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   wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:16:51 JST wet forest moon folklorist

   in my profession (commercial fishing) we deal with rope a lot. it is called ‘line’ in the fishing world, and it’s what holds it all together. fisherfolk are very good at coiling it, running it through hydraulic booms, lashing boats to docks with it, and using a small metal tool to splice two ends together. in working with rope you’re always seeing how many different threads form strength, and I think that’s very much a concept we need to be chatting about today

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:45 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     I scooped up this thread (ha!) about rope and repair onto my blog in case you want to share

     https://write.as/malena/nov-8-2024-fixing-the-world

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:47 JST wet forest moon folklorist

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     we were asked to let very well paid political consultants and experts lead us toward a monied center, to set down our own material needs and embrace also the political needs of corporations (even though a corporation's only goal is to take all of our money). its a strategy that worked very well for the people paid handsomely to implement it, but a strategy that has also wrecked us in the storms we now have to navigate. let's set about repairing together. as always, many hands make light work

     Rocketman and Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 repeated this.
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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:48 JST wet forest moon folklorist

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     and so if we find ourselves taking direction or in coalition with folks who refuse to consider the need to repair, or who twist our words when we try to suggest a new course, or who are intent on saying only other people should repair; let's reflect on the consequences of those beliefs as a cultural ideology: warning! shipwreck ahead!

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:49 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     i have been on our fishing boat at times when sudden changes of circumstances, tide, ocean topography, wind, current, etc. shift and we find ourselves in very rough seas. it's terrifying. up and down stop making sense because you're getting swirled around and turned sideways. you trust in the engine and the rudder because that's all that stands between you and capsizing: your forward momentum and ability to set direction. this is why we rely on a culture of repair

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:50 JST wet forest moon folklorist

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     if we took it personally, if we were insulted by the fact that our boat can break down, we would be in fact preparing to sink. so instead we're always replacing parts and overhauling gear and checking lines. northern waters don't fuck around and we absolutely don't want to find out.

     let me be honest: the people who control the Democratic Party do not share this ethic. and that's why we're here today.

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:51 JST wet forest moon folklorist

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     this is my way of asking us to be humble in our pain this week, to avoid taking personal insult with our mandate for coalitional repair. we have gotten some things wrong. and we have lost. we can still get many things right. the future is unwritten.

     and i'll be clear, we've lashed our strongest lines to the forces of capital, and they've led us right here. we have to see that political strand for what it is and in my view, we need to turn away from money and toward eachother. we need to repair

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:52 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     the ideology of fixing is pretty cool i think. it holds that we're always broken and yet always capable of repair. but there's a warning in it: if we lose this self-identity, as communities subservient to our own collective repair, than we just keep breaking.

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:53 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     some older cultures hold the belief that we're always required to be "fixing the world" - the Karuk who live in the heart of Klamath River country are one, they self identify as fix the world people (pikyav is the verb). Some Jewish people interpret the Tikkun olam tradition in a similar way - fixing the world through our deeds.

     Tending rope and nets is similar. If you're not always fixing, you're vulnerable to storms.

     Are we able now to see ourselves as people who are perpetually repairing?

     Bill repeated this.
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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:55 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     all of us are experiencing anxiety, and rightly so. we are sailing into uncharted waters for sure. like the ocean, the future doesn't care if we live or die, or if justice prevails. but to paraphrase a great poet, even as "the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world." which i take to mean: nothing is prewritten, the level of love and compassion we're able to pass forward in human evolution will be determined by the choices we make now

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     wet forest moon folklorist (seachanger@alaskan.social)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 05:54:56 JST wet forest moon folklorist

     in reply to

     we just had an election between two political projects and it’s on us to examine the threads that make up the relative strengths of both lines. I think if we’re unwilling to look at the filament level, if we’re only able to condemn or defend the two ropes, we will be stuck with them. as we all know, a lot of justice & democracy rests on reweaving ours and fraying theirs

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     Downbeatdan (downbeatdan@mastodon.nz)'s status on Saturday, 09-Nov-2024 08:24:46 JST Downbeatdan

     in reply to

     @seachanger In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says that everything moves from a state of order to disorder, unless work is put in to restore the order. This is exactly that.