In order to succeed in our task -- that of making healthy, functional plurality visible before the world -- it is necessary to be as well informed as possible. Even small details, things you might overlook as unimportant, could make a difference. Also, it's important to get a feel for the general ambience of the cultures and societies around us.

It isn't just snarky references to people with two or more email addresses having "multiple personality disorder", it's not just Williams telling Sybil jokes. It's the subtle imbalances. It's as much about where plurality isn't seen, as where it is seen in a derogatory way. And it's about where plurals themselves engage in dialogue. What are they talking about, and how are they talking about it?

Here's an example:

Doves
Personal Correspondence

We've been seeing emails and posts from mothers concerned that their children are showing signs of being plural. One was convinced her six-year-old was playing "incredible mind games," then expressed a fear that she herself -- not the child -- would die, simply because of the little girl's rapid, intense, fully formed changes. The emotional power and reality of the situation seemed to have overwhelmed her.

These are the future -- these children. They need a resource that doesn't track them into the psychiatric system but gives them tools for power and responsibility. Their parents need a social service that provides explanation and reassurance.

Pennies
World and National News

William Greene, in jail on unrelated charges, was linked this week to the murder of a classmate. Several years ago he used a multiple-personality defense when charged with assault and made the national news.

Weathervane
Multiplicity on the internet

Which way is the wind blowing? In the non-therapy, nontraditional forums, they're talking about whether multiplicity has anything to do with dissociation; they're still talking triggers and flashbacks. They express a wish to be out, but fear telling their own children that they are plural. Another took her child to a therapist because she deemed the little girl's plurality to be a "behavior problem" and needed help in "correcting" it. She suspects her little girl still lives a double life as a secret plural.

Dig the slowness. Honour the progress. Talk to me. Send me doves. Put down a penny for the paper. Watch the winds. Tell me what you see.