Part One: Birth of a CatladyOzma hails from South Dakota. Her paternal grandfather (now dead) was born there over 100 years ago and her mother's family is from Deadwood itself. You can imagine this was a hardbitten time. After all, in the early 1900s guys like Seth Bullock and Sol Star were still alive and walking the streets. Ozma's granddad could have been pushed in his stroller past this guy:
Raised on a farm, he grew up to be a Real American
type who served as a doctor in the military during WWII and Korea.
Artist's depiction of Ozma's grandfather.He was a church going Christian man and community doctor til he was in his 80s. But sadly, like so many of the Greatest Generation, some of his kids were destined to go awry.
His son, Ozma's father, was like many Boomers, a hippie. Unlike a lot of Boomers, he stayed true to his 60s spirit and stayed liberal his entire life. Ozma's parents are dyed in the wool NPR listening, Planned Parenthood supporting, pot legalization advocating, middle class aging hippie leftists.
Artist's depiction of Ozma's parentsMuch like our friend Rocket, Ozma's father is NOT A LAWYER. Though he once was, even arguing cases before the SD State Supreme Court. Sadly there was...an incident. And almost 20 years ago, he was disbarred. This may have had some unexpected consequences for the Gilberts:
My family has a totally fucked approach to money/parenting that actually culminated in a really traumatic event for us when we were teenagers. I went from being totally covered for my undergrad education to having about $50 in the bank for my college fund overnight.
Or was it something else?
"Honey, I've got some bad news...when I wrote the check to PBS last month, I transposed some numbers. Looks like I converted Rachael's entire college fund to 374 'Masterpiece Theater' mugs, 12 'Are You Being Served' 1986 calendars, and a 'Doctor Who' scarf."So nowadays he's a researcher for a law firm and fills his time with Indian rights advocacy and amateur historian stuff. And quoting notable liberals on twitter and facebook.
The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
Her mother writes children's plays, does community "theatre," works in a museum and is a Hilary 2016 supporter. So you can get the idea that Ozma and her siblings were bred to poz. Unlike the Keaton children, they didn't rebel against their parents social justice tendencies, which explains why Ozma is so militantly leftist today. You can imagine what it was like, being raised with hippie propaganda, alternative discipline methods, nontraditional education, etc.
How does Ozma's achievements in life compare to her brother and sister? Well her brother is autistic, but he is a Special Olympian. So he's done more than her as far as athleticism goes. And her sister followed in her father's footsteps and became a lawyer in Colorado (hasn't been disbarred yet!). She's actually the most successful Gilbert-she's been married and has dedicated her life to pro bono family, children's and domestic violence law. It's
stuff but at least she's actually getting out there and doing something.
Let's compare her to Ozma. At the age of 23, Ozma moved out to San Francisco to continue college at the California College of the Arts, a college that actually offers a graduate level degree in Comics.
She wasn't there for that though. Her mission was to get a writing degree--specifically a Master's Degree in Poetry. Because that's useful. It left her a lot of time to fuck up SA. Remember, by this time she was an admin and highly influential on the site. Lowtax had handed the keys of the kingdom to a college student.
I'm around so much and am so visible because frankly I have oodles of free time. My workplace is pretty lax, my classes aren't too difficult for me (it's a writing program and I typically write quite a bit of material very quickly at this point in time so it's not hard to produce stuff) and my family is states away so I just spend most of my time with my boyfriend. I'm not really antisocial but I'm also not a party/bar person so I keep to myself for the most part. Other admins obviously have more going on (Fistgrrl works pretty hard, EPG has a project going on that keeps him busy, etc) so that's why some are more visible than others.
Her thesis was a 39 page poem called "Historiography." What is the definition of that?
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/history/critical/historiography.htmlIn a nutshell, historiography is the history of history. Rather than subjecting actual events - say, Hitler's annexation of Austria - to historical analysis, the subject of historiography is the history of the history of the event: the way it has been written, the sometimes conflicting objectives pursued by those writing on it over time, and the way in which such factors shape our understanding of the actual event at stake, and of the nature of history itself.
She didn't have a cell phone til the Year of Our Lord 2007 when she finally left college at the age of 25. Nowadays she works in tutoring. But unlike her former mod buddy moana, she isn't an actual tutor. She's the
office manager of a tutuoring company. Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't get hired as teachers, tutor. And unemployable blobs in their 30s take calls for them and schedule appointments.
But Ozma is making a difference against evil Rethuglican MRA sexist cisbigots online, right? Surely that's as important as what her sister does? Next up, let's delve more into the world of Ozma's online SJW crusading and see if her personal views reflect the high standards of OBJECTIVELY RIGHT THOUGHT she demands of the rest of SA.
There's this notion that the conversation about feminism is being dominated by shrill social justice tumblr folks who spend their entire days finding something to complain about when in fact, most of us are just struggling to get people to recognize that yes, sexism still exists.
I'm glad the divorce is final, though- maybe this will finally stop the stupid fucking rumors about Sandra getting back together with him. AS IF.
