Author: Katrina

You Just Don’t Get It

March 28, 2014

I find myself thinking this in exasperation in youth rights spaces sometimes, whether on NYRA’s Facebook page or elsewhere. Someone seems to agree with most that is posted or discussed. And sooner or later there’s a post that makes them flip their lid.

It goes something like this: “Ah, lowering the voting age to 17? Cool, neat… Ugh! What that school did to that girl was awful! They should be stopped!… … Wait, what? Lower the drinking age? Are you crazy? Teen brains are still developing!!!!111!!1!!”

You know, there can certainly be some leeway when it comes to people relatively new to the cause. I know when I was first getting involved some issues made me wary until I had the chance to think about and discuss them some more. But some people are determined to be intransigent on some irrational blind spots in their youth rights view. There’s a guy who has been with the movement for years and supports abolishing the voting age but for some reason supports corporal punishment.

I’m all for a “big tent” in the youth rights movement, since it’s a huge subject matter and so a big tent is just good sense. But someone whose support for lowering the voting age is based on believing it will get more Democrats elected is not a youth rights supporter. Someone whose support for homeschooling or unschooling is based on protecting parents’ rights is not a youth rights supporter. Someone who supports lowering the drinking age only in order to “stop unsafe drinking” is not a youth rights supporter.

Such people are certainly useful allies in specific campaigns, of course. And they could easily become youth rights supporters if we play our cards right and if it turns out they are so inclined after all. But they aren’t there yet.
Continue reading “You Just Don’t Get It”

Mmmm, Candy Hearts 9

February 14, 2014

Huh? Does this heart say “Just Meh”? Wow, these things have lost their luster.

Oh, wait. It says “Just Me + U”. Was a little faded. That makes more sense.

*picks out another heart*

“Hold hands”. Aww, how cute. I suppose.

Anyway, wow, the ninth installment of this crap. What’s annoying around love and relationships now on this Valentine’s Day? I don’t know. What haven’t I covered? It’s just about some people having strong if irrational feelings for one another and acting incredibly silly about it, while their friends and relatives tease them to no end…

Aha! Teasing. What the hell?

Okay, last year I was sort of teasing those who have crushes because of all the stupid questions and worries. But that behavior kind of deserves it, even if understandable to those of us who have been there. That’s just it, though. It is understandable, and one can only blame these people so much. Simply having the feelings in the first place is fine, even if a special kind of hell.

It happens at any stage, whether just a crush or an actual relationship. We’ve all heard it: “Oooh, someone has a boyfriend/girlfriend!”

Seriously? I mean, plenty of people have insecurities around these feelings or the stability of new relationships, and your response is to make them even more self-conscious? I remember reading Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility a couple years ago, and the annoying old woman in it, Mrs. Jennings, is teasing some minor character about her interest in some guy, and she comments to someone else “Young people love being teased about their crushes!” And all I could think was, umm, NO, young people do not like being teased about that or anything for that matter, even two hundred years ago, you’re a bitch, shut up. :irked:

And about 15 years ago or so, my cousin, who’s a year older than me, was getting ready for prom or otherwise about to meet up with some guy she was into (okay, I forget the exact circumstances but the point is there was a guy). My mom teased her endlessly about it, until I finally said, “Mom, leave her alone.” And my mom replied with something like “I’m her aunt, I get to tease her about these things!” She’d have done the same to me at some point, except I have yet to actually subject any friends to her presence since then, a decision I made at that time. 😛

I mean, a simple “congratulations!” or at least “okay, that’s cool” upon hearing about someone’s new relationship is perfectly fine. More than that, unless explicitly allowed, is just asinine.

Just like the messages on these hearts.

“ALL MINE”. Possessive much? “COOL DUDE”. Ah, there you go, what guy doesn’t get an immediate erection from being told that? “U R GR8”. Thanks, text messaging heart! “HEY BABE”. Hmmm, those movies were a while ago, so I’m pretty sure that pig is long dead. That’s kind of a downer.

Take a Cup of Kindness

January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!

*taps conductor wand thingy*

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?

Depends. Were they good or were they dicks to you?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of Auld Lang Syne?

See above.

For Auld Lang Syne, my dear
For Auld Lang Syne
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet
For Auld Lang Syne!

Getting wasted on kindness? Good idea!

*drinks*

Hmm. I might be immune. Oh, well.

Clusterfuck 2013

December 31, 2013

*pant* *wheeze* *gasp*

Huh, what? Is 2013 just about over? Ah, it is. What a ride. Well, let’s get right into it with months named like episodes and a lot of cryptic notes.

January: Ball of Yarn

-These are some bizarre interview questions.
-Reading Deathly Hallows again.
-Les Mis with Kathleen, Alexander, and Pam!

February: Baskets

-LOL Superbowl power outage
-Hey, Ravens won the Superbowl! Even if being a Redskins fan means I should hate them apparently.

March: In the Garden of Brookside

-Got some NYRA stuff!
-Ugh. Alex’s house caught fire.
-Bill saw last year’s recap and accused me of libel. Inb4 same with this one.
-Hmm. Job paying a lot less than previous and still didn’t get it because not qualified enough. :irked:
-Laser tag!
-#26 Freewill

April: The Right Side of History

-Me, to Takoma Park: “Lower the voting age! All the cool places are doing it!”
-Holy crap, is this thing actually going to pass?!

May: Fifteen Percent

-Aww, crap, I turned 30.
-Hardy? You’re going to get over the lymphoma, right? Right?
-Oh. Only months left tops. 🙁
-Oh no.
-RIP fellow NYRAnian, fellow board member
-And on that same day…
-In Takoma Park… “Councilmember Smith?” “Aye.” “Councilmember Seamens?” “Aye.” “Councilmember Schultz?” “Nay.” “Councilmember Male?” “Aye.” “Councilmember Grimes?” “Aye.” “Councilmember Daniels-Cohen?” “Aye.” “Mayor Williams?” “Aye.”
-And with that, the voting age was lowered to 16 in Takoma Park, MD.
-Just like that… #16tovote
-Oh. I got a job! Finally!
-I can do this. Must do a good job.
-So many minus-80 freezers!

June: Coffeemaker

-Hang on. One of the background music pieces in Lemmings is supposed to be Pachelbel’s Canon and I somehow never fucking knew this?! MIND BLOWN
-Whoa. What’s that thing hanging outside the walk-in freezer?
-Coworker: “If you stop moving, it starts chirping. If you still don’t move, it starts screaming. And they have to come drag your ass out.”
-Eep. Hope I don’t have to go in there!
-Hmm. We just got a week off because there isn’t anything to do. Oh, well.
-At least we were brought back.
-Finally telling off someone at NYRA who needed a good telling off. 😀
-Alright, I should probably be more specific, but if I did, he’d probably whine about libel again. :cute:

July: Stop! Hook up!

-Woo, Nationals game!
-Speeding?! You can get pulled over for speeding on I-270? Interesting.
-Okay, fine, I’ll run for the damn board again.
-Job just moved to me new location. Big but same basic job.
-Wow, those man-down devices for the walk-in freezers are loud!
-NYRAnians calling to confront ageist sushi restaurant in Virginia!
-I think I just scared WES. I called them out for ageism in a platform response. 😛
-What the mother of crap, did I just get pulled over again?
-What do you mean I was tail-gating?
-Huh? I need to go inside the walk-in freezer? Gulp…
-Okay, this isn’t so bad…
-And I’m in and out. Did what I needed to.
-LIKE A BOSS

August: Blueberry Muffin

-First the Snipers in Baltimore and then some more NYRAnians in DC.
-It’s not Annual Meeting day, but it damn well feels like it!
-Time for Kathleen to go to San Francisco.
-Even if it requires driving her to the airport at 5am. Sigh.
-Hmm. MLK Library may have to do for the AM.
-We’ll connect NYRA-Twin Cities to the DC AM by video chat!
-Okay, this worked out.
-If this AM sucked balls. Oh, well.

September: Maybe

-I’ve been laid off again?!
-Oh, lovely, now a prolonged power outage after thunderstorm… This will be a while…
-Hmm. Just five hours. Could have been a lot worse. Okay.
-OMG I met Heather Corinna!!!
-NYRA board meetings on Google Hangout? This is pretty awesome!

October: Labyrinth

-Meetings to plan Winter Festival!
-I want to play Kingdom Hearts again.
-Dear God, forgot how awesome this game is.
-Oh, no, I’ve got a cold. On Halloween!

November: Spinach Bean Thing

-Auction!
-Time for Sugarloaf climb!
-Dad sold the house? Oh no.
-I’ll make that spinach bean thing for community dinner.
-I’ll make it again for Thanksgiving!

December: A Platypus and a Sloth Skiing in the Alps

-Ordered holiday cards late again.
-Taking little brother to Winter Festival!
-I’m a smug skiing platypus!
-Uh oh. We’re leaking water into neighbor’s house somehow.
-Fucking heating condensation pipe! :irked:
-Cookies!
-Last Christmas in Grandma’s house. 🙁
-Followed by a week straight of moving shit out.
-And then settlement.
-And the house is no longer ours. As of this afternoon.
-But we went out to dinner.
-And I’ve just barely made a post every day in December!

And the ball is dropping now, we close the book on the veritable clusterfuck that was 2013! Oy.

Well, let’s see what 2014 has up its sleeve… :scared:

Potatoes

December 30, 2013

So the Washington Redskins just fired all their coaches. Well, after a 3-13 season, something needs to change. This is sucky even by Redskins standards! Are the coaches the problem? I don’t know. This isn’t a sports blog. Go watch SportsCenter or something.

But lately, a lot of talk about the team involves the admittedly if arguably racist name. As far as that issue, I find myself pondering a solution. So here it is…

If the Washington Redskins change their mascot and logo to a potato, can they continue to be called Redskins?

But then again, I think the better question would be…

If the Washington Redskins coaches and players were replaced by potatoes, would anyone notice?

Translation

December 29, 2013

What do people mean when they open their yaps and say words? Here’s a guide to some of the things. Even if some of intention isn’t always there, such a message is conveyed.

“Learn more about dealing with drug abuse among teens and young adults.”

Translation: “Teenagers are bad and you should hate them.”

“Good luck when your kids are teenagers!”

Translation: “Teenagers are bad and you should hate them.”

“We’ve had shoplifters, so no unaccompanied under-16s allowed in store.”

Translation: “Teenagers are bad and you should hate them.”

“Brains aren’t fully developed until 25, so young people can’t make decisions well and are impulsive.”

Translation: “Teenagers are bad and you should hate them.”

You get the idea.

Surrounded

December 28, 2013

Alright, here is yet another mine field. Time to uncover.

One.

Not bad.

Open another square…

Two.

Watch your step!

Three.

Just don’t get into a corner or hit a wall.

Four.

Getting around another side now.

Five.

Eeep! They’re closing in.

Six.

It’s like a hallway or a ninety-degree turn.

Seven.

It’s a dead end. Or like being in a dangerous little room. Almost totally surrounded. Almost…

Uh oh… It is…

EIGHT.

Totally surrounded.

It’s like you’re in some kind of Fortress. Or something like that.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

EIGHT!

Happy 8th Anniversary, Eight Mine Fortress!!!!

Themnal

December 27, 2013

Since the family is moving out of Grandma’s house this weekend (which has eaten up my time and made the daily posting here rather difficult but whatever), I have been occasionally just claiming items around the house I feel like keeping that no one else cares about anyway. One item I snatched last week was Grandma’s 1982 hymnal.

When I went home that night, I looked through the Christmas songs in it. Some I never heard of anywhere else, while others were very familiar and were sung on Tuesday night, as well as ones not done then but heard of nonetheless.

One song was Good Christian Men Rejoice. Only the lyrics didn’t say that. It said “Good Christian Friends Rejoice”. Huh.

Then Christmas Eve night, at the service, singing some of the very familiar songs out of copies of the same hymnal, I noticed some of the slight variations to the lyrics from more popular versions. In the second verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, where it’s usually “Pleased as man with men to dwell”, it instead read “Pleased as man with us to dwell”. And in the third verse, where it’s usually “born that men no more may die” it was “born that we no more may die”, and then where it’s usually “born to raise the sons of earth” it was instead “born to raise us from the earth” or something like that. Plus a few other little alterations like that, which never occurred to me much before. Until I saw the “Good Christian Friends” thing and put it all together…

The hymnal… is gender neutral. 😮

MIND = BLOWN

Cruel Frost Is Cruel

December 26, 2013

And a one and a two and…

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen

The mention of the Feast of Stephen being the single only reason this is a Christmas song.

When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even

Yeah, yeah, winter, got it.

Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel

Good. So you can see where you’re going while you freeze to death. Go inside!

When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel.

Got to keep the car gassed up and heater all kerosened up.

Second verse!

“Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”

Getting kind of nosy.

“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

He’s a wizard who will eat you. Better stay home.

Third verse!

“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I shall see him dine
When we bear them thither.”

Leave people alone while they are eating!

Page and monarch, forth they went
Forth they went together;
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather.

A lot of inter-class bonding in the NSA’s early years.

Fourth verse!

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how;
I can go no longer.”

See? Your voyeuristic ways are getting your assistant killed.

“Mark my footsteps, good my page.
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

These alternative medicine cures to hypothermia are weird.

Fifth verse!

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.

Ohhh, got you. Wencie was dropping them glove warmer things from his feet. Or something. I guess.

Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
Shall yourselves find blessing.

Well, it beats getting mind-fucked by some ghosts Christmas Eve night at least.

Glaedelig Jul

December 25, 2013

I made cookies.

That’s the main thing. I’d been studying cookie recipes for about a week and got eager to finally try one out. Want to develop my own cookie recipe sort of. I’ve already got a muffin recipe, even if I haven’t made them in many years. But, it’s Christmas, so it’s cookie time, and I’ve put it off for too many years. Can’t just make and poorly-modify the store-bought Pillsbury dough. Got to make my own! 😀

Christmas is about the old and new.

So I watched specials. So I saw the family. So I went to the Christmas Eve late night church service. So I held the candle and sang Silent Night and for some reason found myself holding back inexplicable laughter. So I stayed up way too late wrapping presents.

And this morning I baked some more of my cookies.

Damn, they are good! If really goddamn sweet.

There’s white chocolate and milk chocolate and peanut butter and butterscotch! 😀

This morning, opened presents and saw the little brother get another damn train.

The new were my cookies.

The old is this old house that has belonged to my family since my grandparents bought it in 1965. Every Christmas of my life has brought me to this house.

And it’s been sold and we’re moving out next week before the year is even up.

Well… I don’t know what to say about that anymore. Certainly not giving any more details than that.

I’ve got a lot of Christmas traditions, from those lasting my whole life, such as the simple opening presents with family and having our feast of roast beast, and watching the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. To newer ones like the Christmas Eve night service, having gone to it every year since 2003, with a few times before then. To NYRA’s holiday cards since 2006. To Washington Ethical Society’s Winter Festival since 2009. And to whatever others may come in what I sure hope will be many more iterations of this holiday.

Can’t say it’s totally happy right now.

But I’ve got cookies. They’re awesome.