I liked to think I was the Rizzo of the group, but I was probably the Sandy. |
Apr 26, 2012
Pals
Apr 25, 2012
How to Date a Single Mother
How to Date a Single Mother:
Apr 19, 2012
Pointing and Laughing
Like I always say...FUCK OFF...er, I was right. |
It’s not discrimination when you are asking tax payers and the government to financially support you. Just because someone passes a drug test does not mean they are drug free. I know tons of people who have collected their child’s urine in order to pass a test. Many people slip through the cracks. Millions.
This is a tough one for me…i was at the grocery store recently and the couple behind me smelled of pot so badly that my nose burned. When they paid for their groceries, they paid with a welfare debit card. Im all for helping the truly needy, but if u can afford to buy pot, I don’t need to buy your groceries.
Apr 8, 2012
Happy Easter!
"She sat in the silver moonlight, her breath fast, her heart pounding, her long, silky jackrabbit ears twitching at every sound. Her eyes were dark in a pale, human face. The Hounds had run her to exhaustion. But she must not sleep, for she had promised that she would watch over this land tonight. Who was it she had promised? The Spine Witch, or the Wood Mage, or perhaps even the One-Who-Sleeps -- she was going to have to remember now. To resist the pull of the animal-self and be present in this place and time, walking that linear human path that went so against her nature." -- Terri Windling, The Wood Wife
In the black furror of a field
I saw an old witch-hare this night;
And she cocked a lissome ear,
And she eyed the moon so bright,
And she nibbled of the green;
And I whispered "Whsst! witch-hare,"
Away like a ghostie o’er the field
She fled, and left the moonlight there.
~ a 19th century children’s poem by Walter de la Mare
Apr 5, 2012
Um, that's not feminism
Do what you wanna do, girl. I got your back. |
I bet her placenta is DELICIOUS! |
That the burdens of getting "natural" fall nearly exclusively on the shoulders of women---especially when babies come---is reason enough to take a step back and wonder if this isn't the same old oppression of women repackaged in shiny new organic wrapping.
Apr 4, 2012
Poetry Has Been Around the Block
I love slam poetry. The good stuff with some poignant swearing, double entendre and a clear message.
There are poets I know, who shall remain nameless, that don’t view slam poetry as real “poetry.” Poetry is something of academia, movements…LITERARY. Slam is viewed as some sort of bastardized child that resulted from the one night that poetry broke up with nonfiction for a night and slept with rap.
I don’t view it that way. I think poetry took some lovers (and shit, why WOULDN’T it): hip hop, soul, R&B, civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights, and stayed friends after. Birthed a few beatniks and revolutionaries; true poets wandering the line of nonfictional storytelling, musical expression, and filmic scene. Mudblood poets who deserve their full birthright. I think montage and monologue got a lot of action, too. Is there any shame in that? I don’t think so.
Do I have a point? Well, not particularly during these wee hours of the morning, but I will say this, poetry is poetry, whether it sits on the page or comes writhing out of our lips in front of a crowd.
Check out these links and go see The Whirlwind Company perform here in Spokane on April 13th.
Apr 1, 2012
Over-the-Counter Birth Control: Win Win for Everyone?
As a mother of three daughters (two are now older teenagers), I can see the good side of easy access to birth control, believe me. As a woman who loves her birth control madly and who, being a teenager once, feared the scrutiny of physicians and her parents but had unprotected sex any way, I like the idea of lifting a stigma or two. Making birth control pills OTC - offering up a little Kiosk for diagnosis even more reliable than a doctor - is a way to potentially side-step the recent political war going on between “religious employers” bitching about being forced to pay for insurance covering “women’s health.” I use the quotes here because the terms have been twisted into all sorts of alternative terms, depending upon your approach and side, “women’s health” especially – a.k.a. “slutiness” “whoredom” “prostitution.” If we make the Pill OTC, then we can tell everybody it’s up to the woman and only the woman, so the rest of the controlling world can shut the fuck up.
I’m all about short-cuts and easier paths. I’m one of those people who will cut across the pretty grass (barefoot, if possible) if it saves me a minute. But I think in our efforts to make things easier, we need to be careful not to overlook those who need the Pill the most. If the Pill becomes OTC, then the funding and livelihood of places like Planned Parenthood become absolutely VITAL.
Places like Planned Parenthood will be needed more than ever to provide birth control for those who need it most at reduced costs or FREE, otherwise making such pills OTC doesn’t offer much help for those who truly need it. I’m talking about those who qualify for and rely upon state health insurances or those who can’t even qualify for state health insurances, as the qualifying maze is too often impossible. We're not all able to slip into a drug store, buy our pills, and walk back out with a little brown bag and a shrug. The first thing I thought of when I read about this was the teenager who lives in poverty (most likely to become pregnant) who barely has a pot to piss in, let alone the money to afford the potential OTC cost of the Pill. And I’m not a pro when it comes to economy, but I could foresee the pill if it goes over-the-counter as not being cheap, simply because it will be high demand. Please tell me if I’m wrong (I am all for easing my worries). We should remember that carrying birth control on store shelves at all becomes up to the scrutiny of private store-owners, owners of massive chains like WalGreens and Wal-mart, which means more control in the hands of the great money makers who have proven themselves to be terrifyingly influential in our ways of living.
Here's what I know: my family and I have received state insurance before, and we have gone to many state-funded clinics. When you have a condition and the clinic’s physician looks at you and says, “Go buy this as treatment. It’s over-the-counter” (an action far more common today than it once was), your heart can drop. That treatment can cost more OTC than you can afford to spend. Of course, you can’t spend money you don’t have, especially if you’re receiving a tiny TANF check. You will skip the OTC suggestion. Or you will lie, tell him or her you’ve tried the OTC treatment before, and it doesn’t work, whatever it takes to get them to give you a prescription that will be covered by your insurance so there is no out-of-pocket expense, so you might instead pay your mother-fucking rent. And you will continue to lose faith in your doctor and in a system who refuses to understand what it’s like living in poverty.
Women who are below poverty level (and there are lots) need to have free and easy access to birth control. The Pill OTC doesn't necessarily solve that - in fact, in many cases, it makes access harder. The OTC solution won’t work so well if profit and the values of private business are left as priority over the good of all people.
To me, offering the Pill OTC feels like a sneaky way to appease the middle class woman (who actually has a voice).