How The Gild Solves Dirty Dish Drama

To everyone who's ever had to have a 30 to 40 minute conversation about doing the dishes, we know you'll appreciate the seriousness and ridiculousness of this situation as much as we do.

Suggestion #1: Section off some of the countertop with tape and each person has to put their own dirty dishes in their own square to make people more conscious of how much/little they are contributing to Dirty Dish situation.

Rebuttal: Not enough counter space!

Suggestion #2: Each person has a day of the week where they have to do all the dishes in the kitchen.

Rebuttal: Doing your own dishes right after you use them takes 5 minutes, whereas doing a whole day's worth of dishes might take an hour, plus you might be doing dishes on a day where we've just had a potluck vs. days where maybe no one was home all day, which becomes imbalanced work load.

Suggestion #3: Everyone has their own bowl, cup, and plate which they use exclusively to cut down on the amount of dishes being used

Rebuttal: THAT'S WORST CASE SCENARIO! (not sure what this meant but everyone felt this was too much hassle!)

At this point, Natalie bursts out: IT'S SO HARD! IT'S SO HARD TO GET ADULT WOMEN TO DO THEIR OWN DISHES! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Suggestion #4: We all garner more willpower, realize that the kitchen is not just our own personal space, show more respect for our housemates, AND MAKE AN EMBROIDERY HOOP ABOUT IT!

Rebuttal: NONE! EMBROIDERY HOOP WINS! IT'S GOING TO CHANGE EVERYTHINGGGG!

Kate's embroidery skills save the day for the first time, but not the last.

x0x

Quote from Peter Gelderloos' "Anarchy Works"

Peter Gelderloos is one of my favourite activist writers, finding a delicate balance between recognizing his own voice and bias within his text, situating his argument within real-life historical 'fact', and presenting what could be highly intellectual topics of discussion in an accessible, and almost unarguable way. His books are great gifts for those looking to start the process of getting more interested in radical politics, and also for teens.

In his new text, Anarchy Works, available online for free here, Gelderloos gives historical and contemporary examples of where Anarchy, self proclaimed or unknowingly enacted, has been successful, and also looks at what went wrong or what destroyed those models in order to learn and grow from their mistakes or misfortunes. Here is a quote from my readings this morning:

If a man interfered in the women's sphere of activity or abused his wife, the women had a ritual of collective solidarity that preserved the balance and punished the offender, called "sitting on a man:' All the women would assemble outside the man's house, yelling at him and insulting him in order to cause him shame. Ifhe did not come out to apologize the mob ofwomen might destroy the fence around his house and his outlying storage buildings. If his offense were grievous enough, the women might even storm into his house, drag him out, and beat him up. When the British colonized the Igbo, they recognized men's institutions and economic roles, but ignored or were blind to the corresponding women's sphere of social life. When Igbo women responded to British indecency with the traditional practice of "sitting on a man," the British, possibly mistaking it for a women's insurrection, opened fire, putting an end to the gender-balancing ritual and cementing the institution ofpatriarchy in the society they had colonized.s

Highly recommended! Enjoy!

--N

Call out for Artists: Public Space Takeover in MONTREAL

Hey artistically inclined friends of The Gild! Our friends in Montreal are doing a takeover of billboards and advertising space in their city and they want your input! Read the call-out below and contact montrealespace@gmail.com. (I didn't attach the flyer 'cause I don't know how to do that on this dang blogspot...)

Greetings,

Montreal’s public space is presently under attack by commercial media companies - Pattison, CBS Outdoor and Astral Media. Here and in many cities around the world, these companies are using our streets for commercial purposes (by legal and illegal means), while neglecting to think about the communities that they affect. It is time to put an end to this and collectively design our streets and spaces to be as participatory, cultural, artistic and stimulating as our communities are.

We’re emailing you today because we need your help as local and global artists, activists and citizens to get this project rolling!! We’ve attached a callout with information about artistic submissions and other ways you can get involved in this amazing community project.

Because we intend this art collage to be a surprise to the community, we ask that you exercise caution when distributing this information. If you know others who would want to jump on board, but don’t feel comfortable passing the info along, we can contact them! You can email us here:montrealespace@gmail.com

Our streets should be a community canvass, not a corporate one.

Thanks!

What Natalie should wait for:

So, the Gild girls escaped to the Muskoka's this weekend, threw excessive amounts of snow at each other, watched Home Alone, and obviously played drinking games and talked about Love. Or rather, Natalie asked advice about how she's supposed to not want to date/makeout with/marry every other person that comes along. I think the advice was clear: Wait until you feel like THIS about someone. Thanks Girls.