<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Ballastexistenz]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Mel Baggs]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/author/ameliabaggs/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Stuff I&#8217;ve been&nbsp;reading.]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>I am still in a mode where my brain is prepared to take in much more than it is prepared to spit out in the form of useful words, and I am still unaware of when this is going to change.  However, I <em>have</em> for once been doing some reading of other blogs (including some fairly old stuff people have written), and therefore have links to various posts I find especially good or interesting:</p>
<p>At <a href="http://labracknell.blogspot.com/">The Perorations of Lady Bracknell</a>, there is a post called <a href="http://labracknell.blogspot.com/2009/05/chestnuts-roasting-on-open-fire.html">Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire</a>.  If you&#8217;ve ever been tempted to think, &#8220;the social model of disability says that impairments aren&#8217;t ever a problem,&#8221; or &#8220;the medical model of disability is the stuff doctors ought to be dealing in,&#8221; try to read this post.  (Well, even if you haven&#8217;t, it&#8217;s a good post.)</p>
<p>The owner of <a href="http://www.existenceiswonderful.com/">Existence Is Wonderful</a> has just rescued two feral kittens, and she and I have been using online chats to give each other the play-by-play on what our cats are doing, even when they&#8217;re sleeping (at which point we do things like try to figure out the exact genes that caused their coloring or something else like that; cats are among our oldest special interests so we never get bored).  She has written a great post called <a href="http://www.existenceiswonderful.com/2009/10/october-16-is-national-feral-cat-day.html">October 16 is National Feral Cat Day</a>, which goes into a great deal of detail about feral cats in general, and feral cats she&#8217;s dealt with in particular, and&#8230; <em>cats</em> in general.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://urocyon.wordpress.com/">Urocyon&#8217;s Meanderings</a> is a post called <a href="http://urocyon.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/snakes-and-boogers-boogers-and-snakes/">Snakes and Boogers, Boogers and Snakes</a>.  It&#8217;s about the effects on her and her family <em>to this day</em> of generations (starting at <em>least</em> in the 1700s) of kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of American Indian women and children.  And then <a href="http://urocyon.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/weight-changes-and-illness/">Weight  Changes, Illness, and Diabulimia</a>, which deals with all the things in the title, plus discussions of how medicalized fatphobia combines with racism, sexism, ableism, etc., in the author&#8217;s life.</p>
<p>At <a href="http://turnerandkowalski.wordpress.com/">Turner and Kowalski</a> there&#8217;s a post called <a href="http://turnerandkowalski.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/what-kind-of-a-blog-is-this-anyway/">What kind of a blog is this anyway?</a>  Their description pretty nearly fits the outlook I bring to this blog, although I&#8217;d never have come up with the words they used and my style is utterly and totally different from theirs.  (And I&#8217;d probably have added something about the fact that my talents lie in describing specific situations <em>as from my particular ethical perspective</em>, but that the core of what I am applying to that situation, is something that I <em>intend</em> to be read as applicable to a much wider variety of situations than the one I happen to have written about.)</p>
<p>From <a href="http://disabledfeminists.com/">FWD/Forward</a>, there&#8217;s a post called <a href="http://disabledfeminists.com/2009/10/21/the-negative-side-of-positive-thinking/">The Negative Side of Positive Thinking</a>.  This is about the scary/disgusting/dangerous flipside of the BS that is &#8220;The Secret,&#8221; the &#8220;Law of Attraction&#8221;, etc.  (Otherwise known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon">Just-world phenomenon</a>, otherwise known as if you&#8217;re oppressed or sick or in any other bad situation then it&#8217;s your own damn fault for being too negative.)</p>
<p>From <a href="http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/">Wheelchair Dancer</a> is <a href="http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2009/05/butchfemmecrip.html">Butch/Femme &#8212; Crip</a>.  About how disability meshes with gender and sexuality, and other people&#8217;s perceptions of the author in these areas.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/">Shakesville</a> is <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/04/soaking-in-normalcy-fetishism-or.html">Soaking in Normalcy Fetishism, or: The Unmiseducation of a Fatasspie</a>.  Which&#8230; hmm.  Some parts made me go &#8216;meh&#8217;, but as a whole is very interesting.  A combination of a person&#8217;s adult diagnosis of Asperger&#8217;s, and her growing realization of how messed up what she calls <i>Normalcy Fetishism</i> is.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/">Rolling Around in My Head</a>, <a href="http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/2009/10/your-daughter.html">Your Daughter</a> made me cry.   All the things that the author has seen in a woman that her parents, who abandoned her, may never see.</p>
<p>And now my eyes won&#8217;t point in the same direction, so I&#8217;m going to end this post.</p>
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