Whoo! My return and a political rant.
So I'm alive!
After suffering from numerous illnesses due to mono, I'm finally starting to bounce back. There's been so much shit going on and being dead to the world hasn't helped. Now I have a week's worth of missed classes to catch up on, and not nearly enough time to do it.
My cousin sent me a care package of Halls and an iTunes gift card and a really nice card. It put such a huge smile on my face.
I'm so stressed out. I know it doesn't help my immune system to be this effing high strung, but I can't help it.
I just had the most painful burp of my life. No idea where that came from.
Overall I'm just trying to make myself catch up on so much. I need three more books and I need to read so much. SO much. It's insane. At least my teachers have been pretty understanding. All tomorrow I'm just going to be doing homework. I might hide my TV remote so I can't see what's on The History Channel to blow off homework.
I want a new nose ring and a new tattoo. I kinda miss my snakebite, but I'm not longingly mourning it's loss. Oh, yeah. I had to take it out because it got infected. It's healing nicely though. I have a funky scab going on, but it's getting better.
Time for a political rant.
As most of you know, I'm a hardcore believer in reducing violence and wrongs towards women, as well as proper sex education. I'm extremely pro-choice and want to work with and help heal victims of domestic and sexual violence in the future with my psychology degree.
I would really like everyone to read the following. It's written by Eve Ensler, and if you don't know who she is, you really should. The author of the Vagina Monologues voices her opinions on Sarah Palin. If you were even considering thinking that the Republican candidates were tolerable, I suggest you look into this.
Written by the author of Vagina Monologues, an activist and feminist who has changed the world in her fight to reduce violence against women.
Drill drill Drill
by Eve Ensler
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
If you did read it, I really appreciate it. If you look into Palin's decisions, it's terrifying how she looks at abortion and rape. As mayor of an Alaskan town - I forget the name, starts with a W - she decided that women would have to foot the bill for their rape kits. She only supports abstinence, which obviously worked so well for her daughter.
Can you imagine McCain dying - he IS freaking 72 years old - and having this woman governing one of the freest populations on earth? Women have had such major setbacks in life and we're finally progressing. She would take this country back by leaps and bounds, which is what we're trying to avoid, right?
All I'm saying is, VOTE, goddammit! This election is crucial to our lives. Even if you don't really like Obama, he's the right choice. What I can't stand are people who were Hilary supporters and now are voting McCain because they don't want Obama to win. That is the most immature thing I have ever heard. You're a DEMOCRAT. Support your party! Is spite more important than change now? Because if it is, people have really lost sight of what's most important in this country.
Anyway. That's that, and you can all be reassured that I am much, much better and getting back to normal. My life is pretty lame because of it, but I really have to buckle down and work on catching up and being responsible. It sucks, but it's got to be done.
Anyone who's in Chicago: some visit my awesome apartment! It's a great place to crash, I swear.
Yep. That's all I got before you all die of boredom.
After suffering from numerous illnesses due to mono, I'm finally starting to bounce back. There's been so much shit going on and being dead to the world hasn't helped. Now I have a week's worth of missed classes to catch up on, and not nearly enough time to do it.
My cousin sent me a care package of Halls and an iTunes gift card and a really nice card. It put such a huge smile on my face.
I'm so stressed out. I know it doesn't help my immune system to be this effing high strung, but I can't help it.
I just had the most painful burp of my life. No idea where that came from.
Overall I'm just trying to make myself catch up on so much. I need three more books and I need to read so much. SO much. It's insane. At least my teachers have been pretty understanding. All tomorrow I'm just going to be doing homework. I might hide my TV remote so I can't see what's on The History Channel to blow off homework.
I want a new nose ring and a new tattoo. I kinda miss my snakebite, but I'm not longingly mourning it's loss. Oh, yeah. I had to take it out because it got infected. It's healing nicely though. I have a funky scab going on, but it's getting better.
Time for a political rant.
As most of you know, I'm a hardcore believer in reducing violence and wrongs towards women, as well as proper sex education. I'm extremely pro-choice and want to work with and help heal victims of domestic and sexual violence in the future with my psychology degree.
I would really like everyone to read the following. It's written by Eve Ensler, and if you don't know who she is, you really should. The author of the Vagina Monologues voices her opinions on Sarah Palin. If you were even considering thinking that the Republican candidates were tolerable, I suggest you look into this.
Written by the author of Vagina Monologues, an activist and feminist who has changed the world in her fight to reduce violence against women.
Drill drill Drill
by Eve Ensler
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
If you did read it, I really appreciate it. If you look into Palin's decisions, it's terrifying how she looks at abortion and rape. As mayor of an Alaskan town - I forget the name, starts with a W - she decided that women would have to foot the bill for their rape kits. She only supports abstinence, which obviously worked so well for her daughter.
Can you imagine McCain dying - he IS freaking 72 years old - and having this woman governing one of the freest populations on earth? Women have had such major setbacks in life and we're finally progressing. She would take this country back by leaps and bounds, which is what we're trying to avoid, right?
All I'm saying is, VOTE, goddammit! This election is crucial to our lives. Even if you don't really like Obama, he's the right choice. What I can't stand are people who were Hilary supporters and now are voting McCain because they don't want Obama to win. That is the most immature thing I have ever heard. You're a DEMOCRAT. Support your party! Is spite more important than change now? Because if it is, people have really lost sight of what's most important in this country.
Anyway. That's that, and you can all be reassured that I am much, much better and getting back to normal. My life is pretty lame because of it, but I really have to buckle down and work on catching up and being responsible. It sucks, but it's got to be done.
Anyone who's in Chicago: some visit my awesome apartment! It's a great place to crash, I swear.
Yep. That's all I got before you all die of boredom.