Jacob, where are my pictures? You said you were going to send pictures!
Do. I’m nearly actually dying of curiosity.
(Okay, everyone else: back to your regularly scheduled programming.)
Betty Friedan, 1921-2006
Betty Friedan died at her home of congestive heart failure today.
She was the author of the much-heralded The Feminine Mystique.
She was 85. She founded NOW (the National Organization for Women) in 1966.
The Feminine Mystique is still a great book, calling as it did for women to have a life and personality independent of being a wife & mother. Sadly, a lot of what she had to say about women being autonomous is still quite relevant today.
Though there’s a part of me that hopes, somewhere in the universe, Susan B. and Cady Stanton and Wendy Wasserstein and Coretta Scott King and now Betty Friedan are conspiring to get these boys to stop pulling these stupid-ass moves.
Us, Updated
Betty and I went out with Alexandra and Cathy when they came up to NYC last weekend, and someone snapped a photo of us for the event’s website.
How post-Goth of me to wear brown to a goth club, eh? Betty is in guy mode, theoretically speaking.
Queen Aurora
Not only is she starting to feel at home, she’s starting to feel like she owns the place.
Really, He Meant Every Word
Bush’s 700-mile trip to give his State of the Union encore speech in Nashville yesterday cost $19,594.25 in fuel alone just for Air Force One, according to government figures.
From the NY Daily News, who are doing the math.
Shut Down
All of WV’s mines have halted production, by request of Governor Joe Manchin, because two more miners were killed in separate incidents this week.
Five Questions With… Mara Keisling
Mara Keisling is the founding Executive Director of NCTE (National Center for Transgender Equality). A Pennsylvania native, Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government. She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional experience in social marketing and opinion research.
1) How much do you think your personality and sense of humor have to do with your success as a lobbyist? What personality? What humor?
I’m not yet ready to claim personal lobbying success, though I know we definitely are having an impact and NCTE was integral to getting the first ever piece of positive trans legislation introduced in Congress this year. I do know though that my sense of humor is a vital part of my personality and helps keep me strong. “They†say that keeping one’s sense of humor is important to weathering bad situations and I certainly believe that. And I have always been lucky enough to be able to amuse myself. Hopefully sometimes others are amused as well.
The work we do educating policymakers, though, is deadly serious and I do treat it that way. That doesn’t mean I do not inject humor as appropriate though. I think it humanizes us and me and makes our stories somewhat more accessible to those who may be trepidatious at first.
By the way, kind of as a hobby, I have begun to do a little bit of standup comedy again and may be coming to a town near you, or at least a trans conference near you.
Continue reading “Five Questions With… Mara Keisling”
A Moment With Betty
I was busy writing a post about Jill Barkley and the Philly Trans Health Conference when the President’s appearance was announced. With my back to the TV, I heard Betty crack a beer open and then say, “It’s like a parade of evil.” Indeed.
We decided not to play do the Presidential Drinking Game suggested by Heather Havrilesky of The LA Times. Here are the rules:
- Every time Bush says “terror,” “terrorism,” “terrorist,” “war on terror” or “Terror Dome,” you drink.
- Drink when the president winks, nods and points at someone in the audience in rapid succession; drink each time he refers to 9/11 or uses the word “nuke-u-lar,” and drink something bitter when he says that “the state of our union is strong.”
- Whenever there’s a close-up of a sour-faced Democrat, drink. If it’s Hilary Clinton, Ted Kennedy or Harry Reid, drink twice.
- When Bush says “protect” as in “protect America,” “protect the lives of Americans” or “protect our right to eavesdrop on the phone calls of any American,” drink. If he refers to his solemn right to spy on antiwar activists as the “Terrorist Surveillance Program,” drink three times.
- Also, drink whenever the president uses the word “security,” as in the “security of all Americans” or “a secure nation.”
- When the president alludes to “tax reform,” “tax credits” or “tax relief,” give a big shout-out to the federal budget deficit — then drink.
- Drink each time the president begins a charming anecdote about some folks from a small red-state town; drink twice when the camera cuts to said folks.
- Every time the president smiles or chuckles when he’s talking about something scary and awful, like giant battlegrounds and forces of evil, smile and chuckle along with him — Haw haw haw! — then kick your dog.
- Drink each time the president mentions “free elections” in Iraq.
You really should read the complete rules, though. But both Betty and I have to work tomorrow, so this one just wasn’t an option. I’d be drunk by now (9:17 PM) if we had.
Apparently It Is a Secret
Tonight I caught a Secret deodorant commercial and noticed the tag line is now: Strong Enough for a Woman.
I had no idea they’d changed it, but bravo!
1/30/06 = #5
NCTE’s 52 Things You Can Do for Transgender Equality:
#5 Invite your mayor or other elected official to address a trans group or town meeting.