I’ll Be Back!

Hey, Everyone!

Hope all is supercalifragilisticallyexpealidocious in your lives.

(Hang on – here’s the English version!)

As for me, life is preparing to twirl me around the globe for a bit – and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

My glutes have been glued to the seat of a desk of academia far longer than my inner gypsy can handle. She is squirming, clawing, crying out for physical FREEDOM!

Luckily, a hefty helping of research-related travel has plopped onto my plate & I’m about to stuff my gut with it.

Soooo…

Will be MIA for the next several months, depending upon a myriad of travel & research-related factors.

My travel, as always, will be to remote regions where life does not depend upon the internet. Accordingly, I will not be posting until my return. I will so miss our interaction while I’m gone, but look forward to resuming our exchanges when I’m back home.

If you’re subscribed to my blog, you will receive the first blog post upon my return. If you’re not a subscriber, subscribe now to be notified about my return to the blogosphere.

Because I’ll be back!

There’s no shutting me up for long – too much going on in the world, so much to say about it, and can’t wait to hear what you guys think about it all!

Have a wonderful next few months. Will miss you loads & toads!

Sylver Blaque 

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Default Bigotry

“I really have to question how much “inclusion” there actually is. 

The default person in society is the most privileged – a cis, straight, white, able bodied man. Lacking any other description, this is generally the identity we assume a character has. If we don’t mention a race, we assume Whiteness. If we don’t mention a sexuality, we assume the character is straight, etc etc. 

And this is not a good thing – we shouldn’t think that way, this shouldn’t be our assumption and this shouldn’t be a societal standard.

But it is.

If we want to change that – and we should – then I can’t see us doing it with less visible portrayals. We can’t challenge this by only having marginalised characters in a book or on a show that are apparent only to those willing to do the homework.

We need to normalise the presence of marginalised people rather than casting them as the Other…

These characters should exist, we should have the full variety of diversity in our media. But we shouldn’t have them used as an excuse for erasure or tokenism. We shouldn’t be using research-required inclusion as an excuse for not bothering with text supported portrayal.

We shouldn’t be afraid of having marginalised people in major roles who are clearly identifiable as marginalised people.“

– Paul & Renee (Feministe)

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Sylver Blaque’s Blogger Bubbles

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Blogger Bubbles ®™ 2013 is a federally registered trademark by Sylver Blaque.

Red House

 

Song: Red House

Artist: Buddy Guy

Country: U.S. (Louisiana)

Genre: Blues Rock

Mood: The guy whose concerts Hendrix never missed honors his legendary protégée.

 

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World Music Monday

Fitzpleasure

 

Song: Fitzpleasure

Artist: Alt-J

Country: UK

Genre: World

Mood: Cosmic, planetary groove. Feels like an every-sense-alive trip to another galaxy.

 

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World Music Monday

My Princess Gone

 

Song: My Princess Gone

Artist: Jah Mason

Country: Jamaica

Genre: Reggae

Mood: Raw reggae vocals ride bashy reggae beat.

 

 

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World Music Monday

 

Spastic Daydreaming

YES,

I

LOVE

DANCING

BABIES!

In-between laughing while watching this video, I couldn’t help daydreaming about how supremely cool it would be for us adults to have music flow into our bodies & come out in whatever spastic, wildly ridiculous, totally uncool-looking rhythm spasms…

…without ending up on YouTube!

Though, for babies, spastic YouTube videos are perfectly acceptable.

Because, you know, babies look cool no matter what they’re doing!

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Sylver Lining Sunday

Diary of an American Girl’s Journeys to the Forbidden Land (Excerpt 30)

“It makes the water come to my mouth when I think of the State of Cuba as one in our family.”

– 1895 An American politician & financier

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“Cuba remained hostage to the United States, while U.S. companies and investors took control of the major sectors of Cuba’s economy. By 1905, 60% of Cuba’s rural land was owned by U.S. citizens or companies. U.S. investors also controlled 90% of Cuba’s tobacco trade, the country’s iron, copper, and nickel mines, its railroads, and its electricity and telephone systems.” — Historian & Author Aviva Chomsky

So, as we are wont to do, we occupied a nation & called it “freedom.”

We hijacked Cuba’s postal service and customs, in order to control what came and went, and make sure anything valuable found its way into our own government coffers.

And in 1903, we allowed Cubans to draft a Constitution.

But we wrote it.

Friday Blaque List 29

What I’m…

DOING

Perching high up in a tree in the woods, dry leaves swirling around me like confetti. The branches form an uncomfortable V around my butt, but this particular perch gives an incredible panoramic view of the forest.

Photo: Sylver Blaque

I love writing & watching wildlife from up here – for as long as my butt can take it!

No wildlife-watching today, however. Have the goobies with me.

Mally‘s  jumping around & up in the air, trying to catch swirling leaves. But MegaDeath is yowling back at the wind, as if to say, “Yes, Mother Nature, I hear you. Now hear THIS!”

Nope, no wildlife-watching with the goobies around!

Photo: Sylver Blaque / Mally & MegaDeath

Have 2 other foster-goobies this week: Apache & Soldier. They’re twins (well, 2 of sextups, actually), the only survivors of a murderous ex-owner who killed their siblings, one by one.

Stoking Inequity

“Let’s abandon the fundamentally frothy question of who is wearing a ring. Young men need jobs so they can pay child support and contribute more meaningfully to the households they are living in. The real menace to America’s children is not single mothers, or unmarried or gay parents, but an economy that stokes an unconscionable divide between the rich and the not rich.”

–Katie Roiphe (NYT Sunday Review/Opinion: “In Defense of Single Motherhood“)

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Blaque Diamonds

 

Chameleon-In-Chief?

“Let’s face it, when you are debating someone who just completely lies every time he opens his mouth it can be difficult.

Mitt Romney told so many whoppers and shifted his position so many times last night that debating him had to be like parallel parking an 18 wheeler in a moving parking space.”

–John Cole (Balloon Juice)

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Sylver Blaque’s Blogger Bubbles

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Blogger Bubbles ®™ 2013 is a federally registered trademark by Sylver Blaque.