And you?
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by Lego minifigures.
Happy Birthday, Aphra Behn!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuu!
You look like a radical Girrrrrrrrl Scouuuuuuuut!
And you smell like one, tooooooooooooo!
Mmm...Thin Mints!
I love you, lady!
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
D'Awwwwwwwwwwwwww
22 Adorable Before and After Pictures of Animals Growing Up. I mean.
[H/T to my friend David.]
Quote of the Day
"There is no reason to delay further when no opposition has been presented to this Court and committed gay and lesbian couples have already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry."—U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, in her ruling issued today which instructs Cook County, Illinois, to begin issuing licenses immediately instead of forcing same-sex couples to wait until June.
The Cook County Clerk's office at the Daley Center in downtown Chicago will remain open two extra hours today to accommodate all the couples who are eager to apply for marriage licenses.
All the blubs forever!
[H/T to Jordan.]
Requested: Reading Recommendations
A friend of a friend is looking for some reading recommendations for contemporary literary fiction that is feminist/womanist-friendly. It doesn't have to be specifically feminist/womanist material, but, you know, something that wouldn't want to make a feminist or womanist throw the book across the room forty pages in.
So this thread can be the most useful to anyone who's seeking recommendations, it would be helpful to indicate what genre you're recommending (non-genre lit fic, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) in case people have genre-specific preferences.
[For the purposes of this thread, let's define "contemporary" as anything published after 1990.]
Assvertising
[Content Note: Classism; bootstraps; privilege; disablist language.]
I haven't seen this advert myself, but Shaker KatherineSpins sent it to me with a note that it's airing a lot during the Olympics. Everything—every. single. thing.—about this commercial for the Cadillac ELR is gross.
Actor Neal McDonough, a thin, white, middle-aged man starts off standing in front of a pool in "his" backyard, then walks throughout a luxuriously appointed mansion as he talks, eventually going into "his" bedroom then coming out dressed in an expensive suit before getting into a shiny new black Cadillac. The mansion and the car have all the highest-end tech toys and finishes, and "his" family, including thin, white, kyriarchetypically attractive children and wife, are featured as if to suggest they are his beautiful, fancy property, just like everything else.
The dialogue, over these images:
Why do we work so hard? For what? For this? [gestures at pool] For stuff? Other countries, they work, they stroll home, they stop by the café, they take August off. Off. Why aren't you like that? Why aren't we like that? Because we're crazy, driven, hardworking believers, that's why. [high-fives his daughter as he walks by her] Those other countries think we're nuts. Whatever.Good fucking grief.
Were the Wright Brothers insane? Bill Gates? Les Paul? Ali? Were we nuts when we pointed to the moon? That's right—we went up there, and you know what we got? Bored! So we left. Got a car up there, left the keys in it, do you know why? 'Cuz we're the only ones going back up there, that's why.
But I digress. It's pretty simple: You work hard, you create your own luck, and you gotta believe anything is possible.
As for all the stuff, that's the upside of only taking two weeks off in August. N'est-ce pas?
[winks]
I could spend the next six days of my life detailing everything I hate about this classist, nationalistic, privileged, contemptible piece of bootstraps bullshittery, but I'mma just turn it over to you in comments and let you have at it, since I've nothing to say about this rancid slop that I haven't already said about conservative ideology, the "American Dream," prosperity gospel, and other associated Gordon Gecko garbage a thousand times before. Barf almighty.
Daily Dose of Cute
So, the way the furniture in our living room is arranged, there's an opening between the ends of the chaise and the ottoman through which one has to walk to leave the room after being seated on the couch. And that opening is narrower than Dudley is long. Which means that at least once an evening, he positions himself so he blocks my path, trapping me in prime butt-scratchin' position.
And who can resist this face?
Not me! So I happily oblige him, giving his back haunches a good scratching, while he flops around happily, throws himself against my legs, grins over his shoulder at me, and rubs his face on the chaise. Until he is content. And then it's back to napping.
Video Description: Dudley rubs his face all over the chaise while I scratch his back. And then he walks around me in a circle, climbs up on the couch where I'd been sitting, and curls up to go to sleep.
* * *
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by wind.
Recommended Reading:
BYP: [Content Note: Racist violence] Retrial for Michael Dunn Murder Case Scheduled for May
Sarah: This 6-Year-Old Boy Is THE BEST
Trudy: [CN: Misogyny] "Dirty" Women
Michelle: [CN: Food insecurity] How Nutrition in One Generation Can Change the Genetics of the Next
Cristy: [CN: Fat hatred; sexual entitlement] Savage Love Re-Answer: My Wife Got Fat!
Andy: [CN: Homophobia] Anti-Gay Indiana State Senator Mike Delph Punished for Criticizing Fellow Republicans over Marriage Ban
Finally: Everything going on at The Feminist Wire right now (and always) is great. Go read everything!
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Björk: "Hyperballad"
This week's TMNS have been brought to you by some of my favorite songs.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today.
[Content Note: Guns; violence. Video may begin playing automatically at link.] There has been a mass shooting at the Northern Paiute Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office near the Oregon border, in which four people were killed and two more critically wounded after a "44-year-old former tribal leader identified as Sherie Lash, also known as Sherie Rhoades," pulled out a gun during an eviction hearing and began "systematically shooting" people, then picked up a knife after running out of ammunition. Alturas Police Chief Ken Barnes said, "This is like nothing I have had to deal with in my 25 years of being with the city of Alturas." Lash has been charged with homicide, attempted murder, child endangerment, and brandishing a weapon. My condolences to the entire community.
[CN: Violence] Hayes Brown, Kiley Kroh, and Igor Volsky have "Everything You Need to Know about the Growing Crisis in Ukraine." (Which is of course not literally everything, but it's a good start.) The Guardian's live coverage, as negotiations are taking place to end the protests, is here.
A petition protesting the controversial decision in women's figure skating has already gotten over a million signatures!
[CN: Class warfare] A new report by the Working Poor Families Project has found "that working single mothers, who head up more households than ever across the nation, are more likely to be in poverty than their married counterparts." There are not a few Republican members of Congress who have suggested that the solution to this issue is for single mothers to GET MARRIED, but that is not a serious policy solution. That is a stupid, misogynist, lazy shortcut invoked by people who don't want to oblige businesses to pay fair wages and don't want to robustly fund the social safety net.
John McCain says that if the next presidential election were tomorrow, Hillary Clinton would win. "I would bet, my friend, as much as I hate to admit it, that right now—this is why we have campaigns—but right now, if the election were tomorrow, Hillary Clinton would most likely be the president of the United States." He hastened to add: "She wouldn't be my candidate." HA HA SHE IS NOT ANYONE'S CANDIDATE BECAUSE SHE ISN'T RUNNING. (Yet. Maybe not ever. Etc.) Jesus Jones this shit is so annoying.
Have you noticed your Netflix streaming getting worse and worse? We sure have at Shakes Manor! It's terrible! Welp: "While ISPs would never admit to anything, a number of reports claim the slowdown is part of a standoff over the cost of carrying all that Netflix traffic. It seems Comcast, Verizon, and the other big names are happy to let Netflix degrade to make a point. ...The Wall Street Journal reports that Netflix traffic through internet backbone provider Cogent has quadrupled in the last six months as Netflix has expanded 1080p HD streams to all customers. ISPs are upset about the increased cost of delivering those bits to subscribers and want Netflix to pay additional fees to cover its usage. In an effort to compel the streaming company to agree, ISPs have allegedly delayed connection upgrades that would alleviate the increasing congestion." How terrific for consumers!
Dogs are basically people.
"They Weren't Used to Being the Supporting Cast."
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Recently, actress Olivia Wilde spoke to GRITtv on "The State of Female Justice" for V-Day. (Please read Lauren Chief Elk's important critique of V-Day here, which also applies to much of what Wilde was saying, i.e. she's speaking from the position of a privileged thin white straight cis able-bodied wealthy actress, so her perspective won't be universal among actresses.) I found this part of her address (via Bedhead) really interesting:
I don't know if some of you have been to these live reads at LACMA, where a classic film is read live on stage by actors who just sit and read the script. We did one recently of American Pie, but we reversed the gender roles. All the women played men; all the men played women. And it was so fascinating to be a part of this because, as the women took on these central roles — they had all the good lines, they had all the good laughs, all the great moments — the men who joined us to sit on stage started squirming rather uncomfortably and got really bored because they weren't used to being the supporting cast.All the mirthless laughter to fill the entire multiverse.
It was fascinating to feel their discomfort [and] to discuss it with them afterward, when they said, "It's boring to play the girl role!" And I said, "Yeah. Yeah. You think? Welcome to our world!"
The thing about this exercise is that, once it was finished, the (most privileged) men were able to go back to being fully realized and respected human beings. And the women walked out of the room being "the supporting cast" in their own lives, because that's what systemic oppression does. It reduces human beings who aren't born into undiluted privilege to people whose worth to their mainstream culture is based on their willingness to prop up the very systems that marginalize us.
Good
I love this headline: "Obama is done even pretending to work with Republicans." I love it SO MUCH.
Having seen his ambitious agenda run aground against Republican recalcitrance, Obama is pivoting to a more unilateral approach to achieve his goals. And when he must go through Congress, Obama has shown he's willing to eschew bipartisanship when it seems like an impossibility.RIGHT ON.
On Wednesday, the White House released some early details of the president's 2015 budget proposal, which is due out next month. The biggest news is that the budget will propose $56 billion in new spending, while dropping a key compromise that would result in smaller Social Security benefits. The latter idea, known as "chained CPI," would alter how the government calculates benefits increases for social welfare programs, and it's generally opposed by liberals. (You can read our more thorough explainer on chained CPI here.)
That might sound like an insignificant bit of wonky gibberish, but it's actually a sharp reversal. Obama proposed chained CPI in his budget last year, hoping it would convince Republicans to compromise on revenue increases. It was an attempt at striking that mythical "grand bargain" Obama and congressional Republicans have been talking about for years. But Republicans vehemently opposed any new tax revenue, and now Obama is no longer even offering the chained CPI carrot.
"Unfortunately, Republicans refused to even consider the possibility of raising some revenue," said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman. "That is an unfortunate policy choice that Republicans themselves have made."
To be sure, White House budget proposals are largely symbolic documents that outline a president's ideal budget, not the budget that will actually be passed by Congress. But by yanking a GOP-friendly proposal from the outset, Obama has made clear that negotiating with Republicans is a hopeless cause.
I wish so much time and energy hadn't been spent, and so many compromises offered, trying to negotiate with these buffoons in the first place, but better late than never.
Question of the Day
I'm coming over. We're spending the day together. What are we gonna do?
[Suggested by Shaker masculine_lady, who is, for real, an awesome question generating machine.]
Throwback Thursdays
Me, age 9, proudly showing off my Crap From Nature Collection.
[Please share your own throwback pix in comments. Just make sure the pix are just of you and/or you have consent to post from other living people in the pic. And please note that they don't have to be pictures from childhood, especially since childhood pix might be difficult for people who come from abusive backgrounds or have transitioned or lots of other reasons. It can be a picture from last week, if that's what works for you. And of course no one should feel obliged to share a picture at all! Only if it's fun!]
Try to Contain Your Enthusiasm
Because it is the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and fourteen, nine months before a midterm election and fully one million months before the next presidential election, we definitely need to talk about how Rick Santorum is totally running for president.
"Last time, we were having trouble getting our phone calls returned at this point," said John Brabender, Santorum's longtime political guru. "Now other people are calling that are credible consultants saying, 'Hey, is there space for me on the campaign somewhere?' We did not have that interest last time."LOL OH NOES!
Those close to Santorum also point to Patriot Voices, a political advocacy organization he created after his exit from the 2012 primaries, as a kind of campaign-in-waiting. The group, according to an adviser, has roughly 350 chapters of volunteers. And as CEO of the Dallas-based EchoLight Studios, a film company, Santorum has also spent a lot of time in Texas—which, as one adviser knowingly put it, is the "ATM of GOP politics."
Of course, organization will take Santorum only so far. It's with his messaging that the avowed foe of abortion rights and same-sex marriage has traditionally run into trouble. Santorum briefly defined himself as a working-class Republican candidate after his 2012 second-place finish in Iowa (a state where he was later declared the victor). But in the ensuing weeks, questions over his conservative views dogged him.
Santorum, who is Catholic, prides himself on not dodging questions about his cultural beliefs, and his advisers say he won't avoid them in a future campaign, even to the detriment of his overall cause. "I think the answer is ... [to be] more proactive talking about the other things," Brabender said.
But many Republicans remain convinced that no matter how much enthusiasm the Pennsylvanian garners among primary voters, a Santorum nomination would yield a defeat in November 2016 unlike any the party has seen since Barry Goldwater's in 1964. They caution that electability should weigh heavily on Republican primary voters, who could be stuck with at least four years of Hillary Clinton if the GOP doesn't nominate the right candidate.
It's truly inconceivable to me that there are people who would rather have Rick Santorum as their president than Hillary Clinton. I would sooner vote for a Hot Pocket filled with diseased and unsound animals than Rick Santorum.
Anyway.
Good luck to Rick Santorum! I'm sure he's going to do great, especially by not talking about his
Without the elaborate, intense, alarmist, hyberbolic
"Get a Job"
[Content Note: Class warfare; choice policing.]
It happens every other month like clockwork: Immediately after I post the fundraising reminder, my inbox lights up with messages from conservatives telling me to "get a job."
"If you want money so bad," goes one (typical) email I received earlier this week, "get a job like everyone else."
This is my job.
In this job, I am a writer, a researcher, a manager, a moderator, an editor, a (terrible) coder, a graphic designer, a mentor, and a de facto social worker: I communicate privately, in email threads that can last for weeks, with Shakers who have lost a loved one, have lost a job, have suffered an injury or trauma, are going through a relationship crisis, are having surgery, have just come out, have just had a baby, have just gotten engaged, are considering an abortion, a divorce, self-harm, need advice or just a sympathetic ear on any one of a million different subjects. I have reviewed résumés and served as a reference. I have found local (to them) psychiatrists, victims' advocates, a gay-friendly wedding planner, a trans-friendly doctor, a tax attorney, plus-sized clothiers.
And, like many jobs, my job does not come with healthcare benefits; it does not come with paid vacation or sick leave; it does not come with a guaranteed paycheck.
It also doesn't come with a boss, or a specific job description, or the respect afforded established careers.
And so it is casually dismissed out of hand as not a job at all.
Random emailers fire off their snarling missives like a scowling passerby might shout at a street busker performing near an upturned hat: "Get a job!"
To be a street performer is work just as much as the work I do is. But it's not work about which conservatives care. It's "having a job."
And if you have a job, of one kind or another, of which they don't approve, then comes the familiar variation: "Get a real job."
These admonishments come without a trace of irony that many people doing nontraditional work are leveraging nontraditional skills because we haven't been able to get "real" jobs in a shitty economy with high levels of unemployment.
I started blogging full-time after I was laid off from a "real" job—a job with a boss and a job description and set hours and a steady paycheck and healthcare benefits and paid time off—at the start of the recession and couldn't get an interview, no less the offer of a permanent position.
I did exactly what conservatives ostensibly want people to do: I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, and I worked extremely hard to use the time granted by misfortune to create a living for myself.
(Which, by virtue of my privileges made it easier for me to do than it would be for people without my privileges. And by virtue of my marginalizations made it more difficult for me to do that it would have been for people with privileges I don't have. It was not hard work alone; and it was harder work than it might otherwise have been.)
This not-a-real-job job, once I was being paid to do it, meant I stopped collecting unemployment before my benefits expired. Those are benefits to which I—and anyone who collects them—are entitled. But conservatives whine bitterly about people who use them. Yet they resent independent work that empowers people to stop using them.
I am speaking to my own experience, because that is what I know and I don't want to speak for anyone else. But I stand in solidarity with all the other people engaged in work that exposes them to a similar contempt.
Writers, bustlers, performers, hustlers—people who trade creative skills for an audience, who offer work in exchange for what their audience values their work to be, who leverage some entrepreneurial spirit that conservatives are meant to respect, who may end up being job creators in the process—we are all met with a special brand of hostility for doing precisely the things that conservatives say they want the moochers and takers to do.
Their boostrap rhetoric is bullshit because it casually elides that we are not all born with the same set of opportunities and access. And it's bullshit because, when presented with evidence of the very self-sufficiency they claim to hold in esteem, they sneer at it.
They denigrate the work, and the people doing it.
Because conservatives don't value work. They value "having a job"—a thing defined by the most privileged aspects of employment in the US.
If conservatives truly valued work, the way they claim, they would not be scolding people for failing to have "real" jobs. They would not ignore that some of the hardest work—parenting, elder care, community and charitable work—often goes totally unpaid. They would acknowledge, as is manifestly evident to anyone who pays the slightest bit of attention, that being poor makes surviving hard fucking work. They wouldn't cozily luxuriate in the silk-lined pockets of profit-driven corporations, where the realest of all real job holding executives aspire to get as rich as possible while doing fuck-all besides exploiting the labor of the people in their employ, because work is something other people do. Because work is for suckers.
I can't think of people less qualified to assess what constitutes a "real" job than people who are intractably hostile to real work.
I have a job. And I respect people's work, whatever its form, including my own.
[Shakesville is run entirely on donations. Please click here to donate.]
