hillary was wrong.

do you remember back a few months ago when hillary clinton described congress as a modern day plantation? yeah, i laughed out loud at that too. if she really wants to see a modern day plantation, complete with slaves who have NO WAY OUT, maybe she should try going to prison.

CNN reports that "conservatives"/ republicans are saying instead of using illegal immigrant labor for low paying jobs, we should use prisons.

must be their prison-industrial complex running buddies aren't making enough money just housing these folks. now, we need to make slaves out of them. (not that this idea, or practice is new).

if you didn't know that prisons are an overtly racially discriminating business, now you do.

it sure ain't easy

if you've watched the movie "crash", or this years oscars ceremony, you'll know what this is a takeoff of.

if you don't, check out this website.

It's Hard Out Here for a Feminist

You know it's hard out here for a fem'nist (you ain't knowin)
When she tryin to get some respect from the men (you ain't knowin)
For the energy and work hours spent
Because a whole of lot of misog'nists talk shit

In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in this world
Done seen women raped, done seen women beat
Done seen women live in poverty on the street
It's fucked up where I live, but that's just how it is

It might be new to you, but it's been like this for years
It's blood sweat and tears when it come down to this shit
I’m tryin to get justice ‘fore I leave up out this life
I’m tryin to get thangs right but it’s hard fo’ a fem'nist
But I'm prayin and I'm hopin to God I don't give up the fight

haiku for today

The world of dew
is the world of dew.
And yet, and yet--

~issa

__________________


one is enough for today, for the week. this is one of my favorite haikus. it is so powerful.

VWAV

well, the wkd wasn't as relaxing as i had hoped. altho i did get a great nap friday night (is it sad that my favorite thing to do on friday nights is fall asleep on the couch with the pooka on my belly?) i woke up early saturday morning and worked all day cooking and cleaning and doing loads of dishes. that was the theme of the wkd: doing dishes.

sunday, i finished up cleaning and did my shift at bread and jam's in the afternoon. which is always nice and i actually had a great crew of volunteers which makes all the difference.

so, it was definitely vegan with a vengeance wkd at my house. i made: pomegranite bbq tofu; chickpea and brocolli casserole with the chickpea punk rock gravy; and the blueberry coffee cake.

all of which were super delicious.

previously i have made: lemon corn waffles with blueberry sauce; peanut butter seitan with soba noodles; tempeh bacon and tofu scramble. the first two were amazing. second two not so much but i have a recipe for tofu scramble already that rocks and i was never a fan of regular bacon so....there you go.

i had also wanted to make biscuits and tempeh-whitebean gravy but was too tired. maybe a couple of wkds hence.

plus i've been seriously thinking about what i want to do when i'm done with grad school. it's two years away but i do have that feeling of wanting to know what comes next. this is seriously the first time in my life i don't have a five and ten year plan which is scary but also freeing.

do i want to stay in my field or do something different? how biological can i get if i refuse to work with animals? do i stay local or try a completely new locale? do i want to stay on the coast or am i willing to move into the country? do i move abroad? how will that work with the pooka? how important is weather?


in the meantime: another wk of data analysis and paper reading. oh joy.

for posterity

xf and i do very similar things in lab, so we are often discussing our experiments/ data analysis. esp the caveats of doing single molecule work.

me: "so many things to think about."
xf: "so much time needed to waste."

at which i cracked up. of course.

panda bear

"The truth is that everything the new wave of Bush critics has to say was obvious long ago to any commentator who was willing to look at the facts."

from True Blue Liberal


this statement represents what i find extremely disingenuous about the new wave of conservatives criticizing Bush/ the Bush admin.

I am not surprised at how inept he has been. I am not suprised at how evil his actions have become. It was all there, plain as day, for anyone willing to look.

but people are too concerned with labels. he was "conservative"; he was a "republican"; he was "a man of faith".

um, yeah, right. and i'm a panda bear. it must be true because i just said it!

two haikus by basho

It's not like anything
they compare it to--
the summer moon.

~basho

First day of spring
i keep thinking about
the end of autumn.

~basho

the wonderful weekend

this past weekend was gorgeous.

i was completely by myself (well, of course, the pooka was there, but he's my baby) which got a bit strange after awhile.

but i got everything done i wanted to, went to church on sunday (i hadn't been in a month) so i got to see many of my friends, took a nap, and made lots of food. it was so relaxing, and peaceful which was what i needed. it was also delightful because spring was in the air.

and i made some medical decisions for myself that i feel good with right now.

and i watched the oscars a bit last night. i was really hoping for a "brokeback" win. granted, i haven't seen the movie, but i have read the short story it is based on and i have seen "crash". which, imo, was less than stellar.

it wasn't that it wasn't well acted--i thought everyone involved did a great job; it was beautiful and smooth in looks. and i loved the scene where the little girl protected her dad from getting shot.

but it was so....well, trite. cliche. unsatisfactory.

wow: good people can be asses. bad people can do good things. i never knew! thank you, hollywood.

but really, do i think matt dilon's character was truly redeemed because he saved the black women whom he had already raped from a burning car? no. esp because i don't think he did it as an act of redemption versus his: this is what cops do.

do i think sandra bullock accepting her latina housecleaner as a 'friend' (because she has NO ONE else) means the next time a latino comes to change the locks on the door she won't think he'll sell her keys to his gang buddies?

do i think snow blanketing the city of los angelos after the "good" white cop kills his black hitch hiker is anything at all meaninful?

no, i guess i don't.

and it seems like i'm not the only one

so, there you go.