✨Ben Hamill✨ @benhamill@witches.town

I'm moving my account over to @benhamill. I don't wanna get into the details, but if you're really interested, I guess DM me over there. I'll import my follows momentarily. A bit sad to go because I love a lot of people on this instance.

#introductions

Uh. I like to kindpost, I guess. It's a new skill I'm learning, anyway. Also real bad joaks.

I try to learn about intersectional social justice and am trying to develop the habit of taking concrete, real world action about it more often.

I've got a linguistics degree that I don't use professionally (I'm in software), but I love to talk about words and things.

I think play and playfulness are super important. I enjoy roleplaying, board and video games.

I'm a mod on #WitchesTown. Ask me if you have questions (though I only speak English, do I'm not much help to our large population of French speakers).

My family afforded me a brief nap today. I dreamed I was playing a game a bit like Journey, but there was voice chat and more people playing together than 2. I fell in with a gang of unbearably cool French anarchist kids who all mostly knew each other IRL. We got to a part where you skate/boarded downhill in twilight and they were doing all sorts of awesome tricks while making up raps about the black block and shit in a mix of English and French. I was amazed they tolerated my presence, but they were so nice.

I'm pretty sure this was a dream about #WitchesTown.

Mornin', witches and wicks.

Folks looking at AIs that cooperate with humans. Like real computer frens.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02597-8

Good morning, witches and wicks! 🌇

Someone poured a doggo into this chair.
https://witches.town/media/AyoWRDw5-CXYlFsiDFk
https://witches.town/media/w-KmgOZsDsNOQR1qCPY

How's it going, pals? Had a good weekend, I hope? Mine was pretty busy, but ended up nice.

Homer's Mario Odyssey

As a side note: The level of conversational sexism among the white men I've met trying to do anti-racism work is sort of astounding to me. Compared to, like, meetings at work and stuff. Talking over or not listening to women, mostly. I'm still trying to develop the habit of explicitly making space for women to talk, to be sure. But… wow.

I didn't know how to help keep him from destroying the conversation. I felt like confronting him and trying to, like, Win An Argument with him would just take up the whole time and derail entirely, so I wanted to de-escalate instead of escalate, but not responding at all put the burden on the rest of the group (mostly women) and felt bad. IDK. It was not great and I wish I had better tools to deal with that kind of situation.

We went to a workshop today about unlearning Racism. There's a small core group that shows up pretty regularly and then there's usually a few new faces each time. Today, there was a guy that showed up who really bogarted the conversation and was veering off topic and into some pretty… uh, IDK. "War isn't bad, we're just doing it wrong," sorts of points. And was pretty disrespectful of the efforts or suggestions by others.

3yo: Check me out. I'm water bending!

Shit it's 2am. Why am I still on here? I need a grown up to come tell me to go to bed, clearly.

Night, y'all. Sleep well, or have a relaxing afternoon or a chill morning or whatever time zone you live in, you know, take it easy. 💖

Y'all. My encouragepost from earlier about high fives is ALMOST as popular as that one post I did about the amount of letters I in some word I don't even remember.

I still can't believe how many people were like, "Yes. This is a good post about how many Is are in a word. All my followers will also want to see it. ."

Y'all are weird is what I'm saying. 😜💖

🎉 That's all 30. That took longer than I kinda thought it would. And there were some weird ones in there. I don't know if it was fun, but it was interesting, I guess. Hopefully you enjoyed the Relevant Ben Facts.

30. What's something you'll never do again?

Be born! HAHAHA. YEAH? Because, see—Ahem.

I think the spirit of this one is something I chose to do that I didn't like and so will avoid doing in the future. Which, IDK. Uh. I can't think of a lot of things that I thought I'd like, did and then was like NOPENOPENOPE about. Backpacking through a blizzard in the Alps was pretty bad, but was also good in some ways and I'd backpack in the Apls again, even if there might be a blizzard. Being in a car wreck sucks, but I don't have total control there.

I guess... eat durian? I did NOT like it. But... I still might try it again a different way or in another context? IDK

29. What's the best lesson you've learned from a work of fiction?

Oh god. I have no idea. Uh. I read a lot, y'all. And have since elementary school. The number of things I've picked up in fiction and tried out in my life is probably... innumerable. The number that have worked vs. the number that haven't, IDK. I can't really think of any big formative Life Lessons that tie directly back to a single piece of fiction, though. Hmm. 🤔

28. What was the most traumatizing moment of your life?

Wow. Uh. I don't feel like I've suffered a lot of trauma in my life, I guess? I've been in situations that felt like the end of the world at the time, but IDK how big of an impact that they've had on me long-term. I had a pretty rough time in Jr. High and it probably constituted a sort of generalized, extended trauma to a certain extent. I feel like that's a very common experience (though everyone's specific awfulness is different, of course). I spent a lot of time faceplanting into my peers' expectations of me w/r/t (mostly toxic) masculinity and it was not-great.