Monday, May 29, 2006, 04:37 PM
I remembered/understood again yesterday that the enthusiastic embrace of my current emotional state (even when it's unpleasant) is the best option for me. I decided (relatively consciously) to go full-bore into the republican-related discontent that's been swirling around in my head for the last few days. I didn't really hold back from inflicting my black mood on a few people (sorry!)...or on myself. It made me remember that self-indulgence (at least in this context) is mercifully self-limiting if I don't try and skirt around the source. By the end of a very cranky Sunday I had had enough, had remembered (thanks a bit to Adam) that I am quite resilient about these things, had regained some critical distance/ amusement on the whole topic, and had very fortunately gotten close enough to my normal equilibrium to appreciate the abundant pleasures that became available some time after 12:15 Monday morning...Monday, May 29, 2006, 01:30 AM
Many thanks to the people at Appley Rotten for making the t-shirt that made me happy to get dressed this morning...
By the end of the evening, I could wear something much less cranky to the Smartgals Speakeasy.
Friday, May 26, 2006, 08:13 PM - Politics, Dancing
Some things are inevitable, although unhappy: Desmond Dekker died.
Some are totally preventable: U.S. Marines may have massacred 24 Iraqi civilians.
Friday, May 26, 2006, 08:08 PM - Dancing
;)
Last night I (successfully) eased my way out of a tempestuous day with the pure joy of a Jurassic 5 set. It was a super special treat to see Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow on 4 turntables, spinning an all-45 70s fabulous set. When the night's best beat is based on a skipping record, you know you're witnessing a transcendent and abstracted level of dj skill. It's kinda exciting to now be part of the hometown crowd for the people who are my favorite djs these days -not to slight the forever-untouchable Bay Area's DJ Q-Bert- and it was just the kind of ego-soothing loss of self I needed to be in the middle of that crowd.
Thursday, May 25, 2006, 05:36 PM - Sex
Last night I had my first date in LA. Pink wine at Stella, farmer's market tomato pizza, and some tasty kisses. Before you get too exicted about all that, I'll clue you in to the fact that he's so newly separated his wife's voice is probably still on the answering machine. Which doesn't negate the thoroughly enjoyable evening...and which came in handy today when the Republican dropped the "I'm just not that into it" bomb. I've been trying to convince my friends it was coming, but they're such sweet people they didn't believe me. Oh well... I wish my instincts were wrong more often. Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 11:04 AM - Politics, Technology
MomsRising.org is going to the NetSquared conference next week in San Jose. Joan will be speaking at the plenary ("Grassroots, Netroots, and the Beginning and End of Politics") on Wednesday morning with Amy Goodman and Michael Turk on how her work with MoveOn and MomsRising has changed the way we think about and participate in politics. I'm on a panel Tuesday afternoon lead by Lisa Stone (from Blogher.org ) about gender and social networking - not that I'm an expert, but I'd love to get feedback from the conference attendees on how MomsRising can make the best use of social networking tools, as well as what enhancements we could develop that would benefit the open source online organizing community. Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 02:01 PM - Food
This morning I ate my first real peach of the season. It was the best kind of early season peach - juicy, tart, sweet, full of promise for the rest of the summer. One of the farmer's market guys told me Sunday that the stone fruit yield will be small this year, but the quality should be great. Based on today's peach, I can't complain. It made me ridiculously happy. 
Sunday, May 21, 2006, 07:58 PM - Sex, Politics
As some of you know, my former boss Barbara Moscicki is one of the leading HPV researchers in the world (her work with Connect to Protect was just her little side project). I'm thrilled that an HPV vaccine could be approved very soon, sparing future generations of women from much of the risk of cervical cancer. I'm worried, of course, that the FDA will ignore science in favor of right-wing fundamentalist politics and delay or deny the application, as they did when they overruled their own experts on the morning-after pill/ Plan B. It will be interesting to see if any states mandate the vaccination, as they have for several diseases that it's much harder and less likely that schoolchildren will catch than HPV. (Yes, parents can always ask for a vaccine waiver on religious or other grounds.) I do dream of a day when Americans realize that hormones and human nature prompt teens to have sex, not contraception and sex education, and certainly not a shot you'd get at 10 that could save your life at 50.Sunday, May 21, 2006, 07:44 PM - Politics
Julie Su was the keynote at the LAANE women's event described below. She's been a leader in the anti-sweatshop and immigrant rights movements, and about current struggles of immigrant garment workers. I think she set up a false dichotomy in her presentation, implying that we have to choose between style and justice - but it was interesting to think of the crowd of lovely luncheon ladies conducting silent inventories of their wardrobe choices. (There is loads of privilige inherent in the following statement, but I don't think that invalidates the principles behind it.) I buy organic food because I don't want pesticides in the soil (not so much because I'm worried they'll give me cancer); I buy locally designed and produced clothes to support independent businesswomen and fair labor practices. (I felt moderately righteous in my pretty Dema top, but must admit that I can't vouch for the pedigree of the Katyone Adeli pants. Lord knows that super cute D&G lavender jacket was probably swimming in sweat (I just checked, it's made in Italy, so probably not as bad as it could be?) Is it more socially acceptable if things are bought far below retail price? Just like bottled water, it seems environmentally unsustainable to fly a jacket halfway around the world, no matter how smart. I'm sure this is somewhat frivolous, but I want to stake a small claim for fashion and style as fun and something that can exist outside of a corporate, exploitative entity. Spending money with locally-owned, less-exploitative business recyles community resources and allows for great pleasures. (Of course there is a long debate about how localization now would reinforce the current eonomic north/south stratification, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that the Wal-Martization of the world is an unequivocally good thing).
I'm interested in what a friend of the Republican is doing on making visible the true nature of production costs - just a taste athttp://www.revealinfo.com/.
I'm going to try for style AND justice, whever possible.
Friday, May 19, 2006, 08:38 PM - Politics, Books
.;)
Today (at the lovely Amy Wakeland's invitation) I attended the Women for a New Los Angeles/ Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy luncheon. It was such a great surprise to open up the latest issue of their newsletter and find a full-page spread on MomsRising! Plus Barbara Ehrenreich gave a great powerful acceptance speech for her award, and she seems interested in the MomsRising project. Last night I went to see David Sirota in a sea of westside liberals and got stuck in a funny conversation between Wendy and Tom Hayden... the old guard LA progressives are an interesting bunch, to say the least. David is touring to support his new book, Hostile Takeover. I think the most useful point from his talk is that us lefties need to stop being afraid of sounding angry - there's definitely a lesson for MomsRising in there somewhere...maybe a way to get women to vent and share their frustrations and obstacles in balancing work and family... and generate ideas for non-legislative focused action.
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