So why is it that almost everyone I know is really pissed?

[sovay]

Some links which I suppose are linked.

1. Courtesy of minoanmiss: "Asian American lawmakers implore Republicans to tone down rhetoric in wake of attacks." I hadn't heard about this hearing, and I hadn't known it was the first in three decades to deal with racism against Asian Americans. Somehow I don't think that lacuna was because the problem was solved. "'Our community is bleeding. We've been in pain and for the past year we've been screaming out for help,' [Rep. Grace] Meng said."

2. Courtesy of selkie: "The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make." On the disappearance and partial, hopeful revival of Dhaka muslin, a textile tradition dating back to the classical era. "It was all going so well – then the British turned up."

3. Because partisans are never not relevant: "The Nazi-Fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance." Everybody, a round of "Shtil, di nakht."

And solidarity, or it's no use to still be here.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

The history of that beautiful fabric is utterly heartbreaking. Bloody colonialism.

[sovay]

Bloody colonialism.

Amen.

[gwynnega]

That article on the Nazi-fighting Jewish women is fantastic.

[sovay]

That article on the Nazi-fighting Jewish women is fantastic.

"Where I had expected mourning and gloom, I found guns, grenades and espionage."

I knew some of the women she names in the article, but not all, which means I am almost certainly buying her book when it comes out.

[asakiyume]

The article on the muslin--wow!
there were rumours that it was woven by mermaids, fairies and even ghosts. Some said that it was done underwater. --Yeah! I can totally imagine that. The way it was made! The numbers of people involved doing different tasks! Of course high-handed colonizers killed that ... but how wonderful that they're working on resurrecting it.

[sovay]

Of course high-handed colonizers killed that ... but how wonderful that they're working on resurrecting it.

I thought it was incredible that phuti karpas still exists and can be farmed and harvested. I was very afraid the story was going to end like silphium.

[asakiyume]

It's the fabric of the gowns that can be stored in walnut shells.

[sovay]

It's the fabric of the gowns that can be stored in walnut shells.

Yes!

[asakiyume]

(now I'm reading up on silphium, which I didn't know about until ten minutes ago)

[sovay]

(now I'm reading up on silphium, which I didn't know about until ten minutes ago)

I learned about it from Catullus.

[cmcmck]

I have a new biography of Catullus on the book pile so I'll look out for this!

[minoanmiss]

Remind me to create a space for this conversation to continue! I want to hear more from all of you about this!

[sovay]

Remind me to create a space for this conversation to continue! I want to hear more from all of you about this!

It's mentioned in Catullus 7:

You ask me how many of those kisses
of yours, Lesbia, are enough and more?
As many as number the sands of Libya
that lie in Cyrene rich in silphium
between the oracle of sultry Jupiter
and Battus the ancestor's sacred tomb
or as many stars as in the silenced night
watch the stolen loves of mortals—
to kiss you so many of those kisses
is, for crazy Catullus, enough and more,
which the curious will never tally up
nor use with wicked tongue to cast a spell.

[selkie]

BOTANY!

....I don't think the New Book has any Bad Classicist Jokes unless punching Champollion can be counted.

[sovay]

....I don't think the New Book has any Bad Classicist Jokes unless punching Champollion can be counted.

Punching Champollion counts and is hilarious.

[minoanmiss]

Bwee :D

[sholio]

The textile article is fascinating; thank you for the link! Relevant to that, have you read Women's Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber? Though probably rather dated now (published in 1996), it's a history of textiles I read many years ago that was my first encounter with a number of historical bits of textile trivia such as, for example, that what we now think of as what fabric is typically like -- and capable of -- is based on machine-woven fabric, while handmade fabric was a great deal more versatile, diverse, and in some cases much finer than anything we have in the modern world. (Which is why that article made me think of it.) The other thing that really sticks with me from the book is the author finding evidence of ceremonial garments in Eastern Europe that appear to be direct descendants of some of the earliest woven garments known, from more than ten thousand years earlier.

[sovay]

The textile article is fascinating; thank you for the link!

You're welcome! I don't believe I have read Women's Work, although the cover is so familiar that I'm not confident. Do you happen to remember what some of the directly descended ceremonial garments were?

[sholio]

String skirts! Actually, I went back to that part of the book and it's an even greater time depth than I remembered, going all the way back to 20K-year-old Paleolithic female figures who are shown wearing skirts made of string, their purpose unclear. (Decorative? Ceremonial? They don't seem like they would provide much warmth or modesty.) Similar skirts, which may be attached to a strap, apron, or wrap, are found throughout Europe for tens of thousands of years, depicted in art and recovered intact from bogs. In the modern world, women in several parts of the Balkans wear a very similar costume associated with weddings and sometimes childbearing - it wraps around the waist with a fringe that hangs down. The author theorizes that Aphrodite's girdle is basically meant to be something like this, not a belt per se but a wide belt with a long fringe that is meant to hang down, echoing string skirts from 20,000 years earlier.

It is one of those really neat but potentially spurious theories that sounds good but doesn't have an actual, unambiguous line of archeological/anthropological basis to back it up. So, like ... grain of salt, generally, on the entire book. But there is a ton of really interesting information in there that was completely new to me about early textile production and the development of it, from an anthropological perspective, which I found very fascinating.

[sovay]

String skirts!

Ah! I have then, at the least, seen the book name-checked in the discussion of Alex Dally MacFarlane's "Thousands of Years Ago, I Made This String Skirt."

But there is a ton of really interesting information in there that was completely new to me about early textile production and the development of it, from an anthropological perspective, which I found very fascinating.

Once I have access to libraries again, I will check it out!

[selkie]

I have been thinking all day about Women's Work and the cost and meaning of clothing, and how fabric once acted upon by skilled labor became so valuable that it was almost never discarded but continually reinvented. This is why we have so many garments that belonged to slender, wealthy skirt-wearing people; it's not that there weren't fat people, it's that plus-size yardage was expensive and you wore and turned and remade and retrimmed that thing until you passed it along to someone poorer and it died, or you cut it down for your daughter who was busty but not as hip-heavy as you, and so on and so on, but those remade pieces never make it into the museums. If you had a fairly slim, narrow shape, not as many people could re-wear your clothing, and it gained archival staying power.

It is in my mind that a Dhaka muslin gown cut Empire style, in a plus size, with appropriate drape in the hem, would cost thousands of pounds before anyone stuck a needle in it.

Edit besides we're not paying to italicize the entire paragraph: I worry my work focuses too much on the social signifiers of who has the skill to mend clothing/that person's projected gender/who is wearing what and how many times it's been made over. HI.

[sovay]

and so on and so on, but those remade pieces never make it into the museums. If you had a fairly slim, narrow shape, not as many people could re-wear your clothing, and it gained archival staying power.

I have known for most of my life that the historical record is a complicated thing, but I got to tell you that sometimes it is just plain weird as balls.

It is in my mind that a Dhaka muslin gown cut Empire style, in a plus size, with appropriate drape in the hem, would cost thousands of pounds before anyone stuck a needle in it.

And it would look awesome and not give anyone muffin boob.

I worry my work focuses too much on the social signifiers of who has the skill to mend clothing/that person's projected gender/who is wearing what and how many times it's been made over.

You focus on other signifiers than clothing! Like fields of expertise! And code-switching! It's all cool!

[selkie]

And it would look awesome and not give anyone muffin boob.

WE ARE SPENDING THOUSANDS ON A SINGLE GARMENT, WE ARE GONNA HANG THE BUSTLINE RIGHT. NO ONE WEARS THEIR WAIST ACROSS THEIR NIPPLES.

Ahem.

If there isn't book shrieking, was I ever really here?

[kore]

"It was all going so well – then the British turned up." -- that covers so many things. (And of coures you could just swap the US in there too.)

I preordered that book immediately after reading the article. My dad wd have read those two opening paragraphs, read them out loud, smacked the kitchen table and said "now THAT'S how you write a good opening."

[sovay]

"It was all going so well – then the British turned up." -- that covers so many things. (And of coures you could just swap the US in there too.)

It's a popular choice when imperialism arrives on the scene. ("Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.")

I preordered that book immediately after reading the article. My dad wd have read those two opening paragraphs, read them out loud, smacked the kitchen table and said "now THAT'S how you write a good opening."

The doctor's coat!