Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Day 46: Decided it was time for a little book shopping today, and we were both able to fill in a few gaps on our shelves. If you’re ever in the Kent, WA area, Page Turner Books gets a high recommendation from us. A cute local new and used bookstore, with a great focus on SF/F and a good selection of mysteries, so it’s able to satisfy both me and my wife.
Day 45: Today’s photo is actually a re-creation of an event from yesterday, which comes with a bit of a story.
Yesterday was Highline’s commencement festivities which, as last year, were held on campus (and it is so much nicer than the traditional stadium ceremonies). My wife and I had shown up early in the morning to help with setup, and then I’d been finding other ways to help out, so I’d been doing a lot by the time noon rolled around. So, a little tired, hungry, and slightly over-peopled, I headed back to my office in the library building to have lunch.
Also in the elevator with me were three of the librarians, also on their way to have lunch together. They got off on the fourth floor, and I got off on the fifth, sat at my desk, and enjoyed a quiet lunch.
When I finished eating, I checked my work email–and found an email from one of the librarians telling me which office they were in and inviting me down. While it was quite a while later, I figured I could see if they were still around, and since they were just a floor away, I took the stairs down…
..and the door to the fourth floor was locked. Oh, right, that makes sense. The library building was closed for the festivities, so that door would be locked. I went back up to my floor…
…and the door to the fifth floor was locked.
As were the doors to the sixth, third, and second floors, and the only door on the first floor is an alarmed emergency exit.
I was trapped in the stairwell.
So, rather bemused by the whole thing, I sat down and started by emailing all three librarians: “Are any of you still around? I’m trapped in the stairwell.” And then I started looking each of them up in Outlook to find their office numbers, hoping that one was around in in their office, or at least within hearing distance of their phone, so that I wouldn’t have to resort to calling campus security to let me out.
Thankfully, though they’d finished lunch and gone their separate ways by this point, one was in their office, and I was shortly able to send a follow-up email saying “I’ve been rescued!” And a little later, I found the other two out on the lawn enjoying the festivities, and we all had a laugh as they apologized for getting me stuck.
So, that was my mid-day adventure getting locked in a stairwell in the midst of the school’s graduation celebration. Hopefully it’s the last time this happens!
While we’re just halfway through Pride month, July is Disability Pride Month, and in preparation for this year, I’ve created a high resolution version of Ann Magill’s Disability Pride Flag, which she released into the public domain. I have also created a brighter variant that may be more suitable in some situations.
You can snag the images from this blog post, or you can download the 175 KB Disability Pride Flag .zip file, which includes both the standard and bright variants as high-resolution (2000×3000 pixel) .png, .svg, and .pdf files, along with the Affinity Designer source files I created.
An explanation of the design and the meaning of the colors, from Ann:
I and several people with visually triggered disabilities (some of whom wished to remain anonymous) have collaborated to come up with this new design, shown above. The colors have been muted and rearranged to reduce eye strain, and each stripe also has a slightly different level of brightness (brightest in the center and darkening outward), so that even those with some form of color blindness can distinguish the stripes.
And in case you’re wondering, here’s the flag’s symbolism:
Having All Six “Standard” Flag Colors: signifying that Disability Community is pan-national, spanning borders between states and nations.
The Black Field: Mourning and rage for victims of ableist violence and abuse
The Diagonal Band: “Cutting across” the walls and barriers that separate the disabled from normate society, also light and creativity cutting through the darkness
The White Stripe: Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities
The Red Stripe: Physical Disabilities
The Gold Stripe: Neurodivergence
The Blue Stripe: Psychiatric Disabilities
The Green Stripe: Sensory Disabilities
Download link: DisabilityPrideFlag.zip (175 KB)
Day 44: Congratulations to all of Highline’s graduates! We helped with setup this morning, handed out yard signs and did some tabling in the afternoon, and had a really good day celebrating this year’s graduating class.
Day 43: Yes, this is absolutely a “didn’t take a photo earlier, so I’m playing with filters in a desperate attempt to make the photo slightly interesting” day. It happens!
Day 42: I couldn’t resist grabbing a photo with this graduation celebrant. Okay, so maybe they took a little longer to get through than some, but diplomas don’t have a time limit, right?
Day 41: A few years back, I ordered a set of Shepard Fairey’s We the People poster prints. We framed them, and they line the staircase down to our basement. I really like walking by them every time we go downstairs.
Day 40: As hoped and expected, a night out dancing at the club has done wonders to loosen up those tight muscles. Aggressive dancing for the win! Also, I really like this shirt we found while shopping yesterday morning.
Day 39: Back out at the Mercury! As usual, here nice and early to watch people make their way in and occasionally take advantage of an almost empty dance floor. This has always been my preferred way to hit the clubs; fashionably late has never been my style.
Day 38: After a few warm days, with more on the horizon, a couple cool, grey, drizzly days are very welcome. And my rubber duckie shirt just seemed appropriate.