sundries

[rm]

I have chosen to view this Swiss adventure on being on a mission to Mars. I have little exercise, variety of food, entertainment, or communications with the outside world. And I see the same people all the time, and it's very weird. Mars!

I really, REALLY, need to decompress, but I think I have to do work on various projects tonight. It's hard to find distraction here when I need it. I mean, there just isn't any, and without normal life as a mediator, finding a good place between asceticism and being a workaholic isn't really working here.

One of the things that doesn't help is everyone else visiting is sort of feeling it too, so no one leaves anyone alone. So I feel both isolated and like I have no space. And I don't feel relieved when people offer to walk with me at night. I just feel like I'm not getting what I need.

If you are in the US and registered to vote, it's still early enough in your day to do so. Do so!

With 60 donors, Dogboy & Justine is at $3,045 in pledges, which means we've passed the 50% mark!

For the moment an injunction has been filed against the paper publishing lists of supposedly LGBT people in Uganda, alongside texts like "hang them."

Did you know that if you are a Wisconsin resident, go to a state with marriage equality and marry your same-sex partner and return to Wisconsin, they can fine you and throw you in jail? Yeah, neither did I, until keori posted about it.

90% of northern Manhattan subway riders see rats on a daily or weekly basis in the system. Is it wrong that the rats charm me?

Remember all the terrible things I've said about my university experience? Well, have things changed or what? First publicly trans NCAA Div 1 athlete is on one of their basketball teams. If anyone can shed light on if he's playing for the men's or women's team or how the NCAA handles this, that would be useful, because the article is a bucket of not clear.

Every day there's like five new women on the list to play Daisy in Luhrmann's Gatsby (if that's happening, although it seems to be). How much do I think it really needs to be a name we don't know? Most of the names being bandied about don't disappear into their roles, no matter how good some of them are (women, of course, aren't really given permission to perform in this way in Hollywood, so this isn't a critique of these women either in terms of acting or in terms of the business of persona; it's just a thing). I hope we're going to be surprised.

So Merlin.... WHAT IS THIS, I DON'T EVEN.... it has these moments, where it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, because there's just a perfect sync up between music and the look on someone's face and the camera angle... and then it just falls apart. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Yeah, I got nothing useful.

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

"Did you know that if you are a Wisconsin resident, go to a state with marriage equality and marry your same-sex partner and return to Wisconsin, they can fine you and throw you in jail?"

WHAT? Jesus.

[hllangel]

In actuality, if someone was prosecuted under that law, it would most likely be declared unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas and Romer v. Evans.

Lawrence protects the right to intimate association, and a state cannot impede that right, which is what they're doing if they criminalize you for your status as a married gay person.

Even if the right isn't declared fundamental (which marriage is well documented to be, though there is debate over whether same-sex marriage is), the state runs into problems trying to get around Romer, which states that laws based purely on animus towards a group cannot be upheld. Not knowing anything about this law, but guessing that the congressional intent runs somewhere along the lines of "ewww gay people are gross/immoral/etc," and without any other reason, much less a semi-valid one, the law is based purely on animus and therefore will go down.

As awful as it sounds, and as horrible as it would be to actually be prosecuted under this law, I don't think it passes constitutional muster.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It probably doesn't, but until a number of things change, odds are someone is going to have to get prosecuted under that law for anything to be done about it.

[hllangel]

I agree with that wholeheartedly. But what I'm saying is that the law won't stand up if something does happen.

In the meantime, we fight like hell to change it before it comes to prosecutions and lawsuits.

[eac.livejournal.com]

I am glad the law won't stand up, but I hate people being treated this way by a code constructed by bigots...

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I don't know why City Room seems perplexed re: rats in the 96th St 1/2/3 station. Probably the rats have been somewhat disrupted by the construction, but no more than the rest of the station's population. I got the impression that most of the construction work on that station was to do with the superstructure of the station, whereas most of the rats were coming in from below.

I do find the rats either charming or a source of wry admiration at how they manage to get by.

BRB reading that change.org article about gay marriage (I knew DOMA was a Bad Wrong Thing, but looks like there's even more to the legal mess than I knew...).

[affreca.livejournal.com]

According to the article about Kye Allums that I read, he plans to continue playing on the women's basketball team. Apparently, the NCAA goes by the gender on one's state issued ID to determine team. Testosterone is one complication Kye, as it is a banned substance, so he is delaying hormone therapy. I wish him luck.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I saw similar info over here (http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2010/11/02/kye-allums-is-a-transgender-man-playing-womens-college-basketball/). I don't know quite what I think about it. (hmm, I don't like gender bifurcation, so how to live in a world that has it is kinda always hard)

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

Testosterone is one complication Kye, as it is a banned substance, so he is delaying hormone therapy.

As I understand it, drug testing can distinguish exogenous testosterone from body-produced testosterone (I don't know what it's called), which makes it complicated for trans men to play on men's teams at a high level. (You're not allowed exogenous testosterone, even if you have a comparable level to the average man.) This was one reason Balian Buschbaum gave for retiring when he came out.

That said, I'm a bit confused as non-trans women have played for Division I NCAA football teams, so using ID to determine gender seems a bit weird, but perhaps the issue is that there is no NCAA women's football. (I've heard of other trans college athletes, but in sports that aren't NCAA-sanctioned.)

[asphaltangel.livejournal.com]

From what I know as a former NCAA athlete...

When women play on men's teams, or men play on women's teams, the NCAA classifies those teams as "mixed." Mixed teams are eligible to compete in NCAA men's championships, but mixed teams are NOT eligible to compete in NCAA women's championships. I don't know why that's the rule, but I'm assuming that it's the reason why the NCAA goes by the gender listed on someone's state ID.

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

Aha, so there is a system. Though it does proceed from the assumption that women are necessarily disadvantaged in competition against men, which sort of rubs me the wrong way. It's the case in some sports (no woman has run a sub-4 minute mile, for instance, suggesting women are disadvantaged in mile-running, at least for the time being*), but it can't be the case in all of them. That men are, on average, bigger than women, for instance, seems like it wouldn't as big an issue in things like martial arts and wrestling where there are weight classes. (I think there's co-ed high school wrestling and I understand co-ed training, but not necessarily competition, is the norm in things like martial arts and fencing.)

I assume the NCAA doesn't actually know what it takes to change your ID. Regardless of whether it's a suitable proxy for gender, the rules vary with state and citizenship, so it's hardly a uniform standard for all competitors.

*I really know nothing about running, that's just a piece of trivia I had. There could be some reason why there's no parity in mile times and that parity will be achieved at some point in the future or men may always run faster miles.

[asphaltangel.livejournal.com]

I think it's the desire to have uniform rules 'cause it's easier for the organization that way. The gender disadvantage does exist (currently) in some sports, so the rule exists.

(Funny enough, track is my sport. I'd love to see a woman break the four minute mile).

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

Well, with running, there is a speed advantage in the male pelvic bone structure design.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

We think it's wonderful that you're charmed by the subway rats; we are too. (We have pet rats.) We are not charmed by Wisconsin, and I am pointing a mocking finger at them in my lj. Thanx.

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

90% of northern Manhattan subway riders see rats on a daily or weekly basis in the system. Is it wrong that the rats charm me?

Are the other 10% just not looking at the ground?

[marcmagus]

If you are in the US and registered to vote, it's still early enough in your day to do so. Do so!

Apparently in some states you can register to vote on the spot, so if you're in the US and not registered to vote, it's worth checking to see if you live in such a state.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I lived in such a state. :(

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

Having been an election inspector in New York (which is not a state that allows same-day registration), I can report that if you're dead set on voting you can get a court order forcing your local polling station to issue you a ballot. It'll take an extra hour or two out of your life and require some extra travel time back and forth to the courthouse, but it's not THAT far out of the ordinary. If you called your local party headquarters of either of the major parties, they will line everything up for you.

[marcmagus]

That is awesome, and great to know for the future.

[Also, because I don't want to make another comment just to say this: WTF, Wisconsin?]

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

Minnesota! See this (http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=204) for what you need to bring to register today (basically, a valid state ID with address or an ID (e.g. passport, military ID) and a utility bill). Polls close at 8.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

90% of northern Manhattan subway riders see rats on a daily or weekly basis in the system.

In other news, water has been discovered to be wet.

I mean, seriously?

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. I don't see them every time I ride, but at least once a week.

I think the rats are kind of cute! They are also fun to watch as they scurry around on ratly business.

[sanat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't see why rats in the wild (so to speak) are that big a problem. Unless you live in the subway, in which case you've probably got worse to deal with.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I mean, yes, the whole spreading disease thing is kind of crappy, but still. Hey, I bet that's how the zombie plague will start--fleas on rats carrying disease, just like in the days of the Plague!

[sanat.livejournal.com]

Right, but being that fleas ARE the true vector of plague, people should be freaking out just as much over feral cats or squirrels! Oh, but they're somehow "cuter" than rats?

(^---is really a bird person, so doesn't distinguish strongly between furry things)

[rackmount.livejournal.com]

Ordinarily I agree that it's best to cast no-names for well-known characters, but I do think Michelle Williams or that girl who played Alice could do an OK job. I'm really curious how the Marilyn biopic turns out.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

My mum always tells this story about when she first took me to London when I was a wee one, and we had a really big day and we did all the touristy places, and we went to see the house she grew up in, and blah blah, and when we got home and we got asked how our day was, all I could talk about was how there were mice on the tube. Mice > London.

And I haven't changed a bit, I always look for critters - rats and mice - on the tube now when I'm there, and very often see them. They are completely charming.

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

Is more ashamed than usual to be in Dairyland.

Adds this crappola to the 'fighting list'...

[eac.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't be ashamed, please.

Most of the rest of the country doesn't do well either (I'm in California, and I'm from Virginia - neither are god's gift to civil rights in this respect. Or any other, really.).

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I guess it is that Dairyland used to be progressive...

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

re: merlin - it gives some really amazing visuals (i want to vid it so bad!) but awful awful story (and some terrible acting/directing/writing/i'm not sure who to blame for Morgana McSmirkypants)

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

Morgana McSmirkypants

Perfect.

[thought-ribbons.livejournal.com]

Woohoo for Dogboy & Justine, I'm hoping when I get some extra $$ to lend some support for it :D!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I won't say I warned you, specifically, about Merlin, but I did say it's a show you can't figure out why you keep watching. You may have put your finger on it :D

I don't know about rats, but I see mice in the underground El stations on a pretty regular basis. They're cute and well fed, and not in my home, so I never mind them. I've seen people shriek about them though.

[sykii.livejournal.com]

What the hell would we do without the rats to watch? Look at EACH OTHER? Gods forbid.

Re: rats

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

I don't think I qualify as Northern Manhattan by the rules of the article (UWS), but I see rats pretty regularly, and, like you, I'm rather ... fond of them. As someone from a long-forgotten Gawker thread once pointed out, they're the only ones cleaning the tracks in some stations, and they don't need OT. We ought to give them uniforms ... or, at least, a little respect.

I vote for the NYC subway rat as our new mascot. I mean, recognition-wise, their main competition is the bedbug, and no one wants THAT, right?

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I don't know NCAA specifically, but in amateur sports in general, you compete with your target sex if you've been on hormones 2+ years as by then your musculature has mostly adjusted. Before that it's birth sex. It comes up here a lot as there's a trans cyclist that gets regularly harassed on tour.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I make a point of looking for mice in the T up here. Haven't seen any rats, though :\ YOU WIN THIS ONE, MANHATTAN.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you've got clarification on this, but Kye (the basketballer) appears to be FTM and playing on the women's team on a scholarship. As near as I can tell right now he's able to do everything except start hormones, but I don't know that the NCAA has ruled on it.

Also, Ezio and Altaïr approve of you being charmed by the rats.