One Girl Revolution

Dear Hollywood:

Thank you for once again affirming that unless you are a tall, thin, buxom, leggy blonde model of physical perfection, you are worthless in the eyes of men and only salvageable by a "noble," "kindhearted," "sacrificing" guy¹ who takes it upon himself to discover your inner beauty by way of getting other people to remake you into a vision of outward beauty.

Which will undoubtedly involve high heels, a diet/personal trainer/outpatient liposuction procedure, breast enhancement, wardrobe makeover and trip to the salon for a dye job.

If anyone needs me, I'll be at home sipping Kahlúa and creme and mourning the ethnic taint that has cursed me to an eternity of short, fat, brunette un-hottness. [end snark]


¹The guy, by the way, is allowed to look however he wants.

You know, I'm pretty sure that if someone did this to one of my kids, I'd end up sitting in a jail cell for a good long time while lawyers discussed and debated whether or not blind, all-consuming rage constituted "temporary insanity" or not.

Hopefully, my Boy would be understanding.

Urge...to snark...rising...

Ever since reading the continually arrogant, elitist, and frankly mean-spirited comments from the fitness evangelist on this post, I've been fighting the urge to go off on her. The reason I don't is because it would cause more trouble for zarq than it's worth.

( Cut for exponential rage growth. )

Not people like maggiesox. People like Michelle Malkin.

Don't ask questions, Citizen! This is America!

Dear Aer Lingus:

I don't care what you have to do to fix this, JUST GET IT FIXED.

I know your pilots are striking next week, and my flight isn't until August 29. But I will be VERY, VERY ANGRY if I miss my trip because of this. You have NO IDEA.

And if you can't fly me over there on your own planes, you'd better have the world's best contingency plan in place, because I can't afford to cancel and rebook now. And as I said, if I miss this trip? An emotional malestrom the likes of which you have never seen.

I don't care if you have to pull the fucking Concorde out of storage and give me a 30 minute basic training course on how to pilot the bastard. Just get me to Ireland.

Slowly balling my hands into fists,
Me

Fuck fuck fuckety fuck fuck!

( You know, I was having a good day until just now. )

"Friday Night Live is themed each week and 19 June's Mexican Night was designed as a tribute to Mexico and its vibrant cultural heritage."

And how did the producers of the Australian version of Big Brother "pay tribute" to Mexico? Let's recap what the contestants did, shall we?

-Dressed in giant Mexican sombreros and droopy mustaches

-Played musical chairs

-Ate chilli con carne to win points

-Threw slime-filled balloons at the Mexican flag. (But hey, it's alright - someone from the rival team was tasked with trying to block the damn things.)

Maybe I'm not the right one to get upset about this - after all, I am 3/4 white. My family has never been hardcore with the cultural pride. I don't get heavily into the celebration of my heritage like some people do. But that doesn't mean that I'm not proud of who I am and where my family came from. I'm a mix, to be sure, and I'm fine with that. I'd just like to know why 1/4 of me is reviled (or in this case, mocked) by so many. I know it happens with a lot of nationalities, and it doesn't make sense to me in those cases, either. (Why does everyone seem to hate France and the French, for example?)

And sure, maybe you're thinking, "Why doesn't she lighten up?" or "Where's her sense of humor?" Well, just like I don't get why some people think it's a-ok to hate those of other nationalities, I also don't get why it's a-ok to boil everything down to stereotypes and then use that as a platform for humor and entertainment. I got sick and goddamned tired of having people make jokes at the expense of my heritage in high school, being told I was a "dirty Mexican" and that I should "go back to Mexico," because obviously, my ethnic taint doesn't make me worthy of inhabiting American soil. And I got equally pissed of being told that I had no sense of humor and that I should lighten up when I asked people to quit it, because hey - bashing Mexicans is funny! It's a harmless, wholesome, all-American pastime! And besides, it's not like I'm really Mexican, because I'm mostly white. That makes it ok!

If you're wondering why this wasn't an issue in college, it was mostly because I'd learned to keep my mouth shut by then. And when we got on the subject of cultural heritage, I was appropriately ashamed. But not anymore, god dammit.

Yes, I'm 1/4 Mexican. I'll be the first to admit that it's not at the forefront of my personal identity, and I'm not about to be a spokesperson for cultural pride. But I'm getting pretty fucking fed up with the spreading notion that there's something wrong with me because of where my ancestors happened to fucking land.

Ok, I'm done now. Go about your business.

I've been a little tense today, so let me just take a moment here to loosen up the neck muscles here before I say WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?

What is this? This is a problem? I'm supposed to be concerned about this? Did I miss some kind of memo? Is this the new thing I'm supposed to be frantic and worried about, in addition to my weight and my build and my skin and my hair and my scent (or lack thereof)? Who brought this executive order down, huh?

Ok, a few things here - no one cuts that up. No one tells me that I need to reshape that. That's staying put, sorry. No, no, no. And if that makes me freakish and ugly, then I don't care. I. Don't. Care. Because unless I have some sort of bizarre, freakish, horrifying and disfiguring accident that just so happens to strike that particular area (and I have no frickin' idea how that would happen), that's not getting sliced and diced. Sorry, no.

Also, who thinks about this? Honestly? What woman devotes significant portions of their thought process to that sort of thing? Because that CANNOT be a snap decision, which means that there are women in this world running around devoting enough of their brain cells to this that it's forming a thought which morphs into a desire that is strong enough to be articulated verbally to medical professionals who are then willing to agree to this madness and perform the procedure. There's toxins in our food, plastics in our oceans, melting glaciers up north, parched soil down south, banal and idiotic fare bombarding our airwaves, and women are spending their time on that? No wonder we're fucked. And again, if my lack of gut-wrenching anxiety about what I look like there means I'm less of a woman, then cut my hair and call me Ziggy, because guess what? I have shit to do. I don't have time to dedicate to this moronathon. I'm busy.

Oh lord, I quit. If this is what our society is all about these days, then I'm done even trying to fit in. Because it's not worth the effort to ride the Giant Downward Spiral Into God-Knows-What.

Ok - I'm getting some coffee and getting some work done. If I think about this any longer, my brain will probably explode.

I am currently trying very, very hard not to let my perfectionist, workaholic tendencies take over.

The situation for the Rental Refugees has gone from Bad to Far Worse, and I was hoping to pen a rant. A wonderful, snarky rant full of vinegar and bile, a rant of epic proportions that incorporated classism, inequality, humiliation of unnamed villains and metaphorically raised fists. It was to have been a thing of beauty.

And it was to be completed tonight.

Instead, I helped clean up a kitchen mishap, looked for a new job, and talked to my Boy. Which would normally have made for an okay evening, excluding the kitchen, but it didn't. Because I had a rant to write.

I feel a curious mix of responsibility and guilt. Because I'm working toward my goals, but I'm letting down a friend by not getting her story out there. And now it's too late and I'm too sleepy to write anything of quality. Put part of me still wants to try, because really, it can't be that hard to get by on five and a half hours of sleep, can it?

Now I know how our dog feels when he keeps chewing on something, despite our repeated commands to drop it.

Dear Co-worker:

When I tell you I don't want to know how many calories are in any given take-out sandwich, it should not be interpreted as, "go to the website anyway and shout the total across the office, then come by my desk and repeat it while giggling."

Good for you for being thin. Good for you for being a former promotional model. Good for you for slavishly fretting about what you're eating and refusing to consume certain foods on the grounds that they have too many calories in them. Some of us prefer not to live that way, because some of us were raised with people who would berate our food choices at every available opportunity, to the point that any discussion about caloric intake throws up walls, puts us on the defensive and subjects us to more than our fair share of emotional turmoil.

Thanks to your brazen insensitivity and apparent inability to interpret voice tone, posture, actions and (evidently) the English language, I will now not be eating lunch at all. Instead, I shall fall back on my old secretary standby of coffee and Claritin-D.

But hey, at least I won't be, you know, eating food I like.

Lividly misanthropic,
-Kiji

P.S. - Much as I hate to go back on my word, I've decided that it's not worth the hassle of shaking and riding out stimulant-induced heart palpitations, so I will be getting something to eat after all. Just know that from this day forth, I am never, ever asking you to join me for my lunch break.

Just got a spam e-mail in my inbox. The subject line was:

Make your fat friends envy you

...

...

...I am the fat friend. God dammit.

Ima get some coffee. Then I'm going to tell you all to go see the latest abuses of tenant...hell, of human rights over at Rental Refugees. Apparently workers have keys to the units and have taken to walking in without knocking. Oh, and tenants are having to live with smashed patio windows that don't get fixed because, "you'll be moving out in a month anyway.'

But hey hey, what's this? You can submit news tips to CNN? People should take advantage of that. I wonder what would happen if...

ETA: Ooh, you can submit to BBC News, too!

Don't you hate it when your overdeveloped sense of vengeance (or maybe it's justice) keeps you up way too late? Me too.

Anyway, in continuation of the Rental Refugee post, I wanted to post links to more places I have contacted. If you want to send them stuff too, that's cool - I'm just odd and like keeping lists of things I've done.

Again, please feel free to contact media outlets not just in California, but everywhere. This sort of thing could be happening in other cities, even yours. That means it could happen to your friends, your family or yourself. I'd rather not have that be the reality.

Anyway, here's a continuation of The List:

KCRW
KABC (Meant to contact the TV station, ended up here, figured what the hell.)
KABC-TV (There we go!)
KCBS ("Wha? Another radio station...no where near LA? God dammit!")
KCAL ("Damn Californians, with their damn radio station and TV station call letters that are frickin' identical...")
KNBC
KTLA

I'll see about getting more contacts as time goes on. I'd love to do more, but it's late, I'm tired, and it's been a hell of a week. There will be more, though. This is an outrage, and it needs to be known.

I know it's late, but I'd like to ask my friends across the pond to get involved, if possible. You'll be awake while I'm still in bed, so feel free to Google LA news outlets or contact your own. Any action is better than none.

Ok - seriously. That's all for tonight. They'll find me passed out at the keys in the morning at this rate.

Edit: God dammit, I forgot to contact Boing Boing again. I swear, if my head wasn't attached to my body...

Oh, and unless one of you gets to it first, I'll be writing up a story for IndyMedia. So tell me if you've submitted already. And if you have, send a link so I don't cover the same ground. Thanks much.

So, a friend of mine needs some help, and I'm hoping that some of you out there will be able to do what you can.

quixotickitten is a good, kind person. She's helped me out a lot recently with some of the crap I've been going though, and I wish her nothing but the best. However, she's recently had nothing but grief. This entry sums up why. (Praise be to zarq for getting all the facts out there in a calm, coherent way. I'd try, but then there would be swearing and stuff. No one likes that.)

Now, the owner of the unit may think he's getting off scot free, but I think that's bullshit. Complete, total, utter bullshit.

And well, I am a fucking journalist. And I am trained to root out and expose bullshit. I plan on writing up a story about this for my "online portfolio" blog, but in the meantime, I figure that other pen-wielders can help me out.

That's why I have a plan.

Since last night, I've been sending out e-mails to various alternative weekly papers in California and beyond. I plan on contacting TV, radio, and mainstream print publications about this as well, but I may need a little help.

If anyone reading this has any media contacts in California or nearby states (Arizona, Nevada, etc.), please let me know. E-mail works best, since I'm trying to reach as many people as quickly as possible, and media in California and nearby areas will get top priority.

That doesn't limit coverage to these areas, however. This sort of scenario could happen to anyone living in areas undergoing reconstruction and gentrification, so I want to make sure the word gets out across the country. Maybe that way, what happened to quixotickitten won't happen to anyone else.

The following is a list of publications (and one of my friends, a lawyer) that I have already contacted about this mess:

smmenen
LA Weekly
OC Weekly
SF Weekly
East Bay Express
Phoenix New Times
The Stranger
Miami New Times
City Pages

If any of you want to write to your local media outlets, that would work as well. And if you want to but aren't sure how, let me know - I'll send you the e-mail I sent out, and you can insert your own name and occupation where I put mine.

quixotickitten is standing up for herself. Let's let her know that she's not standing on her own.

Edit: Oh, duh. If anyone wants to hit the IndyMedia wire with this, feel free. Just let me know so I don't end up submitting it myself.

Our actions, regardless of their size, anchor our choices and build the coming world in which we choose to live. Please take a moment to help as you can, however small or large.

I got that from chimerae's entry here. I never would have known about this situation if it wasn't for turtles_path's entry here. Thank god I made that community.

I really, truly don't have the words to describe how this makes me feel. I don't even know where to begin. I'm furious that the national media has decided to fix its attention on Anna Nicole Smith instead of giving this story coverage. I am filled with utter rage at the people who allowed this injustice to be perpetrated. And it is an injustice. Some would try to minimize this, because the victims were "just animals." But that does not excuse what has happened here. Nothing can excuse what has happened here.

I'm not a member of PETA. I eat meat. I don't agree with some of the extreme tactics taken by animal rights activists. However, I know that what has happened here is wrong. I am not vegan, and I understand that animals must die if I wish to eat meat, but I cannot, cannot abide cruelty like this. This is wrong.

And that's all I can say, just that one word. Oh, I know it's plenty of other things - cruel, sadistic, one could even say evil. But the more I think about this case, the more I turn it over in my head, I don't find myself thinking of the humans involved. I think of the animals. I think of them suffering and starving. I think of the reports I've read of the bodies, so many of them found scattered on the ground, stacked in barns and troughs and god knows where else. I think of the ewes, the ones too weak to stand, giving birth to their lambs as they died. I think of those lambs, most likely malnourished themselves, struggling to walk. theycallmeboy says it's crucial for a lamb to walk around as soon as possible after it's born. Otherwise, it will die. It makes me wonder how many didn't get the chance.

This story, this whole sad, horrifying thing, has had me close to tears for most of the night. Naturally, I wanted to do something to help. I still do. I wish I had the technical know-how to make a charity auction site like halcyon_shift, because I'd set one up immediately. I'm already trying to figure out where I can get jars so I can start making milk bath kits - I have the idea of selling some and donating the proceeds, minus the cost of materials, to one of the charities. Still, I don't know if either option is fast enough. As much as I wish I could, I can't completely put my life on hold to make the amount of stuff I'd need to make a decent contribution. It's difficult, given my somewhat limited resources, to do what I want to do. If anyone can help me with either of those things, please tell me. For now, I'm going to turn to one of the greatest resources I know of - you.

I have met incredible people on the Internet, especially here at LiveJournal. I have met people who are incredibly generous, compassionate, kind and passionate. They aren't afraid to take matters into their own hands to solve a problem - just look at halcyon_shift (Sweet Charity) and bronxelf_ag001 (The Lime Project). I know all of you reading this are good people - you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't. That's why I know that you'll help out somehow, do something to right this terrible, terrible wrong. It's too late to prevent it, but now that it's stopped, we can all put forth some effort in helping to heal it.

If one of you can set up an auction site similar to Sweet Charity, contact me. If I get that set up, and you creatives want to put something up for bid, contact me. If someone has an idea similar to The Lime Project, contact me.

And if no one can do anything like that, then I leave it up to you to donate as much as you can.

I realize that none of us are rolling in money, but I do think that right now is a good time to take stock of what you can spare, and then send it off without delay. I'll be giving what I can, and I hope that you'll give what you can, too. I don't care if it's 25 cents, $25 or $2,500. Take whatever you can and send it to any one of the organizations listed in the links.

Most of all, get the word out. Link to the original posts, the news articles, the organizations, this post or the post you're reading now. It doesn't matter to me, as long as people are made aware. Even if people decide not to give, at least they know. And if they know, maybe this will never happen again.

Please help. Do whatever you can, give whatever is in your means. If you live close to the area, you may even consider volunteering to help take care of the survivors. There's a lot that needs to be done, but many hands make light work. There's a lot that can be done, and I have faith that you will do it.

Thank you.

So if you're an unmarried woman in Ohio, and your boyfriend beats you up, you are not protected by the law.

Yes kids, that's right. If I was dating and living with some misogynistic asshole* who decided that I was getting smart and/or uppity, he could beat the shit out of me and get away with it. Why? Because according to Ohio law, only "people living as a spouse" are covered by domestic violence laws. And though common sense would say that I should be protected, I don't necessarily have to be, according to the way the law is worded.

So guess what? Some guy beat the shit out of his girlfriend, and he's challenging the charges brought against him because he's not married to the woman he physically assaulted, and therefore isn't technically guilty of domestic violence, according to Ohio law**. And the really fun part? The Citizens for Community Values (which is affiliated with Focus on the Family and Family Research Council as a Family Policy Council in Ohio) is supporting this guy's case. Why? Because the law was specifically written this way as an anti-gay marriage measure. No, really. That's their reasoning.

Thank you, Ohio social conservatives, for keeping women in their place. You've just given me another reason to get the hell out of here.

ETA: Since people were asking about the difference between domestic violence laws and normal laws against assault, here's a quick summary...

In general, domestic violence protective order laws establish who can file for an order, what protection or relief a person can get from such an order, and how the order will be enforced. While there are differences from state to state, all protective order statutes permit the court to order the abuser to stay away from you, your home, your workplace or your school ("stay away" provisions) and to stop contacting you. You generally also can ask the court to order that all contact, whether by telephone, notes, mail, fax, email or delivery of flowers or gifts, is prohibited ("no contact" provisions). Courts can also order the abuser to stop hurting or threatening you ("cease abuse" provisions). (From www.womenslaw.org


*Which, by the way, I'm not. Trust me, I know how lucky I am to have a boyfriend who respects women and who would probably be just as outraged as I am about this, if he was an Ohio resident. Hell, he'll probably be outraged anyway. Because he's not some misogynistic asshole. Fancy that, ladies.

**Unless, of course, she was pregnant. But the charge wouldn't be domestic violence in that case - it would be "endangering a fetus." And they'd be endangering that fetus by damaging that fetus's life-support system, which is technically a biological incubator. So what they'd really be guilty of was damaging an incubator. Which is vandalism, which I believe is only a misdemeanor. Funny how that works, innit?

And now, time for a game of "Name That White Supremacist."

Quote: "Europe is right now in the midst of racial suicide because of the declining birth rate."

Now, who said it? Click the link for the answer.

And also, I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to any and all Europeans who read this journal. Trust me, that twat does not speak for me, nor does he speak for a majority of the people in this country.

ETA: x-posted to dark_christian

I believe Kanye West said it best when he told America, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

And yes, I'm well aware that people of all racial backgrounds live(d) in New Orleans. Just run with me here, ok?

This is...beyond disgraceful. I can even articulate how pissed I am about this. The madness of King George indeed.

Well, I'm calling for a boycott against Orson Scott Card. (The fact that no one will listen to me is inconsequential - I'm still calling for it.) I don't own any of his books, but this little rant of his has guaranteed that he will never get any of my money.

You know what? Someone should arrange for Orson Scott Card to go up against Neil Gaiman in an intellectual cage match, just so I can have the pleasure of seeing Gaiman utterly trounce Card. And then beat him to death with whatever's handy, including Card's own dismembered limbs.

So let this be a lesson to you all: Do not be an asshole, especially not right after I wake up. You will piss me off, and I will call for your destruction. I may be a wise and benevolent ruler, but not in the morning.

Right. I'm going to go play with the puppy now. Maybe his utter cuteness will temper my rage a little.

P.S.- Here's isilrandir's excellent, point-by-point take down of Card's bigoted asshattery essay. Be sure to read it.

There's a line from the movie Braveheart that has stuck with me since the first time I saw it way back in high school. When discussing the problem of rebellious Scots, the king of England tells his advisors, "The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots."

It appears that certain Christian fundamentalists have taken a similar attitudes toward those who don't follow their ways. The problem with America is that it's full of, well, average Americans. People who just want to go about their business, live their lives, and not have to worry about people ripping up their prescriptions and telling them that God is punishing them for their sin.

The frustrating part of all this is that medicines such as birth control and Valtrex are often used for more than just one purpose. (Birth control pills, for example, are also widely used for women with hormonal imbalances/deficiencies that can cause reproductive and other health problems if left untreated.) The fact that these medicines can also be used to prevent/keep in check potentially life-threatening illnesses doesn't seem to matter to these people. After all, this is God's punishment.

The most aggravating part is that many states have laws in place protecting the rights...of the pharmacists! Why should it be any of their business why you're coming to them for a medicine? If they don't like the thought of distributing birth control or Valtrex or anti-viral drugs for those with HIV, then maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be pharmacists.

It may also interest you to know that "Target does not support a policy to have valid prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception, filled in-store without discrimination or delay," according to the Planned Parenthood website. Sadly, it would be pretty much impossible for me to boycott Target (around here, it's either shop there or shop at Wal Mart), but I will be sure to send some letters to their corporate headquarters. This is...beyond ludicrous.

Since when did people in this country turn into members of the Taliban?