Hosted by Hilly Blue.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
And don't forget to tip your bartender!
And Months and Months We Have Yet to Go...
[Content Note: Racism; birtherism; Othering.]
This is a pretty cool campaign advertisement I thought you'd like to see:
Male voiceover, fast-talking, over black-and-white images of Barack Obama with random text highlighting phrases in the narration appearing onscreen, in the style of local adverts for personal injury attorneys: Who is Barack Obama? We know less about this man than any other president in American history. What's he hiding?! His autobiography is full of fictional characters, but there's a lot more than that! If you try to look into his past, you run into a brick wall. His college records at Columbia—sealed! His college records at Harvard—sealed! We don't know what his thesis papers were about, because those are sealed, too! His selective service record is sealed! His records as an attorney are sealed! He has a Connecticut social security number, and we can't get answers about that, either! And no one—I mean, no one!—has seen an actual, physical copy of Barack Obama's birth certificate!What a neat advert!
The fact is, if we don't know who Barack Obama is, we shouldn't even have him as a candidate for president. Let's disqualify Obama before the Democratic National Convention! Call today to sign the Demand to Disqualify Obama. Call 1-800-617-7709. We need 10,000 signatures from every Congressional district to boot this guy off the ballot and have the Democrats nominate someone else! Unless he can tell us who he is, the Democrats need to put up another candidate! Call 1-800-617-7709 now to sign the Demand to Disqualify Obama! Paid for by the Conservative Majority Fund.
I think the thing I like best about it is how honest it is. No, wait—it's probably the part where they talk about how we don't know anything about sitting US President Barack Obama, who is definitely a mystery to all of us. I heard his Secret Service code name is "Unknown Quantity," because they know so little about him they couldn't think of anything else.
Anyway! This supercool campaign—which is FOR SURE not racially motivated (yes it is), and does not rely on racist tropes about people of color being inscrutable, undeserving, sneaky, Other (yes it does), and does not hold Obama to an absurd and nonsensical standard by ignoring things like how attorney records are "sealed" to protect clients (yup!)—will probably have loads of success. I mean, what could possibly stop this train of principled smartness?!
And when the Conservative Majority Fund is successful, as they will definitely be, I can't wait to see who the Democrats nominate to replace
[Via TDW.]
This Does Not Make Me Want To Buy Your Ice Cream
[Video description: A person, covered entirely in ice cream, slowly eats ice cream off of their head while a voice-over tells us how awesome that ice cream tastes.]
Number of the Day
A lot: The amount of taxes Mitt Romney says he's paid: "Categorically, I have paid taxes every year and a lot of taxes, a lot of taxes, so Harry is wrong."
Well, that settles it then!
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Sports or Games to Play. (As not everyone has the ability or will to participate in physical sports/games, you are welcome to substitute board games, card games, etc.) Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Generally Awful
Speaking of Rick Perry, who is definitely no longer in the race and has totally dropped out and doesn't even want to be Romney's running mate so shut up, the ex-candidate says that Romney's veep pick won't matter: "The announcement of Mitt Romney's running mate won't do much to change the dynamics of the presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. Perry said the running mate pick will likely grab headlines for a couple of days before the focus of the race quickly shifts back to the choice between Romney and President Barack Obama." Give that governor a gold in stating the obvious! Good job on knowing the basics of US politics, sir!
If you were one of the millions of Americans I'm sure who have been withholding judgment on the presidential race until Jenna Jameson weighed in, well, your day has come! Jenna Jameson is a Romney supporter. "When you're rich, you want a Republican in office." Ha ha PERFECT.
In other ha ha PERFECT news, Josh at Think Progress reports: New SuperPAC, FightBigotry.com, Smears President Obama for 'Racism Against White Folks.' "FightBigotry.com, a new Super PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission this week, makes no bones about its aim. It intends to run an attack ad that it says will hit President Barack Obama for 'his disturbing, yet crystal-clear pattern of tacitly defending black racism against white folks before and since being elected president'."
Where "black racism" = "pointing out and challenging white privilege." Oh the horror etc. Go to hell, Stephen Marks.
Meanwhile, on the Senate floor: The toast, the toast, the toast is on fire! "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his [campaign] concerning Mitt Romney's personal finances to the chamber floor Thursday, repeating his unsubstantiated claim that the wealthy Republican paid no federal income taxes for 10 years. ... The Democrat, in remarks to the Senate this morning, said 'the word's out that [Romney] hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years.' Of course, that 'word' has come from none other than Reid himself."
Speaking of Mitt Romney and his dirty secrets, Todd Purdum observes in Vanity Fart (a typo I will leave for your amusement) that Romney is pretty cagey about who he really is, beyond the adjectives that comprise his bio.
The other possibility, of course, is that Romney is just as comprehensive an empty suit as he appears to be. Just a flesh sack full of contradictory soundbites and a seething urge to bully.
Finally: Maybe you would like to vote for the Peace and Freedom Party ticket? The ticket is topped by Roseanne Barr, and her running mate is Cindy Sheehan. Barr: "The American people are sick and tired of this 'lesser evil' garbage they get fed every election year. ... I'm here to tell the voters: if you want to tell the government and the two domineering parties that you're sick and tired of all their evil, register in the Peace and Freedom Party and vote for me and Cindy." I've heard worse ideas.
Like, for example, voting for Mitt Romney.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Daily Dose of Cute
I totally want a treat. I wonder if Two-Legs will give me a treat.
"O hai! I was just wondering if I could have a treat, plz?"
"Look, I'll even do my 'FUCK YOU CHICK-FIL-A!' finger trick for it! TA-DAAAA!"
For the record, that is not Photoshopped, lol. Also for the record: Sophie hates the fuck out of Chick-Fil-A.
I'll Make the Entertainment I Want to See
by Sara Koffi, a 19-year-old college junior majoring in English with a concentration in Education, with plans to change the world.
My name's Sara. Well, not really. My real first name is a bit longer than that, but s a r a are definitely the first letters. Growing up with botched IDs and mispronunciation, I learned to keep how I identify myself pretty simple. I also became synonymous with certain adjectives: shy, quiet, big, brown and feminine. When I was much younger, I liked to keep my opinions to myself and avoided confrontation like it was my sworn duty. I knew all of my adjectives weren't personality traits, but I didn't really know what to do with them. So, I left them in a nice little room and remembered to lock the door.
Somewhere between 13 and 16, I discovered a new adjective: angry. At first, I assumed it was just going to be the stereotypical teenage phase of hating the world. But I got older, and the angry just didn't go away. It was always waiting for something. I wasn't going around picking fistfights or having screaming contests with strangers. My angry just sat on what felt like the bottom of my soul, always with me and always unwilling to answer a direct question.
"Why are you here, angry?"
"You'll see."
Angry was right. I did see. Eventually, I came to find out about this thing called "activism". I enjoyed the people I met because of conversations about it and learned more about the issues. I found a sense of pure bliss when discussing what was wrong with various policies and the inherent racism and sexism in certain institutions. I was so happy, I didn't notice that angry had unlocked that room and all of my adjectives were roaming around, free, in my head.
Shy, quiet, big, brown, feminine, angry…
I grew increasingly more unable to stomach certain websites, certain TV shows and certain films. If a joke was made about women, I stopped. If a joke was made at the expense of fat people, I stopped. If there was a stereotypical black character with no redeeming qualities, I HAD to stop. My world was growing more and more specific and I couldn't stand it. I was shy, quiet, big, brown, feminine, and angry as Hell and it needed to be dealt with.
I started to struggle with the "F" word. You know. Feminist. I didn't want to call myself one because weren't feminists those angry women who wanted to eradicate all men? I had brothers! I couldn't be a feminist! It took me being angry a bit longer before I began to use the word to describe myself in common conversations. I didn't realize how powerful it was. Guys and gals would discredit feminism as a whole when I stated I was one, and some people then asked, "Well, what kind are you?"
My answer was and will always be, "I'm the big, brown, angry kind." I cared about women's issues, I cared about size acceptance and I cared about social justice. It only made me more upset that when I looked around me, more and more people seemed to not care at all or have no strong opinion either way.
And one day I had an epiphany.
How could they care?
I hadn't considered how I'd policed my own media and made decisions accordingly. I watched my own family members watch problematic media all the time, without seeing its problems. That's when it finally clicked for me. People who don't see the problems, can't be expected to genuinely care about the problems. So, I took it upon myself to show them.
Now, as some of you may have discovered, pointing out problematic pieces of media for everyone you know doesn't make you very popular. Worse yet, I didn't get very far. I went back to my feminist lab and dreamt up something else. What if for every problematic piece of mass media, there was counter-media? Counter-media that would be for people like me to enjoy, and for me to recommend to people who otherwise might never question what was on their TVs.
Not gonna lie—I thought it sounded awesome. I also mistakenly thought it was going to be super easy and super supported. First lesson in ideas? Always super easy and super supported in your head. In reality, I'd written a stage play that had NO funding behind it. Awesome. For some reason, someone somewhere in the universe decided that I was capable of something with my art. She gave me a shot at production. The problem? I'd only made public the cookie cutter version. It wasn't about my adjectives. It wasn't about anything, really. It touched on a few issues but mostly stayed quiet during the whole counter-media discussion. It felt wrong. It felt weird. It felt useless.
I thanked her. I postponed production. I went back to the drawing board.
A year later, Class Dismissed was born.
Class Dismissed is a planned film about Christy Taylor, a plus-sized escort and her college roommate, Aubrey, who has some coming out to do. I knew that it had to be a comedy for two reasons. First, I wanted people who felt they were the punchline or the tragic figure much too often in the media to have a piece of joyful entertainment to revel in. Second, I wanted to prove that it's 100% possible to create something funny, endearing and sweet without being completely offensive and instead pretty inclusive. I wanted to honestly create counter-media, what should serve as the answer to problematic imagery that rarely gets seriously challenged.
To make this film project happen, I set up a fundraiser here.
I figure with $5000, I could make a pretty B.A. short film. With even more, I could work on making a full feature that's even more B.A. Either way, I'm ready for less problematic entertainment in my life, even if I have to make it myself.
I wanna write.
I wanna make movies that mean something to somebody.
I wanna create safe entertainment for the kids like me who always had a bad taste in their mouth when the lesson was, "Lose weight" or "Love yourself...but change a few things" or "Keep it straight, stupid."
I wanna make the entertainment that I wanna see.
Thanks for listening, Shakers.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by a person.
Recommended Reading:
Chick-Fil-A related [content note for homophobia on all of these posts]:
Lindsay, via Carrie: Have you considered the impact of these photos on your friends?
Jane: Being Gay in Tucson Hurts
Pam: A Chicken Sandwich Quizzical
Imara: Chick-Fil-A Hasn't Reconciled Itself with the Future of America
Deeky: To My Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Intersex, Queer Friends
Other stuff:
Melissa: Interview with Rashida Jones, Co-writer and Star of Celeste and Jesse Forever
Anita: Quick Tropes vs Women Project Update
Andrew: Homeland Security: Binational Same-Sex Couples Still Low Priority
crunktastic: Gabby the Great Gets the Gold!!! (LOVE that picture.)
Sharon: Adopt Me Maybe
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Quote of the Day
"I am so thrilled now to change my website and take down the fact that I was the only African-American [gymnast] with a gold medal, and it couldn't go to a better kid."—USA gymnast Dominique Dawes, through tears, on Gabby Douglas' historic achievement of being the first African-American gymnast to win team and all-around individual gold medals.
The entire interview is here. (If anyone can locate a transcript, please drop a link in comments.)
So much blub.
[H/T to Veronica.]
Community Note
I am not a content-generating machine.
Certainly, in the abstract, everyone who participates in the community here agrees with that. But, in practice, there seems to be some confusion about it.
Let me begin here. Shakesville has four parts:
1. The front page. Shakesville is a blog about stuff. Its content published on the main page is written by people. Most of it is written by me. I write around 20,000 words every week for this space, including comments. By nature of the subject matter central to this space, much of what's written here is personal to its authors.
2. The comments section. Shakesville is also a community, in which a percentage of the readership wants to actively participate. The comments threads and their hundreds of daily comments are moderated by people. Because we run the community as a safe a space as possible, moderation entails reading every comment, editing/deleting comments that don't adhere to the safe space guidelines, and being actively involved in comments as participants.
3. The community outside comments. As I have previously noted, I actively care about the people who spend time here, and I do the business of caring on-blog and off. I communicate privately with Shakers who are seeking advice, who have lost a loved one, have lost a job, have suffered an injury or trauma, are going through a relationship crisis, are having surgery, have just come out, have just had a baby, have just gotten engaged, are considering an abortion, a divorce, self-harm, need advice or just a sympathetic ear on any one of a million different subjects. I mentor Shakers just starting their own blogs and looking for help; I commiserate with Shakers who are themselves established bloggers and share ideas. I have reviewed résumés and served as a reference. I have loaned Shakers money. I have found local (to them) psychiatrists, victims' advocates, a gay-friendly wedding planner, a trans-friendly doctor, a tax attorney, plus-sized clothiers, breed-specific rescues. Caring about this community is not an abstract concept to me. It is concrete and it is personal and it is an active practice.
4. The back office. Shakesville is a virtual space made possible by the hard work of people. This is my full-time job, and the contributors and mods volunteer their time and talents. In addition to writing content, I serve as editor-in-chief for all content including guest posts, design the space, maintain the technical parts of the space e.g. commenting system, pay all of the outgoing costs, including consulting fees for all the technical shit I can't do myself, and do all the general management, like coordinating between writers who's going to cover something. The three other parts of Shakesville are not a magical kingdom created of pixie dust. It takes lots of time and lots of work to make this space happen.
Not everyone appreciates all aspects of this space. Many readers just want to read the content here and don't give a fuck about the rest of it. Which is fine, and this post isn't really for or about them.
It's for and about the people who actively participate in the community aspects, particularly those who enjoy the safe space made possible by all the hard work that goes into creating a space they ostensibly love, but nonetheless casually ignore the humanity of the people behind it.
* Content isn't produced by "Shakesville." Shakesville is not a person.
* If you express your dismay, anger, sanctimonious judgment about some news story not being "at Shakesville," you're not indicting a blog; you're indicting the people who write it—and you're ignoring all the possible reasons something hasn't been covered here, like the possibility we're waiting for further developments, that we need to do research, that it's a distressing topic none of us have the spoons to address right now, that we don't have the mods to cover what will probably be a contentious thread, that no one wants to write about it, or that none of us has heard about it because we are not news machines that get every piece of information in the world Matrixed into our skulls in a constant feed.
* Comments don't exist in a void. If you quote and respond to a part of a post, you are not responding to "this sentence written on Shakesville." Without any caveat or qualification indicating otherwise, you are responding to the person who wrote it. At a blog where every contributor is active in at least their own comments threads, and where we are expected to be there as much as possible, pretending we aren't there in order to imagine you're commenting into a void is impolite. To put it politely.
There are blogs where content is posted and authors disappear and commenters discuss the ideas in the abstract. In fact, that's what happens when, for example, I write at The Guardian. My piece is published and then comments are made on the piece without my participation. Often people have asked me how I can stand the frequently critical and unfair comments there, but it's very easy for me to not be bothered by those comments. I'm not there in a capacity to be accountable to commenters. I'm there to produce content for The Guardian.
There are plenty of blogs that are primarily or strictly about producing content for discussion, but this isn't one of those blogs. It can't be, if the community is to be run as a safe space. That requires investment by its authors in the community, beyond just responding to the occasional commenter.
Thus, commenters don't get to have it both ways: If you want us to be the sort of space where contributors are in comments and immediately accountable for every idea and every image and every word in every post, then you don't get to pretend we don't exist when it suits you.
And if you want us to be the sort of space where contributors respect the individual humanity of each of our commenters, where we make a serious if imperfect effort to use inclusive and respectful language, then you don't get to treat us like shit in return.
When commenters insist that they're just responding to "something written on Shakesville," as if I am not there, that obliges me to remove myself from my own space. I'm meant to put my time and energy and talent and self into writing enormous amounts of content for everyone, then I'm supposed to detach myself from that content as if I don't exist, so people can just "react to it," without being inconvenienced by my humanity.
It is unfun to invest myself to create a community of which I'm not allowed to be a part, where my authorship and ownership are only recognized when someone wants to hold me personally accountable for failures.
This is a dynamic between author and reader about which a lot of bloggers complain, privately. It's the thing, this being treated like a content-generating robot with no humanity except when being criticized, that makes a lot of bloggers burn the fuck out. It isn't the trolls that really get us—it's the dehumanization by our own readers.
And talking about it, like I'm doing now, is considered uncool, whiny, pathetic, needy, whatever, even (and often especially) by people who feel exactly the same way. It's perceived as weak to ask for and expect more of your community, but, suffice it to say it is never easy for me to write anything that I know will garner the usual eye-rolling from the places that think what we try to do here is stupid.
If other bloggers want to not acknowledge it, or chalk it up to that's just how the internet is, that's cool, but I'd rather address this and try to avoid flaming out.
If you're going to participate here, you need to respect that this space is built by people, its content written by individual people. I frankly don't believe it's too much to ask that, in a space dedicated to social justice, we center the humanity of both its users and its architects.
The Exact and Only Words in Your Response
Last night, my oft-mentioned friend Miller, who is deeply immersed in translating a novel from Portuguese to English, solicited my assistance to help her find the perfect English slang for vagina in a particular context. True Fact: "Cunt" and "pussy" and "vajayjay" and "snatch" and "naughty bits" each have their own tones. Naturally, a very hilarious (but simultaneously quite serious and productive!) conversation ensued.
She also needed to run her translation of a female orgasm by me, and, for some reason, did not appreciate my suggestion that she introduce "ladysquirt" into the lexicon. Harrumph. Some people!
At one point during our amazing conversation, she said, "This is like a re-incidence of the Golden Shower Affair."
To which I replied: "???"
Now, here, I need to tell you, came a whole diversion about how my having no memory of the Golden Shower Affair, while she did, was the greatest thing ever. Deeky is not the only one of my friends who considers me a lint trap. "How can you not remember that?" exclaimed Miller. "You remember everything! In all these years this is the first time I remembered something you didn't! TRIUMPH IS MINE!"
To which I replied: "LOL! HIGH FIVE!"
The thing, which I did not (and do not still) remember, was Miller emailing me, almost 15 years ago, from across the office where we worked together for years, to inquire: "What's that fetish called where someone likes to have someone else urinate on them?"
To which I evidently replied: "A golden shower, baby."
Upon hearing this exchange recounted, I laughed until tears sprung from my eyes. The question alone was brilliant: What could the purpose have been in her asking it? And the thought that this exchange, over work email, was probably the most professional thing happening in that wildly dysfunctional office, on that day or any day. And then my absurd reply.
"Why would I add the 'baby'?!" I exclaimed, rhetorically.
To which Miller replied, "That's what made it so memorable! Those were the exact and only words in your response."
LOL.
Daily Dose of Cute
"O hai! I didn't even know you were there!"
Please note that Olivia has once again managed to photobomb the picture, this time with her asshole.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares: "Ерген дядо/Полегнала е Тодора/Oh! Susanna"
Random Nerd Nostalgia: When 2nd Ed Was Young
[Image description: Headline: “Your Toughest Opponent Shouldn’t Be the Rulebook.” The cover of the 2nd edition Player’s Handbook, which shows a brawny-armed white dude with a feathered helmet holding his sword back, while his equally brawny horse thunders forward, heedless of the danger of oncoming readers. Text: “We think that it’s time the rules books were on your side. Introducing ADVANCED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ™ 2nd Edition game system, the revised, player-friendly edition of the world’s most popular role-playing game. After 15,000 letters, years of research, and many hours of playtesting, the game system you’ve been waiting for is here. We’ve revised our handbooks to be more concise and better indexed. Awkward mechanics have been cleaned up, and rule changes have been made to improve play. Revised tables, charts, and graphs make for a smoother game, and powerful new graphics created vivid images for campaign play. In short, the best just got better. But fear not. AD&D 2nd Edition is intended to improve your game. All AD&D 2nd Edition products are compatible with existing AD&D products. So arm yourself with AD&D 2nd Edition Player’s Handbook. With all that’s in store for you on your journey, the last thing you need is another opponent.” There are small pictures of the 2nd Ed DMG and Monstrous Compendium at the bottom.]
Wow, remember TSR? Remember when revising D&D was a super-brand-new idea? But most of all, remember THAC0?
(Scanned from Wonder Woman V 2 no 31, June 1989.)
Generally Dreadful
In the news today...
Harry Reid is not backing down on his "Show me the money (you paid to the IRS)!" challenge to Mitt Romney. In fact, he's doubling down! "What if he has paid no taxes, like I am saying he hasn't? What if he has all these moneys as we already know...in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Swiss banks. I mean, gee whiz, rather than ask me why I should do this, that is a story you should be writing!"
That's some full-on pumpernickel pugnacity, right there! Pass the passion fruit jam!
Speaking of Mitt Romney and taxes, his proposed tax plan for the US is also garbage. (I know! I was sooooo surprised, too!) "The reason Romney's plan doesn't work is very simple. The size of the tax cut he's proposing for the rich is larger than all of the tax expenditures that go to the rich put together. As such, it is mathematically impossible for him to keep his promise to make sure the top one percent keeps paying the same or more."
Here's a great headline about Mitt Romney: "Mitt Romney Abroad: Like Bush, but without the cosmopolitan flair." LOL!
(From the Wayback Machine: Bush's Cosmopolitan Flair on Parade.)
In other totally trenchant Mitt Romney news: Mitt Romney is not yet a member of the 'thumb tribe.'
Whereas President Barack Obama was heralded as the "BlackBerry president" and got his iPad 2 from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs himself, not much is known about the tech preferences of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Romney.The article does note, however, that Romney has been photographed in the general vicinity of technology: "Earlier this month, Romney was photographed sitting in a lawn chair at home, surrounded by family, with both an iPhone and iPad at the ready." LOL. Oh god. I hate everything about him.
..."I don't think Romney is a member of the thumb tribe," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley observer. "I don't see him playing Angry Birds or losing an app among his many apps."
Meanwhile...
Working class white men don't like President Obama. Huh. I wonder what THAT'S all about. Well, it's a mystery!
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Reproductive rights; violent rhetoric.]
"I know in your mind you can think of the times America was attacked. One is December 7—that is Pearl Harbor Day. Another was September 11—that was the day of the terrorist attack. I want you to remember August 1, 2012—the attack on our religious freedom. That is a date that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."—Freshman Representative Mike Kelly (R-Idiculous), on the floor of the House yesterday, in response to the implementation of the birth control mandate, a provision of the Affordable Care Act which requires that insurance plans cover reproductive healthcare.
When asked if the Congressman wasn't being a bit of a hyperbolic d-bag (I'm paraphrasing), Kelly's office called the birth control mandate "an undeniable and unprecedented attack on Americans' First Amendment rights" (lulz sure) and added: "Our freedoms and way of life have been under attack before, from both internal and external threats. If we fail to defend our constitutional rights, we risk losing the freedoms that so many brave men and women have given their lives to defend throughout the course of our nation's history."
To hear them tell it, you'd think that the objective of the birth control mandate was to mandate that everyone be on birth control. As opposed to, you know, telling insurance companies they're not allowed to treat having a uterus as a preexisting condition.
The vast majority of the people who will benefit from the birth control mandate are women. (Whose freedom to control our reproduction is, as per usual, not a concern of Republican men.) When a sitting member of Congress says that giving women control over their bodies is equivalent to a terrorist act, equivalent to encroachments on liberty over which we've fought wars, that is a level of hostility toward women's agency which would be considered hate speech in a decent country that took misogyny seriously.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Sports to Watch. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Dominique Pamplemousse Needs Your Help!
Hey there, hi there, ho there Shakers!
Some of you might recall early last year my writing about a new adventure game titled Life Flashes By, by indie game developer Deirdra Kiai. The really cool thing about how Deirdra approaches her games is her refusal to conform to "dudebro" game development.
In her first posted comment on Shakesville, Deirdra wrote:
I find myself writing the games I want to write in whatever spare time I have -- games with strong characters, personally meaningful themes, accessible interfaces, and an all-around focus on good storytelling
While there may be times and places where I find myself simply wanting to veg with a mindless action game, I have always loved and appreciated games that can draw me in with a great story. I suppose my love of the sci-fi/fantasy genre has contributed. If I can truly immerse myself within a game's story line and character development the same way I can with a favorite book, then in my mind the game has succeeded. When Deirdra was gracious enough to let me voice a couple of characters in LFB, I really appreciated the depth of the script while going through my parts, and even more so when playing through the finished product.
The industry needs more games like these.
And that is what brings us to Dominique Pamplemousse (if you don't love that name, I don't want to know you). Deirdra has already started development on her new game, Dominique Pamplemousse in "It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!" Not content to rest on her previous animation laurels, Deirdra is taking on stop-motion animation and musicals! However, Deirdra won't be able to realize this vision without some help in the funding department.
So, I ask my fellow Shakers to please consider helping out Deirdra by visiting her project page and throwing some copper in the till, as it were.
Sometimes, Melissa posts a question asking if Shakesville was a movie, which actor would portray you. Well, I feel that if Shakesville was a game, Deirdra would be the developer.
Carry on.
Photo of the Day
Gabrielle Douglas of the US (center) lifts her arms in celebration after the women's gymnastics team final in the North Greenwich Arena at the London 2012 Olympic Games July 31, 2012. [Reuters Pictures]Not to take anything away from the four other young women who comprised the Dream Team, because they are all SO AWESOME, but Gabby really has my heart.
[Previous Gabby.]
Today in Dipshit Birthers
[Content Note: Racism.]
Blah blah the President is black and foreign blah blah scary unamerican yawn:
The latest GOPer to dabble in the ridiculous fantasy that President Obama wasn’t actually born in the United States: Rep. Steve King (R-IA).Ha ha that definitely seems very likely! I think you've cracked the case, Sherlock!
During a tele-townhall meeting late last week, King was asked about his views on whether President Obama is a natural-born American citizen. The Iowa Congressman noted that his staff had investigated the matter and found birth announcements in the two Hawaii newspapers the week after Obama's birth. However, King went on to float the absurd notion that his parents "might've announced that by telegram from Kenya."
You know, at this point, if it turned out to be true that President Obama was born outside of the United States (that is not true), the primary thing that these knuckleheads would have proven is that the natural-born citizen requirement is stupid.
Chick-Fil-A Bigot Day Open Thread
[Content Note: Violent homophobia.]
Well, if you're like me, you've spent at least half your day barfing at straight conservatives posting obnoxious shit about eating at Chick-Fil-A to "support free speech" and whining pitiably about intolerance for Christians if you have the unmitigated temerity to suggest that there is a material difference between: 1) Using corporate profits to fund organizations which lobby for legislation to codify LGBTQI inequality in the US and to criminalize homosexuality and make it punishable by death abroad; and 2) Merely voicing an opinion about same-sex marriage—the latter of which is how this entire debacle is being (mis)characterized in the media.
And then there are the (mostly) straight progressives posting obnoxious shit about how they know it's wrong to support Chick-Fil-A but, gee, oh boy, those chicken sandwiches are just so darn tasty! Jesus Jones. If your palate trumps your principles, your principles are garbage.
I know a lot of contributors/mods and Shakers are dealing with the same shit, so I thought it might be good if we had a safe space in which to talk about it.
Chick-Fil-A can kiss my ass. Now and forever.
Daily Dose of Cute
Last night, I was watching the Olympics when Dudley came and sat in front of me and started whining, which is his usual way of communicating that he wants something. He'd just been out, he'd eaten, and there was water in his bowl, so, for a moment, I couldn't figure out what he needed.
"What is it, boy?" I asked him. I reached my hands out to him, and he put his long face in my hands, which is his habit. He whimpered. "I don't know what you need," I said to him.
He rubbed against me, then sat again, and tilted his face toward the space beside me on the sofa, which was covered in pillows. He stood again and snorted at them impatiently.
Zelda has taught Dudley, by example and generation of envy, how to cuddle. It's still new to me, his desire to be so close. I realized he wanted me to move the pillows so he could hop up and snuggle in beside me.
I shifted the pillows onto the loveseat and patted the space where they'd been. "Up," I said. He leaped up, in his typically graceful way, and turned in a circle before setting in along my side, his chin on my knee. He gave a heaving sigh of contentment, and I stroked his ears.
I never imagined the dog who, when he first came to us, peed with fright every time I got near him would someday beg to be near me. He is so not the dog that came off that horrible track anymore, and it makes my heart full.
Cloud Atlas, Lana Wachowski, and "Coming Out"
So, I don't think it's a secret that The Matrix is one of my favorite films and The Wachowskis some of my favorite writers/directors. I can spend a truly embarrassing amount of time detailing why Speed Racer was super underrated. But I won't! You're welcome.
Anyway! I am so excited about Cloud Atlas (which was co-directed by Tom Twyker, the director of Run Lola Run, another film I love) that I can barely contain myself, and I was all a-squee when The Wachowskis, with Twyker, did a promotional tease for the film, since their on-camera appearances are extremely rare.
I was annoyed, however, that this video has been widely cited in the media as Lana Wachowski "coming out" as transgender or "revealing" her "new identity" or "making her debut" as Lana "after years of hiding."
Lana Wachowski's transition has been known for many years. The duo once known as "The Wachowski Brothers" have instead been known as "The Wachowskis" for quite some time. This may be the first time Lana has officially done press as Lana, but she didn't fail to exist as Lana before this moment.
Not officially announcing to the media that one is transitioning doesn't mean one is "hiding," or has secreted oneself away before a dramatic "reveal."
There's a lot of problematic framing around issues of sexuality and reproduction and gender and "coming out," especially around famous people, by virtue of our culture of judgment and entitlement. We aren't owed information about famous people's private lives, and narratives around disclosure which imply famous people are "hiding" something about themselves that they've simply chosen not to share with the public in a grand pronouncement reinforce the erroneous notion that we are owed details about their bodies, choices, and lives.
The idea seems to be that if someone gives access to one part of themselves by living a public life, they are tacitly granting access to all of themselves—that they are no longer entitled to boundaries.
No. Everyone is entitled to boundaries.
Clearly, Lana Wachowski was "out" to the people close to her, and she was "out" enough that I've been thinking of her as Lana Wachowski for years.
Which frankly makes it pretty shitty to accuse her of "hiding" or "debuting" or whatevthefuck. Especially given how that framing plays into transphobic scare-stories of trans* people who secret their identities in order to prey on unsuspecting cis folk.
There's a way of honoring Lana's trailblazing as the first out trans* director with such massive mainstream success, and the bravery of her public transitioning, that doesn't implicitly levy negative judgment on the way she did it, or how publicly.
Anyway. This was a long-winded introduction to saying there's not a lot of good coverage of what is apparently Lana's first official press appearance after beginning her transition (The Advocate's piece is the best I've found), but yay for Lana, one of my favorite filmmakers ever, and here is a place to talk about her and her new film.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by pink hair.
Recommended Reading:
crunktastic: Gabby Douglas Leads Team USA to the Gold
Jamilah: There Are Olympians Without Countries—and Millions of Regular People, Too
Maya: Olympic Weightlifter Zoe Smith Tells Femininity and Sexiness Policiers That Weightlifters Don't Care If You Don't Find Us Attractive
Andy: Amtrak's Beautiful New Gay Family Ads
Digby: Our Marie Antoinettes Are Getting a Little Bit Nervous [Content Note: Violent metaphors.]
Annie-Rose: Tennessee State Rep. Claims Obama Will Fake Assassination to Prevent an Election
Melissa: In Appreciation: Lupe Ontiveros
Angry Asian Man: Battle Royale Could Become a US Television Series [Content Note: Violent imagery.]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Authors You Find Yourself Most Often Recommending to Others. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
So, Gore Vidal Died
[Content Note: Rape apologia; transphobia.]
Gore Vidal was a great writer, in the sense that he knew how to craft a fucking sentence. And during his life, he made some very important and interesting observations, about important and interesting things.
But it isn't the elegance of his craft or any of his keen observations that come to mind when I think of the name Gore Vidal.
It is Gore Vidal saying, about his friend Roman Polanski raping a 13-year-old girl: "I really don't give a fuck. Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she's been taken advantage of?"
There are plenty of people who would say I'm being unfair, to overlook a lifetime of work for one comment. To which I can only say that I am offering Mr. Vidal the same contempt in return he had for raped teenage girls, like me.
And that's all I really have to say about that.
Garland has more to say, on the subject of Vidal's rape apologia and his deeply transphobic novel, Myra Breckinridge.
Mitt Romney Is a Terrible Candidate
So it's truly indicative of what a terrible, and weak, candidate Mitt Romney is that even Harry Reid is going all pumpernickel toast on his ass:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has what he says is an informed explanation for why Mitt Romney refuses to release additional tax returns. According a Bain investor, Reid charged, Romney didn't pay any taxes for 10 years.Yowza!
...Saying he had "no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy," Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.
"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.
"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?
"[The media] have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."
The best part about this interview is that Harry Reid, who the article amusingly notes is "known more as a back room brawler than a public flamethrower," is the fact that Reid doesn't even know if it's true that Romney hasn't paid taxes in 10 years and says it anyway, thus making it a challenge to Mitt Romney to prove him wrong. Which is a pretty shady move straight from the Karl Rove playbook. Or would be, if a candidate's tax returns weren't a totally relevant and fair issue.
Good one, Senator Reid.
Question of the Day
What was the last thing you bought yourself in celebration and/or to reward yourself for accomplishing something?
Quote of the Day
"In sum, having considered the purported rational bases proffered by both BLAG and Congress and concluded that such objectives bear no rational relationship to Section 3 of DOMA as a legislative scheme, the Court finds that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision. The provision therefore violates the equal protection principles incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution."—US District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, holding today in a federal case in Connecticut that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional.
Bryant, in a case brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, follows several other federal judges over the past two years to have reached the same conclusion. Federal judges in Massachusetts, California — in two different courts — and New York also have found DOMA's provision defining "marriage" and "spouse" as only being unions of one man and one woman in all federal laws unconstitutional, as well as one federal appeals court.Bush appointees are ruling DOMA unconstitutional. Those dominoes, they are falling fast.
Bryant — appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush on April 2, 2007 — found that laws that classify people based on sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny by courts — as the Department of Justice and plaintiffs argued in the case — but found the provision of the 1996 law unconstitutional "even under the most deferential level of judicial scrutiny."
[H/T to Shaker GoldFishy.]
Whoooooooooooops Your Rape Joke
[Content Note: Rape joke; violence.]
So, I'm just watching this video of one of my favorite comedians, Paul F. Tompkins, interviewing fellow comedian Zach Galifianakis, and I get to minute 6, at which point begins a segment innocuously titled "On Encouraging Friends."
ZG: I convinced my friend Jody to come out to California, 'cause I thought he was really funny, and try stand-up. So he comes—he moves out [laughs] to California, and he's like, "What jokes should I do?" 'cause I was gonna take him to an open mic, and I said, "Well, just do that thing that you said on the phone to me once. That was funny." So he gets onstage at The Gypsy Café, and his opening joke was: "I'm designing a board game for children and adults to play together. It's called Suck My Dick or I'll Break Your Neck." [PFT laughs; ZG laughs.] Now, I'm like, "This is a good joke!" [Makes a face that implies there was dead silence in response to the joke.] I mean, there was nothing—you could—it was also followed by the cappuccino machine, you know, making it worse." [PFT laughs.] But, uh, yeah, that was it. He never—he never did it again.What a loss for us all, I'm sure.
I'm not even really sure how to describe what my reaction was to getting blindsided with a joke about sexual violence while watching a video that I was hoping would make me laugh. I wasn't triggered; I rarely have physical reactions of anxiety anymore. But I did have a conscious thought about that being a rape joke which inevitably evokes a certain feeling, an unpleasant visceral memory, of being a survivor of sexual assault.
I went from feeling invited to sit in a room with Paul F. Tompkins and Zach Galifianakis, listening to them talk, to feeling like I was trapped in a room with two men who think that joking about sexual violence is funny. It was a discernible shift in my perception, and my sense of safety.
I imagine a lot of survivors of sexual violence know exactly what I'm talking about.
It's hardly the worst feeling I experience as a survivor with PTSD, but it's a terrible feeling all the same, in all its banality.
I'm not writing this because I'm mad. I'm not mad; I'm tired. And I'm not writing it to make another argument about rape jokes potentially triggering survivors, or how rape jokes empower rapists; I've written enough on those subjects in the last few weeks.
And I'm not writing this for Galifianakis, who has enough integrity to refuse to work with Mel Gibson, but is totes cool about working with convicted rapist Mike Tyson. I don't expect that he cares very much about dismantling the rape culture.
I'm writing this because I have always regarded Paul F. Tompkins as a thoughtful guy, and I hope he will see this and consider what it means that I watched that video hoping for some fun escapism, and instead landed squarely in the center of a history I cannot escape.
I am, unfortunately, part of a large demographic. One out of every 6 women. One out of every 33 men. People with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm. People who could use a laugh.
I am writing this hoping that Paul F. Tompkins will reconsider if he really wants to be the sort of comic who creates with his comedy a space that is unsafe for survivors, for people who are his fans, who seek out his content to be uplifted.
I always liked him because I thought he wasn't that sort of comic.
Photo of the Day
Bronze medalists Nicholas McCrory, front and David Boudia, rear, from the US compete during the Men's Synchronized 10 Meter Platform Diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Monday, July 30, 2012. [AP Photo]One of my favorite things about the Summer Olympics is the diving. And one of my favorite things about the diving are the mid-dive expressions on the divers' faces captured in still photography. They're so great! And I am pretty sure I pull the same expressions just watching them do those amazing dives, lol.
Today in Mitt Romney Stands in Front of Something
[T]op Romney strategist Stuart Stevens later held a gaggle with reporters (damage control?) after Romney's speech to push back against the perception the trip hasn't gone well. The highlights, [NBC's Garrett Haake] notes, include Stevens pronouncing the trip a "a great success, generally."So there you go. It must be true.
In other news about how successful the trip was, Romney's traveling press secretary Rick Gorka yelled at reporters today before Romney's big speech in Warsaw.
When members of the press tried to ask Romney about some of the mishaps on his trip, his traveling press secretary Rick Gorka verbally dressed down reporters. Here's a transcript of the questions and Gorka's response:Ha ha what a great campaign! A great candidate with a great team! I can't wait to not vote for him!
CNN: "Governor Romney are you concerned about some of the mishaps of your trip?"
NYT: "Governor Romney do you have a statement for the Palestinians?"
Washington Post: "What about your gaffes?"
NYT: "Governor Romney do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?"
CNN: "Governor Romney just a few questions sir, you haven't taken but three questions on this trip from the press!"
Gorka: "Show some respect"
NYT: "We haven't had another chance to ask a question..."
Gorka: "Kiss my ass. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect."
Moments later, Gorka told Jonathan Martin, a reporter for Politico, to "shove it." About a half-hour later, the aide called reporters to apologize.
Finally: Do you want to find out who Romney's running mate is five seconds before the rest of the world? THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! lulz.
Daily Dose of Cute
So, the thing about Olivia is that she is the beggingest thing in all of Beggarton. We literally cannot eat anything without her getting up in our grill and trying to steal food right off our plates and out of our hands. She once grabbed a whole taco off my plate and ran down the hall with it, its contents spewing out in a trail of tasty destruction behind her.
She doesn't have worms. She doesn't suffer from lack of food. It's not like she never gets yummy treats. (Every time I open a can of tuna, all five furry residents come barreling into the kitchen, mewing and whining for their share of tuna water!) She is just completely food-obsessed, which makes her the most obnoxious beggar in the house by a country mile.
We also cannot leave any glass of water, tea, or especially coffee unattended, because she will have her paws in it instantly. And she's so tall that she can peer right over a table while she's standing on her back legs, staring at us and reaching her paws out for our food.
Here is a typical scene as Iain tries to eat his breakfast—oatmeal and coffee—yesterday morning (pictures posted with Iain's permission):
"Hey! Hey, Two-Legs! Can I have some of that?"
"Can I lick that bowl? Please? Save some for me!"
"Just one sip of coffee! I promise!"
"I'll just sit here and wait 'til you're done. Are you done yet?"
Fatsronauts 101
Fatsronauts 101 is a series in which I address assumptions and stereotypes about fat people that treat us as a monolith and are used to dehumanize and marginalize us. If there is a stereotype you'd like me to address, email me.
[Content Note: Fat bias; body policing; eliminationism.]
#9: Fat people don't know how they look.
As preface, I want to acknowledge that there are people with body dysmorphic disorders who are genuinely unaware of how their bodies actually look to other people, and many of us, to one degree or another, have some dissonance about some aspect our appearance when we, for example, see a picture of ourselves. This post is not about that. This post is about the concept of thin people (and sometimes other fat people) reflexively concluding a fat person is unaware of how zie looks if zie does not present hirself in a way that conforms to cultural expectations about fat people's performance.
* * *
Not only are most fat people aware of "how we look," and the precise ways in which "how we look" deviates from the kyriarchal norm and fails to conform to what is considered acceptable for people of our size, we are also keenly aware of the negative commentary being delivered on "how we look" via the unsubtle judgmental gazes of body policers.
Internal judgment and external judgment conspire to ensure that we generally have a heightened awareness of both "how we look" and "how we are perceived"—which are often two different things.
But both of them are about deviating from the expectation that fat people should be seen as making some sort of demonstrable effort to be ashamed of their fat and hide it from view, which is second best to not existing at all.
In the comments of the last entry in the series, I observed: "One of the key things to understand about systemic fat hatred is that fat people are asked to be invisible. Once you understand that we are asked to keep ourselves from view, to take up less space, to be less noticeable, all the rest of it makes perfect sense. We are not even meant to visible, no less flashy about it."
We are meant to abide The Rules that prescribe not calling attention to ourselves, folding ourselves up to take up as little room as possible, and, crucially, seeking maximum coverage of our fat bodies by loose garments that mask our shapes.
In practical terms, this means that we are not supposed to wear anything that clings to and thus outlines fat; we are supposed to cover as much of our flesh as possible; we are supposed to strap our fat bodies into "shaping" garments that prevent unseemly jiggling; we are not supposed to wear anything that flatters our figure or suggests that we might be attractive and/or sexy; we are supposed to avoid anything that calls attention to ourselves at all.
The perfect outfit for a fat person is something black and shapeless. The justification is that it's "slimming." The reality is because it helps blend us into the background. Just another shapeless shadow.
(Fashion designers are happy to oblige in the shame department, routinely designing clothes for fat people—if they have plus-size lines at all—with the evident expectation that we are ashamed of our bodies.)
Thus, when a fat person—especially a fat woman, who has no purpose in life since she is axiomatically deemed unfuckable and hence worthless as a woman/sex object—refuses to be unseen, and instead demands to be seen, and/or refuses to live a life of discomfort, and instead wears what makes hir feel good, when zie lets hir fat body hang out of hir clothes, when she wears sleeveless shirts or short shorts, when hir belly meets the breeze, when zie dons bold colors and patterns and (gasp!) horizontal stripes, when zie shows off fat flesh bedecked with brilliant tattoos, when zie wears short hair (or long hair, depending on The Rules according to fat policers around hir), when zie insists on being a visible participant in life, zie is thought to have no concept of what zie looks like.
How could zie go out of the house all openly fat like that? Doesn't zie know people can see hir body?! Doesn't zie know people are judging hir?! If zie had any idea what people are thinking, zie would cover hirself up and have the decency to be ashamed of hir self.
Because it is incomprehensible that anyone could be fat and content (or even happy!), it is inconceivable that a fat person who is unabashedly fat in public, who isn't remorsefully covering hirself in eight yards of unflattering fabric to conceal hirself in deference to the delicate gazes of body policers offended by hir very existence, knows what zie looks like and made the deliberate choice to look that way.
It is a radical notion that some of us are visibly fat ON PURPOSE.
Fat people who aren't conforming to The Rules on how we must exhibit remorse for failing to be invisible are not unaware of our transgressive appearance. We've made the conscious choice to reject the obligation to take up less space, physical and psychological, than we need.
We know "how we look" to you. We don't care. (At least not insomuch as we're going to let your opinion dictate how we present ourselves to the world.) What is important, the only thing that should matter, is how we look to ourselves.
Disagreement with that notion comes in many forms, the most frequent of which is the ubiquitous criticism that is some variation on, "Zie shouldn't be wearing that." Shouldn't be. As if it's a moral act.
The implication is that zie should be, instead, wearing something more appropriate for a fat person; that is, something that better communicates zie acknowledges hir body is hideous and ought to be hidden. Something that renders hir invisible.
That's straight-up eliminationism, and yet we give it a pass because of the profound cruelty of asking fat people to do it to themselves.
Fewer things more pointedly than that underscore that fat hatred is not about "health," but about aesthetics.
Which is why I'm slowly but determinedly giving up every last trace of any urge to hide myself for other people's pleasure and comfort. My once almost exclusively black-and-grey wardrobe is now filled with color. And the clothes are in the right size—not a size bigger to conceal my shape. I have cut off my hair, despite my roundy face and double chin that was supposed to make me look terrible with short hair. I have worn sleeveless shirts all summer—Flabby Arms Meet World! I will soon get my first tattoo.
There are and will be people who wonder, sometimes loud enough that I can hear, if I don't know what I look like. I do. I look like someone who refuses to agree with the idea that I shouldn't exist.
Random Nerd Nostalgia: It's a Complete Game SYSTEM
[Image description: A white-skinned, gender indeterminate elf on a horse with no back legs, a white dude(?)/dudess(?)/ duderin@(?)in a swoopy long purple cape with a super-high collar, and a bearded white dude in a hooded green cloak with his hand sticking out of his cloak holding a bag, walk down a cobblestone street in what may be the freakiest advertising art ever. Two squares are the covers of Dungeons and Dragons books. At the bottom, five kids are sitting around a table; four of them are definitely white, one (a girl with long dark hair in braids) is hard to determine from the ad. There are 2 girls and three boys, possibly waiting for the Rapture but more likely swept up in the ecstasy of gaming. Big text says "THE ADVENTURE IS YOURS with DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS FANTASY ADVENTURE GAMES!" Smaller text:D&D basic set opens your world to adventure... D&D expert set gets you involved! our D&D game is the world's most talked-about role-playing adventure. And with good reason. It's a complete game SYSTEM." [ed--SYSTEM, people!] "In fact, our basic game sets the pace for the additional excitement and character development you'll find in our Expert Set. So if you think our Basic set in great, GET INVOLVED...capture even more adventure in our expert system." There are addresses to write for a free catalogue in the US and the UK.]
Observation 1: Gee, remember when advertising didn't automatically assume that all gamers are men or boys?
Observation 2: I remember that the freaky elf on the 2-legged horse squicked me right out when I first saw this ad.
Observation 3: Yep. This is what we did before World of Warcraft. The graphics aren't much, but the system requirements are super easy to meet.
(Scanned from Superman Special 1983.)
Benefits of Contraceptive Use to Women in the US
The invaluable Guttmacher Institute has produced another excellent video, this time on the benefits of contraceptive use in the United States:
[Transcript here.]
Contraception is basic preventive health care for women—a simple truth that is too often lost in our national political discourse. To put facts squarely back into the debate, Guttmacher is launching a short, animated video titled "Benefits of Contraceptive Use in the United States." The video highlights that proper timing and spacing of births leads to healthier pregnancies; that contraception, when used consistently, is highly effective at preventing unintended pregnancy; and that cost can be a barrier to a woman using the contraceptive method that's right for her.[NB: Not only women get pregnant and/or use contraception.]
The video is timely, too, as new insurance coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act are taking effect this week: Specifically, most private health plans written on or after August 1 will cover a range of women's preventive health services—including contraceptive counseling and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods—without additional out-of-pocket costs to patients.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Films With At Least One Person of Color in a Lead Role. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Tweet of the Day
[Content Note: Homophobia]
Best part of eating
— Southwest Tea Party (@SW_TeaPartyUSA) July 31, 2012@chickfila - no fags or dykes in sight.#eatchickfila#chickfila
Clinton on Bachmann's McCarthyist Revival
[Content Note: Islamophobia.]
I haven't written anything about Representative Michele Bachmann's latest bigoted tomfoolery, her war on "rooting out" Muslim spies in the US government, because there's nothing I could say that wouldn't be self-evident to anyone with a scintilla of decency.
I will, however, pass on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comment, when asked about Bachmann's crusade, which has included among its targets Clinton's longtime aid, Huma Abedin, who Bachmann charges with being a plant of the Muslim Brotherhood:
Leadership is incredibly important. Leaders have to be active in stepping in and sending messages about protecting the diversity within their countries. And frankly, I don’t see enough of that, and I want to see more of it.Translation: Hey, Michele Bachmann! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuu.
Question of the Day
For Shaker Time-Machine, by request, and to provide pun-hating Deeky with "You're such an asshole" fodder for at least another year: What is your favorite pun?
My favorite pun is always the last one I made in Deeky's vicinity.
Quote of the Day
"A good marriage is one of the greatest gifts you can have in this world."—Actress Sigourney Weaver, in the most recent issue of People magazine, on her marriage to Jim Simpson, founder and artistic director of Manhattan's Flea Theater, whom she wed in 1984.
With requisite caveats about how not every person is the sort of person who wants to get married, nor should anyone ever feel obliged to fit that mold, I agree with her. A good marriage is a great gift indeed, for the people who want it.
Which is why I think it's incomprehensibly shitty that anyone would ever deny the opportunity to someone else.
I support marriage equality.
And I really, really, really hope the Democrats will, too.
Photo of the Day
From the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day for 30 July 2012: This hungry chipmunk must be a real health nut, as it appears to be reading through the list of ingredients on a breakfast bar wrapper before tucking in. Keen photographer Michael Higgins spotted the chipmunk looking as though he was reading a newspaper while on a camping trip at Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. [Michael Higgins/Caters News]
Random YouTubery: Bane, Baby, & Hip-Hop v. Rap
Do you need to see Tom Hardy with a baby strapped to his chest performing KRS-One's "Hip-Hop vs. Rap"? I don't see why you wouldn't.
[H/T to everyone in the multiverse who knows I like Tom Hardy.]
Today in Mitt Romney Sits in Front of Something
Republican presidential candidate and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney (right) meets with former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa, during a meeting at Artus Court, in Gdansk, on 30, 2012. White House hopeful Mitt Romney is to hold talks with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the anti-communist icon Lech Walesa, as he makes his first venture beyond the old iron curtain. On the final leg of a three-stop tour designed to burnish his foreign policy credentials, the Republican contender has chosen to visit a country which has notably testy relations with Russia and is now a key pillar of NATO and the EU. [Getty Images]Mitt Romney's Disaster Tour continues as he flies around the world in what I'm presuming is a gold-plated jet, insulting our allies, inflaming centuries-old tensions, and generally being a dildobrain.
AP—Romney comments at fundraiser outrage Palestinians: "Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East. Romney's campaign later said his remarks were mischaracterized."
Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian—Mitt Romney 'providence' comments in Israel outrage Palestinians: "Palestinian leaders expressed offence and outrage at comments by Mitt Romney during his lightning visit to Israel, in which he said the Jewish state's economic success compared with its Palestinian neighbours was due to 'cultural' differences and the 'hand of providence', and declared Jerusalem to be 'the capital of Israel'."
Amanda Peterson Beadle at Think Progress—Romney praises Israel's universal health care system, which includes individual mandate: "Throughout his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has been running away from the individual insurance mandate in the Affordable Care Act... But during his trip to Israel, Romney inadvertently praised the individual requirement and universal health care. '[F]or an American abroad, you can't get much closer to the ideals and convictions of my own country than you do in Israel,' he said. And according to The New York Times, Romney spoke favorably about the fact that health care makes up a much smaller amount of Israel's gross domestic product compared to the United States... Israel spends less on health care because of a universal health system that requires everyone to have insurance."
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiikes. This guy should be president of Whooooooooopsylvania.
Teaspoon for New Zealand Marriage Equality
by Shaker bekitty.
Hey everyone! Marriage equality may very well become law VERY SOON in New Zealand! There's a site here about New Zealand Member of Parliament Louisa Wall's marriage equality bill, and what Kiwis (and others!) can do to support it.
Right now, two-thirds of NZers support marriage equality, and 54 of 121 MPs support it. Only 17 MPs are against it. The remaining 50 are unknown or undecided.
You don't have to be from New Zealand to send a message. If you select "all MPs voting NO" or "all MPs currently undecided/unknown", then a postcard will be automatically sent to each Member of Parliament on that list.
The final vote on the bill will be a conscience vote, so it won't be split along party lines as bills usually are. One of the people voting "YES" is the Prime Minister, John Key. However, his deputy, Bill English, voted "NO".
NZ has had civil unions since 2005. We need your help to take that final step towards true marriage equality. Cheers!
Seen
(Which, as an aside, smell absolutely horrendous.)
So if you had a momentarily urge to defend the product on the basis that maybe it isn't a gross, exploitative wink at narratives about Asian masseurs doubling as sex workers, don't bother. Axe long ago disabused anyone with critical thinking skills of any notion that they deserve good faith.
I'm sure the company would assure it's all ha ha harmless good fun, but I'm guessing the Asian women who work as masseurs and routinely get harassed by d-bags making (not really) jokes about "happy endings" might not appreciate the humor. JUST A GUESS.
Daily Dose of Cute
He is so goofy. And he is so elegant.
Number of the Day
Six million: The number of USians who now "have no income other than food stamps. Food stamps provide an income at a third of the poverty line, close to $6,300 for a family of three. It's hard to understand how they survive."
From Peter Edelman's "Poverty in America: Why Can't We End It?"
Spoiler Alert: Because the people who hold all the power aren't themselves impoverished, and don't have the will or the decency to change it.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by apples.
Recommended Reading:
Rachel: Women on Waves Launches Global Directory of Sexual/Reproductive Health Services & Abortion Providers
Andy: Marriage Equality Plank Reportedly Drafted into Democratic Platform in Unanimous Vote
John: Who Gets to Be a Geek? Anyone Who Wants to Be.
Genevieve: Readercon: The Bad and the Ugly and Readercon: The Verdict. [Content Note: Both of these posts contain discussion of stalking and harassment.]
Jon: Questions About Romney's Taxes Aren't Going Away
Peter: Climate Denialism Is America's Great Shame
Amelia: Swollen eyelid? It's a bug bite, you'll be fine, you have a healthy immune system. Now let's talk about your weight. [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of fat bias, food policing, and disordered eating.]
Resistance: WWJD? [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of religious-centered racism.]
Katy: Wangu's Story: From Rape Victim to Campaigner [Content Note: The post at this link contains a description of a sexual assault and rape apologia.]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Meet an Olympian: Tahmina Kohistani
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Today Host Meredith Vieira, onscreen: You know, these games are all about firsts, and, this year, it's all about the women. For the first time ever, all 205 countries competing in these games are sending female athletes, and, on the homefront, on Team USA a first as well: Women athletes at these games outnumber the men. The London Olympics may just be the girls' games of 2012.[H/T to Shaker Hillary.]
Vieira, in voiceover, over Sports Illustrated cover featuring the USA women's gymnastics team: The girls of the London Games have already made history.
Alan Ashley, USOC Spokesperson, onscreen: We have 269 women and 261 men on the team, and, as you can see, that really represents a strong group of women.
Vieira, in voiceover, over video of female Olympians training: And on the global stage, Middle Eastern countries Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia will send female Olympians to London. For the first time in history, every country competing in the Olympics will send women. Twenty-two-year-old Tahmina Kohistani is a sprinter from Afghanistan.
Vieira, walking alongside Kohistani: Can you believe that you're here?
Kohistani: No. [laughs]
Vieira: [laughs] When do you think it's going to sink in?
Kohistani: Sometimes I'm—I think that it's like a dream. But I'm here! [smiles]
Vieira: You're here!
Vieira, in voiceover, over video of performers: I met up with Kohistani at the Olympic village, where performers welcome athletes to the games. She understands this is a special time, and she recognizes her own place in history.
Vieira, now sitting down with Kohistani: Here you are at the Olympics, the only woman on your team—
Kohistani: Yeah.
Vieira: —only the third woman ever from Afghanistan [Kohistani nods] to compete in the Olympics, but it has been a hard road for you to get here, hasn't it?
Kohistani: Yeah, yeah. It was very hard and very difficult for me. There's a lot of people that they're supporting me, but there's also lots of people that they don't like me, and they just hate me.
Vieira: What do they say?
Kohistani: Sometimes they will saying that I'm not a good girl, because I'm doing sports. And they'll thinking that I'm not a good Muslim—like these ideas they have about me.
Vieira: Are you seen as less of a woman than those around you because of the fact you're in sports?
Kohistani: There's a lot of Afghan women that, that, they don't accept me and my—my rules, my way. They are thinking that I'm wrong, but I am not wrong. [smiles]
Vieiea: So it's not just the men; it's the women, too.
Kohistani: Yeah, yeah.
Vieira, in voiceover, over video of Kohistani walking, then photographs of her parents: She says her strength comes from her family. At every step, her parents encouraged her Olympic-sized dreams.
Kohistani, sitting down with Vieira: In my family, they don't have any problem with my sports, all the time. They just, ah, they are supporting me. I can say that the most supporter of my life is my father, all the time. My father told me that, "One day you will achieve your goals. Don't stop." And that was the reason for me that I am here.
Vieira, in voiceover, over video and stills of Kohistani: Tahmina is a Muslim and will compete in the Olympics in a traditional headscarf and Islamic uniform.
Vieira, sitting down with Kohistani: Do you feel in any way that that will limit you as a sprinter?
Kohistani: No. I never think that it's just disturbing me during the competition. I don't think like this.
Vieira: What do you think the likelihood is that you will medal?
Kohistani: It's very difficult to win medal from Olympic Games. [smiles] It's just like a dream! But, if I got the medal, I think that I will start a new way for the gals, for the women, of Afghanistan—know that I was right and on that time they will believe theirself that they can do everything that they want.
Vieira, in voiceover, over video of Kohistani training: With hopes for the future and a fierce determination to make a difference, Tahmina will compete in the 100 meters for Afghanistan. I asked her how to say "good luck" in her home language, Persian.
Kohistani: You can say me "movaffagh baashi."
Vieira: Movaffagh baashi?
Kohistani: Yeah. It means "good luck." [smiles]
Vieira: Movaffagh baashi.
Kohistani: Thank you!
Vieira: It's a pleasure! [they hug]
Vieira, at camera: Tahmina is a part of these historic games that they are calling the Year of the Woman. I mentioned that she is going to run the 100 meters; she is a long shot, but you never know—she has a sign in her room that she keeps about that says, "Dreams can come true." And she's looked at that every day, especially when she was under so much pressure from others not to compete.
Matt Lauer: She is going to inspire a lot of people by being here.
Vieira: She sure is.
