What is one to do with a $481.00 non-refundable ticket that one doesn't wish to use? I suppose it could be transferred to another time and place, costing $180.00 in the process. I could take a $301.00 trip on the $481.00 ticket and it could all be fine and dandy.
And I would consider it too if it weren't for Callista. I don't want to miss her.
There is a logic somewhere in this madness; and I'm the one who has it, despite accusations that I am unreasonable and wrong.
And it may be unreasonable from one perspective. We are all, after all, subject to our positionality. And if it is unreasonable, that does not make it wrong. You can continue to 'reasonably' destroy the planet while I remain stubbornly unreasonable until I contribute to a definitive difference in the world around me. Those who aspire only to what is reasonable seldom enact positive social change.
Gandhi was unreasonable.
I am sick of being held hostage by the dominant social norm. Hegemony, I will not be your submissive.
Though I will be labeled "selfish," "bitchy," "childish," "immature," and I'm sure the list goes on, how am I more of these than those on the other side? I am not. I appear so because the common discourse is not on my side.
Baltimore public schools: Meatless Mondays. Lou Dobbs says it’s a political storm in the making. Glenn Beck says its indoctrination. Why are the "Got Milk?" posters decorating our school cafeterias not accused of the same?
Oh right, dominant social discourses . . . Meat is not murder. Milk is not theft. And these products will not cause diabetes, cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, colon problems, global warming, water shortages, world hunger, deforestation, pollution, community destruction, avian flu, swine flue, mad cow disease, E. Coli, workers' rights violations, exploitation, or death. (by the way: they already do.)
I do not want to fly across the country. Sitting on a plane for over 5 hours is not a pleasant experience. I do not want to be called "psycho" or "a brat." (I will be.) I do not want to spend my days off of work and school away from my home and my things and my cats. I do not want to have a screaming and crying match with the people I love. (I will.) I do not want this headache, these stomach cramps, these shaky hands or nervous thoughts that have been following me since Sunday night. I do not want to fly across the country.
And if I don't? Others will have leverage to refuse to do the same come January. And if I do and we resort to fighting? I will be the one at fault by hegemony's law.
Some background information: Thanksgiving is on my birthday. I prefer not to be around symbols of the fallen world on any given day. But I assumed birthdays had leveraging power. (BTW, I was wrong. People are more sentimental about Thanksgiving than Birthdays. You may need that information in the future.) I asked if we could not have a turkey, but could have other items made with animal products. This was shot down. I asked if we could have a turkey and no other items contributing to the problems outlined in a ramble above. This was also shot down, despite my offer to do the cooking. Some people were worried some other people wouldn't come unless they could indulge all their destructive sentiments. And if I am threatening not to come, that is crazy. That is unreasonable. That is unfair.
And that is your background information. This is the last time I will be using my Birthday to ask for a gift.
I will also be a brat when I refuse their birthday cake or gifts that someone may have bothered to get me. (I will accept something from Callista. Something from Chris. Everyone else needs to stop kidding themselves . . . If they ever were.)
If this wretched holiday of gluttony and greed had not fallen on the marginally less wretched (though much more vain) holiday of my birth, I never would have thought to ask for such an apparently unreasonable gift.
I think my family is harder than most. I say this not only because I've had my fair share of stepmoms, so the rules are always changing, but also because I know other people's families. I know a couple that is getting married this weekend, and they are cooking an all vegan Thanksgiving for their families on Thanksgiving. (This is something I didn't even consider asking. I know people hold deadly sentiment too dear.) I know people who have gotten family members to go completely vegan for a week or a month in honor of birthdays. My husband's extended family has gone to vegetarian restaurants to celebrate birthdays that weren't even ours just to be respectful. People have suggested I offer to cook the meal if I want it to be vegan, as if this would solve the problem . . . Because to reasonable people, it would. To a normal family, having all the sides vegan would not be a big deal . . . especially if Thanksgiving fell on a vegan's birthday and that vegan offered to do all the cooking.
(This is what is unreasonable: I wanted to spend the day doing something I don't enjoy and have that be my sole birthday present.)
Gluttony, gluttony--the deadly sin that kills (see rambling list above if you would like to know how.)
I hate this situation. I don't want to even fly across the country. This would not make things better. People would still say, "Where's Calla?" and the response would still be, said in a snarky tone, "Oh, she refused to come because we didn't make the side dishes vegan." (For the record, I didn't ask you to make the side dishes vegan. I asked you to let ME make the side dishes vegan.) So, this would not make things better in terms of call and response . . . but at least I wouldn't have to see these people. No one would come by my sister's house before or after the meal, see me there, and lecture me about how stubborn and bitchy I am.
I am stubborn. I am not bitchy. I am quite the opposite of bitchy. I care too damn much. I care about animals, and people, and the environment, and this makes me unable to take part in the dominant social discourse. I won't sit down at your selfish table of gluttonous lies. "
"Thanksgiving." Can you imagine giving thanks for global warming? For an unsustainable use of land and water? For cancer? For diabetes? For theft? I can't. And I won't. And I won't be a part of this dinner. And I will bear the brunt of, "Stop acting crazy and just COME" because I have a $481.00 ticket and a 5 year old to visit.
These nerves and shakes and pains are making it hard to get through the days. And I don't want them anymore. And I don't want to fly across the country and watch others soak up sentiment.
Too upset to find a picture.
Showing posts with label social issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social issues. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Calla's Seventy-Fifth Post
It is hard for me to fathom the way some people exist. I cannot put myself in others' shoes. Perhaps this is a bad quality. On the other hand, why would I want to exist in the limiting minds that abound so plentifully?
So, there is this man. And he is a man with whom I have never gotten along. But, I could never quite put my finger on WHY. Something was always a little off about him. He always seems to be trying just a little too hard to be fulfilled. Ya know the type of guy who still travels to India during summers even though he's well beyond the age of "finding himself." (Not that I buy into that notion to begin with.) That's the type he is. And it always irks me the wrong way. I thought it was just that we have such different values, and even the values we share we've arrived at from opposing sides. BUT I FIGURED IT OUT PRECISELY TODAY.
He is so damn anthropocentric! Know WHY he needs to backpack across Europe at the age of 40 or whatever it is that he does? He feels he is in this position of privilege. (and as he is a white, human, male living in the U.S. I suppose it would be hard to argue otherwise.) As he is a human, he can think, feel, reason, emote, express himself, etc, etc, etc. These are his God-given rights. And they are given to mankind above all other animals. THAT IS THE WAY HE THINKS. He feels he is naturally privileged above everything else. He was just born that way. He was born better than tigers, great white sharks, the poor lovely white possums (first mammal extinct because of global warming
This is what led me to my discovery. (My discovery about THE REASON WHY I don't like him.) He had a blog post about ethics, and the way the word 'ethics' is being used to express things beyond human to human relationships. He was surprised by this. Surprised that people talk about "ethical" hunting (as if killing something out of greed could ever be ethical). He thought it was just crazy how the word ethical is passing species lines.
Excuse me. . . but, what? Ethics were ever bound by human relations? Since when? I don't know if it's true that ethics come from religion, but aren't there arguments about that? In which case, wouldn't that already be man to god(s) relationships? Aren't there traditions of, say, Kosher laws, which dictate only one ethical way to slaughter something? HOW ANTHROPOCENTRIC TO THINK HUMANS CAN ONLY BE ETHICAL WHEN ANOTHER HUMAN IS INVOLVED. What about the Christian doctrine of being good stewards of the earth? Why is this a new concept to him.
So, Tabby said that this strange man might know something about the etymology of the word ethics or what not. Maybe it did originate as meaning humans duties to other humans or something. But, that's beyond the point. To honestly believe that ethics have not always been extended across species is ignorant and self-assuring. Furthermore, to believe humans are the only ones who HAVE ethics is equally absurd. People asserting such rubbish are just looking for a way to legitimize their elevated social status above other species. Science is now showing that animals beyond humans have ethics.
Experiments on rats (I know, downright evil. Not genuinely ethical on the people's part.) show that rats won't take food if it causes another rat pain. That is not some survival of the fittest, Darwinism, evolution stuff. That is quite the opposite. That is a rat making an ethical decision to put another above him/her self, possibly leading to her/his own demise. Chimpanzees don't show aggression to disabled members of their societies. Once again, an ethical decision. Dolphins and Whales alike experience empathy for the same biological reason humans do. (Something about spindle cells. . . ?)
The point is this: Even IF ethics has some etymology restricting it to human-to-human relationships, and even IF non-human animals are not capable of the same intellectual reasoning as mankind, the fact of the matter remains: humans have always held ethics that transcended inter-personal relations and animals also have their own moral codes––without all the Kantian mumbo-jumbo behind them––that do not have to do with the survival of the fittest. Ergo, the concept of ethics (perhaps not the word) has never been restricted to a discussion of human interaction with other humans. And the fact that this one man would ever surmise as much made me realize why I do not like him. He is a bad person precisely because he places so much damn stock in being a person.
Don't get me wrong. Often I enjoy being a person. I tool feel privileged that I am at the top. I too enjoy the ability to use critical discernment. But I don't spend my life making sure I experience culture and the arts and grappling with impossible theoretical concepts just because I CAN and others can't. I spend my life trying to make a better place for all sentient beings with the understanding that God created us all. God created animals for his glory, and guess what else! He asked that we have just dominion over them. That means a responsibility to them to behave ethically where they are involved.
The End.
Love,
Calla and the Kitties.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Calla's Seventy-Forth Post
Now this is another important idea. It is about BDSM and animal welfare (and probably also animal rights since this is Calla typing.) Tabby made up the idea and I am not trying to take credit. This is just a post about it in case anyone wants to help because we don't really have the means to implement this, but you might no someone who does. Or maybe you work for PETA and want to add a campaign of this. Tabby says he doesn't want it to be a campaign and he wants it to be a whole nonprofit organization. But honestly, I have no desire to really start my own nonprofit, and I don't think Tabby will ever be motivated enough to try. SO, therefore, it follows, that if PETA wants to steal the idea only for a campaign, well, if that's the case, I say go for it. It is highly creative.
SOOOOO. Here is what it is called. It is called Consensual Cages. The concept is that only those who want to be in cages, such as submissives or masochists or what not, should be in them. We do not shove piggies, and chickies, and calve-ies in cages! So, the deal is as follows (there are two ideas to follow): The one is a basic outreach/activism/leafleting thingy. You gotta get a cage and put hot people in bondage in those cages. You do this in crowded public places to get people's attention. Then you just hand out lit explaining how evil factory farming is. It is really quite simple and straight forward. And it sounds like something PETA would do.
Oh and also, Lit. wouldn't be limited to farm animals. This is a good idea to promote adopting companion animals because kitties and puppies shouldn't live their lives in cages and also puppy mill mommies live their miserable little precious lives like dairy cow mommies. :( :( :( OH THE WORLD IS EVIL EVIL EEEEVIIIIL I SAY!
The other idea is for a black-tie and/or Gala event. It is like a regular fancy-shmancy party except you have all these submissives serving everyone all night. They have like trays strapped to their mouths and maybe on their backs and stuff. They have to crawl around on all fours all nights serving people. You can also have people serving as physical human coat racks for when people come in. So because of that, you might wanna maybe do it in winter or fall. You can also have people in cages as decorations. There could be other more sexual things too as long as you read the laws in whatever state you are in about sex and what not. Obviously there would be no physical sexual intercourse. However, there could conceivably be floggings if someone messes up a drink order or whatever. Use your imagination. This is a good idea. Tabby is smart.
Consensual Cages. You heard it here first and don't you forget it!
Love,
Calla and the Kitties (who are happy they do not live in cages!!)
SOOOOO. Here is what it is called. It is called Consensual Cages. The concept is that only those who want to be in cages, such as submissives or masochists or what not, should be in them. We do not shove piggies, and chickies, and calve-ies in cages! So, the deal is as follows (there are two ideas to follow): The one is a basic outreach/activism/leafleting thingy. You gotta get a cage and put hot people in bondage in those cages. You do this in crowded public places to get people's attention. Then you just hand out lit explaining how evil factory farming is. It is really quite simple and straight forward. And it sounds like something PETA would do.
Oh and also, Lit. wouldn't be limited to farm animals. This is a good idea to promote adopting companion animals because kitties and puppies shouldn't live their lives in cages and also puppy mill mommies live their miserable little precious lives like dairy cow mommies. :( :( :( OH THE WORLD IS EVIL EVIL EEEEVIIIIL I SAY!
The other idea is for a black-tie and/or Gala event. It is like a regular fancy-shmancy party except you have all these submissives serving everyone all night. They have like trays strapped to their mouths and maybe on their backs and stuff. They have to crawl around on all fours all nights serving people. You can also have people serving as physical human coat racks for when people come in. So because of that, you might wanna maybe do it in winter or fall. You can also have people in cages as decorations. There could be other more sexual things too as long as you read the laws in whatever state you are in about sex and what not. Obviously there would be no physical sexual intercourse. However, there could conceivably be floggings if someone messes up a drink order or whatever. Use your imagination. This is a good idea. Tabby is smart.
Consensual Cages. You heard it here first and don't you forget it!
Love,
Calla and the Kitties (who are happy they do not live in cages!!)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Calla's Sixty-Ninth Post
I saw a book today that, um, BOTHERS ME, to say the least. It is part of this growing trend in idiocy in the vein of Michael Pollan. It by some woman who's last name is ironically Friend, and it is called The Compassionate Carnivore. I didn't read the book, only the jacket. And what I found there alone disturbs me deeply. It is another one of those eat local "sustainable" meat and the world will be a happier place. It talked about how the author raises and kills lambys or sheep or something. . . And about the surprising gratitude she felt when she ate an animal she raised and LOVED. Someone needs to explain this to me in terms I can understand. I have problems with people killing sentient beings whom they supposedly LOVE. I can't kill BUGS (I trap them, walk into the hallway, and let them out the window), let alone an animal I love. Imagine killing a pet. Just imagine slitting a beloved pets neck. If you are capable of this, I don't think you understand the definition of love. You should be willing to die for things you love, not willing to kill them. There is something twisted in the psyche of anyone who goes "oh, I love to kill things I love and eat them even though it is entirely unnecessary for my health and actually destructive for the environment!" So, that's my first beef. (haha, no pun intended.) I could NEVER kill one of my cats. Not if my life depended on it. If my life depended on it, I would die instead. How can you take the life of a thinking, feeling, breathing, trusting, loving animal, whom you love!?
Second problem with this whole movement. UNSUSTAINABLE AND IMPOSSIBLE. No matter what way you slice it, eating meat is not a sustainable process. One can argue that eating grass fed animals does not take the same grains away from people. . . But I don't get it. If the amount of animals people eat every year were all grass-fed, WE WOULD HAVE NO TREES LEFT. How are you gonna clear that much brush for that amount of animals?! Explain to me how you're gonna do that? WHICH MEANS, that it is impossible for EVERYONE to eat local, grass-fed animals. It just is. So, for whom is this diet designed? Not the general population. Additionally, even people who may want to eat locally and may be able to afford it are not necessarily going to have access to such dead animals. The argument doesn't make any sense when the general population of the United States is considered. The suggestion works for a small minority, and it is, dare I say, elitist?
Furthermore, I feel like these arguments don't work for meat-eaters. I feel like people are more likely to use them as an excuse for continuing the status quo, or there is the "slippery slope" idea, where people will switch to local death and then be all "oh, well, I can go out to eat at this restaurant this one time for my friend's birthday," and that one time turns into once a week, which turns into a habitual event. It is unrealistic to expect people to eat only local meat and not expect them to want to eat out every once in a while. I know of only two restaurant that serve local meat. That means you asking these people only to eat meat that they cook themselves, and I think that is an unrealistic expectation knowing the general weak-will of humanity.
So, what I think these books are more likely to turn vegans and vegetarians into people who eat local animals than to turn omnivores into people who only eat local death. Do you agree? Am I right?
But seriously, that love part is what gets me more than anything. I am greatly disturbed by this definition of love.
Besides the point. Calla Wright. I have to write my name. If people are going to search for me in creepy websites like 123people this blog better come up! As of now it doesn't. So I put my name it. . . for any creepy people who want to find me, now they can. haha. Weird right?
I made up a lamby dance! But Tabby needs to record it before it can go on here. So, I can't put it on here yet. BUT, the lambys do a lamby dance, the lambys do a lamby dance, the lambys do a lamby dance, they dance! 'Cause they're so happy that nobody eats them, yes they're so happy nobody eats them. And they're so happy no one abuses them, yes they're so happy no one abuses them! The lambys made up their dance. . . um. . . I think. . . not yesterday. . . but the day before. . . And I didn't see that stupidface book until today. So it made me even more upset when I saw that book, 'cause those lambys in the book don't get to do a dance! People eat them. :( And people they TRUST, the way my kitties trust me, TAKE THEIR LIVES. EWWWW.
Love,
Calla and her kitties
Squirrel Friend!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Post no. 14
Mob mentality is a strange feature of humanity–– an odd collective of raw human emotion, which I am apparently currently experiencing in part. I'm not talking about this strange tea party phenomenon where people who enjoy wasting a lot of money on tea pollute waterways to symbolically protest wasteful government spending. I don't really get that one. . . at all. It doesn't seem to prove a point, or demonstrate much. And these people don't know what 'representation' means if they think they are being taxed without it. . . Unless they come from D.C.–– then that just sucks.
No, I am writing about the protests that have been raging at The New School as of late. Now, there has been, shall we say, tension, between various groups at the New School since last semester. And by "groups of the New School" I pretty much mean group a: Bob Kerrey and his henchmen vs. group b: everyone else. There was a 95% vote of no confidence by all New School staff (part-time, full-time, tenured alike) in Bob Kerrey back in December, and, around the same time, over 100 students occupied a building demanding Kerrey resign. I don't feel like getting into the details. Basically, we've had a billion and a half provosts since Kerrey's time here. When the last one left he appointed HIMSELF provost, effectively putting all the university's power in the business side of the university and none in the academia. This, on top of losing important student space, was too much. It was covered by the Times and what not. Just Google it, or Wikipedia it.
Well, so, you see, what had happened after these protests was Kerrey started operating in a MORE transparent way. He un-appointed himself as provost. He put staff on the search committee for a new one. He promised the students some more space. He started sending out a billion and a half e-mails about our financials, etc. etc. But, he didn't resign. And this is what the students wanted. So, people are still freaking the frak out.
I didn't really get it at first. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) It is clear Kerrey's contract will not be renewed in 2010. Let's all just chill and let this thing run its course. I guess you could say, after the December vote and protests, I became complacent with the mediocrity of the situation. "Eh, it could be better, it could be worse, so let's just let this all sizzle out quietly" typa attitude. So, I didn't understand the continuation of fuss.
That's why, on Good Friday, when 22 students were arrested, most for breaking and entering into a building, I kinda didn't support them AT ALL. I thought that was a completely ineffective and immature way to go about. . . I wasn't really sure what it was all about. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) [also, that sentence has just gotta end in a preposition 'cause otherwise it sounds silly.] I guess they are protesting the fact that Kerrey has not resigned. I found this an absurd reason to break into a building.
So, I then saw a video of a friend of mine being beat up by the cops. Just flat out pushed on the ground and jumped on by four cops for "obstructing." No, for real, he did not break into the building. He was chilling outside intelligently not risking (or so he presumed) the master's degree he's about to (maybe, hopefully, one can pray) earn in five weeks. He yelled "shame on you" at the police for being violent to another protester. Well, for that he was pushed to the ground and brutally beaten by four officers. I've seen him since then and he's all bruised up. He is charged with "obstructing" and "resisting arrest." This has nothing to do with the New School. He did not break any laws besides 'obstructing' and, for real, if a cop can't do his job while someone is talking to them, the NYPD needs to hire better cops. I don't see how talking to a cop obstructs anything. Furthermore, you can't exactly resist arrest if you are pushed to the ground and attacked. So, my point is, he is suspended from school, and for what? For speaking his mind to a police officer in support of fellow students. This is no reason to get suspended. And pretty much it makes me not support the administration.
Well, I was still iffy on the whole thing, leaning towards "I agree with these students but not with their methods." It seemed a bit extreme to break into a building even if the administration of our school is a sham. The first protest was successful, peaceful, and all-well-and-dandy. This more recent one seemed ineffective, unorganized, and not-oh-so-very-well-and-dandy.
HOWEVER, I am slowly being sucked into the excitement. Today I again ran into said friend who was recently beaten by the cops. I didn't even recognize him cause he was all celebrity like with sunglasses and hat. (haha) They had an emergency assembly today called by the Lang Dean, followed by a march to protest police brutality and the works. So Tabby and I were discussing the situation again, and it is just flat out getting exciting. A Teacher's Assistant he had last semester is in one of the two student groups organizing these protests. She is part of New School in Exile. The other group is The Radical Student Union. (And I am discovering the latter is the ridiculous faction and the former may actually be filled with intelligent human beings.) We watched a video (the second one) of her speaking on Monday and Tabby got excited that she was distinguishing between the protesters inside the building and those outside instead of making a blanket statement that they are all terrorists or all godsends. Also she brought up a great point about our University having some protest policy where they must be pre-approved. .. uh, that's not a protest. Tabby also said he liked her a lot.
Well, THEN I found out Reverend Billy (who I am supporting for Mayor! HURRAH HURRAY!) spoke briefly at tonight's rally. He wasn't really planning on doing that. He had to be at NYU for some Mayor thing-a-ma-bob or NYU protest or something, but the New School protesters marched over to Washington Square Park. ANYway, Rev. Billy excites me. And this is when I felt the mob mentality kick in. I was all Reverend Billy is right, "He criticized what he sees as the corporate structure of the American higher education system." Well, of course there is a problem with the corporate structure of U.S. America's higher education system! So, then I feel myself wanting to blindly support these protesters because I like REVEREND BILLY'S point. . . Not cause I know what the protesters' point exactly is. (I think it has shifted into some weird collage about having the right to protest and not liking police brutality. . . idunno.) But I'm telling you, I was all "see Rev. Billy supports us! . . . I mean them. . . I mean. . . um. . . he said something intelligent about the higher education system that may or may not be related to the protests. . . "
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting moment of mob mentality. And I like the feeling of it and don't want to let it go, even though I know that would be the conscionable thing to do. Instead I wanna be part of this movement that may tear apart my University just because it's fun when a celebrity gets involved; and movements are sometimes cool; and hey, I need some excitement in my life. Strange, huh? I mean, mob mentality is a strange result of too much team spirit, for lack of better term. You know what I mean though, all these people feel like they're on one side against something else. . . And that can breed hostility towards that something else. And I've never particularly liked team spirit, or hometown pride, or patriotism, or any of that business. So, this is an odd moment in my life. What does it say about me? Perhaps I HAVE become too emotional without enough reason. . . but then I wouldn't be reasoning this out, now would I? So, idunno. I guess it is just something to analyze and resist.
A CUTE puppy and me two summers ago. I really need a hair cut! It needs to look like that again.
No, I am writing about the protests that have been raging at The New School as of late. Now, there has been, shall we say, tension, between various groups at the New School since last semester. And by "groups of the New School" I pretty much mean group a: Bob Kerrey and his henchmen vs. group b: everyone else. There was a 95% vote of no confidence by all New School staff (part-time, full-time, tenured alike) in Bob Kerrey back in December, and, around the same time, over 100 students occupied a building demanding Kerrey resign. I don't feel like getting into the details. Basically, we've had a billion and a half provosts since Kerrey's time here. When the last one left he appointed HIMSELF provost, effectively putting all the university's power in the business side of the university and none in the academia. This, on top of losing important student space, was too much. It was covered by the Times and what not. Just Google it, or Wikipedia it.
Well, so, you see, what had happened after these protests was Kerrey started operating in a MORE transparent way. He un-appointed himself as provost. He put staff on the search committee for a new one. He promised the students some more space. He started sending out a billion and a half e-mails about our financials, etc. etc. But, he didn't resign. And this is what the students wanted. So, people are still freaking the frak out.
I didn't really get it at first. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) It is clear Kerrey's contract will not be renewed in 2010. Let's all just chill and let this thing run its course. I guess you could say, after the December vote and protests, I became complacent with the mediocrity of the situation. "Eh, it could be better, it could be worse, so let's just let this all sizzle out quietly" typa attitude. So, I didn't understand the continuation of fuss.
That's why, on Good Friday, when 22 students were arrested, most for breaking and entering into a building, I kinda didn't support them AT ALL. I thought that was a completely ineffective and immature way to go about. . . I wasn't really sure what it was all about. (Honestly, I'm still not sure I do.) [also, that sentence has just gotta end in a preposition 'cause otherwise it sounds silly.] I guess they are protesting the fact that Kerrey has not resigned. I found this an absurd reason to break into a building.
So, I then saw a video of a friend of mine being beat up by the cops. Just flat out pushed on the ground and jumped on by four cops for "obstructing." No, for real, he did not break into the building. He was chilling outside intelligently not risking (or so he presumed) the master's degree he's about to (maybe, hopefully, one can pray) earn in five weeks. He yelled "shame on you" at the police for being violent to another protester. Well, for that he was pushed to the ground and brutally beaten by four officers. I've seen him since then and he's all bruised up. He is charged with "obstructing" and "resisting arrest." This has nothing to do with the New School. He did not break any laws besides 'obstructing' and, for real, if a cop can't do his job while someone is talking to them, the NYPD needs to hire better cops. I don't see how talking to a cop obstructs anything. Furthermore, you can't exactly resist arrest if you are pushed to the ground and attacked. So, my point is, he is suspended from school, and for what? For speaking his mind to a police officer in support of fellow students. This is no reason to get suspended. And pretty much it makes me not support the administration.
Well, I was still iffy on the whole thing, leaning towards "I agree with these students but not with their methods." It seemed a bit extreme to break into a building even if the administration of our school is a sham. The first protest was successful, peaceful, and all-well-and-dandy. This more recent one seemed ineffective, unorganized, and not-oh-so-very-well-and-dandy.
HOWEVER, I am slowly being sucked into the excitement. Today I again ran into said friend who was recently beaten by the cops. I didn't even recognize him cause he was all celebrity like with sunglasses and hat. (haha) They had an emergency assembly today called by the Lang Dean, followed by a march to protest police brutality and the works. So Tabby and I were discussing the situation again, and it is just flat out getting exciting. A Teacher's Assistant he had last semester is in one of the two student groups organizing these protests. She is part of New School in Exile. The other group is The Radical Student Union. (And I am discovering the latter is the ridiculous faction and the former may actually be filled with intelligent human beings.) We watched a video (the second one) of her speaking on Monday and Tabby got excited that she was distinguishing between the protesters inside the building and those outside instead of making a blanket statement that they are all terrorists or all godsends. Also she brought up a great point about our University having some protest policy where they must be pre-approved. .. uh, that's not a protest. Tabby also said he liked her a lot.
Well, THEN I found out Reverend Billy (who I am supporting for Mayor! HURRAH HURRAY!) spoke briefly at tonight's rally. He wasn't really planning on doing that. He had to be at NYU for some Mayor thing-a-ma-bob or NYU protest or something, but the New School protesters marched over to Washington Square Park. ANYway, Rev. Billy excites me. And this is when I felt the mob mentality kick in. I was all Reverend Billy is right, "He criticized what he sees as the corporate structure of the American higher education system." Well, of course there is a problem with the corporate structure of U.S. America's higher education system! So, then I feel myself wanting to blindly support these protesters because I like REVEREND BILLY'S point. . . Not cause I know what the protesters' point exactly is. (I think it has shifted into some weird collage about having the right to protest and not liking police brutality. . . idunno.) But I'm telling you, I was all "see Rev. Billy supports us! . . . I mean them. . . I mean. . . um. . . he said something intelligent about the higher education system that may or may not be related to the protests. . . "
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting moment of mob mentality. And I like the feeling of it and don't want to let it go, even though I know that would be the conscionable thing to do. Instead I wanna be part of this movement that may tear apart my University just because it's fun when a celebrity gets involved; and movements are sometimes cool; and hey, I need some excitement in my life. Strange, huh? I mean, mob mentality is a strange result of too much team spirit, for lack of better term. You know what I mean though, all these people feel like they're on one side against something else. . . And that can breed hostility towards that something else. And I've never particularly liked team spirit, or hometown pride, or patriotism, or any of that business. So, this is an odd moment in my life. What does it say about me? Perhaps I HAVE become too emotional without enough reason. . . but then I wouldn't be reasoning this out, now would I? So, idunno. I guess it is just something to analyze and resist.
A CUTE puppy and me two summers ago. I really need a hair cut! It needs to look like that again.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Post no. 13
Long time no chat,
I was recently accused of using emotion and no reason when arguing my passions. I would first like to direct the accuser to a discussion I had with myself here, in order to explain the way I think and feel about "reason versus emotion" in the first place. Second, s/he should visit the paragraph under the kitty picture of this post to understand that this is not school. It is a blog. Thirdly, I will now demonstrate that I do indeed have supreme reasoning skills in addition to my overly-emotional core: *ahem*
Eating meat is morally wrong. I do not believe this is a matter of opinion or subjectivity, and my reason dictates so (not my emotions.)
It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. It takes 3 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of chicken. On average, it takes 10 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat.
Consider the following: There are people all over the world going hungry; they eat literal mud cakes to fill their stomachs. Many would argue that this is not a problem of food production but a problem of food distribution. However, as developing countries consume more meat, the cost of grain is rising. Why? Because wealthier people are using that grain to feed animals, and essentially losing 9 pounds of food in the process. This higher demand for grain increases the price of it. It is a simple economics question of supply and demand. The result: people who could once afford grains no longer can.
Now, one could argue that meat consumption IN THE UNITED STATES does not drive the cost of grain up overseas. And they would be right in the most literal sense. However, the reason developing countries are consuming more meat is largely because of Western influence. A vegan I know from school who is from India and who is in my Fundraising and Developing class explained how McDonald's is popping up all over the place in India. (McDonald's is so successful because it brands itself as a "family restaurant.") You cannot tell me, with a straight face, that the "convenient," fast-food, excessive meat-consumption culture did not develop in the West. Therefore, indirectly yes, consuming meat even in the United States raises the price of grain overseas. This in turn, causes the starvation of human beings. Causing the starvation of a human being through negligence is immoral.
Furthermore, one may not be worried about a food shortage in the United States, but one should worry, I argue one is morally obligated to worry, about the effects one's food choices have on other people. With respect to the amount of grain used to produce meat, field upon field are devoted to government-subsidized corn. (see the original rant here.) This corn is used to feed animals. (I think this is also immoral as the animals eating corn cannot digest corn properly an we are commanded by God to take care of animals, not abuse them. . . but I will leave the Christian and animal argument out. Those can be found elsewhere on this blog anyway.) This makes both corn and meat CHEAP. So, anyone who, either through necessity or their own decision, buys inexpensive food is buying either products full of corn syrup or meat. The diabetes and obesity rates in this country are absurdly high, largely because of meat and corn syrup consumption. (The human digestive track was not meant to consume animal products in large quantities leading to a whole slew of other health problems as well.)
Every time you purchase meat (or something with corn-syrup in it for that matter) when you have the spending power to purchase something else, you are essentially approving the government's corn-subsidy policy. Healthful foods are more expensive, in part, because not enough of the public is willing to stand against this government policy. Instead, people exasperate the problem by purchasing inexpensive animal products. Healthful foods remain costly, and those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money on food, those living in poverty, pay the price with their health.
Meat does not just hurt other people's health directly through consumption, it harms people indirectly. Industry Factory Farm jobs are some of the most horrendous jobs in the country. Because workers are largely unable to unionize, the pay is awful and the conditions are dangerous. Granted, one could argue it is better to support these farms so that these individuals have SOME employments; clearly it is better to work in dangerous conditions than to be better employed. First, I would argue that many of these same people are opposed to sweatshops overseas, yet the same logic about employment applies. Until they figure out their argument, I won't listen to them. Second, job creation is indeed a problem in this country, and I will not deny that. But there are countless USEFUL jobs that should be created that could easily replace the jobs lost in factory farms. (I am thinking of 'green-collar' work, improving infrastructure work, safer factories that produce inanimate objects that won't act out and ram you in the gut so that we CAN stop importing all our products from sweatshops in China.)
In addition to the workers, communities located near Industry Factory Farms suffer. They are, without fail, polluted. They do not have clean air or clean water. This inevitably leads to health problems.
Speaking of water, according to most estimates, it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. According to the beef industry it takes 441 gallons to produce a pound of meat. Now, let's be civil and give the beef industry the benefit of the doubt and say it takes "only" 441 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. Is this justifiable? Is it morally acceptable to waste 441 gallons of water for one hamburger when clean water is a problem across the globe? When innumerable children are dying from diarrhea because they do not have clean water, can you use a product that wastes so much without a nagging at your conscious? I can't. And I won't.
On a global level the problem of climate change, while stemming from a variety of sources, is effected by meat consumption. Studies show that meat production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world's transportation combined. For starters, factories naturally emit a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. But there are many other reasons for these emissions not as readily understood.
Billions of animals produce a lot of methane. This is through both digestion and because of the cesspools of waste created by factory farms. (the same cesspools polluting local waterways) Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. In the United States, animal agriculture is the number one source of methane emissions.
Nitrous oxide is another problem. 65% of the nitrous oxide emissions worldwide come from animal-product industries. And nitrous oxide is a lot more potent of a global warming gas than carbon dioxide is.
Brush, including the RAIN FOREST, is cleared so animals can graze in places like Brazil. Granted, this is not industry factory farming, but this post is about consuming animals. When Brazil recently decided to double their output of cattle, this problem became even worse. Anyone who went to the zoo as a child has learned about the importance of the Rain Forest and the necessity of protecting it. While, consuming meat causes the destruction of the Rain Forest, and, in turn, causes an increase in greenhouse gases as the Rain Forest is not able to absorb as much carbon. (Furthermore, and beside the point of the post, how can destroying God's creation to feed one's gluttony be considered anything but immoral in the first place?)
Additionally, animals are shipped all over the world for consumption. These factors make the meat industry the number one industry in greenhouse gas emissions. For the sake of all humanity, it is better not to contribute to this problem by supporting this industry. In fact, I argue, it is immoral to knowingly contribute to a problem that may cause countless deaths. (Some argue that global warming is already killing people. See Jessica Williams's 50 Facts That Should Change the World 2.0)
To summarize, eating meat supports a dangerous industry. It contributes to global warming, community pollution, the food shortage and the clean water crisis. Knowingly engaging in these acts, without doing everything reasonable to prevent them, is both negligent and immoral.
As alluded to earlier, I have many posts relating to animal welfare and Christianity and vegetarianism if you are interested. Feel free to explore the labels to the right.
May I remind you again, that this is not school. So, I know I do not have many hard statistics or citations. This was only an exercise in reasoning, and a demonstration of my ability to do so. Statistics and citations could easily be copied and pasted if I had the time to re-research all of this information–– which I do not. It is late.
Also, because it is so late, I do not want to proofread this. And so if I have made a fool of myself by not demonstrating my ability to use logic because my arguments are incoherent, feel free to point and laugh. Perhaps I will revise it later.
These are goat friends who live in Arizona at this weird Western-themed amusement park. THEY ARE SOOOOO CUTE. I wanna take them home. :)
P.S. I don't know why all those words are underlined, or how to get them not to be so.
I was recently accused of using emotion and no reason when arguing my passions. I would first like to direct the accuser to a discussion I had with myself here, in order to explain the way I think and feel about "reason versus emotion" in the first place. Second, s/he should visit the paragraph under the kitty picture of this post to understand that this is not school. It is a blog. Thirdly, I will now demonstrate that I do indeed have supreme reasoning skills in addition to my overly-emotional core: *ahem*
Eating meat is morally wrong. I do not believe this is a matter of opinion or subjectivity, and my reason dictates so (not my emotions.)
It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. It takes 3 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of chicken. On average, it takes 10 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat.
Consider the following: There are people all over the world going hungry; they eat literal mud cakes to fill their stomachs. Many would argue that this is not a problem of food production but a problem of food distribution. However, as developing countries consume more meat, the cost of grain is rising. Why? Because wealthier people are using that grain to feed animals, and essentially losing 9 pounds of food in the process. This higher demand for grain increases the price of it. It is a simple economics question of supply and demand. The result: people who could once afford grains no longer can.
Now, one could argue that meat consumption IN THE UNITED STATES does not drive the cost of grain up overseas. And they would be right in the most literal sense. However, the reason developing countries are consuming more meat is largely because of Western influence. A vegan I know from school who is from India and who is in my Fundraising and Developing class explained how McDonald's is popping up all over the place in India. (McDonald's is so successful because it brands itself as a "family restaurant.") You cannot tell me, with a straight face, that the "convenient," fast-food, excessive meat-consumption culture did not develop in the West. Therefore, indirectly yes, consuming meat even in the United States raises the price of grain overseas. This in turn, causes the starvation of human beings. Causing the starvation of a human being through negligence is immoral.
Furthermore, one may not be worried about a food shortage in the United States, but one should worry, I argue one is morally obligated to worry, about the effects one's food choices have on other people. With respect to the amount of grain used to produce meat, field upon field are devoted to government-subsidized corn. (see the original rant here.) This corn is used to feed animals. (I think this is also immoral as the animals eating corn cannot digest corn properly an we are commanded by God to take care of animals, not abuse them. . . but I will leave the Christian and animal argument out. Those can be found elsewhere on this blog anyway.) This makes both corn and meat CHEAP. So, anyone who, either through necessity or their own decision, buys inexpensive food is buying either products full of corn syrup or meat. The diabetes and obesity rates in this country are absurdly high, largely because of meat and corn syrup consumption. (The human digestive track was not meant to consume animal products in large quantities leading to a whole slew of other health problems as well.)
Every time you purchase meat (or something with corn-syrup in it for that matter) when you have the spending power to purchase something else, you are essentially approving the government's corn-subsidy policy. Healthful foods are more expensive, in part, because not enough of the public is willing to stand against this government policy. Instead, people exasperate the problem by purchasing inexpensive animal products. Healthful foods remain costly, and those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money on food, those living in poverty, pay the price with their health.
Meat does not just hurt other people's health directly through consumption, it harms people indirectly. Industry Factory Farm jobs are some of the most horrendous jobs in the country. Because workers are largely unable to unionize, the pay is awful and the conditions are dangerous. Granted, one could argue it is better to support these farms so that these individuals have SOME employments; clearly it is better to work in dangerous conditions than to be better employed. First, I would argue that many of these same people are opposed to sweatshops overseas, yet the same logic about employment applies. Until they figure out their argument, I won't listen to them. Second, job creation is indeed a problem in this country, and I will not deny that. But there are countless USEFUL jobs that should be created that could easily replace the jobs lost in factory farms. (I am thinking of 'green-collar' work, improving infrastructure work, safer factories that produce inanimate objects that won't act out and ram you in the gut so that we CAN stop importing all our products from sweatshops in China.)
In addition to the workers, communities located near Industry Factory Farms suffer. They are, without fail, polluted. They do not have clean air or clean water. This inevitably leads to health problems.
Speaking of water, according to most estimates, it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. According to the beef industry it takes 441 gallons to produce a pound of meat. Now, let's be civil and give the beef industry the benefit of the doubt and say it takes "only" 441 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. Is this justifiable? Is it morally acceptable to waste 441 gallons of water for one hamburger when clean water is a problem across the globe? When innumerable children are dying from diarrhea because they do not have clean water, can you use a product that wastes so much without a nagging at your conscious? I can't. And I won't.
On a global level the problem of climate change, while stemming from a variety of sources, is effected by meat consumption. Studies show that meat production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world's transportation combined. For starters, factories naturally emit a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. But there are many other reasons for these emissions not as readily understood.
Billions of animals produce a lot of methane. This is through both digestion and because of the cesspools of waste created by factory farms. (the same cesspools polluting local waterways) Methane is more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. In the United States, animal agriculture is the number one source of methane emissions.
Nitrous oxide is another problem. 65% of the nitrous oxide emissions worldwide come from animal-product industries. And nitrous oxide is a lot more potent of a global warming gas than carbon dioxide is.
Brush, including the RAIN FOREST, is cleared so animals can graze in places like Brazil. Granted, this is not industry factory farming, but this post is about consuming animals. When Brazil recently decided to double their output of cattle, this problem became even worse. Anyone who went to the zoo as a child has learned about the importance of the Rain Forest and the necessity of protecting it. While, consuming meat causes the destruction of the Rain Forest, and, in turn, causes an increase in greenhouse gases as the Rain Forest is not able to absorb as much carbon. (Furthermore, and beside the point of the post, how can destroying God's creation to feed one's gluttony be considered anything but immoral in the first place?)
Additionally, animals are shipped all over the world for consumption. These factors make the meat industry the number one industry in greenhouse gas emissions. For the sake of all humanity, it is better not to contribute to this problem by supporting this industry. In fact, I argue, it is immoral to knowingly contribute to a problem that may cause countless deaths. (Some argue that global warming is already killing people. See Jessica Williams's 50 Facts That Should Change the World 2.0)
To summarize, eating meat supports a dangerous industry. It contributes to global warming, community pollution, the food shortage and the clean water crisis. Knowingly engaging in these acts, without doing everything reasonable to prevent them, is both negligent and immoral.
As alluded to earlier, I have many posts relating to animal welfare and Christianity and vegetarianism if you are interested. Feel free to explore the labels to the right.
May I remind you again, that this is not school. So, I know I do not have many hard statistics or citations. This was only an exercise in reasoning, and a demonstration of my ability to do so. Statistics and citations could easily be copied and pasted if I had the time to re-research all of this information–– which I do not. It is late.
Also, because it is so late, I do not want to proofread this. And so if I have made a fool of myself by not demonstrating my ability to use logic because my arguments are incoherent, feel free to point and laugh. Perhaps I will revise it later.
These are goat friends who live in Arizona at this weird Western-themed amusement park. THEY ARE SOOOOO CUTE. I wanna take them home. :)
P.S. I don't know why all those words are underlined, or how to get them not to be so.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Calla's Sixty-Third Post
I am writing this sentence to remind you: I don't edit this stuff. I just ramble. It's not cause I'm dumb. Its cause blogs aren't homework. They're a place to rant. I ranted A LOT below this. Consider yourself warned.
So, ignorant people ANNOY me. We were talking about Opportunity NYC in class today, ya know the Conditional Cash Transfer program currently in it's pilot stages in New York City, and my goodness me are there social conservatives at my school!! Now, Opportunity NYC has a lot a lot of problems. It can be criticized from both the left and the right, and I will criticize it from the left momentarily, but I did not expect to hear all these people criticizing it from the right in my "Making a Difference" class. Why these people went to The New School is pretty much beyond me. And why they were let in is also beyond me. But, Tabby said you have to let diverse people into a school and what not, right? And I understand the merits of diversity in institutions; I do. Especially if it is an undergraduate institution. But I think when someone is in a graduate program at the NEW SCHOOL should be somewhat more progressive. (seriously, if you don't believe me, look it up.) I mean, the stupid class I was in "Making a Difference: Global, Organizational and Individual Perspective on Social Change" was conceived as a college-wide REQUIRED class so we could all be indoctrinated on how important a progressive ideology is. (The creators of the class, of course, won't admit this. But sit in on one class and you will know it is true.) So, my point is: why are all these students with adverse ideologies accepted into a school with a mission to, and I quote FROM the New School's website, " prepare and inspire its 9,400 undergraduate and graduate students to bring actual, positive change to the world." Private Universities ARE nonprofits. They exist to serve a specific purpose. The New School's purpose is clearly stated. It seems like Mission Drift to let all these social conservatives into the University.
Well, perhaps I might maybe explain what happened. So, Opportunity NYC is SUPPOSEDLY based on Mexico's Oportunidades (formerly Progresa). These are programs which offer money, not subsidies or vouchers–– actual money, to those living in poverty as long as the program participants fulfill given obligations. Well, I'm not going to get into the merits of Oportunidades, because the program is highly successful; I mean 1 in every 4 Mexicans benefiting from it highly successful. Also, from the 2 book chapters and 3 articles I read about it, I don't see anything wrong with it. Seriously, it's not controversial. No one in my class even talked about it. Opportunity NYC is the controversial one.
I first saw mention of Opportunity NYC when CNN did it's whole "Black in America" thing and those 4th graders were getting paid to do well on tests. So, the program requires parents to stay employed, school-aged kids to go to school and DO WELL in it, + the normal things like go to the doctors regularly, go to Parent-Teacher conferences etc. Probably, if you have the least bit critical mind, you are seeing a problem with this program, because right or left, there ARE PROBLEMS. Well, I sit here, and I think about how horrendous it is that we are putting blame on children for not doing well in school instead of on the failing school systems, and how the worst possible thing a person could do is raise the stakes even MORE when it comes to tests. (I think there might be a post about this somewhere, but I don't know.) Basically, high stakes testing is a total joke already. The tests are written with an unintended bias towards white middle-class students. The tests don't prove that children can learn, but that they can memorize. The culture they create in classrooms–– one of route memorization, the banking system, irrelevant subject matter, stressful work environment, isolated subjects, lack of creativity, and no critical thinking skills–– is both detrimental and dehumanizing. Furthermore, it has been shown through studies done by Friere and the likes, that tests don't actually test aptitude. Your SAT scores don't actually reflect how well you will do in college. Oh, and the requiring parents to keep a job to get paid, that is counterintuitive. If a parent loses his/her job through no fault of his/her own and can't find another one because of a job shortage like the one we are currently experiencing, well, the last thing that individual needs is the Opportunity NYC money to stop flowing. Am I right? So, this is what I thought we would find objectionable in Mayor Bloomberg's plan. That and I thought perhaps some well-meaning individuals would find it condescending to imply poor people need extra motivation to do the right thing while middle class or wealthy people don't. (I don't think that is at all what is implied by the program, but ya know, overly-sensitive, liberal, straight, white, males who are always trying to overcompensate for their undue privilege by acting offended for everyone else's sake probably would say that.) But, much to my shock and gag-reflex people were all:
I think it's wrong to pay people for what they should be doing anyway.
Parents are supposed to be invested in their children's life without getting paid.
I understand Mayor Bloomberg is trying to force all these parents to be good parents, but you can't make people do what's right.
I don't personally understand the culture of poor people not taking care of their kids properly because I'm white and from a farm and have always had opportunities and a steady career, but since that's the way it is, I think it's good that this program is in place to inspire people to care for their children someway. (I KID YOU NOT THAT IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT SOMEONE SAID. . . he was a white male, but I'm not sure if he's straight.)
I think it skews people's values. People need to value education for what it is, not because it pays. What are these kids gonna do when they graduate and aren't getting paid to go to college, are they going to go?
Since in poor communities education isn't valued properly, I think it works to put a monetary value on it, so individuals can tell what it's worth.
Alright, two of those weren't even criticisms, they were praises of the program but for DISGUISTING reasons. THESE PEOPLE ARE MORONS. Here is what I gathered their opinions are: poor people don't care about their kids, we must pay poor people to do the 'proper' thing, poor people don't understand the value of education. Alright bitches, I bet all of them can understand the value of education better than you can because you probably took it for granted your whole life where these parents, who are struggling to pay bills, pay the rent, keep their kids out of trouble, WISH they could have what you have so that life WOULDN'T be so hard. Not to generalize because I'm sure some people in my class are from low income families and communities, but, my gods, these people in class blabbing about how poor people don't know the value of education most likely don't understand the value of it themselves because they've never had to struggle without one. Furthermore, how DARE they accuse parents of not wanting what's best for their children because they don't have time to go to a frakken PTA meeting. I mean really, if you are a single parent working multiple jobs and you have the choice between going to work to make money so your electricity doesn't get cut off or going to a Parent-Teacher conference, well, I guess that's up to you what you would do. But I'm damn sure gonna make sure my babies have electricity and running water and a safe place to come home to before I'm gonna sit down and chat with their teachers. My babies can tell me themselves how they're doing in school, and we won't end up in transitional housing or a homeless shelter, thank-you-very-much! But, if you pay me $25 for that hour of my time, hell ya! That's more than I'd be making at work anyway, and yes I'd gladly be MORE involved in my child's life if I had the means to do so. . . And, maybe I already WAS making every effort and going to these meetings, but at the cost of less nutritional meals 'cause all I could afford after missing that hour of work was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP filled food. Oh and now we all have diabetes.
OK, you get my point. These people are not ok with me. I don't know outa what world they fell, but they need to go back. . . NOW. And Tabby and I were talking about how probably they are not Republican. Probably they do not consider themselves conservative. Maybe they consider themselves fiscally or socially liberal. BUT they are, in part, social conservatives. You saw all that "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" bullshit, did you not? Somehow, because these parents don't have time to go to conferences, don't have the resources to make annual doctor's appointments, they are bad parents? They don't CARE about their kids? bullshit. You know its bullshit. We aren't necessarily talking about abusive crack-head parents, and even if we were I bet I could make a case for them caring about their kids anyway. We are talking about people who grew up in the ghetto, and who are raising their kids in the ghetto, who have no hope of getting out of the ghetto because that's where their moms were raised too. We are talking about multi-generational poverty brought on by unfortunate and despicable social problems and failed policy solutions. Living in poverty does not make you a bad parent. It makes you damn busy. PLUS, a lot of these parents probably already WERE doing these things. It's not like Bloomberg targeted people who weren't doing these things. He targeted poverty-stricken families who may or may not have been doing these things, but why should that matter? Why NOT redistribute the wealth in their favor? They are working harder than all those damn morons in the financial sector who make millions and billions.
BTW, my parents DID have the means and time to take me to the doctor's and dentist and they still didn't. I have been to the dentist 3 times in my life and once was after I had already graduated high school. This has nothing to do with not caring. It has to do with certain a level of organization that many people lack. So yes, I understand most children are covered by health insurance, but if people don't have basic organizational skills, and why would they necessarily have ever gained these skills if they themselves did not have the opportunity to finish school and balance college and a job at the same time (Most people who do finish school and finish college still come out lacking in the organizational department), why should they be expected to remember to make a doctor's appointment when they are worried about how they're gonna get their next meal? THEN, how should they find the time to get their child to it? I am so rambly. I am repeating myself a lot, I know. It just really really bothered me.
Love,
Calla and her Kitties. (MEOW)
(I need to take more pictures)
So, ignorant people ANNOY me. We were talking about Opportunity NYC in class today, ya know the Conditional Cash Transfer program currently in it's pilot stages in New York City, and my goodness me are there social conservatives at my school!! Now, Opportunity NYC has a lot a lot of problems. It can be criticized from both the left and the right, and I will criticize it from the left momentarily, but I did not expect to hear all these people criticizing it from the right in my "Making a Difference" class. Why these people went to The New School is pretty much beyond me. And why they were let in is also beyond me. But, Tabby said you have to let diverse people into a school and what not, right? And I understand the merits of diversity in institutions; I do. Especially if it is an undergraduate institution. But I think when someone is in a graduate program at the NEW SCHOOL should be somewhat more progressive. (seriously, if you don't believe me, look it up.) I mean, the stupid class I was in "Making a Difference: Global, Organizational and Individual Perspective on Social Change" was conceived as a college-wide REQUIRED class so we could all be indoctrinated on how important a progressive ideology is. (The creators of the class, of course, won't admit this. But sit in on one class and you will know it is true.) So, my point is: why are all these students with adverse ideologies accepted into a school with a mission to, and I quote FROM the New School's website, " prepare and inspire its 9,400 undergraduate and graduate students to bring actual, positive change to the world." Private Universities ARE nonprofits. They exist to serve a specific purpose. The New School's purpose is clearly stated. It seems like Mission Drift to let all these social conservatives into the University.
Well, perhaps I might maybe explain what happened. So, Opportunity NYC is SUPPOSEDLY based on Mexico's Oportunidades (formerly Progresa). These are programs which offer money, not subsidies or vouchers–– actual money, to those living in poverty as long as the program participants fulfill given obligations. Well, I'm not going to get into the merits of Oportunidades, because the program is highly successful; I mean 1 in every 4 Mexicans benefiting from it highly successful. Also, from the 2 book chapters and 3 articles I read about it, I don't see anything wrong with it. Seriously, it's not controversial. No one in my class even talked about it. Opportunity NYC is the controversial one.
I first saw mention of Opportunity NYC when CNN did it's whole "Black in America" thing and those 4th graders were getting paid to do well on tests. So, the program requires parents to stay employed, school-aged kids to go to school and DO WELL in it, + the normal things like go to the doctors regularly, go to Parent-Teacher conferences etc. Probably, if you have the least bit critical mind, you are seeing a problem with this program, because right or left, there ARE PROBLEMS. Well, I sit here, and I think about how horrendous it is that we are putting blame on children for not doing well in school instead of on the failing school systems, and how the worst possible thing a person could do is raise the stakes even MORE when it comes to tests. (I think there might be a post about this somewhere, but I don't know.) Basically, high stakes testing is a total joke already. The tests are written with an unintended bias towards white middle-class students. The tests don't prove that children can learn, but that they can memorize. The culture they create in classrooms–– one of route memorization, the banking system, irrelevant subject matter, stressful work environment, isolated subjects, lack of creativity, and no critical thinking skills–– is both detrimental and dehumanizing. Furthermore, it has been shown through studies done by Friere and the likes, that tests don't actually test aptitude. Your SAT scores don't actually reflect how well you will do in college. Oh, and the requiring parents to keep a job to get paid, that is counterintuitive. If a parent loses his/her job through no fault of his/her own and can't find another one because of a job shortage like the one we are currently experiencing, well, the last thing that individual needs is the Opportunity NYC money to stop flowing. Am I right? So, this is what I thought we would find objectionable in Mayor Bloomberg's plan. That and I thought perhaps some well-meaning individuals would find it condescending to imply poor people need extra motivation to do the right thing while middle class or wealthy people don't. (I don't think that is at all what is implied by the program, but ya know, overly-sensitive, liberal, straight, white, males who are always trying to overcompensate for their undue privilege by acting offended for everyone else's sake probably would say that.) But, much to my shock and gag-reflex people were all:
I think it's wrong to pay people for what they should be doing anyway.
Parents are supposed to be invested in their children's life without getting paid.
I understand Mayor Bloomberg is trying to force all these parents to be good parents, but you can't make people do what's right.
I don't personally understand the culture of poor people not taking care of their kids properly because I'm white and from a farm and have always had opportunities and a steady career, but since that's the way it is, I think it's good that this program is in place to inspire people to care for their children someway. (I KID YOU NOT THAT IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT SOMEONE SAID. . . he was a white male, but I'm not sure if he's straight.)
I think it skews people's values. People need to value education for what it is, not because it pays. What are these kids gonna do when they graduate and aren't getting paid to go to college, are they going to go?
Since in poor communities education isn't valued properly, I think it works to put a monetary value on it, so individuals can tell what it's worth.
Alright, two of those weren't even criticisms, they were praises of the program but for DISGUISTING reasons. THESE PEOPLE ARE MORONS. Here is what I gathered their opinions are: poor people don't care about their kids, we must pay poor people to do the 'proper' thing, poor people don't understand the value of education. Alright bitches, I bet all of them can understand the value of education better than you can because you probably took it for granted your whole life where these parents, who are struggling to pay bills, pay the rent, keep their kids out of trouble, WISH they could have what you have so that life WOULDN'T be so hard. Not to generalize because I'm sure some people in my class are from low income families and communities, but, my gods, these people in class blabbing about how poor people don't know the value of education most likely don't understand the value of it themselves because they've never had to struggle without one. Furthermore, how DARE they accuse parents of not wanting what's best for their children because they don't have time to go to a frakken PTA meeting. I mean really, if you are a single parent working multiple jobs and you have the choice between going to work to make money so your electricity doesn't get cut off or going to a Parent-Teacher conference, well, I guess that's up to you what you would do. But I'm damn sure gonna make sure my babies have electricity and running water and a safe place to come home to before I'm gonna sit down and chat with their teachers. My babies can tell me themselves how they're doing in school, and we won't end up in transitional housing or a homeless shelter, thank-you-very-much! But, if you pay me $25 for that hour of my time, hell ya! That's more than I'd be making at work anyway, and yes I'd gladly be MORE involved in my child's life if I had the means to do so. . . And, maybe I already WAS making every effort and going to these meetings, but at the cost of less nutritional meals 'cause all I could afford after missing that hour of work was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP filled food. Oh and now we all have diabetes.
OK, you get my point. These people are not ok with me. I don't know outa what world they fell, but they need to go back. . . NOW. And Tabby and I were talking about how probably they are not Republican. Probably they do not consider themselves conservative. Maybe they consider themselves fiscally or socially liberal. BUT they are, in part, social conservatives. You saw all that "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" bullshit, did you not? Somehow, because these parents don't have time to go to conferences, don't have the resources to make annual doctor's appointments, they are bad parents? They don't CARE about their kids? bullshit. You know its bullshit. We aren't necessarily talking about abusive crack-head parents, and even if we were I bet I could make a case for them caring about their kids anyway. We are talking about people who grew up in the ghetto, and who are raising their kids in the ghetto, who have no hope of getting out of the ghetto because that's where their moms were raised too. We are talking about multi-generational poverty brought on by unfortunate and despicable social problems and failed policy solutions. Living in poverty does not make you a bad parent. It makes you damn busy. PLUS, a lot of these parents probably already WERE doing these things. It's not like Bloomberg targeted people who weren't doing these things. He targeted poverty-stricken families who may or may not have been doing these things, but why should that matter? Why NOT redistribute the wealth in their favor? They are working harder than all those damn morons in the financial sector who make millions and billions.
BTW, my parents DID have the means and time to take me to the doctor's and dentist and they still didn't. I have been to the dentist 3 times in my life and once was after I had already graduated high school. This has nothing to do with not caring. It has to do with certain a level of organization that many people lack. So yes, I understand most children are covered by health insurance, but if people don't have basic organizational skills, and why would they necessarily have ever gained these skills if they themselves did not have the opportunity to finish school and balance college and a job at the same time (Most people who do finish school and finish college still come out lacking in the organizational department), why should they be expected to remember to make a doctor's appointment when they are worried about how they're gonna get their next meal? THEN, how should they find the time to get their child to it? I am so rambly. I am repeating myself a lot, I know. It just really really bothered me.
Love,
Calla and her Kitties. (MEOW)
(I need to take more pictures)
Monday, March 2, 2009
Calla's Sixty-First Post
Hi. It's Calla. (As it ALMOST always is.) Tabby is writing a blog post. I'm going to write one also! But I don't think I have any kitty cat pictures. This is bad news bears. I will make do somehow. He is writing in his ethical journal, which he must keep for school. He is always confused about what to write in it. So, I am always trying to help him. He seems to think my ideas are always silly-face!!
For example, about a week and a day ago, (no, exactly a week and a day ago.) we ate at Sacred Chow in the West Village near Washington Square Park with Tabby's parents after Church. Now, my food (vegan blueberry French Toast, which turned out to be more like a huge chunk of blueberry bread that happened to be warm and a little bit fried.) came out super-de-duperdy LATE. And the waitress said, "I'm sorry. This is way too late. I'm going to take it off the bill." Now, we came home and Tabby was all "Ahh, I've only written two ethical journal entries so far and I'm supposed to've written 4!" (btw, he is on his third as of present.) So, as I am an extremely helpful girlfriend/fiancé/life-partner/whatever-I-am-considered-after-living-with-him-for-over-two-years, and I am also oh-so-good at noticing how almost every action we make involves an ethical decision, I said "Oh, write about how that waitress took my food off the bill." He thought this was dumb, and not an ethical decision. But it was. That was not her food. It belonged to the restaurant. By taking it off the bill, she essentially stole it. However, by making a customer wait an exorbitant amount a time for her food, the waitress was ethically inclined to right this wrong. She chose to do so by offering me a free meal. . . that, in reality, wasn't hers to offer. This is an ethical decision. Tabby thought it was dumb. So here was a list of other things about which I told him to write. (None of which he did.)
1. Buying things in sweatshops - to support a poor family's livelihood, or to boycott the abuse to which family members are subjected?
2. Eating at restaurants that serve meat - to order vegan food, thus showing the manager there is a market for it, or to spend your money supporting restaurants that do not spend money to support cruel practices?
3. A related note: Tom's of Maine was bought by Colgate and The Body Shop by L'Oreal: Do you buy from them since they've signed pledges to continue their ethical practices? Are you indirectly supporting animal testing, or are you showing the parent companies that cruelty free products sell better than that other crap they produce?
4. Donating to cancer/aids research - obviously these products are tested on animals. Many people would argue it is ethical to do so. They value the lives of humans above the lives of animals. However, with documented cases of the gov. testing phase 1 and phase 2 drugs on FOSTER CHILDREN, one cannot be sure that there money is only going to animal tests (which I oppose anyway.)
5. Organic vs. local? - Organic local food is ideal, but when you can buy local food that is not grown organically, or food shipped from across the country or globe that is, which do you choose?
6. When you give money to church or a homeless outreach, or nearly any nonprofit that is not associated with animal welfare, that money is probably going to some items (food and cleaning supplies for SURE) that are in opposition to your own morals.
7. Is it better to buy non-vegan food from a company that is dedicated to promoting healthful and sustainable diets, or vegan food from a company that processes all sorts of crap, but happens to have made something that is vegan? Probably it is best to avoid BOTH of these situations, honestly. [This was not a suggestion I gave to Tabby. I just thought of it now. Well, no, I had a conversation with Tabby about it one time in a grocery store, but re-thought about it now.]
Um, I don't know if I suggested other things. Maybe I did. It was over a week ago, so I don't remember. But regardless, he did not like any of my suggestions. HOWEVER, now he is writing about vegetarianism and Christianity, specifically is it pertains to Bartian theology. So clearly, he cannot escape the animal rights activism! :) I love what I created in him. hehehe. He had said how he didn't want all his posts to be about animal welfare, but I think they will be. Once you are this deep into something, you cannot pretend like it does not consume all of your moral opinions. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I know there are other pressing issues, such as racism, homophobia, sexism, genocides, etc. And I do not think people should ignore these. And I, myself, stand up against these and often offer financial support to groups attempting to rectify these wrongs. However, my heart, and thus my time, is spent on animals. When a society has gotten to a point where sentient beings are treated as commodities, stripped of basic care, subject to hostile abuse simply because they are less evolved. . . Well, that attitude and culture taints the rest of society's assumptions and values. It is not OK to say "oh it's only a horse, who cares if it is abused?" That is one of GOD'S CREATURES. One should not treat it as though it were an OBJECT of PLEASURE created for MANKIND. Um, no. And to view the world through such a lens is DANGEROUS and TROUBLE (with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool. haha. No. The Music Man has nothing to do with this. . . at all. But it's pretty good, right?)
Alright, so that was one of my animal rants for the week. It is almost like I have a quota for those things, huh? And it's ridiculous, because I'm pretty sure they are kind of repetitive.
BUT, for lent I decided I need to do something for the animals EVERY DAY. Seeing as I should be doing more than whining about injustice every day anyway, I'm hoping this conviction sticks long past Lent. Well, I didn't think of this until Saturday night, unfortunately. And so I missed two days! But Wed. I went to a Farm Sanctuary Activist Meeting. Saturday I protested Foi Gras again at two different restaurants. And one of them is looking good. The other guy (Fork and Knife) is pretty much going out of business at this point, [Yet another ethical decision.] which is pretty sad, but also his own fault. Sign the pledge, and the protests will stop, you'll get more customers, less ducks will suffer. Everyone wins. Sunday I delivered literature about Farm Sanctuary to S'Nice. BUT I also left some at my church. Now, I am a fairly anti-social human being, as we have discussed in prior posts. So, though I have been attending St. Luke's for approximately an ENTIRE YEAR, I don't talk to anyone and I don't get involved. Well, I said in the morning, to Tabby I said, "Do you think I can leave some of these at Church?" And he said "I don't know." And then we got to church and all that was out on the table and bulletin board were church related items. So I thought, no. No point in asking. It will just be embarrassing. Well, I noticed in the announcements they had started a new "community' bulletin board that posted items unrelated to church in which people could get involved. And I had to get courage to ask about leaving some Farm Sanctuary lit. So, as a side note, I've been feeling so super guilty for not doing more in the realm of animal rights lately. God has given me this passion. It has been indwelt since I was four. . . or perhaps earlier. But four, the age I went vegetarian without the prompting of an adult or a group of peers, is a clear indication of such passion at work. My 6th grade persuasive essay against animal testing is another. Clearly, this is something that has been with me since a young age. God has also BLESSED me with both creativity and intellect. I have both the brains and the visionary-drive to really amount to something. Unfortunately, I was also given an unnatural anti-social tendency and an uncanny ability to get embarrassed at the drop of a hat! So, these character-flaws (if flaws are what they are) prevent me from using my gifts to their fullest. And lately, that has been plaguing at my soul. OK, well, I had to get courage. And this was a rather distracting revelation. I thought about what I would say all service. I was pretty glad Mother Mary was not giving the sermon, 'cause I had been weird and friended her on Facebook. I was already embarrassed about that fact, and didn't want to draw attention to myself by asking her strange questions. So, Mother Caroline was giving the sermon, and I, for some reason, am less comfortable around her than around Mary or Hugh, so it was still going to be strange asking her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. Well, in her sermon, she briefly mentioned how saints and Christ and such were friends of the animals. Biblically speaking, a friend of the animals is someone who is Godly. So, I figured that was good. Even though it wasn't the POINT of the sermon, I figured she couldn't possibly say "no" after mentioning that fact. So, after service, I held up the line to leave to ask her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. And she said, "Well, we can't post every worthy cause, but I don't see why we can't pin one up and leave a few." YAY! So, I only gave her a few. Like 7 probably or 8. I didn't want to overwhelm her or seem unappreciative or pushy. But, if she is pinning on up, even if the Lit. disappears, people will see the flyer and can still visit the website. So, I did that for the animals. And it was hard and SO EMBARRASSING. But I did it. And, unfortunately, it did not relieve me and make me feel like it would be easy to interact with people if it was for the animals. I think, instead, this will be a life-long struggle because of my weirdness. Like Moses, thinking he can't talk in front of people.
So, anyway, today I wrote Obama for the animals. I thanked him for cutting subsidies to factory farms, and encouraged him to give subsidies to farms with "humane" and environmentally friendly practices. I suggested he look at the farms certified by the nonprofit Humane Farm Animal Care. (I don't think any animal should be slaughtered, but raising animals humanely BEFORE you brutally, and with no regard for their feelings, take their lives away is a step in the proper direction.) So, if you like eating carcass, but are feeling either guilty or disgusted about the way that carcass was treated when s/he was a living, breathing being, check out this website. www.certifiedhumane.com/
This is now going to be unrelated to animal rights, at least this little part: I HAD A SNOW DAY TODAY! It is the only one I had during my undergraduate career. And snow days are a BEAUTIFUL thing. It is so so so so so so cold and SNOWY outside. I had to go out to buy my kitty cats food. But instead of going to the pet food store to which I like to go because it is a small business, I went to whole foods because it was closer. If I have to support a Big Box store, I guess Whole Foods is the way to go, right? But other than that trip, I have been INSIDE. I drank co-co, and it was yummy. I pretty much ENTIRELY wasted the day. Like it is nearly 11:00 p.m. and I didn't do anything productive. This is probably bad. But oh well.
SO, my sister has been a vegetarian since, like, I dunno, 2 months? It is good good good of her. She is having trouble giving up eggs, so I told her about the humanley raised people. And, actually, I don't know, for sure, what would be wrong with eating eggs from chickens humanley raised? Perhaps something to do with male chicks that hatch? I don't know if the nonprofit looks at that. I think I'll write to them asking about male chicks on layer-hen farms and veal calves on dairy-farms. Yeah, I have to go do that. But it was wonderful chatting with you. BYE.
Love,
Calla and her kitties. (NO PICTURE!?) I will find a picture of SOMETHING to put here. . . hmmm. . .
This is a GORGEOUS butterfly friend from the Ren. fair this summer. Can you believe people kill bugs instead of capturing them and letting them out the window? (Probably, 'cause probably you do that.) It makes me sad to go in the laundry room in the basement because there is fly tape hanging from the ceiling with dead bugs on it. :( IF YOU LIVE IN THE SUBURBS OR COUNTRY NEAR BATS, NEVER USE FLY PAPER. The wonderful batfriends get stuck in it. :( This makes me want to cry because bats are my most favorite animals. (Yes, I play favorites, but I treat them all with respect and love.)
For example, about a week and a day ago, (no, exactly a week and a day ago.) we ate at Sacred Chow in the West Village near Washington Square Park with Tabby's parents after Church. Now, my food (vegan blueberry French Toast, which turned out to be more like a huge chunk of blueberry bread that happened to be warm and a little bit fried.) came out super-de-duperdy LATE. And the waitress said, "I'm sorry. This is way too late. I'm going to take it off the bill." Now, we came home and Tabby was all "Ahh, I've only written two ethical journal entries so far and I'm supposed to've written 4!" (btw, he is on his third as of present.) So, as I am an extremely helpful girlfriend/fiancé/life-partner/whatever-I-am-considered-after-living-with-him-for-over-two-years, and I am also oh-so-good at noticing how almost every action we make involves an ethical decision, I said "Oh, write about how that waitress took my food off the bill." He thought this was dumb, and not an ethical decision. But it was. That was not her food. It belonged to the restaurant. By taking it off the bill, she essentially stole it. However, by making a customer wait an exorbitant amount a time for her food, the waitress was ethically inclined to right this wrong. She chose to do so by offering me a free meal. . . that, in reality, wasn't hers to offer. This is an ethical decision. Tabby thought it was dumb. So here was a list of other things about which I told him to write. (None of which he did.)
1. Buying things in sweatshops - to support a poor family's livelihood, or to boycott the abuse to which family members are subjected?
2. Eating at restaurants that serve meat - to order vegan food, thus showing the manager there is a market for it, or to spend your money supporting restaurants that do not spend money to support cruel practices?
3. A related note: Tom's of Maine was bought by Colgate and The Body Shop by L'Oreal: Do you buy from them since they've signed pledges to continue their ethical practices? Are you indirectly supporting animal testing, or are you showing the parent companies that cruelty free products sell better than that other crap they produce?
4. Donating to cancer/aids research - obviously these products are tested on animals. Many people would argue it is ethical to do so. They value the lives of humans above the lives of animals. However, with documented cases of the gov. testing phase 1 and phase 2 drugs on FOSTER CHILDREN, one cannot be sure that there money is only going to animal tests (which I oppose anyway.)
5. Organic vs. local? - Organic local food is ideal, but when you can buy local food that is not grown organically, or food shipped from across the country or globe that is, which do you choose?
6. When you give money to church or a homeless outreach, or nearly any nonprofit that is not associated with animal welfare, that money is probably going to some items (food and cleaning supplies for SURE) that are in opposition to your own morals.
7. Is it better to buy non-vegan food from a company that is dedicated to promoting healthful and sustainable diets, or vegan food from a company that processes all sorts of crap, but happens to have made something that is vegan? Probably it is best to avoid BOTH of these situations, honestly. [This was not a suggestion I gave to Tabby. I just thought of it now. Well, no, I had a conversation with Tabby about it one time in a grocery store, but re-thought about it now.]
Um, I don't know if I suggested other things. Maybe I did. It was over a week ago, so I don't remember. But regardless, he did not like any of my suggestions. HOWEVER, now he is writing about vegetarianism and Christianity, specifically is it pertains to Bartian theology. So clearly, he cannot escape the animal rights activism! :) I love what I created in him. hehehe. He had said how he didn't want all his posts to be about animal welfare, but I think they will be. Once you are this deep into something, you cannot pretend like it does not consume all of your moral opinions. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I know there are other pressing issues, such as racism, homophobia, sexism, genocides, etc. And I do not think people should ignore these. And I, myself, stand up against these and often offer financial support to groups attempting to rectify these wrongs. However, my heart, and thus my time, is spent on animals. When a society has gotten to a point where sentient beings are treated as commodities, stripped of basic care, subject to hostile abuse simply because they are less evolved. . . Well, that attitude and culture taints the rest of society's assumptions and values. It is not OK to say "oh it's only a horse, who cares if it is abused?" That is one of GOD'S CREATURES. One should not treat it as though it were an OBJECT of PLEASURE created for MANKIND. Um, no. And to view the world through such a lens is DANGEROUS and TROUBLE (with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool. haha. No. The Music Man has nothing to do with this. . . at all. But it's pretty good, right?)
Alright, so that was one of my animal rants for the week. It is almost like I have a quota for those things, huh? And it's ridiculous, because I'm pretty sure they are kind of repetitive.
BUT, for lent I decided I need to do something for the animals EVERY DAY. Seeing as I should be doing more than whining about injustice every day anyway, I'm hoping this conviction sticks long past Lent. Well, I didn't think of this until Saturday night, unfortunately. And so I missed two days! But Wed. I went to a Farm Sanctuary Activist Meeting. Saturday I protested Foi Gras again at two different restaurants. And one of them is looking good. The other guy (Fork and Knife) is pretty much going out of business at this point, [Yet another ethical decision.] which is pretty sad, but also his own fault. Sign the pledge, and the protests will stop, you'll get more customers, less ducks will suffer. Everyone wins. Sunday I delivered literature about Farm Sanctuary to S'Nice. BUT I also left some at my church. Now, I am a fairly anti-social human being, as we have discussed in prior posts. So, though I have been attending St. Luke's for approximately an ENTIRE YEAR, I don't talk to anyone and I don't get involved. Well, I said in the morning, to Tabby I said, "Do you think I can leave some of these at Church?" And he said "I don't know." And then we got to church and all that was out on the table and bulletin board were church related items. So I thought, no. No point in asking. It will just be embarrassing. Well, I noticed in the announcements they had started a new "community' bulletin board that posted items unrelated to church in which people could get involved. And I had to get courage to ask about leaving some Farm Sanctuary lit. So, as a side note, I've been feeling so super guilty for not doing more in the realm of animal rights lately. God has given me this passion. It has been indwelt since I was four. . . or perhaps earlier. But four, the age I went vegetarian without the prompting of an adult or a group of peers, is a clear indication of such passion at work. My 6th grade persuasive essay against animal testing is another. Clearly, this is something that has been with me since a young age. God has also BLESSED me with both creativity and intellect. I have both the brains and the visionary-drive to really amount to something. Unfortunately, I was also given an unnatural anti-social tendency and an uncanny ability to get embarrassed at the drop of a hat! So, these character-flaws (if flaws are what they are) prevent me from using my gifts to their fullest. And lately, that has been plaguing at my soul. OK, well, I had to get courage. And this was a rather distracting revelation. I thought about what I would say all service. I was pretty glad Mother Mary was not giving the sermon, 'cause I had been weird and friended her on Facebook. I was already embarrassed about that fact, and didn't want to draw attention to myself by asking her strange questions. So, Mother Caroline was giving the sermon, and I, for some reason, am less comfortable around her than around Mary or Hugh, so it was still going to be strange asking her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. Well, in her sermon, she briefly mentioned how saints and Christ and such were friends of the animals. Biblically speaking, a friend of the animals is someone who is Godly. So, I figured that was good. Even though it wasn't the POINT of the sermon, I figured she couldn't possibly say "no" after mentioning that fact. So, after service, I held up the line to leave to ask her about the Farm Sanctuary Lit. And she said, "Well, we can't post every worthy cause, but I don't see why we can't pin one up and leave a few." YAY! So, I only gave her a few. Like 7 probably or 8. I didn't want to overwhelm her or seem unappreciative or pushy. But, if she is pinning on up, even if the Lit. disappears, people will see the flyer and can still visit the website. So, I did that for the animals. And it was hard and SO EMBARRASSING. But I did it. And, unfortunately, it did not relieve me and make me feel like it would be easy to interact with people if it was for the animals. I think, instead, this will be a life-long struggle because of my weirdness. Like Moses, thinking he can't talk in front of people.
So, anyway, today I wrote Obama for the animals. I thanked him for cutting subsidies to factory farms, and encouraged him to give subsidies to farms with "humane" and environmentally friendly practices. I suggested he look at the farms certified by the nonprofit Humane Farm Animal Care. (I don't think any animal should be slaughtered, but raising animals humanely BEFORE you brutally, and with no regard for their feelings, take their lives away is a step in the proper direction.) So, if you like eating carcass, but are feeling either guilty or disgusted about the way that carcass was treated when s/he was a living, breathing being, check out this website. www.certifiedhumane.com/
This is now going to be unrelated to animal rights, at least this little part: I HAD A SNOW DAY TODAY! It is the only one I had during my undergraduate career. And snow days are a BEAUTIFUL thing. It is so so so so so so cold and SNOWY outside. I had to go out to buy my kitty cats food. But instead of going to the pet food store to which I like to go because it is a small business, I went to whole foods because it was closer. If I have to support a Big Box store, I guess Whole Foods is the way to go, right? But other than that trip, I have been INSIDE. I drank co-co, and it was yummy. I pretty much ENTIRELY wasted the day. Like it is nearly 11:00 p.m. and I didn't do anything productive. This is probably bad. But oh well.
SO, my sister has been a vegetarian since, like, I dunno, 2 months? It is good good good of her. She is having trouble giving up eggs, so I told her about the humanley raised people. And, actually, I don't know, for sure, what would be wrong with eating eggs from chickens humanley raised? Perhaps something to do with male chicks that hatch? I don't know if the nonprofit looks at that. I think I'll write to them asking about male chicks on layer-hen farms and veal calves on dairy-farms. Yeah, I have to go do that. But it was wonderful chatting with you. BYE.
Love,
Calla and her kitties. (NO PICTURE!?) I will find a picture of SOMETHING to put here. . . hmmm. . .
This is a GORGEOUS butterfly friend from the Ren. fair this summer. Can you believe people kill bugs instead of capturing them and letting them out the window? (Probably, 'cause probably you do that.) It makes me sad to go in the laundry room in the basement because there is fly tape hanging from the ceiling with dead bugs on it. :( IF YOU LIVE IN THE SUBURBS OR COUNTRY NEAR BATS, NEVER USE FLY PAPER. The wonderful batfriends get stuck in it. :( This makes me want to cry because bats are my most favorite animals. (Yes, I play favorites, but I treat them all with respect and love.)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Calla's Fifty-Third Post pt. 2
The movie is still on. . . it's still awful. Why can't they just use birth control to avoid all these code 46s? They can grow fingers, but they don't have a full-proof pill yet? How come the city of her dreams is more like a real city? This movie is inconsistent? Isn't everyone in the city rich and everyone poor "outside"? How come everyone in this city looks poor? OOOH lets shower together and have more boring sex. . . I'm so happy I just abandoned my son on a whim. EEEWWW are they gonna have more boring sex? I can stomach a lot of things, I can't stomach this relationship. Are there still established GENDER ROLES. Bullshit. This movie is dumb, "sing for me in your tone deaf voice so I can find your inadequancies attractive. . . " Why is the ugly girl crying. I hate this movie. There's still 15 minutes. Nothing has happened. I don't understand why this movie exists. It got a 52% or something on rotten tomoatoes. The "top critics" gave it a 30 something. . . KNOW WHAT. Blade Runner got 100% of the top critics. . . Yeah, Blade Runner is the shit and this movie is dumb . . .
So wait, she's getting tied up. . . So suddenly they're into bondage because it's the only way they CAN screw (even though they prefer to be boring) since her body has a virus which has an aversion to him. . . HER BODY DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE AN AVERSION. . . she looks like she's about to cum. So what, he rapes her body but not her mind as she mouths the words "I love you" into the camera!?
I gotta give it props for showing her naked though. . . normally movies get NC-17s in the U.S. for innocent things like that. Like "Coming Soon" was supposed to be an NC-17 because, though the humor is less crude than American Pie, it's about teenage girls wanting to cum instead of about teenage boys wanting to cum. ..
OH NO! MIND CONTROL. I'm sure I can think of things that do mind control better. . . like, for example, 1984. This movie sucks at almost everything.
Oh, they're not in the city. . . I missed that.
Also, Tabby pointed out that they are, for some reason, having people make the cover instead of machines, which he thinks is illogical given the technology they have. I think it might make sense. Maybe the government is more socialist than our own. I would love if our government employed people to do things machines could do.
OOOH, I hope they die in that crash. I hate them both.
So wait, she's getting tied up. . . So suddenly they're into bondage because it's the only way they CAN screw (even though they prefer to be boring) since her body has a virus which has an aversion to him. . . HER BODY DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE AN AVERSION. . . she looks like she's about to cum. So what, he rapes her body but not her mind as she mouths the words "I love you" into the camera!?
I gotta give it props for showing her naked though. . . normally movies get NC-17s in the U.S. for innocent things like that. Like "Coming Soon" was supposed to be an NC-17 because, though the humor is less crude than American Pie, it's about teenage girls wanting to cum instead of about teenage boys wanting to cum. ..
OH NO! MIND CONTROL. I'm sure I can think of things that do mind control better. . . like, for example, 1984. This movie sucks at almost everything.
Oh, they're not in the city. . . I missed that.
Also, Tabby pointed out that they are, for some reason, having people make the cover instead of machines, which he thinks is illogical given the technology they have. I think it might make sense. Maybe the government is more socialist than our own. I would love if our government employed people to do things machines could do.
OOOH, I hope they die in that crash. I hate them both.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Paper : Four
You should read the post entitled Calla's Fifty-First Post for an explanation of the following assignment. Thanks.
Calla Wright
Fundraising and Development
Professor Eleanor
Cicerchi February 11, 2009
Farm Sanctuary operates the largest North American rescue and refuge network for farm animals. With two large shelters, 175-acres in upstate New York and 300-acres in northern California, Farm Sanctuary is able to give animals the chance to live out their natural lives in spacious, healthful environments.
In addition to these shelters, Farm Sanctuary operates an entire adoption network made up of smaller shelters and individuals with proper facilities to house farm animals. Coast-to-coast, Farm Sanctuary works to adopt out animals to vegetarian and vegan volunteers when its facilities are full. These animals must always be adopted in pairs to spare them the experience of social isolation.
Farm Sanctuary has also been a savior for animals during many of the nation’s largest disaster relief efforts. From Hurricane Katrina, to the Midwest flood disaster, to long-forgotten tornadoes and cases of mass animal neglect, for the past twenty years, Farm Sanctuary has been an essential resource during hundreds of animal rescue projects.
Education:
Farm Sanctuary strives to educate people through varied methods. Internships are available at both the New York and California shelters as well as in Farm Sanctuary’s New York City offices. Shelters are open to visitors for informative guided tours and overnight stays. Annual events such as the 4th of July Pignic and the Country Hoe Down are held in an effort to educate participants. Projects such as the adopt-a-turkey program and the walk-for-farm-animals also help to raise public consciousness to the plight of farm animals. Finally, Farm Sanctuary does not underestimate the impact of documentaries, public service announcements, books and other literature and often uses such mediums to create a stronger public awareness.
Advocacy:
The Federal Animal Welfare Act does not cover farm animals, nor do the majority of anti-cruelty laws at the state level. Farm Sanctuary works to encourage legal reforms in the area of farm animal welfare at both the Federal level and state-by-state. Beginning in 1986 with a No-Downers Campaign, Farm Sanctuary’s efforts for legislative reform have been continuous. New campaigns and new ballot initiatives are introduced during opportune times.
Also, this might suck. It is not yet graded. I'm ripping more pictures off their website for you.
Escaped the horrors of Foie Gras * Poor Veal Calf Baby!
Love,
Calla and the Farm Sanctuary Animals (all thousands of them!!)
Calla Wright
Fundraising and Development
Professor Eleanor
Cicerchi February 11, 2009
FARM SANCTUARY CASE STATEMENT
WHY WE EXIST
Every year in the United States, over ten billion animals are kept in inhumane conditions. In mass, they live out their lives in dark crates, pens, or overcrowded rooms where they are unable to stretch, turn around, or walk. They are forced to live in their own waste, fed diets they cannot digest, exposed to disease but not to proper veterinary care, held in isolation or held in such congested conditions that some are regularly trampled. If these were cats or dogs, legislation would protect them against these practices. But as it stands farm animals are treated as mere commodities, not like the intelligent, emotional, sentient beings that they are. Farm Sanctuary is working to change this reality.IN THE BEGINNING
Incorporated in 1986, Farm Sanctuary’s co-founders, Gene and Lorri Baur, were initially unsure of their exact mission beyond that they wanted to combat factory farming through advocacy and education. They immediately began producing advocacy literature, however no plans were in place for a physical sanctuary. That same year the Baurs rescued Hilda from Lancaster Stockyard’s dead pile. The Baurs were investigating conditions at the stockyard and taking photos of the dead pile, when a sheep, presumed to have died in the back of a truck during transport, lifted her head and looked up at the co-founders. Unable to leave the animal to die, and without thinking about the legal ramifications of theft, the two lifted Hilda into the back of the Baurs’ car. They took her to a vet, and then back to Farm Sanctuary’s headquarters, then located in Wilmington, Delaware. With Hilda safely being nursed back to health in a shed in the backyard, the vision of Farm Sanctuary shifted: this was to be an actual safe-haven for the abused and forgotten. What began with a whim of co-founder, board member and president Gene Baur has turned into the nation's leading farm animal protection organization; over 100,000 members strong. Farm Sanctuary has become a 501(c)(3) whose mission is three-pronged: rescue, education and advocacy.WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE OFFER
Rescue:Farm Sanctuary operates the largest North American rescue and refuge network for farm animals. With two large shelters, 175-acres in upstate New York and 300-acres in northern California, Farm Sanctuary is able to give animals the chance to live out their natural lives in spacious, healthful environments.
In addition to these shelters, Farm Sanctuary operates an entire adoption network made up of smaller shelters and individuals with proper facilities to house farm animals. Coast-to-coast, Farm Sanctuary works to adopt out animals to vegetarian and vegan volunteers when its facilities are full. These animals must always be adopted in pairs to spare them the experience of social isolation.
Farm Sanctuary has also been a savior for animals during many of the nation’s largest disaster relief efforts. From Hurricane Katrina, to the Midwest flood disaster, to long-forgotten tornadoes and cases of mass animal neglect, for the past twenty years, Farm Sanctuary has been an essential resource during hundreds of animal rescue projects.
Education:
Farm Sanctuary strives to educate people through varied methods. Internships are available at both the New York and California shelters as well as in Farm Sanctuary’s New York City offices. Shelters are open to visitors for informative guided tours and overnight stays. Annual events such as the 4th of July Pignic and the Country Hoe Down are held in an effort to educate participants. Projects such as the adopt-a-turkey program and the walk-for-farm-animals also help to raise public consciousness to the plight of farm animals. Finally, Farm Sanctuary does not underestimate the impact of documentaries, public service announcements, books and other literature and often uses such mediums to create a stronger public awareness.
Advocacy:
The Federal Animal Welfare Act does not cover farm animals, nor do the majority of anti-cruelty laws at the state level. Farm Sanctuary works to encourage legal reforms in the area of farm animal welfare at both the Federal level and state-by-state. Beginning in 1986 with a No-Downers Campaign, Farm Sanctuary’s efforts for legislative reform have been continuous. New campaigns and new ballot initiatives are introduced during opportune times.
MILESTONES
Over the years Farm Sanctuary has played a part in substantive gains for farm animals. Most recently, Farm Sanctuary co-led a campaign in California, known as proposition 2, to outlaw battery cages, veal crates and gestation crates by the year 2015. In 2008, prop 2 passed with 63% of voter support. Also in 2008, Farm Sanctuary gained the trust of the Iowa State Department of Agriculture who formally invited Farm Sanctuary to rescue animals left for dead during the Midwest flood disaster. In 2007, one of Farm Sanctuary’s educational campaigns was featured on the front page of the New York Times. That same year, Farm Sanctuary rescued over 200 animals from live markets in New York City, received word that Wolfgang Puck would remove foie gras and crated veal from his menus in response to a Farm Sanctuary campaign, and successfully pressed charges against New Holland Sales Stables on three counts of animal cruelty leading to a guilty verdict. A comprehensive list of victories dating back to 1986 can be found online at http://www.farmsanctuary.org/about/milestones/OUR CURRENT EFFORTS
Though this progress has been exciting, it in no way belittles the goals yet to be accomplished in the field of farm animal welfare. With your contribution Farm Sanctuary can continue its efforts in the areas of advocacy, education and rescue. Currently, Farm Sanctuary is working on campaigns to end the cruel force-feeding practices that are necessary for the production of Foie Gras, and to eradicate the endless cycle of impregnation, birth, and lactation that dairy cows suffer, made possible by the immediate loss of their calves to the veal industry. Farm Sanctuary is also involved in the Sentient Beings Campaign chaired by Mary Tyler Moore. Additionally, Farm Sanctuary’s educational Veg-for-Life campaign is an ongoing effort that promotes a vegan lifestyle, and provides resources to get individuals started on that path. Furthermore, Farm Sanctuary will continue its rescue and adoption programs and remain on-call for any emergency relief efforts.HOW YOU CAN HELP
Operating on a $5-million budget, 80% of Farm Sanctuary’s expenditures go directly towards its programming. Since much of the work at the New York City office and at both shelters is performed by volunteers, you can be confident your money is not going towards support services, but to fundraising and programming. 90% of Farm Sanctuary’s operating budget comes from its members, individuals like you who can make a positive impact in the lives of innocent animals. Your donations support legal advocacy, legislative projects, cruelty investigations, media outreach, public awareness and education projects, and direct rescue and shelter efforts. Also, this might suck. It is not yet graded. I'm ripping more pictures off their website for you.
Escaped the horrors of Foie Gras * Poor Veal Calf Baby!
Love,
Calla and the Farm Sanctuary Animals (all thousands of them!!)
Calla's Fifty-First Post
So, there is oh-so-much to catch up on! Whatever will we do? Well. . . the goatfather is a wine made from the Goats du Roam people in South Africa. They make vegan wines and the goats lead them to the fruit to use. . . or something dysfunctionally cute like that. Perhaps you did not know that some wines are not vegan. This is true of beer as well. Some wines are refined with eggs, or fish blood or other gross things. They are just fined with said products, the said products AREN'T IN THE WINES AND BEERS. . . So, that was a nice bit of information, huh?
Um, so that's the goats.
What else is happening is I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sad about the veal calf friends! I don't know why, but last night I got super depressed about them, and it will not go away. I am sad for the Mommies too!! The babies are just ripped away from the mommies and the mommies cry out until their voice is horse and the whole while they are being endlessly milked for human consumption. This is not right. This is actually sort of pretty much evil. I cry over it a lot. I am going to protest Foie Gras on Valentine's day. That is evil too. Jesus does not like us abusing his creation and acting as if such sentient beings were placed on earth for our pleasure when they were actually placed on earth for God's pleasure. Ruthless Dominion is no way to rule. :( Tabby wrote a thing that I will make him copy and paste here as a guest post. I agree with like 96% of it or something. There is a little with which I don't agree, but all and all he is pretty good at life and writing so it will be swell to put up here. You should also read the book Is God a Vegetarian? I think that book is also swell even though the answer is no. . . because Jesus ate Fish. But the conclusion is that we should be. . . So i like it cause I don't like hurting the baby moos. :(
Um, more things happen all the time, but I can't remember them all. I know that I will put up this case statement I had to write. It is for my fundraising and development class. I had to pick a nonprofit on which to base all my projects for the semester, and I, OBVIOUSLY, picked Farm Sanctuary because they are the bestest people in the world! So, I had to write a case statement that was due today at 8:00 p.m. and it might be sucky cause I really don't know so much about fundraising yet since it is only three weeks into the semester. . . But I will put it up here anyway because I love the animals!!! Some of it is a little plagiarized off their website and mission statements and thingys because my teacher said that was OK since we are supposed to be pretending like we work for the company anyway. . . So, it's not like I lifted paragraphs or anything. Just some lists I have are the same as the website's. . . Only, I don't remember what (or actually if anything at all) is plagiarized. Next time I will keep track. Today this girl asked if there was someway we could cite stuff so we didn't feel guilty and my professor said "sure, put sentences you didn't write in red or something, I don't care." So, next time I will put sentences not of my own creation in red. But I didn't do that this time. I hope I don't get sued or something.
My senior thesis is going to suck so hardcore that it is like we are in a blackhole! (haha, that's funny because it is an entirely inaccurate description of what a blackhole does. . . I took a physics class once for the fun of it. . . I don't remember what it was called. I'll look it up. I looked it up. But not in a transcript, just on an assignment I turned in once. It said "contemporary physics." I don't know if that was the full title. The point is. . . I learned that that is not what a blackhole does!) So this is why it sucks: my pre-proposal is due on Friday but I am not good at life, so I have not done enough research to write a pre-proposal. That is what I have to do all of tomorrow. BLAH BLAH BLAH. When the actual proposal is due 16 days from now, I'll put it up here so you can see what I am doing and maybe even help me!!!
So, it was someone special's birthday today. (But really yesterday, as in Feb 11th because I am writing after midnight. But she lives in Arizona so it is still her birthday there. But she was born in Ohio which is the same time zone as New York which is where I live now. . . So, who knows!?) Also, no one remembers at what time exactly she was born! haha. We know Christopher was born at 5:45. We just know Callista was born sometime in the afternoon. . . It was after I was done with school 'cause I know that 'cause I saw her come out of Christin's vagina. EWWW. No, know what was gross? Not the blood. . . THE STRETCH MARKS. This is graphic. Christin might not like that this is up here. Seriously though Callista was born five years ago and it was the cutest day ever! (No it wasn't. She looked ugly as an infant. .. let's not kid ourselves.) BUT, it turned into the cutest day ever because she is cute now!!! I wonder if I'm allowed to put a picture of her up instead of one of my cats up. Would Christin let me? I have her on Facebook, so this really isn't much different. I will ask. In the mean-time, this post will remain vacant of pictures!.
Um, I'm sure there is more, but I'm not sure what it is. Oh yes I am. Tabby has class with stupid people that think they control reality based on how they treat the objects around them. For example, Mama Kitty becomes a cow when I treat her like a cow. . . That is the idea. They are dumb. (that is not the example they gave though, because they don't know Mama and they don't know that she is really a cow.)
Ok, now that is all for now. I will put up the case study and make Tabby put up the guest post.
Love,
Calla and her kitties. (They are both asleep in their beds that they love!)
Um, so that's the goats.
What else is happening is I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sad about the veal calf friends! I don't know why, but last night I got super depressed about them, and it will not go away. I am sad for the Mommies too!! The babies are just ripped away from the mommies and the mommies cry out until their voice is horse and the whole while they are being endlessly milked for human consumption. This is not right. This is actually sort of pretty much evil. I cry over it a lot. I am going to protest Foie Gras on Valentine's day. That is evil too. Jesus does not like us abusing his creation and acting as if such sentient beings were placed on earth for our pleasure when they were actually placed on earth for God's pleasure. Ruthless Dominion is no way to rule. :( Tabby wrote a thing that I will make him copy and paste here as a guest post. I agree with like 96% of it or something. There is a little with which I don't agree, but all and all he is pretty good at life and writing so it will be swell to put up here. You should also read the book Is God a Vegetarian? I think that book is also swell even though the answer is no. . . because Jesus ate Fish. But the conclusion is that we should be. . . So i like it cause I don't like hurting the baby moos. :(
Um, more things happen all the time, but I can't remember them all. I know that I will put up this case statement I had to write. It is for my fundraising and development class. I had to pick a nonprofit on which to base all my projects for the semester, and I, OBVIOUSLY, picked Farm Sanctuary because they are the bestest people in the world! So, I had to write a case statement that was due today at 8:00 p.m. and it might be sucky cause I really don't know so much about fundraising yet since it is only three weeks into the semester. . . But I will put it up here anyway because I love the animals!!! Some of it is a little plagiarized off their website and mission statements and thingys because my teacher said that was OK since we are supposed to be pretending like we work for the company anyway. . . So, it's not like I lifted paragraphs or anything. Just some lists I have are the same as the website's. . . Only, I don't remember what (or actually if anything at all) is plagiarized. Next time I will keep track. Today this girl asked if there was someway we could cite stuff so we didn't feel guilty and my professor said "sure, put sentences you didn't write in red or something, I don't care." So, next time I will put sentences not of my own creation in red. But I didn't do that this time. I hope I don't get sued or something.
My senior thesis is going to suck so hardcore that it is like we are in a blackhole! (haha, that's funny because it is an entirely inaccurate description of what a blackhole does. . . I took a physics class once for the fun of it. . . I don't remember what it was called. I'll look it up. I looked it up. But not in a transcript, just on an assignment I turned in once. It said "contemporary physics." I don't know if that was the full title. The point is. . . I learned that that is not what a blackhole does!) So this is why it sucks: my pre-proposal is due on Friday but I am not good at life, so I have not done enough research to write a pre-proposal. That is what I have to do all of tomorrow. BLAH BLAH BLAH. When the actual proposal is due 16 days from now, I'll put it up here so you can see what I am doing and maybe even help me!!!
So, it was someone special's birthday today. (But really yesterday, as in Feb 11th because I am writing after midnight. But she lives in Arizona so it is still her birthday there. But she was born in Ohio which is the same time zone as New York which is where I live now. . . So, who knows!?) Also, no one remembers at what time exactly she was born! haha. We know Christopher was born at 5:45. We just know Callista was born sometime in the afternoon. . . It was after I was done with school 'cause I know that 'cause I saw her come out of Christin's vagina. EWWW. No, know what was gross? Not the blood. . . THE STRETCH MARKS. This is graphic. Christin might not like that this is up here. Seriously though Callista was born five years ago and it was the cutest day ever! (No it wasn't. She looked ugly as an infant. .. let's not kid ourselves.) BUT, it turned into the cutest day ever because she is cute now!!! I wonder if I'm allowed to put a picture of her up instead of one of my cats up. Would Christin let me? I have her on Facebook, so this really isn't much different. I will ask. In the mean-time, this post will remain vacant of pictures!
Um, I'm sure there is more, but I'm not sure what it is. Oh yes I am. Tabby has class with stupid people that think they control reality based on how they treat the objects around them. For example, Mama Kitty becomes a cow when I treat her like a cow. . . That is the idea. They are dumb. (that is not the example they gave though, because they don't know Mama and they don't know that she is really a cow.)
Ok, now that is all for now. I will put up the case study and make Tabby put up the guest post.
Love,
Calla and her kitties. (They are both asleep in their beds that they love!)
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