Thursday Open Thread 5-24-2018


Good Morning. If we live long enough most of us will experience a period of physical and mental disability ourselves or a close loved one. Acknowledging the possibility frees us to tackle the societal and political challenges. The most resilient individuals I have known had disabilities. The greater the limitation the more creativity required.

To Survive the Trumpocalypse, We Need Wild Disability Justice Dreams

It's so easy to look at a list of disability justice principles and nod your head. But the real deal is messy and beautiful -- as messy and beautiful and real as our sick, disabled, Deaf and crazy body/minds. Disability justice, when it's really happening, is too messy and wild to really fit into traditional movement and nonprofit-industrial complex structures, because our bodies and minds have always been too wild to fit in those structures. And that is on purpose: Nonprofits, created in the '60s to manage dissent, have much overlap with "charities" -- the network of institutions designed to institutionalize and control disabled people. Changing work to really embody disability justice means throwing out most ways people have learned how to organize.
.........
So, I will say it one time: I want abled people to get it together in 2018. Stop forgetting about disability. Face your own terror of being disabled, sick or mad. Unpack the stories of disabled people in your families and communities. Listen to those people.
.....
Sometimes when disabled Black and Brown people bring up access needs, I see able-bodied comrades' faces turn stony and shut down. This often doesn't come solely from a casual hatred of disabled people, though that's there too. But in many Black, Indigenous and/or people of color communities, in my experience, someone who's angry and defensive about an inaccessible space is sometimes also flashing back to a memory of an uncle's polio or schizophrenia that no one would talk about, or a memory of medical experimentation or lack of access to basic needs. The only survival story that many Black and Brown communities have had is to deny our needs and work 16 hours a day, "keeping up."
....
Recently, my comrade Stacey Milbern brought up the concept of "crip doulas" -- other disabled people who help bring a person into disability community or into a new kind of disability than you may have experienced before, a more seasoned disabled person who teaches the hacks you might need, holds space for your feelings and shares the community's stories. It's telling that there's not even a word for this in mainstream English. How would it change people's experiences of disability and their fear of becoming disabled if this were a word and a way of being? What if this were a form of emotional labor that more folks knew of? I have done this with hundreds of people. What if this is something we could all do for each other? How would our movements change?

26 Ways to Be in the Struggle — Beyond the Streets

#1 - Host or attend a Know Your Rights Training
#26 - Take Care of yourself! Self-care is a revolutionary act.

Planned meetings should have an accessible bathroom.

4) IF THE BATHROOM IS DOWN OR UP STAIRS, ALL I CAN DO IS TELL YOU IS: DO. NOT. CARRY. PEOPLE. Neither you nor they can afford the physical and financial price if you drop them. Seriously. Especially but not only my fellow Eastside queers who consistently don’t seem to have a) insurance for events, b) trained folks who know what the hell they’re doing, c) even non-drunk folks who can assist throughout an event, or d) the medical know-how or even basic equipment to deal with the plethora of injuries that has happened and can very easily result from well-intended but careless “assistance”.

Gardening
Being able to generate your own plants and consumable saves dollars, petroleum use and does not feed the corporate infrastructure.
Straw is one of my favorite mulches. Can us this technique for any weed which seed has not matured, will not start new plants from cuttings or will re-root if receives a little moisture.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-SSVxCz_us]

A simple way to root plants from cuttings
[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyXSNzywqvw]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-SSVxCz_us

Farm Report

At the beginning of a process different items (physical items or organizations) may be difficult to tell apart or know how they will mature. Until we have had experience or training to differentiate we should not criticize ourselves for misjudgments or be discouraged from participating.

How well can you identify the plum, cherry, crab apples and asian pear at this early stage.
One
soe crab apple_0.jpg
Two
soe plum_0.jpg
Three
soe asian pears.JPG
Four
soe cherry.JPG

1)crab apple, 2)plum, 3)asian pear, 4)cherry

This 60+ yr old Bridal Wreath Spirea is one of the bushes I want to propagate.
soe veil.jpg

Easier than flying from single flower to single flower.
soe veil single.JPG

Surprised when I was turning off the hose by the Crab Apple tree. I watered this poor nest for 8 hours yesterday. She was back in the nest today, hopefully no harm.
soe robin nest.JPG

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

The Aspie Corner's picture

The only thing we're good for according to the able-bodied is feel-good stories of corporate tokenism that look good for the cameras. They don't give a shit about us. And they never will.

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

studentofearth's picture

@The Aspie Corner Many of them extend caring beyond themselves, family members, friends, close acquaintances and co-workers with disabilities. To simply label everyone as uncaring creates an excuse to not try to identify like minded individuals to build and participate in the physical and electronic communities to create change and share experiences.

An act of defiance is to value yourself. Truly believing in your heart you have value as a human being, not being a widget in the labor market. It is hard work, not always successful, but I keep trying. Together we might make a dent in the corporate takeover of lives for profit. Or, at least slow it down for while until more people realize they need to join the resistance.

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

She could cut off a twig, stick it in the dirt in her yard, and it would grow.

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

studentofearth's picture

@dkmich hoping to achieve green thumb status someday. Thanks for the inspiration of knowing it is possible.

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

enhydra lutris's picture

have had the good fortune to meet,know, hang with and/or work with many who society deemed to be less able, from those with hearing and visual impairments to polio survivors, wheelchair bound accident victims, those missing limbs and the like. I have had an opportunity to learn much. Skipping, for now, those with certain motor, neurological and cognitive issues and some others, many are but victims of pathetic infrastructure.

By that I mean that they have no particularly "special" needs, as is often the characterization. They have the same needs, but our facilitative infrastructure is crude and minimal, providing only the minimal assistance to only the most "able". If you are called upon to go meet some official or functionary at some place and time, you figure out where that location is and how to get there and at the appropriate date and time hop in the car and go. If you write out an algorithm for that process, you will see many points at which those with reduced visual acuity and various other issues, including being poor and therefore lacking access to computers, phones, mapquest, duck-duck-go, etc. have a far less easy time finding the where and figuring out the how. Then there are those who cannot drive, whether from physical disability or lack of access to a car. Not all can access public transit, again from either physical or pecuniary limitations. Upon arrival, there are again issues finding out where the room is located and accessing it (third floor, left at the top of the stairs, end of the hall). A wheelchair bound person with limited funds and no helpmate has a lot of difficulty making that appointment not because they are disabled, and not because they need "special" assistance, but because society has provided an algorithm for a certain required behavior that consists of a series of obstacles to be met and overcome. Eliminate all the roads and vehicles, and replace the stairwell with a 3 story rope climb, and suddenly we are almost all "disabled". We have decided to facilitate only a few and only in some regards, discriminating against all but the favored.

Edited to fix some typos

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

studentofearth's picture

@enhydra lutris The lack of appropriate infrastructure isolates individuals. The greatest strides in handicap access for work places and public buildings were after WWI, WWII and Vietnam War. We seem to be at a point where the value of access seems to be eroding. Sometimes we do not value what we have until it is gone.

edit: attach to intended thread

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

The Aspie Corner's picture

Talks With North Korea Cancelled

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg5tQn0jfi8]

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

studentofearth's picture

@The Aspie Corner promise made to a country is no more permanent than every treaty the government signed with an Native American tribe.

Citizens of Southern Korea are only pawns in the game of the US government and power players. Once the illusion of being a good guy is gone, it does not come back. (thoughtful commentator - checked out his his video page)

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

studentofearth's picture

The lack of appropriate infrastructure isolates individuals. The greatest strides in handicap access for work places and public buildings were after WWI, WWII and Vietnam War. We seem to be at a point where the value of access seems to be eroding. Sometimes we do not value what we have until it is gone.

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

mhagle's picture

Good thoughtful material about disabilities and I always enjoy your farm report. Plan to watch the gardening videos in a bit.

I have to start my gardening work between 6 and 7 AM to beat the heat. That was my usual time for reading and replying to your OT, so now I am always late.

Been taking pictures and have quite a bit to say about round bale gardening, etc. . . . just no time to say it.

I'll make this note now though. This new evil that entered my gardening efforts several years ago . . . the squash bug . . . even rivals the other evil, the grasshopper. Grasshoppers are really only a big problem in dry years, so haven't seen much of them lately.

This past off season, I have studied and sought advice on how to kill squash bugs. Nothing kills them. The bug lady (a PhD) at Arbigo Organics recommends a spray that keeps them away. Most YouTube videos say that you just have to go out there every day and kill every squash bug you can find, kill their eggs, and kill the babies. Grim. So that is what I have been doing. I also sprinkled cayan pepper on them. That seems to slow down bug activities, but the leaves don't like it either. Last night in the middle of the night I had the thought that I should put my dollar tree dish soap in the soil (bale) where they are most prolific. I did a bit of that this morning and bought more today for tomorrow's efforts. In my fight with fire ants, that is by far the most effective non-toxic method. The plants don't seem to mind the soap.

The deal is . . . I bought seeds for all of the squashes you c99 folks recommended . . . and I want to harvest them!

Hope you all are having a great day!!

Smile

up
0 users have voted.

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

studentofearth's picture

@mhagle As a teenager I had the job of picking potato bugs daily. Never a pleasant task. Add hoeing in the heat of the day and there is the reasons I grew flower gardens not vegetables for decades. My parents are no longer living and can't get fresh vegetables and berries from their garden.

Found this while looking up squash bugs, maybe could find a couple of methods to try. soap was one of the effective methods.

Boards and Burlap
Another tactic used to find and destroy greater numbers at one time is to place wood boards or pieces of burlap down around the plants in the evening. In the early AM and again in the heat of the day bugs take shelter there. Lift the boards or burlap and kill or vacuum up the bugs in numbers.
Home Made Repellants
There are probably as many variations on these “old” repellant recipes that use chiles, onions and garlic as there are gardeners. They work to repel rather than kill, so you’ll still need to continue your “seek and destroy” program. The thing I wonder about is — if the squash bugs are repelled from the squash plants – or other curcubits you use the repellant on — will they go to other plants in the garden?

Good gardening

up
0 users have voted.

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.