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cahnBackground: The kids' school has a topic for "Unit" every trimester that a lot of their work (reading, writing, some math) revolves around. These topics range from time/geographic periods ('Colonial America') to geography ('Asia') to science ('Space') to social science ('Business and Economics'). (I have some issues with this way of doing things, but that's a whole separate post.) Anyway, for Reasons, they have had to come up with a new topic this year, and E's 7/8 class is doing "World Fairs" as their new topic.
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Re: Chevalier d'Eon III: Genderswap
Date: 2023-12-12 09:17 am (UTC)Ghost of Fritz: *waves*
LOL. At least d'Eon didn't have Dr. Zimmerman theorize about said penis being broken as a mixture of a botched operation, STD and psychology?
I will talk a lot about Joan of Arc in this book. I will dedicate an entire chapter to Joan of Arc. But bizarrely, I will not mention the drama around her wearing men's clothes at all.
That is really weird. It's not like this was a minor part of her persona! Incidentally, does Kates mention Julie D'Aubigny? (Not that she tried to save France, but she did wear men's clothing, did duel and cause lots of scandals, so...)
Re: Chevalier d'Eon III: Genderswap
Date: 2023-12-12 02:57 pm (UTC)WELL. Since you mention it, here's what Kates has to say:
Complicating the story even more is d'Eon's claim that he had suffered in childhood from a urinary tract disorder. As a rhetorical device in the autobiography, this important "fact" moves us to sympathize with him, removing him even further from any blame or responsibility. Likewise, it may tempt us to view his childhood medical problem as a cause of his later transsexualism. But surely there have been thousands of children who have had such problems and have maintained ordinary gender roles. The story about the urinary tract disorder may explain not so much why d'Eon wanted to become a woman, but rather, why he was asexual and remained a virgin throughout his life. Perhaps the disorder left some physical or psychological discomfort that lingered in later life.
That is really weird. It's not like this was a minor part of her persona!
It was really weird to have a ton of material on Joan of Arc and a ton of material on the fight with authorities to be allowed to wear men's clothes, and nothing about Joan's fight with authorities to be allowed to wear men's clothes. What I suspect is that Kates didn't touch a biography of Joan, but only researched 18th century discourse about Joan. Which was apparently not about her fight with authorities to be allowed to wear men's clothes! (Though the Chevalier d'Eon clearly knew about it, since Kates does mention in passing the Chevalier talking about this episode.)
Incidentally, does Kates mention Julie D'Aubigny? (Not that she tried to save France, but she did wear men's clothing, did duel and cause lots of scandals, so...)
Doesn't look like it, from searching through this book.