I woke up this morning thinking about a comment that Leah, over at Struggle in a Bungalow Kitchen posted on her website. Apparently, by blogging about domestic life, and in particular, blogging about cooking a nice dinner for her husband and young son on Valentine’s Day, she called down the Voice of the Disapproving Feminists upon her head. Apparently, choosing to love one’s family, and to think about the ways one cares for them, and to blog about this “does next to nothing to promote woman as a healthy, vitally aware, culturally meaningful being in the world.” Clearly, something about…
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I know Christmas probably tapped most of us out, but really, compared to the folks in these photos we all have so much more than we need. So send money — since we’re not already in Asia, sending donations of clothing etc probably will just clog up the delivery pipelines even more — there are any number of great organizations you can send donations through. I donated to the International Red Cross because Cisco, who employs me in my day job as a tech writer, will match dollar for dollar. Check out the South-East Asia Tsunami Help Blog for links…
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I have an old friend here in town — one of those people with whom I was friends in my 20s — and well, we’ve taken very different paths as adults. Her husband works as a conservative activist for a libertarian think tank, and my friend has become increasingly involved with the conservative cause. They’re nice people, who are raising good kids. But they’re also the kind of trust-funders I grew up with, the sort who don’t question their own level of privilege, and who believe that they deserve their bigger piece of the pie. Like I said, we’ve taken…
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From Chris over at Get Your War On. Now is not the time to give up. There is real work to do, and we’re the only ones who can do it. Wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper today. I’ve never done that before, since the letters page starts to look like a tar baby from which none of us are safe, but I’ve decided it’s time to get in the game, and not just in the echo-chamber that is this blog. I tried to keep it simple, tried to point out that what this man was…
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As the Dalai Lama says. And he’s someone who knows opposition when he sees it. Did the Dalai Lama squeal about how mean the Chinese were? How they overran his country and killed his people and destroyed his cultural heritage? Nope. He spoke truth to power, while continually pointing out that “the Chinese people are good people.” Frankly, these days I’m looking to those folks who have seen real tangible serious oppression. The Dalai Lama. Nelson Mandela. Vaclav Havel. So what did I do today to make positive effort for the good? I wrote letters. Yup, boring old on-the-ground letter…
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A few years ago I was hit by a snowboarder on the first day of the season. I was standing in the lift line when a snowboarder, going too fast, caught an edge and fell. He came screaming toward me, caught me in the legs, and I caught my cheekbone on the edge of his snowboard as I fell. And the guy cursed me out. He wasn’t apologetic or anything. I came up bleeding like one can only bleed from a face wound and swinging. I was furious. I grew up fighting my brother and my seven boy cousins and…
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I remember being really little and going with my mother to vote. We went to West Park, to the skating shelter, and she wouldn’t let me come in the booth with her. She explained that voting was private, and that in America, no one could ever make you tell who you voted for. She explained that this was one of the things that made the system work. That you had the right to a secret ballot. And then she walked across the shiny wooden floor and pulled the curtain behind her, and I remember watching her legs underneath the curtain…
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What happened to “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”?! When did we get “America The Beautiful” instead? I realize I’m only a post-season fan, and I realize that we’re “at war” but what the hey? Who wants to stand up and stretch to the pious strains of “America The Beautiful”? If you’re going to switch songs how about something with at least a little oomph to it like “This Land Is Your Land”? Sheesh. And LivingSmall is officially endorsing: the Red Sox (when the Cubs are out, all Cubs fans default to the Red Sox) John Kerry/John Edwards Brian Schweitzer…
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I have deeply mixed feelings about the Martha Stewart verdict (says the woman who just blogged about ironing for goodness’ sake). On the one hand, it seemed pretty clear from the beginning that she was guilty of insider trading, but on the other hand, insider trading happens every day among folk of her ilk. Why the vigorous prosecution? Why not just a fine and have it done with? I mean, Ken Lay destroyed the retirement savings of thousands of his own employees, (to say nothing of the Neil Bush’s role in the S&L crisis of the late ’80’s — anyone…
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My Apple AirPort base station came today, and in about an hour, I had the card installed, the base station plugged in and configured (including setting up my printer on the base station so I can print from anywhere) and now I’m free to roam the hacienda! And it’s warm enough (42.5 degrees reads my fancy new wireless thermometer) that I’m sitting out on my front porch, enjoying the first late afternoon porch cocktail of the new year. A little buffalo salami, a little cheese, a little glass of lovely Pouilly-Fuisse, the dogs, a cat across the street, some sunshine,…