Letter of support to Muslim teens

In the week since the election, a Facebook group has formed of over 100,000 American lawyers dedicated to fighting the backward, hateful, uneducated policies of Donald Trump. (Want to help working class people? Fine. Want to create a Muslim registry, appoint a white supremacist, discriminate against minorities, or kill the environment? We will fight you.)

During this planning phase of the group, there has been more strategizing than action. But one lawyer posted a request for letters of support to Muslim teens he works with at a community center. I can do that, I thought.

After I sent him the letter, I thought I'd post it here for all to read, because really it applies to all of the minorities that white nationalists are attacking. 

Without further ado...

* * *

November 18, 2016

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,

A bunch of American lawyers – about 100,000 of us, in fact – have banded together on Facebook to strategize about recent events, and to prepare for future struggles. One of them posted to request letters of support for Muslim teens at a community center, so I am writing to you today.

The first thing I want to say is that I am sorry. I am so, so sorry for the message that some Americans have sent you this month and in recent years. I am a young(ish), educated, well-traveled professional living in a blue state in one of the bluest cities of America, so I don’t fully understand what is going outside of my bubble. But I am sorry that it has happened. 

My explanation is unlikely to give comfort to you at this time. I think humans fear the unfamiliar, and they love easy, black-and-white explanations. Those two aspects of human nature can be overcome if you have an open heart, if you feel safe, and if you are able to see the gray areas of the world. Too many Americans right now are uneducated, not well traveled, too fearful, and increasingly desperate for an improvement in their situations. They have been fed fear for years, and so they were able to swallow the message of hate.

The ultimate results of the election, however, have produced plenty that’s worth keeping hope alive for. The type of people I just described are the minority. America is becoming more educated and more diverse. Most American voters didn’t vote for Donald Trump – and now more and more of us have been awakened into political action the likes of which America has not seen since the 1960s. The 100,000+ lawyer group I mentioned earlier is one example, and an influx of donations to nonprofit groups is another. Americans are waking up, and we are fighting.

Remember with pride that you make America great simply by your presence. Thank you for being here, and thank you for fighting with us. I will defend your rights as fiercely as I can. I will protest nonviolently, I will write, I will call, I will march, and the haters will have to literally kill me before I allow one minority group to be oppressed. I am lucky to count LGBT folks, brown folks, and religions of all stripes among my family, friends, and coworkers, and I will fight for you all.

I am including my email below in case you want to write back. I am really, truly interested in what you have to say.

With all the love in the world,

Valerie Sherman
DePaul Law ‘09
Chicago, IL
[email obviously redacted, but feel free to post in comments]

TAKE ACTION

The election results this week have me heartbroken. I have had an almost 48-hour break from all news and social media, and I think I'm ready to jump back in.

A lot of my friends and I are talking with each other about what to do now - how to keep our nation progressing, healing, and talking. It's more than just posting rants into your Facebook silo - it's about changes you can enact on your own.

Here are some ideas of things we can do RIGHT NOW in our own lives:

1. Vote with your wallet

We cannot count on Congress or the White House to legislate according to our wishes, and that is especially true for the next four years. If you care about clean energy, discrimination, food safety, animal welfare, climate impact, or any number of issues - do your research and vote with your wallet.

This creates real change. If we can get McDonalds to start buying cage-free eggs, or if PETA can get companies to stop testing on animals - we can do this.

Also, support the arts. Support local businesses. Support scientific research. God knows Congress won't be allocating many resources to these things in the next few years...

2. Get healthy

Unfortunately, we don't know what this election is going to mean for health insurance coverage, although people suspect costs will rise whether or not the ACA is repealed. We need to get healthy so that we have less health care costs on ourselves, but this will also help overall premiums to go down, too.

There is also the issue of reproductive rights. One of my friends is suggesting that people get an IUD to ensure that they are covered, birth control-wise, for the next four years. 

3. Use your voice

I think a lot of people wish that they had been a bit more outspoken in this election - especially outside of their Facebook friend circle. We need to not be afraid to call out bullying, in person or on social media. We need to call people out on racial or homophobic slurs. We need to contact our legislators and executive officials in email, Twitter, phone calls, and letters to get our voices heard.

I think we also need to not be afraid to be more openly liberal anymore. Bernie helped with this, but I still feel like Planned Parenthood and other social service organizations have a bad aura around them. They shouldn't. We should volunteer and donate to these organizations, and then share that on social media, too. Normalize liberalism. 

Trump's style of casual racism is not the "silent majority" in America. Although he won the Electoral College, he didn't win the popular vote and I don't believe all of his voters support his controversial statements. 

We - the reasonable people - are the true silent majority. Get your voice heard. 

We can do this.

Hot Chocolate 15K

This weekend I did the Hot Chocolate 15K with about 11,000 of my closest friends. Man, it was crowded. Here are some thoughts.

Packet Pickup

The packet pickup at McCormick was a bit of a shit show. Getting the packet was easy once you got there, but it's always challenging to find where to park over there, and parking was $10 no matter how long you stayed. This is in contrast to the Shamrock Shuffle pickup in 2016, which was free for a short park. Boo!!

This is also the point at which I started to think that the people who do this race as a 5k are out of their minds. Way too much work for packet pickup for a race of that length.

Race

This was my first race where I deliberately tried to follow a pacer to stay on track. In my case, 10:30 was a bit of an aspiration for 9 miles, but I thought I'd try to follow her as long as I could. This helps me because I have trouble keeping myself on a challenging pace unless I'm on a treadmill.

I was able to hold with the pace group until about mile 5, at which point I let them get a bit ahead of me. After mile 6, I lost them entirely. But the good pace in the first half meant that the overall pace ended up being pretty great for me. Woo hoo for my first 15k!

Post-Race Party

This is probably the biggest draw for this race - and probably the reason that women outnumber men so vastly on this course. You get a cup of hot chocolate, some liquid chocolate fondue, and some dipping items (pretzels, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, banana, etc.). It's a popular race, so I thought, let's try it. 

OH MY GOD. What a mob. In following the crowd toward the post-race party, I felt like I was in a zombie horde. Plus, why was it so far between the finish line and the post-race party? I can only assume that they are trying to pull the masses away from the finish line so that the crowd doesn't back up. Still, the Shamrock Shuffle has as many people and they are able to get their beers in Buckingham Fountain and get the hell out of there.

Another thing: the 5k people completely overwhelmed the post-race area, which was a muddy crowded mess. I could barely find my coworkers, one of whom had spilled hot chocolate all over herself after being bumped by someone. Dave had completely abandoned the idea of trying to meet up in the runner reunite area, instead hiding out in the relatively open area of Buckingham fountain. 

I'm not saying a 5k is not a big deal - I don't want to become a running snob that looks down on 5ks. But good lord. This race is full of people who aren't normally in the other well-run, higher distance races in Chicago, so I think they don't really know what to do.

Final Thoughts

I have spent a lot of time in this post comparing the Shamrock Shuffle and the Hot Chocolate races. I think the comparison is justified because the Shamrock Shuffle seems to be the "opener" of the Chicago running season, and the Hot Chocolate is becoming the "ender." Plus, about the same number of runners participate in each race. 

I think the trouble with Hot Chocolate is that it blends two worlds - the more serious runners and the not-very-serious runners. With a more serious race, you can offer great swag and the experience is not too diluted by crowds, walkers, etc. 

Rabbits: pet and meat, all in one

As most readers of this blog are aware, I have a rather large, happy rabbit. 

I have had rabbits almost continuously throughout my entire life. My understanding of them, and my own rabbitry skills, have evolved throughout that time. I have gone from a child feeding pellets to my aloof outdoor rabbits to feeding an all-fresh diet to a house rabbit that lives cage-less indoors like a cat.

Blissfully unaware of the rabbit-eating debate today

They are sweet, they are funny, and they are loving. My beautiful Zelda would sit and let you pet her all night long if you wanted to. When I was a teenager, Bandit would sit on my lap for hours as I gabbed on the phone. They are such wonderful pets that I will probably have rabbits for the rest of my life.

At one point, I couldn't have imagined eating a rabbit. But as my understanding of rabbitry has evolved, so have my tastes and the available options. I first tasted rabbit in 2012 at Next, followed by Sprout and Big Jones, among others. I probably would not prepare it at home simply because it usually comes whole, and that is usually hard for me to stomach with any animal. But it is a delicious, healthy, and sustainable meat that is eaten by billions of people around the world, and I order it in restaurants when I can.

I was surprised to receive an e-mail recently from the Red Door Shelter in Chicago asking me to boycott Whole Foods over their pilot program to sell rabbit meat. I get that for many people rabbit is a pet, but for many others it is nothing more than a tasty entree. (And for some people, like me, it is both.) And now the rabbit-haters have appeared in an Atlantic article. So I felt I needed to say something, and this blog is as good a place as any.

Does rabbit have to be a pet OR meat? We don't seem to feel that way about fish. Cows and pigs are mammals, but I guess they are not furry enough? Does one count more than another because it is cute and cuddly? Because I can hold my rabbit's paw, nuzzle his face and tell him he's a good boy? Because his ears tilt curiously just this way or that?

I think there are two takeaways that I would like people to understand about this issue. Number one, if you don't want to eat rabbit meat, don't, but don't push your diet choices on other people or assume that YOUR discomfort is the norm. (But you really should try it, especially confit.) 

Number two, we could all use a lot more gray in this world. Why does a thing have to be black or white? Can't we view it with the complexity that it deserves? 

Get educated, and go out there and experience the gray.

Thank you, Captain Obvious

I have a lot of hobbies, and I end up having a lot of conversations with people about those hobbies.  I have been cultivating most of these interests for years, and some of the people who seem most excited to talk to me seem to be those that are either unfamiliar with those hobbies, or are very new to them.

Enter my frustration.  When people find out that I knit and crochet - and pretty well, actually - I cannot count the number of times that people recommend Etsy to me.  (As if I obviously cannot heard of such a thing before, or if I am not already selling on Etsy, I must not have heard of it.)  The reality is that I have known about Etsy for years, but I do not feel it is worth my while to sell items.

Or when people find out that I write a food blog, everyone compares me to the chick from "Julie and Julia."  I ask if they have heard that that woman publicly cheated on her husband and was reviled by Julia Child herself.  She created the blog to become famous; I created mine to relieve boredom, share recipes, and remember dishes I made.

Or one of my favorites, whenever someone tries to "out-food" me (as I call it).  Ever heard of a CSA?  Or this restaurant or that one?  Or this chocolate?  Or New Glarus beer?  Hah!  I'd love to gush about these things, but I am put off by the tone in the way I am often asked about them, like I'm such a dumbass I never heard about them before.  I think that the "foodie" culture of revering fine food, wine, and beer is making everyone want to be an expert.

I know that most people just want to help.  But there is also the competition factor.  When I was younger, I would try hard to pretend that I knew as much as I could about a topic.  I thought that if I admitted to not knowing the answer, I'd look like a fool whose opinion is not worth anything. 

Now I recognize the value in admitting my own ignorance when applicable, and asking probing questions rather than condescending ones.  I have tried to make this post sound as not-arrogant as possible; I guess I am just in a pissy mood about this at the moment. 

Next time you see me, be sure to ask me whether I am aware that people at Northwestern are really into purple, or maybe whether I am aware that bunnies like carrots and to hop around and shit.

Cro-strations

I have probably mentioned this before, but I am a part-time crochet and knitting instructor at a local craft superstore. My store got a call that an elderly woman in a local-ish nursing home wanted to take a private lesson, and I said I would be able to do that.

I should preface this story with the fact that I have always wanted to volunteer in a nursing home to teach knitting or crochet. My grandma was basically a shut-in for the last few years of her life, and I know that crocheting was her great lifelong hobby and kept her busy.

None of it went like I had hoped. When the woman called me, she said that she was disappointed that I had a full-time job and couldn't give her lessons during the week. I was able to meet with her the following night, but she complained about everything and was very rude to me. She hated the yarn color, she complained that I am not more available (despite the fact that I was able to meet her the day after she called), she complained about her progress, and complained that it was late. I am sure she is having some issues with dementia, but sometimes I know that she repeated the same questions simply in the hopes of getting the answers she preferred.

Just to get the hell out of there with my sanity (and dignity), I gave her a ball of yarn and a crochet hook from my own personal collection. I did not accept any money for the lesson. On my way to an event on Saturday night, I dropped off some yarn that was more to her color taste. I thought I had basically done my duty.

Then she called me yesterday and left a message that she had forgotten everything and that she needed me to come over again that day. I called her back and told her that I could not come over on such short notice, particularly since she had told me she was not available Sunday, and so I had made other plans. (I also had had four crochet and knitting lessons this weekend.)

She called back and left a message while I was out on a run. When I listened to it, I realized that she was either completely in hysterics or she was trying to elicit my sympathy. "VALERIE? PLEASE COME TOMORROW. PLEASE COME TOMORROW. I'M DESPERATE."

OK, so at this point I was a little freaked out. It was late, so I didn't call her back. Instead, I was treated to a call at 6:40 a.m. today. I must have sounded pretty pissed, because she asked, "Are you angry with me?" Uh yeah, maybe because you're calling at an ungodly hour about something that is in no way an emergency, and because I can't come to you in several hours' notice, and because you are freaking the hell out of me right now?!

I feel bad. I really didn't mean to lose it on an old lady. I think I kept it together pretty well, but I told her that the situation is not working out for me. She needs someone who can give her more attention and who can visit during the day on short notice. I am already feeling overwhelmed with the classes I'm teaching now, which were scheduled months ago, let alone throw in several lessons per week with a rude, mean old lady who lives +30 minutes from my house.

I already reached out to some networks to try to get someone to come help her, but honestly, what am I supposed to say - please, will someone re-teach this mean, unappreciative, demanding lady how to crochet? And will you be available to her on two hours' notice, multiple times per week? Talk about a tough sale.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I posted all this in the blog - it's kind of an uncharacteristic post for me, as well as overly long and ranty. On the one hand, I think I just needed to rant. On the other hand, I do feel bad, because I told her I'd help her, I just had no idea how much help or how demanding (or negative) she'd be. Some of that is not her fault, because I am sure there is a little dementia mixed in there, so that makes me feel bad. But on the other hand, there is really nothing I can do - I can't keep coming to her place multiple times per week. She clearly has expectations (reasonable or not) that I cannot meet.

I suppose this experience has taught me a few things, and writing this out has helped me identify these in my brain. Number one, my time is valuable, and if I'm going to volunteer to teach crochet in a nursing home, I need to do it at one nearby and to focus on ladies who will get something out of it and make me feel good about why I'm doing it. Number two, I need to know when to say no, even if I feel bad or like a failure. This lady's problems are bigger than me, and I'm not doing myself any favors by stringing myself out about it. I always try to help, so it is really hard for me to toss my hands up and say, "This is not my problem!" but that's a skill I need to cultivate.

Overheard on Metra

There's a saying I read recently on JD Underground, of all places - don't waste your energy feeling jealous of another person unless you would trade your whole life for their whole life. It made me ponder some stuff that's been happening on my Metra rides lately.

First, last Thursday, there was "the Becky situation." On the evening commute, a guy sitting across from me and Dave had a protracted fight with his wife / girlfriend / whatever. There were a lot of "I don't want to talk about this anymore, Becky" comments, and also a weird comment about how he doesn't have a crystal ball to know whether something would happen. Whenever Dave and I had a minor disagreement or miscommunication over the weekend, we followed it with, "God DAMNIT, Becky!"

Then there was my commute (all by myself) last night. I was double-teamed by an idiot who was on the (mega)phone for twenty minutes to change his fiancee's car insurance onto his plan, only to admit he didn't know her birthday. HAH! Then there was the teenager who giggled and flirted voraciously with this uninterested male; as soon as he disembarked, she proceeded to call no less than three friends in a row to tell them that her dad is having an MRI. Yeah, you seemed really upset about it when Mr. Uninterested was on his laptop next to you.

Then there was today. Dave and I took separate trains, but we texted each other the following stories. On mine, the woman next to me explained long, vague instructions for what sounded like beef stroganoff to her unwilling and very confused child. If your kid has to call you four times in 20 minutes to clarify a direction (in this case, chopping and sauteing onions), probably it's above their skill level.

On Dave's train, there was another Becky situation, this time with a woman not likely named Becky. "I'm SORRY I don't have a job where I can sit and talk with you all day." (This is something that Thursday guy had said almost verbatim to his Becky situation.) Then he hung up on her right after saying, "You got the last word, are you happy?" (Dave said that is a meta-insult if he ever heard one.) Their argument was about, you guessed it, the kids.

Anyway, it all got me thinking about other people's marriages and families. Number one, I already would never trade anyone else's marriage for mine, but it all goes to show that the successful man who commutes downtown while his wife stays at home with the kids may very well be having a Becky situation of his own, so don't be too jealous. Number two, I really see what it is like to work and commute in Chicago while you have kids. It's not like Dave and I were raring to have them anyway, but I see the reality every day of stressed out parents, and it isn't appealing.

OK, time to go make dinner, just had to get that out. Hope you enjoy your GOD DAMN PIEROGI, BECKY!! I mean, Dave.

Open letter to Sen. Matt Murphy

Today the Illinois Senate voted to approve civil unions. Gov. Quinn is set to sign them, and by next year, my LGBT friends and family will be able to enter into civil unions as committed couples.

However, my state senator, Matt Murphy, voted no. I can't say I was surprised, although I did call his office on behalf of Dave and I to support the bill. Here's the e-mail I sent him this afternoon.

* * *

Senator Murphy,

Today I was overjoyed to hear that my LGBT friends and family will soon be able to enter into civil unions to protect their families and rights. This measure is the least that Illinois can do to protect its families and minorities. Yet when I saw the roster of votes on the issue in the Senate, my husband and I were disappointed and disgusted to see that you voted "no" on the bill. There is no excuse for the government to discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, and to deny gay couples any of the rights that straight married couples have by law is nothing less than hateful.

How can you deny a committed couple the right to hospital visitation rights? How can you deny committed couples the right to inherit each other's possessions? How can you deny a committed couple the right to make medical decisions on behalf of a dying partner?

Your vote was insulting to every LGBT person in the district that you represent and also to me, who supports LGBT couples' rights. I hope this vote comes back to haunt you, and I hope that you will eventually see that (1) same-sex couples deserve rights, and (2) this bill benefits Illinois families in very real ways.

Shame on you and the rest of the senators who voted no.

Maid in the U.S.A.

I haven't done a good blog rant in a while, and I've come across some subject matter that struck a chord with me in the last few days. I've been reading a book recommended to me by Dave, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. In summary, the book is written by an educated, middle-aged journalist who goes under cover as a member of the working poor, taking various low-wage jobs in cities across America and seeing if she can make ends meet.

I finished Part 1, about her travails as a waitress in Key West, and found myself both fondly and nervously remembering my time at Pizza Hut as a waitress. Yesterday, I finished Part 2, which chronicles her time working as a maid through a national cleaning service in Maine. I'm now deep into Part 3, where she works as a "Wal-Martian" at a Twin Cities Wal-Mart location.

Having worked jobs in both retail (JoAnn Fabric & Crafts) and waitressing (Pizza Hut), her experiences in those positions held little surprise for me. The down-and-out waitresses she meets, for example, reminded me of many of the poor and near-homeless women who worked as waitresses when I was a hostess at the New Lenox Restaurant. And let's just say I have encountered my share of cranky retail managers and workers in my day.

However, the maid chapter was new to me for several reasons and opened up a whole new sad view of the American middle- and upper classes.

Growing up middle class with a thrifty and hard-working mother, we obviously never had a maid. I don't even think it would have ever entered my mom's mind as a possibility. My mom took care of most of the housework, and my dad, sister, and I chipped in, too. Now Dave and I split the chores about evenly in our too-small condo.

However, more and more people are getting maids nowadays, both upper- and middle-class. Partly I have read that this is because people can't physically clean their over-size homes, which just sounds stupid. If your home is too big for you to clean, it's probably bigger than you and your family need. I also understand that people are busy, lazy, and sometimes infirm. As to the last one, I have no response, but sorry, everyone is both busy and lazy, myself included. I guess you only get a maid if you are lazy, busy, AND have money to burn?

At any rate, if all of my pre-existing reasons to be anti-maid / cleaning service weren't enough, the author of "Nickel & Dimed" points out some others that I had never thought of. Maid services, despite charging large fees for cleaning, grossly under-pay their staff. This is depressing when you consider it's back-breaking work that actually takes a physical toll on the (mostly) women in the maid jobs. They frequently cannot afford health insurance on their maids' salaries, and their bosses pressure them to "work through the pain." Disgusted by the slave-driving she saw at her maid service, the author goes so far as to compare the managers to "pimps."

After working in the maid service for several weeks, the author reflected on the indignity of cleaning others' homes with little monetary gain and constant degradation:

"I have never employed a cleaning person or service... Partly this comes from having a mother who believed that a self-cleaned house was the hallmark of womanly virtue. Partly it's because my own normal work is sedentary, so that the housework I do - in dabs of fifteen minutes here and thirty minutes there - functions as a break. But mostly I rejected the idea, even after all my upper-middle-class friends had, guiltily and covertly as possible, hired help for themselves, because this is just not the kind of relationship I want to have with another human being."

Sadly, all of that is still not enough for people to fire their maids and (gasp!) just clean their own damn houses themselves. However, if all of that wasn't enough, I'm betting that this last one might be: you are not getting as clean a house as you think you are getting. In fact, the maids might be making it worse.

The author describes the pressure to clean the house with (1) minimal product use, (2) no hot water, (3) minimal use of room-temperature water, and (4) the same water and sponges to clean both the bathrooms and the kitchens. Given my own notions of cleaning (and capitalism), I was surprised that the "clean" you get from a cleaning service isn't as good or better than what you can do on your own. After all, aren't they supposed to be the experts?

Wrong. The author cites numerous experts that not only do you need hot water to clean many surfaces, but you also need more time and product use than cleaning services are likely to spend. Mostly what the services seem to do is push around and mask dirt on countertops and floors, for example. The author pointed to several studies where homeowners could wipe a thick gray film off of floors that looked clean to the naked eye.

The result is a cheap motel type of clean - yes, everything looks neater, but you probably have copious amounts of bacteria smeared throughout your house, possibly brought over on the cleaning person's sponge from the previous home's bathroom. Gross.

Anyway, I never would have thought I'd get so disturbed by the section on maid services. But it does fit in with a lot of things not-so-good about American culture today. Pushing off unpleasant tasks to others, taking advantage of cheap pools of labor, and spending money that we could be putting to better uses.

So here's a solution: fire your maid and donate your excess cash to a battered women's shelter instead. Do your own cleaning and you will get a nice workout. And at least you will know it is clean.

Yet another Palin fact-check

Over this weekend, Sarah Palin alleged that Barack Obama's views on abortion are extreme and radical. However, last I checked, most women (and most people) supported abortion rights with many of the late-term restrictions that Barack Obama supports.

I think Sarah Palin is confused about who the extremist is, here.

Again, last time I checked, people who opposed abortion rights even in the case of rape or incest were in the minority - typically less than 20 percent of the nation.

Palin claims that "He hopes you won't notice how radical, absolutely radical his idea is on this . . . until it's too late." She's apparently trying to delude Americans into thinking that Obama would sweep away all abortion regulations entirely - maybe even go out and perform them himself.

However, I think many Americans have already noticed how radical she is, and realize what rights would be lost across America, if she were to become president. At that point, it certainly would be too late for all women in America who must, absolutely must, have the ability to exercise choice in their lives.

Palin is a liar, pure and simple.

I guess the lies are easier to believe.

A study recently came out that suggests that once misinformation is presented to a group of people, the "ghost" of the misinformation may still cloud their judgment even after the information is proven incorrect.

Want to know the group that the study found to most strongly cling to misinformation? Conservatives, of course.

In fact, the study found that conservatives were more likely to actually strengthen their own convictions in misinformation when shown evidence to contradict it.

This study is both relieving to me, and incredibly frustrating.

On the one hand, I feel somewhat better about being unable to convince certain conservative friends and family that they were just plain wrong about certain things, like Barack Obama's alleged Muslim faith. Or one particularly frustrating conversation trying to convince someone that if a woman gets pregnant, it's not 100% her fault - the man has some responsibility, too, considering it is his sperm, after all. Or that the United States will go bankrupt in our lifetimes if we don't fix the budget by lowering taxes AND reducing spending.

On the other hand, it's incredibly frustrating to think that you can never get through to some people. And that these people have voting rights. And that two disastrous elections and eight years of deleterious effects on the economy and personal liberties hasn't suggested that Americans need to vote for someone who doesn't follow over 90% of Bush's failed policies.

And the ultimate irony of the article is that the people it applies to would never actually change their behavior, they'd just put their heads further into the sand.

GOP proves yet again that it despises women

John McCain and Sarah Palin want you to believe that they support women's issues.

However, as the campaign continues, no one can seriously believe that this GOP team really cares at all about the concerns of American women. The nomination of Sarah Palin as VP just shows that McCain wanted a running mate with a vagina, not someone who supported women.

For starters, let's look at their social beliefs. Anti-choice. Anti-contraception. Anti-sexual education. Anti-teen mothers.

Not painting a very pretty picture here.

What's especially interesting to me is that McCain and Palin place virtually all the blame for teenage pregnancy on the mothers, while Palin's own daughter falls within that group. Presumably not thinking that her daughter would ever need such assistance, Palin slashed funding for teenage mothers during her brief time as governor.

In another fun "let's blame the women" moment in Palin's "executive experience" - Palin had a direct role in forcing Wasilla rape victims to pay for their own post-assualt medical exams. From that lovely news, I suppose it's not much of a logical leap to assume that Palin believes they brought it on themselves.

McCain seems to have picked Sarah Palin in a bid for angry Hillary supporters. Considering the paucity of experience on her resume, there was no other reason to pick her over other socially conservative candidates.

However, it's clear that Palin lacks the socially liberal views that attracted supporters to Hillary. McCain's nomination of Palin is a cheap and uneducated bid for socially liberal voters, and what's worse, this political move leaves American women in danger.

Some Americans vote on fiscal issues, but to me, that issue is effectively made moot by the fact that whoever wins, the president and Congress are going to have to work together to raise taxes AND decrease social programs to stop the hemorrhaging national debt. Plus, anyone who was voting for Republicans on fiscal conservatism doesn't really have that excuse anymore, considering the heavy spending done by Bush, Palin, and the pre-2007 Republican Congress.

Social issues are the key to this election, and in the realm of sensible, realistic, and sympathetic social values, Obama has McCain beat by a long shot for the above reasons and more. (Truly, though, McCain's frequent flip-flopping on key issues makes it difficult to pin down what he really believes. Chances are, his beliefs support his interests, not yours.)

For your uteruses, for your minds, for your children - vote Obama/Biden in November.

The uncertainty of the law

Well, I took the MPRE exam today, and it really, really sucked. I mean really. I expected to feel better about the test than this, considering that I aced the ethics class and I have been studying for this for the better part of two weeks.

But, unfortunately, like everything else in law school, I walked out of that exam having no idea whether I passed or failed. Before law school, I could walk out of an exam and at least know that I did well or poorly. That doesn't happen anymore.

There is something really sick about a style of learning and testing that gives you this much anxiety, and then so much uncertainty and ambiguity about scoring. If I did not pass, I not only have to take it again in November, but I have to think about all that wasted time and emotional energy put into this load of crap.

As a friend today said, "If I passed, you'll hear about it; if I didn't, you won't hear from me." Hear hear.

The worst of ourselves

Why have religion and race been brought so much into the presidential primary? More importantly, why have people not noticed that criticism of Barack Obama's religious beliefs been so uneven?

First, he was a Muslim radical who was sworn into office on the Quran. (Note: This is utter bullsh!t, propagated by xenophobes and racists.)

Now, he is a Christian radical who follows the beliefs of his racist pastor. (Note: While the pastor is an anti-white racist asshole, Obama has repeatedly spoken out against racism - and don't forget, Obama is half white, for god's sake.)

I guess Obama-phobes can't really figure out their stance on this one.

Attacks on a person's religious beliefs disgust me, and the fact that Jeremiah Wright continues to be in the news baffles me. If you don't like Obama's politics, that's one thing. But when some people continue to suggest that he harbors racist beliefs, especially after statements he has made on the campaign trail, it makes me want to come to their homes and shake them really, really hard.

Racism has come out in this campaign in interesting ways, and apparently the only way for a small portion of anti-Obama critics to attack him is to project their own racism onto him. Obama didn't give his speech on race out of the blue - it was a reaction to the suggestion that he mirrored the racist beliefs of his former pastor.

Aside from this issue, Obama has tried to keep race and religion out of the primary. Let's all do the same.

Why little boys are trouble

I went out and bought a new suit today, partially to celebrate getting onto law review, but mostly because I will be interviewing for jobs soon and I need a suit that actually fits.

I really didn't want to go to Woodfield, but I did, and I found a good suit at Macy's. Unfortunately, I had a disturbing changing room experience.

When I was changing from one set of suit pants to another, I heard a child clearing his throat outside of my door. I looked down (through the blinds of the door) and saw a little boy, not more than 3, laying on the floor looking up at me!!

Immediately I covered myself (he wouldn't have seen much anyway) and said something like, "HELLO...?! WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER??" And he just stared at me! Then, making an already bad situation worse, his father came in to get him out of the dressing room.

I hope I don't have little boys. Or, rather, I hope I don't have little perverts, whatever they are. Euuugghhh.

All roads lead to Woodfield

Today, Dave and I went out shopping for some necessary items, and although we did everything to avoid it, we couldn't help it...

We went to Woodfield Mall. On a Saturday. UGH!

As we were shoving our way around the crowd, I said to Dave: "You know, I think two thirds of the human race could just disappear, and I wouldn't notice."

Then we started talking about children, because of course those were the noisiest and most annoying people at Woodfield. Dave and I differ about what percentage of children we think are cute.

I think that around 10 percent of children are cute. Then, around 40 percent are neither cute nor horrible...they're just kind of there. After that, the remaining 50 percent pretty much make me want to scream, leave the room, or vomit.

Dave is slightly kinder, with the ratio being closer to 30/40/30.

At any rate, our day out is over, and now it's time to get some work done. No more Woodfield for a while.

Get over it!

Today is Get Over It Day - where people are encouraged to just, well, get over it.

Everyone has something to get over - I have a few things, myself, that I would enjoy to simply throw into the pit of fire.

Speaking of which, you can type something into the GetOverItDay.com incinerator, and toss it into the virtual fire. The thing I typed in wasn't as bad as some of them I read, but it felt good just the same.

Could this be the new Hallmark greeting card?

"Sorry your boyfriend was an ass. GET OVER IT!"
"So you gained 20 lb.? GET OVER IT!"

It's a saying I can sink my teeth into, with some of the idiocy I see every day from I-won't-say-where-but-you-can-guess. It's something I'm guilty of myself, as I tend to agonize about stupid things for months, or even years.

It's spring cleaning time - time to clean out my condo of useless crap, and time to clean out my life of worries that I don't need.

Dropping the ball

Usually, class discussions remain respectful of delicate topics - and we have tackled many controversial subjects before now, including race discrimination, same-sex marriage, et. al.

However, something about today's discussion about rape bothered me. Despite the fact that our professor reminded us last week that, statistically, at least one person in our class has probably been a victim of rape, I found some of the commentary today to be personally offensive.

I'm not going to go into it in too much detail, but I guess I just wanted to say that I'm surprised. Rape statutes in America are in need of some serious reform, but apparently in the view of some people, a sex act can't be classified as rape unless the woman tries to claw the guy's eyes out to make him stop.

I guess I'd like to think that a woman's consent matters - call me crazy.

Let the fur fly

It's truly winter in Chicago - the river has frozen over, and women with rich husbands are sporting thick fur coats.

I really hate to see people with fur coats. To me, it's not a status thing; I just hate the thought of all those dead animals, killed so some suburban soccer mom can look "good."

I think I'm bothered more than most, because our bunny Zelda was almost part of a fur coat, and she's the sweetest bunny that ever lived. About a year ago, a letter I wrote to the Chicago Sun-Times was published, and I'll re-publish it here:

I read "Watch the fur fly -- off store racks" [editorial, Dec. 22, 2005]. Not many topics prompt me to write back to editorials, but this one hit home for me.

I never was very fond of fur, but last year my husband and I took in a rescued bunny who was from a fur farm. Our bunny, Zelda, is one of the most sweet, loving animals I have ever known, and I believe this nature is partly because she is so thankful to be in a loving home after the horrible treatment she received at the fur farm.

She was living in her own filth for a month before she was rescued, so there were festering sores on her feet, and she had an upper respiratory infection that still gives her trouble. When she nuzzles my hand, I can't imagine someone clubbing her and skinning her poor body for the fur off her back, and I can't imagine a person who would want to do so after having met her.

If more so-called savvy consumers rescued (or even met) some of the poor animals at these farms rather than buying into this bloody industry, I think they would find the true nature of these furry, cuddly animals. I would much rather have Zelda as a pet than as a coat.

Oh, the humanity!

Today, I am happy to say that after two months of commuting downtown, I have retained my humanity and have not become Asshole Commuter.

Asshole Commuter is everywhere.

Last night, I met one on the train. Two, actually. A Chinese woman was loudly shrieking into her cell phone (in Chinese) - that's #1 - and a man turned around to yell at her: "God, lady, will you shut up? BITCH." That's #2.

And this was on the Metra! The worst part was, I was asleep when the dude woke me up with that lovely interjection. Of course, he had no effect on the Chinese lady.

Then, this morning, I let someone walk past me at a sidewalk intersection, and apparently he didn't expect me to do that, so there was a little awkward moment of "who's going to go first?" Then he said, "What the f*ck you doing?"

Sigh. I was too surprised to even say anything back, although the fact that I didn't say turn around a drop a couple of F-bombs on him makes me kind of happy.

At least I haven't become Asshole Commuter myself - I'm still just Val, enjoying the walk to and from the train station; enjoying the buildings, and the anomalies, and all the things that come with commuting downtown, dazily minding my own business while complete strangers cuss at me for no reason.

Gotta love Chicago.