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Monday, December 19, 2016 - 07:00
Working through setting up the tag pages is taking longer than expected, so I'm going to do this in smaller chunks. I'll present each chunk in a blog entry then put them together into the permanent "tag essay" page when I have each group collected up. Why does it take so much work? Here's my process:
- Find tag in master tag-list (back-end web admin access) and open a tab with the results for that tag.
- Determine whether there are results for that tag (in some cases I've decided not to use it) and verify that it's in the right overall tag category.
- Click though to the best reference to confirm the details of the tag's reference.
- Write up a brief description of who/what the tag references (as seen below). In some cases, this involves doing additional reserach in my original source or online in order to pin down date and place.
- Add that description to my master database (which is what I use when generating tags for publications) and to the tag entry for the website (so that it displays when you click through on a tag).
- Mark that tag as having been completed in the database and assign it an essay group.
- When I've written up all the tag-descriptions for a particular essay group, export tag + description and create a blog entry for them.
So my first start on the "Crossdressing" tags is to cover the ones that don't belong to some more specific subset. Here are the subsets for the historic cross-dressing tags:
- Historic Crossdressing - Any instance of a woman (or someone assigned as female) wearing male-coded garments, either overtly or for the purpose of passing as male, that doesn't fall in one of the following more specific groups.
- Military Crossdressing - As above, but specifically for the purpose of entering the military. (Sailors may fall in this or the previous group depending on the nature of the service.)
- Female Husband - As defined for "historic crossdressing" but where a person living as male enters into marriage or a marriage-like relationship with a woman. This category includes some individuals who could be interpreted as trans men.
- Passing/Trans - As defined for "historic crossdressing" but where there is significant evidence for an alternate interpretation as a trans man, but where marriage is not a core element of the story.
- Transvestite Saint - Any instance (either historic or fictionalized--I've lumped them together) where the motivation for passing as male is to enter a religious profession restricted to men or to escape a heteronormative life in order to pursue a religious vocation. In the latter case, the cross-dressing may be temporary and the religious profession may be entered as a woman. I've kept the label "transvestite saint" that is used in the literature, although in general I've avoided the word "transvestite" as outdated and carrying implications of identity rather than behavior.
These are not hard-and-fast categories and my assignment is based mostly on "will this grouping be useful to the reader?" The tags for crossdressed literary characters will have slightly different subgroups.
Historic Crossdressing
- Almira Paul - 19th century Canadian woman who cross-dressed to work as a sailor.
- Anne Bonny - 18th century English woman who cross-dressed during a career in piracy.
- Charley Parkhurst - 19th century American woman who cross-dressed to work as a stagecoach driver.
- Countess Amalie of Bavaria - 19th century German woman who wore trousers for horseback and hunting.
- Eleanor of Aquitaine - 12th century Queen of England said to have cross-dressed to escape her husband in disguise.
- Elizabeth Emmons - 19th c American woman who passed as a man for economic purposes.
- Ellen Craft - 19th century American woman who escaped slavery with her husband by disguising herself as a white man.
- Ellen Stephens - 19th century American woman who cross-dressed to pursue an absent husband.
- Elsa Jane Guerin (Mountain Charley) - 19th century American woman who cross-dressed to work as a sailor.
- Emma Cole - 18th century American woman who cross-dressed to work as a sailor.
- Empress Elisabeth I of Russia - 18th century Empress of Russian who held cross-dressed masques.
- Hannah Cullwick - 19th century English woman who dressed across gender and class boundaries for political performance art.
- Hildegard of Swabia - 8th century Frankish woman, wife of Charlemagne, said to have cross-dressed as a man for an extended period to escape a false accusation.
- Isabelle Gunn - 18th century Scottish woman who cross-dressed for a career as a sailor.
- Krakow university student -15th century Polish woman who passed as a man in order to study at Krakow University.
- Loreta Janeta Velazquez - 19th century Cuban woman who cross-dressed to accompany her male lover in the miliary.
- Lucy Ann Lobdell - 19th century American frontier woman who cross-dressed for practical and preference but with no intention of passing.
- Lucy Brewer - 19th century American woman who cross-dressed to escape prostitution via a career as a sailor.
- Madeleine Moore - 19th century American woman who cross-dressed to accompany her male lover in the military, unrecognized by him.
- Maritgen Jans/David Jans - 17th century Dutch woman who tried unsuccessfully to enlist in male disguise, but kept the disguise to earn higher wages.
- Mary Anne Arnold - 19th century English woman who cross-dressed to work as a sailor for economic resons.
- Mary Read - 18th century English woman who cross-dressed sometimes in the context of a career in piracy.
- Schinderhannes (wife of) - 18th century German woman who participated in her husband’s bandit gang cross-dressed as a man.
- Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann - 18th century German poet who cross-dressed for safety while traveling.
- Théroigne de Méricourt - 18th century French woman who cross-dressed openly as a symbol of women’s right to public participation in government.
- Trijin Jurriaens of Hamburg - 17th century German woman who cross-dressed sporadically as part of a criminal career that included becoming engaged to a woman to defraud her.
Tag List (These tags aren’t linked, this is just a reference for setting up the master tag page in the future.)
Almira Paul, Anne Bonny, Charley Parkhurst, Countess Amalie of Bavaria, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth Emmons, Ellen Craft, Ellen Stephens, Elsa Jane Guerin (Mountain Charley), Emma Cole, Empress Elisabeth I of Russia, Hannah Cullwick, Hildegard of Swabia, Isabelle Gunn, Krakow university student, Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Lucy Ann Lobdell, Lucy Brewer, Madeleine Moore, Maritgen Jans/David Jans, Mary Anne Arnold, Mary Read, Schinderhannes (wife of), Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann, Théroigne de Méricourt, Trijin Jurriaens of Hamburg
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Friday, December 16, 2016 - 07:00
I'm fairly picky about which animated movies I see because there are some common tropes that grate on me. And Disney movies that "trespass in someone else's garden" (to use the Alpennian saying) face a high hurdle. I'd seen enough advance discussion and critical evaluation of this movie from people with roots in Polynesian culture to have confidence that, although not without flaws, Moana took cultural representation issues seriously and had worked to have creative staff and consultants from within the culture. (That's not a guarantee of success, of course, but it's a start.) I'm not going to review issues of represenation, because that's not my call to make. I'll just be talking about how this works for me as a story.
The title character is the teenage daughter of a chief (but not a "princess," as she explicitly tells the other major character) on a not-entirely-idyllic Pacific island, who has some sort of mystic connection with the ocean that has been suppressed due to her people's strangely fearful relationship with the waters outside their island's reef-rimmed lagoon. Backstory is supplied by the story-telling of her beloved grandmother who serves the role of mentor and provides the encouragement for Moana to embark eventually on her quest. It seems the folk-hero Maui, in the process of doing Great Feats to Benefit Mankind, angered/damaged the earth goddess Te Fiti by stealing her "heart", a small carved green stone. The not-entirely-idyllic conditions worsen as the mystic blight resulting from this event starts spreding to the island. Moana's grandmother gives her three key things: the heart stone, which she has kept since the ocean delivered it to Moana as a toddler; directions to the hidden cavern where the great ocean-crossing ships of her ancestors have been stored (and where a vision shows her a glimpse of their forgotten art of wayfinding); and hope that Moana can protect her people best by seeking out Maui and convincing him to return the heart to Te Fiti.
Things I loved about the movie:
- The loving relationships between all the characters. Even Moana's father's attempt to suppress her love for the ocean comes entirely from a place of love and has nothing to do with gendered expectations or suppressing dreams and ambitions. And the relationship--both as family and mentor--between Moana and her grandmother is incredibly powerful and individual, rather than fulfilling some archetypal template.
- Moana's grandmother. I'll make this a separate "thing I loved." It's entirely too rare to get an older female character as powerful, nuanced, and plot-critical as this. Can we have an entire movie about Moana's grandmother?
- The complete absence of any sort of romantic plot. Moana doesn't simply say "romance isn't the end-all be-all" the way Frozen did; romance doesn't even come into the question. Moana's relationshp to Maui is entirely one of independent equals, allies, and eventually friends. (Maui may be a demi-god but Moana is in every way his equal--with a little help from a personified ocean, mind you.) Even their teasing banter never felt like it had any whiff of flirtation, to me. (Maui may have expected adulation, but it was in no way romantic in flavor.)
- The way the obstacles and challenges were solved by wits every bit as much as by strength. Maui did a fair amount of addressing problems by clobbering them, but in the end, simple physical strength alone would never have succeeded.
- The way representations of Polynesian visual arts were used to signal shifts in the storytelling framing. (Ok, Maui's animated talking tattoos were more than a bit corny, but as a representation of his internal dialogues with himself, I suppose they worked.)
- The way the story structure, the challenges, and the solutions derived from the cultural context as presented. I particularly like the details about wayfinding and all the details about sailing and boat handling.
- The true nature of the final challenge. (No spoilers. I'll just say it felt very right.)
Things I was less enthusiastic about:
- Ok, ok, I get that the "goofy non-human companion" is a Disney Thing. And I can see the various story functions that the rooster Heihei performs. Even his apparently disfunctional eating habits are a key plot point. And I've dealt with chickens--we aren't talking about highly intelligent creatures at the best of times. But I was uncomfortable with the depiction of intellectual disability for comic purposes. Even in a chicken.
- Disney movies always draw from contemporary pop music. This is a fixed thing. I get it. But some of the songs just felt very jarring in musical style for the setting. It's not that I expected the entire show to use authentic Polynesian musical stylings (though I loved the bits that were incorporated) but some were more jarring than necessary. The giant glitter-crab's song is a salient example.
- Given the historic context of the Polynesian exploration and colonization of an immensely far-flung spread of islands, the starting point of "Oh, we're going to isolate ourselves here on this one island, with no contact with other regions and people, and never cross the ocean again," felt a bit disrespectful. In order to set up the structure of a "hero's journey" for Moana, they evidently felt it necessary to create a single trigger-point for her success. As a plot structure, it works, but it feels like a distortion of the historic/cultural context.
Overall, far more to love than to dislike. Highly recommended. But I want to add some things I don't normally include in movie reviews. I went out looking for some recommendations of children's literature based in Polynesian and Hawaiian culture from an "own voices" perspective, as a "where do I go next" for those (especially children) who enjoyed Moana. This is not an extensively researched or exhaustive list--just an hour of intense googling--and it's entirely possible that I may step on a land mine or two in compiling it, but it's an attempt.
HUIA Bookshop specializes in Maori-related books, including children's and YA literature.
Hawaiian-based SFF author Kate Elliott graciously pointed me at a wealth of resources for Hawaiian culture, and in particular for traditional sailing and navigation techniques. Here's a selection:
Polynesian Voyaging Society -- the "gold standard" website for traditional sailing and navigation.
Educational programs aimed at children on Hawaiian history and culture
An essay on the Hawaiian Renaissance by George S. Kanahele (May 1979)
Thursday, December 15, 2016 - 06:45
There's something about adding new bells and whistles to the website that makes me go all gooey inside. And unlike the early development worksessions, when we'd sweat over complex problems that might mean we could make progess next time, now we're tidying up a lot of little to-do items and it feels like we're getting all sorts of things done. So here's what this weekend's work session accomplished (excluding the scary under-the-hood stuff that my web designers took care of):
- Added a page listing all my various publication series
- Tweaked the automated comment filtering system. I'm not yet trusting it to throw away spam comments entirely unreviewed, but now obvious non-spam comments shouldn't have to wait on manual approval. It would be lovely to test it some more with actual reader comments! I get plenty of data in how well it identifies spam, alas, but not so much of the other. Now that there should be no delays for manual approval, it's even possible we might get conversations going.
- Set up comments to request an e-mail address (non-public) so I won't have to panic after future giveaways when I don't hear back from my winners immediately!
- Set up automatic cross-posting of the blog to LiveJournal. Yay! There are a couple of awkward aspects to this. If I want to add cut-tags to very long posts (like the Civil War Diaries), I'll have to follow up manually. And the Lesbian Historic Motif posts will be a teaser and link, because they have an odd internal structure. In essence, they're a blog post "envelope" with the LHMP content embedded in it. And it simply isn't practical to try to send it to LJ as a single unit, so all that will be sent is the "envelope". This means that people who want to follow the LHMP need to click through to the Alpennia site if they're reading elsewhere. Sorry, but that's how I gain some of the other functionality.
- We fixed several minor issues with the RSS feed, like, giving it a more informative name than "blog"! We also changed it to feed the full content rather than a teaser-and-link. (Although I believe it will have the same issue as the LJ cross-post, i.e., LHMP material will only have the "envelope" and the reader will need to click through.)
- Fixed an assortment of curious problems (some e-book links that didn't display properly, not having pager navigation on the tag-search pages).
And here are the things that are in progress and/or should go live sometime soon:
- Pretty much every page associated with the LHMP will have a set of links for the four tag indexes. This is an easy way to explore the content by topic rather than by publication. My dream version includes the possibility of using time-period and geographic tags to do filtering, but that's not possible with the current set-up so it's set aside for now.
- A similar purpose is served by the "tag essays" that I'm in the middle of drawing up. These not only include thematic lists of tags, but explain the logic behind them and give tips for using them. The tag essays will eventually be added to the LHMP drop-down menu.
It looks like the current webiste to-do list has two clumps of remaining tasks: an assortment of items related to social media (buttons for following me, and buttons for sharing posts), and a whole bunch of notes of the form "Make X prettier." And then I can sit back and just enjoy the site for a while.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - 07:00
May 1864 seems to be a bit of a lull in the action for Abiel. There's no particular movement toward getting him into a new regiment, though much of his activities involve helping assemble companies to more to the front. I've added a couple of cross-references to Wikipedia on battles and persons, but I haven't had the time to do a really systematic annotation of his references to the war. Abiel hears of significant battles and troop movements almost as they happen, but it's still "news" and not "life" at this point.
(It has occurred to me that I should include the full heading, including copyright information when posting these.)
The Diary and Letters of Abiel Teple LaForge 1842-1878
Transcribed, edited, and annotated by Phyllis G. Jones (his great-granddaughter)
Copyright © 1993, Phyllis G. Jones, All rights reserved
May 1864
[PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING ARE COPIED FROM THE ORIGINALS. EDITORIAL COMMENTS ARE IN BOLD TYPE.]
Diary: May 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22
Letter: May 22, 1864 - News of a new nephew
Diary: May 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31
Sunday "May day" 1864
Clear but a pretty good wind blowing from the north east. I went up on the hill near Fort Richardson to take a sketch. The wind blowed so I could not keep my paper in its place, so I had to give it up. 2000 cavalry went by on the Fairfax road while I was there. They had, I should judge, three days rations with them and were on their way to the front. Grant will soon be making a big move there.
Thursday May 5th
Day warm & clear. Men who came from the front today say that the regiments were ordered to strike their tents and move [the] night before last. Some at 12 0.C. midnight & some at 3 A.M. If this is true, there will soon be a big fight down there. I took a squad of 200 men--56 of them deserters--down to Alexandria to go to Fortress Monroe. Williamm W. Hibbard, the fellow who was in Head Quarters when I first came in camp and got his discharge just after moving over to this place, was in the squad of Deserters. His grandfather died and left him some money, and of course [he] had to get on a spree before he got through with it. He enlisted for the 85 again. [Note: perhaps $85 enlistment fee? Need to confirm this. I can find a reference to Congress authorizing a $100 enlistment bounty, so $85 would at least be in the right ballpark and the context strongly suggests that money is being discussed. Per a comment by Helen S, this is much more likely to mean "enlisted in the 85th regiment. She provides a link to a William W. Hibbard in the 85th Regiment New York Infantry.] He was sent to Elmira, from there went home without leave, and was arrested and sent here. An advance was made across the Rapahannoc today. The rebs made but little resistance. The whole army is reported arcross. Look out for news.
Saturday May 7th 1864
Clear & warm. A fight is going on at Chancellorsville. No particulars are known great excitement. No more men can be sent to the Army of Potomac for the present. We have received orders to organize them into provisional Brigades, arm them, have proper officers put over them, issue arms and Shelter tents, have them go into camp near us, and be at all times ready to take the field at a moments notice. They are to draw their stores from this post. I have been at the Commissary Papers today.
[Note: Despite Abiel's reference to Chancellorsville, this was not the "Battle of Chancellorsville, which occurred almost exactly a year previous. Based on the date and location, this appears to be the "Battle of the Wilderness" fought May 5-7, 1864.]
Sunday May 8th
Clear and hot. Themometer 100° in the sun. Yesterday it was 92° in the coldest room of this office. A big battle has taken place and we are reported as being successful. 7000 of our men and 3000 rebels are wounded [and] have been sent back to Alexandria. The enemy are reported in full retreat and Grant in pursuit. This has been the most busy Sunday I have seen in a long time. Over three hundred men came in, in squads of from one to one hundred. The railroad is open to Rappahannock Station Station [sic, possibly a transcription error?] but no men are sent out. 3,000,000 [three million] rations were sent out to the front today
[Note: On May 8, 1864 a son, Oscar Abiel Potter, was born to Joseph and Susan (LaForge) Potter.]
Monday May 9th
A.M. Clear & hot. P.M. cloudy & ditto. (ditto means hot). The Provisional Brigade were marched out and went into camp just below the Railroad Bridge half a mile from this place. They have shelter tents. I took another squad to Alexandria to go to Fort Monroe. A Veteran Reserve Corps officer takes charge of them but Captain Crawford thinks a squad is never properly started unless I superintend getting them off, so I took a horse and went with them to the boat. The officer walks, of course. A thunder storm is upon us, the second of the season. Wrote to O.L. Barney.
[Note: the parenthetical comment "ditto means hot" appears to have been part of the original diary and not Phyllis's editorial comment.]
Tuesday May 10th
Clear and warm. Every thing looks finely. Spring is certainly the finest season of the year. 150 officers reported here today. Orders have been issued to send all officers coming to Alexandria (for transportation to the front) up here to be assigned to the Provisional Brigade. Some did not like to come and stayed in town, but yesterday an order was issued that all officers found in Alexandria tonight should be arrested and sent here under guard. This brought them out with a vengence. Some of them have rueful faces enough while other[s], devil-may-care style, are all right.
Wednesday May 11th
Warm & cloudy A.M. Rained pretty hard P.M.
J. Campbell & W. Melvin of the 9th Pennsylvania Reserve Corps went home today. Their regiment has went home to be mustered out. Brave Sedgewick & Hays are both lying in state over in the city. Died nobly in the service of their country. Our troops are driving the rebs in all parts of Virginia. We have lost in Arkansas & North Carolina, but that is of small importance compared with the fight on Rappahannock. Before this fight is over it will be the most bloody of modern times. We have already 35,000 placed hors du combat.
[Note: Sedgewick would be Major General John Sedgewick, killed by a sniper on May 9th at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, and famous for his last words, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Per a commenter (posted Jan. 2026), "The Hays mentioned in the 5/11 entry is likely General Alexander Hays killed 5/5/1864."]
Thursday May 12th
Rained nearly all day. Bad for the army. Received a letter from my sister. Josey is quite well again so that he can walk about some.
[Note: for estimating postal times, this letter of the 12th clearly was written before his sister had her baby on the 8th. The letter notifying Abiel of the birth is mentioned below as arriving on the 22nd--2 weeks after the birth--but of course it may not have been written and sent immediately after the event.]
Friday May 13th
Rained A.M. Cloudy P.M. No rain since M.
[Note: I don't think I've noted previously that Abiel's use of "M" here is clearly for "meridian", i.e., noon. I've let it stand whenever it appears as the meaning is fairly clear in context.]
I took 350 men to Alexandria and got them transportation on the Steamer Swan to go to Aquia creek. Glorious news from the Army of the Potomac. Campbell with his corps has captured a whole division, and also General Johnson (not Joe). He was tickled with his success that he hardly knew how to word his dispatch. Grant says, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.
Saturday May 14th
Rained a good part of the day. Good news still comes from the front. Our arms are still triumphant. All prisoners which have been taken by the rebs and paroled have been declared exchanged by Secretary Stanton, in retaliation for the same thing being done by the Rebs. The prisoners have been ordered from Camp Parole at Annapolis Maryland to this place to be armed and sent to the front. I like that. It will show them that if they disobey the Law of Nations it will not be with impunity.
[Note: A prisoner release on parole has promised not to return to military service, while one that is exchanged presumably has no such obligation. As Abiel points out, this "gentlemen's agreement" system only works if both sides keep good faith.]
Sunday May 15th
Rained more or less all day. I never saw as hard a shower as we had this afternoon. The water actualy seemed to pile itself up. Still good news from the Army. Handcock does fight splendidly. He is capturing more guns than all the rest. The rebs are reported falling back on Lynchburg instead of Richmond. If that is so, it looks like abandoning their Capitol to us. Grant's name will soon be a watchword for all deeds of bravery. "Remember Grant" is at present the cry of our brave boys.
Tuesday May 17th 1864
Rained some today and yesterday also. We have armed and equiped about a thousand men this week and sent them to General Grant. Everything is going on well at the front. No fighting just now. I believe Sigle will have fighting to do up in the Valley before long. I received a letter from John Clemence today containing ten dollars. They are all well at Bethlehem. He says Miss Martha Denniston is teaching school in the Old School House by the church.
Wednesday May 18th 1864
Fine day. Cool enough to be pleasant. No news of importance from the Army of the Potomac.
Thursday May 19th
Clear & hot A.M. Rained P.M. Sent away 900 more men today to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. I went to Washington. Bought a pair of shoes and shirt. I took in a couple of officers to the Surgeon General who were sent here to go to the front but who were not fit for duty.
Friday May 20th
Day cool. Went in bathing this P.M. We sent nearly five hundred more fully equiped men to the Army of the Potomac today. Sigle met a slight reverse in the Valley four days ago. Lost about 600 men and three peices of artillary. Army fighting again. Handcock seems to be the one called on for the most dashing fighting.
Sunday May 22nd 1864
Day hot. Rained a little P.M. Yesterday I got a letter from Janey informing me of the safe arrial of a little stranger who bears to me the relationship of nephew. I feel almost as proud as if it was mine. I have proposed the name of Joseph for him. I took four hundred men down to Alexandria to be sent to Fort Monroe. Answered Janey's letter this P.M.
LETTER
Head Quarters, Rendezvous of Distribution May 22nd 1864
Dear Janey,
Your welcome letter containing the welcome news of the new relationship I bore to a small portion of the human family was received yesterday, and I should have answered it at once but I had so much to do that I was kept busy until 11 O.C. at night, and when I got through I was so tired that I sought my bed at once. I have also been very busy today getting a squad of four hundred men off to Fortress Monroe, and perhaps I might again have delayed answering yours, but I felt that the weight of the awful responsibility of giving a name to my little nephew would not let me sleep another night without being disposed of, so here goes.
After mature and profound deliberation, La Forge and me have come to the conclusion that, as the little stranger was ushered into the world in a time of great domestic commotion (civil war), therefore he should have two names. And I, A.T. LaForge, by the authority in me vested, do hereby declare that one of said (christened) names shall be Joseph. The choice of the other shall rest with whomsoever the parents shall see fit, provided the person whom they may choose shall not select for the other name neither of the following: Abiel [or] Teple. This matter disposed of, I must ask you to do me the favor to express my contratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Potter on the happy event. I assure you I could scarcely have experienced more pleasure if I had been married and been the happy father instead of brother Joseph. Still I do not envy him his happiness but wish him a long life and many returns of the blissful moment he will first be called papa by the little cherubs.
This is a new bond to their always warm love, and if it is possible to increase such affection as theirs, it will be increased by this pledge of their mutual reciprocation. You must keep me informed of the health of the mother and as soon as she is able consistently to write, have her write me a letter, if it is ever so short, so as to convince me that the whole of my place in her heart has not been usurped by the new affection of her mother love. I don't expect so much fuss about "poor me" now, but if you will love me a little more it will make up for what I loose by my nephew. My mind has been dwelling so much on this subject since I got your letter that I can hardly write about any thing else, but I must tear myself from the pleasing reflections it has given rise to and proceed to other matters.
Please say to Joseph that I could not find the kind of razor of which he spoke, but he must not buy any for I will get them and send them to him as soon as I can, if he will use his old one a little longer.
I suppose father wrote to you of the death of his baby, did he not? The last time he wrote to me he was going to move on his farm and build. [The baby may have been Roselia; records of Samuel LaForge's third marriage, to Mary Wakefield, list two daughters. One was named Roselia, and the second, Josephine, was born in 1865.]
I had to be up very early this morning to get a squad ready of four hundred men and march them down to Alexandria, [then] go to the Quartermaster and get a steamer detailed to carry them down to Fort Monroe. They are very anxious to get men there now to reinforce General Butler. I rather think he needs them, for he has fell back from Fort Darling and is intrenching on the banks of the river below.
The news from General Grant is unimportant. No decisive move has been made by either army since Friday. They have been doing such hard fighting for the last two weeks that they are both very willing to lay still and recruit for a time. It will not be for long however, as there is soon another decisive battle to be fought unless the rebels retreat.
The weather has been very uncertain for some time, either raining or dreadful hot. The themometer has been up to one hundred and four and six, several times. Flies, mosquitoes, gnats, bugs, &c. are getting too thick to be agreeable.
Every night our woods are filled with Whippoorwills. I believe I never heard one in Allegany. The climate is too cold for them. Did you ever hear one Janey? They always make me feel melancholy when I hear their mournful song.
You knew of soldiers' pay being raised to $16 sixteen dollars a month did you not? That is what we are getting now. I probably will not get any pay until July now. If I do not, I presume I shall have to send to you for some more.
Give my love to Mother and tell her not to over work herself just because she is Grandma to another boy. And don't let Susan kill the boy with petting him. Tell her I shall make a review of all her proceedings when I come home. Give the dear girl lots of love also. What does Maty say to the little fellow? My love to your own dear self. Bijou
[Note: As the baby was named "Oscar Abiel", evidently none of Abiel's opinions on naming were heeded!]
DIARY
Monday May 23rd
Hazy but not rainy. Not so hot as the previous days.
A stage line has been established between here and the city, running two trips a day. The charge is 50 cents each way, which I think is very resonable. No more paying $5.00 for a hack to bring a man out. He carried thirteen passengers today, which is a good beginning.
Tuesday May 24th
Clear & hot until 4 P.M., then cloudy. Windy and rainy from 7 to 9 P.M. Received a letter from Miss A. S. Porter. A very pretty one too. I feel quite disposed to love her.
Wednesday May 25th
Clear & hot until 4 P.M. Cloudy to 7. Windy & rained till 9 P.M.
I went down with some Commissary Stores, which were sent with 235 prisoners sent from this camp, with the charge of desertion against them, to Alexandria to be put in prison to wait trial by court martial.
Thursday May 26th 1864
Rained until M. then cleared off. I took a prisoner to the Alexandria Military prison today. He was a pretty bad case. He attempted to escape from camp but in his haste stumbled over a log and broke his arm. E. L Richmond, our old Sergeant Major came back to camp today pretty badly wounded. It seems to be the fate of all who leave here and go to the front to get wounded very soon after.
Sunday May 29th
Day cool. Weather since 26th very uncertain. Rainy and sunshiny all at once.
I was out gathering strawberries today. Got all I could eat and brought a few select bunches to the Colonel. They have been ripe since the 20th, on which day I saw the first of the season. An order was issued to have all detailed men examined the 25th. I was examined accordingly and marked to be sent to the hospital. So was a great many others, but we did not go, as our object was to have all men now on duty who were fit for their regiments sent to them and keep the rest here. Last night I went up to Captain Marstons to give him some orders, and just as I came out, a man took me by the hand and said, "How do you do?" It was dark and at first I did not recognize him. But after looking a moment, saw it was Jerome Remington. He was here about a year ago. I had a good talk with him and today had him examined and sent to the Hospital.
Monday May 30th
Clear but cool. We did not send the 400 men we had ready to go to the Army of Potomac as General Briggs sent us word the Quarter Master Dept had used all the boats to send other troops. Jerome R[emington] was sent from the hospital to camp again today. I had a good talk with him this evening. A marriage ceramony took place this evening after services on the Chapel. Rather a novel sight in camp. Neither the Bride nor Groom responded so that I could [hear] or anybody else. Nor did the preacher pronounce them Man and Wife--an omission which could be used by either party at their convenience.
May 31st 1864
Day clear and warm. I took a squad of one hundred & fifty men to Alexandria to go to Fort Monroe. The steamer which had been detailed to take them was ordered on some other duty and they could not go. I found a steamship laying at Pier No. 1 [that] was going to New York. As they would go in 12 miles of Old Point and the Quarter Master concluded to send the men on her, I took the order, went up to the boat found the Captain and gave it to him. He took me into the cabin, asked me to set down, brought out some wine, [and] asked me to drink. I declined. He said he loved me better for it. I had to come back over the hill as I could not get my firey horse under the Rail Road Bridge.
[Note: I think Abiel has made references to drinking alcohol before, but if I remember correctly from a previous read of the whole set of diaries, he later is clearly abstaining. That may provide context for the comments about wine here.]
Major category:
LaForge Civil War DiariesTuesday, December 13, 2016 - 07:00
Well-meaning people will offer a number of very strongly worded rules of behavior for authors. I will heartily endorse most of them, such as, "Never ever ever talk back to reviews" and "I don't care if you're a professional editor, nobody can edit their own work successfully." But there are other rules for authors that make certain unwarranted assumptions about the author's situation. I'd like to talk about two of them today: "Pay no attention at all to reviews" and "Never compare your career to that of other authors." The people who wave these rules in your face are typically coming from a place of priviledge where they have an agent, a publisher, and likely even a publisher's publicity department to do these things for you. And the simple fact is that someone needs to pay attention to reviews and to the shape of your career, and if no one else is doing so, then you need to do it for yourself.
Let's look at "pay no attention to reviews." My publisher has pull-quotes from reviews of my books on their web page for my books. You know how they know those reviews exist? I told them. This is particularly applicable to reviews of my work in SFF spaces, because those are entirely off my publisher's radar. But even in LGBTQ media spaces, I've been instructed to point out reviews of my work because otherwise there's no guarantee they'll know about them. So I not only need to know that reviews of my books exist, but I need to read them so that I can highlight particularly useful ones that my publisher can use for publicity purposes. No one else is going to do this. If I don't do it, it won't get done. Pay no attention to reviews? Wouldn't it be lovely.
How about "never compare your career to that of other authors"? This is all very well if you have a solid idea of the scope of what your career should look like. If you know what a book contract should look like and how a publisher should treat your work. If you know what reasonable timeframes are. If you know what types of publicity are useful and which types only exist to enrich someone else. (Professionally-organized blog tours? If you're paying for them, they exist only to enrich someone else.) If you don't have to organize getting your books to reviewers by yourself. (How do you know which reviewers might be interested? You compare your work to other authors and see where they're being reviewed--and you try to second-guess whether those particular review opportunities are even available to you.) If you know what types of interview and guest blog opportunities are available. (How in the world are you supposed to know who to approach about these things if you aren't comparing your work to other authors?) If you know which types of award venues will enhance your reputation and which ones will flag you as a hopeless wannabe. (It's ok to cast a broad net when you're first starting out, but eventually you need to pay serious attention to the company your books are keeping. Look at the books that win a particular award and ask yourself, "Is this a book I would be proud to lose to? Would I really consider it an honor just to be shortlisted for this award?") If you aren't paying attention to award shortlists and winners and comparing your work to them, you won't know whether it's worth submitting your books for consideration. And that could mean you either miss opportunities or you find yourself boasting of something that turns out to be a vanity award. If you don't have an agent or a publishing publicity department that follows up on these things, then you have to do it yourself. And that means spending a lot of time paying attention to other people's books.
Where is the line between studying the field to work out the appropriate expectations/baselines and looking at other authors' careeers and becoming consumed with envy? It isn't as easy to identify as you might think. It's hard to achieve something in the writing world without wanting it deeply. Wanting something deeply implies being dissatisfied with not having it. Figuring out how to achieve something that other people appear to have achieved implies thinking about that achievement. And we are all human beings. You can suppress the envy, you can conceal it, you can lock it away in a box in the back of your closet along with your secret fantasies of fame and fortune. But you can't stop being human and wanting things.
So if you're a published author with an agent and a large publisher, and you find yourself admonishing another author about obsessing over reviews and the opportunities that other authors are enjoying, check your privilege. Because even if you feel like you don't have much, it may still be worlds more than what that author has--what they even have the slimmest hope of
* * *.
Barbara Lumbeirt would seem to have a great deal of privilege in Rotenek society, but her interest in law and government brings her a great many frustrations at the invisible barriers set between a woman and full participation in that sphere. The casual discussions, debates, and tacit agreements that are hammered out in the gentlemen's clubs are, if not entirely closed to her, entered into only with the spotlight glare of surprised attention. A ball, on the other hand, serves many purposes, and Barbara has come to enjoy most of them.
* * *
Chapter 23 - Barbara
When pressed to it, Barbara had to admit that she enjoyed the grand balls of the season. That is, she had begun enjoying them after the first few years, once the suitors had given up hope of her granting them anything more than a dance and a penetrating conversation about politics. Back when she had attended on the old baron, she had stood watchfully in the arcades and galleries, focused entirely on him and those around him. In those days, she’d wondered why he bothered with dancing masters and lessons in comportment if she were only to be a spectator. She’d denied it at the time, but she’d envied the bright and elegant figures in the center of the salles, knowing she had no entrance to that world except in Baron Saveze’s service.
Then the world had turned upside down and she became Saveze.
Barbara had arrived late and danced a set with Rikerd Ovinze, and then another with Perrez Chalfin, before seeking out her hosts to exchange pleasantries. With several daughters of an age for dancing, the Alboris had become part of the backbone of the season—these grand events designed to introduce a parade of accomplished young women to a similar parade of promising young men. The family’s connection to Lord Albori, the foreign minister, meant they could attract the cream of Rotenek society, despite not falling within the upper ranks themselves. She watched Renoz Albori move through the figures in a gown of apricot silk, overlaid with silver tissue. Her sister must have accepted an offer, or she wouldn’t have been allowed to outshine her.
“Another triumph I see, Verneke,” Barbara commented, nodding in Renoz’s direction. “Mihail, I’m guesing the rumors are true that your eldest has settled her choice at last. Is your cousin here tonight? I haven’t seen him yet.”
Mihael Albori harrumphed in acknowledgment. “Yes, though I beg you’ll allow him one evening without a word of affairs in France!”
Barbara smiled, knowing that Lord Albori himself had no such aversion. It was another hour before she found herself in company with the minister and, as she had guessed, he was deep in conversation over matters unrelated to the ball.
Estapez was asking, “Are you likely to be sent back so soon? I thought Perzin was to take charge of our interests in Paris.”
“He’s a good enough boy. Very sharp. But I expect Her Grace will want someone more experienced until matters settle down again.”
Barbara guessed correctly at which matters they were discussing when Estapez returned, “But he’d been ill for quite some time. Surely the French ministers have everything in hand?”
“You’re speaking of the death of King Louis?” Barbara asked. The question briefly drew their attention, and then the circle reformed and she was accepted into the conversation.
“Nothing is ever settled until there’s a funeral and a coronation,” Albori said. “There’s no judging a king until he’s worn the crown a while. We have no idea what sort of neighbor Charles will be.”
It was the sort of idle banter that Barbara knew was common in the clubs, but she had access to it only at events such as this, or around the council hall. That made balls even more of an attraction than the dancing did. Nothing of any importance would be decided in such a setting, yet she enjoyed being accepted into the debate.
She both wished Margerit were at her side and was glad to spare her what she would find tedious. Politics amused her even less than dancing. Barbara scanned the room and her eyes settled on a tall figure at the far side. Now there was another person who appeared only grudgingly in the Grand Salle.
Antuniet stood regally at the edge of the knot of admirers surrounding Jeanne. They had come to a compromise, where Antuniet would accompany Jeanne into society on occasion, then drift away to quiet corners when the press and noise became too much. They had their little rituals to maintain the truce.
Barbara watched one of those rituals now as Jeanne reached out briefly to touch the crimson pendant that always hung at Antuniet’s throat before returning to her audience. Antuniet turned to retreat to the far end of the salle where a glassed-in conservatory opened off toward the gardens and one might find some solitude even during the bustle of a high season ball.
Something in the way that Antuniet moved nagged at Barbara’s attention. When you had trained with the sword for more than half your life, you never stopped seeing such things: a change in balance, a shift in how one carried oneself. They had met to consult on the current set of alchemical gems several times in the last weeks. Had she stood too closely to notice? Her gaze followed Antuniet’s path across the salle. At first the impossibility of the suspicion baffled her. Yet the signs were unmistakable now that she looked for them. Barbara’s lips thinned into a grim line as she counted back. Without seeming to follow, she too drifted toward the far end of the salle.
Publications:
Mother of SoulsMonday, December 12, 2016 - 07:00
The purpose of tags on Lesbian Historic Motif Project posts is to make information relatively easy to find. The topics covered under “people/event tags” identify specific historic texts and authors, or historic individuals or events that are discussed in LHMP publications. This essay is intended to explain briefly how the “people/event” tags are being used.
The second purpose is to provide a thematic tag list that the visitor can use to explore the site. The number of tags used in the project, and the organization into four different categories, doesn’t lend itself to a traditional tag-cloud. The Place and Time Period tags each have a single essay. The People/Event and Misc. Tags are covered in thematic groups in multiple essays due to the larger number.
The People/Event tag group requires some explanation of my approach in order to make sense. For historical published material, ideally I have a single tag for each relevant text that includes both the title of the work and the author’s name (if known). If the author’s personal life is also relevant to the project, or if they cover relevant themes across a significant body of work, they will generally have a separate personal tag. For historic individuals, if the person was in a specific relationship that makes them relevant to the project, I will generally have a entry for the pair, rather than individual entries, although “relationship” is interpreted broadly and fuzzily here. Because my tagging system has emerged as I work, rather than being carefully planned, there are some inconsistencies. I often go back and adjust tags on existing posts when I notice. In general, I’ll only tag a person or publication if they are mentioned in my write-up, rather than tagging for everything mentioned in the original text. The tags are meant to help the user explore the site, rather than being an exhaustive index.
I’m planning six essays for the People/Event Tags, each covering a general category with several subcategories. In addition to the current essay, People/Event essays will cover:
- Historic Crossdressing and Passing/Transgender People
- Historic People Relevant for Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
- Literary Examples of Crossdressing or Gender Disguise
- Literary Examples of Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
- Poetry Expressing Romantic or Sexual Relationships
Note: The new automated cross-posting functions of my blog means for readers on LIveJournal or via RSS, LHMP posts will include the introductory text, but the reader will need to click through for the main content. I hope that readers in those venues will consider the Project interesting enough to do so!
ETA: Evidently the system still needs some tweaking, as the version of this post on the Alpennia.com site was supposed to include the actual content! So click through here to see what was supposed to follow this text automatically.
The purpose of tags is to make information relatively easy to find. The topics covered under “people/event tags” are historical persons, authors, written works, and other specific events, organizations, or works that are the subject of the research and publications covered by the Project. This essay is intended to explain briefly how the “people/event” tags are being used.
The second purpose is to provide a tag list that the visitor can use to explore the site. The number of tags used in the project, and the organization into four different categories, doesn’t lend itself to a traditional tag-cloud. The Place and Time Period tags each have a single essay. The Event/Person and Misc. Tags will be covered in thematic groups in multiple essays due to the larger number.
I’m planning six essays for the People/Event Tags, each covering a general category with several subcategories.
- Non-Fiction Sources and General Authors
- Historic Crossdressing and Passing/Transgender People
- Historic People Relevant for Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
- Literary Examples of Crossdressing or Gender Disguise
- Literary Examples of Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
- Poetry Expressing Romantic or Sexual Relationships
This page introduces the reader to the first set of People/Events tags, which includes the following groupings:
- Authors (or their works) describing gender or sexuality issues as non-fiction
- Authors (or their works) discussing gender/sexuality issues in a more theoretical fashion
- Authors who frequently address issues of gender or sexuality in literary works (individual works may also be tagged)
- Authors who frequently includes descriptions of sex between women in literary works (individual works may also be tagged)
- Miscellaneous items, currently including specific works of art and social institutions (both historic and fictional)
Authors (or their works) describing gender or sexuality issues as non-fiction, especially those citing specific persons or cases.
The number of Arabic-language writers in this group is to some extent a result of the greater willingness of medieval Islamic culture to discuss the topic explicitly. Another significant group is “medical” writers who have suddenly discovered the clitoris and concluded it either causes or is caused by lesbian activity. Also included are travelogue type works where there is no specific person or case that can be identified.
- Abu Nasr bin Yahya bin Abbas al-Maghribi al-Samaw’uli - 12th century writer in Arabic who discusses why women might prefer lesbianism.
- Ahmad Bin Mohamad Bin Ali al-Yemeni - 9th century writer in Arabic who discusses a wide variety of topics related to lesbianism.
- Al Jaheth (quoting Muthana Bin Zuhair) - 9th century writer in Arabic who discusses variations of sexual orientation/preference in people and animals.
- Ambroise Paré - 16th century French author who wrote “Memorable Stories About Women Who Have Degenerated Into Men” (1573), i.e., case histories of transgender or intersex individuals interpreted as having experienced a physiological sex change.
- André du Laurens - 16th century French medical writer who discussed the function of the clitoris and its relation to lesbianism.
- Avicenna - Persian intellectual (980-1037) whose medical writings include a discussion of female sexual response, with including sex between women.
- Caelius Aurelianus - 4th century Roman writer who discusses varieties of sexual orientation, including lesbianism.
- Diwan Al-Sababa (Ibn Abi Hajala) - 15th century Arabic writer who makes passing reference to lesbianism.
- Helkiah Crooke - 17th century English medical writer who discussed the function of the clitoris and its relation to lesbianism.
- Hester Thrale - 18th century English socialite and diarist who commented (usually negatively) on women and men she believed to be homosexual.
- Jane Sharp - The author of The Midwives Book (England, 1671), which included discussions of the function of the clitoris and its supposed association with lesbian desire.
- Jean-Baptiste Tavernier - A French traveler in Turkey (1587) who wrote on lesbian practices in the harem.
- Leo Africanus - Berber-Andalusian writer (c. 1494 – c. 1554?) whose descriptive work on North African cultures includes a description of female fortune-tellers in Fez who seduce women.
- Ludovico Sinistrari - Italian author of a medical treatise (1700) that discusses lesbian sex.
- Medicinal Epistles (Richard Carr) - 18th Century English medical text that covers sexual issues, including the supposed relationship of the clitoris to lesbianism.
- Nicholas de Nicholay - His “Navigations into Turkey” includes stories about lesbian activity in harems. (France, 1576)
- Nuzhat al-Albâb fîmâ lâ Yûjad fî Kitâb (The Diversion of the Hearts by What is Not to Be Found in Any Book) (Ahmad Ibn Yusuf al-Tîfâshî) - 13th century writer in Arabic of an encyclopedic work that includes a chapter on lesbianism.
- Ottaviano Bey - 16th century Venetian visitor to the Ottoman Court who discusses lesbianism in Turkish harems.
- Phillip Camerarius - 17th century German author of a treatise discussing transvestism.
- Plutarch - 1st century Greek author who describes Spartan women as participating in an equivalent of the erastes/eromenos relationship.
- Rare Verities (Richard Head) - An English translation (1687) of a medical text by Joannes Benedictus Sinibaldus which discussed to relationship of the clitoris to lesbian activity.
- Rodrigo de Castro - 16th century Spanish writer who discusses the function of the clitoris and its relation to lesbianism.
- Sharif al-Idrisi - 12th c Arabic author who describes an inherent lesbian orientation in some women.
- The Mysteries of Conjugal Love Reveal’d (Nicholas Venette) - An English translation (1707) of Nicholas Venette’s sexual manual. It discusses “unnatural” sexual practices, including lesbianism, as well as discussing types of “hermaphrodites”.
- Theatrum vitae humane (Theodor Zwinger) - 16th century Swiss biographical dictionary that has a section on “tribades”.
- Thomas Gibson - Author of an English anatomy textbook (1682) that associates lesbianism with an enlarged clitoris.
- Tractatus de Hermaphroditus or a Treatise of Hermaphrodites (Giles Jacob) - 18th century Englsh text on “hermaphrodites,” which touches on intersex, transgender, and homosexual topics.
- Turkish Letters (Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq) - By a 16th century Flemish ambassador to the Ottoman court, describing lesbian activity in Turkish harems.
- Wonders of the Little World (Nathaniel Wanley) - 17th century English book of “curiosities” that includes a list of spontaneous sex-changes, primarily f>m.
Authors (or their works) discussing gender/sexuality issues in a more theoretical fashion
- Al-Muhalla (Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusi) - 11th century writer in Arabic who discusses to Islamic legal context of lesbianism.
- Bartolommeo della Rocca - 15th century Italian writer who discusses physiological signs of sexual orientation, specifically in the context of chiromancy (palm-reading).
- Hic Mulier - Anonymous English polemic tract (1620) against women wearing masculine attire and accessories.
- Kanz Al-Umal (Al-Mutqee Al-Hindi) - 16th century writer in Arabic who discusses the Islamic legal context of homosexuality.
- Paul’s Epistle - New Testament text generally interpreted as addressing lesbianism.
- Salwat Al-Ahzan lil Ijtinab ‘an Mujalasat al-Ahdath wal Niswan (al-Mashtoolee) - 18th century writer in Arabic who discusses the Islamic legal context of homosexuality.
- The Anatomie of Abuses (Philip Stubbes) - 16th century English polemic against various customs, specifically including women wearing masculine garments.
Authors who frequently address issues of gender or sexuality in literary works (if I also have a tag for individual works by the author, I’ve listed those here)
Authors whose work includes descriptions of sex between women where the work is a mix of fact and fiction, or the factuality is uncertain.
- Aphra Behn - 17th century English playwright and poet whose work includes female homoerotic themes and who may have had romantic or sexual relationships with women.
- The False Count (Aphra Behn)
- To the Fair Clorinda (Aphra Behn)
- Agnes de Castro (Aphra Behn or Catharine Trotter Cockburn) - Note: This refers to two separate works by this title, but discussions aren’t always clear which is being discussed so I’ve combined them.
- Margaret Cavendish - 17th century English philosopher and Duchess of Newcastle whose works include themes of female homoeroticism and women-only societies.
- The Convent of Pleasure (Margaret Cavendish)
- Matrimonial Trouble (Margaret Cavendish)
- Love’s Adventures (Margaret Cavendish)
- The Comical Hash (Margaret Cavendish)
- Mary Astell - 18th c English writer on topics that include feminism and marriage resistance.
- William Shakespeare - 16th century English playwright whose works often touch on themes of gender disguise or friendship between women.
- Twelfth Night (William Shakespeare)
- As You Like It (William Shakespeare)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare)
- Titus Andronicus (William Shakespeare)
- The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare)
- Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
- Pericles (William Shakespeare)
- The Winter’s Tale (William Shakespeare)
- Two Noble Kinsmen (William Shakespeare and John Fletcher)
Miscellaneous items, currently including specific works of art and social institutions (both historic and fictional)
- August Strindberg - 19th century Swedish writer who satirized his ex-wife as a lesbian, with explicit sexual descriptions.
- Guy de Maupassant - 19th century French writer who used themes of decadent lesbian sexuality.
- Lives of Gallant Ladies (Pierre de Bourdeille seigneur de Brantôme) - 16th century French work on memorable women that includes rumors and anecdotes about purported lesbians, both historic and contemporary.
- On the Beauty of Women (Agnolo Firenzuola) - 16th century Italian work that discusses love between women, both platonic and carnal.
- Onanism (Samuel Tissot) - English polemic (1766) against masturbation, categorizing lesbianism as “mutual masturbation” between women.
- Anandrine Sect - A fictitious secret lesbian sex club of later 18th century France to which were attributed bizarre and scandalous sexual rituals.
- Casa della Zitelle - A 15-16th century Venetian charitable institution for “at risk girls” that considered the potential for homoerotic relationships.
- Women Bathing (Jeanne Mignon) - 16th century French etching depicting nude women in a bathhouse, including erotic interactions.
Saturday, December 10, 2016 - 16:00
This is only a test. If this works, then posting a blog entry at Alpennia.com will automatically cross-post to Live Journal.
Friday, December 9, 2016 - 11:00
Well, I saw it. Lots of fabulous effects, especially in creating the creatures. But also lots of unanalyzed tropes that felt worse than lazy. The ditzy blonde with the heart of gold. The callously predatory mentor of a teenage boy where the relationship involved enough physical affection to cross the line (for me) into evoking pedophilia. The message that you can be an endearingly dorky guy and still be a hero, but if you're a tormented broken outsider, you have to die. And for a story that engages with themes about prejudice and persecution, there's a startling lack of addressing racial issues in 1920s New York, whether it's the complete glossing over of the contradictions of having a black MACUSA president who would face dual prejudices in "nomaj" society, or the substitution of non-human background characters for what would be expected to be black roles in the nightclub scenes.
It isn't awful...it's just...not very self-aware. But we sort of knew it was going to be like that, didn't we?
[I'm posting this a day early as part of trying to trouble-shoot some access issues with new posts.]
Friday, December 9, 2016 - 07:02
This is not an actual blog entry. This is an attempt to troubleshoot the display and feed of blog entries which has gone completely bonkers. Today's blog should be a movie review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. If you miss it, it's unimportant. (That goes for both the review and the movie.)
Thursday, December 8, 2016 - 13:00
This post is mostly an exercise in convincing myself that I've been productive this year, even though I only had two pieces of fiction come out (and one of those was a self-published free novelette). I hope that it may have a second purpose, which is to entice people who don't follow my blog to consider doing so. I will freely confess that one of the reasons I blog so extensively is that pernicious voice whispering in my brain, "Maybe if you just write enough, if you research enough, if you make yourself useful enough to other people, maybe then they'll want to talk to you and be your friend." I recognize this for the fallacy it is. No one has contracted with me for this output. No one owes me eyes or attention. And there are wonderful people who would be my friend even if I weren't blogging. But there it is: I own that aspect of it. I even blogged about it. (Of course I did.)
For entries posted in the first 3/4 of the year, I'm mostly linking to Live Journal (exceptions being some of the longer series that have their own tag at the Alpennia.com blog). Entries from the last 1/4 or so of the year (after I set up a blog at my own website) are linked to my Alpennia Blog.
So what have I written this year? Here's a brief overview. The majority of this material either falls generally in SFF topics, or in historical topics (especially my lesbian history project and related material).
- General essays (11)
- Essays on the process of writing (does not include minor posts on writing progress or promotion) (41)
- Convention reports (4)
- Lesbian Historic Motif Project
- Publications covered (27)
- Podcasts (5)
- Queer Sci Fi columns (4)
- Other Historic Research (includes the start of an extensive primary source material project) (3)
- Essays on gardening and cooking (6)
- Reviews
- Lesbian movie reviews (an ongoing series) (5)
- General movies (7)
- Novels (23)
- Graphic novels (5)
- Audio fiction (7 but this includes some multi-item posts)
- Live theater (6)
Random Thoughts and Philosophical Discussions
Non-Industrial Metaphors for Anger (2016/02/03) - More on the topic of metaphoric reasoning.
Failure Modes of Metaphoric Thinking (2016/02/10) - The conclusion of my brief series on the topic.
To Do and To Let Be (2016/03/10) - How do you know when something will improve spontaneously?
Poem: 2016 (2016/044/21) - Inspired by the conversation about notable deaths in 2016.
Process of Writing (does not include general progress reports and teasers for Mother of Souls)
Guest Blog: Lesbian Fiction Appreciation Event (2016/01/30) - "Puzzle it Out"
Unicorn Management, or Inspiration Around Us (2016/02/11) - Just where do I get my ideas?
Revisions, Revisions, Revisions (2016/06/07) - An overall look at my book revision process.
The Awkwardness of Category Defaults, or Under What Circumstances am I a Man Writing Gay Sci Fi?
A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody... (2016/09/08) - Musical structures and fictional structures.
To Dance, Perchance to Dream (2016/10/11) - On inventing social customs for a fictional country.
Convention Reports (Many of my convention reports discuss issues of being an introvert at SFF conventions, just in case this is a particular interest of the reader)
Kalamazoo Medieval Conference (2016/05/13-15)
- Session 286: Hermaphrodites: Genitalia, Gender, and Being Human in the Middle Ages (A Roundtable)
- Session 352: New Circles/ New Voices
- Session 450: Rolls and Scrolls after the Codex: New Approaches to an Old Technology
- Session 514: Dress and Textiles II: Codes, Classification, Camouflage
Bay Con (2016/05/28-31)
Worldcon (2016/08/17-21)
111. Walen, Denise A. 2005. Constructions of Female Homoeroticism in Early Modern Drama. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6875-3
112. Castle, Terry (ed). 2003. The Literature of Lesbianism: A Historical Anthology from Ariosto to Stonewall. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0-231-12510-0
113. Bennett, Paula. “The Pea That Duty Locks: Lesbian and Feminist-Heterosexual Readings of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry” in Jay, Karla & Joanne Glasgow (eds). 1990. Lesbian Texts and Contexts: Radical Revisions. New York University Press, New York. ISBN 0-8147-4177
114. Zimmerman, Bonnie. “’The Dark Eye Beaming’: Female Friendship in George Eliot’s Fictions” in Jay, Karla & Joanne Glasgow (eds). 1990. Lesbian Texts and Contexts: Radical Revisions. New York University Press, New York. ISBN 0-8147-4177
115. Brown, Judith C. 1984. “Lesbian Sexuality in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Sister Benedetta Carlini” in Signs 9 (1984): 751-58. (reprinted in: Freedman, Esteele B., Barbara C. Gelpi, Susan L. Johnson & Kathleen M. Weston. 1985. The Lesbian Issue: Essays from Signs. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-2256-26151-4)
116. Newton, Esther. “The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman” in Signs 9 (1984): 557-575. (reprinted in: Freedman, Esteele B., Barbara C. Gelpi, Susan L. Johnson & Kathleen M. Weston. 1985. The Lesbian Issue: Essays from Signs. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-2256-26151-4)
117. Lansing, Carol. 2005. “Donna con Donna? A 1295 Inquest into Female Sodomy” in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History: Sexuality and Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Third Series vol. II: 109-122.
118. Lyons, Clare A. 2007. “Mapping an Atlantic Sexual Culture: Homoeroticism in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia” in: Foster, Thomas A. (ed). Long Before Stonewall: Histories of Same-Sex Sexuality in Early America. New York University Press, New York. ISBN 13-978-0-8147-2749-2
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LHMP Podcast #1: Ordinary Women (2016/08/26)
LHMP Podcast #2: Same-Sex Marriage in Restoration England (2016/09/24)
Special Lesbian Talkshow Podcast with Suzie Carr: The Masks We Wear (2016/10/27)
Special Halloween LHMP Podcase: The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (2016/10/29)
LHMP Podcast #3: "Bosom Sex" in 19th Century America
Queer Fantasy Roots Column at Queer Sci Fi #4: The Changing Role of Amazons (2016/11/15)
Random Research
Gardening and Cooking (does not include minor garden-progress posts)
Three Fantasy Gardens (2016/03/31) - A prompted essay.
Sex in the Garden (2016/06/16) - Manual pollination of squashes, what did you think it was about?
Reviews: Movies - Lesbian (Link is to the overall index page for my lesbian movie reviews)
Portrait of a Marriage (2016/03/11)
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2016/04/15)
Lost and Delirious (2016/04/22)
Imagine Me and You (2016/10/28)
Reviews: Movies - Other
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Reviews: Books
Allegiance by Beth Bernobich (2016/01/15)
Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher (2016/02/12)
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Extended series of posts)
Letters to Tiptree (ed. Alisa Krasnostein and Alexandra Pierce) (2016/02/19)
Four Lesbian Historic Romances of the 1980s (2016/03/03)
- A Mistress Moderately Fair - by Katherine Sturtevant (Alyson Publications, 1988)
- Pembroke Park - by Michelle Martin (Naiad Press, 1986)
- Behind the Mask - by Kim Larabee (Alyson Publications, 1989)
- Moll Cutpurse: Her True History - by Ellen Galford (Firebrand Books, 1985)
Vermillion by Molly Tanzer (2016/03/04)
Black Wolves by Kate Elliott (2016/04/29)
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher (2016/05/06)
Through the Hourglass ed. by Sacchi Green and Patty G. Henderson (2016/06/03)
Graveyard Sparrow by Kayla Bashe (2016/06/10)
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold (2016/06/24)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2016/07/15)
Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis (2016/07/22)
Goddess by Kelly Gardiner (2016/08/12)
The Emperor's Agent by Jo Graham (2016/09/02)
Everfair by Nisi Shawl (2016/10/21)
The Sisterhood by Penelope Friday (2016/11/18)
Reviews: Graphic Stories
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua (2016/01/22)
Reviews: Audio Fiction
Tremontaine by (multiple authors) (2016/02/05)
The Little Dog Ohori by Anatoly Belilovsky (2016/03/18)
Podcastle.org (2016/04/01) - Episodes 402-408
The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado (Podcastle.org Episode 409) (2016/04/08)
Podcastle.org (2016/07/08) - Episodes 410-421
The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer (2016/09/24)
Podcastle.or (2016/09/30) - Episodes 422-434
Reviews: Live Theater
Mary Page Marlowe (2016/05/20)
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare) (2016/06/17)
Fences (August Wilson) (2016/08/05)
You Never Can Tell (George Bernard Shaw) (2016/09/09)
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