I love that blogs are reaching a certain level of mainstream-ness, complete now with a Portrait of a Blogger. What i love even more is that V-Day is willing to let me explore the potential uses of blogs in non-profit land. Yippeee! Coming soon: a full revamp of the V-Day web presence!
Monthly Archives: October 2002
Out of control..
Ok… at 11PM last night, i had reached a breaking point. I had been working my toosh off in a freezing cold apartment to help get a feature launched for the lovely V-Spot. My body ached and screamed at me: all it wanted to do was dance. Well, you can’t dance in Boston most nights, which was where i happened to be located. So, with a little bit of begging and a complete dump of my *entire* car, i grabbed my dear friend and off we wisked to NYC for the most beautiful bouncing that i’ve had in a long time. The party was located in a beautiful space, on the 9th floor of a warehouse in DUMBO, overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge with 2 story windows that let me peek out and have great conversations with the East River about the way in which life flows. The decos were great, the music was contemplation-style and i was in heaven. I bounced, watched the sun rise, floated around and did spirals with my friend. Then, with the party over, we drove up 15 on an unbelievably beautiful day, seeing the magical fall leaves in all of their red/orange/yellow glory. Still not exhausted from seeking adventures, i donned a skirt and we went off to play in playground land, acting like little children, so excited about everything. We swang on swings, walked the railroad tracks, played cribbage and saw Spirited Away before finally reaching the point now of sheer exhaustion. But OMG was it a magical and most wonderful adventure!!!
dreams
Ok.. so i never remember my dreams, which is why i never recorded them here even though old friends of mine used to use their blog for precisely that. But somehow, today, i managed to actually hold on to bits of mine…
I was standing in line to get Howard Zinn’s autograph. Although i wanted to get it on People’s History, i only had one of a million copies of The Vagina Monologues on me, so i planned to get his script there (which is weird given my reasoning for getting authors’ signatures). When i got to the front of the line, the book’s cover fell off, but he signed it anyhow like it was no big deal. And then he started giving me advice about life before he was joined by James Bond who was also giving me advice. Somehow everyone else disappeared and we all got into this really fascinating discussion about the meaning of life. Then, we were outside of the school hall where signatures were happening and were on a cruise boat and Zinn and Judith Butler were sharing a cabin and trying to get me to join them for lunch, but somehow i was busy and had to go….
When i woke, NPR’s Connection was just starting a piece on James Bond… I wonder what other NPR discussions i slept through (luckily there were no sniper conversations in my dream).
implantable chips
Ack! The FDA just approved implantable ID chips for humans! Can we say privacy?
Frankly, it’s just a very weird world. I cannot honestly follow the logic that underlies these (and many other) government decisions. The decisions that seem to evolve in our society follow corporate and power monger’s temporary needs, without contemplating the long term effects on society. And of course, as we’re allowing for scary chips to be implanted into people, we’re taking away the right for people to put what they want into their systems (the latest: Salvia Divinorum).
Certainly, i have a thing about the War on Drugs and how problematic it is economically, socially and culturally. Rather than letting people live & let live, we create arbitrary rules about what we determine to be drugs and what we determine to be economic powerhouses and therefore get separate classifications (tobacco, alcohol, caffeine). But even beyond the War on Drugs, what’s up with our housing policies where we spend far more money to put people in shelters than to provide low income housing because we don’t want to put that in the budget? Or the death penalty which costs 10x more than life in prison and doesn’t provide any other useful social service?
As a youth, i was confused… As an adult, i’m truly lost.
worthless words of the day
In case you are bored, you can seek out today’s worthless word of the day. My favorite so far:
the worthless word for the day is: hesternal
pertaining to yesterday (from L. hesternus, of yesterday)
“In enervating slumbers from the hesternal dissipation or debauch.”
– Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham; or the adventures of a gentlemanbonus word: hesternopothia – a pathological yearning for the good ol’ days
(from L. hesternus, of yesterday + pother, mental tumult) :^)
anti-gay-marriage counter productive
In case you missed it, The Atlantic Monthly ran an article explaining why the conservative anti-gay-marriage stance is actually working against their goals. Because of the strides that gay couples have made towards acquiring domestic partner rights in lieu of being allowed to marry, the rest of the population is benefiting from the ability to co-habitate without the social stigma and the meaning of marriage is being degraded by these heterosexual liberals. Basically, it’s a great little article explaining some of the benefits of the right wing’s hatred being turned around to be helpful.
bowling for columbine
So, i went to see Bowling for Columbine last nite, for opening night. As it is the latest antic for indie filmmaker and troublemaker Michael Moore, i was psyched to support it and the general liberal agenda. And, all and all, i was quite glad that i did. While some of it was a bit over the edge and the thesis of the film seemed to change midway through, Moore had quite a few really good (even if sensationalist) points, pulled together some interesting perspectives, captured NRA President Charlton Heston at his racist worst and K-Mart at its PR best, plus a Trey Parker/Matt Stone (South Park) history lesson. Certainly, the film was a bit sporadic and sensational, and even i recognized the lack of attention span involved in constructing the story. But i had to give it props for making me think and allowing me to get into fun discussions with others – that inevitably makes for a good movie. Plus, it’s a topic that just must be considered at a larger spectrum… And one thing’s for certain: i really do believe that we live in a culture of fear.
surfing for V-Day
Not only is my hometown of Lancaster PA going to run a worldwide V-Day event, but the organizer even put up a blog for V-Day Lancaster!!
Also, in surfing through her site, i found another site which has lots of connections to feminist information and links and whatnot, including V-Day. And from there, there’s a neat little daily feminist news site.
So.. this surfing is because i’m trying to get a sense of all feminist and anti-violence sites out there. When the new dynamic V-Day site launches down the road, along with the various campaigns, we want to be able to encourage traffic and get people working with us towards the goal of ending violence towards women and girls… So, if you know of a good site, let me know!
drunk driving
Drunk driving has always been one of those things that has peeved me, not because i’m annoyed at drunk drivers (which is an obvious given), but because i’m annoyed at those who have the power to stop it: the government. In Europe and most other places, drunk driving is barely a problem, simply because people have transportation options. Drinking? Cool.. i’ll take the subway/bus home! Here, that’s not an option, or at least not in Boston.. cabs cost a fortune and the T stops running, as if it were easily accessible to most places anyhow… So, all too often, i get to see folks drink & drive and pray that they’ll not hurt themselves or others.
I’m truly happy that the government is creating advertisements to persuade folks to not drink & drive, even if they’re disturbing as hell. But i really do wish that they would spend money providing alternatives, not just educating.. The former is definitely needed before the latter will be meaningful.
Verizon’s #HOPE program
October 15 — Verizon Wireless launched its #HOPE program. By dialing #HOPE from a Verizon Wireless phone on the carrier’s nationwide network, a person in need of information and resources regarding domestic violence will get an immediate connection to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) and a step towards safety and independence. The call is toll and airtime free. For more information about Verizon Wireless’ domestic violence awareness efforts or to find out how to donate phones, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.