Here’s an interesting article by a Jewish trans woman on two visits to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem – one before, one after transition.
(h/to to Sarah)
Joel in Alaska; Helen in Wisconsin
Some thoughts on living in Wisconsin:
- I’m starting to wonder if my years watching Northern Exposure was actually a prep course.
- I try not to be an asshole NYer who is always trying to find the NYC cognate for everything I experience. Also, I try to keep discussions of said cognates to conversations with other people who have also lived in NYC.
- I am regularly amazed at how self-deprecating WI people are about living in WI.
- I am surprised when I am homesick and surprised when I am not.
- It doesn’t take long before you find yourself looking at a 19 degree temp and thinking, “it’s only 19” instead of “that’s fucking cold.” Because “only 19” means no long johns; you reserve those for the temps that hover just over or just under 0.
- I regularly feed wild rabbits that live in the lawn next to my house. We buy carrots for them. We probably shouldn’t.
- I read an essay by Daniel Nester about leaving NYC and wonder exactly why I stayed in NY for so long except for the obvious reason that I couldn’t conceive of living anywhere else.
- Every once in a while, we realize that all of our new friends are incredibly smart, mostly geeky, & definitely bookish, and we are very happy about that.
- I’m not sure you’ve ever really been drunk until you’re drunk in a blizzard at a friend’s wedding in an Irish bar in Wisconsin. (Though I’m not sure you’ve ever really been drunk until you’re drunk in a ladies’ room full of drag queens and burlesque stars, either.)
Miama Beach News
Cagney & Lacey Reunited Tonight
For those who were fans: Cagney & Lacey are going to be re-united on that hip spy series Burn Notice tonight; Sharon Gless, who played Cagney, is a regular on the show, on which she plays Michael Weston’s mom.
This Just In: Men Have Ordinary Bodies, Too
Who knew? But watch for the guys with regular bodies during the Superbowl (where it might be otherwise unclear that we are not engineering masculinity these days).
Paul Scott: Wasting Your Time
There’s a guy named Paul Scott who’s running for Secretary of State in Michigan. You know, that state that gets TB when the rest of the country has a cough.
I haven’t been flabbergasted for some time, but this hatefulness blew me away. In his opening bid to become Secretary of State, he lists four things he aims to do:
There are also policies that I will work to change:
- I will stand strong against illegal immigration by verifying a valid social security number before issuing anyone a driver’s license, an issue Representative Dave Agema has been pushing for 3 years.
- I will actively push to encrypt the traceable RFID chip in the enhanced driver’s license.
- I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.
- I will work tirelessly to repeal the over $100 million dollar tax increase on drivers in the form of driver responsibility fees.
The third one, which I’ve put in bold, completely surprised me. I thought for a minute I was reading a parody & checked the page to make sure it wasn’t The Onion. On the one hand, I’m kind of blown away that the need for gender marker changes on ID is even being recognized as something transgender people need to do. On the other: really? Is blocking a transgender person’s right to change their gender marker a key issue?
Wow. Maybe his tag line should be “Vote for Paul Scott: He’ll Waste Everyone’s Time with Big Brother Bullshit.”
(h/t to Adrien and Paula, via FB)
RIP Kate McGarrigle
Rufus and Martha Wainwight’s mom Kate McGarrigle died on Monday Kate McGarrigle had one of the most angelic voices ever. So go watch and listen to her perform a song she wrote with her two talented kids. We all really hoped she’d beat that thing.
Two Tune Tuesday: Forgotten 80s Love Songs
Maybe not entirely forgotten, but highly neglected: The Polecats song is just charming as hell, and I can’t think of another song that has the word “oscillator” in it. Fine Early Geekage Period. The Hoodoo Gurus actually had a couple of other tracks people might remember – notably “Bittersweet” – but this was always my favorite, mostly for the yes yes yes yes i’m impressed bit.
More MLK (You’ve Never Heard)
Like this bit by illdoctrine.com a lot – the quotes, the delivery, the idea.
(h/t to Adrien)
MLK Jr. Day
“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”
– Dr. King
It’s always been a favorite of mine.