Note to self from Octavia Butler, 1988. A voice struggling against erasure and invisibility. (via @TheHungtington) pic.twitter.com/zveoUYyLq7
— Laila Lalami (@LailaLalami) January 28, 2016
Via Dayna Evans at NYMag. I miss Octavia Butler like I miss Jane Austen — two singular geniuses each of whom should’ve lived long enough to share many many more stories with us.
And speaking of great women and role models…
.
Apart from daydream believing, what’s on the agenda for the day?
HeartlandLiberal
Well, I hoping this Sunday will be a quiet day, unlike the last six weeks, which have made me feel like I am having John Cole level luck.
In the past six weeks:
1. We are tee boned and our Mercedes totaled
2. Our 18 year old cat died
3. A drunk driver hit and killed our son’s dog
4. We are test driving a dealer’s 2011 Mercedes and rear ended by a hit and run driver in big truck
5. The city announced they want to let Verizon put up a cell tower 809 feet from our property line. So I am chairing neighborhood association committee to fight city hall on that absurdity, which would knock about 20% of my property values, in a home carefully selected 23 years ago because looking out the back deck all you see is golf course, park, and trees. Argggghhhhh!!!
Fortunately, I did not have to add Minnesota beating my team Indiana here at Bloomington yesterday, since Minnesota has lost every one of their Big Ten conference games so far. But Indiana did their best to try and lose, squandering a 16 point lead and letting Minnesota take the lead at the 3 minutes remaining mark. Came back and won by 6 points. Whew! Considering they won the last three prior home games by 25 – 32 or more points, sort of worrisome. Especially since second half of conference play in February we come up against the heavy hitters and stronger teams in the Big Ten.
The other nice news, they are keeping the sound level below 85 decibels. Several games ago we recorded the levels for two minutes showing sound from the scoreboard hitting 100 decibels steady. Sent it in an email to the athletic director and his deputy. They had the game staff crank it back down. I can make it through a game without earplugs now, even though it is still loud.
BGinCHI
Lalami’s novel The Moor’s Account is a great read if you are interested in the subject.
BGinCHI
@HeartlandLiberal: Go Boilers.
raven
Go IIini!
opiejeanne
Is there supposed to be a photo in that big gap after the words about role models?
David *Rafael* Koch
Nice photos on the front page of today’s Times
in one photo, ¿Jeb? looks like he’s gonna cry.
in another, a cool retro poster of Clinton
in the last, Sanders tries to hypnotize a black woman.
satby
@HeartlandLiberal: That is a run of bad luck! Condolences on your and your son’s losses of your beloved pets. And good luck on the other stuff.
OzarkHillbilly
Enjoying my granddaughter for the morning. Had her all day yesterday and she and Maw-maw knitted and crocheted and thread wrapped to her hearts content. She learned a little more Spanish and French from Maw-maw too. Then she helped Paw-paw with the chickens (got 2 more feathers for her feather collection) and threw Frisbee for the Woofmeister. Helped me make dinner too. She made the cheese sauce for the veggies.
We’re gonna make her a box for feathers and then she and her Daddy are gonna go to the Soulard Mardi Gras Dog Parade and the Wiener Dog Derby.. And yes, people dress up their dogs for it. It’s fun, but Maw-maw and I aren’t going. She’s not that fond of crowds (they expect 80,000) and my ankle is not up to that much walking.
satby
I need inspiration today. Last night I got an email from the hiring manager of the job I felt pretty confident I had a great chance at, canceling my interview with her tomorrow. The one she was bringing maps to see which territory I would be a fit for. Because the only one open is Port Huron, about 5 hours each way from me.
I knew she liked me and really wanted to hire me, so I was feeling pretty good about starting a full time job very soon. Back to the job board. But it’s pretty discouraging.
BillinGlendaleCA
The rain has begun, we’re supposed to get about an inch today in the Southland.
PurpleGirl
I met and spoke with Octavia Butler at a Lunacon (don’t remember the year). I did not know who she was. She was a very nice, pleasant woman. We spoke about the problems of owning stuff and how no matter the size home you had, you still had problems of finding space for you stuff. It was a Friday night authors and fans meet and greet and she joined me at the table I was at and we just started talking.
It’s a shame she died so young. She had so much to live for, and having won a MacArthur Fellowship would have had an easier time of it.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
Oh man, that sucks. I hope there’s better news on the job front coming soon. But you were good enough to be in contention for that job. You can be a contender for another job too.
Baud
@satby: Sorry to hear that.
satby
@Amir Khalid: @Baud: Thanks.
I’m disappointed too because it would have been a flexible enough job for me to work around the girls’ school schedule. I’ve had several interviews, and of course I also got jobs… just not full time ones. This was a 8 month temporary one, so perfect for the gap until I move. Oh well.
Hillary Rettig
@OzarkHillbilly: omg the pictures from that look amazing.
Hillary Rettig
@HeartlandLiberal: I’m sorry you’re going through a rough patch; hope Fortuna’s Wheel rotates upwards for you soon.
Hillary Rettig
Butler was one of my teachers when I attended the Clarion SF Workshop way back when. (She mentions Clarion in her note.) The nicest person, and so encouraging of us all.
She was a true visionary with a light touch. While I’m thinking of it, anyone remember the name of her pregnant-man story?
Zinsky
Going to see a locally well-known meteorologist, Paul Douglas, speak on climate change this afternoon at a local Twin Cities church. It should be interesting! Best wishes to satby and HeartlandLiberal and I hope you both have an unprecedented string of good luck!
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: ohh, my wife is working on a Barcus style event for the fal, I’ll have to show her that!
Schlemazel
@HeartlandLiberal: My Minnesota team just competed a sweep of BSU and is currently ranked third in the nation, might I suggest you could improve your streak by switching to the women hockey team?
Not to make light of what has bee a very shitty stretch for you, hopefully you got all the bad things for the year out in January and the yest of the year will be clear sailing.
Betty Cracker
I’m wondering which newspaper Butler crossed out so vehemently in her note! I’ve heard the name but am not familiar with her work since sci-fi ain’t my thing.
@HeartlandLiberal: Terrible! Hope your luck changes!
@satby: Ugh, that sucks!
Barney
@opiejeanne: I see a big gap too, but, looking at the page HTML source, it should be a video from here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/01/30/watch_tina_fey_and_amy_poehler_honor_carol_burnett_at_the_screen_actors.html
Schlemazel
@satby:
Of all the depressing things I have dealt with I still find jib hunting the most discouraging of them all. Any hope the cancellation was just a schedule conflict and you still have a chance? I never understood how heartless HR and hiring managers can be, I have to assume none of them have ever actually had to look for work. In addition to having great interviews where I knew i connected & was a good fit for the job I have had people tell me they WOULD be getting in touch with an offer only to never hear from them again. I don’t understand how people can be that dense or cruel. I have always been able to find the next crappy job so I hope the right thing will come along for you soon.
Baud
@Schlemazel:
I hate job searching. I’ve stayed in jobs too long because of it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Hillary Rettig: @Raven: They used to call it “The Krewe of Barkus Parade” and it was real informal. People, and dogs, just showed up in some of the wackiest costumes. Now it’s gone all corporate with registration and awards etc. It’s still fun, but I miss the old days.
Oh and, GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
Hillary Rettig
@satby: I’m so sorry! I agree with Amir, you basically won this one, just really bad luck. Hopefully another opportunity will present itself. ps – come up and visit us in Kzoo!
Hillary Rettig
@OzarkHillbilly: yeah not keen on the promotion of Begging Strips, which don’t sound healthy for dogs.
Hillary Rettig
Just a reminder to everyone that I offer a FREE ebook on how to look for work. It’s Not You, It’s Your Strategy. You can download it here: http://www.hillaryrettig.com/shop/ in English or Spanish.
PurpleGirl
@opiejeanne: It’s a picture of a handwritten note by writer Octavia Butler about how she is going to be a famous author and be on best-seller lists. Too bad you can’t see it.
ETA: Re-read the comment and looked at the posting again. It looks like the cite didn’t come through at all. I don’t have it either.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m having computer troubles that include my dropbox backups not being there. Ack!
Hillary Rettig
@Schlemazel: agreed. a job search is bad enough on its own merits, horrible when people are callous or cruel. a really great book on this is Executive Blues by G. J. Meyer . He describes incredible incidents of callousness.
Schlemazel
@Baud:
I hope to make my current job my last. Part of the reason I took it was so I didn’t have to interview ever again. There are a lot of bad things going on & I really should get out of there because I don’t need the BS headaches but I don’t want to go through the wringer again.
satby
@Hillary Rettig: I was an early downloader, I’m going to read it again! Thanks!
Baud
@Schlemazel:
I’m afraid I’m going to have to find something new next year. But I’m not sure what. Not looking forward to it.
BubbaDave
@Baud:
You mean a part time job to supplement your income from Presidenting?
satby
@Schlemazel: @Hillary Rettig: @Baud:
All of the above. I think that she honestly was trying to shoehorn me into a position, and she did say she wanted to keep in touch should something open up.
I had a great preliminary interview with a job closer to me and they called me back to verify I could work afternoon shifts, called one more time while I was out, but never responded when I returned that call.
And I’m feeling a bit deceptive looking for a job when I know I will have to move soon after the girls go home mid-June. But I need one. Gah!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No worries, you’ll have a new job on January 20th.
Baud
@BubbaDave:
@BillinGlendaleCA:
More like a Plan B in case America has a brain fart and chooses someone else.
satby
@Schlemazel: I really sense age discrimination in some of this too, and I am constantly told I look younger than my age by 10 years. Which means the discrimination starts in your 50s.
WereBear
@satby: I’m sorry. That does suck. But there are so many ways it can go away that have nothing to do with you.
Always feels like you, though.
satby
@Baud: I refuse to consider the possibility that Baud 2016 won’t go all the way to the White House.
satby
@WereBear: Yeah, I feel like I would have been in on anything reasonable. I just need to get a burger slinging job for a few months until I leave, but I was shooting for a bit higher level;)
BubbaDave
@satby:
Oh yeah, age discrimination is definitely a thing. I recently grew a goatee and it has a lot of gray in it. I tell friends that if they see the gray disappear from the goatee that means I finally reactivated my old OKCupid account; if I shave it off so I look 10 years younger that means I’m job-hunting.
Baud
@satby:
I know. The alternative is unthinkable.
satby
The bitch of it is I have had 2 job coaching jobs, one retail one, a job as a tutor, and the job as an exchange student community coordinator all in the space of 24 months while also trying to run 2 online businesses. All part time.
satby
@Baud: shudder!
Schlemazel
@satby:
I always looked younger than my real age until the last couple of years but wondered about age as an issue the last couple of changes before that. The problem is you can never be sure as they never say “you are too old” there are a dozen reasons not to get the job and since they refuse to be honest (often because they can’t articulate an actual reason) doubt is natural. I imagine if I were a person of color I could get very suspicious. A hundred years ago I went to a career workshop at the company I worked for. The HR person running told me that a hiring manager makes their decision within 30 seconds of meeting a candidate and then spends the rest of the interview justifying their decision. She said they had studies that proved this. That is depressing. I
I just wish I could find a way to be OK with a shitty work environment. I really liked my last position and I was doing good work for my employer but my boss was just a miserable piece of work that made everything harder and wrecked several good projects out team had going. He was on his way to getting fired when the entire upper management was changed & the new guys have decided to let him stay. I moved to what looked to be a better situation but i am not as good at it & don’t find it as interesting.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: It’s real. I lost a job on that account.
WereBear
@Hillary Rettig: thanks!
I’m in the 4th day of a sick break, and I am trying Scribd to have more books to read. All welcome to share thoughts.
debbie
@satby:
I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but hopefully it makes room for something better.
Absolutely! But I think it begins in the 40s.
@Schlemazel:
Double Absolutely! When I left many interviews having been told my experience would be a real asset and then never hearing anything more from them, I realized they had never intended to hire me, and I could only hope that they would one day understand how lousy they’d been.
satby
@Schlemazel: Well, I used to be a hiring manager, so I tried to remember how long it took me to decide. I think more than 30 seconds, but that “click” factor is important and helps. You want to hire people you think will be easy to work with, so I get that.
I used to enjoy my old job but the last 18 months of it was an orgy of misery while they reorganized the company. There had been 3 waves of layoffs before I finally got cut 2 years ago. I have 16 months until I qualify for SS, and unless I land a great job when I move to Florida I’m grabbing that SS and heaving a sigh of relief that I never have to do this again.
Elizabelle
@Hillary Rettig: Thanks Hillary! Downloaded it. Will let you know what I think, once I’ve read it.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
I found my current job after a year and a half of zero work. After being there about 6 months, managers were supposed to meet with us to discuss career development. My manager said to me (literally) that I was clearly past my heyday and went on to discuss what it had been like to live in NYC. If I’d been litigious, I probably could have done something, but I couldn’t believe how stupid the people being promoted to managers were and how poorly they were trained.
satby
@debbie: I’ve liked people but not been able to hire my top choice for a variety of HR reasons. Or I’ve interviewed numerous great candidates and only had one job to offer, all while knowing that I might smash someone else’s hopes.
Trust me, it’s a sucky system for all of us.
debbie
@satby:
Yes, but there’s often a dismissive, curt, bureaucratic attitude that implies otherwise (like an MBA version of an HR person). I’ve known good hiring managers, but they aren’t in the majority.
WereBear
Somehow, American business has decided Doing It Right is too expensive, and they are cheaping out all over the place.
And the surplus flows upward. For no other reason than the desire of those upwards.
WereBear
Speaking of prejudice, Octavia Butler had the challenge of being a literary writer with clearly speculative subject matter. If the sun slants one way, you become a practicioner of Magic Realism and you get away with it. If the sun slants the other way, you are a “SciFi” writer and it is the genre ghetto for you.
satby
@debbie: true! And I’m not going to even start on what crap passes for managers in a lot of places. My forehead has a permanent dent from headesking during teleconferences.
satby
@WereBear: indeed.
Edited to add, I hope you feel much better soon!
benw
Dogs fed and walked, litter box scooped, hot coffee in hand, off to play games with my kids on a sunny Sunday morning!
PurpleGirl
I don’t want to think of the times I’ve known I’ve gotten a job because of discrimination and it being something I couldn’t prove and/or sue for. Or the time I was told that groups working with handicapped people didn’t consider stuttering to be a handicap.
ruemara
@Hillary Rettig: man? I think you mean Oankali. That’s the exogenesis series.
Love Butler’s brand of sci fi. Surprised no one has ever made a Patternmaster miniseries, but then, it would have to star a buttload of blacks. Can’t have that.
I … will be trying to throw off some depression and get some writing done and a few more festival entries. If you are interested in viewing the final film, email me at my name at.gmail.
Edited to reflect job discrimination can start in your 30’s.
WereBear
@satby: Thanks. The acid test will be going back to work tomorrow.
My office is 85% Millenials, including my boss. They like my work and tell me so, but I must admit I can have anxiety about sick days and saying no if my health is not up to a volunteer task.
There are not a lot of jobs in the area. On the other hand, there’s not a lot of people with experience and qualifications, either. So, I guess I’m even there.
PurpleGirl
@PurpleGirl: Argh… not proofreading this morning — haven’t had coffee yet. That first sentence should have been:
I don’t want to think of the times I’ve known I’ve NOT gotten a job because of discrimination …
OzarkHillbilly
Add this to the YGBFKM file:
Chicago police officer will sue estate of teen he fatally shot
OzarkHillbilly
@PurpleGirl: It’s OK, I can’t help thinking about the jobs I got because of discrimination. Which might well be every job I’ve ever had.
WaterGirl
@HeartlandLiberal: Any of those things would be awful, but to have them all in a bunch is horrible. Not fair. I hope things start looking up soon. I started to write “hoping for smashing results from your neighborhood committee”, but after two car crashes that didn’t seem like the best choice. Interesting that that’s the word that came to mind first, though; our brains are interesting things.
In any case, hoping that healing and victory are on the horizon for you soon.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: That is some gold-plated nerve, there. Probably to head off a civil suit coming his way.
In other news, my purse quest is over. It’s always a moving target as needs change, and my previous near-perfect purse became too small when I got an iPad mini. I could cram it in there, but then could not get anything out without dumping it.
So I’ve discovered the joy of Kipling brand, and this Alvar crossbody is just that skosh larger, with plenty of compartments, and a bright pop of color.
My previous olive drab was just not me.
WaterGirl
@David *Rafael* Koch: Wow, Jeb looks like a tired, old man. I didn’t even recognize him. That could easily be a photo of someone getting a hug at the funeral of a loved one.
That was an interesting presentation for an Iowa snapshot – that must have been some intern’s idea because the NYT is too stodgy for that normally.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Jeez, that’s some chutzpah.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: That dog parade look like so much fun! Beam me up, Scotty.
Satby
@WereBear: I googled that and they look really nice! What color?
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, we all need whatever advantage we can get in the brave new corporate nirvana we now live in.
WereBear
@Satby: Purple Q. Which I had to track down because I don’t think they offer it anymore. Yet no other would quite do :)
And it might just possibly be the best reviewed item on the Internet.
WaterGirl
@satby: @Baud: I am trying very hard not to make a naughty comment in response to the wording of satay’s comment. Three of them have popped into my head already. I am not a 10-year-old. I am not a 1-year-old. I am not a 10-year-old…
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hope the lawsuit gets tossed for being frivolous.
@WaterGirl:
Now I’m dying to read the comment that you’re fighting the temptation to write.
satby
@Amir Khalid:
Me too ;)
BruceFromOhio
On the agenda for today, researching the library for Octavia Butler books. Anyone impressed by Delaney and Ellison should be on the required reading list.
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: I have two handbags by Kipling — a blue brocade and a fushia-purplish flat fabric. I like their style and the inside pockets.
ETA: Much nicer than the black bags I had been buying.
WereBear
@PurpleGirl: I am extremely impressed by it already and I haven’t even gone out with it yet!
Already want more :)
I understand the company was created by three women designers. They know their stuff.
Glidwrith
@ruemara: Got the whole Exogenesis series, re-read several times. I always thought the line “You take our men like they are women” was one of the best comments.
You’ve got my email already, Ruemara, waiting/wanting to see your next film!
buckydoc
@WaterGirl: I actually think this ordeal has has a humanizing effect on Jeb! I mean, he’s still odious politically, but I’ve seen interviews where he actually comes across as something approximating a normal person.
Joy in FL
@satby: So sorry to hear that. I hope something equally good or better is around the corner for you.
BrianM
@Hillary Rettig: Bloodchild?
lol chikinburd
@satby: damn, all I can do is commiserate. Job hunting’s awful — there as to be a better way to match workers with livelihoods than the one we’ve been left with. I’m just starting a full-bore job search myself, while re-entering the workforce after many years off, with no current work references, while trying to get a house sold, with next residence unknown and depending on how soon I can get income and how much. With age discrimination being as real as you’ve found it. So, yeah — in solidarity with you, hoping you can get something suitable in time for you to flee the rotten interior of the country.
@HeartlandLiberal: double damn. Seriously, three enemy vehicles in six weeks? Almost sounds like you need to hunt down the hack writer of whatever bad screenplay you’ve been made to live in. (And agitate for more transit options for everybody, of course.)
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Dead thread, of course. :-/
@HeartlandLiberal: re: the cell tower.
I’m sure this is a subject you’ve thought long and hard about, but…
I live in an old neighborhood that has a couple of dead zones in cell coverage for just about everyone. It’s especially bad in a subdivision up the road where people were adamant that they didn’t want a conventional cell tower anywhere in their neighborhood and were trying to get the company to put in “micro” towers, or something.
Lots of subdivisions around here have cell towers on elementary school property, but the neighbors have to go along.
As vital as cell coverage is now, I would think that there wouldn’t be so much opposition, especially since they can be camouflaged fairly well these days.
800 feet is pretty big in my land of 1/4 acre lots. ;-) Is the hit really 20% where you are?
Would the tower just be for Verizon, or would other phone companies have access as well?
And that’s horrible luck on the car accidents. I hope things turn around on that front, too! Similarly with all the rest.
Good luck.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@satby: :-( Here’s hoping the positive response she was giving you leads to new opportunities soon. Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Scott, I am the queen of the dead thread comment!
I do take some comfort in the fact that she clearly would have hired me but for the lack of open territory to assign.
We’ll be fine, I will get something. Thanks!
satby
@lol chikinburd: Commiseration right back! Email me at my Etsy store (my name is the link) and we can set up a support group for ourselves!
Goblue72
@HeartlandLiberal: so you’re a cranky well to do NIMBY then?
sherparick
From an excellent Wikipedia article on Ms. Butler:
“The critique of present-day hierarchies
In multiple interviews and essays, Butler explained her view of humanity as inherently flawed by an innate tendency towards hierarchical thinking which leads to intolerance, violence, and, if not checked, the ultimate destruction of our species.[4][7][29]
“Simple peck-order bullying,” she wrote in her essay “A World without Racism,” [30] “is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other ‘isms’ that cause so much suffering in the world.” Her stories, then, often replay humanity’s Darwinian domination of the weak by the strong as a type of parasitism.[29] These superior beings, whether aliens, vampires, superhuman, or a slave masters, find themselves defied by a protagonist who embodies difference, diversity, and change, so that, as John R. Pfeiffer notes “[i]n one sense [Butler’s] fables are trials of solutions to the self-destructive condition in which she finds mankind.” [7]”
LunarG
@BrianM:
Yes, Octavia Butler called Bloodchild her “pregnant man” story. It’s available in a collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories which I cannot recommend highly enough as an introduction to her work.