500 Miles from Our Shores

There is an unmitigated disaster in Haiti right now, and it's so close to us. It's heartbreaking to see those people, desperate, beating each other up for food and relief water from the UN. It's being struck by yet another hurricane right now, and it's horrible. Why can't we help people that are closer to us than California is to Kansas? I think it's inexcusable, both the poverty before the hurricanes swept away towns and now the devastation after.

The Best A (Wo)Man Can Get

I just saw a Gillette shampoo commercial, and I noticed something. They say the same things they say in women's shampoo commercials, but they play rock in the background, use blue and black color schemes, and growl out all of their words. If they put lots of pink, light green, and flowers with a woman narrating, talking about vitamins and soft hair, then BOOM: they have a woman's shampoo commercial.

Very original. I guess a shampoo commercial with Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters, axel grease, and sweat wouldn't really drive the grooming point home.

Quality Reading

A few articles for those of us obsessed about current events. The first one is from an op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. He picked up on my blog post about being pro-choice and Sarah Palin's daughter (of course, 8 billion other people are talking about it as well) being able to make her choice while her mom seeks to deny the same one to other women. Good read, though nothing really new. Jon Stewart said it on The Daily Show that its wrong for her make the media "respect [Bristol's] decision" while if she were President, "she would deny that choice to others."

The second article I wanted to mention was a piece from Gloria Steinem (also in the LA Times, but probably in others also) asking how dumb Republicans think women are. Do they really think we're so desperate for a female candidate that we will support a woman who supports no other women? It won't work, she says. I hope she's right.

There's one more that I found at the New York Times. It's by Judith Warner about sexism and Sarah Palin, and though I think some of her points are a little off the mark, most of them are brilliant.

And finally, a column by Thomas Friedman about energy plans and how John McCain isn't even a maverick when it comes to energy. He's in the pocket of big oil just like his running mate, and the only viable green option is Barack Obama.

The Politics of Negativity

There are a few things I want to blog about today. First, I'd like to talk about the RNC v. the DNC. Their convention speeches may not sound all that dissimilar, but their websites just about say it all. If you log on to the RNC's national page, the only thing you saw, before Hurricane Gustav and the convention, was negative things about Joe Biden and Barack Obama. They have a "time since Biden's last gaffe" counter up there, and something about Barack Obama that I haven't checked out. I'm pretty sure that it is negative, though. Switching over now to the Democratic National Committee's page, it's almost all positive. The one dark spot is literally a dark spot with John McCain's name on a tiny button. I'm sure it's all negative about him as well. But the difference is clear: the Democrats have a much, much more positive page. If you measure positivity, not negativity, the Democrats have it in the bag, even though it is in the middle of the Republican National Convention. It's supposed to be all positive when it's your time to shine, but apparently, there's not too much to get excited about with John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Speaking of which, she speaks tonight. Can't wait to see what she says. She's like my worst nightmare. A woman so conservative she'd work to ensure other women could never break the glass ceiling she has the possibility of breaking, and so anti-choice she opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or endangering the health of the mother. As far as her speech, I'll probably just read about it in the New York or Los Angeles Times tomorrow. I'm done with conventions, and I never can tolerate listening to Republicans. Hey, I never said I was unbiased.

Family Planning is a Gift from God

I am annoyed. By the way, the picture to the left is from Harvard's website (giving credit where credit is due). But anyway, back to why I am annoyed.

Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant. Jamie Lynn Spears gets pregnant, and the media jumps all over her. Now, this woman, who is anti-contraception, anti-choice, and is touted as having spectacular "family values," has a 17-year-old daughter who is five months pregnant, and all those Christian conservatives are valuing Ms. Palin for her daughter's choice of continuing with the pregnancy, getting married at 17, and praising the mother for having such a loving, supportive family. This is some kind of victory? Unplanned pregnancy, the triumph of ignorance about family planning and responsible sexuality, is a victory for family values?

How about the value of honesty and teaching your children about how to be responsible, giving them all of the options available to women and girls, and facing the reality of teen sex? Hopefully, this girl had the option of making the choice to continue the pregnancy for herself and isn't deciding to marry this guy because her mother is in politics. If she is, how wonderful that she has the option of doing so with the support of her family. How about all those other women out there who make the same choice because otherwise their families would disown them? How about those who then get trapped into a marriage? Or, how about the women who choose not to continue the pregnancy out of necessity also?

Being pro-choice means enabling women to make those choices. The choice of having sex, but being responsible. The choice of not continuing the pregnancy and not marrying the person who got you pregnant. How about that?

And one more thing before I go. Sarah Palin's governor survey by the Eagle Forum shows that she is against comprehensive sex education, in favor of abstinence-only education. My favorite part, though, about this survey, is this quote (from the LA Times)'"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," Palin responded [to the survey], according to the [survey] site.' This woman doesn't even know what real sex-education includes.

When I attended public school in New Jersey, we had real sex education, which acknowledged the existence of teen sex drive. They told me time and time again, the only sure way NOT to get pregnant, or get an STD, is to NOT have sex. They also taught us about contraception, condoms, and how to be safe should we choose to have sex. That being said, they taught us that we should wait until we are old enough to handle the consequences of sex. And yes, all this from a COMPREHENSIVE SEX ED CURRICULUM. Abstience-only education is not education; it's fantasy. It doesn't teach teens to be responsible about sex if they do feel ready, and sex is a reality of life. We shouldn't be telling our kids incorrect things about choices they will be facing (like that condoms and contraception never work or any of the other lies they include). Instead, we should be honest. Our children deserve that.

Working with Racism

All this time, I've been checking like three job sites and applying for jobs there. Then, last night, the gf showed me a site on Dartmouth's career services page with about four more places to find non-profit jobs. It was like a lightning bolt - all these jobs, just for me! Thus, I applied to seven jobs today, one last night, and one on Friday. We will see if they come through, but right now, I feel much better about life. I feel like there are more possibilities. San Francisco seems closer already.

This have been hectic here in LA. The weather still hasn't changed, but the circumstances are much better. The crazy grandmother is no longer living in the house, though she still has no MediCal funding to go into the more permanent nursing home. Thus, we cannot move on furniture in the garage (read: giving it away to the thrift store to give to those who need it more), so it is still a disaster in there, but an organized one at least. The furniture in the house is back to the way it was before April, so that is nice. There is a couch, for instance, so we can watch television in comfort, not in bed. We went on a camping trip a few weeks ago with the gf's brother and family, and that was a great deal of fun. Then there was a graduation party, where I got to meet everyone in the family's circle of friends. Otherwise, we've been moving furniture, organizing clothes, moving clothes into real closets, sleeping in a double bed instead of a trundle one, going out, and worrying about money and jobs. I really need a source of income. One job for which I interviewed has still not really gotten back to me, though they did say they were doing second-round interviews and I would hear from them soon. I'm losing hope on that, even though I thought I had a great interview. Alas; I'm moving on.

So, that's life right now. I apologize it has been awhile for that update. In other news...

Yesterday I wanted to get my hair cut. We went to a little salon called Fantastic Sam's here in Culver City, but they were too busy. Since we had a babysitting job in Inglewood to rush to at 3PM, we decided to head over there to seek a salon that wasn't as busy. Thus, we walked into a beauty supply shop so I could get a hair cut.

As I walked in, I could tell I would be the only white person, besides the gf, in the entire store. No matter, I said, I will stay and get my haircut. It occurred to me that they may not have had the experience working with my hair, considering my hair is distinctly different from the African-American variety. However, it is much easier to cut, I'm sure, so no worries. I come in, tell the hair stylist that I'd like a haircut, and she squeezed me in. After some deliberation and miscommunication, she washed my hair and cut it like I wanted.

Of course, I made the mistake of not asking for the price at the beginning, but at the end, she told me the damage was $65. Shocked, I paid for the haircut graciously and even gave her a tip. Walking out of there, I was very upset about the price: LA is expensive, I told myself, and that place wasn't even that nice.

We babysat for three hours, and finally, our friends returned from their movie/work commitments. As we were eating dinner with them, I told them of my experience with the haircut. "They charged you more because you were white," I was told. Hmm. That's probably true. It actually makes me feel better.

Why, one might ask, would it make me feel better to have been taken advantage of based on my race? First, because I can attribute it to the chip on her shoulder. It was racism. It made me feel less like a sucker and more like a victim of a system much greater than myself. Even though it was unkind and only contributes to a racist society and racial distrust, I know that in my position of privilege, it probably made her feel better to a greater degree than it upset me. I will probably make more money than her based solely on my race and socioeconomic status. I have many more advantages in my corner than she has in hers. In the long run, $30 is not that big of a deal. Thus, if me getting ripped off was my part in the giant scheme of things, and if next time she meets a nice white person she doesn't want to rip her off, I will have been ripped off for a good cause.

At least, that's what I'm hoping. Doesn't mean I'll be sending clients her way, though.

Swimming Through August

It is about halfway through August, a little more, and the report is: still no job, but I had an interview last week that went well, so I'm hoping to hear back from that. It would be a development job, and I'm excited about the prospect of being a professional fundraiser. I think I'd be good at it.

I've been watching Olympic swimming here in California. I watched the opening ceremonies in San Francisco, and then the first five days, and I've been back in LA since Thursday night. I've really enjoyed watching the close races, and I've loved cheering for the US all the way. I'm watching the medal ceremony for Dara Torres - she got silver in this race, the 50m swim. I'm really hoping she pulls out a gold in the relay race she has in like 20 minutes... it's pretty crappy the way the scheduling worked out for her. At 41 years old, she could use all the breaks she can get. Sadly, she didn't get that one.

Anyhoo... I really enjoyed San Francisco. I've been so caught up in life lately that I haven't written in my blog, but I liked the city a lot and it was very much worth the long drive. We took the PCH up the coast, and it was beautiful. I was not in a picture mood until it started getting really spectacular about halfway up, but then after that, I was exhausted and done with driving, so I put the camera away. But, San Francisco did not disappoint. The architecture was awesome, too. I think I know where I'm interested in living, if we can afford it, but it really comes down to which job I have and how much I'll be making, in addition to what the gf will be making. If I get this job that I want, I'll be sitting well - a lot more than my previous job. But, no matter what, I will keep my priorities in line financially and not spend more than I should on housing. That's what is most important. We're debating between a two bedroom and a one bedroom by ourselves. Ideally, I'd like to have the one bedroom, but a two might be cheaper, so we'll have to see. I'm so, so excited to be getting an apartment with her, though, after all this time.

US is in front in the women's medley... now Australia... still Australia... and Australia won it. Scores unofficial. Apparently, Sweden got eliminated because they did a false start. But Australia won, America got the American record, so that's good. Hooray, women. Michael Phelps is up next.

Alright, I'm going to write later. I can't really focus right now.