jumble-laya?

[glass_icarus]

» Potluck #2: Comfort Food is up! I do apologize for my disorganized state; I dropped the ball in terms of wider promotions, & I will make sure I have things more together for next time. *shakes fists* In the meantime, we are still looking for volunteers to host the next issue, so please do poke me/yiduiqie if you're interested!

» marina's posted chewy meta and links to X-Men: First Class reviews! :3

» Have posted this elsewhere, but Amina, who blogs at A Gay Girl in Damascus, is currently missing. I can't help but notice who is questioning her existence, how quickly and easily the lives of POC & LGBTQ people in general, but particularly outside of Europe & the United States, are dismissed as fictional, how acknowledgment requires a sufficient body of proof. How ironic that we are called imaginary when the western world can hardly imagine us.

» Via twitter/tumblr, “A darkness was ripped from my eyes”, or, How can anyone like Mary Oliver’s “Singapore”? SIGH, SADFACE, FROWNYFACE. I really like other stuff of hers that I've encountered, but that poem...!

» & finally, thanks to everybody who commented on my rice-love post! It made my life about 1000% better, you should all go and check out the threads because DELICIOUS COMMENTS ARE DELICIOUS. AND WARM. &hearts (Though perhaps it is best to avoid it until you've eaten, ahaha!)

Comments

[surpassingly]

Hearts hearts hearts! For everything, especially the rice love and what you said about Amina.

[glass_icarus]

&hearts!!

[kate_nepveu]

I admit to being torn about the treatment of what's been reported on Amina Abdalla's blog. I first heard about this through Liz Henry, who has a long post here: http://bookmaniac.org/painful-doubts-about-amina/ , and I don't think she was wrong to have noticed, as she went looking for information to try and help, the limited sources that, at this point, seem to have shaken out to include no in-person contact at all. And I think Liz's post is pretty careful about the horrible awkwardness of asking these questions and about cautioning that, if Amina Abdalla's online identity is partly obfuscated for safety reasons, then she may still be in danger, and if was fictionalized for other reasons, it's unquestionable that many other people in Syria still need support.

But that kind of nuance easily gets lost for just the reasons you say, especially as things get picked up by major Western media outlets.

[glass_icarus]

I hadn't seen that post, so thanks for the link! It's good to know about the extent of the information sources, but... yeah, reserving judgment. Part of it is (obviously) that people may prefer online interactions for a lot of reasons, and especially coming from fandom, it's not hard to imagine wanting to separate internet and offline existences as much as possible, but part of it is also the incredible quickness of the "wait, but..." wave. The post on Amina's blog appeared on June 6th, and a hell of a lot of those responses are dated June 7th! I mean, what. The internet operates at lightning speed sometimes, but surely 24 hours is not sufficient for so many people to be making grand pronouncements.

[kate_nepveu]

Yup, and I worry too that I'm giving too much benefit to Liz because I know her a bit and know that she can be super-quick and detailed at digging into things. So it's good for me (as always!) to keep as much of the big picture as possible in view.

[delux_vivens]

saudiwriter has posted this about it.

[glass_icarus]

Oh, I hadn't thought about the "pretty female face --> newsworthy face of the revolution!!" thing. :S That would totally add a whole other layer of emotionally-manipulative if it turns out to be a hoax. Thanks for the link!

[delux_vivens]

no prob.

[whymzycal]

RICE LOVE. I must go post-haste and revel in the fabulosity of it

And thanks for the other links, too, especially the one about Amina.

[glass_icarus]

You're welcome!

[bravecows]

Thanks for the link about the Mary Oliver poem! "I don't doubt for a moment that she loves her life", wtf. Middle-class self-aggrandising at its nakedest and worst.

[glass_icarus]

I... honestly don't even know what to make of that line! @____@ Blargh.

[yifu]

Ouch, that poem. The objectification and patronizing tone in it.

Btw, what does a potluck host needs to have/do?

[glass_icarus]

Right?? D:

The host picks the theme, puts up the call for submissions, gathers links, & organizes & posts the round-up (full editorial control goes to the host). The carnival isn't actually meant to be platform-specific- though as you've probably noticed, we've had a DW slant wrt participants thus far- so wherever you choose to post is fine. yiduiqie and I will of course help out with the promotions part, but essentially each issue is whatever the host makes of it. (Does that help to clarify things?)

[colorblue]

I have your rice post bookmarked. The comments are amazing!

Also, re: Amina, I think I'm at the same place you are - I'm pretty paranoid now, never mind in the middle of a revolution; I'm sure that if I was in her place I would try to keep my real life very far from my online persona, if not for myself then at least to keep my family/loved ones safe. And my discomfort also ties into the automatic distaste I have for "you must PROVE yourself" arguments made by privileged to those less so, and in this case solid proof of existence could potentially get someone hurt or killed.

*shrugs* Will wait & see, I suppose; neither option is the optimal, anyway. :/

[kake]

I love your rice post and I love Potluck.