On Noses

Recently, someone close to me got a nose job. She’s been steadfastly disappointed with her nose for years, so I suppose it was the right decision for her to have made - although I liked her old nose very much.

The whole thing has made me notice noses more closely. It seems like most every woman in Hollywood has some version of the ever-popular ski jump, with bridges that start even with the eyes and then turn gently up at the tip. Paris Hilton’s nose is one notable exception, and there are a few others. But by and large I think we are at the epicenter of a great and under-discussed discrimination against what my aunt calls “Roman noses.”

I can tell you that I would certainly not mind seeing some more nasal diversity on television and in the movies, especially among women. One of my favorite noses - predictably enough - is Christina Aguilera’s. It fits her delicately featured face without doing that ultra-predictable Hollywood upturn. It’s just a nice, straight, strong nose.

I don’t know what can be done about the otherwise unrealistic array of noses currently on display to the American populace on screens large and small. Should we call on directors to cast actors with a variety of nose types? Perhaps we could appeal to actresses to stop going under the knife to achieve the coveted upturn. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that something must be done.

Trek XI!!!

This just in: Star Trek XI may or may not revolve around the story of how the iconic Captain James T. Kirk (the “T” stands for Tiberius, folks) and Mr. Spock met at Starfleet Academy.

Either way, I’m stoked! Another Star Trek movie! The only thing that could make it cooler is a verified, huge, awesome role for the fabulous and amazing Captain Janeway.

Ooh, ooh, and to further cement my status as a total effing geek, only 26 days until X3!

Hurting at the Pump

$45 to fill up my tank. Thank God I only fill up once a month or so - yay Toyota gas milage, telecommuting and public transit! I have to say that paying this amount of money does make me like President Bush less, but the guy that really pisses me off is Dick Cheney (see Horsey Comic).

And what especially pisses me off is that some portion of the check I just wrote to the Federal Government has gone to pay for Mr. Cheney’s travel. He doesn’t even have to pay for his own gas.

Music: SheDAISY

Kristin Roach (1984-2006)

I just learned today while poking around on Live Journal about the recent, tragic death of Kristin Roach, who was only 21. I knew Kristin from our time together at Holy Names, where she was one year behind me. She wasn’t someone I was terribly close to, but we always had nice conversations in choir. Some of her friends were pretty horrible to me, but Kristin seemed pretty much above that shit. Although she wasn’t above laughing at me when I fell down the stairs junior year. But at least she helped me pick up my things afterwards.

Kristin was the mostly upbeat girl with the mad guitar skills who really loved music and seemed generally happy with her life. I remember she seemed to frolic around more than she walked, and was always doing or saying something outrageous. I liked her very much.

It was good to see from her LJ community that she had found love and seemed to be enjoying and excelling in her short life. She obviously wasn’t anywhere near ready to leave this world, but at least she made the most of the time she had.

My heart goes out to her family, and her friends, and especially her boyfriend for all the days he’ll never get to spend with her.

And remembering that young lives can be cut so tragically short, I wanted to send a message of love out to all my friends, family and readers. None of us knows when or how we will die, but we all know that it will happen eventually. The only thing we can really do is try to stay aware of the moments and what they mean as they fly by us. And we can try to remind those people that we care for of what they mean to us.

I’d also like to share the 7th grade poem of another person I have known who died tragically young. Kyle Maginnis was a classmate of mine at Pomona College who died suddenly of a brain tumor during our Sophomore year. His parents chose to share this poem with us at his campus memorial service:

“A treasure trove is life
A chest of golden chances
A shining gem,
a crown of pearls,
this is life.

As varied as a silken tapestry.
It is an infinite thing.”

Obviously none of our lives is infinite, but within each of them we have infinite possibilities and opportunities. May we take encouragement from these tragedies to make our own lives all that much more meaningful. Perhaps that’s what we truly mean when we say, “may their memories be a blessing.”

Mike McGavick on Abortion & Gay Rights

A couple of months ago, I sent an e-mail to Mike McGavick’s campaign asking for more information about candidate McGavick’s stance on abortion and gay rights - two issues dear to my heart. When I didn’t hear back, I e-mailed again. This time, Mr. McGavick responded personally, cordially, and with very thoughtful answers.

I placed a call to the McGavick campaign and they said they had no problem with me quoting his response here, so here goes:

On Gay Marriage: “I do not believe it would be right to change the definition of marriage. However, I am open to a thoughtful discussion of civil unions. I also believe that particular attention should be paid to the laws affecting nontraditional couples who have children. Changes must be made in the benefits laws of our state and nation to make sure that these laws recognize these families. I instituted such benefit policies at Safeco insurance while I was serving as CEO.”

On Abortion Rights: “I believe that the choice should exist and therefore do not support a constitutional ban on the practice. However, my strong Catholic faith drives my belief that it is important to work to change the hearts and minds of those who would seek an abortion – to show them that there are other options available. I support parental notifications, a ban on partial birth abortion, and a restriction on federal spending for abortion related services. The fact remains that this deeply personal issue needs to remain personal and the choice should exist.”

On both issues, he’s a little bit to the right of me, but when I take his other positions into account, I have to say that he makes a pretty compelling case for replacing Maria Lieberman Cantwell as the junior Senator from Washington. In these times of scary right-wing neocons, it’s important that we work to support sensible moderates like McGavick.

I’m still not sure whether I’ll vote for him, but I’ve got a few months to decide yet.

That Didn’t Take Him Long

President Bush announced today that he would move to ease the rising cost of oil.

No surprise there given that his recent career-low 32% approval rating is tied almost directly to the soaring price of energy.

What I want to know is, what’s the president going to do when costs start rising because of scarcity rather than price gouging on the part of the oil companies? He talked big about energy conservation in the State of the Union, but in reality he’s a status quo man through and through.

Viruses are My Kryptonite

It’s a good thing I’m not a superhero, because if I were my supervillain rivals wouldn’t have to work very hard to put me out of commission. All they’d have to do is put me on a bus with a bunch of coughing school children during flu season and presto! I’m down for the count.

For some people, asthma is triggered by stress, exercise, or allergens - for me, it’s viruses. I catch a virus, I start wheezing like an old man with emphysema trying to climb the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building. Add a sinus infection and bronchitis to the mix and you’ve got one sick Teresa.

Prayer Gatherings for Washington Won’t Discriminate

I encourage my readers to attend some of these important upcoming events for Washington Won’t Discriminate, which seeks to approve Referendum 65 to uphold the recently enacted law to protect people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

The following was taken from an e-mail sent to the group’s mailing list earlier today:

On May 4th, at 7:30pm at the LGBT Community Center in Seattle, there will be a kick-off event for several campaigns and organizations working together on voter registration.

Also on May 4th, at 10am, the Religious Coalition for Equality is holding a service at the Seattle First Baptist Church (1111 Harvard Ave), led by Dr. Stephen Jones, Pastor. The service will be followed by a press conference, as part of the National Day of Prayer. RCE is comprised of hundreds of religious leaders all across the state who believe that religious teachings speak about inclusion, love and compassion, not exclusion, condemnation and intolerance. On this day, they will pray for justice and equality and speak out against discrimination based upon sexual orientation. They have asked us to let you know you are welcome to join their service on this important day.

On May 11th there will be a Statewide Day of Prayer for Justice and Equality. Prayer gatherings will be held at:

Bellingham
Garden Street United Methodist Church, Pastor Bill Green
1326 N. Garden Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 733-7440

Everett (tentative)
Temple Beth Or, Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman
3215 Lombard Ave
Everett, WA 98201
(425) 259-7125

Eastside
Newport Presbyterian Church, Pastors Bill Patten, Heidi Calhoun
4010 -120 Avenue SE
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 746-6111

*contact: Jerry Nash (425) 882-0405

Tacoma
Temple Beth El, Rabbi Bruce Kadden
5975 S. 12th St.
Tacoma, WA 98465-1998
(253) 564-7101

Olympia
United Churches of Olympia, Rev. Mark Dowdy
110 - 11th Avenue SE
Olympia, WA 98501-2259
(360) 943-1210

Vancouver
First Congregational United Church of Christ, Rev. Ed Evans
1220 NE 68th Street
Vancouver, WA 98665
360-693-1476

Spokane
Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, Dr. Richard Erhardt
4340 W. Fort Wright Drive
Spokane, WA 99724
(509) 325-6383

contact: Krista Benson, Inland Northwest Equality (509) 838-7870

Seattle - 7 pm
University Baptist Church
4554 12th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Gas Prices, Presidential Approval Ratings and a Mouthful of Worms

You know the old song, “nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms!” I’ll bet anything that our president is singing it about now. But then again, a 32% approval rating would do that to just about anybody.

So what’s behind the president’s ever-dropping poll numbers? It’s not the authorization for leaks of classified information or the ever-growing ethnic tensions in Iraq, it’s gas prices. Apparently, Americans don’t like paying $3 a gallon at the pump. Who knew?

My fiancé and I are pretty split on this issue. He rejoices every time gas prices go up because he sees it as a blow to the American culture of consumption. And while I agree with him that we’re going to need to see a dramatic shift in how we get and use our energy, I don’t like watching the rising tide because I feel like it places a disproportionate burden on the poor.

I wish that Bush’s poll numbers didn’t sink so every time gas prices went up. It means that there’s a lot of political pressure on him to do something about it, and that means that he’s probably going artificially lower gas prices to a level that keeps us comfortably driving our SUVs. But I also see the need to keep people driving, because without that energy our economy would grind to a standstill.

And the tide is turning. Just the other day I heard a car giveaway on the radio. The announcer was hyping up the car by announcing that - as a hybrid - it gets more than 40 miles to the gallon. He wasn’t talking about it’s big powerful V8 engine or how many seconds it took to go from 0 to 60. He was talking about fuel economy.

That trend is sweeping the nation. Even now, people are learning to pay more attention to that MPG rating. And eventually that’s going to translate into less dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic.

But in the here and now, this president needs must look beyond poll numbers. He needs to go before the American people and remind us of our obligation to conserve. He talked big about killing our addiction to oil in the last State of the Union, but is he going to put his money where his mouth is or cave to political pressure now that his numbers are at an all-time low?

The American people need to see him being strong and decisive on something that makes him unpopular. Now that would be leadership.

Could You Pass the American Citizenship Test?

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

We’re all up in arms over illegal immigration, but the fact is that there are a lot of Americans out there who don’t deserve to be Americans if we hold them to the same standard we use for immigrants. How much do you know?

Answers after the break.
Read more

An iPod full of Aussies

What is it about Australians? American women go absolutely nuts for ‘em. My cousin sure likes those Aussie blokes. Meanwhile, it seems that they have the best radio programs in the world. I am seriously addicted to the The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s specialist journalism and arts network, ABC Radio National because of their awesome podcasts (iTunes).

My favorite so far is All in the Mind (iTunes), a podcast that tackles a different topic in psychology each week. I feel like it keeps me on top of developments in my major in an accessible and fun way.

In other pod-related news, I dropped my iPod mini one too many times yesterday while at the gym and it finally broke. It’s been a good three years with that little blue sucker. But it’s no use crying over spilt iPods, so yesterday I went out and got myself a cute little iPod Nano. I opted for white, since I got my fiancé the black model for Christmas/Chanukah this year and I don’t want us mixing up our iPods. It would be no good if he got all my Christina Aguilera music while I was stuck listening to Metallica. Not that I don’t love Metallica, but I can only take so much of screaming and yelling.

On Cell Phones and Car Accidents

According to a CNN report, a recent study has confirmed the danger of chatting on a cell phone while driving. And while I understand that there are a number of real and serious problems with distracted drivers, I honestly do not believe that I am any worse of a driver while I’m talking on my cell phone.

If I were text messaging while driving, which I confess I’ve done once or twice - but only while in bumper to bumper traffic - I could see a problem. But for me, chatting with someone on my cell phone while I’m driving is just like having a conversation with someone in the passenger seat. I take advantage of all the hands free features like speaker phone and voice recognition dialing, and I never give the conversation priority over my attention to the road. I’ll gladly tell someone to shut up for a second if I’m trying to merge onto I-5 Southbound from 520 and exit on Mercer Street, which requires changing three lanes in the space of less than a minute.

The only time I’ve ever come even close to being in an accident that was my fault, it was because I was driving while very upset. If they’re going to ban driving with cell phones, then they’re going to need to ban driving while crying and driving while chatting with passengers, too.

Oh, and to my regular readers. Sorry I’ve been absent for a while. I spent this past week in Salt Lake City and didn’t want to take any time away from my fantastic fiancé or his wonderful parents to update the blog. I’m sure you can understand. I should have let you know though. Whoops!

Music Meme

HOW MANY SONGS DO YOU HAVE? 11,098

SORT BY SONG TITLE:
First = …Baby One More Time (Davidson Ospina 2005 Mix)
Last = Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

SORT BY TIME:
Longest = “Stupid White Men” - Michael Moore: 8 hours, 16 seconds
Shortest = “Blank” - John Mayer: 0 seconds

SORT BY ALBUM:
First = … “American Anthem” by Nathan Gunn
Last = Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

TOP FIVE MOST PLAYED SONGS:
1. Extraordinary Girl / Letterbomb - Green Day = 53 plays
2. Good is Good - Sheryl Crow = 39 plays
3. I Will Not be Broken - Bonnie Raitt = 37 plays
4. Unnecessarily Mercenary - Bonnie Raitt = 37 plays
5. Bigger than my Body - John Mayer = 36 plays

FIRST SONG THAT COMES UP ON SHUFFLE:
“Little Amsterdam” by Tori Amos

Search for “sex.” How many songs come up? - 234

Search for “death.” How many songs come up? - 113

Search for “love.” How many songs come up? - 450

And what you about your collection?

Thanks to Jake for the meme.

Vagina Inspectors: El Salvador’s Abortion Ban

The New York Times Magazine ran a very interesting article today about El Salvador’s ban on abortion. The law punishes providers of abortion, the women who seek them, and “accomplices” such as the pregnant woman’s mother or boyfriend. In some extreme cases, if the fetus is deemed to be viable a woman can be convicted of aggravated murder and be sentenced to 30-50 years in prison.

In order to enforce this law, the government goes so far as to employ a team of forensic vagina inspectors that actually perform forced pelvic exams on women who are suspected of getting abortions - a practice tantamount to rape.

This repressive and deplorable law came about during the political and religious shift that followed the 1992 Chapultepec Agreements in Mexico that settled El Salvador’s bloody civil war. In 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed Fernando Sáenz Lacalle as archbishop of San Salvador. In contrast to his predecessors, who were also opposed to abortion but did not meddle with the law, Lacalle wanted to legislate his religious convictions. After a lengthy religious and political campaign, the ban on abortion became a part of El Salvador’s constitution.

I could go on and on about many aspects of this bullshit law, but instead I’m going to talk about what really grabbed my attention in all this: the vagina inspectors.

The very existence of their office is really what the anti-woman/anti-sex/anti-choice movement is all about. After all, once a woman has sex for any reason other than intentional procreation - like pleasure for example, or love - she’s a whore who deserves no privacy or respect. Her vagina becomes an open book for society to “inspect” forcibly whenever it wants. Just accuse a woman of abortion - in other words, of being a murdering slut - and you can have the sick satisfaction of knowing that she’s been handcuffed to a hospital bed while some asshole shoves a speculum inside her against her will. It doesn’t really matter whether she’s had an abortion or not, because she’s a loose woman. And according to the Catholic hierarchy that got this sick law passed in the first place and that hasn’t the faintest idea of what it’s like to be pregnant, she deserves it.

I’ll tell you this much, if it ever gets that bad in the U.S., and anyone ever comes to inspect my vagina without my permission, I’ll kick him in the face until his nose bone punctures his brain. At least then they can put me away for a real murder.

Night out at the Last Supper Club

I was planning on spending a quiet night in with The Mists of Avalon which I am now addicted to. But my cousin convinced me to check out Last Supper Club in Pioneer Square. There was no cover, and some famous DJ was spinning - so the place was so packed that I sort of feared for my life.

Karlie has to get up early for church tomorrow morning, and I hate doing Sunday yoga with a hangover, so each of us had one drink and left it at that. But the music was fun and the people watching was spectacular. At one point, there were these women dancing onstage wearing nothing but lacy panties and paint. It was incredibly beautiful, and their body artwork was really spectacular.

The artist Robert Contreras was doing more airbrush painting up in the VIP lounge, so when we got back there I chatted up one of the dancers and she bumped me to the front of the line and Karlie and I got ourselves painted. Just being up there where it was less crowded and getting the body painting done was worth all the weird crap I had to go through to get up there.

Apparently the whole evening was sponsored by Camel cigarettes to get their brand out there to the young club-loving smokers. In order to get into the VIP lounge, you had to let the people who were there from the cigarette company photograph your driver’s license and fill out a survey about your favorite brand of cigarettes. They were handing out coupons for free cartons of Camels, and a bunch of other cigarette schwag. I was momentarily stymied by the moral implications of lying about being a smoker to get into the VIP booth, but then I realized that I was lying to a freaking cigarette company and didn’t feel nearly so bad. Like I said, it was worth it to get out of the absurd crowd.

The branding thing did get my marketing brain spinning though. It wasn’t about getting people to start smoking, it was about getting current smokers to switch to Camel. It’s really indicative of the image problem the whole industry is facing as smoking becomes increasingly uncool. Now all the cigarette companies are after one another’s customers, instead of creating big PR problems for themselves by trying to get more people hooked.

Another more personal aspect of the evening was the fact that I got hit on only a fraction of the amount I usually do. Since I was dressed to the nines, I was a little confused until I realized that this was my first time out clubbing wearing an engagement ring. It was rather nice to be able to walk to the bathroom without being stopped 20 times by horny men, but I admit I did miss the attention just a little. I suppose that’s only natural.

Anyway, it was a fun night - but definitely not the best evening I’ve ever had out partying. I know this sounds all lame and backwards, but I really liked Pomona parties more than I’ve ever enjoyed a night out at an actual nightclub. Sometimes I think I would trade anything to go back to those days when people just got drunk in one another’s rooms and played caps and talked about random shit. And then I realize that part of my life is over, but I’ve got another chapter opening up before me. I just don’t think that chapter is going to include a lot of crowded nightclubs.

Why Condi Beats Hillary Any Given November

It’s become clear over the past month or so that Hillary Clinton is intent on being our nation’s first female president. She’s got the fundraising apparatus in place to build up quite a war chest between now and the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, and she has no opponent to speak of for her 2006 re-election bid to the Senate.

I’ve argued before that Senator Clinton (though I adore her) is not electable. It is my guess that over half of the men in America feel castrated by her. And shameful as it is that they would feel that way, no man is going to vote for anyone that comes between him and his penis, best person for the job or not. I certainly hope that she’ll have enough money to spend the next two years reconstituting that image, but I doubt that she’ll be able to undo the distinctly unfavorable impression that many Americans have of her.

Enter Condoleeza Rice. When she’s not busy being Secretary of State, Condi plays chamber music and does fashion spreads in Vogue. She’s no tittering cheerleader, but she’s managed to maintain a non-threatening, chaste and yet absolutely feminine image.

All this leads me to believe that if it appears Hillary will gain the Democratic nomination, the Republicans will nominate Condi - and win. From a political standpoint, Rice is clearly the superior candidate.

But does she intend to run? So far she’s steadfastly denied any presidential ambitions. But this most recent New York Times article about her passion for chamber music gives a few hints to the contrary. For one, Rice has been intensely protective of her musical extracurriculars…until now. What would prompt such a fiercely private woman to open her musical kimono, let alone to such an obviously liberal newspaper?

Perhaps while Hillary announces her already disdain-provoking ambition to the world by raising money left and right, Condi is putting the horse before the cart. The chamber music article is only one in a series of publications that cement her status as the brilliant, erudite, cultured and non-threatening black woman next door. In other words, a perfect presidential candidate.

And then there’s sex - which shouldn’t really play into an election but usually does in one form or another. Condi has no sex life that we know of, which in the eye of the American public means that she has no sex life at all. She’s much too busy modeling gowns, going on diplomatic missions and playing her Chickering grand piano to even think about sex - which is still what this country thinks any single woman ought to be like.

Meanwhile, Hillary is married to a man whose sexual charisma is so thick that many women I know downloaded the audio version of his autobiography just to hear him talk. He is also arguably the world’s most famous philanderer, which unfortunately raises all sorts of questions in people’s minds. Do they really love each other, or is it just a marriage of political convenience? Was it her frigidity that made then-President Clinton so susceptible to intern Lewinsky’s charms? Is she too ambitious for him to find her attractive anymore? And on. And on.

When it comes to women and sex and politics in this country, the candidate whose sex life raises fewer eyebrows wins every time. Add unseemly ambition, some unsavory removal of White House furniture near the end of her husband’s term and a general sense of bitchiness to the mix and you get the picture: Hillary has a major image problem. Condi doesn’t.

And in a country where a president can be mistrusted and reviled and still re-elected based solely on his image as a down-home man’s man, you can bet a woman like Hillary will never stand a chance.

V for Vendetta & Monica’s Strange Experience with Dan Devone and the Mexicans

After a long week, I really relish my Friday evenings. Most times I go over to my dad’s house for Shabbat dinner, but tonight I decided to go hang out with my girlfriends instead. We had a really nice evening, went shopping at Ikea (where I got bed knobs to replace the ones that the movers lost) and then saw V for Vendetta which was generally spectacular, but fell apart just a little bit at the end. There were some really good moments when the director / screen writer all but stood up and said, “in your face, George W. Bush.” It was pretty sweet.

I particularly liked the parts of the movie that showed how discrimination against gays as part of the growth of tyranny, rather than just an intolerant sidebar to a mad power grab. So many people tell me that the war and the national debt are the biggest problems we face, and I agree that they’re important. But the growing level of hatred, fear and discrimination against gay people is equally important because it demonstrates how this administration seeks to persecute those that dare to be at all different. I really appreciated that aspect of the movie, even if it did have a straight love story at its center.

Anyway - after the movie, we were in the elevator down to the parking garage when who should join us but Dan Devone, a sportscaster for our local FOX affiliate. He was hanging out with a really gorgeous blonde woman, so I didn’t actually notice that it was him until Monica and Michelle started whispering fiercely to one another. After we left the elevator - Monica turned to me and said, “you know who that was, right?”

She then proceeded to tell us the most bizarre story I think I’ve ever heard. Apparently, she was in downtown Seattle once a few months ago when she met him out on the street. He was clearly intoxicated and kept asking her if she knew where the Mexicans were. He asked her to call them on her cell phone and she was very confused. Eventually, she walked away - and he called after her, telling her that he needed to find the Mexicans as soon as possible.

I think that if she ever runs into him again. She should ask him if he knows where the Mexicans are. If he seems confused, she should say, “that’s how I felt when you asked me.”

So random. And now to bed.

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