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May. 5th, 2007 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urocyonI just got back in from picking up a space heater, some more antihistamines, and some Codis. That just about sums up why I have been low on posting energy, and concerned about sounding tediously cranky. It has not been completely outweighed by things like gardening and interesting travel.
On a brighter note, the boiler people are supposed to come back on Tuesday--first thing in the morning, but I'll be glad to see them anyway--to start putting in a new one. The one that went kaput was apparently installed long enough ago that they will have to add a number of things, such as thermostatic thingies on the radiators, to bring it up to current code. A tad on the expensive side, but having hot water and heat again will be worth it. It was chilly enough today, even trying to conserve heat letting the cats in and out, that I gave up and hied myself to Argos for a £14.99 space heater.
I almost wish I had gotten the plate number of that minicab that hit me in the leg a few weeks ago--I was just too surprised, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vatine was too busy loading things into our cab to see. Granted, that quadruceps was already prone to seizing up from trigger points (most of the knee pain, I've found), but it did not need bruising by a car. It's still seizing up at the slightest provocation, and is still too sore to try to massage some of it out. I don't want to sue the driver, but it might have been nice for him to get a ticket, at least, so maybe he'd think about it the next time he's tempted to ram someone who is standing still in a parking lot.
Since I have started making sure to get enough magnesium, the muscle spasms and twitches have improved a lot overall. With this acting up, though, I decided to start in again on a combination of valerian and scullcap. It makes me drowsy for a day or two, but it has helped a bit with spasms before.
Sometimes I am concerned about coming across as angry here. Granted, I more often do feel a need to write about things that have gotten under my skin, just to sort them out a bit and be able to stop ruminating. But, I think a lot of the angry perception may well come from some version what's mentioned in this excellent post. I hope I am not coming across as unrelentingly negative, in any case.
While I was out, I saw something that honestly made me sick to my stomach: a kiosk selling these. Not surprisingly, the few websites I glanced at made them look less appalling than they are. Most were small ones. It made me even more upset to see five or six small goldfish crammed into a container which maybe--and I'm being generous--held 2.5L of water. We recently did a tank upgrade for our (now not so) little fiends, 180L for three of them, and could have gone a bit larger. Seeing the display fish made me very sad indeed, and what made me even sadder was the number of people stopping to smile at them. I couldn't look for long, but two of these deathtraps were dragged out for customers while I was standing there.
I didn't know whether to cry or to start yelling at people, so I walked away. I did briefly consider quietly warning apparently interested potential customers that, erm, it's a deathtrap (in more polite terms), but wasn't sure I could handle it right then.
Heading home for some tea seemed like the best plan. I do wish I had a better idea of how to handle situations like that.
On the crankiness front, my mother directed me to this editorial in the Roanoke Times a couple of days ago.
It is fairly decent as these things go. By now, anything in the mainstream pointing out that we're still here is welcome. I am guessing that the author didn't go further into the subject mostly due to space constraints. I seem to be perseverating on it, so feel a need to expand a bit.
I won't even go into the overarching question of what actual benefits these groups are likely to get from federal recognition. That could fill multiple volumes with crankiness.
However, it would not have been granted if the tribes' chiefs hadn't relinquished future gambling rights. That provision unfairly demands of Virginia's indigenous people concessions to their sovereignty that no other tribes have been asked to bargain away.
Erm, I do not think that is correct. It is a fairly standard stipulation these days, unfortunately. I do not know how many groups have actually been recognized under this ultimatum, however.
Native Americans were erased from paper but not from reality. Tribes, located mostly in Southeast Virginia, clung to their culture and heritage, even if in secrecy.
This should read "Tribes which granted the incomers diplomatic recognition, located mainly in Southeast Virginia". In most cases, they did not have much choice in the matter, actually serving as a buffer for the rest of us due to geography, but this is still an important distinction.
Tom McElwain gives a good description of the approach others of our ancestors had some leisure to take here, under the heading "The Use of the Mingo Language". Our ancestors (Siouan, Iroquoian, what have you) took in quite a few refugees from further east (and north, and...), much as the Mohawks did. They got to hear quite a bit about the settlement first hand, I am sure, and chose not to lend the invaders enough legitimacy to negotiate with them. Just because they did not make treaties does not mean that they were not there, and that their descendents are not there still.
Based on some of the author's own arguments, he should agree. Unfortunately he might not know any better. I recall my mother talking to a Pamunkey lady who was in town for a (Native issues) conference, probably ten years ago. That lady was previously unaware that the western part of the state had Indians, ever. Seeing a bunch of us on the street had disabused her of that official notion before she met my mom. I must add that she was not surprised; as she put it, "This is Virginia."
Divide and conquer, indeed.
Speaking of which, I did see here that the Monacans are included in the bill. They were the last Virginia-recognized group. Even since then, a couple of Monacans have publically mentioned that my mother's people were historically part of their confederation--there was a lot of name confusion as well--but I have my doubts that many Monacans will want to mention the link if/when they have federal recognition. There has already been some nastiness, I understand, concerning other groups trying to get state recognition.
Will people ever stop squabbling over crumbs? *sigh*
It's very discouraging sometimes. I keep being surprised by things that should be old hat by now.
Births had to be registered as white or "colored," leaving no room for American Indian. To declare such meant imprisonment or worse. . .
That task would prove nearly impossible since Virginia wiped out records of their existence. The Racial Integrity Act of 1924, in existence until 1967, saw to that.
See above. One point that bothered me was that the troubles did not, by any stretch of the imagination, even get worse at the beginning of the 20th century. Sure, the Racial Integrity Act went into effect in 1924--the same year it was no longer legal to shoot us on sight if we were on someone else's (read, our unceded) land, presumably because we got U.S. citizenship that year whether we wanted it or not. My grandparents were all born by then.
I use the "we" as a device there, since the people not having been identifiable by treaties were all down on paper as white by then, anyway. (Except the ones who were down as colored--the bogus divisions there are a different topic entirely.) The RIA just took a sneaky approach to further codifying long-existing assimilation practice in an era when official classification was done by eyeballing people. (Oh, wait, it still is, to great extent!)
At any rate, it's naive to suggest that this was anything new, rather than an even more hypocritical approach. I think the author would have done well to mention, at the least, that this did not come out of the blue in the '20s.
Honestly, I didn't intend to turn so ranty. This sort of thing just continues to get me worked up, and I don't see an end to all the "divide and conquer" crap.
I also can't stop thinking about this. I knew the situation was bad, but had no idea. I have run into a couple of very creepy men who were way too interested in my perceived ethnicity. That did result in a good knock up 'side the noggin of one lech, though it stopped there. Heap Big Squaw* not amused by gropy racist shitepokes.
Funny, I hadn't even remembered those incidents until that related subject came up. It reminded me, once again, that I have been lucky to have physical size and confidence working for me. When I mentioned to my mother that I must have been lucky so far, given statistics on women having physical force used against them by "intimate partners" (what an awful usage in context!), she insisted that it was not just luck. I still think it would be much harder to have the physical confidence without the size, which is sheer luck.
* Not to be offensive myself, but one jackass actually thought that one was funny!
On a brighter note, the boiler people are supposed to come back on Tuesday--first thing in the morning, but I'll be glad to see them anyway--to start putting in a new one. The one that went kaput was apparently installed long enough ago that they will have to add a number of things, such as thermostatic thingies on the radiators, to bring it up to current code. A tad on the expensive side, but having hot water and heat again will be worth it. It was chilly enough today, even trying to conserve heat letting the cats in and out, that I gave up and hied myself to Argos for a £14.99 space heater.
I almost wish I had gotten the plate number of that minicab that hit me in the leg a few weeks ago--I was just too surprised, and
vatine was too busy loading things into our cab to see. Granted, that quadruceps was already prone to seizing up from trigger points (most of the knee pain, I've found), but it did not need bruising by a car. It's still seizing up at the slightest provocation, and is still too sore to try to massage some of it out. I don't want to sue the driver, but it might have been nice for him to get a ticket, at least, so maybe he'd think about it the next time he's tempted to ram someone who is standing still in a parking lot.Since I have started making sure to get enough magnesium, the muscle spasms and twitches have improved a lot overall. With this acting up, though, I decided to start in again on a combination of valerian and scullcap. It makes me drowsy for a day or two, but it has helped a bit with spasms before.
Sometimes I am concerned about coming across as angry here. Granted, I more often do feel a need to write about things that have gotten under my skin, just to sort them out a bit and be able to stop ruminating. But, I think a lot of the angry perception may well come from some version what's mentioned in this excellent post. I hope I am not coming across as unrelentingly negative, in any case.
While I was out, I saw something that honestly made me sick to my stomach: a kiosk selling these. Not surprisingly, the few websites I glanced at made them look less appalling than they are. Most were small ones. It made me even more upset to see five or six small goldfish crammed into a container which maybe--and I'm being generous--held 2.5L of water. We recently did a tank upgrade for our (now not so) little fiends, 180L for three of them, and could have gone a bit larger. Seeing the display fish made me very sad indeed, and what made me even sadder was the number of people stopping to smile at them. I couldn't look for long, but two of these deathtraps were dragged out for customers while I was standing there.
I didn't know whether to cry or to start yelling at people, so I walked away. I did briefly consider quietly warning apparently interested potential customers that, erm, it's a deathtrap (in more polite terms), but wasn't sure I could handle it right then.
Heading home for some tea seemed like the best plan. I do wish I had a better idea of how to handle situations like that.
On the crankiness front, my mother directed me to this editorial in the Roanoke Times a couple of days ago.
It is fairly decent as these things go. By now, anything in the mainstream pointing out that we're still here is welcome. I am guessing that the author didn't go further into the subject mostly due to space constraints. I seem to be perseverating on it, so feel a need to expand a bit.
I won't even go into the overarching question of what actual benefits these groups are likely to get from federal recognition. That could fill multiple volumes with crankiness.
However, it would not have been granted if the tribes' chiefs hadn't relinquished future gambling rights. That provision unfairly demands of Virginia's indigenous people concessions to their sovereignty that no other tribes have been asked to bargain away.
Erm, I do not think that is correct. It is a fairly standard stipulation these days, unfortunately. I do not know how many groups have actually been recognized under this ultimatum, however.
Native Americans were erased from paper but not from reality. Tribes, located mostly in Southeast Virginia, clung to their culture and heritage, even if in secrecy.
This should read "Tribes which granted the incomers diplomatic recognition, located mainly in Southeast Virginia". In most cases, they did not have much choice in the matter, actually serving as a buffer for the rest of us due to geography, but this is still an important distinction.
Tom McElwain gives a good description of the approach others of our ancestors had some leisure to take here, under the heading "The Use of the Mingo Language". Our ancestors (Siouan, Iroquoian, what have you) took in quite a few refugees from further east (and north, and...), much as the Mohawks did. They got to hear quite a bit about the settlement first hand, I am sure, and chose not to lend the invaders enough legitimacy to negotiate with them. Just because they did not make treaties does not mean that they were not there, and that their descendents are not there still.
Based on some of the author's own arguments, he should agree. Unfortunately he might not know any better. I recall my mother talking to a Pamunkey lady who was in town for a (Native issues) conference, probably ten years ago. That lady was previously unaware that the western part of the state had Indians, ever. Seeing a bunch of us on the street had disabused her of that official notion before she met my mom. I must add that she was not surprised; as she put it, "This is Virginia."
Divide and conquer, indeed.
Speaking of which, I did see here that the Monacans are included in the bill. They were the last Virginia-recognized group. Even since then, a couple of Monacans have publically mentioned that my mother's people were historically part of their confederation--there was a lot of name confusion as well--but I have my doubts that many Monacans will want to mention the link if/when they have federal recognition. There has already been some nastiness, I understand, concerning other groups trying to get state recognition.
Will people ever stop squabbling over crumbs? *sigh*
It's very discouraging sometimes. I keep being surprised by things that should be old hat by now.
Births had to be registered as white or "colored," leaving no room for American Indian. To declare such meant imprisonment or worse. . .
That task would prove nearly impossible since Virginia wiped out records of their existence. The Racial Integrity Act of 1924, in existence until 1967, saw to that.
See above. One point that bothered me was that the troubles did not, by any stretch of the imagination, even get worse at the beginning of the 20th century. Sure, the Racial Integrity Act went into effect in 1924--the same year it was no longer legal to shoot us on sight if we were on someone else's (read, our unceded) land, presumably because we got U.S. citizenship that year whether we wanted it or not. My grandparents were all born by then.
I use the "we" as a device there, since the people not having been identifiable by treaties were all down on paper as white by then, anyway. (Except the ones who were down as colored--the bogus divisions there are a different topic entirely.) The RIA just took a sneaky approach to further codifying long-existing assimilation practice in an era when official classification was done by eyeballing people. (Oh, wait, it still is, to great extent!)
At any rate, it's naive to suggest that this was anything new, rather than an even more hypocritical approach. I think the author would have done well to mention, at the least, that this did not come out of the blue in the '20s.
Honestly, I didn't intend to turn so ranty. This sort of thing just continues to get me worked up, and I don't see an end to all the "divide and conquer" crap.
I also can't stop thinking about this. I knew the situation was bad, but had no idea. I have run into a couple of very creepy men who were way too interested in my perceived ethnicity. That did result in a good knock up 'side the noggin of one lech, though it stopped there. Heap Big Squaw* not amused by gropy racist shitepokes.
Funny, I hadn't even remembered those incidents until that related subject came up. It reminded me, once again, that I have been lucky to have physical size and confidence working for me. When I mentioned to my mother that I must have been lucky so far, given statistics on women having physical force used against them by "intimate partners" (what an awful usage in context!), she insisted that it was not just luck. I still think it would be much harder to have the physical confidence without the size, which is sheer luck.
* Not to be offensive myself, but one jackass actually thought that one was funny!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 08:52 am (UTC)Re: too angry, I certainly don't have that perception of you. Some things in the world demand a little outrage, and it's not a poor reflection on us to feel so.
Re: creepy guys interested in perceived ethnicity, oh, ick! I have never had the misfortune of that particular flavor of ick, but you have my total sympathy for that. Ugh; disgusting. I was actually not aware of the differential rate of rape, but wrote an Amnesty letter; thanks for the link.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-08 09:41 pm (UTC)Thank you. I usually do think I am being reasonable, if a tad obstreperous. Part of it is probably my tendency to skip the fear response and go straight for anger, as well. The other day, I must have been having one of those moments when it seemed possibly too much of a good thing.
Yes, I still think it's odd that those couple of incidents had completely slipped my mind. Probably one of those things one prefers not to dwell on. It's only happened on a couple of occasions--or was only blatant enough for me to notice then!--but urgh.