Written Rebellion: October 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Boo!

Here's a collection of cartoons in honor of Halloween...

I don't know how you're feeling, but I am having trouble imagining anything scarier than the current condition of our foreign policy and Bu$hCo's drumbeat for war with Iran. It's our very own reality show nightmare.

Personally, I'm neck-deep in my thesis draft, so I won't be attending any festivities this year. Though, the kid in me has reserved a prime-time hour to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It's an annual tradition.

Here's wishing everyone has as much fun as a World War I Flying Ace. (And of course, by this, I am referencing Snoopy's imagination and am not, in any way, meaning to imply that any of our military service persons are having fun...Yes, someone did send me a comment about this.)

Update: Here's a link to someone who really knows how to carve a pumpkin, though none of them are nearly as good as this one:

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Killing Me Softly

Sports fans may think that this is old news, but I saw it for the first time this afternoon, and this really makes me mad.

In 1999, Jean Kilbourne published her now famous book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think And Feel. In it, she outlines her observations of advertising's images of women. If you haven't read it, please take the time to watch this 34-minute lecture during which the author outlines her central thesis:

This beer commercial is an example of what Kilbourne would call "advertising and violence" since sex in advertising is more about disconnection and distance than connection and closeness. The ad dehumanizes and objectifies women and it fetishizes its product.

This commercial reduces women to mindless robotic subjects of men's fantasy and transforms our wombs into refrigerators.

And, if anyone STILL doesn't think that this stuff as a real, measurable effect on the way we think and feel, think again.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Dumbledore is WHAT?!?!?!?

So, there's a woman in my school program who posted this up on her MySpace blog. She has a better sense of humor than I do, and her tongue-in-cheek writing left me in stitches. I loved it and hope you will too.

My friends, JK Rowling has outed Dumbledore as a flaming homosexual.
:)
In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in
New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne,
read from her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."

But, really, who didn't know that? The oh-so-mahvelous robes? The weird relationship with Grindewald that no one really understood? Okay, so most people probably didn't pick up on those hints at the time. What is hilarious are the reader's comments on all of these article that always begin with the words (in one form or another) "I'm not homophobic, but..." and then go into detail proving exactly how homophobic they are:

"why did there have to be a gay character at all?"

For that matter, why do we have to have BLACK people in our movies and
books??? Why can't the whole world just be rich, white, republican
assholes who look and think and act EXACTLY like me? OR you can stop being
so terrified of everyone who isn't exactly like you and become an actual, decent
human being! Whichever.

"why did Dumbledore have to be gay, why not some other
[background] character? Now I can never look at him the
same!"

So what you're saying is that you don't mind if people are gay, as
long as you have no interaction or emotional attachment to them? WOW,
that's so progressive and compassionate of you!

"homosexual characters have no place in a children's
book."

In that case, we should ban every story ever written about a prince
rescuing a "helpless" princess and marrying her. Since you seem to have
such a problem with your children knowing anything about families that don't
look like yours, maybe you should just keep them from reading (or watching t.v.)
altogether, we wouldn't want them to, you know, think critically about how
jacked up your morals are.

"this ruins the whole series for me."

Good you bigot. I don't want to think that we have the same
taste in literature. I mean, Seriously? the fact the you found out a
character is gay (after the series was over and said series never made a single
reference to the character's orientation), ruins it for you? remind me
never to come out to your judgemental ass.

Oh, and I especially love this comment:

"umm...i guess i now understand why dumbledore spent so much time
with harry alone in his office.... :/ "

Cuz, you know.... gay = pedophile.

I couldn't resist looking at the comment pages and I found some of my own that are real winners:

"First of all, Dumbledore is a really old guy, and there's no romantic storyline anywhere in the series that involves him. If there were, there probably shouldn't be anyway."

Homophobia AND ageism all rolled into one little package, because, as we all know, old people aren't sexual, or they shouldn't be.

"She doesn't sell enough books without having to include a homosexual? Give us a break!!"

Yeah. You guessed it. She felt obligated to script a gay character for her personal financial gain. Never mind that the revelation came well after she's already made like a gazillion dollars on royalties. Why don't you give ME a break?

"Many Harry Potter readers, not all, but a good many, are too young to grasp the concept of a gay character in a children's series."

I'd love to ask this guy at what age he thinks individuals CAN "grasp the concept of a gay character," or how old he thinks one should be before they are exposed to ignorance. Obviously he knows nothing about emotional, cognitive, or moral development. I could go on, but I won't bother.

"So, what's next? Heidi was molested by her grandfather and Dorothy was doing no-no activity with her dog Toto?"

Yes. Obviously. Because gay men prey on children and lesbians prefer sex with animals.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

For People of Difference

Brothers, sisters
of difference,
people of color,
people of poverty,
gay and straight,
black, white, Asian, Hispanic,
jew, Christian, Muslim,
or whoever you are,
hitherto invisible ones,
stand together and
affirm yourselves,
in your difference,
and in your unity.
Do not accept for
one more minute
the insidious forces
that hold you back
by act, word, or tone.
Forge a chain and
break the chains,
you do not stand alone.
And to you beyond the walls,
in mental hospitals,
in prison stalls,
in chairs of steel,
in hospice beds,
in boxes made of cardboard,
or numbered by substances that
eat away at brain and heart,
for you who bear the stigma
of difference
and the judments of all,
join together, make it start!
Do not go silently;
do not withdraw;
do not say "yes sir"
even once more.
Trust what you think
and what you know and feel.
Cry, shout, scream,
find your anger,
dare to dream,
find your strength locked
arm in arm.
Do not go gently or in shame.
You have a legacy of hope,
of courage more than pain.

- Judith A. Lee

Monday, October 22, 2007

Equal Opportunity - Unless You're GLBT

This comes from Human Rights Campaign:

In most states, you can be fired for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, regardless of your performance or qualifications. HRC has been fighting since 2004 to pass a federal law to end this injustice.

Congressional leaders have decided to push a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes sexual orientation, but not gender identity. Tell Congress to support the Baldwin Amendment to ENDA, which would place gender identity back into the bill - and ensure all GLBT people have full employment equality.

This is a historic vote. For the first time ever, the House of Representatives is poised to vote on employment protections for the GLBT community. Help us make sure every member of the GLBT community is included in those protections.

Make sure the Baldwin Amendment passes! Call Congress today at (202) 224-3121, and tell your representative to support the Baldwin Amendment to ENDA.

Then, be sure to send an email to reinforce your call.

We must do this. It is long overdue.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Happy Birthday to MY Dad

I'll bet that when this picture was taken...

You never anticipated we'd take one like this:

I love you, Dad, and I'm so full of thanks for another year.

And the Winner Is...

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I take it back.

Today, in the heat of a moment filled with the stress of the demands of my graduate school program, I turned to my dogs and said in a hungry, pathetic voice:

"I am SO sick of bean burritos and Velveeta Shells and Cheese. I just want something good to eat!!"

Then I read this.

I have never been this hungry.

What the AP fails to mention is that the person in this story is not alone. It is estimated that there are more than 38 million Americans who are "food insecure."

In fact, according to this national survey, requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 12 percent in 2005. That same year, 18 percent of all requests for emergency food assistance went unmet. In more than half of the cities participating in the survey, food assistance facilities were not able to provide an adequate quantity of food. 68% of cities report either decreasing the quantity of emergency food assistance distributed or putting limits on the numbers of bags distributed or decreasing further the number of times families and/or individuals can come to get food.

Forty-three percent of the cities report that emergency food assistance facilities may have to turn away those in need because of lack of resources.

In 87 percent of the cities, families and individuals relied on emergency food assistance facilities
both in emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time.

That's some report card for the land of plenty we call the greatest nation in the world.

My mom used to encourage me to eat brussel sprouts with gratitude because, "there are starving children in China." She forgot to mention that there are starving children in America.

I have never been this hungry.

I take it back.