Complex Numbers

Accountability

Today's article (actually an essay) has been languishing in my queue for a while, and today is its day. I don't have a lot to say about it, and it may be of only marginal interest to most people, but I found it to be an interesting glimpse into some of the cultural tensions that we've been experiencing.

The Ticking Crocodile: Performative Accountability in Cultural Institutions  
How to spot false gestures at accountability, why acknowledgment is not enough, and what genuine reconciliation might look like

And it's a good thing I don't have a lot to say about it, because I'm really not in the mood today. Yesterday would have been my dad's birthday had he survived (he was born 105 years ago), and I've been practicing avoidance. It's raining, the days are getting shorter, and things are getting colder. I know a lot of people love fall. I do not. I'm a summer guy. If it's too hot for you, it's just right for me. Anything below 20C is "cold" and anything below 15C is "freezing" as far as I'm concerned, and the rain just makes me more miserable. The only good thing about the approaching season of dying is beer: Oktoberfest lagers and pumpkin ales make their brief seasonal appearance, and I might have had a few of those yesterday.

None of which has anything to do with the article (except for maybe the "avoidance" bit), but dammit, this is my blog and I get to rant about my state of mind if I want.

So I'm just leaving the essay here for your benefit. I'm taking a mental health night. I did read it (twice - once when Elisa the Bunny Stik sent it to me and again just now to see if I had any coherent thoughts about it, to which the answer is "not really") but while I think it's important, I'm in no mood to articulate exactly why. But it does have implications for my life, and for that of my father before me (I knew he'd figure into this somehow). I spent my childhood on land appropriated from an Indigenous people; I've donated the artifacts found on it to their tribal council, but is that the end of my responsibility, or just the beginning? Or is it even on me at all?

I don't know, and in a few years, it won't matter anyway.