A Return to Veganism (Take Two)

So I sat down to write a post that rapidly was becoming an autobiography of eating. A few paragraphs in I was starting to bore the hell out of myself. The whole epic was really meant as a contextualized introduction to the announcement, that in April I returned to veganism.

The long and short of it is that I go in and out of phases of thinking about what I eat. After managing to stay vegan in college, in Australia, and on a 10 week road trip around these grand ‘ol omnivorous United States, I went back to just being just vegetarian shortly after we moved to Tucson. The truth is I got kinda lazy. I ate cheese, I watched TV, I drove a car to work, I wasted time. And perhaps I needed these years of fallow time to just rest up and eventually bore myself back into thinking about the choices I make.

A few months ago I read this article in the UU World. It more or less reminded me of all my reasons for going vegetarian when I was 12 and vegan when I was 19. I decided it was time for me to take a bit of a challenge back into my everyday life, and change how I eat.

This past week I have of course also been quitting smoking. It has been interesting (to say the least) to watch my desires for old comforts to emerge. Those of you who know me know that I bite my nails. I started biting my bails when I was six years old and my parents wanted me to stop sucking my thumb. So clearly I have a long history of replacing one comfort habit with another.

I’ve been kinda silent on this blog the last couple months. One excuse is of course being a puppy mom. Beyond that I think I’ve been in some sort of passively introspective cloud that had me worried about blogging. What is my own voice, I wondered. Why am I still so stuck in my own head when there are real things happening in the world? And why would I want to share my own revelations about mediocrity and depression on the web?

And eventually I realized that the real issue is that there are still huge conversations I’m not ready to have with myself. And that is the fear that has been keeping me dormant.

Towards the end of college I decided I wanted to be a minister when I grew up. By the summer after college I had made a short list of perspective seminaries (the same list I am still working with today). Yet I knew I wasn’t ready to pursue seminary yet, I didn’t feel together enough to embark on such an intense journey.

It might be time.

It might be time for me to care about what I eat and how it impacts my body and this world. It might be time for me to care about how I spend my time, how present I can be in relationships, at work, in joy and sorrow. It might be time for me to stop waiting for the perfect time and just forge ahead – raising my voice, even as I am learning to use it.

For Real

Today my friend Princess graduated from college. She made her grandma a promise that she would quit smoking when she graduated.

Princess brought her grandma to my church on Christmas Eve and she loved the service so much she cried. Tonight, at a graduation dinner this same grandma was doing sake bombs (amazing!). So, it is safe to say that I love this grandma.

Which is to say, that tomorrow, I too am going to quit smoking. For real. You are all welcome to hold me to this commitment.

I started smoking in eighth grade. I remember thinking I would hate the taste, and therefore it wouldn’t become habit. Opps. Then I thought I would smoke, but only outside, or only for a year, or only…. So, here I am 12 or 13 years later, quitting a habit I initially thought I wouldn’t ever have.

J. doesn’t think I will really do it, but I think I will.

So there.

Tell the NY Post to stop Transphobic Reporting

From a post by Angry Brown Butch, which also has some food information in the comments section.  I discovered this post via Sylvia, who always has lots of good things to say about pretty much everything……

ACTION ALERT: Tell the NY Post to quit its transphobic “reporting”

NOTE TO OTHER BLOGGERS: Please link to or repost this!

An important victory was recently won in the struggle for trans rights, specifically around health care. Judge Sheldon Rand of the Manhattan Family Court found, for the second time, that the City of New York is obligated to pay for the sexual reassignment surgery of Mariah Lopez, a young trans woman of color who was denied this important and necessary medical care while in the care of the NYC foster system. The City is constitutionally required to provide adequate medical coverage for all children in its care, and SRS is a medically approved procedure, one that is often necessary for trans people. In the decision, Judge Rand wrote: “Mariah L. should be treated in order that she may go on with her life and be in a body which blends with the gender with which she identifies.”*

Fortunately, Judge Rand was far more understanding and respectful than most of the media coverage, which has ranged from iffy to downright disgusting. (This article from PinkNews.co.uk is the most respectful one I’ve found thus far.)

Worst of all has been the coverage from the New York Post. Now, anyone who’s familiar with this sorry excuse for a newspaper should know that it’s usually chock full of shoddy, sensationalist, decidedly conservative-leaning rubbish that they attempt to pass off as journalism, so racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia are all par for the course. But the two pieces that they’ve run on this story – an “article” entitled “Free To Be He-She” and the even worse editorial, “Justice Isn’t That Blind” – are really just awful and enraging. Not only are the articles thoroughly transphobic, but the editorial also falsely paints her as a “sociopath” due to her criminal record, completely ignoring her history of activism and community service and the fact that she and other trans women of color are targeted and abused by the NYPD (see Holly’s comment on this post for more.)

The New York Post needs to be sent a strong message: quit the transphobic “reporting”! Show some respect, some decency, and some attention to journalistic standards.

I ask all of you to join me in writing to the Post and giving them a piece of your mind. Below is a letter to the Post. You can copy and paste it as is, or you can add your own touches to it or write something completely new. Whichever one you choose, send it to letters@nypost.com and janon.fisher@nypost.com (the writer of the first article.) (It would be great if you also commented here, so I can get a gauge of how many emails they’re getting.)

***START OF EMAIL – START COPYING HERE***

SUBJECT: NY Post: Quit the Transphobic Reporting!

I was angered by the Post’s coverage of the recent Manhattan Family Court decision in favor of Mariah Lopez (“Free to be he-she,” February 25, and “Justice isn’t that blind,” February 27). Both articles were deeply disrespectful of Ms. Lopez’s gender identity. By referring to her as a “he-she,” a “wannabe woman,” and, in the editorial, using her old name and incorrect pronouns in direct violation of AP style guidelines, the Post has clearly demonstrated that it is more interested in playing to societal prejudice towards transgender people than in following good journalistic practices and treating trans people with the respect that they deserve.

Additionally, the articles’ sensational treatment of this story ignored the fact that the ACS is required by law to provide medically-approved treatment to children under its care, and that Ms. Lopez was indeed a child under the care of the ACS when she initially sought transgender health care, including sexual reassignment surgery. Ms. Lopez was denied access to a necessary treatment that is widely approved by the medical community. Judge Rand’s decision will hopefully ensure that no other child, trans or not, will be denied treatment in the future simply due to prejudice.

YOUR NAME HERE
YOUR CITY HERE

***END OF EMAIL – STOP COPYING HERE***

* Partly in anticipation of certain questions, I’d like to clarify that I don’t believe that SRS is always a necessary part of a trans person’s transition. Transition can mean all sorts of things, many of which are not medical or surgical; it’s all about what one feels is right for them. I think it’s important, actually, to get away from a medicalization of trans-ness, because that often leads to people passing judgment on who’s “really” or “fully” trans or not based on their medical history. Which is, of course, complete bullshit, given that not everyone chooses – or can afford or access – the same treatment.

Stop La Parota Dam

An important call to action from a dear friend…

The following is a press release put out by Root Force, Rising Tide North America, Arizona Earth First! and Justicia Global calling for boycotts and protests of CompUSA, Sears and Kmart due to their involvement with a planned hydroelectric dam in Mexico. Please read this and forward it to anyone who might be interested, whether because of an interest in Latin American solidarity, environmental defense, indigenous sovereignty, anti-globalization or other issues. This includes NGOs, NGO supporters, grassroots activists, friendly press, etc. If you are part of a group that is interested in signing on to the boycott, please email info@rootforce.org.

Activists Demand that CompUSA, Sears, Kmart End Involvement in Controversial Mexican Dam

Background information: www.rootforce.org

Public urged to protest and boycott retailers linked to Carlos Slim, investor in planned La Parota megadam

Human rights, indigenous sovereignty, environmental and anti-globalization activists are calling for protests and boycotts of three major US retail chains-CompUSA, Sears and Kmart-due to their involvement with plans for a hydroelectric dam that would displace tens of thousands of indigenous subsistence farmers in southern Mexico and destroy critical tropical forest ecosystems. A 2006 United Nations report listed the planned La Parota dam near Acapulco as Mexico’s top economic, social and cultural rights concern.

Endorsing the call are Root Force, Rising Tide North America, Arizona Earth First! and Florida-based Justicia Global.

“When consumers shop at these stores, their money goes directly to people who are profiting from violence and the destruction of threatened tropical forests,” said Ben Pachano of Root Force.

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, who Forbes lists as the third richest person in the world, owns a number of companies that have publicly expressed interest in financing and building La Parota. Slim also owns CompUSA (a computer retail chain) and Sears Roebuck Mexico. The owner of the Sears brand-Sears Holdings Corporation-in turn owns Sears and Kmart in the United States.

“Sears Holdings Corporation is ultimately responsible for the behavior of anyone who is authorized to use the Sears name,” Pachano said. “By withdrawing his right to use that name, it can place substantial pressure on Slim to end his involvement in La Parota.”

Great controversy has arisen over the planned dam, primarily due to its anticipated effects on local indigenous communities. Road blockades and lawsuits by these communities have stalled the project, but the cost to locals has been high. Internal conflict fomented by the Mexican government has led to the deaths of at least six people, while others have been beaten and arrested by local and federal police. On January 6, Benito Jacinto Cruz, a farmer opposed to the dam, was shot and killed by assailants unknown.

La Parota dam has also drawn fire for its anticipated impacts on soil and water quality, a particular concern given its placement in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range-globally renowned for its high concentration of rare and endemic species. In addition, environmentalists are concerned that the dam would contribute to the pace of global warming. Studies have shown that dams in tropical regions actually produce from two to 40 times as much carbon dioxide as an equivalent coal plant (http://www.irn.org/programs/greenhouse/resemissions.html).

“Slim is gambling with the very future of our planet,” said Nina Williams of Rising Tide. “We hope shoppers of conscience will agree that no one should profit from that.”

Boycott organizers have stated that the campaign against CompUSA, Sears and Kmart will not end until Slim publicly guarantees that none of his companies will participate in the La Parota project in any capacity.

http://rootforce.org/dada/mail.cgi/u/announcements/

Poetry Rejoicing / Poetry Ranting

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

- By Rumi
- Translated by Coleman Barks

Excerpt from ii. Improvisation

there is something caught in my throat
it is this place
my baby is sleeping
i check to see if she is alive
she does not know about gagging
she does not have this place / in her throat
she doesn’t know where we are
how it sears the membranes
eats the words right outta your mouth
leaves you suckin’ pollutants impotence
& failure/

- By Ntozake Shange

pressing

This has been a week full of work, meetings, good conversations, visiting friends who are sick, and wonderful weather.

I woke up this morning an hour before my alarm clock, with my To Do list pressing onto my chest, my neck, my forehead.

Thoughts on lamentations, on exile, on remembrance, on Sabbath, have been beginning to form in my moments of reflection this week past. While great writing may eventually flow from these thoughts, for now, I have found a new aspiration of sorts: to live my life in such a way that my souls is happy.

Yes this seems like a terrible cliché.

But I know people, and perhaps you do too, who very simply glow. The ways they have found and chosen to work, to rest, to challenge themselves and engage in the world, are true. They are alive.

I am not there yet. To wake up with anxiety. To feel overwhelmed by the trivialities of the day. To want to apologize for all that is wrong in the world, without being ready to take action to change it. To see the beauty of the sunrise, and yet still spend the day inside. To want so much and yet still feel so stuck. This is where I still am.

Last week I started my Saturday with a poetry post. It felt good, true, alive. And so this week I present you with two of my favorites.

Blogging for Choice

Today, on the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, is National Blog for Choice Day. You link to other blogs writing on the topic here. You can also read some of my favorite posts on the topic here and here.

The pro-choice movement is obviously a complex phenomenon that encompasses issues of health, privacy, race, class, freedom, and more. I’m not about to tackle all of that right now. A lot of my recent thinking about the pro-choice movement comes from an interview with Katha Pollitt in the current issue of Bitch Magazine. Here’s some of what she has to say about (re)framing the abortion debate:

The pro-choicers have let the antis set the terms of the debate. We are on the defensive. We don’t say, Look, it’s okay for women to postpone motherhood to get an education, to get established at work, to find a mate, to grow up. It’s okay to only want one child. In fact, it’s okay not to want children at all. Instead we defend abortion by emphasizing extreme cases – rape, incest, dangerous pregnancies, anencephalic fetuses – and we defend the moral agency of women who choose abortion by talking about what a difficult, serious tragic decision it is. And sometimes that is true. But sometimes abortion is an easy decision. (See how cold and frivolous that sounds? You’re not supposed to talk like that!) If you are not ambivalent about the pregnancy you might not feel so sad.

I present you with this quote to highlight what I hope is obvious: there is not one monolithic narrative to the pro-choice movement, nor is there one archetypal experience for women who have had abortions.