I’m looking for people who believe that the world is going to end soon, or people who pray it ends soon. If you think the rapture is around the corner or that we’re nearing the end times, I would really like to talk to you!
I would like to interview you talking about your beliefs. This can be in person, by phone or by skype. I’d like to record this interview, so I can use it as material in a musical piece that I’m writing. This piece will be played in England. Most of the people who hear it will have not previously heard the rapture described by a believer.
In order to make the music, your words will be put into a collage that makes musical sense. This does require some cutting, but I will preserve your meaning. I want to accurately convey your views, your beliefs and your hopes for the future.
This is for a 13 minute section of a longer piece of music performed by people with laptop computers. The entire thing will be an hour long. I’m calling it a “laptopera,” but it does not actually contain singing. The title of the piece will be The Death of Stockhausen. Your section does not yet have a title, but will probably include the word “Apocalypse.” The section will also include people with New Age beliefs surrounding 2012, but will make sure to differentiate their views from yours. (If you want to say anything about how the New Agers are right or wrong, I’d also like the hear that).
If you want to help, please leave a comment! Or, would you mind praying that somebody does want to help?
Tag: bleg
Do you feel like writing a letter?
I sure do miss the old days of composing reasoned missives off to other folks. But hey, there’s a veritable cornucopia of letter-writing opportunities today!
See, a few days ago, a few MTF women were sunbathing topless. Shocking, I know. Fortunately, the police were there to get involved. They told the women to please cover their boobs. [source] Think of the children! (If a child sees a breast, they perish. It’s amazing any of us survive to the age of solid food. Anyway.) Then, cue the news media.
Where should we start? The AP, which seems to have forgotten that it has a style guide, goes with the headline, “Transgender men go topless at Delaware beach“. Or there’s USA Today, with , “Topless ban at beach doesn’t apply to transgendered men with enhanced breasts.” Or literally hundreds more, because women sunbathing topless is the most exciting thing to have happened on the east coast this summer. But, I mean, if you were going to use the phrase, “transgendered men with enhanced breasts,” well, you really shouldn’t use that phrase, but if you were in a parallell universe where that phrase was remotely acceptable, you could misguidedly direct it at me. Directing it at women? Wrong wrong wrong!
So rather than go into a long post about how this is essentially an appeal for forced sterilisation for trans women and an appalling example of genital-essentialism, I’m going to ask you to write a letter. Pick one of the news outlets at random and politely correct them. (Don’t call them fucknecks, for example.) Here’s my letter to the AP:
To: info@ap.org
Dear Sir or Madam,I recently came across your article, “Transgender men go topless at Delaware beach” ( http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwg8Mfyg6HGmXI6s1QycLqxGAU8wD9G3VVO80 ). The people in question were MTF transgender women. Referring to them as “men” violates your own style guide on dealing with transgender people and is also deeply offensive.
In the future, please consider remembering that you have a style guide that deals with these issues.
Thank you for your time,
Charles Céleste Hutchins
Ok, maybe that’s a bit snarky. But this is where you come in, Cis ally! You’re against transphobia? Write one letter! Pick one news outlet and write them a short little note! Cut and paste from this note or write your own. Then leave a comment here saying who you wrote to. You can share your note too, if you want. It doesn’t take much time and maybe the editor who gets it will realise he or she has made a mistake and might even do the right thing in the future. Or maybe it will be ignored. But it’s better to write the letter than not.
Everybody, now!
Need Doggy Day Care in Brum
I’m going to be in Birmingham very shortly and I’m looking for somebody to hangout with my dog during the day Monday – Thursday. I would drop Xena by you in the morning. She would sit around and probably sleep most of the day. You would take her on one walk, or maybe two. I would come get her in the evening. I would give you £10 for your trouble that day. She could be left alone while you ran errands, for like 4 hours at a stretch. It’s a really low stress gig. Fun, too, since she’s a good dog.
If you’re interested, drop me an email at celesteh@gmail.com .
This is Xena
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As you can see, my dog is very cute. Check out how her back legs are sprawled out, frog-like. This is how she normally sits, when she sits. It means she can’t spring up too quickly. Which is ok, as she rarely springs up. A more typical portrait would have her lying down asleep.
(maybe I should get her thyroid checked, actually.)
Not that she doesn’t run around when appropriate. When this picture was taken, she had just finished chasing a ball around in the woods. So fun! So cute! But indoors, she’s more sleepy. And very quiet. She only barks when a stranger is trying to come inside by themselves. (Useful) Or if she’s tied up outside a grocery store.
If you look very closely at this photo, you will fail to find evidence of fleas or ticks. Not only because the resolution isn’t anywhere near good enough, but because she gets a treatment every month which rids her of pests and protects her against heart worm.
So, if you, in Edgbaston, East Midlands, England, who has a free room in your flat, were to rent to me, you would have a very cute pet around and a bit of additional security, but with no responsibility. You could get all the belly rubs you wanted, or let her sleep (she’s not pushy at all) and never have to pick up after her. Really, it’s perfect for you.
Did I mention that she’s small?
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Are You a feminist? Why or why not?
Video from the 4th of July shot with my camera. The audio from this will shortly be munched into a piece of music. You too can participate. Make your voice heard! I am not looking for any particular answer. However, I am looking for language diversity. So send me your answer in your favorite language: English, Esperanto, Spanish, Japanese, Klingon, etc. I’m especially looking for German, since the piece is going to premier in Austria.
Email me your answer in audio or video (with sound). Any format is ok. I will thank you in the program notes and give you a copy of the piece. Cell phone movies/recordings are ok, the internal mic on your computer, whatever. Send files to celesteh AT gmail DOT com.
This movie little clip is under a Creative Commons Attribution-only Liscence, btw. Video wants to be free.
Need: Someone with grace and good manners and who will not suddenly burst into tears to answer the telephone and the doorbell and to make calls. this could be accomplished when the family is out casket shopping and does not require interaction with the family if the volunteer chooses to avoid them. An individual may volunteer for as long or as short a time span as he or she may prefer. Please pass the word around to people you feel have grace and good manners (that’s all of you) and whom you know want to help, as not everyone reads this page. thank you very much.
Mom is still alive and not kicking. We give her lorazapam whenever she starts kicking. We have her morphine every 4 hours last night and she slept much better. She woke up at five and started reaching again. She was exceptionally alert this morning and her eyes were bright. She told Christi, “I’ve got to go.” or “I’m going to go.” Christi said “where are you going?” Mom’s been saying the I’ve got to go thing for weeks, so it may not mean anything. I’m trying to feel encouraged. A nice nun came over to pray today. Christi called her after being annoyed with the hospice volunteer. No howling wolves were invoked. It was ok.
Mom’s been awake several times today. Her breathing isn’t so great, but no near-death alarms have gone off. I haven’t really been crying today. I looked up eco-caskets online. There’s a company that makes them. Jean send out email asking people where to buy them in the area. They might be in sebastapool. where is sebastapool?
Nobody came by today. That’s ok, but it would be nice if my uncle and brother would come.
Nothing new. I’m kind of tired.
Needs
- Candles: bring them (the kind in tall glass thingees) or light them at home
- We’re out of oreos and Mother’s frosted oatmeal cookies
- Fair trade coffee. my dad’s coffee sucks
- Fair trade chocolate
- vegan comfort food
- Please ask for the phillip glass tickets for sunday and monday
None of these needs are especially pressing. except for candles. light a candle.
Matthew put little three-plug splitters all over my house. i need some of them around my parents house. i had to unplug the computer speakers to plug in the hospital bed and something else to plug in the oxygen generator. no entertainment around here. mom is in the living room, in a hospital bed. she’s actually not acting very differently than she was a few days earlier. she was unengaged then too and flailed around her arm towards some invisible object above her and looked around concernedly. now she does all of those things but her eyes are closed and she sleeps real sleep more. The hospice nurse said, “I’ll see you thursday unless your mom dies first.”
The other shortage around here is concentrated frozen orange juice. my house is swimming in it. i had ordered box delivery of three OJ cans a week, but it was based on outdated calculations of how much oj i used to drink. so i cut it back to a can a week. that still is a bit high, only because i am lazy about washin gthe pitcher. if we had magic elves washing the pitcher, i’d drink a can a wek. so my home has a big excess and my parent’s home, soon to be just my dad’s home has none. or few. i didn’t check. they always buy minute maid which is bitter and a cocacola product and i don’t like think about pesticides, banana republics and opressed workers over my oj, sicne i drink it in the morning right off. i want to wait until after the comics.
Oj is also an afternoon drink. it’s the ultimate in comfort food. it’s full of sugar and empty calories. it’s only saving grace is probably vitamin c and sometimes calcium, which i don’t eat enough of. but empty calories are better than no calories. and i really want a glass of oj right now, since i’ve been crying all day. and i want the sugar too. Even the organic apple juice is all gone. i poured myself the last glass of it and discovered it was tea. medicinal tea t promote calm. so i drank it anyway.
I think I am going to esperanto class tonight. but i don’t want to go to the opera tomorrow. i’m not even sure about class tonight. actually, i don’t want to go.