sundries

[rm]

The new Miss USA is Arab-American, a first.

You know, my medical phobia was bad enough even without knowing about anesthesia awareness. This isn't my first reading about it, but I get more traumatized by it every time.

The Boston University class of 1970 finally has their graduation ceremony.

Strict reading of visa rule imperils more couples.

Riding a bicycle to promote world peace.

I don't think I would have gotten this even a couple of years ago. Now I get it. At the Smith College commencement Rachel Maddow said (among other stuff including a mention of folks in the Department of the Interior snorting meth off a toaster oven), "when given the choice between fame and glory, take glory."

While domestic partnership in New York is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay not marriage, the ceremony is about to get better for those interested. For the record, most of NYC's domestic partnerships involve straight people and gay marriages are recognized in New York if you get 'em legally done elsewhere. Confused yet?

Laura Bush not only supports marriage equality, she believes it is inevitable.

People, no matter how much of a plan you think you have, when you drop something onto the tracks don't go after it. Among other things, they're much, much deeper than you think.

Of course, I woke up today (after waking up at 2am and 4:30am first) with three critical things I need to add to the paper (each is a mere clause or sentence, but important), two things I want to double-check, and a footnote about death rates in British television shows I want to expand slightly (something that's all John Fay's fault). Other than that, it's just cleaning up my citation footnotes and doing the epic bibliography that's a big pain in the ass since it includes papers, books, tv shows, movies and the damn Internet.

While this was going on all weekend, Patty was working on her remix story. We spent a lot of time sitting across from each other in a cafe running our hands through our hair. This was about a hundred times more conducive to the writing process than I would have expected, and I'm very impressed with the degree to which we did not drive ourselves crazy.

The Hewitt reunion was weird and possibly even illuminating, but will be a post of its own.

In the midst of all of this, we also managed to watch some Buffy and Angel. Kittens as currency!

Meanwhile, last night on Angel we watched the misogyny demon episode. Alexis Denisof is _such_ a good actor I feel like I'm losing my mind. Why isn't he working more? Jesus fucking christ. Because that episode is the most heavy-handed and not that well-written piece of crap ever (hi, references to The Shining) and yet his performance manages to be nuanced, uncomfortably sexual and just screams of backstory (hi Wesley's dad! Am I right or am I right?).

And, despite Wesley not being that terrible, terrible guy he is under the influence, here's a man who's always talking about "what a remarkable girl" this or that woman he is attracted to is; he never knew how to be a child, he doesn't know how to be an adult, and he's only attracted to people he (thinks he) needs to protect because he can't protect himself and they're a distraction from just how fundamentally broken and full of shame he is. That last scene with Fred and the tears is FUCKING HEARTBREAKING.

Watching Wesley's arc is, instead of my more usual experience of thinking "wow, I have things in common with this character" is instead the experience of "oh, look at the terrible things he has in common with me."

Comments

[rackmount.livejournal.com]

I cannot speak to Miss Michigan particularly, but I grew up near there, and there's actually an enormous Lebanese community, several generations old, well-established.

It's a fascinating study in how immigrant communities CAN become part of host communities, while retaining a strong sense of identity. I went to school with a small but well-represented minority of Lebanese kids, and they were not, to my knowledge, treated particularly differently than anyone else. At the same time, it never occurred to me that it was odd that one family would always come by and pick the grape leaves off of our vines. I just didn't think that far. Many of the local car-dealerships were run by the Khan family. I cannot speak about post-9/11, but before then, I don't think it occurred to anyone to not buy from them.

There is a pretty accurate and interesting article here on the local mosque, which has been blessed with both strong, progressive leadership and a lovely congregation. It's one of the larger mosques in the US and has been at the forefront of progressive Islam. It's def. worth a read.

Regarding Miss Michigan and your discussion above on hijab, the (female) president of the congregation says, "that's all anyone likes to talk about today, that a woman should cover. My response is that I can't imagine God put our whole religion to this piece of cloth; it seems my intentions and the way I treat people are a lot more important."

The story about the Christian radio station starting a protective circle around the mosque after 9/11 is pretty inspiring too.