So, at one point during Mammothfail, sartorias hosted this discussion about the relationships between the reader, the author, and the text. One of the discussion topics was this statement:

For the longest time at school we were told that the text existed in isolation. That what the author said about the text might be interesting, sometimes was laughable, occasionally insightful, but always it was irrelevant: the text must stand alone.

It took me some time and consideration to figure out exactly why I was uncomfortable with the idea of an "isolated text," but eventually I came up with this response [comment here]:

My problems with the "text in isolation" are these: First, yes, you can read a text without reading all the associated commentary, criticism, author's notes, etc. In that sense, one might consider it "isolated." However, I don't know if the author's thought processes, the influence of the author's social contemporaries, or the inherent biases of the author's point of view or identity, can ever be divorced from a text. Is it ever truly possible to divorce the storyteller's voice from the story? I don't believe it is. Even if you ran a thought experiment by, say, removing the authors' names from different pieces of work and reading them all together, you would at least be able to discern the ways in which they viewed or examined women versus men, people of various races, people of various ages and abilities and sexualities and countless other markers.

Second, and no less important: the very act of readership makes the text a dialogue, between the author and the reader, between one reader and another, all the social contexts of the former and the latter colliding. Isolation is quite literally impossible, because to isolate the text would be to remove the reader from the story. What use, then, for the text? What kind of intellectual conversation would there be if the author was simply shouting into a void? There would be no value in writing, in telling a story, without someone to pick up the conversation at the other end, even if it is only the writer, several years down the road.

Given the current debate about warnings, I am starting to think that more people ought to be considering their ideas about writing & readership, and their positions as readers & writers. I think we've all heard countless things about "artistic vision" and "authorial intent" by now, so I'm just going to get to the point: If you are going to write a story and post it on the internet, you are starting a dialogue, no less than an author does when publishing a book. (In fact, posting it on the internet makes the dialogue even more immediate: a published author can presumably avoid reading fan mail, whereas feedback on a story posted on LJ, IJ, DW, etc. goes straight to the writer's inbox.)

When you are having a conversation, it is common courtesy to take the opinions and concerns of the people you are talking to into consideration, and to treat them with respect. You are not, as the initiator of the conversation, owed anything from the people you are talking to, nor does your status as initiator grant you some sort of power or authority over those people.

There are more things I could say, but you know what? Lots of other people have said them [warning: triggery subject matter in posts & comments]:
- impertinence: Sexual Assault, Triggering, and Warnings: An Essay [Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.]
- such_heights: A little warning would be nice
- giandujakiss: The warnings thing
- thingswithwings: again? we're having this debate again?

01. a couple of posts i have seen on the election situation in Iran that you may find interesting:
- On Recent Events in Iran by yasaman, which includes a couple of non-US-media links and also some good thoughts on why US meddling would be a bad idea
- this post by one_hoopy_frood, which i've already seen reposted at least twice

02. as wanderlight knows, i am technically Not Allowed to be on LJ/DW right now because i am still not finished with today's springkink fic yet! however, my boss is on a college-visiting trip with his son this week and thus i am multitasking at work, trying to write moar without actually having source materials at hand (sort of a good thing because bringing manga to work would probably be a Terrible Idea, even in my lab, but at the same time i am severely lacking in canon details! D:). you are all hereby granted a Poky Stick if you see me floating around later tonight without having posted fic, okay?? i would really like to make my deadline this time.

03. GQMF meme via karanguni! comment so i have something to crack my shit up in my post-writing haze, okay bbs? &hearts

( ahahaha SCREWED. )

basically, brain, i'd like you to stop faffing off now plzkthx.

ETA: wow i am LATE on pimping this, but ciderpress has announced the 3rd edition of the Asian Women Carnival! \o/ \o/ the host is Jha'Meia, and the submissions post is here; deadline is 8/15; optional theme is "Intersections between Culture and Sexism."

also, a note from ciderpress regarding the Carnival (emphasis mine):

The carnival was intended to be *about* Asian women rather than an Asian women *only* carnival. This is partly because the global issues of race, identity, gender and class etc affect everyone and I think it is important to explore and discuss (and learn about) the intersection of communities, issues and common and uncommon experiences and listen to a diverse range of voices, all of which have valuable things to contribute to the discussion. It is also partly because Asian women are daughters, mothers, sisters, colleagues and friends. What affects our lives and makes us who we are in turn affects our relationships with our brothers and sisters, our parents, our children, our colleagues and our friends and changes them. I know I have things to say about my identity as an Asian woman. I also know that my brothers, my father and my friends all think about and have things to say about Asian women and how we relate to their own personal experiences and their views on race, gender and feminism etc. I personally welcome submissions and work by Asian women, Asian men and non-Asian allies, and hope that the conversations springing from the AWC can and will include all these voices, even within the narrow focus that the carnival has. I would also like, as both yeloson and deepad have both kindly suggested, in a (hopefully soon-to-be!) future edition, to have an Asian Women Carnival based on the theme of Asian men and children.

if you, lovely flist, have any thoughts to share, i'd love to hear them! &hearts

so, now that finals are over and nobody really cares about remix anymore, i guess it's time to do a commentary. *g*

( Skipping, Stopping, and Starting Over (the Dare Disturb the Universe Remix) )