(no subject)
Mar. 27th, 2012 06:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Remember how I said they'd likely be starving in Africa again this year because of poor harvests and drought? Yeah. It sounds like the aid organizations currently have enough in stock for immediate need, but are looking for money donations already, as they are already hungry, and we aren't even too the traditional starving months of June and July. The next harvest is Octoberish, but the drought may bugger that. It's expected to be particularly bad in Niger, but the whole region is in trouble. You do the math.
The UN's world food program is here: http://www.wfp.org/get-involved
Doctors without Borders: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/support/index.html
Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/
I list Doctors without Borders as there's a lot of medical need in the region, which is already above average urgent and expected to get much worse as the year progresses.
* For the record, the new Black Panthers are not helping by issuing a Dead or Alive poster for Zimmerman against the wishes of Trayvon Martin's family. Trayvon's father said, "We do not believe in an eye for an eye. We want justice, justice, justice" The goal is to establish the rule of law in Florida, not increase the violence.
* The police claim is now that as Treyvon Martin had a bag with marijuana residue in his backpack it somehow excuses Zimmerman, who didn't know anything about Treyvon including his suspension, for hunting him down and murdering him. Yet even in Florida, having an empty bag that may have once contained marijuana is not a death penalty crime. To be clear, the toxicology report says there were no alchohol or drugs in Trayvon's system. Still the police sources claim that the suspicion Trayvon may have once tried marijuana, though circumstantial completely justifies Zimmerman's actions. Riiiight. Also, the police have leaked that Treyvon may have hit back when attacked. They are claiming any attempt at self defense against a larger armed attacker means that Zimmerman is excused for attacking and killing Treyvon. Why is it that Zimmerman's self defense includes stalking and killing a smaller unarmed teenager, but Treyvon has no right to hit back while being murdered? This is me giving this whole argument the side eye.
* There were hoodie protests in 11 cities today.
* Jenna Talackova, was selected as Miss canada for the Miss Universe pageant, then disqualified for being trans: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/transgendered-beauty-queen-jenna-talackova-claims-discrimination-over-211702518.html
Yep, Canada still discriminates.
* North Korea has already reneged on it's deal to stop nuclear testing in exchange for food. I am not surprised they would go back on their word, though I thought they'd wait longer so as to garner more food aid.
* Mitt Romney wants you to know that Russia is our greatest geo-political foe. O.o I'm guessing he missed the last twenty or so years of geo-politics.
* Hector decided to change it up by waiting until I was fully asleep before howling me awake. Over and over. I'm exhausted and cranky. A long naop after the doctor's appointment and errands did not help. Sigh.
* One of the things I mull on when I read a bunch of YA literature, like I've been doing recently, is that if you take the stories of my life from about 1986 to the mid-90's and turn it around, so instead of the protagonist, I become a character in other people's stories, I become a stereotype. "Bjorn to be Wyld" jason started me on this line of mulling when we were on a road trip will his BFF the Spring we dated. he said, "If this were an '80's High school movie, we'dbe the villains." Never mind we were also geeks and freaks, he was right. The three of us dressed like that, listening to that music in a pick up truck, would be cast as the bullies even though we weren't. Lately, I've been thinking about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotype and me. After all, I would careen into the life of various guys who were going through Stuff. I would be intense, flamboyant, confidently eccentric, and restless in the way that comes from not giving a fart what people think. From my perspective, I had sexual agency and perfectly good reasons for what I was doing, thought out, consistent. I suspect from the outside, it looked a lot more random, I arrived like a comet, transforming things, but leaving behind a certain amount of unintended collateral damage. I had so many guys tell me they had trouble believing I was real. The last boy I dated before college, eventually had to haul me in to see his shrink to prove I was not some elaborate fantasy or hallucination, because she was thinking of adjusting his meds on the basis of his insistence that I was real. I was also frequently described in college as being like Death out of Sandman. (Sometimes also Desire, which is a whole other thing).
Point of view is everything, which is why it fascinates me. I've spent a lot of time trying to explain myself, and looking at things from the inside, but I think the exercise of trying to see me from the outside isn't valuable.
I have no idea how this applies from a literary criticism perspective, but I do know it makes me uncomfortable when I think about Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotypes in fiction and what that says about me.
* At first, I laughed, but then it occurred to me that I'd be way more likely to camp under those conditions: http://catalogliving.net/post/19785832816/malicious-in-tent
* John Stewart looks like a hobbit standing next to Shaquille O'Neal.
* This is an interesting addition to a bunch of conversations happening out on the web, so it's worth drawing attention to as a different take on things. "Why Katniss vs. Bella Doesn’t Help Anybody:" http://slatebreakers.com/2012/03/26/use-your-gray-matter-why-katniss-vs-bella-doesnt-help-anybody/
The UN's world food program is here: http://www.wfp.org/get-involved
Doctors without Borders: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/support/index.html
Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/
I list Doctors without Borders as there's a lot of medical need in the region, which is already above average urgent and expected to get much worse as the year progresses.
* For the record, the new Black Panthers are not helping by issuing a Dead or Alive poster for Zimmerman against the wishes of Trayvon Martin's family. Trayvon's father said, "We do not believe in an eye for an eye. We want justice, justice, justice" The goal is to establish the rule of law in Florida, not increase the violence.
* The police claim is now that as Treyvon Martin had a bag with marijuana residue in his backpack it somehow excuses Zimmerman, who didn't know anything about Treyvon including his suspension, for hunting him down and murdering him. Yet even in Florida, having an empty bag that may have once contained marijuana is not a death penalty crime. To be clear, the toxicology report says there were no alchohol or drugs in Trayvon's system. Still the police sources claim that the suspicion Trayvon may have once tried marijuana, though circumstantial completely justifies Zimmerman's actions. Riiiight. Also, the police have leaked that Treyvon may have hit back when attacked. They are claiming any attempt at self defense against a larger armed attacker means that Zimmerman is excused for attacking and killing Treyvon. Why is it that Zimmerman's self defense includes stalking and killing a smaller unarmed teenager, but Treyvon has no right to hit back while being murdered? This is me giving this whole argument the side eye.
* There were hoodie protests in 11 cities today.
* Jenna Talackova, was selected as Miss canada for the Miss Universe pageant, then disqualified for being trans: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/transgendered-beauty-queen-jenna-talackova-claims-discrimination-over-211702518.html
Yep, Canada still discriminates.
* North Korea has already reneged on it's deal to stop nuclear testing in exchange for food. I am not surprised they would go back on their word, though I thought they'd wait longer so as to garner more food aid.
* Mitt Romney wants you to know that Russia is our greatest geo-political foe. O.o I'm guessing he missed the last twenty or so years of geo-politics.
* Hector decided to change it up by waiting until I was fully asleep before howling me awake. Over and over. I'm exhausted and cranky. A long naop after the doctor's appointment and errands did not help. Sigh.
* One of the things I mull on when I read a bunch of YA literature, like I've been doing recently, is that if you take the stories of my life from about 1986 to the mid-90's and turn it around, so instead of the protagonist, I become a character in other people's stories, I become a stereotype. "Bjorn to be Wyld" jason started me on this line of mulling when we were on a road trip will his BFF the Spring we dated. he said, "If this were an '80's High school movie, we'dbe the villains." Never mind we were also geeks and freaks, he was right. The three of us dressed like that, listening to that music in a pick up truck, would be cast as the bullies even though we weren't. Lately, I've been thinking about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotype and me. After all, I would careen into the life of various guys who were going through Stuff. I would be intense, flamboyant, confidently eccentric, and restless in the way that comes from not giving a fart what people think. From my perspective, I had sexual agency and perfectly good reasons for what I was doing, thought out, consistent. I suspect from the outside, it looked a lot more random, I arrived like a comet, transforming things, but leaving behind a certain amount of unintended collateral damage. I had so many guys tell me they had trouble believing I was real. The last boy I dated before college, eventually had to haul me in to see his shrink to prove I was not some elaborate fantasy or hallucination, because she was thinking of adjusting his meds on the basis of his insistence that I was real. I was also frequently described in college as being like Death out of Sandman. (Sometimes also Desire, which is a whole other thing).
Point of view is everything, which is why it fascinates me. I've spent a lot of time trying to explain myself, and looking at things from the inside, but I think the exercise of trying to see me from the outside isn't valuable.
I have no idea how this applies from a literary criticism perspective, but I do know it makes me uncomfortable when I think about Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotypes in fiction and what that says about me.
* At first, I laughed, but then it occurred to me that I'd be way more likely to camp under those conditions: http://catalogliving.net/post/19785832816/malicious-in-tent
* John Stewart looks like a hobbit standing next to Shaquille O'Neal.
* This is an interesting addition to a bunch of conversations happening out on the web, so it's worth drawing attention to as a different take on things. "Why Katniss vs. Bella Doesn’t Help Anybody:" http://slatebreakers.com/2012/03/26/use-your-gray-matter-why-katniss-vs-bella-doesnt-help-anybody/
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-28 12:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-28 12:38 am (UTC)I wonder if Romney is trying to imply that if Obama is friendly with Russian officials, that it means he is a communist.
I am a bit surprised by how fast NK reneged on the deal, but I bet it has to do with the general confusion surrounding Ki Jong Eun still setting up his reign.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-28 04:18 am (UTC)Re: Romney, I'm finding a lot of this baffling. your guess makes above average sense.