May 8th 1701 saw the Scottish-born pirate “Captain” William Kidd tried for piracy at London’s Old Bailey.
Another Scotsman who turns up in my posts on a number of occasions, I will keep this one short as a follow up will tell the full story in about a fortnight.
William Kidd was the son of a minister in Greenock and was born around 1645. He emigrated to New York and married there, earning his living as a sea captain and a trader in the Caribbean. He successfully defended American and English trade routes in the 1690s in the war between France and England.
In 1695 Kidd sailed to London where he obtained a royal commission to act as a privateer against pirates in the Indian Ocean, operating from bases in Madagascar. Reports came back to England, however, that he was attacking merchant ships as well as pirates.
After capturing the fully laden “Quedah Merchant” with cargo worth over $100,000 he returned to Hispaniola (now Haiti). He was offered a pardon for his surrender and he sailed to Boston. He was treacherously captured and taken to London. In a rigged trial, with little real evidence and despite his claim that his crew had mutinied and he had no alternative but to join them, he was found guilty and hanged. The treasure from the “Quedah Merchant” has never been found.
Watched Encanto a few days ago. I cringed right quick from the beginning. It’s very ouch to see a lost child/ scapegoat/ black sheep role. Even a full out estranged child. And it irritated me bc I knew where the plot line from Mirabel was going to go… she’s the fixer. She helps heal the family, and bring them together. She had to make the effort. Then comes the cliché Disney ending where everyone realizes they were wrong, admits their problems, and everything is fixed and happy…
Nice. But reality sucks. And so many dysfunctional families will stay toxic for generations, and even if people like me want to be awake to the cycle and try to help, it will fail because the other parts of the family don’t want to disrupt their role or make an effort to be better.
So it’s certainly an emotionally triggering movie.
I like that their are many other viewers out there using it as an example of dysfunctional family dynamics, and doing psychological breakdowns of it. There’s some comfort in knowing we aren’t alone.
With all the scapegoating going on about bathrooms- a good protest could be if (already out) trans people who clearly present as their true gender, I KNOW THAT IS A HORRIBLE CONCEPT, hear me out (this is a planned protest, not a judgment of trans-ness)- could go into the bathrooms that the crazy people want them to- (their birth-assigned bathroom). I would certainly imagine it would cause a fuss. Then, of course, we need all sorts of people who appear gender ambiguous to also use the gender-at-birth bathrooms. A lot. All the time. All day long. Everyday. All around the country at the same time. Press the issue –if questioned– Call security if detained, call the police. CALL THE PRESS. Take video. I ALSO KNOW I’m speaking from extreme PRIVILEGE - I’m cis. It would mean outing yourself and could be quite triggering. Not to be done by an individual— it is a group activity- use ‘flash mob" approach for communication. As long as the reactions aren’t staged- that would taint the cause.
