User:Senka/special issue 2/Reader & Editorial team
The pad we're working from: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/editorial-team-2
Dependence, Digital infrastructure and Illness
A lot of work done here from my side has really been done under the influence of disability justice advocates and my own practice of hosting reading clubs that are not aimed at 'seasoned' readers. (In the reading clubs I've mainly focused on finding space for tangents, alternative understandings, and taking text out of the idea of monolithic)
Who or what we depend on, how and for what reasons becomes increasingly important for me, as I also recon with being chronically ill for such a long time and in such an invisible way. Digital infrastructures that are run by Big Tech companies which have the budget and the people to develop accessible solutions because they have to budget them in are ones I rely on so much (especially when I can't leave my house or bed). So this notion of dependence... crucial.
For now, I'll leave here some quotes that have inspired me in the editorial work with Michel, Alessia and Thijs and that later lead em to write an essay called Sick host, which is all about techno-social hosting from the perspective of illness (which is often seem as riddled with errors, glitches, crashes, bugs, and all the other fruitful moments of resistance).
- "A [physical, social, infrastructural…] body is a thing that needs" – Johanna Hedva, To Those Mad, Sick, Crip Selves
- "Sickness, in general, is parasitic." - Michel Serres, The Parasite
- "What is a parasite? An operator, a relation. This simple arrow intercepts. It intercepts organic messages in a living system, Noise, perhaps, but language as well, often living. All doctors have the same profession, we see. Let them speak, cut, give injections... they live and eat from the same profession. What is a parasite? A deviation, minimal to begin with, that can remain so until it disappears or that can grow until it transforms a physiological order into a new order. All sickness, all medicine, is parasitic in this new way." - Michel Serres, The Parasite
- “Pravda je kao zdravlje, misliš o njoj kad je nema, i zaista je neodređena, ali je možda najviše želja da se udavi nepravda, a ona je vrlo određena. Svaka nepravda je jednaka, a čovjeku se čini da je najveća koja je njemu učinjena. A ako mu se čini, onda i jeste tako, jer se ne može misliti tuđom glavom.” - Meša Selimović, Derviš i Smrt
- "A feminist server…
Takes the risk of exposing her insecurity
Tries hard not to apologize when she is sometimes not available” - A FEMINIST SERVER
< Pre Tags > and Folder Poetry
Another two points of inspiration that arose were:
- Pre tags! Thank you to Thijs for introducing me and the rest of the editorial team to the wonders that can happen within an space sensitive space on the web. The use of them has allowed for more spatial and mind-mappy flows which I think our group greatly benefitted from. In the first session, I recall saying that we could embrace spatial writing or concrete poetry of some kind and I'm glad the technical means for this existed.
- Folder poetry... Now this is something my friend Mia introduced me to after reading my essay. The structure of it distinctly reminded her of structures she has seen in folder poems.
She provided me with this inspiring link: https://www.are.na/digital-love-languages/folder-poetry-fm8h1k8vsfk And specifically this poem which had a great impact of both of us: https://www.are.na/block/15855298
All of this lead me to write a flash fiction story for the Sarmad open call, in a format that is closely resembling a folder poem. As close as you can get when using word... Could be interesting to flesh this out into an actual folder poem on the terminal at one point.
Another nice resource into getting into folder poetry: https://lovelanguages.melaniehoff.com/folder-poetry/