Five Random Things Make Up An -- I can't type that without missing her posts.

[mrissa]

And I'm not sure I ever will be able to. But better to miss wilfulcait than to forget her, by a long shot. Anyway.

1. Dear friends: if you come upon a startling piece of racism and it makes you think of me, for heaven's sake do not purchase it and send it to me. If a startling piece of racism makes you think of me, I am dreadfully sorry and would appreciate it if you had a quiet word with me somewhere so I could mend my ways. Even if it has to do with Scandinavia. Startling piece of racism != optimal contents of mrissa's mailbox. Okay? Okay. I'm glad we had this little talk. And I'm somewhat taken aback that we apparently needed to.

2. There will be elephants somewhere along the way. Colonialism is much better if the invasive colonizers really get elephants on a deep level, right? I think so.

3. timprov is currently putting away the contents of the grocery delivery so I don't have to go downstairs and stick my head in the veggie bin and like that. Dinner is here for whenever we want it. Yay, Byerly's!

Also timprov is making farmer cheese, so I'm singing cheese carols, like, "It's beginning to smell a lot like Cheesemas," and "Farmer cheese is coming to town us."

4. I think it's generally a good thing that I keep extensive notes on story ideas. They're there when I need them, and at this point I have enough ideas to keep me busy until my mid-90s, when I can retire comfortably and live out my later years in peace, only writing when I really feel like it after that. But sometimes it's a really good thing to sit down with the blank page again. Not to try to finish anything old, not to try to get something out of my hair, just to see what comes out now, not yesterday or three weeks ago or three years ago. I will never chase down all these ideas, and keeping the flow of new ones encouraged is a feature, not a bug.

5. It's very strange watching what my brain does when I can't do a lot of the stuff I usually do. I don't just mean the cheese carols, because that's stuff I would usually do. I've cleaned out some parts of my desk that have been sitting for ages, because that's something I can do. There's often some way to be useful, and I am hell-bent on finding it. It's just sometimes a bit more obscure than other times.

Comments

RE: #2

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Yay!

Re: #2

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I knew I could get you behind the elephants. Or riding on their backs, or sort of walking to the front and maybe a little to the leftish...proximity to elephants, is what I mean. That's something for which your friends and acquaintances may rely upon you.

Re: #2

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I think I will maintain safe distance until I am sure they are comfortable with me being around.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

To-turo to-turo.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I just got that song out of my head, and now here it is again. Thanks. Well, at least you're not snurri.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Wha? My ears is burning . . .

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

I just wrote five things and had the same thought.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

So one of my catch phrases is, "I like cheese." It's my changing-the-subject rapid non-sequitor. One year I wished people at 12th Night "Joyeaux Frommage". About half of them would respond in kind, absently, and then be left wondering why they'd just wished me "Happy Cheese".

My dear friend Frederick wrote me a cheese carol. It's to the tune of "Nova, Nova" and it's called "Joyeaux Frommage" and it's brilliant.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"Joyeaux Frommage" is often an appropriate greeting but may make the lactose-intolerant and lactose-allergic very sad.

[guppiecat]

Joyeaux Fromage de Soja

[ksumnersmith.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

J'ai fromage dans mes oreilles.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

RE #3:

How happy are you with the Byerly's delivery? Because I've had some moments of less than happy with Simons, and I've been considering switching delivery services.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Most of my discontent has been related to my own grocery impairments rather than anything Byerly's has done. They have done good stuff like giving us our o.j. for free when it was a slightly different variety than I'd ordered. I don't know how their prices compare, but if you decide to switch, let me know and I will "refer" you, and then we will each get $10 off when you place your second order.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

But Scandinavian racist trinkets make great gifts.

B

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Alas, it's a book, not a trinket.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I admit to huge curiosity about #1. It all seems so...unlikely.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think the person probably did not look very carefully at what he sent.

[redbird]

I miss her too, and it is better to miss our friends than to forget them.

Yes, point 1 is weird and disconcerting. Even if--hypothetically--you had told me you were researching a novel to which said startling piece of racism might be relevant, while I might then tell you about it, I would neither purchase it (which rewards and encourages the racists) nor send it to you unheralded (were it free for whatever reason--a photocopy, or something found in a neighbor's grandmother's attic).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

As I said to Carol above, I don't think the person looked at what he sent. I think he just went, "Ooh, Norwegian! And cheap!" and bought it to send to me.

*sigh*

[summers-place.livejournal.com]

*is of Scandinavian heritage*

*racks brain trying to imagine examples of Scandinavian racism, purchasable or otherwise*

*fails miserably*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm of Scandinavian heritage, too, but it sure doesn't make them/us perfect. Call a Swede a Finn sometime and see how it goes with these totally non-racist Scandinavians. Or talk to a Saami about how bias-free the dominant cultures they deal with are. Or talk to a Turkish guest worker in Oslo or Stockholm.

Or, to use a name that makes decent Norwegians spit to this very day, read some of the stuff Vidkun Quisling was willing to sign on for about other parts of humanity.

Note that I am not saying that all Scandinavians are ethnically prejudiced. But it's not really very hard to come up with examples, any more than it is for any other ethnic group. People are people. Most people are pretty decent. Some are racist jerks.

[karenthology.livejournal.com]

Yum, cheese!

How odd...

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

Re #1: After never having linked the two concepts before, this is the second time in 24 hours that I've having reason to think of "Scandinavia" and "racism" simultaneously. The first was yesterday when I was getting in the mail. I had requested a catalog from a company that sells Scandinavian books and gifts, and it arrived yesterday. Looking at the envelope it came in, I was rather forcibly struck by how their logo (a line drawing of a Viking in a conical helmet and cloak, holding an ax and a round shield with a cross on it) really looked rather too much like a Klansman for my taste. I hope that it was just an example of poor logo design and that I haven't just gotten myself onto an undesirable mailing list...

I just went downstairs and looked at the catalog to make sure I was describing the logo accurately. On the catalog, his cloak and helmet are reversed (black space outlined by white lines) which makes what he's supposed to be more obvious. I can't remember if the color scheme on the envelope was the same or not. I hope so - I really don't want my mailman to think I'm a racist.

Re: How odd...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I'm pretty sure that's a coincidence of silhouettes there. Also probably the artist doesn't think very much about Klansmen. I didn't until I roomed with a girl for a summer who said, "Where I'm from, the Klan's kind of like the Lion's Club: you're in it if your daddy was in it." At my shocked look, she assured me that her daddy wasn't in it -- and she eventually married a very dark-skinned South Asian man -- but still. Oof. It was far more immediately a part of her world than of mine.