Favorite Fuzzy Slippers or???

Tom over at True Talk asks an interesting question - What item or items matter to you? Not people or ideas - we are talkin' things.

Do things matter? If so, don't be shy - which ones do you cherish and why?

The "things" that matter to me are: my grandmother's quilts, my photo albums, a wooden antique angel statue, art work by friends, and my books.

The reasons behind most of the items are obvious: they are handmade by people I love, or they represent family and friends, good memories together.

The angel statue is just very rare and unique - something I stumbled across in the back room of an old store that is no longer.

The books? I am just a bookworm and reading brings me great joy.

So confess - what comfort items or gadgets could you not give up?

Cobwebs forming...

Things will be a little slow this week since friend and fellow commenter, Dave is in town. We are heading out to the CN Tower tonight - then lots of good food at Southern Accent. Thanks to Kereena, we'll have a few other ideas for good vittles.

Does anyone have any recommendations for parts of TO that are a must-see? K, you can jump in again since I know you live here.

OH....MY.....GOD

Miss Poppy Patriotic Soldier Fetus

Anger in Context

"I'm not a member of Dworkin's target audience, but (or therefore) she really pissed me off. Statements like "left alone on a desert island, men would fuck mud" (to pick one example that stuck in my mind) are true but also irrelevant or falsifying: left alone on a desert island, would women not use dildoes? What exactly is the difference?

I found her rhetoric very unpleasant because it came IMHO close to pure hatemongering. She said things about men that would have had her (rightly) imprisoned if said about blacks. Again, what is the difference?"

Udge makes a good point in my comments below. Much of what Dworkin had to say would be viewed as hate speak in today's moderatey tolerant world.

But to get to the interesting, really interesting question, what is the difference between anger from women directed at men and that of whites against blacks, etc? Is hate not hate?

I believe there is a difference and it is based on context. If you are looking at, say, Malcolm X - some of what he had to say would not be tolerated in today's society. Why? Because there is not a clear correlation between the anger and events that warrant that anger.

At the time, Malcolm X had experienced incredible doses of prejudice and white ignorance. He had lived through violence of oppression. His wrath toward white culture, in context, is generally accepted today and understand as an appropriate response to the realty of living as a black person in his time.

Therefore we understand the nature of his rage, even if we do not agree with acts of violence or hateful retaliation. Unless, of course, you believe in an eye for an eye.

I believe Dworkin, like Malcolm X, grew up in a time when women stepped up to the plate and said, "Enough." Her anger towards men, in my view, was justified. Women have lived under the fist of male violence for thousands of years. Men are still the perpetrators of most violent crime. Whether or not you agree with her statements, you must admit that given her generation, her anger was appropriate in context.

Again, I am not advocating behavior or call to violent uprising here. But understanding what motivates is important.

Udge, you suggest that there's no difference between a skinhead's angry sentiments or feelings and Dworkin's anti-male discourse? I would suggest that racial bigotry, in the case of whites against people of color, is universally without context. In other words, statistically there is no reality to back up their anger. They claim that their jobs are being taken or their neighborhoods are being criminalized, but that is just statistically invalid. Further to that, most black violence is black on black. It's absurd to suggest that minorities are doing harm to whites. Period.

Subjectivity comes into play of course, but looking at the context is key to understanding people.

Ward Churchill's recent statement about the United States is another intriguing example of anger in context and as historically relevant.

The Death of Radical Feminism

There's another great comment on the life and work of Andrea Dworkin at Butterflies and Wheels... It's worth the trip.

I completely agree with the author - There is a void that needs to be filled in the feminist or women's movement. Perhaps women feel that they have it pretty good now and have regressed into a state of complacency. After all, we women in North America can work (although for less $) and we can still land a man who provides us with the relationship comforts we rest our Bruno Magli's on.

I am not a woman who feels downtrodden. I am too stubborn for that. I recognize that true equality doesn't exist. I don't believe it ever will. I think we have a natural pecking order and men have managed to maintain their spot for the past few thousand years.

Most of the women I see in positions of power and authority are not doing anything better than the men, and are simply playing the same power games, even though the blows come with a few pecks on the cheek afterward.

But I do miss the radical anger of Dworkin. I miss it because, as O.B. comments, we are enthralled with Paris Hilton's crotch or Britney's baby days - and we would have to give that fixation up if we started examining the quality of our existence as thinking women.

Face it, we are all bored. We don't get our panties in a knot about much other than our cell phone rates or the weather.

I miss righteously pissed off women. Where are they?

While some gals watch Desperate Housewives...

What does this say to you...

This is one of my favorite proverbs and I would like to hear from you - what does it mean in your own interpretation? There are no wrong answers.

She who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount ~ Proverb

Snuf here...so typical

Which Sesame Street Muppet Are You?

Shuffling on home now. Have a great night!

Andrea Dworkin has died

Andrea Dworkin, feminist iconoclast, dies at 59

No matter how you feel about her politics, she was one radical thinker and activist. She has left a indelible mark on feminism.

Farewell.

One of my favorite quotes....

Wild intelligence abhors any narrow world; and the world of women must stay
narrow, or the woman is an outlaw. No woman could be Nietzsche or Rimbaud
without ending up in a whorehouse or lobotomized.
~ Andrea Dworkin

Can you dig it?

This weekend was amazing - I can fill a total shift in my attitude and physical self. It was great to be in the sunshine, even if I happened to be picking up trash.

Does anyone have experience with gardening in a northern climate? I am getting ready to till (I hope Dave will bring his tiller - hint) and am curious as to what I should start planting. The ground must have been somewhat fertile - the people before used a great deal of the backyard as a garden. I wish I could spare a year to see what comes up, but I will likely be in the house a few years and am anxious to start my own vegetable garden.

Posting has been at a minimum just because I am so enamored with doing stuff around the new place. I walk around from room to room like a zombie, staring at the clean, freshly painted walls. I am going to do some sage burning tonight to get the old out and make it smell like our place. I wish I could have you all over for a glass of wine or coffee.

Jon (blog friend) is flying in to town tonight. Not much time for visiting, unfortunately. It will be good to see him in the flesh. I expect he will be a lot different in person than I had imagined - they always are. Udge was different (in a delightful, good way). Kereena is a mystery woman still. :-)

I've been thinking that my social circle is pretty small here and it should be expanded. For an introvert, I don't do so bad, but I would like to have a small group of people with whom to share dinner and conversation. So far I have been borrowing friends of friends, that sort of thing. It is hard to find people who are in my groove in life (i.e. busy but childless, hitched, creative, non-partying). I don't even care so much if they are in a relationship, just as long as they aren't obsessed with finding a mate. There is NOTHING worse than being on a sex stakeout when you are just there as immoral support.

But I digress...

This city is too big. Where do I take Dave this time around? Kereena, any suggestions?

Boxes and Dust Bunnies

Whew, I feel like I've been on a bender and am battling the flu - and neither are true. This move has proven to be the most challenging yet, and I still have the yard to prep for the vegetable garden. I'm like Martha on acid these days.

Lots of talk on the marketing and business blogs about whether or not marketing is lying. If it is or is not, I wonder if it's an important conversation to have when the root problem is over-consumption. Most of us can at least agree on that. Maybe I am cynical, but air your conscience on your own time, folks. We don't give penance, am I right?

Speaking of which, Mac had something funny but blasphemous to say about postmortem Pope. If you are Catholic, don't go there. If you are Catholic and have a sense of humor, go ahead.

Overall the housewarming party plans are a go - just flexible. I am so ready for friends to come in to town just so I have an excuse to not think about taxes, unpacking, a possible TTC strike and my backyard that currently resembles a muddy lake.

BTW Jon over at Business Evolutionist will be gracing TO with his presence next week. That will be the second blogger I get to meet. Hooray. Now to figure out how to con him in to helping me move things.

More soon....