Shakesville

Daily Dose of Cute

Back in February, Cat Fancy announced its "Against All Odds Rescue Contest‏," which solicited readers' stories about dramatic pet rescues. Misty saw this posted somewhere and emailed it to me, telling me I ought to submit Olivia's rescue story tout de suite. So I quickly typed up the 200-words-or-less submission, fired off a picture, and promptly forgot about it.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got a notice that Olivia and I had won second place, the prize for which was three free bags of litter, lol. I'll take it!

The other day, we received a copy of the magazine in the mail. Here's Livsy's write-up, with her adorbz picture...

pic of magazine page with image of Livsy sitting on the stairs and my description of her rescue

My submission (which differs very slightly from what was printed) was: "We were driving to work one morning behind a piece of farm equipment on a rural highway, when a tiny ball of fur fell off the back of the trailer, hit the pavement, and bounced into the verge. I pulled over quickly, and my husband Iain jumped out and ran into the grass to retrieve what turned out to be a small grey kitten. Her face and paws were bleeding, but she was alive. We rushed her to the vet, then raced to work, covered in blood. (Our tardiness was forgiven.) After work, we returned to the vet's office, where she had gotten a chin implant over a nick in her jawbone, been stitched up nicely, and was doing fine. We paid the bill and brought her home to meet her two new feline siblings, who took to her immediately, as if they knew she'd been through enough. We also discovered she was not grey after all: Under a layer of soot, we uncovered her lovely white fur. 'You were a dirty wee urchin, weren't you?' said Iain to the kitten, who looked back at him at mewed from her seat in his cupped hands. We christened her Olivia Twist."

BushQuotes!

Chapter 3, page 40: "I don't remember what else I said."

That is definitely a quote from page 40 of this book.

[From George Bush's A Charge to Keep, gifted to me by Deeky, because he hates me. In the US, all people who plan to run for president write a shitty book. (Some are less shitty than others, by which I mean the Democrats' books.) A Charge to Keep was George W. Bush's shitty I-wanna-be-president book, published in 1999. I am blogging one random quote per page every day until I have either made my way through the book or lost it behind a couch.]

Quote of the Day

"At the time of the revolution, women were needed to fill out the numbers. Now, the decision-makers don't need women, and we’re back to this idea that femininity is inferior and masculinity superior."—Hoda Badran, head of the Egyptian Feminist Union, 15 months after the Egyptian revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak and was meant to bring a new era of inclusion to Egypt, but "as Egyptians prepare to vote for a new president this week, rights activists complain that women are being excluded from key decisions."

Women hold just over 2 percent of the seats in Egypt's new parliament, down from about 12 percent in the last elections held under Mubarak. The sharp decline followed the elimination of a quota to ensure women's representation, which had been seen by many as a way to stack the body with members of Mubarak's political party.

Military rulers did not include any women in the committee that wrote constitutional amendments adopted in a nationwide referendum last year. And there are no women among the 13 candidates who will be on the ballot Wednesday, when voting begins in the country's first post-Mubarak presidential election.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Sigh.

Shazam!

News coming out of the Kapow comic convention in London is that DC is planning to switch the sexual orientation of one of their characters.

Holy Continuity Crisis, Batman, I bet Fredric Wertham is spinning in his grave!

DC co-publisher Dan DiDio said the newly queer character will be "one of our most prominent gay characters." Neat!

I know nothing about comics*, so I won't speculate about a hypothesis on who the newest rainbow warrior will be. Wonder Woman? Superman? Thor? Iron Fist? Could be anyone! I'll leave that discussion up to you.

Also. Important question. (Not really important.) Who will freak out more? Rightwing dirtbags who are prone to freaking out about all things gay? OR: DC fans who believe there is nothing more important in the universe than canon? I don't care. They can both shut up!

* Full disclosure: I never much liked comic books and/or superheroes. I tried once, in earnest, to "get into them" but had no luck. (The only comic I ever really liked was Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children, which was exceedingly unpopular. Whoops.)

LOL FOREVER

I really dislike my governor, but I am thoroughly enjoying his increasingly contemptuous commentary on the possibility of serving as Mitt Romney's running mate:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, frequently mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate, is the latest Republican leader to unambiguously state that he will not be Mitt Romney's running mate.

"If I thought that call was coming, I would disconnect the phone," Daniels said in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

LOL!!! Wait, wait—it gets better.

When asked if the Romney campaign had contacted him during its vetting process, Daniels responded, "of course not," and added that it's "not an office I want to hold, expect to hold, have any plans to hold."

"Fuck all y'all!"—Mitch Daniels.

Brilliant.

Notre Dame Sues Over Birth Control Mandate

[Content note: institutional misogyny, anti-reproductive rights rhetoric]

The University of Notre Dame is one of 43 Catholic institutions filing suit in an attempt to overturn the requirement that their insurance plans cover reproductive healthcare. As usual, Archbishop Timothy Dolan has super-helpful things to say about this:

Time is running out, and our precious ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now,” he said in a statement.

"Our precious ministries" include, presumably, the Ministry of Ballsportgames at Notre Dame which is OBVIOUSLY played in a uniquely Catholic fashion (insert ALL the Hail Mary pass jokes) as a ministry to the Catholic faithful.

Yes, it's a cheap shot (insert ALL the free throw jokes), but the sports program at Notre Dame is only the most visible part of what should be transparently obvious about several of the of the sueing institutions: hospitals and universities do not pass the federal government's test for giving religious exemptions with good reason. These are not parish churches employing 90% Roman Catholics and serving 100% Roman Catholics, existing primarily as institutions of Roman Catholic worship. They employ and serve huge numbers of non-Catholics, providing services that are not tied particularly closely to Catholic theology. Should they win a "religious exemption," then the religious exemption is so broad as to render the reproductive services mandate basically meaningless.

But the mendacious asshattry doesn't end there. I'm very fond of this quote from Father John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, written in a letter to alumni quoted at Jezebel:

Let me say very clearly what this lawsuit is not about: it is not about preventing women from having access to contraception, nor even about preventing the Government from providing such services. Many of our faculty, staff and students — both Catholic and non-Catholic — have made conscientious decisions to use contraceptives. As we assert the right to follow our conscience, we respect their right to follow theirs. And we believe that, if the Government wishes to provide such services, means are available that do not compel religious organizations to serve as its agents.

Where to start? As Erin notes in her piece, no-one is "compelling" religious organizations to force birth control on anyone, so the claim that Catholic organizations are serving as "agents" is a laughable lie. But I find the second part, wherein Jenkins claims that there are ALL THESE OTHER WAYS to provide birth control, almost as astonishing. Really, Father Jenkins? What do you suggest? More funding for Planned Parenthood? Because we know what big fans the Bishops are of that particular organization! They won't be getting birth control from Catholic hospitals, especially if your lawsuits are successful. Maybe from secular hospitals that have taken over failed Catholic hospitals? Whoooops your ridiculous zombie birth control restrictions! Yes, there are definitely many ways to provide reproductive services that your Church leadership is happy with!

There are probably many more observations to be made about this situation, but I am too amazed to make them. Have at it in comments.

[Commenting Note: Please take care when commenting to distinguish between Church leadership and "Catholics," many of whom are appalled by the statements and actions of Archbishop Dolan and his colleagues.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Ohio Express: "Yummy Yummy Yummy"

Fatsronauts 101

Fatsronauts 101 is a series in which I address assumptions and stereotypes about fat people that treat us as a monolith and are used to dehumanize and marginalize us. If there is a stereotype you'd like me to address, email me.

[Content Note: Fat hatred, dehumanization, gaslighting.]

#1: Everyone who is fat is fat for the same reason.

Nope! There are a whole lot of reasons that fat people are fat—and "overeating" is only one of those many reasons. In fact, "overeating" itself even has to exist in combination with some other factor(s), because "overeating," which I'm putting in quotes because that word can mean anything from "eating more than the recommended number of calories for a person without any other medical problems of a specific size and activity level" to "eating more than I think that fat pig should be putting in hir mouth," is generally something, using the same definitions, that a lot of genetically thin people do, too. It's just that they don't get fat from it, so they aren't said to be "overeating." Just "eating."

Some fat people have a genetic disposition toward fatness. Some fat people are recovering from eating disorders and/or yo-yo dieting and/or addiction(s) that fucked up their metabolisms. Some fat people have disordered eating. Some fat people have illnesses that themselves cause weight gain and/or require meds which cause weight gain. Some fat people have disabilities that cause weight gain. Some fat people have chosen, consciously or unconsciously, fatness as a coping mechanism in response to abuse and/or sexual violence. Some fat people are poor and/or lack access to fresh foods. Some fat people have simply never been taught good eating habits for their individual bodies and/or don't have the ability or opportunity to prepare the sorts of meals their individual bodies need. Some fat people's bodies have been affected by environmental toxins that have been found to cause weight gain. Etc.

There are a whole lot of reasons that individual fat people are fat. Most of us have some combination of these factors. For the majority of us, it is not as simple as: "I eat too much and exercise too little and thus I am fat."

And when thin people (or other fat people) make some "calories in; calories out" argument, or any variation thereof that implies all fat people are fat for the same reason, and all of us could be thin(ner) if only we reduced calories absorbed and increased calories burned, if only we tried harder, that's the same bullshit bootstraps argument that conservatives make about marginalized people all the time.

Paul Campos, who has written extensively about the OH NOES Obesity Crisis! and has debunked many of the myths surrounding fat and health, once wrote in a column for the Rocky Mountain News, which no longer appears to be available online:

This inspires me to point something out to my more liberal readers. Remember that particularly clueless right-wing acquaintance of yours? The one who believes that anybody in America can become rich, because he thinks about poverty in a completely unscientific, anecdotal way, which allows him to treat the exceptional case as typical? The one who can’t seem to understand the simplest structural arguments about the nature of social inequality?

The next time you see some fat people and get disgusted by their failure to "take care of themselves," think about your clueless friend.

The erroneous belief that all fat people are fat for the same reason, at the expense of acknowledging individual circumstances, is dehumanizing in the same way that blanket assumptions about any group is.

The only reason it's still considered acceptable, by people who should know better, to make such sweeping, dehumanizing statements about fatsronauts is because we still regard fatness as a behavior, and as an indicator of weak character, rather than as the neutral descriptor that it is.

Finally, there is this: Many fat people routinely speak up about the reality that our fat bodies aren't strictly a result of eating too much and exercising too little, and bravely tell the stories of our lives in which we share our personal circumstances, even knowing we will be mocked, dismissed, and disbelieved.

In order to continue to subscribe to the belief that fat people are all fat for the same reason, one must believe that those of us who speak to our own experiences which differ from that narrative are lying or delusional.

I, for one, am exhausted with the implication that I don't know my own body better than an observer who's invested in the idea that: 1. My fat is a problem; and 2. I'm not being diligent or honest about solving it.

Enough already.

If you're going to be an ally to fat people, Step One is acknowledging our individual humanity.

[Related Reading: On Fat Hatred and Eliminationism; Today in Fat Hatred; Proposed.]

Generally Awful

image of Mitt Romney standing at a podium in front of a backdrop with Oklahoma Republicans logos all over it, to which I have added a dialogue bubble reading: 'First of all, let me say it's real nice to be with you all here today in Arkansas.'

GOOD MORNING! (Or whatever!) Please tell me with the ardent passion that this election deserves that you are still maintaining maximum enthusiasm for all the goings-on leading up to November! Like: Mitt Romney being terrible! [applause] And: President Barack Obama being less terrible! [cheers and applause] Also: Whoever Mitt Romney's ~~white dude sidekick~~ running mate will be! [laughter] Thrills and chills, y'all! Thrills. And. Chills. [standing ovation]

For those of you who haven't previously followed a US presidential election in any sort of detail, let me tell you where we are in the campaign: Yawntown. Both candidates have been effectively (if not officially) chosen. Everyone knows pretty much exactly who they are. (Hopey McChangey is all: "Forward!" and Lord Roboto is all: "Gleep glorp money!") And, basically, we could all save ourselves a lot of time and money by letting them shake hands on national television and then STFU until a week before the election, because very few voters are going to fundamentally change their minds about which candidate will get their votes, and generally what decisions are made late in the game are not about the individual candidates as much as they are about individual voters' personal circumstances.

BUT! Ha ha BUT! The US is a nation with a for-profit private media and fully one million 24-hour cable news channels, all of which need to fill airtime. So no one is taking any naps and we're all going to obsessively talk about polls that won't matter for six months and ad hominem attacks by surrogates and a bunch of other stupid, irrelevant, and frequently juvenile bullshit to fill in the void where serious policy analysis would be if the only meaningful difference between the two parties anymore weren't their position on whether people other than straight white cis able-bodied US-born wealthy men with fancy bootstraps collections are fully autonomous rights-bearing human beings.

(Republicans: NO! Democrats: Yes?)

Also: There is lots of ~~free speech~~ incentive in virtually every direction—politicians, strategists, lobbyists, corporations, but not voters—to obfuscate the full extent to which money now influences elections.

"Pay no attention to the stacks of cash behind the illusion of democracy!"—That is a quote from my favorite film, The Wizard of Ugh.

The other thing is that the entirety of Washington D.C. (by which I mean the rich white assholes who run the place, and not the poor brown people who actually live in the actual city which is their actual home) goes on vacation for, like, the whole summer. And so does most of the mainstream media. Because nothing says professional rejuvenation like watching David Brooks play so many pranks on Saxby Chambliss in the Hamptons, or whatever.

So summertime in the US brings political news like, "Look at all these fucking sharks!" True Story: The summer of 2001 saw so many stories about shark attacks, shark near-attacks, and shark sightings on cable news that everyone was laughing and pointing at the cable news and calling it The Summer of the Shark. (I'm pretty sure Nero composed CNN's shark segment opening jingle.) Then some people blew up some buildings in New York. And that was the end of Shark Summer.

But not philosophically. We still act like important news only happens when the kids are in school, or something. So whatever important election-related news there might be over the next few months will probably be eaten by a shark.

So to speak.

All of which conspires to create a lull in the election which will last pretty much until Labor Day, with brief interludes of "OOH SHINY!" during each of the conventions, in late summer. And there will be a flurry of "walla walla" when Romney announces his new BFF. But otherwise it's gonna be a lot of:

Obama Campaign Does Damage Control After Dems Question Anti-Bain Strategy.

Talking About Jeremiah Wright Is the Wrong Way to Beat Obama.

Poll: Obama, Romney in Dead Heat on Economy.

This guy! That guy! Poll. This guy! That guy! Poll. This guy! That guy! Poll.

And I will bring you news about This Guy! and news about That Guy! and maybe even mention the occasional poll. And you will DEFINITELY get pictures of Mitt Romney standing in front of so many things! But in the next few months, it's gonna get grim, news-wise. I'm just saying.

We can only hope that Foster Friess says something soon.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Thread

image of a black and white crane leaping in the air in a mating display

Hosted by a Red-Crowned Crane. Photo by Huajin Sun.

Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker lupinella12: What fictional character helped shape your youth?

Longtime readers will surely be unsurprised at my answer: Beautiful Joe.

image of my copy of Beautiful Joe

Beautiful Joe is based on a true story of an abused and rescued dog, and was written by Marshall Saunders—actually Margaret Marshall Saunders, who entered (and won) a literary contest sponsored by the American Humane and Educational Society under her middle name because female authors weren't getting published. It was first published in 1893; my tattered copy, which I read and reread and reread as a child, is a 1955 edition.

My first memory of really loving a book is loving Beautiful Joe—and it's no exaggeration to say that the book was a significant influence on my life; I owe a great deal of my capacities for empathy and survival to Joe's tale.

You can read it here, if you are so inclined.

Quote of the Day

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."—Leo Tolstoy, in the opening line of Anna Karenina.

Too true.

Photo of the Day

image of a man in silhouette, in front of a beautiful and dramatic display of swooping, green Northern Lights

Photographer Tommy Eliassen photographs himself in silhouette in front of a beautiful and dramatic display of Northern Lights in Saltfjellet, Norway.

Tommy always goes out alone to take his photographs. "There is a bit of planning involved. I always keep up to date on the weather forecast and the sun activity," said Tommy. "One of the most challenging things is that you never know exactly when and where the outbursts will happen. It changes in latitudes and intensity within seconds."

The Telegraph has a stunning gallery of his photographs here.

BushQuotes!

Chapter 3, page 38-39: "There were no major mistakes, no knockout punches [during the debate with then-Governor Ann Richards]. I felt I had won by holding my own with an experienced elected official, someone who had debated many times before."

And thus began the illustrious political career of George W. Bush, who never stopped benefiting from the soft bigotry of low expectations: As long as he didn't spectacularly flame-out, and only looked as snide, ill-prepared, and incompetent as we expected him to be, that was a MAJOR WIN FOR DUBS.

[From George Bush's A Charge to Keep, gifted to me by Deeky, because he hates me. In the US, all people who plan to run for president write a shitty book. (Some are less shitty than others, by which I mean the Democrats' books.) A Charge to Keep was George W. Bush's shitty I-wanna-be-president book, published in 1999. I am blogging one random quote per page every day until I have either made my way through the book or lost it behind a couch.]

Generally Horrendo

image of Mitt Romney walking on a tarmac with a suitcase, a huge plane in the background, to which I have added a dialogue bubble reading: 'Where the fudge is my plane, y'all?'

I know what you're thinking: Mitt Romney doesn't say "y'all"! Well, sure he does. Especially when he's eating grits. So there.

The most important Mitt Romney news today is that he is terrible. In related news, President Obama is less terrible.

Here are some news stories vaguely or directly associated with one of those two facts!

CNN: House Passes $643 Billion Defense Bill. Perfect. That definitely sounds like a perfect amount to spend on defense. I hope we can buy SO MANY HAMMERS and then find lots of nails to hit them with. Or at least things that look like nails, especially when you're holding a hammer. Oh, fuck, we'll just call it a nail and get a guy named Curveball to nod sagely. That'll be good enough. MORE MONEY FOR MORE HAMMERS!

The Hill: Mayor Cory Booker Walks Back Criticism of Obama Tactics as 'Nauseating'. Too bad. Not that he walked it back, but that he didn't walk back the false equivalence he drew while standing by the valid criticism of obfuscating serious issues with bullshit campaigning.

Washington Post: White House Visitor Logs Provide Window into Lobbying Industry. Hey, remember when Obama was gonna hopeandchange lobbying out of Washington? Ha ha whooooooooops!

Think Progress: Grover Norquist: Trying to Stop Billionaires from Dodging Taxes Makes You a Nazi. Sure.

Raw Story: Cheney to Host Romney Fundraiser in July. Sounds like the best party of all the parties, obviously.

Digby: They Just Don't Like Us. No, no they don't.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Daily Dose of Cute

Weekend Puppehs!

Dudley the Greyhound sits regally on the chaise with his ears flopped in kooky directions

Dudley the Greyhound sits regally on the chaise with his ears flopped in kooky directions

Goofy Dog is goofy!

Zelda the Black-and-Tan Mutt lies on the couch with a big grin on her face

Zelda the Black-and-Tan Mutt lies on the couch with a big grin on her face

Happy Dog is happy!

Monday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by families of choice.

Recommended Reading:

Jessica: I'm Considering Changing the Name of KYBOOMU [Content Note: The post at this link contains reflective discussion about rape culture triggers and name-bullying.]

Samhita: Shorter Priebus: "If Obama wasn't so black, the GOP wouldn't have to be so racist."

Andrew: Dharun Ravi Sentenced To 30 Days In Prison For Role In Tyler Clementi's Suicide [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of a homophobia, sexual assault, and self-harm.]

Cecile: Romney Puts Women's Lives at Risk [Content Note: This post contains issues of misogyny in healthcare funding. NB: It is not only women who are put at risk by these policies.]

crunktastic: Taking It All Off: Black Women, Nudity, and the Politics of Touch [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of boundaries around touching; body image; and body policing.]

Angry Asian Man: 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Award Winners

And two thank-yous:

Thank you to Marianne Kirby for this beautiful piece of solidarity.

Thank you to Jay Smooth for the shout-out in his latest video. I cannot even begin to say how much it means to have the blog referenced by someone whom I so respect and from whom I've learned so much.

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

by Shaker BrianWS, who may or may not become a full-time contributor someday based on his selection from an eight-sided box full of glimmering keys only one of which fits into two crumbling locks, one of which opens a door to Shakesville, and the other of which opens a door to a rip in the time-space continuum beyond which is a portal to the year 4072, where there are still no goddamn flying cars.

[Content Note: Misogyny. Image at link is NSFW.]

Shaker blusilva forwarded this Vanity Fair article to Liss, who forwarded it on to me, because I work in the horseracing industry and, as previously mentioned, horseracing is one of my favorite things in the entire world, while misogyny is one of my least favorite.

The article is a profile of jockey Chantal Sutherland that reduces her to female stereotypes and is accompanied by an image of her on a horse, naked. There's a lot to unpack here, so I'll just hit the high (low?) points and turn it over to you.

* You know who else I can recognize in the saddle in the middle of the race? LOTS OF JOCKEYS. And it's not because they're "feline" or "sensual" or that they get "impossibly low" (hint: all the good riders can and do). It's because Sutherland has a specific style, just like many of her male counterparts, but nobody talks about how they can pick James Graham out of a lineup in the middle of a horse race because he is essentially a sexy pussycat, but because when James Graham rides, guess what? He looks like James Graham!

* The whole middle paragraph is odd (and gross!) because of the frame that's already been set up by the image and first paragraph. Instead of its being about Sutherland as an individual, now it reads as: She is very good at reading a horse "because she loves them"—girls and their ponies, amirite?! Most riders love the horses—and many "can soothe [them] with purrs and stokes." Sutherland's talent beyond the reins isn't because she's a sensual lady cat who can obviously relate to horses owing to her womanly nature. Cooing and purring at a horse is not specific to her, nor is it specific to female riders at all, but once she's already been drawn as this silly caricature of a jockey whose feminine wiles underlie her success, the implication is that it's her soft touch, her feminine grace, her (INSERT LADY ADJECTIVES HERE!!!) that makes it worth mentioning.

* The funniest part, where funny = not funny, is that Chantal Sutherland is a badass. She's brave as fuck. She's got nerves of steels. She rides her ass off every time. And she does all of those things because she's a competent and successful jockey, not because her femaleness imparts some magical feminine horse whisperer advantage. (And when she loses, it's not because her femaleness is a disadvantage, either.) It's ironic that in a brief article that is (allegedly) about how brave and talented she is, she is reduced to nothing but a stereotype of feminine qualities that are commonly invoked in opposition to bravery and strength, as if those are what make her a good rider, and not the laundry list of things I just listed above. It's a gross disservice to her and to her abilities.

On a side (but not unimportant) note, I want to acknowledge that the article was written by Bo Derek, who is a HUGE advocate for thoroughbred retirement programs that find places for racehorses when they're no longer useful on the track, and our industry needs MANY more people like that. She is among the biggest advocates in the game for racehorses' wellbeing, so she get s forever kudos from me for that, in spite of the tenor of this article. I wonder if the article might have looked different in a magazine other than Vanity Fair.

[Commenting Guidelines from Liss: This is a thread about the insidious ubiquity of misogyny; please note that comments discussing the merits/ethics of horseracing will not only be considered off-topic, but will rightly be regarded as an attempt to derail a conversation about misogyny in media.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton: "Islands in the Stream"

Kristen Wiig's SNL Farewell

Saturday night was the season finale of Saturday Night Live, which meant it was also the last episode with Kristen Wiig as a cast member. Like every person who's ever been a part of the show, she built a stable of characters, some of which were duds, some of which were problematic, and some of which were great. Unlike every person who's ever been a part of the show, some of her characters were truly brilliant. She's pretty much the only reason I still watch the show, and, when I discuss episodes with friends who still watch the show on Sundays, she's what we talk about.

There are people in the world who still think that women aren't funny. If you can watch Kristen Wiig and still say that shit, the problem is that you don't have a sense of humor.

Anyway. Here was her live farewell. Goodbye, Kristen Wiig! Thanks for all the laughs.

Video Description: Host Mick Jagger, playing a schoolmaster, intros a graduation premise. Kristen is called up and Arcade Fire sings "She's a Rainbow," as each cast member comes up one by one to dance with Wiig. About halfway through, Wiig begins to cry. She wipes her tears. Lorne Michaels comes out and dances with her, to huge applause. "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday." Former cast members Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, and Chris Kattan, as well as frequent host Steve Martin, join everyone onstage. Everyone dances and claps. They sing along, and on the line, "I'm gonna miss you" Wiig points at the audience.