Good thing #593 coming to an end

Here's an 8-minute interview with Carla de Santis, founder of ROCKRGRL magazine, on how and why she started it and why she's ending it.

It's really good (includes shots of a Visqueen performance!)

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4010524

a solstice feast

We welcomed the winter solstice and the changing of the seasons with the following menus:

menu #1
smoked trout on endive leaves with dill cream cheese
prosciutto-wrapped breadsticks
endive salad with apple, gruyere, avocado and dried cranberries
oyster stew

menu #2
mini quiches
butter lettuce salad with orange, avocado, walnuts and gorgonzola
herbed new potatoes
roast pork loin with fig and port sauce
cheese plate with pears, apples, maple-glazed almonds, figs and honey

now starts the six month march toward the longest day of the year...

The Real Hot 100 List

To counter the repulsive magazine "Maxim" and their annual "hot 100 women" list, this group is collecting nominations for the real hot 100 -- young women who are smart, savvy, and trying to make the world a better place.

From their website:

"This project will not only combat the popular notion that all young women have to offer is their ability to appeal to men, but it will also highlight the important -- but often overlooked -- work young women are doing.

The REAL hot 100 will compile a list of young women who are REALLY hot, and publish it, in magazine format, timed to coincide with Maxim’s release next year. Anyone can nominate a young woman who is REALLY hot, and The REAL hot 100 selection committee will choose 100 women that best represent the intelligence, drive and diversity of young women in the U.S."

Dirty rock 'n roll, done dirt cheap

Last weekend we found ourselves among the last four people let inside Stubb's to see Hell's Belles and Honky. It wasn't even 10:00 and the line was down the block. We were hoping that Silver Zephyr (whose cats are named Malcolm and Angus, respectively) would be joning us, but alas, Silver Zephyr Jr. was not feeling well that night.

Thanks to RJ Reynolds, the show was free (and thanks to the cancer lobby and the city of austin, it was also smoke free for the most part). The place was comfortably full with a diverse and amicable crowd - die-hard fifty-something AC/DC fans, ladies who love ladies, and a smattering of short-haired white boys wearing ball caps (who, unfortunately, feature prominently in the photos due to their convergence at the front of the stage).

Honky opened with their infectious yet predictable ZZ-top style tunes, the lyrical content usually involving some form of praise for and appreciation of women, though not exactly the brainy part if you know what I mean. Lest you simply cast off Honky (ex-Godzilla Motor Company, ex-Butthole Surfers)as more of your typical sexist Texas redneck rock, picture this: a go-go dancer comes on stage about every other song clad in cowboy hat, barely-there denim shorts, white thigh-high fishnets, half of what looks like a peasant top, and lots of tattoos. You immediately groan. Until you look more closely and realize that it's none other than Hawk, better known for her role as a cute boy in Kings 'n Things. Ha! Hawk used to be my neighbor when I first moved to Austin. She loves drag, that one, and tonight she was in girl drag. I imagine there was a handful of us who knew this, and I had a laugh watching the guys look at her in that way - you know that way. That entitled way of 'ooo i get a little t & a with my rock 'n roll cuz i'm a dude.' Ha! again.

The gender-bending continued with Hell's Belles. What I like about their show is they don't trade on their sexuality. They just play the songs, and play them really well - they're not a joke band, they're a tribute band with great musicians who really appreciate AC/DC.



They played a lot of lesser-known Bon Scott-era stuff, pre 1980. And for "You Shook Me All Night Long" they made all the tall boys up front go to the back so the shorter girls could come up and rock out.



There's something sort of wonderful about five kickass women rockin' out in front of adoring fans and singing "We've got the biggest balls of them all!" Below is Adrian Conner, Austin's most under-appreciated guitar player, in school-boy garb a la Angus.

B*st B*y takes a page out of the W*l-M*rt handbook

Feminist Daily News Wire reports:

Best Buy Charged with Race and Sex Discrimination

On Thursday, six current and former employees of electronics retailer Best Buy filed a complaint alleging that the chain discriminated against women and minorities in hiring, pay, and promotions in violation of state and federal laws. The suit, Holloway et. Al. v. Best Buy Co, Inc., was filed in the US District Court in San Francisco and seeks an injunction against the discriminatory practices, the institution of company programs to ensure equal opportunities, and back pay for all plaintiffs.

The Associated Press reports that the complaint claims that managers ignored applications from those "who do not conform to the (company's) young, white, male culture." Nationwide, over 80 percent of store managers are white men, with women making up less than 10 percent and minorities making up less than 10 percent. Plaintiff Cheryl Chappel alleges that gender stereotypes and discrimination kept her from being promoted, as managers told her the position of operations supervisor was "a man thing," and that "girls can't sell," according to the plaintiffs’ press release. Furthermore, of the four customer types Best Buy has identified for its sales force to target, all are white, and only one is a woman: "Barry," is a man with a high income who purchases what he wants regardless of cost; "Ray," a man who likes electronic gadgets; "Buzz," is a young man who likes gaming; and “Jill” is identified as “Barry’s” wife and a homemaker.

"Best Buy is touting its modern, high-tech products for customers this holiday season. The company's views of women and minority employees, however, remain outdated and obsolete," said Bill Lann Lee, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice, and attorney for the plaintiffs. An age discrimination suit filed against Best Buy last year is still pending.

Good thing #592 coming to an end

My general sense of anomia and nihilism was fueled even more yesterday when I found out that Austin's beloved Young Heart Attack is no longer together. Their last show was Nov. 19. There are rumors that some of the members will be forming a new band, which is fine and all, but I will surely miss YHA.

For those in need of an AC/DC fix upon hearing this sad news, Helle's Belles are in town this Saturday at Stubbs! I saw them a few times when I lived in Seattle (their home base), and it's definitely somthing you should experience at least once. Featuring Seattle-to-Austin transplant and guitar goddess Adrian Conner (as "Angus") on guitar.

And it's FREE and ALL AGES - kickass.

ABracaDabra

I turned a corner yesterday - defended my dissertation proposal. Now I can call myself a doctoral candidate or "ABD." It wasn't so bad - kind of like going to the doctor. I'll probably back-burner my research for a few weeks and pick it up again in January. Right now I'm just sort of bored with everything in my life. I don't even post much here anymore because as soon as I think of something I follow it up with a 'who cares' and then let it go. I feel like everything is so obvious.

Mmmmm....Butterbeer

I went to the new Harry Potter movie last Sunday at the Alamo, and it was the most fun I've had at a movie in a long time. Since it was opening weekend, they had gussied up the joint by creating a "Platform 9 3/4" entryway into the theatre (you walked through curtains that had a brick pattern on them). Waiting in line was like being on the train to Hogwarts as a be-robed Alamo employee hawked chocolate frogs and bertie bott's every flavor beans up and down the line. Once in our seats, we immediately ordered up some Butterbeer. I have been wondering for five years what butterbeer would taste like. It was hard cider, butterscotch, spices, with whipped cream served warm in fancy glasses. I had two! Then we ordered the Beaubaxton's Bouillabaise and Dobby's Steak and Potato Pie. The movie itself was decent - a nice supplement to the book. It focuses exclusively on the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The few scenes in the beginning of the World Quidditch Cup were pretty spectacular, I wished they had shown more of that. I'm not sure what's up with everyone's hair though - all shaggy and stuff.

"You're So Judgmental!"

Growing up often on the outer edges of social groups observing how people dealt with each other (sometimes with the rather misguided hope that I might be able to decipher the right social codes that people use so that I could one day be on the inside of one of these groups), one lesson became clear very quickly: One must not, or give the appearance that one might, "judge" other people. What does this mean, exactly? It seems to mean "live and let live," or "to each her/his own," and any number of similar individualist/liberal-type adages.

There is such a strong taboo (or at least a more, for the sociologists/anthropologists out there) against forming judgments of others that people go around actively holding back their opinions, or maybe not forming opinions at all about what goes on around them. It is always good to check your judgements for unfair/indefensible prejudice (e.g. basing them on some weirdo moral/religious grounds favored by the KKK) before blurting them out, but I think this obsession with not judging people gets carried too far and can be downright harmful. Like when people see sexual harassment going on and don't intervene because "who are they to judge." Sometimes I'm around people who make me afraid to say anything for fear of being labeled with the dreaded "you're so judgmental!" Damn right I'm judgmental. That's how we communicate and learn, by making judgments about things. That doesn't mean I think I'm right - big difference.

From the mission statement of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin:

"The mission of the College of Liberal Arts is to make a free people wise, by educating its students in the ways of freedom, and by providing a model for education at other universities. The heart of a democracy is that the people must judge. Through education in the humanities and social sciences, the College of Liberal Arts will give its students the power and confidence to judge well."

There it is. I just need that confidence part.

Coolest thing about Toronto

I was back in Toronto last week, and when I boarded the airport express shuttle bus to downtown, Arcade Fire was playing over the bus speakers. I love Canada!

Can't imagine Austin without it

Now that it's public knowledge, I'm here to confirm that Lovejoy's in Austin is closing. The first bar I went to in Austin, before I had even moved here, when I didn't know a soul and I felt instantly comfortable. It's the place I met my 'main man' of three years. Said 'main man' works there currently, and I think he's in denial - he and many others who have been there for 12 years (either as customers or employees or both) will be essentially losing their family gathering place, a space whose DIY communal spirit is like no other.

It was going to close at the end of the year when the lease is up, but M. suggested that they ask the landlord to extend their lease until March, so they could have another SXSW, and they said yes.

Anyone have $100,000 to keep it open?

Parsing the anti-feminist "arguments"

Today I came across this post from Mind The Gap on how to respond to arguments from anti-feminists. It's one of the best, most well-thought-out pieces I've read on the subject. If you've ever been confronted with the "Feminists are all angry" and "Feminists are all lesbians" and "Feminists hate men" attempts at shutting you down, this is for you!

So what?

I finished my dissertation proposal! Yowza! I ran around town last night trying to find a copy place that was a) open and b) had an operable comb binding machine. I had to opt for the icky tape binding but it's better than a binder clip or a huge staple. This morning I distributed it to my five committee members, who (whom?) I am sure will read it the night before the defense. You'd like to think that after all that work people would give it the proper time it is due, but that is one of the many myths of graduate school. So now I wait until the 29th, at 9am, at which time I go before the tribunal, otherwise known as the proposal defense. In the meantime I will be preparing stock answers to such universal questions as "why are you doing this?" and "so what?"

Where the caribou roam

A bit of good news today:

GOP Leaders Yank ANWR Drilling Plan

But really, what is a "man" and a "woman"?

I hope all the homophobes in Texas (and there are a lot of 'em, hoo-boy) are breathing a huge sigh of relief today that they successfully thwarted a hostile takeover of their state by raving "homosexuals" hell-bent on getting married and....what?

I wonder how "opposite" these opposite sex marriages have to be to be legitimated under the constitution? When pressed, how would they define what a "man" and a "woman" is? As we all know, gender and sexuality are on fluid continuums, and to a large extent so is biological sex. There is a lot of ambiguity lurking underneath this idea of distinct biological sexes. What we need is someone with ambigous genitalia to sue the state of Texas (or any one of the other 19-odd states that have this in their constitutions now) for denying her/him the right to marry. Heh heh. I can already see the blank confused looks on the faces of legislators.

No School on Nov. 2 across the U.S.

World Can't Wait campaign -- Walk out of your school or job on Nov. 2!!

Home front

I'm back home and back to my senses now. Just about the first thing I did was go to brunch at Enoteca and all was put right. But look out, in two weeks I'm headed back to Toronto, this time with G$, and with any luck there will be some (mis)adventures to impart. Hopefully none involving anyone mistaking me for a toilet in their sleep. Seriously, that happened the last time I went to this particular wild and crazy conference, though I escaped the incident before anything (too) gross happened.

In other news, my best friend of over twenty years is pregnant, and she asked me to be a godparent!! I'm pretty psyched. Probably as close as I'll come to being an aunt. The kid is due in January, and the sex is going to be a surprise. She lives in Alaska, so it won't be as easy to visit as it was when I was in Seattle. But I'm honored and flattered and looking forward to being a part of her or his life. I hope the kid likes me!

...Inquiring minds want to know: Will I get my dissertation proposal done on time? Rough draft due in 24 hours. Methods section needs major work. Spent the evening watching West Wing and talking on the phone. Will I ever change??

Seriously thinking...

of defecting.

Texas was a novelty for the first three years, having never lived in the south before. Now, it's wearing a bit thin. Even in Austin, which isn't as progressive as it thinks it is. The heat, the political ick, the fatty food, the patriarchal status quo even in "progressive" circles, the rampant use of styrofoam...

Probably won't be able to find a job in Canada, but I can dream.

Preliminary observation

Downtown Toronto: The men here are extremely stylish, well-groomed, and fit. Not a pleated pant to be seen, and lots of snappy eye glasses and good shoes. And a fair number of them have French accents to boot.
I definitely need to get out of Texas more often to remind myself that there are plenty of alternatives to the schlubby/ bbq-eating/ machismo-full-of-themselves/football -obssessed dudes out there.

Jet-setting

Goodbye Waco, Hello Toronto.

I love northern cities, and I really like Canada.
Maybe I'll defect?

I've officially broken out the wool slippers for the season. Slippers rule. I guess I'm just a northern girl at heart - I love turtlenecks, fuzzy sweaters, snow, and fleece gloves. Not to mention hot toddies, hot buttered rums, hot chocolate, mulled cider and wine, and winter soups, and playing cribbage in front of a fireplace.

I'm feeling wistful this evening.

Venturing to less friendly climes

I'm off to lovely Waco tomorrow.
G$ is scared of Waco. I will protect her.
I say bring it on. I'm feeling feisty.

Mmmmmm...

The brunch menu at Enoteca Vespaio is a beautiful thing.

Sorry Ma'am, Your Reproduction is Unauthorized

I heard about this proposed Indiana legislation on Air America the other day, at which point my psychological defense mechanisms kicked in and I refused to process the information. Today I found out that indeed it was real, but the state senator who authored it, Patricia Miller, decided to drop it last week after being inundated with phone calls and opposition from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Hooray!

The actual draft legislation remains as proof of the incessant attempts of conservative wackos to impose government regulation on our private lives.

Here's the gist of what the bill proposed:

+ Unmarried people may not participate in assisted reproduction (assisted reproduction is a broad term for things like in-vitro fertilization, sperm and egg donation, etc.) So a single woman who does not wish to marry commits a class B misdemeanor if she is impregnated by any artificial means, and any physician who facilitates the procedure gets a class B misdemeanor too.

+ Any married woman who wants to use assisted reproduction must file a "petition for parentage" much like potential adoptive parents do, and provide information like a description of their "values" and their "hobbies and talents." Other info required in the petition by a married couple includes conflict resolution style, the history of their relationship, a description of their lifestyle including "faith-based or church related" activities, a statement of their "assets, liabilities and investments", and a letter of reference from a friend or family member.

www.arielgore.com

Painting project post-mortem

Mint or Seafoam? You decide.





I can't stop looking at this red wall.



M. models his kick-ass holiday stocking handmade by G$

Alexander Hamilton on Harriet Miers

From Federalist No. 76:

"To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. . . . [The President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure."

Who's a Pretty Pretty Princess?

Frankie!

What our girls are up against

I just saw this story on the local news tonight: In Florida, four middle school boys sexually assaulted two girls while riding on a school bus. It seems that first they asked the girls to show them their breasts, and upon the girls' refusal the boys proceeded to hold the girls down, lift up their shirts, and fondle them. So nice of them to ask first, wasn't it? I mean, if the girls had just agreed to it in the first place, we could have avoided all this trouble with the law and stuff. Apparently these boys, ages 14 - 16 (and what the hell is a 16 year old doing in middle school??), have already been indoctrinated into the unspoken understanding that girls should always agree to sexual requests, and if they don't, they're stuck up bitches and should be taught a lesson. I mean, aren't girls supposed to be sexually available at all times? That's how they are in hip hop and porn, after all. And let's not forget the girls gone wild DVD library of patriarchal wet dreams. This particular artifact of our culture has normalized the expectation of girls/women to show their breasts to any joe-shmoe who happens to ask. Like these guys now think they have the rightto demand this.

And almost as disturbing as the Florida incident itself was the reaction of parents captured by the news media. Most said they wouldn't let their kid ride the bus anymore, and another said the bus driver should be held accountable. WTF? The only person (interviewed on TV) who mentioned that the boys should go to jail was another male student. That, at least, is cause for hope.

UPDATE: Thanks to hot tipper Scott, who alerted me to the fact that the boys are ages 12 - 14, not 14 - 16. I also forgot to mention that the boys took cell phone pictures of the girls after forcibly removing their clothes. the smoking gun article

I thought dog days of summer were in august

Geez, where have I been lately. I haven't felt like doing much lately, a paralysis spurred by the fact that I have committed myself to a proposal defense date (Nov. 28 or 29) and alerted my committee members to that fact. I decided that creating external expectations is the only way I am going to reach this next milestone. Now that I have set up this structure I am entering the phase of anxiously studying my calendar but being too afraid to start getting the proposal ready. I'm afraid that I will sit down to figure out the details of the research design and will realize that I have no idea how to decide what to do. Two waves of data or one? One age cohort or three? Do I need to use special software to account for complex sampling? So the days ramble on, staying up late watching the DVD commentary on "Freaks and Geeks" and finishing up Barack Obama's autobiography that I started last December.

We did some painting last weekend. I found out that there is an elusive line between a pleasing mint green and seafoam green. I'm worried that the bathroom turned out looking like a bad bridesmaid's dress color. On the other hand, the red wall in the dining room/kitchen is going to be badass. So far it just has two coats of tinted primer on it, but it already looks super cool.

Meanwhile I have two more weeks til I start my new job. The position is grant-funded, and there was a delay in getting the money released to Texas State - but I am starting on Oct. 10. Adds to the pressure to make progress on my proposal before then. Also meanwhile, I have high hopes for the premiere of the new ABC show Commander in Chief on Tuesday. I think it will help condition the masses to accept the notion of a female president.

So Simple, So True

My camera is on the fritz while I await the arrival of my new memory card reader...but in the meantime my brother, a resident of Miami, FL sent me this picture he took the other day on a street in Hialeah (part of Miami).

Asthmatic kitty

So my right-hand-man, Okazaki Fragment, has asthma. He has had a cough for three months that we couldn't figure out (cuz all his other signs were normal), and an x-ray confirmed that he has a mild to moderate condition. He's on oral steroids right now, which don't seem to be affecting anything, so we'll see. He may have to use a kitty inhaler, which has better results and fewer long-term side effects, but is pretty expensive. Long-term use of oral steroids in cats can cause diabetes, didja know?

For a brief overview of feline asthma and a great picture of the "AeroKat" inhaler in action, go here.

Foster Homes for Displaced Pets Will Be Needed

Please support the Humane Society of the United State's Disaster Animal Response Team if you are able to.

From Lucky Mutts in Austin:

What's Going On:

The Waco Humane Society is staged to receive animals from evacuees staying in the area. They currently are not in need of anything.
HOW WE ARE HELPING: We are on the list to provide foster homes once more animals need them.

The Toney Berger Center is a “pet friendly” shelter – pets can stay outside in crates. They have more than enough food and supplies right now. They currently do not have any pets, but they are expecting 400 more refugees.
HOW WE ARE HELPING: They have no more storage space for pet food and supplies. We are taking donations and storing them until their current supply is down. We are also signing up fosters and volunteers to help with the animals once they arrive.

The Humane Society of the United States evacuated 300 animals. ALL of these animals have already found places to stay. There are other efforts in Gonzales, LA and more animals are likely to come.
HOW WE ARE HELPING: We are on the list to provide foster homes once more animals need them.

The Houston SPCA is sheltering pets for people is area shelters. They currently DO NOT need foster homes or more food donations.
HOW WE ARE HELPING: We are on the list to provide foster homes if needed and we are collecting items as listed on their website to deliver next week (http://www.spcahouston.org)

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Let us know if you can provide a temporary or permanent foster home for animals. Please include any restrictions that might apply.

Donate pet food to one of our locations. We currently have drop offs in Lakeway, Westlake and East Austin. Let us know where you would like to go.

Be put on the list of volunteers who can help pets and their people --> katrina@luckymutts.com.

You can also donate to the Humane Society of the United States (the agency coordinating the evacuation efforts).

REMEMBER:

Lucky Mutts is dedicated to a SUSTAINED effort. Volunteers are being turned away from places like the Berger center because there are so many people that want to help right now. We are committed to making a difference even after the media hype dies down. People and their pets will need help for weeks to come. We understand the incredible urge to “go” and help. But remember: do not add to the chaos – help reduce it! Join a group and wait to be told how to help!

Animal Disaster Response Teams

The Humane Society of the United State's Disaster Animal Response Team is heading to the Gulf Coast region to begin rescuing animals. If you have the means, consider donating to their effort.

Also, close to home, various animal groups around town are getting pet supply donations together and setting up a shelter for animals in Austin -- basically what happens is that people who managed to escape with their pets and get to a Red Cross shelter are not allowed to bring in the pets. Most if not all shelters do not allow pets. So help is needed to take care of these furry little babies until their human companions can get settled. I am trying to find contact information on how to help...I know Animal Trustees of Austin is involved, as is the Greyhound Rescue group.

Check Austin Humane Society to start.

Fire the FEMA director

This hack who has no disaster experience actually is publicly saying that the people left behind in New Orleans should bare some responsibility for their situation because they "chose" not to evacuate. He's talking about the very old, the very poor, and the very ill. He's talking about families with young children and no car or money. Someone better call for this idiot's resignation.

Chronology of a catastrophy

From Kevin Drum at washingtonmonthly.com:

Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

So: A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA. Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's conservative agenda to reduce the role of government. After DHS was created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's the Bush administration in a nutshell.
—Kevin Drum

natural disasters and violence

I haven't accomplished much in the last few days. Been glued to the 24-hr news channels watching the horror unfold in New Orleans and Mississippi. The first day I watched a stranded seal who had been thrown by the storm into a parking lot from a nearby aquarium. Later they had to shoot the seal in the head because they didn't have a way to save him. It's of course just gotten worse from there. All the frail elderly people slowly dying, waiting for water and food and medicine. And no one is talking about the race and class issues here. FINALLY there was a commentator on CNN today who talked about how no one is talking about it, like the big pink elephant in the living room.

And WTF is going on with the roving bands of rapists in the streets??? Unfuckingbelievable. I understand the theory behind rape in wartime, but rape in a natural disaster? Someone please explain this to me sociologically. There are parallels of trauma and crisis and survival between war and a natural disaster...but what is the motivation for rape? What kind of dominance are they striving for that would cause them to turn on their own neighbors?

Here is a World Health Organization brief on violence and disasters.

parting thoughts

My last day at the "Coww" Foundation was yesterday...I'm not 100% sure where I'm headed next, but it feels nice to walk away. I felt sad as I was cleaning out my office, but mostly because of the unmet and wasted opportunities. The re-organization of the foundation meant that the fellowship program was disorganized and not thought-out. It is very unfortunate, but I really think it is due to the type of people they have brought in to lead the foundation in the last year and a half. I made several efforts to make things happen there, but it went nowhere. Ah well.

At first I was led to believe that my leaving would be "controversial" and "people" would gossip and think ill of me. But once I told people other than my supervisor, I was met with nothing but warm wishes and I daresay jealousy for getting out. I think a lot of them stayed on during the recent changes because they were too close to retirement.

The best laid plans...

In the latest definition of "old," instead of going downtown last night to see Partyline (ex-Bratmobile, ex-Hott Beat), M. and I stayed home and watched a movie about Bobby Darin.

I put a picture of my hero up on my profile to inspire me, but it's not working...

08/20: Jenn's Going Away Party @ Lovejoy's

Jenn, longtime general manager of Lovejoy's, is moving to Skagway, Alaska with her husband. Her friends and family at Lovejoy's threw her a fabulous party with some of her favorite musicians and bands: Halo Rings Her Head, Heather Bishop, Charlie, and Honky.





Above: Halo Rings Her Head. Giving the Migas a run for their money when it comes to stoner rock. Below: Charlie rocked the house with his crowd-pleasing standards and wowed us all with the recently penned "Remember the Sabbath" (as in Black Sabbath) especially for Jenn.





Above: Heather Bishop. Lovejoy's needs to get her to play a regular gig. Below: The venerable Honky in all their Honkiness.



Jenn and Jeff Pinkus salute each other (with unidentified Honky fan):

The Maturation of Smoosh

by Joseph Riipi

Sitting alone at the Smoosh show at the Knitting Factory this past week, I watched and listened to people talk about the preteen headliners.

"They're how old?"

"I think they're from Seattle. They were on NPR or something."

"Sisters."

"You didn't see them? They were the two girls sitting in the front row during the first band's set."

"How old?"

"Keyboards and drums."

"The drummer from Death Cab for Cutie is like their coach or something."

"No, they're supposed to be good. Seriously. Someone said they opened for Modest Mouse."

full story from Three Imaginary Girls website

Enoteca Vespaio

Drop whatever you are doing right now (if it's between 7am and 9pm, that is), scoot on down to South Congress and check yourself into the new cafe next door to Vespaio, "Enoteca Vespaio." It is a casual deli and eat-in cafe, serving panini sandwiches, salads, appetizers, antipasti, pizza, and pasta. Open early, it also sports pastries made on the premises and rich coffee for a classic European breakfast. The first day we had Suppli, an appetizer dish of rissoto balls stuffed with fontina, and today we had a kick-ass salad with roasted red peppers, olives, salami, cheese, tiny little tomatoes...and a pressed panini with prosciutto and truffled egg. Holy crap. I want to go there everyday! And the prices are reasonable, too. Did I mention they have a full bar and an extensive wine collection? Enoteca means "wine library." Maybe the Hungry Marxist will review it soon!

The Electrifying Eight ! (Issue No. 2)

My current favorite comic strip, written by 12-year old Zoe (M.'s niece).

Issue No. 2


Here's Issue No. 1

Crawford Hubub

If you don't already have these, here is a fascinating blog from the scene at Crawford - including posts by Cindy Sheehan.

crawfordupdate.blogspot.com

If you're interested in going to Crawford, check this: gointocrawford.blogspot.com

Upcoming Crawford events I have heard about:

--Peace walk & women-based events Thursday night, Aug. 18
--Noon interfaith vigil (with solidarity vigils around the country) & CodePink slumber party Friday, Aug. 19
--Rallies and various events Saturday, Aug. 20 while Lance Armstrong is at Bush's ranch.
--Rumors of celebs coming in the next week from Oprah to Martin Sheen (President Bartlett!!!).

Sounds like quite the party.

The Test

A completely unanticipated situation has come up for me that will test my level of professionalism against my level of disgust that I have for the spawn of the anti-abortion movement that is the crisis pregnancy center. These are the places that take advantage of young, poor pregnant women and girls with no family support and try to talk them out of having an abortion by telling them it's a sin, all women who have them regret it (they even created a "syndrome" for this affliction), and that it probably causes cancer and who knows what else. "Pregnant? Scared? Alone?" You know the billboards. They masquerade as "clinics" but they are often run by christian ministries and don't really offer health services.

I often try to forget that I live in Texas, but I had a rude reminder yesterday when I got the list of folks who had signed up and paid to participate in a workshop I am giving. It has always been your run of the mill organizations who are trying to do good for all sorts of people. I mean, some programs are poorly run and aren't effecting change very well, but at least I never had any argument with what they were intending to do. So anyway a few people from these centers are coming to my workshop. Having cut my professional teeth in the nicely blue state of Washington, I never imagined this. Should be a growth experience for me.

I heart My Neighborhood

I'm back in the 78704 after a two-year absence, and I admit at first I was skeptical. The past three years has seen exponential gentrification as well as a DIY neighborhood party mutate into a humongous people-crawl (i.e., First Thursday). I liked the street-cred that came from living in East Austin, and it was a pretty self-sufficient little area. But, goddamn, living off of S. Congress has some serious perks. This morning we biked up the street to the new Farm to Market grocery, a little mom and pop independent grocery that sells locally-grown organic produce, and got a few items we needed for the day. Then we toodled down to Jo's for some coffee, where I must say they know how to consistently pour a good shot unlike many cafes around town who either under-or over-extract. We literally live around the corner from these places and it is unbelieveably pleasant to be able to walk or bike to everything (groceries, restaurants/cafes, Continental Club, pet supply store, shopping, post office, thrift store, etc.).

Austin doesn't have many self-sufficient urban neighborhoods - upon moving here from Seattle I was dismayed at the prospect of driving everywhere. I'm happy to have found an affordable spot in 78704, though I admit I'm benefitting from the gentrification (Gah!). But it's happening as we speak in East Austin as well, so pick your poison. It's getting harder and harder to think of reasons to travel north of downtown...maybe to go to Room Service and to feed my embarassing addiction to Crate and Barrel, but that's about it.

How Do We Forgive Our Fathers

by Dick Lourie

How do we forgive our Fathers?
Maybe in a dream
Do we forgive our Fathers for leaving us too often or forever
when we were little?

Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage
or making us nervous
because there never seemed to be any rage there at all.

Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?
For Divorcing or not divorcing our Mothers?

And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness?
Shall we forgive them for pushing or leaning
for shutting doors
for speaking through walls
or never speaking
or never being silent?

Do we forgive our Fathers in our age or in theirs
or their deaths
saying it to them or not saying it?

If we forgive our Fathers what is left?

This poem is read during the last scene in the movie Smoke Signals, written by Sherman Alexie. It was originally published in a longer version titled "Forgiving Our Fathers" in a book of poems titled Ghost Radio published by Hanging Loose Press in 1998.

The Briefs, 7/31/05

On an unassuming Sunday night at Emo's, the underage punk kids were out in full mohawk-force, in part thanks to the street-punk bands Street Dogs (Boston) and Complete Control who opened for The Briefs (Seattle). Those two bands were a little Green Day-ish, not that there's anything wrong with that, and got the kids all riled up and wanting to stand up to The Man. The Briefs came out and brought us back to reality with songs about legendary bartenders ("Sylvia"), the happiness of having new shoes ("New Shoes"), and the paltry excuse for a musician that is Bob Seeger ("Silver Bullet"). I rode home with last year's "Sex Objects" record tucked in my bike bag.

The marriage ideal - patriarchy's biggest snow job

Finally someone who shares my wonderment at the obsession over marriage, an institution based on an unequal distribution of power:

(copied shamefully from the I Blame the Patriarchy Blog) - I hope she'll forgive the transgression...

"Take the whole gay marriage dealio. Why the heck is Queerville so eager to invite the state into its relationships? I ask because hetero marriage--a condition for which the spinster aunt can have but little sympathy--is nothing to write home about; historically it has provided the infrastructure for applied misogyny, it continues to be disproportionately advantageous to the male partner, and its tendency is to morph into the Nuclear Family, the primary unit of modern serfdom. Is discrimination and bigotry asinine? Of course. It’s not that I think homos shouldn’t get married; it’s that I think nobody should get married. Of patriarchy’s many cornerstones, marriage is the cornerstoniest. So, c’mon, let’s abolish the whole thing! Who’s with me?"

Le Tigre, 7/28/05

The Le Tigre show was hot. I mean, literally hot. The sold-out crowd pressed up against each other and waited patiently through two opening bands and it took powers of meditation and momentary out-of-body experiences to get through it. I'll have a review up on Girlstown Productions shortly.

I Hope This Girl Runs for Office Someday

Rappers' Delight

Voices of protest are popping up here and there, ever so slowly, to register their complaints about the woman-hating lyrics and culture of some popular rap music. In the last year the protests have come from inside hip-hop culture, where it should have the most impact (no one is going to listen to a bunch of white middle class intellectuals, especially women, as a general rule).

This latest piece is by a teenage girl from Ohio, a rap fan and feminist struggling with this cultural conflict. This excerpt especially warmed my heart, because it is directly opposed to the idea that cultural expressions like art don't influence attitudes and behavior. You know, the folks who claim that watching violent movies 10 hours a day since age 5 doesn't affect them in any way.

'Instead of simply promoting fads like Lacoste shirts and Cristal, through their music, rappers are spreading their views on women to an audience of teenage boys larger than Fat Joe's waistline, and I feel the effects everywhere I go.

From the school hallway, where on more than one occasion I have heard comments about the way I fit in my jeans, to the mall parking lot where pick-up lines usually begin with "Ooh, sexy ... " teenage boys express the same misogynistic sentiments as their rapping idols. I know that music is not the only driving force behind their behavior, but I believe rap's influence on my peers is stronger than the light reflecting off Jay-Z's ice.'

Say it!! But I am bothered by the sense of hopelessness (she calls it her hope, but I think it's actually pretty defeatist) in her conclusion, though. I don't expect this 17-year-old to have a solution, but if feminist teens are feeling hopeless, what hope do we have? On the other hand, just the fact that she wrote this and that it appeared on Alternet gives me tons of hope. Hope shmope. Always hoping things will get better, aren't we.

'I'll just hope that one day in the spirit of MC Lyte and Ms. Melodie, the future of popular radio will include new songs that don't make me want to alert NOW.'

A bunch of people responded to her on Alternet with brilliant suggestions like "change the radio station," and "listen to other kinds of rap and/or musical genres that don't degrade women." Totally missing the point, they are.

Will this song become relevant again?

This is a song written by the New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Band and released on their only album, Mountain Moving Day, recorded with the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band in 1972. The album has recently been re-released with the addition of two songs by Le Tigre.

ABORTION SONG

We're talkin' about abortion, it's against the law

But we know that it's our right

Control of our bodies we are going to will

We've got to get together and fight

They tell us to get married and have three or four kids
Change the diapers, be a good wife
But we will decide how many children to bear
We've got to control our own life

(Chorus)

Free our sisters, abortion is our right

Free our sisters, abortion is our right

We're talkin' about abortion it's as old as time
Hidden in fear and pain
The witches began it, they were burned at the stake
For helping sisters break their chains

Next came the butchers with their blood-stained hands
We've lost too many sisters that way
Now you go to the doctors and ask them to help
They say come back another day

(Chorus)

We're talkin' about abortion, gonna change the law
And make a better way
Those men with the power got to bend or break
They've got some heavy dues to pay

(Chorus)

Words & music: New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Band (1972)

S-K disappears from ACL lineup

So did anyone notice that Sleater-Kinney is no longer playing at the ACL Festival? That was a rather silent cancellation there. And it makes the lineup even more skewed to the boys. Sigh. I think it's better than SXSW's record on the gender front though. Silver Zephyr and I were once going to painstakingly research the actual gender ratio of SXSW bands - oh how ambitious we once were.

I'm working on a review of Sleater-Kinney's new record, The Woods, right now. It's a bit scary to write but should be up on Girlstown Productions soon. There are actually several new reviews up on the site lately: Sick Bees, Lali Puna, Gang Gang Dance, and a live review of last weeks' The Willowz show by yours truly. Ok, ok, so I comment more on how people look than what they sound like...I never claimed to be a professional music critic. I am a music fan who has certain detailed knowledge of a very specific slice of the indie scene, that from the pacific northwest, and not much else. And I am especially a fan of the lady musicians who defy all barriers and play some mean rock and roll through the pathetic cries of 'show us your tits.' Sleater-Kinney used to sell tee shirts that said "Show Me Your Riffs."

Look out for my review of this Thursday's Le Tigre show! Hopefully I can get close enough for some pictures without greasy heads in the foreground.

New Territory

Just a quick update -- the last 10 days have been high drama and high anxiety for me. First, we made the move across town and have been dealing with unpacking and storing, sorting, cleaning, organizing, arranging, etc. and getting used to the new space. In the middle of that, Silver Zephyr had a C-section, and baby Frankie (not to be confused with doggie Frankie) had to have a complicated and fairly rare surgery the next day -- he seems to be doing much much better now, though!. And then in the middle of all that, I found out that my parents, in their 39th year of marriage, are getting divorced. I have been spending a lot of time on the phone with my family, and dealing with my own conflicted feelings, and not feeling like interacting too much socially. It's bizarre to be going through this in my 30s. It's really hard no matter the age. I never thought this would actually happen, but it's probably for the best. I hope my mom truly comes into her own and finds some peace.

Do I Really Need to Hang On to Those Skis?

The move went down on Sunday with the help of ATX Moving (highly recommended). It took 3 men four hours from start to finish, and they were a little peeved when they saw all the stairs at the Kirkwood place - apparently we technically lived in a third floor apartment rather than the second floor we thought we lived in. We gave them power-ade and when they were done they hosed themselves off and we all drank a lonestar. Moving always humbles me because I am forced to come to terms with the fact that I have a lot of crap. Boxes and boxes of random odds and ends that taunt me in their 88% uselessness. It's that 12% potential usefulness that keeps me hanging on. I did throw away and donate bags of stuff this time around, but I am trying to do more. This morning I left my downhill ski boots at the Salvation Army on S. Congress. I actually felt pangs as I drove away, and saw my boots receding in the distance. Where will they end up? Those boots took me down many a mountain, and I don't want them to end up on a scrap heap somewhere . Who in Texas could possibly appreciate them?

So now I'm left with a pair of downhill Rossignol and a pair of Karhu cross-country racing skis. I've had them since the late 1980s. Seriously. I also have a 17" computer monitor that I brought with me from Seattle, and haven't used or wanted to use it in three years. A perfectly good monitor, but it's humongous and in its original box takes up a lot of space. I'm sitting here staring at coffee-table cat books, an old fleece pillow, a broken cat toy, 10-pound hand weights, a piece of denim cloth that I thought would make good patch material (8 years ago), a beanie baby (a pug doggie) given to me by my mom about 10 years ago, a box of wool gloves, mittens, and hats, a bag of thick wool socks, and at least one box of greeting cards sent to me over the years by my parents and assorted close friends. And that's just what I can see from where I'm sitting. The personal mementos are the hardest. I've been pack-ratting this stuff around for 15 years at least, driven by the fear that when I'm an old woman I will forget everything that ever happened to me and thus will need 10 boxes (projected estimate) of reminders so I can go sift through it and remember that weekend trip I took to Boulder Colorado in 1994. Sigh.

One more day of cleaning the old apartment and then we're done. We're living out of boxes at the new place but the cable is all hooked up and I have my wireless internet again so all is well. Frankie has her very own fenced front yard all to herself (she's been sharing with 1 - 3 other dogs the last two years), and she wants to play ball all day. O.F. and Stella adjusted fairly quickly but Pepe needs some more time. The first thing he did is get himself stuck behind the refridgerator. He was able to get himself out though, but not before I panicked realizing there was no human way to move the fridge. When the cable person was here doing the hookup both Stella and Pepe hid behind the fridge for a couple of hours - I thought they were going to pass out from the heat and be too weak to jump back out -- Stella came out with some coaxing but Pepe stayed down in there for like two more hours. Weirdo.

Other than that I'm having trouble finding a place for the litter box. My bathroom hardware accessories from restoration hardware arrived today - I can't wait to install them. The front door area is festering with mosquitoes that attack even in broad sunlight - anyone know how to control them other than getting rid of standing water (which there is none). I am very scattered and overwhelmed! I am hoping no one at the Coww is missing me this week.

I'm packing, really, I am

Here I am knee-deep in boxes and random shit and I all of a sudden have time to post blog entries and update Girlstown Productions. Speaking of that, we're experiencing a bit of a lull while Return of the Silver Zephyr is in the hospital trying to keep the kid from being born prematurely and I take care of my move and my chronic laziness. We're working on recruiting new writers who will contribute music reviews and feature articles, so watch for that in the next few weeks!

More changes are in the works this Fall, as I am on track to re-join the world of the gainfully employed while I finish (uhhh, start) my dissertation. It's not official yet, but if it comes through I will certainly welcome the opportunity to leave a certain foundation (we'll call it the "Cow Foundation" ) which didn't live up to its potential for me. It's really too bad, because the potential is truly there. It just depends on what people/personalities occupy the positions of power and how they view graduate education, as well as the organizational upheaval going on. I'm being a little vague here, yes. It was better than being a T.A. though!

Here's to the many sushi dinners that may be in my future...

Punditry

So Jerry Springer and Al Franken don't think Bush is going to try to appoint an extremist judge to the supreme court (i.e. an anti-Roe judge). Jerry thinks it would be the "end of the Republican Party," and Al thinks it would create too much controversy and it would be a stupid decision politically. Jerry admits he may be a bit too optimistic, but really feels that the counter-revolution this would spark would be too much for the Republicorns. I tend to think that Bush isn't afraid of controversy, and likes to be seen as making the tough, unpopular, but "right" decisions. I also keep seeing in print that the current court is 6-3 for Roe, when all the pro-choice fundraising propaganda - whoops I mean literature - I get consistently says 5-4. So they would actually need Rhenquist and one other pro-Roe judge in addition to O'Connor to resign before it could be overturned.

Oh and can I just say I really like Jerry Springer's show on Air America? Plus he totally pokes fun at himself for his TV show.

So what have the other pundits and wonks been saying? Anyone watching Fox to see what their take is?

Wanted: one female centrist supreme court nominee

The New York Times has quickie profiles of eight potential nominees (how they arrived at these particular eight is not known) to replace O'Connor. To my horror, they are ALL men and almost all white. The fact that they're all conservative is a moot issue. Now we can only hope for some diversity.

We could be royally screwed here. Could we? It may be naive optimism, but I still have a hard time believing that Roe could be overturned. They've upheld it twice already, and the court does not like to take back prior decisions (the whole stare decisis thing). But I just know GW is going to express-lane an activist judge to the bench and so our only hope now is the Democrats' filibustering power, which can be taken away by the republicorn majority if they feel the democrats are being too stubborn.

Vancouver B.C. is looking veeeery good to me right now.

Remembering Beth

Today is the one-year anniversary of Beth Westbrook's death from complications of appendicitis at the hands of Seton Central. I still think about Beth a lot. She would be soooo pissed about the anti-gay marriage legislation in Texas right now. I know she would have been up at the Capitol all spring lobbying against the gaggle of anti-gay bills we faced this session. And I wonder if Ladyfest TX 2005 might have happened if she had been around. She's just missed, plain as that.

Her website is still up, just as she left it on June 29, 2004.

Mega-Noodle vs. Basic-Noodle: You Decide

M. and I recently found ourselves on our way to a pool but without our trusted floaties which are sitting in our garage getting moldy. To remedy the situation i suggested we stop in at target and get us a couple of the much-beloved and cheap-in-a-pinch foam noodles. But, of course, it wasn't that simple. Choices abound in the world of foam noodle pool toys. I was instantly drawn to the purple "Mega-Noodle." A little larger in diameter, and with ridges all the way down, it was about $1.50 more than its cousin, the "Basic Noodle." We decided to get one of each and test-drive them.

Essentially, the Mega-Noodle has a little more buoyancy so you can sit on it and not sink down to your neck in the water. However, it is not as flexible as the softer, more malleable Basic Noodle, and after a while it starts to get a bit uncomfortable if you are holding it under your arms. I found that if you have really good balance you can actually straddle the Mega-Noodle and lean back on it with pretty decent support. Works in a pinch if you forgot your pool lounger. In the end, M. prefers the more flexible Basic Noodle and I prefer the Mega for its stronger float capacity. And there you have it.

Paradox of the day

Well, yesterday to be precise:

The driver of a Honda Hybrid vehicle throwing a cigarette butt out the window of the car.

I still can't get used to the sight of people throwing ANYTHING out of their car windows (I never saw someone throw actual garbage out the window until I moved to Texas). But doing it while driving a vehicle designed to have less impact on the environment???

The making of a true hero

Some of you may be following this case, which has received international attention in the last three years. In 2002, Mukhtaran Bibi was publicly gang-raped by four men in her village as punishment for something her brother was accused of doing. In an unprecedented move, Ms. Bibi took her attackers to court where they were tried and convicted under anti-terrorism laws. She was awarded monetary damages, and used the money to open an elementary school in her village, which she started attending. Here's what happened next:

2004:
Two years after the gang rape, two men of the Matsoi tribe were
sentenced to imprisonment for sodomising Shakur, Mukhtaran's 12 yr old brother.

March 2005:
The Multan bench of the Lahore High Court acquitted five of the six convicts, while deciding appeals against the judgement of the anti-terrorism court. The death sentence of the sixth convict was changed into life term. Mukhtaran is invited to speak in the U.S.

June 2005
Rapists freed and Mukhtaran is under House arrest. Mukhtaran is put on Exit control list(ECL). International buzz about the case grows; Pakistani citizens are embarrassed about the negative P.R. Mukhtaran is removed from ECL list, but her passport is seized.

The Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women, the organization that had invited Mukhtaran Bibi to speak in the U.S., is organizing protests in New York and D.C. this week. At this website you can send a letter to Pakistani President Musharraf (I just did!).

Also see the New York Times columns on the subject written by Nicholas Kristof.

Pop Science Rears Its Ugly Head

For some fantastic commentary on today's exciting new scientific discovery - that women's brains cease to function during orgasm -- check out this post from I Blame the Patriarchy.

Newsflash: Males and females are more biologically similar than they are different.

Even their birth control pill will be better

From www.statesman.com article on new research to develop a birth control pill for men:

"The researchers plan to test about a half-million chemical compounds to find a pill that does not involve hormones that men could take weekly or monthly. They also hope to find something that is close to 100 percent effective and has no risky side effects."

Well, shit. How nice that they are committed to finding a safe and effectve pill for men. The article went on to say that hormone-based (i.e. testosterone) pills for men have been tested but there are concerns about elevated cholesterol and cancer growth. Hello, women have been taking the pill since the 1960s and no one seems to give a shit about the long-term side effects of that!! The largest uncontrolled experiment in history, I once heard it called.

Woman-hating crap to start the week off right

While searching for info on the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), I encountered this lovely blog called "Men's News Daily." (They're against re-authorization of VAWA, by the way). I just HAD to read one entry, alluringly titled: Feminists and Fundamentalists: The Two-Front War on Men." There are so many misogynistic gems in here it's hard to convey.

Know thine enemy, yes?

Nicole, I totally understand now.

I can't stop reading Defamer for all the latest on the Cruise-Holmes saga. Radar Online had this to report on Cruise's auditioning of Scarlett Johansson mere weeks before he snared Holmes:

"After striking out with Johansson, Cruise reportedly turned his attentions to 24-year-old Jessica Alba, 22-year-old Kate Bosworth, and 18-year-old Lindsay Lohan, before settling on the 26-year-old Holmes. As far we know, Cruise’s War of the Worlds co-star, Dakota Fanning, was never under consideration."


Also, just so ya know, most of my politically-oriented postings and links are in the politics section of Girlstown Productions.

The Epoxies come to town!

The Epoxies play this Saturday June 18th at The Backroom. Come get microwaved and radiated with fuzzed-out heart-pounding synth-driven and irresistable dance-punk songs that will remind you of that cool girl from high school in the 80s who wore duct-tape mini-skirts, had killer robot dance moves, and didn't give a shit what anyone thought.

Say it!

I just found the most awesomest blog, I Blame the Patriarchy. It is so smartly written and she has a penchant for photographing insects and what she has for dinner. Plus, she lives in Austin.

It seems that over the last 20 years it has almost become "quaint" to mention patriarchy as a cause of anything...even in sociology! I mentioned the term "sexism" in a research proposal last year as a legitimate concept that had bearing on a theory I wanted to test and the professor was questioning its usefulness. I admit it is difficult to operationalize but why are sociologists so afraid to talk about it? It's like sexism is so 70's or something. So anyway I love this woman's blog because she unapologetically points out the concrete ways male supremacy operates in day to day life to fuck us over. Plus the insect identification thing reminds me of an entymologist I knew long ago, and miss.

Must...have...this...purse

are we socialized to be 'clinging-vine wives'?

"My own observations suggest that the changing status of (and expectations for) women plays a role [in the increase in anorexia nervosa]. Girls whose early upbringing has prepared them to become 'clinging-vine' wives suddenly are expected at adolescence to prove themselves as women of achievement. This seems to create a servere personal self-doubt and basic uncertainty. In their submissive way, they 'choose' the fashionable dictum to be slim as a way of proving themselves as deserving of respect."
--Hilde Bruch, 'Four decades of eating disorders'

A sort of identity conflict it would seem. What do you think of this explanation of eating disorders in girls?

I should be working right now...

The digital camera arrived today (yay!) so there will be exciting pictures dotting my blog from now on. i can't wait to illustrate entries - for instance, wouldn't my anecdote about finding the roach on the catfood container have been TONS better with a photo??

Moving update: We're moving to "lower Travis Heights" which is that area by Jo's Coffee but on the east side of S. Congress, off of Academy. It sounds snooty-patooty, but our place isn't. It does have a dishwasher though, so that's kind of chi-chi for us.

Unrelated aside: (Warning! Trite "I saw them before they were famous" comment ahead!) It weirds me out to see Modest Mouse on the freaking O.C.- they re-aired that episode tonight. I DID used to see their shows pre-fame when I was living in Seattle in the late 90s, and used to hear them on college radio in Pullman in '95. There was a DJ there at the time who LOVED them and when I'd call in requests he referred to me as "Secret Mouse." Even then folks knew they were going to be big. Car-commercial big? We didn't predict that.

at least jar-jar didn't have a speaking role

So is the new star wars movie some sort of commentary on the rise and fall of the united states? here's one commentator that seems to think so: Everyone Loves Vader

I saw the movie yesterday, and here's what seemed fairly straightforward to me - Anakin-soon-to-become-Darth Vader sounding a lot like Bush:

Anakin: "If you are not with me, you are my enemy."
Obi-wan: "Only Sith Lords deal in absolutes."

let the over-analyzing begin.

overall the movie was ok if you like lots of light sabre fighting (why does that still impress everybody? it's only fun for me when yoda does it, cuz i like to see muppets kick ass)- the shameless pandering for cheap laughs (lucas usually has multiple instances of these) was the wookie scene where they made "tarzan" sounds. Ugh.

Reality blogging?

And tech culture keeps chugging along...now bloggers have a reality-show type competition ("Ultimate Blogger")in which they are given different "challenges" and get judged on who has the best blog entry in response to the challenge. O. my. god.

Marisa Meltzer (formerly of Bitch Magazine) has a funny piece on this perhaps inevitable incarnation of blogging - here's an excerpt that made me laugh:

"The finalists' blog entries in response to each challenge force both the judges and the audience to address the larger question of what constitutes good internet content. Is the rather dadaist video Ritchey posted of a snail crawling juxtaposed with her eating cereal better than Lyova's Nabokovesque paean to lost love?"

"Voted Off the Internet"

My new personal library of dusty old books

So one thing that I really cherished about my grandmother and visiting her was her book collection. I've always been a bookworm, so as far back as I can remember my visits would include long afternoons alone in the the sitting room looking at beautiful old books - poetry, history, novels, and vintage books on etiquette, speech, and interior decorating!

When I was up there in May, I got to pick out some of her books to take home with me, to become part of my own library. Among the gems: Emerson's Essays, signed by my great-grandfather in 1894 in New York City; Tennyson's Poems (1925), leather-bound and signed by my grandmother's high school friend Alice who gave the book to her as a graduation present in 1928 in Jamaica, NY. Alice went on to become an M.D. at the Presbyterian hospital in NYC (cool!); an illustrated edition of Longfellow's Evangeline, with a suede cover - appears to be a first edition (no date); a 1926 edition of Moby Dick; a copy of Hard Times by Dickens; Thoughts for Every-Day Living by Dr. Maltbie Babcock (1901); Mark Twain's Roughing It and Mark Twain in Eruption. There is also a huge book of collected British and American poems, and 'Popular Home Decorating' circa 1940s which I rescued from the attic bedroom. I am so fortunate to have these treasures...when I leaf through them the smell of the dusty yellowed pages takes me back to her house on the ranch and the memories of those long quiet afternoons.

Catching up...

So quite a bit has happened already since I got back into town. Ms. Led came on Sunday May 29, and we hung out on the sofa at Lovejoy's before the show and got caught up while it poured outside. Marshall wowed Peg with his detailed knowledge of Journey's discography down to the cover art, which Matt also appeared highly amused by. Lesli filled me in on the travails of being a third-year law student, and Steph and I talked about our pets. Later, they played to a sparse Emo's crowd. It made me sad! It was Sunday of memorial day weekend, plus it had rained pretty hard that night so all those things combined to make it The Night All of Austin Flaked. The opening bands didn't stick around, and even the people that had arranged for the band to crash at their place after the show didn't show up!! That's so lame.

So at 2am the decision was made that Lesli and crew would follow us back to our place where they could get some z's for a couple hours. I was equal parts horrified (at the prospect of my heroes seeing the apartment we hadn't cleaned in days) and honored. I was kinda drunk so before I knew it I was ferociously digging in our bathroom shelves for a couple of clean pillow cases. I swear I did that for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile Marshall is calmly lounging in the living room with Lesli and Steph. They got to sleep on the old futon which is akin to sleeping on a pile of hard sand. Poor girls. I have a Ms. Led poster hanging in the bathroom (along with the Butchies and Sleater-Kinney) so hopefully they felt welcomed! They played a new song ('Jump, Dammit') and closed with a cover of Le Tigre's 'Deceptacon' - kickass! Thanks G$ and Laura for coming to the show!
......
This morning my first move was to reach down and open the lid on the cat food container which we keep in the bedroom. My hand actually touched a big tree roach that was hanging out on the lid! Aaagh! Marshall heard the word 'roach' groggily in his sleep and sprang into action (he is the official bug wrangler, if Pepe fails us, which he obviously did). We've decided to move out of our lovely vintage duplex - unrelated to the roaches, I swear - it's a little too vintage for the amount they were raising our rent to, so we gave notice today. I will most miss the huge & plentiful windows looking out into the oak trees, and the mint green tiled bathroom. We're most likely moving to a cute duplex (again) off of Academy St. in Travis Heights. 5 minute walk to Jo's Coffee. The other contender is a whole house (painted mint green!) further south off S. Congress and St. Elmo (just past Ben White). We're looking at the house tomorrow to see if it's worth being further south. But, in any case, it looks like we're heading to South Austin for sure!! It's not just a zip code, ya know.

The last best place

Another day, another pile of cat barf to clean up. Actually, Stella hasn't been ralfing as much lately because we've been giving her fresh cat grass more regularly. She mows that stuff down, I'm tellin' ya. She does have the "scarf 'n barf" syndrome as one vet so eloquently put it. When she gets nervous or excited she heads for the food bowl and gulps down some kibble, barely chewing it, tail twitching, purring...it's a whole thing she does. Anyway.

So I promised some tall tales from Montana, "The Last Best Place" as their tourism department likes to say. Curiously, Alaska is "The Last Frontier," so I seem to end up in these ends-of-the-earth type places chock full of leave-us-alone libertarians. But these regions also attract people who love mountains, alpine forests, native plants and wildflowers, rushing rivers (i.e. not the dammed-up ones seen here in Texas), undisturbed wildlife like moose, bear, and all sorts of birds. They bike, run, ski, and hike as if their lives depend on it, and I believe it does. My mom is one. But I digress.

The occasion for my trip was my grandmother's passing. This is a big deal around these parts, as she had lived in the Missoula/Arlee area for over 70 years and just about everyone knew her. The days leading up to the memorial were kind of a blur, filled with comparison shopping for geraniums and picking my brother up from the airport and eating out and napping. The memorial took place on my grandmother's ranch, with rows of folding chairs set up in front of the pond and the barn, with the house in the background. I'd say about 200 people were there. It was the one beautiful & sunny day complete with puffy white clouds in a string of grey/rainy days, and everyone commented on how meaningful this was, as if Cornelia perhaps had something to do with it. My brother provided some of the music during the program, playing trumpet with a piano accompanist: a tune by Handel, the hymns Rock of Ages & Nearer My God to Thee, and, inexplicably, America the Beautiful. That one seemed more appropriate for a baseball game, but that was what my dad wanted. The trumpet sounded great outside - that instrument can sound so sad!

I got up and spoke at the podium after my dad and aunt, and talked about how Cornelia's independence, activism, and love of animals influenced me as a little girl. She was essentially the only grandparent I had, as my grandfather died before I was born and my mom's side of the family resided (and still does) in South America during my youth. The community had banded together and cooked up a ton of food - assorted casseroles, lasagnas, pasta salads, and an entire table of desserts - quite impressive. I met a zillion people who knew my grandmother better than I ever did, too. The most poignant were the alumni of the bunkhouse, most of whom had traveled to be there (one came from Wisconsin). Two of them got up and spoke about how much Cornelia had meant to them - sometimes they only stayed in the bunkhouse for a few months, but kept visiting and writing over 30 years. She housed artists, musicians, and all sorts of eccentric creative people over the years, rent-free in exchange for chores (there was no running water in the bunkhouse, but no matter).

The occasion was also a family reunion of sorts, which we've never had. My five first cousins were there, and I met second cousins and once-removed cousins (I can never remember the difference). None of us really "knows" one another, since we all grew up far apart plus we're all decades apart in age, which makes for a weird vibe. What the heck do you talk about? After all the guests and extended family left a few of us built a fire in the outdoor fireplace and broke out some beers. Now that was more my speed! My dad, uncle, and dad's old friend Bart decided to use some explosives they had lying around to blow up a stump that was out in the field next to the yard, so that was definitely exciting. I think Cornelia would have loved that, while feigning disapproval.

I did have a small personal triumph: one of my cousins, in his 50s, had bet me 13 years ago that the next time he saw me I would be married. At the time, in 1992, I was a junior in college, and insisted that marriage was just not in the cards for me as I saw no point in it. He gave me that "oh it's just a phase and you'll see, it happens to us all." Heh! The first thing he says when he sees me is "I guess I owe you $5." Damn right! It's funny though, because he doesn't seem to get that there's a middle ground between being "single" and being "married." I got the distinct feeling that he missed the entire point of my rebellion. I'm like, "I'm not anti-relationship, it's just that I have no need to be married." He's like, "yeah I can see the benefits of being single." Huh?? Oh well. I let him keep the $5.

MonkeyWrench Cafe Grand Opening!

This just in from Brea:

Saturday June 4th
Noon to 8 pm
Come by the Grand Opening of the MonkeyWrench Books Cafe. Same politics but add coffee!
We'll be serving coffee, tea, Good Flow juice, Blue Sky, and Celeste's vegan treats. Plus, a tent sale all day!

110 E. North Loop (as always)

The most upsetting news today is that next fall, Veronica Mars (UPN) will be airing in the same time slot as Lost (ABC), Alias (ABC) will be on during the O.C. (Fox), and the West Wing is on during Cold Case (CBS). O what am I to do?? The O.C. will be the first one to go - that's just something I watch if I'm home and remember. I'm too poor to get a TiVO so Marshall and I will have all summer to plan our carefully honed VCR gymnastics skills.

I am not interested in any new shows except for Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis as the president!! Much kick-ass potential here. Let's hope they don't fuck it up.

This summer, Bravo is showing a second season of the hair salon reality show "Blowout," which was soooo juicy good. That Jonathan guy is such a condescending ass and he knows it! And he charges like $600 for a haircut! Last season they showed him trying to open up a new salon in Beverly Hills and all the drama between the stylists and him. And they showed him cutting Margaret Cho's hair. This is good T.V.

And check out this handy season finale cliffhanger review!

Everything's pink in Miami

Whoo-wee. Where to start. In the last couple of weeks I've been to Miami, where the weather was lovely and cool but the drivers are fast and mean and there are a lot of 'em, and Missoula. But first Miami. First of all, let me say that I do enjoy all the pink and orange houses in this city. These paint colors would probably look very weird anywhere else but how fun! The fam and I went on a tour of the bay and looked at all the homes of the rich and famous, including Rosie O' Donnell, Shaquille O'Neal (who had a foot-high figurine likeness of himself perched on his dock to greet the passing tour boats), and the homes formerly occupied by Vanilla Ice and Don Johnson. Rad. It's actually sickening that middle america pays to go see these unimaginably expensive homes of celebrities that THEY MADE RICH in the first place!! I was well aware of the absurdity and just tried to enjoy being out on the water. There's just something weird about the tourist activity of viewing things that you will never in a million years ever come close to having yourself. Is it marketing for the american dream? - or the capitalist's wet dream, more like.

We also visited Miami Beach, which is mainly known as the place where Versace was murdered, and I found the actual beach to be kind of gross with people in various stages of undress and a couple that I can verify was engaged in unabashed foreplay involving "private parts" in public. Tacky! Mom still wanted to take pictures and apparently hadn't noticed anything untoward so I tried my best to not look horrified as we snapped some family photos looking very out of place amidst the tan languid bodies laying about.

After the beach we wandered down the street to an open-air cafe (the third one we tried that my mom was convinced we'd all be satisfied with) where I proceeded to order a huge alcoholic drink (it was called a "Bahama Mama," ugh) served in a cheap plastic "hurricane"-style cup like you get in New Orleans. It tasted crappy but the four different kinds of alcohol gave me a nice buzz about halfway through, which played a key role in my ability to maintain a pleasant and blissfully oblivious demeanor around the folks.

My bro got all graduated and stuff (D.M.A., not a Ph.D., mind you) and we went to a swanky dinner at the swanky old Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Super vintage-glam so I was right at home. It had a gargantuan pool, in fact the largest hotel pool in the continental united states, how 'bout that. The food was awesome, too - pan-seared and oven-roasted scallops, even the vegetable sides were incredibly perfect. You know, if you're ever in Miami. Good luck to Pete as he tries to find a college who wants to hire a trumpet professor.

Next up: the Montana report.

Spot on

I really like finding out people's stories. You know, where they've been, what they've done, what experiences have shaped them into who they are today. It's especially fun when a person's history is prolific but not talked about much, and he or she shows up day after day at his or her job minding their own business while all the youngsters mill about self-importantly oblivious to the royalty in their midst. Such a person is Spot. He currently works the door at Lovejoy's, and has a standing happy hour gig at Beerland on Tuesdays with Charlie (of Charlie's Holy Happy Hour).

Marshall had always told me that Spot was heavily involved in the punk rock scene years ago, but the details ended there. Recently I was looking up Lovejoys' street address on the internet and Spot's website came up in the search; I ended up searching out more little tidbits that pieced together Spot's former life as producer and engineer of some of the most important punk underground records of the 1980s, including Black Flag, Husker Du (he co-produced Zen Arcade), Meat Puppets, Minutemen, the Descendants, and the Misfits.

A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, he does his own thing now and apparently doesn't like to talk about his place in the punk rock canon. So if you are a punk rock history buff or just curious about people here are some links where you can surreptitiously do your own investigation. Oh - and go see him on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 at Beerland.

"X Marks the Spot" (article in the Denver Westword)

Excerpt from the book "Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981 - 1991" by Michael Azerrad (a historical primer on Black Flag)

Spot's website

Stories to read of a bittersweet nature

There was a feature story written about my grandmother in The Missoulian, on May 6:

Life of Cornelia Francis Spoke Volumes

This is a story my grandmother would have appreciated:

Judge Awards $45,480 in Cat's Death

The New Asylums

On the show "Frontline," PBS, Tuesday May 10:

PBS explores the question, Are America's jails and prisons the new asylums? Nearly 500,000 mentally ill persons are currently incarcerated and corrections personnel are typically unprepared to handle the unique needs of this population. Frontline took cameras inside Ohio's prison system for what they promise is a rare look at the mental health-criminal justice issue. Should be very interesting.

The New Asylums - on Frontline

My new favorite cartoon is...

Hi Hi PuffyAmiYumi !!!!

Check it out

Random musings

Today I am wearing a pair of linen pants I've had for several years and I realized that they are high-waters. The question is, have they always been high-waters or are they just high-waters by today's standards?

I am hooked on this sandwich that Whole Foods makes called the "Barton Springs." It has in-house roasted turkey, brie, fig spread, and spring mix greens on a big hoagie. It's that fig-spread - totally addictive.

Bill Clinton was in town today - I saw a bunch of people wandering around Whole Foods clutching their copies of "My Life." Sigh. Gotta love Bill.

Next week I am going to Miami to watch my older brother get his Doctorate of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) from University of Miami. Then the following week the family meets up again in Missoula, Montana for my grandmother's memorial. I'm staying a whole week since I haven't visited in like four years. Missoula's this great hippie town, kind of like Boulder used to be before it got hijacked by rich people.

Obituary from The Missoulian, May 2, 2005:

ARLEE - Cornelia Hawkins Klittke Francis, a dedicated teacher, influential community member and longtime ranch woman, passed away at the family ranch in the Jocko Valley on Saturday, April 30, 2005. She was 96.

Cornelia was born to Herman and Cora Klittke on Jan. 18, 1909, in Williams Bridge, N.Y.

When Cornelia was 10 months old, her family left the comforts of their home and boarded a freight car with their belongings to travel to the prairies of Saskatchewan where they homesteaded 640 acres. Home there would be a rudimentary but weatherproof house built by her father. Cornelia drove workhorses with her father and was home-schooled by her mother. She remembered visits to the homestead from red-uniformed Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Christmases celebrated with a homemade tree made of lath.

At age 13, her parents decided that Cornelia should return to Jamaica, N.Y., to live with family friends and pursue a formal education. She entered eighth grade in public school. It was her first time in a classroom, and she recalled this experience with fond memories, true to Cornelia's sense of adventure and her desire to learn.

Cornelia graduated from Jamaica High School in January 1928. She worked briefly for McGraw Hill Publishing House in New York City before returning to the West to enroll at the University of Montana to study under Dean A.L. Stone, the first dean of the journalism school, and the prominent English professor H.G. Merriam. She pursued degrees in journalism and creative writing, graduating in June 1932.

That same year, Cornelia married Hiram Francis and moved to his ranch in the Jocko Valley. It was here that their three children were born and reared. Cornelia energetically participated in ranch life. She cherished memories of riding the cattle range in LaMoose Canyon. She created a warm, wholesome environment for her family and those who came to visit.

In 1959 after additional study at UM, Cornelia accepted a teaching position at Arlee High School, where she taught English, journalism and drama for 13 years.

A tireless and energetic teacher, she shared with her students her love of language, literature and writing. In 1966 she was named the Montana Journalism Teacher of the Year.

During her years of teaching and following her retirement in 1972, she was a feature writer for the Missoulian and Lake County Leader.

After the death of her husband in l966, Cornelia spent the next 39 years managing the ranch. Her life abounded with family, friendships, her pets and her love for nature and the beauty of her rural environs. Her ranch was a welcome respite for visitors of all ages.

She was active in the founding and lifetime member of the Arlee Jocko Museum and was a charter member of the Fort Connah Restoration Society. She was a member of Eastern Star, Alpha Alta Kappa and the Arlee Methodist Church.

Cornelia is remembered for her independent spirit, her sense of humor, commitment to land stewardship and to the betterment of her community. Her love of life and hospitality were apparent throughout her life.

Her family extends gratitude to the loving caregivers, community of friends and Partners in Home Care Hospice. All made it possible for her to remain in the home where she had lived for 73 years.

Cornelia was preceded in death by her husband Hiram, her sister Constance and her son Howard.

Survivors include her son Perry (Maria) Francis of Missoula; her daughter Emily (Mark) Lennon of Polson; daughter-in-law Betty Francis of Cape Canaveral, Fla.; one nephew; nine grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

An outdoor memorial service will be held Saturday, May 21, at 2 p.m. at the family ranch on 434 Hi Francis Road, Arlee.

In Cornelia's remembrance, donations may be made to Partners in Home Care Hospice, 2687 Palmer St., Missoula, MT 59808; Arlee Senior Citizens, 106 Wessinger St., Arlee, MT 59821; or Arlee Jocko Museum, Box 512, Arlee, MT 59821.

C. K. Francis, 1909 - 2005

My grandmother passed away this morning at her home in Arlee, Montana. She was 96. Born in New York but raised on the desolate prairie in Saskatchewan, her parents sent her to live with family friends in New York City in her early teens so she could have a better education and learn about the world. She returned to the West in 1928 to attend college at Montana State College (now the University of Montana) in Missoula - also my alma mater. She graduated with a degree in journalism in 1932, one of few women at that time to do so. She worked on a gorgeous ranch nestled in the Jocko Valley outside of Missoula in a little town called Arlee, which is on the Flathead Indian Reservation. She married the man who owned the ranch, and never left it - she lived on that ranch for over 70 years, the last 39 years by herself (my grandfather died in 1966). She loved literature, reading The New Yorker, and all animals.

I'll write more about Cornelia soon.

Dr. Gini! Paging Dr. Gini!

Congratulations to my good buddy Gini, who defended her dissertation yesterday!!! What a truly awesome event this is. To commemorate this milestone in her life we got together and kicked out some serious karaoke jams til 1am. Gini wowed us with selections from the Cranberries and Guns 'n Roses (she does a mean "Paradise City"), while Marshall tried out some David Bowie and Air Supply. Now if we can just get him to follow the words on the monitor.... My fave of the night had to be Katie singing "It's Raining Men." Nice. Laura displayed an uncanny knowledge of contemporary dance/hip-hop numbers. I got off to a shaky start with "You Can't Hurry Love" (too fast!) but recovered a bit on the Bangles' "Manic Monday." I think I may be hooked! Which is progress considering how traumatized I was by my first & last karaoke experience: in college in the early 90s, to "Bust-a-Move" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Hoo boy.

Passover

I forgot to report that i went to my first Passover dinner last weekend - it wasn't the super-formal kind, but Gini did her best to explain some of the traditions and she did have reference material in case we wanted to learn more. We learned about how it's an anti-oppression holiday - how cool is that to have a whole holiday set aside to remember slavery and how wrong it is to oppress people for their religious or political beliefs. To illustrate this, scallions were passed around to symbolize the flogging endured by jewish slaves. M. proceeded to run around fake-flogging everyone which prompted K. to say, "I hate being a slave." Funny how the Christians don't recognize such things as anti-oppression, eh? Well, except for Jesus being the perpetual underdog and unjustly crucified I guess. I should stop talking about religion. But it was cool to go to the dinner because I have jewish ancestry on my mother's side, but it's been kept hush-hush and I never learned any of the traditions. My grandparents actually had to flee Germany because of their ethnicity in the 1930s, and while the immediate family members all survived (by fleeing), some of my grandparents' more distant relatives didn't make it.

so i've just discovered rosie o'donnell's blog, and it's really interesting. she writes these sort of clipped poetry-style entries that in total can be pretty powerful. i guess it's just interesting to read something so personal by a really famous person. i'm not famous at all and i find it hard to write personal things in this blog, so i don't know how she does it. This entry is about her decision to be a foster parent - a gay foster parent.

Why does watching a 65 year old man carefully folding his underwear at a laundromat make my heart break?

Edna Rocks

Thanks to Kim B. for sending me this gem:

The Prisoner

All right,
Go ahead!
What's in a name?
I guess I'll be locked into
As much as I am locked out of.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay

(isn't it cool that we have time to read poetry now?)