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Barnaby Walters

Arranging atoms and pressurising air in a variety of manners, such as:

Pronouns: they/he

  1. Book of Life praising hugs sums up very nicely what I enjoy about true following in dance — the opportunity to, for a few minutes, let someone else take care of everything.

    Leading and following are things people can choose to do in the moment, not roles to be forced into, integrate into personal identity, or assume because of gender. Leading is to communicate “I have this idea about a thing to do”. Following is to communicate “I understand this idea. I accept or reject it.”.

    Dancing with one person very clearly leading and the other very clearly following can be just as valuable an experience as a completely balanced dance with both(+) people leading and following each other. Each option is valid because the other exists. Awareness that the other option exists means that the people involved have chosen to act as they do.

    That both people know that they could choose freely to lead or follow allows for the most authentic interactions between dancers.

    I have had wonderful experiences completely following, completely leading, swapping with clear boundaries or dancing blurred, balanced and boundary-free. The common element is that what everyone involved wanted from the experience was communicated, and a consensus reached, whether verbally or not.

    The predominating assumption in traditional dance is still that men lead and women follow (or even that men and women dance together), and as such consensus to dance differently must usually be reached verbally (try it! It’s incredible). With people who share my philosophy it’s sometimes possible to reach consensus without words, and hopefully that will become easier the more dance is danced like this.

  7. Found in The Division Viol (1659): an interesting social comment on mid-17th Century acceptance of the idea of a heliocentric solar system:

    “(Chuse whether you will have the Sun, or Earth to be the Fixed Center)”

    Also of interest: “American English” spelling of “centre” as “center”…

  10. Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that my life is, sometimes, in its own little way, difficult. Then I listen to pretty much anyone else (including other middle class white men, althought that’s obviously a factor) and am consistently blown away by how much pain people suffer. I don’t know how you all do it. I don’t think I could cope. I’m scared to find out.

    Edit: to clarify, this is intended purely as expression of my amazement at other people, not in anticipation of me having hard times in the near future. Interesting and unpredictable times, sure, but I remain as optimistic as ever :)

  11. I only agree with about half of what I’ve read so far on thebookoflife.org, but it’s some of the most interesting, detailed, honest writing I’ve come across in a long time. Concise, philosophical analysis which glories in small everyday things. Maybe a good world-viewing lens to add to the collection.

  19. ↪ Shane Becker: The “we don’t know each other” song and dance that Yoda and R2-D2 put on for Luke on Dagobah is pretty great.

    @veganstraightedge additionally: when all watched in order (prequels, Clone Wars, OT), the most emotional scene in the entire thing is in A New Hope when R2 runs into Obi Wan and he says “hello, little friend” and you think “OMG they’ve been through so much together and now they’re totally going to pretend they don’t know each other for some reason actually what’s up with that?”

  20. ↪ Shane Becker: The “we don’t know each other” song and dance that Yoda and R2-D2 put on for Luke on Dagobah is pretty great.

    @veganstraightedge my headcannon: R2’s memory was never wiped after the clone wars, so he(it/they?) spent the entire original trilogy trolling EVERYONE. I keep meaning to pick out a bunch of scenes where R2 is making bleeping noises and add subtitles implying that he’s actually trying to tell everyone what’s going on (“vader’s your father”, etc) and everyone’s just ignoring him.