Missing Matisse

Odalisque au Tambourin

Henri Matisse

The Winds of Change

My super smart collegiate sis wrote an amazing blog post yesterday, and I thought I should share it since I personally think she's brilliant.. and right. Love you Heeeeed!

Heather said,

'The first of the Democratic debates are on today... and it is a very exciting thing.

The next election, I believe, will be an important one - our country seems like it is thirsting for a new order, there are candidates whose kind we've never seen before (a woman and a black man), and major changes could be on the horizon.

Yes, its obvious that things like the Military Industrial Complex and corporations really having a say in things, like foreign policy, are just things we have to accept as inevitable, but at least the 8 years of Dick & Bush will be over.

The Military Industrial Complex (M.I.C), simply explained, is generally defined as a "coalition consisting of the military and industrialists who profit by manufacturing arms and selling them to the government." Halliburton, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin keep making bigger and better military equipment, which the Pentagon believes we NEED.And everything is scattered throughout the country, in all 50 states. For example, a fighter jet -- every state is responsible for producing one part of it. So Congressmen, trying to keep their jobs, can't just knock the M.I.C out because it would take jobs away from their citizens.

There is money at both ends (front and back) of this operation, but there is just a little more at the back end, where all the politicians and their friends are.

Think about it: the U.S. has always been at war, ever since World War I. When they saw what a boost to the economy it was, foreign policy became designed around attaining what the country needs. They always slap a generic slogan on it - "Striking down the evildoers" and "Protecting our freedom" - but its really all about following the money and personal gain.

Think about the "war" in Iraq... it all started with removing Mosadek (the leader at the time) from power so that oil in the Middle East was more accessible. The US put Saddam Hussein in power, and were friends until a few shady dealings happened and suddenly Saddam was demonized to the American people - he was an evildoer.

It seems to slip everyone's mind that Dick Cheney, the current Vice President, was formerly the Secretary of Defense when the US decided to REALLY become a military heavyweight... THEN he became the CEO of Halliburton, a company that not only builds military equipment, but oil refinery equipment... The present-day Vice President is an industrial contractor.

(Can't help but put Eisenhower's quote right here:)
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Basically, someone who has no previous ties and no hidden agenda would have to take office... but that'd be nearly impossible, because "its not what you know, its who you know" and the government is no different.

So, while there is hope on the horizon for change, its hard not to expect some fishy dealings... because there's 3/4 of a trillion dollars budgeted for the military, and when there's that much money, its hard to not get a little wide-eyed.

But, its exciting for me, a government buff, to see that someone of color is making this far into peoples' consciousness. And its even more exciting that Hillary Clinton threw her hat in the ring...

Hillary gets a bad rap, I think, because she's such an Ice Queen. But, she's smarter than anything! Bill Clinton had the highest IQ of all the Presidents... BUT HILLARY'S IS EVEN HIGHER!!

And Congress has started writing up plans to bring the troops home from the Middle East within the year. Too bad Bush has vowed to strike down anything they send his way. Issues like that also make it exciting to see how things change in the country and with the policies that affect everyone.

Did you feel that? ...those are the winds of change'

Save The Gerbils

When I saw this episode, I laughed so hard that I fell off of the couch.
Karma's a bitch, man.
Save the gerbils (and kittens).

Poor Kittens

This is the picture on brilliant, "almost a Kennedy, but not" Anne's MySpace. In case you can't read the caption it says, "Every time you vote Republican, God kills a kitten." Sorry Anne. I had to steal it! (I'm still looking for the kid v. swimming pool video.) A student gave me a similar poster. On it he drew a very worried kitten over the caption, "Every time you misspell a word, God kills a kitten."

Poor kittens. I've probably killed a million of them with all of my grammar/spelling mistakes. I think my darling Uzbek has actually saved many of them..

God must really hate kittens... and Republicans.

(j/k my darling pro-red state friends! sort of.)

"We need equality now!"

The word feminist has taken on a negative connotation in this country. It has come to be associated with trouble making, bra burning, men hating, Ani Difranco listening "abominators" or (dare I say) "dykes". Really!

Being a feminist simply means that you are aware of/tuned in to the human rights of women. It means that we watch out for each other (men included) and that we take care of, stand up for, and protect all of our sisters. That can mean providing a safe place for someone to stay. It can mean baby sitting for a night so your friend can have some sanity time. It can simply mean walking someone to her car at night, or going to the restroom in pairs. That doesn't sound so radical, does it?!

But also..
After waking up to the news report that out of college women in the US only make 80% of men's salaries, and that after 10 years, we only make 60%; after seeing several of my friends panic because in my profession (teaching - made up of mostly women) there is NO maternity leave, and day care for 2 kids costs $700 per week, more than the take home pay of a teacher; after meeting many women who have been abandoned and abused, physically and/or emotionally; I figured that I'm more than mad about how our Western "progressive" society treats women! (And I won't even get into politics or religion!)

But then, this is hardly new news - and that prompts me to yell, "What the hell?!"

It turns out that I am not the only one who has equality on the brain these days. One of my awesome litmag scalawags introduced me Equality Now on our community centered web space called Communitas. (Thanks Hannah! You ROCK!) This may be a good place to start..

About Equality Now

Equality Now was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop these human rights abuses. Through its Women’s Action Network of concerned groups and individuals around the world, Equality Now:

* distributes information about human rights violations
* takes action to protest these violations
* brings public attention to human rights violations against women

The Women’s Action Network is committed to voicing a worldwide call for justice and equality for women. Issues of urgent concern to Equality Now include rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and the denial of equal access to economic opportunity and political participation.
Human rights violations against women have historically been denied the attention and concern of international organizations, national governments, traditional human rights groups and the media. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of girls and women around the globe continue to endure debilitating and often fatal human rights abuses.

FC Opener and a Toja for your Toja!

Yesterday, Christine (my official Girlie retreat gal pal) and I went to the FC Dallas v. Colorado Rapids home opener game. Colorado is apparently where all MLS players go to die, according to the all-knowing Christine - for example Greg Vanney and Pablo Mastroeni are actually my age making them OLD, veteran players. Our team is fairly young and we don't have any superstar players from Europe, but we do have ambition and speed!


It was a little bit windy, but overall a nice day for a little futbol. Dallas played well, though yellow cards were given out freely (mostly to our team, and to the fans wearing our team jersey, and to any of the sponsors who support our team, and to anyone consuming any of the products created by the sponsors who support our team, and to our mascot..) even though Colorado has mastered the art of clotheslining any player who is making a drive for the goal (no penalty given on any of those "accidents"), AND one of theirs kicked our team captain, Carlitos Ruiz, IN THE HEAD without even a foul. But what. ev.er... "The ref-er-ee's a wanker!!!"

FC Dallas won 3 to 1 anyway, and I have a new favorite player. His name is Juan Carlos Toja and he is Colombian. I like him because his name is Juan Carlos, and that's just fun to say with a dramatic accent. But also, he played well...AND he has a wicked awesome Mullet! (and yes, that is with a capital M!) I have not seen a Mullet like his since Spinal Tap.

Overall, it was a thumbs-up day. Sorry to Christine for not being the same kind of commentator as Jamie, and therefore not as soccer savvy. (Jamie is an expert on all things soccer. I talk about the periwinkle uniforms, Dorothy Hammel inspired hair cuts (on the Colorado team) and about the fact that I don't understand how soccer players can header a ball effectively if they have dreadlocks, and oooh! Lemon Chills!) At least I'm sort of entertaining... or extremely annoying.

Girlie Retreat Part Deux

Hey Wratch, look what happens when you go away:

I make (excellent) fruity martinis, take off my clothes and go outside

where I canoodle with other boys,

and pretty much make a total ass of myself.

So really, nothing out of the ordinary.

(There are more goofy pics on the Flickr)

Girlie Retreat

I'm having my own girl retreat this week-end, as Rich has gone to his folks house in Amarillo and I have elected to stay here in an effort to preserve my own sanity. Girl retreats require tons of chocolate, silk pj's, and excellent music. Here's a sample of some kick ass girl artists and a sampling of the music I'll be listening to this week-end:

Birthday Bliss

Happy Birthday Lisa D!!!!

:

I l.o.v.e. you!!!!

p.s. Feel da fiwa!

p.p.s. Notice how I didn't post any embarassing junior high pictures like you did to me? Well, that's because I'm nice... and because all of my really embarrassing pictures are in Lubbock at my mom's. (You totally lucked out today, sister.)

and

Happy Birthday Sarah Shugs!

:

I love you!

Keep the Putz in line for me and keep winning those poker games!

I can't breathe

Sometimes I think that the entire world is watching itself in its own movie (in technicolor), and is therefore separated from itself by that day to day, hum-drum curtain that most of us call "suburban reality". For some reason the violence - especially that of person to person - in all of its color is gutting and entertaining at the same time. The red is ultra red like Betty Page's sensual lips, somehow completely innocent and breathlessly sexy at the same time; the blues and greens blur together and beg for 3D lenses, or at least squinting eyes so that the brain can form a picture and make sense of what is being projected; the black tends to bleed a little and smears the defining lines that tell us that you are you and I am me; and the white seems too bleached and therefore false in a way, like the soft light that makes wedding pictures surreal and halo-y.

This deliberate, false "color" horrifies me.

I can't stomach the notion that people turn tragedy into politic. And what politic isn't a response to a threat, a repression, or to violence? Politic would seem to be a good thing, something righteous, an agent of change (!) except for the motives lurking underneath these ideals. There's always a motive.

It horrifies me that there is so much talk. The talk suffocates me. The news suffocates me. I. can't. breathe for all of the oxygen intake for talk. And all of you have heard the cliche that talk is cheap, and it is.

But then again, it's very expensive for some.

Nevertheless, we'll continue to talk and talk and talk and talk. We'll talk again on the same topic a year from now, on the anniversary of whatever we're talking about today. We'll mourn, and be stoic, and measure (in some sort of rational, concrete political terms) "how far we've come" until tomorrow, when we'll talk about something else, something more horrifying.

This makes me tired, and sometimes I just want to yell "cut!" and stop the technicolor so that I can take comfort in the dusty static, so that I can breathe again.