R.B. Lemberg's Blog, page 25
March 17, 2013
Service announcement
I have updated our index page, our about page, and our guidielines. Each of those pages now prominently contains "co-edited by Rose Lemberg and Shweta Narayan." I also re-emphasized that we are a diversity-oriented venue.
I hope never again to have to address this issue.
We remain perfectly happy with "Dear Editors," "Dear Stone Telling", or no salutation. However, if you are mentioning a name, then the person doing 50% of the work selecting submissions should get 50% of the address in official correspondence.
The person of color co-editing a diversity-oriented venue should get 50% of the address line and 50% of the credit for selecting submissions, should they be honored with mentions and awards.
It is important not for personal reasons, but because PoC are so often erased in our society. It is a pervasive societal problem. I am sad, but not surprised that I have to reiterate this.
I hope this issue is now closed. I am closing comments. Thank you for your time and attention.
I hope never again to have to address this issue.
We remain perfectly happy with "Dear Editors," "Dear Stone Telling", or no salutation. However, if you are mentioning a name, then the person doing 50% of the work selecting submissions should get 50% of the address in official correspondence.
The person of color co-editing a diversity-oriented venue should get 50% of the address line and 50% of the credit for selecting submissions, should they be honored with mentions and awards.
It is important not for personal reasons, but because PoC are so often erased in our society. It is a pervasive societal problem. I am sad, but not surprised that I have to reiterate this.
I hope this issue is now closed. I am closing comments. Thank you for your time and attention.
March 15, 2013
Minimal pairs and gaze: IMPORTANT.
I am continuing the discussion of editorial address from the previous entry, because it is important to me. I think it is important, period, but importance is relative. Yet if you are a reader of this blog, I really do want you to read it.
This entry has two parts. I know, it is long, but both parts of this entry are important. The first one deals with minimal pairs, and the second with gaze.
Thank you.
This entry is not about the Rhysling, but the Rhysling is an acknowledgment of our editorial work. At Stone Telling, two people choose all the poems; two people pitch money to pay for the website, the poems, and the non-fiction entries. Stone Telling is co-edited and co-funded by Rose Lemberg and Shweta Narayan. Receiving a list of nominated poems is to say "here, you did well selecting these poems. Good job!" It is polite to congratulate the people responsible by name, but it is also just fine to address Stone Telling or Editors, or skip even that and go for Hi!
Clearly, the officer who emailed us thought it was important to congratulate the editors by name. That person looked at our About page, the only place in the magazine where we list our names. That person then wrote an email addressed to Rose Lemberg only, glossing over my co-editor, Shweta Narayan. The person then suggested that the website is not clear enough.
The website is clear. This is about something else, which happens to be quite demonstrable in this case.
Shweta and I have complex identities. In many ways, each of us is pretty unusual and non-mainstream in multiple ways. But considered together, we are, in terms of our identities, very much a minimal pair in the phonological sense.
Both of us are female assigned at birth.
Both of us the same age.
Both of us bisexual.
Both of us genderqueer.
Both of us immigrants, and immigrants *multiple times.*
Both of us struggle with issues of language loss.
Both of us spoonies.
Both of us linguists.
Both of us did graduate work at UC Berkeley.
Both of us worked with Eve Sweetser.
Both of us fantasists often working in the mythic tradition.
Both of us neo-pros.
Both of us poets, and published in the same magazines.
Both of us Rhysling award nominees.
Sure, there are some differences. I am a mother. Shweta is considerably better published. But looking at our bios, there is only one major difference between us: one of us has an Anglo-Western name, and the other does not.
This is the distinguishing feature in our minimal pair.
Almost nobody ever does this intentionally. To have intent to exclude is to have malice. Though I have seen and experienced, in this community, such things directed towards me with intent, most people are not malicious. Most people are good people. Most people’s will is good. Most people want to be good to each other.
There is agency, which is to say intent, deliberation. Then there is gaze.
Unlike intent, which involves an act of thinking and deciding, gaze is societally conditioned. Gaze is a set of learned behaviors and reactions that we assume towards each other, internalized from what society tells us.
Male gaze is when men are societally conditioned to see women only as objects of desire, and themselves as agents of this desire. Women, male gaze is the thing that often makes important men in your life evaluate you first or only by how good or young you look, i.e. as sexual objects, and not as individuals with autonomous will, wishes, hopes, and dreams. We push against male gaze. We have a long, long way yet to go. But we talk about it and recognize it. Yet women as well as men buy into the male gaze and defend it, because it is the societal default and it is easier not to push against it.
When the person who is the subject of the gaze encounters a person who is the object of the gaze, the subject’s eyes gloss over. Instead of a person seeing a person, the subject sees an object. It is very hard to push against it, but it is possible with effort. You need your agency, your will, your intent, to push against societally learned knee-jerk reactions that make us glaze over people who are not like us.
Most of us are subjects of some gazes, while being objects of other gazes.
Women, we push against the male gaze because it denies us personhood.
Disabled people, we push against the able-bodied gaze because it denies us personhood.
Queer people, we push against straight gaze because it denies us personhood.
Non-cisgendered people, we push against cisgendered gaze because it denies us personhood.
Immigrants and internationals, we push against US-centric gaze because it denies us personhood.
People of color push against the white gaze, because, by golly. By golly, it denies personhood.
Most times this is not intentional. We need intent here. We need to push against these gazes. We need to do more than this: we need to examine the ways in which these different, societally conditioned, othering gazes have caused harm, often unintentional harm, but harm – that is cumulative and ongoing. It is not enough to see people as individuals and not objects, though it is a crucial first step. It is also important that we consider how each of us has been harmed by the gazes of which we are objects. How we have been cumulatively harmed by them.
Then, summon your power of decision, your willpower, to make an effort to really see people even when you do not have to, because you are the subject and not the object of this particular type of gaze.
This entry has two parts. I know, it is long, but both parts of this entry are important. The first one deals with minimal pairs, and the second with gaze.
Thank you.
This entry is not about the Rhysling, but the Rhysling is an acknowledgment of our editorial work. At Stone Telling, two people choose all the poems; two people pitch money to pay for the website, the poems, and the non-fiction entries. Stone Telling is co-edited and co-funded by Rose Lemberg and Shweta Narayan. Receiving a list of nominated poems is to say "here, you did well selecting these poems. Good job!" It is polite to congratulate the people responsible by name, but it is also just fine to address Stone Telling or Editors, or skip even that and go for Hi!
Clearly, the officer who emailed us thought it was important to congratulate the editors by name. That person looked at our About page, the only place in the magazine where we list our names. That person then wrote an email addressed to Rose Lemberg only, glossing over my co-editor, Shweta Narayan. The person then suggested that the website is not clear enough.
The website is clear. This is about something else, which happens to be quite demonstrable in this case.
Shweta and I have complex identities. In many ways, each of us is pretty unusual and non-mainstream in multiple ways. But considered together, we are, in terms of our identities, very much a minimal pair in the phonological sense.
Both of us are female assigned at birth.
Both of us the same age.
Both of us bisexual.
Both of us genderqueer.
Both of us immigrants, and immigrants *multiple times.*
Both of us struggle with issues of language loss.
Both of us spoonies.
Both of us linguists.
Both of us did graduate work at UC Berkeley.
Both of us worked with Eve Sweetser.
Both of us fantasists often working in the mythic tradition.
Both of us neo-pros.
Both of us poets, and published in the same magazines.
Both of us Rhysling award nominees.
Sure, there are some differences. I am a mother. Shweta is considerably better published. But looking at our bios, there is only one major difference between us: one of us has an Anglo-Western name, and the other does not.
This is the distinguishing feature in our minimal pair.
Almost nobody ever does this intentionally. To have intent to exclude is to have malice. Though I have seen and experienced, in this community, such things directed towards me with intent, most people are not malicious. Most people are good people. Most people’s will is good. Most people want to be good to each other.
There is agency, which is to say intent, deliberation. Then there is gaze.
Unlike intent, which involves an act of thinking and deciding, gaze is societally conditioned. Gaze is a set of learned behaviors and reactions that we assume towards each other, internalized from what society tells us.
Male gaze is when men are societally conditioned to see women only as objects of desire, and themselves as agents of this desire. Women, male gaze is the thing that often makes important men in your life evaluate you first or only by how good or young you look, i.e. as sexual objects, and not as individuals with autonomous will, wishes, hopes, and dreams. We push against male gaze. We have a long, long way yet to go. But we talk about it and recognize it. Yet women as well as men buy into the male gaze and defend it, because it is the societal default and it is easier not to push against it.
When the person who is the subject of the gaze encounters a person who is the object of the gaze, the subject’s eyes gloss over. Instead of a person seeing a person, the subject sees an object. It is very hard to push against it, but it is possible with effort. You need your agency, your will, your intent, to push against societally learned knee-jerk reactions that make us glaze over people who are not like us.
Most of us are subjects of some gazes, while being objects of other gazes.
Women, we push against the male gaze because it denies us personhood.
Disabled people, we push against the able-bodied gaze because it denies us personhood.
Queer people, we push against straight gaze because it denies us personhood.
Non-cisgendered people, we push against cisgendered gaze because it denies us personhood.
Immigrants and internationals, we push against US-centric gaze because it denies us personhood.
People of color push against the white gaze, because, by golly. By golly, it denies personhood.
Most times this is not intentional. We need intent here. We need to push against these gazes. We need to do more than this: we need to examine the ways in which these different, societally conditioned, othering gazes have caused harm, often unintentional harm, but harm – that is cumulative and ongoing. It is not enough to see people as individuals and not objects, though it is a crucial first step. It is also important that we consider how each of us has been harmed by the gazes of which we are objects. How we have been cumulatively harmed by them.
Then, summon your power of decision, your willpower, to make an effort to really see people even when you do not have to, because you are the subject and not the object of this particular type of gaze.
March 14, 2013
"You need to make it easier for me not to erase you"
Shortly after I posted this entry, David Lee Summers (vice president of SFPA) sent an email to Stone Telling listing Rhysling nominees from our magazine (nominees that still have not been notified of their nominations), and seeking to solicit congratulatory advertisements for Star*line. He addressed me alone. I replied, asking him to address both of us in correspondence.
I am pasting an excerpt from the email he sent.
"I apologize for misaddressing the original message. I'll point out, this error stemmed not from SFPA records, but my own visit to the Stone Telling website. It was unclear to me who the poetry@stonetelling.com address went to. On review, I see that I missed that Ms. Narayan is listed as co-editor. That was my mistake, but if this is an important point, I fear it's not one made clear to those who would submit."
"but if this is an important point"
"BUT IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POINT"
"BUT IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POINT"
"But if this is an important point to recognize the work of 50% of the editorial team who selected these nominated poems, then.."
This is our about page, the only page that lists our names: About Page. And he found my name all right. Draw your own conclusions.
Yes, I probably could improve the website in order to make it EASIER FOR HIM NOT TO ERASE SHWETA NARAYAN. And I know that some of you would come to me with suggestions how to do this, and those are valuable suggestions. BUT. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make it easier for certain people not to erase us, and guess what, they erase us anyway.
Enough already.
We will return every submission or official correspondence addressed only to Rose. You are welcome to address both of us, address the three of us, address us as Editors, send your email to "Stone Telling," open your correspondence with a "Hi" or send work with no salutation at all. But any submission or official correspondence addressed only to me will be returned.
Yes, this is an important point.
I am pasting an excerpt from the email he sent.
"I apologize for misaddressing the original message. I'll point out, this error stemmed not from SFPA records, but my own visit to the Stone Telling website. It was unclear to me who the poetry@stonetelling.com address went to. On review, I see that I missed that Ms. Narayan is listed as co-editor. That was my mistake, but if this is an important point, I fear it's not one made clear to those who would submit."
"but if this is an important point"
"BUT IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POINT"
"BUT IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POINT"
"But if this is an important point to recognize the work of 50% of the editorial team who selected these nominated poems, then.."
This is our about page, the only page that lists our names: About Page. And he found my name all right. Draw your own conclusions.
Yes, I probably could improve the website in order to make it EASIER FOR HIM NOT TO ERASE SHWETA NARAYAN. And I know that some of you would come to me with suggestions how to do this, and those are valuable suggestions. BUT. We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make it easier for certain people not to erase us, and guess what, they erase us anyway.
Enough already.
We will return every submission or official correspondence addressed only to Rose. You are welcome to address both of us, address the three of us, address us as Editors, send your email to "Stone Telling," open your correspondence with a "Hi" or send work with no salutation at all. But any submission or official correspondence addressed only to me will be returned.
Yes, this is an important point.
March 12, 2013
Reminder re: Stone Telling editorial board
When you are sending a submission to Stone Telling, the following forms of address are ok:
Dear Editors,
Dear Stone Telling team,
Dear Rose and Shweta,
Dear Shweta and Rose,
Dear Ms. Lemberg and Ms. Narayan,
Dear Ms. Narayan and Ms. Lemberg
(Also, I am a Dr. (of Philosophy!) so if you are so moved, Dr. Lemberg and Ms. Narayan is fine, but it is by no means required.)
The following forms of address are not ok:
Dear Rose,
Dear Ms. Lemberg,
Stone Telling has two editors. Please address your submissions to both.
Thank you.
P.S. Jennifer Smith is also an important part of our team, though as a rule she does not make editorial decisions. Some people like to address their submissions to all three of us, and that's good, though not a requirement.
P.P.S. If we accept your submission, you might be corresponding with one of us more than the other; we operate on the "spoons available" basis.
Dear Editors,
Dear Stone Telling team,
Dear Rose and Shweta,
Dear Shweta and Rose,
Dear Ms. Lemberg and Ms. Narayan,
Dear Ms. Narayan and Ms. Lemberg
(Also, I am a Dr. (of Philosophy!) so if you are so moved, Dr. Lemberg and Ms. Narayan is fine, but it is by no means required.)
The following forms of address are not ok:
Dear Rose,
Dear Ms. Lemberg,
Stone Telling has two editors. Please address your submissions to both.
Thank you.
P.S. Jennifer Smith is also an important part of our team, though as a rule she does not make editorial decisions. Some people like to address their submissions to all three of us, and that's good, though not a requirement.
P.P.S. If we accept your submission, you might be corresponding with one of us more than the other; we operate on the "spoons available" basis.
February 26, 2013
Strange Horizons Readers poll
Running by - still no internet at home and snowed in, but managed to reach a coffeeshop, from which I need to run. But!
Strange Horizons readers poll is open for voting.
I have two poems this year:
(1) "Between the Mountain and the Moon" - epic queer poly shapechanger poem with moons, mountains, and panthers, written for
hani
.
(2) "The Three Immigrations" about real and fantastical immigrations.
For fiction, if you haven't yet, please consider "Feed me the Bones of our Saints" by
alankria
.
Strange Horizons readers poll is open for voting.
I have two poems this year:
(1) "Between the Mountain and the Moon" - epic queer poly shapechanger poem with moons, mountains, and panthers, written for
hani
. (2) "The Three Immigrations" about real and fantastical immigrations.
For fiction, if you haven't yet, please consider "Feed me the Bones of our Saints" by
alankria
.
February 24, 2013
Stone Telling 9: Menagerie is HERE!
Originally posted by
rose_lemberg
at Stone Telling 9: Menagerie is HERE!Dear Friends of Stone Telling,
After many delays due to overwhelming life circumstances beyond our control, the ninth issue of Stone Telling is finally LIVE! It features JT Stewart with five poems, an introduction by Eileen Gunn, and a review by Amal El-Mohtar (tithenai); it also includes poetry by Dominik Parisien (
domparisien
), Alyza Taguilaso, Lisa M. Bradley (
cafenowhere
), Mat Joiner (
ashlyme
), Bogi Takács (
prezzey
), Brianna Belle Sulzener, Ishita Basu Mallik, Michele Bannister (
selidor
), Minal Hajratwala, and Neile Graham (
neile
), as well as an article by Kari Sperring (
la_marquise_de_
), a review by Mike Allen (
time_shark
) and a roundtable led by Julia Rios (
skogkatt
).
As always, enormous thanks to my teammates Shweta Narayan (
shweta_narayan
), Jennifer Smith (
dormouse_in_tea
), and Julia Rios (
skogkatt
) for their tireless work.
Starting on March 1, 2013 we will be reading for Body. From the guidelines: "We are hoping to feature such themes as (dis)abilities both physical and mental, neuroatypicality, queerness, aging, body acceptance, perceptions of beauty, as well as many others. If you are not sure if something fits, please try us. We are also at this time accepting non-fiction proposals to fit this theme."
Again, if you are unsure, please send us it. :)
rose_lemberg
at Stone Telling 9: Menagerie is HERE!Dear Friends of Stone Telling,After many delays due to overwhelming life circumstances beyond our control, the ninth issue of Stone Telling is finally LIVE! It features JT Stewart with five poems, an introduction by Eileen Gunn, and a review by Amal El-Mohtar (tithenai); it also includes poetry by Dominik Parisien (
domparisien
), Alyza Taguilaso, Lisa M. Bradley (
cafenowhere
), Mat Joiner (
ashlyme
), Bogi Takács (
prezzey
), Brianna Belle Sulzener, Ishita Basu Mallik, Michele Bannister (
selidor
), Minal Hajratwala, and Neile Graham (
neile
), as well as an article by Kari Sperring (
la_marquise_de_
), a review by Mike Allen (
time_shark
) and a roundtable led by Julia Rios (
skogkatt
).As always, enormous thanks to my teammates Shweta Narayan (
shweta_narayan
), Jennifer Smith (
dormouse_in_tea
), and Julia Rios (
skogkatt
) for their tireless work.
Starting on March 1, 2013 we will be reading for Body. From the guidelines: "We are hoping to feature such themes as (dis)abilities both physical and mental, neuroatypicality, queerness, aging, body acceptance, perceptions of beauty, as well as many others. If you are not sure if something fits, please try us. We are also at this time accepting non-fiction proposals to fit this theme."
Again, if you are unsure, please send us it. :)
February 14, 2013
New Poetry, Readercon, Nebula
The Winter Goblin Fruit is up, with glorious illustrations, beautiful work by Mat Joiner, Shweta Narayan, Alicia Cole, Ada Hoffmann, Sally Rosen Kindred, and others! I have two poems in this issue, both fragments from the Crow Epic – “The Journeymaker, Climbing” and “The Journeymaker to Keddar.” The latter is a love poem (of sorts), for those to whom these things are important today.
Another shiny I failed to mention is the new issue of Through the Gate. It only contains three poems. I admire Mitchell’s minimalism – he is unafraid to publish an issue of three poems because they go perfectly together, like an intricately crafted puzzle box. His epigraph is appropriate: “Two pieces of coin in one bag make more noise than a hundred.” This issue contains work by Bogi Takács, myself, and Sonya Taaffe.
A special interest panel I proposed, “Sociolionguistics and SFF,” has been accepted for Readercon.
I made my Nebula nominations last night. I have not done an eligibility post this year, but my short story “Seven Losses of Na Re” is eligible this year, and some folks have recommended it. This is the story that will be reprinted in the Vandermeers’ feminist anthology.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
February 13, 2013
Three things
1. The sudden lifting of a multi-year depression: awesome. Actually awesome does not even begin to describe it. I had no idea that this was possible without chemicals, but here you have it.
2. However, due to the ongoing divorce proceedings, I am behind on pretty much everything all at once.
3. Unconnected: I wanted to mention this proverb to people currently engaged in a certain discussion. It is Turkish and therefore widespread throughout the historical territories of the Ottoman empire:
it ürür kervan yürür
'the dogs bark, but the caravan continues'
2. However, due to the ongoing divorce proceedings, I am behind on pretty much everything all at once.
3. Unconnected: I wanted to mention this proverb to people currently engaged in a certain discussion. It is Turkish and therefore widespread throughout the historical territories of the Ottoman empire:
it ürür kervan yürür
'the dogs bark, but the caravan continues'
Dos Bisele Shpayz
Since I've been talking on and on and on about food, it's time for DOS BISELE SHPAYZ.
Listen to this recording, it is the best:Klezmer Alliance - Dos bisele shpays
Transliterated Yiddish with translation here.
Listen to this recording, it is the best:Klezmer Alliance - Dos bisele shpays
דאָס ביסעלע באָרשט מיט קרױט
דאָס שטיקעלע הערינג מיט ברױט
דאָס טעלערל רעטעך מיט זאַלץ
דאָס טעפּעלע קאַשע מיט שמאַלץ
דאָל טעלערל לאָקשן מיט יױך
און צימעס דאָס ביסעלע אױך
דעם דאָזיקן קורטזן מעניו
באַשער אונדז, גאָטעניו!
באַשער אונדז צוקער צו טע
און לאַטקעס מיט אַן אײ
און צו די שײנע פֿיש
באַשער אונדז אַ גאַסט צום טיש
Transliterated Yiddish with translation here.
February 6, 2013
A strange feeling of lightness
The translation in the video is free-ish, but ok! The poem is, of course, by Itzik Manger.
