It's really too bad this article is riddled with gendered clichés, sexist puns, and intersectionally offensive turns of phrase ("brain burka"—seriously?!), because otherwise it makes some excellent points about the virtual media blackout after Kelly Kulick made history in January by becoming the first woman ever to win a Professional Bowlers Association Tour title.
Like, for example, pointing out that the few male sportswriters who are writing about Kulick's win are serving up bullshit like this delightful observation, care of FanHouse's David Whitley: "Rule No. 1 in determining whether an activity is a sport: If the best female in the world can beat the best male in the world, it doesn't qualify."
Because there is no full-time women's tour, Kulick competed against the men—and as soon as she won by a resounding 70 pins, suddenly it's not a sport anymore. Of course.
It's great that Rick Reilly is in Kulick's corner, and if it hadn't been for his writing about her, I might not have heard about her, either. But I wish he'd managed to do it without engaging many of the same tropes that are fueling the very treatment of Kulick he rightly bemoans.
[H/T to Iain.]
You've Turned Our Important Ball-Sport Into Ladybusiness!
Radio Shakesville Rewind
Just a reminder, if you haven't caught the latest, or any, episode of the Radio Shakesville podcast, you should do so now. I've links and playlists below for each show.
Plus they're available on iTunes if you're into that. If you don't like Apple, try Feedburner. The RSS is here, if you'd rather go that route.
You can put them on your iPod or Zune and listen to them on the subway or burn them to CD and listen to them in the car. Whatever. And if you've a request, call (641) 715-3900, extension: 44515. Also accepting: Insults, recipes, and declarations of love.
Radio Shakesville:
Episode 17: Burn, Baby, Burn!
February 29, 2010
57 minutes
Marvin Gaye: Got To Give It Up
The Floaters: Float On
Parliament: Flashlight
The Temptations: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
The Trammps: Disco Inferno
Episode 16: Upload With People
January 26, 2010
63 minutes
FraidyKat: Free Improvisation
Nancy Lorenz (AKA Napalmnacey): New Lovin'
The Matthew Show: The World Of One Percenters
HBB & The Special Guests: I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll
Sarah Bernard: A Sunny Day In Montreal
Clare Worley: Mariolina
Lady & the Tramps: Liberate Yourself
The Guilloteens: Evil Morning Kills Me
Space Cowboy: Tune Of Roger
Kate Saik: Allerseelen
Miranda K. Pennington: My Johnny Has Gone For Soldier
Suzanna Winter: Stars and the Moon
Shiyiya: Where Did The Cro-Magnons Turn Wrong
Meghan Bell: Girl Child
Jocelyn Craig : I Won't Go Back
Kathy McCarty: Raining
OK OK OK: Distance
Episode 15: Christmas In Space
December 15, 2009
71 minutes
Vince Guaraldi Trio: Christmas Is Coming
Elvis Presley: Santa Claus Is Back in Town
Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors: Mr. Grinch
Otis Redding: Merry Christmas Baby
Booker T. & The MG's: White Christmas
The Emotions: Black Christmas
Rufus Thomas: I'll Be Your Santa Baby
The Staple Singers: Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?
Eddie Dunstedter: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Mistletoe Disco Band: Jingle Bell Rock
Ray Anthony: Christmas Trumpets/We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Bessie Smith: At The Christmas Ball
Nancy Wilson: What Are You Doing New Years Eve?
Julie London: I'd Like You For Christmas
Al Caiola And Riz Ortolani: Holiday On Skis
Alvin Stoller: Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo
Dick Shawn: Snow Miser
The Brian Setzer Orchestra: Jingle Bells
Eels: Christmas Is Going To The Dogs
Death Cab for Cutie: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Coil: Christmas Is Now Drawing Near
Tori Amos: Christmas In Space
Sufjan Stevens: That Was The Worst Christmas Ever
Badly Drawn Boy: Donna And Blitzen
Episode 14: Fever
December 14, 2009
71 minutes
Adam Lambert: Fever
Chemical Brothers: Orange Wedge
Flight of the Conchords: Fashion
Psapp: Cosy in the Rocket
The Brady Bunch: Frosty the Snowman
Ray Bloch Singers: Honey/Hey Jude
Earth, Wind and Fire: Serpentine Fire
April Young: Steady Boyfriend
Gary Stevan Scott: Mariachi de los Tres Ninjas
Fishbone: Just Call Me Scrooge
Johnny Cash: Look At Them Beans
George S. Irving: Heat Miser
The Klezmer Conservatory Band: Meron Nign
Wilhelm Gieseking: Piano Sonata No. 17
Annie Lennox: Heaven
Dubstar: Jealousy
R.E.M.: 2JN
Geronimo Jackson: Dharma Lady
Duran Duran: 911 Is A Joke
Episode 13: Saudade
November 30, 2009
79 minutes
Johanna's House of Glamour: The Unfolding
Love and Rockets: Saudade
Jürgen Knieper: Radio Berlin
Carter Burwell: Velvet Spacetime
This Mortal Coil: Song to the Siren
Peter Gabriel: Open
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Shadow
Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke: Sacrifice
Severed Heads: Wonder of All the World
Christophe Beck: Restless
Moodswings: Hairy Piano
Gary Numan: Down In The Park
William Orbit: Opus 132
Antony Cooke: Kol Nidrei
Kronos Quartet: Fratres
Episode 12: Goodbye Horses
November 16, 2009
67 minutes
Intro (Neu!: Für Immer)
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir: One Night Stand
The Shangri-Las: The Train From Kansas City
The Righteous Brothers: Little Latin Lupe Lu
Patti Smith: The Histories of the Universe
Spinn: O Nutria
Lionel Belasco: Miranda
Brian Unger: Coldplay Accused Of Plagiarism ... Again
Coldplay: Viva La Vida
Break (Neu!: Hallogallo)
John Clarke, MD: H1N1 Rap
Essie Jenkins: The 1919 Influenza Blues
Kirk McGee & Blythe Poteet: C-H-I-C-K-E-N Spells Chicken
The Happy Moog: Saturn Ski Jump
Carol Steinel: Bad Karma
Dolly Parton: Jolene (Live)
Tom Waits: Get Behind The Mule (Live)
Q Lazzarus: Goodbye Horses
Outro (Neu!: Isi)
Episode 11: Werewolves On Wheels
October 31, 2009
65 minutes
Ted Cassidy: The Lurch
Los Straitjackets: The Munsters
Christopher Walken: The Raven
Kirsty MacColl: Halloween
Eels: My Beloved Monster
Born Losers: Werewolves on Wheels
David Lindley: Werewolves of London
Oingo Boingo: Dead Man's Party (Live)
The Pogues: Worms
Gothic Archies: Walking My Gargoyle
Gavin Friday: For Annie
Billy Murray: The Skeleton Rag
Swingtips: Grim Grinning Ghosts
Marianne Faithfull: Annabel Lee
The Cramps: Surfin' Dead
Dream Syndicate: Halloween
Episode 10: Oh What a Beautiful Morning
September 18, 2009
62 minutes
Eels live, Daisies of the Galaxy tour, 2000:
Feeling Good
Overture
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
Abortion in the Sky
It's a Motherfucker
Fucker
Ant Farm
Climbing to the Moon
Vice President Fruitley
Hot and Cold
Grace Kelly Blues
Daisies of the Galaxy
Flyswatter
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues
Not Ready Yet
Something Is Sacred
Susan's House
Episode 9: We Sing In Time
September 1, 2009
77 minutes
Intro (Iggy Pop: Repo Man)
Arctic Monkeys: Cornerstone
The Lonely Forest: We Sing In Time
The Smiths: Shakespeare's Sister
Rhett Miller: Song for Truman Capote
Rupert Holmes: Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Edison Lighthouse: Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
The Bridges: Pieces
Allen Ginsberg: I Am A Victim Of Telephone
Seat Belts: Tank!
Ira Newborn: Weird Mama
The Three Suns: Colonel Bogey March
Martin Denny: Busy Port
Marjoe Gortner: Lover's Lane
Nita Rossi: Untrue Unfaithful (That Was You)
Morcheeba and Anthony Bourdain: Lisa
Chumbawamba: Homophobia
Woody Guthrie: Vigilante Man
Marlene Dietrich: Illusions
William S. Burroughs: Burroughs Called the Law
The Rattles: The Witch
Shakespeares Sister: Stay
The Cookies: I Want a Boy for My Birthday
Cat Stevens: Don't Be Shy
Outro (Iggy Pop: Nam Opera)
Episode 8: Moonage Daydream
August 5, 2009
65 minutes
Richard O'Brien: Science Fiction/Double Feature
Moby: We Are All Made Of Stars
Kraftwerk: Die Roboter
Tubeway Army: (When The Machines Rock) Praying To The Aliens
Les Baxter: Saturday Night On Saturn
The Velvet Underground: Satellite Of Love
Pray For Rain: Plutonium Card
MC 900 ft Jesus: UFOs Are Real
The Timelords: Doctorin' The Tardis
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Aliens
Blur: Peter Panic (Beagle 2)
Vangelis: Tears In The Rain
David Bowie: Moonage Daydream (Weeping Wall)
Supergrass: Jesus Came From Outta Space
Richard O'Brien: Science Fiction/Double Feature (Reprise)
Episode 7: The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
July 17, 2009
79 minutes
Intro (Duke Reid: Loving Serenade)
Pearl Bailey: One Man (Ain't Quite Enough)
Elijah Black: Smile for Me
Soft Cell: Down in the Subway
Missing Persons: I Like Boys
X-Ray Spex: The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 5)
George Jones: Unwanted Babies
The Pretenders: Everyday Is Like Sunday
Rod Hart: CB Savage
Fountains of Wayne: The Valley Of Malls
Break (UB40: Dance With the Devil)
Haircut 100: Milk Film
Redskins: It Can Be Done
The Cure: The Blood
Cyndi Grecco: Making Our Dreams Come True
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 6)
Sugarcubes: Delicious Demon
Delta Spirit: Streetwalker
Johnny Depp & Come: "Madroad Driving..."
Laurie Anderson: The Fifth Plague
Glorious Din: Red Dirt
Outro (UB40: Dance With the Devil)
Episode 6: Woman Power
June 29, 2009
60 minutes
Yoko Ono: Woman Power
Jane Siberry: Hockey
Concrete Blonde: Tomorrow Wendy (Live)
Indigo Girls: This Train Revised (Live)
Pink: Dear Mr. President
Joni Mitchell: California
Joni Mitchell and Morrissey Discuss Female Songwriters
Pam Grier: Long Time Woman
Aretha Franklin: Think
Aimee Mann: Long Shot
Ani DiFranco: Untouchable Face (Live)
Sandie Shaw: Girl Don't Come
Peggy Lee: Fever
Sarah McLachlan: Do What You Have To Do
Mark Steel: Billie Holiday (Excerpts)
Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
Episode 5: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
June 8, 2009
64 minutes
Intro (Ralph Marterie And His Orchestra: Skokiaan)
Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads: History Repeating
Love and Rockets: Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man) (Remix)
Garbage: Vow
Eels: Dirty Girl
Radiohead: Stop Whispering (U.S. Mix)
Echo & the Bunnymen: The Cutter
Jobriath: Morning Starship
MC 900 ft. Jesus and DJ Zero: Spaceman
Break (Unknown (From the film Devil Doll))
KC & the Sunshine Band: Boogie Shoes
The Breakaways: That's How It Goes
Natacha Atlas: I Put A Spell On You
Frank Zappa: The Talking Asshole
Jarvis Cocker: Leftovers
Hole: Awful
Morrissey: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (Live)
Outro (Louis Armstrong: Skokiaan)
Episode 4: Blood, Graffiti and Spit
May 3, 2009
60 minutes
Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Tear Me Down
Intro (Suede: The Beautiful Ones)
The B-52's: Rock Lobster
MGMT: Kids
Two Nice Girls: The Queer Song
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 3)
Vikki Carr: The Silencers
Tones On Tail: Lions
Thom Yorke: Black Swan
Chris Connelly: Trash
The Shirelles: Please Go Away
The High Numbers: Zoot Suit
The Easybeats: Gonna Have A Good Time
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 4)
Boy George: My Sweet Lord
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve: The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes (Live)
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Spellbound
Outro (Suede: The Beautiful Ones)
Episode 3: Not Enough Time
May 1, 2009
58 minutes
Angelo Badalamenti and Kinny Landrum: Dark Spanish Symphony
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
Neil Young: Harvest Moon
Bryan Ferry: The Way You Look Tonight
Queen: Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
The Proclaimers: I'm On My Way
The Woodentops: You Make Me Feel
Jude: Everything's Alright
INKS: Not Enough Time
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Sugar Ray
Bernard Butler: Friends and Lovers
Iggy Pop: Beside You
The Pogues: Haunted
Eels: Can't Help Falling In Love
Whoopi Goldberg: You Got It
k.d. lang: So In Love
Episode 2: This Woman's Work
April 19, 2009
67 minutes
Siouxsie & the Banshees: This Wheel's On Fire
Janis Joplin: Cry Baby
Tracy Chapman: All That You Have Is Your Soul (Live)
Emmylou Harris: Red Dirt Girl
Break (Danielle Dax: Big Hollow Man)
k.d. lang: Pulling Back The Reins
Bessie Smith: Black Mountain Blues
Dar Williams: The Babysitter's Here
Liss and Deeky on Women in Music (Laurie Anderson: Born, Never Asked)
Tori Amos: Silent All These Years
Kate Bush: This Woman's Work
Nina Simone: Young, Gifted and Black
Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand: No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
Maria McKee: Absolutely Barking Stars
Heart: Barracuda
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts: Bad Reputation (Live)
Meredith Brooks: Bitch
Outro (Bond: Bella Donna)
Episode 1: It Started As An Accident
March 22, 2009
66 minutes
Intro (Deodato: Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Blur: I Know
Break (Radiohead: Meeting in the Aisle)
The Ting Tings: Shut Up and Let Me Go
The Smiths: The Headmaster Ritual
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 1)
Patti Smith: Piss Factory
Joe Frank: Fat Man Down (Excerpt)
Break (The Timelords: Doctorin' the Tardis)
The Pogues: I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day
Lou Reed: Teach The Gifted Children
Liss and Deek Talk Movies (Primal Scream: Trainspotting)
Suede: We Are The Pigs
Brian Eno: The True Wheel
Michael Mills: Satanic Messages in Rock Music (Part 2)
The Postal Service: Nothing Better (Remix)
Elastica: Line Up
Outro (Milt Buckner: Late, Late Show)
Crazy Does Not Equal a Joke
by Shaker DesertRose
[Trigger warning.]
(Part Three of the series "Crazy Does Not Equal..." Part One, "Crazy Does Not Equal Violent," is here. Part Two, "Crazy Does Not Equal Stupid," is here.)
Full Disclosure: I have schizoaffective disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. I have suffered from one form or another of mental illness for most of my life, mostly depression in one form or another, anxiety, and various manifestations of PTSD. I am 33 years old, a ciswoman, white and Cherokee, divorced, mother of one completely awesome daughter, owned by two adorable tabby cats, bisexual with polyamorous tendencies, a proud bleeding-heart liberal, an eclectic pagan, and completely out of my tree.
I've always been hesitant to be open with people about my mental condition. Mental illness is still hugely stigmatized, and I don't want to be treated as if I'm somehow less than other people because my brain and mind are funky. But I've come to the realization that mental illness will remain stigmatized unless people with mental illnesses are open about their conditions and show the world that we're not what society would have the world believe.
People with mental illnesses are often stereotyped as violent, or, in contrast, figures of fun, to be mocked for "abnormal" behaviors. And if we're not to be feared or made fun of, we're childish and incapable of making our own decisions. Failing that, we're weak-willed or of poor character, often therefore leading to the conclusion that we're responsible for our conditions and could be "normal" if we'd just decide to be. On top of all that, we're often considered lacking in intelligence, which can be part and parcel of the "childish and incapable of making our own decisions" or "weak-willed or of poor character" tropes.
My last post on my blog was about how much mental illness can make a person's life really miserable sometimes. And yet people laugh (sometimes nervously) when they see behaviors that originate in mental illness.
How many times have we seen a person with mental illness, but without a home, turned into a joke because zie interacts with zir hallucinations? The homeless person talking to the street lamp (Joon, in the movie Benny and Joon), "directing traffic" with a ping-pong paddle (Carl Lee, in John Gresham's novel A Time To Kill), pretending to catch invisible butterflies before going for a psychiatric evaluation, all played for laughs.
Before I continue, I want to clarify something. People with mental illnesses often laugh at themselves amongst themselves. I once heard a story about a person in a manic episode doing something quite extreme which was pretty amusing and was even more so when the person who did it told the story because zie has a gift for droll, witty delivery. The important point here is that this person told the story, making zirself the butt of zir own joke; that's acceptable, and honestly, the entire room full of people broke up laughing at the story. What would not be acceptable would be for me to tell this story and make this person the butt of my joke, because it's not my illness, it's not my life, it's not my story, and it's therefore not for me to play it for laughs.
Another part of this "joke" concept is that anyone with a wild sense of humor or who often displays zir sense of humor is "crazy" or "insane." How many times have we heard someone called "crazy" when zie is really witty, daring, silly, or just plain humorous? (Martin Lawrence's "You So Crazy" comes right to mind.) This is the ablist side of this trope; people with wild senses of humor may or may not have a mental illness, but they get tagged with a label that might not fit, because people just don't think about what it really is to have a mental illness. Other things get the ablist "crazy" or "insane" label, too, such as the use of "insane" to mean "extreme," as in, "That test was insanely difficult." It's ablist as hell, and it's insulting.
The reality of mental illness can be terribly frightening. When I have hallucinations, some of them scare me half to death. Hearing a voice that threatens you or tells you to kill yourself is not fun. Not sleeping for days is not fun. People in manic episodes have often ruined themselves financially, spending every penny they had and maxing out their credit cards. Depression is not funny; having to force yourself out of bed just to use the bathroom is pure misery, although to be fair, depression is less often made a joke than other sorts of mental illness. Tardive dyskinesia is not funny either; it's a series of physical tics that can result from years of taking psychotropic medications, but people laugh at it anyway.
The plight of the homeless person with mental illness is desperately sad, but no one thinks of that when they make their jokes. Honestly, the idea of being homeless scares me to death, because my own financial situation is wrecked due to years of fighting to be recognized as legally disabled, and only by the grace of my upper-middle-class parents am I not in a shelter or on the streets myself. I've lived unable to afford my medications, getting samples from a kind psychiatrist, and I cannot (not to mention will not) laugh at a person with mental illness on the streets. It's too close to home, and it's not fucking funny. I can far too easily see myself in that situation.
A lot of stories of mental illness are funny. Life is funny sometimes, and for people with mental illness, some of the things we do are just plain amusing. For us, making a joke of our own lives, our own stories, our own behaviors is a coping mechanism; it's a common enough coping mechanism, really. Almost everybody makes jokes about themselves. But that doesn't make us a big fucking joke. I am a person with mental illness, I am not a joke, and I am not the only one.
Open Thread
There's a crazy rhythm coming from Puppet Land, (What's that?)
Dirty Dog, Cool Cat, Chicky Baby are the Puppet Band! (Yeah!)
Question of the Day
Suggested by RedSonja: What was the first vehicle you called your own? Bike, scooter, car, whatever.
RedSonja says: "Mine was a 1983 Buick Regal called 'The Beast.' I got rear-ended in it once, and nothing happened to my car, except the previously undiscovered ashtray popped open. The person who rear-ended me, however, totaled her car."
My first vehicle was a penny-farthing, gifted to me by Benjamin H. Grumbles.
Radio Shakesville
Episode 17: Burn, Baby, Burn
Melissa McEwan of the Shakesville Gazette calls this podcast "so awesome it's like wearing pants made of fire and having them not burn you."
Here is a link to the podcast blog where you can download the show.
And this is the list of all songs used in this week's ep.
You can also play the show in a pop-up.
(Which is the recommended way to read Shakesville, just FYI.)
The show is available via iTunes, and on Feedburner.
The RSS is here, if you need it.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Deeky's Assdazzlers.
Recommended Reading:
Marcella: Carnival Against Sexual Violence 89
Andy: Activists to Meet with Ugandan Parliament as 450,000 Signature Online Petition Opposing 'Kill the Gays' Bill is Delivered
Mary: Chile
C.L.: Me and My Vagina, Special Anniversary Edition
Thea: The Fading Histories of People of Colour: Depardieu Plays Dumas
Sean: Will Video Games Save the World?
Leave your links in comments...
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Blog Note
Hey, Shakers. The Shaker Ignominiously Known as RedSonja is visiting today, so posting will be light from me for most of the day while we plot the Feminazi Cooter Revolution and eat cheesy bread.
See you tomorrow!
Today in Fat Hatin'
From the Fauxgressives' Guide to Being a Progressive, the Huffington Post, I present: Girlfriends' Guide: FAT Is The New 'N' Word.
I've got one word for you: Bingo!
And, no: Fat is not "the new 'N' word." The suggestion that any word is "the new 'N' word" is totally fucking ignorant, necessarily implying that the N-word itself is somehow the "old" N-word, but there's a new worst slur evah in town! It's an absurd bit of hyperbole, predicated on playing yet another tiresome round of the Oppression Olympics. And, apart from this bullshit being rhetorically and logically lazy as hell, the N-word is frankly never as out-of-fashion as people who never have it used against them would like to think it is.
So there's that. And there's also that fat is a value-neutral descriptor, a fact, like many other facts about a person. I am fat, I am short, I am brunette, I am blue-eyed, I am 35 years old. Sure, there are people who wield the word with vitriol, but there are people who spew the word "woman" with venom. That doesn't make "woman" a slur. There is a distinction between the word fat, and genuine slurs like "fatass" or "pig," just as there is a distinction between the word woman and slurs like "bitch" and "cunt." And the N-word.
Well. That takes care of the headline.
The article...well, fuck. That begins with the opening salvo: "People used to be afraid to be fat; now they're afraid to say 'fat.' Oh, we can talk about diets and exercise and the paucity of plus-size fashions—CONSTANTLY—but we can't really use the word 'fat' as an adjective anymore."
Except, of course, for all the people who do. Like, y'know, everyone in the fat acceptance movement. Suffice it to say, I don't think our intrepid reporter is familiar with fat acceptance, nor would she care to be, since her main complaint really seems to be that people can't comfortably shame fat people merely by calling them fat anymore.
In the middle of the piece, she comes to that delightful chestnut about how "we" don't talk to fat people about being fat: "Not talking about it is cowardly and patronizing and, ultimately cruel because behind almost every fat child is a fat parent who can't demonstrate the behavior necessary to rescue them from this life sentence."
Oh Maude's visage on a potato chip! Tell me again how fat people just don't know they're fat, and the solution is everyone just telling fat people MORE how fat they are! Because we! just! don't! know!
(And her premise is that society's silence is patronizing? LULZ.)
I'll leave you to dissect everything in between in comments and jump right to her final shot 'cross the bow: "Let's call fat by its proper name: Murderer." Ahhh. I love the smell of eliminationist rhetoric in the morning.
But I'm confused: Is my fat itself an anthropomorphic murderer in this equation, or am I the murderer because I'm fat? It's so confusing.
In any case, you'll pardon me while I finish drafting the proposal for my upcoming book: "DEATHFAT vs. MURDERFAT!!! WHICH WILL KILL U FIRST, BITCHEZ?!"
[H/T to Shaker Goober Peas.]
Open Thread
Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair...
(That's Chairry!)
Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!
Pee-Wee's sure excited, 'cause all his friends have been invited,
(That's you!)
To go wacky... at Pee-Wee's Playhouse!
Chilean Earthquake News & Relief Info
On Saturday, there was a devastating earthquake in Chile, with more than 700 people confirmed dead so far. Below is the latest news, help resources, and information on relief efforts. Please drop additional links you recommend into comments.
Guardian—Death Toll Rises After Chile Earthquake:
The death toll from Saturday's devastating earthquake in Chile rose to more than 700 last night as rescue workers fanned out across a 370-mile (600km) stretch of the country searching for bodies and survivors.CNET—Google Launches Person Finder After Chile Quake: "Google has launched a tool to help people locate friends and loved ones who might have been affected by Saturday's 8.8.-magnitude earthquake in Chile. Google Person Finder allows users to search for information about people by name or leave information about people in both English and Spanish. ... A Google crisis response page also notes that Americans seeking information can call the U.S. State Department at 1-888-407-4747."
President Michelle Bachelet directed rescue operations and toured heavily hit areas as the race continued to provide basic supplies to entire cities that remained without water, electricity or communications. Bachelet said 2 million people were affected by the 8.8-magnitude quake, adding that it would take several days to evaluate the "enormous quantity of damage".
Last night, after a six-hour emergency meeting with officials, she raised the known death toll dramatically from 300 to 708. "We face a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort [for Chile to recover]," she told a news conference.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will visit Chile on a previously scheduled trip unrelated to the earthquake. "Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis, and we will stand side by side with the people of Chile in this emergency," said Clinton.
As aftershocks measuring up to 7.5 continued to batter the already ravaged country, rescue workers yesterday arrived at coastal cities to find entire fishing villages washed away. There were reports last night that 350 people had died in one town, Constitución, which was hit first by the earthquake and then by a tsunami.
Text Your Support:
1. Text the word "CHILE" to 25383 to donate $10 on behalf of the Habitat for Humanity.
2. Text the word "CHILE" to 20222 to donate $10 on behalf of World Vision.
3. Text the word "CHILE" to 52000 to donate $10 on behalf of the Salvation Army.
4. Text the word "REBUILD" to 50555 to donate $10 to Operation USA's Chile relief fund.
Direct Donations:
Doctors Without Borders
Water.org
Habitat for Humanity
Operation USA
Oxfam America
Direct Relief International
American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund
AmeriCares
World Vision
[Additional relief info via Mashable and the Missourian.
Johnny Weir Responds to Gender-Conformity Police
After scorching the ice in the greatest outfit in the history of the Olympics (an outfit of his own design, no less), American figure skater Johnny Weir was ridiculed and criticized for being "feminine" and a "bad example" to boys. Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch covers the story:
According to The Canadian Press, Claude Mailhot of the French-language RDS network began by saying, “This may not be politically correct, but do you think he lost points due to his costume and his body language?” Alain Goldberg responded saying Weir’s femininity may reflect poorly on other male figure skaters.”They’ll think all the boys who skate will end up like him. It sets a bad example.” Goldberg is also quoted as saying, “We should make him [Weir] pass a gender test at this point,” and Mailhot then joking that Weir should compete in the women’s competition. The two broadcasters later issued an on-air apology.Mr. Weir responded with strength and grace:
“I would challenge anyone to question my upbringing and question my parents’ ideals and feelings about bringing up me and my brother, who’s completely different from me but taught very much the same way that I was,” [...] “Even my gender has been questioned. I want that to be public because I don’t want 50 years from now more young boys and girls to have to go through this sort of thing and to have their whole life basically questioned for no reason other than to make a joke and to make people watch their television program"[.]
Weir had more to say in this video from the Associated Press, also embedded in the EW post:
"I think, as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and I think that’s the most important thing."
Transcript below the fold.
The comments at the Entertainment Weekly Pop Watch post are not as bad as most blog comments (faint praise, naturally). Although the thread was immediately derailed by a troll who thinks it's OK to attack Weir on gender grounds because he "asked for trouble" by wearing fur (he's switched to faux, by the way), most commenters disagreed. A man named Jefferson, who seems to be Butch Pornstache's more enlightened brother, even showed up to own his shit:
Johnny Weir should be every bit as flaming or macho or anything in between as he wants.And in answer to the commenter who calls Johnny a "flame" for wearing a crown of red roses after competition, "me" writes,
I’m a straight man who likes football and big trucks and naked chicks. Does Johnny’s demeanor make me uncomfortable? Yes. But I understand 100% that that is my own problem, and my own issue to overcome. Johnny Weir (or anyone else) should not change for me, or for anyone. He should only ever be true to himself (as should we all). Anyone who can’t deal with that is the one who needs to change, by opening their mind and heart.
By the way, the crown of roses he sported is an inside joke from his russian trainers since in eastern european countries at the end of the school year the student with the highest marks from each class gets “first price with a crown”. I’ve been crowned 4 times in my life (before highschool when cutting class became more appealing) and never saw ppl be embarassed by having their picture taken with a crown of roses, daisies or any other flower they liked. I teared up a bit actually bc the crown means to his team and trainers that he is a winner despite not getting a medal.Yes, Johnny, you are definitely a winner.
The H/T goes to Pixelfish in today's Open Thread.
I’m not somebody to cry over something or to feel weak about something, I felt very defiant when I saw these comments. I felt that it wasn’t these two men criticizing my skating, it wasn’t them criticizing my anything-- it was them criticizing me as a person. And that was something that really frankly pissed me off. So more than anything I felt like I had to make a comment and a statement saying that I hope more kids can grow up the same way that I did, and that more kids can feel the freedom that I feel, the freedom to be themselves and to express themselves, that’s the most important thing. That’s the message I want to come out of all of this. Because out of ugly—I think the most important thing to do in life is to make something beautiful.
I—I can’t say anything mean, I mean I’m totally for freedom of speech and voicing your own opinions, so I can’t, I can’t, like, have them fired, because they voiced their opinion, and just the fact that they’re on television, I mean, I’ve heard worse in bathrooms and whatnot about me, so [laughs]. So it’s not a big issue for me that they said it, it’s just that I didn’t want other kids to have the same issue, and other people in the public eye to have the same issue. If I had a chance to sit down with them over a putzin ( ETA: poutine?), I think, uh, I think we’d all be, like, lovely people together, I think they’d see who I really am, because, being an athlete and being a figure skater, I rarely have the opportunity to voice my opinion without it being misquoted. I am always thought of as the sparkly, flamboyant character that wore a crown of roses, I mean, that’s what people see of me and they come up with a notion of what I must be like. And uh, aside from my circle of very close friends and people, nobody knows me—nobody knows what makes me tick, nobody knows what’s inside here and here [points to head and heart].
Uh, I think masculinity is what you believe it to be. To me, masculinity is all my perception. And I think that masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old-fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or by who they like to sleep with. I think, as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and I think that’s the most important thing.
Sunday Archaeological Photo of the Day
Amenhotep III, found in the ruins of the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor.
Open Thread
Hosted by Electrawoman and Dynagirl.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by The World of Sid and Marty Krofft.
Happy Birthday, Misty!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu!
You're such a shrinking violet,
And a prim princess, too!
I lurrrves ya, girlie. (And, for the record, that Barbie is just waving hi to people entering your virtual party, not heiling any fascist dictators.)
And Another Thing...
...about Homomentum.
It occurred to me just now that one of the little ways in which my life as a queer woman living in a mid-sized urban region has changed (I live in a cluster of small cities growing into one another, with a population of around 500k), is that my friends and I used to keep tabs on places we could go as out queer people - so-called "gay bars/coffee houses/whatever"; places where a small PDA with one's same-sex partner wouldn't be grounds for rudeness (at the least) - our tacit version of "separate but equal", which of course never was.
Now, though, we keep tabs on where we can't go.
Because that list is a lot shorter than the other one now. It's easier to track homophobic places than homophilic: they're much fewer in number.
As I said before, we have many leagues to go, but that doesn't mean we can't occasionally look back and feel good about the part of the journey we've already accomplished, and look around at how much closer to the end of that journey we have gotten. Better doesn't have to equal good to be appreciated for being better.
