Save It For A Rainy Day

Originally I was going to post about abortion and the public option, but I realized I ranted about that a couple posts ago. Instead I want to talk about a conversation I had with a manfriend of mine.

He goes to West Point and studies economics, so already this is a difficult argument for me to have. (Really smart people get me every time.) We were talking about public school funding, and I asked why doesn’t the government put money into schools in middle- and low-income areas, instead of prisons. His response, while he says he doesn’t necessarily agree with it, was that there is a greater return on schools in high-income areas and building the prisons.

That makes me physically ill. That can’t possibly be true. Is it really more sustainable to put people in prison rather than educate them? I’ve heard the arguments about education being a “white” thing; people in middle- and low-income areas don’t value education as much; and money that has been invested in middle- and low-income schools has not had a great return.

I say it’s a load of crap. It’s like people who argue that human rights are a “Western” idea. You don’t think non-Western people have a concept of what is right and what is wrong? Saying that not investing in some people is economical is wrong. It just can’t be true. I can’t believe that putting money into prisons is better in the long run than investing in schools.

And to be completely honest, can someone please show me studies on this? I want to know how people justify this.

How Can You Have Everything And Nothing To Lose

I have lots of things I’ve been meaning to say this week, but I’ve slept through my alarm almost every day. I need some time to recover, to get back in the thick of it, complete my thesis, and then chill the fuck out.

Someday there will be more written here, and much more eloquently. I’ll shut up now!

My Troubling Ways

Here’s the thing about universal health care: it’s universal. Last time I checked, universal meant “including or covering all or a whole collectively or distributively without limit or exception; especially : available equitably to all members of a society.” I understand that to mean that there is no discrimination, which means all people – including women – are covered under a universal health care system, which means abortions are covered under a universal health care system.

Why? Because it falls under health issues. And last time I checked, abortions are legal (in the majority of states). If abortions are covered under universal health care, it doesn’t mean hundreds of thousands of women will suddenly choose abortions over carrying the baby to term. It doesn’t mean that women will be aborting their fetuses for gits and shiggles. It means women can have access to affordable, safe abortions if they choose to do so. And to be honest, you’re paying for them if not through a federal universal health care system, then through taxes for E.R.s.

And since when was it your duty to tell these women what they can and can’t do? And when did it become OK to use women’s rights as a bargaining chip? Abortions are legal. They should be covered under universal health care. We’re talking about the law, not arbitrary definitions of life. I don’t understand what the problem is here.

We Are Building A Religion

For anyone who doesn’t already know, Switzerland voted and passed a ban on the construction of minarets. But thankfully Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf  “[reassured] Swiss Muslims, saying the decision was ‘not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture.’” Then what kind of decision was it, Ms. Widmer-Schlumpf? It’s kind of like that time France banned headscarves because they were oppressive to women.

I was going to write something facetious about how progressive the European countries are with all this religious tolerance, but I really can’t. It’s just ridiculous. Why do states take it upon themselves to integrate/isolate religions into their societies? I’m not particularly pleased with how the U.S. runs things, but at least policies and laws don’t directly address religious practices. The biggest issue I remember was a few years ago when a Muslim woman wanted to get her driver’s license, but the DMV would not take her picture unless her face and hair were uncovered.

And sure, religion has played a huge role in preventing laws regarding gay marriage and abortion, but I truly believe that when it comes down to the wire, religious definitions and ideals will not stop human rights and law from developing. And in turn, law should not stop religion. If someone wants to build a minaret, how does that encourage extremist ideals? How does the prevention of minaret construction encourage religious tolerance?

I just don’t get it. And to be perfectly honest, I’m disappointed to see a woman be a spokesperson for this.

The Sun In My Head

Hi.

So I’ve been busy. But I have something really cool to show you before I do more work. Check out this installation called Journey. It’s one woman’s story of her life and sex trafficking. So powerful I cried. And art rarely makes me cry.

I have tons to say about it, but I really need to work on this research project for MVS’s class, among other work for other classes…

To Do The Things I’ve Dreamed About

One of my pinnacle moments of realizing what beauty means to me was when I read this from Elaine Scarry’s On Beauty and Being Just:

Because the sky is equally distributed throughout the world – because its beautiful events are equally distributed – it will not be surprising if the population in large numbers, or even unanimously, agree that the beautiful sky should continue. Because most of its manifestations – its habit of alternating between blue and black, the phases of the moon, the sunrise and sunset – are present everywhere, those voting do not need to know that they will be beneficiaries.

I mention this because I have a fantastic story to tell that reinforced this idea, and reminded me how much I love the sky.

The Writer

by Richard Wilbur.

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back,
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten.  I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.

Have You A Future?

Alright, my past couple of posts have been out of pure anger or emotional euphoria. I need to post something a little more balanced. Here I go.

In today’s NY Times, Robert Bernstein, former chair of Human Rights Watch and current board member, wrote a piece for the Op-Ed section regarding HRW’s approach to “closed” versus “open” societies. He accuses HRW of focusing too heavily on Israel’s human rights issues and ignoring other Middle Eastern countries.

There seems to be an awful lot of opposition to HRW’s reports on Israel lately. Personally, I think they’re doing well. What surprised me most about Bernstein’s article was his statement that HRW “casts aside its important distinction between open and closed societies.” This doesn’t make sense to me. Is he saying that reports on the US, Italy, and Brazil aren’t worth doing? Are their human rights violations less worse than those in the Middle East? Is HRW any less dedicated to other Middle Eastern countries as a result of their reports on Israel?

It just doesn’t make sense to me. True, HRW has published quite a few reports on Israel in the past few months. It has also had numerous reports on the U.S. and Russia in the past few months as well. Furthermore, while I don’t have a great or thorough understanding of how the reports are generated, I know that some countries are more difficult to enter than others. If a country will not allow HRW researchers to visit, then it becomes much more difficult for them to develop a report.

All in all, I’m glad that HRW and its critics can have this dialog and get it all out in the open. Look for HRW’s response tomorrow in the NY Times. I’m sure there will be one.

Dear JPMorgan Chase

WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GET OFF CHARGING ME FOR MAKING TRANSFERS BETWEEN BANK ACCOUNTS?! I NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM WITH WAMU. WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM.

I fucking hate Chase with a passion, and if I hadn’t just bought really cute Winnie the Pooh checks with this bank account number on it, I would close my account immediately. I fucking hate you so much.

You’re My Saving Grace

To be honest, I never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m one of those women who will never be married. And let me tell you why…

I had a conversation earlier today about relationships, long distance relationships, and some abstract concept of what it means to be in a relationship. What I’ve realized is that I can’t be with a man who won’t let me do what I want. And that takes a very secure man, my friends. I took a personality test on Facebook a while ago that told me that, of all the Hollywood female stars, I am most like Katharine Hepburn. Why? Because I will show up a man at any chance I get.

I can’t stand a man who thinks he can beat me, rule me, thinks he’s better than I am, thinks he can control me. And maybe that’s why I’ll never get married. The day I meet a man who can let me be who I am without compromising himself is the day I find my husband.

Fuck the rest, my friends. Fuck the rest. I’m going to bed.