Journal Entries
I Am Thankful For:
Posted Nov 23, 2007
It was the American Thanksgiving holiday today, and it's something of a tradition to announce what you're thankful for. I thought I'd list a few things, assuming that the usual business about having food and shelter and loved ones has been said:
Being alive. Having friends who are more than superficial. The ability to express myself verbally. Life experience - whether it be travelling around the world or taking summer intensive Latin or all that "teenage stuff". Intellectual curiosity. People who read my journal posts. The inspiration and mental purity that accompany the wee hours of the night. The ability to bullshit successfully, and the ability to tell the difference between bullshit and honesty. Times when I'm taken seriously. The women's liberation movement. Things that make me feel validated. People who will listen to me pontificate about "TMI" topics. School teachers who have given me hope and someone to talk to and somewhere to go at lunch. My own personal drummer with his distinctive beat.
What are you thankful for?
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Latest reply: Nov 23, 2007
Interested in opinions about society's perception of bisexuality
Posted Oct 26, 2007
Hey folks, I've suddenly developed an interest in trying to do a bit of mini-research about bisexuality and how it's perceived in western, particularly American, society - whether that be mainstream society or the LGBT community. It was occurring to me today that while gay and lesbian folks are becoming increasingly accepted socially and legally, and while that acceptance in turn has engendered a movement to gain acceptance for transgender folks, bisexuals seem to be largely left out of this mix. For example: the University of California offers scholarships that you can apply for if you are gay or lesbian - not "LGBT," just "gay or lesbian" - and just today I noticed an advertisement for a blog that discussed financial issues for "gay, lesbian and transgender" people - no mention of bisexuals there either.
I was thinking this might have something to do with the fact that bisexuals can easily be "normalized" because sometimes they find themselves in straight relationships, or in other similarly ... what's the word... heteronormative? situations. Another thing to consider is that "bisexual" is probably the least encompassing of the orientations in the four-letter acronym (yes, I know there are other acronyms that might include other words that might be more inclusive). In my experience I've encountered multiple people who choose the "bisexual" label because it's the best option available, but not because it's the perfect label for them. Could this lead to a lack of cohesiveness in any sort of bisexual community, which might lead to a lack of recognition for bisexuals? Also, a lot of people - queer and straight alike - seem fairly uninformed about bisexuality, some to the extent of "not believing in it," which could also be a factor.
But I'm not sure - this could be just me looking to complain about being a marginalized bisexual - pissed off that I couldn't check the box for an extra scholarship on the UC application, sick of people telling me "Oh, you're bisexual? I don't really believe in bisexuality," and confused myself as to whether that's the best label that history and the current LGBT community could pick to describe people like me.
So. I'd like your opinions please; I don't particularly care what you call yourself - though it would be nice to have a representative sample of straight folks, bisexual folks and queer folks who aren't bisexual, though that might just be wishful thinking on my part. You can post here or send me an email at echomromeo AT gmail DOT com - though I'm sorry I don't have a more anonymous way of allowing comments to be submitted.
If there's any "safe" places you think I could cross-post this on h2g2, too, please let me know. I was a little leery of posting in Ask because who knows what random trolls this topic would engender.
Thanks!
EMR
Discuss this Journal entry [26]
Latest reply: Oct 26, 2007
I just remembered
Posted Sep 25, 2007
And it was only after reading Mina's journal about her eight years... but today is the day that marks the three-year anniversary of my involvement with h2g2.
I was fourteen, lo these many years ago, when, after reading about "h2g2.com" in So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, I decided to check it out. Now, three years isn't a long time to most people, but to a teenager that time is astronomical. Now I'm over halfway through my seventeenth year and so mch has happened to me that it's quite impossible to list it all.
h2g2 has been responsible for a great deal of my adolescent emotional development - problem is, I'm sort of moving from adolescence into young adulthood, and I'm starting to find other ways to spend my time. But h2g2 always will have a special place in my heart, because the friends I've made here and everything that's happened ... I dunno. I can't explain it so articulately except to say that I'm proud to be celebrating three years. And despite the fact that I still haven't finished my sub-editing batch, I'm not exactly gone yet.
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Latest reply: Sep 25, 2007
I just unsubbed from Peer Review
Posted Sep 18, 2007
I feel like a low and dirty human being... but there just wasn't any point to those conversations I no longer read.
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Sep 18, 2007
Computers and College
Posted Jul 1, 2007
Well... university to you all. As you may have guessed, I'm back from the wilds of BC - I love that province, but my oh my is it nice to be reunited with my computers.
Speaking of my computers, in the attempt to rig up my little harem better, I need to make a trip to the electronics store as soon as possible - it's one of those warehouse-type stores where you can find everything, but it's across town on the freeway so I don't know if my parents will let me drive there. But the object is to get two of the computers running faster so that they'll better support their systems (and so that one will support its system at all), set up a switch so that the two desktop computers only need one monitor, keyboard and mouse between them, and get internet going into the second desktop (since neither of my desktops has PC card slots, and so can't easily connect to the wireless network in my house, I've been routing the connection through one of my laptops via ethernet). Once I get all that done, I can install Solaris on the newest desktop, in the interests of erasing Windows from that hard drive ASAP. I'm really looking forward to checking out Solaris - the DVD came in the mail the other day.
The other major part of my life right now is starting the enormous university applications process. For competitive students in the States it's a huge undertaking. I was pleased to finally get my results back on all the entrance exams (that's more or less what the SATs are) and they were all very good, except for one math score which was sort of average. I was very surprised by how well I did, actually. In any case, these are the universities, as of right now, to which I will be applying:
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
McGill University (Montreal, QC, Canada)
University of California-Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
Reed College (Portland, OR)
Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT)
University of California-Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
That's more or less in order of preference, though McGill and Berkeley are kind of tied, as are the three colleges.
The next step (and the largest one) is the actual filling-in of the application forms, writing essays, getting letters of recommendation, submitting financial aid requests, etc. Princeton, Swarthmore, Reed and Middlebury all use the "Common Application", a form that's accepted by a number of private universities and colleges across the US. That was the first of the four applications I need to fill in to be available - at midnight last night - so I started putting in the easy things, like my own information, my parents' information, my school's information, and my test scores and my schedule of classes for next year. I kind of enjoy filling in forms, but I'm just starting to realise what an enormous process it is. The sheer volume of essays and "personal statements" to write is astonishing. It's a good thing I'm starting early.
I start university Latin tomorrow, which is my summer activity, I made good money yesterday playing a wedding with a string quartet, and summer is really fun when you have friends. So life is really good right now.
Any thoughts on computers, colleges, etc?
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Latest reply: Jul 1, 2007
echomikeromeo
Researcher U929375
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