sundries

[rm]

On the one hand, I wasn't there and you weren't there and none of us know what happened. On the other hand, I sure do travel enough and have had enough weird and slightly unnerving experiences to find this to be completely plausible. This sort of thing is what you get when you have power in the hands of people without enough training in a fear-based culture where no one takes a bloody civics class anymore.

Houston elects openly gay mayor. CNN notes she "has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation." This sentence makes me want to punch people in the face.

Poor children likelier to get antipsychotics. This could mean a lot of different things, none of them good.

Casual sex doesn't harm self-esteem, just you know, the crap people say about it does.

There's not succinct catchy way to encapsulate all the fail found in these supposed breast cancer awareness t-shirts (via shehasathree). "Take care of yourself or I'll sexually assault you" is only the most prominent of the offenses in them.

You can order Idol Musings now. I know the prices are high, and I haven't got my contributor's copy yet so I cant give you my theoretically objective opinion (about a volume I have five essay in), but one factor in the price is certainly that the publisher is in NZ. Anyway, there you go. I'm in a thing. Buy a book.

Last night we went to parties for marchek and hofnarr. Both were totally excellent and I had more fun than I usually do at such things (parties and I aren't always so good for all sorts of reasons). That said, 2009 still managed to demonstrate that it's Not Done With Us Yet (I'm glossing over what went down here, because it's not my story to tell, but it cast a long shadow). So while I may have started working on my end of the year recap, I'm probably going to wait right until the end of the year to post it. A decade thing might happen sooner.

Are you a university student who wants to do journalism in Africa? Win a trip.

Ginerbread TARDIS with Shooty Dog Thing. (via tsarina)

Comments

[graene.livejournal.com]

"where no one takes a bloody civics class anymore"

I'm more worried that it appears no one teaches such a class anymore, and we're fast losing the generation of professional teachers who've ever been in one as a teacher or even a student.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Do you know I've had to explain the electoral college and the checks and balances of the three branches of government repeatedly to adult US citizens repeatedly in the last ten years? Like, over and over and over.

[graene.livejournal.com]

Not surprised at all, between the lack of education and the fact that the immediate past administration didn't believe in checks on its power or tolerate them. We all saw the executive seemingly get away with anything and everything, so why would we think checks exist?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

How many of those people didn't even know the Government had three branches? It's amazing the ignorance of Government... and worse, the deliberate disinformation being spread around. (The completely insane redefinitions of "natural born citizen," going on these days, for one.)

[delchi.livejournal.com]

My question is, is it a lack of education or apathy towards the subject? Knowing the branches of government won't get you ( most ) jobs, a hot car, or a Wii. Likewise the overwhelming feeling that the system is rigged, broken, and can't be changed can be hard to fight off at an early age.

To me it's a matter of perspective. The information is out there, at the very worst you can take a five minute read of wikipedia and get some kind of idea about how things work - but that does not make it any more real or important in the eyes of many people. Yes it is important - it's the foundation of the country - but so many people are disenfranchised or apathetic towards the system that learning about it takes a back seat to the latest video game release, working 3 jobs to cover expenses, or getting table service at the club.

There are people who do care, and educate themselves - and they are the ones who will enter politics, and try to make something out of it all. Likewise there are the ones born into the system who will likewise continue their role as well.

Hopefully converting the disenfranchised and apathetic into being politically educated & active will change things.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Good god those t-shirts have just made my face twist into something a cold breeze would render unchanging.

Why can't sex be a fun thing? It keeps getting relegated to this "dangerous for your soul" thing, when really, it's your attitude.

"has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation."
WTF does that mean?!

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

CNN notes she "has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation."

Yes, because it's the queer people themselves who insist on making an issue of their sexual orientation. Why can't they just give it a rest and be chill about it like all the people around them are?

ARGH I DON'T EVEN.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

My jaw is completely dropped at those breast cancer awareness T-shirts. And is the Mr. McFeely thing supposed to be some smear of Fred Rogers? And I'm sure that these losers think that our rage is productive because it means that we're talking about breast cancer.

I am amazed at your endurance reading that CNN article, because I was mad back at the reporter noting how remarkable it was considering that Houston and Texas don't recognize even domestic partnerships. Buh?

And, while civics classes are always a good thing, the authorities were beating up non-cowering people even when we had them. I'd prefer to attack the problem at its source, by dropping the presumption that everyone driving across the border is a terrorist, or barring that to have cameras and microphones at every crossing point so that we can all clearly see the assault that the police officers endured.

[rm.livejournal.com]

And, while civics classes are always a good thing, the authorities were beating up non-cowering people even when we had them

This is true. However, back when we had civics classes, I I feel like I saw a lot less blaming the victim for exercising their rights.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

On Cakewrecks today, they have the best of holiday gingerbread houses. This one made me think of you.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

Photographic evidence from last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26374245@N03/4181917845/

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

Is that a Colin Baker gingerbread Doctor?

[miep.livejournal.com]

I love the come hither look that goes with the gingerbread, and rm laughing in the background.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I actually found casual sex to be WONDERFUL for my self-esteem. ;)

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

The people who figure out how to keep raising breast cancer awareness in non-fail, non-creepy ways are going to make so much money. Or at least deserve to.

Hello, those people! Don't get too distracted by how your job is to think about breasts! That's something lots of us like to do, but it's no excuse for shirts like those! That's lazy at best, sleazy at worst. Stop making people feel bad about breasts!

There will be a sweet spot found, helping people stay aware of breast cancer in a way that makes them smile, that is person-positive and breast-positive. Maybe someone's found that already. There are probably many ways. But this fail kind of tires me out, and I'm not dealing directly with breast cancer.

If I'm making no sense in this comment, tell me.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Nope, all good.

And yeah, as someone who has a major family history of breast cancer, has a friend who lost her mom to it this year and has another friend who had to fend off a rape attempt last night, my patience for those shirts is pretty extra spectacularly low right now.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Nope, all good.

Phew.

And yeah, as someone who has a major family history of breast cancer, has a friend who lost her mom to it this year and has another friend who had to fend off a rape attempt last night, my patience for those shirts is pretty extra spectacularly low right now.

Very understood, and very understandable.

This wouldn't be the funny way to approach the subject, but it could be another approach: An announcer saying "What if breast cancer affected the head? What if part of your head were at risk of going away? Like your mouth? [image of someone with blank skin where the mouth should be] Like your eyes? [same with the eyes] If part of you were at risk of being taken away, you'd take it seriously.

"Breast cancer. It's serious. You don't want to miss the people who have it."

I can imagine a symbolic approach like that: something may have to go missing because of cancer, whether it's part of someone's body or that very person herself or himself. (As I'm aware that men sometimes get breast cancer.) You'd have to choose missing body parts carefully so as not to squick the general audience: I doubt having the person in the ad appear with no left torso would get the point across. (And you don't want it to look like an injury someone's likely to get, like missing part of the lower jaw or a hand.)

This is a challenge. Fail like in that link still shouldn't have happened.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I find "Fuck C*ncer" to be the best of all.

(I may be the friend rm is referring to.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

That would be you. (Man, I hope no one else I know lost their mother to breast cancer this year. 2009 is FIRED).

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Gotcha.

I was confused because technically it was pneumonia from the lung cancer, but she had breast cancer in 2000, and they never entirely sussed out which cancer it actually was this time around...

BLAH BLAH BLAH FUCK C*NCER.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but when in doubt I BLAME BREAST CANCER.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

Nobody else you know *well*, since - while we've been at a couple of the same cons and have almost certainly interacted in person a couple times - I doubt we could pick each other out of police lineups.

But yeah, 2009 *sucked.*

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am sorry to hear that. 2009 has not been kind. At all. It's been rather statistically freakish.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There will be a sweet spot found, helping people stay aware of breast cancer in a way that makes them smile, that is person-positive and breast-positive. Maybe someone's found that already.

I'm a member of Team Wench, and our biggest fundraiser every year is for breast cancer in the form of a Privateer feast. As you can guess from the name, we're a bunch of the Rennfaire people, so yes, a lot of double-entendres (and, to quote Pratchett, single-entendres and proud of it) are flying around and the mascot is a blue-footed booby. But the money comes from ticket sales and raffles of items aimed at both genders... and we've donated over $50,000 to breast cancer research.

[miep.livejournal.com]

I have HAD it with 2009 and its shitting on friends. GET THEE GONE, 2009.

I mean, I have some definite Pollyanna tendencies, but there is a fucking limit.

[weirdquark]

CNN notes she "has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation."

I think it must be some stock story comment because New York Times article and the local (I'm in Texas) news site that I saw said pretty much the same thing.

[featherofeeling.livejournal.com]

FYI/Sundries:

"To show their support for a detained Iranian student leader, who was photographed in women’s clothes he may have been forced to wear, these men posted photographs of themselves wearing similar clothes on the Web."

Their protests include signs saying "It is not shame to be a woman, it is shame to be a man like you.” Apparently there are also protests of forced covering. An interesting subversion of gender shaming in order to protest non-explicitly-gender-related issues.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/more-support-for-detained-iranian-student/
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/iranian-facebook-protest-continues/

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

Don't you know that the poor are psychotic but the rich merely eccentric? ;)

[ygrane.livejournal.com]

What irked me in the Houston article was the mention that she was the first openly gay mayor of a major city in the US. *ahem*

I live in Portland, Oregon, and our mayor, Sam Adams, is gay, and so is Gavin Newsome of San Francisco. Are we not major anymore? I missed the memo. Not to mention the previous governor of New Jersey, who is gay even if he was closeted at the time, and the mayor of one of our smaller cities who is trans. I'm sure there are many many more that I'm not recalling at the minute, but really, would it hurt them to do five minutes of research?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Gavin Newsome is straight to my knowledge. He is at least in a long-term publicly recognized marriage to a woman (his second wife).