this is another attempt to make connections between stuff that’s crossed my path, and this week’s theme is the endless suffering caused by binaries! in gender, race, science, mental health, academics, these notions of right/wrong, healthy/sick, black/white, Indigenous/white, subject/object and on and on, have reared their ugly categorizing heads (pun intended!). here are a few anecdotes…
first, the historically significant US Trans Survey with it’s 27,715 respondents from every state, and overseas (occupied) territories. and within that amazing number, was another amazing number: “More than one-third (35%) of respondents indicated that their gender identity was best described as nonbinary or genderqueer, a term often used to describe people whose gender is not exclusively male or female, including those who identify with a gender other than male or female, as more than one gender, or as no gender.” (USTS, p. 45). indeed it was the largest percentage! yay! for a whole host of reasons! validating and also thinking outside the binary!
second, is the remarkable latest (post-humous) work of Gloria Anzaldúa: Light in the dark/Luz en lo oscuro : rewriting identity, spirituality, reality. gloria has brought so much to the world and my life, powerfully influencing my experiences with her description of the borderlands/la frontera. once again, there are many people who live in a middle place…
third, and finally, in this installment the color of consciousness appeared: “Manzotti: Right, so maybe what we need to do is to get beyond the idea that consciousness is a “representation” of the world at all. Maybe it is simply reality. Maybe, as I hinted at the beginning, we have to do away with that subject/object distinction which lies behind this whole discussion.” yes, let’s do away with the subject/object distinction!!