Wednesday, August 31, 2005

so sorry

Here I am, sitting at work, thinking about how I can't wait for 10 minutes to pass so I can go home.

But there are pictures of piles of houses, cars, belongings...all in piles. And 20,000 people in a caravan to Texas to live in a stadium for two months. And then?? The people who ended up in the superdome to begin with were people who couldn't get out of the city because they were sick, had nowhere to go, no way to get out, and no money. So how are they going to rebuild their lives? What about all the poor people? What are they going to do? What about people who were just making it, but not making it enough to be able to get insurance for their apartments? How are these people going to get the things they need to live when they have a chance to try?

Besides, 20,000 people in a relatively small space for two months will end up in a Lord of the Flies-like disaster. The poor people are traumatized! They may help each other to begin with, but they will start to lose it after awhile.

And I have to figure out what to have for dinner, worry about doing laundry...

And I imagine - what would happen to me if suddenly I had no home, no job, no money for two months??

That will ruin people's lives. Won't it? I mean, they'll be glad to be alive, but they're going to have to start all over.

Of course, the people with a lot of money and resources will be fine.

I just don't know what's going to happen to the people there and it makes me very sad. And what about people in hospitals? Will they all just die when the generators run out of fuel? Will the soil be poisoned now? Will they be able to restore drinking water?

I just feel so horrible because there's nothing I can do and I wish I could do something to help those people there.....

Friday, August 26, 2005

Constitutional Convention

The MA Constitutional Convention has been scheduled for Sept. 14th. That's when they'll decide whether or not to put the gay marriage ban on the ballot for Nov. 6th. We all know that the majority should never be allowed to decide the rights of a minority. That's not what the Constitution - of the country or of any state - should be used for.

"But I don't live in Massachusetts! I hope it stays there for your sake, but I can't get married there, anyway, so why is it important to me that it stays legal?"

Well, because Massachusetts is a light of hope for people in other parts of the country! Also, if it's defeated here - that is, if gay marriage is banned here, too - other states may not be willing to fight because they will think that it would get defeated as it did here.

"So what happens if the ammendment is on the ballot?"

Then, we'll have to hope that people will vote in our favor. But it would be much better for us all if it didn't come to that.

"If the ammendment voted down at the ConCon, is it gone for good?"

Yes and no. This particular ammendment will die there. However, the 'bad guys' have another ammendment they want to propose that will take away both civil unions and gay marriage.

"Why not civil unions?"

There are no federal laws regarding civil unions and no states have to recognize civil unions from other states. While you'd still have the state benefits like inheritance and hospital visiting rights, you would still not be married in the eyes of the country.

Besides, separate is never equal.

"So what can I do?"

...start plug...

Go to www.massequality.org. There, you can send letters to your legislators if you're in MA or you can send a letter to the attorney general of Massachusetts. Or, you can send letters to other legislators. You can also forward the information there to your friends and loved ones, and you can make donations if you want.

...end plug...

Friday, August 19, 2005

What Marriage Equality Means to Me

In support of a local organization fighting to keep equal marriage rights in Massachusetts, I wrote this:

I am a white, healthy, educated, able-bodied woman. My parents are still married, and both have post-graduate degrees. I went to a Christian church throughout my childhood, and belonged to Christian youth groups in high school. I grew up knowing that I was privileged, and that I was lucky to not have to fight for basic respect, dignity and my own human rights. My family came to the United States on the Mayflower. I had no first-hand knowledge of what it means to be a minority. I was taught that the Constitution protected my rights, and everyone else’s, and that civil rights were something that had been fought for and won by other people, but were something I had always and would always have. So when, in my mid-twenties, I fell in love with a woman, I was thrust into a whole new world. A world that suddenly believed I was not worthy of the basic human right to marry the person I loved. Suddenly, the girlhood dream of a glamorous wedding was shattered as I realized that any wedding I had would be merely a ceremony. My marriage would not be legal. If I got hurt, my parents would still be considered my next-of-kin. If my partner and I decided to have a child, we’d still have to battle a slew of red tape and bureaucracy to ensure that ‘the law’ viewed us as equal parents. Suddenly, I was not a whole part of ‘The People of the United States of America,’ as the Constitution could no longer ensure that my rights as a human being were the same as everyone else’s.

Around the same time that I was discovering what this all meant to me, a nationwide debate began about whether or not I could get married. Because, after all, that’s what the debate is about. It’s not about this separate group of people. It’s about me. It’s about your cousin, your sister, your brother. It’s about each person who is in love with someone who happens to be of the same gender. I wondered why, at a time when our country is at war, when millions of Americans are in poverty, when millions of Americans can’t get adequate healthcare, why is it so dangerous for me to marry the person I love? Why does it even matter?

Massachusetts has decided that, at least while I’m within the borders of this state, I am a full human being. Now, everyday, I read in the newspaper about whether or not I deserve the right to choose whom I should marry. Everyday, I see politicians, whose salaries I help pay, debate and fight with each other about whether or not my rights matter. I am made to believe that I should feel grateful for the Supreme Court’s decision for marriage equality. In other states, I wouldn’t have this right. In this state, it could be taken away.

I don’t feel grateful because it seems that my rights should be indisputable. I still believe that I deserve ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ I am as much a human being, as much a citizen of Massachusetts and the United States as everyone who chooses to marry someone of the opposite gender, am I not?

Marriage equality means to me that the government acknowledges my civil rights, as a citizen of the United States. Marriage equality means that I can continue to believe, as I was taught, that the United States is founded on principles of equality and dignity for all people. The Constitution was not meant to deny my rights, but ensure them.

When you are deciding whether or not to support a Constitutional Amendment to ban marriage equality, and when you are deciding whether or not this question should be put to a vote, I beg you - consider my rights. Would you want to let the general population decide whether or not you should have the same rights as everyone else? Don’t you deserve the same rights as everyone else? Can you look me in the eye and tell me that I don’t?

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

taxes rock

10 Years Ago: August 1995- I was completing my first summer as a camp counselor and getting ready to go to college!

5 Years Ago: August 2000 - I was completing my first summer as a camp assistant director and getting ready to start graduate school.

1 Year Ago: August 2004 - I was in Maui! I brought 16 teenaged girls through where I worked.

Yesterday: I had enchiladas for dinner that were YUMMY (I didn't cook them, of course, but someone else in my house did!) ;)

Today: I'm eating peanut butter pretzels

Tomorrow: I have my tutoring teach-back thing

5 snacks I enjoy: peanut butter filled pretzels, cookies (all kinds), baby carrots, ice cream, most other things.

5 bands that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs: Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Dar Williams

5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Buy a house, pay off my debt, pay off MG's debt, send MG to culinary school, buy two Priuses, save the rest.

5 bad habits I have: procrastinating, too much ice cream, being lazy in general, watching too much tv, being very stubborn

5 things I like doing: watching tv, eating ice cream, going out to dinner, going on road trips with MG, going shopping

5 things I would never wear: a bikini, anything tight, a thong, turtlenecks, belly shirt

5 TV shows I like: Alias, Days of Our Lives, Passions, The Amazing Race, Law & Order

5 movies I like: Matilda, Hillary and Jackie, The Presidio, Planet of the Apes, Kissing Jessica Stein

5 famous people I'd like to meet: Bette Midler, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Fergie, Ani DiFranco (that'd be a funny dinner party)

5 biggest joys at the moment (not including people and pets): Sunshine, my purple furniture, being healthy, that I brought lots of snacks to work today, that my job isn't stressful at all.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005



They love each other.

bored

Maybe once you have a job that actually matters to someone, it's hard to have a job that makes no difference to anyone.

I enjoy not being stressed out, being able to 'leave my work at work,' not worrying about it when I go home. I enjoy not having dreams about my job, not worrying about whether or not I'm really doing any good, as I'm not trying to do any good to anyone at all.

But it's really sort of difficult to get into a job when you know it really doesn't matter.

Or maybe that's just the sort of person I am - do I really want to spend 40 hours a week doing something that does nothing towards making the world a better place for anyone? No. I do not.

Is it enough to tutor a few hours every week? Is it enough to volunteer every so often? Can I really tolerate a meaningless, capitalist job?

I believe I am in a holding pattern. Eventually, I am going to have to land, get off the plane, and get back to work.

I wonder how long it will be until I get motion sickness from the circling...I'm starting to feel a little queasy...