Jens Secret Diary UNLOCKED
First published: Saturday 19/02/22
This is a very old secret diary entry from last year. It was a paid exclusive up until today, because I think well over a year is time enough to start releasing them publicly. If you’d like to read more recent diary entries now, then please consider becoming a paid subscriber (it’s very cheap!) or else, you’ll have to wait another year or so, I guess?
Also, I’ve taken the liberty of annotating this entry with updates / thoughts etc - which is fun.
Jens Diary
[Formally A Substack Paid Exclusive]
Saturday 19/02/22
Spent a lot of time reading today - mainly trying to finish this pretty short book White Fragility : Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Race by Robin Diangelo - but I keep falling asleep. I should probably clarify, it’s not because the book is boring. In fact, the book is amazing and should probably be read by every white person. I just find that as I get older, I struggle to read anything without feeling sleepy. To be fair, I don’t actually know if it’s because I’m getting older - it might just be because I don’t sleep very well generally, and often read in bed - laying down - with ambient, relaxing whale sounds playing in the background. Also, I’m dosed up on sleeping pills (not really).
But yeah, I recommend the book big-time. It’s written by a white woman, and although I absolutely would usually want to read work by people of colour on these kind of subjects, this is an example of a white person, speaking directly to her fellow white people - about the gaps in our understandings of racism, our insecurities and shared blind spots when it comes to how we continue to perpetuate racism through our private interactions with other white people.
Jen’s annotation from 01/09/23: I stand by this still, it’s a very good book.
Anyways, I’ve nearly finished my copy so if you want it, just DM me on Twitter or email me and I’d be happy to send it to whoever gets there first. Would be happy to make it a regular thing as well, as will encourage me to actually finish books.
Jen’s annotation from 01/09/23: Don’t message me about the book, please. I think in the end I just left it on a bus seat.
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me giving out about this stick insect they found recently that is being reported by the Mail Online as being “dual gender”. Apparently, the owner of Charlie the stick insect discovered that it was split perfectly in half down the centre between male & female, like “Josephine/Joseph” from Todd Browning’s Freaks. The article claimed that this was the first observed instance of this kind of sexual dimorphism in a stick insect, and as such the Natural History Museum wanted to study it - after euthanising it, obviously.
The euthanasia aspect is horrible, and I don’t see why they can’t just wait for Charlie to die naturally, but the thing that confused me the most is why they chose to refer to it as “dual gender” in the article - demonstrating what seems like a wilful ignorance of the difference between the concept of “sex” and “gender”. I guess why it’s on my mind, is because at this point I honestly don’t believe that these journalists, cultural commentators and “philosophers” actually don’t know the difference between the two things. Call me conspiratorial, but I get the impression that it’s a purposeful choice so as to muddy the waters and further delegitimise trans people’s identities. Even Mail Online journalists went to school, after all.
Jen’s annotation from 01/09/23: I think they did kill it in the end. If not, it’s definitely dead of natural causes by now, sorry.
I’m just settling down for the evening as I write this. Me and a friend are going to go on Zoom and watch Tim Heidecker’s On Cinema At The Cinema together. One thing the lockdown gave me, is a new way of hanging out with friends. I actually really value these kind of connections, and it’s properly lovely that I can hang out with my pal in Ireland and laugh at stupid shit over the internet.
Jen’s annotation from 01/09/23: I am very good friends with this person to this day.
I’m going on a date tomorrow evening (storm dependant) so I’ll be sure to update ya’ll on how that goes. Thanks again for being a paid subscriber.- hope you have a good rest of your weekend.
Jen’s annotation from 01/09/23: I can’t remember who this was I went on a date with, but I can tell you - it didn’t work out. Maybe future entries will illuminate more?
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