Stinkpaee has a wonder wall full of photos tracking her right through the years of her life. Things have been pretty intense and chaotic for the first year of Shmolee's life. But, I finally started his wall today. I'm so excited! He's got one birth picture, his ultrasound picture and three photos Papi took of him when they were on the front verandah.
I posted two earlier today. Here are two more taken a little while, I think, after Shmolee was born. My midwives came to look at Shmoles, prick his feet...my doula came ready to mother this mother and to just generally give care.
Despite her better instincts, I think that was the day I cooked a big feast and everyone ate on the deck right off my bedroom...except me.
Prettifying myself and cooking the meal was plenty, what with the sinking cervix and cramping uterus, passing giant blood clots feeling. After the examination, I just stayed in bed with Shmoles and watched everyone eat and have conversation.
It was a good day.
if what you're reading here grips you, holds you, fascinates you, provokes you, emboldens you, pushes you, galvanizes you, discomfits you, tickles you, enrages you so much that you find yourself returning again and again...then link me.
I want to remind everyone that Sunday is my first attempt at doing a carnival. It's called Refried/Remix. Anyone who comes relatively often...comes to read my blog, that is :)...will know that every Sunday I've been revisiting older posts that I remember fondly, pushing them out into the limelight once more as if to say: "Go on, honey. This is your encore. Not too late to break a fucking leg."
Last Sunday I decided I was going to be ballzy and invite reader/bloggers to offer one of their oldie but goodies. It could be as old as the hills. The older the better. I'm looking for something that kicked but the first time, that you'd like to see reloaded. Actually, come to think of it, I'm gonna change the name of the carnival to Reloaded. There.
Have you been coming around for a while? When it comes to blog postings, do you have a pretty good idea of what makes me juice and tick and jump for joy? Dear GAWD! Don't be shy. Send me one of your babies.
What'll happen to your dear one? Well, I've seen other weeklies (sugasm comes to mind...but puLEEZ don't go peek if you're skittish and "funny" about the erotic, cuz you'll just freak and start carrying on about porn and trust me, porn isn't the problem...so if you go, byopa - bring your own political analysis) ...where was I, YES...I've seen weekly gatherings where the editors put together a list every week of works voluntarily submitted by individual bloggers. They email the list to every single person who contributes. Every person posts that list of contributor links on their blog. They get attention for the posts they posted. They get increased traffic to their blogs and they get increased links.
The damn things bounce around in the blogosphere for months. My contributions to sugasm from weeks ago are still turning up as listings on technorati...which is cool because I loved the story and the posts I've submitted.
Thanks to Sarah at allaboutmyvagina for her contribution. If I can get five more, I'll be a happy camper, indeed. But don't wait too long. Wouldn't want to find myself on Sunday morning having to put the whole thing together.
So, there! I'm hoping that my "regulars", those people who've come and read and/or commented will send me something something old an sweet right quick for RELOADED. Fingers crossed.
if what you're reading here grips you, holds you, fascinates you, provokes you, emboldens you, pushes you, galvanizes you, discomfits you, tickles you, enrages you so much that you find yourself returning again and again...then link me.
1. The Avett Brothers - Swept Away
2. Aimee Mann - Nothing is Good Enough
3. MC Solaar - Caroline
4. Tom Waits - Table Top Joe
5. Mark Lanegan - When Your Number Isn’t Up
6. Cat Power - No Sense
7. Radiohead - There There
8. The Bad Plus - Cheney Pinata
9. Van Morrison - It Stoned Me
10. Les Savy Fav - Rodeo
The Friday video is inspired by (1) my hearing this song on a bus in Sicily and laughing for a good 15 minutes, and (2) all the bicyclists in Germany who I have thoroughly pissed off by accidentally walking in the bike lane. Sorry guys.
Is harm reduction. And I don’t mean it in the standard public-health way (though of course that’s awesome too).
I was introduced to the idea of harm reduction as applied more broadly through an interview with Julia Butterfly Hill that appeared in the spring 2005 issue of LiP (”Addicted to Waste: Harm Reduction, Disposability and the Myth of Activist Purity”), and I’ve thought about it pretty much every day ever since.
Unfortunately, the interview’s not available online, but here’s the nugget of what Hill had to say: “In our addiction to oil, in our addiction to capitalism, in our addiction to consumerism, in our addiction to comfortability, the first things we need to look at as activists are…how [we can] create incentives for people to reduce that harm, on themselves, on their communities and on the planet.”
It’s easiest to see how useful this approach is when it comes to environmental issues—recycling, conservation, giving up our disposable cups, etc. don’t mean we’re not still doing damage, but doing less damage is pretty much always a good thing. (Banal but true, and all too easy to loose sight of.)
But I think it also applies to pretty much anything, whether we’re talking about our own consumption habits (of everything from food and clothing to TV, magazines, porn) or broader projects of social justice. Harm reduction is basically the best antidote I’ve come across to making the perfect the enemy of the good (or at least the better). And I think we all need a whole lot more of that.
Who would want to cut up such a happy and serene vagina?
Finally. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have released a public warning against vaginal rejuvenation surgery, saying that not only is there no proof of the surgery being effective, but that it can be severely damaging to, well, your vag:
According to ACOG, the procedures are unproven and the potential risks -- including infection, scarring, nerve damage and loss of sensation -- outweigh the potential benefits (Zimmerman, Wall Street Journal, 8/31). ACOG in a statement said it is 'deceptive' for physicians to 'give the impression' that such procedures are 'accepted and routine surgical practices.' ACOG's Committee on Gynecologic Practice in a statement published in the September issue of the group's magazine said the '[a]bsence of data supporting the safety and efficacy of these procedures makes their recommendation untenable.'
And remember that not only are they giving the impression that these procedures are routine, but that they're also empowering. And while there's been a "doubling" in the number of labiaplasties in the UK over the last five years (compared to a reported 30 percent rise by the American Society of Plastic Surgery), they're making attempts to warn women of the negative mental effects:
The British Medical Journal weighed in on the topic with a May article calling cosmetic genital surgeries an 'extreme and unproved intervention' that 'could undermine the development of other ways to help women and girls to deal with concerns about their appearance.'
Most women don't understand that the size and shape of genitalia vary greatly, leading to 'misguided assumptions' about what is normal, said the authors, a clinical psychologist and a gynecologist.
Amen. Hopefully more women will begin to get the hint, especially since they're doctors and all.
I hope we can all agree that the love of good food is the great equalizing factor.
I always write about food on Fridays. And I see no reason to except you today. I’ll be doing my regular food article over on my blog. Today’s Food Porn Friday is about Fried Green Tomatoes.
When people think of Appalachia, they usually think of the lack of food. Such are the stereotypes that have been perpetuated by the media and some researchers into the culture. When I ask people about what has been written about them, about the starvation and the grimness seen in Keralt’s Christmas in Appalachia, they look at me strangely.
“That weren’t right. I don’t recall that we ever were without something to eat.”
They all say that, but I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. (more…)
Tim McQuillan and Sean Fritz, both Iowa State University students, managed to complete the entire process — waiver, license and wedding — before Hanson again closed the door on same-sex nuptials in Iowa. . . It’s not clear whether their marriage will remain legally valid.
Stay or not, when this kind of victory for equality happens in a red state, you know there is something called progress going on.
Here's to thecoming progressive era!
Photo: "Sean Fritz, left, and Tim McQuillan show their wedding license before getting married, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Ames, Iowa, couple was married a day after a judge threw out the state's ban on same-sex marriage."
We often think of immigration in the context of people leaving a “poor” country and going to a “rich” one. In some regards this is true – many immigrants do arrive at their new homes with the promise of a land filled with opportunity. But to think of immigration in terms of the movements of individuals is to obscure a large piece of the picture: the social and political forces that precipitate these movements and make countries “poor” or “rich” in the first place. As an immigrant who comes from a family of immigrants, it is clear to me that these forces have brought me, and countless other Latina immigrants, here today.
Stinkpaee has a wonder wall full of photos tracking her right through the years of her life. Things have been pretty intense and chaotic for the first year of Shmolee's life. But, I finally started his wall today. I'm so excited! He's got one birth picture, his ultrasound picture and three photos Papi took of him when they were on the front verandah.
Prettifying myself and cooking the meal was plenty, what with the sinking cervix and cramping uterus, passing giant blood clots feeling. After the examination, I just stayed in bed with Shmoles and watched everyone eat and have conversation.
I hope we can all agree that the love of good food is the great equalizing factor.
