Bzzing aBout

Yes, indeed, the mysterious or magical or Clarkeian-science transformation of human into penguin (as compared with the more benign always-a-penguin fic) has an astonishingly and gratifyingly wide existence.

Please note the Master And Commander version of the tale, called Birds of a Feather," by the inestimable Toft.( Read more... )

In The New York Times article Rare Source of Attack on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ By ELISABETH BUMILLER we read, in part,

Colonel Prakash, who researched the issue while a student at the National Defense University, in Washington, and who now works in the Pentagon, concludes that “it is not time for the administration to re-examine the issue.” Instead, he writes, “it is time for the administration to examine how to implement the repeal of the ban.”

The article, which was first reported Wednesday by The Boston Globe, also says the law has been costly — about 12,500 gay men and lesbians have been discharged from the service as a result of “don’t ask, don’t tell” since it took effect in 1993 — and argues that it undermines the unit cohesion it has sought to protect.

“In an attempt to allow homosexual service members to serve quietly, a law was created that forces a compromise in integrity, conflicts with the American creed of ‘equality for all,’ places commanders in difficult moral dilemmas and is ultimately more damaging to the unit cohesion its stated purpose is to preserve,” Colonel Prakash writes.

Like we done been sayin'.

The original article, published in Joint Force Quarterly, can be found as a pdf file here.

Reading it, I have to tell you that I am made all warm and fuzzy by the logical arrangement, the detailed examination of all the arguments, and the quality of the writing of this paper, wholly apart from its actual content. I tell you this in comparison with my rage at the writing by so-called experts on the Black Death that I have currently been reading, whose organizational and prose styles have been maddening in two separate dimensions. That said, on page 90, he says:

If one considers strictly the lost manpower and expense, DADT is a costly failure. Proponents of lifting the ban on homosexuals serving openly can easily appeal to emotion given the large number of people lost and treasure spent—an entire division of Soldiers and two F–22s. Opponents of lifting the ban offer interesting but weak arguments when they compare the relatively small numbers of discharges for homosexuality with those discharged for drug abuse or other offenses. It is necessary to look past both of these arguments, remove the emotion, and instead examine the primary premise of the law — that open homosexuality will lead to a disruption of unit cohesion and impact combat effectiveness. If that assumption holds, then the troops lost and money spent could be seen as a necessity in order to maintain combat effectiveness just as other Servicemembers unfit for duty must be discharged.

Point. If a characteristic of a servicemenber, even if congenital, makes it impossible for the team to work together, then that servicemember must be removed. Consider the case of extreme body odor unassociated with hygiene. Such a person, no matter his or her skills or personality, could not, for example, serve in a tank or on a submarine. (I knew such a person, a professor at Purdue, who was a magnificent teacher, but with whom we could only speak at a minimal distance of 5 feet. It was definitely worth the effort; but I, with my wholly insensitive nose, would have fainted if forced to be closer than 3 feet to him for any length of time exceeding 4 minutes.)

He says, later:

When measuring unit performance, task cohesion ends up being the decisive factor in group performance. Common sense would suggest a group that gets along (that is, has high social cohesion) would perform better. Almost counterintuitively, it has been shown that in some situations, high social cohesion is actually deleterious to the group decisionmaking process, leading to the coining of the famous term groupthink. This does not imply that low social cohesion is advantageous, but that moderate levels are optimal.20

Several factors contribute to cohesion. For social cohesion, the most important factors are propinquity—spatial and temporal proximity—and homogeneity. For task cohesion, the factors include leadership, group size, shared threat, and past success. Interestingly, success seems to promote cohesion to a greater degree than cohesion promotes success.21

This leads to the conclusion that integration of open homosexuals might degrade social cohesion because of the lack of homogeneity; however, the effects can be mitigated with leadership and will further dissipate with familiarity. More importantly, task cohesion should not be affected and is in fact the determinant in group success. Given that homosexuals who currently serve do so at great personal expense and professional risk, RAND interviews suggest such individuals are deeply committed to the military’s core values, professional teamwork, physical stamina, loyalty, and selfless service—all key descriptors of task cohesion.22

Were I still fertile, I would get my wife's permission to bear this man's children. Go read his article.

For those not yet in the know:

One of the upshots of Recent Events was the determination to found scholarships for Fen of Color[FoC] to attend WisCon. A community named fight_derailing was formed, for the purpose of "fight[ing] the derailing of anti-racism conversations." One of its posts reads, in part: "Are you a fan of color who wants to go to Wiscon, but doesn't have the resources? This fundraiser is for you: to raise services and money so you can go and be your own awesome self, doing whatever you would normally do at Wiscon."

An auction to support this fund was created at con_or_bust. ( Tags for items on offer include )

Go see! Bid! Buy!

*pokes through purse for uncommitted coinage*

From the Los Angeles Times:

[Lt. Jack] Reavley, who was drafted in World War II and remained in the Army Reserve, was called back to service during the Korean War. He became [Army Sgt. Bob] Claunch's commanding officer at Armed Forces Radio in Munich, Germany [in 1951].

It was love at first sight, Claunch said.

But being together was difficult. They couldn't be seen alone together without raising eyebrows or risking the scrutiny of military police. Reavley had a wife and two young daughters. Both men felt weighed down with guilt.

Troops in the unit began to notice their relationship; rumors swirled. If discovered, they could have been court-martialed. After a year of hiding, they confronted their unit.

Reavley called a meeting. He had his secretary, a lesbian who had helped conceal the couple's romance, pretend to phone headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

"I said, if anybody has anything to say about Sgt. Claunch and Lt. Reavley's association . . . now's your chance," Reavley said.

No one said a word.

"We didn't admit guilt, and we didn't say we weren't" gay, Reavley said. "So case closed. And the rumors stopped."

Within a few months, Claunch and Reavley returned to the United States with honorable discharges.

They have lived successful lives, but old age weighs on them: when one dies, what will the other do? They chose not to marry during the brief window available to them, but - maybe - Social Security benefits, other benefits, might accrue to them if they marry, if it happens before they both die.

"Bob & Jack's 52-Year Adventure is the true self-told story about the kind of lifelong love we all hope for and the equal rights two men who are still in love will now need to survive," says the site where the DVD on their life is sold.

I had to tell you about it. I had to. With all the war-stories told by us, it is important to remember that we are telling true tales.

Sardonicsmiley is, as I have said before, a frightening and excellent author. So I will tell you:

There is no Sex. In fact, there is no Romance.
Rodney - goes. Permanently.
John abandons Atlantis.
There is Background of Families.

And you absolutely must read the story right away!!!

It is called The Other Side of Grace, and you will need a hanky or tissue.


That is all.

Parhelion's site entitled Germination Records contains an extended bounty of perfectly-executed narrative voice, whether that of Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe, or even on occasion Saul Panzer or Lily Rowan. She weaves everything from a brief wait on an encounter with mortality to a long, involved undercover war story. The quiet desperation and longing with which she infuses everything is a moist, rich dessert, but the language! ( The language is incredible. )

You must go read several of these stories. Pay attention to the warnings: in most cases, but not all, the sex is off-screen, or can be ignored by the uninterested. In all cases, though, the sex is ... warming, moving, rather than arousing, to my eyes. The relationships themselves are far more interesting.

Arms and the woman : war, gender, and literary representation / edited by Helen M. Cooper, Adrienne Auslander Munich, and Susan Merrill Squier. ; University of North Carolina Press, ; c1989. ; xx, 348 p. ; 24 cm.; 0807818607 (alk. paper) ; 0807842567 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Warrior women and popular balladry, 1650-1850 / Dianne Dugaw ; with a new preface. ; Dugaw, Dianne. ; University of Chicago Press, ; 1996. ; xx, 233 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.; 0226169162 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Amazons and military maids : women who dressed as men in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness / Julie Wheelwright. ; Wheelwright, Julie. ; Pandora, ; 1989. ; 205 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.; 0044404948 : ; 0044403569

These books, reviewed by Constance Wainwright in 1992 and therefore older yet than that, explore the intersections of the expectations of how women are to relate to war and how they actually do so.

You must all immediately go and read this bit of unfinished wonderfulness:

http://www.glitterati.talkoncorners.net/log/2008/01/14/i-blame-you-serial-karma-and-lyra-sena-i-blame-you/

And then you must tell her to finish it. At book length. Maybe three or four volumes, I dunno. Anything that leads with the following scene must be rewarded:

Chapter 1: Wherein Our Hero Is Rudely Awakened

John was only half-into his breeches when Samantha burst into his room, red-faced and furious and her hair in wild disarray, throwing down a bouquet of orange roses and shouting, “John, he’s done it again! The third year in a row!”

Trying to pull himself off of the floor, where he’d fallen with a yelp of horror, pulling all the sheets and blankets off of the bed and around him to protect his limited dignity, John said, “Sam, for God’s sake!”

“Oh, John, honestly,” she sighed at him, settling herself on the edge of his bed. “You’re practically my brother.”

“Yes,” he shot back, struggling to his feet and still wrapped entirely in bedclothes, “which makes this delightful moment wrong and incestuous.” He pointed at the wide-open door of his bedchamber. “Now, if you’ll humor me and feign being a young woman of good breeding.”

Sam ignored him. “Two dozen hideous orange roses,” she mourned, staring down at the petals.

“Of course,” John said through gritted teeth. “And this shall be the third year you’ve stormed into my room wailing about it as well.”

“We must find him some other poor woman to marry, John,” Sam decided, looking grim. “It’ll be too cruel, really, for us to press some girl onto him, but his insistence on courting me can no longer be endured.” She looked thoughtful. “Perhaps Miss Brown. She’s quiet, and she seems to entertain thoughts that people are kinder than they truly are.”

Beneath the sheets, John tried to dress himself as well as possible, ducking his head underneath a blanket to align the row of buttons on his breeches, thinking vile, ungentlemanly thoughts toward his cousin. Since they were children they’d played together and she’d always been a trial: too smart and too stubborn. John half-wished she’d just marry whichever poor bastard was pining after her so wretchedly so she’d move out of the house and stop barging in on him while he was half nude.

“Given your history of suffering indignities I’d think you’d understand why I’m so upset about this one,” John grumbled, finally emerging from the covers and tugging his shirt and trousers back in good order.

Samantha gave him a considering look. “You are perfectly aware I barely see you as a man, John.”

“Thank you,” he replied, dry as flint, hauling all the covers back onto the feather mattress. “Now—who is the unfortunate gentleman who continues to struggle for your affections all these years?”

Really. So. Much. Love.

Omigosh.

filkertom has discovered slash. Behold what he has shown me:

basingstoke "has written a Brokeback Mountain fic," which actually does the story and the movie justice without killing the reader and without insane hopefulness - two elements which usually seem mutually exclusive in this fandom. I highly, highly recommend it. Guy-safe; rated teen at the outside.

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