Hey, lookit!

...stuff Sylvar wants to share with you

  • 12th April
    2013
  • 12
A woman raises her hands to physically deflect the speech balloons pressing in on her. With her right hand she pushes away “he”; with her left hand she pushes away “it”. Other speech balloons say “his”, “him”, “sir”, “himself”, and “mister”. At the bottom is the message: LANGUAGE MATTERS. Show respect for transgender people by using proper pronouns—their pronouns. (alphabonesoup, I couldn’t resist using a proper em-dash in the description and hope you’ll forgive the change from your two hyphens.)  alphabonesoup: Here it is! I’m not 100% sure if I like how it came out… it almost seems a bit too cutesy for the subject. Maybe I just like drawing cute clothes and bright colours too much!  This is for a contest with the Canadian Human Rights Agencies for their conference in May. All the Advanced Illustration students and Design students had to enter as part of their final. Kinda pissed that they required us to print it off at 24 x 36…. which I think is way too big and expensive ($50!!) for most students and their budget. We don’t even get to keep the posters. And the top prize is only $200. I feel kinda ripped off. :/ EDIT: A couple of people have sent me notes saying that “Transgendered” is incorrect terminology. I apologize, I kind of added the text last minute, and should have known better. I’ve uploaded a fixed version. :)

A woman raises her hands to physically deflect the speech balloons pressing in on her. With her right hand she pushes away “he”; with her left hand she pushes away “it”. Other speech balloons say “his”, “him”, “sir”, “himself”, and “mister”. At the bottom is the message: LANGUAGE MATTERS. Show respect for transgender people by using proper pronouns—their pronouns.

(alphabonesoup, I couldn’t resist using a proper em-dash in the description and hope you’ll forgive the change from your two hyphens.) 

alphabonesoup:

Here it is! I’m not 100% sure if I like how it came out… it almost seems a bit too cutesy for the subject. Maybe I just like drawing cute clothes and bright colours too much! 

This is for a contest with the Canadian Human Rights Agencies for their conference in May. All the Advanced Illustration students and Design students had to enter as part of their final. Kinda pissed that they required us to print it off at 24 x 36…. which I think is way too big and expensive ($50!!) for most students and their budget. We don’t even get to keep the posters. And the top prize is only $200. I feel kinda ripped off. :/

EDIT: A couple of people have sent me notes saying that “Transgendered” is incorrect terminology. I apologize, I kind of added the text last minute, and should have known better. I’ve uploaded a fixed version. :)

  • 18th October
    2012
  • 18
Seven posters with contrasting images:
  1. [Pride parade] “This party is so gay.” / [Bored partygoers] “This party is so boring.”
  2. [Flower] This is a pansy. / [Young man sitting on the front steps] This is a boy who’s having a bad day.
  3. [Dog] This is a bitch. / [Young woman crossing her arms] This is a girl who speaks her mind.
  4. [Garden tool] This is a hoe. / [Young woman leaning forward] This is a girl who likes your boyfriend.
  5. [Cigarette butt] This is a fag. / [Young man] This is a guy who annoys you.
  6. [Three young women] These are girls. / [Three male football players] These are athletes who lost a game.
  7. [Queen of hearts and queen of spades] This is a pair of queens. / [Husbands leaning their foreheads together] This is a couple who’ve been together for 20 years.

The text at the bottom of each reads:

“Sexist and homophobic words are violent and they’re everybody’s problem. Realize words have an impact — even if you don’t see it. Challenge sexist and homophobic language. Choose different words. Change the subject. Support people who are being harassed. Use humor to change minds. Violent words support violence. Everybody has a backbone. Use yours.”

(source: Backbone Zone, a project of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MECASA), which gets funding from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which gets its money from TAXES. Social services work, including this work, DESERVES its funding. Please vote for candidates who agree.)

  • 4th October
    2012
  • 04
  • 27th February
    2012
  • 27
  • 26th January
    2012
  • 26
  • 14th December
    2011
  • 14

This fascinating video, “Booked for Safekeeping,” was a featured selection at my local San Francisco video store, Four Star Video. It’s a 1960 film to train New Orleans police in how to reasonably and humanely deal with mentally ill individuals, severely intellectually challenged people, and those suffering from dementia.

—

I’m a bit uncomfortable with the word “humanely” in this context. It seems to me that when we talk about being humane towards X, what we mean pragmatically is that we’re such jolly chaps that we’re going to elevate X to nearly the status of a person and temporarily treat them as if they had the kinds of interests we’d be morally bound to respect if they actually were a person. Usually we are “humane” towards animals.

Instead of dealing with mentally ill individuals humanely, how about we deal with them respectfully?

(Source: Boing Boing)

  • 14th October
    2011
  • 14
È inutile avere la tartaruga sulla pancia se in testa hai un criceto in prognosi riservata… Literally: It’s useless to have a turtle on your stomach if the hamster is under confidential prognosis. Figuratively: It’s no good having a six-pack unless the light goes on when you open the fridge. How did I arrive at that? Read on: “To have a turtle on your stomach” means to have well-defined abdominal muscles. The “hamster” refers to a hamster running on his wheel as a metaphor for a smart mind, a functioning brain. “Confidential prognosis” is what doctors say when they don’t have enough information to say whether the patient will be okay (or when they’re not permitted to tell you). So in other words, if there’s no evidence of a good mind, it doesn’t matter if someone has a good body.

È inutile avere la tartaruga sulla pancia se in testa hai un criceto in prognosi riservata…

Literally: It’s useless to have a turtle on your stomach if the hamster is under confidential prognosis.

Figuratively: It’s no good having a six-pack unless the light goes on when you open the fridge.

How did I arrive at that? Read on:

  • “To have a turtle on your stomach” means to have well-defined abdominal muscles.
  • The “hamster” refers to a hamster running on his wheel as a metaphor for a smart mind, a functioning brain.
  • “Confidential prognosis” is what doctors say when they don’t have enough information to say whether the patient will be okay (or when they’re not permitted to tell you).

So in other words, if there’s no evidence of a good mind, it doesn’t matter if someone has a good body.

  • 30th August
    2011
  • 30
  • 9th August
    2011
  • 09
  • 17th June
    2011
  • 17