Suggested by Shaker Joe: "What role does religious faith (TM) play in your life? With all of the 'persons of faith' stuff being tossed around in the public arena these days, it makes me wonder what role 'faith' or lack thereof, may play in Shakers lives?"
I'm going to request that this thread not be used for opinions about lack of religious belief or religious belief. There are threads for that kind of thing; this isn't one of them. This thread is just a place where people can answer a question about what their faith is or is not, without concern that it will be assailed, whether atheist, Christian, Wiccan, Hindu, wev. Thanks, in advance, for respecting this request.
I'm pretty sure everyone knows what my answer is, but I'm an atheist. (I joke that Iain and I are such resolute atheists we don't even have a dog in the house.) To be very specific, I've got no belief in a conscious, anthropomorphic god. I believe there's a rational, scientific reason for most everything, but I like a bit of magic, too, if you know what I mean. There's something more than breath that separates the living and the dead—some people call that god or the soul or the spirit; I just have a healthy respect for it, by any name.
Question of the Day
I Write Letters
Dear Cheesus,
I don't ask you for much. The occasional prayer for patience or a new pair of OMG Shoez—which is why I hope you will grant me this one humble request.
Please, please let it be true that Cher will play Catwoman in the next installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise.
The 62-year-old singer and actress is reported to be in talks to play Catwoman opposite Christian Bale in the third Batman film from British director Christopher Nolan.Dear baby Cheesus, I promise if you make this happen, I will stop
The Oscar-winner will join a cast that includes Johnny Depp as The Riddler as she plays the whip-carrying burglar. The character has also been played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry.
A studio executive said: "Cher is Nolan's first choice to play Catwoman. He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years."
A shrine. Of the finest asiago.
Love,
Liss
P.S. SNAP OUT OF IT!
In Which Kitteh Pix Are Offered as Pennance for Lack of Competent Blogging
Sorry I'm a bit AWOL today (not that it matters with all the other good stuff on the blog); I'm dealing with post-crash car stuff and a fuckleg that's giving me bad ass 'tude at the moment. So if you've dropped something in comments or emailed me something that needs my attention and I haven't responded, it's just because I'm a little behind. Apologies.
In the meantime, please enjoy a photo of Sophie Moon pwning the world with cute while toppling over sleepily.
Karma is a Democrat
Part of Pepsi Center flooded by sprinkler system:
DENVER - A sprinkler system partially flooded part of the Pepsi Center Monday morning.[H/T to Shaker ScottRS.]
The Denver Fire Department, which has a crew stationed at the center all week, was able to respond quickly before 5 a.m. when the sprinkler went off.
The sprinkler was located on the club level in a skybox which had recently been renovated to host a news crew. It appears the skybox belongs to Fox.
Boy, They Can't Keep Maliki In Line For Shit
As you might recall, Condi told everyone that she and Maliki agreed upon a troop withdrawal time table that was more "aspirational" in nature.
Well, according to Maliki, that aspirational date is fixed at December 31, 2011:
"There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date which is the end of 2011 to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said in a speech to tribal leaders in the Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
[H/T to ThinkProgress]
Speaking of back-to-school…
Cross posted from AngryBlackBitch.com.
A bitch read this article about bully proofing your chil’ren and it reminded me that bullying is one of many reasons some youth don’t look forward to the end of summer.
When this bitch was a wee bitch I was bullied relentlessly. It started when I walked into my kindergarten class and continued through my grade school years. As a result, a bitch couldn’t stand going to school and used to search desperately for ways to get out of it.
Unfortunately, my grades reflected the hell out of the shit…big time.
Blink.
Anti-bullying measures like those discussed in the CNN.com article are a good start, but they are only as good as the system’s understanding of what bullying is. Here in Missouri we have anti-bullying mandates for schools that do not have enumerated categories…and we also have some educators who think calling a fellow student a faggot isn’t bullying.
What we need to do is remember that adults need education too. Parents need to be brought up to speed on the cost of bullying to the victim and the bully…on their child’s rights as students and their rights as tax paying investors in public education…and communities need to raise the bar on expectations for students, schools and educators.
This bitch remembers hearing a teacher talk about one of my bullies and her parents. It was around teacher-parent conference time and I guess the bully’s parents had already been in. I was listening in because I knew my ass wasn’t going to have a good conference…sigh…and a bitch was hoping to get the teacher’s take on my performance prior to the drama-filled event to come. Instead I heard the teacher venting about the mean as hell foul ass attitude of my bully’s parents. And I remember being shocked as the teacher talked of having to defend my bully from the verbal taunts of her parents.
I was even more shocked to find myself feeling sorry for my bully…right up until recess when she plowed her fist into my stomach.
Sigh.
Looking back, it makes sense that bullying is sometimes learned at home. Not always, but sometimes.
Just as it makes sense that communities dealing with bullies in their schools may not be equipped to identify and address the problem of bullying.
Organizations like PROMO are working to get specificity added to Missouri’s anti-bullying legislation so that communities, schools, educators, students and parents will have to tools to identify and address bullying.
So yes, its time for back-to-school preparedness, y’all.
This bitch thinks that now is a good time to ask your local school how they identify and deal with bullying and what you can do to help...
Question
I imagine we're going to have a lot of media content over the next couple of weeks, with the political conventions, and leading up to the election. Aside from providing transcripts, is there anything else we could be doing for hearing- and/or sight-impaired readers? Are there blog plug-ins I could be using on my end that would help?
If you've got any suggestions/requests, please let me know.
Who Inspires You?
by Shaker Zak
Having been a member and regular volunteer of Step Up Women's Network for over two years, I've had the opportunity to see firsthand what a well-funded organization can accomplish within its community. Since we spend so much time in the blogosphere focusing on what's wrong with our culture and society, I wanted to take a moment to share success by women who want to pave the way for the next generation of professional, philanthropy-minded women.
With chapters in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, Step Up is "dedicated to strengthening community resources for women and girls" nationwide. A huge component of their work is the Teen Empowerment Programming, which reaches underserved middle and high school girls in charter schools. Run by Step Up teachers and volunteers, these extra-curricular activities offer the young women creative outlets and leadership training. Additionally, the girls get a social net via their program peers, as well as mentoring and guidance from successful women the girls aspire to be like.
For several years, members Henri Hebert and Kimberly Goodman have been documenting the girls' experiences. As Henri tells it:I joined Step Up Women's Network in 2001, where I became entrenched in volunteering and helping them shape their programming for at-risk teens. Back then, we were leading one day workshops, yet I really wanted to do more. I kept asking various board members if we could do multi-day classes; the impact would be so much greater if we kept the momentum going.
This month, their company FiveFold Productions took home two Bronze Telly Awards for their short about the after school filmmaking program at the Los Angeles Leadership Academy. Over 12 weeks, the teens set about discovering "real beauty" in their neighborhoods, looking beyond the superficial. With 90% of the girls living below the poverty level, their projects do more than give the girls voices, they tell stories typically ignored by mainstream media.
Then four years ago, Step Up asked me to lead a 6-week photography class. Admittedly, I knew nothing about photography, but I knew how to produce. So, I assembled a very talented group of women who developed the curriculum for the first photography class, which taught the girls to think critically about what kind of photos they wanted to take. At the end of the course, a gallery event showcased the girls' work and put them in the spotlight as they discussed their projects with guests. Today, Step Up offers that photojournalism program in three cities.
As soon as the first photography class began, my producer's instinct told me there was a story waiting to be told. I wanted to be filming it all, but there wasn't time for me to be behind a camera. The following year, my producing partner, Kimberly Goodman, and I filmed the instructors as they led the next 6-week photography class, resulting in the docu-short When I am President... This was the first entry in an on-going series of docu-shorts that have become invaluable fundraising tools for the organization.
Step Up also helps the girls plan for the future with internships and college application assistance. An annual college tour for the juniors gives them a glimpse of the future that's in reach despite everyday struggles that seem insurmountable at times.
As piloted programming in Los Angeles is rolled out in NYC and Chicago, members are always ready to step up for the cause because they know a few hours of their time has a powerful impact that is going to ripple. Longtime volunteer Lisa Muse once said, "When I joined Step Up, I thought I was going to 'just' be doing some 'volunteer work.'... Having the opportunity to help them along on that journey of self-discovery has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life."
So, while we struggle with the mediocre rhetoric of mainstream media and the blatant ignorance seemingly flaunted by certain members of society, know for certain that there are plenty of people trying tirelessly to clean up the mess and create opportunity for the next generation. They're just too busy to stop and shout it from the mountain.
If you'd like to contribute, consider a tax-deductible donation or help Step Up with their program supply wish list for the fall.
Keeping with the theme of Step Up's fundraising efforts for their teen programs, an interactive gift house that allows women to honor their inspirations, here's a question for the Shaker community: Who inspires you?
Live from the Pepsi Center!
...or if Howard Dean and Katie Couric are hosting some wacky new gameshow.
No whammies! No whammies!
Worst Enemy
Blue Gal sent me the link to this post by PunditMom about a reporter referring to the plethora of women-centered forums at the Democratic Convention as an "estrogen-fest." PunditMom rightly notes how unfair and demeaning that is:
An estrogen-fest.All spot-on.
Is that supposed to make us think about hundreds of hormonal women creating a ruckus like a bunch of sorority girls? Because I hardly think it's the right turn of a phrase to describe gatherings with the likes of Senator Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the scores of other high-profile Democratic women, especially when one Clinton almost became the party's presidential nominee.
…The fact that the media, women members included, continue to write about gatherings presented and attended by women -- especially political women -- in derogatory and dismissive terms like this one never ceases to amaze me.
But then she notes that the term was used by a female reporter, and asks: "[I]f we can't even get other women to stop describing serious women and serious events with a vocabulary that can only diminish and mock us, how will we ever get the likes of Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, or the whole team at Fox News to stop referring to us as 'bitchy' and 'castrating'?"
That's such a common complaint among women—so I wanted to take a moment to make a couple of quick points.
1. Men not being sexist shouldn't be contingent upon women not being misogynist. They should stop being misogynist just because it's the right thing to do.
2. Men and women are misogynist for different reasons: men to marginalize women, and women to ingratiate themselves with the men trying to marginalize them. Neither one is justifiable, but one is oppressive and the other is a (bad) strategy to deal with that oppression.
3. One thus sees that if the men who are misogynists weren't, the women who are misogynists wouldn't have any reason to be. Ergo, exhorting women to stop being misogynists so that men will stop gets it precisely backwards.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't encourage women not to be self-loathing misogynists. It only means that we probably shouldn't treat them as somehow more responsible for sexism than sexist men. They really and truly aren't our worst enemy—if our worst enemy disappeared tomorrow, we'd never have a problem with sexist women again.
Monday Blogaround
Sock it to me, Shakers!
Bloglines is being a butthole again today, so no recommended reading, except for Mad Kane's lovely Kristol-izing Feminism.
Also, Media Matters has a new media crit blog, County Fair, that you'll definitely want to check out: "A media blog featuring news links and progressive media criticism from around the web, along with commentary from Eric Boehlert and Jamison Foser." Awesome!
And Drum is now at his new home—so update your blogrolls/feeds!
Leave your links in comments…
Blog Note
Sometimes people complain about Shakesville at other blogs. And sometimes they also complain about me, or make fun of me, or say things about me that aren't true. Or the same about other contributors. (All of the stuff that's quite separate from legitimate criticisms.) That sort of thing's been going on a lot lately, and a few Shakers have emailed me about it or talked about it in comments, so I just quickly want to say a couple things…
First of all, I think we need to be careful about judging harshly any blogs where threads like that exist. It's not easy to see other blogs trashed in your threads, whether you agree or not; it makes me uncomfortable to see someone who's a colleague, even if it's someone I personally can't stand, be talked about negatively in comments at Shakes—but if it doesn't violate the commenting policy, I feel obliged to let it stand. The same is very likely true at other blogs, and I hope you'd bear in mind that if there's another blogger who lets their commenters trash Shakesville, or trash me, it doesn't necessarily mean they agree.
Now here's the other thing: I've never had any delusion that Shakesville was going to appeal to everyone. That's the primary reason I've never felt competitive with any other blogger. I can only do what I do. (And, once Shakes became a group blog, we could only do what we do.) Blogging is such a personal and proprietary thing—I've honestly never seen any reason to feel envious or competitive or anything like that. I can only do what I do.
That there are people who respond positively to that will always surprise and humble me. But, even if there weren't, the content at this blog wouldn't be any different. If you go back to when I had exactly one reader by the name of Iain McEwan, it was the same shit—griping about politics (the Dems, too; I've never been partisan, ever), talking shit about my personal life, posting pictures of my cats, rape advocacy, and social activism.
I do this thing the best I know how. I have disappointed people before, and I will again. I have made mistakes before, and I will again. I have shown my ignorance and privilege before, and I will again.
Some people will think I'm an asshole, and some will think I'm a star. And they're both right and they're both wrong—because it's all just a matter of opinion, anyway.
[If you don't know of what this is specifically apropos, don't worry about it.]
Know What the Best Toy in the World Is?
Sophie Moon: Action Cat.
Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me!
The Tongue of Cuteness will destroy you.
La la la, I'm not paying any attention...
A-ha! Fooled you! Your string-cap will be mine!
Sophie the Tiny Shoecat will always win in the end.
Critic's Corner
I'm just back in the US from four days and five plays at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Among the works we saw were plays by Lope de Vega, Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett, and ... oh yeah, William Shakespeare.
I have lost count of the number of times I've been to Stratford; I started going in 1970 and have been going practically every year since; it's one of the few times in the year when I get to assume my secret identity as a theatre scholar.
I wrote reviews of some of the plays we saw over at Bark Bark Woof Woof, and you can check them out at your leisure:
- Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega.
- A double bill of one-acts; Hughie by Eugene O'Neill and Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, both starring Brian Dennehy.
- Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw, starring Christopher Plummer.
If you have the means and the opportunity, get to Stratford. It's a great town, a great festival, there are ways to do it on the cheap, and you'll get all the jokes in Slings and Arrows.
Shocker: Women Less Enthusiastic Than Men About Biden
Wow, who woulda thunk it?
Women are notably less enthusiastic [about Obama's selection of Biden] than men—33% of women say Biden was the right choice while 27% disagreed. Men, by a 46% to 24% margin, said that Obama made the right choice.The denizens of Shakesville are totally outside the mainstream!!!11!!eleventy-one!!! or something.
...Just 16% of women have a Very Favorable opinion of Biden while 19% have a Very Unfavorable view.
...Not surprisingly, Democrats were more supportive of Obama's decision than anybody else—52% of those in his party agreed with his pick while 19% disagreed. However, just 43% of Democratic women said the presumptive nominee made the best pick while 23% disagreed.
Quote of the Day
"Okay, [Biden as prospective veep] has got to be a joke, right? The DNC is just fucking with the press, who's dumb enough to fall for the suggestion that Joe Fookin' Biden is 'believed to be at the top of' Obama's veep shortlist. Because there's no way in blue hell that Obama could be foolish enough to be seriously considering for one blinking second putting on his ticket the speech plagiarizing, bankruptcy bill voting, Bush-coddling, racist, sexist asshat Biden, a consummate gaffe machine who launched his own '08 presidential bid with a screeching dog whistle that declared Obama 'the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'."—Me, one week ago.
LOL. I'm turning in my punditry credentials now.
More Biden
I've got a column up at The Guardian's Comment is free America about Obama's veep selection, "Obama's small change."
[O]ne can only assume that Obama and Biden have some kind of dynamic relationship that makes Biden a great personal asset to Obama. (Or, perhaps, that Biden's got pictures of Obama in a compromising position with a goat.) It's tough to see how this choice was a winner – even the stage management of the announcement, the furious crescendo leading up to the middle-of-the-night reveal of a yawningly expectable Beltway fixture, was designed to create maximum disappointment. Mannion describes it as expecting a pony for your birthday and getting a new winter coat – and that sounds about right.Read the whole thing here.
Biden's functional (at best). And maybe he even seems exciting to someone who needs a new winter coat.
Of course, there are a lot of places in America where it never gets cold.
Biden
I once described Joe Biden to my father as "the dumbest Democrat on the planet." So you can probably extrapolate from there my opinion of this hot veep selection.
The first person to whom I spoke this morning (after Iain, who was first on the computer this morning and broke the news; he was unthrilled) was Mannion, who has amusingly recounted part of our conversation here, with minor embellishments, ahem, although the part about the picture and my commentary on it is true. Which will serve as a helpful hint for anyone who's having trouble with the aforementioned extrapolation.
Of all the things about Biden (and there are many) with which I've got problems, I'm finding myself today thinking about his comments not two years ago in which he "joked" about Delaware being a "slave state that fought beside the North" only because "we couldn't figure out how to get to the South." I'm thinking about that because of bookends, and because I don't viscerally understand (even if I do intellectually) why that shit bothers me and not Barack Obama. Politics is an avaristic business, and I'm used to strange and opportunistic alliances, but this partnership just honestly makes me melancholy.
I also feel coming down the tracks more alienation from former allies because of it. For months and months I have read rejections of Clinton because she supported the war, but I suspect that those making the argument will not now reject Obama because he put one of its cheerleaders on his ticket. For months and months I have read rejections of Clinton because she and/or her husband are racist, but I suspect those those making the argument will not now reject Obama because he put a man who says things like this or this or this or this, all within the last two years, on his ticket. For months and months I have read exhortations that I must vote for Obama because he will protect reproductive rights in a way McCain won't, but I suspect those who have beat me with that cudgel will not now reject Obama because he put on his ticket a man who does not support federal funding for abortion and supported the "partial-birth abortion" ban even without protections for the health/life of the mother.
And what of those who have chanted Obama's 100% NARAL rating like a mantra? Will they reject him now that he has asked to join his ticket a man with a 36% NARAL rating in 2003 and a 75% rating in 2007? Or will they come at last to their stubborn insistence that he's still better than McCain, even though that's not the debate...?
I've never been a member of the Democratic Party; I've never been a partisan. But I have always voted for Democrats, and I always felt marginally in tune with the party. Now, I feel completely distant, completely detached. This, I fear, will only deepen that divide.
At some point, I'm going to be incredibly angry about that. But at the moment, I'm not even angry. Not yet, anyway.
In this moment, I just feel incredibly sad.
