tip

Do not EVER call me "girl" as a term of address (except, possibly, in the "girl, you know it!" or similar "hey, girl!" (said among equals, not as if I were a horse) colloquial sort of way -- I unprefer it, but will not take umbrage to it).

Doesn't matter if you understand the context for my objection or not. I have a name, actually several in certain senses, and they've each been earned several times over. Courtesy would demand you don't take liberties with those either -- for starts, my name isn't Rachel, for seconds you can't just automatically use my standard nickname if you haven't previously (ask please, I won't say no probably, I just loathe the presumption), and there are certain terms of address that need to stay within the frame or subset of my life they originated in. Certain unfortunate past terms of address, while essentially impossible to strike from the record, are, to put it mildly, inadvisable to use, unless your intent is to be discourteous.

Finally, if you've been bounced out (or you, yourself flounced out) of my life and want back, you have to go to start with proper name again, otherwise, I'll just think you're wheedling. You can't remember it? ASK ME.

it's here!

Full Regency outfit just arrived. I'm ecstatic. Also, has spawned plotbunnies (as Descensus is rather Regency inflected and my first thought was "this is too beautiful for me to wear.")

reason #873 Snape/Lilly is stupid

Snilly? Fandom calls it Snilly?

a bit of political catch up

alterjess links us to a TSA/freespeech drama that happened in Milwaulkee: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6440005
While you all can argue at me all day long that of course this sort of thing would cause drama and the dude should have known better, somehow we have to measure the ever smaller boundaries of our freedoms, and this particular narrative is just one way.

baldanders links to this excellent, elegant piece by William Rivers Pitt: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092906J.shtml the end of which puts me in mind of some of Steve Erickson's fantastic writing about America. The end of Pitt's fantastic piece:

In case I disappear, remember this. America is an idea, a dream, and that is all. We have borders and armies and citizens and commerce and industry, but all this merely makes us like every other nation on this Earth. What separates us is the idea, the simple idea, that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are our organizing principles. We can think as we please, speak as we please, write as we please, worship as we please, go where we please. We are protected from the kinds of tyranny that inspired our creation as a nation in the first place.

That was the idea. That was the dream. It may all be over now, but once upon a time, it existed. No good idea ever truly dies. The dream was here, and so was I, and so were you.

Someone on my friends list and I can't remember who, as it was about a week ago linked to this: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060925ta_talk_collins about how chaste, queer affection caused big drama on a recent American Airlines flight.

pecunium always has great political links/commentary, and his writing on the recent dissolution (that's what it is folks, gone gone gone, you can tell me "oh, well this won't happen that often" but that doesn't mean it can't happen as often as the government would like now) of habeas corpus. I'm sick of the "Well if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about" argument. Wrong isn't a fact, it's an opinion, and there's been (and are) plenty of times and places where it's just been "wrong" to hold a certain opinion, be a certain color, consort with certain people. Don't tell me it can't happen here. You want a list of all the things that weren't supposed to be able to happen here and did? I'll give you a hint, it's headed up with what should have been a lovely day in September.