In Alice, Burton Delivers

News and Analysis…

Tomorrow is the release date for the much anticipated Alice in Wonderland directed by Tim Burton.  But, you probably knew that since the film has been advertised almost to market saturation.  At least in Los Angeles, it is hard to leave the house without seeing Johnny Depp’s dazed Mad Hatter starting back at you.  Reviews state that although the film is not perfect, it will not disappoint the millions of anxiously awaiting fans.  One of the most common critiques is of the use of 3D.  After Avatar raised the bar for the 3D experience, Alice failed to meet it.  Perhaps skip the shades on this one and see it in the 2D world.  The movie is expected to dominate the box office this weekend.

Huffington Post | And marrying one of my favorite mythos with one of my favorite filmmakers was a no-brainer. The movie began and I was transfixed. Sure, I thought the overt use of symbolism from Wonderland was a bit overt, but I swallowed it down wanting to love the movie and it worked. And when Alice fell down the rabbit hole, I had the chills.

I was incredibly concerned about what would happen once we got into Tim Burton’s Wonderland. Wonderland has always been an incredibly silly place and I was worried that when it was married to Tim Burton’s style it would be a little too much, but it never was. He restrained as much of himself as was necessary and provided an excellent live action take on Wonderland. But from the get go, we can tell that something is different in this Wonderland.

Screen Rant | Ultimately, the 3D fails to impress in Alice in Wonderland and certain 3D parts of the film, such as Alice falling down the rabbit hole, are completely unwatchable. The digital effects guys throw so much debris towards the audience and Burton films the scene so close up that everything blurs together in a mass of unintelligible imagery. I hope that other studios are taking note of this and realize that if they must make a 3D film, then it needs to be done during the shooting process and not done as an afterthought.

Tech Land | The delightfully giddy, silly, delirious movie. The movie where it seemed like Tim Burton wasn’t being “Tim Burton” but was just having fun again, scrambling up the expected pieces into a puzzle so new and bizarre that it blindsides you with its sentiment.

Living in Cinema | Narrative isn’t historically a Burton strong suit. Sometimes the style makes up for it (Sleepy Hollow…yes I kind of like Sleepy Hollow) and sometimes it doesn’t (Planet of the Apes). Which way will Alice go? I don’t know, but the rest of the cast including Mia Wasikowska as a 21-year-old Alice, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall make it worth finding out.

Cinetology | Overall Burton gets the elements about right bar a couple of missteps. The final battle scene in which Alice faces off against a dragon while reciting her list of six impossible things is unfortunately generic, the sort of wham-slam-bam! battle montage we’ve seen countless times before, though the sheer Burton-lathered look of it – weird beasts, a boofhead Red Queen, creepily skewed backdrops etcetera – separates it somewhat from garden variety large scale action scenes.

On the Web…

Race, Those Billboards and Abortion as Genocide| Feministe

Last month, Renee wrote about the “Black children are an endangered species” billboards. Now the New York Times has picked it up, in a story about how the anti-abortion movement is using race and accusations of genocide as a way to “court” supporters of color to a traditionally white, long-racist movement. The anti-choice strategy has been to hire a handful of women of color to travel around the country telling African-Americans that abortion is part of a decades-old conspiracy to kill off black people.

AVictory For Online Journalism | Alternet

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has finally done the right – and democratic – thing in reversing a previous boneheaded decision by the New York Police Department to deny official ‘working press’ passes to reporters at online or nontraditional news outlets – such as this one!

The turnabout came as a result of a lawsuit filed by three such reporters — Rafael Martinez Alequin, Ralph E. Smith and David Wallis. There was never any real doubt that all were “legitimate” reporters.

Make Non-White People Feel Marginalized in Their Own Countries | stuff white people do

This fawning and seemingly complimentary commentary about our hair is just another way to other black people. It’s as though she sees her hair as being “regular” hair, and our hair is some weird, exotic, abnormal characteristic. But when you’re in a country where the vast majority of its inhabitants possess (naturally, although a ridiculous percentage of women are relaxing their hair) a certain phenotype and you don’t, you’re actually the one with the “weird” hair, not us.

What Does a Congressional Whip Actually Do? | Slate

They count votes. The principle task of a party whip, formally known as “assistant party leader,” is to keep track of the number of votes for and against a piece of legislation. They’re also responsible, along with the party’s leader, for “whipping up” support for a particular position. Not every vote gets whipped. If the party leadership knows that a bill is going to pass easily, they won’t go to the trouble of counting every last vote. But when the vote is close—say the Senate leadership has 45 guaranteed “yes” votes and 10 “maybes”—whipping is necessary to get a more accurate head count.

Blue / Pink, Masculine / Feminine, Gender Binaries

My blog last week about gender identity and being gender queer has sparked some great discussion about gender construction, especially in the comments section.  I also wrote about the gendering of toys around the gift-giving season of December.  Those blogs are here (Pt 1) and here (Pt 2).

So, to continue on a theme of gender construction, I put together a list of gender binaries  to show that virtually everything is gendered in one way or another.  I am in no way endorsing these as being true or relevant.  This list is merely a reflection of what our dominant patriarchal culture tells us we should be.

However, some of the list is based in fact.  For instance, tall / short.  There is not doubt in my mind that on average men are taller than women.  But, this list isn’t just about what is, it’s about what our culture tells us is acceptable.  You can think of this list in the formula, “Men should be (or like)  ______ and women should be (or like) ______.”  Thus, it is not just about what is generally the case, it is the idea that these roles are normative or correct, that there is something wrong with an aberration such as a tall woman or a short man.

There are a few examples of things for which I could not find a gender binary.  One is music.  Music is so universal that I cannot think of a gender binary that states that either masculine or feminine prefer it more than the other.  However, subsets of music can be divided.  Such as rapping / singing,  or trumpet / flute.  Another ambiguous topic is intellect.  Are women or men considered to be smarter?

This list is based on my own experience of our culture and may not be the same as your experience.  Please add your own gender binary in the comments section or critique mine.

Traits

masculine / feminine

aggressive/ submissive

stoic / emotional

non communicative / nagging

straight forward/ manipulative

sloppy / neat

aggressive / passive aggressive

corrupt / pure

warmongering /peaceful

independent / dependent

resolve conflict/ hold a grudge

fatherly / motherly

Role

bad listener / good listener

provider / nurturer

worker / home maker

career oriented / family oriented

hunter / gatherer

leader / follower

in the spotlight / in the background

rebel / rule follower

grillmaster / cook

Sexuality and Relationships

attracted exclusively to women / attracted exclusively to men

sexually aggressive / sexually passive

sexually experienced / virgin

commitmentphobe / need for relationship commitment

name is static / last name changes with marriage

Physical Traits and Appearance

strong / weak

tall / short

handsome / pretty

pants / skirts

short hair / long hair

poor hygiene / good hygiene

clean faced / wear makeup

embrace body hair / shave hair

Hobby

trains / dolls

GI Joe / Barbie

action movies / romantic comedies

hate shopping / love shopping

watches sports / watches soap operas

athletic / not active

unhealthy eaters / healthy eaters

Profession

doctor / nurse

principal / teacher

pilot / flight attendant

science / arts

Actions

never cries in public / cries all the time in public

drink alcohol / teetotaler

uses profanity / never swears

good driver / poor driver

smoke / don’t smoke

Other

blue / pink

good natural sense of direction / always get lost

swagger / dainty walk

mature slowly / mature faster

This famous excerpt from a Burton Stevenson poem says it all.

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails, and puppy-dogs tails,

And such are little boys made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and all things nice,

And such are little girls are made of.

Gender Queer, It’s Not All Woman or Man

Last night I participated in the following conversation in downtown Los Angeles:

Friend 1: That cop, she’s following that guy.

Friend 2: No, I think the cop is a man.

Friend 1: No, it’s a guy!

Me: I think it’s a woman.

Friend 1: A “Pat”

Friend 2: That’s sad that we can’t tell.

Me: But, why is it sad?

Friend 2: Because I’m a woman.

Me: But, you’re a woman. That’s how you identify.

Friend 2: Yeah, but you’re either a woman or a man.

Me: Not necessarily

Friend 2: Huh?

Me: There’s such thing as gender queer, people who don’t identify with being a woman or a man.  It is a form of transgender.

I’ve been thinking about this conversation ever since.  My friend, “Friend 2″ was completely befuddled by the idea of gender queer.  And to be honest, I probably was when I was first introduced to it as well.  Thinking back, I first heard about it when a friend from high school had decided to self identify as gender queer.  I thought our friend had completely jumped off the deep end.  I was all for liberalism and diversity but this just seemed crazy.  Several years later, I can see the beauty of having the freedom to have both masculine and feminine features, to be confined by neither gender.

You may be thinking that everyone is born either male or female which translates into gender.  However, we know from transgenderism that biological sex (given at birth) does not always translate into gender, which is sociologically constructed.  For more on this and the basics of transgenderism, check out my blog, Are you Trans(gender) Literate?

Depending on your level exposure to different kinds of people, you may never meet someone who identifies as gender queer.  But, we’ve all met or seen people whom we cannot easily place into a clear gender man/woman binary.  Instead of looking down or pitying these people, remember that they may intentionally look that way.  Some biologically female people have very masculine traits.  Some biologically male people have very feminine traits.  Maybe they decide to transition, maybe they don’t.  Here’s a blog post from a gender queer person.

“Are you a boy or a girl?” A perplexed waitress at a Dunkin’ Donut in the heart of New York City asked of me when I entered the shop.  “I just wanted a muffin; I don’t think my gender matters.”  I said but she didn’t seem to understand, she was rather too interested on what was in my pants. “Are you a boy or a girl?”  I sighed.  I don’t identify as either being genderqueer but I don’t like having to explain myself all the time to everyone.  Mostly because people can only wrap their head around the gender binary and not think outside the box.  It got me thinking though, why do perfect strangers care too much about what’s in my pants?  It doesn’t matter to anyone unless they wanted to sleep with me.  But, for some reasons, this lady’s whole identity was formed around a world of boys and girls.  I bite the bullet since I really wanted my muffin, “I’m a girl.”  She let out a relieved sigh and then got my muffin.  Again, I was forced into the oppressive gender binary to comply with the needs of an oppressive society.  It isn’t just the males that oppress; it is also other women who’ve been conditioned to think as such.

In an ideal society, I would have been able to get my muffin without being hassled about what’s in my pants.  However, this is America – home of the free if you are rich and fix into neat boxes.  Most people can’t wrap their head around genderqueer – which is outside of the gender binary.  I am something else – not just another gender but I am beyond gender.  People can at least understand transsexual, but when it comes to genderqueer, people just don’t get it.  They want to box you in.  I am sometimes envious of my transsexual allies because they have a gender identity to claim – even if they are handicapped by being born into the wrong body.  I, however, have no place to go.  No identity.  I suck it up and usually go with lesbian because I am female bodied and like women but that doesn’t describe me.  I’m queer but queer is considered to be such a dirty word by polite society.

As the above illustrates, there is nothing wrong with being somewhere in the middle.  It’s not simple or clear cut but neither are we.  I can remember being a kid at church and avoiding another church goer because I was never sure of this person’s gender and I was afraid I might say something offensive.  This was exactly the wrong approach.  Avoiding these people only further isolates them.  If you’re not sure of a person’s gender (and you actually need to know, not because you’re just selling them a muffin as in above), the best thing to do is ask.  Yes, it’s awkward and uncomfortable but it gets easier.  One tip I’ll give is this: Use the word “identify,” as in, “How do you identify your gender?”  This allows for a broader range of responses.  “Are you a boy or a girl?” as quoted above only allows for two answers and therefore already confines the respondent.  For more info on being gender queer, transgenderism and asking people their gender, watch this amazing video.

One more thing about the original conversation.  I want to address the use of “Pat” to describe people who are or appear gender queer.  I’ve heard this used several times.  In theory, people think it’s funny or clever to call someone “Pat” because it is a name to describe a man, as in Patrick, or a woman, as in Patricia.  I’m not prone to thinking this is particularly funny.  I think it’s a way of pointing out people for being different, something with which we are culturally obsessed.

It’s scary to us that people can be so different.  We want the world to fit into good/bad, male/female, us/them, black/white.  But, the world is not black and white.  It’s shades of gray and every color in the rainbow.  Let’s embrace it.

Newsweek’s Palin Cover: Sexist or On Target?

Analysis…

  The cover of this week’s Newsweek features Sarah Palin in activewear showing off her beauty queen legs.  The photo was originally given to Runner’s World but Newsweek has put it front and center on the national stage.  The headline of the cover story reads, “How do you solve a problem like Sarah?”  The cover has been called sexist and demeaning by some.  Others retaliate that Gov. Palin voluntarily posed for the picture which makes it fair ground.  But, why did Newsweek choose this particular picture afterall?

Obsidian Wings | There’s nothing scandalous about Palin showing some skin, or wearing Spandex. But this cover image is deliberately styled to make the then-governor of Alaska look like a Vargas pinup girl. Unlike the other images in the series, this one references her status as a governor. As she poses like a swimsuit model, she’s clutching one icon of political power–the Blackberry–and leaning on another. The theme isn’t Sarah Palin, athlete. The theme is Sarah Palin, Sexy Governor. (As in: one of those dime store Halloween costumes: sexy cop, sexy ladybug, sexy sanitation worker…)

Predictably, Palin complained that Newsweek’s use of the image was sexist. Yes, the image was plucked from its original context. The whole point was that the picture was appalling it its original context. Newsweek is holding this picture up to the world and asking: Who does this? 

The Brody File | You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Newsweek. They have accomplished being biased and sexist at the same time. Quite a feat. This cover has got to be a new low right? They don’t use a photo of Palin on the campaign trail. No instead they take the sexy Runners World photo. Yes she posed for it but don’t tell me they didn’t purposely use that photo to make a point? I predict this cover will become a bigger story over the next 24-48 hours and let’s face it. This isn’t JUST about media bias. This cover should be insulting to women politicians. Where’s the sexy photo of Mitt Romney? Why not a picture of Tim Pawlenty with an unbuttoned shirt relaxing on a couch in the Twin Cities?

Alas, a Blog | One cannot point out the absurdity of Sarah Palin’s wallowing in sexist tropes without using the very sexist imagery that she herself approved of. Yes, the image is appallingly sexist. But that is not Newsweek’s fault. It’s Palin’s.

Using a photo shoot that Palin posed for and endorsed after the fact to make the point that Palin is a caricature of herself is not sexist. It’s good journalism. Believe me, I will defend Palin from true sexism wherever it rears its ugly head. But this is not a case of sexism being used to attack Palin. This is a case of Palin’s own sexism being used to attack Palin. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Huffington Post | ”We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do,” Meacham said, in a statement provided to Huffington Post. “We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard.”

 Daily Intel | On the one hand, she may have a point: Why did they choose that particular photo — and not any number of other, more clothed photos — if not to demean her? On the other hand, she’s the one who put on the shorts and posed for the photo in the first place, albeit for a different publication.

News…

How Birth Certificates Save Lives | Change.org

You wouldn’t necessarily think that something as simple as a birth certificate can keep a child safe from traffickers, but it can. In fact, birth registration is the front line of defense against child slavery around the world. And Plan International is making it their job to count every last child.

Hooking Up for Sex: Sluts or New Feminist? | ABC News

“A popular thing to say among this intellectual crowd, in the ivies and in feminism in general, is to say that sex is empowering and a real woman uses her sexuality in any way she pleases,” said Rachel Wagley, a 20-year-old sociology student who is TLR’s co-president. “It’s blatantly false and a lie that this culture tells to girls for their own benefit.” Silpa Kovvali, a 21-year-old computer science concentrator, argued in a Harvard Crimson editorial that there is nothing “inherently degrading” about engaging in casual sex — in fact, she said, it can be “empowering.”

Unfriend: Not a Simple Word | Huffington Post

The New Oxford American Dictionary chose the verb “unfriend” as its 2009 Word of the Year (WOTY) and defined it this way: “to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” The word “has both currency and potential longevity,” explained Christine Lindberg, Oxford’s senior lexicographer on the OUP Blog.

Rape as a Pre-existing Condition

Analysis… 

 

After being drugged and physically assaulted, Christina Turner woke up in a ditch.  She feared that she had been sexually assualted and so she went on a PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis, to prevent an HIV infection) regimen of pills.  However, what Christina did not realize is that the history of having taken those medications would raise too many flags and inhibit her ability to be insured in the future.  She had a dreaded pre-existing condition.

Alternet |Out of all of this is an increasing string of stories of individual w omen who’ve been denied insurance because their wombs, breasts, rapes (pick one) or simply their sex makes them a “pre-existing condition.”

SEIU | So what would Chris have had to do in order to not be rejected from receiving coverage after being raped? Get into a time machine and undo this terrible experience that was out of her control? Almost. In order to qualify for insurance coverage at all, Chris would have had to have tested negative for HIV for two to three years, along with completing one to two years of intensive counseling (depending on the specific insurance company and plan).

Daily Kos | Turner’s story about HIV drugs is not unusual, said Cindy Holtzman, an insurance agent and expert in medical billing at Medical Refund Service, Inc. of Marietta, Ga. Insurers generally categorize HIV-positive people as having a pre-existing condition and deny them coverage. Holtzman said that health insurance companies also consistently decline coverage for anyone who has taken anti-HIV drugs, even if they test negative for the virus. “It’s basically an automatic no,” she said…..

Now Public | On October 20, Turner spoke at the National Women’s Law Center’s launch of “Being a Woman Is Not a Pre-Existing Condition” campaign, sharing her story of survival. Many think Turner’s case shows the inadequacy of American health care system, which US President Barack Obama is trying to amend.

Hip Hop  | Insurance companies are notorious for not caring about the people who’s health is supposed to be their top priority. Numerous first-hand accounts reveal their injustices, and still, companies like Aetna and Kaiser all purport to still be working for “John and Jane Everyman.” …With insurance companies able to treat their customers like this, its nothing less than the ultimate question as to why there is so much resistance against a public option?  Come on people…GET IN THE GAME!!!

Air America  | There’s no good option pending for women’s health right now. The Congress is so budy trying to get a bipartisan bill passed that it’s allowing women’s health provisions to fall by the wayside. And the private industry is denying women’s legitimate health claims left and right. The only thing left to do for some women is to pay out of pocket for the care they require–and, as too many Americans already know, no one can do that indefinitely.

 News…

Authoritarian Corporate Model Spurring Suicides in Europe | Alternet

As many as 24 workers with France Telecom, the country’s largest communication company, have taken their lives during the last 18 months. In September alone, four France Telecom workers committed suicide. In all these cases, the victims had said they would kill themselves because of unbearable pressure at work.

Meet the Homelessness Experts | Change.org

Whether you’re learning about homelessness for the first time, or a policy wonk with years of experience in the field of homelessness services, you are poised to gain something from listening to the story of a formerly homeless person. Sure – it’s important to know the high-level policy debates about an issue. It’s important to examine the strengths and weaknesses of programs. It’s necessary to constantly brainstorm new and innovative ways of creating affordable housing. But the best way to improve the delivery of services is to open our ears and listen to those who have experienced it for themselves.

A Reverse Reformation?

Analysis…

The Vatican announced yesterday that it would accomodate Anglicans wishing to join the Catholic Church.  For instance, Anglican priests who had married, could become married Catholic priests, a practice forbidden to traditional Catholic priests.  Also, Anglicans could keep their “elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”  The Anglican Communion has been somewhat unstable while debating and discussing issues of human sexuality, thus creating an opportunity for Catholics to allow conservative Anglicans into the Catholic Church without fully assimilating.

Get Religion |  Yet, please note, that this discussion of Anglo-Catholics fleeing to Rome — once again — is not essentially rooted in the ordination of one noncelibate gay bishop in the micro-tiny Diocese of New Hampshire here in the American colonies.  After all, Father William Oddie was writing his trailblazing book “The Roman Option” in the mid-1990s. It is also interesting to note that a major theme in that book is behind-the-scenes opposition on the Catholic left to the creation of an Anglican home within Catholicism in England. You see, liberal Catholics — those seeking the ordination of women, in particular — did not want the wrong kind of Anglicans swimming the Tiber. That’s a story worth watching, now that Benedict XVI has opened a gate for the Anglo-Catholic refugees.

The Anchoress  | This is very big. If this reconnection is well-facilitated, we may see the entire African arm of the Church of England (which is currently its most vibrantly-growing branch) cross the Tiber, and that will be a very interesting development, especially as Catholics are exposed to the Anglican-use liturgy, which will remind many of everything they loved about the Latin mass, but in the glorious language of the Anglican liturgy. This may accelerate the already-growing movement within the Catholic church to correct some of the liturgical excesses and errors we’ve seen in the last 40 years.  As I said earlier, as secularism and evangelical atheism gain in influence and power, we may well see the a new unity among Christians, ut unum sint, (that they all may be one).

America Magazine |  The most important point to stress is that the Vatican is responding to a request from others who wish to join the Catholic Church. They are not merely going out to pick some low-hanging Anglican fruit or, as Cardinal Walter Kasper put it, “We are not fishing in the Anglican lake.” There are members of the Anglican Church who have come to question the catholicity of their communion, and like John Henry Newman before them, their questioning is leading them to turn to Rome.

The Telegraph |  This from a good source in Rome: apparently both Lambeth Palace and elements in the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity were “implacably opposed” to Pope Benedict XVI’s dramatic new arrangements for Anglicans. The source also reports speculation that Archbishop Rowan Williams put pressure on Vatican ecumenists to stop the Apostolic Constitution being issued.

Change.org |  If you’re an Anglican and you don’t like women priests, gay bishops, or same-sex couples infiltrating your church, Pope Benedict XVI has a message for you: try becoming Catholic! Hey, it comes with free wine once a week, and support for all the anti-gay ballot measures you can muster.

Episcopal Life Online |  In a statement from the Episcopal Church, Bishop Christopher Epting, ecumenical and interfaith officer, said that the announcement “reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally … We are in dialogue with the archbishop’s office and will, in the coming days, continue to explore the full implications of this in our ecumenical relations.”

News & Analysis …

Morehouse Men Don’t Wear Dresses – Womanist Musings

We have invested a lot into the male/ female binary and many feel threatened when the line is even slightly blurred. As part of its appropriate attire policy, Morehouse has banned wearing of women’s clothes, makeup, high heels and purses.  It seems that Morehouse men are expected to send a very specific message to the world about what exactly Black masculinity entails.

Drop-Kick Me Jesus – Spiritual Politics

For the past six years, the cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in the northwest corner of Georgia had taken to displaying Bible verses on banners such as the above, through which their football team would burst onto the field. Then, last month, the banners were banned on advice of counsel, after a local woman wrote to the school superintendent to suggest that they might provoke a lawsuit.

NPR Sort of Hates “Black Music” – Racialicious

Rosen argues that music of black origin usually selected by NPR: (1) tend to be either from obscure or dead artistes black people don’t listen to (2) are restricted based on genre, and (3) heavily influenced by the majority white and male (with beards and guitars) NPR audience.

Has the Level of Public Debate Fallen Since OBAMA?

Since January 2009, it seems that there’s been an influx of yelling and screaming in the public discourse.  Has the Obama Administration inadvertently lowered the bar of public debate?

Today I read the following passage from Daniel Lyons’ Newsweek article about the US’s place in the next round of scientific innovation, clean energy.  He was writing of the challenges faced by American scientists.

But look at what they’re up against: a noisy babble of morons and Luddites, the “Drill, baby, drill” crowd, the birthers, and tea-party kooks who have done their best to derail health-care reform and will do the same to any kind of energy policy.

This made me wonder, have the progressive efforts of the Obama administration and the conservative pushback somehow inadvertently lowered the level of public debate in our country?  The examples are endless, but here are a few:

George Bush Sr. insulting MSNBC’s hosts Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow:  

He singled out two…talkers on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, calling them both “sick puppies.”

RNC Chariman Michael Steele mocking Obama’s Peace Prize win  in a GOP fundraising letter:

“But Republican National Committee head Michael Steele is bristling with outrage, saying in a letter that Obama won the prize “for awesomeness.” It shows “how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become,” he wrote, asking for contributions of $25 to $1,000 for the RNC.

The teabagging April protests, some of which were blatantly racist:

Americans in many cities around the country gathered in public around their chosen protest symbol today, the tea bag…”Well, there was a—there was a sign of Obama being a shoe shine boy.”

People carrying guns to Obama protests:

About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

 Virtually every townhall meeting that was held on healthcare also fits into  this category but my favorite follows:

At a Barney Frank town hall meeting in Dartmouth, MA, a constituent asks, “Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?”  Frank responds: “On what planet do you spend most of your time?” He then calls her approach “vile, contemptible nonsense.” He closes by saying: “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.”

The Barney Frank example is the most obviously off the chart of reasonable.  Have our townhall meetings, which are supposedly vehicles for Congressmen to exchange ideas with their constituencies, really come down to comparing the president to Hitler and the consituent to a piece of furniture?  What has happened to an informed citizenry?  Did we ever even have one?  Perhaps my lack of memory is to blame for my confusion at the recent conversation.  I cannot imagine that the discourse around Monica Lewinsky was particularly high minded but I was only thirteen at the time and thus too young to remember much of it.

With only one year in office, Obama seems to have already endured the worst of the worst, people calling him Hitler, a terrorist, and threatening his life.  Where will we go from here?  Can we bail out the marketplace of ideas?

 

 

Self Actualization and the Young Adult

While adolescence has the idea of transformation inherent in it, my experience of adulthood is that adults are not given the luxury of transformation.  At 23, I feel a constant pressure to become who I am going to be.  Unfortunately, I am not yet privy to that information.  Nor do I think it necessary.  I have been known to say about my life, “I always have a plan, but expect that plan to change.”  Occupational plans have included law, ordained ministry, professor and in my wildest dreams I have toyed with the idea of professional music.  Life plans have included international traveler, domesticated Oklahoman, and DC politician.  And the question still looms, “But what are you going to do with your life?” 

A fellow blogger cheekily writes,

So what do I want to be when I grow up? Myself.

If only that was enough to satisfy those who pose the question.

For my demographic, the question is directed to occupation, rather than less tangible aspirations, such as happiness.  The question is asking to which profession I will devote my life.  For example, “I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life ,”(to quote Thourea’s Walden) would not be a correct answer to the question, while something straight forward, like “nursing” is a correct answer.  For differing cultures, the question may be different but no less deterministic.  I recall an Armenian Turkish refugee with whom I was working asking me how many children I had/wanted to have.  I was only nineteen at the time.

A friend of a friend answers the question, “What do you do?” with the volunteer work she does, rather than the profession at which she works.  Clearly, she finds that her passions, her defining characteristics are not to be found in profession, but in hobby.  In that vein, what would I respond?  I think the best answer would be, “I work on a Congressional campaign.”  I am not paid to do it but it is that about which I am the most passionate.  I love doing it and every time I come home, I cannot wait to tell my friends what happened. 

Back to young adults.  It seems that so few of my friends are happy with their present situations, whether in work, location, personal relationships, etc.  Is that what drives us to create these life plans?  If I get a law degree, find a perfect job, live in Washington D.C., then I’ll be happy, right?  Or, is it our birthright as Americans to be unsettled, looking for more.  Last year’s Academy Award winning movie, Revolutionary Road spoke to this reality.  “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” Thoreau tells us.  Most people seem to ignore this charge of ordinariness.  I have not heard anyone claim to be happy about their ‘desperate life.’   For myself, I haven’t learned to dismiss those words.  They have reverberated in my mind for weeks.  In an e-mail to a mentor during a particular time of angst I wrote, “My general inclination is to chill out and figure [my plans] out as I live post-graduate life. But, does that mean I’m living a life of quiet desperation? Or that I’m taking the road more-traveled-by in the Yellow Wood?”  I, and so many of my colleagues are desperately scared of living an average life.  Wisely, my mentor wrote back, “One person’s more traveled road is less traveled for another.”  Perhaps that’s true. 

I have enjoyed reading Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak on numerous occasions.  He speaks about letting the patterns of our lives ‘speak’ to us and thus determine our destined paths.  But, I wonder if this test would pass Kant’s categorical imperative.  Could this possibly work for every person?  If we were all living out our destinies, would anyone be trash men, waitresses or janitors?  Or would we all be teachers, doctors, and artists? 

Perhaps the challenge of self actualization for a young adult is that we are trying to reorder Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  We are putting actualization in young adulthood before our other needs (such as stable environment, housing, employment, etc.) have been met.  Only after these processes have been sorted out is actualization supposed to occur.  

So, I propose this: let’s start asking seniors the questions we have been asking young people.  What is important to you?  What do you want to do with your life?  I imagine they will have a clearer idea than we do.  And so, you might ask, what questions should we ask young people, (if not these)?  How about, “Do you need some cash?”

“The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time” – James Taylor

(Stay tuned for a future blog about my generation and the Save-The-World complex.)

Society and the Gym Shooter’s Distress

Before I had read or seen the news about George Sodini, who a week ago shot three people and then himself at a Pittsburgh gym, I read his blog.  I don’t know how I managed to miss the original news coverage but scrolling through Google News the story titled “George Sodini’s Blog: Full Text By Alleged Gym Shooter” caught my eye.  From the title, I could predict the ending but still I approached the entries with some ignorance of the situation.  As I read the blog, three things struck me:

First, despite being severely disturbed, Mr. Sodini thought he presented as a normal person.  He wrote:

Probably 99% of the people who know me well don’t even think I was this crazy. Told by at least 100 girls/women over the years I was a “nice guy”. Not kidding.

Granted that he may not be a reliable source for this information, but there are signs that no one knew his internal strife.  First, he was able to hold down a job and function as a fairly normal person.  He references being somewhat interested in politics and doing such normal-ish things as chatting with people at picnics.  So, what could we have done differently to prevent this from happening?  Besides some one reading and reporting on his blog, there don’t seem to have been outward signs that Mr. Sodini was going to shoot up a gym one day.  This is particularly disturbing to me, mainly because instead of interacting more vulnerably in the world (for which I will advocate below), it invites people to retract from the world because who knows if that’s the next gym shooter sitting next to you on the bus?

Second, much of his distress was caused by lack of intimacy.  At the core of the blog is a desperation for intimacy, physical and emotional. 

Women just don’t like me. There are 30 million desirable women in the US (my estimate) and I cannot find one.  …makes me realize how TOTALLY ALONE, a deeper word is ISOLATED, I am from all else. I no longer have any expectations of myself.

There are many other passages like this one in the blog.  Isolation will be the probelm of the 21st century in our society.   If someone had been emotionally close to the shooter, perhaps that person could have prevented this tragedy and helped the shooter get into therapy or channel his anger in another way.

Third, this is our fault.  No, I won’t put the blame of the shooting on the shoulders of society, that was the act of a madman.  But, the isolation that drove that madman was our fault.  What can we do to prevent it in the future?  We will have to start by reaching out to one another, acting more vulnerably, putting ourselves out there. 

Today I walked across the street to buy a drink.  As I walked back soda in hand, the man at the bus stop in front of my house/church asked if I had any cold water inside.  As I debated the best answer to this question, my first reaction was to say no.  That would prevent me from having to interact further.  And, afterall, I do live in Inglewood, an inner-city subsection of Los Angeles.  I’ve generally developed a Don’t Talk to Strangers policy.  But, I caught myself and reconsidered.  “I’ll bring you some,” I said.  Two minutes later I walked out with a Solo cup full of ice cold water. 

Did my act of kindness prevent a potential homicide?  Probably not but it’s my my contribution for the day.  What’s yours?