If youve watched the world news or read certain ocean science journals lately, you might have heard about the pod of killer whales, also known as orcas, living off the coast of Spain who appear to have gone rogue. Starting several years ago, but with increasing frequency, they have been 'attacking' ships and yachts off the coast of Spain and through the Straight of Gibraltar. According to some sources, as of June 2023, there has been at least one attack per day for the past month, and sometimes more than one per day. Rui Alves launched a website last year, https://www.orcas.pt/ that tracks reports of killer whale sightings and boat attacks along the Spanish coast, and found that the data shows that the incidents are happening with ever increasing frequency and what seems to be deliberate intentions.
So the first question is: Why? Do the Whales consider the boats to be threats or possible prey? Are the whales just playing? Or (and this is the option that I wish to be true) have the killer whales with their sentient and cognizant intelligence finally decided to organize and strike back at the human species in retaliation for the many hundreds of years of cruel killing and capture practices that have been inflicted upon them? Various ocean mammal experts and scientists have chimed in on PBS as well as Insider and some other independent journals as to why they think it might be happening. Some say the repeated encounters show aspects of aggressive behavior. Others say they are actually just playing and enjoy the tactile interaction with the boats. Yet another theory is that a particular matriarch of this Orca pod whose name is White Gladis is harboring resentment because of a traumatic event she suffered several years ago and has taught the other members of the pod to be aggressive towards humans and their boats. But with so little true understanding of Killer Whale behaviors or how to actually communicate with them, the jury is still out on the real motivations. Personally, I find it sad and deflating that we as a species, and particularly, as a species who is increasingly culturally removed from communicating with nature and all her creatures, are so mystified and clueless as to what the Orcas true motives are. They have such a complex behavioral and social life, as well as a diverse and rich language, and are so clearly highly intelligent mammals, and yet we as humans understand almost none of it. That alone seems like reason enough for the Orcas to finally get fed up with us, nevermind the atrocities inflicted on them at our hands. I personally believe that these creatures are quite a bit more intelligent than theyve been given credit for, and are quite capable of organizing group hunts that require critical thinking skills, and would love to believe that this pod of orcas is consciously pursuing tactics toward pursuing justice. What do you think? Have you had any personal experiences with Killer Whales that have given you insight into their feelings and behaviors? Are you a whale whisperer? Or have you witnessed any of these aggressive behaviors yourself while boating? Would love to hear your experience~
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Playing the PawnThis evenings post was inspired by a local vintage clothing reseller, unbeknownst to her. Though I dont know her in person, or am even interested in the garments she's reselling, I continue to follow her IG account as a personal reminder of where to keep the line drawn between personal values and privacy vs. the need to continue marketing and advertising online. Several times a week she makes an evening post wearing an (almost always) sheer vintage negligee, and does an unrhythmic burlesque twirly dance in her bedroom to advertise the garment for sale, desperately chasing down the ever elusive algorithm of the internet by exploiting her beautiful body in the hopes of making another sale during this pandemic of retail recession, and hopefully paying another bill. And this is not intended as a slight against women (or men) who feel confident in expressing themselves, and have a place to do it. More power to them. Its not that. This particular one has a feeling of desperation to continue creating enticing content. Rather than feeling judgemental on any kind of moral level, the fact is, I feel pity for her. For all of us.
It is a rare luxury to be employed by or own a business that doesnt rely on internet advertising and marketing on some level. This is as true for small businesses as it is for bigger corporations: if you dont maintain an online presence, then your sales go down, and your income is severely affected. Of course, larger businesses have advertising depts. and deep pockets to keep their online presence strong and weather slow sales periods. Small businesses and personally employed do not have that kind of cushion. If you are a small business owner, an influencer, or a content creator/mentor, then you will be well rehearsed in keeping up to date with the latest ways to 'stay relevant', 'gain more followers', and 'keep growing'. 😒 Chasing down the ever changing rules of having good SEO, creating content, posting videos, staying engaged, sharing links, and blah blah blah. Fuck! Am I the only one who is totally sick of it? And not just sick of it..burned out by it, and find it to be an unsustainable use of time in comparison to actual revenue generated from said activities. And look, I mean, a tik tok video here or there and some social media posts to talk about the stuff you personally enjoy is fine. But trying to maintain an active, engaged, relevant, highly followed online IG/facebook/Pinterest/Youtube account to keep your business and income in good standing is a fools errand. Who has time or emotional stamina for such a chaotic din of noise that the online world is?? We are pawns in the game of the elite wealthy who are running these games: Bezos, and Zuckerberg for example. We are court jesters, twirling in our see through lace lingerie, vying for views, comments, income, and 'likes'. It is indeed hard to imagine a world of commerce or personal employment that didnt rely atleast partly on maintaining an online presence. Nor is the internet going away. And yet, I sense that as the pressure to maintain that presence and engagement with more and more platforms and ever decreasing odds of success, that this is all rapidly culminating and snowballing into a vortex of internet over engagement that is going to implode. How many more tik tok videos can we post and how many more blogs can we write before all of it is lost in irrelevancy (and emotional burnout)? I dont know the answers, and cant predict the future. For my own life, and my own business, I am currently taking steps to, atleast partly, go back to a brick and mortar business, and go back to interacting with people as people, and slow down my focus on the real life in front of me and not on the screen in some invisible contest. (Albeit the irony of writing this in an online blog). Feel free to comment on this if you have an opinion. Are you also burned out on internet over involvement? Do you have ideas to get past this? Okay, this is my very first attempt at blogging on my website, so bear with me! Well, theres a million things I could talk about, but today I decided to just skim the surface of handmade vs. storebought clothing and goods. At some point, ultimately, all clothing is handmade, but the question really is: Made by whom? Where? Out of what materials? By which company? With what wages? And with how much attention to detail?
Weve all heard of 'fast fashion': clothing that is quickly pumped out by large companies with little thought given to quality, durability, or the effects that the manufacturing process has on the environment. Americans in particular have been addicted to 'fast fashion' for decades now, a practice that has undercut the skills and income level of true couturiers and handmade designers, leaving us to grapple with making our living in niche fields of the clothing design world as the overall cost and quality of the clothing world at large gets driven faster and faster down to the lowest common denominator: that is, cheap, shoddily made clothing. However, in just the past few years, and even more particularly since the pandemic started, I have noticed a growing trend of younger generations returning towards appreciating handmade quality garments, and smaller companies that have ethical and environmental concerns with their production process. In my personal opinion, this is a win-win for everyone (except the large fast fashion companies). By turning back towards better made, quality garments, people are investing in not only the durability of the garment, but also the further reaching impact of who benefits from the purchase, as well as offsetting potential environmental damage that might otherwise be occurring in continuing to purchase from the big guys. Its a healthy transition back to basics, and back to quality, and has a very positive effect on small artisan makers such as myself. What are your thoughts? Are you an artisan maker who has been positively or negatively affected by this? Or are you a fashion consumer who has had a change of heart in recent times and are now making more responsible purchases? |