Anti-anti-Bieber Rant

So I love Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber, the blog. I'm not sure if anyone's posted about it before, but if you haven't heard of it, it's an epic blog that posts pictures of either lesbians who look like Justin Bieber or pictures of Justin Bieber "looking particularly lesbi". (Ha ha ha ha ha!!) It is SO cute! Anyway, someone posted a not-so-nice comment the other day which I really didn't like:

http://lesbianswholooklikejustinbieber.tumblr.com/post/513819742/title-of-my-blog-lesbians-who-look-like-justin

Wow wow wow. I keep hearing this stuff everywhere... in the ally workshop, in readings for one of my WGSS classes, in talking with people in the straight world about their stereotypes. And it sucks! Whatever happened to valuing diversity in our community? Someone needs to smack this girl. Yeah, I feel no urge to cut my hair short, yeah, I'm usually more attracted to feminine girls. That doesn't discount the entire other variety of the women-identified women population, though! Why why why can we not value diversity when all of us are so naturally varying (um the whole loving women thing) ourselves? I mean I know why it is. People are scared, vulnerable, and don't want the world to think badly of them. I know I thought that way in high school. But it's time for us to get over it! People who hard-core hate lesbians are going to hate them no matter what, and someone who can be convinced to accept us can be convinced to accept a spectrum of gender expression, too. Besides, butch girls are incredibly cute. What's better than a woman strong enough to defy society's standards and be who she is? Yay butch girls, yay femmes, yay lipsticks. Let's just be ourselves and be proud of it.

I love Star Trek

Last night I was taking a trip down memory lane. I grew up on Star Trek - my mom and I bonded over Star Trek: Voyager while it was actually running, and my adolescence was sprinkled with beautiful experiences with the syndicated series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Usually when I tell non-science nerds about how great Star Trek is, they just roll their eyes. HOWEVER! Last night as I was searching through the Next Generation episode database, I stumbled over one of the most intriguing episodes that I had ever remembered seeing. It blows my mind that I had forgotten about it until now.

This is one of the most queer-positive science fiction plots I have even encountered. The episode ran for the first time back in 1992. The premise is simply that the crew encounters an alien species that has no gender. In working with this species called the J'nai, Commander Riker discovers that one of them seems to be different. Seems to be mysteriously . . . female.

If you have 45 minutes to spare (and you know you do) you should check this out. I watched it last night and now I'm walking on air about how proud I am to be a Star Trek geek. Who knows, maybe you'll wanna be my friend so we can watch more excellent episodes together :)

Here's the Surf the Channel Link: http://www.surfthechannel.com/video/202/39503.html

Much love and final paper writing :)

Victory is mine!

My senior essay is in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(letting that sink in for a moment)

And its great. That's why I didn't post on Thursday as is usually my jam. I have never spent so long working on footnotes in my entire life. DON'T LEAVE THOSE TO THE LAST MINUTE. it blows. I mean, don't leave the writing to the last minute either.

I'm ambivalent about my senior essay in a lot of ways. It's epic. I barely made it under the max word count of 15,000 (that's about 60 pages). So obviously I did a lot of work. But I'm also pissed because this was a two term essay most of the work for which was done literally in three to four weeks- over spring break and one week in both directions. So what did I do all fall? I did the work required of our seminar, but very little of that made its way into my paper ultimately. Sometimes I guess its just a long and windy road.

Speaking a little to the previous post, I had grand aspirations for this year and for the most part, I haven't been disappointed.
I've taken some awesome out-of-my-box classes, gotten more involved in JE life (well, until the last two weeks.), started doing this...I could keep going.
I guess my strategy was to let the awesome things find me. My perspective is undoubtedly skewed because as a varsity athlete there is a ton that I know I miss out on already, so now that I've got more time, that's the stuff I go to first. But I also know myself at least well enough to realize that even the stuff I'm really passionate about isn't going to get the right kind of energy if I've got to start it from the ground up. And its because my priorities are already set.
1)senior essay
2) classes generally
3) rowing
4) anything I've already promised myself to
5) new stuff I want to do.

see? It's pretty far down. And starting new things, as some teammates of mine discovered the hard way this term, is really hard as a senior unless you've got really enthusiastic and committed underclassmen to help you (or its a small enough project that you don't need that much help). There simply are a lot of other demands on you.

But my plan has worked admirably for me to this point. I got back into IM sports. I've done a better job generally of seeking out people I like but never get to see.
As for getting ready for next year, this AmeriCorp app I'm working on is a real pain in my ass. I'll admit that I was a little bummed when big-deal-consulting-firm-x fell through, but I think in hindsight I would have hated that. (You should totally attend the info sessions because the finger food is quite tasty. and you get free notebooks and pens, which I'm sure excites me more than most people) So I turned my mind towards smaller companies, or doing some non-profit work, which is how I ended up at AmeriCorp (so much more than TFA- check it out). I think whats most important is to just stay relaxed. Stress isn't going to make anything better, it just makes you unhappy. I'm lucky because I know at least that I'm moving in with my heterosexual life partner after graduation. So all I really need to do is find a way to pay my rent. At the very worst I see myself as the only personal trainer with a Yale degree. But let's be honest....I get paid solid money to yell at people and get free gym access. I'm not sure it gets much better either.

I'm letting my mind decompress for a couple more hours before I frantically make up lost time in my digital video class. Joy.


also, before I forget. CREDIT/D CREDIT/D CREDIT/D. You can take 4 classes Cr/d/Fail. USE THEM! It means you can take something you are interested in but terrible at, or something totally random. Or if you're like me, it takes you course load down from 4 to 2. sort of. my point it, take advantage of it.

Midnight Deliberations...Senior Year

Next year I will be a senior.

And I haven't been able to not think about what I want to do with it. It'll be my last year in college. Academically, I am pretty set: although I am a Political Science major by credits, I want to explore classes in Anthropology, in Gender Studies, and in Philosophy. I also plan on submitting a thesis proposal. So I'm comfortable in the academic sphere.

What I'll do after graduation? Well, who knows, maybe grad school, maybe a job, although I'm leaning more toward the latter. A job in what? Who knows, I guess I'll have to do a lot of research over the summer. But that's not what I've been thinking about...

"What kind of impact do I want to have on my campus? And how do I want to go about doing this?"

This inevitably has led me to think about leadership positions, clubs on campus, potential clubs I may want to found. There are a couple of things I'd like to do, but only so much time, so I really have to choose. Another option is to simply enjoy senior year without any extracurricular commitments/with not so many. And that may be what ends up happening, but a big part of me really wants to do something, create, explore, change, and grow in the process.

Seniors out there, what have you guys done with your senior year? Everyone else, what are you planning on doing next year? What do you absolutely want to do?

The way I think about it is this: College is over, it's been maybe two years after I graduated, and I look back to my college experience...

Did I love it? What, if anything, was missing?

With this question I seek to capture that which I want to spend my senior year doing. Of course, there is a lot more than extracurricular commitments, that's just been one of the things I've thought about.

I'd love your feedback, and to hear what you guys have done/want to do?

Much love, always

ELLEN DEGENERES HATES AMERICA.

Hey kids,

I'm sure everyone has already seen this, but I'd like to do a close analysis, if you will.



So the basic story is that on an episode of Family Feud, Ellen DeGeneres was a topic. The first part of the family happily shouts out the obvious things: "She's gay!" "She's funny!" "She likes to dance a lot!" Ding Ding Ding! Applause applause applause. And then, the patriarch of the family, with a strangely matter-of-fact tone, says into the microphone:

"She's doesn't like our country very much."

The father has a smirk of satisfaction. The family claps awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Then the screen goes to the board and apparently, Ellen DeGeneres is not known for hating America.

I have a few questions, but one above the rest: Why the fuck would you ever say this? Ever? Has homophobia gone so far as to be a central country value? Is that how Ellen shows her distaste in the country? I'm sorry, but when our founding fathers were in a cramped room in the middle of July with no twentieth century air-conditioning I doubt that they were thinking at any point:

"Oh yeah, we should hint that munching carpet is unpatriotic. It just goes against the vision, man. And it will really piss of Britain; those bitches are known for being lesbionic."

Maybe he believes that all showbiz types hate America. Yep, not like the people of this country essentially created that concept or anything. Oh, by the way guys, Steven Spielberg and Oprah hate America, too. In fact, any famous person that is either not-white, homosexual, female, and also remotely interesting is probably plotting with the terrorists in Yemen or something to bring out country down.

I sincerely hope this guy is so embarrassed by what he said. And I hope his embarrassment knocks the stupidity out of his head and out of everyone else's who thinks this was a sensible comment.

Additionally, Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi are fifty times hotter than those assholes Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. There, I said it.

xoxoxoxoxo
sugarbush

"Europe's Leading Lesbian Glossy"

DIVA magazine. Get your subscription.
It's awesome. Leztastic.

http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/default.asp

Sorry for such a short post...is this week killing everyone else?

All I want to do is go crawl in bed and cuddle with my girlfriend...but instead I have to study for stats. Hmph.

I want my sanity back....

My world is getting gayer. And I love it.

So one of my friends told me today she thinks she's going to try dating girls and I am soo happy for her! It is the cutest thing ever, she was smiling and just seemed so content with her decision to figure out the identity she has been unsure of for awhile. She is just one of many questioning people.. I feel like there is a restlessness around me -- many of the freshmen in my pretty straight (so far) college have either started to come out, are giving more openly gay vibes, or have just started to question more seriously their sexuality. I guess everyone always talks about sophomore surprises, and they seem to be starting off. It's weird because it's bittersweet. Part of me is excited - yay more gay girls, more gay guy friends, more people accepting themselves! Part of me is also a little hesitant to rejoice - worried about all the confusing emotions my friends are going to be going through, having to deal with all this stuff without the burst in the beginning of the year of coming out resources. Although at the same time, they have a bunch of girls who came before them who they know in their own class who they can turn to. I hope people will as time goes on feel safe enough to be open about who they are - it's so much better to be out! So free. aand, it makes my college so much less futile. It's great, almost all of the people I know now are gay/bi/ish/queer-friendly. It's going to make Gotham runs a lot more fun.!