Identity is a funny thing. Before we moved I didn’t really consider the impact that not living in Britain would have on my own identity. I mean, I considered myself British – my friends often remarked that I was one of the most English people they’d ever met: driving a Morris Minor, listening to radio 4, drinking copious quantities of tea.
But I also considered myself a European. Really, fundamentally, right down in my heart that’s what I felt.
It kind of came to the fore moving to the US – because people ask where I’m from – and my desire is to say “Europe”, which is dreadfully uninformative. Sometimes it’d end up with me saying England as I scrabbled for an answer, but usually I’d settle on ‘Britain’ or ‘the UK’, but I’d stumble around mentally before uttering it. Yes – specifically I was born in England – and that’s definitely part of my identity, but my dad was from Wales, my mum is from Sri Lanka. Not only that, but my family have always been global in our outlook. We have travelled around as much as funds would allow and from a very young age I experienced the world outside the parochial boundaries of England’s green and pleasant lands. I very much felt that I was a product not merely of my birthplace, but of my heritage, my experiences and my upbringing.
I like to look outside the small box that is England and remember that diversity brings strength and vitality to communities. That the places I’ve least liked are the ones where diversity is lacking.
And so I cried this morning.
Britain – well, England and Wales, have decided to withdraw from the world.
I fear for friends and family there – almost every piece of LGBTQ protective legislation has been forced on the UK from Europe. Job protections, civil liberties, they’re all a result of Europe saying to Britain, no you can’t treat your people so badly. And as many of you are aware I’m not white – and nor is my mother or my sister – or her children. And they’re living in a world where the minority of Brexiters who are deeply, deeply racist are under the impression that the majority of Britain is with them. I don’t doubt that most ‘Leave’ voters aren’t vicious, xenophobic, small minded thugs. I don’t doubt that many of those who supported Britain’s exit either didn’t really believe it would happen, or were just voicing frustration at a dysfunctional political system and the austerity plans that have failed to improve their lives.
But like those who laugh at racist or rape jokes – giving ‘that kind of person’ tacit support – the bigots who shout at minorities and who would see the clocks turned back to the 1950s? They’ll take this situation as proof that everyone agrees with them. They’ll hold this pyrrhic victory close to their hearts and endeavour to embed their vile, hateful message deeper in British society.
And so I cried.
I don’t know what will become of the UK. I don’t know whether it will survive as ‘the United Kingdom’. Scotland and Ireland clearly have every right to sod off and leave England and Wales to sink in the mire of what may happen. I faintly cling to the tiny hope that the clear reluctance of the politicians in the UK to actually press the big red article 50 button is a sign of some partial get-out. Something which may leave the UK at least lurking like Norway on the outskirts of European integration.
But as to what actually happens next, I don’t know. I hope I’m wrong, but I side with those who think that this is a massive, massive disaster for the UK. I’ve often commented that I didn’t really understand why anyone listened to the UK anymore – it’s not like we actually still have an empire. In Europe we had amazing levels of influence. But now we’ve thrown that influence away. And now they don’t need to listen to us whine, or give us special vetos and get-outs. No one needs to give the UK special treatment, because we are just some cruddy little island off the coast of mainland Europe. So while I hope I’m wrong, I have little optimism to accompany that thought.
When we left for the US I thought the UK was going to hell in handbasket. I’d no idea it’d get there quite so quickly though.
“So much of what I wanted to do [as a child] was dictated by what I saw on the media,” Cowern said. “I wanted to be a figure skater, I wanted to be a model, or an actress, but I never saw female scientists. I think that would have affected what I was interested in doing, what I thought women could do.”
Cowern said she was heartened by the fact that she is one of many female faces and voices on YouTube that are sharing their love for science—despite the challenges of being a woman on the Internet.
“I’ve had a lot of issues as a woman in a male-dominated field—feeling like I have to prove myself or feeling inadequate,” Cowern said. “But for the most part, I get support. I get emails from dads that are like, ‘My daughter hated physics or was feeling pressured to lose interest in science, but she saw your channel and now she wants to be a physicist.’ That makes all of this worth it.”
incidentally, this is still the single most hilarious anecdote re: apollo astronauts i have come across
Apollo 13 was halfway to the moon before Swigert realized he had not flied his income taxes and that he would be quite unable to do so before the April 15 deadline. The subject came up as scientist-astronaut Joe Kerwin was reading the Sunday morning news: “Today’s favorite pastime across the nation—Uh oh, have you guys completed your income tax?”
Swigert radioed, “How do I apply for an extension?” Mission control exploded with laughter. “It ain’t too funny, things happened real fast down there and I do need an extension. I’m really serious…”
“You’re breaking up the room down here,” Kerwin said. A few minutes later he assured Swigert that there wouldn’t be any problem: an automatic extension is granted to anyone who is out of the country at tax time.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
CURRENTLY OUT OF THE COUNTRY GREATEST FUCKING UNDERSTATEMENT EVER
no, no, no, *dwarves* are art deco; elves are art noveau.
what people think is the cause of there being more disabled and chronically ill adults than 100 years ago:
– electromagnetism (guess what your body runs on)
– Chemicals™ in food and the environment (matter is made of chemicals. water is a chemical. your body is chemicals.)
– “chronic low level poisoning” (which is not a thing because anything is a poison at a high enough dose. the poison is in the dose, not in the substance.)
– Big Pharma™ intentionally making people sick (or other conspiracy theory)
the actual reason:
– modern medicine making it so that more disabled and chronically ill people are surviving to adulthood
– this is a good thing!! it is really good to not die in childhood!! accommodate disabled people instead of seeing us as evidence of problems!!
Case in point: My younger brother would not have survived past infancy if he’d been born just a few years earlier. When he turned 18, he discovered that there were no – none, zero, zip – adult cardiologists with a solid understanding of congenital disorders. Because those kids never survived to adulthood.
There is one now, by the by, in Seattle. If anyone needs to know I can get her name. As far as I’m aware she was the first non-pediatric cardiologist in the country to specialize in congenital heart problems.
