wtf is wrong with the world

I don't think it's getting worse.
Maybe we hear about it more than we used to.
Maybe it is worse. More often.

A friend's sister was recently assaulted. The attacker tried to choke her out.

Then I read about this.

Maybe it's the news I watch, local to me news and Chicagoland news.

No, it's not.

But this news hasn't been as widely reported. At least not yet. The news loves pretty white girls. I guess if I ever go missing, I can expect my picture all over the television. (Yeah, dear readers, I'm a white girl. A cranky one who's tired of this played out subtle and not so subtle racism).

I'm also tired of assaults on people. On sexism on the media and in real life, and people not recognizing that other humans are humans.

Dear unknown women of Cleveland: I'm sorry. I wish you could've died peacefully. In your sleep, or as your pulse slowed down into oblivion in your late 90s while your hand was held by a loving great granddaughter.

Dear assault victims: I'm sorry that the fighting is sometimes literal. I hope your wounds heal.

Dear interveners who speak up: thank you.

Dear people who watch crimes being committed and don't say shit: fuck you.

Two isses that are ridiculous

That Jon Stewart (swoon) has to even say things like, "If to side with Halliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to reconsider your priorities."
Video here. To quote the end of this next video, "These men are not voting for your rights. Why should you vote for them?"


Secondly, really, Mr. Judge? I got another quote for ya. "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else." He just refuses to allow interracial couples to get married.

doctor shot

story here

His family's statement: here

where to give in his honor, if you want, or if you don't care so much about him, but want to help keep abortion safe and legal, a list is here

More love: Nurses

Mary Seacole, who had to fight things she should not have had to fight to save lives.

"Doubts and suspicion rose in my heart for the first and last time, thank Heaven. Was it possible that American prejudices against colour had some root here? Did these ladies shrink from accepting my aid because my blood flowed beneath a somewhat duskier skin than theirs?"

That's pretty much the only explanation. She arrived with accolades from military doctors in Jamaica. She had experience that few British nurses had with tropical diseases. And there was a flippin' nursing shortage.

So she went to Crimea to tend to the soldiers on her own dime. She ran a hospital/clinic there.

"In fact, many doctors felt threatened by her ideas on cleanliness, good ventilation, nourishing food, and the separation of patients with contagious diseases."

She even tended the wounded on the battlefield during battle.

What a badass.

and I work for a major hospital system and attend meetings. Meh.

champaign bars, watch out!

bars everywhere.

and by watch out, I mean stop with the racist, sexist bullshit.

Unfortunately, I think this ended up being dismissed. However, at least people are talking about race issues.



Now, lets talk about fervent nationalism, Michael Phelps fandom, and why the FUCK are there vastly different uniforms for ladies and dudes in beach volleyball?

holy hilt holder, batman!

Sacred Snatch Designs, possibly my new favorite blog if only for the name.

Also, if you need to see a felt model of "girl parts," check here.

And yeah, I did carve that stamp, thanks for asking! It's the second stamp I've made. I made a few more afterwards that may or may not end up as Christmas presents.

And no discussion of girl parts and girl things is ever truly complete without a mention of Cunt, Inga Muscio's book about, well, a lot, but involves everything related to the c-word. And then there's

Old project : Birth Control Pill Case Revamp

I have a IUD now (the only hormones in my now are the ones I make myself, plus whatever's in the occasional meat I eat - gross), but this is what I did to my pills to make 'em a little more exciting Embellished with images from a magazine and an old cookbook, add a little acrylic paint and Mod Podge, and you've got a fancy feminist pill case. It made me a bit happier about taking the infernal pill once a night.

Mother's Day

I love moms. Moms are great. Moms raise the next generation of shorties, and generally the next generation turns out to be relatively tolerable people.

BUT

the time around Mother's Day (when people are in between patting each other on the back for their ability to procreate) has a higher than average inane comment ratio. "It's not too late for you to have children." "You'd make a great mom." "Oh, you're thirty. Well, you still have a couple years."

A bit in the same blood as Sandra Cisneros poem...


*************************
Old Maids
My cousins and I,
we don't marry.
We're too old
by Mexican standards.

And the relatives
have long suspected
we can't anymore
in white.

My cousins and I,
we're all old
maids at thirty.

Who won't dress children,
and never saints--
though we undress them.

The aunts,
they've given up on us.
No longer nudge--You're next.

Instead--
What happened in your childhood?
What left you all mean teens?
Who hurt you, honey?

But we've studied
marriages too long--

Aunt Ariadne,
Tia Vashti,
Comadre Penelope,
querida Malintzin,
Senora Pumpkin Shell--

lessons that served us well.
***********************

I get comments like that from time to time, mostly from patients. They mean well, but I wonder if they've ever read Cunt, or Bust, or any of these delicious books.

No, it's not too late for me to have children. It's also (never) too late to get my master's degree, or visit Korea. Yeah, I would make a great mom. But I'm a really fucking excellent nurse and a pretty decent friend.

Life is about choices. Well, life is about a lot of things, but choices and respecting the choice of others is HUGELY important in the Hybrid Hopes Philosophy of Life. While that includes me making my own choices about motherhood, abortion, and what kind of lettuce I'm going to plant in my front yard, that also includes me respecting the rights of others to HAVE kids.



I got to hear Rickie Solinger speak last year about this topic. She's written a whole book on it (that I have yet to read), Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, and Welfare in the United States.

From that interview with Mother's Movement Online and Rickie Solinger:
The sharp separation of mothers along race and class lines— a divide that determines which women are valorized for their motherhood and which ones are vilified for it— leads Solinger to pose a troubling question: “Do Americans want motherhood to be a class privilege? A life experience only available to middle class women?”

So that got a bit tangental.

I love the crap out of my mom. She didn't have the easiest time raising four hooligans and worked hard to turn us out into functional and decent adults. I think we all fit that bill.



Some years, figuring out what to get my mom for mother's day/birthdays/etc was easy. Here's a little broach that I chose carefully, it's got a rose and says MOM and looks nice and shiny. Here's a little candle in a bunny rabbit holder.

This year, my mom lives on a boat. She has like two square feet of living space and no room for a refrigerator to put our drawings on, no room for broaches that she really will never well, no room for art supplies or a year's worth of magazine subscriptions. Yet again, I turn to etsy. Even a Mom on a boat can take showers! Eureka! My mom likes to smell good! Smell this! I picked up a passionfruit/papaya scented bath set for the moms. Not a bad scent combo for a lady who gave me a bunch of passionfruit seeds! I can't wait 'til she gets it! Thank you, SugarLicious!

This is turning into my longest post so far. I'll blame Sandra Cisneros and her too old cousins.

I'm almost done, I swear.

I work with several nurses that are older than me and also childfree. It's nice. When I do get those crazy, invasive, well-meaning, presumptuous comments and they get on my nerves, they understand. I'm also not the only one in my crew that has had an extended courtship period.

To summarize: yay moms! yay women! yay etsy! yay passionfruit vines! yay coworkers!