Greetings, Masters, Mistresses, and kajirae,

Welcome to kajira korner!

One hopes you enjoy this new edition of kajira korner and encourages you send questions or comments to:      kajira_korner2000@yahoo.com     kajira_korner2000@yahoo.com

kajira{Generic}

Dear kajira korner,

Master has commanded this girl to write in a journal, which he may read if he wants to at any time. Lately, she’s found she is not writing all of her feelings because she is worried some of them aren’t pleasing. Even when she tries to express the emotions pleasingly, it waters down the way she is feeling so that it is no longer accurate.

She knows slaves have no privacy and can keep nothing from their owners, but what happens if she is no longer being pleasing by telling the truth? Sometimes, it means she just sits there staring at a blank sheet of paper!

Help!!!

Drawing a blank.

Dear Drawing a blank,

     It seems to this girl that the first thing you should do is beg to speak to your Master, and explain this problem you are having with journal writing. Then ask him what he wants you to do. In the meantime, here is some food for thought for you.

     As you have already discovered, it is very hard to write about one’s emotions and thoughts knowing someone else may read it. You are sharing all of yourself, best and worst and the temptation to water it down by hedging around in ’kajira speak’ or maybe even strike out a sentence or two is huge. You sit staring at a blank sheet and think "well one can’t say THAT, it is not pleasing." Masters rarely tell a girl to keep a journal of only those things the slave deems pleasing enough to display. More usual the command you received: Keep a journal and make sure it is available for him to read at any time.

     So, before you go blithely ripping out pages, self-editing, or using a black magic marker to ’highlight’ your work, you might just want to think for a second. If you are in his collar, then he owns ALL of you, not just the pretty parts. This extends to everything you produce as well, whether it is hand-knitted persian sweaters or a journal. Also, every time you fail to write all of your feelings, or water them down, YOU are deciding what your Master is PERMITTED to see. Whether or not the truth is pleasing is not your determination to make.

     Now please, do not think this girl is kneeling in her little glass princess house throwing composition books. One has done her time in front of the trash can, ripping up pages, and failing to write her journal assignments because she was mad (and good slaves don’t get mad, as we all know *G*). Oh, yes and one did get in big fat trouble for it and one learned three important things: Master really is *not* happy when one edits herself, and Master does not want a girl to stifle her emotions. Lastly, being pleasing does not always equal being sweet and perfectly tempered.

     This one has been in many discussions with other slaves about feelings. Not the yammy, lovey dovey feelings that we all ADORE rhapsodizing about, but the blacker ugly stuff. For some reason, many of us start out thinking we are not allowed to have these emotions and expressing them would lead to getting booted. The fact is, it is how a girl chooses to express herself not what she expresses that can get her into trouble.

"If Kamchak and her master were not convinced she had run as well as she might, it would not go easily with her." (Nomads, pp 69)

Hope this helps,

kajira{Generic}

Dear kajira korner,

     This girl was recently allowed to move in with her Master. Things are going wonderfully, except that one finds herself swamped with housework and just can't keep up. What can a girl do to make things easier, and so that she is able to have more time to spend kneeling with her Master?

sincerely,
snowed under

Dear snowed under,

Congratulations on being allowed to move in! As far as the housework goes, here are some tips that might help:

• 1. Find out what he considers imperative for housework. Some hate clutter, others (like this girl's owner) could care if the house is cluttered as long as it is vacuumed. Once you figure out what is important to him, you can prioritize your projects.
• 2. Make a list, room by room, of what needs doing. Assign days for certain big tasks like ironing or laundry.
• 3. Get a bucket, load it with your cleaning stuff and a couple of trash bags and carry it to the room you are cleaning rather than run back and forth for everything. Also, if you have everything with you, it is easier to stay focused.
• 4.Bring an empty laundry basket with you. Everything that does not belong in the room you are cleaning goes into the basket. That way, each room's clutter gets picked up in one trip. If there are kids in the home, see if you might give them a basket for their stuff. As the child gets done with the toy, it goes in the basket to be put away at the end of the day.
• 5. Combine as much labor as you can. If your Master has a 2 story house, carry as much as you can with you when you go upstairs. For example, if you head up to the shower, take a basket of clothes with you instead of amking two trips. If you live in a one story house, migrate things in the right direction. Carry the laundry from the kitchen to the hallway next to the bath.

*smiles*

happy housework!
kajira{Generic}