Post 1683117 by allan@mastodon.club
(DIR) More posts by allan@mastodon.club
(DIR) Post #1682737 by allan@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T15:55:49Z
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My take on the proliferation of celebratory events described here https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/gender-reveal-parties-life-events/577075/Is that these are parties for people who otherwise don't have anything fun in their lives.Of the people I know, those with interesting and fulfilling lives do not do these. These are the last scraps of joy for those trapped in a hollow suburban desperation.
(DIR) Post #1682909 by ink_slinger@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:03:35Z
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@allan Not finished the article yet (though I already tend to agree with your assessment) but, as a complete aside to the main thesis, I adore the number of sarcastic quotation marks in the sentence about the Emily Post Institute being an "authority."
(DIR) Post #1683033 by allan@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:09:15Z
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@ink_slinger as a put down, it has a delightfully..Emily Post..flair, superficially polite but steaming with condescension. It's actually kind of perfect.
(DIR) Post #1683117 by allan@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:13:01Z
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@ink_slinger also, I kept reading "milestone" as "millstone" and it wasn't until the end that I realized my error. That says something about me and how I view all of *gestures vaguely*
(DIR) Post #1683283 by ink_slinger@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:20:53Z
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@allan Milestones are important. Too many arbitrary milestones (though, really, nearly all milestones are arbitrary) feel like the millstone of life is grinding you down faster. Or some other appropriate simile.
(DIR) Post #1683384 by allan@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:25:00Z
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@ink_slinger Sure, but a lot of times these milestones are so laden with gendered expectations that, for queer people especially, they become more of burden than a celebration. It becomes just another reminder that I do not belong.
(DIR) Post #1683534 by ink_slinger@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:33:33Z
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@allan I actually don't think the milestones we hold up as "the norm" are important in and of themselves. Milestones, as a concept and a way of marking the stages of our lives, are important. But we can and should make our own, I think (especially queer folk and other people who don't conform, for whatever reason, to "the norm" and those of us who attempt to be friends/allies/comrades). But I guess, in a way, that creates further "separation," so maybe it's a double-edged sword.
(DIR) Post #1683560 by ink_slinger@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:35:35Z
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@allan This is actually one of several reasons I think gender-reveal parties are absurd. No one knows what gender an unborn child is going to express.
(DIR) Post #1683591 by ink_slinger@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T16:37:25Z
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@allan All that said, I do sympathize with the notion in the article that it's hard to invite people over "just because" and these new milestones give people are excuse to socialize. That's why I had so many "themed" parties in my 20s. I wanted to have people over so, uh, Earth Hour is soon. Let's have a "sit in the dark for an hour and drink" party.
(DIR) Post #1684123 by allan@mastodon.club
2018-12-03T17:02:19Z
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@ink_slinger I think this is increasingly a thing as people get older, their calendars get more full, and they need to book baby sitters and such. It gets harder to just hang-out and so one feels like there needs to be a special reason, to justify going through all the effort.