gdp's Comments

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Fifth Elephant': Part 3

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 17:48:34 +0000

Which is why I'm saying this isn't mere embarrassment on his part.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Fifth Elephant': Part 3

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 17:47:43 +0000

Even if that were true, it still puts 100% of the burden of tracking and managing it on Angua. That would basically be the werewolf version of "natural" family planning, and that is pretty labor-intensive. Carrot doesn't have to do anything but not have sex with Angua when she tells him not to, and he should be doing that anyway. Let's say it IS true. It doesn't give Carrot any right to think that "unnatural" methods shouldn't exist or be used by other people.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Fifth Elephant': Part 3

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 16:35:29 +0000

Except that Vimes didn't criticize Carrot's Views, he merely expressed his own opinion of condoms - namely, that they have benefited Ankh-Morpork. And without filling in blanks or naming names, that is exactly typical of those types of religious/conservative groups. An opinion that isn't in line with theirs must automatically be criticism. And that doesn't excuse Carrot's thinking. Being anti-birth control isn't a requirement for being a dwarf. The preceding sections have been all about what makes or doesn't make someone a dwarf. Cheery is dressing in feminine clothing and using she/her pronouns. She's still a dwarf. There's no reason Carrot can't bite back his disapproval of someone who manufactures condoms. And re-reading it, it's almost worse because Carrot is almost offering up "Views" as a legitimate motive for someone to murder Sonky. People like Carrot are the reason SCOTUS decided that employers should be able to keep birth control from being covered by their insurance benefits.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Fifth Elephant': Part 3

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 16:19:20 +0000

After Vimes calls Sonky a national hero and points out the positive impact condoms have had on the housing shortage, here's the quote:

"People do have Views, sir," said Carrot coldly. Yes, you do, don't you, Vimes thought. Dwarfs don't hold with that sort of thing.

And this implies that the prudishness (and judgment/shaming) is a dwarf thing, which is also hypocritical because dwarfs aren't supposed to care about how people manage their sex lives, they just don't talk about it. My reading is definitely disapproval from Carrot, not embarrassment.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Fifth Elephant': Part 3

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 14:39:55 +0000

So this is barely even a thing in this section, and I think that it's one of those potential character inconsistencies that Pratchett probably didn't think about, but I really don't like Carrot's disapproval of the concept of condoms in this section. First of all, we know that Carrot's relationship with Angua is sexual. That was made very clear in Men at Arms. So if Carrot is having sex with Angua and there have presumably been no pregnancies or pregnancy scares, clearly someone is doing something preventive in nature. This makes Carrot either oblivious or a hypocrite, because if he doesn't know or care why his relationship has remained free of offspring, then Angua is taking 100% of the burden of birth control on herself, leaving Carrot free to be all stiff and disapproving about the idea of preventing pregnancy while not having to deal with the consequences himself. I am so sick of men, fictional or otherwise, claiming or implying that women are responsible (personally, financially, morally) for every aspect of human reproduction. I'm sure that Pratchett's conception of Carrot as The Purest Boy Scout felt like him being a prude about birth control seemed like a logical extension, but I don't like it. Vimes is completely right that exercising reproductive control helps to keep families from growing outside of the parents' ability to care for them. Yes, a side benefit of that is reducing pressure on Ankh-Morpork's housing crisis, but it's also good for the women of the city who apparently only have the options of being family women and/or "seamstresses." Speaking of seamstresses, while there has been little if any textual acknowledgement of the idea of the use of condoms for disease prevention, that's also something that's incredibly important. So maybe cool it with the birth control shaming, Carrot.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Carpe Jugulum': Part 3

Mon, 6 Feb 2017 14:28:55 +0000

I've always read Carpe Jugulum and other modern Omnian Discworld characters as though the events of "Small God's" had happened long outside living memory, perhaps a few hundred years. Meaning that my take on Small God's is that it takes place in the distant past. Pbafgnoyr Ivfvg naq Erireraq Bngf frrz gb zr gb or zrzoref bs n qr-snatrq eryvtvba gung abj graqf gbjneq rinatryvfz engure guna sbepvoyr pbairefvba naq/be qrngu. Naq Bngf zragvbaf gur znal fpuvfzf gung unir bppheerq bire cbvagf bs gurbybtvpny qvfnterrzrag, ohg gur qvssrerag frpgf nera'g ng jne jvgu rnpu bgure. Va snpg, vg eneryl trgf gb gur cbvag bs orneq-chyyvat naq svfgvphssf. Bngf lrneaf sbe gur qnlf bs jung ur pbafvqref gb or "erny eryvtvba" jvgubhg ernyyl guvaxvat nobhg ubj oybbql vg jnf. Guvf gryyf zr gung gubfr ngebpvgvrf ner sne njnl va gur cnfg. Anaal unf jvgpu yber gung unf orra cnffrq qbja gb ure, ohg guvf vf gur svefg zbqrea Bzavna fur'f zrg. Fur gnxrf gur vqrn bs jvgpu-oheavat irel crefbanyyl ohg unf ab erprag hcqngrf gb jung fur jnf gnhtug jura fur jnf yrneavat jvgpupensg. Vg'f yvxr gerngvat lbhe bayl Pngubyvp npdhnvagnapr jvgu qrrc fhfcvpvba orpnhfr lbh jrer gbyq fgbevrf bs gur Vadhvfvgvba.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 20

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 01:57:12 +0000

Gung'f fbzrguvat gung V ernyyl nccerpvngr nobhg Gur Gehgu naq Cengpurgg - guvf jne znl abg unir bssvpvnyyl unccrarq, ohg crbcyr qvrq naq vg punatrq guvatf ba gur Qvfp sbe znal, vapyhqvat Jvyyvnz naq uvf snzvyl.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 20

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 01:53:58 +0000

We landed on it, therefore it only shines for us! /sarcasm

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 16

Wed, 16 Nov 2016 14:19:47 +0000

Nothing compares to a dark night sky. And in the desert, if it's overcast or there's a new moon, it is incredibly dark. My boyfriend and I went to Rachel, Nevada, which is a microscopic town outside the military base people know as Area 51, and as soon as the sun went down we could see nothing. We were actually afraid to get out of the car because we thought we would lose it in the dark. And we drove very carefully, because it's all open range out there and we did not want to hit a cow. I really love the subversion of the "ambush some locals to get clothes for disguises" trope.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 14

Wed, 9 Nov 2016 14:14:59 +0000

I woke well before my alarm this morning. I barely slept. I don't know what to do, except say that I voted and I will vote in every single election that I can until the day I die. I'm grateful for the last eight years and will do my best to use what privilege I have to advocate for and protect those who don't. Pont is great. Such an interesting character.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 13

Mon, 7 Nov 2016 14:22:50 +0000

Kit's shadow mnsters are extremely creepy, and I agree with Mark that they probably manifested because he's feeling his own gear as well as Nita's. There's something about the vulnerability of parents that makes you feel a childlike helplessness, and in this case it means "what you see when you sleep and it doesn't go right" was created before Kit had a chance to do anything consciously. I love Pinch as a character. He has a unique way of looking at things.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 12

Fri, 4 Nov 2016 00:15:41 +0000

I actually don't think there is such a thing as male clothing and female clothing, just clothing that two genders wear largely out of societal expectation. It's a socially-enforced custom, which means that even if a boy decided that he did want to wear a dress or skirt to school, he'd likely be more afraid of abuse from his peers than he would be of getting in trouble for not adhering to a skirt length specified in a dress code. That's a related issue, but not what I was talking about. I have seen dress codes that forbid girls to show their collar bones, that have restrictions on natural hair styles for minority students, that seem to disproportionately target girls for things they can't help - like having big busts or curves that will show no matter what they wear. Other commenters have said that the reason that the burden of dress codes falls more heavily on girls than boys is not because they have a larger variety of socially-expected styles, it's because girls' bodies are sexualized at an early age while boys' bodies largely go unpoliced because they're seen as the default body - a kind of "neutral". And the reasons for having dress codes commonly make reference not to maintaining an academic "professional" environment, but to preventing girls' bodies from distracting the boys. Instead of placing the onus on boys to see their peers are people instead of "distractions", boys' education is inherently deemed more valuable than girls' education when it is girls who are sent home and/or shamed for what they wear to school. In schools where uniforms are required, it may seem that dress codes are more equally applied. My only experience is in schools where there were no uniforms, and dress codes were most definitely NOT equally applied or enforced.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 12

Thu, 3 Nov 2016 13:35:30 +0000

I'm not wild about the harassment that Nita experiences in this chapter, especially because it comes after all the conversation about Nita's new skirt. The dress codes in high schools put 99% of the guidelines and restrictions on policing the bodies of girls, with very few examples of boys and teachers recognizing that girls deserve education every bit as much as boys. I have a lot of feelings about it as forced modesty and fear kept me from being able to be comfortable in choosing what I wear and how I look for a long time, and it was such a toxic system that I participated in the policing and shaming of other girls and had a lot of shit to unlearn. Those comments from Nita's parents about her being sent home from school, as if she would deserve that just for wearing a skirt instead of being allowed to get an education, are troubling. The harassment she gets from her peers at least feels as if it's not directly related to this particular choice of clothing, and seems like a fairly regular occurrence. Which in itself is frustrating. I know that Nita and Kit don't pay much attention to bullies since the first book, but I think it's telling that this is so common that the idea of reporting it doesn't even cross either of their minds. And while i find that to be both depressing and realistic, I still don't like the way this is handled. Maybe I'm letting my baggage color my perception of this, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'll stop here, since Nita's conversation with her mom is too hard to talk about.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 11

Wed, 2 Nov 2016 02:00:09 +0000

Rhiow! <3

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 9

Thu, 27 Oct 2016 13:25:25 +0000

I love Vimes, and I love Sybil, but I feel really sorry for Sybil during the part of her thoughts where she tells herself how lucky she is to be married to a man she hardly ever sees. Vimes does important work and he's in a much healthier place in his life than he was in Guards! Guards! But Sybil loves him and wants to spend time with him, and that is a perfectly reasonable thing for her to want. V srry fnq gung Ivzrf bayl fgnegf gb qryvorengryl znxr gvzr sbe uvf snzvyl nsgre lbhat Fnz vf obea. V ernyyl srry yvxr Flovy qrfreirf orggre, rira gubhtu v haqrefgnaq Ivzrf naq uvf jbex. Ur qbrf ybir ure, ohg va n jnl ur'f yvxr Pneebg - vs vg'f fnvq bapr, vg qbrfa'g arrq gb or fnvq ntnva, be pbzzhavpngrq guebhtu npgvba naq orunivbe.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 7

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:24:40 +0000

Cancer is a ravager of bodies. My step-dad was so altered by the leukemia, it was hard to see him. And it was quick, so quick. Three months from the "something is terribly wrong" initial shock to the funeral. Also a shock. It seemed like he'd been fine only a few months before. What signs had we missed? How could something like that happen without anyone noticing? But it did.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 5, Part II

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 13:25:25 +0000

I have feelings about this chapter about this chapter and the rest of the book, but a lot of what I want to say is most applicable to other chapters. But I've been there, too, and it sucks.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 3

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 13:10:44 +0000

I really like Nobby. Pratchett's joke is that Nobby is an ugly scoundrel and everyone believes the worst of him (except for maybe Lady Sybil), but I think Nobby is a great character who likes to wind Fred up when he's spouting off nonsense regarding things he knows nothing about. There are a few examples of him doing that before this, but this is one of my favorite moments. I like that Fred is always left unsettled after these kinds of conversation because he wants his nonsense to be taken seriously and suspects he hasn't been.

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'The Wizard's Dilemma': Chapter 4

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 04:36:29 +0000

Communicating with people, even (or especially) people you care deeply about is so goddamn hard. And while Nita hasn't been able to witness her parents successfully resolve an argument that was serious enough they felt they had to have it in private, at least she knows how lucky she is not to have to listen to them screaming at each other. My parents tried to hide their fights, but because they yelled I always knew when it was happening. And my dad had anger issues when he was younger (which he's since worked on, successfully), which meant he yelled a lot. So now I at least know that yelling is something that I can't tolerate in a relationship. I hate angry yelling. It doesn't even matter if it's not at me - I get scared and upset. If any person I dated yelled at me I would drop them in a heartbeat. You learn something about yourself with every relationship you have, romantic or not. It's really interesting to see Nita and Kit navigate the first real conflict between themselves, but I think they're bumbling their way through it just fine, as painful as it is to see them slightly at odds with each other. <3 Carmela!

Mark Reads : Mark Reads 'Jingo': Part 1

Wed, 5 Oct 2016 13:04:59 +0000

I have not been able to comment as much as I'd like to lately, but I'm really looking forward to reading Jingo with Mark and everyone. I love that the two fishermen were so distracted by their mutual national hatred of each other that they each ran off with the wrong boy. For certain dynamics, Pratchett is a genius at showing how alike people are in general when they're determined to hate each other for being different.