in the last 48 hours...

Blazers win! Rudy Fernandez's sweet reverse dunk was definitely a highlight, as were every single one of LaMarcus Aldridge's 25 points and 9 rebounds.

Iceland - perhaps because of their own economic hullabaloo, perhaps because they're AWESOME - elected its first lesbian prime minister. She was a union organizer, and the public seems to trust her, that she "actually cares about the people." Woo!

President Obama signed the Ledbetter Act. See the previous post for more on why this kicks ass.

Book club tonight. We read Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, and I'm not crazy about it. Metafiction annoys me, and I guess I prefer a more spare style of prose because damn! The wordiness killed me.

I have now received confirmation that all of the law schools to which I've applied have complete copies of my applications. Great. Now I just get to sit in my puddle of anxiety (at least I hope that's anxiety) and wait.

For the record, I applied to Lewis and Clark, UW, UO, Berkeley, Temple and Northwestern. Northwestern was very prompt in rejecting me - fully anticipated that, and none too bothered.

Tonight, however, I will dissipate some of this tension with a Blazers game! They're playing the Charlotte Wildcats. Let me just say that I'm pretty well over the whole NBA musical mascots. New Orleans should be the Jazz (Utah?! Come ON), Charlotte should be the Hornets, and Utah can deal with the Wildcats or some other insanely generic mascot. Don't wreck my frame of reference, NBA. Also, I know Seattle's having some hard times, but letting Oklahoma City take the Sonics was just cold. Calling them the Thunder, even colder.

At any rate, I will continue to harbor my illicit straight crushes on LaMarcus Aldridge and Martell Webster. They're adorable, and I'm not apologizing.

Holla: Lilly Ledbetter

Today, the Senate passed (by an astonishing 61-36 margin) the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a landmark case in labor law. The holding is a little difficult to capture in a single sentence, but I'll try: Former employees seeking back pay as a result of a successful pay discrimination suit (race, gender, age, etc.) are now entitled to back pay starting up to two years prior to the alleged discriminatory act. Further, as the Library of Congress summary points out:

Amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to declare that an unlawful practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted, when a person becomes subject to the decision or other practice, or when a person is affected by the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid.

This is really fundamental. No, really. Every time an employee gets a paycheck (or tips or what-have-you), it's a throw-back to Ledbetter. It's a legal check mark against a discriminating employer. Rather than look at the entire scope of an worker's employ, the courts must now look at each paycheck as a separate discriminatory act. This, rather than damages assigned as a blanket fix-it, seems like a more accurate dispensation of justice and a protective measure for those who do not get the pay they are owed.

Frankly, I'm stoked. Lilly Ledbetter campaigned and lobbied hard for two years to see this done. She was a plant manager at a Goodyear tire factory who realized way too late that she'd been getting crummy pay on account of her gender. Short version: legal loopholes stood between her and her back pay, so she took her fight to Congress. Props, LL.

troubling

I'm starting to like Excel.

Watching Out for Dykes (or: A Paean to Alison Bechdel)

Alison Bechdel blogs. I knew this, at least, I'd heard it from her very mouth at Wordstock '08, but until now I hadn't actually bothered to check it out. Naturally, her blog is as insightful, intelligent and rad as her comics. Check it:

[Lesbian author Jeanette] Winterson... talks about being identified as the “homosexual authoress” in her small village. “I suppose I should be writing racy novels in a tweed skirt and brogues, but then everybody else around here wears those.” This calls to mind my own experience of lesbian rustication here in New England, where everyone dresses like a butch dyke, even the gay men, which is sometimes confusing.

This statement also very aptly applies to Alaska, if you're lucky enough to be outside of Anchorage. Having been mistaken for a gay man (COME ON) in both urban and rural settings*, this little blurb reached out and grabbed me. The number of layers a gender-ambiguous person wears is, in my experience, directly proportionate to the incidence of incorrect pronoun/address usage (see also: don't call me "Bro"). Relatedly, I've been getting some interesting looks on the light rail when I bust out the Michelle Tea.

Back to Bechdel, though. Perhaps I've already gone on at great length about her interview in the Comics Journal #282, wherein she speaks to the satisfaction one can derive from chopping wood and her desire to do so naked (which happens to be her cover illustration for that same issue). The entire interview, which I re-read from time to time to validate my need to demonstrate my rather bitchin' vocabulary, is fantastic, but what stands out to me is how well she articulated the need to connect bodily to things outside one's head. One's head is a difficult place.

Anyway, Alison Bechdel is rad, and now her radness graces my RSS feed.

*and, most recently, been mistaken for a transguy on a plane. (I appreciate your coolness with that but again, COME ON. Also, don't ever inquire about the "hormone thing" EVER on a plane to anyone in any context. What compels people to speak sometimes?)

breakfast recipe

Coffee:
3 parts coffee that the roommate made half an hour to an hour before
1 part hot water to take the edge off the above

Add any one of the following

Granola bowl-a:
1 part granola
1 part yogurt or soy milk or fruit or tahini by accident (while looking for peanut butter)

Leftovers:
2 parts cooked rice from last night
1 part anything else
dash of bragg's, yumm sauce (if available), peanut butter by accident (while looking for tahini)

Sandwich on Stale Bread a la Pre-Caffeine:
Two slices stale bread
PB & J
-or-
cheese and hummus
-or-
cheese and that god damn tahini (pathetic leftover salad greens optional)

The Holy-Crap-I'm-Already-Late:
Handful of cashews
Piece of fruit hastily thrown in bag
Spoonful of yogurt followed by spoonful of jelly
Absolutely no tahini
Be sure to forget coffee. Curse loudly while running to catch public transit, as the bike is once again broken.

hangin' on the cusp

Last year, I:

-Lost a dog and finally stopped blaming myself for it
-Switched jobs and got a better picture of what I'd like my big girl career to look like in so doing
-Applied to law school (see above)
-Moved again and again hoped it would be the last time
-Spent 7 months+ as a vegetarian and a month of that as a vegan
-Took some sweet trips - Seattle, Montana, the Sierras, Puget Sound and Phoenix* - to see some of my nearest and dearest
-Rode my bike nearly every day
-Started my first garden
-Learned to knit
-Got back into counseling
-Came out as a birdwatcher (expect more bird blogging)
-Occasionally got laid and even dated someone for a bit
-Fell out with a good friend, made some good friends, wrote faraway friends
-Reasonably accomplished my 2008 theme of "be mindful" - resolutions are too constraining, maaaan...

Next year I'd like to:

-Keep up with the above, particularly the travel and hobby parts
-Attend all five weddings (!!) I've been invited to without using my credit card (much)
-Get back to Alaska at some point
-Start at Lewis and Clark or UW Law (fingers crossed!)
-Write folks
-Call folks
-start a spanish class
-Figure out excel - hate that shit
-Take up the themes "get organized and follow through" - those are hard.

Also:



*This is my cousin's baby, Lia Beatrice aka the Bean. She's the happiest baby and the folks at Trader Joe's in Phoenix agree.

a plea on behalf of my fave bookstore

In Other Words, an absolutely rad non-profit, collectively-owned, volunteer-run, feminist, queer-friendly bookstore is going under and needs $11K to stay afloat. I've already chipped in, and, if you're a fan of them and their rad gatherings and radder community, you should too. I love this place. You can find all the activist and feminist reading you could want, plus great cookbooks, nature books, and gifty trinkets that aren't appallingly kitschy. They host Dirty Queer, a notorious monthly erotica reading. It's a great place to spend a few hours and more than a few dollars. They're taking donations in any amount, so kick 'em a few bucks and help keep one of the places I adore most in Portland up and running.

They're at 8 NE Killingsworth, if you feel like stopping in.

Merry Christmas to me!

The fact that I'm so excited, nay, ecstatic about this shows:

a) that I will likely live and die the rest of my days in the Pacific Northwest
b) I can most definitely lay claim to the adjectives "outdoorsy" and "pear-loving"
c) that I am not afraid to shill in my blog

It's really, really good.

Moving Update: The mountains of boxes are closer to hills or knolls, and every piece of clothing I own is no longer on the floor. Also, roommate's dog has annexed my bed. Or maybe I'm allowed to sleep in her second bed. Either way - cute.

moving sucks!

and that's what I'm doing, so bear with the silence, please.

ha!

Bill Sizemore, local anti-teacher author of tremendously moronic ballot initiatives, was jailed for contempt of court. His above-linked "non-profit" has been suspected of and investigated for fraudulent practices, and Sizemore blew his fourth chance to file required state and federal tax documents. As such, the judge tossed him in jail. This man, I might add, is a convicted racketeer. Pardon my glee, but I do enjoy watching corrupt folks go down.

a pleasant thought for cyclists/talking about the weather

It turns out Portland averages as many days over 65 degrees (F) as it does rainy days - round about 150 each. To be precise, PDXers get 156 warm days, and 151 wet ones. Not bad for a reputedly damp, depressing and gray city. (If you follow the link, you will also see the rather unfortunate statistics on how many cloudy days we get. But it's still better than Anchorage!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

two-wheeler edumacation

I took apart my drive train this weekend and cleaned it all up. Sadly, this is the time of year where that fresh, well-oiled machine feeling lasts about a day and a half. To say nothing of the state of my bike generally - let's just say the little lady is starting to slow down in her old age. Next stop: hub overhauls.

Senator-elect Begich!

I'm not going to get tired of that title for a while, either. Check it.

Finally! Formal recognition of monosyllabic apathy!

"Meh" has been added to a dictionary. I'm not sure how the Collins English Dictionary - published by HarperCollins - stacks up in the pantheon of dictionary legitimacy, but it gets mad points on my scorecard for including "meh". When the OED gets on that wagon, we know we've got a winner.

briefly: props to Julia Butterfly's heir apparent

Any Ducks or former Ducks know Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky? She's taking to a tree in Salem with the rad and radical enviro group Rising Tide to protest logging and deforestation. Pretty hardcore, considering the biblical amounts of rain we're getting these days. Salem likely won't be hit as hard as Seattle or Portland, but I would still rather not up a tree 24/7 in any amount of Oregon rain. Anyway, props to Jasmine. Go Ducks!

let's make one thing perfectly clear

This election was a landmark victory and a long-awaited and much-needed step in the direction of American decency. I don't want to qualify this, as many queer bloggers have, by saying "but Prop 8..." and I won't. For those who oppose GLBTQI rights, that was a landmark victory too. A landmark victory that galvanizes the removal of civil rights, but I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.

Well. Now that the perspective-talk is out of my system, let's talk about why everyone, absolutely EVERYONE, is to blame for this mess. Myself included. Hell, myself especially.

By now, Dan Savage's surprisingly idiotic comments have gained a following among queers who start sentences with, "Now, I'm not racist or anything..." - often, but not always, white. The thrust of his argument cites exit poll data and cultural stereotypes that indicate homophobic attitudes are more prevalent among African-Americans and Latinas/Latinos. What I got out of this is "they're less open-minded than us" - which, in the world of the smug liberal (my world, mind you) - is tantamount to saying "we're just better people than them." Before you accuse me of being reductive, look at Savage's language.

...I’m thrilled that we’ve just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can’t help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren’t mutual.

Are you joking? Of course the love and support aren't mutual. African-Americans still get hassled by the cops for nothing at all. Legal Latinas and Latinos get flak about their immigration status from total strangers. I may be a whitey just like you, Dan, but at least I can see that we are far from the Promised Land of Mutual Love and Support. Furthermore, the fact that Savage feels entitled to reciprocity of this support despite no real indication that he has earned it strikes me as a very (pardon me, but) White Male Attitude. Perhaps Savage has done some major outreach to people of color, and has really been active in advocating for minorities other those pertaining to orientation and gender. That would be news to me, and I'll happily take back my ugly words if so. Near as I can tell, though, Savage doesn't deserve the "love and support" of voters of color de facto, based solely on his status as another sort of minority.

What bothers me most about this is that these comments truly marginalize folks whose identities are not tied up solely in their sexuality or race alone. Whether Savage intended to or not, he drew a line and put queers on one side and people of color on the other. We all know that's absurd, since there are millions of queer people of color. We also know that white people can be homophobic too. Many, many white people are. This is so basic! In this great post by Anxious Black Woman, the author rightfully points out that the people who killed Matthew Shepard and Brandon Teena were white. So were the people who keyed my truck when I came out and beat the hell out of a guy I went to high school with. To truly embrace the melting pot means one cannot ascribe valued terms or characteristics to entire identity groups. For crying out loud, can we get away from villanizing identity politics? Please?

On that note, I'd like to point out that demonizing the Mormon church is not going to help matters. Yes, the Latter Day Saints went marching in to California with oodles of cash and may or may not have been a turning point on the Prop 8 front. Removing their tax exempt status will not overturn Prop 8, though. Nor will it do much besides remove the tax shelter for an organization that I frankly don't get but provides community and solace for a bunch of people who think I'm a double sinner for liking ladies as well as this fantastic cup of coffee.

What truly needs to happen, in my humblest, is an effort toward giving everyone a decent standard of living. "Wait," you may protest, "how does that help gaywads get married?" It doesn't, not immediately, but let's look at the biggest concerns facing the country as a whole. Not everyone can eat or afford their housing. Not everyone can get access to basic medications. Not everyone gets a decent education or adequate legal representation. Compared to these, officially and publicly recognizing that you and your partner shop for drapes instead of have sex is pretty pale. Yes, there are legal implications. Yes, I think queers should be able to get married and divorced, adopt kids, and be with each other in times of need. But other, more fundamental issues of equality are where my top priorities lie.

Damn. I think I'm a traitor to the movement.

Anyway, I know this is a novel, but it's been percolating for a while. Also, I haven't been cooking as much and the latest craftery is still in the works.

Yesterday, I had a fantastic moment with clear skies between rain showers, fresh produce and a bearded man writing not-half-bad street corner poetry. This morning, I had a crappy moment with coffee spilling in my waterproof bag, destroying my work phone and day planner. Talk about the difference between a Sunday and a Monday.

check it!

New layout courtesy Kelly.