- over at my other blog. I’ve only received a few entries thus far, so the odds are in your favor! The contest ends early Friday morning - don’t delay.
Other stuff I’ve been up to: Stephanie at Change.org’s Animal Rights blog invited me on board as a guest blogger. My first piece (a two-parter) went up last week (here and here). It’s about - what else? - intersectionality and animal advocacy.
And of course, these are topics I’ve been blogging about ad nauseum on easyVegan, by the by.
I’m not abandoning Smite Me, just taking a break. I’ll be back in the winter, at the very latest, to share all the crafty FSMas goodness I came up with since the previous December.
Now if you’ll ’scuse me, my office is littered with doggies in need of belly rubs.
If my blogging seems a bit light as of late, that’s because you’ve been looking in the wrong place. Over the past few months, I’ve been spending more and more of my free/internets time at easyVegan.info, my animal advocacy blog. In particular, I’ve found myself increasingly interested in intersecting and parallel oppressions, i.e., the many ways in which violence against non-human animals is related and linked to violence against women, children, people of color, etc. (Blame it on the ever-infuriating PETA kerfluffles, natch.) Since I used to blog about this topic infrequently, I’d usually crosspost liberally between here and there. But too much crossposting makes me feel like a cheater, so I’m getting more selective with the copy and paste functions. If this topic interests you, then, you should definitely add easyVegan.info to your reading list.
Speaking of crossposting, after 8+ months, I’ve finally updated the Get Active! page. The list of resources had more than quadrupled; even I can’t believe how many mailing lists I’m on. Check it out, and let me know if I missed anyone.
The soft-serve ice cream maker that mommy gifted me for FSMas. Now I just need to find some vegan recipes. I’m off to an ok start with A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise and this list at VegWeb. Additional suggestions, anyone?
In case y’all couldn’t tell, November has all but knocked me on my ass. I can barely manage to eke out a link roundup for easyVegan.info before flopping back into bed with a book, a doggeh, or a blankie for a good read/snuggle/nap (or some combination thereof). Perhaps it’s time to kick the sunlamp up a notch, eh?
Anyway, here’s some random stuff - elsewhere, other things, for your browsing pleasure, until I return. Whenever that may be.
- Yesterday was the 10th annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance. I haven’t really been reading a whole lot of non-veg blogs lately, so didn’t catch many of the entries, but I did like Melissa and Jack’s contributions. For more, Cara has a nice link roundup here.
- amandaw at three rivers fog lets the fully-abled individual(s) among us know what we can do to improve accessibility for those living with disability. I’ve never been one to unnecessarily take the elevator, though I will henceforth think twice and be more conscious of my surroundings before walking/running on the escalator.
“Alien Woman” examines the construction of sex and gender in the four science-fiction films comprising the Alien saga (starring Sigourney Weaver). The Alien saga stands alone in presenting an enduring, self-reliant female protagonist, Ripley, who in the first film ends up as the sole survivor of the beleaguered starship Nostromo. Subsequent writers and directors in the 1980’s and 1990’s, left to grapple with this strong female protagonist, re-envision Ripley for different social, political, and cultural imperatives for women. “Alien Woman” focuses on how these writers and directors have re-written Ripley and how each revision informs our understanding of women in science fiction, and by examining the films’ creation and commodification of the female hero, the book illustrates how changing attitudes toward women and the female body help us understand broader societal beliefs and relationships, and provides a useful lens with which to understand woman’s place in the late 20th century and early 21st century.
Good stuff.
- Finally, no doubt you’ve already seen this video of Sarah Palin pardoning a Thanksgiving Wasilla turkey…
…and then granting an interview while the turkey’s less-fortunate comrades are slaughtered in the background. It’s everywhere, which may or may not be a good thing, I guess.
There isn’t much I can add to what Elaine and Ryan have already said - except to note that the disconnect of meat-eating bloggers, blogging about the disconnect Palin exhibits in pardoning one turkey and then engaging in idle conversation while two more turkeys are brutally slaughtered behind her, is enough to make my (admittedly already fragile) brain disconnect from my body in a violent fucking im-/ex-plosion.
So, yeah, think about that when you’re enjoying your fat, plump, juicy, genetically modified, brutalized and abused “holiday” turkey. Turkeys like Victor, Opal, Gobbles, Elliot, Gertrude and Ariel. Turkeys with feelings, families, emotions, interests and sentience. Turkeys like the one Sarah Palin pardoned - and her barn-mates, who were slaughtered in the backdrop while Ms. Palin gushed, without a hint of irony or self-awareness, about “levity” and “at least this was fun.”
At least Palin is honest enough to acknowledge from whence her holiday corpse comes.
Meat Spaghetti? “You know how some parents resort to tricking their kids into eating certain foods when they’re little? Try not to gag: ‘Meat scientists’ have come up with a way to make meat into spaghetti to trick kids into eating meat.”
Nancy Grace doesn’t have an aneurysm on camera when LaToya goes missing. Dan Abrams doesn’t get outraged when Marcus or Jamar vanishes. Katie Couric and Barabara Walters don’t break down in tears when kids from South Central are murdered. Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann don’t interrupt your program when Jaunita is found chopped up into pieces. Magazines and newspapers aren’t tracking those cases. They’re just not news enough or “human interest” enough for all of that.
Ironically, according to the FBI, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and other orgs, most of missing children (those under 18) in America are neither white nor female. In fact 33% of all missing children under 18 are African American girls; overall, it’s believed that Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans account for over 40% of all missing children under 18. As for missing adults (those over 18), the National Center of Missing Adults, FBI, and other orgs have report similar findings.
Lastly, the Amber Alert, which was originally designed for missing children under the age of 18, yet has no set national criteria for use (guidelines vary by state) has been under attack from critics claiming it’s used mostly for white female adults, many of whom haven’t been abducted but have “runaway” or have voluntarily left their environments.
These kinds of hypocrisies and disparities drove me to look for ways to help. That’s how I discovered great child advocacy sites like Missing Minorities, What About Our Daughters? and Black And Missing. Since I used to write ads for a living, I figured I could do something they could use—and the We Want Our Kids Back, Too campaign was born.
Oh no he didn’t. Well, at least I didn’t vote for the man in ‘04. Note to fauxgressives: who’s the asshole now?
Elsewhere in politics, *happy dance*: Barack Obama to adopt dog. As in “adopt,” not “buy.” Still not voting for him, tho.
What with all the dream team circle-jerking over which villains will battle with Batman in the next installment of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series, Catwoman is, predictably, the villainess receiving the, um, lion’s share of the attention. But she’s been done. Well. (And no, I’m not talking about the prepubescent wankfest that was Catwoman. That was just…sad.) Poison Ivy, on the other hand (paw? leaf?), could use a good revamping. Besides, green is the new red. And the new black. Could there be a better time to resurrect and reimagine Batman’s eco-terraist foil than now?
So what would a Poison Ivy circa 2010 involve? Well, she definitely needs some VHEMT and hooded animal liberationist tats. And wouldn’t it be cool if her costume wasn’t a costume at all, but a living, breathing (possibly semi-intelligent) plant? If the filmmakers want to sex her up a little, they can always put rose buds over her nips…just as long as she has an Audrey head to hover over her shoulder. And, erm, no cartoon red hair, please. She’s a redhead, not a fucking clown.
It goes without saying that Ms. Ivy will be the heroine of the story, no?
Speaking of villains and heroes, “The hammer is my penis.” Best superhero line, or best superhero line evah?
(I’ve been bouncing around the house, yelling this all week. Seriously. It’s temporarily replaced IBTP as my refrain of choice whenever Dude Nation sticks, pokes, or jams something in my crabby feminist craw.)
We’ve waited years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died. We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot.
Of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5), and Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) all remain adamantly opposed to impeachment - despite the overwhelming evidence of High Crimes, including the “Phase II” report by the Senate Intellligence Committee and Scott McClellan’s new book.
And when Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) called for Judiciary Committee hearings on Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Cheney in January, only 17 Democrats joined them: Neil Abercrombie (HI-1), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), Michael Capuano (MA-8), Yvette Clarke (NY-11), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-7), Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Barbara Lee (CA-9), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Jim Moran (VA-8), Mike Thompson (CA-1), Ed Towns (NY-10), and Lynn Woolsey (CA-6).
So Kucinich’s heroic efforts will be in vain unless we inundate Congress with emails and calls (202-224-3121) showing our full support for Rep. Kucinich’s 35 Articles of Impeachment.
I’ve been alternating between busy and lazy (and more than a few fits of blubbery sentimentality); consequently, I almost missed these June celebrations:
Also via Shakesville, Happy Juneteenth! As only 29 states recognize the holiday, Melissa offers a fine suggestion for belated Juneteenth celebrations. Hint: it involves chastising your state legislators.
I’m seriously (SRSLY!!!!1!!!1!) getting burned out on politics, but this shit is too good to pass up. At the risk of blowing the same horn ad nauseum, some link love. Or hate, would probably be a more accurate description.
Michelle Obama Watch is a nonpartisan effort to monitor the media’s treatment and depiction of Michelle Obama, the most visible African American woman in popular culture. Michelle Obama Watch will become the repository of the good, the bad, the ugly and the indifferent.
I’d like to close my eyes and think that they’ll only be able to fill the site with unicorns, soy ice cream, talking puppies and other good stuff, but we all know that ain’t gonna be the case. More likely a whole lotta of bad and ugly.
Exhibit #1: Michelle is “Obama’s Baby Mama!”, according to Faux Newz. (Via.)
I’m surprised they missed the opportunity for a melon joke.
(The time was ripe, you know what I’m sayin’?!? As in girls have boobies! ZOMG breasteses! Wait, what was I saying again?)
Trying to keep it classy, I guess.
For calling out the media’s misogyny vis-à-vis Hillary Clinton, douchebag extraordinaire Keith Olbermann hits Katie Couric with a nice dose of…
…misogyny! How fitting.
Jay Leno - who, despite not being a member of the MSM, is a fuckwit all the same - “quipped that Senator Hillary Clinton would offer Obama a lap dance in exchange for the Vice Presidency.” NOW has more. (Via.)
Finally, in a slightly more uplifting piece, Dr. Socks writes about teh wimmins’ newfound leverage. Go, read, now.
That’s how right-wing crap works. It’s not meant to advance or even partake of discourse; it’s meant to end it. One can argue the worth of Hillary’s policies or her voting record or her position on the war till the cows come home; but when she’s reduced to being a bitch, that pretty much ends the discussion. And when it’s as pervasive as it’s become in the past decade, its effects are paralyzingly toxic.
And it’s important to remember that the same holds true regarding right-wing attitudes about a black man like Obama winning the White House. The most polite versions of right-wing cant hold that Obama’s not experienced enough to be president, but the underlying drumbeat of this meme has been all about his foreign-sounding name or his supposed Muslim ties or his “weakness” on national security … about his being a black man.
The post was not about Clinton losing. In fact, it wasn’t really about the election at all, per se, except insomuch as Clinton’s candidacy served as a big fat target for public misogyny. That’s why it’s really, really, really not about Clinton supporters being sad that Clinton lost, or even about Clinton supporters at all. It was about the women specifically (and feminists/womanists generally) who had seen this spectacular display of Misogyny: Unleashed! and, irrespective of whom they were supporting, were upset at how the primary had played out with regard to sexism.
