Archive for June 30, 2006

Story of P.

While in Sao Paulo, I did a bunch of Tarot readings. I did five in a row that hit on all cylinders, just dead-on stuff: “You’re in a legal conflict with a man who has disappointed you, and you’re involved in athletics” were my first words to a woman who then revealed she was a gym teacher in the midst of a divorce.

Then P. comes in and I read the first cards.

“No” she says.

I read the next cards.

“Not at all, I just don’t relate to that.”

Next cards.

“In fact,” she says, “It’s the opposite.”

You get that fear in the pit of your stomach. Every reader knows that fear. » Read more..

Revictimization

I kind of stumbled across this amazing post on Swede & Czech. It’s about KT Mcfarland, a Republican candidate for Senator who is sharing honestly about being abused as a child and about being estranged from her brother, who died of AIDS.

Look, I’m not voting for a Republican in November. Seriously not. But I admire this woman’s candor, and I also feel for her despair at the way she’s being attacked for her candor (emphasis added):

McFarland said recent news accounts about her violent upbringing and how it may have contributed to her brother’s death constituted “another form of abuse,” making her wonder if her quest to unseat Clinton was really worth it.

Swede & Czech sums it up beautifully:

Can I see where she equates the treatment that they had as children to the life her brother was leading? Yes. Do I think she is right? Not necessarily. Did she do the right thing in abandoning her brother? Absolutely not. Is it my place to make her understand that? No. Not with the demons that she has to face about her past.

It’s called revictimization. Let’s make sure that anyone from an abusive background is forced to either lie or stay out of politics. Because that’s good for our system. » Read more..

Apparently, I’m just never done with this Pledge of Allegience thing

Per Waveflux at Shakespeare’s Sister (who got it from Atrios) I learn that the normally wonderful Senator Barak Obama is courting the Evangelical vote.

The money quote:

“It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase `under God,'” he said.

Dear Senator Obama:

You don’t know fuck-all about what children feel. Just don’t. Turns out children are sophisticated and intelligent and capable of noticing all sorts of nuance for which you are apparently unwilling to credit them.

Secondly, it’s not about feeling oppressed. We don’t determine Constitutionality or civil liberties based on feeling. Women didn’t have to feel oppressed when they lacked the right to vote in order to deserve that right. Blacks don’t have to feel disenfranchised in order to need the Voting Rights Act. Fuck you and your patronizing and purposely distracting talk about feelings. Just fuck you.

And in response to those who suggest that “under God” is not specific to a religion, and is just generic, allow me to add that “God” is specific to monotheism. I don’t worship “God,” I worship Gods and Goddesses. “Under” is also a non-generic term, locating “God” in a “heaven” or other world above. The U.S. is not one nation under Gaia, for instance, but one nation all over the top of Gaia, sort of left-breastish.

Can you tell what’s missing?

This morning, I

  1. Got the coffee out of the fridge
  2. Washed the plastic filter holder
  3. Put the plastic filter holder in the coffee maker
  4. Washed the coffee pot
  5. Put the coffeepot in the coffee maker
  6. Measured the coffee
  7. Put the coffee in the coffee maker

» Read more..

This Way Lies Madness

Okay, this has a lot to do with the way Hollywood processes faces. But Geez Pete!

Wait...wait...I know this one

Separated at Birth?

Okay, you tell me: Are you 100% sure which is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and which is Cillian Murphy?
Those lips, those eyes

Young Brazilians and their moms

Continuing my thinking about Brazilian Wicca.

The Pagans I met in Sao Paulo were notably young. I’d say ninety percent of them were under the age of 35, and most were in their early-to-mid-twenties.. Many were college students.

I am reminded that in the 1970s and 80s, American Paganism was very much a Baby Boomer phenomenon. I recall one year (’89? ’90?) I looked around a festival and thought, ‘If this movement just ages with us, it will die.’ The next year, not only did I see a massive influx of younger Pagans, but older ones as well, so that now, American Pagan events almost always show a full life-cycle range.

Brazil isn’t there yet, but I see no reason it won’t get there.

Another thing I noticed was, in the small group of people I spoke with (the ones who spoke English), fully three people had their moms with them, including the organizer. None of the moms, I think, were Pagan. This is a remarkable level of acceptance, not something I’ve seen in the U.S. I wonder if the prevalence of Candomblé influences tese Brazilians to be more open to a variety of religious paths.

Monday Movie Review: X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) 6/10
When a “cure” for mutation is developed, the conflict between mutants who are trying to co-exist with humans—led by Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his X-Men—and mutants who feel they are at war with humans—led be Magneto (Ian McKellan) and his badasses—flares up. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), believed dead at the end of X2 (but we knew better) is back but not very nice. So not nice, in fact, that she gets seriously sexy with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), which makes this movie worth the ticket price.

Here’s the thing: X-Men: The Last Stand is not a good movie. Just not. Director Brett Ratner is a hack. The movie stands still in a dozen spots where it should move, looks away in any number of places where it should zoom in, and meanders around as if hoping it will, perhaps by Brownian motion, be looking at the right thing at the right time. Furthermore, Ratner is unable to solve the problem of superpowers, relying instead on the point-and-stare model. Dark Phoenix is here, folks. Arguably the most talked-about character in comic history. And how do we know she’s here (other than that kiss)? She gets a new dress and she stares off into space. Seriously.

Here’s the other thing: It is beyond Ratner’s powers to ruin this series, at least not in one movie. » Read more..

Oops, I forgot to pack

Last night I dreamt that I was at Starwood and forgot to pack my tent. Variations on this theme are recurrent for me.

In the dream, I was talking to my friend Charlie when I realized I didn’t have my tent. Then I said, “Wait a minute, wait…” and he asked what was up and I explained that this was a recurrent dream for me, and I couldn’t figure out if this was real or not. He said he understood. I said it sure felt real, and I knew Starwood was close and I was thinking about it a lot, so that could mean it was a dream, or that could mean it was real. (In my dream logic, the fact that I knew in waking life that the event was about to happen somehow proved that it had happened.)

Since I was unable to figure out if it was a dream or not, I decided the safest course of action was to proceed as if it was real.

My brain scares me.

I blame YOU

I cut someone off before.

Totally my fault. I was in the strip mall entrance lane going straight across into the lot for Kohl’s. And this woman in a Volvo was coming towards me at right angles. She was just about to reach the exit lane. And even though she didn’t have her signal on, I totally anticipated that she was making a right, so I continued across, cutting her off, and she honked with a complete “I’m honking at you, bitch” honk.

So in addition to blaming myself, I blame all of you who don’t use your signals, thereby confusing me about whether a person driving straight and not signalling a turn actually intends to drive straight and not turn.

Deal with it.