Institutionalized Racism

 ... is alive and well in the blood quantum, as brutal as it ever was under slavery.  It purports to be about blood, about genetics. But it's not.  It's really about who was on a particular list the government once made.  Someone could be "pure" Native American from any of a number of branches whose ancestors refused to enroll, and not qualify for any tribe.  It's not really about genes.

It's about submission.

You can see why we argue about this all the time.

EDIT 2/11/18: I should mention that I have detailed some Terramagne examples of tribal membership and related issues in several poems.  "Sheltered and True" features a discussion of Chippewa-Cree tribal currency and membership qualifications. "Lateral Moves" describes the manner in which Fireheart (who is primarily Inuit and Anishinaabeg) gains a brother-in-law.

Teens Are Running for Office

They generally seem to focus on important issues.  I wish them luck.

Some adults are trying to stop them.  In essence: "No!  You cannot solve the problems we are creating.  We LIKE causing problems.  We want to make sure you have plenty to clean up after we are through making them and have retired."  Fuck. That. Noise.

Edible Animals

My inner teenage boy was deeply amused by this billboard showing a spectrum of pets to food animals.

Me, I'm a pragmatist.  Anything I can get into my mouth and digest safely is potential food.  In practice, I strongly prefer not to eat other sapient beings unless I am starving to death, so things like cetacean, elephant, and primate are off my list of edibles outside of that context.  There are a few things I choose not to eat because I disapprove of their production methods; farmed veal exceeds my personal tolerance for animal abuse.  However, historic veal is in the same class as buckling for me -- used to be, all the milk animals would drop about 50% male offspring that you didn't need, so you dressed them out right then and had the tenderest meat ever.  That I would gleefully eat if I had the chance.  There are plenty of things I'd like to try, haven't encountered yet, and probably wouldn't want to eat routinely; dog and horse are both in that category.  So are insects, a key indicator that I am not culturally an American despite living here.  My everyday category is wider too: rabbit, goat, and lamb are all things I actively look for and order when I find them.  I also enjoy some animal parts that most Americans do not, including tongue, brains, heart, gizzard, and testicles.  I loved haggis the one time I got it.  However, I have tried kidney and wasn't fond of it; I really dislike liver and would have to be ravenous to eat it willingly.

These are all things that vary widely by culture and time period.  What are some of your settings?

Poems for Mom & Dad

These are the poems sponsored by my parents:

"Sex Objects"
"Before They Are Easy"
"The Ground Is My Ocean"
"Surviving Difficult Times"

They will go up after I have posted things previously sponsored by other patrons. Probably I will do the shorter ones and leave the longer ones until after I have finished writing poems for prompters. Here's the backlog:

"Where You Begin to Heal" second half sponsored by technoshaman

"Pied-à-Ciel" sponsored and "The Stimulation Den" opened for microfunding by ng_moonmoth 

"Sexual Orienteering" sponsored by janetmiles 

Thank you all for your generosity and patience.  I plan to focus primarily on posting today so you should see a good chunk of these going up.  If you fall behind, check this post for links to catch up.

Poem: "Sexual Orienteering"

This poem came out of the February 6, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from alexseanchai. It also fills the "demisexual" square in my 5-29-17 card for the Pride Bingo fest, and the "solving puzzles as a team" square in my 1-31-18 Platonic card for the Valentines Bingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles.  It belongs to the Antimatter & Stalwart Stan thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
  
Note: This poem contains frank discussion of sex/gender issues.

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Poem: "Pied-à-Ciel"

This poem came out of the February 6, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from fyreharper and ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "cuddling" square in my 1-31-18 Platonic card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the series An Army of One.

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Poem: "The Stimulation Den"

This poem is spillover from the February 6, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from bairnsidhe, scrubjayspeaks, and Starbit. It also fills the "interracial or interspecies love" square in my 1-31-18 Romantic card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by ng_moonmoth and the general fund. It belongs to the series An Army of One.

Note: This poem features dominance and submission; implements of high-impact affection and penetration are present but not in use. If that's not your cuppa tea, you can skip it.

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