Hello, reader. How are you doing? Lately I want to know what a person is. Like money and time, it’s one of those things everyone else seems to understand, but I don’t understand.
I am
- my body
- my family
- my homeland
- my motivations
- my behaviors
- my spirit
- my memory
- my home
- my planet
I’m
- water
- sound
- sounds
- energy
- movement
- change
Also I’m
- my child self
- baby self
- teenager
- young adult
- middle aged
- the elder I will be
- art
- poetry
- dream life
- inner life
But other people don’t think a person is this. Other people think a person is a body, maybe a soul. A voter, a consumer, a quantity of money. A car? A gender like man or woman.
Not their family, dream life, homeland, baby self, or planet.
math
In the world I notice a person is treated like an idea– a symbol. A person is a symbol on a graph. People can be added up and subtracted. People are numbers, part of math. Not holy beings with rich pasts and vibrant needs that actually matter.
Part of my problem with relationships last year may be that… I don’t know what a person is. I would say, “I love you,” to a person. But maybe I don’t know what a person is, so who am I loving?
Ming I know very well by this point. We are two miracles who go together amazing. I pretty much know who Ming is, as a person. But maybe I’m off base about others.
fashion
Fashion seems like part of a person. What clothes you wear and how you wear them. It’s part of your fingerprint.
Or hairstyle. You know I’m mostly faceblind and recognize people by their hair, voice, and how they move (especially gait).
Fashion and hairstyles can help us perform our personhood, or show the world some part of our inner lives. That’s why uniforms exist. To equalize and simplify, but also to make someone’s unique person-ness subdued.
disability
Disability is a big part of what a person is. Look! It’s late July. We’re nearing the end of Disability Pride Month.
I’m multi-disabled, and I made this video statement for Disability Pride Month– please enjoy.
questions for discussion with a cat goddess such as Bastet
Can you tell me what a person is?
Is a person a kind of entity or force?
Does the way we define “person” lead to exploitation and injustice?
Can you tell me what pride is?
What are your disabilities?
What are the big ideas everyone else seems to understand, that you don’t understand?
