Full disclosure: This post was inspired by A Beautiful Mess‘ birthday lists. I like the idea of setting yearly goals, but my birthday was three months ago, so I’ve made a New Year’s list. (No, I am not calling these “New Year’s Resolutions.”) Some of these things I know I’ll do, some I hope for, and some are there for inspiration.
Wow, December kind of got away from me. Between getting sick twice, moving into my new apartment and making Christmas gifts at the last minute, I didn’t have time to catch up on Google Reader, much less to check update the blog.
I have a lot to show you in January: Christmas gifts I made for all my family members (including my brother’s dog!) and goings-on at my new home. But first, as a prelude to tomorrow’s post, a look back: Continue reading
it’s like it knows me or something.
cross-posted from http://scrambledmeggs.posterous.com/netflix-always-recommends-me-something-with-a
Tonight I worked a fantastically reported story about a rash of devastating wildfires in our area. I think we had 40 going throughout the state. It was a stressfull night, but I do love breaking news. And coming in just under deadline (ok, maybe a minute or two over) and being really proud of the work everyone did. (There was quite the twitter love–fest among my coworkers. I’m going to miss them when I don’t work there anymore.)
But it wasn’t all deadlines and devastating fires. Earlier in the night, I worked a story about a lady who got trapped in a chair and almost died, but waited up all night for the newspaper delivery person. Before you laugh, you should probably read the story. It’s really sweet. And subscribe to the newspaper. It could save your life.
Images link to source/credit, from Flickr users The National Guard, top, and brad.rourke under Creative Commons license 2.0. (The top photo is of a fire earlier this year in Texas, not one of the many that broke out this weekend.)
cross-posted from http://scrambledmeggs.posterous.com/fires-spark-across-state-lady-gets-stuck-in-c
I haven’t been writing. I went to the beach and enjoyed two days of radio silence. I’ve been reading “Half the Sky,” and you probably should, too. Yes, my friends and I were the nerdy kids on the beach reading nonfiction.
Last night I saw a screening of “MissRepresentation,” which I also highly recommend. Here’s the trailer:
Not too much of the data and statistics in the documentary were surprising to me, but the film definitely opened the eyes of my friends who didn’t spend a good portion of the summer trying to figure out a way to present those issues to young girls. The teenage girls and the women in the film were inspiring, and I really enjoyed hearing what they had to say.
Amazing piece at Feministe discusses relationship violence, independence and capability: “What would have happened if we’d all had a broader template that showed that vulnerability was just as valid a state for a feminist to inhabit as strength and invincibility?” (I can’t help think I would try to “handle it” very much the same way.)
The Texas Tribune is counting down the days till most of Texas’ new laws take effect by highlighting a different one each day. Day 11: Women seeking an abortion in Texas will be required to hear a description of the results of an ultrasound examination.
Lots of people are upset about the Michele Bachmann Newsweek cover. Is it sexist? Maybe. Is it bad journalism? Definitely. My thoughts in short: Newsweek did not portray other (male) candidates in the same light. But, in the theme of “a woman candidate is not necessarily a woman’s candidate,” it could very well be possible that Newsweek mocked Michele Bachmann so blatantly because she isn’t a good candidate, and that might have nothing to do with her gender. Despite the motive, it was unfair treatment. And, as Jon Stewart so eloquently pointed out: “Be honest, Newsweek, you used that photo in a petty attempt to make Michele Bachmann look crazy — and that’s what her words are for.”
Bitch magazine’s Adventures in Feministory highlights Ann Richards, an awesome Texan whom you might know from saying that former President George H. W. Bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth, oh, and she was our governor before George W. Bush.
via
How cool is it that when some Britons were literally burning parts of their cities, others were lining up, brooms in hand, volunteering to help clean? That is inspiring.
Really looking forward to seeing the new documentary about Gloria Steinem. Liked seeing her on The Colbert Report this week. “We know that women can do what men can do, right? But we don’t know that men can do what women can do.”
Pinterest is kind of like a virtual bulletin board, or collection of borads, rather. Users can “pin” an image from any website to a personal board. The images range from DIY tips (how to make a skirt) to recipes to home decor ideas. The site has been embraced by many, some of whom offer some criticism for its somewhat consumerist culture. Medicinal Marzipan writes:
I worry that Pinterest represents another level to keeping up with the joneses, where someone is sitting in their house wishing for someone else’s life.
I love pinterest, personally. But the idea of coveting things bothers me far less than coveting bodies. Pinterest is a collection of its users’ interests, and a lot of users seem to be interested in weight loss. While there are many healthy images around health and bodies, there are a few that disturb me:
Notice anything missing from that last one? Any mention of food. I looked this recipe up on google and found a few message boards that mentioned instructions to eat “a bit of asparagus.”
I found these images on pinboards titled “health” and “motivation.” Now, pinterest, of course, isn’t the problem. The beauty of pinterest is that its content is entirely user-edited. People are choosing these images as reflections of their beliefs on health and body image. And the above images reflect someone who believes happiness (and health) comes in a size 2.
But lately, I’m seeing some more positive pins.
When people talk about the “obesity epidemic,” there are some undertones that perpetuate the message of a “skinny ideal,” which isn’t healthy. The media tend to equate “fat” with “unhealthy.” And it’s no secret that many unhealthy eating habits cause weight gain. But if fat equals unhealthy, then skinny implicitly equals healthy. (Type “somalia famine” into google image search, and try to tell me that skinny equals healthy — or beauty, for that matter.) One more step down the implication stairway, and you might infer that you can’t be both “fat” and healthy.
We owe it to our friends, our sisters, our aunts, our cousins, our daughters and sons to shift the focus from weight and appearance to health and wellness — to perpetuate a healthy message.
So, I leave you with ultimate response to Kate Moss:
ETA: For more on social media and body image, check out this fantastic post, which focuses on other forms of social media and which eloquently makes the point: “Inspiration can work in many different ways – and only some of them are healthy.”
The Warren Jeffs trial is a good example of news coverage of fundamentalist religious groups. That is the sentence I wrote before I typed “warren jeffs” into Google on Monday night and saw this:
Seriously. I’m not clever enough to make that up. I feel for the San Angelo Standard Times. I’m sure they, too, are overworked and understaffed. Props to them for being the top result even with a dummy hed (aka placeholder headline), I say. In the third result, I don’t think the word “allegedly” is necessary at all. It would have been easier to write “DNA expert says” or “doctor testifies,” and it wouldn’t carry the undertone of “allegedly.” (As AP says: “This word must be used with great care.”) Interesting that it came from the Salt Lake Tribune. Oh, and the second result? Yes, Jeffs most clearly was turning his trial into a sermon on polygamy. (He also threatened the jurors and the judge with God’s wrath.)
Jeffs’ case reminded me of some lawmakers’ efforts to ban Sharia law from U.S. courts. Legislation has popped up in a few states this year to prohibit state judges from considering foreign laws or rulings that violate constitutional rights.
One argument typically used in favor of a ban on Sharia in U.S. courts, The New York Times writes:
Critics most typically cite a New Jersey case last year in which a Moroccan woman sought a restraining order against her husband after he repeatedly assaulted and raped her. The judge denied the request, finding that the defendant lacked criminal intent because he believed that his wife must comply, under Islamic law, with his demand for sex.
The decision was reversed on appeal.
If the judge and jury in Warren Jeffs’ case were to take his religious beliefs into consideration, could he be pardoned? Jeffs — who is charged with sexually assaulting two girls, 12 and 15 years old — has been defending himself for a little while, and he has more than once quoted “the word of the Lord” in court or in legal documents. Under the New Jersey judge’s logic, Warren Jeffs’ religious beliefs (which are fundamentalist and not in line with the Church of Latter Day Saints) most certainly would mean he lacks criminal intent. He believes that he is the voice of God on Earth, and so do his followers, meaning the girls’ parents would be innocent, too. The most recent issue of Bitch has a fascinating article about Mormonism. It doesn’t seem to be on their website, but here’s a sample:
A primary way you’ll progress is by becoming a god or goddess, and by procreating your own spirit children. … God becomes a literal father of all human souls in the way men on this planet typically become parents of embodied children: He has sex.
…
The belief that a man can be married for eternity to every woman he marries on earth—and that in fact it’s righteous to marry multiple women so he can produce spirit children more efficiently —is a justification for the doctrine of polygamy …
So, if New Jersey court decision stood, you could see where a good attorney could argue that Jeffs lacked criminal intent — whether he committed the crimes or not. (Although DNA evidence shows that Jeffs is the father of the 15-year-old victim’s baby.)
And if religious beliefs could prove a lack of criminal intent, Anders Behring Breivik could be pardoned for the attacks in Norway, because of his fundamentalist Christian beliefs. But he might be going with an insanity defense. Fine line.
So why a call to arms over Sharia? It’s hard to argue that only fundamentalist Muslims commit crimes, even horrific attacks. Furthermore, it’s hard to argue that only fundamentalist Muslims use their religious beliefs to justify said crimes. The legislative campaign against Sharia, to me, is reminiscent of France’s ban on face veils. Leading a campaign against a particular set of beliefs — instead of addressing separation of church and state — perpetuates fear and hate instead of promoting empathy and respect. In fact, that kind of behavior was something the founding fathers clearly sought to prohibit.
Pop quiz: What’s the first protection in the First Amendment?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof …
Whoops. It was starting to look like I set up this new space and then abandoned it. When I set up this new space, I wrote about finding balance, which sometimes means riding the wave and taking time to re-settle.
In June I started working fo’ free (aka interning) at the awesome local nonprofit I’ve been volunteering with for a year and a half. Also, my mom visited, and I got “promoted” to full-time at my for-pay job at the newspaper.
In July, I realized how quickly an extra 11 hours per week of paid work, plus an extra 10-15 hours per week of free work adds up. Oh, and I took the GRE, of which I’ll spare you the gory details and just say: it was stressfull, and studying is time-consuming. I’ll admit it: I over-committed.
Going into August, the test is behind me, and I will soon return to my regular 2 or so hours a week of volunteering — for-pay work still wants me 40 hours per week, and for that I am thankful. I feel like I have room to breathe again. I’ve been reading more, both at work and at home. I’ve been cooking, which is insanely out of character for me (more on that later). I’ve been enjoying alone time. On more than one occasion, I spent an afternoon playing my guitar.
And, lately, I’m finally feeling like creating again. The urge grows out of a sort of restiveness in my free time. I’m glad, because one of my cousins is having a baby, and a crib set is in order.
Tonight at work, a tweet from the Texas Tribune caught my attention:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79044165924700160
Um… huh?! Oh, and when I say “tonight at work,” I mean “tonight, when I was working at the newspaper in the state capital.” Yes, I knew the House was slated to debate a bunch of amendments to Senate Bill 1, which is the reason we’re in a special session. You see, while I was all distracted by other actions in the lege, I missed this one. Before I even got a chance to look up the amendment, I saw this:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79047054936121344
I’ll admit, I don’t usually watch the stream of the lege, so I don’t know if this is common behavior. I sincerely hope the Trib posts video of this. Anyway, I looked up the amendment to SB 1, which all the papers just call “the fiscal matters bill.” Amendment 150 — spoiler alert — would have restricted any public college or university from using state money or property to support “a gender and sexuality center or other center focused on gay, lesbian, transgender, gender questioning, or other gender identity issues.” Rep. McClendon‘s right. That is sickening. (And yes, the Trib had a little typo in her name. Two Cs.)
Two bits of background here. Rep. Wayne Christian, who wrote the amendment was on my radar earlier in the day, when he said “I just believe is it wrong…for state dollars to be used for abortions” as the House was taking away my county’s public health care district from contracting with any facility (read: hospital) that provides abortions. Ours is was the only county in the state to do so. He is from WHERE? and he wrote the amendment to Senate Bill 7, a health care bill, which is described as “Relating to the administration, quality, and efficiency of health care, health and human services, and health benefits programs in this state” on the state website. Oh yeah, he’s from Center, Texas. Center is about a five-hour drive from Austin. (Props to Austin’s Rep. Donna Howard, who, when the House adopted the measure, the Statesman reports said in clear exasperation: “You guys just don’t give up, do you?” Howard also managed to pass an amendment to another bill that might get public schools a bit more funding.)
So back to the post-midnight debate. This is the next tweet I see:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79047489398906880
It seems a few amendments are being posed to Christian’s amendment, including one from Rep. Marc Veasey, who said Christian’s amendment was blatantly putting discrimination in the law.” The amendment to the amendment (don’t ya just love how simple politics is?) says that a public college or university “may not consider creed, race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or national origin of the students proposed to be served” when allotting state money or property to support a “student center or similar facility.” At some point during debate on various amendments, Christian revealed just how sexually repressed he is:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79050109618368512
Eventually, a point of order is raised. Hilariously abbreviated on Twitter as “POO,” it was apparently called on calendar items. Points of order are usually technicalities, and they can completely derail a bill. The House Democrats told Christian that if he withdrew his amendment, they would raise the point of order. He eventually conceded:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79068564027486208
The House debates other amendments for another hour or so, and then, to applause, finally passes the bill. Rep. Rob Eissler (the House public education chair) had this to say:
http://twitter.com/#!/TexasTribune/status/79081115654160385
Heartwarming. Really, what’s heartwarming is that they finally took a stand. Senator Wendy Davis did it last week, and tonight, House Democrats did it, too. The House (and the Legislature in general) has let a lot of crap slip through — like Christian’s other measure that passed earlier in the day. Christian, actually, when withdrawing his amendment said he was “dumbfounded” that after approving measures such as giving publics schools $4 billion less than they’re owed under current law to cover the sharp growth in the number of students, among others things, that his fellow representatives would put their feet down over “alternative lifestyles.” I had to say, I was a bit surprised, too. Pleasantly, but surprised nonetheless. I just wish Texas Democrats would stop all this waiting until the last minute to rally and do something. The “final straw” should have come months ago.
Senate Bill 1 needs one more House vote before it goes back to the Senate, which will consider the House’s amendments. In the meantime, check out tonight’s Houston Chronicle and Statesman stories.
Updated to add: The Texas Tribune has posted their video of the debate on Christian’s amendment.
scrambled meggs 