“Adoxography is a term coined in the late 19th century, and means ‘fine writing on a trivial or base subject.’ It was a form of rhetorical exercise “in which the legitimate methods of the encomium are applied to persons or objects in themselves obviously unworthy of praise, as being trivial, ugly, useless, ridiculous, dangerous or vicious…”

— Wikipedia

So, why “Adoxography”? Mostly because I’m a fan of irony.  Oh, sure, sometimes I’ll be disposed to write a soliloquy on the awesome fulfillment one gets from a Starbucks latte, or the heaven that is finding stylish shoes that feel like they’re made of cotton balls, or how cute my kitty is, and I’m very sure that any reader who stumbles over this blog will surely proclaim me the next Shakespeare, or Woolf, or perhaps Adams for my skill at elegantly pontificating about these profound day-to-day matters.

But first and foremost, I identify myself as a feminist. This is (and always will be) a feminist blog, concerning women and women’s issues, and in this world – this wonderful clusterfuck we call a ‘patriarchy’ – women are “persons (or objects) in themselves obviously unworthy of praise, as being trivial, ugly, useless, ridiculous, dangerous, [and] vicious.” And as I’ll mostly be writing about what bugs me, and patriarchy bugs me,  I’ll therefore be writing about women, those trivial, ugly, dangerous and vicious things.

So that’s the blog. What about me? Does it matter who I am? In the grand wonderful scheme of things?

I suppose if you really need to know…. I’m a woman. I’m white, so I operate from some form of privilege, though I really try not to, and I would appreciate people pointing it out to me when I’m yapping about shit I don’t understand. Oh, and I swear a lot. I get angry, and pissed off (completely rationally), and I swear when I’m angry, so, you know, deal with it – don’t clutch your pearls at me, as I’m a WASP, and I can out-clutch you any day, guaranteed, but I tend to reserve it for shit that matters.  I write run-on sentences, and I don’t really care if it bugs you. I tend towards being snarky and sarcastic. Sometimes I’m going to be really lazy, and just copy and paste and link to people who are smarter than me, because this blog will also serve as a reference for myself, to remind myself of arguments I need to deal with when I encounter Conservative Dunderheads and Teh Liberal D00dz online, and in real life. I don’t deal with condescension well; like Kate Harding, I’m “the kind of person driven by a genuine independent spirit, but also by a good measure of spite and petulance.” I’m not American, but I – and my country – are greatly affected by what’s going on down there, so I tend to be fascinated-slash-consumed by American politics, so most of the posts will reflect that, but Canadiana ought to sneak through, too.  I like wine. I like dancing. I like shopping. I tend to rant. I’m a cat person. (Honestly, in 40 years, I see myself emigrating to some quaint village in Scotland, where I will set up shop with a few cats and a large wine-rack and an extensive, eclectic book collection – and an internet connection so I can continue shaking a stick at the world, remotely. ) I’ve also been likened to, at different times, and by different people, Elizabeth Bennett, Toby Ziegler, and Scrat the Squirrel.  I am an onion. I have layers.

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes. ”
— Walt Whitman

Enjoy the blog.