Oddly specific meme

I made this meme. Does anyone else feel this way when they yap to their boyfriend about their autistic hyperfixation?

do techbros misunderstand Meditations by Marcus Aurelius? also I am still Ojibwemaxxing

I will be yapping about these books:

Hi everyone! So I realize that the title of this post might be a bit clickbaity and I don't actually want to bash anyone's efforts to engage with the classics. However, what made me want to write this post was the fact that I recently read a book called Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese, and I could not help but be reminded of what is probably the most famous example of the “philosophical journal” style of book, which is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a non-Indigenous learner of Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe language. I’ve written on this blog before about universal truths that are found across different storytelling traditions. For example, Basil Johnston’s retelling of the Ojibwe story of the wolverine reminds me an awful lot of my boy Satan from Milton’s Paradise Lost. For today though, I wanted to focus on how some people may misinterpret Stoic philosophy as being about isolating yourself, becoming hyperindependent, and avoiding relationships with others. I believe such ideas are erasing some of the nuances in Meditations and could be harmful. Aurelius does mention the important of community. So does Wagamese. In Embers, Wagamese draws from Anishinaabe worldview to remind us that all of creation is our community, so that includes creatures and plants.

Perhaps people who are huge fans of Meditations won’t like that I’m speaking of it alongside Embers. One is a timeless classic and one was written in the same century as us. However, Wagamese certainly draws from some very ancient teachings. And he seems to have been interested in making this wisdom accessible even to people who not know anything about Ojibwe culture. Aurelius was keeping a diary for the sake of his own self-improvement and did not intend for so many people to read it. Also, I understand why people who hate new age spirituality and self-help books might be reluctant to read “Embers.” Trust me, I hate that kinda stuff and I only read The Power of Now because my dad and my boyfriend like it. However, I enjoyed Embers. And I do not think an Ojibway writer writing about Anishinaabe teachings should be reduced to “new age.” Richard Wagamese isn’t a white woman.

Okay, lets pull up a banger from Meditations now. This is from Book 11, number viii. There are of course, many different translations of Meditations. But I am using this one on Wikisource because it is easy to access: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Meditations_of_the_Emperor_Marcus_Antoninus/Book_11

Here is the banger quotation. Notice especially the ending, where he talks about how you should value community but you shouldn’t lose yourself in it.

8. A branch cut off from the bough it belonged to cannot but be cut off also from the whole tree. Similarly a man, if severed from a single man, has fallen away from society as a whole. Now in the case of a branch, it is cut off by another agency, whereas man by his own act divides himself from his neighbour, when he hates him and turns from him, yet he does not realize that at the same time he has severed himself from the whole Commonwealth. Only there is this singular gift of Zeus who brought society together, that we are enabled to join again with the man we belong to, and again to become complements of the Whole. Yet, if it is often repeated, the effect of such separation is to make what separates difficult to unite and to restore. Generally speaking, too, the branch which originally grew with the tree and shared its transpiration, by remaining with it, is different from the branch which is engrafted again after being cut off, whatever gardeners may say. 'Grow together with them but do not share their doctrines.'

What do we make of this? Aurelius is not against forming relationships. He is against forming toxic, codependent attachments that would prevent you from thinking for yourself or having your own opinions.

A lot of what Meditations talks about is Logos or Reason, which is sort of like your inner god. It is an unshakeable part of you that should not be impacted by any life circumstances, however good or tragic they may be. You always have Reason even when you have nothing else. Guess what? Wagamese also speaks of having part of the Creator within him.

Lets pull up a banger from Embers. This is also a tree-related passage. It is about mast seeding, which is how trees use their roots to communicate with each other so that they all know that they should bear fruit at the same time. Pecan trees do this. This is what he says. Keep in mind that he wrote this stuff because these were thoughts that occurred to him during his morning meditations, so in a way it is sort of like Aurelius’s journal but less private:

“I’ve learned nuts are formed from symbiotic relationships between trees. They communicate through fungal networks in the soil. In a process called mast seeding, different species of trees communicate and come into fruit (the delivery of nuts) at the same time, ensuring their ongoing survival. Tree talk, tree people; as my own people say. These days I’m definitely a nut, learning to exist in unity, synchrony and harmony.”

Even trees have friends!!! And they talk to their frens. So you see, grindset advice that does not encourage you to form community or a support system is probably a bad idea.

Wagamese and Aurelius both suggest holding oneself to a very high standard while simultaneously having extreme compassion for others, and this is also how I personally want to live my life. By having very high standards for myself, but not for other people. I don’t want to judge others. If I am focusing on self-improovement, I would not have the time to do so.

That’s all for today’s chronic yapping post. Thanks for reading it!!

Satan from Paradise Lost is kind of like a wolverine (hear me out)

 

 

Yer girl is back with another informal post on a serious topic, kinda like that post I made about Utopia by Thomas More or about All About Love by bell hooks and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (yes I talked about bell hooks and Kimmerer in the same post even tho most people would tell you that they talk about very different things. I actually think the points they make about greed are quite similar). 

Anyway, today's topic is on "Wolverine thinking" (a term I coined) and Paradise Lost. 

Let me begin by explaining what "Wolverine thinking" is, since it is a term I coined after reading a retelling of an Ojibwe legend by Basil Johnston 

When I read Ojibway Heritage (1976) by Basil Johnston, I was fascinated by the story of the wolverine in the chapter called "The Nature of Animals." Johnston explains how the Great Spirit (or Great Mystery, as he translates it) named Kitche Manitou gave gifts to every creature. For example, the eagle received strong wings and keen sight. The deer received grace. The hummingbird was given the power of hovering, and so on. However, the wolverine was unsatisfied with these gifts. 

The wolverine was basically an incel who thinks the reason why he is an incel is because he's short. You see, an incel believes he has been somehow cursed to be genetically inferior and that there is nothing he can do about it even though he can just touch grass and work on his personality. He doesn't know how to be grateful for what he has and make the most of his natural gifts the way everyone else does. Here is a quote from page 52-53. I wanted to directly quote this. Because Johnston writes so beautifully, I didn't want to ruin y'alls's experience of this story by paraphrasing it:

Only the wolverine was discontented. When he saw the extent of the gifts of the other animals, he grew envious. Soon he wanted the strength and the size of a bear, the elegance of deer, and the swiftness of the fox. In his increasing disappointment, the wolverine began to despise himself and his gifts and feel bitter at Kitche Manitou. At length, he resolved to return to the mountain top and ask the Master of Life for greater and better gifts. When the wolverine attained the crest, he boldly called out, “Kitche Manitou! Hear me! You have not been just to me. You have not been just to all the animals. To some you have given greater scope and a greater measure of gifts. By this uneven distribution you have made some great and some less.” More audacious, the wolverine continued, “I demand that you redress this great wrong. For myself, I wish more strength, more comeliness, more speed.” But Kitche Manitou’s thunderous voice broke through the selfish list of wolverine. “To each animal being I have given sufficient power for the fulfilment of his being and form. The power I have conferred on each is a form of my power, and is a reflection of my gifts. “No injustice has been done. If you have not developed and fostered the gifts I have presented to you, it is you who have perpetrated an injustice upon yourself. You have betrayed yourself. “For your presumption, you shall wander alone and despised. And for your refusal to develop your attributes you will, henceforth, feed upon what has been left over by your fellow creatures who have nurtured their talents. Go!” Wolverine left the mountain top more bitter and envious than before. He had not been daunted by Kitche Manitou himself! As Kitche Manitou ordained, so the wolverine became solitary, vicious, and avoided. Hungry ever, he must feed upon the portions left by other animals.

Johnston, Basil. Ojibway Heritage, UNP - Bison Books, 1990. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/oxford/detail.action?docID=1682898.

Created from oxford on 2025-09-10 20:33:36.

So for his ingratitude, the wolverine is cast into isolation by Kitche Manitou. And honestly, the wolverine deserved this. 

What is "wolverine thinking"? I would say it is constant emptiness like the insatiable hunger of a wolverine that one tries to fill with a greed for material wealth or possessions (Milton certainly condemns greed in Paradise Lost), and constant ingratitude or grumbling at one's circumstances in life, believing that one got the short end of the stick. I think it causes one to suffer when it comes to interpersonal relationships, and also causes one not to take advantage of certain opportunities when they come their way. 

In Book 4 lines 46-48 of Paradise Lost, Satan admits he did not show gratitude to the one who had created him:

What could be less then to afford him praise,

The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,

How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me,

The wolverine is bitter, envious, and feels painfully lonely. Note Satan's similar feelings when he is jealous of the closeness of Adam and Eve. This is from Book 4, lines 505-511:

Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two 

Imparadis't in one anothers arms

The happier Eden, shall enjoy thir fill

Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,

Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,

Among our other torments not the least, 

Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines;

At other times, Satan feels so empty that he is described almost as the anthropomorphized form of Hell. Line 20 in Book 4 is "the Hell within him, for within him Hell."

Anyway, I thought this was bonkers. So I wanted to share this stuff with you. Let me know if you have a different take either on the wolverine story or on Paradise Lost. 

If you would like to read another post I wrote on wolverines, here it is: https://freyathefrypan.blogspot.com/2024/12/wolverines-are-most-relatable-animal.html 

These creatures are one of my autistic hyperfixations. 

Bye, frens!

why I study the ojibwe language

Aaniin kina wiya! Today I'm going to talk a bit about Anishinaabemowin, or the Ojibwe language. I am a non-Indigenous student of Anishinaabemowin. Sometimes, people are interested in knowing why I like learning this language so much. It is very challenging to learn, so part of it is for the thrill of the intellectual challenge. But there are also some things about Anishinaabemowin that I consider to be very beautiful and that reminds me of Ojibwe culture and their worldview. 

Anishinaabemowin has a very interesting grammatical structure. You see, most Indigenous languages of North America are considered polysynthetic. This means that they have a high number of morphemes per word. A morpheme is the smallest unit in a language that holds meaning. The English word "cats" has two morphemes, the noun "cat" and the "s" which is a plural ending. 

In Anishinaabemowin, there are a lot of very long words that are dense with morphemes. It feels like every syllable holds so much meaning. 

There's an example I can give of this that comes from "The Seven Generations and Seven Grandfather Teachings" by James Vukelich. Vukelich talks about the Anishinaabemowin word "indaanikoobijigan." This usually means "my ancestor" but it can also mean my grandparent, my great grandparent, my grandchild, my great grandchild or my descendant. To understand "indaanikoobjigan" better, Vukelich mentions the "aanik" morpheme, which also appears in words like:

aanikoobidoon (string it together, tie it)

aanikegamaa (chain of lakes)

aanikanootamaw (translate it for her)

aanik-ogimaa (someone who fulfills the role of a chief if the current one can no longer do so. "ogimaa" is chief)

Vukelich concludes that aanik indicates something linked in a process or working in a chain, and so "indaanikoobijigan" is like "one to whom I am inextricably linked"

His book has other examples of Anishinaabemowin morphemes as well. Being aware of the structure of Anishinaabemowin words just makes it seem like a poetic language, extremely rich in meaning with tons of potential for metaphors. 

I'll do some more Ojibweposting later. Giga-waabamin miinawaa!!

Centipede Season 2025 in southern ontario has officially begun! Get out your essential oils now!

 Okay so like sorry that this is one of the topics I am weirdly hyperfixated on but once I start thinking about centipedes, I can't stop. Specifically the North American house centipede. I don't understand why they gotta be like that.

For those of you who don't know, March to September every year is Centipede Season in southern Ontario (the peak times are really July and August though). This is when you might see centipedes in your basement and bathroom as they enjoy damp places. They are nocturnal. And they eat other bugs and sometimes other centipedes (okay I know y'all are going to be like "nah that's cap." Listen, I'm no entomologist, but I'm pretty sure that Leggy Boys eat each other. Just trust me on this. Don't worry about my citations.) You should dispose of a centipede's corpse if you kill one or another one will come to eat it soon. They have a strong sense of smell, so bowls of vinegar or essential oils may scare them off. They run very fast and it is terrifying. They are usually black, sometimes orange. They have too many legs. 

They are basically demons from the deepest pits of hell. However, I kinda feel bad for saying that. Every insect has a role to play in the ecosystem. Deleting one would affect everything else. Perhaps it is concerning that our society has normalized insectophobia so much. Leggy Boys have feelings too. And I know I called them demons but if we're being real, when God sings with his creations a centipede will be part of the choir. But I never claimed to be perfect, morally speaking. And I would rather die than be friends with one of them. I basically hate centipedes as if they killed my firstborn son and I have a duty to avenge him. I know this is irrational, but it doesn't stop me. 

Anyway, centipedes do not actually have a hundred legs. In French they are called les milles-pattes (1000 paws). They are called either khankajoora or chalisapad in Hindi. Chalisapad means forty legs. In Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe, they are simply called "kaadi-mnidoosh" (leg-bug). Or if you are both an Ojibwe language learner and an insect rights activist, you could use more inclusive language and say kaadi-mnidoons, with a diminutive rather than pejorative ending. My Ojibwe language teacher told me something about the word mnidoons that blew my mind so I made a Reddit post about it in r/Ojibwemodaa which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ojibwemodaa/comments/1fkzgbb/manidoonsag_bugs/ Yes, it really does mean "little spirit." 

Okay I have one more Ojibwe-related thing to tell you guys before we start focusing on Leggy Boys again. I made this meme in Ojibwe and it says "when the centipede on the wall starts running fast."

Okay back to talking about Leggy Boys. Where was I? Oh yes, about their number of legs. It's not 100. How many are there then? Well idk, count them yourself!! Because I'm definitely not doing it. 

The main thing about centipedes that bothers me however is the fact that they are in my house. I saw a Leggy Boy yesterday with my own eyes and he was huge. He was in my hallway. I don't understand why a creature like that needs to be in my house. Bro looks like he's native to the Amazon rainforest, but he's literally in a Canadian suburb. Why??!?!?!? He should be hanging out with those spiders that get big enough to eat birds, not with me. He would have more in common with them. 

I simply could not have imagined that such a being could exist until I saw one myself. 

Do you guys think I should just get over myself and make peace with the Leggy Boys? Idk, let me know your thoughts. 

Wolverines are the most relatable animal!

I'm going through a Wolverine Phase right now. Basically, I just think wolverines are super relatable. They are insatiable and they are always looking for food because of their fast metabolism they’re always hungry. And their genus and species are both “gulo” because it means glutton in Latin. People with BPD have chronic feelings of emptiness and are prone to binge eating and substance abuse so that’s why it’s a relatable creature. I have long suspected that I have BPD.

Also, I read a story about the wolverine in the book "Ojibway Heritage" by Basil Johnston. Basically, the wolverine was not happy with the attributes that Gichi-Manitou (the Creator) had given him. He wanted the gifts of other animals. He envied their speed, strength, size, etc. Gichi-Manitou punished him for his ingratitude. This is why the wolverine is a solitary animal now. No other animal wants to be around it. The Creator cursed the wolverine with loneliness. I really like Basil Johnston's retellings of Ojibwe stories. I have read his other books "The Manitous" and "Moose Meat and Wild Rice" as well. I am going to read the book "Ojibway Ceremonies" soon, which my Discord e-boy bought for me. Basil Johnston also writes in Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language), which I am trying to learn. Once I "get good," I should be able to read his Ojibwe language books too. 

By the way, the word for wolverine is gwiingwa'aage in Ojibwe. I really want to know what this word means (in most Ojibwe words you can break them down into morphemes to find out what a word really means). For example, one of my teachers mentioned that the morphemes that make up "ajidamoo," the word for "squirrel," can be found in the words "ajidagoojin" (animate intransitive verb) which means "he or she hangs upside down" and in "amo" (transitive animate verb) which is "he or she eats an animate being" so ajidamoo may refer to one who eats while hanging upside down. Can gwiingwa'aage be broken down into something? I will probably ask one of my teachers. Stay tuned to find out what they say. 

I hope that poets of all languages will make use of the wolverine more as a symbol of being bonkers and unhinged, as it has great potential as a symbol. 

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

what does "gikinawaabiwin" mean?

Hello frens. The title of this post includes the word "gikinawaabiwin," which means "learning by seeing" (as a noun) in Ojibwe. This is the title I came up with for a poem I wrote recently. I won't share the whole poem, only the first few stanzas here. If you guys remember my post on knowledge acquisition, it's basically a poetic version of the themes I discussed in it. Here is the post I'm referring to: https://freyathefrypan.blogspot.com/2024/09/when-you-want-to-acquire-more-knowledge.html

Here are the first three stanzas of my poem :) and honestly, since the rest of the stanzas suck I think I'm just going to leave it at this and say this is the final version:

I met disciples in an ashram on the edge of the jungle 

who said they sought moksha and spent their days 

fasting, praying, meditating, 

But in twenty-five years of abnegation 

they still had not received a vision, 

Their souls had not been liberated 

and they seemed to live in fear of the world. 

I met black-robed scholars who thought that Knowledge 

was something one could conquer, 

It was what they sought to master, 

They thought Nature’s secrets could be wrested from her 

that Wisdom would visit them during their candle-lit study in their stone towers, 

But She never came 

And they did not feel the Sun’s warmth in a year. 

In Mikinaakominis, Knowledge surrounded me 

in a land where the branches of evergreen trees 

looked like peacock feathers to me when I first beheld them, 

In Anishinaabewaki, the land is a teacher 

if one is willing to learn by seeing.

--

I am quite happy with this, especially with the second stanza which I consider to be a banger.