Hello to all and any, and a very Happy New Year to you!
As some of you know, I am greatly concerned with the tide of Conservatism suppressing women, gays and minorities in our country, blended with the militarization of our Homeland police and security forces occurring in the United States these days. We're setting ourselves up for a fascist state, and if you don't believe me remember the "papers please" law in Arizona, or the police attacks on Occupy Oakland and the horrific pepper spray attacks at Davis.
I received a little "security shock" of my own the other day. We amateur writers love to check our statistics with apps like "Statcounter" or "Sitemeter" -- these 'visitor counters' give us an idea of who is reading us -- if anybody!! I have been pleasantly surprised to find that in my year off far more people than I could have imagined found me.
Among them, and quite recently, was the AT&T Security Team from Washington D.C. These big boys spent about five minutes at my site. At another time they came checking in again.
I got a chill in my blood. Is this how it starts -- the tamping down of civil rights, the disintegration of the freedoms of ALL our people, despite our belief systems and our Constitutional right to free speech?
AT&T Security from Washington DC is keeping its eyes on me. This does not make me feel safe or secure, particularly since Dictatorships like China are locking up their liberal bloggers. We are a long way from that, I believe, but I'm starting to feel a tad bit uneasy.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Hoarders, Lunatics and Daughters
I mentioned the other day that I had a "feeling" my younger daughter
was closer than I thought she'd be, and sure enough, she surprised the
hell out of me the other day by sauntering in the door one fine
evening. She was in full retreat from the UK winter -- London
post-riots and pre-winter was just too much for a California girl to
bear.
I am lucky to be able to keep her for a while, for her response upon walking into our house was deep despair. Finally, after 10 years of being away most of the time, when she got a good look at the dear family home, a miserable combination of financial disaster, two physically/mentally disabled adults (one a hoarder dear god) -- she almost left right then and there.
But the woman who came home is a vastly different person than the girl who left. To my shock, this new (to me), fully responsible human came home and began to shovel out the Augean Stables. This is an ancient Grecian mythological reference to a stable that never could be cleaned, no matter how hard the person worked. So it would seem at my house after 27 years of raising children, becoming permanently spinally injured and then losing the money I had to pay a friend to clean house for us.
PLUS! My sweet Patrick is a true-to-life-watch-it-on-the-television-show Hoarder -- from "Hoarders" -- we are trying to change our lifestyles, and it is a difficult thing indeed. As someone who has taken the mighty plunge over Niagara Falls without a barrel financially lately -- had a home stolen by a bank and a relative as well -- my mind has disappeared in the process, and once things start to get away from you they don't fall back together very easily -- I feel like Humpty Dumpty. All the King's Men are here, trying to shove me and my mess together, but they cannot do it, man!
My daughter has been more and more annoyed as the depths of the chaos is revealed, and I cannot blame her. I think parents are supposed to be more adult than I've been able to be -- this brain thing has really gotten in my way, this bi polar disorder -- not to mention being crushed by the economy. My girl thinks I've also got Borderline personality disorder, and me -- besides feeling like a loser, I - I - "wish I had a river I could skate away on." (Joni Mitchell).
But one day at a time; we just paddle on one day at a time.
I am lucky to be able to keep her for a while, for her response upon walking into our house was deep despair. Finally, after 10 years of being away most of the time, when she got a good look at the dear family home, a miserable combination of financial disaster, two physically/mentally disabled adults (one a hoarder dear god) -- she almost left right then and there.
But the woman who came home is a vastly different person than the girl who left. To my shock, this new (to me), fully responsible human came home and began to shovel out the Augean Stables. This is an ancient Grecian mythological reference to a stable that never could be cleaned, no matter how hard the person worked. So it would seem at my house after 27 years of raising children, becoming permanently spinally injured and then losing the money I had to pay a friend to clean house for us.
PLUS! My sweet Patrick is a true-to-life-watch-it-on-the-television-show Hoarder -- from "Hoarders" -- we are trying to change our lifestyles, and it is a difficult thing indeed. As someone who has taken the mighty plunge over Niagara Falls without a barrel financially lately -- had a home stolen by a bank and a relative as well -- my mind has disappeared in the process, and once things start to get away from you they don't fall back together very easily -- I feel like Humpty Dumpty. All the King's Men are here, trying to shove me and my mess together, but they cannot do it, man!
My daughter has been more and more annoyed as the depths of the chaos is revealed, and I cannot blame her. I think parents are supposed to be more adult than I've been able to be -- this brain thing has really gotten in my way, this bi polar disorder -- not to mention being crushed by the economy. My girl thinks I've also got Borderline personality disorder, and me -- besides feeling like a loser, I - I - "wish I had a river I could skate away on." (Joni Mitchell).
But one day at a time; we just paddle on one day at a time.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The GOP likes Women -- in Their Place!
What gives you Political MEN the right -- the vaguest suggestion of an idea that YOU should have a single thing to say about the disposition of the body of any woman in this country? You have no right to touch any legislation that controls the physical well-being of the daughters of America.
Certainly we want your support in our desire for our health and ability to live lives unhindered by situations that place us at risk. But lately you have shown that you do not understand us. You wish to force us into lives of poverty by denying us Choice, the literal power to choose the size of the families we must forever support, no matter what our liabilities might be. For example, I raised 2 children with bipolar disorder -- undiagnosed at the time -- I did the very very best I could, only to hear the words "You didn't raise us; we raised ourselves!" thrown at me when conversations take a dark turn during the holiday season.
If I had been forced to bear the two other children that wanted a place in my body, my rational mind would have shattered more often and my ability to care for 4 would have been nil. I don't see that anyone outside of a person's intimate home and family should be able to control what happens in circumstances like mine -- when there's a mental illness that is exacerbated by the stress -- physical, mental, emotional -- of bearing children. Make no mistake -- having my babies was the best, happiest thing I have ever done -- but the angelic beings that love you without condition are temporary, and often-times replaced by those who have contempt for your weakness. It's a "pack" thing. We haven't evolved much.
It is clear that to refuse all women options that MEN disapprove of is neither rational nor in any way good for the future of the planet, human relationships, or the children born into circumstances where their cradle might be a bottom drawer in somebody's bedroom. Many of these "leaders" want to lead the little ladies all the way back into the kitchen, with motherhood the only option, and yet no good way of making it on a one person salary. What's up with this?
My mother always taught me to ask: who benefits? I hear the old Judeo-Christian desert God Yahweh bellowing through these fundamentalist Leaders of all sects, trying to get the women back into our tents again, under the stern control of men we don't even know. Guess what? That doesn't work for the 51%!! We women actually have the vote now -- though it took us longer than anyone else, and I don't think we're going to give the power we have achieved back. In fact many of us think we deserve more representation by our own gender.
I think these guys are motivated by the unconscious desire to put the genie back in the bottle, by dis-empowering us further, and it's disgusting. They aren't God and should stop pretending. It's literally repugnant to women, this paternalistic rule-making by the boys' club. If one stops, pay attention for a moment and takes a closer look at the faces our our representatives -- they are almost all male. Politics is, after all, quite the "blood sport" and a woman has to be tough as nails -- think of Secretary of State Clinton -- to survive the usual witch-hunts that occur when a woman is taken seriously.
But in order for we women to protect ourselves and our daughters/granddaughters, we MUST become more active politically! We must not simply glaze over, sit back and go limp as one by one our human rights, which have taken a few hundred YEARS to hammer out, are taken from us, with great glee, by those who should be our balanced and sane lawmakers. Get out and Rock the Vote!! If we want to see a change or thirty, we MUST act.
I personally am sick and tired of being told we are the weaker sex because our bodies are weaker. I was told early in life that women are less intelligent because -- oh get this -- our brains are smaller. Sigh. Like I said, Ladies -- let's get to work. We need US now!
Even if you did inhale!
For inspiration, and for my idea of the perfect female candidate, go check out Elizabeth Warren's speeches on YouTube. She is the ideal combination of brains, financial acumen, guts and pure awesomeness! Oh, and she's got serious communications chops; she is the Mother of all Orators! I hope she's the first woman president, now that Mrs. Clinton has said NO.
Certainly we want your support in our desire for our health and ability to live lives unhindered by situations that place us at risk. But lately you have shown that you do not understand us. You wish to force us into lives of poverty by denying us Choice, the literal power to choose the size of the families we must forever support, no matter what our liabilities might be. For example, I raised 2 children with bipolar disorder -- undiagnosed at the time -- I did the very very best I could, only to hear the words "You didn't raise us; we raised ourselves!" thrown at me when conversations take a dark turn during the holiday season.
If I had been forced to bear the two other children that wanted a place in my body, my rational mind would have shattered more often and my ability to care for 4 would have been nil. I don't see that anyone outside of a person's intimate home and family should be able to control what happens in circumstances like mine -- when there's a mental illness that is exacerbated by the stress -- physical, mental, emotional -- of bearing children. Make no mistake -- having my babies was the best, happiest thing I have ever done -- but the angelic beings that love you without condition are temporary, and often-times replaced by those who have contempt for your weakness. It's a "pack" thing. We haven't evolved much.
It is clear that to refuse all women options that MEN disapprove of is neither rational nor in any way good for the future of the planet, human relationships, or the children born into circumstances where their cradle might be a bottom drawer in somebody's bedroom. Many of these "leaders" want to lead the little ladies all the way back into the kitchen, with motherhood the only option, and yet no good way of making it on a one person salary. What's up with this?
My mother always taught me to ask: who benefits? I hear the old Judeo-Christian desert God Yahweh bellowing through these fundamentalist Leaders of all sects, trying to get the women back into our tents again, under the stern control of men we don't even know. Guess what? That doesn't work for the 51%!! We women actually have the vote now -- though it took us longer than anyone else, and I don't think we're going to give the power we have achieved back. In fact many of us think we deserve more representation by our own gender.
I think these guys are motivated by the unconscious desire to put the genie back in the bottle, by dis-empowering us further, and it's disgusting. They aren't God and should stop pretending. It's literally repugnant to women, this paternalistic rule-making by the boys' club. If one stops, pay attention for a moment and takes a closer look at the faces our our representatives -- they are almost all male. Politics is, after all, quite the "blood sport" and a woman has to be tough as nails -- think of Secretary of State Clinton -- to survive the usual witch-hunts that occur when a woman is taken seriously.
But in order for we women to protect ourselves and our daughters/granddaughters, we MUST become more active politically! We must not simply glaze over, sit back and go limp as one by one our human rights, which have taken a few hundred YEARS to hammer out, are taken from us, with great glee, by those who should be our balanced and sane lawmakers. Get out and Rock the Vote!! If we want to see a change or thirty, we MUST act.
I personally am sick and tired of being told we are the weaker sex because our bodies are weaker. I was told early in life that women are less intelligent because -- oh get this -- our brains are smaller. Sigh. Like I said, Ladies -- let's get to work. We need US now!
Even if you did inhale!
For inspiration, and for my idea of the perfect female candidate, go check out Elizabeth Warren's speeches on YouTube. She is the ideal combination of brains, financial acumen, guts and pure awesomeness! Oh, and she's got serious communications chops; she is the Mother of all Orators! I hope she's the first woman president, now that Mrs. Clinton has said NO.
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