Weekend reading roundup

[nanila]

What did you read this weekend? If you planned on anything specifically, did you read it? (Reminder link to intended weekend reading post)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism. Most of the anthology was very good, some was forgettable, and some...why is it so hard to convince a certain sector that the defining characteristic of 'woman' is 'identifies as a woman', not 'was assigned female at birth'?

[dhampyresa]

Can you detail about it more what it was about?

[alexseanchai]

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Essays by various authors, some trans of one or another description and some cis, on the intersection of gender identity and Pagan practice. Several of the essays were in reaction to a women-only thing at Pantheacon a few years ago that explicitly excluded trans women on the basis of being men. Because apparently that's just how Dianic Wiccans roll. I'm still fuming over the essay from a Dianic Wiccan defending that decision and that trans-exclusionary stance; it felt a lot like finding bits of catfish in my chocolate cake. (Catfish. Yech.)

Memorable for good reasons: the essay about queering up fertility rites. Goddesses who impregnate, gods who conceive, and so forth. I'd go grab the book and quote more extensively from that essay except for obvious reasons it's rather lewd, and I'm not sure who might be reading this comment!

[dhampyresa]

Okay, but what does "Pagan" include? Because it's always struck me that it's always "Minerva spoke to me" and never "Tages sent me a vision" (replace with appropriate mainstream/obscure deities as needed).

I would love to read that essay, if you were willing to quote from it.

Tages is an (the) Etruscan prophet/god of haruspices.

[alexseanchai]

Shrug. Paganism is a BIIIIIG tent. Hard to define.

I don't have the book on me at work and will be offline for at least a few days once I leave work tonight.

[dhampyresa]

I'd appreciate it if you could at least name the main belief systems the book focuses on and type up the essay about queering fertility rites.

[dhampyresa]

Darkness Over Cannae was great, aside from a couple of minor things. Would reccomend.

The Pride banners were awesome and I'm so glad I went! My favourite was "Mon genre n'est pas une théorie" ("my gender is not a theory"). I also liked the guy who was not marchig but held up an anti-biphobia and anti-transphobia sign (all the lurkers who were supporting us in emails people who were cheering as the march went by from the windows/sidewalks/etc were great) and the bilingual pun "Bi happy" ("bi" pronounce the french way sounds like the english "be"). There were a lot of "GAY, OK" signs. There were also a bunch of signs for various things and barechested people with signs written on their chests; i'm especially fond of "Torse nu comme un garçon" ("barechested like a boy").

[nanila]

Thanks very much for sharing the Pride banners here. Reading about them put a smile on my face.

[dhampyresa]

You're welcome. I thought it might brighten someone's day, so that's why I shared them.

[weaverbird]

Never got to the SCOTUS decisions. Read a lot of news articles and spice recipes. And a couple MCU fics.

[nanila]

Your reading choices sound very pleasant indeed!

[ironed_orchid]

I got about halfway through Kraken. All caught up with DW/FB. Also read a bunch of articles on Mad Max: Fury's Road, and some stuff about Facebook's real name policy.

[nanila]

I still haven't seen MM:FR but am (cautiously) looking forward to it. Am envious at your being caught up with social media!

[ironed_orchid]

I find it easier to catch up on social media after declaring twitter amnesty.

MM:FR is everything I hoped it would be an more. It is loud and fast and there is not a lot of talking. It seemed to take me several days to process it. But that was a good thing.

[sasha_feather]

I read a book! An actual book!

"Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist". This non-fiction book is aimed at middle-grade readers and is about Rustin's life and activism. Lots of great pictures and very well researched. Took me a couple of hours to read, just right.

[nanila]

GO YOU! Congratulations. I'm glad it turned out to be both useful and pleasurable!

[fred_mouse]

Chapters 1 and 2 of 'R Graphics' complete. Some of chapter 3 read, which puts me ahead for today, which is good given that I managed to leave it at home, and thus did something else on the bus (crochet).

[nanila]

Awesome! And crochet sounds like a very soothing alternative bus activity.

[nanila]

I got to read another chapter of Skunk Works! The Stealth fighter testing stuff is gripping.