***UPDATE: All blogs are now showing up as properly updated!!! YAY! But I’d still like your input…
———————–
My suspicion is that our success is becoming our downfall: The Queer Canada Blogs blogroll now lists 217 blogs, but some of them are not getting bumped to the top of the list when they are updated. As one of the troubled blogs in question is that of my lover, and another is a favourite of mine (Rigo’s Open Letter!), I’m quite put out that things are not working as they should.
Is the problem simply that we have too many blogs for Blogger’s Blog List gadget? Or is it just buggy in general?
I’m now trying out the Link List gadget, instead of the Blog List.
I’ve also copied most of the blogs over into BlogRolling, but I don’t think that link can be ordered by most recently updated (the option is there, but apparently not functioning?), which makes it rather unappealing for QCB.
We have a WordPress version of the blogroll, but the WP blogroll (Links) widgets aren’t great so that doesn’t seem to be an option.
Does anyone have any advice on how we could make the QCB blogroll more functional, ie. with some sort of hosted blogroll site, or a thirdparty gadget/widget that we could plug into the Blogger or WordPress versions of the site?
Mae and I would like the project to eventually have its own URL, along with all sorts of nice stuff such as blogs sorted by category, blogger profiles, maybe a queer bloggers forum, and how-tos for wannabe bloggers. I don’t think the timing is right for that right now, given how stretched thin she and I both are in terms of our other commitments*, but I’m interested to know if any readers have thoughts on how that could work.
Thanks in advance for your contributions!
*In my case, to the point where I’ve neglected replying to recent comments on this blog… I’m sorry! I’ll get there soon! Please don’t give up on me!
Nomination are currently open for the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards and will close on Saturday, November 21st.
As you may know, the Queer Canada Blogs blogroll is choc full of excellent blogs written by talented bloggers… Now is you chance to show a blogger how much you appreciate their hard work, by entering their name into the running for an award!
Suggested categories include:
- GLBT (Obviously! Though I’m not sure where this puts those of us who identify as queer…)
- Overall
- Blog Post
- Blog Post Series
- Personal
- Family
- Photo/Art
- Humour
- Political
…And these are just the ones for which I’m nominating my favourite blogs!
Check out the full categories listing and fill out the nomination form at the CBA website.
We’re here, we’re queer, we’re taking over teh internets…
It began to rain as I biked to school this morning. When I turned onto the road that takes me out of the city towards the rural-urban fringe where the trades campus is located, the sunlight that had shone earlier in the morning gave one last hurrah: A rainbow appeared across the sky ahead of me, with one end seeming to point to the college. Ha! I thought to myself. If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past months, it’s that rainbows are not particularly welcome around here, at least not the kind that celebrate sexual and gender diversity.
Of course, I’m more likely to wave a black flag than a rainbow one, but still. The point remains.
Then I was thinking of the other meaning of the rainbow: There’s a pot of gold at the end, right? Which I suppose is really a more accurate reading of this sign, if I want to take it as one.
For the first time in my life, I’m developing a career. When I was younger, jobs were only for the purpose of paying rent and careers were for sell-outs bowing down to the man. When I was a university student, and then afterwards when I worked at a research institute, concepts and critical analysis were what mattered, and jobs depended on who I could impress and what grants they could secure. All of my previous ideas for my financial future were either unsustainable or impractical: Silkscreening instructor, website manager, stained glass artisan, bike mechanic, graphic designer, radio show host…
I don’t mean that these aren’t great possibilities for some folks, but given my skills and my personality, none of them were logical choices unless I was going to simultaneously invest a whole lot of energy into expanding my knowledge. Which I wasn’t: I wanted them to just happen.
Even the idea of becoming a university professor: I think I’d be a rad prof, but you know what? I hate writing academic papers. Loathe it, in fact. Producing my honours thesis was a horrid experience, one that I’d question repeating. So really, while a return to academia is on my to-do list, it’s waaaaaaaay down at the bottom, after “have kids” and “bike across canada” and even “learn to speak Irish”. Why on earth was I considering making a living as an academic?!!!
Which is a long way of saying that even when trade school hasn’t been welcoming and I’ve felt frustrated by the way things are organized around here, I’m very happy to be on my way to being an electrician. Being qualified in a trade excites me, because I’ll be useful for both my problem-solving ability and my dexterity, and for the most part will be able to depend on making a steady living wage based upon those skills.
Also, I’m rather good at it: I am proud to report that I just scored 98% on an exam regarding calculating ampacities for different conductor applications.
i almost forgot, until i read it on some other blog:
National Blog Posting Month STARTS TOMMOROW!
for all the newbies, this is a challenge in which your goal is to post a blog entry every single day for an entire month.
last year was my first NaBloPoMo, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. i didn’t even manage to post every day, despite how easy i thought that’d be! what i *did* accomplish was finding a whole online community: some i met on the NaBloPoMo forums, and others i found on my own while searching the internets for blog post topic ideas.
one of the bloggers from this latter category is, of course, mae callen ( i googled “queer sailor blog”, in case you were wondering)… which led me to her queer ottawa blogroll… which morphed into queer canada blogs when she invited me to join in with the project… which may very well be how you, dear reader, arrived at my blog today!
the point is, i have fond associations with NaBloPoMo 2008, because it made me feel like i was connected to other bloggers.
so, i’m trying to kindle some of that magic for NaBloPoMo 2009! there are lots of different ways to do the challenge: some folks do it all year round (!!!), some stick with the original idea of an annual event that last for only the month of november, some do the challenge on their own, and some choose to join the official NaBloPoMo website.
personally, i’m just doing november, and i’ve joined the site.
i’ve also made a Queer Canada Blogs NaBloPoMo group, which acts as a discussion forum: i welcome all of you to join in.
when i get some time, i’d also like to make some QCB-specific NaBloPoMo badges… suggestions are welcome!
maybe i’ll even make a prize, for the QCB blogger(s) who succeed(s) in making it through the month?
now, it’s time to strategize, and line up some blogging topics, and dig through my drafts folder for something i can dust off on those inevitable upcoming days when the LAST THING I WANT TO DO IS BLOG but still will, because i like a good challenge.
Listening to the radio while washing post-breakfast dishes, I was sickened by a report that there is a bill before the Ugandan parliament to not simply outlaw homosexuality, but to make it a crime for a person to not report anyone they believe to be queer. I couldn’t turn off the program, not even as the journalist spoke of being unable to find a queer Ugandan willing to speak on-air for fear of persecution.
It absolutely terrifies me, to know that this is the reality for people like me in other parts of the world. I feel exhausted by classmates who don’t take me seriously when I object to their casual homophobia, and yet my frustration is just the tip of the iceberg for global human rights and respect.
S.U.M. happened by on a laundry run, and shared my anxious outrage as I hugged Mo, who kindly responded by falling asleep in my arms. It’s scary, agreed S.U.M., and I was relieved that she didn’t simply tell me it’s happening elsewhere so I shouldn’t worry. I *do* worry, because those same ideas of hate are what make queers unsafe the world over. Even when we aren’t being imprisoned and killed by others, we are being made to imprison and kill ourselves, out of fear and self-loathing generated by the same homophobic oppression.
You can listen to the podcast and read more on the webpage of CBC’s The Current.
Also, check out the blog of the blogger who did an email interview with The Current, Gay Uganda.
(In case it isn’t obvious, I did school tasks from home again today, and no, my mood has still not improved. In fact, I may never leave the house again… Though I suppose that would really limit my career prospects as an electrician, not to mention the annoyance it would cause my lover. Hmmmm. I’ll work on it.)
queer canada blogs, our blogroll featuring queers in canada as well as canadian queers living elsewhere, now has its very own blog review column in capital xtra, aka the ottawa edition of canada’s big queer newspaper. as usual, mae callen is responsible: i’m just the latecomer, tagging along and thrilled to be given the opportunity to take part!
mae kicked it all off in august with a look at The Naked Black Guy, followed by my first review in the september issue, in which i reveal to the world how much i love queer parenting blogs. today we got word that they want us to keep the reviews coming! hurrah! i’m hoping that it’ll get picked up by the paper’s other editions too.
a note on “fame”: mae and i are both writing under our online pseudonyms, because that’s how we blog and it’d be uncomfortable to out our real-life selves for this project, especially considering that we’re specifically writing about our blog communities. i wouldn’t have it any other way! and yet, it’s a bit sad, because i’ve finally got an article published in a real paper, and yet i can’t even clip it out to show my mom because there’s no way i’d want her to read my blog. it’s a double edged sword, my friends.
while we’re talking about QCB, guess what? there’s a chance that mae and i might finally meet IN PERSON next week when i’m in toronto!!! how very exciting is that.
(want more on casual homophobia at trade school? see part 1 and part 2)
so yeah, last week i reached a breaking point with school, which unhappily coincided with having two puppies demanding attention and 4 am pee-trips to the great outdoors.
not enough sleep + 10 weeks of constant homophobic submersion = one fucking mad fg
the coursework itself is still great: i’m not racing ahead anymore but still keeping pace, and mostly enjoying the assignments. on a personal level, i also enjoy most of my classmates: i crack jokes, they laugh, i am redeemed for years of social exclusion in elementary school, we all win.
HOWEVER. every single fucking day, these classmates have declared things they hate to be “gay”, and insulted one another with “fag” or “homo” or even “fudgepacker”. WTF, PEOPLE???
i was going to write here all about my amazing success with calling classmates on their bullshit, but i couldn’t keep up. after the initial good interactions (of which i am happy to report there were several), i started getting a helluva lot of the following responses:
“i didn’t know you were gay.”
“it’s just that i always hear that sort of talk around me.”
“some of my best friends are gay and they don’t mind when i say that.”
“i didn’t know you’d hear me.”
double-yew tee eff. yeah, i realize that you’re uncomfortable cuz i’ve just pointed out that you’re behaving like a bigot, but please don’t try to foist responsibility for that bullshit onto somebody else.
like i said, i couldn’t keep up, and it was very very very wearing. especially since no one else ever says anything: they will chat with me during breaks, they will ask for my help on assignments, they will share jokes with me, but not a single one will tell another student to lay off the anti-gay comments.
so last thursday i talked to one of the supervisors, and basically had a mini-meltdown in her office. her focus was on making sure that i’d be able to succeed in the program, and so she offered to arrange a study space for me in the library: thanks, but no thanks. i *like* being in the classroom, i just don’t like being subjected to hate speech. besides, i told her, that wouldn’t change anything: these people need to know that queers are EVERYWHERE (whether you recognize us or not!) and they be told that it is unacceptable to talk the way they do, and they need to hear it from someone with authority.
on friday i was absent, because i was en route to the mainland, to rock out at the photovoltaics course.
the supervisor said that she’d talk to the whole program at morning roll-call that day, and make it clear that using homophobic language is grounds for dismissal.
not sure how it went, but today was a good day at school: people didn’t treat me any different, and i also didn’t hear any of the usual ear-pollution. if this keeps up, if these people learn that homophobia is unacceptable AND that queers are everyday classmates/coworkers/neighbours/etc. WHO WILL NOT SIMPLY SHUT UP AND DISAPPEAR, well then… i think we might just stand a fighting chance.
a crappy day, due to the wearing effects of spending my daylight hours with immature people whose overly-brandished opinions offend me.
actually, it’s not their opinions: it’s their casual bigotry, which is too fucking thoughtless to be granted the status of “opinion”.
many of the older students have graduated from our program in these past few days, including the ones with whom i had the most in common, leaving me surrounded by (young, white, able-bodied, privileged, male) offensive loudmouths.
i don’t really want to talk about it; i just want to cook.
with that in mind, i’m going to tell you how i make bread.
*****
last winter, i had a bread machine with which i produced delicious wholewheat molasses bread. it was pretty damn good, but required too many ingredients for daily baking. after hunting around for something simpler, i got really into making no-knead bread, which i’d previously discounted as another odd foodie obsession of my father’s. once i started making it myself, i too was hooked, because the bread is just so tasty. it reminds me of the loaves from the greek bakery i went to as a kid, that was on the danforth around the corner from my dad’s place.
the original recipe that i used came from the new y0rk t!mes; this is my wholewheat version. it’s long, but only cuz there’s more technique than ingredients.
please note that part of that technique is loooooooooooong rising periods. so, it’s less work, but it still takes awhile. plan ahead for good bread!
to make this bread, you need a cast iron pot, with a lid. i bought mine new for $100 (as one of the first pieces of mine and oats’ shared property – the other was a crockpot! yes, we are *so* homo), but you can find them cheaper and also secondhand. cast iron is awesome for all sorts of cooking, and i highly recommend investing in a good pot.
fg’s wholewheat and flax seed no-knead bread
makes 2 loaves
4 cups wholewheat flour (plus more for dusting)
2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3 cups warm water
1/4 cup flax seeds
(PART 1 – i usually do this part at bedtime)
turn the oven on to low. let it warm for a minute, then turn it off. whenever i refer to a “warm oven”, this is what i mean. it’s not hot; you should still be able to touch inside walls quite comfortably.
in a big bowl (or saucepan!), combine all the ingredients except the flax seeds.
you’ll get a shaggy, sticky dough. cover the bowl with a plate or plastic bag (i use my big saucepan cuz it has a lid), and place the whole thing in the warm oven for ~8 hours.
(PART 2 – i usually do this part at breakfast)
remove your dough from the oven; it should look a bit wet, have smoothed out in the bowl, and have some small holes on the surface.
warm the oven again, re-cover the dough, and put it back in the oven for another ~8 hours.
(PART 3 – i usually do this part after school/work)
take the dough back out of the oven, and warm the oven again. the dough should now look even wetter, and have lots of little bubbles on the surface.
dust a clean counter or large cutting board with a thick coating of flour, and sprinkle it with flax seeds.
dump your dough out into the centre of the floured area, using a spoon to get all the stringy bits if necessary.
now that your dough has worked so hard, let it rest for about 15 minutes.
working with one half of the dough at a time, shaped it into tidy round loaves by pinching the outer edge, pulling it up, and pushing it down again into the centre, as demonstrated below.
dust a clean tea towel with flour, and place the loaves on half of it, folded side down.
fold the other half of the tea towel over the loaves, tuck in the edge a little, and put back into the oven to rise.
(PART 4 – i usually do this right before dinner)
after ~1 hour, remove the loaves. they should have gotten much bigger!
cover them again, and set them aside somewhere warmish and not draftly (the counter is probably fine).
put your cast iron pot in the oven, and turn it all the way up to 450 degrees celcius. let it heat for 1/2 hour.
carefully remove your hot pot from the oven, and dump in one of the lumps of dough, with the smooth side down.
cover it with a lid, pop it back in the oven, and bake for 1/2 hour.
voila!
remove the loaf to a rack to cool, and repeat with the other lump of dough.
while that one’s baking, grab a knife and cut yourself a nice slice of that first loaf.
savour its flavour and texture, and take pride in the fact that your made it with your own hands, because you are worth it. no matter what the homophobic bastards say, your life is worth celebrating.
_classmate a, to classmate b_
what a FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG!
_me, looking up from my desk a few feet away_
that’s completely inappropriate.
_classmate a_
oh! right! hey, i’m sorry… uh… sorry… i shouldn’t have said that… i never will again, okay?
_me_
yeah, cuz it’s completely inappropriate.
_classmate a, shrugging_
i’m sorry… it’s just that i was raised with that sort of talk all around me, and i just can’t help it, you know? but i AM sorry.
_me, in my head_
i don’t care if you were raised by card-carrying members of the n@zi party or the ku k1ux kl@n:in this classroom, you have no right to disrespect ANYBODY like that, GET IT? IT’S STILL COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE!!!
_me, out loud, as i put on headphones and immerse self in textbook_
yeah. well. huh.
***
they say you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, which is why i usually work hard on addressing oppressive language with proactive techniques (“wow! you just said something REALLY offensive! let’s talk about it!”).
as i’ve documented before, sometimes i’m too tired and instead just disengage and avoid my classmates so that i never have to hear their homophobic (racist, sexist, transphobic, etc etc etc) bullshit.
sometimes, though, there’s this funny alternative, in which my head is overflowing with the things i WANT to say and yet i can’t, because it seems like if i have the energy to throw THAT down, i oughta at least TRY to engage in a proactive fashion so that this dude doesn’t just walk away thinking i’m a rabid homo with an axe to grind. i get stuck between the honey and the vinegar, both of which can be pretty fucking sticky.
Gender, oppression, critical analysis, AND my most beloved of sports, bicycling! You can get it all on Part III of Monday’s edition of CBC’s The Current, when host Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed elite competitive cyclist and MTF trans person Kristen Worley.
I generally listen to the radio while cooking (canning…), and this piece was just excellent: Good commentary on the horrid treatment of Caster Semenya, and an articulate look at the bigger picture of how gender is constructed as a binary despite the natural diversity of sexes and sexual expressions.
The piece could have been improved by a look at the racial undertones of the conflict, but at this point I’m simply thrilled that there was some trans content on mainstream radio. Yay for intersectionality!
