sneezes and socks

[cimorene]

I have been sneezing on average about once per day the last week or so, so there must really be something around that's irritating my nose, just not that badly anymore. It could be the tree, I guess. I took the ornaments off on the 6th per Finnish tradition, but Wax has yet to carry it outside.

I seem to have estimated the socks wrong again. Wax is now wearing the original leftovers socks (from Daddy's hat) and I knitted one sock with the leftovers from them, but it did not use enough of the leftover yarn (too many stripes of Arwetta in between). I am making the second sock mismatched in the hope of using as much of the yarn as possible. I can't bear to waste it because it's really lovely soft and silky merino sock yarn (Scheepjes Downtown).

I should have made a hooded sweater before now, though. My neck and ears are always cold. But I can't promote another project ahead of the next Fair Isle vest I've been planning, so I'll have to get by tying shawls around my head and neck a bit longer.

Actually I've been so focused on knitting lately that it's almost my fandom. I'm not even watching tv at the same time, lately, just listening to David Mitchell's radio show. (I got a bit further in my Star Trek rewatch before getting stuck on the episode where Starfleet tries to order Data to be dissected and Picard has to sue. It causes too much anxiety, but I didn't want to skip ahead.)

Comments

[barbaratp]

Desejo melhoras para a sua alergia, hoje fui no médico e estou com lotes de soro para o nariz e loratadina para ver se controlo os que tem me acometido nos últimos dias.

Ain tricô é tão fofinho. Queria eu saber fazer essa arte incrível. Parece tão difícil, mas faz coisas tão lindas. E você está certa sobre desperdiçar fios, eles são tão caros.

[cimorene]

I imagine your climate probably means you need warm wool for less of the year, though there's still lots of lightweight things you can knit! If you like other handicrafts, I think knitting and crochet aren't especially difficult to start, but you do have to be prepared to make some things that you won't like for a few months or so as you learn more. But they could all be dishcloths and little storage bags and rectangular scarves and the like, things that are still functional or hard to mess up. Not that I did that exactly. I definitely made things that had to be thrown away or unraveled when I started.

[barbaratp]

Eu antigamente era mais criativa artisticamente nesse ponto, mas deixei de lado faz muitos anos.

Não se engane com a venda de que o Brasil é somente sol e praia, isso se restringe em poucas áreas, o restante pode fazer frio tão forte que chegou a formar neve no solo.

Onde moro o clima é entre calor e frio, a depender da estação.

[cimorene]

I thought about how large it is after I said that! It's much more like the US than like Finland, and I've never learned much about it as a whole.

I grew up in Alabama in the US, which is subtropical, with winters usually getting a little bit below freezing at the coldest but almost never snow, and summers 30-40 C. I had lived in New York as a very small child briefly so I had seen snow but it was still quite an adjustment for me moving to Finland.

[barbaratp]

Eu não sei se conseguiria mudar de país, não falo nenhum idioma além de português brasileiro e não possuo uma profissão ou graduação e como muitos países vetam a entrada de pessoas doentes em sua federação eu nem penso em largar o meu país. Ainda mais que muitos outros tem climas que me fazem doer os ossos (culpa da fibromialgia)

[cimorene]

Yeah, it's pretty hard! You could probably get by in Portugal, and it would probably be possible to learn Spanish or Italian although still difficult. But a lot of things are very hard! There are more places where you can get by with English, and there are expats who do that in Finland. It was depressing to not understand what I could hear around me all the time until I learned Finnish though, and that took some time. I moved here because of my Finnish wife, and that is the most common reason people move here, but I do love it now. The cold is still hard though.

[barbaratp]

Minha irmã teve um colega de escola que se mudou acho que para a Finlândia se não me engano porque os pais arrumaram um emprego lá. Conhecendo o preconceito contra brasileiros que existe em Portugal e Espanha, além de ser uma pessoa preta queer não iria lá nunca nem para passeio/turismo. Quanto a aprender italiano isso soa lindo para os meus ouvidos, estava até pensando em estudar o idioma, mas ficou para outro momento. Eu meio que pensava que talvez sua mudança tivesse sido por casamento, por sempre estar citando Wax. No fim só recomendo muitas roupas quentes e fofas para sobreviver a esse inverno...

[cimorene]

Yeah, I don't think anywhere in Europe is good for black immigrants! I mean, there are countries and cities that are good for queer people, but being a black immigrant would probably more than counterbalance that. Not that there aren't *any* here... I met people in my Finnish language classes, and there's a refugee community from Somalia. But the racism in Finnish culture is a big problem and the percentage of immigrants and refugees is very small. Being white and English-speaking (my ancestors are mostly Polish and Jewish) makes it all easier for me but people still regularly start to assume I'm Russian or Ukrainian to be racist and then get brain freeze when they find out I'm USian.

I have been unemployed this winter which has made it much easier since nothing is stopping me from cocooning myself in pajamas and blankets all the time. My body interprets the winter here as time to hibernate and I wish I could.

[barbaratp]

Ah que inveja eu tenho dos ursos, que no meio do inverno comem até estufar e se enrolam para dormir quentinhos em suas tocas. É realmente a Europa tem um grande histórico de racismo contra imigrantes, sejam eles do país que for, vemos isso nos relatos atuais contra ucranianos ou russos. É sempre uma briga para ver quem é o mais branco loiro de olhos azuis que sabe montar toda sua genealogia até o tempo das cavernas. É estranho já que os primeiros povos da região tinham a pele preta, mas eles não querem saber disso quando o ódio sobe em seus olhos. Então fico triste de saber que eles tentam te intimar mas é agradável saber que o cérebro deles quase frita quando percebem que você é da América *risos*

[cimorene]

Yeah, it's pretty sad. There was a study twelve years ago or something that some university students did with hidden cameras. It was almost impossible for the black students, although they spoke perfect Finnish, to get help in an artificial scenario where they asked to borrow a passerby's phone for a call in a crowded city street and they also documented illegal employment and rental discrimination on the basis of voices and even just names. We did units on this in the Finnish language and culture classes that you can take as a new immigrant and both times I went through this, in two different classes, there were multiple white immigrants in the room who argued in favor of racism against brown immigrants but thought it was very very unfair that it was also directed against them. 🙄 I'll never forget my Romanian classmate, who was actually forced to sell her house and move due to racist harassment from a finn neighbor, and used her story to explain to the rest of the class that Romanian people are the victim of the worst racism because people think they are Roma, but actually the Romanian people all hate the Roma too, she told us, even though there are so many of them in Romania, because the Roma really are genetically inferior and untrustworthy. She knew the racist neighbor thought they were Roma because of racist remarks and she thought she should've been able to just explain this and they could all be happy racist "white" people together, but the racist neighbor was ignorant about other countries (what a surprise!) and didn't believe her🙄😂. There is an old population of Roma in a Finland who immigrated mostly from Sweden about 200+ years ago; they are linguistically and religiously integrated in Finland and not nomadic, but they are pretty socially isolated and discriminated against.

[cimorene]

Although surprisingly, the study did find that in small towns people were much more willing to lend their phones to a stranger on the street - they were nicer to white people than in the city too but they were dramatically less racist. I don't understand this at all but I have observed some of this small town kindness in public and with strangers since moving to our current small town in 2019. Anyway, it's weird but it's hopeful.

[barbaratp]

Muito parecido com os brancos brasileiros que se acham europeus ou estadunidense só para descobri que são e sempre serão vistos como latinos e ao se juntarem a grupos neonazi sofrem preconceito e nem a pele alva que tanto glorificam os podem salvar se serem vítimas. Esse tipo de pessoa (os daqui e os daí) acham que só porque são um grupo racista outros racistas os apoiarão.

[cimorene]

That's very true. One of my classmates that I was quite friendly with was from Mexico City and we used to talk a lot. She told me about this issue - she was not that white, but also not dark enough to be seen as black or indigenous at home, where she was an ordinary middle class professional, a graphic designer with a degree and experience from an agency. She was strongly anti racist, but she still noticed the difference very obviously here where she is seen as brown. She was married to a Finnish man so she was a Finnish citizen, but even after finishing the Finnish course she struggled for YEARS trying to get a job in her field, despite living in the third biggest urban area in Finland, and despite being fluent in English. Almost certainly because she is perceived as a brown refugee because of coming from a "poor" country.

[barbaratp]

Eu sou preta/negra, meu tom é claro em relação de outros negros, sofri racismo na escola por uma aluna de pele clara que não era branca mas odiava negros. Ela ameaçou de arrancar meu coração a facadas e me jogar no córrego atrás da minha casa, tudo por eu ser negra. Eu tinha por volta de 7 ou 8 anos. Eu era uma criança ouvindo de outra que devia morrer por conta da minha cor. Me expulsaram da classe para abafar o caso. Foi um escândalo. Mesmo havendo leis no Brasil que punem com prisão e multa pessoas racistas, ela se safou com a desculpa que estava abalada com o divórcio dos pais. O maior problema era que a tia dela era uma negra de pele escura bem retinta e a menina não era branca, mas assim se via por ter cabelos e olhos claros mesmo sendo descendente de pessoas pretas. Muitas vezes dentro da comunidade qualquer um com traços mais "finos" se acha melhor que os outros. Existe um poema e um filme com essa temática. O primeiro fala sobre as pessoas não se preocuparem que o mal buscou seus vizinhos porque ele se acha diferente até o mal lhe alcançar e ele pedir ajuda, mas como não ligou para o sofrimento de ninguém não há quem lute por ele. Enquanto o filme chamado Bacurau mostra um grupo de brasileiros sulistas de pele clara que se acham brancos europeus e ajudam um grupo de brancos a fazerem safári humano matando pessoas pobres de cor no Brasil, esse grupo sulista se acha superior até ser informado pelos estrangeiros que são tão inferiores para eles quanto as pessoas pobres que eles vem matando.

[cimorene]

I have heard this type of 'colorism' racism is a big issue in Brazil before, but wow, that's ... shocking nd horrifying. It must have been harrowing for you.

I know colorism is a social issue in Black culture in America that I have seen discussed enough times to know it is a common controversy, but also a widespread problem. I've seen some limited discussion of it as a global issue, for example in India and southeast Asia as well. But I've never heard of that movie... I'm going to look it up now.

[barbaratp]

Existe um quadro, uma pintura que aborda o tema do colorismo, relações interraciais e como algumas pessoas pensam que a população deveria embranquecer apagando assim os pretos de sua memória. Se chama a Redenção de Cam de Marcelo Broscos. Mostra uma família que começa preta e se torna branca conforme os casamentos miscigenam os familiares ao longo das gerações. Nossa população é majoritariamente preta, depois indígena, refugiados e estrangeiros naturalizados e por fim brancos. E mesmo assim aqui os pretos não se unem como nos USA, e muitas vezes perpetuam o racismo e preconceito que outros fazem a eles contra a sua própria raça e cor. E algumas pessoas usam isso como desculpa para continuarem a serem racistas dizendo que se até os pretos se odeiam quem será eles se amarem essa cor. Um horror. Tem horas que eu preferia ser surda do que ouvir essas bobagens. E sim foi horrível sofrer esse tipo de preconceito tão jovem, cresci sendo hostilizado por pessoas da minha própria cor ou que não eram brancas mas pensavam ser porque preferiam rejeitar sua cor.

[cimorene]

I can visualize the whole cultural conversation that you're describing now and it really is awful. I don't know if it's actually more awful than the other situations created in profoundly racist societies, but at first glance the lack of solidarity that you're describing seems extra chilling, even though white supremacy also operates through internalized racism and both conscious and unconscious prejudice and discrimination in the US too. I suspect the existence of this solidarity and the history of civil rights is spiritually and emotionally valuable support to Black people in the US. Of course, there's a dark logic in the goal of "whitening" one's own descendants by marrying lighter-skinned people, which was at one time extremely common in the US as well, and even today isn't gone. It is selfish but there is always a likelihood that cruel society will be easier for lighter-skinnwd descendants.

[barbaratp]

No fim tudo isso é culpa do sistema opressor que cria na cabeça do oprimido que o inimigo é quem deveria ser seu amigo. Uma tragédia sem fim. É parte do modus operandi de grupos que querem ter o poder sobre os outros, divida-os, crie dúvidas e discórdia, os faça achar que o inimigo é outro, reduza sua população e tome o poder. Não importa qual seja, a questão sempre funciona assim... O que me deixa muito triste, às vezes parece que alguns ser humanos não aprendem como viver em paz sem odiar os outros por motivo nenhum.

[cimorene]

Very true. I often think similar things. Groups of people are easily manipulated in this way and apparently incapable of focusing on their real enemy.

[msilverstar]

I've been sneezing once a day for months, maybe years. So weird!

[cimorene]

Oh, maybe something to look forward to! A mystery! 😂