Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Iran
So I've seen a few people freaking out here and there about Iran's nuclear enrichment. I haven't read much on the subject because I'm more worried about the fact that we are dedicating x number of dollars to increase our own nuclear stockpile after Obama said last April (was it?) that the world should move toward nuclear disarmament, and I don't see how increasing nukes is moving in a direction that truly earns him his Nobel. Of course, if the media hadn't done such a good job of portraying the Iranians as demonic, looking to bomb the fuck out of anyone that has pissed them off slightly, perhaps joe schmo public wouldn't give a moment's notice to the news. If it is news. All I've seen is a headline from CNN on the subject, and we all know how they have the interest of the US public at heart!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Quibbling over scraps
About 1.1 million Facebook users have joined a group called "Making Drug Tests Required to Get Welfare" (link, if it works). I have yet to see a group of Facebookers over a million strong demanding the money back the real welfare queens made off with (i.e. the Wall Street bankers et al.). These are all presumably middle- to lower middle-class folks. This is where their concern lies, that people who are just trying to get by not get any help because they have a drug problem? How callous and misled. People are still under the delusion that people have it "easy" when living on a welfare check, doing drugs and living it up. It's hard for me to accept that people would be so shallow when cutting off any other perspective as to why certain members of our society are on drugs in the first place and need help. When certain people tell me a revolution is inevitable within the next ten to twenty years, I can't help but hope it's not considering the public level of stupidity. If the Teabaggers are any indicator of some sort of revolt on the horizon, I say I'd rather see the masses wallow in a pit of ignorance and consumerism until we're all vaporized (*crosses fingers*).
Monday, January 25, 2010
Fucking Swiffer
God damn it, I like Swiffer shit. I know it's all totally first world and junk, but using those is a hell of a lot easier than the shitty alternatives that are also marketed to clean a certain way, what with all the different "absorbent surfaces" and whatnot. Their commercials are problematic, and in a way that's highly annoying because am I really up later than I wanted to be discussing advertising for household cleaning tools? But here I am. It just gets a little old seeing a prim and business casual-clad female playing the other half of a god damned mop she "dumped." In the latest one, the presumed housewife, or at least the Person Who Does the Cleaning (who happens to be a woman of color), dumps her poor, unsuspecting mop in the basement and the voiceover states something to the effect that there's always someone else. And who is that someone else to replace the human female the mop was once attached to? A pink bowling ball, which turns to face the mop as "he" first glances upon "her." Its three, er, "finger-holes" form the "face" of the bowling ball, suggesting a coy open-"o" as a mouth. Come the fuck on. This is why I don't watch television. Without the convenience of DVR or Tivo, the commercials are inevitable. But I usually end up paying attention more to those than the program. Ugh. Anyway, here's one of the commercials--not the latest one, but if you haven't seen them yet you should get the idea.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
I would give anyone the shirt off my back but it might insult them
People can be sensitive about their choice in clothing. It's really not a big deal to me; dress how you want to dress. Even if you want to walk around like a billboard advertising all these multinational companies whose sweatshops put together your supposed envied look, not my business...right? Well, despite the larger, global consequences of dressing oneself in the US, I'm not one to judge. But I did get a little creeped out over the weekend by my friend's son's girlfriend's choice of t-shirt; it was a Blackwater shirt with the company's familiar logo and writing emblazoned on the front, back, and sleeves. Taken a little aback, I asked her where she got it. Her uncle's friend works for them currently (and I think their name is Xe now). Ugh. I wanted to ask, "You know that's a really bad company and stuff, right?" But I ignored it for the rest of the time we were around each other and went back to my middle-class daze in a timely manner. Ho hum.
Hurpa durpa
Really tired of hearing people ask me, "But Kari, what kind of political agenda would the US want to force on Haiti? It just doesn't make sense. It's just a little island." And then they expect me to give them a political 101 on Haiti, as if it's my job. As if the onus is on me to educate them about history and such. These kinds of attitudes are symptomatic of the larger sickness that we have--this imperialistic impulse to get our neighbors to accept the great American way of life. They are also bundled up with the term security as it's been used in the media. For years, Haiti has been portrayed as a hotbed of hostility that's ready to burst at the seams:
"The so-called level of violence in Haiti pales in comparison with violence in at least half the countries in the world. Compare the history of Haiti with that of England, France and the U.S. and Germany. Don't go back to the 1200s. Look back to 1804 and you have more violence in those countries than in Haiti. So the characterization of Haiti as a violent country is a bunch of hogwash. Why is there tension and instability in Haiti? It is simply because in Haiti you have 5 percent of the population controlling 60 percent of the national wealth, while 80 percent live in poverty. If you had such a situation in any other country you'd have a massacre or a civil war but that hasn't happened in Haiti, which speaks to the self-restraint of the Haitian population. The instability of the last 20 to 25 years has been caused essentially by this elite as well as their foreign allies who cannot truly accept the principal of one citizen-one vote because it would mean that they would lose their privileges and influence. They have tried to quench the will of the poor majority of Haiti and tried to change the rules of the game because they've lost in elections. If it were up to the Haitian people (and when I say Haitian people I'm talking about the vast majority of Haitians who are poor) there would be both democracy and stability. If you look at recent history, the Haitian people have chosen to vote rather than to riot. They voted four times in a row for the same political family, the same political leaning, the same agenda. They consistently have picked both democracy and stability."
One popular piece of propaganda the media has used over and over is the lie of looting during times of crises like these. Not only do the repetitions of these mythemes make it easy for people to accept their inherent prejudices without question, but they can distract us and help cause us to ignore that we live under what is rapidly approaching a fascist, corporate controlled government who won't stop at crushing even that "little island" for their own gain.
"[S]uch disasters are generally exploited by states and companies in the vicious and predatory way that Naomi Klein outlines in The Shock Doctrine. Perhaps a lesser known example of this is the way in which in the wake of the tsunami in late 2004, the Indonesian military took the opportunity to ramp up repression in Aceh. A more obvious example is the depraved way in which the Bush administration (and the local Democratic party) effectively ethnically cleansed New Orleans and turned it into a haven for developers and construction firms after Katrina. So, what depraved agenda is going to be more forcefully thrust on Haiti in the middle of this catastrophe? Obviously, there is no danger of Obama allowing any impoverished immigrants into the US on the back of some rickety boats. You might recall that after last year's hurricanes, his administration continued to deport people, even in the middle of urgent legal appeals."
As Lenin pointed out in another post, which I'm too lazy to locate right now, the military really isn't expecting a fight as some of the major networks have claimed. Why expect a fight from people who are already impoverished, and, on top of it, have experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history? A population and consequently their economy is much easier to handle if it's already decimated.
"The so-called level of violence in Haiti pales in comparison with violence in at least half the countries in the world. Compare the history of Haiti with that of England, France and the U.S. and Germany. Don't go back to the 1200s. Look back to 1804 and you have more violence in those countries than in Haiti. So the characterization of Haiti as a violent country is a bunch of hogwash. Why is there tension and instability in Haiti? It is simply because in Haiti you have 5 percent of the population controlling 60 percent of the national wealth, while 80 percent live in poverty. If you had such a situation in any other country you'd have a massacre or a civil war but that hasn't happened in Haiti, which speaks to the self-restraint of the Haitian population. The instability of the last 20 to 25 years has been caused essentially by this elite as well as their foreign allies who cannot truly accept the principal of one citizen-one vote because it would mean that they would lose their privileges and influence. They have tried to quench the will of the poor majority of Haiti and tried to change the rules of the game because they've lost in elections. If it were up to the Haitian people (and when I say Haitian people I'm talking about the vast majority of Haitians who are poor) there would be both democracy and stability. If you look at recent history, the Haitian people have chosen to vote rather than to riot. They voted four times in a row for the same political family, the same political leaning, the same agenda. They consistently have picked both democracy and stability."
One popular piece of propaganda the media has used over and over is the lie of looting during times of crises like these. Not only do the repetitions of these mythemes make it easy for people to accept their inherent prejudices without question, but they can distract us and help cause us to ignore that we live under what is rapidly approaching a fascist, corporate controlled government who won't stop at crushing even that "little island" for their own gain.
"[S]uch disasters are generally exploited by states and companies in the vicious and predatory way that Naomi Klein outlines in The Shock Doctrine. Perhaps a lesser known example of this is the way in which in the wake of the tsunami in late 2004, the Indonesian military took the opportunity to ramp up repression in Aceh. A more obvious example is the depraved way in which the Bush administration (and the local Democratic party) effectively ethnically cleansed New Orleans and turned it into a haven for developers and construction firms after Katrina. So, what depraved agenda is going to be more forcefully thrust on Haiti in the middle of this catastrophe? Obviously, there is no danger of Obama allowing any impoverished immigrants into the US on the back of some rickety boats. You might recall that after last year's hurricanes, his administration continued to deport people, even in the middle of urgent legal appeals."
As Lenin pointed out in another post, which I'm too lazy to locate right now, the military really isn't expecting a fight as some of the major networks have claimed. Why expect a fight from people who are already impoverished, and, on top of it, have experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history? A population and consequently their economy is much easier to handle if it's already decimated.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Quotes of the Week/We're Screwed
Two quotes I've appreciated this week (one spoken, one written, respectively):
"The masses will be drinking Coca-Cola up until the day we're all living in tents."
"Who wouldn't want to wear dress shirts, watch television, and work in an office?"
The latter was a sarcastic (REALLY!) comment mocking the power structures that keep the "middle" class in dazed, thankless servitude when they attempt to perpetuate this way of life on other civilizations, or something worse. Specifically, the author was talking about Haiti's history and the US's oppressive involvement in it. It is from an otherwise unsavory article on eXiled online. There are some little nuggets there sometimes, though.
Take for instance their article on California's water problem, which will soon transfer into a problem for all of us. I've kept putting the monstrous issue of the privatization of water in the back of my mind because it spells disaster once robber barons not only control our government, but the water we need as well. I recently found out how close it has personally come, too; a friend's monied grandfather has been offered an "investment opportunity" in Branson, Missouri's rural water system. Basically, private companies are making up paper money based on water that *might be* there in the future, and are selling it back to the citizens they stole it from. Will people finally march on the DC corporatists with torches and pitchforks once we no longer have access to water? As my first quote indicated, it's not likely. We are a broken people.
And that brings me right back to that sense of stifling dread I've been feeling that's been echoed elsewhere on blogs I regularly peruse. Everything sucks. We're fucking over poor brown people the world over, again, and it's certainly clear that this isn't a democracy. I'm sure I could hyperlink myriads of posts and articles that have fueled my demoralized anxiety, but I don't even want to bother. Every where I look, shit sucks. We're screwed. All of the headlines combine and form one amorphous reel of shit that plays in my head over and over again until I lose any ability to articulate the whole mess piece by piece. And now, why bother.
My options are to actually do something or sit and chainsmoke and despair or to keep myself occupied with cooking, reading, tending to my plants, writing, etc. And taking my meds to remain pliable and manageable. Hell, I opted to go to a chamber of commerce dinner tonight just to occupy myself. Get my mind off shit. This was not meant to be a "woe is me" article, but it kinda turned out that way, huh? I just wish I was bionic and had the capital to help make the changes necessary before everything implodes.
"The masses will be drinking Coca-Cola up until the day we're all living in tents."
"Who wouldn't want to wear dress shirts, watch television, and work in an office?"
The latter was a sarcastic (REALLY!) comment mocking the power structures that keep the "middle" class in dazed, thankless servitude when they attempt to perpetuate this way of life on other civilizations, or something worse. Specifically, the author was talking about Haiti's history and the US's oppressive involvement in it. It is from an otherwise unsavory article on eXiled online. There are some little nuggets there sometimes, though.
Take for instance their article on California's water problem, which will soon transfer into a problem for all of us. I've kept putting the monstrous issue of the privatization of water in the back of my mind because it spells disaster once robber barons not only control our government, but the water we need as well. I recently found out how close it has personally come, too; a friend's monied grandfather has been offered an "investment opportunity" in Branson, Missouri's rural water system. Basically, private companies are making up paper money based on water that *might be* there in the future, and are selling it back to the citizens they stole it from. Will people finally march on the DC corporatists with torches and pitchforks once we no longer have access to water? As my first quote indicated, it's not likely. We are a broken people.
And that brings me right back to that sense of stifling dread I've been feeling that's been echoed elsewhere on blogs I regularly peruse. Everything sucks. We're fucking over poor brown people the world over, again, and it's certainly clear that this isn't a democracy. I'm sure I could hyperlink myriads of posts and articles that have fueled my demoralized anxiety, but I don't even want to bother. Every where I look, shit sucks. We're screwed. All of the headlines combine and form one amorphous reel of shit that plays in my head over and over again until I lose any ability to articulate the whole mess piece by piece. And now, why bother.
My options are to actually do something or sit and chainsmoke and despair or to keep myself occupied with cooking, reading, tending to my plants, writing, etc. And taking my meds to remain pliable and manageable. Hell, I opted to go to a chamber of commerce dinner tonight just to occupy myself. Get my mind off shit. This was not meant to be a "woe is me" article, but it kinda turned out that way, huh? I just wish I was bionic and had the capital to help make the changes necessary before everything implodes.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Easy Chickpea Soup
It's back to school for me, and I am glad for it. I truly get into new depths of laziness every time an extended break is offered. Along with hitting the books comes the opportunity to find new meals to cook that are [at least kind of] healthy and fairly painless to make. This recipe is an adaptation of Stylish Cuisine's chickpea soup, which she also adapted from elsewhere. And I just now noticed she posted a newish Moroccan spiced chickpea soup, omg. My tweaks aren't too earth-shattering, just a little quicker and dirtier since I didn't have the canned plum tomatoes it calls for. I also added a little more o' tis and tat.
Makes two to four servings.
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves, crushed as much as you can
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth*
1 bay leaf
splash lemon juice
salt and pepper, to your taste
Heat the olive oil in a pot large enough to accommodate all of the ingredients. Add the garlic cloves and saute until they are nutty-brown in color and then remove them from the pot. (I'm sure they'd save well for...something else, maybe.**) Add the rosemary, give it a stir, then add the tomato sauce and let it simmer for about five minutes. Add the chickpeas and allow to simmer for another five minutes. Then add the broth and bay leaf, allow it to come to a boil, bring it back down to a simmer, and cover. Let the soup cook for fifteen minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, turn off heat, then stir in the splash of lemon juice. Serve.
I think I'll try it with the plum tomatoes next time while keeping the tomato sauce, and up everything else, possibly doubling the batch. It's a really tasty soup and it doesn't take that much salt to get a multidimensional flavor. The oil does make it a little buttery and that can be adjusted if you so desire.
*I've gotten accustomed to making my own veggie broth; I usually have enough odds and ends from the vegetables I routinely use in my cooking to make a batch after a couple of months. Of course, I keep them frozen in baggies until I cook 'em up! I use what I call my "pot method" of cooking my batches--it all fits accordingly just up to the brim of the pot I always cook soup in. Here's a handy recipe I've recently used as a guide. It's simple to make, and mine is always more flavorful than what I buy at the grocery.
**Oh yeah! I think they would be great to spread on a hunk of sourdough to dip in the soup since it's kind of brothy. Once that thought came to mind, I decided I had to make some sourdough. I'm getting my supplies to get the starter going and those loaves will be incorporated into a couple of meals I'll cook next week. I'll let you know of the delicious consequences.
Makes two to four servings.
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves, crushed as much as you can
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth*
1 bay leaf
splash lemon juice
salt and pepper, to your taste
Heat the olive oil in a pot large enough to accommodate all of the ingredients. Add the garlic cloves and saute until they are nutty-brown in color and then remove them from the pot. (I'm sure they'd save well for...something else, maybe.**) Add the rosemary, give it a stir, then add the tomato sauce and let it simmer for about five minutes. Add the chickpeas and allow to simmer for another five minutes. Then add the broth and bay leaf, allow it to come to a boil, bring it back down to a simmer, and cover. Let the soup cook for fifteen minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, turn off heat, then stir in the splash of lemon juice. Serve.
I think I'll try it with the plum tomatoes next time while keeping the tomato sauce, and up everything else, possibly doubling the batch. It's a really tasty soup and it doesn't take that much salt to get a multidimensional flavor. The oil does make it a little buttery and that can be adjusted if you so desire.
*I've gotten accustomed to making my own veggie broth; I usually have enough odds and ends from the vegetables I routinely use in my cooking to make a batch after a couple of months. Of course, I keep them frozen in baggies until I cook 'em up! I use what I call my "pot method" of cooking my batches--it all fits accordingly just up to the brim of the pot I always cook soup in. Here's a handy recipe I've recently used as a guide. It's simple to make, and mine is always more flavorful than what I buy at the grocery.
**Oh yeah! I think they would be great to spread on a hunk of sourdough to dip in the soup since it's kind of brothy. Once that thought came to mind, I decided I had to make some sourdough. I'm getting my supplies to get the starter going and those loaves will be incorporated into a couple of meals I'll cook next week. I'll let you know of the delicious consequences.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Help for Haiti/Links of Interest
Here are a couple of links to charities active in helping out the Haitians:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34835478/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/01/haiti-help-and-info-open-thread.html
Have you heard the ridiculous victim-blaming Pat Robertson has assigned to the Haitians, specifically their "pact with the devil"? Here's a post from Shakesville regarding the lukewarm non-apology the 700 Club offered:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-dare-you-question-me.html
I appreciate the note about disablist comments Paul the Spud includes. Although there are elements of self-delusion involved with Robertson's comments that are completely divorced from reality, it's not fair to write these off due to him being a "nutjob." Obviously, any person so caught up in their own privilege is capable of making such ludicrous claims like the victims being at fault for their own disasters. Oh, that reminds me of another link that details some of the reasons Haiti has been so disaster prone in recent history (and it ain't no curse):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_disasters
Sidenote: My xian auntie, whom I have blogged about before, was on a mission in Haiti and escaped just in the nick of time before the earthquake struck. I've been paying close attention to her FB page, somewhat salivating at the opportunity to mock her and her God if she mentions how much God was "looking out for her" since she escaped the disaster unscathed. This is wrong, I know! I am happy that she is okay, but I'd be even happier if this shook some of the foundations those missionaries believe in, as in, there is no robed figure looking out for us--we have to look out for ourselves. Yet, she calls for prayers and posts links to the missionary that "needs to do some more work" in the region. I just want to know why a just God would look out for the white missionary woman and not all those brown people...I'm really hoping she and some of my other religiously zealous family is not considering this "curse" as real.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34835478/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/01/haiti-help-and-info-open-thread.html
Have you heard the ridiculous victim-blaming Pat Robertson has assigned to the Haitians, specifically their "pact with the devil"? Here's a post from Shakesville regarding the lukewarm non-apology the 700 Club offered:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-dare-you-question-me.html
I appreciate the note about disablist comments Paul the Spud includes. Although there are elements of self-delusion involved with Robertson's comments that are completely divorced from reality, it's not fair to write these off due to him being a "nutjob." Obviously, any person so caught up in their own privilege is capable of making such ludicrous claims like the victims being at fault for their own disasters. Oh, that reminds me of another link that details some of the reasons Haiti has been so disaster prone in recent history (and it ain't no curse):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_disasters
Sidenote: My xian auntie, whom I have blogged about before, was on a mission in Haiti and escaped just in the nick of time before the earthquake struck. I've been paying close attention to her FB page, somewhat salivating at the opportunity to mock her and her God if she mentions how much God was "looking out for her" since she escaped the disaster unscathed. This is wrong, I know! I am happy that she is okay, but I'd be even happier if this shook some of the foundations those missionaries believe in, as in, there is no robed figure looking out for us--we have to look out for ourselves. Yet, she calls for prayers and posts links to the missionary that "needs to do some more work" in the region. I just want to know why a just God would look out for the white missionary woman and not all those brown people...I'm really hoping she and some of my other religiously zealous family is not considering this "curse" as real.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Oh, ennui
Often, when I'm bored and not feeling motivated enough to spend some time reading something more enlightening, I'll click on different groups on Facebook and consequently different members of those groups, mainly out of curiosity to see what people allow as public information. So I clicked on an anti-Obama group, and on its wall were ridiculous postings of how Obama's liberal agenda is going to detract from the "average American's" (read: male and white) liberties as granted by Constitution. Hehe. Here is a screen shot of one of the more vocal members of the group's political and religious beliefs:
I find myself hoping, during various dealings with strangers, friends, and acquaintances, that what they are saying is a psychological test to see what kind of person *I* am. So, naturally, I'm hoping this is a clever troll's work. My mind does not want to concede to the fact that I'm closer in proximity to these types of people at all times while we languish in Kansas...not that there aren't fanatics everywhere, but we've got a nice little concentration I'd rather do without. So was this guy thinking these are admirable stances to take? I'm so confused.
I find myself hoping, during various dealings with strangers, friends, and acquaintances, that what they are saying is a psychological test to see what kind of person *I* am. So, naturally, I'm hoping this is a clever troll's work. My mind does not want to concede to the fact that I'm closer in proximity to these types of people at all times while we languish in Kansas...not that there aren't fanatics everywhere, but we've got a nice little concentration I'd rather do without. So was this guy thinking these are admirable stances to take? I'm so confused.
Screw the Times
As Noam Chomsky has said, the New York Times does indeed produce all the news it deems as "fit to print," which conveniently fits into other agendas as well. (Even with its supposed "left bias" (I'm fairly certain I've only heard that from those who gravitate toward the right).) At one time I put a little more stock into it, even after having read and watched Chomsky's arguments against this tool that is advantageous for those interested in maintaining the status quo. I've been trying to ignore it completely, but will read a few articles here and there when I see them bookmarked on my network on Delicious. What's evident now more than ever is how much one has to slog through in order to get to the main points. In two of the different articles I just attempted reading, the whole of the paragraphs outlining the main points don't contain any actual information. No supporting arguments (or presentation of conflicting arguments for rebuttal), just cliched idioms begging you to finish the article. And the main point? Eh, sorta banal--a news product more than actual news. So yeah, nothing much different than any other "major" news source.
Edit: Despite the Times's overall quality of journalism, I really appreciate Bob Herbert's contributions. There are a couple of other good'uns in the mix too, but his pieces are ones I always look out for.
Edit: Despite the Times's overall quality of journalism, I really appreciate Bob Herbert's contributions. There are a couple of other good'uns in the mix too, but his pieces are ones I always look out for.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
!*&(^)@(*#&@!
Will the Tiger Woods thing ever die? Maybe I should know a little more about it; I'm not sure what all happened to his wife. There's always something to reflect on when these kind of stories hit the headlines, as far as how they represent gender roles in society. But really, you're 30 and think it's funny to join the "I didn't sleep with Tiger Woods" group on Facebook? Give me a break.
And the weather!!!!!!!! OMG it's fucking cold and there's snow on the ground agggghhh
Lenin over at Lenin's Tomb made me chuckle with their satirization of the dreadful weather apocalypse...that oddly enough strikes every fucking year, people, sheesh.
In other news, one of my doggies is missing. I scoured the roads for a few hours this morning, and I'm now trying to decide whether it's worth it to go back out. He stays outside, and takes shelter in a barn across the road and our garage/shack type thing. He's been gone for a couple of days before, but he now has a buddy that tags along with him (White Dog) and he is here, without our baby Leo. So I am a little on edge. A couple of good signs, though: I stepped on fresh dog shit in the yard that only a dog his size would be capable of creating, and there is a freshly-dead killed (as in hunted down) mouse out front too (he's a mouser). Looking and waiting for now.
Also, got some ideas churning...it's the closest I've come to sitting down and writing anything fictional since March of last year, when I had a little break with reality. One would think that type of slip would lend to some creativity, but alas. With saying that, I am reminded of those peeps out there (out where? in cyberspace mostly, I s'pose) who consider their bipolar disorder as a "gift." Ah ha. Now that's crazy.
Edit: I'm sure race was also a factor in calling out Tiger Woods on his infidelity. What would happen if a white big-shot athlete got caught? I'm guessing it would just be any other ol' day of the week.
And the weather!!!!!!!! OMG it's fucking cold and there's snow on the ground agggghhh
Lenin over at Lenin's Tomb made me chuckle with their satirization of the dreadful weather apocalypse...that oddly enough strikes every fucking year, people, sheesh.
In other news, one of my doggies is missing. I scoured the roads for a few hours this morning, and I'm now trying to decide whether it's worth it to go back out. He stays outside, and takes shelter in a barn across the road and our garage/shack type thing. He's been gone for a couple of days before, but he now has a buddy that tags along with him (White Dog) and he is here, without our baby Leo. So I am a little on edge. A couple of good signs, though: I stepped on fresh dog shit in the yard that only a dog his size would be capable of creating, and there is a freshly-dead killed (as in hunted down) mouse out front too (he's a mouser). Looking and waiting for now.
Also, got some ideas churning...it's the closest I've come to sitting down and writing anything fictional since March of last year, when I had a little break with reality. One would think that type of slip would lend to some creativity, but alas. With saying that, I am reminded of those peeps out there (out where? in cyberspace mostly, I s'pose) who consider their bipolar disorder as a "gift." Ah ha. Now that's crazy.
Edit: I'm sure race was also a factor in calling out Tiger Woods on his infidelity. What would happen if a white big-shot athlete got caught? I'm guessing it would just be any other ol' day of the week.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My top tracks in 2009
Thought I would just add on to my music video theme I started today. Here are the videos for some of my top tracks per my last.fm account (it's kind of a mish-mash of them; I went through all the top tracks I had and picked out my favorite out of ten to twenty). I listen to a lot of vinyl, so I don't have those factored in. Maybe determining my record-listenage for 2009 is a decent idea for another blog, hmm.
Anywho, from least listened to most, here they are. Some of them are pretty much just the music with a background, some are live, and some are scripted videos. Enjoy...you know, if we have similar music tastes and stuff.
10. Muslimgauze - Hab Al-Zeitoun
9. John Coltrane - Locomotion
8. Television - Prove It
7. Ra Ra Riot - Too Too Too Fast
6. Ben Harper - Black Rain
5. Pixies - I Bleed
4. Zero 7 - Waiting to Die
3. Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
2. Josef K - Sorry for Laughing
1. Essential Logic - Fanfare in the Garden
Anywho, from least listened to most, here they are. Some of them are pretty much just the music with a background, some are live, and some are scripted videos. Enjoy...you know, if we have similar music tastes and stuff.
10. Muslimgauze - Hab Al-Zeitoun
9. John Coltrane - Locomotion
8. Television - Prove It
7. Ra Ra Riot - Too Too Too Fast
6. Ben Harper - Black Rain
5. Pixies - I Bleed
4. Zero 7 - Waiting to Die
3. Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
2. Josef K - Sorry for Laughing
1. Essential Logic - Fanfare in the Garden
Friday, January 8, 2010
This ring!
Just last night I was chatting with an e-friend and I mentioned how my brain's development wasn't too much of a worry for my parents while I was growing up; more focus was placed on my appearance...which it is for many young girls, but more so for the girls of parents who were scared of doing their own thinking and had most of it done for them, straight out of the pulpit. But that is another post. As a sidenote, I also have a brother and he was never urged to anything brainy as far as I can recall--he was tall and athletically inclined, so naturally, they encouraged his sportsmanship. It didn't work out. Anyway.
So my brain is not usually far from pondering traditional gender roles and their impact on us ladies as we make it in this world, but I really hadn't given much thought to how my parents really fostered these outdated ideals. Granted, I don't think it was done intentionally and they meant to rob so much of my life of more meaningful development as a human and I'm not really bitter. However, I'm sick of ignorance being an excuse for everything from harmful gender stereotyping to racism. It's a reason, but I don't think it's an excuse and people don't get a free pass because of their ignorance as far as I'm concerned. But I digress.
Over the holiday season, I was forced to realize how much these stereotypical roles are expected of me still from my parents. I thought that my parents were both comfortable with the fact that C and I do not plan on having any children. They have three as it is (so get off my back!) with a couple of step-grandchildren thrown in for good measure. My mom refers to our dogs as her granddogs, so I assumed all was well.
I tend to keep my parents at arm's length, so we had not seen them since July and my 30th birthday passed during that time. So my mother had a birthday gift waiting for me. I opened it once we visited, and I was a little crestfallen to see that she had given me yet another porcelain trinket box with an inscription on it lauding our mother/daughter "friendship." I have a problem with this term, first of all. Do you really want to be friends with your daughter? I'm not saying the parent/offspring relationship should be strictly authoritative (or authoritarian), but friendship is something I'm not comfortable with assigning to this relationship. Alas, I did not break it to my mother that I don't consider her my friend because that would just make me a huge ass, wouldn't it? But I don't confide in her, I don't share things with her that I do with my friends, and I don't know that she would really want me to. If I did, I think she would be sorely disappointed in the person she raised and part of it is largely because of my rejection of the roles she wants me to take on (I'm getting there...).
Inside the trinket box is a jewelry box, and inside of that is the ring my father gave her when she found out she was pregnant with me. It took them 14 years to conceive successfully (there were a few miscarriages), and mom sometimes likes to refer to me as her "miracle baby." Sigh. No miracle there, just stubborn determination on their part. It's a pretty ring; the outer jewels, rubies, are arranged in a floral pattern around a small central diamond. I admired it when I was a child. But I had no feelings of envy or that I eventually wanted to wear it myself. It is also in their will that I should receive this, but no, I get it now so that I can "eventually give it to my daughter as a gift when she is long gone."
Good grief. Talk about guilt, and I always go along for the ride when she forces these trips on me. I will finish this post at a later date, because I'm late for a date right now!
Edit: What bothers me most is that my mother completely ignored anything I have said to her about my decision not to have kids. She, like some friends I have, is probably under the assumption that I just might change my mind, me being an indecisive, scatterbrained woman and all. FFS, I'm 30, and I don't consider myself to have it all figured out or even a good portion of it, but I've been fairly rooted in my decision since I was 26. First, I would feel irresponsible bringing yet another child into this world that would aid in our over-consumption. If I really feel the urge to care for another human, I will adopt. Second, there is no way I'm putting myself into the "mommy" culture. All those expectations and playdates and people who would try to get my kid to follow a religion--no, no, no. However, I don't blame my mother fully for ignoring my interests; I blame the patriarchy that has imbued my mother with its expectations of woman existing to please Man and procreate as the most fulfilling function of womanhood. I'm not shooting down anyone's choice to have children, it just ain't for me, and I wish people were more accepting--especially my own family!
So my brain is not usually far from pondering traditional gender roles and their impact on us ladies as we make it in this world, but I really hadn't given much thought to how my parents really fostered these outdated ideals. Granted, I don't think it was done intentionally and they meant to rob so much of my life of more meaningful development as a human and I'm not really bitter. However, I'm sick of ignorance being an excuse for everything from harmful gender stereotyping to racism. It's a reason, but I don't think it's an excuse and people don't get a free pass because of their ignorance as far as I'm concerned. But I digress.
Over the holiday season, I was forced to realize how much these stereotypical roles are expected of me still from my parents. I thought that my parents were both comfortable with the fact that C and I do not plan on having any children. They have three as it is (so get off my back!) with a couple of step-grandchildren thrown in for good measure. My mom refers to our dogs as her granddogs, so I assumed all was well.
I tend to keep my parents at arm's length, so we had not seen them since July and my 30th birthday passed during that time. So my mother had a birthday gift waiting for me. I opened it once we visited, and I was a little crestfallen to see that she had given me yet another porcelain trinket box with an inscription on it lauding our mother/daughter "friendship." I have a problem with this term, first of all. Do you really want to be friends with your daughter? I'm not saying the parent/offspring relationship should be strictly authoritative (or authoritarian), but friendship is something I'm not comfortable with assigning to this relationship. Alas, I did not break it to my mother that I don't consider her my friend because that would just make me a huge ass, wouldn't it? But I don't confide in her, I don't share things with her that I do with my friends, and I don't know that she would really want me to. If I did, I think she would be sorely disappointed in the person she raised and part of it is largely because of my rejection of the roles she wants me to take on (I'm getting there...).
Inside the trinket box is a jewelry box, and inside of that is the ring my father gave her when she found out she was pregnant with me. It took them 14 years to conceive successfully (there were a few miscarriages), and mom sometimes likes to refer to me as her "miracle baby." Sigh. No miracle there, just stubborn determination on their part. It's a pretty ring; the outer jewels, rubies, are arranged in a floral pattern around a small central diamond. I admired it when I was a child. But I had no feelings of envy or that I eventually wanted to wear it myself. It is also in their will that I should receive this, but no, I get it now so that I can "eventually give it to my daughter as a gift when she is long gone."
Good grief. Talk about guilt, and I always go along for the ride when she forces these trips on me. I will finish this post at a later date, because I'm late for a date right now!
Edit: What bothers me most is that my mother completely ignored anything I have said to her about my decision not to have kids. She, like some friends I have, is probably under the assumption that I just might change my mind, me being an indecisive, scatterbrained woman and all. FFS, I'm 30, and I don't consider myself to have it all figured out or even a good portion of it, but I've been fairly rooted in my decision since I was 26. First, I would feel irresponsible bringing yet another child into this world that would aid in our over-consumption. If I really feel the urge to care for another human, I will adopt. Second, there is no way I'm putting myself into the "mommy" culture. All those expectations and playdates and people who would try to get my kid to follow a religion--no, no, no. However, I don't blame my mother fully for ignoring my interests; I blame the patriarchy that has imbued my mother with its expectations of woman existing to please Man and procreate as the most fulfilling function of womanhood. I'm not shooting down anyone's choice to have children, it just ain't for me, and I wish people were more accepting--especially my own family!
Friday, January 1, 2010
A few quick rants
I got into a conversation with someone close to me (not necessarily by choice) over the holidays who, while having a conversation regarding white privilege and the use of derogatory, racially loaded terms, remarked, "But I didn't enslave anyone. They themselves aren't enslaved now. I don't think there's any reason why I can't walk up to a black person and ask 'What's up nigga?' when I'm obviously just kidding around." So, so much wrong with this white person's line of thinking. We do not live in a vacuum; there is a lasting legacy of the consequences of slavery and "separate but equal" doctrines. First off, why would you want to be so hurtful? This person, as far as I know, has made little to no effort to understand their privilege or investigate why "kidding around" like this can be so damaging. White folks who want to be able to use racially charged insults because they are "politically incorrect" or exercise their "freedom of speech" are nothing more than willfully ignorant, selfish, spoiled brats who are so blinded by their own bigotry that they can't even conceive of considering another perspective. Although I'm not one to make resolutions because I don't want to reserve making changes in my life to one arbitrary part of the year, I am definitely resolving to continue to distance myself from people whose antiquated attitudes do nothing more than make me want to break glass ashtrays. Why glass ashtrays? They are the most satisfying things to break, IMO.
People who do not consider arguments outside of the status quo do not get to claim that ardent leftists (the good kind! hehe), feminists, anti-racists, or any other type of activist who rejects the mediocre politics the media wants us to feed on are close-minded. If you have never challenged your mind by looking into other perspectives and you're pissed off because someone might cause you to question the tenets that prop up your narrow world view (because new thoughts are scary sometimes, yes), you just might be the very thing you're accusing someone else of.
For pity's sake, who isn't popping offspring out these days?! And why? Why is it so alluring to give birth to a helpless human and conform to society's gender norms? I...I am at a loss. Like my last post alluded to, I think I need to just stay away from Facebook, or purge the friends list to narrow the abyss I've unwittingly created, and that I choose to stare into every day.
People who do not consider arguments outside of the status quo do not get to claim that ardent leftists (the good kind! hehe), feminists, anti-racists, or any other type of activist who rejects the mediocre politics the media wants us to feed on are close-minded. If you have never challenged your mind by looking into other perspectives and you're pissed off because someone might cause you to question the tenets that prop up your narrow world view (because new thoughts are scary sometimes, yes), you just might be the very thing you're accusing someone else of.
For pity's sake, who isn't popping offspring out these days?! And why? Why is it so alluring to give birth to a helpless human and conform to society's gender norms? I...I am at a loss. Like my last post alluded to, I think I need to just stay away from Facebook, or purge the friends list to narrow the abyss I've unwittingly created, and that I choose to stare into every day.
Are we done yet?
The whole premise of my complaint here is an annoying first world concern that at least half of the world doesn't have to deal with, but perhaps that fuels a bit of the anger as well. And I could just not go online but! if I have to see any more pictures of spoiled white US kids looking bored while they open up myriads of gifts (on that lovely "networking" site, Facebook) most likely put together by someone who has never experienced the monstrosity that is a US Christmas I'm...I'm going to start to write complaint letters to their parents, or rant on my "wall" about it. What tops it off is certain peoples' mention of how we need to "keep Christ in Christmas" and how they're "celebrating his birthday" and not being as materialistic as everyone else is. Puh-lease. It's about the gifts, it's about consuming, it's about stuffing yourself, it's about pretending Santa is real until a certain age--please cut it with the holier than thou crap. I'm sure one can ruminate on Christ's nativity and feel some kind of high or something, but I can't imagine that if such a guy really existed he'd care if one celebrated his date of birth or not. Anyway, enough of the moralizing and acting like the holiday is anything other than an ancient tradition where we celebrate during some of the shortest days of the year when everything is lying dormant until spring. Nothing wrong with festivities, I love them in fact! And I love getting together with people. I hate that it's more or less an excuse to shower each other with plastic toys assembled in China that parents bought with an underlying thought that they were "stimulating the economy" somehow. Can't wait till it's out of everyone's system for the next eleven months.