You Don’t Have to Be Pretty.
“You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.”
I love this. You Don’t Have to Be Pretty
Poetry
Even now lover as we lay
in amazement and if baby
as you say my skin is the color of sun warmed
sand then you’re my moonless night
as we the beach wet tidal
all that good shhhhhh
Decisions
I almost always make bad decisions when it comes to choosing men. Ok mostly bad. But whatever, at least I had the sense to turn down an offer from Dewey.
My mom is better than yours!
My Mom is Better Than Yours. Why? Because she didn’t know how to knit, but taught herself how to make me this awesome blanket because the winter cold kills me. Isn’t it beautiful? Her name is Donna, but they call her Dancing Donna. How do you beat that? She wore a very serious bouffant in her HS graduation picture. She’s super crafty, which is all the rage these days. Plus, she drinks michelladas with me.
Khalil Gibran, The Man Behind the Prophet
My Dad tells me that my grandmother kept a copy of The Prophet or just picked up at the bookstore one day. I imagine that for her and others of her generation, it was a tie or a link to Lebanon. I wasn’t born in Lebanon, but even I feel tied to the land, and a strong pull to return. I don’t think that Lebanon every leaves you if it’s in your blood. We hold on tightly to our culture, no matter where we are in the world.
High Speed Rail in Italy
I’m really looking forward to riding this train. I’ve taken all sorts of trains throughout Italy, regional and high speed, and they were all fine. My sister and I even took a somewhat silly one-car train from Pisa to Lucca. But this one looks fantastic. And I’ll admit, I never used the bathrooms on any of the trains—I wouldn’t even sit next to a bathroom. Naples to Milan is a fairly long trip and having this kind of option would be nice!
On High-Speed Rails, a New Challenger in Italy – NYTimes.com
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Disenfranchised My Grandmother
My grandmother has recently been hospitalized, and during this hospitalization, her doctor decided that it’s time for her to quit driving. Her driver’s license was her only state-issued photo ID.
“Senate State Government Committee Chairman Charles McIlhinney said he has seen no proof that people are casting illegal ballots, but he also said he’s seen no proof that tightening the requirements would deny anyone the right to vote. He called the requirement a ‘security check.’ ‘It was put upon us and asked for by the governor and by the House, who passed the bill, and they asked me to take it up,’ McIlhinney, R-Bucks, said after the committee vote. ‘I made the changes based upon what I felt I would accept to come out of the committee.’”
Ni santas, ni putas, solo mujeres
Seems very appropriate.
Ciudad de Mexico – 8 de Marzo 1991
“Ni Santas, Ni Putas, Solo Mujeres”
Imágenes del Movimiento Feminista en la Ciudad de Mexico
Happy International Women’s Day! Time to rise up ladies!
“We have fallen into what I call the 16 percent ghetto, which is that if you look at any sector, be it aerospace engineering, Hollywood films, higher education, or Fortune 500 leading positions, women max out at roughly 16 percent,” Spar said. “That is a crime, and it is a waste of incredible talent.”