Tuesday, August 11, 2009

laughter: empowerment and solidarity


(HoneyBoy and Mijo [pronounced mee-ho])

[Robert] Provine [a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland in Baltimore] even chronicles a "laughter epidemic" in Tanzania during the 1960s that lasted two and a half years, affected 1,000 people and forced 4 missionary schools to close. The laughter "afflicted" female students and their female relatives, not their teachers, fathers or other authority figures. In that sense, it was very similar to the regular epidemics of "mad laughter" I've discovered in my research into sectarian groups in 17th-century England, laughter that marks the solidarity of a radically disempowered dissident group against a dominant, autocratic culture.

from "I laugh, therefore I am" by Blaine Greteman
Ode Magazine, August 2009

Research shows that women laugh more than men. Perhaps there is a reason for that?

Laugh on, my sistahs! Laugh on.


Kitten update: Some of you missed this post and this one where I named the boys. For your viewing pleasure...many more updates will come, I'm sure...meet HoneyBoy and Mijo.

4 comments:

Joan said...

Oh, my thithter, we will always laugh...and even more so when we are together!

rebecca said...

The boys look quite regal here - I know they are channeling the lions they truly are.

I love laughing with you - and laughing in general - but it's especially sweet with those we love.

Carrie Wilson Link said...

Truly, there's nothing I enjoy more.

Operaton You said...

I am sooo laughing!!! and glad to be laughing without anxiety!!! Did I tell you those kitties are just beautiful?!