baxil, posts by tag: draconity - LiveJournal (original) (raw)
baxil, posts by tag: draconity - LiveJournal
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Baxil" journal:
| January 23rd, 2012 | |
|---|---|
| 08:08 pm |
Dragon sightingHot damn. |
| April 26th, 2011 | |
| 12:14 am |
DSVOPIH!It's apparently a good year for tiny changes ...Just added two downloadable TrueType fonts to the ClaWrite page. (One of which is by  ceruleanst - yay!)This is a small change, but a big deal, because it's the first time I've actually managed to get a Windows-usable version of ClaWrite out to the public in um ... 14 years.I'm sure this has nothing at all to do with finally getting some sunshine. I mean, it's not like we've had double the snowfall of an average year or anythi...... okay, maybe it's the sunshine.ECTOTHERMS UNITERAWR Current Mood:  bouncyCurrent Location: ~brainstormTags: draconity, tlands(6 comments | Leave a comment) |
| March 14th, 2011 | |
| 08:04 pm |
Oh! And! :DRemember the mask I talked about wearing to Furcon? The official con photos are out! I do look quite dapper, if I say so myself. Also, I've touched the Draconity FAQ for the first time in years. Don't faint from shock yet - no new content. But I did feel the need to acknowledge the work of several foreign collaborators and post links to their translations. So you can now read about draconity in Spanish, German, and Russian. Current Music: "Deliverance," Man With No NameCurrent Location: ~spiralTags: conventions, draconity(16 comments | Leave a comment) |
| January 11th, 2011 | |
| 07:22 pm |
Signal boost: Concerns about Otherkin TV showLooks like someone is out there "casting a new [reality TV] show following members of the Otherkin community. The intent of the show is to educate and explore all things Otherkin, so we are seeking authentic members of the Otherkin community only, and all Species are welcome." There have been a lot of ads spammed to Otherkin groups, and I also received the casting call by email today (at the address listed in the Draconity FAQ).There's been some discussion and research going on in various Otherkin fora - especially given the vague and kinda unprofessional nature of the first contact. The offer appears aboveboard, in the sense that the channel in question has confirmed the existence and legitimacy of the casting call.But that doesn't mean that participating is a good idea.If you're considering taking part, please read the link above and make sure you know the way the Reality TV machine works. (tl;dr: "These people are normal!" does not sell commercials.)And consider the long-term consequences. If you do this, you will spend a long time being defined not by who you are, but by who you presented yourself as to the TV. (Or, more accurately, who the TV makes you appear to be.)You'll be recognized for years as "Oh, yeah, that guy who was in that otherkin TV show." It will be a lot like getting a tattoo. Current Location: ~spiralCurrent Mood:  uncomfortableCurrent Music: Chi A.D., "Redivider"Tags: draconity(23 comments | Leave a comment) |
| December 10th, 2010 | |
| 11:16 pm |
Guess the secret's outI got an IM from a friend telling me how good the Baxil mask is already looking, mid-commission. And you know, he's right. pleasedTags: conventions, draconity, misc life updates(6 comments | Leave a comment) |
| October 19th, 2010 | |
| 07:18 pm |
A filk three years in the makingOh hey! Had the source song come up for this one on Shuffle today, realized I never posted it, and further realized that the conversation which started the whole thing off (friends-locked) is three years old yesterday. So, um, happy birthday to something?You would seriously not believe how tough this song is to rewrite. I managed to hit most of the meter and most of the rhymes, though. Had to do a little final polishing work tonight, and there are still a few rough spots.SAVE A HORSE (Ride a Dragon)_TTTO Big & Rich's "Save A Horse (Ride a Cowboy)"_Well, he rides into my caveArmored in shiny metal pantsFry his lance with a glanceAll these princes, and not enough romanceNow when someone with a shiny crown comes round I want to see a pretty gownCut way down -- I'm sick of all these one-knight stands.( Gets slightly bawdyCollapse ) Current Location: ~spiralCurrent Music: Guess.Tags: draconity, filk, wordplay(2 comments | Leave a comment) |
| October 5th, 2010 | |
| 03:50 am |
A eulogy of sortsI found out something tonight that left me a little bit thrown. A week and a half ago, while I was packing for Mythicalia (a weekend gathering of Otherkin), a moderately well-known dragon was getting fatally stabbed by a friend*.starblade_enkai and I were by no means close - online acquaintances way back in the day, and exchanged words in person at furry cons once or twice. We both have a reputation for being outspoken about our beliefs, but that's where the similarities end. I've always taken a passive approach to draconity evangelism - writing FAQs and such, trusting that people who have a use for the idea will find it as they need it. Starblade is best known for a foray onto a debate community where he sprung the idea onto an unsuspecting (and hostile) crowd.Read that thread and he sounds reasonable, but glance through his various journals and you'll notice he tended to leave a trail of drama behind him wherever he went. (Flayrah's obit post says, understatedly, that he "was a controversial figure in fandom".) He had a calmly logical side, but could get incredibly consumed by his emotions. There are several people out there (who I will leave unnamed; it's not my place to drag them into this) that Starblade had a long-term, unhealthy obsession with; the word "stalking" was often used, and at times he would acknowledge it himself. His very public behavior in that regard was intimidating: Building any sort of positive relationship with him seemed to open the potential to become his next target. That fear caused me to keep the distance I did. I can't imagine I was alone.The drama and isolation stemming from that behavior couldn't have helped his battles with the mental issues he publically discussed. He was autistic-spectrum, and also talked of other diagnoses which I don't have the research time to confirm. I think a lot of his worst behaviors were simply coping mechanisms for the problems he was always flailing about to overcome on his own; he never had the perspective to choose differently. At this point we'll never know -- and I have no idea how things could have gone differently so as to make this a reality -- but it's possible that maintaining a few stable, healthy friendships could have smoothed him out.Because he was certainly searching for something. And even though he was a longtime dragonkin, he didn't find what he was looking for here. He would jump out and jump back in with the ideas - in the big ways linked, and in smaller ways. He would surf through social groups until his reputation or behavior caught up with him, and keep moving on. As things wore on, he discussed suicide several times. He kept desperately trying to reinvent himself in search of his goal, and it never quite worked.That's the most heartbreaking thing about dealing with a tragedy like his, and being out on the fringe. We've all migrated out from the mainstream because we're broken in some way. (This is a tautology; if we fit in with the mainstream, we'd have stayed.) In a perfect world, all of the various subcultures of freaks would be a unified tribe of the dispossessed, helping each other heal and routing around the damage from a mainstream that simply won't keep us alive and healthy and sane. But here in reality, there are people we can't, or don't, or won't help. Our tribes are fragile and imperfect things, prone to infighting and insularity, often too small to offer resources along with our intentions. Starblade needed more support than the furry/otherkin community could realistically offer.pinkdove80.****** The fact that the phrase started out as an ad hominem attack by his opponents, of course, recasts the context of the whole meme. There are enough tarnished bits of his legacy. This shouldn't be one of them.**** Other cards created around Otherkin in-jokes/memes: "A Wish For Wings That Work," "Species-Irrelevant Burnination," "Pokékin." Current Location: ~/BrainstormCurrent Mood:  thoughtfulTags: 1kbwc, best of baxil, draconity(40 comments | Leave a comment) |
| March 23rd, 2010 | |
| 09:36 pm |
A few oddball thoughts on spirituality... before I get back to plotting my Fireborn game (where the PCs have just learned they need to slay the seven siblings of Chaos -- the closest thing to gods/creators that the human race has -- before a new and growing darkness drives the gods all mad) ...I. A tangential thought spun off from skimming through the webcomic Pantheon (warning: NSFW for nudity, heresy) earlier today...: Cultural appropriation. More specifically, _self-_cultural appropriation. Is it even a meaningful concept to talk about appropriating one's own culture? Assuming yes to #1, when is it harmful and when is it a necessary part of cultural/religious evolution? Is it possible to discuss this idea without being offensive to people who are genuinely hurt by (cross-)cultural appropriation? I'm not trying to single out Pantheon here (which is an example, albeit mild, of more traditional appropriation; it's nigh-impossible to create stories about gods of multiple religions without crossing that line). This is a more general question. Take for example one of my college acquaintances Gary, who was a devout cultural Jew, and utterly non-religious -- to the extent that he celebrated Passover by eating ham and cheese sandwiches on matzo bread. Or what about Christians who insist (contra the more traditional denominations) that Jesus was gay? Or in the pagan community, practitioners of chaos magick, who basically are this trope embodied?II. Something that's been circling my brain as I've been reading through lupagreenwolf's excellent "DIY Totemism":Mages in shamanic traditions work with totems: either (depending on who you ask!) an archetype of that animal, or a representation of ancestral/group connection, or a spirit animal, etc.* Totems are representations of entire species: Bear, Eagle, Fox, Wolf, etc._Why not Human?_I should first make clear that I identify as dragon, thus negating the complaint that totems should be a chance to connect with something other than yourself**. To the related complaint that totems are about nonhuman and thus non-sapient animals, I point out that the entire point of working with totems is to communicate with them, so even "unintelligent" animals have totems that can speak with you. (Besides, don't even try to pretend that neoshamans don't use dragons as totems; turnabout, fair play, etc.)Of course, since there is quite a body of human religiosity already, this begs the question: how are "the totem Human" and the human god(s) related? Are they separate entities, or do the things a species worships come from the same pool of spiritual space and/or archetype that the totem is drawn from? Does the fact that humanity has an endless pool of variety and an endless pool of gods complicate the attempt to condense the species down into a single archetype, or merely mean that we can't grasp it all at once and must see one facet of a much larger gem? But what reverse implications would that have for our work when we invoke a totem of another species to/into ourselves?What lessons does the totem animal Human teach? What qualities does it possess?***Could therians and Otherkin benefit from developing a healthy relationship to totemic Human as they go through the arduous process of reconciling their spirit and their body?(And yes lupagreenwolf, I'm looking at you with this one. I know you're still having problems with posting LJ comments, but I'd love to pick your brain about this offline sometime.)-- * Speaking purely personally, it makes sense to me to think of a "totem" as something greater than a mere spirit helper; otherwise there's little point in making the vocabulary distinction, and thinking of your personal spirit animal Yiffles as being somehow capital-F Fox can ... seem a little egotistical/disconnected.** Though Lupa -- who is a wolf therian with Wolf as a totem -- would take issue with that complaint from a different direction.*** I somehow doubt that one's in a whole lot of totemic dictionaries. Current Music: Van Morrison, "Glad Tidings"Current Mood: contemplativeCurrent Location: ~/BrainstormTags: draconity, magic(18 comments | Leave a comment) |
| January 26th, 2010 | |
| 06:13 pm |
Post-FC reportBack to the grind today. One of those days: Close support ticket #18927?> yReason> Voicemail is simply a fax machine beepingClose support ticket #18928?> yReason> Voicemail is a different fax machine's beepClose support ticket #18929?> yReason> I AM NOT A FAX MACHINE! I AM A FREE MAN!On the other hand, my Further Confusion was fantastic. No con will ever be perfect, but this one was about as close as they come. (The standard disclaimer to my non-furry friends: Furry conventions completely don't deserve their reputation. Don't take my word for it. Click on the link and read the experiences of a reporter who went to one undercover.)It was a very chill con for me -- hanging out with friends all weekend, meeting a few old friends in person for the first time (most notably ceruleanst, hurrah!), and getting drawn into incredible conversation and gaming. I got enough sleep, kept my budget reasonable, and left before con crash or con crud could set in. The new hotel is ridiculously spacious, comfortable, and surrounded by great food.Odd omission: I didn't get to dance* all weekend. Every time I started heading to a dance floor, I ran into someone I had been wanting to talk to, and let myself get pulled away again. On balance it was a really positive thing, although my inner unicorn (who looks the most forward to physical expression) is currently chewing the walls.Also, there didn't seem to be a single panel on Otherkin/therian/furry-lifestyler topics, which surprised me. Furry has traditionally treated Otherkin like an annoying little brother -- talking smack to its friends about him at every opportunity, but basically tolerating his presence (and doing nice things for him every once in a while when it's positive nobody is looking). Considering that furry is about "animals with human characteristics" and Otherkin is (broadly!) about "humans with nonhuman characteristics," it's hard to argue that there isn't a place for 'kin under the furry umbrella! And that uneasy alliance has been the state of affairs for quite some time. My experience at previous FCs has been that those who came into the fandom from a 'kin perspective would have to go into the early-morning or shoulder-day panel ghetto to meet up at convention-sanctioned events, but there would at least be a formal place to meet up.This year's FC had an entire spirituality track (filled with a lot of panels that seemed, from secondhand reports, like World Religion 101 lectures) -- but the closest anyone got to an Otherkin anything was a panel on traditional totemism that studiously stuck to its roots. I'm not going to get upset about this -- because I've staffed enough cons to know that the odds of this being a slap in the face are vanishingly small** -- but it's honestly bizarre, because Otherkin is the elephant in the "furry + spirituality" room, and is one of the points of having a furry-con "spirituality track" in the first place.Sometimes when the spirituality track falls down, you can at least get leads to other 'kin in the species breakouts (the dragon panel*** in particular seems to attract a fair number of genuine dragonkin), but I attended the dragon panel for a few minutes before getting pulled away by a phone call, and it was pretty much just people comparing their characters' physical traits. (Other attendees confirmed that, beyond a token "Raise your hand if you take your character seriously" question in the middle somewhere, it steered well clear of spiritual significance.)...... Is it bad that I'm thinking about volunteering to lead an Otherkin spirituality panel now?**** By necessity of convention mechanics, it would be limited to the very basics -- but it would be much better than what's available now (nothing! Literally nothing! How did that happen?), and would give Otherkin/etc who are new to the convention scene at least somewhere to exchange ideas with those who take it seriously.Would any FC regulars be interested in helping out, or could you recommend FC attendees from different segments of the Otherkin/therian/furry-lifestyler spectrum who take their spirituality seriously and might be willing to go in with me on this?-- * I also did not trip on anything all weekend (despite my huge feet and the new hotel). Which was actually a nice change of pace from my clumsiness the last few cons.** The way this works is that the Programming division wrangles volunteers -- both of the "Programming wants you to do a panel this year" sort and the "Hey Programming, will you put on my panel?" sort -- and slots in as many panels as they have rooms and moderators for. At most cons, this means making hard choices about who to exclude and who to counter-program against the popular events. But considering that there wasn't a single panel on Thursday and only two? (if memory serves) on Monday, FC Programming this year was starved, and I'd bet you good money that a volunteer for an Otherkin panel would have been alrightCurrent Location: ~spiralTags: conventions, draconity(32 comments | Leave a comment) |
| December 23rd, 2009 | |
| 04:33 pm |
Fireborn: First Impressions - Pre-Game and CombatAs I've previously mentioned, I've talked my roleplaying group into starting up a game of Fireborn, where all the characters are reincarnated dragons living in human bodies in the modern world. A week ago Sunday, I finally got my first chance to see Fireborn in action. busyCurrent Location: ~spiralTags: draconity, fireborn, roleplaying(5 comments | Leave a comment) |
