So I'm watching The Daily Show on Hulu and the commercials between the segments are for Ketel One vodka. I'm a vodka girl and have nothing against Ketel One but I was struck by how gender specific their marketing was. They made no mention of women in any of the three commercials I saw and all the ads focus exclusively on men as their subjects only using women as sex objects in passing.
I couldn't help but feel slightly unnerved that a brand would market itself as gender specific especially a brand of food/liquor. It just doesn't seem right.
Check it out...
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Battle for the Sun
It's 
here!!
My favorite band in the whole of the world is Placebo. They have managed to hold that spot longer than any other musical act in my life. When I was 14 I discovered their album "Without You I'm Nothing" and felt a strange sense of auditory belonging. The words and sounds made sense in my twisted and confused world of teen angst. They have managed to stay contemporary with my life as I have changed.
Their sound has evolved greatly since they released "Without You I'm Nothing"(WYIN) and changes from album to album. Each new album has shown new levels of lyrical complexity and musical challenge. Their first album had a very raw and untrained sound but "Battle for the Sun" has a much more refined sound, so much so that the band seems more comfortable playing around with the musical structure of their songs.
The musical logistics aside, the lyrics have certainly moved from drug fueled crazy to clear messages and metaphors built surprisingly well. I've learned to not expect much from my lyrics but Placebo has blown me away with "Meds" and now with "Battle for the Sun".
If you have the chance you should listen to this album a few times. The first time you hear it you won't get the full effect. The more you hear it, the more you grow to appreciate the nuances and craftsmanship.
It's a great album from a great band. I'm psyched to see what they do next but for now I am more than happy to enjoy their latest work.
here!!My favorite band in the whole of the world is Placebo. They have managed to hold that spot longer than any other musical act in my life. When I was 14 I discovered their album "Without You I'm Nothing" and felt a strange sense of auditory belonging. The words and sounds made sense in my twisted and confused world of teen angst. They have managed to stay contemporary with my life as I have changed.
Their sound has evolved greatly since they released "Without You I'm Nothing"(WYIN) and changes from album to album. Each new album has shown new levels of lyrical complexity and musical challenge. Their first album had a very raw and untrained sound but "Battle for the Sun" has a much more refined sound, so much so that the band seems more comfortable playing around with the musical structure of their songs.
The musical logistics aside, the lyrics have certainly moved from drug fueled crazy to clear messages and metaphors built surprisingly well. I've learned to not expect much from my lyrics but Placebo has blown me away with "Meds" and now with "Battle for the Sun".
If you have the chance you should listen to this album a few times. The first time you hear it you won't get the full effect. The more you hear it, the more you grow to appreciate the nuances and craftsmanship.
It's a great album from a great band. I'm psyched to see what they do next but for now I am more than happy to enjoy their latest work.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
"Switching Sides Later In Life" a blog response
So there's a post up on Huffington Post about "switching sides later in life" and I can't help but feel it misses the whole point.
While I appreciate this post I also have fundamental issues with the idea that there are "sides" to sexuality. The inherent hetero/homo dichotomy is unfair to the vast majority of people who have attraction to both sexes, even if not on a major scale, but are pushed to ignore them in favor of a single sex preference.
The gay community is just as, if not more, guilty than the straight community in this regard. We inherently distrust people who openly identify as bisexual and force them to hide who they are so we feel more comfortable.
How hypocritical is that?
I expect that people are going to come after me for my opinions but I feel strongly that there HAS to be a safe middle ground where people are allowed to exist without labels of hetero/homo/bi or even man/woman just to make others feel more comfortable. As long as these categories persist the biases and discrimination surrounding them will continue to exist as well.
I understand that many people feel we are better with these categories and expectations but I genuinely feel that we would be better off simply viewing each other as "human beings" rather than man, woman, straight, gay, bi, christian, muslim, jewish, black, or white.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
While I appreciate this post I also have fundamental issues with the idea that there are "sides" to sexuality. The inherent hetero/homo dichotomy is unfair to the vast majority of people who have attraction to both sexes, even if not on a major scale, but are pushed to ignore them in favor of a single sex preference.
The gay community is just as, if not more, guilty than the straight community in this regard. We inherently distrust people who openly identify as bisexual and force them to hide who they are so we feel more comfortable.
How hypocritical is that?
I expect that people are going to come after me for my opinions but I feel strongly that there HAS to be a safe middle ground where people are allowed to exist without labels of hetero/homo/bi or even man/woman just to make others feel more comfortable. As long as these categories persist the biases and discrimination surrounding them will continue to exist as well.
I understand that many people feel we are better with these categories and expectations but I genuinely feel that we would be better off simply viewing each other as "human beings" rather than man, woman, straight, gay, bi, christian, muslim, jewish, black, or white.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Art is relative
These are various photos I've taken over the years that I'm particularly proud of. They're not amazing but They're significant to me.
I like the way the only clear thing in the picture is Andrea smiling. Just a friend but a beautiful one.
My sister named this picture "Persephone" and I quite like that name.
I kind of feel like this photo explains my entire relationship with Fae. It's all blurry and distinguishing what's actually there and what isn't is almost impossible.
Allison was so amazing and beautiful and trying to capture that in a photograph was almost impossible. This was the closest I ever came.
I still miss her but I wish her all the happiness the world could possibly offer.
If you haven't seen the movie Cashback you totally should.
I like the way the only clear thing in the picture is Andrea smiling. Just a friend but a beautiful one.
My sister named this picture "Persephone" and I quite like that name.
I kind of feel like this photo explains my entire relationship with Fae. It's all blurry and distinguishing what's actually there and what isn't is almost impossible.
Allison was so amazing and beautiful and trying to capture that in a photograph was almost impossible. This was the closest I ever came.I still miss her but I wish her all the happiness the world could possibly offer.
If you haven't seen the movie Cashback you totally should.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
It's all about the dots.
My reflection and life philosophy.
Fair warning: I abandoned grammar some hours ago and am now going for broke.
I honestly loved this class. I know I dropped off the face of the earth halfway through and was kinda craptastic about regular upkeep but I still loved this class and I loved the chance to really examine something I see as on the rise and important- blogs in the context of activism.
I see the human spirit as having so much potential. My entire life philosophy is based on the painting "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. This idea doesn't make a lot of sense until you know what the painting is made of . The painting is made up of tiny individual dots of paint, millions of them. There isn't a single brushstroke on the canvas.
My theory is that life is a canvas and each of us is a blank dot. As we live our lives we fill our dots up. We can either have our dots be beautiful and contribute to the end result being beautiful or we can contribute to the painting being ugly. What will your dot look like? What can we do to make the dots around us more beautiful? What can we do to make the whole painting more beautiful?
I also feel that each act in our lives is a dot within our dots. Our lives add up to those things we accomplished and those lives we touched and those people we loved and were loved by. All of these things are part of the picture.
It's hard to create change more than a few dots beyond yourself but with blogging and the internet we are starting to reach a point where entire portions of the picture are able to shift quickly to being more beautiful, more loving, more accepting. The ideas and changes and words move quickly across the globe.
In this class I enjoyed reading as people grew and changed and became more comfortable with themselves as bloggers. I'm excited to see where everyone goes from here. The potential is just mind blowing.
I want to thank everyone for being supportive and amazing and really building a blogging community. It rocked and I hope everyone continues their blogs because I'll keep reading them...
PS: I apologize if "the dots" analogy got long winded and weird and incomprehensible. I'll try to explain it more clearly at a later date.
You guys rock!!
Fair warning: I abandoned grammar some hours ago and am now going for broke.
I honestly loved this class. I know I dropped off the face of the earth halfway through and was kinda craptastic about regular upkeep but I still loved this class and I loved the chance to really examine something I see as on the rise and important- blogs in the context of activism.
My theory is that life is a canvas and each of us is a blank dot. As we live our lives we fill our dots up. We can either have our dots be beautiful and contribute to the end result being beautiful or we can contribute to the painting being ugly. What will your dot look like? What can we do to make the dots around us more beautiful? What can we do to make the whole painting more beautiful?
I also feel that each act in our lives is a dot within our dots. Our lives add up to those things we accomplished and those lives we touched and those people we loved and were loved by. All of these things are part of the picture.
It's hard to create change more than a few dots beyond yourself but with blogging and the internet we are starting to reach a point where entire portions of the picture are able to shift quickly to being more beautiful, more loving, more accepting. The ideas and changes and words move quickly across the globe.
In this class I enjoyed reading as people grew and changed and became more comfortable with themselves as bloggers. I'm excited to see where everyone goes from here. The potential is just mind blowing.
I want to thank everyone for being supportive and amazing and really building a blogging community. It rocked and I hope everyone continues their blogs because I'll keep reading them...
PS: I apologize if "the dots" analogy got long winded and weird and incomprehensible. I'll try to explain it more clearly at a later date.
You guys rock!!
Badass Bits&Bobs
My first category is WebComics. The ones I list here are all drawn by women
My next category is blogs
- DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary- The webcomic diary of a queer feminist and artist. Hilarious and brilliant.
- Girls With Slingshots- A webcomic that follows a writer named Hazel in her many adventures in life involving relationships, drinking, a slightly retarded cat, and a talking cactus. It's much better than I make it sound.
- Lackadaisy- The reason I list this comic is because the art is beautiful and the content is brilliant and well researched. It sounds nerdy but it's true and it's amazing for it. A comic about anthropomorphic cats running a speakeasy in prohibition era St Louis. Just look at the art if nothing else.
My next category is blogs
- The Huffington Post- It is the mothership of blogging. An excellent and amazing source for progressive news and information as well as host to a massive list of A-List bloggers.
- Life as an Underage Lesbian- I love following this blog because it's simply the life adventures of a young lesbian living life underage. It's well written and has some very good stories and insights.
- Vive la Vida- This is the blog of a woman I worked with on the Obama campaign. I'm asking you to please check it out because it has her videos from her recent trip to Rwanda to help film a documentary there. It's amazing and beautiful and Ash is a seriously brilliant little lady. The videos are incredible.
- Genderfork- It's very cool stuff about gender theory and gender queer etc.
- Compatible Partners- eHarmony was forced to launch a gay dating site after losing a lawsuit. This is their new site.
- Whitehouse.gov- Our government went 2.0 and it's definitely worth checking out.
- How To Kill A Mocking Bird- It's a flash video version of a book report by that one kid in the class who only read the first four chapters of the book and then made the rest up. It's long but it's hilarious.
- The Rachel Maddow Show- Because I wouldn't be a proper fangirl if I didn't promote her
Gender is a light board not a switch
reading response to "The Gendercator"
When I walk into a dark room the first thing I look for is a light switch. On means light. Off means it's dark. There is no nuance to the lighting. In theatre we can have up to hundreds of lights with different colors and intensities. They can have moving designs. They can move where they are pointing on the stage. All of this information is stored on a massive board that looks like something you would see in a recording studio or Star Trek.
As a lighting tech I appreciate how a lighting design in and of itself is art. The changes in brightness and color and the speed with which the lights shift, the addition of movement, subtle shifts, all of these add up to a symphony of light. It sounds lame but it's so beautiful. Lighting is so amazing and beautiful and makes so many things what they are and no two lighting designers will design a show or a cue the exact same way. In theatre the lights vary for each person. Gender is the same way. There are more than two options in gender and people so often miss that fact. We are not all Barbies and GI Joes.
In reading about how the blogosphere responded to "The Gendercator" I noticed a split into two camps. One group was furious that the LGBT community would turn on its own members and the other group agreed with the concepts and felt that trans individuals were bringing unwanted masculinity or male-ness into strictly female spaces and that lesbians were succumbing to what males wanted when they chose to bend their genders.
This is what I was ranting about in the beginning: the accusation that people of alternative genders are sometimes not welcomed in "feminist" spaces because they are neither feminine nor masculine. There is almost always an accusation of bringing male-ness into female space when feminists argue against acceptance of transgender individuals. This pisses me off because feminists are arguing for the equal rights and protection of women but arguing that transgender indivudals do not deserve the same rights. WTF?
I think that's against the rules of logic.
I am constantly stunned by the amount of bias in a community of "outsiders" who want "equal rights". There is both a hatred of Trans people and of Bisexuals in the LGBT community. Which, I suppose, would make it the LG community. It's outright prejudice and discrimination and stuns me everytime I see it. I'm infuriated that my own "community," that "my family" would turn against me like this. I would like to not be pigeonholed plzthx.
I think the blogosphere has the ability and the obligation to expose this ugly discrimination in the LGBT community and help push for more acceptance and tolerance the way people did in reaction to "The Gendercator".
If a tool can be used for good then it should be used for good.
When I walk into a dark room the first thing I look for is a light switch. On means light. Off means it's dark. There is no nuance to the lighting. In theatre we can have up to hundreds of lights with different colors and intensities. They can have moving designs. They can move where they are pointing on the stage. All of this information is stored on a massive board that looks like something you would see in a recording studio or Star Trek.
As a lighting tech I appreciate how a lighting design in and of itself is art. The changes in brightness and color and the speed with which the lights shift, the addition of movement, subtle shifts, all of these add up to a symphony of light. It sounds lame but it's so beautiful. Lighting is so amazing and beautiful and makes so many things what they are and no two lighting designers will design a show or a cue the exact same way. In theatre the lights vary for each person. Gender is the same way. There are more than two options in gender and people so often miss that fact. We are not all Barbies and GI Joes.
In reading about how the blogosphere responded to "The Gendercator" I noticed a split into two camps. One group was furious that the LGBT community would turn on its own members and the other group agreed with the concepts and felt that trans individuals were bringing unwanted masculinity or male-ness into strictly female spaces and that lesbians were succumbing to what males wanted when they chose to bend their genders.
This is what I was ranting about in the beginning: the accusation that people of alternative genders are sometimes not welcomed in "feminist" spaces because they are neither feminine nor masculine. There is almost always an accusation of bringing male-ness into female space when feminists argue against acceptance of transgender individuals. This pisses me off because feminists are arguing for the equal rights and protection of women but arguing that transgender indivudals do not deserve the same rights. WTF?
I think that's against the rules of logic.
I am constantly stunned by the amount of bias in a community of "outsiders" who want "equal rights". There is both a hatred of Trans people and of Bisexuals in the LGBT community. Which, I suppose, would make it the LG community. It's outright prejudice and discrimination and stuns me everytime I see it. I'm infuriated that my own "community," that "my family" would turn against me like this. I would like to not be pigeonholed plzthx.
I think the blogosphere has the ability and the obligation to expose this ugly discrimination in the LGBT community and help push for more acceptance and tolerance the way people did in reaction to "The Gendercator".
If a tool can be used for good then it should be used for good.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wikipedia = Legit
blog response....?
When doing research for my response to the Dating a Banker Anonymous reading I stumbled across a blog entry about the use of Wikipedia in academic settings. My professors always make a point of telling our classes to never use Wikipedia. Most academics refuse to use it as any kind of source. Unfortunately for them the new generation of students have grown up wired and understand the benefits of making the knowledge of the world OpenSource.
The ability to build something like Wikipedia which now has sourcing and notifications if information seems dodgy, is utterly astonishing. By building it in the public domain and making it publicly accessible then all of a sudden the ability to instantly add new pop culture pheonmena, update information, add statistics, and tweak and finetune vast quantities of information instantly. How freaking cool is that?
I love this particular blog post because it addresses the four major arguments against using Wikipedia and effectively neuters them. It's worth a read.
The post is here at the Digital Scholarship in the Humanities blog.
In short: We Win!!!
When doing research for my response to the Dating a Banker Anonymous reading I stumbled across a blog entry about the use of Wikipedia in academic settings. My professors always make a point of telling our classes to never use Wikipedia. Most academics refuse to use it as any kind of source. Unfortunately for them the new generation of students have grown up wired and understand the benefits of making the knowledge of the world OpenSource.
The ability to build something like Wikipedia which now has sourcing and notifications if information seems dodgy, is utterly astonishing. By building it in the public domain and making it publicly accessible then all of a sudden the ability to instantly add new pop culture pheonmena, update information, add statistics, and tweak and finetune vast quantities of information instantly. How freaking cool is that?
I love this particular blog post because it addresses the four major arguments against using Wikipedia and effectively neuters them. It's worth a read.
The post is here at the Digital Scholarship in the Humanities blog.
In short: We Win!!!
Don't Ask Don't Tell: why institutionalized discrimination is STOOPID
blog response number... thing.
"Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television."
Dear Lord. What does it say about our country that we institutionalize discrimination to the point that we are willing to turn away ready, willing, enthusiastic, and amazing men and women from serving our country in uniform. And because of what? Because of who they love? Because of who they sleep with? ...that's some solid reasoning, right there.
After coming out on Rachel Maddow's cable news show on March 19, 2009 Lt. Dan Choi explained why Don't Ask Don't Tell is a bad idea, bad policy, and just generally negative. During the segment Maddow asks Lt. Choi if he could lose his job for coming on television and saying this. He admits that he could but stands firm that his position is both morally and legally correct.
As of May 5, 2009 he was notified that
How is this fair? If he refuses to resign and essentially admit that being gay is wrong then he will be given a dishonorable discharge. WTF?!?! He's an Iraq vet and a Westpoint Graduate!!!! I'm so angry that our government has discrimination as public policy. I'm so mad that they are wasting money kicking good people out of the military, people who want to serve.
How is this right?
How is it right to make hate part of government sanctioned policy and therefore validate homophobia?
If you think about it, no one would have known about this story if it hadn't been picked up on the blogs. I'm still pissed but I'm glad that we're able to spread the word so much quicker.
"Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television."
Dear Lord. What does it say about our country that we institutionalize discrimination to the point that we are willing to turn away ready, willing, enthusiastic, and amazing men and women from serving our country in uniform. And because of what? Because of who they love? Because of who they sleep with? ...that's some solid reasoning, right there.
After coming out on Rachel Maddow's cable news show on March 19, 2009 Lt. Dan Choi explained why Don't Ask Don't Tell is a bad idea, bad policy, and just generally negative. During the segment Maddow asks Lt. Choi if he could lose his job for coming on television and saying this. He admits that he could but stands firm that his position is both morally and legally correct.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
As of May 5, 2009 he was notified that
"sufficient basis exists to initiate action for withdrawal of Federal Recognition in the Army National Guard for moral or professional dereliction... Specifically, [he] admitted publicly that [he] is a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct. [His] actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard."
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
How is this fair? If he refuses to resign and essentially admit that being gay is wrong then he will be given a dishonorable discharge. WTF?!?! He's an Iraq vet and a Westpoint Graduate!!!! I'm so angry that our government has discrimination as public policy. I'm so mad that they are wasting money kicking good people out of the military, people who want to serve.
How is this right?
How is it right to make hate part of government sanctioned policy and therefore validate homophobia?
If you think about it, no one would have known about this story if it hadn't been picked up on the blogs. I'm still pissed but I'm glad that we're able to spread the word so much quicker.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Today...
As I was walking into my Anthropology final a girl in the class, out of no where, called me a "lesbian fucktard" for no reason.
Why is it okay to use a part of someone and twist it into hate speech?
It shouldn't bother me anymore but it does. I'm genuinely hurt and angry and exhausted.
Why is it okay to use a part of someone and twist it into hate speech?
It shouldn't bother me anymore but it does. I'm genuinely hurt and angry and exhausted.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
You were so beautiful
So I dropped off the face of the earth, I know this. There has been a lot going on with finals and the difficulty of the summer. I always dread the summer because from the time I was 8 I have had people die in the summer. All four of my grandparents died in May or June each a different year.
This year was not someone I was related to but someone I admired and appreciated.
Kahlo Benavidez was two years ahead of me in school. He was one of the most openly gay members of the student body who paved the way for younger gays, dealing with the teachers' prejudices and the snide remarks, forcing the administration to sell couples' prom tickets to same-sex couples (something they briefly fought).
After highschool I learned that Kahlo was HIV positive. Rather than retreating into depression and denial he became an amazing and inspiring activist. I'm still blown away by how hard he worked and the things he accomplished.
On the 24th of April he took his own life.
It's still surreal and painful and confusing. It doesn't make anysense. The outpouring of love and sadness over his death is astounding.
I'm sorry he chose that path. I can understand what it's like to be staring down reality and choose that path. It's just so tragic that despite how much people looked up to him and loved him and admired him and respected him he still felt that death was the best option.
I'm in the midst of trying to finish the semester and sort out my emotions and maintain my own delicate balance between mania and depression. I'm struggling but I'll make it through this.
Kahlo, wherever you are, I'm sorry I never thanked you for everything you did. I hope it's easier, that you're happier, wherever you are. Around here you're missed greatly.
This year was not someone I was related to but someone I admired and appreciated.
Kahlo Benavidez was two years ahead of me in school. He was one of the most openly gay members of the student body who paved the way for younger gays, dealing with the teachers' prejudices and the snide remarks, forcing the administration to sell couples' prom tickets to same-sex couples (something they briefly fought).
After highschool I learned that Kahlo was HIV positive. Rather than retreating into depression and denial he became an amazing and inspiring activist. I'm still blown away by how hard he worked and the things he accomplished.
On the 24th of April he took his own life.
It's still surreal and painful and confusing. It doesn't make anysense. The outpouring of love and sadness over his death is astounding.
I'm sorry he chose that path. I can understand what it's like to be staring down reality and choose that path. It's just so tragic that despite how much people looked up to him and loved him and admired him and respected him he still felt that death was the best option.
I'm in the midst of trying to finish the semester and sort out my emotions and maintain my own delicate balance between mania and depression. I'm struggling but I'll make it through this.
Kahlo, wherever you are, I'm sorry I never thanked you for everything you did. I hope it's easier, that you're happier, wherever you are. Around here you're missed greatly.
Monday, April 27, 2009
E-PWND: the new york times gets schooled.
(I've completely lost count of my reading responses. It's the one about the NYTimes and the Dating a Banker Anonymous group.)
When I first read about the NYTimes getting punk'd I nearly did a spittake. I found it hilarious that with things like blogs coming into prominence, even a company as vast as NYT was failing to watch their sources closely and double and triple check their authenticity. With media sources jumping at the first story they get they tend to skip the whole vetting process that used to go on.
This is the double edged media sword of blogging.
As much as I love and advocate for the blogosphere I also understand that it's very difficult to keep readership when the newscycle is going 24 hours a day 8 days a week (when you use that much caffeine a mystical 8th day appears in the haze of all that sleeplessness). This causes three things to happen.
If a blog want's to make it as a big blog it needs to maintain its credibility by ensuring legitimate sourcing. In the world of information the stakes are getting continually higher. Rule one of serious blogging or journalism or even argument says always make sure your sources are strong enough to back you up.
When I first read about the NYTimes getting punk'd I nearly did a spittake. I found it hilarious that with things like blogs coming into prominence, even a company as vast as NYT was failing to watch their sources closely and double and triple check their authenticity. With media sources jumping at the first story they get they tend to skip the whole vetting process that used to go on.
This is the double edged media sword of blogging.
As much as I love and advocate for the blogosphere I also understand that it's very difficult to keep readership when the newscycle is going 24 hours a day 8 days a week (when you use that much caffeine a mystical 8th day appears in the haze of all that sleeplessness). This causes three things to happen.
- sourcing get's dodgy- with less time people tend to vet their sources less and their reliability can be shattered horribly if their source turns out to be a complete liar. It's a gamble: if you win you break a huge story and everyone cites you, if you lose your credibility is gone and your readership is gone with it.
- people go for the sensational- it's something that happens in all of life. In the game of blogging and reporting people are presented with a choice between the safe and consistent which can keep them going at a relatively low level for a long period of time or they can shoot for sensational and hope they make it big. It's like the difference between lighting a long burning fire or a short fused firecracker. With the long burning fire you get a little light for a long time but with a firecracker you can either get a spectacularly bright display that will get a lot of attention all at once or it can backfire and end rather horribly.
If a blog want's to make it as a big blog it needs to maintain its credibility by ensuring legitimate sourcing. In the world of information the stakes are getting continually higher. Rule one of serious blogging or journalism or even argument says always make sure your sources are strong enough to back you up.
Monday, April 20, 2009
When "Sorry" isn't nearly enough: a reading response
(reading response to Baghdad Burning readings)
I feel like a horrible person for wanting to say that I viewed the lives of most Iraqis as less advanced than the average American. I wanted to believe that the tiniest bit of good had come out of the US presence. In reading
I think that's why blogs like Riverbend's are so crucial. So many people assume so many things. We let the Mainstream Media (known as the MSM in some blog circles) tell us what to think and give us hand picked facts. As much as I <3 href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/">Rachel Maddow I know that she has editorial control over the facts and quotes being used.
That's the magic of the internet. suddenly people are able to go to the original sources, to see the tables and studies, to read the documents, and to draw their own conclusions from them. We are able to read accounts from people on the ground so we can gain new perspectives. We can see what it's like for a regular Iraqi woman but they're not the only people trying to survive. I think the flipside of this blog is something like "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" which is the war from an Army grunt's point of view.
I have a friend on the ground in Iraq right now. Some thirty miles outside of Baghdad he works his ass off every day and I'm proud of him for having the balls to willingly sign up to try to make things better in Iraq, his honest intent in joining. I'm not conservative but I have a problem with people who blame the guys on the ground just trying to stay alive.
I'm sorry that things are the way they are. I'm genuinely sorry to all parties who are suffering for it, the people of Iraq, the soldiers who have been wounded, the soldiers who are serving multiple tours, the people who have died on both sides of the conflict. I'm sorry that war has gone the way it has. I'm sorry that we invaded for empty lies. I'm sorry that we've started to build a wall to divide the city. I'm genuinely sorry for all of this but I can't help feeling that someone, somewhere in Iraq is better for Saddam not being in power.
That's why blogs like this are important: we are forced to view the war as not just two nebulous entities fighting in a way only visible on paper but as a person to person conflict. These are real people who are fighting for their lives. The world needs to realize that. The army isn't just GI Joes in straight lines firing their guns with no emotion or remorse at generic stereotypical Iraqi citizens dressed in traditional arab garb, toting rocket launchers. We need to stop missing the human element.
Stay safe Eric. I owe you a beer when you get home and you'd damn well better make it back to drink it with me.
I feel like a horrible person for wanting to say that I viewed the lives of most Iraqis as less advanced than the average American. I wanted to believe that the tiniest bit of good had come out of the US presence. In reading
I think that's why blogs like Riverbend's are so crucial. So many people assume so many things. We let the Mainstream Media (known as the MSM in some blog circles) tell us what to think and give us hand picked facts. As much as I <3 href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/">Rachel Maddow I know that she has editorial control over the facts and quotes being used.
That's the magic of the internet. suddenly people are able to go to the original sources, to see the tables and studies, to read the documents, and to draw their own conclusions from them. We are able to read accounts from people on the ground so we can gain new perspectives. We can see what it's like for a regular Iraqi woman but they're not the only people trying to survive. I think the flipside of this blog is something like "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" which is the war from an Army grunt's point of view.
I have a friend on the ground in Iraq right now. Some thirty miles outside of Baghdad he works his ass off every day and I'm proud of him for having the balls to willingly sign up to try to make things better in Iraq, his honest intent in joining. I'm not conservative but I have a problem with people who blame the guys on the ground just trying to stay alive.
I'm sorry that things are the way they are. I'm genuinely sorry to all parties who are suffering for it, the people of Iraq, the soldiers who have been wounded, the soldiers who are serving multiple tours, the people who have died on both sides of the conflict. I'm sorry that war has gone the way it has. I'm sorry that we invaded for empty lies. I'm sorry that we've started to build a wall to divide the city. I'm genuinely sorry for all of this but I can't help feeling that someone, somewhere in Iraq is better for Saddam not being in power.
That's why blogs like this are important: we are forced to view the war as not just two nebulous entities fighting in a way only visible on paper but as a person to person conflict. These are real people who are fighting for their lives. The world needs to realize that. The army isn't just GI Joes in straight lines firing their guns with no emotion or remorse at generic stereotypical Iraqi citizens dressed in traditional arab garb, toting rocket launchers. We need to stop missing the human element.
Stay safe Eric. I owe you a beer when you get home and you'd damn well better make it back to drink it with me.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Susan Boyle, the average person, and media cynicism: A blog response
I find it mildly amusing that I'm responding to a blog post from a blog in our class.
Liz posted on her blog, Women with Pants, about YouTube sensation Susan Boyle and her famous Britan's Got Talent audition.
I was planning on commenting directly on her blog but as I was writing it began to get out of hand and I decided to give my response it's own post over here on my blog.
I know we all enjoy the schadenfreude of watching Simon Cowell rip a less than amazing contestant but Piers Morgan can be just as horrible if not worse than Simon. I think that she should be so admired for having such courage and resolve in the face of such ugly cynicism.
Auditions are brutal no matter who you are and the fact that we enjoy the public humiliation of those who aren't wildy successful is somewhat sickening. I've worked in theatre and everyone willing to stand up on the stage and audition is braver than me. I have done some acting in high school but I never had the courage to audition for anything.
I genuinely wish the media would leave her alone in some ways. She strikes me as a particularly simple and practical woman. It drives me nuts that the media is pulling in every direction and wants more from her. They want the next level of awesome or awful. I dread that with so much exposure to the media people will start feeling more comfortable lobbing harsh criticism and outright insult at her.
What is it about our society that we require more and more?
What is it about us that we like The Starry Night better if someone takes a print, punches holes in the sky portion of the painting, and then backlights it so it's like a carnival! (I have seen it but I couldn't find it on the internet)
WTF?!
Why are we not content to just enjoy that people are generally remarkable whether we expect them to be or not and why are we only happy when they are remarkable in very specific ways?
I find it somewhat ironic that she chose to sing "I Dreamed a Dream". To be honest, it was the strongest I've ever heard it sung.
Liz posted on her blog, Women with Pants, about YouTube sensation Susan Boyle and her famous Britan's Got Talent audition.
I was planning on commenting directly on her blog but as I was writing it began to get out of hand and I decided to give my response it's own post over here on my blog.
I know we all enjoy the schadenfreude of watching Simon Cowell rip a less than amazing contestant but Piers Morgan can be just as horrible if not worse than Simon. I think that she should be so admired for having such courage and resolve in the face of such ugly cynicism.
Auditions are brutal no matter who you are and the fact that we enjoy the public humiliation of those who aren't wildy successful is somewhat sickening. I've worked in theatre and everyone willing to stand up on the stage and audition is braver than me. I have done some acting in high school but I never had the courage to audition for anything.
I genuinely wish the media would leave her alone in some ways. She strikes me as a particularly simple and practical woman. It drives me nuts that the media is pulling in every direction and wants more from her. They want the next level of awesome or awful. I dread that with so much exposure to the media people will start feeling more comfortable lobbing harsh criticism and outright insult at her.
What is it about our society that we require more and more?
What is it about us that we like The Starry Night better if someone takes a print, punches holes in the sky portion of the painting, and then backlights it so it's like a carnival! (I have seen it but I couldn't find it on the internet)
WTF?!
Why are we not content to just enjoy that people are generally remarkable whether we expect them to be or not and why are we only happy when they are remarkable in very specific ways?
I find it somewhat ironic that she chose to sing "I Dreamed a Dream". To be honest, it was the strongest I've ever heard it sung.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
ManPants: the project that ate my life
So I finished my project about spending a day dressed as a man. Holy Cheese it took me over 10 hours to finish editing the video and I did a pretty shoddy job of it and then wrote one of the worst papers I've ever written. It was one of those wow-this-doesn't-make-a-lot-of-sense-but-I-don't-have-time papers. Awesome.
Here's hoping that 20% of my grade didn't just vanish into nothing.
To be honest the project became half for my soc class and half for this class looking at gender and how it's constructed and how it relates to me. It was incredibly important to me to take it seriously and give it everything I could.
Interestingly my parents and my sister literally laughed at me and my efforts and refused to recognize that this was personally emotionally significant for me. As a result I'm still mad at them and they're confused and annoyed. This should be fun.
In case you're wondering I'm very aware that I didn't manage to pass and I look really bizarre in the photo.
I decided to prepare it in the form of a video diary because I can get my thoughts out much faster that way. I was annoyed that youtube made me split it into two parts because of the length. It essentially comes out to 17 minutes of gender based navel gazing but whatever.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you "ManPants: A Day as a Dude"!!
This just in:
My life has continued to explode even harder.
Turns out I have a test this morning in my govt 110 class on top of my papers in my soc 348 and govt 300 classes plus the major project in my 348 class. (At least I saved my major f*ckup until the last leg this year.)
still scrambling. More details at ten.
Turns out I have a test this morning in my govt 110 class on top of my papers in my soc 348 and govt 300 classes plus the major project in my 348 class. (At least I saved my major f*ckup until the last leg this year.)
still scrambling. More details at ten.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Violence and activism...
Reading response for week...5?
When reading "Threatened into Silence" I was particularly shocked by the graphic nature of the violence threatened. I always forget how astoundingly violent the world of activism can be especially in the age of Web 2.0 which allows for almost complete anonymity.
I commend Kim for her absolute bravery in the face of what can honestly be called terrorism. I appreciate that the web allows for people who are scared to take a vocal stand. It provides a place for people who are still processing to continue that process in a more vocal way without direct confrontation. Sadly it also allows cowards and seriously disturbed people to entertain violent fantasies.
I know what it's like to have anonymous individuals threaten sexual assault on you. I've worked in two different customer service call centers and there was one particular experience that emotionally scarred me. It involved a customer using my own name in a sexual manner and my not being allowed to hang up on him so I had to listen to him. It felt like I was sexually assaulted, verbally. My superiors did nothing. That was the last call I took.
In so many cases this verbal or written semi-anonymous abuse is tolerated because it "isn't real." As a survivor of verbal and psychological abuse by a teacher I will vouch that words are as real as actions if repeated enough. My teacher never touched me but I still have scars from the things that were said.
I'm so angry that a tool, a resource as wonderful as the web can be used as a place of hatred and violence. I think there is so much work that can be done to improve the emotional safety of the web and the security of personal information.
Until these things are fixed I think that bloggers like Kim who persist despite the threats and hatred are to be recognized as women of great strength.
I'll happily admit that I'm a huge weenie and would have bailed long ago were I in her place.
When reading "Threatened into Silence" I was particularly shocked by the graphic nature of the violence threatened. I always forget how astoundingly violent the world of activism can be especially in the age of Web 2.0 which allows for almost complete anonymity.
I commend Kim for her absolute bravery in the face of what can honestly be called terrorism. I appreciate that the web allows for people who are scared to take a vocal stand. It provides a place for people who are still processing to continue that process in a more vocal way without direct confrontation. Sadly it also allows cowards and seriously disturbed people to entertain violent fantasies.
I know what it's like to have anonymous individuals threaten sexual assault on you. I've worked in two different customer service call centers and there was one particular experience that emotionally scarred me. It involved a customer using my own name in a sexual manner and my not being allowed to hang up on him so I had to listen to him. It felt like I was sexually assaulted, verbally. My superiors did nothing. That was the last call I took.
In so many cases this verbal or written semi-anonymous abuse is tolerated because it "isn't real." As a survivor of verbal and psychological abuse by a teacher I will vouch that words are as real as actions if repeated enough. My teacher never touched me but I still have scars from the things that were said.
I'm so angry that a tool, a resource as wonderful as the web can be used as a place of hatred and violence. I think there is so much work that can be done to improve the emotional safety of the web and the security of personal information.
Until these things are fixed I think that bloggers like Kim who persist despite the threats and hatred are to be recognized as women of great strength.
I'll happily admit that I'm a huge weenie and would have bailed long ago were I in her place.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Anonymous Bosch: blogging, gender, and my mom.
*a side note: my post on the readings won't be up until at least mid-morning due to my life exploding like a marshmallow in a microwave*
It was an ordinary weekend until I found this video on feministing. It's a documentary about three biological females who identify as genderqueer and their struggles in life. It may seem like no big deal but I remembered seeing part of this documentary with my mom when it first came on LOGO a few years ago.
My mom is great. She's loving and supportive and loves the gay community. When we were watching this documentary together she kept asking me if I was going to end up getting a sex change and that she didn't know if she could handle that. I said I wasn't and I wouldn't. Then I left the room and didn't finish watching the documentary.
This weekend I finished it and now I'm freaking out.
My mom said she read my blog post about my hair and was worried I was going to get a sex change. I told her not to read my blog because it's very personal. If I talk about something personal on my blog chances are I don't want to talk about it in person. Example: my gender identity. Because this is so personal if she's reading it and asking me about it in person I feel angry and betrayed. This is like my journal.
Odds are you haven't met me. You don't have any established ideas about who I am and what I should be. You have no real choice but to accept me as I am or move on. If you make me uncomfortable I can delete your comment or go to a different page or turn off my computer. You aren't going to grill me during a family dinner about the odds of me having male chest reconstruction surgery.
I'm not ready to say anything verbally. I'm just not. It's a coping mechanism: if I don't say it out loud it isn't real. I'm not ready for it to be real. I want to be left alone to sort this one out. This is personal. This is not a family matter.
Seeing that documentary just reminded me about all the stuff with my gender and my mom and the ideas of privacy in a world as public as the internet.
One of the biggest reasons the internet is great for spreading ideas and activism is that it's safe. There is no risk of someone throwing rocks at you or recognizing you from work and threatening to tell someone that you have beliefs others may not agree with. The anonymity of the net allows people to safely be who they really want to be.
Right now I need that.
So Mom, if you're reading this, please stop. Everything I write here is mine. My life, not yours. If it's important enough I will tell you when I'm ready. Right now I'm not ready.
Why is my gender suddenly an epic issue?
I'm gearing up for a major project in my Contemporary Sexualities class. I'm spending a day dressed as a guy.
Holy.Frak.
I'm both psyched and utterly terrified mostly because tomorrow I will not only be observing how the world treats me I will also be observing how I feel about myself presenting a masculine gender. The scary part? I might like it. I might hate it and never want to do it again but I don't know yet. The whole ordeal makes me feel as though I don't know myself. My little box I've lived in for my whole life could potentially be blown to bits. In the words of Stewie Griffin of Family Guy, "I don't like change!!" (I know Family Guy is horrible on a million levels but it makes me laugh and I don't feel like analyzing it right now.)
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wish me luck. I could use some moral support right about now.
It was an ordinary weekend until I found this video on feministing. It's a documentary about three biological females who identify as genderqueer and their struggles in life. It may seem like no big deal but I remembered seeing part of this documentary with my mom when it first came on LOGO a few years ago.
My mom is great. She's loving and supportive and loves the gay community. When we were watching this documentary together she kept asking me if I was going to end up getting a sex change and that she didn't know if she could handle that. I said I wasn't and I wouldn't. Then I left the room and didn't finish watching the documentary.
This weekend I finished it and now I'm freaking out.
My mom said she read my blog post about my hair and was worried I was going to get a sex change. I told her not to read my blog because it's very personal. If I talk about something personal on my blog chances are I don't want to talk about it in person. Example: my gender identity. Because this is so personal if she's reading it and asking me about it in person I feel angry and betrayed. This is like my journal.
Odds are you haven't met me. You don't have any established ideas about who I am and what I should be. You have no real choice but to accept me as I am or move on. If you make me uncomfortable I can delete your comment or go to a different page or turn off my computer. You aren't going to grill me during a family dinner about the odds of me having male chest reconstruction surgery.
I'm not ready to say anything verbally. I'm just not. It's a coping mechanism: if I don't say it out loud it isn't real. I'm not ready for it to be real. I want to be left alone to sort this one out. This is personal. This is not a family matter.
Seeing that documentary just reminded me about all the stuff with my gender and my mom and the ideas of privacy in a world as public as the internet.
One of the biggest reasons the internet is great for spreading ideas and activism is that it's safe. There is no risk of someone throwing rocks at you or recognizing you from work and threatening to tell someone that you have beliefs others may not agree with. The anonymity of the net allows people to safely be who they really want to be.
Right now I need that.
So Mom, if you're reading this, please stop. Everything I write here is mine. My life, not yours. If it's important enough I will tell you when I'm ready. Right now I'm not ready.
Why is my gender suddenly an epic issue?
I'm gearing up for a major project in my Contemporary Sexualities class. I'm spending a day dressed as a guy.
Holy.Frak.
I'm both psyched and utterly terrified mostly because tomorrow I will not only be observing how the world treats me I will also be observing how I feel about myself presenting a masculine gender. The scary part? I might like it. I might hate it and never want to do it again but I don't know yet. The whole ordeal makes me feel as though I don't know myself. My little box I've lived in for my whole life could potentially be blown to bits. In the words of Stewie Griffin of Family Guy, "I don't like change!!" (I know Family Guy is horrible on a million levels but it makes me laugh and I don't feel like analyzing it right now.)
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wish me luck. I could use some moral support right about now.
Frak YOU Amazon.com!!
So apparently Amazon.com managed to drop it's LGBT books from the ranked lists as they are now classified as "Adult Material". WTF!?
This post from the blog Jezebel possibly sums up the outrage of the community the best. It includes a list of the books stripped of rankings and those allowed to keep them. It's slightly mind blowing.
All Things Digital is suggesting that what Amazon did was an accident but the #Amazonfail hashtag on twitter would indicate that it's a little late. Over the course of a weekend an entire movement has started and spread to thousands of people on the internet. Where does Amazon base its entire business? Online. Not only does Amazon now have a problem with people mobilizing on the net pushing for boycotts and demanding an apology, Amazon itself is remaining very quiet about the whole ordeal. Bad Move.
The new consumer has every peice of information at their fingertips. Our main source of information is not a library; it's an opensource encylopedia that is both free and constantly updated and sourced. We are able to track packages from the minute we place the order to the minute they arrive at our door. We want to know what's going on and if we don't then we want a reason. Keeping quiet about something this big could potentially cost Amazon a noticeable amount of business.
This whole thing pisses me off supremely because I just ordered three books from them: My Gender Workbook, GenderQueer, and Nobody Passes. I have a huge project for my Contemporary Sexualities class due on Thursday so I'm scrambling to get the last few pieces lined up. My ducks are rarely in a row; I'm lucky if my ducks stay in the same vicinity. So I ordered these books for my project and now I find out that in doing so I'm supporting a company that is undermining the validity of the LGBT community.
What does it say about our society that a story concerning corporate discrimination against an entire community gets broken on twitter?
Side Note: I discovered that it is possible to set bread on fire using only a toaster oven and a lack of understanding of said toaster oven. On the plus side I know that my smoke alarms work. Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow I am not.
(In case your wondering this is what "frak" means.)
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Precious in the sight of the Lord
I went to check my facebook and for the first time in what feels like years I saw a photo of my grandmother in hospice. She's smiling and holding her sister's face, saying goodbye.
It's strange but I can't really explain how much it hurts to remember she's gone.
In my eyes she's the greatest feminist that has ever lived and I miss her.
Both my parents were victims of abuse and very much had a sense of victim mentality about them. They did their best but when I was verbally and psychologically abused by a teacher they didn't really know how to deal with me. One of the only examples in my life of someone who refused to be a victim, someone who was alway strong, was my grandmother.
When she was 17 she was told that because of problems with her reproductive system she would be unable to have children. She had four.
After a medical procedure she was told she couldn't finish high school because her school in El Paso had stairs and she couldn't use them. She transferred to Las Cruces Union High School and supported herself as a switchboard operator and lived in a boarding house.
After raising her four children she decided she wanted to become a nurse and did it. She went on to work as a nurse at Memorial Medical Center for years.
She spent much of her life traveling and didn't stop after turning 70. She spent a few summers working in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks holding her own the whole time.
She lived in her own home taking care of herself right up to 6 months before she passed. She was incapacitated by Wegener's Granulomatosis, an auto-immune disease whose treatment would have killed her faster than the disease. But even to the last she called the shots, she chose to end dialysis in June of 2007.
I was the only person in the room when she passed and those moments holding her hand are still the most important in my life. Still the hardest goodbye of all.
I suppose the most difficult part is trying to relate to someone else why someone is so important to you, why you can't let this one go. I'll be honest; it hurts less over time but the pain associated with the memories always lingers.
Seeing that photo of her hurt a lot more than I expected it to. It doesn't help that it's Easter Weekend.
Happy Easter, Wink. I still miss you.
It's strange but I can't really explain how much it hurts to remember she's gone.
In my eyes she's the greatest feminist that has ever lived and I miss her.
Both my parents were victims of abuse and very much had a sense of victim mentality about them. They did their best but when I was verbally and psychologically abused by a teacher they didn't really know how to deal with me. One of the only examples in my life of someone who refused to be a victim, someone who was alway strong, was my grandmother.
When she was 17 she was told that because of problems with her reproductive system she would be unable to have children. She had four.
After a medical procedure she was told she couldn't finish high school because her school in El Paso had stairs and she couldn't use them. She transferred to Las Cruces Union High School and supported herself as a switchboard operator and lived in a boarding house.
After raising her four children she decided she wanted to become a nurse and did it. She went on to work as a nurse at Memorial Medical Center for years.
She spent much of her life traveling and didn't stop after turning 70. She spent a few summers working in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks holding her own the whole time.
She lived in her own home taking care of herself right up to 6 months before she passed. She was incapacitated by Wegener's Granulomatosis, an auto-immune disease whose treatment would have killed her faster than the disease. But even to the last she called the shots, she chose to end dialysis in June of 2007.
I was the only person in the room when she passed and those moments holding her hand are still the most important in my life. Still the hardest goodbye of all.
I suppose the most difficult part is trying to relate to someone else why someone is so important to you, why you can't let this one go. I'll be honest; it hurts less over time but the pain associated with the memories always lingers.
Seeing that photo of her hurt a lot more than I expected it to. It doesn't help that it's Easter Weekend.
Happy Easter, Wink. I still miss you.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Genderfork: a blog response
One of the things I enjoy most in the world is peoplewatching. I like imagining myself as an outside observer in the world like Jane Goodall among the chimps or Birute Galdikas among the orangutans, perched with a notebook and pencil. I tend to peoplewatch with an unnerving intensity because I often do not understand how I am "supposed to act" and I never have. I often watch to see how other people interact. I'll try to discern patterns of behavior and understand them. I suppose it's quirks like this that cause my love of more abstract blogs like Genderfork.
Genderfork is mostly photos including images of androgyny and profiles of people who defy gender norms in some way but it also includes quotes from commenters and contributors. These quotes are my favorite parts because they are often thoughtful, thought provoking, insightful and in some ways beautiful. When I found the following quote I nearly cried because I felt suddenly less alone in my somewhat scary and liberating realizations about gender. I think people often underestimate the comfort provided by gender roles.
The small question at the bottom of the quote pushes people to start interacting and asking questions. If you hadn't guessed by now, I firmly believe that opening up a dialogue is one of the best ways we can improve our world in all ways.
Teh Intarwebz, they are awesome: a reading response
If I'm numbering correctly this should be week 4 in reading responses.
I will not lie; I had to google the word "foment" to find out exactly what it meant because the image in my mind had more to do with coffee than activism.
In thinking about spaces used to generate and promote activism and participation the first thing that comes to my mind is the internet. The techniques and finer points may vary but the basis of so much social organizing and debate is based on the internet.
I could bore people with the specifics but if you look back at my post Infinity and beyond from March you will see an image which is a graphic representation of the internet as of sometime in 2005. The entire world is connected instantly and with the meteoric rise of Google the information is no longer difficult to access.
Blogs like Feministing, Racialicious, Jack and Jill Politics, and others are able to use the internet to stay on top of information and keep up with their communities. They also have the ability to use seach engines like Google and Yahoo! to draw more readers to them. The way the blog system is built with reciprocal linking, blogrolls, and instant sourcing via hyperlinks is inherently designed to grow.
I don't at all doubt the ability of bloggers and vloggers like Sarah Haskins and Smart Girls at the Party to use the frameworks of Web 2.0 to their advantage.
I will say that many of these people have the Howard Dean campaign to thank for this framework as they were the first to prove that it could be done on a national level. Despite the fact that Dean did not win the primary, his campaign manager Joe Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not be Televised explains how Dean's campaign which was based heavily on web support and participation succeeded in proving that political challenges could be brought directly to the people. Suddenly political organizing and activism was no longer people in high places talking at people it was webmasters and bloggers talking to and with people.
The same is true of activism. For so long activism was something that lobbyists did: someone set the agenda and a limited group of people were sent out to do something about it. Feedback was complicated, difficult, and extremely limited. When web 2.0 concepts were introduced the model was changed so that people are now often given direct links to contact people in places of power and let their opinions be known.
Getting something done is generally a question of knowing how to properly disseminate your information. Should you use Twitter or Facebook or a more complex tagging system for your blog?
In working on the obama campaign I watch some of the most amazing things happen using Web and communication resources. Canvassing and phonebanking organized over the internet. Peopler could print their own lists without ever having to come in to our office. Sometimes organizing can be spontaneous and other times Webmasters and bloggers such as those at Feministing can encourage their audiences to get involved thus spreading a cause far quicker and further than word of mouth or other conventional methods such as chalking a campus or flyering a neighborhood could.
I think that the claims made in the articles are valid. Everyone has a voice and deserves to have that voice heard. Attention needs to be drawn to certain issues. A huge benefit of using the web for organizing is that people are not limited in the content they choose to work with. They are not sending out a topical newsletter that will require all 15 articles to be based around the same things. Each post can be hugely different, organizing efforts can be very specific and targeted. This can, in some ways, streamline the processes surrounding organizing.
I will not lie; I had to google the word "foment" to find out exactly what it meant because the image in my mind had more to do with coffee than activism.
In thinking about spaces used to generate and promote activism and participation the first thing that comes to my mind is the internet. The techniques and finer points may vary but the basis of so much social organizing and debate is based on the internet.
I could bore people with the specifics but if you look back at my post Infinity and beyond from March you will see an image which is a graphic representation of the internet as of sometime in 2005. The entire world is connected instantly and with the meteoric rise of Google the information is no longer difficult to access.
Blogs like Feministing, Racialicious, Jack and Jill Politics, and others are able to use the internet to stay on top of information and keep up with their communities. They also have the ability to use seach engines like Google and Yahoo! to draw more readers to them. The way the blog system is built with reciprocal linking, blogrolls, and instant sourcing via hyperlinks is inherently designed to grow.
I don't at all doubt the ability of bloggers and vloggers like Sarah Haskins and Smart Girls at the Party to use the frameworks of Web 2.0 to their advantage.
I will say that many of these people have the Howard Dean campaign to thank for this framework as they were the first to prove that it could be done on a national level. Despite the fact that Dean did not win the primary, his campaign manager Joe Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not be Televised explains how Dean's campaign which was based heavily on web support and participation succeeded in proving that political challenges could be brought directly to the people. Suddenly political organizing and activism was no longer people in high places talking at people it was webmasters and bloggers talking to and with people.
The same is true of activism. For so long activism was something that lobbyists did: someone set the agenda and a limited group of people were sent out to do something about it. Feedback was complicated, difficult, and extremely limited. When web 2.0 concepts were introduced the model was changed so that people are now often given direct links to contact people in places of power and let their opinions be known.
Getting something done is generally a question of knowing how to properly disseminate your information. Should you use Twitter or Facebook or a more complex tagging system for your blog?
In working on the obama campaign I watch some of the most amazing things happen using Web and communication resources. Canvassing and phonebanking organized over the internet. Peopler could print their own lists without ever having to come in to our office. Sometimes organizing can be spontaneous and other times Webmasters and bloggers such as those at Feministing can encourage their audiences to get involved thus spreading a cause far quicker and further than word of mouth or other conventional methods such as chalking a campus or flyering a neighborhood could.
I think that the claims made in the articles are valid. Everyone has a voice and deserves to have that voice heard. Attention needs to be drawn to certain issues. A huge benefit of using the web for organizing is that people are not limited in the content they choose to work with. They are not sending out a topical newsletter that will require all 15 articles to be based around the same things. Each post can be hugely different, organizing efforts can be very specific and targeted. This can, in some ways, streamline the processes surrounding organizing.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
This blows my mind
check out twistori. It's based on what people are saying on twitter at any given moment. so amazingly cool. Keep in mind that twitter has roughly 5 million active users from all over the world. It gets pretty random.
http://twistori.com
Just click on one of the words on the left and enjoy.
I love the internet.
http://twistori.com
Just click on one of the words on the left and enjoy.
I love the internet.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Blog Response 3: blogging bipolar for the females
I believe most people have their own brand of crazy and mine happens to be Bipolar II with a mix of other lovely things including Ovarian Cysts and Fibromyalgia. Why am I telling you all of my medical problems? Because sometimes the best cure is a really good blog.
After looking around at various male oriented bipolar blogs I decided to see what technorati could find about blogs that included the words "women" and "bipolar" the results? Not much. At this point I turned to Feministing and discovered the joyous wonders of The Trouble with Spikol, a blog by Liz Spikol about her struggles with life, mental illness, bipolar disorder, and mops. Feministing featured one of her YouTube videos in a post about "Mad Pride" several months ago.
I love what Spikol has to say about life and bipolar disorder because it is what I live every day and being bipolar is sometimes a very, very lonely existance. The advantage to having resources like this on the internet is that they allow me stay within the comfortzone of my corner of the couch while allowing me to reach out to the world. Not only does Spikol blog about her own life she also talks about medications, treatment options, and the realities of ECT or electro shock therapy as it's better known.
I particularly appreciated her post on her recent move to a new apartment talking about how she was coping with the massive change: "Dealing With Life? Yes and No". Does it say anything particularly profound? Not really, it's just nice to not feel alone in struggles like this. I also think it's a huge help to have a resource that keeps tabs on the new information that emerges about the effects many of the psych meds used to tread bipolar disorder have such as her post informing people of a new required label for certain meds including Lexapro, Cymbalta, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, and others.
I've come across blogs about many things such as PTSD and Post-Partum Depression but this was the first really good blog about being a female with bipolar disorder or really any mental illness that I've found yet. It's brilliant.
After looking around at various male oriented bipolar blogs I decided to see what technorati could find about blogs that included the words "women" and "bipolar" the results? Not much. At this point I turned to Feministing and discovered the joyous wonders of The Trouble with Spikol, a blog by Liz Spikol about her struggles with life, mental illness, bipolar disorder, and mops. Feministing featured one of her YouTube videos in a post about "Mad Pride" several months ago.
I love what Spikol has to say about life and bipolar disorder because it is what I live every day and being bipolar is sometimes a very, very lonely existance. The advantage to having resources like this on the internet is that they allow me stay within the comfortzone of my corner of the couch while allowing me to reach out to the world. Not only does Spikol blog about her own life she also talks about medications, treatment options, and the realities of ECT or electro shock therapy as it's better known.
I particularly appreciated her post on her recent move to a new apartment talking about how she was coping with the massive change: "Dealing With Life? Yes and No". Does it say anything particularly profound? Not really, it's just nice to not feel alone in struggles like this. I also think it's a huge help to have a resource that keeps tabs on the new information that emerges about the effects many of the psych meds used to tread bipolar disorder have such as her post informing people of a new required label for certain meds including Lexapro, Cymbalta, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, and others.
I've come across blogs about many things such as PTSD and Post-Partum Depression but this was the first really good blog about being a female with bipolar disorder or really any mental illness that I've found yet. It's brilliant.
a side note to the reading response II
In reading through the articles I was struck, rather amusingly, by something that was mentioned in the introduction. When talking about growing up as a feminist Traister mentioned reading Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" which doesn't seem like much to most people but mattered greatly to me.
It's a bizarre and possibly unnecessary point to make but it reminded me of a rather heated debate I got into with my English teacher when we were analyzing "The Awakening". The main argument being made was that the protagonist committed suicide because she was abandoned by the man with whom she had fallen in love. My argument was that it was not the loss of her love but rather the realization that she was living in a world that would not permit her to live as an independent and intellectual being. She could not have an equal intellectual relationship with men as she seemed to want. We never reached an agreement. It is a point of contention that remains to this day.
Debates like these are one of the reasons I love the internet and particularly the blogosphere: they allow for a continuation and expansion of debate to include more voices and allow for more ideas to be introduced. It is through debates like these that policy is honed and improved, causes and activists are kept fresh and sharp, in short they prevent the ideas from devolving into empty rhetoric. That's kind of important. Just a little.
It's a bizarre and possibly unnecessary point to make but it reminded me of a rather heated debate I got into with my English teacher when we were analyzing "The Awakening". The main argument being made was that the protagonist committed suicide because she was abandoned by the man with whom she had fallen in love. My argument was that it was not the loss of her love but rather the realization that she was living in a world that would not permit her to live as an independent and intellectual being. She could not have an equal intellectual relationship with men as she seemed to want. We never reached an agreement. It is a point of contention that remains to this day.
Debates like these are one of the reasons I love the internet and particularly the blogosphere: they allow for a continuation and expansion of debate to include more voices and allow for more ideas to be introduced. It is through debates like these that policy is honed and improved, causes and activists are kept fresh and sharp, in short they prevent the ideas from devolving into empty rhetoric. That's kind of important. Just a little.
Reading Response II: why I love "teh intarwebz" and Rachel Maddow
A few weeks ago I was trolling technorati for information on how PCOS influences the likelihood of self-identification as some form of transgender when I stumbled upon the S&F Online. I was excited to discover it but only book marked it as I was working on a project for my sociology class and was trying to stay focused. When I clicked on the link for our reading and saw what came up I literally laughed out loud. Never think you're the first person to discover something on the internet.
One specific article I enjoyed reading was "Blogging Was Just the Beginning: Women's Voices are Louder Online" which I found fascinating. One of the most interesting things I noticed when reading this article was how very specifically dated it was. Without knowing when this was published I can tell you it had to have been written sometime after Feburary of 2007 and sometime before August of 2008. How do I know? Feburary of 2007 is when the Edward's campaign bloggers were fired and August of 2008 is when Rachel Maddow became the first openly gay, female, primetime cable news host.
I'm a dorktastic Maddow fan and would like to believe she has had a huge impact on the media just by being out there. There's a primetime cable news host who is openly gay and plainly butch. That's slightly huge for the average babydyke watching at home. I am aware that one cable news host does not a paradigm shift make and despite being a butch lesbian Rachel has many attributes that more than qualify her for the job.
Rachel is not just a woman with a journalism degree; she is a Rhodes Scholar who recieved her Doctorate of Philosophy in political science from Oxford. She is literally Dr. Maddow. She also has a long history of working in politics, HIV/AIDS activism, and prison reform. That's an impressive if not excessive resume for someone hosting a cable news show.
One interesting thing I did notice is that Nolan never mentioned Katie Couric who took over as the anchor of CBS Evening News in 2006. I would think that the inclusion of Couric in this article would be something of a big deal. Not only is she the first solo female anchor of the weekday news but she is also the highest paid news anchor and faced tough criticism when she was awarded the position. It just seemed odd that Couric wasn't included.
Looking at women in journalism and the blending of journalism and the blogosphere was interesting for me as I'm intensely passionate about the blogosphere. I feel many bloggers like Mayhill Fowler, whom I mentioned in an earlier post, are legitimate journalists breaking big stories. I still think there's a lot of room for improvement and women like Arianna Huffington and Rachel Maddow and Katie Couric are starting to change the game bit by bit. I'm really excited to see what happens next with women in the blogosphere.
Fun Fact: Rachel Maddow beat juggernaut Larry King in the ratings and has topped Countdown with Keith Olbermann as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions.
One specific article I enjoyed reading was "Blogging Was Just the Beginning: Women's Voices are Louder Online" which I found fascinating. One of the most interesting things I noticed when reading this article was how very specifically dated it was. Without knowing when this was published I can tell you it had to have been written sometime after Feburary of 2007 and sometime before August of 2008. How do I know? Feburary of 2007 is when the Edward's campaign bloggers were fired and August of 2008 is when Rachel Maddow became the first openly gay, female, primetime cable news host.
I'm a dorktastic Maddow fan and would like to believe she has had a huge impact on the media just by being out there. There's a primetime cable news host who is openly gay and plainly butch. That's slightly huge for the average babydyke watching at home. I am aware that one cable news host does not a paradigm shift make and despite being a butch lesbian Rachel has many attributes that more than qualify her for the job.
Rachel is not just a woman with a journalism degree; she is a Rhodes Scholar who recieved her Doctorate of Philosophy in political science from Oxford. She is literally Dr. Maddow. She also has a long history of working in politics, HIV/AIDS activism, and prison reform. That's an impressive if not excessive resume for someone hosting a cable news show.
One interesting thing I did notice is that Nolan never mentioned Katie Couric who took over as the anchor of CBS Evening News in 2006. I would think that the inclusion of Couric in this article would be something of a big deal. Not only is she the first solo female anchor of the weekday news but she is also the highest paid news anchor and faced tough criticism when she was awarded the position. It just seemed odd that Couric wasn't included.
Looking at women in journalism and the blending of journalism and the blogosphere was interesting for me as I'm intensely passionate about the blogosphere. I feel many bloggers like Mayhill Fowler, whom I mentioned in an earlier post, are legitimate journalists breaking big stories. I still think there's a lot of room for improvement and women like Arianna Huffington and Rachel Maddow and Katie Couric are starting to change the game bit by bit. I'm really excited to see what happens next with women in the blogosphere.
Fun Fact: Rachel Maddow beat juggernaut Larry King in the ratings and has topped Countdown with Keith Olbermann as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Reading Response 1: It's a long one. Get some popcorn.
Because I can't come up with a better title than that...
Reading "Blog This! An Introduction to Blogs, Blogging, and the Feminist Blogosphere" "Women in the Blogosphere" and "Blogging Busts Out" was interesting because I often only read a few lines before some random thought or response was evoked.
I'll be honest about how difficult it is for me to organize my thoughts and responses especially to "Women in the Blogosphere". It's hard for me to read the article while also thinking in terms of history. The article was written around April of 2005, almost four years ago. In web terms that's a millennium! Those four years were enough time for the Republicans to peak in power and then begin to crumble like a biscochito. Myspace followed suit and has given way to Facebook which has in turn begun fighting it out with Twitter all of this overshadowed by the rise of Campaign 2.0 and now White House/Government 2.0.
The world changed so much and I believe the blogosphere has changed in many ways as well. I understand that the majority of the top blogs aren't run or written mainly by women but every blog in the Top 5 of Technorati's Top 100 Blogs list has at least one regular contributor who is a woman. Even this is ignoring the number one spot: The Huffington Post.
I suppose my biggest argument that women have the ability to weild just as much power -if not more- than men in the blogosphere is simply Arianna Huffington. Arianna is a blogging Goddess in so many ways the first of which being that she founded The Huffington Post which may not seem like much until you look closer.
Not only is The Huffington Post a blog for Arianna, it also hosts blogs for hundreds of other people including big names like Senator Bernie Sanders, Rep. Barney Frank, and (before she moved to MSNBC) Rachel Maddow. During the campaign season The Huffington Post became a huge go-to resource for political news and information as it had real time front page updates the instant something new happened. Even after the election The Huffington Post has remained a big name in news, big enough that Sam Stein of The Huffington Post was called on to ask a question at President Obama's first press conference.
Another personal blogger-of-note is Ana Marie Cox, founding editor of Wonkette. When most people think of snark and satire they think of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but in the blogosphere political snark and satire are very much the territory of Ana Marie Cox. During her time as Editor, Wonkette was THE blog for DC news and gossip. When Cox left many people continued to follow her and still follow her after she has moved from Wonkette to Swampland to Radar and is currently at Air America.
My point about Arianna and HuffPost as it's informally known is that a blog founded by a woman is one of the most powerful blogs in the world. If there is ever doubt cast on Arianna or her abilities it is almost always based on political ideology rather than any sort of chops. Similarly, Wonkette's having been headed up by a woman had little effect on its credibility.
It's not just the prominent figures either. Having worked behind the scenes on the computer end of the Obama campaign I can vouch that many of the "new media" people I encountered were women.
So much has changed about the internet and the blogosphere since 2005 that it's kind of hard to compare the web as it exists now to the web as it existed before. In 2005 cyber-activism was in its infancy. In 2008 cyber-activism helped win the presidency. Now it's 2009 and we have proven that effective organizing and support systems can be created over the web. My biggest question is what will we do with them?
Fun Fact: The person who broke the "bittergate" story was a citizen blogger (someone who is not a memeber of the traditional press corps) and woman named Mayhill Fowler. She was blogging on HuffPost and her story rocked the traditional media elite to the core, not because of what it said about Obama but because it was broken by a woman in the crowd with a tape recorder, not a press badge.
Reading "Blog This! An Introduction to Blogs, Blogging, and the Feminist Blogosphere" "Women in the Blogosphere" and "Blogging Busts Out" was interesting because I often only read a few lines before some random thought or response was evoked.
I'll be honest about how difficult it is for me to organize my thoughts and responses especially to "Women in the Blogosphere". It's hard for me to read the article while also thinking in terms of history. The article was written around April of 2005, almost four years ago. In web terms that's a millennium! Those four years were enough time for the Republicans to peak in power and then begin to crumble like a biscochito. Myspace followed suit and has given way to Facebook which has in turn begun fighting it out with Twitter all of this overshadowed by the rise of Campaign 2.0 and now White House/Government 2.0.
The world changed so much and I believe the blogosphere has changed in many ways as well. I understand that the majority of the top blogs aren't run or written mainly by women but every blog in the Top 5 of Technorati's Top 100 Blogs list has at least one regular contributor who is a woman. Even this is ignoring the number one spot: The Huffington Post.
I suppose my biggest argument that women have the ability to weild just as much power -if not more- than men in the blogosphere is simply Arianna Huffington. Arianna is a blogging Goddess in so many ways the first of which being that she founded The Huffington Post which may not seem like much until you look closer.
Not only is The Huffington Post a blog for Arianna, it also hosts blogs for hundreds of other people including big names like Senator Bernie Sanders, Rep. Barney Frank, and (before she moved to MSNBC) Rachel Maddow. During the campaign season The Huffington Post became a huge go-to resource for political news and information as it had real time front page updates the instant something new happened. Even after the election The Huffington Post has remained a big name in news, big enough that Sam Stein of The Huffington Post was called on to ask a question at President Obama's first press conference.
Another personal blogger-of-note is Ana Marie Cox, founding editor of Wonkette. When most people think of snark and satire they think of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but in the blogosphere political snark and satire are very much the territory of Ana Marie Cox. During her time as Editor, Wonkette was THE blog for DC news and gossip. When Cox left many people continued to follow her and still follow her after she has moved from Wonkette to Swampland to Radar and is currently at Air America.
My point about Arianna and HuffPost as it's informally known is that a blog founded by a woman is one of the most powerful blogs in the world. If there is ever doubt cast on Arianna or her abilities it is almost always based on political ideology rather than any sort of chops. Similarly, Wonkette's having been headed up by a woman had little effect on its credibility.
It's not just the prominent figures either. Having worked behind the scenes on the computer end of the Obama campaign I can vouch that many of the "new media" people I encountered were women.
So much has changed about the internet and the blogosphere since 2005 that it's kind of hard to compare the web as it exists now to the web as it existed before. In 2005 cyber-activism was in its infancy. In 2008 cyber-activism helped win the presidency. Now it's 2009 and we have proven that effective organizing and support systems can be created over the web. My biggest question is what will we do with them?
Fun Fact: The person who broke the "bittergate" story was a citizen blogger (someone who is not a memeber of the traditional press corps) and woman named Mayhill Fowler. She was blogging on HuffPost and her story rocked the traditional media elite to the core, not because of what it said about Obama but because it was broken by a woman in the crowd with a tape recorder, not a press badge.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Blog response 2(?): why tautological observations are pointless.
*I seem incapable of writing a short blog. I suggest you settle in.*
I'll admit I had strong hesitations about working in a department or even a class full of feminists because I consider much of the approach to academia to be pointless. I'm not saying this is isolated to feminism and women's rights. This trend is present in all cases of inequality that are studied formally. But while I was looking around Finally, a Feminism 101 blog I came across a post explaining why the feminism is the way it is: more argument than movement and realized that it's okay for me to define feminism differently than other people and that open honest debate is not necessarily a bad thing.
I do not consider myself truly a "feminist" or a "queerist" or even "leftist" so much as I consider myself to be an ACTIVIST (who happens to be on training wheels at the moment). I believe in action. This action should be well informed, yes, but there should still be action.
I am deeply frustrated by people who point and say "That's wrong because it is." Such tautology is not only non-sensical, it's literally pointless. I personally feel that much academic observation is of this kind. In reading articles about women in various situations of opression or hate crimes that have been committed I have noticed that very few people stop to answer the question of "Why?"
Why do these things happen?
Why have these problems not been fixed?
What could be done about it?
How can we enact these ideas?
What would be the effect?
I feel that people who don't bother answering these questions shouldn't be throwing around accusatory statements.
One example I remember witnessing was a friend who was a self-proclaimed "feminazi" stated rather bluntly "I have a right to bitch because as a woman I'm oppressed by men."
This was something of a pinnacle WTF? moment. "How are you oppressed?" someone asked.
"I'm oppressed by men, that's how." she snapped back.
"okay... You're not answering the question and if you're so oppressed what are you doing to change it?" I asked.
"I did answer the question and I'm not doing anything. I have other things to do." she sighed and the subject was changed.
This exchange stuck with me because I remember feeling that despite her oppression she was free to express discontent and was also free to try to change things. Yet she didn't. So many people aren't willing to make that move from the anthropomorphic world of written word wars to the real world where people slam doors in your face and your car gets keyed and sometimes you really reach someone and change their mind and improve the world just a little bit.
I feel that if more people associated with civil rights causes spent less time writing papers about the way things are now and started thinking about the way things could be and how we can change them then we really can change the world for the better.
In the words of John Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."
I'll admit I had strong hesitations about working in a department or even a class full of feminists because I consider much of the approach to academia to be pointless. I'm not saying this is isolated to feminism and women's rights. This trend is present in all cases of inequality that are studied formally. But while I was looking around Finally, a Feminism 101 blog I came across a post explaining why the feminism is the way it is: more argument than movement and realized that it's okay for me to define feminism differently than other people and that open honest debate is not necessarily a bad thing.
I do not consider myself truly a "feminist" or a "queerist" or even "leftist" so much as I consider myself to be an ACTIVIST (who happens to be on training wheels at the moment). I believe in action. This action should be well informed, yes, but there should still be action.
I am deeply frustrated by people who point and say "That's wrong because it is." Such tautology is not only non-sensical, it's literally pointless. I personally feel that much academic observation is of this kind. In reading articles about women in various situations of opression or hate crimes that have been committed I have noticed that very few people stop to answer the question of "Why?"
Why do these things happen?
Why have these problems not been fixed?
What could be done about it?
How can we enact these ideas?
What would be the effect?
I feel that people who don't bother answering these questions shouldn't be throwing around accusatory statements.
One example I remember witnessing was a friend who was a self-proclaimed "feminazi" stated rather bluntly "I have a right to bitch because as a woman I'm oppressed by men."
This was something of a pinnacle WTF? moment. "How are you oppressed?" someone asked.
"I'm oppressed by men, that's how." she snapped back.
"okay... You're not answering the question and if you're so oppressed what are you doing to change it?" I asked.
"I did answer the question and I'm not doing anything. I have other things to do." she sighed and the subject was changed.
This exchange stuck with me because I remember feeling that despite her oppression she was free to express discontent and was also free to try to change things. Yet she didn't. So many people aren't willing to make that move from the anthropomorphic world of written word wars to the real world where people slam doors in your face and your car gets keyed and sometimes you really reach someone and change their mind and improve the world just a little bit.
I feel that if more people associated with civil rights causes spent less time writing papers about the way things are now and started thinking about the way things could be and how we can change them then we really can change the world for the better.
In the words of John Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Is it wrong that I think "rationale" is a boring word?
I don't for a moment blame people who use it; I understand that there aren't really any other options as far as nouns encompassing an explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena but I always feel slightly cheated when I see it, like someone needed a word for this and just said "I know! I'll just take 'rational' and put an 'e' on it! Brilliant! No one will ever know." We have a big language can't someone come up with a better word?
I will put my qualms with the word "rationale" aside to now explain, well, the rationale of my blog.
I suppose I can't claim that this blog will be strictly topical as I know myself and my inability to focus on anything that is not directly in front of me or shiny. I will say that my blog won't be limited to women's rights because I find it to be cissexist to argue for the equal rights of one particular gender without including those people who are alternative, trans, or non gendered. Equality should apply across the board.
As a "woman" who feels more gender queer than femme my blog will most likely focus on what it's like to be in a female body unsure of what it means to be a woman or a man and where I fall in respect to the dominant gender dichotomy. There is also the question of how the feminist movement feels about transgender individuals at the movement.
There are big questions I want to ask like:
Do women's rights include individuals who are MTF?
What about FTM?
What about individuals identifying as Gender Queer?
Is it feminist for a woman to actively seek to be submissve to a male a-la "Secretary"?
As a woman with multiple health problems I would also like to look at the way women's health is handled including the way treatment of PCOS is handled in relation to gender and feminism, the way mental health issues are handled, Doctor/Patient relationship dynamics, and other aspects of healthcare in relation to gender and feminism.
I also desperately want to look at women in politics (or lack thereof) and how some of them, like Senator Claire McCaskill of Missourri are using technology to reach their constituencies more readily.
Fun fact: Out of the 99 people serving in the US Senate (Minnesota is still being indecisive) only 17 are women. Think about that for a second 17 of 99 and the 100th will be male.
Fun fact part II: In the more than 200 years The United States of America, and subsequently the Senate has existed we have had a total of 38 women serve as Senators. One of them served for only 24hours.
Those two facts are stunning in the jaw-dropping-WTF?! sense.
Anything you think I might want to consider adding?
I *heart* feedback. (If I try to use the less-than-three version of "heart" the XML/HTML get's really wonky.)
I will put my qualms with the word "rationale" aside to now explain, well, the rationale of my blog.
I suppose I can't claim that this blog will be strictly topical as I know myself and my inability to focus on anything that is not directly in front of me or shiny. I will say that my blog won't be limited to women's rights because I find it to be cissexist to argue for the equal rights of one particular gender without including those people who are alternative, trans, or non gendered. Equality should apply across the board.
As a "woman" who feels more gender queer than femme my blog will most likely focus on what it's like to be in a female body unsure of what it means to be a woman or a man and where I fall in respect to the dominant gender dichotomy. There is also the question of how the feminist movement feels about transgender individuals at the movement.
There are big questions I want to ask like:
Do women's rights include individuals who are MTF?
What about FTM?
What about individuals identifying as Gender Queer?
Is it feminist for a woman to actively seek to be submissve to a male a-la "Secretary"?
As a woman with multiple health problems I would also like to look at the way women's health is handled including the way treatment of PCOS is handled in relation to gender and feminism, the way mental health issues are handled, Doctor/Patient relationship dynamics, and other aspects of healthcare in relation to gender and feminism.
I also desperately want to look at women in politics (or lack thereof) and how some of them, like Senator Claire McCaskill of Missourri are using technology to reach their constituencies more readily.
Fun fact: Out of the 99 people serving in the US Senate (Minnesota is still being indecisive) only 17 are women. Think about that for a second 17 of 99 and the 100th will be male.
Fun fact part II: In the more than 200 years The United States of America, and subsequently the Senate has existed we have had a total of 38 women serve as Senators. One of them served for only 24hours.
Those two facts are stunning in the jaw-dropping-WTF?! sense.
Anything you think I might want to consider adding?
I *heart* feedback. (If I try to use the less-than-three version of "heart" the XML/HTML get's really wonky.)
Monday, March 16, 2009
My Hair = My Gender Identity
Right about now someone reading this blog is saying wtf? And to be honest I completely understand where they're coming from.
It's hair. It grows. You cut it. Other than styling it to look one way or another what possible effect could your hair have on your life?
I can't speak for other people but for me it turned out to be a huge piece of who I am and my gender identity. I didn't realize just how huge until today when I was having difficulty coming up with a good way to style my hair so my sister recommended that I style it a certain way which feels particularly femme: the front half of my hair plastered down and the back a little spiky and teased. It's still short and still too butch for my mom (but what isn't?) but it felt wrong.
My hair felt wrong and it bothered me all day. I felt physically uncomfortable because my hair didn't match how I feel about myself, about my gender, about my sexuality, about how I feel about how I look.
I've spent a lot of time over the past few months thinking about my gender and who I am. This is probably because I'm in a Contemporary Sexualities class that addresses gender within sexuality but there have been a lot of other things. Needless to say I've been looking for resources to help me sort out exactly who I am or come to terms with not knowing the answer.
In this quest I have come across two invaluable tools.
- The first is the gender pioneer Kate Bornstein who authored the amazing "My Gender Workbook" which I feel should be required reading for the world. It pushes people to completely re-evaluate the way the gender dichotomy works and how we exist within it. I consider that to be somewhat profound.
As I learned about Bornstein I wanted to read more of hir work and sought hir out on the internet and discovered ze has a blog! It's updated sporadically but the observations ze makes are well worth the wait. http://katebornstein.typepad.com/
- The second resource I discovered was a random blog I found through a Google search, The Sugarbutch Chronicles. Authored by Sinclair Sexsmith, the observations about gender from the perspective of a butch lesbian versus someone who is transgender or non-gendered are a brilliant reference. I will warn that gender is not her only focus. The blog can be very sexually explicit and involves reviews and discussion of sexual topics. It's definitely an 18+ blog but that doesn't detract from it's brilliance.
It turns out it starts with my hair.
Infinity and beyond
The way the web is built completely blows me away every time I try to really wrap my head around it. It's like trying to think about the size of the universe and then something beyond that.
I'm going to throw down a HUGE g33k reference now and invoke the japanime films and cartoon series "Ghost in the Shell" based on the manga of the same name. One of my favorite aspects of the GitS (Ghost in the Shell) universe is their conceptualization of the future of the web. It's all very sci-fi and bizarre but the gist is everyone has the capability to link directly to a massive net via a neural implant referred to as a cyberbrain. There is a visualization of the net that is shown in multiple episodes and consists of many linked minds sharing ideas and information. As a complete G33K I find these images strangely moving and beautiful. My real point in bringing up something as bizarre and obscure as GitS is that we have no tangible proof that the web exists, that it connects people across continents. It just does.
Think about that for a second. There is something that is a near living entity as it depends entirely on living beings to create and update and change it. It connects millions of people around the world and it just works. It is never the same from instant to instant. It is music and visual art and movies and arguments and manifestos of every variation and breaking news. That little icon on your desktop gives you access to almost the entire world. This may not seem like much but when you're someone in need of a community to belong to and be accepted into then it is everything.
I am Bipolar II. It's the less severe sibling of what people normally think of when they hear the word "Bipolar." Interestingly I had more issues coming to terms with being Bipolar than I did coming to terms with being a lesbian. I spent a years struggling with mental health and then my diagnosis. It wasn't until I discovered a web community known as "The Icarus Project" dedicated to providing people with Bipolar Disorder resources about treatment options, outlets for creativity, support in difficult times, and information in general. It was through this community that I came to understand that having Bipolar Disorder doesn't mean you become a disheveled homeless person screaming at a trash can outside of McDonald's the minute you have a manic or depressed episode. It gave me the confidence enough to own my illness and start doing something about it. And the community is still there anytime I need them.
It's not just me. It's women who've had abortions or transgender kids or activists or women who are pregnant or transgender individuals who are pregnant or people living in Gaza.
One of the reasons I enjoy the term "the net" is because if you fall a net will catch you and many times the internet provides the information and resources to help you save yourself. Not always, but often.
In using the web and blogs in particular people aren't limited to sharing a message or an idea with just the people in their community or people they call or the people they can get to read a pamplet or news article in a paper. People have the means to organize movements across countries and around the world using just an idea and some web savvy.
How crazy is that?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Welcome to the Jungle
I would like to send a shout-out to all the 3rd graders at Gladys Wood Elementary
make that a shout-out to all the folks from W S 450: Cyberfeminism!
Welcome to my blog!
In case you hadn't guessed, I like exclamation points and dislike grammar and fight with spelling- and often lose.
I'm a government major who still hasn't gotten over how awesome the 2008 election season was. I am very, very progressive in my politics but have a strange place in my heart for the 2nd amendment and think people in the army should be respected and recognized for their humanity. I thought they were ruthless, heartless pigs until I read "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" about an army grunt deployed to Mosul, Iraq who starts blogging about serving in Iraq.
My first real exposure to blogs and blogging was the blog feature on Myspace at least 5 years ago. I used it to post random wibblings and angst-filled poetry. I kept this up until I switched to Facebook during my senior year of high school and essentially stopped blogging as Facebook doesn't really have that feature.
My blogging was sporadic until I took English 211 and our special topic was 'Zines and Blogging. We dedicated the second half of the semester to building up and using blogs as a way to express ourselves and our opinions in a valid and somewhat public way. I loved it. Because of this class I started my first real blog: Leftisting.
Now that I am involved in Cyberfeminism I have founded this blog as well. I'm excited about both keeping up my blog as well as reading what everyone else has to say.
*Notes on my actual blog*
I apologize in advance for poor grammar or spelling. I have dysgraphia which makes it difficult for me to sucessfully express my thoughts while still obeying the rules of grammar and punctuation.
I am aware that because I have interests including gender and sexuality some of my material may not be "appropriate" to some people. I would ask that people try to keep a sex positive attitude and an open mind.
I am also keenly aware that not everyone will agree with my politics, I welcome a lively debate including all viewpoints but ask that you not flame me or anyone else. If you do flame your comments will be deleted.
Other than these things I hope you enjoy!
Let's Rock!!
Welcome to my blog!
In case you hadn't guessed, I like exclamation points and dislike grammar and fight with spelling- and often lose.
I'm a government major who still hasn't gotten over how awesome the 2008 election season was. I am very, very progressive in my politics but have a strange place in my heart for the 2nd amendment and think people in the army should be respected and recognized for their humanity. I thought they were ruthless, heartless pigs until I read "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" about an army grunt deployed to Mosul, Iraq who starts blogging about serving in Iraq.
My first real exposure to blogs and blogging was the blog feature on Myspace at least 5 years ago. I used it to post random wibblings and angst-filled poetry. I kept this up until I switched to Facebook during my senior year of high school and essentially stopped blogging as Facebook doesn't really have that feature.
My blogging was sporadic until I took English 211 and our special topic was 'Zines and Blogging. We dedicated the second half of the semester to building up and using blogs as a way to express ourselves and our opinions in a valid and somewhat public way. I loved it. Because of this class I started my first real blog: Leftisting.
Now that I am involved in Cyberfeminism I have founded this blog as well. I'm excited about both keeping up my blog as well as reading what everyone else has to say.
*Notes on my actual blog*
I apologize in advance for poor grammar or spelling. I have dysgraphia which makes it difficult for me to sucessfully express my thoughts while still obeying the rules of grammar and punctuation.
I am aware that because I have interests including gender and sexuality some of my material may not be "appropriate" to some people. I would ask that people try to keep a sex positive attitude and an open mind.
I am also keenly aware that not everyone will agree with my politics, I welcome a lively debate including all viewpoints but ask that you not flame me or anyone else. If you do flame your comments will be deleted.
Other than these things I hope you enjoy!
Let's Rock!!
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