Representation

Lots of talk about minorities being represented in movies and television, on both sides of the issue.  I've never had to deal with my race being under-represented, but I fall into lots of other categories that are.  I'm female, poor, rural, mentally ill, and even left-handed. 

Besides stereotypes, which I don't really mind if they are meant in good humor, I saw very little of those groups in my mass media.  I still have trouble finding realistic models of some of them, but I blame that more on Hollywood Logic than anything else.  (We had ten people in a three bedroom, one bath house.  Can you imagine seeing that on TV as a realistic scenario?)  

Granted, the lefty thing isn't much of an issue.  The stigma was largely gone by the time I started school, but my older sister had teachers trying to make her use the "correct" hand, so it hadn't been gone long.  Imagine my delight when I realized (with the release of Twilight Princess on the Wii) that LINK is a lefty!  Most players are righties and the way the Wii is set up, his being a lefty was problematic for them.  There was a bit of a controversy.  

Until recently, the mentally ill were played for laughs if they weren't the bad guys.  Now even my limited consumption of mass media gives me a few "crazy but useful" characters.  Walter Bishop (Fringe) is a wonderful example.  I am nowhere near as crazy as he is, but I identify with the regrets he lives with and with forgetting his limitations until they slap him in the face. 

Rural...  well, in my day that was limited to The Beverly Hillbillies.  The rural folk I see now are well rounded characters.  Television is rather limited to the urban and suburban settings because there are simply more stories, more drama, in those place. 

The poor, though...  well, see my previous comment about Hollywood Logic. 

Hobbies Are Selfish?

Imagine you're in a thrift store and you overhear the following exchange by the baby clothes:

Lady: How old is your little one?

Second Lady: I don't have a little one.  I use this fabric for a hobby.

Lady: You take from impoverished babies for your hobby?!  That's very selfish!  You should be ashamed of yourself!  

(BTW - this did not happen to me.  It happened to a member of the on-line doll community.)

Who made anyone the boss of what we can and can't do for hobbies?  Even if you think the hobby in question is dumb, or selfish in this case, why attack a total stranger?  Hobbies only appear selfish until you look at the bigger picture.

Hobbyists contribute.  Second Lady's money goes to supporting whatever charity runs the thrift store, or simply to a local business.  My father quilted and often his work sold at his church's fund raisers.  That money went on to help others.  He gave them to family, which both saved money and spread a little joy.

Hobbyists are less likely to act out harmfully.  Why do I write novels I'm too scared to submit to publishers?  Why play with dolls at 52?  Why have a flowerbed?  Why collect anything?  So I don't lose the few marbles I have left and hurt someone. 

Flower gardeners (both the chaotic sort and the neat grouping sort) spread joy and help pollinators keep the planet functional.  Vegetable gardeners do both and feed people.  Collectors just might have something that can put Junior through college.  Art of any sort fills proven psychological needs.

Hobbies are not selfish.