carbon_based

True story that happened a few days ago. After all, I'm grateful that someone had persuaded me to go to a party with him in the neighbourhood where i have just moved in. Despite of the unfavourable weather and the prospect of music not really my taste. But the music turned from Reaggae to a Jazzy-Dub. So that got me dancing all the way through, together with a soul-sister who does the same kind of intuitive-expressive dance like I do. We were the only ones there performing like that, so ... quite sticking out for me. We didn't even talk but we shared a connection on another level, which inspired me to turn this into a song. It's work in progress; I have a melody and meters in mind ... Perhaps I'll find someone to turn this into a proper song, who knows. (due to lack of instrument proficiency my mind does make me a problem now) :-)

edit:
Imagne it beginning with a slow swing-dub in a hinky-kinky 7/4 meter. That's when you have dum-dub dum-dub dum-dub dum-dub, you strike the last "dub" (or any one of the beats; in this case the entry point of the vocals actually works better with leaving away the 4^th^). The drum/hi-hat goes 1-2-3 1-2-3-4, and the vocals set in just after the first three notes and may a bit lush swinging to the rhythm. The musical storytelling says, "not sure if I wouldn't stumble but the music is cool stuff"
The whole thing with bass and snare (cajon?), and possibly some jazzy piano and guitar it in arpeggio. Swingy but in a melancholic tone. Leave it time between the lines and space for the guitar/piano dialogue to develop from being separate to interacting.

Then there is a transition to 6/4 meter. Danceable slow swing where the drum and hat come more forward. We also ramp up one or two steps in brightness in the chord modes.

An interlude then transitions to 8/8 (or 4/4 but with slightly more pace), until we arrive at the longer verse where the melody goes upwards. The tone can be one below major. -- A duet of singers would actually be nice here; I have reflected this partially in the lyrics at a point when they diverge in a single word which together with diverging harmony will give different meanings to their previous lines ...

Until it proceeds to the last two verses which act as a progressing chorus in the storytelling. This time it goes more upbeat toward the end.
😁

One or two verses could be missing.

edit 2: Re-modeled the structure of that 8/8 climax part toward the end. Also arrived at a better title. After all, this is an "I trust in doing me" uplifting lovesong. That former working title, "Unmask" would be a song about not doing something, so that may be for another time.

Talk With My Sister

So to a party I'd gone
in a new place to be.
Spoke to barely anyone
on my own -- doing me.

Stayed observing and ambiet
got to love someone's dance.
She was being -- different --
in her overall --
lovely extravagance.

Did not even talk to her
Would i ever go that far
cause it won't have gone so well.
Does it sound familiar?

So you little dancer
wore your dancing shoes due.
So out of convention
just --
like I do when I do.

So I wanted to dance like you
so i took off my shoes.
And although it had rained before
I was dancing with you.

Trat-tat-tat-taaa
tarat-tat-tat-taa-dadaa

Sweet conversation without needing words
for hours
you warmed my heart in every single turn every beat
was ours.
I don't know your name but
I know I will be back to you. --
Cause when I said goodbye to sleep
you briefly stroked your hand on me
I know you --
were (are) asking me to swing with you some more.

uooh-ho
uooh uooh
oooh-ha
uooh ahaaa ayee!

So you little dancer
act without any mask.
So out of convention
just --
what more would I ask?

So I wanted to dance like you
so i took off my shoes.
And although it had rained before
I was dancing just to be in love with you.

^^^^

A de-pathologising and enabling explanation of typical neurodivergent perception and expression culture.

By Janae Elisabeth, a researcher-storyteller and neurodiversity advocate from western North Carolina.

The two rather concise blog articles are suitable for handing to people who may ask (or may not have asked) what this neurodiversity thing is actually about. And if you are divergent, you will probably recognise yourself.

In part 1, Janae lists the most defining differences in communication and culture, in the sibling form of "we".

Quote:

The dominant social group labels our way of being in the world as disordered because they don’t understand us. Even though they don’t understand, the dominant culture controls the narrative about our differences.

Society believes the experts who are not part of our culture, who see brokenness where there is order. We gradually start to believe the myths ourselves and lose all sense of self-esteem. We come to hate ourselves for being different.

How did we get here?
The pathology paradigm is a system of diagnostic labels designed by neurotypicals which categorizes our genetic differences and traumatic stress responses as illnesses, disorders, deficits, and deficiencies. [...]

Up until now, scientists have studied us like they study animals — not asking our opinion or considering that there may be a complex system of mind behind the behaviors that they do not understand. They theorize that we are less empathetic, less aware of others, less social. More like robots than people.

They have largely not tried to understand the biological mechanisms that create our experience of self. Instead they have tried every means possible to force us to act neurotypical.

(emphasis partly done by me -- yeah that's a long quote ...)

Headlines:

Processing differences cause us to speak different social languages / Emotions / Empathy / Nonverbal Communication and Body Cues / Words Mean Things / Social Rules / A Different Value System / Skills and Abilities / Reactions to Stress, Pain, and Overwhelm

Part 2:

Link: Lost in Translation: The Social Language Theory of Neurodivergence (part 2 of 2)

In part 2, Janae writes about the impact of the invalidation done by a pathologising clinical approach, the mistreatment following the misunderstanding, and ways in which neurodivergence can be supported, accepted, and embraced.

Quote:

The med/psych system is losing or failing most neurodivergent people. This is the most common theme I am hearing from patients, parents, teachers, and therapists alike. And it’s not just that we are “falling through the cracks” in the system or being neglected, though those are valid concerns. The bigger concern is that the med/psych system is actively harming many neurodivergent people by forcing cultural assimilation.
[...]
A study in 2019 found that psychiatric diagnosis is scientifically meaningless because there is too much subjectivity in diagnosis and not enough understanding of trauma. And when we look beyond simple accuracy and also consider impact, the failure of diagnostic labels becomes clear. Diagnostic labels as they are currently given are worse than useless, they are all too frequently harmful.

(emphasis by me)

Headlines:

While speaking different languages makes relationships difficult, invalidation makes relationships impossible / Self-image, depression, and shutdown / Social rejection, abuse, and PTSD / Mistreatment, re-traumatization, and forced treatment / The neurodiversity paradigm recognizes our different languages and seeks to understand miscommunications instead of pathologizing them. Here are 7 key ways that neurodivergence can be supported, accepted, and embraced

Further reading:

• The paper mentioned in the above quote is available for download as PDF when you search the internet for the title "Heterogeneity in psychiatric diagnostic classification" +PDF. It's interesting for understanding how non-scientific the standard psychiatric assessment actually is.
• In another entry, Janae talks about how the DSM-5 criteria fail. Direct link: A Neurodiversity Paradigm Breakdown of the DSM-5 Criteria for Autism
• ... or if you prefer an informed eye-roll done by Yo Samdy Sam on y-tube: Autism diagnosis criteria: explained (DSM-5).

So while scrolling Lemmy today, i came across this story of a recent excavation at the site of the buried ancient city of Pompeii. A painting on the wall in a house that had an adjacent bakery appears to depict what could be called an ancestor of a nowadays ubiquitous delicacy. Link to an article is below but i put the short story first so that i don't spoil it. ;-D
No idea if it is good storytelling or anything, but why not just put here this crafted-for-an-afternoon piece.

PRANDIVM VELOX PANECUM*

The baker boy had come to wake up Octavius Picus from his afternoon nap. The delegation from the market at Nuceria had already arrived. They were early. Three people, the boy said, an elderly man with bad eyesight and a young woman guiding him, and another man who was carrying some scrolls. They could be heared chatting with Octavius' wife Marcella in the atrium. -- No hurry. He sat up on the bedside and rubbed his eyes.

The landlords around Nuceria had recently founded a cooperative and had now come to bargain a new deal for their grain. He wouldn't really know what to make of it, especially since his plan of opening a taberna next to the bakery would certainly require him to buy more wheat and he also wanted to have their beer. Would all that make it more expensive or less? -- It was Marcella's idea after all, to offer quickly baked meals that would be affordable not only for the wealthy summer guests.
Anyway, the painter was already done with decorating the walls in the atrium, so why not just give them a taste of the novel idea.

Alright, let's serve them something, he told the boy. Make us five of the speciality quick plates, with sausage, eggs and sweet wine ... but not the most expensive one. And do not forget to put the basilicum and cheese sauce on the panem piccum!

https://sh.itjust.works/c/neurodivergent

tamarisk, linseed oil.

I think this spoon is a good example of what i do when i'm working in the flow. I made it in 2019, in about 15 hours of work. Tried to estimate how much it would cost if i would ask for a sincere per-hour price. Aahahaha! The love that went into it can of course not be sold. It's arguably my most beautiful one so far (the 6^th^ if i remember correctly).

The form is not only ornamental but it just works. 😄 (yes i am proud) -- it fits my hand pretty well, the way i hold it. I also like to make them fit the width of the mouth, and make them as thin as reasonably possible. That means frequently trying in the mouth while it' still rough. There was a big hole in the spoon which i had to close by fitting in a piece of wood -- and then sandpaper, sandpaper.

I have used it ever since, until a few months ago a mouse took a taste off the front. Did not yet get around to repairing that. 😉

... for a background picture of some place i'm building ...