i drove into the ymca parking lot, listening to "no man's woman" (sinead o'connor, folks), and parked my car. on my way into the y, i was approached by a jock-y looking, youngish man, whom i had never seen before.
man (in surfer/southern talk, with poor enunciation): "hey, how's it going?"
me: "i'm well, thanks."
man: "what are you doing tonight? are you going out?"
me: "no, i'm going home to make dinner."
man: "oh. for your husband?"
me: "no, for my girlfriend."
man: "your girlfriend?"
me: "yes."
man: "like she's really your real girlfriend?"
me: "yes."
man: "cool. so are you guys married?"
me: "no..."
man: "why not?"
me: .......
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
good lady
last night we went to go see debra haffner, who was giving a lecture at vanderbilt.
she is neat. you can read her blog here.
she is an ordained minister, and a sexologist, and she does work around sexual justice which is FABULOUS. towards the beginning of her talk she asked the audience how many people received positive messages, as children, about their body/sexuality from their faith tradition. maybe two people raised their hands. then she asked how many people received negative messages -- half the audience (including this bunny). how many people received NO message -- half the audience. sad sad sad state of affairs!! she went on to talk about how the bible affirms our bodies and our sexuality as life fulfilling gifts....that are meant to be enjoyed. then she talked about how fucked our culture is about sex. this is the part where i get kind of alarmed, and disgruntled.....
something about which i want to get on my soapbox is "abstinence only education". see, the same people that advocate for abstinence only education also advocate for making abortion illegal. consider that every year in america, there are roughly A MILLION unintended pregnancies. so what we should do is not teach people how to prevent pregnancy, and then make sure that when they do get pregnant, they have no option except to carry the baby to term. it makes so much sense, i don't know how i didn't think of it myself. and of COURSE if you don't teach kids about sex, they won't figure it out until they are married.
debra also shared the astounding information that somewhere up in the northeast, there is this catholic hospital (which i'm sure is one of many) that refuses to provide emergency contraception......to victims of rape and incest. i work with survivors of domestic violence, and several months ago i spent some time at the shelter with a lovely, gentle 18 year old college student, who had just found out she was pregnant with her father's child. we're really going to tell her that she has to have that baby? really?
i'll get off my soapbox for now, but still. go see her blog and learn about the work she is doing. especially if you are a woman and you don't want men making decisions about what you can and can't do with your body. maybe it will turn out that women have the capacity to make wise, compassionate, well-reasoned decisions all by themselves.
she is neat. you can read her blog here.
she is an ordained minister, and a sexologist, and she does work around sexual justice which is FABULOUS. towards the beginning of her talk she asked the audience how many people received positive messages, as children, about their body/sexuality from their faith tradition. maybe two people raised their hands. then she asked how many people received negative messages -- half the audience (including this bunny). how many people received NO message -- half the audience. sad sad sad state of affairs!! she went on to talk about how the bible affirms our bodies and our sexuality as life fulfilling gifts....that are meant to be enjoyed. then she talked about how fucked our culture is about sex. this is the part where i get kind of alarmed, and disgruntled.....
something about which i want to get on my soapbox is "abstinence only education". see, the same people that advocate for abstinence only education also advocate for making abortion illegal. consider that every year in america, there are roughly A MILLION unintended pregnancies. so what we should do is not teach people how to prevent pregnancy, and then make sure that when they do get pregnant, they have no option except to carry the baby to term. it makes so much sense, i don't know how i didn't think of it myself. and of COURSE if you don't teach kids about sex, they won't figure it out until they are married.
debra also shared the astounding information that somewhere up in the northeast, there is this catholic hospital (which i'm sure is one of many) that refuses to provide emergency contraception......to victims of rape and incest. i work with survivors of domestic violence, and several months ago i spent some time at the shelter with a lovely, gentle 18 year old college student, who had just found out she was pregnant with her father's child. we're really going to tell her that she has to have that baby? really?
i'll get off my soapbox for now, but still. go see her blog and learn about the work she is doing. especially if you are a woman and you don't want men making decisions about what you can and can't do with your body. maybe it will turn out that women have the capacity to make wise, compassionate, well-reasoned decisions all by themselves.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
career tips
on the way home tonight, julie told me that her boss said, today: "if i ever get to the point where my quality of life is just awful, i hope someone will kill me." julie answered, cheerily, "i'll kill ya!"
i would not include this on my list of top ten things to say to your boss when you want to keep your job.
i would not include this on my list of top ten things to say to your boss when you want to keep your job.
Monday, March 27, 2006
this just in
big breakthrough this evening. julie, upon observing mercy sniffing around in a manner that suggested she needed to "get busy," asked mercy if she wanted to go outside. then.....mercy went to the door! brilliant!
mercy is our puppy. she just had her 3 month birthday. she is the only daughter of starbucks, a chihuaha, and nin, a yorkie-something mix. last week i declared that if she didn't get housebroken soon, i was going to put her in a diaper and say to hell with it. fortunately for the whole family, mercy has shown great improvement with pooping outside. probably mostly due to the fact that when she poops outside, we act as if she has laid a golden egg, and then we give her a cookie. she would sell her soul for a cookie. let's see if i can figure out how to post her most recent portrait.
mercy is our puppy. she just had her 3 month birthday. she is the only daughter of starbucks, a chihuaha, and nin, a yorkie-something mix. last week i declared that if she didn't get housebroken soon, i was going to put her in a diaper and say to hell with it. fortunately for the whole family, mercy has shown great improvement with pooping outside. probably mostly due to the fact that when she poops outside, we act as if she has laid a golden egg, and then we give her a cookie. she would sell her soul for a cookie. let's see if i can figure out how to post her most recent portrait.
brilliant! this doesn't really do her justice, but it will have to suffice for now.
introductions
i don't know what any of this blogging mumbo jumbo means. template? settings? i will have to have one of my technologically literate friends help me.
in the meantime....
we should keep things simple.
here is the down and dirty, nitty gritty, to be elaborated on later. this is like a cast of characters.
first, there's me. i have a job, which i don't like. i'm going to vanderbilt divinity school in the fall, which makes me want to pee my pants. i rent a house, which i like. and i live in the house with my girlfriend, julie, who i love and adore. we have three pets (mercy, bean, and simone) who keep us on our toes. never a dull moment. sometimes bean thinks that a good place to sit is on my keyboard when i am typing -- like right now. more about her later.
so the main characters, for now, are me, julie, mercy, bean, and simone.
in the meantime....
we should keep things simple.
here is the down and dirty, nitty gritty, to be elaborated on later. this is like a cast of characters.
first, there's me. i have a job, which i don't like. i'm going to vanderbilt divinity school in the fall, which makes me want to pee my pants. i rent a house, which i like. and i live in the house with my girlfriend, julie, who i love and adore. we have three pets (mercy, bean, and simone) who keep us on our toes. never a dull moment. sometimes bean thinks that a good place to sit is on my keyboard when i am typing -- like right now. more about her later.
so the main characters, for now, are me, julie, mercy, bean, and simone.
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