Notices by Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág (tarkabarkaholgy@ohai.social)

#StorytellingPSA

I know I have ranted about this before, but: now I am running across entire websites with "folktales" that don't exist, referencing sources that also don't exist.

Why is it a problem, you ask? A story is a story?

No. Not if it is assigned to an actual existing culture. If it is claimed to represent the heritage of an indigenous tradition. Oral tradition is endangered already in many ways. We don't need AI to enshittify this.

Check your sources.

#AI #folklore #culture

Watch 3 seasons of Avatar with the kid, and Trivia Night begins at 6 am on a Saturday.

"Mom! What was the girl's name? No, the other girl! The other girl! The girl with the sniff sniff!"

"Who had the scar on their face? Not Zuko! The other scar!"

"What is Sokka's dad's name?"

"What happened to Aang's foot?"

"Why was Katara angry? No, the other angry! Not that angry!"

"Why did Appa go RAAAR that one time?"

#parenting #Avatar

Today's research rabbithole:

I start looking into a folktale collected from a Hungarian Jewish woman who immigrated to the US in the 1920s.

I find out she was also a poet.

I find out the tale was recorded from her by famous poet May Swenson.

I also find out May and Anca were lovers for many years.

#folklore #folktales #lgbtq #queer #history #poetry

Parenting as a storyteller:

"Mom! Tell me a story!"
"Mommy is very tired right now. How about we just talk?"
"Okay!... Mom?"
"Yes?"
"What was the story about?"

#storytelling #parenting

The problem at this gig was not the 150+ preschoolers

It was the two preschoolers who managed to unplug the speakers in the auditorium...

😅

#storytelling #GigEconomy

I'm reading Heaven's Design Team, a manga about engineers designing the animals in Heaven. (In a science way, not a creationist way 😄 ). It's tons of fun!

Last night I had a dream about an anime convention that did a Heaven's Design contest: teams of three (engineer, biologist, graphic designer) had to design animals based on prompts.

I think this would be a lot of fun to do actually 😄

#manga #books #bookstodon #nature

They opened a Playmobil playhouse at the mall, with different sets at different tables. It's kinda shocking how even the smallest kids automatically gravitate to the tables in a gendered way: girls to the princess castle, boys to the pirate ship etc.
Except for my daugter who made a beeline to the firehouse with the boys. And then tried to relocate some knights into the safari.

I keep thinking these gendered things are passe, and yet it's still very much a thing for a lot of kids...

#parenting

Final result of my magpie tarot advent calendar 😊 (I only kept the cards I really loved). It was a lovely idea, I'll do it again next year!

#tarot #MagpieTarot #AdventCalendar #image

#ToddlerDnD

Spell: Sleep

Target: Toddler class Small creatures

Range: 2 feet (if you move out of range you have to start the casting over)

Casting time: 30 to 120 minutes

Verbal components: Monotone rythmic lullaby

Somatic components: Pat PAT pat (NOT pat pat PAT)

Material components: Favorite Pillow, The Other Pillow, Not That Blanket, Non-Itchy Pajamas, 30+ plush toys, 3 glasses of water, and the rest of your sanity

Duration: a few hours if you're lucky

#parenting #DnD

Just when you think you have seen everything in folklore, you come across something you'd never expected.

Like a folktale about the Virgin Mary divorcing God because he drinks too much.

#folklore #folktales #WTFolklore #FolktaleMoment

Can a biology person explain this? It looks neat.

#nature #trees #biology #question #image

Finally made it to the new Ethnographic Archives.

Upside: they have a digital catalog instead of a card catalog now

Downside: one search loads in 2 minutes

#research #folklore #ItsSomething

- Who are we?
- TODDLERS!
- What do we want?
- NOOO!
- When do we want it?
- NOW!

#parenting

If you have anxiety and also a small child, you can choose between exhaustion and caffeine-induced anxiety attacks. Those are the two options.

☕️

#parenting #anxiety

I think this is the most badass photo I have ever seen.

Lucy Schwob, alias Claude Cahun, French-Jewish genderfluid surrealist artist, in her 50s, after being released from Nazi prison. For years during the occupation of Jersey she ran a covert pamphlet campaign with her girlfriend.

She is holding a German eagle between her teeth. She got it from a German soldier who tore it off his uniform.

From Paper Bullets by Jeffrey H. Jackson

#image #resistance #history #queer #lgbtq #books #bookstodon

@GreenSkyOverMe Apparently there are several different kinds. But I'm going to ask my OBGYN about it at one point

I am going from curious to furious

For the "What" people:

Generally when you are on antibiotics, they kill off a bunch of useful bacteria in your body too. So I was always told by doctors not to forget to take probiotics to help with the digestion issues. But as far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be a practice to warn vagina-having people that antibiotics kill off the OTHER flora in your body as well. Go figure.

Me: Mommy is very tired. Can mommy please have five minutes of calm and quiet?

Child: Sure thing, Mommy!

Also child: Sings LA LA LA in a high-pitched voice and slowly unspools all the toilet paper in the bathroom

#parenting

It's still #Tarotember, which means people are re-designing tarot cards in various ways. This is my take on The Devil, inspiried by listening to other parents on the playground.

(I understand The Devil as a card for things that limit and constrain you. Such as peer pressure and expectations.)

#tarot #parenting #image