Archive for January, 2012

your dreams will be reduced down to breathing, and you will be grateful

The thing about not-being-a-person is: They will say those people and the price of being a person is to nod and agree that yes, those people aren’t people at all. They will have no idea who they are talking to. You yourself will start to forget, too. They will say a million small things that sow the seeds for violence done against you, and you will smile and let them. You will do math, constantly. How much do I want to be a person today? How much do I want this project to succeed? How much honesty can I afford? How much dishonesty will kill me? What is the cost of coming out? Is there a way to delay, soften, transmute? How long can I survive as half a person? Ever since the world ended ... I don't go out as much. People that I once befriended, just don't bother to stay in touch. Things that used to seem so splendid, don't really matter today. It's just as well the world ended -- it wasn't working anyway. Your dreams will be reduced down to breathing. [Read More]

on 03/5/12 | 2 Comments | Read More

Brief Hibernation

Apologies for the light posting as we gear up for an ambitious year. Encouragingly enough traffic remains strong, however the winter break anticipated late last year seems to have finally arrived. Fre...[Read More]

on 01/27/12 | No Comments | Read More

Why Serpents, Dragons, and Shift (part 2)

As I move back toward discussing Shift Journal, it bears mentioning that Andrew Lehman is a man who continues to have an extraordinary and privileged relationship with his unconscious. He had shared e...[Read More]

on 01/23/12 | 2 Comments | Read More

Predictions (regarding aspects of autism)

Writing these daily entries, I discover something new almost as often as I record something I’ve earlier discovered. A year ago this is what I collected connected to the hypotheses or predictions of...[Read More]

on 01/23/12 | 3 Comments | Read More

Tolkien the Introvert

J.R.R. Tolkien was the sort of man who tended to stick close to an adored few friends and family. He was an academic who spoke awkwardly and had an uncharismatic presence. He loved obscure subjects th...[Read More]

on 01/23/12 | 5 Comments | Read More

Why Serpents, Dragons, and Shift (part 1)

You may know Shift Journal as the home from which Julia Bascom's essay The Obsessive Joy of Autism went viral late last year, to the tune now of over 40,000 pageviews. If you've been paying attention ...[Read More]

on 01/20/12 | 2 Comments | Read More

The Internet and the Iceberg Whole

Item:  Ensign James “Peewee” Cobb, at 5’6”, 124 pounds, and 23 years old—in Pat Frank’s 1959 Cold War thriller Alas, Babylon—distinguishes himself as the only pilot in Fighting Forty-F...[Read More]

on 01/19/12 | 1 Comment | Read More

Can One Assign the Wrong Intentions to Triangles?

I’ve recently run across two studies in which an ability to impute mental states and empathize with others was measured by having the research participants look at inanimate objects moving across a ...[Read More]

on 01/16/12 | 6 Comments | Read More

Emergence (Shift Journal Inaugural Keynote)

On the autism rights and neurodiversity blogs in July last year, fury erupted around the radio show host Michael Savage’s comments that autistic kids were brats. Savage said that autism was a “...[Read More]

on 01/16/12 | No Comments | Read More

Introverts and Night Clubs

Night clubs embody a mentality that is inimical to my own. That is exactly why I have been drawn to them on occasion. To grow we all need challenges and changes. Putting oneself in an unfamiliar ...[Read More]

on 01/16/12 | 6 Comments | Read More

Tired

I'm tired of being misrepresented. I'm tired of seeing the principles of self-advocacy misrepresented. And I'm tired of seeing the autism rights movement misrepresented. Let me be clear. I'm not ta...[Read More]

on 01/13/12 | 5 Comments | Read More

Non-speaking, “low-functioning”

I am autistic, non-speaking. I am also labeled “low-functioning”. This label is a pre-judgment based on what I cannot do. It makes people look at me with pity instead of trying to get to know me, ...[Read More]

on 01/11/12 | 68 Comments | Read More

Introducing The Loud Hands Project

Julia Bascom, author of "Quiet Hands" and "The Obsessive Joy Of Autism," is launching a new project, pursuing ends that parallel and surpass some of the goals pursued at Shift Journal over the past tw...[Read More]

on 01/9/12 | No Comments | Read More

Beyond Introvert Survival: Finding Allies in an Extroverted Society

For many introverts who find themselves isolated, the advice they receive seems reasonable enough:  “Get out more.  Meet some people.” Yet in practice it never seems to work.  One ends up e...[Read More]

on 01/9/12 | No Comments | Read More

The Sad Art of Gaslighting

Yesterday, was “one of those days”. All was going fine—until I stumbled upon something that shook my core: I was going through my voluminous Inbox in an attempt to make room for my life and...[Read More]

on 01/6/12 | 4 Comments | Read More

Saving a Theory, Dismissing its Subjects

I’ve been spending the weekend putting together my preliminary research questions and a working bibliography for my graduate program. To my great surprise, I’ve actually been able to read some of ...[Read More]

on 01/3/12 | 1 Comment | Read More

Introvert vs. Extrovert: Restaurants

I found the ideal sort of introverted restaurant in England.  It’s a dying breed of restaurant except perhaps in the countryside where only 20% of the country’s population lives.  It’s anoth...[Read More]

on 01/2/12 | 8 Comments | Read More