Always I wanna be with you

• privilege: Intersectionality and centering of cultural discourse via bifemmefatale. A nice, succinct summary of why not feeling like you have privilege doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have it. I get really annoyed by that argument.
  
  
• Mean World Syndrome
  A really interesting point. I think a lot of people are increasingly living in a fictional world full of bogeymen. Our world is sometimes dangerous and full of bad things, but crossing the street because there's a homeless person asleep on the sidewalk, or skirting around people who look Arabic is focusing on all the wrong things.
  
  I had a conversation about this with my dad a couple of weeks ago, particularly pertaining to children. If today's children aren't even allowed catch the bus by themselves, how are they ever going to navigate the world competently and without fear? The blunders and scrapes are how you learn. And fuck, what the hell is childhood without climbing trees (and occasionally falling out of them)? I am afraid for the day when the kids I see on leashes today are going to be running our world.
  
  
• Santa Cruz is beautiful, ya'll. It's sunny and warm in the afternoons, though it does get a bit chilly at night. (Disclaimer: My standards of cold are skewed). xturncoatxiii and I are staying at a windy Victorian house with stairs that lead to nowhere and perfectly coiffed sitting rooms. Our room on the third floor has a sloping roof and a divan by the windows. We wander around downtown and sit in cafes and clown around in awesome little vintage stores. Oh god we are so schmoopy. I could stay here for the rest of ever.
  

Book Review!

This book is not for the squeamish. Westerfeld has a brand new take on vampires, and these definitely don't sparkle. In fact, vampires are actually people that have been infected with parasites. ( Read More... )