Comments on: Storks

By: MT

MT — Sat, 12 May 2007 02:44:14 +0000

I think probably every brain’s a stork, partly just because I trust the rule of thumb that every brain has aspects that are liable to be called pathological and become identified as “a condition”/”syndrome”/”disease” when that brain exhibits them with significantly more or less intensity than is the statistical norm in the social setting in which that brain finds itself. As you remark about personhood in your video, a lot rides on what we all expect of others. Still, it takes expectations to plan, and to plan is only prudent.

By: n.

n. — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:06:39 +0000

PS: i like storks anyway. there is something poetic about their angles.

By: n.

n. — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:06:03 +0000

qué linda idea, la cigüeña negra.
i like it.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 11:36:36 +0000

Yeah, well I’m gay, that slogan comes naturally. ;-)

By: Evonne Acevedo

Evonne Acevedo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 11:34:21 +0000

I toyed with “get used to it”, but felt like I was ripping off queer power. ; )

So it’s settled, then? Viva La Cigüeña Negra?

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 11:02:31 +0000

Oh, I’d see it more as “we’re here and there are more of us coming — and get used to it, because there’s nothing wrong with our existence”.

By: Evonne Acevedo

Evonne Acevedo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:25:07 +0000

It’d be menacing if people took the symbol for all its eugenic implications — in reverse. By “autie superiority” versus “autie power” I mean using the black stork symbol could be taken as something more along the lines of “We’re here and there are more of us coming – and we prefer that there are more of us than of you”. While “we’re here and there are more of us coming” is fine, that latter part doesn’t jive well on the equality spectrum. ‘Cause it’s just as silly to say that disabled folks are superior as it is to say that non-disabled folks are superior.

Does that make sense? Maybe it’s too nuanced to put so simply, or maybe I’m complicating the symbolism, but I seem to be on the waning end of my eloquence cycle. Whaddayagonnado.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 09:58:34 +0000

I'm not sure why black storks would be particularly menacing, except that they've been painted that way as opposed to white storks in the symbolism of whether they carry "good" or "defective" babies. (Which is not only eugenicist but racist.) I think they'd make a good symbol for those of us with conditions targeted by modern-day eugenics in general.

By: Evonne Acevedo

Evonne Acevedo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 09:43:01 +0000

Yeah, that’s more accurate — and more authoritative — than the spoon deal, which never sat entirely well with me, since something about it seemed to lean on the theory that disability’s a real pain in the ass. And that it was possible to use a rather simplistic analogy to illustrate what it’s “like” to be somebody else.

A black stork symbol might actually be cool, if it weren’t so menacing . . . I suppose it might border more on “autie superiority” than “autie power”, and of course you’re not going for that.