Labradorite Ring 1

This is an appalling photograph (and if I manage to make a better one I'll swap it in), but I wanted to show you my first stone-set ring. It's sterling silver, with a lovely laboradorite stone that has blue and green flashes. If the photograph were better, you could probably see some of the imperfections in craftsmanship. No doubt I'll get more skillful as time goes by, but I'm having a hard time imagining being as thrilled by the next ring as I was with this one.

This is classic Pascale, by the way. Whenever I make anything I like even a little bit, I want someone else to look at it. It's not so much that I'm looking for feedback, as that the product seems more real when it exists in front of more than just my set of eyes. (It probably all goes back to my toilet training or something!)

Community

I met Sainteros's sister this afternoon. I was at her workplace (one of my clients), and I stuck my head into her office to say "hi!"

There's always a strange moment of transition when you make the connection from the virtual world, with its very real relationships, to the physical world, with its equally real relationships. This particular passage was made easy by what we have in common: we're both big fans of her brother. We began discussing the ways in which trust and community are built online and off-, and how the friendships we forge make us accountable to one another.

I told her about the gift of bread sent to me by Mad William Flint, and how much it moved me to be sent a present by someone I've never met in person, but whom I feel I know in friendship nonetheless.

I am taken by surprise over and over again, as people respond in generosity, kindness, and in thoughtful conversation through this medium. The process is gradually wearing away an excessive layer of distance with which I'd carapaced myself for protection. I know it's still possible to be misled, or hurt, or even taken advantage of, but I also believe that this community is quite capable of looking out for itself, and that ~ were such an abuse to take place ~ it could heal itself as well. I feel more than safe here.

Over time, I think we get to know one another quite well. We have archives that are available, so we may see the arc of each other's lives, and also so that we may see those elements that persist, those consistencies that point to elements of personality and character. Even were I to discover that some of what I read is fiction, it wouldn't bother me much. It may not be literally true, but that doesn't mean that what is communicated isn't real.

This is also why I'm relatively parsimonious in my blogroll. I feel especially responsible for the links I create or promote. I believe they reflect on me, my interests, my outlook, and the kind of community I wish to foster. I think of blogrolls in much the same way as I consider people's bookshelves when I visit their homes (and yes, I know some people use books for decoration or show) ~ as an indication of their interests and the ideas that they value.

Speaking of which, I've added a couple of new sites to the list at left: this imploding heart. for its unique and eloquent voice, and mirabilis.ca for its consistently interesting collection of links on a wide variety of topics. Please visit them when you have a moment, and let me know what you think.

Locked Inside

This is a fascinating article about a boy with a specific form of autism, one which ~ quite unusually ~ enables him to describe what it feels like to be him:

Tito often stops the testing with bursts of activity. His body rocks rhythmically. He stands and spins. He makes loud smacking noises. His arms fly in the air as if yanked by a puppeteer. His fingers flutter.

Everyone waits.

Tito reaches for a yellow pad and writes to explain his behavior: "I am calming myself. My senses are so disconnected, I lose my body. So I flap. If I don't do this, I feel scattered and anxious."

Some of this unique ability may be attributable to the efforts his mother, Soma, took to keep her son communicating as his autism took hold.

"I saw that Tito had very good memory with roads, position of objects in the room, and also he would make complex patterns with matchsticks, Soma said. "I just wanted to divert his interests toward communication and learning."

Tito has apparently already published a book, which ~ may I say ~ is a lot more than most of us non-autistic types seem to be able to manage.

"I need to write, he said recently, scrawling the words on a yellow pad. "It has become part of me. I am waiting to get famous."

As imaging technology becomes more sophisticated, neurologists are getting a clearer picture of what has gone awry in the brains of autistic individuals:

By imaging the brains of higher functioning autistic people who can stay still in scanners, researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Courchesne at the University of California San Diego found that autistic people had mixed-up brain maps.

For example, although a normal person has a well-defined brain area that specializes in face recognition, some autistic people have face-recognition areas in parts of the brain such as the frontal lobes, where no one had dreamed they could be laid down. The same is true of maps that help plan movements. This means body maps are formed in autistic children, but they may be scrambled differently in each person.

Tito explains that he can only tolerate or pay attention to one sense at a time, otherwise it's all chaos to him. He prioritizes hearing, other autistics may prioritize a different sense.

When a mother at a large autism meeting asked Tito for his advice to parents, Tito simply said, "Believe in your children."

Good idea, in general.

See also: Tito's website (requires Flash)
Interview with Tito

[via mirabilis.ca]