Vintage Japanese Illustration

I found Kogundou on Twitter. The text is all in Japanese but there are many lovely images from old books, most of which seem to be children's books.

Stuff Seen on Twitter

Beautiful, colorful art by Iris Scott.

I love these rain photos. They almost look like paintings.

This 1920's hair dryer:

I sort of want it. Not to use but just to have people walk into my house and say, "What the hell is that thing?!"

This must read article about "cultural appropriation". This subject ("cultural appropriation" but involving a different culture) came up a few months ago on one of the sewing blogs I read and a lovely woman of color said pretty much the same thing. We often make the mistake of forgetting that people of other cultures have differing opinions within their culture just as much as we do. Just be respectful. That's all you need to do.

Umbrella street, Portugal:

A disturbing short story about smart homes. I'm not a big fan of most "smart home" technology. I find all of it unnecessary and some of it just a little creepy. This story is also anti-GMO which I am not so that part of the story annoys me a little. I suppose bad things could happen but I think the potential for disaster is exaggerated.

And another artist, Tomasz Alen Kopera.

Women's Day?

So, today is International Women's Day. Bah, humbug! Yes, I am a Women's Day scrooge. I usually shy away from issues. What usually happens when anyone, especially someone whose opinions don't fit neatly into any of the approved categories, tries to discuss issues is that people read only the part they hate and totally ignore any qualifiers and disclaimers. But nobody reads this anyway so imagining that I'm going to get trolls is probably flattering myself to the point of pure fantasy. If I did get trolls it would actually be sort of validating, in a way.

Still, I feel like I have to start by saying this: Yes, of course women should be free to live whatever kind of life they want. Yes, women should be doctors and lawyers and college professors and CEO's and whatever else they aspire to and they should be paid the same as men doing the same jobs. We have mostly achieved that in the U.S. Or at least we have achieved the right to sue our employers for discrimination. Of course, trials and other court proceedings are really just contests to see who has the better lawyer but that's a whole 'nother issue.

What we have not achieved is respect. Women are still groped and women are still mansplained to and geeky girls are still bullied for daring to play video games and liking science fiction and superhero comics. In fact, in some ways things are worse now than in the 60s and 70s. Women who work and demand equality are disrespected by men (only some men but way too many) and women who are traditionally feminine are disrespected by more "progressive" women.

Frankly, women who make a point of letting everyone know how much they dislike anything traditionally associated with femininity both amuse and annoy me at the same time. Honey, you're not better than anyone just because you don't like pink. And here we come to the point I was working up to. I often find myself thinking, "I hate what womanhood has become." And I guess this is my fault for being different - for being a throwback. I have always related more to women in my mother's generation and enjoyed hanging out with them more than with my own generation. But those women, at least in my family, have all gone where we all must inevitably go someday.

This is more than just feeling sorry for myself, though I will admit there is some of that; I feel sad for young women and girls for what they have lost and never will know they have lost. And really, I don't even know how to define it myself. I don't want for most women to go back to being housewives who sew and knit and bake cookies but I want that to still be a valid and respectable option. But that's not really the point. Whether housewives or career women there seems to be some quality that is missing from womanhood compared to the way it used to be and that missing quality hasn't really been replaced by anything positive. As I said I don't know how to define it and maybe I really just don't know enough women and maybe I'm missing something.

Of course I know this is not universal. There are always people who don't fit in and people who can't keep up with the times and most are afraid to speak out and demand respect for reasons that would soon become obvious if this blog was much more popular. Also, I don't want to give the impression that I'm seriously bothered by any of this personally. Sure there are times when I sort of miss having compatible female companionship - someone to go to antique shops and fabric stores with or to just hang out with for a while - but I'm enough of an introvert that I truly enjoy alone time and I'm actually glad that I never have to put up with anyone dropping in on me when I'm not in the mood.

As for International Women's Day, I think it is best observed by focusing on the "International" part of it - on those countries where women are still treated as slaves, or in some cases are actual slaves, where women don't have health care or enough food to eat, or clean water, where they would consider the worst situation in the U.S. to be near Heaven. That's what International Women's Day should be about.

Good Guys Drink Tea

Yesterday was Charles Dickens birthday. As a fan I should have known that but I didn't until I came across this article about coffee and tea drinkers in Dickens' novels. Of course as a tea drinker myself it makes me happy that more often than not "the good guys prefer tea while the dodgier ones plot and scheme over coffee."

This also inspired another thought: that both what we consider elite and what we consider sinister or evil is at least partly due to a lack of familiarity. Here in America we think of tea (we're talking about hot tea here) as more elite than coffee and we imagine proper Brits sitting around in elegant parlors drinking tea from beautiful little tea cups. Never mind that that's probably no longer reality, if it ever was.

This also explains why a certain kind of movie villain always listens to classical music. Most people are not familiar with it so it seems plausible that it's what smart evil guys like. Wait! Is this why nobody like me? Because I drink tea and listen to classical music?