Links & Bits for 1/28/11

Being a POC in the Metal Scene (Writing is Fighting)

Admittedly I know that it is hard to be accepted as a POC in the scene - so I do not try to be accepted - you like me or you don't. I have met some great, cool people but I know to keep them at arms' length. Some I consider friends; most I do not. They fuffill the social part of me that loves going to shows and hanging out with like-minded metal fans, and only a few I have trusted enough to reveal parts of myself that exist outside of the music scene. On the other hand, I also have friends - mostly Black - who hate the music / scene I am into and do not understand why I do the things I do. I think that they begrudingly accept that it is part of me, but I also know that they talk about me behind my back. It's hard, but it's fair, I guess.

Reclaiming First Feminist Memories (Feministing)

[...]I realized that I too had come to feminism, less as a celebration than, as she so poignantly put it, “on my knees, confused, heartbroken.” It was only through my dreams, which I saw as messages from God, that I began to piece together the shattered parts of myself. And so for years, I dreamt and dreamt and dreamt. My dreams helped me to understand, finally, and to heal.

Net Neutrality, Keith Olberman, and the Limits of Schadenfreude (Tiger Beatdown)

In the wake of his departure from MSNBC, has my soul become bilious with schadenfreude? No, not any more than usual. One of the numerous theories floated during over the weekend was that he had been fired because of tensions with Comcast over net neutrality. If Comcast can destroy Net Neutrality, it can offer “tiered service” and make decisions about your access to the Internet, decisions that are completely separate from infrastructure limitations or bandwidth shaping.