Hello!

[cosmolinguist]

Name: Holly
Age: 35
Location: I live in Manchester, UK. I'm from Minnesota.

Describe yourself in five sentences or less: Hollymath is a pun on my name and also on the word polymath, "a person of great and varied learning." I don't know about great, but my learning is certainly varied.

I'm a carer for my autistic husband and I volunteer with various projects helping blind people, immigrants, women and bisexuals (or LGBT+ people more generally but I'm always looking out for the bi people most of all). I am, perhaps not coincidentally, a bisexual immigrant woman and I'm what's called legally blind in the U.S. and registered blind in the UK.

I'll never be the writer young-me wanted so badly to be, but I'm working on a book about immigration in the UK, which I have Kickstarted to pay for the extortionate UK citizenship fees.

Top 5 fandoms: Space (and science generally, but especially space), linguistics, dogs, baseball, and Hamilton.

I mostly post about... Lots of politics lately, what with Trump and Brexit, but I try to keep it about constructive, positive things that might actually help. Also my dog, my husband, my boyfriend, being disabled, my mental health (I have depression and anxiety), being an immigrant, random things that happen in my life, and the stuff mentioned in the fandoms above.

My last three posts were about... A friend's birthday celebration, a couple things about the LJ/DW changeover (which I'm counting as one to make this answer slightly more representative), and a post about Minnesota politics that I was assured was of interest to at least a few people who aren't from Minnesota!

How often do you post? A few times a week. It varies depending on my mental health. How about commenting? I think I comment a lot? I read everything, anyway; I love blogging and the community surrounding it here.

Comments

[faerierhona]

Hi - I think we would get on well - also a queer immigrant into politics :-) May I add you?

[cosmolinguist]

Sorry, thought I left a comment here saying yes, hello, but I think DW ate it and it looks like we have added each other now but, yes, hello! :)

[kshandra]

Damnit, all my bi userpics got deactivated when I had to let my paid account lapse... Anyway, hi!

[cosmolinguist]

I don't think I have any bi icons left any more either, though I think the shirt I'm wearing in this icon is a bi one, not that you can tell. :)

[kshandra]

Shirts...oy. (I help coordinate the bi contingent in my local Pride parade, and we're trying to get folks into matching shirts this year, but the director of the group keeps having these ideas that are FAR too busy to look good at marching distance, as well as other communication challenges. I've already looked at my husband once and said "I don't have TIME for another year-round volunteer commitment, damnit.")

But hey, at least yours is purple. ;-)

[cosmolinguist]

Matching shirts is a struggle for us either, but we generally just tell people to wear purple. :) And the matching shirts we have, from a few years ago, are plain purple t-shirts with the name of our organization printed on the back, nice and simple.

[cosmolinguist]

I've already looked at my husband once and said "I don't have TIME for another year-round volunteer commitment, damnit."

Oh and I have so much sympathy for this. I'm also very bad at saying no, though, because otherwise stuff might not get done at all... And since I'm not gainfully employed, I feel like "well of course that means I have lots of free time I should put to good use!" which I know is stupid but I think it anyway.

[kshandra]

...otherwise stuff might not get done at all...

Yes, this, exactly. I wound up helping to coordinate the contingent by volunteering to drive my husband's truck, because there was a question of whether or not someone would be able to rent one, and without a vehicle to ride in/on, I can't manage the parade route anymore. That was 2? 3? years ago now, and I've found myself doing more and more of the catherding in between.

I've added you to my reading list, btw.

[cosmolinguist]

Oh man. For years I've been saying that herding bisexuals is so much worse than herding cats that we should be the metaphor people use. Some day someone who literally has to herd some actual cats will throw their hands up in despair and say "this is like herding bisexuals!"

Good luck with it, and becoming ever more sucked in to the volunteering.

(Oh yeah, added you back!)

[talkingtothesky]

Hello! Bi person here, my best friend lives in Manchester. I love your icon. You seem really cool, may I subscribe to you? There's no obligation to add me back, I don't really post much.