I know- the horrors and shame of being an artsy intellectual who also watches TV. I’m addicted to Heroes (ZOMG I want to have Dr. Surresh’s babies!) I love trashy sci-fi like Stargate (before you even ask- I like both SG1 and Atlantis- shudup)and silly British stuff like the League of gentlemen and Red Dwarf.

Sad but true.

I also love Master Piece Theater & Mystery on PBS. Last night was the beginning of “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard” on Master Piece. It is a sweet and idealistic story about a middle aged woman who accidentally becomes Prime Minister of England (She just meant to run as an independent for an MP spot and managed to start a political party in the process).

This is every bit as much of a fluff piece as The American President was, but that doesn’t stop it from having merit. The point in Mrs. Pritchard is that we need to be involved in politics and not keep ourselves away from it out of disgust and frustration. Hey, I’m a poly sci major and even I get apathetic sometimes out of disgust and frustration. Every now and then we need a little something to remind us how awesome the idea of democracy is. And since we no longer have the West Wing to keep our spirits up on a weekly basis, a little dose of British optimism can’t hurt. Neither can classic West Wing clips from YouTube

Cause the one thing I do know is that the really awful experiences make for great story telling.

So this guy sends me an email- Hey Gorgeous, would you like to meet sometime.

I check out his profile. His pics are cute but there really isn’t anything else written in his profile. My profile looks like fricken Chaucer in comparison, lots of things for someone point out a shared interest in.

But he’s kinda cute so I send him this email- Maybe, but I need to know more about you first.

Him: Give me your phone number and I’ll call you.

Me: I don’t give out my number to men I don’t know. Your profile doesn’t say much about you. Why don’t you tell me about yourself.

Him: There’s lots in my profile. What do you want to know. When can we meet for coffee.

Me (after his profile has been changed very very slightly) All your profile says is that your a middle aged man who lives with his parents. From your emails I gathered that you cannot start a conversation and that you are pushy and demanding. I think I have enough information to say that no- I will never be meeting you for anything.

Him (evolving into that strange place that men go when put down by women – you know the I can’t form a sentence place): Your a abuser thats why you wil always be alone never cotnact me agin

I think there is a line in Pride and Prejudice about “what do we live for but to make sport for our friends and neighbors”. Enjoy the sport my friends.

Everyone is going on about who the nominees from each party are going to be for president.

I have my favorites, but the truth is I don’t care which one ends up driving the party machine as long as the machine that wins is the one less likely to kill people. (Meaning the Dems of course)

Since I am a hopeful person, I want to think about the things that a Democratic legislature should push through ASAP after electing a Democratic president. It makes me happy (I know- current milquetoast crop of Dems- I’m talking to you Harry Reid!- probably can’t find their ass with both hands, let alone show some fucking gumption – but without hope we are nothing)

Here’s my off the top of my head list

1. Get us out of Iraq as quickly and painlessly as possible
2. Lift the Global Gag Rule
3. Universal healthcare
4. NIH funding of stem cell research
5. Repeal the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy
6. Repeal the Hyde amendment
7. Protect net neutrality
8. Clearly define torture and re-commit to being a country that does not use it
9. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine
10. Repeal the Patriot act and any other measures that have been used to limit our constitutional rights under BushCo.

Like I said- this is just a quick list. Feel free to include anything else that might be missing in comments.

Also, since the republicans have been very good at framing arguments through the use of doublespeak- I am going to take a cue from them.

I will not be referring to the current war in Iraq as the Iraq War any longer. While it is a true technical name- I think we should all start calling it the Bush War. He started it, he wants to keep us in it, he wants it to be his great legacy, I think he should own it.

Emilie du Chatelet is who I want to be when I grow up.

She was brilliant, I mean scary off the charts brilliant as well as being a bit of a party girl. She was Voltaire’s lover and they clashed over they way that energy is measured. Voltaire believed in Newton’s method, du Chatelet believed in Leibniz. Eventually, du Chatelet set up an experiment to prove that Leibniz was correct (if you read Candide there are several references to Leibniz as Voltaire played out the disagreement on paper).

She spoke 5 languages. She sang opera. She threw fab theater parties. She studied math and philosophy and wrote books on physics. She took many lovers. She wrote the definitive French translation of Newton. She fenced and danced and gambled.

She died at 42 after giving birth, a birth that she was sure would kill her. If only they had birth control, who knows what else she could have done.

Over on the Shakesville MRA thread that will never die is a lot of whining about how us evil feminists are DESTROYING THE FAMILY!

Wev. My family, for as many generations as I can count back, doesn’t do too much of the nuclear family thing (with the exception of my Auntie Cate and Uncle Jim- but they are both pretty progressive egalitarian types). Maybe we’re just big fat failures at the nuclear family thing, or maybe the Cherokee in us makes us more of a matrilineal family.

What I had always heard from my mom was that us Cherokee women got the house and the property. When you were done with a man, you sat his stuff on the steps and sent him back to his mama. I don’t know how much of that is true, but it sure does seem like that’s how we things (minus the whole owning property thing- we’ve been poor for a couple of generations).

Most of my family is still in North Carolina, which is a pretty big accomplishment considering the Trail of Tears marched so many people out to Oklahoma. From what I can tell through genealogy stuff, the Cherokee men just kinda disappeared off the family tree while the Cherokee women married Europeans. (Rumor is that the men went and lived in caves, but again these are just the stories I’ve heard). I can’t fault them for using whatever survival methods they needed, but I do wonder if that is what pushed us throughly into poverty. Going from property owners and family leaders to property of husbands and baby machines is bound to have a cost, especially in a capitalist society where inheritance is the main force of social mobility.

So all this whining about the destruction of the “traditional” family leaves me a little bored. We went through the destruction of our type of traditional family over a century ago. I have no interest in a traditional marriage, though every now and then enough societal pressure builds up and I loose my head over a guy for a while, but I always come back to earth realizing how incredibly stupid a combination of me and marriage would be. It’s like mixing ammonia and bleach.

The only benefit I can see in traditional marriage is financial. But I don’t think that the price I would have to pay in loss of autonomy makes up for the financial gain (and I don’t generally date poor or dumb unless they are really hot, so the financial gain would be considerable).

I guess what I’m trying to say is- who cares if the traditional family structure doesn’t work? Other structures may work better.

And all of the comments have been eaten. Oops.

That kinda sucked.

Sometimes I dream about moving somewhere like New York or London or Buenos Aires. And then I remember the Kid, and that part of the reason we live here is that Seattle (and Washington state) is fairly progressive and compared to cost of New York or London affordable.

Recently there’s been a national brouhaha over whether to include trans people in LGBT anti-discrimination efforts. My opinion is that there is no such thing as too much inclusiveness. the more people we’ve got coming to the table, the better.

So today I read this story. Basic jist of the story is this- A kid wants to try out for the cheerleading squad which is open to both boys and girls, but the kid is listed as a boy on the birth certificate and wants to cheer as a girl. After a letter from the ACLU and a few other questions about transgendered athletes, and WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) decides a policy needs to be adopted to include transgendered youth.

The good points: YAY! Trying to figure out an acceptable policy to include kids in sports who don’t fit into the traditional gender binary! I hope Jai makes the squad this year.

(Disclaimer- I was a cheerleader, a bad-girl cheerleader who smoked and showed up to competitions still partly drunk. But I loved getting to dance and do gymnastic type stuff without having to starve myself into tininess like ballerinas or gymnasts. Oh and my squad was competitive and more highly ranked than the football team we cheered for- so all the haters that think it’s not a sport can kiss my ass).

The bad points: these are children, not adults. Most have not had surgery because they are children. Using the Olympics rules seems like too high of a hurdle for kids.

I was also not fond of the pronoun use in the article itself. If Jai identifies as a girl- shouldn’t she be called a she? I want to give Seattle Weekly the benefit of the doubt and I will hope that they asked Jai what pronoun to use, but I could be wrong.

But overall- yay for WA state for becoming the first state to decide that an inclusive policy is needed now. I don’t have a transgendered kid, but I am happier knowing he goes to school in a place where beings trans is ok.

Shorter Bush: Terrorism, terrorism, terrorism. Democrats are slow. Won’t give me what I want. Terrorism. We don’t torture. This is a bully (pulpit).

Dammit- blogger is not letting me upload pics. Wah.

I so love this series at Jezebel!

I have been on the receiving end of oh-so-many of these. I should develop a standard response template.

Dear ____:

I am sorry you feel hurt. I do not return your feelings. I thought that by telling you that before and then never ever returning your emails, phone calls, text messages, etc. that you would get the point that I’m not in love with you.

You are now bordering on creepy stalker type behavior. Please stop.

RQ