie) and i know that it doesn't take much to make me rethink my actions, and that a really harsh judgement would probably just make me feel really guilty and awkward and miserable when that's not necessary.
3. That being said, if you're gentle and someone doesn't get it, it's fair and necessary to step it up.
4. THAT being said, even if i think someone does deserve decimating, i've learned that the more you humiliate someone, the more reluctant they are to admit they're wrong. Especially in situations where the person you're calling out isn't a friend and their friends probably think their behaviour is fine, they might easily react by just disagreeing with you. If the goal is actually to make a person stop being a douchebag, this means that some degree of tact is necessary. All-out attack will probably just enable them to write you off as a psychopath or fascist or whatever.
5. So even though i sometimes fantasize about bottling people like that, i try to be as approachable as i can when i'm talking to them about their behaviour, even if i think they're being incredibly inconsiderate and deserve no sympathy whatsoever. The situation extends beyond me and them and i don't want to reinforce their already somewhat present disrespect or even hatred of whatever group they're disrespecting.
I think the conversation i had (referenced above) barely managed to be a success, only because i barely managed to reformulate my rage into something more like bluntness. Despite the fact that this person didn't deserve to have their hand held through the process of admitting they were wrong, that was probably the only way to get them to admit they were wrong, which was my goal.
I recently had a similar situation where i tried to call someone out on using the word "faggot" inappropriately. It was a long, painfully drawn out conversation, which started with that person arguing that people just "shouldn't be so sensitive" and ended with him finally conceding my point and, hilariously, whining about how harsh i'd been with him. Apparently gay people shouldn't be so sensitive about him reclaiming slur words for them, but he's totally allowed to be sensitive about having his privilege and ignorance pointed out to him. Right.
So anyway, i've been thinking about this thing a lot, this "what is the correct amount of 'harsh' to use on people who are somewhere in the range of ignorantly offensive to blatantly and deliberately offensive?" question.
I think this is what i've got it narrowed down to:
1. People who are using oppressive language are not the ones who deserve sympathy. Everyone is capable of thinking about the consequences of their actions and they should already be doing that.
2. That being said, i think it's possible to tell someone clearly that something they've done is offensive or inappropriate without decimating them. I feel like there's times when i need to be reminded to think about my language (i had a good conversation lately about use of the word "crazy" in daily speech, ie) and i know that it doesn't take much to make me rethink my actions, and that a really harsh judgement would probably just make me feel really guilty and awkward and miserable when that's not necessary.
3. That being said, if you're gentle and someone doesn't get it, it's fair and necessary to step it up.
4. THAT being said, even if i think someone does deserve decimating, i've learned that the more you humiliate someone, the more reluctant they are to admit they're wrong. Especially in situations where the person you're calling out isn't a friend and their friends probably think their behaviour is fine, they might easily react by just disagreeing with you. If the goal is actually to make a person stop being a douchebag, this means that some degree of tact is necessary. All-out attack will probably just enable them to write you off as a psychopath or fascist or whatever.
5. So even though i sometimes fantasize about bottling people like that, i try to be as approachable as i can when i'm talking to them about their behaviour, even if i think they're being incredibly inconsiderate and deserve no sympathy whatsoever. The situation extends beyond me and them and i don't want to reinforce their already somewhat present disrespect or even hatred of whatever group they're disrespecting.
I think the conversation i had (referenced above) barely managed to be a success, only because i barely managed to reformulate my rage into something more like bluntness. Despite the fact that this person didn't deserve to have their hand held through the process of admitting they were wrong, that was probably the only way to get them to admit they were wrong, which was my goal.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Typewriter: Icon of OPPRESSION
Dandy and i had a table at a "tea" at an old folks' home today. It was effin awesome. We spent the whole time making a list of things we wanna do when we get old. Like refuse to wear your false teeth even though you've only got three real ones left. Or make cozies for your walker. Or (admittedly probably unknowingly) pop the collar on your dress shirt/sweater vest combination. Or wear bright red lipstick. And, old folks are just great humans. They have lots of time. They care about other people and what they're doing. They appreciate craft and resourcefulness. Some of the people we met today looked over our stuff soooo thoroughly and genuinely and thoughtfully, and were so engaging.. awwwwww!
And, we had this really fascinating conversation with this woman about typewriters! We've got a few things we make that have typewriters on them, and i generally think of a typewriter as appealing as a symbol of creativity or whatever, and well, they're pretty hip, but this lady DETESTED them!
And rightly so, she says someone advised her as a girl never to learn to type, because once men figure out you can type that's the only job you ever get. And who wants to be stuck being someone's freaking secretary their whole lives? I never even thought about it that way. But there was a time when this was very true. Hmm!
And, we had this really fascinating conversation with this woman about typewriters! We've got a few things we make that have typewriters on them, and i generally think of a typewriter as appealing as a symbol of creativity or whatever, and well, they're pretty hip, but this lady DETESTED them!
And rightly so, she says someone advised her as a girl never to learn to type, because once men figure out you can type that's the only job you ever get. And who wants to be stuck being someone's freaking secretary their whole lives? I never even thought about it that way. But there was a time when this was very true. Hmm!
Friday, March 18, 2011
busking zine pages 13-16!
also: things not to do while trying to draw tiny details: drink coffee, argue with people on the internet and get really angry at them, do chin-ups, play accordion. none of these things are good for delicate motor skills. and yet for some reason i did them all.
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