Holiday Gallimaufry (& call for knitting help)

CALL FOR HELP: Knitters and WWI/WWII historians - I need info on knitting in the World Wars, particularly on soldiers doing theraputic knitting. (This is for a Jack fic that has suddenly eaten my brain.) I've looked at the Red Cross website and the patterns there, and there's one Canadian hospital story in one of my knitting books. British info as opposed to American/Canadian would help *tremendously.*

The plot has already gone through a couple mutations and it's still twisting as it gels; more data will help nail it into final shape. Lots of Estelle.


TREATS: The f-list is full of treats today!

From nnwest: Michael Shanks talking about Jack/Daniel character dynamics "Chris turned to Rick & I and said 'You guys are queers.' And the worst part of it was, I couldn't disagree with him!"

From karenmiller: Cirque du Soliel acrobats blow my mind. Dude! She's en pointe! On His Shoulder!! ON HIS HEAD!!! That's so incredible and beautiful, I got chills.

From jigglykat & spastasmagoria: Torchwood Babiez Halloween Special Now with added Martha! (I have got to ask if I can turn that Martha into an icon. She's delightful.) Rose's costume made me laugh like a hyena.


And now it is time for me to lace on my boots and bodice, smack my pirate hat on top of my head, and go buy breakfast. Because when you're all dressed up to pillage, there's no point in eating peanut butter on bread at home.

About Damn Time, Woman!

Karen Hughes is leaving Government service at the end of the year.

About damn time, woman!

From the moment she was rewarded for putting Bush in office with a State Department job burnishing the image of the United States abroad, she has not been just a national, but an international embarrassment to herself and the Administration she serves.

It's not just that the Associated Press notes Polls show no improvement in the world's view of the U.S. since Hughes took over.

It's that this is a woman who the British called most parochial person ever to hold a senior state department appointment. Who popped off profundities like "Government policies really affect people’s lives."

Who stood in front of an audience of Saudis and told them how she'd answered the questions of an Egyptian official by citing the Constitution.

Wrongly.

I had one person at one lunch raise the issue of the President mentioning God in his speeches. And I asked whether he was aware that previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our Constitution cites "one nation under God." He said "well, never mind" and went on to something else.

It's hard not to think that maybe he changed the subject because there's no talking to someone that ignorant of the country they're supposed to be talking up. Whose goverment they're part of. That maybe someone who doesn't know the fucking difference between the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the 1954 amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance shouldn't be permitted to open their mouth about religion OR politics, much less in front of a Muslim audience in defense of a nonexistant pro-Christian clause in regard to what is widely seen as a modern Christian crusade against a soverign Muslim nation?

(Would you be surprised to hear that I ranted about this at the time?)


And what does Ms. Incompetent say about the image that she splattered still further?

"This will take a number of years," Hughes said of the challenge of improving the world's view of the U.S., calling it a "long-term challenge."

Well at least she'll have enough time to sit at home and finally read the Constitution. If she's crunched for time, maybe she could just try the Bill of Rights. Just the first one might be an eyeopener.

Nifty!

Via hildy: The Teaching Company has a free downloadable MP3 lecture on witchcraft in history

This lecture is from [Professor Ruiz's] course The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition.

In this lecture, you will learn what Europeans believed witches did and how it was thought that people joined covenants of witches. You will explore the nocturnal gatherings of witches and wild accusations of child sacrifices, cannibalism, and sexual excesses characteristic of the "witch craze." Why did Europeans in the late medieval period seize on a widespread belief in witchcraft and Satanism?

You may download this lecture and listen to it at your computer, transfer it to your iPod or MP3 player, or burn it to a CD.

Access your free lecture online between now and December 31, 2007.

I haven't listened to it yet, but I love The Teaching Company like cookies; with very few exceptions I've always found their lectures informative and fascinating. (Check my academia link)

(no subject)

Drabble rec: Werewolf A Torchwood 3 sequel to "Bad Wolf."

Can't Win for Losing

A large part of the discussion of racism in New Who has centered around the couples shown. While multi-racial couples are, I'm told, far more common in Britain than in America, black fans complained that all of the black characters in a romantic relationship were shown in love with white characters - worse, white characters who did not value them as partners. Rose abandoned Mickey, protested his inclusion on the TARDIS, and joked around with the Doctor while ignoring Mickey three feet away. Martha, who attracted a fair number of white characters that she had to leave at the end of each episode, was attracted to the Doctor, who alternately relied on her, flirted with her, and ignored her, to the point where she repeatedly said that she felt he couldn't see her or made her feel second best. These were the reasons she explicitly cited when she left. Even Martha's father, who had been part of a minority couple, broke it up to go chasing a shallow white golddigger, who reduced him to whining after her as she broke up and stomped out of his own son's birthday party.

I've read these arguments. I have been persuaded by these arguments. Since new Who has shown stable white/white relationships, I agree it's past time that they show a successful black/black one.

I hope you'll forgive the slight spoiler if I say that Clyde flirts with a black girl in one of the Sarah Jane Adventures. While pulling soniclipstick together, I found and linked to the Behind the Sofa review of that episode. Here's what they had to say about that moment. (Language warning, and some of it's mine):

Oh no. Not the "Black characters have to have black love interests" cliche. Not the "Keep yer damn n*gger paws off our whaaaaaht womenfolk" bullshit.

... the fuck? If that's the reaction, then the writers don't stand a chance in hell of setting up any relationship that won't get them accused of racism, unless it's possibly black/other minority.

But... IS that the reaction? I'm asking - is your gut reaction to watching a black character flirt with another black one in Who "Damnit, they're telling him to keep in his place!" or "About damn time!"

I can't say that the SJA has been free of the same racist attitudes that have threaded through Doctor Who and Torchwood, although I am encouraged by the most recent episode, which I think shows sudden, significant improvement - while Nos thinks it's being really egregiously racist yet again, so obviously there's a lot of wriggle room for interpretation. (Spoilers for Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane, pt 1, needless to say.)

But romantically - what do you think? What kind of romantic relationships do you want to see a black character have in the Whoniverse? What kind of romantic relationships do you feel will *not* carry a racist subtext?