Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
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Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
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Category Archives: Who I am
Birth Days.
I am 46 today. I celebrated by meeting with the head of Career Services at Stanford Law School. It had been a long, long time since I had been on the SLS campus. I have even avoided driving anywhere on … Continue reading
And so I’m back.
I gave up blogging for Lent. It was an interesting experience. Originally, I was giving up the Interenet for Lent. That lasted, oh, forty-eight hours. I am a stay-at-home mother with significant health issues, and some days the only significant … Continue reading
Notes from art class
I am taking a drawing class. Oh boy. I earned this class by virtue of volunteering at a local arts organization for 100 hours — answering the phones and staffing the reception desk, mainly. “No, sir, the pastel portrait class … Continue reading
Today, at the elementary school, they had the “fall festival.” Part neighborhood meetup and part PTA fundraiser, they had all the sorts of things you find at events like this: ring tosses, raffles, a silent auction (whoever had put together … Continue reading
Twenty Statements. Plus One.
Over at Of Course, I Could Be Wrong, MadPriest has been letting slip a little more information about himself. I thought I would do likewise.* Things you should know about me: I like okra. Even boiled. I think the Rolling … Continue reading
Fear and Loathing
I’ve been angry, lately. Well, more than lately, but you know what I mean. I suppose I have become one of those “angry bloggers” that you read about in the newspapers. My anger comes from pain and sometimes intense fear, … Continue reading
Torture: once more with feeling.
In the comments to my post “Obscenity,” Anonymous asks Are you REALLY REALLY saying that you would not torture One person to SAVE the innocent lives of many THOUSAND others. We will never hide behind our children but we really … Continue reading
It was a dark and stormy night….
In November 2003, during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I wrote a novel. A bad novel. A very, very bad novel. A key part of the plot was that the protagonist (a woman based on me, except she looked nothing … Continue reading
Andrea Yates and me.
The retrial of Andrea Yates for the murder of her children began this week. When I see pictures of her in the courtroom, the thought flashes across my mind, unbidden, that could have been me. Postpartum depression is a condition … Continue reading
Why I am not a lactivist.
I was going to do everything “properly” with my first baby. Natural birth, no epidural, no C-section. And I was going to nurse my baby from the start; formula was evil. It’s amazing how dogmatic you can get when you … Continue reading
The girl I love.
She’s not a Hollywood Beauty. She would be classified as being on the large side — she’s normal by most standards, but not for show business. Her face shows a gentle intelligence, but would never launch a thousand ships. Her … Continue reading
On Seeing Art.
You may well wonder at the vehemence in my last post; I did a bit myself. It boils down to this: Art matters to me. Art matters not in an abstract, “Gee, isn’t that pretty” way, but in a visceral, … Continue reading
In vino veritas…
Last night, my husband and I went out to a sports bar, looking to get out of the house and maybe watch some of the Olympics away from the kids. Trying to watch ice dancing when you can’t hear … Continue reading
In the dead of the night…
There comes the fear. Growing up, the nighttime fear was always there, in some shape… vague forms threatening vague harm in the future. No names, no faces. Loneliness, loss, madness. Must stay alone, must not allow people in, must not … Continue reading
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