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want one, purl two

In an attempt to shake off my blog-slacking, and because the slight chill in the air that’s shown up lately has me turning on the ceramic heater in my office more often than not, I’ve been spending a lot of time browsing things to keep me warm on Etsy, and thought I’d share some of my faves.  Click on any of the images to go straight to the listing for that item.

For one, I’m obsessed with fingerless gloves/convertable mittens.  It’s not THAT cold yet, but commuting in the cold last year taught me that if I want to be able to get my bus pass out of its holder and swipe it, I need full access to fingers and thumbs. I’m wishing I had one of these lovely pairs for this winter:

grey fingerless gloves from homelab. sadly sold out, but maybe more will show up soon, i hope?
grey fingerless gloves from homelab. sadly sold out, but maybe more will show up soon, i hope?
fingerless mustard mittens, $35 from shadesofshadow. would look lovely with my blue peacoat!
fingerless mustard mittens, $35 from shadesofshadow. would look lovely with my blue peacoat!
long convertible mittens, $43 from iLzeDR. loses points for Twilight references in the description, but they look cozy and cute.
long convertible mittens, $43 from iLzeDR. loses points for Twilight references in the description, but they look cozy and cute.

Of course, it’s not just my hands I need to keep warm! Can’t forget my head! What was that stat about losing most of your heat through your head? I can’t remember. Either way, I’m pretty sure I also lose a lot of heat through my icicle fingers and toes, but keeping my ears warm is high on my priority list. Continue reading “want one, purl two”

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it’s TRICK or TREAT folks

Image via Flickr user chanchan222, licensed under Creative Commons.

WordPress has a fun little feature whereby they showcase seemingly random posts on the main page, encouraging you to click and check out new blogs. I knew I was going to be irritated the minute I saw this one: “Halloween Candy Alternatives.”

I thought, well THAT’S a post from someone hoping their house gets egged.

Seriously though, the OP writes, “Providing some alternatives to reducing the sugar glut can be very helpful and even welcome – especially considering the ongoing health problems we’re generating in this country through our passion for sugar,” and then proceeds to list several food (granola bars, nuts) and non-food (wax lips) things to give out to trick-or-treat-ers.

Ah yes, nothing sucks the fun out of Halloween like some OMGOBESITY fearmonering– it’s scarier than zombies! Instead of being ware the undead, BEWARE THE UNTHIN!

People in this country aren’t obese because of Halloween.  Kids aren’t obese from one night of candy.  Being the Scrooge of your neighborhood isn’t going to solve the problem of childhood obesity.  In fact, I’m pretty sure most health experts would say it’s fine and dandy to indulge oneself in treats once in a while, everything in moderation and whatnot.  If you’re the PARENT of trick-or-treat-ers, you can even ration the candy out over several days, like my parents always did, after they checked each piece for razor blades, of course.

If you’re really concerned about the health of children, start advocating for a healthier school lunch program which includes breakfast.  Get involved in community gardens in areas without access to fresh produce.  Make sure your local farmers’ market accepts food stamps and WIC.  Make sure kids in your local schools get P.E. every single day.  But don’t piss all over Halloween.  Unless you want to be known as the weirdo who handed out pretzels instead of Reese’s cups by all the kids in your neighborhood.

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my apologies

I’ve been slacking on the blog the past couple of days, and I apologize.  Had to turn in a paper on Wednesday, and then proceeded to have one of the worst Thursdays I’ve ever had at work (though I guess I should be thankful that I rarely have bad days, and that my boss was awesome throughout). I’ll try to be a better blogger next week.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a passage from Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, which I read for class on Wednesday. I’m writing my final paper about one of her plays, The Rover.  Oronooko isn’t a very happy tale, since it’s basically about an African prince who falls in love with a beautiful girl, but loses the girl when his grandfather the king decides to make her his sex slave.  He tries to save the beautiful girl, but this only angers the grandfather, who sells her into slavery. Later the prince is tricked into slavery, where he is reunited with his love, but their story ends violently and tragically.  Still, this passage from the beginning of Oroonoko and Imoinda’s courtship would make a great wedding vow (minus the whole possession part):

He made her vows she should be the only woman he would possess while he lived; that no age or wrinkles should incline him to change, for her soul would always be fine, and always young; and he should have an eternal idea in his mind of the charms she now bore, and should look into his heart for that idea, when he could find it no longer in her face.

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CSA Charleston: we used it all this week!

Another delicious week with our Pinckney’s Produce CSA!

DSC05656This week our box included:

  • 2 heads lettuce
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bunch collards
  • 5 gigantic carrots
  • 1 bag field peas
  • 2 heads broccoli
  • 5 radishes
  • 5 ears corn
  • 2 acorn squash
  • 4 bell peppers
  • 6 tomatoes
  • 1 pie pumpkin
  • 3 ears decorative corn

Click on through to see what we did with it all! Continue reading “CSA Charleston: we used it all this week!”

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on marriage equality and equal marriages

I just read a really excellent piece on marriage by Melissa Harris-Lacewell over at The Nation.  The entire blog entry is wonderful and if you’re interested in marriage, marriage equality, civil rights, and/or feminism, you should read the whole thing.  What particularly stood out for me was this section:

Typically advocates of marriage equality try to reassure the voting public the same-sex marriage will not change the institution itself. “Don’t worry,” we say, “allowing gay men and lesbians to marry will not threaten the established norms; it will simply assimilate new groups into old practices.”

This is a pragmatic, political strategy, but I hope it is not true. I hope same-sex marriage changes marriage itself. I hope it changes marriage the way that no-fault divorce changed it. I hope it changes marriage the way that allowing women to own their own property and seek their own credit changed marriage. I hope it changes marriage the way laws against spousal abuse and child neglect changed marriage. I hope marriage equality results more equal marriages. I also hope it offers more opportunities for building meaningful adult lives outside of marriage.I know from personal experience that a bad marriage is enough to rid you of the fear of death. But this experience allows me suspect that a good marriage must be among the most powerful, life-affirming, emotionally fulfilling experiences available to human beings. I support marriage equality not only because it is unfair, in a legal sense, to deny people the privileges of marriage based on their identity; but also because it also seems immoral to forbid some human beings from opting into this emotional experience.

We must do more than simply integrate new groups into an old system. Let’s use this moment to re-imagine marriage and marriage-free options for building families, rearing children, crafting communities, and distributing public goods.

Here I must first confess that I have been one of those people who has said that gay marriage doesn’t change my straight one. That it doesn’t matter to me what my neighbors are doing in their homes, with their families.  That two people in love committing to each other has no bearing on my love or my commitment.

But the truth is, it does. And it should. And I want it to. Continue reading “on marriage equality and equal marriages”

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wild things and kings

I’m putting this entire post behind a jump, because I hate having things spoiled. However, I wanted to write about seeing Where the Wild Things Are last night, so click on through if you’ve seen it or if you don’t mind being spoiled. Continue reading “wild things and kings”

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suddenly i realize why Glee sounds entirely unappealing

I work in a School of the Arts at a university. My building houses studio art (my department), music, art history, and theatre. And the theatre kids are constantly driving me nuts.

Just now I was sitting here at my desk and could hear screaming in the stairwell. It didn’t bother me in the slightest. I just assumed there was a theatre kid in the stairwell, looking for attention. I sure hope no one was getting stabbed or something. Continue reading “suddenly i realize why Glee sounds entirely unappealing”

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something on my chest

My friend Deb tweeted at me today: Picture 1What was she referring to?

Here’s the backstory.  Last night I was sitting on my couch in a black tank top and a pair of sweat pants, laptop on my lap, surfing the net when Yoono (my Firefox add on social networking client) alerted me to some unread Tweets.  Meghan McCain, whom I follow because sometimes she has interesting things to say about politics, and because, despite the fact that I sometimes wish I didn’t, I like her, had posted a new twit-pic about staying in on a Wednesday to read a book about Andy Warhol.  This was the twit-pic:

image via jezebel.com
image via jezebel.com

I admit my first thought was “whoa, girlie’s got the GIRLS out.”

But then my inner feminist began to chastise me.  What do you MEAN she’s got the girls out? You two are wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT!  You betta check yourself before you wreck yourself, lil Miss Feminist! Continue reading “something on my chest”

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common ground on abortion?

President Obama has drawn both praise and criticism for meeting with groups on both sides of the abortion issue and attempting to find “common ground.”  One of the things I like about Obama, that I think many people like about him, is that he seems the type to listen to people with whom he both agrees and disagrees, and then try to come to a thoughtful conclusion.

The one problem with all this common ground on abortion stuff?

People who think that making abortion illegal will end or even put a dent in the number of abortions performed annually are wrong.

Yep. A new report from the Guttmacher (I always see this word and think gut-muncher for some reason) Institute found that

While the incidence of abortion is closely related to that of unintended pregnancy, it does not correlate with abortion’s legal status. Indeed, abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in regions where it is broadly legal and in regions where it is highly restricted.

Making abortion illegal does not change the number of abortions. Period. We should look at people who want to overturn Roe v. Wade about the same way as we look at people who supported Prohibition. Continue reading “common ground on abortion?”

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CSA Charleston: BEETSFAIL and collards FTW

another bounteous harvest
another bounteous harvest

Yet another gorgeous week’s worth of deliciousness from our Pinckney’s Produce CSA!  Here’s the breakdown:

  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 bunch collards
  • 1 bunch lettuce
  • 5 ears corn
  • 5 large carrots
  • 4 bell peppers
  • 3 turnips
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 5 radishes
  • 2 winter squash
  • 3 ears decorative red corn

The first night I used the tomatoes and bell peppers to make a variation on shakshuka (which involved some canned tomatoes, an onion, and garlic which I had on had), which was served with a salad made from the lettuce, some of the radishes, and a carrot, and some Shorter No Knead Bread.  Jon has now taken to calling shakshuka his “favorite.”  We had the leftovers the next day. SO GOOD. Continue reading “CSA Charleston: BEETSFAIL and collards FTW”