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This Week in Fucked Up News about Women and Girls

2010-02-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

Jesus - can the news get any more fucked up than this week? Don't answer that.

1) A nine year-old gave birth. Yes. You read that right. Nine. That happened last week in China and this week in the good old US of A, an eleven year-old did too. Story here. Can those of you who have been pregnant or close to someone who has been pregnant even imagine how uncomfortable her little body must have been?

2) A US soldier who was just awarded custody of his four year-old daughter waterboarded her because she couldn't recite the ABC's. He said he picked that punishment because his daughter is "terrified of water." I do not want to know what the girl's mother did to lose custody to this monster.

3) In Turkey, a 16 year-old girl was buried alive for talking to boys. The family felt it necessary to bury her with her hands tied in their garden. Nice. Her lungs and stomach were filled with dirt. Imagine that and realize that women around the world are treated like shit on a regular basis for being women. In the name of religion, "honor" and tradition.

4) California's maternal death rate is on the rise. Never mind that the US's overall maternal mortality rates are very high, California might be leading the trend for the rest of the country. RH Reality Check has the story here. They say it succinctly:

"Although the number of deaths is relatively small, it’s more dangerous to give birth in California than it is in Kuwait or Bosnia. "

Wow. What's up with all the bad news? Or is it just that I paid attention today?

Excuse me while I go cuddle with my daughter and sing Yellow Submarine.

To My Daughter On the Ocassion Of Her First Skinned Knee

2009-12-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

There are things I want to savor as your mother.

1) This moment -
You don't know how fast it will be until it's over and you've fallen and you get back up and you might have cried but I know you, my sweet

Are you OK? yeah.

You'll nod and wipe your nose and tears will still be coming, but they might be from the December wind hitting your eyes because you'll be off and running again already. So soon. Fearless and growing up fast right before my eyes.

You'll fall again and again - in different places and times - with school, with friends, with boys and jobs and every time you skin your knee, please go ahead and cry and then get back up and keep running.

Stuffed Animal Naptime at the Allred Residence

2009-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

A window into my little one's sweet, sweet brain. She LOVES to put her "babies" down for naps, sometimes covering them with blankets, sometimes not, Sometimes they get some milk before hand or get a "diaper change," but always, always face down. She sleeps on her stomach, I wonder if it has something to do with that?

The following pictures were all taken this morning around our house after she and her dad left for the day -- of to work and school. I didn't notice her busily putting everyone down for nap this morning, but she certainly made sure everyone was taken care of.

This is Max and Big Bear. Napping on blankets in the living room:

And here is Hohtie -- (as in Donkey Hohtie (or Don Quixote)) up against a chair:

And these are Owl and Nahmie napping in the dining room and bathroom, respectively.

And here is Squeakers, in the bathroom as well and finally Chrysanthemum in a chair at the kitchen table:

It was hilarious and touching and a little odd. It's almost like her own little stuffed animal Heaven's Gate happened. I couldn't wait to get it up on the blog.

p.s. One of my dearest friends, Amie, (who happens to be Tilia's Godmother) also blogged about Tilia this week and her inspirational, growing vocabulary.

This Circle of Friends

2009-09-18T21:37:00.001-07:00

A person close to my family died on Wednesday. I cried when I heard, even though I wasn't particularly close to this man. I knew him and loved him in a familiar way. In a big-hug-kiss-his-cheek-when-I-saw-him way. He was at my wedding. I think I danced with him that night. He was important to me because he was married to a very important woman in my life and in the lives of many people I love. She threw my bridal shower. Came to my home and cooked dinner after Tilia was born. We worked at the same place for over a decade. I cried for her. For their kids. For how I have no idea what to say to her or how to help or what she would want or need in these horrible, long days.

It was early in the morning. My computer screen lit up with instant messages. Emails flew in. My cell phone buzzed. Texts. Send and receive. The circle of friends is making sure we have all been told. No one can believe it. Everyone is dazed. We type short messages back and forth and sit in shocked silence. The screens darken while we pause between thoughts. I hear back from my dear friend. I send flowers. I feel inadequate.

We circle the wagons around her and her kids. We talk about plans for next week and the week after when the fervor has settled and she will need us -- for what, nobody knows, but we know we need to be there. She knows we love her. She knows any and all of us would drop everything and come to her right this minute if she needs us. We will go to the funeral. We will go lay in bed with her and cry. We will do her bookkeeping. We will send a card because we live far away. These are the things we said we'd do.

I am so thankful for this beautifully strong and connected group of friends right now. I am so glad that, however thin, the string that connects us remains unbroken. We all feel this right now. We all ache for their family. We reach out to each other for comfort and to comfort. To share this sadness -- and we do and I hope that reaches our dear friend somehow and she can feel it and know we are all here loving her.

Pregnancy is not a Medical Condition

2009-08-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading a post on my friend Jill's blog about the bizarre complexities of the insurance industry. In it she mentions that pregnancy is not considered a medical condition, but in her opinion, it should be. Well, Jill, wish granted: The Irish newspaper, The Independent, has an article by one Caitriona Palmer, a foreign journalist living in the US, who has been denied insurance coverage due to her "pre-existing condition" -- being 5 months pregnant. More on this later.

I would posit that pregnancy is not a "medical condition" -- a condition, perhaps, but there is nothing intrinsically medical about it. No more than my monthly period is a medical condition. Pregnancy is treated like a medical condition here in the US, but in much of the rest of the world women see a midwife throughout their pregnancy and give birth at home, with a midwife, not nurses or doctors, and only see a hospital or doctor in the event of the need for an actual medical intervention -- which, in much of the rest of the world, happens a lot less.

(Huh. I wonder if there's a connection?)

The follow-up comment to this bit of information is always, "In other countries mothers and babies die more often -- without all of our medical advancements, right?" Wrong. The US is 44th on the list of infant mortality -- worse off than Cuba and Czech Republic, to name two. And a woman in the US has a greater chance of dying while pregnant or giving birth than those in Malta, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, etc. etc. etc. We are 43rd on that list. Just even with Belarus. Something tells me we are not doing this right. No offense to Belarus -- I'm sure it's lovely there.

I believe that the maternal and infant mortality rates are higher in the US because we treat mothers and fetuses as though something is wrong with them that must be fixed. For an overwhelming number of pregnancies, this is simply not the case.

My personal case-and-point: I reluctantly went to the hospital to give birth to Tilia (due to the actual medical condition of hypertension) and was told repeatedly through 36 hours of unmedicated labor that we should do a c-section because the goal was to "get the baby out." It wasn't until I read this article, and the timely partnering with Jill's thoughts, that I realized how the doctor's attempts to medicalize my labor were meant to make me a patient instead of a mother going through a natural, biological event. One they have control over and one they don't. I wonder which they prefer?

To get back to the article by Palmer, I will say this: To be denied health care because you are pregnant is one more example of the backwards way that pregnancy and childbirth are viewed in the US. It's also another example of how the industry of insurance has become "The Decider" now: Who will go bankrupt due to an illness? Who lives, who dies, who get care, who gets worse? They get to tell us and we have no choice but to listen and, like Palmer, make our medical decisions with the threat of financial ruin hanging over our heads. This is the first thing we need to worry about fixing -- then we can work on solving that medical condition all the pregnant women have.

From the effin' unbelievable files....

2009-07-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

An appeals court in NJ has upheld a decision to take a newborn away from a mom based on her behavior during labor. They said that her "mental health history" was the reason for their upholding the original decision. Part of the story is that she refused a C-Section even though the doctors said her baby was in distress, but she went on to vaginally deliver a healthy baby.

I have no fucking idea where to start with what's wrong with this picture.

http://tinyurl.com/ks9b8d

I hope there's a big ol' piece of evidence that I haven't heard.

Things Seattleites Like

2009-06-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

1) Obama
2) Owning chickens
3) The Big Lebowski
4) Ultimate Frisbee
5) Raised planter boxes
6) Fancy salts
7) $4.00/scoop ice cream
8) Pho

Ten Months Ago...

2009-04-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

...today, Tilia came into the world, kicking and screaming and wide-eyed and bewildered. She has turned our world upside down in the very best way imaginable and made us gooey practically all the time. Although, to be fair, sometimes tired just feels like gooey.

This week she has been taking her first tentative crawling steps. Her world is about to burst wide open and we are along for the ride. She starts by sitting up and then dramatically throws herself forward onto her hands, just hard enough that she can kick both legs out behind her. That's where she had been stuck for the last few weeks -- the one leg was just stuck below her and she couldn't pull it out -- but as of a day or two ago, she got it figured out. Momentum.

She says "hi" and "hey," "adda" (which is dad) and "mama" and "night-night." She claps, she does sign language for "more" and "all done" and she dances....oh! the dance! It is the most precious, heartbreakingly adorable thing you have ever seen. I am working on getting video. Think Sammy Davis Jr. barefoot and in a diaper. Today, she also blew her dad a kiss goodbye as he left for work -- that's been another work in progress until now.

Ten months for her is when everything seems to be coming together. She gets it. She gets more than we can even imagine.

As for her dad and me, we are reveling in the little details (i.e. yesterday Jon witnessed her picking up one block off the top of the tower of blocks without toppling the tower. He called her accomplishment out to me as I made dinner and we all three clapped. Tillie wasn't sure what she did, but loves clapping anyway.) We're trying to do our best. Get her outside, take her places where she can see other kids and wave and clap and dance for them. Fill her up with things that are true and make sure she's safe and warm and fed and has some sunscreen on now that spring has made its presence known, and try to sleep when we can. We're still working on the sleep thing, but happily, sleepily, see it as another work in progress.

In the car with Justin on the way home...UPDATE!

2009-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

"I am going to blog about this," I told him. "The title will be, 'Musings of a sleep deprived new mother:' or something like that. I realized as I was playing "patty cake" with my daughter that I really don't know the words. Is it two words, like 'Patty Cake?' Is that someone's name? Baker's man? Why does the baker have a man? What kind of man? Is Pattycake like a slave name? Is the song racist? Or is it like the baker's special manfriend?"

"No, Alex, I think it's 'baker-man.' Like Pattycake is the baker's nickname or that's just what he does, he pats cakes."

"So there's not a 'baker's man'?"

"No."

I've been singing it wrong. He sounds like he knows, but I am still not sure.

"So if it's a name, is it Patty Cake or Paddy Cake, like he's Irish? And why are we in such a hurry for the cake?"

"Oh Christ, Alex. I don't know."

*********UPDATE**********
I found this from 1901, perhaps confirming that the origins of "pat-a-cake" are racist:

Hallelujah

2009-02-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Obama's first press conference was on the 9th and what a treat it was. My dad, who I called to wish, "Happy birthday," said that he was sitting and watching it feeling like it was a birthday present in itself to hear our President make sense, talk logically and respectfully about doing his job.

My favorite part: he uses three syllable words (i.e. bellicose)! He uses them correctly, doesn't mispronounce them and doesn't feel the need to say what they mean as if we are stupid.

Can I get an AMEN?!

10 Ten Movies I Saw in 2008

2009-02-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

I just put my 2008 Movie list up on my movie blog...the top ten from last year are as follows:

Synecdoche
Burn After Reading
Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
The Fall
Mister Lonely
The Year my Parents Went on Vacation
Be Kind Rewind
Persepolois
There Will be Blood

...and disappointment sets in

2009-01-29T07:14:00.000-08:00

When it comes to politicians, I should learn to never get my hopes up. See previous post about the promise of a feminist president and his amazing words about helping to create a healthy America (and world) for women...but it turns out, they are just words and he is still a politician first and a feminist...oh, say tenth or eleventh.

Family planning is not a dirty word! Family planning is something that people of privilege (read: politicians) take completely for granted, but could mean the difference between literally life and death for some. Or the difference between a young woman continuing college instead of embarking into motherhood in her early 20s. It could mean the difference between a high school girl getting a safe abortion instead of giving birth to an unwanted baby at home, alone. It could mean the difference between a family of four ending up on the street because they don't have health care and can't afford their medical bills. Or teens learning the truth about their bodies and their choices for contraception.

It means all these things and so much more, but a chunk of change called, "The Medicaid Family Planning State Option" was cut from the economic stimulus package by Obama's request. The Republicans were calling the money for women's health care and family planning "pork." Nice. And so he caved. And the Democrats caved. So it was cut from the bill and not one Republican voted for it anyway. Great commentary by Ruth Rosen over at Religion Dispatches:

So, poor women who want reproductive health care and contraception are both “pork” and a “distraction.” Is this the change we have dreamed about?

This is What a Feminist (President) Looks Like

2009-01-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

Can I even say how happy this made me? Before the election, my friend Amie asked me what I wanted or expected out of a Democratic Presidential candidate in terms of women's healthcare and reproductive rights. I said all I wanted was them to acknowledge that these are issues to be addressed. That was it. Never in a million years did I think that I would hear that my health, my access to contrception and abortion, my daughter's right to make choices about her own body were important to the President. But here it is, loud and clear.

"On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.

While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.

On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere."

--President Barack Obama

Effin' Awesome Stamps

2009-01-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

New Poestage stamps available now!

Dear Miss Ford,

2009-01-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you should take up being a princess or a damsel in distress or a mermaid that gives up her voice for her knight in shinning armor. -Walt(found on B3TA)

Snow Day 2008

2008-12-21T17:23:00.000-08:00

It seems like it's been snowing for close to a week straight now. Just when you think the deep freeze is over, we have an overnight snowfall and freezing rain storm that leaves us with 8 inches or so of crispy, cold snow and icicles dangling off our house. That said, Tilia spent the day playing with papa, eating her first frozen bagel (not a huge success) and relaxing in the easy chair while the snow continued to fall outside. Not a bad day, all in all.

Department of Headlines That Tell the Whole Story

2008-11-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Politician Who Peed on Crowd Swears Off Booze

Hope Kicked Fear's Ass

2008-11-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

Yay! Obama!
He's not the solution to all of our ills
And I'm a little afraid that he will be killed
But here's to a better place that he will help build
Yay! Obama!
Though most of us don't have black skin
"That one's" the one that we voted in
I admit I never thought that he would win
Yay! Obama!
My mom of all people said it makes her sad
That half of the country is still quite mad
But hope taking over can't be all bad
Yay! Obama!
Now I understand just a little bit more
How the boomers all felt they were part of a cure
And as I sit here now, I am part I am sure
Yay! Obama!
And with this vote, some threshold we've passed
For the mutts are in charge, not the purebreds at last
Saying it loudly, hope kicked fear's ass.
Yay! Obama!

Thanks to someofnothing for the post title.

Oh for fuck's sake...

2008-10-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

This makes me want to tear out my eyes with dull sticks..

"This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world....Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

-- Sarah Palin criticizing Barack Obama in the New York Times political blog, "The Caucus."

Do people really believe this shit? Who are we fucking kidding? I want to move to France...

Jiggy-GAH!

2008-09-25T17:47:00.001-07:00

A scene from 826 Seattle:
Justin and Alex are working away in the back office. The bathroom venting system allows us to hear pretty much anything that happens in the bathroom. Today,we hear this:
"Jiggy GAH! Jig-Jiggy GAH! Gaaaaaaah!" Loud.
We look at each other and shrug.
We hear Toffer knock on the bathroom door and ask his customary,"Is everything OK in there?"
We don't hear a reply.
A few moments later, Toffer comes to the back office and asks if we heard the commotion. We affirmed that we heard the weird noises.
I asked if he knew what it was and he replied, "I think it was someone pooping."

...

Wow. Kids are weird.

The baby ate my blog

2008-08-30T11:24:00.001-07:00

In the last 10 weeks I have been pushed over the cliff of pure enchantment and thrust deeper in love with a human than ever before in my life. Our little Tilia Cohen is the most magical, educational, hilarious and mind-blowing little creature! So much that I literally have no time for anything else in my world. Updating a blog seems ridiculous! But here I am...in an attempt to find normalcy...in an attempt to find that person I was before Tillie was born and bring some pieces of her back to this side.

To that effect: I bring you Good Bad. Found on the wall of a local elementary school.

So simple and strange, yet so true!

Tillie!

2008-07-31T17:24:00.001-07:00

Since I can't seem to ind the time to write anything these days...here is a video of Tillie for the fam...enjoy!

Photos from the first week

2008-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Happy one week birthday, Tilia! Here are some photos of the adventure so far...Enjoy!

Baby!

2008-05-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Not sure what to call this post -- "Baby catching up" or "Baby misc." would both work.

Grandma Lolo was asking about more pictures from recent ultrasounds, so I'll start there. I went in for my last one on the 20th and she looked perfect. Five and a half pounds, with about six weeks to go. I am starting to see why the last few weeks are reportedly difficult: She will be half again as big as she is now (at least!) by the time she is born....wow.

This facial profile picture has her little fist up by her forehead. When the technician zoomed into her face, we saw her lower lip sweetly sucking in and out. This, like pretty much everything else in the universe these days, made me cry. These were happy tears, however, unlike when I found out the mattress we wanted for the crib was out of stock and we couldn't take it home that night; that time I cried pathetic, hormonal, sad tears. This pregnancy thing will mess you up!

Jon and I were officially showered last weekend. Thanks to the wonderful Newmans. It was super amazing. Everyone gave us the most wonderful things and we felt so supported and loved and happy to be surrounded by the folks that Tilia will know in her world. Krista and Grandpa Howie were sadly missed, but they will both be here to meet her when she is born...

We took mom (technically, she took us!) to Maneki and Sitka & Spruce, both of which were, as usual, amazing meals. Mom wrote my foodie Uncle Jay a 5 page hand-written letter about the latter. We also visited the farmer's market in the U-District and went rocking chair shopping. It was a huge weekend.

The SIFF is going on, and Jon and I have very little time for much more than the two blind picks that the Holubs will take us to in our annual "Movie Night with the Holubs Role Reversal" where they pick the films and tell us where to show up. However we are going to try to get "rush" tickets to one sold-out adventure tonight and maybe another tomorrow. We're trying to get all the movies we can see in before the bean arrives.

Pesach Cake

2008-04-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

I was charged with the task of dessert for Passover with the Newmans this year. I found the recipe I wanted to try here and, being a cheesecake-virgin, I thought what better time to liberate myself from the bonds of fear of cheesecake making than on Passover (and when I'm making it for 12 people? Easy!)

I bought a spring-form pan and Kroger makes kosher-for-passover cream cheese and the matzo cake meal wasn't too hard to find at JewFC. The recipe doesn't call for a water-bath, but I know from my mom that that makes the best, moistest cheesecake. The toasted almonds that were leftover from the crust, I left whole and sprinkled under the crust and on top. The results were freaking amazing, if I do say so myself. Not bad for a shiksa.

She's got Legs...

2008-04-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

Here is (finally! Sorry Grandma Lolo!) the picture of the beana's legs I mentioned in a previous post.

Her feet are on the left, ankles crossed and knees tucked up to her head, which is tilted down. The toes just slay me! So cute! In the middle of the picture, around the knee of her right leg (the one on top), you can see a little bump that is her little hand holding her leg. It makes me giggle with delight.

Lots of things are making me giggle with delight these days. Her hiccups. Her rhythmic kicking when we play loud music. When she kicked Jon in the stomach when we hugged goodbye before work the other morning.

It's so hard to image that we only have 13 weeks left (give or take...probably give). I want to savor every minute of this part.

Obama Abides?

2008-04-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

Simply a pr move, but a good one in my eyes...I love the thought of ol' big ears saying, "Fuck it, Dude...let's go bowling."

Bathing John Malkovich

2008-03-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just post a video because it's effin' awesome.

Random Blog Awesomeness

2008-03-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

If I had a quarter for every quarter I put in the jukebox at the Moose Lodge to hear The Devil Went Down to Georgia while I waited for my grandpa to finish his beer, I could buy a moleskine notebook.

--Wagging Tales

Making the world better in about an hour

2008-03-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

I watched these two speeches yesterday and it took about an hour and I feel like a better person for having listened to their smart, smart words.

First, Dave Eggers who started the first of the 826s, which is the organization that I work for. They finally put his TED speech up on the TED blog. Unfortunately, they cut out the part about 4 of the other 826 locations (which Seattle is one) but the idea and the tone and the inspiration are there.

Second, Barack Obama, who dares to make me feel hopeful about this country. This is the first time in my life I felt like a politician was speaking to me like a real human being. Not condescending, not making it fit for sound bytes, not catering to the whims of the media for better spin. The first time in my life. I will vote for him even though the Republicans will steal the election again anyway.

Welcome to Weirdsville

2008-03-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

Oh let the onslaught of ridiculously named baby supplies begin: Announcing the Prince Lionheart Wash Pod

She's a mover and a shaker

2008-03-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

We are narrowing down names, but girl bean has been redubbed "Beana" for the time being. Much bigger than a bean now (in fact, she is just about a pound and a half!) She is moving like crazy and kicking and making herself known many times a day now...it is heavenly! I simply love knowing she is in there and alive and well.

I know I am pissing off women everywhere who have had morning sickness or food aversions or horrible heartburn and anxiety and insomnia, but I find myself saying the following phrase often and repeatedly: There is nothing about being pregnant that I haven't completely loved.

During my ultrasound on Wednesday the technician paused and looked at me.
"How tall are you?"
"5-9" I said.
"How tall is her dad?"
"He's tall!" I answered. "6'5" or so."
She nodded and smiled. "This girl's legs are l-o-n-g long. She's measuring around the 28th or 29th week for legs." She snapped a cutie pie picture of her long-ass legs all tucked up, knees to forehead and ankles crossed and handed it to me. It's precious.
Later I told Jon who laughed and said, "That's my girl!"

What this brought crashing beautifully home to me in a way that tugs at that place in your throat that trembles when you know you're about to cry is that this little person, this perfect, wondrous being is something that is completely Jon and me. We made her. She is us. God I love that. I love that almost as much as I love that she is kicking me softly right now -- a deep and tender thump somewhere under my bellybutton, letting me know she's there.

Quote of the Day

2008-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

"I do feel that when you're born into the world, you're given a ticket to the freak show, and when you're born in the United States, you're given a front-row seat." - George Carlin

Effin' Awesome Sweater

2008-03-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing else to say...

Garfield Minus Garfield

2008-02-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is brilliant. Genius.

From Garfield Minus Garfield

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Mahalo, Hawai'i

2008-02-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

It's our last night here and, of course, it went too fast. Since I last posted, we've been snorkeling in a protected, crystal clear cove and swam with all manner of tropical fishes, where the waves gently pushed us too and fro in the warm water. I could have stayed in there all day. We returned today to snorkel in the same cove and I watched in awe as a humongous, ancient sea turtle swam just inches from my face.

Thursday, we drove around the north and east sides of the island, another all-day car ride, but so worth it as we saw gorgeous, tropical valleys, stunning waterfalls and ate delicious sandwiches in little hippie towns (where no one takes credit cards or has restrooms.) We ended in Hilo, as far from Kailua-Kona as we could be, just as everything was closing. We looked in vain for an ice cream parlor and drove down Banyan Drive where notable people have planted banyan trees when they visited Hilo (most of them in the 30's)...Nixon and Babe Ruth were amoung those we didn't see, but we did catch a glimpse of Cecil B. DeMille's tree.

Today I went to the spa and for dinner we ate steak and the most sumptuously sweet, fresh pineapple I have ever had. We and watched our final Hawaiian sunset from the balcony.

Volcanic Emissions

2008-02-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

The drive to the volcano was long and slow. I got really car sick, so Jerry let me drive which freed up all his energy for complaining about what a waste of time going to look at some steaming LAY-vah hole is.

When we got there we learned that some roads were closed due to abnormally high sulfur-dioxide emissions but that if we rolled up the windows and turned the a/c on recycled air, that we could drive through those places. We had a picnic at the visitor's center and then drove off on the 11-mile loop around the crater. It was pretty spectacular to see from up top, much bigger than I imagined and there were steam vents everywhere. It looked prehistoric and smelled even worse.

We were turned back about 10 minutes along the route due to the roads now being closed. Apparently, the emissions had got worse. We looped back the other way to see what we could before heading home. At one of the lookouts, there was a sign warning children and pregnant ladies not to go any further, so I stayed in the car while the others held their noses and explored.
All of us got a little congested and my throat was a little sore. The fumes were very uncomfortable.

The final stop was the Thurston Lava Tube, which was a tunnel formed by a lava flow 550 years ago. It was about 15 feet in diameter and now surrounded by rain forest. It was the highlight for me. A 20 minute walk down to it and through was well worth it and the highlight of the trip for me.

Black sand, guava smoothie and breaching whales

2008-02-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

Our day yesterday was a long one. We drove past the southern tip of the island to a black sand beach, supposed to be home to hundreds of green sea turtles, but the water was cold and the sand rough and not a turtle in sight.

On the way there, however we did stop at several cool places -- an ethnobotanical garden, comprised of native and early-introduced species of plants, a painted church whose interior walls were (somewhat crudely) decorated with biblical scenes to educate the natives about Christianity over 100 years ago, a sacred lava flat with 20 foot tall tikis and a fruit stand with the most amazing fresh fruit smoothies and macadamia nut brownies ever. By the time we got to the (somewhat disappointing) black sand beach, we had had such a cool and full day of sights and tropical fun that we were hardly even fazed.

Here are a few shots from yesterday. he first few are from our balcony in the condo. That's a humpback.

Rest assured, we are relaxing really hard

2008-02-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'll let some photos speak for our second day:

We took the car to the north and discovered exotic fruits, new road signs and hung loose with kings.

Paradise is exactly like where you are....only much, much better.

2008-02-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

Actually, Laurie Anderson's words aren't ringing true right now. If there is such thing as paradise, we are in it. It is about 74 right now (at 10:00 AM). We slept to the sounds of the waves crashing literally feet from our balcony.

We arrived last night around 5:30 at the condo after a trip to Costco. The surrounding areas are a little industrial and there are crusty, black lava flows leading all the way to the water.

The crusty shores and business parks give way to the trademark turquoise waters and crystal tide pools. Drove through a quick little touristy downtown of Kona and we arrived in our home for the next week. The deck looks out to the ocean as far the eye can see. Below us are sea turtles sunning themselves on the rocks and whales are breeching and crashing a few hundred yards out. Yep. Paradise.

It's a...

2008-02-14T21:12:00.001-08:00

What kind of baby is it?

2008-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a great idea (loaned to me by Dan, owner of Neptune Coffee on Greenwood Ave.) Jon and I have now in our possession a sealed little card which, on the inside, will reveal to us the sex of the bean. Sometime tonight, we will know if he or she is a she or a he and while I was not on board with the whole, "finding out before it's born" scenario, I am really excited now. We can nail down the perfect name and stop calling it "it."

We had our second ultrasound yesterday (pictures to come soon). We get to have a few more ultrasounds, thanks to my borderline high blood pressure and they want to measure the bean every 6 to 8 weeks and make sure s/he is growing at the right rate and getting enough blood etc. The technician said she was pretty sure she could tell what it was (adding the necessary disclaimer that they are rarely 100% sure), and she obliged us by not telling us what it is, but by writing it on a card and sealing it. This is the card we will open tonight, together after a celebratory dinner at Coupage, just Jon and I. Eeee!

Stay tuned.

In: Caucusing - Out: Voting

2008-02-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I really feel like I am living under a rock. I have heard people say that "your democratic vote in the presidential primaries in Washington doesn't count" but until today, I had blinders on (or ear plugs or whatever it is that makes you tune things out that you don't understand.)

I went to the Washington State Democrats webpage and found out all about caucusing and primaries and our stupid, idiotic state that holds a primary election seemingly for the fun of it to the tune of 9 or 10 million dollars. Neat. When I try to find out why this stupidity is part of our system, all I find is weird cop out finger pointing -- "It's not us, it's them!"

The Washington State Legislature was the body who voted to hold a primary. The means that the Washington State Democratic Party, which chooses how delegates are decided, had no participation in the decision to hold the primary...

And on the Secretary of State's website, they basically say that the caucuses are unfair and everyone should be able to participate, so they will hold a fakey election so everyone at least feels like they are involved.

The…presidential nominating caucus system in Washington State is unnecessarily
restrictive of voter participation in that it discriminates against the elderly, the infirm,
women, the disabled, evening workers, and others who are unable to attend caucuses and therefore unable to fully participate in this most important quadrennial event that occurs in our democratic system of government.

The Legislature further emphasized that the presidential selection process must be more open and representative of the will of the people.

Jon and I are going to caucus this year and see what it's all about.

In totally unrelated news, we are going to see Riverdance tonight. It's a long story, don't ask. God help us. Help with what, you wonder? How about with staying awake or not laughing during the smackdown dance-offs.

First Photos

2008-01-17T21:06:00.001-08:00

Last week Jon and I had the thrill of seeing the bean for the first time. S/he is about 85 millimeters long and moved around the whole time. We clearly saw the heart beating. Amazing.

We got this body shot. The head on the left and the back toward the camera. The little butt and feet tucked under on the right.

The next one shows a close up of the bean's skull. The top of the head is on the right. The eye sockets clearly visible, nose and open-looking mouth. The white line with a little bend in it at the bottom going from right to left is an arm bone!
Wow!

Matt Lauer is a Fucking Asshole Part II

2008-01-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

This morning on the Today Show, Matt called Hillary Clinton a "tease." I didn't catch the whole exchange -- They showed Hillary Clinton and then Meredith commented that Hillary "didn't want to say something something" (the part I missed) -- cut back to Matt who looks incredulous. "Oooookay. What a tease." He says in the glib way only he can. I almost didn't post about it because I didn't hear the context, but then I thought, "What the fuck context could make that OK?" Nothing can make that OK. Oh she's a vixen alright. A cock-teasing, power pantsuit wearing, Democratic hopeful. Rrrrrowr!

2007 Movie List

2008-01-01T09:41:00.001-08:00

Some people golf. Others have pets. We go to movies. Eighty-three of them, to be exact --in the theater in 2007. My aunt asked how we can both work full time and see so many movies. The answer is just that we make it a priority every weekend and throw some weeknight ones in for fun. This was really a banner year, though and we'll never see this many again in a year, I am pretty sure. Not unless someone starts paying us to go. The full list of what we saw can be found on the movie blog. My top ten of the year are in bold, but here they are for a quick look:

Le Scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Romance and Cigarettes
No Country for Old Men
I'm Not There
Across the Universe
L'Iceberg
Paris, je t'aime
Cha no aji (The Taste of Tea)
Tears of the Black Tiger
Pan's Labyrinth

With special, special mentions to: Control, Inland Empire and The Lives of Others.

Ce n'est pas une baby blog

2007-12-29T22:29:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading this great blog by a lady in Arizona about her pregnancy. I haven't even poked around the rest of her site to see what else she does, but I can sense a kindred spirit. I couldn't stop clicking and reading as her 9-months unfolded. I was in awe of her experience, which she chronicled in really honest and fun detail, that I was inspired to start writing about this crazy situation of being pregnant. One of my favorite lines: "I'd rather go commando than wear granny panties." Amen, sistah!

Today -- 13 weeks! We are still weirdly giddy about it. We have come up with about 1 girl name and 3 boy names that we like. I think he's a boy.

Until today today, I was convinced I wasn't showing yet, but we went to the Newmans' for dinner and Amie was like, "Wow girl! You have popped!" E and A both came and felt the belly. Goosebumps! The kiddo is really high up and the only part you can tell is right under my boobs -- it's hard and tight and full-feeling.

It was funny timing to start showing as this morning, for the first time, I was uncomfortable laying on my stomach. Things are happening! It's freaky and awesome.

In 4 days we have a midwife appointment -- the heartbeat and my BP are the two things that sit on the forefront of our minds.

We went to Costco today and bought a new digital camera and four "luxury" pillows. It felt spontaneous and decadent. I tell myself it's all about the baby so it's OK.

I feel incredibly lucky to have had no sickness, no food aversions, no trouble getting pregnant...this is a strange and cool trip so far.

Baby Radar

2007-12-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Lo and behold, Keith Knight and his gal are knocked up too! I am looking forward to him writing about the father's perspective over the coming months.

Effin' Awesome Oprah

2007-12-14T21:51:00.000-08:00

I love The Hater on the A.V. Club...Hating Oprah and her Favorite Things is like shooting fish in a barrel, but god! It's funny!

Last week, Oprah unveiled her annual list of her Favorite Things™, an assortment of gifts that are either ugly, useless, obscenely expensive, just plain dumb, or all four, that loyal Oprah-watchers can purchase from her website, or obtain simply by wishing hard enough (according to The Secret).
Of course, this list is no ordinary list. Its roots go very deep into the collective subconscious of both Oprah and her fans. In fact, much like Dark Side Of The Moon allegedly synchs up with The Wizard Of Oz, nearly everything on Oprah's Favorite Things™ list neatly matches up with the symptoms of clinical depression.

Some of my Favorite Things from this list:

Item: Ugg Boots knitted out of pure sadness

Item: Williams-Sonoma Cupcake Assortment -- Eating your feelings has never been so delicious!

Item: The most unattractive outfit in the world.

Link here

My blog reads like Mrs. Beach's 11th grade AP English

2007-11-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

Cash Advance Loans

Food Photos

2007-11-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

So many amazing homespun food blogs these days. I have fantastic reading material any time I need a new cookie recipe or want to learn about local wild mushrooms. The other thing about food blogs, though, is the photos. Sometimes amazing, well lit and appetizing and sometimes....not so much.

Here are some examples: Which one doesn't belong? On the left, a great picture from Glutten-Free Girl -- you can almost taste the zucchini and cheese all cold and salty and creamy. In the middle, Ellen's garlic spear soup. The creamy texture finds its way to your tongue without ever tasting it! And on the right, an all-too common picture from a food blog where what they are serving is a mystery and it doesn't look tasty at all.

For the takers of photo #3, help is on the way! How great that digital cameras are catching up with the trend of food blog writing. The Olympus Stylus Series, now available with a "cuisine mode" which, according to their website, "enables you to take pictures of food by increasing the saturation, sharpness and contrast settings to take sharp, vivid pictures of the subject." Here's to more attractive, appetizing food writing!

Got Your Costume Yet? I'm going as something really scary...like a melting polar icecap

2007-10-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Maher has a few good lines in this short piece on Salon. My favorite because it's oh, so painfully true:

This week -- as every week -- all the Republican candidates talked about was who was toughest in the war on terror. While the country's most populous state literally burned. The Democrats, as usual, said nothing, because they didn't want to offend fire.

Crap! He's so right, though! The Dems make me feel like we are watching a mockumentary that is the political clusterfuck these days, only it's actually happening. Christopher Guest is the President (all shakey and smirky) and he has his pet dog who has his own website. Eugene Levy and Fred Willard are the Democrats in charge, who couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the bottom and Jennifer "Soup" Coolidge is the President's vapid and glassy smiling wife whose cause might be something important like, "zucchini".

How far from the truth is that? Like most of Guest's funny movies, not very.

Queertools

2007-10-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Blaire with an E brought this to my attention and, in his words, it proves that the Japanese are the world's strangest people. If there is an invention that you do not need, the Japanese have invented it and they call it, chindogu or "queer tools." Imagine toilets that sing to you, hairbrushes that vacuum your head, tiny mops for your cat's feet...The invention in the picture to the left is a vending machine costume to prevent crime. Urban camouflage that the wearer can unfold and hide inside in case crime is near. Queer? I'd say so.

Fun with Words

2007-10-25T07:49:00.001-07:00

From Clusterflock:

Ann Coulter=
Unclean Rot
Corneal Nut
Rectal Noun
Cannot Rule
Loaner Cunt
Annul Recto
Can Lure Not
Real Con Nut
Real Cunt On
An Ulcer Not (I disagree with this one)
La Cunt En Or (Sounds French. Say it again: LOUD!)

The Night Max Wore his Wolf Suit...

2007-10-18T15:09:00.001-07:00

I have heard little bits and pieces about this for a while, but not until Just Now did it hit me how excited I am about it.

Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze (I couldn't have wished for any better) are taking on the insanely difficult task of making the children's book Where the Wild Things Are into a live action film. Actually, it appears they already have made it into a film and it is in "post production" right now. Due out October 2008.

Here's what New York Arts and Events has to say:

Eggers and Jonze — mostly, we suspect, Eggers — touchingly sketch this troubled family unit and carefully track the rising frustration and alarm Max feels as his world becomes darker and more unhappy, until, on page 21, he runs away, climbs aboard a boat, and sails to the island of the Wild Things.

There Jonze's influence begins to be felt, as the enormous creatures — with names like Carol, Alexander, and K.W. — look to Max as their King, and in a series of marvelous adventures, wrestle tornadoes, eat mud, and tame hawks. Always, though, there's a subtle undercurrent of menace, and it becomes clear that while spinning a yarn, Jonze and Eggers are also taking us on a tour of Max's psyche, as he works out so many of the issues that plague his young life.
(link)

Here is the still that shoved me over the edge from very interested to unbearably excited:

You see, this is no ordinary book for me. Ever since I was a kid, I could recite this book from start to finish. It's a gorgeous, dark, funny, adventurous, sad and heartwarming book that made my little girl heart feel all kinds of conflicting emotions. I felt jealous of Max for his monster friends and his adventure that his mom knows nothing about. I felt lonely in his room and scared for him on the boat and so thankful that, in the end, he doesn't have to miss dinner due to his travels. His dinner is waiting for him. And it's still hot.

When I was 6, I threatened to run away. This was the book I made sure was in my suitcase. I told my dad I was leaving. I think I thought I could go to where the wild things were. I was heading all the way (down the street) to Lake Merritt. By. Myself. I packed my book. I packed two of my plastic candy-colored records that could only be played on the wind-up Fisher Price record player and a t-shirt (at least two years too small for me) that had a picture of Cookie Monster and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies on it. I don't know how I remember all this, but I do. These were my things. The things I would need.

I didn't end up running away. I think my mom was at work but my dad managed to talk me out of it by telling me if I left, he would be "saddened." I measured that thought carefully and changed my mind. It would be too much for me to risk. I think he knew that, and he knew I wouldn't leave, but we hugged and he asked me not to go and I told him I wouldn't. I thought at the time he was giving me the choice, and I was making the hard choice not to go, though now I can only imagine that the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants choices that must accompany first-time fatherhood and how to handle this must have weighed on him. He took an approach and it worked.

Later, I felt bad. I remember crying in my room. Crying at my lost adventure, but also crying at the thought of him "saddened." Not just "sad" which he would be in control of, but "sadd-ened" which would be totally my fault. I didn't understand (or even realize) the nuance then, but the weight of the word and the afternoon of conflicted and difficult revelations has stuck with me for about 30 years.

That book is tied to all that for me. And as I have read it to all the kids in my life and will read it to my own someday, I feel the weight of that story, of that boy, feeling alone in the world and wanting some control over his life and creating a place in his mind where that can happen. I feel the weight of his decision to return home and the wonderful care with which his mom has left his dinner waiting for him. This detail, only in the retrospect of growing up, is the most important one. Max was loved.

All that from a little 21 page book. Funny how those childhood stories stick with you. I am so looking forward to what Dave can do with this. I simply cannot wait.

Food problem

2007-10-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what about this news story made me want to blog about it except that it is disgusting:

Hardee's rolled out its new Country Breakfast Burrito on Monday. It is a two-egg omelet filled with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy, all wrapped inside a flour tortilla. The burrito contains 920 calories and 60 grams of fat.

60 grams of fat. Seriously people, does anything about the phrase "portable country breakfast" sound good? No. No one should eat this. Period.

In other news, we spent the weekend with my family in Lincoln City, Oregon. We ate and walked on the beach and played Scrabble and rested. There are several traditions that we have tried to uphold on this trip over the years. One is that Jon and I stay in Portland on the first night and then go to Powell's the next day. We each buy the basic outline of our year of reading all in one trip. It's a book buying feast. Unlike the burrito, this is the kind of gluttony I can get behind.

Effin' Awesome Music

2007-09-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

I think I am late to the party, but I just discovered The Cave Singers. At turns Fleetwood Mac, The Castanets and Akron Family, this Seattle band has hit just the right spot. I heard "Dancing on Our Graves" and went out to buy the album that day. They are another layer in the Appalachian love story that is new folk music.

Their new album is out now and they also have a groovy photo-centric blog

We've declared war with Iran

2007-09-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Our Democratic majority is fucking useless.

While no one is listening, 28 mutherfuckin Democrats are voting YES on Senate Amendment 3017.

This amendment was called "Cheney's pipe dream" by Jim Webb. It states, in part:

(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;
(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;
(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224;...

Did you get that? These three paragraphs are basically the Senate giving their blessing on the "use of all instruments" to "combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities...of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and "designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization" and "plac(ing) the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists."

Remember when we said if the Dems that we elected rolled over and let Bush bomb Iran, there would be huge backlash and people would take to the streets and riot? Well get ready. I feel a riot coming on.

A few thoughts on the roll call:
the fact that Hilary Clinton voted for this makes it impossible for me to vote for her for President. I'm not sure I would have anyway, but fuck! She's as useless as the rest of them.

Murry, one of our two Democratic Senators here in Washington State voted for it.

Speak up, Sisters

2007-09-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

We walked out of the movie into the dark Seattle night holding hands and sighing, not knowing what to say. It's hard not to feel completely hopeless, we remarked. The movie was The Devil Came on Horseback, a documentary about a man, Brian Steidle, who witnessed and recorded the atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan with a camera and a notebook and hoped his reports would find their way to someone who could change things. In fact, he trusted, because of his faith that America would do the right thing, that his work was making a difference. But when he got home to the States, the story was his to tell. No one was talking about it; his reports disappeared into the ether. The veracity of his work was questioned by Sudanese living in America, the US government and the media.

The movie, which incorporates hundreds of Brian's photos, is not without its faults. The images, which are gruesome, bloody and hard to forget, are scattered throughout the film with haphazard and seemingly random ferocity. We are not given context for the bloody puddles in the dust, the half-buried, charred bodies, and blackened heads with mouths agape locked in their tortured last moments of screaming. See what I mean? These images will haunt you. And they should.

Another image that haunts me is one of the eyes of a woman in the refugee camp in Chad who, through a translator, states that after “the violence” occurred, her husband left her. Her watery coal-black eyes flit toward the camera for a brief moment and then away. "The violence" is the term they use for when they are raped by the Janjiweed. We learn through the translator that in Sudan, the stigma of being raped is so huge a disgrace that they often just say they were beat up or don't say anything at all.

The camps where the refugees are staying are called Displaced Persons Camps or DPCs. We are shown aerial shots from a helicopter, presumably, of a vast network of tents and corridors which stretch for miles. There are hundreds of thousands of displaced people here. In Chad. In Ethiopia and in Sudan itself. In The name "displaced person" has been used for decades to describe a person who has been removed from their home\land, but the term itself is troubling as it connotes a person who is still not in place. Dis-placed. To not be placed. To be without a place. To be in the wrong place.

Sudanese are living in these camps for years on end. They yearn to return to their villages, but there is nothing there and the danger is greater outside the camps. That said, the conditions in these camps are terrible and they aren't even necessarily safe. Another woman’s image haunts me -- she is tall and striking with long black braids. She speaks in clipped and correct English saying that they have nothing left. Everything is gone. She starts to tell us of who she has lost: her three brothers, her daughter and she begins to shake and cry. “Would you believe I am a teacher?” She asks as the tears take over. “I am a teacher!” I get goosebumps.

Back to the woman in the movie who tells Brian she was raped. She is not alone. She is one of countless women and girls who have been raped or mutilated, and then abandoned by their husbands or fathers. This is where it really hits home for me. I shift in my theater seat, I look away from the screen. I don't want to believe the horrors these women have been through. They are flesh and blood. They are teachers and daughters and mothers.

Brian looks directly at the camera and explains that the Janjiweed are paid in loot. Rape is a currency. In fact, rape has been described by the Janjiweed as an integral tool in their strategy. They get to loot and rape as they destroy each village or market. I remember reading in Dave Eggers' What is the What that when the men have been killed or have fled, the women are trapped and must watch as their babies are hacked apart, tossed down wells, their daughters gang raped in front of them. Think it’s hard to read? Imagine that this is your life.

Now imagine that the struggle doesn't end when you reach a DPC. Imagine that you are at the mercy of aid organizations which are operating on too little money and not enough time. The movie states that the places where the camps are located are often devoid of resources. They have no water, no shade and no trees. No trees means very little fuel for fires. No fires means no food. The Janjiweed patrol around the camps and compete for the same scant resources. If the men leave the camp to get firewood, they are castrated or murdered. If the women go, they are raped. It is the women who are forced to go. They sometimes walk 20 miles to gather a week’s supply of wood. These journeys are fraught with danger and if they are attacked, they dare not tell a soul. Imagine this after your house, your family, your possessions and your dignity are all taken away.

A woman from the Save Darfur Coalition came to speak after the film. One thing she told us about was an idea that addresses this firewood problem. It's called the Solar Cooker Project. There are several groups who are organizing to get solar stoves to the women in the DPCs so they don't have to risk their lives to get wood with which to cook. These solar ovens use the resource which is plentiful there: the sun and cook as well, if not better than, an open fire. They are inexpensive, portable and efficient. Jon and I decide the only thing we will put on our holiday wish list is that our friends and families to buy solar stoves for these women. They cost $30 for two. It is the smallest and simplest thing we can do.

I get home and begin researching the cookers. Much to my horror, there are four years worth of articles that chronicle this problem of being raped when hiking for firewood. I find one from 2004 on washingtonpost.com about how the problem is getting worse and worse. I find another from three days ago on CNN.com. Almost all of them mention these stoves and how it will make a huge difference in the comfort and security of the women in the camps. How can four years have gone by and we haven't organized to get every family in every camp a solar cooker? I am so ashamed. I, like Brian, would have thought that America would be doing something. I would have bet that the UN would hear this horrible story and act in the simplest and most peaceful of ways: by helping women provide for their families after they have all been through so much.

But they haven't acted enough, so now we must. This one small act to connect you to a woman across the world who needs your help. We can start here: The Solar Cooker Project and speak up until our voices of sisterhood and compassion are heard across the globe and into Sudan, into a camp and into the tent and into the heart of a woman who needs our help. How can it be so easy and not be getting done?

Bacon + Low = Good

2007-09-21T21:22:00.001-07:00

Wow...what a great 24 hours. Last night, thanks to David, we saw Low at the Triple Door and today, thanks to 826 Seattle volunteer Blaire, I tried bacon chocolate.
Life is good.
Low was fantastic. Melodic and thumping. I feel like the bass player has it kind of easy. I know that's probably really offensive in bass-playing circles, but he just stands there and taps the strings twice every beat. Thump-thump thump-thump. On second thought, there was an awesome little military surplus Navy chaplain's "field organ" that he played for a couple songs. It had pedals and appeared to fold up into a 3' x 2' box with a handle.

The bacon chocolate was equally good. Like a Nestlé Crunch, only baconier. Tiny nuggets of salty goodness hidden in sweet and smoky milk chocolate. Nay-sayers can keep their boring ol' regular Hershey bars. This is candy ingenuity at its Homer-esque best. Bacon does make everything better.

Effin' Awesome Art

2007-09-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

We have cool friends. Aaron is in the middle of some crazy never-ending art show where he send you passwords, which you send back and he mails you art. We have received 5 postcards (with awesome artwork) and 4 works of art. In my most recent email with our password I told him

"Not sure how you pick who gets which piece of art in this complicated project, but if you have anything of a polar bear barfing up a beautiful, beautiful rainbow, that would rock."

And oh, how it does. See for yourself.

Aaron is a genius. On a related note, his wife, Jessixa, who is also a genius, will be showcased in the next Pacific Coast issue of New American Paintings. They are the coolest married artists since Sonny and Cher, only with out all the beads.

Update: Required Reading

2007-09-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I wrote about seven soldiers who wrote a piercing op-ed to the New York Times about their experiences in Iraq. One soldier died right before it was published and Brandon Friedman reports at Daily Kos today that 2 more of them were killed last week. Sigh.

Harvesty!

2007-09-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

We ran into a friend at the Baguette Box this weekend (truffled fries!!) She clued us in on the coolness that is the Harvest Celebration Farm Tour. Here in King County on the day after the Autumnal Equinox, several area farms will open their gates to the public for a bounty-sharin', donkey pettin', hay-ridin', pumpkin pickin', chef-cookin' demonstrationin' good time.

Saturday, September 22 from 10:00-4:30 $10 suggested donation. We are there. Holubs? Newmans? We might see some show chickens -- too good to be true?

Bye Bye Beard...Bye Bye Fuzziness

2007-08-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

My husband is a wonderful, wonderful man. Last year we raised $400 for 826 Seattle as a "farmer" and "grower" team. He worked on the mustache and I worked on getting donations.

After 6 weeks, he had the most wonderful, luxurious, salt-and pepper chin and lip hair you can imagine. Alas, he had to shave all but the 'stache for the cause. No beards allowed at the wrap-party.

Once last-year's 'thon was over, I begged and pleaded for him to grow it back. It wasn't hard...he hates shaving. So, Jon-with-a-Mustache became just Jon and the beard and mustache were just part of the package....

Until August 26. That morning we got up and he shaved his face. Naked. Back to Jon-Before-the-Mustache. Whoa.

The rules this year are going to keep him from growing the beard during the mustache-growing-season. I am not sure how I feel about this, but hey! It's my paycheck! I gotta jump all the way on board here. So Viva la Mustache! Give until it hurts! Go here to donate.

Death by Caffeine

2007-08-23T08:53:00.001-07:00

If you ever wondered how many cans of Red Bull it would take to kill you, then there is an internet tool that might help.

The website Energy Fiend has a Death by Caffeine Calculator which will answer your every musing on the topic of weight vs. caffeine overdose. It includes everything with caffeine in it, from Sprite to No-Doz to Starbucks.

It would take 2,340 Penguin Mints to kill me. Neat.

Required Reading

2007-08-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today in the NY Times there is an op-ed by seven soldiers stationed in Iraq. It should be required reading for every senator and congressperson.

The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework...

We are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day...

Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise...

What hits me the hardest in this piece is that these military "grunts" (their word, not mine) speak more eloquently, truthfully, and factually and realistically than anyone I have heard yet.

They close the letter with a line that I think is most important of their message:

We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.

Translation: All you assholes saying that telling the TRUTH about where we are in this quagmire is bad for troop morale are full of shit and you offend us with your condescension.

The question is, will anyone listen?

Elijah vs. Baseball, Bond and Steroids

2007-08-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

My eight-year-old god son (of "I don't have any trouble with the word vagina" fame) is obsessed with baseball. I wondered the other day how he was feeling about Barry Bonds breaking the home run record. Yesterday, I got this email which he sent to the editor of the Seattle PI and it answered my question.

Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 8:00 AM
To: Opinion
Subject: Letter to the Editor re: Barry Bonds from Elijah, 8 years old

Dear Editor,

I really think Barry Bonds has been cheating when he broke the home run record. Why is Barry Bonds getting all of this attention? He was definitely on steroids. Why are you letting all of this crud get past you? Alex Rodriguez is not on drugs, he isn't using a corked bat. He's a nice guy and I don't know if Barry Bonds is but I'd much rather Alex Rodriguez break the home run record than Barry Bonds. Hank Aaron didn't use steroids to break Babe Ruth's record and I think it's very nice for Hank Aaron to call Barry Bonds on the phone. But Barry Bonds didn't break the home run record because he was most likely on drugs.

Sincerely,

Elijah Gold Newman
8 years old

I have no opinion whatsoever about Bonds. But Elijah's ire is hard to resist. Well put, 'Lij. Why are they letting all that crud get past them?

Pictures in Sqaures

2007-08-11T19:37:00.001-07:00

This is a fun tool -- Mosaic Maker -- I've been playing around with it and putting some stuff on Flickr. You can do it by URL or tag or set.

Here's a mosaic of our wedding and celebration:

That settles it...

2007-08-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

...we need a bigger fridge.

The only problem I see here (besides the fact that we will have to work very hard to eat all this by next week) is that the vino verde is burried somewhere down under the three heads of lettuce.This represents ONE WEEK of Jon's free produce take home from work. We'll never have to buy veg or fruit again.

Locally Grown Pie

2007-08-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Jon's new job has provided us with a gorgeous box of fresh organic produce each week. Right now blueberries are plentiful and have great texture and taste with just the right amount of tart and sweet. The last batch came from Many Hands in Rockport, Washington. Our apple trees in the back yard are also yielding a fantastic crop of super-crispy tart apples right now. I have been working hard and getting creative to find ways to use everything. The result last night was this:

Apple Blueberry Pie
Served warm with vanilla ice cream on top. Can I get an amen?

Georgetown Lunches

2007-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

I wasn't expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised with the lunch Jon and I had at Kurry King today (5503 Airport Way South, Seattle, WA). The proprietress doesn't know much English except numbers and "You want taste?" but whatever she offers you, say yes and you will be happy. They offer a globe-trotting variety of curries (and some non-curry items) that are not super spicy or unique, but for the price are really quite a deal. We tried everything and then settled on masman and panang, both with chicken. Lunch for two (two kinds of curry, rice, iced teas and a spring roll) came to $15.00 with tax and tip. Ever since Jon got hired at Pioneer Organics we have been exploring Georgetown with really great results. Today: SmartyPants!

Effin' Awesome Magnets

2007-08-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

As Part II of my "Effin' Awesome" series (which wasn't a series until today), I give you handmade magnets by my very best friend, Krista! Seriously, check these out:
They are so pretty and come four to a tin. Krista runs a small studio called Gallimaufry Arts in Amador City, California. She is a self-described "mostly stay-at-home-mom" who has worked really hard to get her art out there. I opened her e- newsletter (subscribe here) this morning and knew I needed a set (or two!). Support independent art! Check out her shop, it's effin' awesome.

Museum of Unnatural History

2007-07-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Jon and I went to Walla Walla last weekend. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend have opened a great little fresh fish market called A Fish on Land, they offer Walla Walla's freshest fish and oysters and other seafood delights. During lunch they serve really amazing fish and chips. The town was fine. Cute. Quaint. Small town-y. I couldn't live there, but it was nice to visit and go to the farmer's market and drive around to the wineries. I thought I had Walla Walla figured out and then we found the absolute highlight of the trip: the Museum of Unnatural History located at the Black Door Gallery on the town's quaint little main street.

We found the three-room museum in the upstairs of a bank building and walked, unsure into a black door that said, "Open." There, a bearded older man stood looking at his guestbook. After gasping and gaping and being delighted with just the entryway's displays, I asked him if he was the artist. He replied, "Yes, if you call this art, I am the artist."

Well, it is art and the artist is Gerald Matthews. While we were there he sat quietly on what looked like a very old director's chair, green accounting-style visor obscuring his eyes. When we asked him questions he didn't say more than was necessary. He seemed almost zen however, an air of "crotchety" swirled around him, that of an old man so mad at the establishment, if he started talking about it he might never stop ranting. His art is a mix of collage, sculpture, folk art and pop culture. A small sampling of the pieces includes decrepit dolls' bodies arranged in shadow boxes with tiny animal skulls, a tray of antique keys, tiny cut-outs of the Bush administration's faces put on oldy-timey clown figurines, clay angels with clunky big feet. The pieces are wry, creepy, political and bizarre. He was very friendly and humble and asked Jon to send his digital pictures if he didn't mind.

I asked him if he ever sells his art and he pointed to the wall of framed photos hanging in background of the picture shown here and said, "I sold those ones and have been trying ever since to get them back. There's no reason to sell! The only reason would be for my ego and these pieces couldn't fetch a price around here to do anything for that for me, so no. I don't sell anything." As much as there are several pieces that I would be eager/proud/lucky to own if he ever sold anything, I kind of like the idea of this genius hiding upstairs of the bank and being the coolest part of Walla Walla.

Here's me -- Simpsons style - UPDATE

2007-07-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am totally sucked in by the Simpsons Movie hype. The website is awesome and Jon and I went to the Kwik-E-Mart a few weeks ago. Here I am drawn as a Simpsons character: (And Jon made one too!!)

Effin' Awesome Dinner

2007-07-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is the dinner we had a few nights ago when it was too hot to cook and too hot to even go outside and grill -- I call it the salami salad sandwich thing:

Ciabatta rolls toasted
Coppa salami ripped into bite-sized pieces
Organic tomatoes sliced
Red onions sliced
Two fistfuls of Arugula
A small handful of toasted pine nuts
Goat Cheese

Spread goat cheese on the toasted bread
Pile all other ingredients on top -- include a few chunks of goat cheese here too
Drizzle with balsamic and really good olive oil
Sprinkle with flake sea salt and fresh ground pepper

It reminded me of our Italy trip last year, which we were just coming home from around now. In Tuscany especially, we had been keyed into the simplicity of a few good ingredients combined well. This sandwich is a perfect example of that.

It's not that she's a woman, it's that she's an idiot!

2007-07-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Traister writes over at Salon.com about Katie Couric's interview in New York Magazine.

I could go on and on about the interview with Katie, but instead I want to comment on Traister's reaction to it. She writes that Katie's public candor about the fears she has and questions she's asking herself with regard to her career move aren't helping to bolster her ratings. According to Traister, she needs to buck up and "grow a pair" and lie publicly that she loves her new career and it couldn't be going better. This is grossly Stepford Wivien and I couldn't disagree more. It will no more help Katie's ratings than putting her in a man's suit and calling her Olbermann. I will say, though, that Katie has made a career being falsely sincere and the people who enjoy Today are apparently stupid enough to fall for it. Traister's point might be that the time for bringing back the false sincerity might be now and it could reconnect her with the folks she left behind.

I would put forth that the reason that people aren't interested in watching Katie as CBS Newswoman is the same reason that no one calls Today a news program. It's not news. She is not a newswoman. We lost (if we ever had) respect for her because of the ridiculous sincerity she asked the hard questions such as, "Who CAN wear white before labor day?"over and over on Today. She did stories like, "Is your purse making you look fat?" and "Which is better, girls night in, or girls night out???!" These are not news. She interviewed grief stricken families involved in the tragedy-of-the-week -- from dead children to missing pets to a boat overturned that ruined our picnic on the water (wah!). All treated with the same false sense of urgency and importance and the implication that as Americans we should all care deeply about their loss/pet/picnic/whatever. These are not news stories.

The idea that a person like Katie could bring her spunky can-do attitude and "ball buster with a heart of gold" personality to change the evening news into something that more people want to watch -- that was the mistake. Katie can ask smart questions, be serious, stoic and real, but her popularity was based on the bubbly, giggling lady wearing the captain's hat while honking the ferry horn on the Today Show. I'm not sure people like Serious Katie. If the evening news was a popularity contest, she might be able to flash her million dollar smile and softball questions and win, but thankfully, apparently it's not.

Super Birthday Noodles

2007-07-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

We went to the Holubs for my birthday. Ellen was so kind as to prepare an awesome Asian BBQ spread that ruled. One of the items was a cold noodle salad that used the Super Birthday Noodles, of course.

The text from the package is awesome in that horrible badly translated way. Spelling and punctuation taken verbatim.

Features of the HF Handmade Birthday Noodles:

This Handmade Birthday Noodles, transferred from Fukien,china to Taiwan here, followed a secrect recine handed down from generation to generation, Continuously has been improved better the standard in quality&formulated with 4 seasonal salt solution in a rateable saltiness, is the best handmade noodles for the birthday greeting use and being namely as "Birthday Noodles," Fairly economical and Good benefit,Elegant&in good taste.Not only being a necessity for the Sacrifices offering to God.Birthday greeting, and Baby in Month old but also suitable better to make soup as snack in a delicious taste.We solemnly recomend it and appreciate you to tell every one its features.

They did have rateable saltiness and the features were great.

Sicko

2007-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Cross posted from my movie blog:

Jon and I left this movie feeling really angry. As per his usual, Moore tries to make it funny, and entertaining, but we are in a dire situation in this country and it is already so out of hand that it will never be fixed.

Several people in the film are asked if we have any chance of catching up to the rest of the "westernized" world and providing free health care to all -- to take care of our citizens -- to have free house calls and free nannies for newborns and mandatory paid maternity leave -- but they all agree it is not possible. If we are sick and poor or out of work due to illness and beaten down then we won't worry that the government is wire-tapping, torturing and lying to us. That is how the US government wants us.

Even Barack, folks.

He too wants us scared and quiet.

Corporations own our health care system (which isn't a system at all!) and their employees get bonuses for denying coverage to sick people. Citizens of other countries can't believe that we would turn away people who cannot pay. Are we heartless? Cruel?

Yes and yes.

Planet Unicorn Heyyy

2007-06-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a ranting post about how Mattel's plan to market masc-fucking-ara to little girls (because they aren't, apparently, sexy enough!?) pissed me off, but instead, I decided to post this video:

Wine Club!

2007-06-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Holubs (of Movie Night with the Holubs) invited us about six months ago to take part in a wine/dinner club through Bonny Doon Winery. We eagerly accepted, just happy to do anything with the Holubs. They know a lot about wine and food and we are learning things like wine comes in "white."

There are four wine shipments in the year and each one comes with a detailed menu, info about the wines and suggestions on parings, tasting, etc.

The first shipment went to Ellen to work her magic. She prepared a "goddesses" menu with Hawaiian salad (avocado, guava, grapefruit vinaigrette) and Moroccan tagine (she actually has a tagine!) with lamb and squash and for dessert an Egyptian pomegranate baklava. There were wines with each course, and of course, I don't remember them, but they were GOOD!

Long story, short, tomorrow is my night to prepare the shipment's meal and serve the wines along side. I am attempting things which I haven't even EVER cooked before here, people. It's more than a little intimidating. I even had the produce guy at Whole Foods stumped.

The theme is perfect for us, but I won't say what or where in case the Holubs read this today. I'll let you know how it goes!

Less scary than the "Backpack Bandit"

2007-06-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

The smiling idiots on King 5 this morning described a female bank robber who wears a pony tail as "Fashion conscious, armed and dangerous."

OMG! o.b.s r kewl!

2007-06-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

I bought some o.b. tampons yesterday. When I got them home, I noticed something weird on the box:
There she (?) was, a little cartoon dog on the side of the box with flowers and in crayon-y writing it says, "visit hiobie.com" So I did.

This is what greeted me:

Holy shit. It appears that my tampon of choice has been officially co-opted by tweens. On the home page we can mouse over the various "rooms" and with each one, a little animated Obie (the dog) peeks out to join in the menstrual fun. We can go to school, the movies and my favorite place when I am on the rag: the mall!

What bothers me first: All the writing is dumbed down online-speak.

...and I was like, ttly, like, OMG! Did U, like, take the period test? U can learn that like, it's ttly norm if U get ur boobs before ur "little visitor"...if U have yours and U tell me, I swear I won't tell any1. Having ur period is so ttly embarrassing. OMG!

What bothers me next: obviously girls are starting their periods younger and younger. Several factors contribute this: better nutrition (as compared, say, to the 1800s) all the way around the circle back to poor nutrition and an excess of fat; and something that freaks me out completely -- an "excess of estrogen in the environment". The average age is like 11 or 12 now and falling toward 9 or 10 by 2015 according to several articles posted at the Museum of Menstruation (who knew there even was one?!)

I totally get that if younger and younger girls are starting their periods that pads and tampon companies are going to market to them. It seems like they are making a (somewhat pathetic ) attempt to make it fun and cool and all peppermint candies and downloadable (period themed?) ringtones for girls only, but they miss that mark completely and the overall feeling is that you should treat your period like a dirty little secret and they encourage an underlying hatred of this function by "swearing not to tell anyone!" and having a place to post "period horror stories". Just to be clear, I am realistic about the drag of having a period and I am not suggesting that we build bonfires and eat Luna bars and dance naked under the full moon in a sisterhood menstrual frenzy, but I do know that the way society looks at the biological functions of women has a lot to do with how we are treated and valued and how we treat and value ourselves.

What bothers me most is that starting the self-hatred training so young is a tragedy and SUCH a missed opportunity for this company to be on the right side of bringing girls up to be strong, smart and confident and comfortable with their bodies. Personal Products Inc. (the makers of o.b. the tampon "made by a woman gynecologist",) is the one who should be ashamed, not the little dog who has her period.

Go here to tell o.b. what you think of "obie."

Oh Yeah....

2007-06-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

I met Paul Newman on Friday. Holy crap! He came into 826 on Friday with Dave Eggers and his friend Stewart Stern (who wrote Rebel Without a Cause, if you're interested) and we visited for 3 hours. He and Stewart got Space Competency Certified and when they left they gave us all hugs goodbye!
Wow. This is Justin Space Competency Certifying him, which included making him make animal noises.

Camp Finance NorthWest!

2007-06-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

I went to camp yesterday. We didn't make macaroni pictures or sing songs or learn to canoe, but instead we talked about the exciting world of Nonprofit Finance Management. Wooooo! The one thing that I want to write about is that I really, really, really don't want to be like my colleagues in the nonprofit finance world. They are dumpy, annoying, grouchy, unaware and boring. Jesus, people get a life.

That said, except for the whining lesbian who had to tell me all about how she was forced to come, didn't want to be there, wasn't going to learn anything, etc. etc.; the high-waistband nerd who talked incessantly about his particular situation that has nothing to do with the rest of the group taking the seminar; and the other guy who complained multiple times about how high the (standard conference center-sized as near as I could tell) chairs were from the floor because of his short legs(!), it was interesting and informative and I would go back and do it again for the wide and tasty variety of snacks that were offered throughout the day: Tims chips, cookies, a fridge full of juices and soda and water, jelly beans, etc. In the breakfast buffet, they even had a waffle bar. Suh-weet.

Sushi-cam

2007-05-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

God this rules. I wish I had thought of it.

When you question the president, Tinkerbell dies

2007-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Bill Maher wrote the following funny editorial. I hate it when he's right because he's such a prick, but I almost always agree with him.

Canada!

2007-05-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our anniversary, we drove to Vancouver BC. It's about 2 1/2 hours plus an hour at the border. CocoRosie was playing on Saturday night, so we went to see them and wander around the city. The show was amazing. Tez the Parisian human beatbox blew my mind. Busdriver was also a freak show of staccato slamming rhymes, and Coco Rosie, every time I see them, further cement themselves into my heart. I have this odd mixture of reverence and compassion for them. I am in awe of their story and yet, I feel wiser than and protective of them somehow...in any case, the show was insanely great and the weekend was amazing. Here is a little photo collage:

We saw this on the drive up. I hate businesses that misspell words in their names...it's not clever or cute. But this is reminded me of a baby blackbird my friend Jennifer and I "rescued" when I was in high-school and we named it Jalopy Payphone. It died, but we kept it alive for about 2 weeks.

Beef carpaccio, shaved pecorino, truffle aoli and fois gras stuffed olives at CRU. Local organic, romantic, great.

Coffee so big, we had to share.

We went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Jon went across. It was really beautiful and I wandered around the grounds-- it's a little like a Disneyland town with people in costumes and a General Store and a Loggers' Grill for lunch, but we just looked at the sites and left. Not before taking note that 1) the river was fast and cranky and 2) one of those workers looks familiar....

Every Day in May is out the window

2007-05-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Fuck! I suck at these "commitment" art projects. Best of luck to all the EDIM folks, who are doing great without my weird dinner contributions anyway. I will, however, celebrate my commitment art project which is my marriage, which has been going on officially for one year as of last weekend and we're right on track, thank you very much.

A mediocre grilled sandwich and a great cocktail

2007-05-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Last night before the Circus Contraption show, we went to the Zig-Zag, which has, like the best bar in America or something and had dinner and some really great house drinks.

Derailed

2007-05-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Avocado Chicken and Artichokes

2007-05-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

We had a (very) ripe avocado so I used garlic and onion and spices and turned it into a savory sauce to spoon over these grilled chicken breasts. The artichokes were overcooked, but the first for us this year and very good and the Medoc (Chateau Gresysac 2001) was nice, but a little overwhelmed by this dinner.

Coriander Chicken and Spring Roll

2007-05-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

We didn't get out of the movie until 8:30 so I stopped at Rom Mai Thai and picked up some quick stir-fry and rice. Nothing glamorous, but indeed delicious. Does Rosé go with everything?

Tri-tip and Mint Pine Nut Couscous

2007-05-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is what we ate last night:
Onions, garlic and carrots in chicken stock to cook the couscous. Fresh mint, lemon zest and tomatoes stirred in once it was done.The steak was rubbed with spices and cooked rare. Cumin cream on top. Corn on the cob (not pictured). A (great!) bottle of Barnard Griffin 2006 Rosé of Sangiovese.

What's for dinner?

2007-05-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of participating in the Every Day in May project (for the real deal of this kind of project, check out my friend Gibson's 30 Days in Red Pants.) Instead of painting a picture or making art, I decided to take a picture of our dinner each night. Usually I cook. Sometimes we go out. Either way, I think it's a fun undertaking.

Poe/lar Bear

2007-04-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I saw this on French Toast Girl. It struck me as awesome.

Setbacks

2007-04-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

Ladies, if you thought your uterus and ova were yours to make decisions about, think again. The Supreme Court decision today has reiterated several stances taken by this administration:

1) Women are not citizens in the way that men are. Our bodies are not our own, but belong to some greater "good" that may or may not have our best interest in mind. Should we get pregnant, we are no longer in charge of what happens to us.

2) The court system is now a mouthpiece for the president. It terrifies me to watch the gradual retreat of the (well-thought out, meticulously planned, long-recognized as an integral part of our democracy) checks and balances that help to regulate our country. They were put in place to assure us that when the majority of the people hold an opinion contrary to the opinion of an administration, the majority will eventually have its way. It's not that other administrations haven't been at odds with the people, it's that now we don't have separate branches of government to make sure that the country, the justice system and, apparently, women's bodies don't end up belonging to George Bush.

3) It is the government, not OB/GYNs, who should recommend reproductive health care choices for women. The term "partial birth abortion" refers to a practice that doesn't even exist. There is a medical term for the kind of abortion that is performed in the 2nd or 3rd trimester, but "partial birth abortion" is a made up name and not a medical procedure. The Supreme Court of the United States has decided to politicize for the very first time the choices that doctors and women make about women's health. I also am appalled that Kennedy in his statement calls OB/GYNs "abortion doctors." Another fake term.

This isn't just about the access to affordable, safe abortions. This is about the fabric of our democracy and the rights of women as equal citizens.

Words overused by food review writers

2007-04-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

1. Cloying

What it's Not

2007-04-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Last month, we discussed that "vagina" is not bad word. Here is a disturbing poster that illustrates another thing a vagina is not:

(stolen from i don't care much for this)

Part of the Problem

2007-04-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hubby pointed out this War Room post from Salon. The main story is that a Bush administration employee leaked classified documents to a "friend" -- never mind that she works for the Department of Parks and Fish and Wildlife (or whatever) and the documents included information about endangered species and the friend's email address ended in "chevrontexaco.com" -- Bad? Yes. But you know what's worse? This employee met this friend while "playing online role playing games." What? Like D&D? Are you kidding me? First, is she 15?? Second, la-la land prevails in the minds of the whole Bush world. Lets roll a 20-sided die and pretend to be half-elf mage warriors. It all makes horrible, greasy, pimply sense. They don't face reality when they are NOT at work either.

This pretty much sums it up....

2007-03-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

This great drawing was done by one of our volunteer teachers during a workshop over the weekend. Rules to live by...