So…it’s April and that is Autism Awareness month. Perhaps you are aware that autism exists? Success! But actually no, not success because there are a lot of things about being autistic that still suck and very few of them are autism itself, they are mostly trying to exist as autistic in a neurotypical world. ForContinue reading “#ActuallyAutistic Part 1: Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month”
Author Archives: theoracleofz
Retrospective
My new year begins on my birthday and not so much New Year’s Day the federal holiday. Part of this is because my birthday is very close to the spring equinox [in the Northern Hemisphere] and spring feels more “new” than two weeks after the winter solstice when we’re all exhausted and it’s too darkContinue reading “Retrospective”
Against Performative Productivism
Last Saturday, it was the weekend, ostensibly the time I get to rest from the trials of the week also known as the time of wage labor when I am unable to fully own myself. It becomes 5pm on Friday and I once again own myself. All the time that stretches out before me untilContinue reading “Against Performative Productivism”
A Prayer for Natives of the Internet in a Troubled Time
O Lord,* help me to remember that everyone on the internet is a narcissist, or a hypocrite, or a liar and that we all transparently sit in judgment of the choices of others at all times [perhaps especially myself]. And so, guide my fingers to backspace through the witty and cutting retort that is nearlyContinue reading “A Prayer for Natives of the Internet in a Troubled Time”
Reincarnation
Last year when we bought our house, a wonderful friend from church texted me a picture of two beat-up, cane backed chairs and said, “would you like these for your new house?” Maybe this is a strange request, but not to me – up-cycler of hidden relics. It took me a while to follow upContinue reading “Reincarnation”
Conscious Consumption Update
In December of 2018, I decided that our household was going to spend 2019 watching everything we consumed pretty closely. The intent was to cut single use plastic and palm oil out of our lives to the full extent that was possible while also buying much less overall. When we had to buy things, IContinue reading “Conscious Consumption Update”
Sylvia Plath and Parenting
OR, Toward an Equity of Selfishness I’m not well suited to the realities of parenthood. Parenting, especially for the female presenting parent – the mother – is a fairly consuming process. Children need and want things and parent needs and wants come second. I have a more artistic, erratic and fluid sense of my ownContinue reading “Sylvia Plath and Parenting”
Christmas, Consumerism and Custody
Even in a normal year I am a great hater of secular American Christmas and am at best confused about why – as a non-Christian – Christmas always has to be omnipresent. That sounds aggressive, but I think “confused” is the best way to categorize my feelings about a religious holiday that has been cooptedContinue reading “Christmas, Consumerism and Custody”
Sonder
In high school, because of mine and my mother’s disgraced retreat from a repossessed mobile home to a rundown apartment complex resultant of her bankruptcy, I had a 45 minute commute to high school in my hand-me-down 1991 Buick Century, Bonnie. I traveled through an affluent suburb, down old state route 421 to my ruralContinue reading “Sonder”
On Middle Age, Intentional Parenting and Media Criticism
Recently, I have reached the point in my life where I am past the age of experts, which is to say that I am actually in the cohort of “real” adults who are driving the status quo and the locus of common sense that everyone else is relying upon to construct their reality. What thisContinue reading “On Middle Age, Intentional Parenting and Media Criticism”
The Oracle of Z 