Posts by Islander
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Southerly: Coming Up For Air, in reply to Hebe,
Ngai Tahu should hang their heads in shame for joining in.
As a Kai Tahu, I totally agree.
Note: there is NO overall tribal consultation for these kind of decisions. They're made by the business hierarchy of TRONT. -
Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to Deborah,
Le Guin really needed to use a gender neutral pronoun.
Yes. It was after reading TLHOD, and realising I was more than a bit androgynous, that I invented a gender-neutral set of pronouns. In English, 'it' doesnt work, and 'she' and 'he' are way too loaded.
It's interesting too, because through her anthropologist parents, Le Guin had access to societies that *did* have gender-neutral pronouns (not necessarily for humans though...)
-
Capture: Roamin' Holiday, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Nottaweta! But, undoubtedly drier-
-
Up Front: Towards a Sex-Positive Utopia, in reply to BenWilson,
Ursula Le Guin is, for me, THE BEST anthropological scientific fantasy/fiction writer EVAH-
really...
She had fascinating parents - but, much as I loved their works (and I have, since I was a teenager) she has surpassed them...
"Dispossessed" one thing; "The Left hand of Darkness" = quite another. -
Hard News: War, now and then, in reply to Russell Brown,
Russell -there was none of the white feather stuff going on in the "2nd World War"
but there was enormous pressure for people who seemed like suitable young male recruits to BE so- one my beloved uncles was discovered to have tuberculous-scarred lungs and so couldnt go overseas with his 2 best hunting mates...outside of family areas he was frequently hassled as being not in uniform (and for being Maori!) No-win/no win.And that RSA culture- fuck o dear.
-
Hard News: War, now and then, in reply to Lilith __,
Lilith- what a strait and toxic position for families to be in…very well done your father…
My father wanted to be an airforce pilot* – was discovered to have serious heart disease (he died of it in 1958) and wound up a supplies sergeant in the RNZAF. I think it blighted the last of his
short – but very public, prolific & otherwise productive- life.
*He certainly had the physical & mental & reactive & spatial skills ( which all his kids gained, genetically) and an added hunting/killing skill (which 3 of his acknowledged kids have) which would've made him a gun -fighter pilot.
Dead just now. -
Capture: Roamin' Holiday, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Will be home next weekSofie - to all my insect books & resources - what excellent photos!- look forward to finding out about the creature!
-
Hard News: The war over a mystery, in reply to Simon Grigg,
<q>I’d add Philip Sturm, another case that glared false conviction – essentially railroaded into a cell and bankruptcy because the police didn’t like him. Guilty of being an pretty unpleasant person living a sleezy lifestyle – little else.
Worrying…I wonder how many others? Who dont have a positive media profile of any kind,
and possibly insufficient representation in court- -
Hard News: The war over a mystery, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Exactly!
While I respect HOR Ransome's especial expertise, he's being a bit of an arsehole here. The "professionals of Group x" spiel was silly. Whitebaiters know glass -eels: water-boaters know a ketch from a sloop. Damning individual expertise with totally unsupported comment sets you right back, HOR Ransome, with some of your targets. -
Hard News: The war over a mystery, in reply to Russell Brown,
If he'd added Ellis, I would so totally agree-
those cases stick out like gangrenous thumbs trying to hitchhike justice according to our law-(way way back: also Minnie Dean...)