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May 5th, 2008
10:10 am - looking back on Loving
Mildred Loving, of the landmark Loving v. Virginia decision, passed on today. I can only hope that forty years from now, we'll look back at the various DOMAs the way we look back today on the anti-miscegenation laws: to ask, how did that take so long? There is no rational reason not to allow gay people to marry, just as there was no rational reason not to allow members of different races to marry.
(Turns out Mrs. Loving thought the same, for what it's worth.)
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April 23rd, 2008
09:39 am - don't let me hear that life is taking you nowhere
The Pod hit 'Golden Years' by David Bowie while I was walking in to school today. That song is one of the few that can right off put me in a good mood; I think it must have something to do with watching A Knight's Tale on TV some time and the one scene where they're all dancing funky to, strangely enough, 'Golden Years'.
Which of course made me sad, because Heath Ledger isn't much of a dancer any more. But it was sunny and 'Golden Years' was on, and somehow one abides.
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April 13th, 2008
10:04 am - The starlings in their bright mail were feeding on the grass
Virginia Woolf has said everything better than I will ever say it.
That said: the (European) starlings are out in force recently. It seems to be the time of the season for them; always on the way to or from school I'll hear and then see one perched on a power line, warbling loudly, flapping his wings in display. Or maybe it's a she; European starlings aren't sexually dimorphic to the extent that some birds are, so the males and the females look the same to me. (I'm told by the interwebs you can distinguish them by the length of the breast feathers. Ho ho ho.)
The funny thing I saw today was a group of starlings, all sitting in a tree and exhibiting this behavior- and then a robin jumped up into the tree and started doing the same thing. Oh! dear silly Robin.
I know I'm getting older because spring heartens me, it really does. The slow opening of the season, from the wintry camellias and poisonous hellebores to daphne and crocus, star magnolia and daffodil and then, suddenly, lilac, hydrangea, peony, like fireworks; it feels beautiful, moving, meaningful. I fall in love with spring so easily, each time more easily than the last. My affection for the seasons accumulates like the gold scales of sunlight in Woolf's Monday or Tuesday, a wealth of useless sentiment. (No wonder my classmates call me 'grandma'.)
I had two planters on the stoop, and both of them seem to have passed the winter much better than I expected; all of the herbs in them have come back, as opposed to those actually in the ground in the front yard, which are still reluctant. I put in jasmine and daphne that I hope will be lovely and fragrant by summer, but they're taking their time too. There's something unforgiving or unhealthful about the soil in our yard. Perhaps it's just a reminder not to put down roots just yet.
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March 29th, 2008
07:15 pm - tonight: high school humiliations revisited
Tonight is LAW SCHOOL PROM! I have a vintage yellow dress (that I took the hem up on today) and a grey velvet clutch (that I made today) and GOLD SHOES and my blue coat (that I mended today).
I'm a crafty mofo. And as my reward, I'm taking tickets from my fellow students for the first hour or so of the prom. I hope my feet don't die.
The point is, I've been watching The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King, because, you know, they're on, and they're AWESOME. Especially The Scorpion King, what with the Rock going into slooooo moooooshun every time he starts fighting. Fabulous. I love that man.
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March 25th, 2008
06:26 pm - gimme everything you own, and then beg to get it back
We've been reading about the various methods by which the United States took land from the native tribes. It's not quite what you'd expect- long before the government came anywhere near putting the tribes on reservations, our nation's greatest minds were working on the assumption that as heirs to the discovering nations that came before them, the United States already had 'absolute title' to all of the land within their borders. They then forced each tribe onto smaller and smaller parcels of land, by treaty and forced treaty, by forced migration, by congressional legislation abrogating treaty. Native people weren't using the land productively, they reasoned, and so they weren't entitled to it. ( and so on, and so forth )
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March 23rd, 2008
07:50 am - i'm gonna go out and get absolutely drenched in mccain
So, um, there's this video, by McCain supporters (one presumes), which kind of filks 'It's Raining Men'.
As Dan Savage notes, this is a disrespectful and, more importantly, badly sung misappropriation of an early gay anthem. However. If this is how McCain supporters want to promote him, I say bravo. Please, pudgy off-tune ladies, misappropriate some other movement anthems. My boyfriend recommends 'In The Navy', for one. Why not '(You Spin Me) Right Round' or 'I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight'?
But why even limit yourselves to the gay movement? We've all been waiting for a conservative cover of 'I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar' or 'Rebel Girl' by Bikini Kill. How about 'War' by Edwin Starr, or 'Mosh' by Eminem? Lend your atrophied vocal cords to the cause. The results are bound to be hilarious and do nothing whatsoever for your candidate.
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February 10th, 2008
12:08 am - an open note to SciFi Original Production Company
Dear Messrs,
In regard to your movie 'Bone Eater,' not to be confused with 'The Bone Snatcher,' which also played last night: never do a monster reveal before the opening credits. While I understand that your opus suffers from many flaws, I believe that correcting this matter would make it bearable for at least the first five minutes.
Most sincerely yrs,
Ursula
P.S. Stop casting Casper Van Dien in all your movies; you're only protecting him from the social Darwinism of the acting world. His failed acting genes must die out in order to allow mankind to evolve.
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February 6th, 2008
10:17 am - scary things I have read this morning:
1.) McCain / Huckabee '08
2.) McCain / Lieberman '08
3.) McCain / Gingrich '08
Seriously, can anyone explain to me why they hate Hillary so thoroughly that they would consider voting for McCain instead? Give me detailed policy reasons, not 'she's not for hope and change!' or 'her husband got a blow job in the Oval Office!'
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January 22nd, 2008
10:46 am - Because I get all my news from Jezebel these days...
Think you've got colored wires growing from your skin? You're not wrong. Maybe.
This reminds me of dreams I used to have of grass growing out of my skin, some sort of airborne parasitic grass plague, or the one with the 'vampire' that looked like an alligator and when it bit you, you started growing teeth from the edges of your mouth around the back of your head... Weird. My dreams these days are mundane (ZOMBIES) and boring (ZOMBIES).
Edit: Goshdarnit, now I'm all itchy. Damn fungus/wires/worms/nanites/tobacco beetles/what-have-you.
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January 14th, 2008
07:15 pm - noise
Other people have lots to say right now. Myself, I'm fond of silence for the moment.
There's nothing better than when the world around you makes its own noises- the drop of leaves on a quiet morning, the thunder in July, the constant percussive din of hail falling.
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