Coasting Through Social Contagions, Resisting Self-Promotion, Indiana Democracy, Work Stress

 Coasting this morning. I walked down to Dollar General for laundry soap and then decided to put off the laundry until tomorrow after church.

I have 2 hours to get ready to go won to Fishers.

From The Guardian, the interview I didn’t think it was possible to be a novelist’: Julian Barnes on literature, loss – and his late friend Martin Amis. I have only read a short story by Barnes, but having read the interview I think I will need to put him on the never-ending list of writers I still need to read.

I have not done the newsletter for 2 weeks. My 2 subscribers have not complained, still I might get at it today. Or not. 

Who’s Afraid of Social Contagion? Our ideas about sexuality and gender have changed before, and now they’re changing again in which Hugh Ryan wrote:

Conservatives have been pushing two related theories to explain this uptick. First, there’s the “social contagion” theory, which holds that in a world drowning in representations of heterosexuality and cisgenderness, meeting a single trans person, reading a book with a bisexual character in it, or encountering nonbinary pronouns on TikTok can totally destabilize the identity of an otherwise “normal” child. It’s amazing how fragile heterosexuality and cisness are in this formulation—almost like they’re socially manufactured identities, backed by huge amounts of ideological infrastructure, peer pressure, media recruitment, and social policing. Well, I guess conservatives aren’t wrong about everything.

Another theory, sometimes offered in tandem with the contagion idea and sometimes in slight opposition to it, is the “snowflake” theory: the idea that zoomers are confused, or pretending, or signaling solidarity, or just want attention, and thus their “identities”—pansexual, ace (as in asexual), genderflux, enby, and so on—aren’t even “real.” In part, this is just another version of the contagion fear. But there’s something else going on, something a little more interesting, which—in a roundabout way—can help to explain why I think we are asking some of the wrong questions about this uptick in queer identification. This particular queerphobic explanation adds additional requirements to clear the bar of “queerness”: it has to last this long or you have to be attracted to this many people of the same sex, or you have to felt this way from birth.

In other words, this is an argument about what it means to be queer: what factors matter in terms of defining sexuality and gender, and who gets to decide. In some ways, this is a discussion humanity is always having, and these ideas are constantly shifting over time.

***

It is because of this history that I don’t find the queerness of gen Z surprising—nor the explosion of new identities around gender and sexuality, nor the growing anti-trans alliance between some supposed radical feminists and some actual Christian fascists. We are in a moment of great change, but it’s not unprecedented. In fact, I think we’re going through a Great Reorganization of Sexuality and Gender—the second Great Reorganization the United States has experienced. To understand what’s happening now, we need to go back to the late 1800s, where we’ll find not only an instructive parallel to what we are experiencing today, but also the roots of our very ideas of what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

As for the idea of social contagion? Conservatives have it half right: humans are social creatures, and having more (and more diverse) role models for sexuality and gender identity of course enables more young people to understand their queer self. But conservatives are blind to the fact that these identities have shifted radically around them, making space for more ways to be queer and thus, making space for more people under the queer umbrella. Instead of being groomed into these categories, young people are redefining the categories to fit their experiences—thanks in large part, as this history shows, to the internet.

How to Use Powerful Questions to Overcome Resistance to Self-Promotion:

I have three main questions that I use as prompts before I share about my acting:

 “What have I learned in this process?” When I ask myself this I recognize that when I  talk about the work over drinks with a friend or share a snippet of the process on social media, my intention is to allow the work to support others’ processes. My lessons can potentially save someone else from repeating my mistakes. Being vulnerable about challenges can inspire others to keep going when they hit a rough patch. In this way, the project begins to take on new life and to have value outside the limits of entertainment. Love this.

“What do I have to give?” Shifting into that mindset removes the perceived separation between actor and audience and transforms my experience as an actor from performative to collaborative. This process better supports both parties involved. When I view everyone involved in a performance as co-creators, we become equals. What I create is equally valued in this partnership paradigm. Partnership helps to remove my neediness as an actor who wants the audience to ”like” whatever I’ve created. That’s a lot of pressure for an audience, and they can feel it. Whenever I put others in a position to affirm my work, I give away my power and create barriers that prohibit me from fully expressing my unique perspective.

“What can I celebrate?” Answering that question holds me accountable for finding my joy in my art. The key word here is “my,” because joy can look any way I choose. Joy can include the messiness and the challenges as well the successes. Celebrating the work creates a positive feedback loop and tells my inner artist that it is safe to create, to take risks, and to fail. I am able to acknowledge and accept anything that my inner artist wants to express. A kid bringing home a painting from school is encouraged when her artwork is proudly displayed on the refrigerator. The artist who is met with “I like the way you used blue here” rather than “I don’t understand what this blotch is supposed to represent” is more likely to paint again and paint joyfully. That’s how I view my inner artist. Put that work up on the fridge, blotches and all.

Time to check the email. 

11:10 

All the information Hoosiers need to participate in democracy -  and it is all of that.

Indiana ranks in top ten states most stressed about work 

I sent to The Adroit Journal “Between the Dead and the Dying”, “The Rational Actor”, and “Reunion”.

I cleaned out my Clippings app. Time to move over to Chrome.

12:20

Big gap here. I went to Fishers for the St. George's Orthodox Church Middle Eastern Festival around 2. I got back around 7 pm. I will write more about that later. 

When I got back I worked on my short story collection. More about that later.

I made some notes on this morning's reading. More about them later.

I submitted 'Walls, Lines" to Random Sample Review Issue 10.

Time to get dressed for church.

sch 9/17