This couldn't come at a better time for me as I'm working on a clay rotifer - they are visually so interesting and this essay adds so much depth and dimension to the subject!🙂
There are myriad examples in the natural world of reproduction that is decidedly nonparochial. Look no further than parthenogenic nematodes and so called "promiscuous" bacteria "stealing" genetic material. The numerous fungi imperfcti (having no known male form) are perfectly adapted for reproduction with spores. Thanks for adding Bdelloid rotifera to the list 💚
“I have found great comfort, not in the anthropocentric virgin mother, but the shit-eating, pirate queen Bdelloid.” Holding you and your heartbreak in my very human heart and also deeply grateful, as ever, for the chance to stretch beyond the human confines to think and feel it all more deeply. This piece comes to me at a time when I’m feeling that “Great Mother” more strongly than ever, and you challenge me not to stop there but to think beyond the body and the icons. Perhaps it’s a call to stretch to the resonance of “Great” (Mór, in the Irish) rather than stopping when I get to Mama’s arms.
This couldn't come at a better time for me as I'm working on a clay rotifer - they are visually so interesting and this essay adds so much depth and dimension to the subject!🙂
There are myriad examples in the natural world of reproduction that is decidedly nonparochial. Look no further than parthenogenic nematodes and so called "promiscuous" bacteria "stealing" genetic material. The numerous fungi imperfcti (having no known male form) are perfectly adapted for reproduction with spores. Thanks for adding Bdelloid rotifera to the list 💚
"It turns out a really successful virgin is a parthenogenic pirate, a shit-eater, a genomic Frankenstein." What a sentence.
A wonderful, defiant and delightful read 🤩
“I have found great comfort, not in the anthropocentric virgin mother, but the shit-eating, pirate queen Bdelloid.” Holding you and your heartbreak in my very human heart and also deeply grateful, as ever, for the chance to stretch beyond the human confines to think and feel it all more deeply. This piece comes to me at a time when I’m feeling that “Great Mother” more strongly than ever, and you challenge me not to stop there but to think beyond the body and the icons. Perhaps it’s a call to stretch to the resonance of “Great” (Mór, in the Irish) rather than stopping when I get to Mama’s arms.
Also: all hail the pirate queen! 😉