PicoBlog

Although Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Bomber Mafia, is about a deeply uncomfortable type of innovation, there was a wonderful phrase he introduced me to, which (as he so often does) perfectly captured something kind of obvious that I'd previously not been able to describe. Here's his paragraph: The psychologist Daniel Wegner has this beautiful concept called transactive memory, which is the observation that we don’t just store information in our minds or in specific places.

Earlier this month I visited Transcarpathia in the Carpathian mountains of south-western Ukraine. It is surely one of Europe’s wildest and most untouched regions - what Transylvania was 30 years ago. Transcarpathia - a crescent of land shoe-horned into south-western Ukraine between the Carpathian mountains, Hungary's Great Plain and the hills of northern Romania - is what Transylvania was 30 years ago. Back then Transylvania ('the land beyond the forest') was the proverbial land that time forgot: home to liquor distilled in the kitchen, laced-up leather shoes, quiet shabby courtyards, and restaurants that had one dominant ingredient.

I have done two series on research into the experiences of parents of “trans” kids. The latest one was funded by Oxford University, amongst others, and endorsed by trans-activist Katie Montgomerie (GL: Why Montgomerie claims to be an expert on “trans kids”, when he transitioned as adult, is anyone’s guess) The Project Advisory Panel reads like a who’s who of Trans Lobby groups, including Mermaids. For this post, I want to focus on the mother of one of these so-called ‘trans children”; who is fond of referencing Mermaids.

Munchausen by proxy is one of the things I have frequently seen suggested as being behind the phenomenon of the rise of the young “trans child”. I’ve even seen it rather pithily called “transhausen by proxy” by the daring people of Twitter. As it is so often mothers who support these transitions, and as we have seen them being shockingly pro-interventionist about their offspring, in “trans child” support groups (through leaked screenshots) it intuitively feels like this might be a real answer to the question of why this is happening.

I sigh, staring into the mirror, and try to not be disappointed. I’m at just over two years on HRT, and the January snow in Michigan is just now really starting to come down. A proper Michigan blizzard, it’s got the whole city shut down, and B— and I are tucked away at home, enjoying being snug and unable to do a thing of consequence. Or, trying, in my case.

I sent Ashley to Lake Arrowhead to charge my car so I could have the cabin to myself while I messaged Michelle back. Not only had Ashley denied knowing Michelle, but she also encouraged me to reply to her so I could get the info Ashley needed to have her lawyers send a cease and desist. This was all after Michelle sent me a message on Twitter saying that Ashley had catfished her and she had proof to back it up.

My Dad died a few days after Father’s Day. There were “World’s Best Dad” mugs in the supermarket during the days he was dying. My inbox was stuffed full of emails about whiskey stones and golf clubs. (Just one of the many reasons that men need gender equality too: so they can stop getting terrible gifts). It was a weird time. I lost track of how many times… ncG1vNJzZmiemZy1tbXNoKuapJtjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89oq6uZpaKubsDAm6aoZZGjsW6ywK2fnqqjYrGixYyepJqhnKg%3D

(Photo courtesy Toho Co. Ltd.) 69 years ago the world was introduced to Godzilla. The titular 1954 film was a shocking reinvention of the giant monster movie, a nuclear allegory blunt in message but beautifully told in story. Ishiro Honda and his team not only invented an iconic creature but took the time to show just how devastating its rampage could be. Not even a decade removed from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla was a horror film first and foremost, with the monster both the attacker and the victim.

Well written and supported, as usual. Ever since Bayless ran off Shannon Sharpe, I've not watched "Undefeated." Bayless has always been a horse's ass, he's insufferable. In any case, you're spot on about how women are scapegoated for the failures, real or perceived, of prominent men. It's tiresome, it's cliche, and it's also, at core, hateful. Misogyny is the world's only hatred older than antisemitism, and both are disgustingly still ascendant.