All I Want

My sister asked me what I want for my birthday. I replied: 1) I'm not having one this year—I've had quite a few already and don't feel the need for another one anytime soon; and 2) I really do have everything I personally need; anything else would be frivolous. However, even with those completely logical, sound excuses, she still wanted a list. So I gave her one (in no particular order):

1. World peace.
2. Accessible clean water for everyone, everywhere.
3. The abolishment of leishmaniasis.
4. Universal healthcare.
5. For Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney and anyone else I don’t like to mysteriously vaporize.
6. Psychotherapy for a year.
7. A one-year trip around the world (which would be the best psychotherapy).
8. A spell to make my cats not poop anymore (or to make them go in the toilet).
9. A really awesome guy who thinks I’m the bee’s knees and will never change his mind.
10. 26-hour days.
11. A kool new job (but I prefer the trip).
12. The ability to be invisible.
13. A Nobel prize for surgery.

But I'm still not having a birthday this year.

Stop-motion Awesomeness: “Lucía, Luis y el Lobo”

Here are two stop-motion animated films by Niles Atallah, Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal León. These are the koolest little films I've seen in ages, dark and eery with raspily-whispered narration. Check out the artists' website, Diluvio Gallery.

Lucía, Luis y el Lobo (Lucía, Luis and the Wolf)

Lucía (2007) 3:49 min
Lucía remembers the summer in which she fell in love with Luis. The furniture whithin a bedroom is shaken and destroyed, meanwhile the charcoal Lucía appears and vanishes on the walls.



Luis (2008) 3:50 min (warning: possibly offensive language)
Luis talks about his life in the forest and his relationship with Lucía. He appears in charcoal on the walls of a room filled with broken objects that constantly shift around. Little by little the room clears up as the objects return to their proper places.



Grazie, Dudecraft and Wooster Collective!

Word of the Day: Concupiscence

I learned a new word today: concupiscence. According to dictionary.com, it means
1) sexual desire; lust; or
2) ardent, usually sensuous, longing.
So, one might wonder what I was reading—The Story of O? A porn website? Match.com?

Nope! It was an article about banking. No, silly, not sperm banking—banking, as in money, as in "Goldmine" Sachs. Check it out: Virtuous Bankers? Really!?! by The New York Times' Maureen Dowd. It includes a hilarious quote from GS's CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, that they're "doing God's work." Seriously, I'm about to pee my pants.

No Man Is an Island

I love this prose by John Donne, and it seems so à propos now, with the healthcare debates, people confusing socialism with communism, and so forth. What kind of people do we want to be? What kind of nation do we want to be? Does community still have its place?

All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated... As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness... No man is an island, entire of itself... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

~ John Donne (1572-1631)
From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, 1623, Meditation XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die)

For the complete passage, see http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Meditation_XVII.
Public domain photo from Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons.
(And not a bad-looking chap at that, eh?)

Big Step for Healthcare, but Let's Keep Religion Out

A giant step for Americans was taken last night with passage of a bill that will provide healthcare to 96% of our population. While not perfect (why not 100%?), it does close many loopholes in our existing system. One of the most important stipulations is that insurers cannot deny or limit coverage to anyone with pre-exisiting conditions. This is great news for anyone who has ever had (or will ever have) a serious illness or injury.

There is one important piece of coverage that is missing, though: abortion. This is disturbing because it denies women the right to make choices about their own bodies, and is another instance of religion weaseling its way into government.

Bart Stupak (D-MI), the amendment's sponsor, said, "Let us stand together on principle—no public funding for abortions." And if that wasn't enough, the knife was twisted by a further restriction barring anyone who receives new federal health subsidies from buying insurance plans that do include abortion coverage (a restriction that in turn discriminates against low-income women).

The fact is, abortions are legal in this country, as Diana DeGette (D-CO) pointed out: "Like it or not, this is a legal medical procedure and we should respect those who need to make this very personal decision." The reason abortions are legal is because so far the Supreme Court and the majority of the U.S. population have succeeded in keeping personal religious beliefs out of the mix. Barbara Lee (D-CA) supported this history, arguing that this amendment "attempts to dictate to women how to spend their own money... It further places the religious views... of some into our public policy again. We're a democracracy; we're not a theocracy." (Thank you, thank you, Barbara Lee!)

Even with this blemish, I applaud the House for taking this first wobbly step in the right direction. There will be many amendments and it will take many years to work out the kinks, but at least we are now on the path to becoming a more humane society.

(Check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation for more info on the separation between church and state.)

My Greatest Power

I've always wondered what my greatest power is. I know what I'd like my superpowers to be: invisibility, x-ray vision, and mind-reading would be a good start. But alas, my mere mortal powers will have to suffice. But what are they? I don't usually feel very powerful, and can't even remember the last time I did.

Well, thank goodness for my Yogi Tea bag, which gave me a possible answer tonight: "Your word is your greatest power." I guess this makes sense. When I make a promise, I tend to keep it, and the bigger the promise, the more likely I am to follow through on my word. I'm very conscientious, an excellent secret keeper, and hate letting people down more than anything. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye... and a bunch of thistles... and a hot poker... and a salt-covered drill bit...

Hateful Things

Another list, à la Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book.

Hateful People

• The co-worker who usurps my project and pretends it was hers all along.
• People who lie to deliberately hurt others.
• People who are condescending to those of lesser age, status, or title.
• People who are conniving.
• People who take out their anger on others.
• The insecure "man" who ameliorates his own shortcomings by "proving" how inadequate his soon-to-be-ex- date is.
• People who hold double standards.