By the way if you're creating a space like a private group chat or a Discord server it is absolutely your responsibility to make sure that space is safe.

It is your responsibility to moderate it. To regulate the behavior displayed within it. To take action when people create harm. You cannot just create this space then wash your hands of any responsibility for what happens within it.

I keep seeing so many teens making servers and chats and groups and then whining that they're getting bullied for not doing anything when people use them to cause harm and upset and I cannot stress this enough.

You are responsible for shutting that down. Or for sourcing someone to do it on your behalf. You have control of that space. You are not just an innocent bystander.

"Anything goes here, if you're offended just leave" is absolutely not an excuse for blatantly allowing things like harassment, bullying, racism, homophobia and other targeted hate.

Discord in particular is incredible for available resources for preventing things like this. There are literally hundreds of server bots you can deploy to auto-moderate and manual moderation is as easy as two little clicks.

If you feel you're responsible enough to be in the position of power of creating a space, you are responsible enough to ensure it is not used for harm.

And if you're not?

Well.

Actually tbh, I think the third spaces that are most helpful are public food courts. Like yeah you can go buy food in a public food court, but you can also just sit without paying for anything if you want to. It's warm, it's undercover, you can talk with a friend without being shushed, there's usually public restrooms and they're usually pretty well maintained. Not to mention they can be really good places to hold larger events.

My city has two actually public food courts, and a couple other semi-public food courts inside of shopping centers and they are always being used by people meeting up with friends, people playing board games and card games, people who just need to sit inside out of the weather for a minute, parents who needed to get their young children out of the house, whatever. They are so useful! But they really only exist in the downtown business districts here and I feel like it would be nice to have at least one public food court in every neighborhood. Like there's no neighborhood where having a public indoor social space like that isn't useful.

I feel like part of the problem with fandoms moving away from multiple, spaced out forums to being concentrated to a handful of huge social media sites is like the difference between small local bars and gigantic night clubs.  Getting emotional and intense about fiction is a Bacchanalian experience, and it’s safer to get drunk with a small group of people who you see a lot and who know you well (bonus points if it’s people you have met IRL or plan to met IRL), as opposed to getting blacked-out in a huge, anonymous space full of strangers.  The weak social ties plus there being enough people to create a bystander effect when someone is being toxic made it easy for predators to take over .  

Basically, if fiction gets you drunk, it’s better to get drunk with someone who loves you enough to get you nuts and haul your ass home.  

No offence but I feel like some people got a little too comfortable with telling people to touch grass and swung all the way round to just straight up shaming anyone who might have a less active social life than them to feel better about themselves. “She should be at the club” was a really funny meme until people started acting like fucking middle school bullies towards people who don’t go out with their friends a lot. All those drinking/drugs/sex milestone polls were fun to engage with until it became a wierd circlejerk making fun of people who haven’t done those things before. People on twitter are once again dogpiling someone for wanting queer social spaces that don’t revolve around alcohol or loud music and telling them it’s their own fault for not having friends.

Like I get that nightclubs and sex have strong ties to queer culture and are often the first targets in the hellscape of respectability politics. It’s important we remember our roots and protect these spaces from conservative scrutiny. I mean that. They are important. But just on a surface level it seems like people are starting to see having an inactive social life as some kind of moral failing which…it’s not. I feel like an insane person for feeling like I have to say this on the fucking queer autism website but like. You aren’t inherently a bad person if you don’t have friends. You aren’t “falling behind” if you haven’t had your first kiss in your 20s or never done drugs. The real world isn’t a movie. And if you see someone who doesn’t go out much and instinctually think “wow what a terminally online loser. I bet their social life sucks because they’re a sheltered creep and not because of systemic barriers beyond their control” you need to have a long hard look at why you feel that way.

There are very real barriers that prevent isolated people from finding community and connection. Do you think you’re superior for being able to breach them? Time, money, sobriety, accessibility, none of those factors were a problem for you, so it shouldn’t be for them, right? Right?

SOCIAL SPACES

I will be showing at the next Social Spaces show in Hamilton! Click the link to RSVP for the opening SOCIAL SPACES RSVP Creating a new body of work just for the show. This is REGRET a work in progress. Come see the finished project at the show!

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The Architecture of Interior Spaces. by Russell Moreton Via Flickr: Pinhole Photography, Winchester Discovery Centre and Library. Analogue : On Zoe Leonard and Tacita Dean. Margaret Iversen 2012 murrayguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Iversen-Critical... "The imprint of light on emulsion" "The alchemy of circumstance and chemistry" Tacita Dean : Filmworks, Kodak Analogue, page 96/97

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

Little alien "birds", about the size of button quails. They speak with a very melodic cantor, the holes along their "neck" forming a sort of biological flute that can produce a wide range of sounds. Human speech tends to sound confusing and garbled to them unless it's musical; they're big fans of sensible human media like Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and Hamilton, though the really avant garde among them might even be into deep cuts like Glee and Phineas and Ferb

"Gaza's doctors, the greatest doctors on this planet.

Despite being surrounded by tanks, not having enough no equipment, and being separated from their families.

They work with unbelievable efforts

Keep them in your prayers. "

A visit to City space, Canterbury

City space serves as a haven for creativity, community, and space in the city. I made the decision to stop in and say hello when I saw the sign on the road.

I met the kindest, most hospitable people, who told me about their community center and its services.

That discord server post made me remember the stark difference between Serverstuck (a minor populated server) and Degrees of Lewdity (strict adult-only server)

Serverstuck has the worst mods and owner I've seen because they're all Antis and abuse the rules by excusing anyone who are close to them & punishing others who are strangers, lying to people on why some got banned, and allowed sensitive political topic go unregulated

Degrees of Lewdity, despite filled with people who has crude & cursed-level sense of humor, has strict mods & owner, write the correct information on why some people are banned or muted (they even allow users to request to be ban from the server for mental health reasons), and immediately shut down any conversation of sensitive political topics that cause infighting between members

I feel safer in a server for an adult game development than a "minor friendly" homestuck rp server

While I do welcome servers that have a mixed age range, I don't think I've ever or will ever join a server moderated or owned by someone who is either/both an anti or a minor.

To run or moderate a server you need to be impartial, objective, socially aware, able to appropriately manage conflict and relatively socially seasoned. I've personally found most minors often lack or are incapable of most if not all of these qualities.

(And that's not me hating on minors or calling them ignorant. Some of those qualities are just things you learn or develop with age and time. Some adults never learn them at all, even, but they are qualities you need if you're going to, essentially, be in charge of other people.)

Sephiroth's Server Safety Tips

Always do a thorough check into who is advertising the server, who owns the server, and other members before joining a server where possible.

Once you've joined the server, immediately use the search function to look for key words related to topics you want to avoid, possible past conflict, bullying, ect.

Immediately check the server rules. Its a red flag in itself if the server doesn't have any. Also, 'just be nice' is not a rule. Servers should have clear, clean cut rules and regulations.

Don't be afraid to message server owners, moderators or users privately and ask questions. They shouldn't get offended and if they can't or won't answer questions about basic rules, server safety protocols, ect, you should reconsider joining.

Don't be afraid to ask around other people to see if the server is known or has a reputation, either. If a server is based on a specific fandom, for example, search through that fandom for any past mentions of the server or ask other fans if they've heard of it.

BRICK FACADE - HARBARD CLOSE HOUSING, LONDON / UK, by Reed Watts Architects

https://www.archdaily.com/996967/harbard-close-housing-reed-watts-architects

housing with social spaces such as walled gardens, meadow planting, dedicated seating areas and raised allotment beds.

a shared garden room is provided within the buildings where residents can come together for events, group workshops, and as an alternative to their own living rooms if working from home.

_ik

 This Office Prioritises Social Interaction

DSArchstudios designs a dedicated space – upbeat and glamourous – for an office in China, to accommodate after-work breaks, daily gatherings, and group celebrations. Check it out here  https://bit.ly/DSArch-IAnD

biological differences between men and women are inherently neutral. they do not indicate male superiority over female people. to suggest so is inherently sexist. to complain when female sports cater to female anatomy - such as the smaller balls in the wnba because women tend to have smaller hands - is what sexists do. they want women to be forced to prove ourselves according to standards designed for men because they want to see us fail. it is sexist to argue that women who wish to compete on their own terms are pronouncing themselves as inferior. nobody said that but you. because you’re a sexist that hates women