The cute. It burns.
Important Announcement
This is how I look every Tuesday from the moment I awaken in anticipation of a new episode of Lost:
A True Thing: When Iain and I wake up on Tuesdays, the first thing we always say (okay, maybe the second thing, after "Morning, babesy!") to each other is: "Happy Lost Day!"
(Thanks to Shaker stakkalee for passing on that gif!)
How Charitable Is That?
It's either a lesson in irony or just plain bigotry, but the Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C. is changing its healthcare benefits to exclude the possibility that one of their employees might want to cover a same-sex partner now that the District legalized marriage equality.
Starting Tuesday, Catholic Charities will not offer benefits to spouses of new employees or to spouses of current employees who are not already enrolled in the plan. A letter describing the change in health benefits was e-mailed to employees Monday, two days before same-sex marriage will become legal in the District.As the article notes, Catholic Charities is a private, non-profit organization, so they can do whatever they want when it comes to providing benefits to their employees. And they are free to pass along the impression that they're also a bunch of bigoted and sex-obsessed tight-asses who actually go out of their way to ostracize legally-recognized married couples. How charitable of them.
"We looked at all the options and implications," said the charity's president, Edward J. Orzechowski. "This allows us to continue providing services, comply with the city's new requirements and remain faithful to the church's teaching."
Catholic Charities, which receives $22 million from the city for social service programs, protested in the run-up to the council's December vote to allow same-sex marriage, saying that it might not be able to continue its contracts with the city, including operating homeless shelters and facilitating city-sponsored adoptions. Being forced to recognize same-sex marriage, church officials said, could make it impossible for the church to be a city contractor because Catholic teaching opposes such unions.
After the council voted to legalize gay marriage, Catholic Charities last month transferred its foster-care program -- 43 children, 35 families and seven staff members -- to another provider, the National Center for Children and Families.
Orzechowski said Monday that the change in health benefits will be the last move necessary in response to the legislation.
"We do not anticipate any further changes whatsoever," he said. "Taking the action we have on foster care and spousal we feel has addressed everything the new law requires of us."
Today in Disablism
Shaker Laurakeet sent in the following advertisement for a thyroid surgical procedure from the University of Illinois Medical Center:
Image description: A smiling, blue-eyed, thin, young blond woman in a white camisole is at the top right of the ad, next to the words “Don’t let thyroid surgery take away your beauty”. Below is a series of three photos: one of the same woman with her arms around a young white man; a photo of a silver-haired white male doctor; and an image of the University of Illinois Medical Center.
This is the ad copy for those who can't read the image:
Don’t let Thyroid surgery take away your beauty.Emphasis is in the original.
Dr. Pier Cristoforo Giulianotti
The University of Illinois Medical Center understands that beauty is important to every woman.
The University of Illinois Medical Center is one of the few hospitals in the country offering thyroid surgery—without the need for a neck incision.
For more information visit uic.edu/com/surgery or call 312.355.5562
University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Surgery College of Medicine
University of Illinois Medical Center—Changing Medicine. For good.
Mention this ad for a FREE CONSULTATION to see if this procedure is right for you.
This surgery ad is failful on so many axes—impossible beauty standards, disablism, classism, racism, sexism, commodification of health care—that my brain shorted out for a bit and I put off writing about it.
But today, I hereby create a Today in Disablism tag and start peeling back the layers.
First, we see that “beauty” means a fairly young, thin, white, blond and blue-eyed woman with smooth, even-toned, flawless skin and no visible signs of disease or disability. We discover that what's at risk is not life or quality of life, but beauty. And we learn that the threat to that beauty is not disease, but surgery.
Thyroid disease can (note I say can) “take away” socially approved signs of beauty—thinness, smooth skin, firm eyelid skin, thick healthy hair and eyebrows, etc. in those who happen to have them in the first place. But those with illnesses requiring thyroid surgery may well feel that their looks are the least of their problems. For some patients viewing this ad, surgery may save their lives or quality of life, but they are admonished to prioritize their beauty, even under such circumstances. (If and only if they are women, naturally.) For some, avoiding a neck scar may indeed be important for psychological well-being at a difficult time, but this ad presents the surgery as a woman's obligation, not as a patient's option.
The ad assumes that all women are the same and should value their beauty first (“beauty is important to every woman”). In the middle row of small photos, though, it also shows us the purpose of that beauty: to please a man.
Women who don’t fit the beauty mold to begin with learn once again that they are worth less than those who do, and those who do get a reminder that they risk losing their only recognized value.Thanks, kyriarchy!
The surgery center emphasizes that the procedure is available at only a few hospitals in the country, yet implies that women who cannot obtain access to it have “let” their beauty be ruined and their worth reduced. This is an especially egregious message to send to women whose social worth is already decreased by illness. It is just one more way in which we are defaulting on the social contract, and we let it happen—how dare we?
Finally, direct-to-consumer marketing of surgery says a lot about our conception of health care as a commodity and not a right.
I'm sure there's more, so have at it 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.]
Quote of the Day
"With the valuable Glenn Reynolds and Jonah Goldberg endorsements in hand, Mickey Kaus' bid for a Democratic Party primary win is looking more solid than ever."—Matt Yglesias, waxing sardonic on the professional concern troll who's decided to run against Barbara Boxer in California's Senate Race.
The Kitchen Sink
Once upon a time, I took a quiz meant to discern what American accent you have. I was told my "accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington." Or...you've got a dad who was raised in Indiana and a mom who was raised in Queens, and you've spent some time in Britain and longer married to a Scot, so you have some weird accent all your own that unscientific quizzes say is Philadelphian.
Mama Shakes' accent is all but gone now, although when she speaks to her brother, or Aunt Gladys, who still live in New Yawk, it creeps back out, and I am reminded of why I thought for years that the word spatula was spelled "spatuler," and why my classmates always giggled at my pronunciation of the word horrible.
At home I was Lissa; at my grandparents' house, I was Lisser. "Lisser'n I aw gunna wawk down to the cawnaw stoah." It was almost a different language, but I spoke it—and I knew it meant I was going down to the corner store with my granddad, where he'd buy a paper and give me some change to buy 5¢ candies kept in big glass jars on the countah.
It was the language of summertime. When school let out, including for my parents, who were teachers, we went to New York, driving across the country—Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania…—and by the time the Verrazano Bridge was in view, I was giddy with anticipation of hearing that language again. Lisser, New York called to me. Lisser. All the mystery of a magnificent city wrapped up in a voice that made my name thrillingly unfamiliar to my own ears. I never got used to it, because I never wanted to. I preferred to let that language remind me always of the chance for exploration and wonderment that a city which wasn't my own provided.
I loved (and love still) Central Park, and the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. I loved the subway, and the ferry, and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel on the Long Island Expressway. But everything I loved the most could be found on one block on 68th Street in Queens. Cellar doors on raised cement porches, fuzzy white caterpillars in the narrow, kid-sized crevices between row houses, my grandmother's desk whose drawers were filled with outdated secretarial tools that fascinated me, my grandfather's closet with its old-fashioned hangers and shoehorns, the dumbwaiter that ran to the cellar, the pocket door between the living room and kitchen, intricate metal heating grates, an ancient wallphone with a phone number written on it that contained letters, the best junk room in the world stuffed with a working electric organ, a massive collection of Mad magazines, and a box of funny hats. And my favorite thing in the world—the giant, steel kitchen sink, that doubled as my bath when I was a wee thing.
Lisser, my mom would say. It's bath time. The cold sink would be filled with warm, soapy water, while I waited patiently in my toddler chair with its vinyl seat and cool metal arms. And then I would be undressed and lifted into the sink, where I'd slide against its smooth sides, and my mom would have to reach in and pull me upright again as we both laughed. My grandmother would tell me about how she and my mom and my uncle were bathed in that sink, too; We'll look at the pictures later, Lisser. Later…when I was wrapped in my big green terrycloth towel, complete with a hood, that was perfect for snuggling after a bath—or wearing to play Robin Hood any old time.
Once I was too big to be bathed in the sink, it became a benchmark for how grown-up I was from one summer to the next. I'd stand before it and stretch in my arms, to see if I could touch its deep bottom. Maybe next year, Lisser. My fingertips reached its depths the same year my grandfather died.
The last time I stood at that sink, my nephew was carrying the tradition of kitchen sink baths into a fourth generation. Look at your Aunt Lisser, he was instructed, for a photo. He giggled and slid across its bottom.
After my grandmother died, the house was sold, and I'm sure that antiquated old sink is now long gone, a victim to modernization. But the language that falls from millions of tongues reminds me of it still. Lisser, I hear—and it conjures sunny afternoons on Myrtle Avenue, the Four-Ones cab company, corner shop candies, the Hudson, my New York and everyone else's. And a kitchen sink.
Saucy Jesus
That trickster Jesus is up to his magical shenanigans again, making a saucy appearance at a Scranton pizzeria:
Ms. Salerno was at [Brownie's Famous Pizzeria, a long-standing eatery on Luzerne Street] and talking with her granddaughter, 23-year-old Jackie Krouchick, while she made a pizza. Her granddaughter is a single mother who she said is struggling through tough times. Ms. Krouchick told her grandmother she worried she was losing her faith.I love the implication that atheists are just too fucking dumb to comprehend the presence of Jesus in a tub of pizza sauce. Even a two-year-old knows Jesus when he sees him!
As Ms. Salerno poured tomato sauce from a white plastic bucket, she urged her granddaughter to keep believing. That is when she saw it, the image of a man with long hair and a beard in the leftover sauce.
...Maryann Marsico, who works at Brownie's, said even an atheist would find it unmistakable.
"My 2-year-old grandson knows who it was. ... He just looked at it and said, 'That's Papa Jesus,' " Ms. Marsico said.
It was not lost on Ms. Marsico that Jesus appeared at Brownie's at the start of Lent, a holy Christian time that also happens to spur pizza sales because observers are not supposed to eat meat on Fridays.
"I will never cheat and eat meat again," she said.
I will resist the ungenerous urge to respond in kind.
[H/T to Shaker Garbo. Holy folks Gone Wild: Weeping and bleeding and appearing in Cheetos, more Cheetos, pretzels, fire and on pancakes, baking sheets, pizza pans, doggy doors, ice, peanuts, x-rays, turtles, ultrasounds, chocolate, dying plants, sheet metal, trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, more trees, wardrobes, water stains, plates of pasta, drywall, fish, grilled cheese sandwiches, potato chips, a bathroom door, a banana, and a bruise.]
Obama Administration Meets with Secular Coalition
Thumbs-up, with the tempered hope that this meeting was not for show and will result in material policy adjustments:
The American Humanist Association (AHA), as a member of the Secular Coalition for America, participated in a meeting with the Obama Administration on Friday, February 26, to discuss issues of concern to the nontheist movement. The Secular Coalition for America's Briefing with the Obama Administration marked the first time in history a presidential administration has held a national policy briefing with the nontheist community, signaling an unprecedented enthusiasm and willingness on the part of the Executive Branch to include nontheists in public discourse.Visible inclusion is important. Access is important. But more important is designing/supporting policy, and using rhetoric to defend those positions, with nontheists in mind. For example, an administration that does not support same-sex marriage, particularly one that defends its continued prohibition on religious grounds, cannot rightfully assert to have anything but a religious position—and a limited religious position at that, given that some religious denominations are currently performing (or performed, in California) legal same-sex marriage ceremonies where allowable by state law. The only viable position on the issue, as the issue of abortion, as another example, to accommodate the views of nontheists who lack religious objections, is full access and equality, granting individual opportunity to make use, or not make use, of rights as we each see fit.
"We are very pleased to have had this opportunity to talk with the White House about issues that are important to the nontheist community," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "Too often, nontheists have been disregarded by politicians and the public only because we don't happen to believe in a god. But by President Obama giving us a seat at the table, he has sent a powerful message that we hope others will also embrace: What unites us is that we are all Americans--not that we all share a belief in the same god or any god. There is no faith prerequisite in wanting what's best for our country."
...The issues discussed included ways to improve the Faith-Based Initiative, ending military proselytizing, and protecting children from neglect and abuse that can occur due to a lack of government oversight over faith-healing treatment providers.
"We are optimistic that this is just the first of many such meetings with the Obama administration," said Speckhardt.
[H/T to Shaker Constant Comment.]
You've Turned Our Important Ball-Sport Into Ladybusiness!
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.]
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.]
