News and Politics

Daily Dose of Diet – Size Matters

2 Comments / Diet and Exercise, Health and Wellness, News and Politics /

Diet! Diet! Exercise! Diet! DIET! I can’t tell you how often I hear those words or say those words everyday. Well I could but then you’d want to kill me. We spend an awful lot of time thinking about diets, going on diets, going off diets, complaining about exercise and worrying about what our diets are (or aren’t) doing for our bodies.



Do you think it might be time to stop worrying so much about diet, diet, diet and worry more about overall health? Do you think it might be time to give our bodies a break and start appreciating them for what they DO look like rather than what society has convinced us they SHOULD look like?



Alas, a Blog launched the first Big Fat Carnival last week (the next one isn’t scheduled til April, darn it). There are some terrific size acceptance links in the Carnival. Go read! Ponder the message! Consider your own body, your feelings about other bodies. Does size matter?



After you’ve surfed the carnival – stop by Fat Chicks Rule and be sure to consider Lara’s entry from February 13, Soon they’ll be saying a little anorexia is ok:

Moderately heavy models may actually lower women’s self-esteem

The most annoying part was near the end with the claim “These results shed light on why magazines featuring only plus-sized models don’t have the success of the magazine that feature slim models: “…campaigns featuring moderately heavy ‘real women’ might not be as inspirational (or effective) as expected,” conclude Smeesters and Mandel.”

Interesting, eh? Women often scream for advertising that includes “real women” but is that really what we want? Does size matter?

**Cross Posted @ Blogher**


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Daily Dose of Vaginas – VDay

4 Comments / GLBT, Health and Wellness, Love or Sex, News and Politics /

Last night’s performance of the Vagina Monologues was pretty ok.  Not the best I’ve seen but not bad at all.  There were some pretty good moments and some not so good moments which is as it should be, right?

Not so good moment #1, it was freezing.  Never attend a small performance in a very large and what appeared to be unheated bar in winter, even if it is in Florida.  Especially if the seats are those flip fold metal chairs.  We literally froze our butts off.  I should have let TW go to the car to get the travel blanket, silly me I thought it would warm up.  It didn’t.

Not so good moment #2, the tshirts were less than spectacular according to Michelle.  White is really not her "color" and the plain green or plain grey colored tshirts weren’t much better for her.  I thought they were fine but do agree they could have used a bit more "something". 

Not so good moment #3, we had to control laughter during My Vagina was My Village.  That has never happened before and I hope to (insert deity here) it never happens again.  That little monologue should not ever incite laughter, not even in TW and NEVER in me.  But last night, it did.  I thought having two women perform it was a fine idea but it didn’t work because those two women either didn’t quite grasp the idea (which I doubt) or couldn’t carry it off so they went for something else entirely.  That something else didn’t work.  At all.

Not so good moment #4, Reclaiming Cunt didn’t work for me. 

Not so good moment #5, Little Coochi Snorcher also didn’t work for me.  Which is my fault.  I’ve seen the show too many times.  I’ve seen this monologue done so well that I just have really high expectations.  It’s a hard monologue for anyone and last night a woman who is not a professional actress performed.  A woman who is in the shelter system.  I give this woman props for doing this monologue (oh along with a TG woman – splitting it up for two people was also a problem for me) but from a performance standpoint, it didn’t work.

Not so good moment #6 was really a pretty good moment, it was disconcerting that the woman who did The Flood (one of my personal favorite monologues – and no I don’t have dreams about Burt Reynolds, well not anymore) reminded me of the small children’s kindergarten teacher. 
Now onto the good parts…

Pretty good #1, Disconcerting or not, Mrs S she did a fine job on The Flood.  She didn’t push the NY/Jersey accent thing, which was good because that’s not an easy accent to do.  She just did it, as an older woman, and it worked very well.   She also did a pretty decent job on I Was There  in the Room.  I’ve got no complaints with that one either.

Pretty good #2, very nice job on The Vagina Workshop.  Accent and all.  I’m picky about accents and generally prefer people NOT do them if they aren’t really good at them.  I like this monologue a lot but not when done with a bad accent.  This one – good accent, good performer, good monologue.

Pretty good #3, choosing the right woman to represent the Angry Vagina is very very important.  Even if the woman chosen giggles her way through it, (you can giggle and express anger at the same time folks), it can work with the right performer.  Last night, right performer was chosen.  Nicely done.

Pretty good #4, we’ve never seen the Trans monologue (They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…)  in person.  The three TG women who performed it did a nice job with it, I think.  Three very different women, together, it worked for me.  (Charles said this was his favorite monologue which made me and TW laugh but I suppose I can see why that would be the case)

Pretty good #5, Michelle’s new favorite monologue is My Short Skirt.  The young woman who performed it troubled me because she’s either a really good actress (which could be) or she’s got a history.  She was weepy during a couple of the monologues she was not performing and when she did hers, it felt pretty real to me.  (Which reminds me – Not So Happy Vagina Fact of the night – Gainesville has twice the number of rapes as the national average.  Twice. The. Number.)

Pretty good #6, Bob.  I like Bob, non-descript as he may be.  I often dislike the performances given of Bob, aka, Because He Liked to Look.  Some woman just don’t get it.  Maybe they’ve not yet found someone who liked to look?  Last night’s performance went well.  Interestingly, Michelle hates this monologue.  Not because she is uncomfortable with the idea that someone might like to look – she dislikes it because sending the message that women need someone else to appreciate their vaginas before they can appreciate them is wrong.

Pretty good #7,  Hair.  This is another one that I either love or hate, generally.  Last night, I didn’t love or hate it.  Love the performer.  Wish she’d slowed down a little.  Let it sink in a little.  The timing seemed just a little too off for me to love it.  But I didn’t hate it either, which is good.

Pretty good #8, Moans.  Again, choosing the right woman to perform is very important.  That happened last night.  Young girl, shaved head, a lot of enthusiasm for her subject.  She wandered the stage, she improvised (sometimes badly but her enthusiasm and excitement made it ok), and she had fun.  I liked it a lot, not because it was smoothly orchestrated like the professional performances and not because it was unusual in its presentation but because this young woman obviously enjoyed making her cast moan.  She obviously enjoyed the topic.  She obviously enjoyed herself.  Very important for vaginas and moaning.

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Daily Dose of Queer – Marriage

11 Comments / GLBT, News and Politics /

Several months ago a group of bloggers were talking about us/them situations.  Specifically about how people might make decisions about who you are and what you believe based on what they read on your blog and what they know about other people "like" you.  A specific situation that I shared was that people will come to my blog (or my board) and once they know I’m in a lesbian relationship, they will assume I support gay marriage because other gay folks they know do.  I don’t.

Koan very nicely emailed me and asked if I would mind explaining why I felt this way.  Of course I didn’t mind, I also never made time to explain, either.  Well here I am, about to attempt an explanation and also attempt to explain why someone else’s writing speaks for me in such a way that I often want to use her words, her sexist words, when discussing and debating gay marriage.  I am somewhat doubtful that this will help her understand what I said or why I said it.  I am also going to be very clear and say that it doesn’t matter to me whether it does clear the fog, or not.  I learned long ago that it is often impossible to bring people to an understanding.  We’re all individuals.  Something that makes perfect sense to me will never make sense to you.  That’s ok, that’s life.  Differences are always good.  (Oh, and no cracks from the peanut gallery about the 3 paragraph rule! Or else! hehehe)

I am not in support of gay marriage.  (I am not in support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage either, though.)  I’m not out on the picket lines with the Christian Coalition or any other member of the far right (or middle America, for that matter), who is actively working to ban gay marriage.  I’m also not signing any petitions or waving any rainbow flags in support.  This is not my issue and I do not want to be used or have my relationship used either for or against marriage.  I have issues with marriage.

My issues with marriage have absolutely nothing to do with my 20+ year heterosexual marriage.  I had issues with the institution of marriage then, I just ignored those issues and got married anyway.  And stayed married.  As I grew up and grew older it became more difficult for me to ignore all of the issues I have with marriage.  And as I grew up and older and away from my now ex-husband, it became incredibly clear to me that I would not EVER get married AGAIN.  To anyone. 

I don’t really understand why anyone would, particularly any woman.  Except that culturally we view marriage as some magical bond between two people that everyone should want.  For me, that magic has absolutely nothing to do with a ceremony, religious or familial.  That magic has nothing to do with legal rights or finanical benefits.  That magic has nothing to do with a piece of paper or the way you’re treated in society when you tell people you are married. 

Marriage, the insitution, is something I can not support.  That doesn’t mean that I think bad thoughts about married couples.  That doesn’t mean I wasn’t incredibly sad about missing my oldest daughter’s wedding.  That doesn’t mean I wasn’t pleased as punch for my brother and sister in law when they got married a couple of years ago. 

When it comes to the gay fight for equal rights, I’m there ladies and gentleman.  I’m just not down with the idea that equal rights = marriage.  I think gay people (and those who support them) are hoping that once gays HAVE THE RIGHT TO MARRY then everything will be all rosy and bright and the scarey "right" will finally see that WE’RE JUST LIKE YOU!  Umm no. 

And this brings us to Twisty Faster and her awesome essay entitled Homos Need to Grow a Pair.  I’ve stumbled in and out of I Blame the Patriarchy for years (look at the date on the Essay in question!) and Twisty quite often says things that I agree with completely.  She also, occasionally, says things that I disagree with completely.  When I first read that particular entry about gays and marriage I wanted to jump up and down for joy.  Right on Twisty, right ON!  (If you have not taken the time to read the entire entry then you either should or you should just stop reading right here because the rest of this is really not going to make sense to you…)

Ever since I read that post, I’ve had an urge to say "Grow a pair!" every time I hear someone talk about wanting "gay marriage".  Obviously "Grow a pair" is not an argument.  I never suggested that one, tiny, sexist phrase was an argument or a phrase that would encourage anyone to come around to my way of thinking.  When I made that tiny little comment on Blogher a couple of days ago, in response to Grace’s post about Twisty Faster, I had no idea anyone would assume that was my entire argument.  Good grief! 

I did however know that there were women lurking who would take offense to the phrase "Grow a pair".  and if you look at my initial reply, you will see that what I said was "I want to say it" not that I do say it.  It is sexist.  But that is what made it stick in my head so long ago.  It is sexist and it was the perfect title for a post about marriage and the patriarchy and the incredibly obvious (to me) reasons why gay people should not be clamoring to join the club and why the conservative right ought to be clamoring to let us in.

No, "grow a pair" is not an argument, Koan.  I never said it was.  Yes, "grow a pair" is sexist.  Yes, it’s offensive.  But marriage is also sexist and also offensive – Koan said "if you can’t beat it, become it, is that it" – and "two wrongs don’t make a right" … exactly the point.

Gays are jumping all over themselves to win the right to marry because if we can’t beat ’em, become  ’em.  And no, two wrongs don’t make a right – so, ladies and gentlemen,  to paraphrase the great Twisty Faster – grow a pair and refuse to cave to the patriarchy, refuse to support the oppression and stop looking for world-wide validation of your relationships. 

**edited on 2/11/06 to include direct links to comments in the original discussion on Blogher**


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Daily Dose of Choice – Women

Health and Wellness, News and Politics /

The first time I went to a "women’s health clinic" I was 15.  I went with my mom.  In the waiting room there were just a few other women.  All quiet but then the ice broke and the talking began.  A well-dressed, well-jewelled woman older than my mom who had a grandchild and could NOT have a baby at this point in her life.  A college student who didn’t want to talk about what got her there, she was just happy to BE there.  A young mom who had lost her job, gotten a new one but had no insurance and was out of birth control pills.  The clinic was going to give her pills to see her through and a free visit with a doctor.  A teen girl and what appeared to be her boyfriend came in.  The boy whispered something.  The girl said no, stay, please.  He said loudly – I’ll be in the car.  And he was gone.

A few years later, I visited another "women’s clinic".  Busier.  More multi-cultural.  Louder.  No men.  Some children in tow.  The normal hospital waiting room feel – except for the lack of men.

10 years later I visited a Planned Parenthood Clinic for the first time with a friend and her teen daughter.  Angry mob outside.  My friends daughter angrily said "I bet at least one of those people has a son who doesn’t understand the word "NO".   Only one man in the waiting room at this very crowded and clinic.  One.  Granola and crunchy looking.  Birkenstocks when Birkies were only popular in California and Oregon.  No woman partner in site.  I still sometimes wonder who he was and what he was doing there.  That sole man in my experience with "women’s clinics".

I’ve delivered three babies.  I’m 43 years old , do you know how many ob- gyn visits that makes?  Military hospitals, civilian hospitals (as we military folks call you non-military folks) and the only time I ever saw men in the waiting rooms was for a cancer appointment, a "first appointment"  visit in a pregnancy, an ultrasound visit, or a "my wife is ready to get this thing OUT of her, help me!" visit. 

This isn’t about men.  This isn’t about families.  It isn’t about children.  It’s about women.  It’s about women having control over their lives and their bodies and their choices. 


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Daily Dose of Choice – Billboards

2 Comments / Day to Day, Health and Wellness, News and Politics /

I like to drive and I’ve driven a lot in my life.  I’ve driven in more states than I care to count and quite a few countries as well.  But I hate driving in Florida.  It’s not the old folks that scare me.  It’s not the teenagers either.  It isn’t even the propensity of Floridians to run red lights.  It’s the billboards. 

I went many, many years without driving in Florida but in 2001 my world changed and I made my first trip.  I saw a billboard.  I said "hmmm" and promptly put it out of my mind.  But then I saw another and another and another and before I could really process this I had seen so many that I considered never entering this state again.  (I also considered abandoning my vehicle and flying home to good ole South Carolina where I was mostly safe from such madness).  Now look at me – I live in this state and I see these things every single time I leave my house.  Because they aren’t just on billboards along the freeway, they are on buses on campus and buses in the city.  They are everywhere.  They make me ill.  They make me angry.

Here, Look for yourself but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.  They should make you ill too because they are intended to mislead you and manipulate you.  They are intended to prey upon the guilt that society has set upon you, guilt that is unwarranted and unnecessary.

If you are anti-abortion, then so be it.  I support your right to choose.  These folks do not support your right to choose.  They want only to manipulate your mind and your emotions.    They sprinkle their website with lies, half-truths  and religious fear.    They care absolutely nothing about giving you the right to make up your own mind.

Do not be manipulated.   Misleading statements, half-truths and opinions are not FACTS.  Choose for yourself, do not let these people choose for you.  It is your right to CHOOSE.  If you allow people like this to manipulate you into believing there is no choice how long will it be before they take away yet another choice – and another – do these people deserve that power over you? over your daughter? over your family?  I don’t think that they do.


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Daily Dose of Questions – Koolaid

Day to Day, News and Politics, Questions and Answers /

"Drink the Koolaid."  Where did that come from?



I know where the phrase "drink the koolaid" comes from.  I know all about Jim Jones and his little kool-aid  (though it appears that it was Flavor-aid and not Kool-aid) fun.  I understand it, please don’t assume I’m just culturally clueless – my children may be, but I am not.



What I’m confused about is why everyone seems to be using the phrase.  I went for a good 20 years without ever hearing this said by anyone other than a Girl Scout leader or a kindergarten teacher. 



Is it the current political scene causing the mass useage of this phrase or is it the current "scene" in my own little world?  Are you folks in the blogosphere hearing "just drink the kool-aid" or "those people are just drinking the kool-aid" as often as I am?  Are you, like me, saying it??? 



I don’t want to drink the kool-aid and I certainly don’t want to hear myself suggesting it to someone else.  It makes me a little queasy, and not just because I don’t like kool-aid either. 



Buy into the party line, follow the leader business, nasty dirty stuff, isn’t it?



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Daily Dose of Live Blogging – The ER

Health and Wellness, News and Politics /

OK so I’m not live blogging because Blogger does not like my cell phone service. Let’s pretend this is live, ok? I promise I’ll post as soon as I get into a room with a connection…apparently it will be dial up yet again. I’d heard they had added a hotspot when they remodeled last here but it appears I heard incorrectly. Yet another reason for me to be disgruntled at having to spend a few days (or a week) in the hospital.

Now I am jumping the gun a bit. I don’t know for sure we will actually be dropped into a room but I have strong suspicions. TW has Crohn’s Disease. That’s a new diagnosis, until last month we thought TW had Ulcerative Colitis. UC has put us in the hospital twice, for 9 day stays both times. So I have experience with this, none of it good.

She’s been fighting it for awhile, but here we are, back in the ER. She tried to hit up the primary care doc for a diagnosis of “flu” or even “strep throat” but no luck. The symptoms didn’t match so I guess it’s a good thing the doc said “No way, hit the ER and see what the GI doc says.”

Now about the ER… it’s crowded. Really crowded. Lots of little kids, one of whom is very busy. She is visiting with everyone and her really young mama is a little annoying. The child is cute, the mom is ummm not. Let the child be cute or keep her corraled but you just can’t have it both ways in this type of situation. (My parenting advice from the ER, I know you appreciate this.) Another small child in a stroller, drinking soy milk from a carton, with a yukky looking gash on her forehead. The difference between the two children and the two parents is amazing. But that’s they way, isn’t it?

Have I mentioned we’ve been here for 45 minutes and have not yet been checked in by the financial folks over in the corner? It’s going to be an incredibly long night – and it’s Gilmore Girls night! We only watch two TV shows and GG is one of them. The one we most love to watch with Michelle (our 15 year old). Michelle is taping it for us but it won’t be the same, ya know? Instead of GG, we are stuck with ABC news at the moment. Arnold and the California elections and some Nascar thing. I know I live in the south and consider myself a southern woman but Nascar just doesn’t do it for me.

woohooo, TW just got called in for vitals check. Next stop, financial district! Progess, ain’t it grand?

I’ve spent a lot of time in ERs all over the world and it’s interesting how sometimes people look incredibly ill and other times there’s no obvious reason for them to be there. Tonight is an overwhelming look and feel of illness. Not good, for all of these people or for my s/o with the auto-immune disease. The worst place in the world for someone with an A/I Disease is the hospital, ya know?

This ER has absolutely no reading material. None. Not a pamphlet or a magazine or a children’s book or a Bible in site. There are magazine/pamphlet racks but nothing there. The little closed off room that use to be nice to go to for peace and quiet or to corral children in is gone. They’ve changed the traffic flow outside and that area was turned into the entrance. So no quiet spot. No benches where people use to sleep while they waited. No area where small children can sit on the floor and play without being in someone’s way. I hope they remedy both the magazine and quiet room issue.

Speaking of reading material, of the zillion people here, only my s/o has a book. No magazines in sight either. Too sick to read? Even the friends and family are too sick to read?

Something else new about this ER. After you have your vitals taken, you’re given one of those flashing beeper pager thingies like they give you at really busy restaurants. I’ve only heard one buzz since we’ve been here. Have I mentioned we’re going to be here for ages?

I wonder if TW would be troubled if I drove across the street, borrowed the Starbucks Wi-Fi and posted this real quick…and grabbed a quad venti caramel macchiato in the process… I’m sure it would be fine if I brought an extra one back, right? Oh wait, TW is sick and it won’t stay down (to put it nicely). Starbucks should not be so close and yet so far away.

I think I’ll mention those nice security folks who work in the ER. The woman I’ve spoken to the most seems to be off duty. She does “coroner duty” when necessary on all of the floors. Now that’s a tough job. She also handles suicide watches, I know about this from experience and I’ll share that with you another time. And of course there are the other types of disturbances that come into the ER and the folks who get injured while trying to avoid arrest. Anyway, the security staff here is good. One dude gives me the creeps and I don’t really know why. TW says he’s a nice guy so maybe it is/was just me and my frame of mind that evil night when I first saw him. The security folks just escorted an elderly woman in a wheelchair out with a 30 something biker babe-ish woman. Now that was interesting. Wonder what was up with that? The stories we could make up. I think people with writers block should come and sit in an ER for an hour or so. Storylines and character development would begin to flow… and might never stop.

A frantic man who needs a wheel chair for his wife. She looks ummm not so good. A very loud man with “a serious hand smash” (he’s putting a note on his car right now because he’s in the ten minute loading/unloading zone. I wonder what the note will say?). Character development, I’m telling you.

Remember when using a cell phone in a hospital was bad? When did that change? Did it at one time interfer with pace makers or something? Is that why you couldn’t use them? I’m not a big cell phone person. I should look that up.

Six hours? The receptionist woman just told someone it could be six hours til they are seen. Now there is yelling. Scarey – both the yelling and the potential six hours. Where is Dr K to talk about what’s wrong with healthcare in this country? Or in any country for that matter?

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Daily Dose of Education – New Schools

Community Chest, Kid Talk, News and Politics /

All three of the small children started new schools on Monday. All three are attending “magnet” schools that are rather far away. His highness attends a middle school about 15 minutes from here and the girls attend an elementary school that is 20 minutes from here. The middle school has a pretty wide range of kids, in terms of economic and social status but the girls’ elementary school is, well, it is in a minority neighborhood and the majority of students are minority. The magnet students have classes in one building, not in the same building with the “neighborhood kids”. Some of the magnet classes do join the “neighborhood” for specials like PE, Music, etc… There are soooo many things to say about this that I just can’t even start. So instead, I’ll tell you two little stories that were shared by the girls after day one.

RJ is in 4th grade and when TW said “what happened in school today,” RJ said “There was a crime scene at school and there was an outline of a dead body!” It’s hard to know what the right thing to say is when your child makes this announcement on day one at her new school, ya know? TW seemed to manage ok because after a bit more of RJ rambling about this, it turns out this was an actual school activity. No, they didn’t kill anyone in the name of education. It was an observation/detective work type activity of some sort. No real crime, that we know of, was committed. Although, I personally find it troubling that they chose this particular activity for this particular group of kids in this particular school. I am afraid I’m going to have some difficulty keeping my social and class issues to myself…

Then, on the way to school this morning, E (who is in 2nd grade) said that her teacher told her that one year she had a student who would scream and yell and cry and crawl under the tables when she did not get her way. And the teachers finally figured out how to handle that. They discovered that if they quickly shoved something in her mouth, she would stop pitching a fit. Ummm, huh? TW and I were both quiet for a moment. Again, what to say… I asked, “what exactly did they shove into her mouth?” E said, “food!” Oh thank goodness, the light bulb went off and I said BLOOD SUGAR, it was her BLOOD SUGAR. Sheesh.

These kids, I swear they will be the death of me. Or maybe it is this school. We didn’t have these issues with Mrs F…

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Daily Dose of Coffee – Money

Coffee & Tea, Day to Day, Money Talks, News and Politics /

These are two of our regular baristas and we like them. It took awhile for the boy to grow on us but he has, now that he’s not too shy to talk to us. I think we have almost talked him into blogging so stay tuned for that… 😉

But the point of this post isn’t to talk about our favorite baristas (or least favorite) I’ve got two other things to ramble about and both involve money. But hey, anytime you talk about Starbucks money is in the back of your mind isn’t it?

As you may know, TW and I stop at Starbucks every morning for Quad Venti Caramel Macchiatos and unfortunately they’re skim too but I try to forget that as often as possible. (For you non-Starbucks people, quad means 4 shots of espresso. Venti is the largest size, it’s 24oz and I’m not going to explain Starbucks’ version of the macchiato because if you don’t know then you’re living on Mars and there are no Starbucks on Mars at this time and I don’t really like to torture anyone except his highness, J.)

I love my morning visit to Starbucks. I love my baristas. I love the fact that they know exactly what I want before I order and I love making new baristas nervous by reminding them that when you make a CM you do not pour the shot straight into the freaking cup. It’s fun. I enjoy seeing the others who are as addicted as I am. I love seeing the unusual people who wander in and puzzle over the menu. The troubling part of this school year, which starts on Monday, is trying to figure out how we’re going to be able to go to Starbucks without having to buy little kids coffee or hot chocolate every morning and drag them in with us and stuff.

Part of me was thinking we’d just skip Starbucks on the mornings that we had the kids. It would be a good way to save some money, right? But then the Hello Dollar! dude had to go and make me growly by reminding me how much money we spend there every year. I’m feeling like some teen kid whose mom has just explained why something is not a good idea, I just want to do it even MORE now.

Who cares if I take that $55 a week and put it in the bank and it turns into $3,019.26 (with interest)? I NEED MY STARBUCKS before work more than I need $3,019.26 a year right? Who cares if I’ve been seriously stressing over our debt for a year, if we don’t spend that on Starbucks we won’t save it, we’ll spend it on something else, won’t we?

Yes, we have a nice Starbucks coffee pot. I brew Gazebo in it everyday. We’ve got a nice Starbucks espresso machine too but we never use it. It takes too much work and it is not nearly as much fun as teasing college kids wearing their crummy Starbucks hats and cute little aprons. There’s no community standing around the espresso machine in my kitchen, ya know?

Life is hard.

And now that I’ve actually said life is hard and all I’m doing is thinking about how I might not get my Quad Venti Caramel Macchiato a few days a month I’m feeling like a hypocrite because there are kids in this world who don’t have clean water.

Starbucks is working on that problem by donating 10 million over five years from the sale of ethos water sold in their stores. (I’m buying a bottle tomorrow, I swear!!!)

Jay Winston over on the Huff Po blog doesn’t think this is good enough. (Has he pledged to donate $10 million of his earnings in over 5 years to the clean water cause??? Has he pledged any?) He seems to think that Starbucks would do better to encourage its customers to buy coupons for a dollar or five dollars to donate to the cause. He seems to think this would raise more than five million. I think he’s wrong. This may not be the BEST campaign but it’s better than some dumb “buy a ticket” campaign

I hate it when people ask me if I want to contribute a dollar to this cause or that at the grocery store or at Shoney’s or like they did today at Petsmart. I just don’t contribute to causes that way. And I don’t think the majority of Starbucks customers in this college town do either. Tomorrow when I head into my Starbucks I’m going to ask the baristas what they think but I bet they’d hate having to push tickets on people. Heck, they hate having to ask people if they’d like a pastry with their drink.

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Daily Dose of Music – Ani

GLBT, News and Politics, Sights & Sounds /

There are about ten posts I want to make, maybe even need to make, and here I am writing about Ani of all people/things. What is up with that? I can’t even say it is because Michelle is asking me if she can use Ani’s poetry for her honors American Government assignment on Ayn Rand’s Anthem. I was already thinking about writing about Ani before Michelle woke up!

Anyway, what was I thinking about? A whole muddle of things, which makes sense because Ani is a whole muddle of things, isn’t she? First, the poor thing can’t tour because of some pretty severe tendonitis. I know there are a whole lot of disappointed people out there but I’ve not been all that impressed with her shows. The first time I saw her, with her band, there were some annoying chicks standing next to us and that might have colored my experience a bit. The second time was at Calliopefest without her band – boring, boring, boring.

And since I’m blogging about Ani, I should mention PBS is rerunning the River of Song series in some areas. I’ve never seen it so maybe I should just see about getting the video or something?

And then there’s the song “4th of July” song that I keep hearing on this Yahoo Launchcast station that I listen to. What CD is this on? I’ve owned them all and been a fanatic over them all at various points in my life and this one has just never caught my ear before.

Oh and if that’s not enough Ani rambling, I need a baby just so I can dress her in this, lol. I don’t think it would suit the heir to the throne, darn it.

And none of this Ani stuff actually led to anything, except that it’s felt like an Ani sort of day. Maybe because I’m not feeling very “user friendly”, something Ani also isn’t. Maybe because I miss my kid again. Mabye it’s all of the Choice stuff flying around the Blogosphere – who can think pro-choice and not think of Ani?

Whatever the reason, I felt like an Ani post and that’s probably reason enough.

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