Welcome. Most of my posts are friendslocked, alas. I produce an irregular stream of HP essays, fics, and recs, and reviews. If you'd like to be added to my fandom journal, so you can access those posts, please leave a message here with an email address where I can reach you.

I sometimes do some "housekeeping" with my flist, to keep it to a size that I can keep up with (and also, if you get over 500, LJ won't show the list of individual names, which irks me). Generally, I'll drop someone off my flist if his/her journal has been inactive for more than one year. If you are still around on LJ, just let me know and I'll refriend!

For some reason, my uncle has been on my mind today, in between a buncha other things I did.

( because he went to jail when his bank failed. Why should Wall St. be any different?, I ask myself )

A colleague sent me this, and it's too good not to share. This comes from a study of budgets, diets, and consumption around the world, and it shows photos of families from a variety of cultures, along with the food that they consumed in one week.

( very image rich, and thus the cut )

As someone on my flist noted: tomorrow, either Santa is going to bring us a pony, or the house will burn down. There's no in-between, because this isn't horseshoes.

There are probably going to be long lines in many parts of the country tomorrow. And many voters may find that their names were purged from the voting rosters.

Don't panic. Check out pinkfinity's helpful list of what to do if you run into problems, and how to find out where to vote and what to bring with you: here. And it's a great round-up of sources of information and help. And feel free to pass this link along to your own flists!

Because me? I want a pony!

I actually had several posts I wanted to write today; you've probably all been spared. Because I decided that if I only had time to make one post today, that this is what I had to share.

Yesterday, I went to hear Somaly Mam speak. She's a Cambodian woman who was sold into sexual slavery at the age of 12 and only escaped years later. She has chosen to risk her life repeatedly since then in order to rescue children from Cambodian brothels; she has taken more than 3,000 children out of sexual slavery. Somaly Mam has founded three homes where these children are healed, educated, and reintegrated into Cambodian society.

Her foundation has created partnerships with U.S. corporations (esp. LexisNexis, MTV, and Glamor Magazine) and has the support of UNICEF; because of Western funding and sponsorship, the Cambodian government has begun to offer her some protection and cooperation. Sometimes. The local police are often in the pay of the gangs who traffic in women and children, and she still takes many risks. There is no question that her story is true (see her site for ample documentation from Western news sources), and I was blown away by what she had to say, and what she's accomplished.

Sexual slavery and the traffic in women and children exists all around the world, including in the city I work in. But the scale is heart-stopping in Cambodia, because it's one of the poorest places on earth and has become one of the regional centers for sexual "tourism." I wish I had the power to stop it all. Everywhere.

But I don't. One thing I can do, however, is to donate money to support her foundation and to allow her to continue to rescue enslaved children. So, I will.

If you want to give money to an organization that is truly doing something to help the victims of commercial sexual slavery, please consider donating or getting involved in some other way. If you live in the Los Angeles area, a fundraiser is being held for Somaly Mam's foundation on Sept. 16, and you might consider attending (although it's pricey). Or you can buy her book, and a portion of that will go to her foundation.

It might be the best thing you could do. Today.

A number of people on my flist were posting appeals to those who live in the U.K. to sign a petition for a friend of theirs, who suffers from a serious illness that can be helped by a new drug. You may well have seen this already, but if not and you live in Britain, please look at bethbethbeth's post here.

And as a commenter on Beth's post noted: "please, please, wherever you are, register as a potential bone marrow donor. The registers are shared worldwide, so that a UK donor may well be matched with a recipient in the US or Europe or South Africa. A less stressful procedure for harvesting bone marrow has recently been introduced and two days of your time could save a life. In the UK see http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/ or in the US see http://www.marrow.org/."

I'd intended to register as a bone marrow donor ages ago, and had no idea it was that simple now (used to be, you had to be where they were running a drive and the testing was more complicated). If you go to the site I link above, you can register online, and they'll mail you a kit so you can take a swab of the inside of your cheek and mail it back. That's all there is to it. You can register and be tested from the comfort of your own home. And the donation procedure is now much simpler: essentially, like "regular" blood donation.

It costs $52 in the U.S. for the kit (they can't afford to give them away, alas). But it's a charitable contribution. Also, you can enter your zip code and they'll search to find a drive near you, where you might get the testing done for free.

If you are a match for someone, it is lifesaving. And as someone said, "you have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."

It's a mitzvah. If you can afford the kit and are in good health, think about registering, eh?

If you're a Democratic voter, you have the chance to help make history today. No matter which way you vote. That's an uplifting thought, for me.

We're going to have either a woman or an African-American candidate for President of one of the two major parties. I'm glad I lived to see that day. And either of them will make a candidate I can vote for wholeheartedly, in November.

So go and vote. But beyond that, I'd urge you to vote for Hillary. ( For many good reasons, not the least of which is that she has the best chance to beat McCain, AND she would make the best President. Identity politics are only the icing on the cake, for me )

I will leave this unlocked so that you can link this to others who might be interested.

That post about Bibme (which will take a piece of the citation you recall for any book, look up the rest of the cite, and format it for you in your choice of MLA or Chicago) yesterday was only the first step down what proved to be a well-greased slope.

( Behold. I have a lot more info under the cut about bibliographic and research utilities for academics and others who share similar cognitive disorders )

Because I loathe entropy.

Hi. My name is Cordelia and I'm part of the Organization for Transformative Works; I chair the Elections Committee.

I'm a fan not just of several canons, but of fandom itself. I was blown away by fandom when I first encountered it, back when the world was young. And I remain agog today over the energy, wit, creativity, joy, productivity, generosity, humor, and incredible capacity for building networks that fen display on a daily basis.

Fandom is a potlatch party, a movable feast, a never-ending waterfall of fic, art, jokes, crack, and meta. You can log on and stoop to drink from the river that flows by endlessly. And share your own creations, making new friends in the process.

But as cesperanza pointed out: we don't own the servers. And the people who do? Are becoming more and more aggressive about selling "eyeballs" (my attention to their sites, and yours) to advertisers. At OTW, we want to own the servers. Make our creations available without advertising, and without the fear that we could be arbitrarily TOS'ed with no warning.

cesperanza lays out that argument passionately and completely. Go read her explanation of why we need to own the servers. But for me, it's more than being free of advertising, and not wanting to be someone else's user-generated content.

( It's about entropy, and preservation of what we've created )

Having gone well over the 500 limit for friends (where LJ collapses the list so you can't see individuals), I did some housekeeping today with my flist to get it back down under the limit. So if your journal seemed moribund, or you seemed to be mostly posting elsewhere (IJ), or you didn't seem to be interacting at all with me, I might have taken you off the list. Also, there were a few journals I thought might be sockpuppets.

No offense intended; mostly, I just wanted to stay well under that 500 limit. If you actually were wanting to read these posts, no worries: just leave a comment here and I will add you back.

Time for something lighter, I think.

Check this out on YouTube: Harry Potter in the Hood.

You'll need to listen to it twice to get all the jokes crammed into this piece. It's hysterical.

A long talk on the phone today with meri_oddities, who is a fan of spoilers. Without sullying my pristine ignorance about Book 7 (although I gather there are no spoilers worth having, yet), she gave me an overview of how she finds spoilers, and how it worked last time with snapetoy's infamous spoiler board.

We discussed the spoiler comm here on LJ, spoil_me_dh, and clucked our tongues together over the fact that my own dear friend amelia_eve was a member. Man. You think you know someone. My friend for 30 years now, and I find out that she's joined a spoiler comm.

Anyway, the discussion made me curious about why people like to be spoiled, so I decided to post a poll on this subject. The poll is here, not on my writing journal, since this one still has paid status (for a few months more, at least).

( So. Why DO you like to be spoiled, my dears? Tell Cordelia )

This will be my last post (I hope) about MsScribe and Charlotte. You can scroll on past, if you've had enough of this. But cathexys made some very good points in a discussion that provoked quite a response from me (speaking from a professional POV). So, I thought I'd post it here, instead. I've decided not to lock this, either, although I may do so at a future date (or freeze it, if it gets very wanky and floods my inbox--fair warning, eh?).

( Charlotte Lenox as a historical researcher and writer )

mechaieh proposed an informal pick-up madrigals singing session at Lumos, should I be there (I'm leaning that way). She likes easy Elizabethan stuff; I like Purcell, and Baroque acapella religious music, too. But I'm flexible.

and I know a funny and bawdy round song, written by Purcell. It's astonishing in terms of how the voices play off each other, when you get four people doing it

I'm a first soprano, and she's an alto (I think she said). Anyone else interested?

Man. I go away for the evening, and you people go nuts with posts on WH, quote memes, etc. I have nothing so fannish or clever to offer, alas.

But I wanted to let anyone who is interested in Berthold Brecht (and I know there are a few of you on my flist) know about the production of "Mother Courage" that is finishing up its run at the Jean Cocteau Rep (on the lower East Side) in Manhattan. It's the world premiere of a new translation into English for this play, and I was very, very impressed.

Brecht usually writes in a tone of elevated vulgarity, really pithy and street smart. Hard to translate. But this new production features a fabulous translation (and I'm too lazy to go downstairs to fetch the program, to get the translator's name), and it just makes all the difference. I took 14 students to see it this evening, and they loved it, even though it is a 3 hour performance. The actress playing the lead role was tremendously talented, too.

I first saw "Mother Courage" in East Berlin (I mean, back when it was the capital of East Germany. God, I'm old) at the theater where Brecht worked for many years after the war, which was (at that time) largely dedicated to the production of Brecht works. It was the Mecca for Brecht enthusiasts. And you know what? This new New York production was even better, even in English. That's astonishing.

At any rate, if you aren't going to WH and do live in the NY area, and are interested in Brecht, I would urge you to check this out. It runs through this weekend, and tickets are only $17.50 (cheap, by NYC standards!).

fourth_rose posted a poem for the poem meme that gently mocks the difficulties of English pronunciation.

Heh. She and Coati think that their language is logical and easy.

I'm not about to take that one, lying down. For those who want to engage in some truly silly language wanking, I offer the following link: Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language"


(but I adore German, in spite of Every. Single. Valid. Point that Twain is making here.)

I open my mouth and it flows out like water; it feels so lovely on my tongue. I swim like a fish through it, secretly intoxicated, sometimes. I speak it very fluently, almost as well as I do English. But the difference between that and my English fluency is great enough, that I do notice when I switch over to it. That is, I'm still aware of that I'm speaking in German, on some level. I adore it. The syntax tickles me.

Hmm. It's a toss up between Amy Lowell's "Patterns" (which is, um, a younger person's choice, in terms of taste. But I loved it when I was 18, and I still love it) and the poem below. I chose this one because I'm edgier now, and the pain of this takes my breath away.

Berthold Brecht, a famous left-wing German playwright and poet, wrote this in the late 1930s. He was already in exile, having fled to Paris from Nazi Germany. The translation is my own. I've put the original under a cut, for those who want the real thing.


Germany


Oh Germany, pale mother!
You sit befouled and sullied
amongst the peoples.
Even amongst the stained
You are conspicuous.

The poorest of your sons
lies murdered.
Your other sons raised their
hands against him,
when he was famished.
One can smell that, now.

With the hands they raised,
raised against their brother,
now they are insolent in your presence,
and laugh in your face.
One knows that.

In your house
lies are bellowed loudly.
But truth
must be silent.
Is it really so?

And why do the oppressors glorify you, in one voice,
but the oppressed accuse you?
Those who are exploited point their fingers at you,
but the exploiters praise the system
that has been established in your house.

Everyone sees you hide the hem of your skirt,
which is bloody, with the blood
of your best son.
Those who hear the speeches coming out of your house, simply laugh.
But those who see you, reach for their knives,
as if at the sight of a robber.

Oh Germany, pale mother!
What have your sons done to you
that you sit amongst the peoples,
a laughing-stock, or a horror!


( Original German version )...and now you have to put a poem in your LJ, if you haven't already.

I'm wondering if we know whether Boxing Day is observed in wizarding Britain. Obviously, it's a Muggle holiday (and most shops, etc. are closed), but do you think that the workers in Diagon take the day off?

British friends and canon purists, please weigh in!