Giant Lego Man Appears on Beach

For some reason I can't stop laughing at this headline.

Full article here.

Boy do I have a lot to learn about racism

This is a stream of consciousness, so bare with me. Or bare with me. Or try and bear me.

First off, I got some good feedback about my Write to Marry blog post. It was really really good.

Try this on - it fit me pretty well when it was presented to me: It was from a position of white privilege (or you could call it white supremacy if you were ok with not getting freaked out by the term white supremacy) that I could write that racism and homophobia are the same. They are not the same (yes they are discrimination and there it ends) and they are so not the same that I realize how utterly retarded I sounded in writing that. But yet, part of me knew that I was writing out of total stupidity and hoped I would get some feedback. And I did. Some good comments, but more importantly some very excellent conversations with friends and colleagues.

This is making me think of last week when I pondered the idea of getting a Barack t-shirt that had a black fist in the background. Exactly what the fuck would I be doing, and who exactly do I think am to be wearing that? I don't know what it's like to be black. I am kind of embarrassed that I even suggested it. But I will pick myself up, brush myself off and keep my head and heart open.

I don't feel defensive. I just want to get it, whatever it is I need to get as a white person of privilege. I realize that there isn't just one thing to get and that it is a series of "both/ands", nuances, history, complexities and owning uncomfortable truths.

I had this constructive conversation with a running partner this morning about white privilege/white supremacy and it left me realizing how much I have to learn and absorb. How I really don't understand at all how the slave economy and its trickle downs are still with us today... And while I know about Emancapation Proclamation and I can talk about Jim Crow, I didn't really take the time to understand all of the implications, because as white person, I didn't really have to. I don't know much, (fuck i barely graduated from college) but I want to know more.

I want everyone (us whiteys) to be unafraid of learning and getting a deeper understanding of this because it will trickle up and make our communities better places to live and more connected to each other.

Am I making any sense? Do I sound like a syrupy infomercial? I am writing it all down not caring so much how I look to you, my dear reader, but so I can look back and build on this. I would also like feedback because I don't learn well by reading my own streams of consciousness - I learn by getting my ass kicked by my community.

I just want to get this out while I am starting to puzzle out my position of privilege and what it means and how I can learn from it.

Write to Marry Day

Proposition 8 is about discrimination. Period.
As a straight, married, white, middle/working class, middlewestern woman, I do not see how our country can afford to spend one more minute legislating hatefulness.

I want to weep when I listen to people who seem to have lost sight that Jesus preached love, acceptance (and a good dose of anti-imperialism if you are really paying attention).

He told us to Love our neighbors like ourselves. Might I remind these Christian folks that as a betting woman, I am going to say that Jesus meant all your damn neighbors, not just the ones that you choose. All this leads me to conclude (because I love making sweeping conclusions) that there must be a lot of self-hate out there folks.

I'm just saying.

It's not that mysterious - men loving men and women loving women, or people loving people. I think that if people who are so afraid of "gay marriage" actually met some gay folks, they would be sadly disappointed to find out that they are humans. This isn't a freak show (though I am ok with freak shows for people who want to attend them), these are just HUMAN BEINGS. And in our country HUMAN BEINGS get the same rights whether you like it or not. I don't particularly like bigots, but I certainly don't want them to go without health care. I don't have a lot of time for women who wear too much make up either, but they certainly have the right to make medical decisions for their spouses.

WHERE IS THE TOLERANCE PEOPLE? If you surrender to a little tolerance, hell, you might just learn a thing or two.

*******

You know, I am just so angry about it. And the joke of it all is that it really isn't that mysterious. These homophobes are making a complete mountain out of nothing. Absolutely nothing. Being gay and lesbian isn't really that exotic or mysterious (I have a couple of queer friends who would be disappointed that I am "outing" their Regularity.... )

I am not sure if anyone knows this, but lesbian and gay couples still have to do their laundry, they still have to pay their electric bills....they still need grass seed and snow shovels and diapers and laundry detergent. Oh and they still have to call plumbers and they still get bats in their houses. They watch Monday night football and eat too much Top the Tater. They have poor grammar and high cholesterol and need mammograms. They are generally better writers than most of us.

*********

I have two boys, ages 7 and 4. I hope that someday we are going to look back at this time in history and say, "Boy, wasn't homophobia fucked up?" To me, it is EXACTLY THE SAME as Racism. I know, I know. I am a white person saying that. But there you go. I don't see the difference. Black folks couldn't vote. They couldn't drink water out of the same fountain. They had to sit at the back of the bus. They had shitty access to education.

Gays and lesbians can't get legally married, they have to adopt their own children, they can't make medical decisions for their partners unless they spend money on attorney fees. They can't get family coverage for their health insurance.

That to me is just two sides of the same coin - That big ugly coin called Discrimination.

It's not about you. This isn't going to affect you. You will go on with your life much the same way it was. What this is about is giving all humans access to basic privileges that we have here. White straight people don't get the corner on the basic rights and privileges market. It is time for everyone to be included. Vote no on Proposition 8.

Positively middlewestern comfort food, part twelve

How many times have I posted a photo of food I have prepared for the family? Let's say twelve.



Here are my photos of a beef stew I made last week with a Vinho Verde that I had leftover from a trip to the cabin. I try to be artistic with the lighting and the angle, but when you have a 5 year old Canon Elf Power Shot, your options are still the same as they were in 1974, when you were tried taking artistic photos of Mickey Mouse at Disneyland with your Instamatic.



Wish you could have come over for dinner.

White people wouldn't like this

Augie got to give me $20 after he spent the day banging this against a park bench at camp.

I am a happy federalist

"Taxes are the price we pay for civilization" - Oliver Wendell Holmes.

In the event you don't know who Oliver is, click here.

This is a Public Service Announcement

Yes folks, my loose fingers have gotten me in trouble again. As a result of my temporary insanity, I have been forced to make my blog Private and Restricted, yet again.

Just for a couple of weeks while I head off some unwanted traffic.

And now you may return to your regularly scheduled lurking.

One of my favorite things.

My cousin Tom needed a place for his sailboat to live. So, somehow our friends and their extended family agreed to let it live at their cabin. Then somehow this morphed into me shepherding the simple maintainence of the boat, and basically being the only one to sail it all summer.

I had a sailboat with my dad when I was in my 20's. I taught rich girls how to sail at an Unnamed Rich Girl Summer Camp. I learned how to sail at said Rich Girl Camp myself.
I kept a boat at a little Y camp where I worked during college. I hadn't been sailing in several years and it has been fun this summer to puzzle out how this little C-Lark works.

Here are some photos of it's last trip before we put it away for the winter:

Beautiful photo eh? Taken by my friend Peggy McKenna.

God, If I could spend the whole summer doing this, I might actually avoid a nervous breakdown in August.

You may ask why we took the sails down - I will tell you. We were running downwind, directly toward our beach. I wasn't that familiar with how the little boat handled, so I decided to play it safe and take the main sail down and let the jib bring us in - it worked like a charm.

Vikki (seated) and me at the beach after a very beautiful run.

Dr Hammer I presume?

Brian and I participated in a murdery mystery role playing game with other parents from school over the weekend. It was a living breathing Clue - set in Victorian England. I played Dr. Hammer, the murder victim's private physician, and Brian played a pompous-assed, gambling scoundrel, Lord Blenkinsop.

Trying to emulate the grim photos of yore.

Sterling Verity, the rich and pompous landowner (Kristen Brown); Lord Blenkinsop (Brian); Pat Hardy the gentle teacher (Edie Karras) and me, Dr. Hammer.

The Sign in our Yard