Our bodies as a capitalistic market

This winter I have observed a phenomenon that has really blown my mind.

Well, I guess it started in the fall. They started playing commercials that went something like, "Did you know that you could get cervical cancer from a virus? I didn't know" "A virus?" "Tell someone you love, tell all the women in your life." Etc., etc., on and on. I noticed these commercials as they SEEMED to be public service announcements. No product was mentioned, but no association was mentioned either. Odd. And the commercials seemed confusing to me...like they were saying that you could catch a virus that caused cervical cancer just like you could catch the common cold. Like, "Ooops, I got sneezed on at school, caught this pesky virus and now I have cancer. Who knew?" It seemed like partial info to me, but since it was not marketing anything, I had no reason to suspect any wrongdoing. It seemed to be just commonplace ignorance.

But as many of you have now heard, there is a new vaccine out on the market. And funny enough, somewhere about December, the PSAs about this virus morphed into commercials for the new wonder drug, Guardisil. Don't you want to be "One less" by taking our vaccine? It protects some people for one of the possible causes of cervical cancer, namely HPV or the Human papiloma virus.

What upsets me is not that a vaccine would be developed for HPV. Disease prevention is very important and very good. What irks me is the deception clothed in half truths. The commercials pretend to be educating woman about a health concern. Instead, they are setting women up to think that a specific drug or shot is the only way to avoid a potentially deadly disease.

THis disease is primarily, although not solely, transmitted sexually. All one need to say to be truely educational is, "If you don't have sex outside of a monogomous marriage to another virgin, you have almost no chance of getting this disease." This way people can truely understand how you get the disease, how to prevent the disease, and whether or not they should get the vaccine.

You know one of my biggest fears on this one? THat they will find in 10 years that this vaccine prevents HPV while increasing the risk of some other dread disease. Or that girls will increase risky behavior due to not fully understanding the risks that still are associated with premarital sex.

We need good information, not half truths, in order to really help our kids. If you want to be "one less" blind fool, get your own information and then talk to your kids and other important women in your life about the truth. And let your politicians know that we want one or two less drug companies being allowed to buy the right to decieve!!

OK, I have already have one person who disagrees with my passion on this point. Am I wrong? Let me know....

On being spit on at work

Have you ever been spit on at work? I mean literally. Actual spit, with a little bit of lunch in it. It has happened to me. A few times actually. But I wasn't mad. I did want to take a shower ASAP. You see, when you work with fragile people, people who were not blessed with full control of their bodies and minds, you can forgive them for not following the normal social order. And this particular person wanted something...something he couldn't have right then. So he thought he knew how he could get it.

And maybe there will come a day, when I am old and a little senial, when I will get to spit on someone else. It is a great way to get what one wants. I mean, no one likes being spit on. So one day when I am in "the home" and I really want a chocolate bar, I will just start spitting my applesause on people until I get one. Yeah, I deserve it.

Ptooey


Anyone care to share any unique or crazy stuff that has happened at your work?

A woman of the 2000s and the issue of children

Dear mom,

OK, so you want me to have children. I get it. But have you thought about what it is like for a modern feminist in the 2000s? You always told me I could be anything...ANYTHING! And guess what I became. A man...well, almost, that is. OK, OK, don't get scared. No sex change or hormones here. Well, in all honestly what I mean is no male hormones. Some female hormones are involved in this issue.

OK, so we are a non-traditional family. A bi-racial marriage to start. But you know what I have realized? Every marriage is bi-cultural, even if the players look alike. We each come into things with our own beliefs about what life should be. But I have been blessed, I am married to a good man who feels God's call in his life. He is brave enough and humble enough to follow this call. Brave, in that he stepped out on faith to do what it took to follow God's call. He is humble too, because he was willing to let his wife make more money and be the "bread winner" of this family.

So here is the thing. I got the job, the one that provided a big income for us so he could give himself to the youth ministry in this area. And I started to go to work, every day. I began to worry about the bills and my paycheck. He began doing the cooking and cleaning. And I began to love it! I would come home and he would have a hot meal ready for me. This is awesome! No wonder men did not want to give up the good thing they had going. And he even tolerated me the day I came home to a messy house and told him he was not being as "effective" as he used to be. What woman would have taken that comment so well.

So, now, many people are asking when I am going to have children. Not if I am, but when. Because it is still assumed that as a woman, I will. But the problem is, I am the breadwinner, the provider. I have to be ready to leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home. I can't do this if I am pregnant or raising children. That is why, when we really lived in caves, men went out with their great strength, while women stayed home. But now, I go.

And, I like to go. I like to be the one with the paycheck. And I like uninterrupted sleep. And I don't like snot. And I always hated babysitting.

So I am left with this. I don't want children. Not now. Maybe not ever, I don't know. I am being what it is I want to be, so this is my life right now. You got the young feminist you wanted, but maybe not the grandkids. Sorry about that. :)

Anyway, I love you very much, and am lucky that you wanted to be both the feminist and the mom. I hope someday to be more like you.

XOXOX
Cadh 8

Rag quilt

A few Saturdays ago, I attended a rag quilting class. It was wonderful, so I thought I would share. There were about 7 of us at class, and it was quite a wide range of people attending. There was one girl about 10 years, all the way up to two older ladies who had a machine that looked like it was maybe made in the 1960s. One of the ladies did her sewing by hand.

We starting by picking our fabrics. I was late...as usual, and so there were few choices left. I got lucky, though, because I loved the fabric I got. I had three colors, which created a nice look.

To create the quilt, we started by taking two 6.5 in squares of fabric and sewing them together with a 5.5 in sqare of batting in between. We then sewed an X from corner to corner on each sqare. There were a total of 108 squares in the quilt I made.

After you get all the squares sewed together (which takes a long time!), you are ready to start peicing the quilt into your final pattern. It is important to do this carefully and to take your time. It is easy to get "off" and to put the wrong side out or in, etc. Match things up and pin the squares. One side will be smooth on all seams; on the other side, all seams will be out or showing.

I recommend doing a row at a time and then sewing the rows together as you go. make sure you carefully lay seams dowing in the same direction as you go row to row. Hard to give too many details here, but you'll figure it out!! Once you get the quilt sewn together, it is time to make it RAGGY! Take your scissors and snip little cuts into the showing seams.

Once you snip the seams, and be sure you have got them ALL, you wash the quilt. No I was advised that it is worth the money to take the quilt to the Wishy Washy to wash the first time, simply due to all the strings that come off. After washing mine in my own washer, I agree with this assessment. Add a teaspoon or so of salt the first time you wash it to keep the color in. Then get ready to pick off a bunch off your shirt the first few times you cuddle under it. But otherwise it is ver warm and cozy. Below you can see pictures of the one I made.

This is the smooth side.

Raggy side...

And Duke loves this quilt too. He finds it very cozy. :)

An inconvenient poop

Did you know that Al Gore uses more energy in his 10,000 square foot home in one month (like almost double) than the average family uses in one YEAR. And yes, his average usage has actually increased since the release of his movie.

Now we know how he really feels about the cute little polar bears who can't find any ice!

I have a great plan for my own video entitled "An inconvenient poop". At my home, with 4 dogs, we have lots of inconvenient poop.

Oh Al. Tsk.

Cadh 8