Emotional Attachment to Cars

An article from Citylab about how hard it is to get rid of our cars on an emotional level rings true for me. I have felt significant emotional attachment to my cars through time. I still miss them to varying degrees. I don't think I was ever in a position to be spending on them unreasonably, especially with Super Mechanic Juan around to help me out. But the below quotation from the article is very telling, and I can see how easily it could happen.

"Even when our car is in crappy shape, the emotional attachment we have to it can trump material demands."

It may help in my own willingness to get rid of my own car that I anthropomorphize my bikes, Longing and Perseverance, in the same ways. Plus, I've gone through enough cars (I'm on my seventh, meaning I average only two years or so with a given vehicle, though having only owned my Aveo for three months skews that a bit) that the process of loss has become somewhat routinized.

Still, In fact, I've been attached enough to my motor vehicles that I have a photo album of them.

Social Production of Gendered People

More gender commentary from me. I'm sure you're surprised.

This is, in fact, how I see the way society produces gendered people. It really disturbs me.

An article from Everyday Feminism Magazine, called Here’s What It Would Look Like If We Treated Our Sons How We Treat Our Daughters, From Birth through College.