Corner of Bourbon & Division

I've been posting to Dreamwidth and LJ pretty consistently, but LJ's "new" interface is pretty janky these days. For one thing, it just isn't loading some of my icons when I select them, for reasons I can't figure out. Some work just fine, others just load the default icon, which defeats the purpose of having other icons. I am displeased.

I also really dislike the new posting interface, but I can't revert back to the older version. I can't do proper text cuts anymore, and adding in images is an absolute pain in the ass. I miss being able to just plug in some html code and being able to preview the entry. Now it's all supposedly "integrated," but in practice it's a hot mess. I'm grateful that Dreamwidth is still operating with a recognizable form of the open source software that LJ was built on. I assume the change at LJ is deliberate in order to do away with as much of the old open source stuff, because capitalism, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

It's too bad that both LJ and DW are so quiet these days. I miss the old days of being able to catch up on the minutiae of everyone's lives, both good and bad. I've noticed that on social media people tend to have two modes: 1) Everything is amazing in my life, please look at this aesthetic photo I took, and 2) Rage bait. Those are the two kinds of posts that appear to "drive engagement," as they say nowadays, and the lack of authenticity is a real drag. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all the friends I follow are suddenly being shallow and inauthentic, but Facebook and Instagram and so forth really encourage you to curate both your posts and what you consume. Photographic posts are rewarded by the algorithm, while text-only posts get "suppressed." The algorithm also decides for you what you should be seeing, meaning that I often miss important news and announcements from friends, which sucks.

There was also something that felt very intimate about blogging, because the long-form content allowed all of us to dive deeper into topics if we felt inclined. At one point I was the queen of very short posts, but I also wrote some much longer thinky-thought type of posts, and having long conversations across multiple comment sections was a great way to get to know people and to deepen my thinking on a number of topics. It also allowed all my nerdy friends to info-dump about the subjects they loved, and by extension allowed me to learn about them. Short-form social media just doesn't lend itself well to this sort of thing.

During Quaker Meeting yesterday, the focus of worship ended up being The Situation At Hand. *gestures broadly* One young online attender shared their trepidation for themself but also their friends in the US, and all of a sudden there was an outpouring of ministry from the older Members, many of whom are old enough to remember World War II, most of whom had family who were active in various war or resistance efforts. So much of the ministry that those elders offered was filled with messages of love and hope and practicality that I could see a lot of the younger people visibly shift out of their despair, even if it was only for a few moments. It was a reminder that we can get through the dark times. We may not get through them individually, but we can get through them as a whole. It doesn't make it any less terrible or scary or awful, but it reminds us that we can be brave and do hard things even when we are afraid.

The elders also reminded us that Quakers have a long, proud history of letting people decide for themselves what pacifism means. For some, it means conscientious objection no matter what, to the point of imprisonment or execution. For others it meant serving in non-combatant roles like ambulance drivers and army medics. For others still it included accepting conscription when it came for them. 

A famous anecdote about George Fox recounts William Penn (another founding Quaker and for whom Pennsylvania is named) asking him whether he should continue to wear his sword. Penn was accustomed to wearing the sword, and at the time was reluctant to give it up. Fox is said to have replied: "Wear it as long as you can, William, wear it as long as you can." And, supposedly, the next time they met, Penn was no longer wearing it.

There are multiple ways to resist in these dark times. We can choose to openly defy those who choose to oppress us, or we can do it more secretly, and take opportunities to resist where they present themselves. We can challenge them in court, we can sabotage their efforts wherever we can, especially if our jobs allow us to slow down/delay/obstruct. We can drown them in useless paperwork. We can hide people who need to be hidden. We can help other people hide people who need to be hidden. We have a wealth of ways at our disposal, and each person's resistance will look a little different.

It was a really enlightening Meeting, and I am glad we were all there for it. I don't think we would have had as enriching an experience of Ministry had we not had both the in-person worshipers and the online worshipers, so I also feel pretty vindicated in that regard.

Today is my only day shift this week. I've switched shifts with a coworker who needed to be on days from Tuesday to Friday, which suits me just fine. I'm working the early evening shift, too, which is great because it means I get to still get to bed by about midnight or half past. Working the regular evening shift usually gets me to bed at 2am, which I find a little rough, but midnight is still halfway decent.

On that note, it's time to get back to work. Catch you all tomorrow, friends!

Okay, I caved and made a Dreamwidth Account, same username.

I'm at work, so no fancy stuff yet, and I highly doubt that I'll be leaving behind my cushy permanent LJ account with my nearly 200 free icons and such. Still, if people do bail on LJ it'll be a good way to keep in touch.

Feel free to add me, if you're in the vicinity. :)