17 May 2008
I saw a bumper sticker recently that said “Evolution is a lie” and I questioned out loud “Evolution is a lie?” Then I started cracking up laughing, because it seems so silly to me for there to be folks who are so convinced that “evolution is a lie” so as to proudly proclaim it upon their vehicle. My second thought was, “What the fuck? Who really believes evolution is a lie?”
The New York Times Online has an article by Adam Nagourney entitled, “Ruling May Revive Gay Marriage as Issue”.
Revive?
It’s ALWAYS been “an issue”. Whether or not presidential politicians want to speak publicly on the subject is a different issue altogether. They’re too busy trying to get as many votes as possible, alternately caving to competing sides until they’re so in the middle it doesn’t matter which one you vote for.
For until two women or two men* can legally enter the marriage contract, it will remain “an issue”.
We need to question what type of “issue” the same-sex marriage issue truly is.
For just like the bumper sticker proclaiming evolution to be some sort of hoax, so too do groups of folks proclaim same-sex marriage to be some sort of threat to the institution of marriage as a whole. Where do people come up with these ideas?
Walking home with The Partner tonight, I remarked on how moved I was to read about couples publicly celebrating the California court ruling.
To publicly celebrate being able to enter into a state contract.
My mind boggles that such a thing has to happen.
Same-sex marriage, as it is so called, is an issue of “separate-but-equal” treatment, which, as has been shown, is NOT equal.
Listening to NPR today I became enraged at a woman they interviewed who was “against” same-sex marriage because it “threated marriage”. First I couldn’t believe NPR actually gave air-time to this person, and second, that she would rather actively participate in the prohibition, the denial of two fellow citizens’ rights than mind her own relationships and legal contracts.
What the fuck kind of mentality is this?
I actively question folks I know on their reasons for entering the marriage contract, if they are so privileged to legally do so. Thus far their answers have been a resounding “for the benefits”. Benefits such as sharing health insurance packages. Benefits such as sharing the right to decide how their lives, both independently and jointly, should be lived.
With reality surrounding you, if you can’t fathom evolution or reason as to why two consenting adults should not be able to enter a contract of their choosing, then you’re an idiot.
_________
*However we shall define those terms.
16 May 2008
Earlier this week I was contacted by a communications exec with the National Tertiary Education Union of Australia who was interested in using one of my photographs for an upcoming campaign. I sent him my licensing information and everything must have met their approval because I LICENSED A PHOTOGRAPH. FOR MONEY.
Granted, it wasn’t much money, but HOLY SHIT Y’ALL.
Hi. I’m Anne and I’m a professional photographer.
14 May 2008
While making dinner I remarked to The Partner that something in the fridge was stinking. I open the door and ask, “Smell that? What is that? Is that your carrots?” He pulls out the two bags of carrot sticks, smells them, examines them for rot, says no.
He pulls out a jug of lime-green margarita mix that’s probably been in the fridge since last summer and asks, “God, how long’s this been in here?” He puts it on the counter. Neither one of us bothers with the jug of yellow margarita mix that’s been in there for at least two years, nor the jug of sour mix that’s a year old. “These beans have been in there a while now, right?” The Partner takes out the bowl of beans/rice/eggs and puts it on the counter. The microwave dings.
We eat and watch S2E4 of the X-Files. Afterwards we get ready to walk the dog, me going upstairs to brush and floss, The Partner doing whatever in the kitchen. A couple minutes later he joins me in the upstairs bathroom to brush his teeth. “It was the beans that stunk,” he informs me while putting toothpaste on his brush, “I threw them away.”
While brushing I garble out, “Did you flush* them?” He garbles, “No, I put them in the garbage.” I shoot him a look, thinking he’s joking. I asked him again. He nods. I rinse my mouth out and say, “Seriously. Did you really put them in the garbage?” I’m sure I asked him a few more times, shoving him once or twice in the “get out of here!” manner.
I stare at him blankly.
“You’re fucking serious? You put rotting beans in the garbage can? It’s going to stink up the house! Plus, I just took out the garbage today! It’s a new bag!”
“I’ll take it out. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
“Obviously! Why would you do that? Were you thinking, ‘Shit, I’ll just dump the stinking food into the new bag, the new bag that won’t have to be taken out for two weeks.’ What the fuck?”
“I guess. I don’t know!”
Later while on the walk he admits: “I did think about it when I dumped the beans into the garbage and they plopped on the bottom.”
_________
*Our garbage disposal is finicky and is currently not working.
12 May 2008
Me: Dude, you can’t use caps in your XHTML code.
The Partner: I can use whatever I want.
Me: No you can’t, not if you want your site to be accessible in the year thirty-one hundred.
The Partner: Did you just hear what you said?
10 May 2008
For Ms Lauren:
Why Watching The L-Word in Sweat Pants Is NOT Better Than Us:
- We are REAL LIVE BEINGS!
- We are more REALISTIC than L-Word characters
- We most certainly do not make more than $50K/year
- We hardly ever have perfectly coiffed hair
- Our clothes are NOT designer labels,
- nor do we care if they are
- We sell our art for $50-$300
- We won’t cheat on you with the carpenter
- We won’t cheat on you, period.
- Sweat pants? You really think L-Word characters will take you in sweat pants?? Fuck no. WE, HOWEVER, WILL.
- Movie producer? WhoTF here is a movie producer?
- High-class LA/NY art galleries? Fuck that, we got high-class Lafayette galleries, complete with FREE WINE!
- Where the fuck were you?
- Goddamnit.
- WTF?
5 May 2008
Will you resent me for this website? Absolutely. And I have spent hours and days and months of my life considering this, weighing your resentment against the good that can come from being open and honest about what it’s like to be your mother, the good for you, the good for me, and the good for other women who read what I write here and walk away feeling less alone. And I have every reason to believe that one day you will look at the thousands of pages I have written about my love for you, the thousands of pages other women have written about their own children, and you’re going to be so proud that we were brave enough to do this. We are an army of educated mothers who have finally stood up and said pay attention, this is important work, this is hard, frustrating work and we’re not going to sit around on our hands waiting for permission to do so. We have declared that our voices matter.
These are the stories of our lives as women….
dooce.com
3 May 2008
As discussed with friends, on Tuesday I shall be voting for Barack Obama, which goes contrary to my woman-identified, woman-preferred leanings.
The reason: Hillary Clinton is a MACHINE POLITICIAN (a.k.a. part of the political machine; i.e., just like Mayor Daley of Chicago and Mayor Daley of Chicago-current [a.k.a. Chi-town, a.k.a. The (Da) Region]). Why else do you think large corporations and city politicians are backing Clinton?
Obama at least has no history. Then again:
Whether this will play out good, fair, or neither (or shit-bad), is anybody’s gamble.
Let us contemplate:
1977-1981 James Earl (”Jimmy”) Carter, Jr. (D)
1981-1989 Ronald Reagan (R)
1989-1993 George Walker Bush (R)
1993-2001 William Jefferson Clinton (D)
2001-2009 George William Bush (R)
2009-2012 ?
2012-? ?
Somefuckingthing’s gotta change.
Clinton may be female, may be a woman, but fuck. She’s a Clinton.
Do not misunderstand me.
Obama isn’t any better: he’s running for president as a major Democratic contender. He has the FUNDS to run as a major Democratic contender.
You think I, or any of my friends, or YOU, can run for president—on our meager incomes?
As I said to friends, Obama is THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS.
When we vote between MILLIONAIRES, there is no good choice; THERE IS NO CHOICE.
If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal. —Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940)
There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. —Plato
[...] That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends [equality, unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish [that form of government], and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles [of equality, unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. —United States of America Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
24 April 2008
Artist Robert Shetterly has painted portraits of over 100 individuals who have impacted the US political scene throughout history up to the present day. The website features an image of each portrait along with a short biographical sketch of the person. The portraits and biographies have been made into a book while the portraits themselves remain as a group in a traveling exhibit.
Individuals represented include Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr., Amy Goodman, Shirley Chisholm, and Dennis Kucinich, among many others.
AmericansWhoTellTheTruth.org
