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How little merit
Samuel Pepys, in his diary a few days past this date in 1665, notes:
How little merit do prevail in the world, but only favour; and that, for myself, chance without merit brought me in; and that diligence only keeps me so, and will, living as I do among so many lazy people that the diligent man becomes necessary, that they cannot do anything without him.
Honestly, from his own writing Pepys comes over as a little skeevy to me, especially when he's talking about women. It's hard to tell how much of this is the views of the day and how much this individual, who thinks nothing of writing slightly creepy descriptions of all the women he meets, as well as how much he cares for his wife AND his mistress, with little heed for his young wife's feelings of the matter, if she knew. But in things like this, I think he nailed it. Scary how little change - make that no change - in nearly 400 years.
This has been a reasonable weekend. Saturday, in what I am resigned to being a new pattern, I did some shopping for my mother and delivered the results and stayed to help her do a few things mostly involving picking items up and moving them places and watering the plants before travelling back into the city to visit the Pride Fair at Birdwood Park. I'm sorry to say was not terribly impressed with this. I can remember not so many years ago when you got in for a gold coin donation and then around $5 but this year it's $16.50 to access a circle of wagons...I mean stalls for many and varied groups associated with gay and trans causes. I did know if I went, I'd likely do a few circuits and not get to talk to anyone barring the folk on the stalls, who want you to take their literature, buy raffle tickets and sign petitions, and that's pretty well what happened.
I did meet one person I knew who returned my hello and then departed without staying for any conversation and beyond that, zilch. There were a lot of colourful individuals/costumes and many and varied dogs - one of the things at the Pride Fair is a particularly non-mainstream style dog show - but that was it. I believe they've priced themselves out, certainly for me, as I don't intend to go back.
None of the trans guys I knew were in evidence. The ones on the Transfolk stall were very young and not personally known to me, further entrenching my belief that the group is aimed primarily at the young, although it's certainly not just the young who transition gender. I chatted briefly with a couple of rather nice looking bears at the Bears Perth stall, who were very encouraging about me showing up later to all their events, not just the walking tour they're doing in combination with Perth Wanderers, a hiking group. I think that was when my brain hit the condition of being too nervous to make any actual sense. Since today I've just got home from hiking to Guildford and back, probably a total of around five kilometres, I know I'd be fine with the walking tour, but the problem is conversing with actual humans I don't know. Sigh. Yesterday at the Pride Fair was a crashing fail in that regard.
My aim in going to Guildford was to check out Guildford Cycles with view to buying a new bike before it gets too bloody hot to walk around, but it would probably have helped to remind myself of the shop's opening hours, which don't include Sunday. Hiked back to the antique shops strip in Guildford for coffee and half a scone and checked out the Guildford Book Exchange.
I was scanning the shelves for any sign of Rose de Freycinet's journal, A Woman of Courage - as it was later titled when published nearly 200 years later - but no sign. It's out of print, though Robert Muir Books does have two copies I will check out when I get around there. Rose was smuggled on board the French explorer vessel Uranie by her husband, the expedition commander, and travelled around the world for three years, recording her experiences in a journal written to a friend. Uranie, btw, is the same ship that checked out the WA coast with view to establishing a French penal colony here and had it not been shipwrecked, might have been instrumental in that founding.
I did get a copy of Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the book which inspired the movie, which I have seen. I suspect it'll annoy me as much as the movie did, for the sheer shooting-themselves-in-the foot sexist stupidity of the monkey culture, which is what I've decided to call twentieth century human civilisation. But, when I say it'll annoy me, I mean that in a good sense, if that's possible. It's a story of triumph of intellect and determination despite the obstacles put in the path of these women, though it makes me wonder what could have been achieved if the space program had made full use of all its human resources, not just half of them. But as Samuel P said; how little merit and only favour do prevail in the world.
How little merit do prevail in the world, but only favour; and that, for myself, chance without merit brought me in; and that diligence only keeps me so, and will, living as I do among so many lazy people that the diligent man becomes necessary, that they cannot do anything without him.
Honestly, from his own writing Pepys comes over as a little skeevy to me, especially when he's talking about women. It's hard to tell how much of this is the views of the day and how much this individual, who thinks nothing of writing slightly creepy descriptions of all the women he meets, as well as how much he cares for his wife AND his mistress, with little heed for his young wife's feelings of the matter, if she knew. But in things like this, I think he nailed it. Scary how little change - make that no change - in nearly 400 years.
This has been a reasonable weekend. Saturday, in what I am resigned to being a new pattern, I did some shopping for my mother and delivered the results and stayed to help her do a few things mostly involving picking items up and moving them places and watering the plants before travelling back into the city to visit the Pride Fair at Birdwood Park. I'm sorry to say was not terribly impressed with this. I can remember not so many years ago when you got in for a gold coin donation and then around $5 but this year it's $16.50 to access a circle of wagons...I mean stalls for many and varied groups associated with gay and trans causes. I did know if I went, I'd likely do a few circuits and not get to talk to anyone barring the folk on the stalls, who want you to take their literature, buy raffle tickets and sign petitions, and that's pretty well what happened.
I did meet one person I knew who returned my hello and then departed without staying for any conversation and beyond that, zilch. There were a lot of colourful individuals/costumes and many and varied dogs - one of the things at the Pride Fair is a particularly non-mainstream style dog show - but that was it. I believe they've priced themselves out, certainly for me, as I don't intend to go back.
None of the trans guys I knew were in evidence. The ones on the Transfolk stall were very young and not personally known to me, further entrenching my belief that the group is aimed primarily at the young, although it's certainly not just the young who transition gender. I chatted briefly with a couple of rather nice looking bears at the Bears Perth stall, who were very encouraging about me showing up later to all their events, not just the walking tour they're doing in combination with Perth Wanderers, a hiking group. I think that was when my brain hit the condition of being too nervous to make any actual sense. Since today I've just got home from hiking to Guildford and back, probably a total of around five kilometres, I know I'd be fine with the walking tour, but the problem is conversing with actual humans I don't know. Sigh. Yesterday at the Pride Fair was a crashing fail in that regard.
My aim in going to Guildford was to check out Guildford Cycles with view to buying a new bike before it gets too bloody hot to walk around, but it would probably have helped to remind myself of the shop's opening hours, which don't include Sunday. Hiked back to the antique shops strip in Guildford for coffee and half a scone and checked out the Guildford Book Exchange.
I was scanning the shelves for any sign of Rose de Freycinet's journal, A Woman of Courage - as it was later titled when published nearly 200 years later - but no sign. It's out of print, though Robert Muir Books does have two copies I will check out when I get around there. Rose was smuggled on board the French explorer vessel Uranie by her husband, the expedition commander, and travelled around the world for three years, recording her experiences in a journal written to a friend. Uranie, btw, is the same ship that checked out the WA coast with view to establishing a French penal colony here and had it not been shipwrecked, might have been instrumental in that founding.
I did get a copy of Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, the book which inspired the movie, which I have seen. I suspect it'll annoy me as much as the movie did, for the sheer shooting-themselves-in-the foot sexist stupidity of the monkey culture, which is what I've decided to call twentieth century human civilisation. But, when I say it'll annoy me, I mean that in a good sense, if that's possible. It's a story of triumph of intellect and determination despite the obstacles put in the path of these women, though it makes me wonder what could have been achieved if the space program had made full use of all its human resources, not just half of them. But as Samuel P said; how little merit and only favour do prevail in the world.
no subject
I cannot believe they charge for entry into Pride! Your experience of it sounds pretty precisely what mine is of every Pride event I've been to, but at least ours are free. Saying that, there's next to no trans presence at ours and what there is, is usually exclusively women, and at the most very young guys.
Also, you had me at 'bears' - I'd definitely be going to those events as an, uh, silent observer..! ;)
no subject
Pride Fair used to be fine, as I said, the gold coin donation. That was probably 20 years ago, geez, showing my age here. When it went up to around $5, ok as well, but not now. And the trans thing - sigh. Used to be a Transmen group, then they expanded it to be more general - wouldn't have been my choice at all - and most of the older guys aren't associated with it any more.
no subject
I don't mind a mixed group, but yeah, it gets pretty alienating when it's 99% women and then a few much younger guys, which in my experience is usually the case. I went to Trans Pride in Manchester earlier this year - we were busy in the day so I just went to meet up with a (female) friend later on. I went to sit with her and her (also female) friends and one of them said to me "Oooh! You're the first trans man I've seen all day!" which I think pretty much sums things up. And that's a dedicated Trans Pride and apparently the biggest in the UK :\ I guess we can't help that we're all rare and exotic..!! ;)