Representation Matters
I was surprised and excited at the prospect of wheelchair-using mini figurines for Dungeons and Dragons and while I was playing World of Warcraft this evening, I made the mistake of looking for resources on representation in a game that I love.
The results were f#$%@#$ disgusting. So – because I need to put this into the void, to all those commenting "well I just don't see the point." or "All this talk about representation, it’s a game ...":
The importance of representation and the importance of identity from personal experience IS a big deal and IS necessary, here is why: As someone who grew up rarely seeing little girls who looked like her unless they were presented as a tragic plot device to move audiences to tears, it would have been a life changer had I been given the opportunity to develop my own identity instead of first having to sort, and then separate, myself from the identity that has been forced on me since birth.
As a teenager moving through all different types of schooling, being denied access to some due to an issue of inaccessibility and as an excuse for this "concerns about my ability to keep up in class," it would have been amazing to see anyone like myself in any of the media I enjoyed daily while going through not only just your regular teenage-girl puberty, but also the kind of isolation and other-ness that only comes from peers being taught that disability is to be pitied/avoided/inspired by.
As a grown woman living at home with her parents, with little access to job opportunities/housing opportunities/resources – the small joys in life have been getting me through lately so, yes, if it would make someone like myself happy to be able to choose how they present themselves in the media/particularly in gaming platforms during this point in history – then yes, I would say it IS important and guess what, if you don't like the fact that people are diverse and they would like the things they enjoy to reflect that, then yes actually I do find that offensive.
The only people I see undermining the struggles of others are those who already hold the privilege of being represented, being heard, being seen.
Wednesday Eanes, Alamogordo
Minute of support for HB 40
Gila Friends Meeting (Quaker) in Silver City has considered the intent of HB 40 - Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act, a bill the New Mexico State Legislature is considering in this session. The bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Angelica Rubio (D-Doña Ana-35) and is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Bernalillo-12).
Gila Friends are united in the conviction that nothing good can come from a situation where prisoners are at the mercy of a corporation that exists to serve its stockholders by cutting the costs of the services it provides. That is an immoral enterprise, one in which it is inherent that corporate focus on profit will harm the prisoners, the taxpayers and the community.
The purpose of HB 40 is to eliminate private incarceration from New Mexico. Therefore, Gila Friends unite in supporting passage of HB 40, the Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act.
Tom Vaughan, member of Gila Friends Meeting, Silver City
