We start our lives as the whole of the universe. Reality is completely comprised of our perceptions and any “outside” object that is blocked from our senses puffs out of existence. Eventually, we learn object permanence, and we recognized that things outside us actually do exist on their own, but
Continue readingTag: Culture
Scripturient: Does anyone still read books?
I came across an early version of this infographic on Facebook and it shook me to my core. You can see it here. The updated and corrected infographic is shown to the right. It is only marginally less distressing than the earlier one. Unfortunately, the early one, although inaccurate and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Clear the Way for the Prophets of Rage
When a friend first told me that members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill were joining forces to “Make America Rage Again” with a musical “super group” called the Prophets of Rage, I was suspect. Of course, I love these bands and their politically-charged music, but
Continue readingScripturient: Tough Times for Print Media
It’s not like the halcyon days when I first started writing for newspapers, back in late 1969. Today, print media is struggling to survive in a world dominated by digital media and mega-corps owners (although not so hard it can’t pay its CEOs and executives several million dollars while they
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Spiritual Strivings – W.E.B. Du Bois
The story from the other side, to feel what others feel and appreciate and understand what their experience is like is the first step in resolving the injustices that mar our history and continue to sicken our experiences as we move forward. “I remember well when the shadow crept
Continue readingScripturient: Leonard Cohen deserves the Nobel Prize, too
News that songwriter Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature shook the literati worldwide. Here was a pop icon sitting in the august company of Alice Munro, Mario Vargas Llosa, Doris Lessing, Harold Pinter, V.S. Naipaul, Gabriel García Márquez, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Yasunari Kawabata, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Bernard Shaw,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: U.N. Picks Powerful Feminist (Wonder Woman) for Visible Job (Mascot)
Well, time for a different sort of cringe-worthy news item. The United Nations has made an Onion worthy press release. Unfortunately, this isn’t satire. “The United Nations just rejected seven female candidates vying to lead the global organization. Now, to promote women and girls, it is picking a cartoon
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Canada’s RCMP and Systemic Sexism – What Patriarchy Looks Like
This is the same RCMP that just got its ass sued for $100 million dollars because of its misogynistic treatment of women. A quick snip from that story – “We hurt you. For that, I am truly sorry.” Those were the words from RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson to every woman
Continue readingScripturient: The bucket list, kicked
Nowadays the “bucket list” concept has become a wildly popular cultural meme, thanks to the movie of the same name. Subsequent marketing of the idea to millennials has proven a successful means to derive them of their income, with which they seem eager to part. I don’t like the concept.
Continue readingScripturient: Hypergraphia
An article in the September, 2016, issue of Doctor’s Review looks at the curious, compelling affliction called hypergraphia: the obsessive need to write. I never knew before this that there was an actual illness of this sort. As someone who is often driven by a deep compulsion to write, I am both
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Get Used to It!
Sometimes there are things you shouldn’t get used too… http://socialuprooting.tumblr.com/post/15149510298 Filed under: Culture Tagged: Get used to it!, Learning, Matriarchy
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Story Time: Affirming the Status-quo and the Utility of Identity Politics
A conversation gleaned from Stardate Whenever – “I was chatting with one of my managers and he told me he does drag performance and identifies as genderqueer. Which, you know, obviously I disagree with that terminology. He had just been reprimanded at work for wearing makeup. In the same
Continue readingScripturient: Wrinkles: a review
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. It’s the phrase that highlights the entrance to Hell in Dante’s Inferno. It could just as easily by carved above the entrances to many nursing and retirement homes. I recalled that phrase as we watched the 2011 animated film, Wrinkles, last night. Susan thought it the most depressing … Continue reading “Wrinkles: a review”
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Feminist Quote of the Day – Meghan Murphy on Leftists.
“One cannot simultaneously call oneself a leftist while defending a multi billion dollar industry that profits from the exploitation and degradation of women. One cannot call oneself “progressive” while refusing to stand up against the commodification of women and while refusing to challenge an industry that depends upon the absolute selfishness of men who […]
Scripturient: Neanderthals: a love story
Squat, hairy, broad shoulders, a big nose, beetle-browed with a low forehead. As Blind Willie McTell wrote in his classic song, Statesboro Blues, “I know ain’t good lookin’, but I swear I’m some sweet woman’s angel child.” That line might have been written for early Neanderthal cousins. First described as dim-witted and brutish, our more … Continue reading “Neanderthals: a love story”
Continue readingPostArctica: Roadsworth Mural in Little Burgundy.
Stumbled on to this large mural that was apparently completed yesterday in Little Burgundy. The guys you see in the picture are applying anti graffiti coatings to the work and […]
Dead Wild Roses: How You Deal with Sexism – The Neil DeGrasse Tyson Edition
It must be said, we are fans of Neil Degrasse Tyson here at DWR. 🙂 Sure, this is a twitter conversation, but I’m confident that NDT would react similarly outside of the digital world. What are men supposed to do if they cannot be feminists? You do what NDT has done right here, you identify […]
Dead Wild Roses: Next Gen Men? – Enter teh Wolf Pack?
An organization for men to deal with men’s problems? How bad could it be? Let’s take a look at their manifesto: “Wolf Pack aims to tackle the challenges of social isolation amongst adult men by helping foster social connection and new friendships through vulnerable and supportive conversations around topics of depth. Our Wolf Pack groups […]
Scripturient: Wolf Hall reviewed
I have just finished watching the six-part BBC series, Wolf Hall, based on the two novels by Hilary Mantel. I am also about halfway through my reading of the first of the two, Wolf Hall (with Bring up the Bodies waiting in the bedside pile). The serie…
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Rio 2016 – Sexism Alive and Well with Elizabeth Plank
One of the frustrations that women experience is that people don’t believe them when they point out sexism in society. So, now thanks to Elizabeth Plank and Vox we can get a newscast rundown of the sexism that pervades our society and of course, the Olympic games. Enjoy? As always, if you’re wondering if we […]