Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[Dina Hornreich <hornreichdina AT gmail.com>]

Dear Friends, Acquaintances, and (hopefully) other pertinent constituencies:

Lately, every time I encounter an obstacle on this journey called life, I force myself to realign (because I can’t rewind). The past few years of COVID have offered continual landmark events that can only be best described as biblical for its sheer magnitude. I can’t help but feel like f*cking Job lately <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_(biblical_figure)> 

The ongoing series of unbelievable events that continue since my surprisingly tumultuous divorce and an unnecessarily still escalating family kerfuffle (involving my brother abusing his authority as an elementary school principal in our hometown) after I very humbly invoked my legal power of attorney rights of our mother’s estate; so I could just go back to her house in CT. I truly needed a safe(r) space to find work, housing, and otherwise keep myself “afloat” than my apartment in Denver, CO could provide; but my brother refused to support that effort entirely to conceal the poor relationship he shares with my mom and me. So, I lost everything (yet found myself)!

• Homelessness? Check.
• Identity theft? Check.
• Poverty? Check.
• Domestic violence? Check.
• Systemic gaslighting? Check.

The harsh scrutiny I continue to experience seems to hinge on the manner in which I approach living, working, relationships, and self-care as a non-binary Jewish feminist. However, the obvious reality is simply that I don’t fit the “default” demographic expectations for my situation. Yep, it’s that dang elusive mythical norm thing (again). (cf: Audre Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” (1984))

There is nothing medically wrong with me in the ways people want to assert, but my self-advocacy tends to trigger strong reactions so often that I start to accept their blaming tactics just for being the whistleblower which clearly causes everyone discomfort. (It’s easier to continue to cover your tracks, I guess?!) Little by little; slowly, slowly... it's one step forward, then five steps backward kind of deal. (Sissyphus pushing that dang rock!)

Moreover, I continue to strive for further validating my non-binary, Jewish feminist identity and seek better accountability for this overwhelming adversity given the stubborn presence of corporate tyrants who condone, promote, and exploit the normalization of toxic masculinity (i.e. greed, violence, and misogyny). No, we aren’t wrong for calling out people like Donald Trump for being “big cheats” who are “fleecing America” (cf: David Cay Johnston <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cay_Johnston>).

As it has become clear that patriarchal societal structures simply don’t support the ideals of Democracy, I often become frustrated by this socio-cultural inertia as we remain amidst a substantial economic and political upheaval against the outmoded the structures of gender essentialism (e.g. masculinity is dominance and femininity is submission) which are illusory at best. The relationship between language, thought, and social engagement is substantial. But only if we are willing to consider linguistic relativity as explained by the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis? <https://www.simplypsychology.org/sapir-whorf-hypothesis.html>

I have been employed as an educator, researcher, and writer for the past 25+ years. I’ve worked in K-12 settings as a full-time licensed professional teacher with an MS in TESOL, in higher education as an academic librarian who holds an MLIS, and also held various part-time/adjunct instructional positions in-between those two distinct job placement categories involving language, media, communication, and information technology. I recently have developed a whole new mission, vision, and professional profile as I continue to shop my ideas around to potential employers; and, in doing so, have been forced to “level up” entirely. As such, I am rebranding everything to highlight my “DEI+ Activism” in order to address what I’ve learned over the years as I’ve articulated these values on my CV/portfolio.

This reflects the ongoing challenges that I’ve endured (and other ongoing learning experiences that continue to arise) and usually pertain to my uniquely intrinsic yet overwhelmingly urgent needs, wants, and desires to advocate for those of us who are marginalized, disenfranchised, and otherwise excluded from full participation as informed, engaged, and wise global citizens. Our ongoing criminalization and/or pathologization is mainly due to the presence of oppressive, dominant voices who represent an emerging minority and refuse to recognize the urgent need to accept this clearly emerging new social reality. Tactics for the ongoing perpetuating of toxic masculinity which are undermining the fabric of our Democratic ideals.

It’s impossible to ignore the substantial upheaval that is undermining the stability underneath our footsteps. Elizabeth Warren is correct in her assertions that America’s middle class needs to be saved; and we cannot ignore how we lost Scott Timberg after he cogently elucidated this very real “Culture Crash.” (Not to mention, the validity in David Ansell’s “Death Gap” research.) There are many names for this line of work but the “Ed Biz” lingo seems to prefer words like “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, etc.” I tend to simply group all this justice jargon together under the heading “the DEI+ junk (formerly known as Affirmative Action)” because I don’t want language to further divide us anymore than it continues to do. The irony of that tendency only adds to the devastating phenomenon known as compassion fatigue as our benevolent intentions are wasted in the filibustering – leaving us further depleted and discouraged (another tactic for the ongoing perpetuation of toxic masculinity).

This reluctance to accept the perpetuation of micro-aggressions and similarly covert forms of ethnocentric bias, stereotypic thinking, and other palpable forms of bullying and discrimination that continue to expand throughout this ongoing haze of COVID era shrapnel. Yet, victim blaming remains the default practice; so, I just keep realigning as a default response. My words are never accepted at face value despite creative avenues for written and oral _expression_ involving code switching, dialectical variation, and even translations into entirely different languages. These ongoing interferences continue to support the notion that my message is entirely unwelcome as the oppressors simply remain unreceptive to my concerns as they “cherry pick” what they choose to believe.

My struggles are dismissed as idiosyncratic rather than accepted as amongst a vast constellation of shared issues which truly construe a public health crisis. As we are amidst this historic period of political and economic turmoil, it is easier to continue perpetuating status quo practices (even though we know we can and should do better). Whether the opposition comes from my older brother or our former president, the bottom line is still toxic masculinity.

My determination for better practices still gets mocked for asserting the importance in collectively recognizing “touchy-feely” creative and spiritual endeavors often referred to as socio-emotional labor (cf: Arlie Hochschild’s “The Managed Heart” (1983)). (Or as zinester, Gail O’Hara, astutely puts it: The Chickfactor < https://www.chickfactor.com/>.)

And all of these challenges have refined my goals as I seek to better support our evolving information, media, and technology (IMT) socio-cultural ecologies by creating a dedicated taskforce of “nonviolent communicators” <https://www.cnvc.org/learn/what-is-nvc> who are actively promoting a collective transition into a “Conceptual Age” (cf: Daniel H. Pink’s “A Whole New Mind”); so that we don’t lose crucial gains from the information age as we have reached the endemic chapter of COVID. This means prioritizing different kinds of skill sets involving design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning; and it requires developing mindful “meta-literacies” <https://metaliteracy.org/2021/06/09/study-finds-americans-have-trouble-spotting-fake-news-a-metaliterate-reaction/> for better negotiating the creation, selection, organization, presentation, dissemination, consumption, and preservation stages of artefactual processing.

Promoting an informed, engaged, & wise global citizenry as an effort order to combat media pollution <https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262539913/you-are-here/>, information disorder <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7580464/>, & “techno-lust” <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=technolust> means calling out a whole lot of “bullsh*t!” While some people are still struggling to achieve acceptance for our urgent need, want, and desire to finally do this work, I continue to actively seek the right opportunities for promoting “the DEI+ Junk” while rebuilding our communities.

 
Recent resistance to these efforts is rooted in a festering, ongoing resentment that is best described as a form of “fragility” (cf: Robin DiAngelo). Backlash to intersectionality (cf: Kimberlé Crenshaw) and Critical Race Theory (cf: Cornel West), and other ongoing misgivings about a perceived “new normal” only reinforces a sense of urgency for this proposed realignment for better approaching the goals of a pluralistic, secular, and democratic society. (cf: Levitsky & Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die”) While the imperfections of Affirmative Action have left us with substantial grudges that are lingering stubbornly in our political discourse, a careful reexamination that begins at the data collection level could offer the evidence we crave to further validate this transformative justice endeavor <https://transformharm.org/tj_resource/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/> and proposed paradigm shift! 

Obviously, this isn’t something I can do at the institutional level where I’ve inhabited all these years.

These ongoing obstacles are clear cut manifestations of toxic masculinity as they magnify the stigmas surrounding “women’s work.” This requisite elevation of “feminine” sensibilities remains an inescapable certainty during these transitional times and, as such, offers an extraordinarily powerful momentum to harness while grappling with a potential socio-political and cultural realignment which impacts our daily living on numerous levels: healthcare, education, religion, arts & entertainment, economics, government, and beyond. I firmly believe that “Feminism is for Everybody” (cf: bell hooks); and I’m stubbornly looking for ways to implement principles of Data Feminism <https://data-feminism.mitpress.mit.edu/> for this realignment.

Doing “the DEI+ Junk” requires a leadership role where I can reexamine and revise rules, protocols, policies, and procedures through a different lens. I need the right opportunity for building a conceptual age taskforce who will actively be promoting authenticity, safety, consistency, acceptance, comfort, and impartiality in our communicative exchanges so we can better support our lifelong learning, intrinsic desires for becoming a more informed, engaged, and wise global citizenry. I’m not getting support for doing this work from the microcosm of the “classrooms” where I’ve been teaching, so I’m trying to go “macro” instead.

I believe this might allow us to resist the ongoing devaluing of socio-emotional labor and finally start validating an overwhelming shared need for “going a little DEIMOCKRAZY” as I am rebranding this project as a “rallying cry for the DEI!” If we can vote and marry, then why can’t we just learn to get along? (Let’s face it: It’s time we agreed to “wise up.”) This is my vision for finally stopping the epidemics of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation/propaganda from disrupting our socio-cultural ecosystems by facilitating the effective, appropriate, & ethical comprehension/production of information, media, & technology (IMT) artefacts. (I call it: The Medium is the Lesson.)

Obviously, these are all characteristics and values that can be attributed to my socio-cultural identity as a non-binary, Jewish feminist; and this substantial amount of accumulating adversity can only be construed as a political attack on my mission, vision, and scholarly ambitions. In other words: I must be on the right track if I keep hitting so many “speed bumps” along the way! Prior to COVID, and in the subsequent years since my last full-time professional job in the “Ed Biz,” I had returned to working as an adjunct instructor of basic community college classes in Communication (Interpersonal and Public Speaking) to traditional and nontraditional diverse student populations. This time for reflection has enabled profound growth which has been a culminating point in my career as a professional educator – and in my personal journey as a daughter, sister, aunt, friend, ex-wife, among other hats that I currently wear. 

This experience opened doors for me to have conversations with a variety of individuals about implementing effective, appropriate, and ethical communication techniques based on shared reflections of our own real-life experiences. We discussed strategies for better incorporating cooperative communication skills like perception-checking to reduce reliance on stereotypical impressions, sharing responsibility when challenges arise, actively listening to ensure better attainment of respective goals when responding, and balancing the ability to contribute positively to group collaborations without sacrificing your own unique perspective.

We also considered the importance of key socio-emotional variables (gender, culture, and personality) as they often intersect during our regular interpersonal situations (including workplace power dynamics) especially – but not limited to – managing conflict productively as a learning opportunity in order to achieve more of a “win-win” outcome. In this time, I was also better able to thoughtfully consider my individual strengths and weaknesses as a lifelong learner myself. I have furthered my self-awareness by discerning what difficult lessons my various mistakes have taught me, so I don’t continue perpetuating these patterns in future situations.

Furthermore, I feel that I sharpened my abilities to find common ground (i.e. see similarities over differences) with almost anyone, and I can truly assert that I am able to practically apply my inclusive philosophies (i.e. that we are all equal but different) to everyday situations. Finally, I truly learned to better trust my own instincts during stressful situations in order to keep myself in check by balancing rational/logical thinking with my emotional reactions in order to become a more compassionate and resilient human being. Femininity can include assertiveness and masculinity can include empathy. (cf: The Managed Heart by Arlie Hoschild <https://sociology.berkeley.edu/professor-emeritus/arlie-r-hochschild>)

I would like to find opportunities for better supporting our professional communities of caregivers on our various journeys through resource discovery for improved self-awareness. I strongly believe that our culture has lost sight of putting people first (including and especially our own darn selves) which makes the idea of a participatory Democracy (the radical librarian’s MO) seem lost as well.In order to promote an informed, engaged, and wise citizenry by supporting lifelong learners with acquiring discernments required for the moral well-being of the communities in which we live, work, and play. Our role is no longer about simple information access or even knowledge creation: it’s about wisdom attainment! Can we finally agree to wise up as librarians become the gatekeepers of lore <https://twominenglish.com/law-vs-lore/>?

I have postponed enrollment into a Master of Public Policy program at Brandeis University's The Heller School until Fall 2025, yet I continue to reflect on planning my program of study. I start to think the scope and overall magnitude of this project cannot be accomplished in just another masters level, capstone project. Originally, I was thinking about using my studies in public policy to create a training manual for creating a taskforce who is rethinking our educational role in the capacity of “meta-literacy” counselor as a professional development kind of credential for teachers, librarians, and similar colleagues. 

But now I think that I need a legislative campaign for holding industry better accountable for not providing adequate consumer safeguards for the effects of technolust and media pollution; which includes causing numerous forms of information disorder and otherwise corrupting America lore in favor of propagandistic advertising practices that condone/promote/exploit the traits of toxic masculinity (greed, violence, misogyny). This highlights the failures of a patriarchal system in promoting more democratic situations and communities.Eventually, I would like this taskforce to assemble a class action lawsuit against the fierce five big tech corporate giants who have overwhelmed our culture with those traits of toxic masculinity (greed, violence, and misogyny) in order to put our resources back into the consumers who have fueled this mayhem. (Quite frankly: Democracy cannot exist under a patriarchal system.) 

Bottom Line: America is hooked on bullsh*t (and it's making us crazy).

Today is the last day if you want to help me get through this next year in order to implement these lofty goals as I rebuild from a homeless shelter in Northampton, MA.

Thank you for considering this email update, and (as always) please be well.

Dina L. Hornreich, MS & MLIS (she/they)

linkedin.com/in/dina-hornreich-113a79283

hornreichdina AT gmail.com

413-315-0485

37 Bridge Street #1144, Northampton, MA 01060

HELP ME GET TO BRANDEIS TO STUDY PUBLIC POLICY NEXT FALL!

MISSION: Building a taskforce of nonviolent communicators who are...

• Implementing “Conceptual Age” skills: Design, story, symphony, empathy, play, & meaning

• Advocating for mindful “meta-literacies” involving the creation, selection, organization, presentation, dissemination, consumption, & preservation stages of artefactual processing

• Promoting an informed, engaged, & wise global citizenry and participatory Democracy in order to combat media pollution, information disorder, & “techno-lust”

VISION: The Medium is the Lesson! 

Stopping the epidemics of misinformation, disinformation, & malinformation/propaganda from disrupting our socio-cultural ecosystems by facilitating the effective, appropriate, & ethical comprehension/production of information, media, & technology (IMT) artefacts.

Selected Writing:

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HumanifestX: Sex and gender activism in post-RBG America

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The medium is the lesson: An urgent need for restoring arts education as we transition into the post-COVID era

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No, I didn’t do THAT with my student! Our shifting role in problem solving.

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An informed, engaged, and wise citizenry: The emerging role for librarians as meta-literacy counselors (conference paper presented at The Library Collective's LibCon 2021 or read the listography instead)

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Review of NYC's Other Music Record Store Documentary Film (courtesy of Dagger Zine)

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Press Release for Launch of ArtHyve's Record to Record Series (courtesy of The Vinyl District)

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"If I am not for myself, who is?

If I am only for myself, what am I?

And if not now, when?" - Rabbi Hillel