I has a laptop...
I finally gave in and purchased a laptop last night. With our upcoming flee-the-Republicans trip, I need a reliable means to keep up with my coursework. Plus, we wanted to be able to download the photos from our digital camera's memory cards each night, so that we have a) sufficient memory available and b) backups. When we get home, I can burn the pictures to CDs.
I can't wait. We're going to take in the battlefield at Gettysburg (I've been reading The Killer Angels as preparation and I highly recommend it), the Antietam battlefield, and then spend three days touring Washington, DC. I know we're not going to be able to see nearly everything we'd like to, but it's a start! I want to see the major monuments and memorials, part of the Smithsonian, the Folger library, and the Holocaust museum. We'll see how much of that we actually get to. We don't want to overbook ourselves, and definitely want to take some time to relax.
Is anyone else feeling a little disturbed by the coverage of the murder-suicide in Zimmerman? I mean, it seems like every media outlet (at least locally) is going on and on about how the wife met the other guy on a "swinger's website" (insert breathless titillation here). It's just all so sleazy. If the audience is lucky, they'll mention that the murdered woman was also a nurse, and apparently a reliable one. But the bit about the swinger's website and the affair...that's always mentioned. Sometimes complete with judgmental comments from the neighbors about how people who don't live "that way" don't have "that problem." Which is complete bullshit, by the way. Just ask the hundreds of women murdered by an abusive SO each year. And how many murder-suicides have there been when the woman actually dared to divorce the guy? So he kills her, probably kills any kids unfortunate enough to share his DNA, and then kills himself. The ultimate act of possession, I suppose.
Anyway, it just disturbs me the way that people are rushing to judge this woman, and implying (not even trying to be subtle about it) that because she had an affair, or had a non-monogamous relationship with her spouse, somehow she deserved to have it happen. I'm not "wired" for polyamory, myself. Honestly I think relationships between two people are complicated enough, without adding anyone else to the mix. But just because I choose a monogamous relationship doesn't mean that I think everyone should. And really, so long as I'm not involved, and everyone who is is a consenting adult, it's not my business.
It frustrates me that it seems like this woman's personal life is being exploited for prurient entertainment. I know, it's nothing new. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it now because I know so many people whose sexuality is not one man, one woman, man-on-top-get-it-over-with-quick. And they are wonderful, intelligent, ethical, caring people. And I wonder what this woman was like. She was a nurse. She apparently had a relationship with a man besides her husband. She was killed by her husband. That's all I know. And it doesn't seem right.
I can't wait. We're going to take in the battlefield at Gettysburg (I've been reading The Killer Angels as preparation and I highly recommend it), the Antietam battlefield, and then spend three days touring Washington, DC. I know we're not going to be able to see nearly everything we'd like to, but it's a start! I want to see the major monuments and memorials, part of the Smithsonian, the Folger library, and the Holocaust museum. We'll see how much of that we actually get to. We don't want to overbook ourselves, and definitely want to take some time to relax.
Is anyone else feeling a little disturbed by the coverage of the murder-suicide in Zimmerman? I mean, it seems like every media outlet (at least locally) is going on and on about how the wife met the other guy on a "swinger's website" (insert breathless titillation here). It's just all so sleazy. If the audience is lucky, they'll mention that the murdered woman was also a nurse, and apparently a reliable one. But the bit about the swinger's website and the affair...that's always mentioned. Sometimes complete with judgmental comments from the neighbors about how people who don't live "that way" don't have "that problem." Which is complete bullshit, by the way. Just ask the hundreds of women murdered by an abusive SO each year. And how many murder-suicides have there been when the woman actually dared to divorce the guy? So he kills her, probably kills any kids unfortunate enough to share his DNA, and then kills himself. The ultimate act of possession, I suppose.
Anyway, it just disturbs me the way that people are rushing to judge this woman, and implying (not even trying to be subtle about it) that because she had an affair, or had a non-monogamous relationship with her spouse, somehow she deserved to have it happen. I'm not "wired" for polyamory, myself. Honestly I think relationships between two people are complicated enough, without adding anyone else to the mix. But just because I choose a monogamous relationship doesn't mean that I think everyone should. And really, so long as I'm not involved, and everyone who is is a consenting adult, it's not my business.
It frustrates me that it seems like this woman's personal life is being exploited for prurient entertainment. I know, it's nothing new. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it now because I know so many people whose sexuality is not one man, one woman, man-on-top-get-it-over-with-quick. And they are wonderful, intelligent, ethical, caring people. And I wonder what this woman was like. She was a nurse. She apparently had a relationship with a man besides her husband. She was killed by her husband. That's all I know. And it doesn't seem right.