While I have never been prouder to be an American, I am so ashamed to be a Californian. I know that those who supported Proposition 8 say that it's not about bigotry, but the fact remains that what Proposition 8 allows is for bigotry in this state. It also opens the floodgates for other behaviors to be allowed.
While my co-worker says that morals and "doing the right thing" will stop other things from happening, I cannot be for sure. I posed the question that sweetie and I talked about last night/this morning. What is to stop the next bill from saying that African-Americans or Jews or Hindus can't marry each other? My other co-worker said that there's a difference between religion and a man and a woman. And while this is true, what's then to stop a bill outlawing the marriage of short or tall people? While the jury is still out on the scientific basis of nature vs. nurture, I personally believe it to be a combination of the two, leaning strongly towards the nature aspect. Being short or tall, or blood type A or O, or having blue eyes or brown eyes, or being white or being black is not the same as being a man or a woman, but it is who you are. It's in your genes.
So while the hope of our future resides in the man who we have so proudly elected, I can only hope he does the right things. Being elected is one thing. Staying elected is another.
And I know that some people really liked Palin. And I know why too. She is a Republican "feminist" (and lord knows that it's in quotes for a reason) who defends the morals of the Conservative sect of the party. Speaking with sweetie last night, I asked what would have happened if McCain won. Sweetie replied by saying that we would have to move, for the simple fact of the laws that would be passed if McCain were to pass on. I can honestly say that I saw a V For Vendetta like world coming about. She is a champion for conservative ideals and (most likely-don't quote me on this one, but her Church has done some really really [3/4 of the way down on the first page] really strange things as well) believes that Christianity should be the only religion, so what would stop her from making it the official religion of the country? Being Jewish, I don't think I'd want to stick around for that, because it's a slippery slope from "Official Religion" to "Only Religion," especially if enough states get on the bandwagon for changing the Bill of Rights.
And while yes, I seem a doomsayer, I don't have to worry about that happening. My sister told me that she's expecting a revolution as she feels it is the only way to get things back on track. And while I understand her point, it is something that a lot of people are concerned with. There are many people who, when they talk about the Founding Fathers, seem to be speaking about deities. They hold these men in extreme high regard and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it is something to be brought to the attention of the people that yes, these men could make mistakes. And who's to say that they didn't or haven't? But by judging them by today's standards, we are creating an issue that we will not be able to solve.
I'm not sure there's an easy answer to any of the questions postulated here. But I think it's at least a place to start.
Now I can focus on getting married!! It's Saturday ya'll!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The end is nearing
No, this is not a post about the End of Days.
In 25 days, I will be getting married. I'm very happy about it. I love my sweetie very much and can't wait for the wedding to be here.
In 21 days, the election will be here. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I no longer have to listen to the stupid commercials, the stupid bantering on TV or the arguments that set people apart. While I enjoyed this YEAR LONG EVENT, I'll be very very very very happy not to have it again for 4 more years.
So the end of a year of planning for the wedding is upon us and the end of a political stretch is upon us. Seems appropriate that they would be at the same time. I'm ending my single life, the time of carefree days and no responsibility, living off my parents in a world crumbling around me. I'm beginning married life in a new time, a time where (hopefully), people will have to answer for their crimes. Change is all about us and I cannot think of a better time for it to coincide with my life.
And while the world does not revolve around me (and trust me, I know this), it is nice when things make sense. It would be so nice for the world to make sense, for there to be less violence and more peace, less tolerance and more acceptance, less ignorance and more understanding, more working together and less divisions. But I'm not sure that we'll ever find that, save for the Messiah coming and joining us all at the hip in the love and friendship that we all should have learned from the 1960s.
The next few weeks should be interesting, both here in America and California, as well as in my own life. I can't wait to see what the world has to offer. Selfish? Perhaps, but since I hadn't posted in a while, I just wanted to put out hope into the world. If you put good things out into the universe, you're bound to reap the benefits. I just love the idea of karma!
In 25 days, I will be getting married. I'm very happy about it. I love my sweetie very much and can't wait for the wedding to be here.
In 21 days, the election will be here. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I no longer have to listen to the stupid commercials, the stupid bantering on TV or the arguments that set people apart. While I enjoyed this YEAR LONG EVENT, I'll be very very very very happy not to have it again for 4 more years.
So the end of a year of planning for the wedding is upon us and the end of a political stretch is upon us. Seems appropriate that they would be at the same time. I'm ending my single life, the time of carefree days and no responsibility, living off my parents in a world crumbling around me. I'm beginning married life in a new time, a time where (hopefully), people will have to answer for their crimes. Change is all about us and I cannot think of a better time for it to coincide with my life.
And while the world does not revolve around me (and trust me, I know this), it is nice when things make sense. It would be so nice for the world to make sense, for there to be less violence and more peace, less tolerance and more acceptance, less ignorance and more understanding, more working together and less divisions. But I'm not sure that we'll ever find that, save for the Messiah coming and joining us all at the hip in the love and friendship that we all should have learned from the 1960s.
The next few weeks should be interesting, both here in America and California, as well as in my own life. I can't wait to see what the world has to offer. Selfish? Perhaps, but since I hadn't posted in a while, I just wanted to put out hope into the world. If you put good things out into the universe, you're bound to reap the benefits. I just love the idea of karma!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
7 years later
7 years ago, the worst terrorist attack in American history took place on American soil. Today, we have done nothing to remember the people we lost as well as the image that was shattered. We sit and have a moment of silence, but that moment means nothing for we have lost all the ties that it created. After September 11th, we were a county, united on all fronts. While we may not have agreed as to who the president was, we all got behind him, rallying for one cause.
I am not ashamed to tell the world what I thought when it happened. For so many years, countries had been criticizing Israel when a terrorist set off a suicide bomb or sent rockets into towns. For too many years, these countries, the US included, didn't understand what it meant to have their homeland invaded by unwanted people whose sole purpose in life is to get rid of you and everyone like you. So while I mourned for those who lost their lives, cried with the country and sat in shock in front of my television, I was glad that the US would never again criticize Israel for taking certain measures.
And while the US has ceased critique of Israel, their efforts are nothing to be proud of. The galvanized feeling that we all had, the love and concern for our neighbors, was gone after a year. When George W. Bush announced that we were heading into Iraq, I was a senior in high school. There were students who felt that this was the wrong idea, that we were already fighting a war that couldn't be won, that we'd entered Vietnam again.
So they protested. The bell to end lunch rang and the students wouldn't move. They wouldn't go to class. Things escalated and we had a full out riot on our hands. I don't know how it started, but when things got loud and I saw fire, I got pushed in the opposite direction with the rest of the masses yearning to be free.
The instigator of that protest was in my next class. Fortunately, we had a fabulous teacher who wouldn't lock people out of class (as so many of the teachers at my high school were prone to do). He walked in to class afterwards and I remember thinking what an odd thing, to hold a protest. Weren't we united? Why did we need to fight?
Jump forward a few years and I am in college, heavily involved in LGBT related issues. I participated in all of the events I could, organizing the Day of Silence for three years. People had not been united for a very long time. I began to get more radical in my thoughts, researching ideas on radical feminism and realizing that while perhaps I fit, I didn't fit wholly. Why couldn't we unite?
We exist because we are not all the same, we do not lead the same lives, make the same decisions, worship the same way or even brush our teeth the same way. And yet it is those differences that brings us together. However, most of the time, it brings us together because of how we feel about other differences. During World War II, Russia and the US, countries soon to be bitter rivals, came together to stop a common enemy - Germany. It was the Us-Against-Them narrative that has come to envelop so many conflicts. And we are no different here.
We cannot agree upon civil rights issues. We cannot agree on gay rights issues. We cannot agree on women's rights issues. Because there is always the Us-Against-Them idea pervading through everyone's mind.
7 years of nothing. 7 years and what change have we seen? Increased fuel prices, increased food prices, more starvation, more suffering in the world. 7 years and while we've had some breakthroughs, it cannot make up for what we have not done.
So thank you, 7 years, for showing us our shortcomings, our failings and our mistakes. Maybe the next 7 years will be better. We can only hope.
I am not ashamed to tell the world what I thought when it happened. For so many years, countries had been criticizing Israel when a terrorist set off a suicide bomb or sent rockets into towns. For too many years, these countries, the US included, didn't understand what it meant to have their homeland invaded by unwanted people whose sole purpose in life is to get rid of you and everyone like you. So while I mourned for those who lost their lives, cried with the country and sat in shock in front of my television, I was glad that the US would never again criticize Israel for taking certain measures.
And while the US has ceased critique of Israel, their efforts are nothing to be proud of. The galvanized feeling that we all had, the love and concern for our neighbors, was gone after a year. When George W. Bush announced that we were heading into Iraq, I was a senior in high school. There were students who felt that this was the wrong idea, that we were already fighting a war that couldn't be won, that we'd entered Vietnam again.
So they protested. The bell to end lunch rang and the students wouldn't move. They wouldn't go to class. Things escalated and we had a full out riot on our hands. I don't know how it started, but when things got loud and I saw fire, I got pushed in the opposite direction with the rest of the masses yearning to be free.
The instigator of that protest was in my next class. Fortunately, we had a fabulous teacher who wouldn't lock people out of class (as so many of the teachers at my high school were prone to do). He walked in to class afterwards and I remember thinking what an odd thing, to hold a protest. Weren't we united? Why did we need to fight?
Jump forward a few years and I am in college, heavily involved in LGBT related issues. I participated in all of the events I could, organizing the Day of Silence for three years. People had not been united for a very long time. I began to get more radical in my thoughts, researching ideas on radical feminism and realizing that while perhaps I fit, I didn't fit wholly. Why couldn't we unite?
We exist because we are not all the same, we do not lead the same lives, make the same decisions, worship the same way or even brush our teeth the same way. And yet it is those differences that brings us together. However, most of the time, it brings us together because of how we feel about other differences. During World War II, Russia and the US, countries soon to be bitter rivals, came together to stop a common enemy - Germany. It was the Us-Against-Them narrative that has come to envelop so many conflicts. And we are no different here.
We cannot agree upon civil rights issues. We cannot agree on gay rights issues. We cannot agree on women's rights issues. Because there is always the Us-Against-Them idea pervading through everyone's mind.
7 years of nothing. 7 years and what change have we seen? Increased fuel prices, increased food prices, more starvation, more suffering in the world. 7 years and while we've had some breakthroughs, it cannot make up for what we have not done.
So thank you, 7 years, for showing us our shortcomings, our failings and our mistakes. Maybe the next 7 years will be better. We can only hope.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Little Girl
On my way into work today, I heard Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It," and it got me thinking.
There is one line in the song that refers to his girlfriend as "little girl"
So I decided to do a search. I went to yahoo music and searched the lyric "little girl" and, of the first 100 displayed) counted how many referred to a "little girl" when meaning woman or young girl.
And while I know that I only looked at the first 100, the results were pretty crazy. There were two and a half more references to a woman as there was to a young girl.
So why is this? Why would singers (or the writers of the songs) do this? You can bet that if anyone wrote a song where someone was singing about a "little boy" and making sexual references, the singer would be booed at any concert.
So what gives?
There is one line in the song that refers to his girlfriend as "little girl"
Don't know what it is 'bout that little girls' lovinWhy would he refer to his girlfriend as a little girl? Why would anyone? Doesn't that demean the woman?
But I like it, I love it, I want some more of it
So I decided to do a search. I went to yahoo music and searched the lyric "little girl" and, of the first 100 displayed) counted how many referred to a "little girl" when meaning woman or young girl.
And while I know that I only looked at the first 100, the results were pretty crazy. There were two and a half more references to a woman as there was to a young girl.
So why is this? Why would singers (or the writers of the songs) do this? You can bet that if anyone wrote a song where someone was singing about a "little boy" and making sexual references, the singer would be booed at any concert.
So what gives?
Friday, August 15, 2008
Best Pick Me Up EVER!!
I work right across the street from a mall and so generally I walk around the mall on my lunch. As I was walking back to work, I was thinking about what I wrote in my previous post and I passed an area that has a small sidewalk.
As I was approaching, I saw a man on his cell phone and a little boy (couldn't have been more than five) playing with one of those collapsible light sabers (it was blue in case anyone cares). As I neared them, the little boy noticed me and walked over to me. I tried to avoid running into him, but he was heading for me dead on. His dad told him to stop, but he refused to listen. Just as I thought he was going to try to fight me with the light saber, he opened his arms up and wrapped them around my legs, giving me a big ol' hug. Surprised, I hugged his head back and smiled at his dad, who shrugged. When he released me, I looked at him, smiled and thanked him.
He must have known I needed a hug. If I believed in guardian angels, this would definitely clinch it for me. I think he was just a perceptive little boy.
So thank you little boy. That was exactly what I needed.
As I was approaching, I saw a man on his cell phone and a little boy (couldn't have been more than five) playing with one of those collapsible light sabers (it was blue in case anyone cares). As I neared them, the little boy noticed me and walked over to me. I tried to avoid running into him, but he was heading for me dead on. His dad told him to stop, but he refused to listen. Just as I thought he was going to try to fight me with the light saber, he opened his arms up and wrapped them around my legs, giving me a big ol' hug. Surprised, I hugged his head back and smiled at his dad, who shrugged. When he released me, I looked at him, smiled and thanked him.
He must have known I needed a hug. If I believed in guardian angels, this would definitely clinch it for me. I think he was just a perceptive little boy.
So thank you little boy. That was exactly what I needed.
Shower Obnoxiousness
So it's not secret that I'm getting married.
One of my best friends asked to throw me a shower when we got engaged. He was all excited about how he was gonna do it and where he was gonna do it and all sorts of fabulousness. We set a date (Aug 31) and he was going to have his boyfriend send out invites. He started to ask me for addresses in July. I gave them to him at the beginning of August, figuring everything would be fine.
However.
He has since broken up with this boyfriend. He told me that the invites would still be sent out. I started to bug at him for him to send out invites right after I sent him the addresses. He said they'd be done one week, then the next. I called and texted to figure out what was going on. It wasn't until I send a slightly nasty email that he responded, telling me (on Monday of this week) that people should have started to receive them since he sent them "a couple of days ago."
Now.
It is Thursday. I have spoken with different people from all over, trying to assess if they've received invitations. No one I have spoken with has. He texted me yesterday asking if we could get together to discuss stuff and I texted back yes. He never responded so I called him. He yelled at me that he was at work and couldn't text back (how he could answer the phone and not send a text is beyond me). He told me he got off at 7:30 and that he'd call me then.
7:30 came and went.
I phoned him at 8 and then at 8:30 I set him a text. No response. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.
My sister (MOH) knows how upset I am over this. I want this shower to happen (it's the one with all my girlfriends) and I want it to happen on that date. She has decided to take over the resonsibilities and has asked me to send her all the phone numbers so she can call people and explain that it's been changed and will be at my parents house.
I have decided to wait to see if it comes in the mail today before I send her the phone numbers. I want to try to get a hold of him, but it seems as though he is ignoring me. I plan to send him an email since it's the only way I was able to get him to respond last time. I don't want to be mean, but I'm so frustrated that I'm ready to cry!
My sister is demanding the phone numbers and says that I owe my friend nothing because he did nothing. I feel like I should give him one more day, but my sister again says I owe him nothing because he screwed me.
Thoughts?
One of my best friends asked to throw me a shower when we got engaged. He was all excited about how he was gonna do it and where he was gonna do it and all sorts of fabulousness. We set a date (Aug 31) and he was going to have his boyfriend send out invites. He started to ask me for addresses in July. I gave them to him at the beginning of August, figuring everything would be fine.
However.
He has since broken up with this boyfriend. He told me that the invites would still be sent out. I started to bug at him for him to send out invites right after I sent him the addresses. He said they'd be done one week, then the next. I called and texted to figure out what was going on. It wasn't until I send a slightly nasty email that he responded, telling me (on Monday of this week) that people should have started to receive them since he sent them "a couple of days ago."
Now.
It is Thursday. I have spoken with different people from all over, trying to assess if they've received invitations. No one I have spoken with has. He texted me yesterday asking if we could get together to discuss stuff and I texted back yes. He never responded so I called him. He yelled at me that he was at work and couldn't text back (how he could answer the phone and not send a text is beyond me). He told me he got off at 7:30 and that he'd call me then.
7:30 came and went.
I phoned him at 8 and then at 8:30 I set him a text. No response. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.
My sister (MOH) knows how upset I am over this. I want this shower to happen (it's the one with all my girlfriends) and I want it to happen on that date. She has decided to take over the resonsibilities and has asked me to send her all the phone numbers so she can call people and explain that it's been changed and will be at my parents house.
I have decided to wait to see if it comes in the mail today before I send her the phone numbers. I want to try to get a hold of him, but it seems as though he is ignoring me. I plan to send him an email since it's the only way I was able to get him to respond last time. I don't want to be mean, but I'm so frustrated that I'm ready to cry!
My sister is demanding the phone numbers and says that I owe my friend nothing because he did nothing. I feel like I should give him one more day, but my sister again says I owe him nothing because he screwed me.
Thoughts?
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