I like jumping in leaf piles

Well two posts and a comic in, I think I should type just a bit about myself. Not some coming out or self discovery story (at least not yet), but the kind of things that I like. because well, these will probibly be what I write about, so if you are way into kniting cute bunny slippers, well ... I probibly will never write about that agin so yeah.

Pancakes - greatest food ever!
Spider-Man
RedWings Hockey
Metallica
Lake Michigan
Running through leaf piles, also includes jumping
David Gauthier
Making Jamie Laugh
Niel Diamond
...

Holy crap, I can't just make a list this is boring as fuck. Okay, when I was young I loved sports. I played almost everything. Mostly I liked the fact that everyone thought I was good, and if your not very happy with other stuff in your life you gravitate to things like that. Played football until I lost interest during my first shot at college. Yeppers collegiate athlete right here. I still like watching college football (the NFL is a joke), and hockey. I never played hockey, but has to be the greatest spectator sport ever.

I love being outdoors. hiking or just walking through the woods, the beauty of how light filters though the trees. I like the Zen of nature. Nothing is forced, it just is, it doesn't try to fit in, or BE something. It simply is. Rocks don't have existential dilemmas. When I really need to think about crap, or get caught up in too much pettiness, it is time for a hike up a Lake Michigan sand dune. Plus the view kicks ass.


I like thinking. I don't have to agree with you, and I probably rarely will, but if it is clear someone has reflected is is not simply regurgitating pre-canned partially hydrogenated halfassed thought-feelings, I'll listen and respect those thoughts. My time in philosophy pitted me arguing about all kinds of funky ideas, and it was alway fun to do. Mostly this was do to a free exchange and peeps not knowing the "truth" of things, but being open to conversion to that which has more reason. Everyday I wish the whole world was like that. That and free pancakes.

I love comics as the most advance form a literature. Hells yeah. From cave paintings till now, pictures tell stories. That and I learned more about ethics and how to live the right kind of life from Peter Parker than I did from the Bible. I'm obsessed with webcomic, and will probiblt write one of my own sometime soon. They are free to read, and there are some amazing artist out there too.

Well thats a little bit about me.
Alex

Zombie Jesus

Okay I am teaching myself to draw, and have an insane interest in webcomics. So here is a little piece I did. Hope you enjoy it.

real quick on ethics

Yesterday, I left off on a short note on ethics. I know from many conversations that a lot of people do not know how ethics actually work. Once upon a time, there was a fantastically smart man named Thomas Hobbes. He came to the realization that ethics an most of human interaction is governed by an overarching agreement that we call the social contract. The social contract predates governments, religions, it is the foundation that allows us to move beyond a small circle of family and friends and trust strangers. At first it was very simple.

Don't steal my shit, and I will not kill you.

It is simple, but it is also an agreement, and a code of conduct. As social interaction became more intricate, so to did the contract. It is an evolving understanding that seeks to maximize the opportunities to pursue ones desires, while regulating individuals from pursuing goals that are harmful to other people around them. This means several things. It took a reasoning mind and a force of collective will that every rational person came to understand and agree that harming people based on skin color or place of origin was wrong. Today we are currently undergoing this transformation again for LGBT people. It is wrong to harm or treat poorly or unfairly any person solely because she is different from you.

At some point I will get into why religion cannot give us ethics, but for anyone wishing to investigat solo, the answer to this was given 2500 years ago by Plato, in his dialogue Euthyphro.
check it out it is online and actually a good read.
Untill later
Alex

FREEDOM, and other non-racist Mel Gibbson sayings,

I'm Alexandria and I'm a trans-woman.

There are many things that go into the above sentence. A statement of self. Inclusion in a community. Oppression and ostracism from mainstream life. Yeppers, we don't show up in any hallmark moments cards. Various nouns, verbs and grammatical structures conjuring images of Jerry Springer like talk shows, coffee house whispers of, Is that a chick or a dude. I could go on with this list for awhile, but the thing I want to point at first is that it is a statement about conformity and freedom.

Humans love conformity. We love it so much we jump on the latest trends in a massive cuddlebomb of sweaty scratching black Friday at walmart madness; and save our ridicule of those same trends for when we are secure in the knowledge that everyone within earshot hates dogs that fit into purses with the same vile loathing as we do. We love conformity so much that we set aside what we really want, and who we really are for a more easily digestible you that fits in with corporate America and the in-laws. Even when we REBEL we get tramp stamps, nose rings or some other very scandalous yet culturally sanctioned fuck off to the man. Hell peer pressure is to blame for everything from teen pregnancy to Ann Coulter having a career. But if all the above has not convinced you that conformity is the greatest of all human compulsions. Then I will pull forth the big guns. The conformer that has unquestioned authority: The restroom sign!


Gender, and along with it what public restroom we use, is something most of us never give a second thought about. Some things just are the way they are and nuff said really. With all this conformity entrenched in our lives, most of it we are barley conscious of, what is the point, and how would freedom even enter the discourse? Well every trans person you have ever even heard about is at some level an embodiment of freedom in life.

I think freedom is the first thing you norms out there should learn from the freaks and weirdos that the world hates and fears because of our superpowers. Wait, am I still thinking of trans people or the X-men? Not that it matters freedom applies in both cases. I'm not talking about legal freedoms here either, that is just too limiting too narrow. No, I'm talking about freedom in life. The freedom to live your life how you see fit. You see bucking mother culture is a difficult and painful thing to do. Yet trans people do more than just flip the man the bird. Either because the pain was too great or the desire too strong, trans people reject the authority of the bathroom sign and all their power, they reject the pink or blue symbolism, and pursue a life that is their own making. It is a difficult road, somewhat more difficult because we don't listen to road signs either, in general we are anti-sign in nature. Let me see if I can sum up my take on freedom.

It is my life, I'll live it how I see fit

Now before I'm accused of being a completely heartless and selfish bitch, I must point out that this is pure freedom. Humans in our wondrous collective living invented ethics, so as to help us live with one another. Ethics changes the pure freedom into: it is my life, I'll live it how I see fit; so long as I do not infringe on the ability of others to live their lives how they see fit. That caveat pretty much sums up ethics. I can't see why all the philosophers have such a hard time anyway with ethics.