Howdy,
The starting prompts I’ve listed below represent ideas I’ve given a lot of thought to before that I may or may not have reconsidered after reading The Argonauts.
Good luck to you today, reader. I suspect you will need it.
Tim
Women don’t nod to each other in public like some men do. But women probably also feel less of a need to convey the message – I don’t mean you any harm…
I’ve always been amused by the nodding phenomenon yet never been quite sure what to make of it. I don’t think Nelson’s quote can be universally true – Joan Didion’s thought about the importance of being on ‘nodding terms’ with one’s former selves implies she, at least, nodded every once in a while in someone’s direction. But this wouldn’t be the first instance of Joan Didion being a little unusual and I suspect that Nelson is probably on the right track in a general sense.
I’m also not sure about the violence part. It is staggering to think of all the potential fights I may diffused with my ‘noddin noggin’, is it not, reader? I’d never thought my little head movements were establishing delicate truces with the strangers around me.
Does nodding go on in other countries? If this only happens in America, I can’t agree that this nodding business is a piercing insight into the male condition. I vaguely recall nodding a bit while I was visiting in Japan (but maybe people were just being polite when they nodded back at the idiot from the US) (1). If any of you readers has been in, like, Finland, and can confirm whether people nod at each other, do get in touch, will you?
It is also strange how casually some insist others engage on terms that feel like compromises or distortions to the labeled.
This was perhaps my favorite single thought from The Argonauts. It echoes an observation I’ve noted in several other recent reads – categorization is an inherently violent act. It reminds me of how I feel anytime I’m described as a Japanese-American; I’m initially annoyed by the careless labeling before feeling small and petty for worrying about someone else’s careless use of the tiny little hyphen. If the tongue retained bite marks, my dentist would be able to see the progression of these emotions.
The anti-abortion strategy of separating woman from child – at twenty weeks, at ten, at five – makes it possible to dismiss half of the equation: the woman with rights.
Ah, abortion… just what I’ve always wanted to write about… and just what I'm sure my readers have long been hoping I would write about...
There are many reasons for me NOT to write about abortion, the best of these perhaps being that there is nothing I could possibly say on the topic that has not already been said in a far better way. So, I’ll follow my instincts here and pass on the opportunity.
Instead, I'll refer back to a thought I included in a post back in February - there is no place in the world right now where a woman has the same opportunity as a man. Until this basic fact changes, it won’t matter if the topic is equal pay, the Bechdel test, or abortion law – a closer look will always reveal the mechanisms in place to create the illusion that there is no other alternative but to dismiss the woman with rights.
Footnotes / international incidents…diffused!
1. Wait, who is the idiot from the US?
Me, just in case it was unclear...
For the record, I’d hardly consider my experiences in Japan as good evidence for proof of a worldwide nodding phenomenon. But I can only speak about the experiences I’ve had, right?
