chadlesbianjasontodd
planetaryfolklore

ryanpanos:

Infinite Stairs and Dissected Buildings | Marcin Bialas | Socks Studio

Marcin Bialas is a Polish artist who’s specialized in etchings and drawings in black an white. Among his large production, a recurring theme is dissected buildings and surreal constructions, such as infinite staircases and labyrinthine interiors, an atemporal combination of G.B. Piranesi and Brodsky/Utkin prints. The structures seem unfinished, yet already in ruin, able to plunge the viewer into an uncomfortable feeling. Somewhere between nightmares and theatrical settings, Marcin Bialas’ retro drawings explore the dramatic potential of different projections and points of view.

artdrawing

anyone seen any demonstrator pens with a little bit of interesting detail? thinking about the twsbi diamond’s faceted barrel or the penbbs “swirls in clear acrylic” colorways…

fountain pens

there was a cafe offering a promotion where you could buy one litre of some drink they were obviously trying to get rid of, and now, 3 hours later with no a/c, it sounds entirely reasonable to me

Chen [Weisong] wrote many poems with, and about, Yun Lang. For example, on Yun Lang’s wedding day, which was arranged by Chen, he wrote [“To the Bridegroom: I Gift This Poem on the Occasion of Yun Lang’s Wedding”] …

Despite the dejected spirit of the poem, there is no evidence that Chen’s relationship with Yun underwent any change after the wedding; later poems and biographical accounts indicate that they kept their status as each other’s primary partner until the younger man’s death in 1675.

(Wikipedia)

gonna be researching/translating the above poem from the Qing dynasty this week!

bronanlynch
end-otw-racism

Timeline of OTW Hiring of a Diversity Consultant

We have been seeing some claims that OTW has already hired a Diversity Consultant. We wish that were true! At this point all that’s been done is appoint a volunteer to research diversity consultants 

Here is a timeline, as best we can construct, of this issue. 

June 2020

OTW first talked about hiring an external contractor in their June 2020 statement on racism, and said they would start researching options “in the coming months”

From this, we hope to build a long-term strategy that will include specific internal goals and structural improvements, which can be further divided into clear, actionable steps that we can incorporate into our upcoming Strategic Plan. As part of this, we will be considering various avenues including, but not limited to, reaching out to an external contractor or partnering with an advocacy group, and will be actively researching credible resources in the coming months.  We recognize that this careful approach will take time as we need to make sure any steps are taken responsibly and with a clear scope and objective, while also keeping up with the other duties and obligations of OTW governance. However, we believe that it is an important step to take in creating a stronger OTW for all.ALT


July 2021

In July 2021, a year later, they announced that they had created two new “officer” roles, including one to start researching diversity consultants. (OTW uses the terms “officers” & “staff”, but those are currently unpaid volunteer roles)

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW  The Board of Directors hosted a public meeting on July 11. The main discussion involved the creation of two new officer roles: to aid us in introducing paid staff, and to research options for diversity consultants. Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting and gave their input! As always, if you have any feedback or questions about their work, you can email the Board.ALT


April 2022

 In April 2022, almost a year after THAT, they appointed one of two Diversity Consultant Research Officers & said they would be starting work. (I guess technically that’s still “coming months” from 2020? lol)

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that it has appointed a Diversity Consultant Research Officer to help the OTW formulate its next steps towards hiring a diversity consultant or firm. The role remains open for internal recruitment as the Board would ideally like it to be held by two people for the sake of redundancy and sharing out the workload. The Board also held its quarterly public meeting at the beginning of the month — thanks to everyone who came and asked questions!ALT


January 2023

In January 2023, when asked about the timeline for working with a diversity consultant, OTW said they hoped to “conclude the project” in 5 years. Also they had not yet appointed a second officer. 

I asked my usual question of how the diversity consultant research officer's work is going and if they've encountered any difficulties in looking to hire a paid consultant, and Nat said: The research is still on its early stages. Our officer has shared their ideas with us and we are debating together what our roadmap, so to speak, should look like. They haven't encountered any difficulties so far, but we aren't yet at the stage of contacting potential hires. They also haven't appointed a second research officer yet, though still hope to do so.ALT
Satsuma then asked, "Any general ideas about what the timeline for said roadmap will look like? Would appreciate even very broad figures here — unclear if we're talking one year, five, or ten."  To which Nat replied: Because the research relies on volunteer work, it can be difficult for us to provide a realistic timeline for large projects in the OTW. Speaking very broadly, our goal is definitely to conclude this project in the next 5 years - hopefully less, if we don't find any meaningful difficulties and are able to carry our work as planned. But being more specific than this just wouldn't be based on any concrete prediction we're able to make. Which is very frustrating indeed. So I asked if there was a way to pay someone to do that work, and Nat said, "That is definitely an option, punk, and we haven't entirely discarded it. However, there are many advantages by having the research being made by someone who knows the OTW well from the inside, and that's not something we can pay for.ALT


March 2023

Which brings us to the most recent OTW Board meeting in March 2023, almost another year after the officer had been appointed, when we received the first update on what they had been working on.

kcdayton: Today, we would like to share an update about the OTW's work on anti-racism and diversity in our organization. This section will be a permanent addition to all Board of Directors public meetings going forward, as we realize the OTW needs to be more transparent and proactive with regards to keeping fans in the loop with regards to what we have been able to do so far to make our organization and projects safer and more welcoming to fans of color. We know we have not historically been efficient enough when sharing updates - we hope this will be a step in the right direction, and are committed to continue sharing as much as we can on a regular basis. We are also studying whether any other communications paths could be feasible for our organization. We appreciate the feedback and suggestions fans continue to share with us, and we consider every idea carefully.ALT
In our first update, we'd like to talk a bit about the work our Diversity Consultant Research Officer has been doing. As a reminder, the role of this officer is to liaise with the organization in order to assess our specific needs for an external diversity consultant, and also to look into available consultants who could work within our organization and our specific challenges, such as a fully online environment, international workforce, the full anonymity of most of our volunteers, and so on. In the first quarter of 2023, Zoë has presented the Board with a plan to contact different stakeholders in our organization, so she can get a clearer picture of what OTW leadership and volunteers expect from a consultant, what concerns they have, and what they see as priorities for this work. She will be reaching out to the organization gradually, to make sure she can dedicate proper time and attention to each person who wishes to communicate with her.ALT
Additionally, she has begun some preliminary research into potential hires, and while it is still too soon for us to determine whether specific companies would be suitable and able to work with us, we are hopeful that we will find a company to that can contribute in a meaningful manner towards making the OTW a more diverse and anti-racist space. Board has also met with the Strategic Planning committee this month in order to discuss, among other things, the Diversity section of the upcoming plan. We know that many people are anxious for updates on this area since the OTW's Vision Statement got published last year, and we would like to reassure you that discussions and feedback are ongoing, in order to help us create a plan that is helpful, efficient, and has achievable steps for our organization.ALT
When two people asked if there was a timeline for this work, kcdayton replied: Zoë expects the first round of interviews, focusing on OTW leadership, should last about two months, in between asynchronous and live chats. Once that part of the work is reaching conclusion, she'll begin planning for a wider round of feedback and discussion with OTW volunteers, which will likely take a few months, depending on how much response there is.ALT


OTW was asked about the five year timeline, & this time we were told that they hoped the project would be concluded OR have “made great progress” in five years, again moving the goalposts.

Currently

Looking at this timeline, this could make it eight years before we see anything substantial (3 til now +5 more) in significantly addressing this issue. This is unacceptable. We know they have the funds to hire consultants.

This is why we’re demanding that OTW make good on their commitment and hire someone in the next 3-6 months. It’s not an unreasonable ask given that the officer has already had more than a year to work on this and we are 3 years out since we were told this was a priority. 

five YEARS??fandomao3

the breakfast wraps i made: tasty, but too much mushy avocado :/ next time i would use more bacon, reduce the avocado, and add lots more cilantro

food /