sundries

[rm]

Margaret Gipsy Moth has died.

Prison, Day 1.

A bit ago I posted about an individual who was given a non-specified gender designation on their Australian identity papers. That designation has now been taken away from this person.

The five most ridiculous things LGBTQ have been blamed for and/or compared to. from montrealais, via gwyd.

The Washington Post's ombudsman defends the paper's coverage of marriage equality again.

So Patty's home (and we had a great night, stopping at Murray's Cheese and eating at Risotteria and coming home to watch Angel and then going to bed early).

Granted, that episode of Angel was kinda eh. It's the one where he gets the ring. And I thought the episode does pretty well in trying to convey that experience of sunlight for him, but Boreanaz's acting is not quite up to the task, and I thought the point of Angel destroying the ring is muddled between his desire for self-punishment, his monologue about helping the forgotten people of the night as opposed to the people in daylight (that, in fact, annoyed me, the fact is many very normal, successful people who look like they have support systems often find themselves in situations where no one is on their side -- domestic violence, one of the themes of the episode, being a case in point), and the fact that the episode showed it was pretty easy for people to get the ring off people who had it, invincibility aside and therefore the thing was just dangerous and could easily slip into the wrong hands.

The ring needed a longer arc or a clearer arc or to have just not been there at all. It was such an obligatory "vampire comfronts sunlight" episode. Blah. I did like Oz showing up though and the way he was in the van with the crossbows reminded me of the Oz of the Wishverse, and I thought that was clever.

Have not yet gotten to White Collar 1.12. Maybe tonight. Patty loves con artists, so she might get into the show, but is 1.12 a good one for showing someone why the show is awesome or not?

Speaking of, I have a prompt idea for lgbtfest, but I'm not sure how to phrase it in a way that comes off as assholish in a way I totally don't mean.

Also, for people doing White Collar fic in general: if you think Neal & Peter (or Neal & Peter & El) are doing it in S1, when do you think they get together? Or are they all still dancing around each other? It's weird, because there are a couple of major shifts in all those relationships in S1, but I'm still not sure where I would place that in my own stuff yet.

Finally, on the White Collar front, it's about to do a number on my wardrobe. I can feel it. Because wow, I want the 8 1/2 in the shiny silver cashmere liek woah. And I'd have to have the shoulders as narrow as can be and the waist lower to hide my hips and the jacket a little longer than it generally is for that style, so it doesn't break across my hips, I think, and I'm still not sure it would work (my hips are really big for the rest of me), but I want it soooooooooooooo bad. And it wouldn't even be a huge investment, considering that I have a gift certificate to Duchess for recent referrals and the two piece (jesus fuck, do I really want a two piece suit?) is only $500 (meaning, I could order this RIGHT NOW, but I'd have to get some shirts for it too, because I'd want a different collar height/spread on shirts for that suit I think). Speak to me people. Can my hips be hidden in something so skinny? *bangs head against nearest available surface*

Oh, Barrowman on Desperate Housewives (which I don't watch) tonight. Trying to decide if I care.

NYC'ers: Elephant Parade!

Have received registration materials for the Bristol conference. They are being very good about celiac issues and soon I'll have a website to point you folks to, as I know a few people in the area have expressed an interest in maybe attending.

The tea party movement is racist. I figure we all know that by now. But what I want to talk about is the very visceral reaction I'm having to the latest shenanigans. Shenanigans is the wrong word, though. It makes all this sound frivolous - hateful, but ultimately unimportant. But it's not.

Look, I'm one of those people who's really sensitive about bullying. I've been bullied both because of things that I am (i.e., queer) and just because I was one of those lucky winners, not just as a kid growing up, but also as an adult. I'm a nail that sticks up and I'm sensitive; I am both obvious and vulnerable. And when I'm the target of this shit, it freaks me out pretty bad. It freaks me out enough that it's hard to be around me for some people, because I will start ranting with a rhetorical and emotional passion about how the perpetrators want me dead and simply don't _yet_ have the nerve to smash my face in with a brick, but I know, I know they want to.

And some of that is me being the wounded, self-hating child that's never really healed from playground taunts and the assurances of my mother that people were just jealous (assurances that when expressed to others just made them hate me more). But some of that is also being the peson who's had beer bottles thrown at her for being gay, who's been threatened with rape for it, who's sat in emergency rooms with friends who have been gay bashed (Nik got 19 stitches to his scalp).

It's not rational or healthy, the way I re-victimize myself in the need to understand the hate -- sometimes based on bias, sometimes merely based on human nature and the cruelty of crowds, but it's how I am. I do my best to suppress it for everyone's sake. If you've been reading this journal for a long time, or know me, you know I don't always succeed.

But here's the thing about the tea party movement. There's a shitload of people and types of people they want dead. And they mean it. And they're gleeful about it. And they feel entitled to it. And it needs to be called out. And not just in liberal blogs or LJ ramblings. Yet the mainstream (not Fox, not MSNBC) news is largely silent. And whether this is a matter of being complicit or afraid, it enrages me.

What's happening in this country is not about mere differences of political philosophies and ideas, and the more we say that it is, the more we legitimize hatred and the desire for death of the other as a perfectly valid, rational opinion that members of our theoretically polite society are not only entitled to hold, but are entitled in some manner to act upon.

This doesn't lead anywhere good. This doesn't lead anywhere that isn't bloody. And what I feel, overwhelmingly, isn't fear; it's despair.

And now changing gears, man, I love this shitty song. (I write ConSweet to it on repeat, which tells you way too much about me and that book, I think, but the song is the embodiement of dumb shitty stuff people think makes them super cool when they are trashed and ConSweet is way about that).

Comments

[elisi]

I think pretty much *everyone* in all of fandom adores that episode of Angel because of Spike's voice over at the beginning. Phrases like 'a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth' and 'No, not the hair! Never the hair!' are basic Buffy verse catchphrases that come in handy over and over again! :)

(That said, your criticisms are absolutely valid. And Oz is made of win!)

[rm.livejournal.com]

That opening is HILARIOUS, but as a whole I feel like it doesn't hold together.

[elisi]

but as a whole I feel like it doesn't hold together.
Yeah, that happens quite a bit in S1. But since you're a Torchwood fan I figure you'll cope! ;) (Also there are some really, truly excellent episodes that are still among my favourites ever.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

True enough, although I feel with one or two exceptions that the problem with Torchwood was continuity across episodes and not structure internal to specific episodes.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

That whole episode felt to me like an excuse to have Spike bouncing around and chewing up the scenery, which, I like the character, but it's not like he's short of opportunities to do that on his native turf. Angel was a bit timid about letting go of the apron strings in its first season, IMHO; it did much better when it developed its own convictions (which it does, to the point where guests from Buffyland in later seasons were seriously tonally jarring for me). That said, there are a couple of seriously rocking crossover eps later on in S1.

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

Did you ever get tired of the word 'champion' about S4 or S5? Oh, I got *so* sick of hearing that word...

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I said this over at Sparkindarkness' excellent post on the Teabaggers but what you are really seeing is the reaction of white Christian middle age, middle class males who are now finding out that life doesn't always give you what you expected.

But instead of blaming those responsible (mostly other white male Christian middle age men of great wealth and power) for shipping their jobs overseas, gutting their unions, lowering their wages, taking away their benefits, leaving them without access to health care, eliminating their pensions, manipulating the financial markets, its so much easier to blame those with less power - gays, minorities and yes women.

They continue to deny the obvious in order to protect themselves from the truth - they've been manipulated into supporting agendas that benefit the uber-wealthy (no estate tax, lower tax rates for the wealthy, invasion of foreign countries) at their own expense. Why wouldn't the Cheney's and the Rush Limbaugh's of the world tell them lies - its to their own benefit?

And I totally agree that the mainstream media has done very little to examine exactly what these folks stand for. I'm tired of hearing that they are a legitimate political force. So was the Nazi party in pre-war Germany. It's time for people who threaten violence if they don't get their way to be held accountable. And that goes double for those who stand on the sidelines (The Republican Party) and let their surrogates do the dirty work.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Well said. I'm absolutely certain that what really galvanized these people to get together isn't any particular bill or policy, but the simple but undeniable fact that they are now living in a nation which has a black president, and they simily can't deal with this. So, you get the birthers, the tea-baggers, and more people joining various white power scariness.

I'm tired of hearing that they are a legitimate political force. So was the Nazi party in pre-war Germany. It's time for people who threaten violence if they don't get their way to be held accountable. And that goes double for those who stand on the sidelines (The Republican Party) and let their surrogates do the dirty work.

Hell yes!

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Amen! You see if you have a white man as President, even if he is an idiot, even if his daddy got him the job, even if his father was meeting with Bin Ladin's relatives the day the World Trade Towers were destroyed, even if you're an east coast blue blood (and your ranch is a little fake pile of shit), it allows other white men to feel they have a shot at the job.

But if a black man gets the job because he was smart (and you're not) and he worked hard (and you didn't) and he got an exceptional education based on merit (and you didn't) then that means that your automatic white man privilge is worth less. You have to let go of the fantasy that an 'average' white guy can be president. Hey, we know a way subpar white guy can be president if he has enough money and connections. But you don't.

No, Mr. average white guy, you are not going to be President, you are not going to be a millionaire, you will not head a corporation, you will not get rich in the stock market, you don't automatically get to go to the head of the line and - no,no, no you don't look like Tom Cruise (especially when naked).

Life is tough and often unfair. Too bad no one ever taught you that. Cause those of us who aren't straight white men (mostly Christian) already know this. Practically from birth.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

It turns out that my ex-husband's brother is a Tea Party-er/Bagger whatever the hell they're called. My ex has been boosting the signal on his brother's writings, which if they weren't steeped in ignorance, I could probably just ignore. But I'm finding that they are becoming more vicious and even less based in reality. I've pleaded with him to get his brother some help, but I've been told that's just me trying to "censor" him. When I hear about him on CNN having shot up some abortion clinic or some other "liberal outlet", I won't be the least surprised.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

The teabagger crew seems to be unable to define itself except in negatives: what they don't want. Or, all the things they want to do are uniformly negative: get rid of this, get rid of that. It started with laws and institutions, and now seems to be working its way over to general classes of people, and maybe even specific people as well.

It's my belief that is nothing less than the nature of the beast. When you define yourself entirely by what you are against, it's only a matter of time before you have painted yourself into a corner ... from which the only escape involves painting with blood.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Have you seen this? How to Say It?, in which James "the Amazing" Randi comes out.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Boreanaz never becomes a good actor, but he has his moments (I thought Angelus from Buffy was mostly good), but he gets better and the show plays more to his strengths in seasons 2 & 3 of Angel.

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Alysson Hannigan the same way? I think she's a horrible actress, *except* when she plays Vampire!Willow on that one episode. I forget what it was called, but it was in S3. She was even horrible on "How I Met Your Mother." It just strikes me that she's perpetually stuck at an 'awkward' stage, in looks and speech. Either that, or she plays characters like that.

[gement.livejournal.com]

The 8 1/2 is what I ended up getting. I came in asking for an Atticus but really wanted long graceful lines.

I'm not doing super-narrow shoulders, though. I'm interested to see how it comes out differently on you.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

But here's the thing about the tea party movement. There's a shitload of people and types of people they want dead. And they mean it. And they're gleeful about it. And they feel entitled to it. And it needs to be called out. And not just in liberal blogs or LJ ramblings. Yet the mainstream (not Fox, not MSNBC) news is largely silent. And whether this is a matter of being complicit or afraid, it enrages me.

Absolutely. I hope the latest racist outburst does some of that. Failing that, I expect that their reaction to Obama signing the healthcare bill will include sufficient vile comments that they may start to get through to the general public. The other answer is that the media wakes up after these psychos kill a few people, but I very much hope that it doesn't come to that.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I really hope you're right, that the general public will see the light that the Teabaggers mean what they say, but my hard, cynical little core doubts it.

When people threaten violence, IMHO, believe them.

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

What's happening in this country is not about mere differences of political philosophies and ideas, and the more we say that it is, the more we legitimize hatred and the desire for death of the other as a perfectly valid, rational opinion that members of our theoretically polite society are not only entitled to hold, but are entitled in some manner to act upon.

This. This. So much This!

It truly scares me how the general population just doesn't see this, that groups like this are normalizing hate under the guise of freedom of religion/philosophy, and then using that same call for freedom to prevent others from criticizing or otherwise calling them out on it! And that so few perceive this double-standard... *shakes head*


On a more personal note, I would love to hear more of your insights about the whole bullying thing... I feel like we have similar experiences there - both things that happened to us, and how we react to it... I've always wanted to figure out how to write a book about it, because I just feel the need to tell people "this is what happened to me, and how it's affected me, and everyone needs to hear this and learn from it". I know it sounds so egotistical - but, especially given the whole "normalizing hate" thing, sometimes it just feels like, "citizenry of this country, you need to know about my life so that you stop doing this crap to other people!" And no, I'm not such a grand example of every bad thing someone could do to someone else - but I know that if it happened to me, it happened to others - and if we all spoke up - I don't know - maybe people can change by feeling empathy for once...