Let’s try something new.

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Pat Greene

Yesterday was my birthday. I usually commemorate it in my this blog by going through all the horrible things that happened this week. This year, I think it is really important to keep strong, so I’m going to try looking for the positive:

Railfan made me a kick-ass cake. Dark chocolate cake, split layers, with ganache made from Guittard between the layers, with the whole thing covered in chocolate buttercream. The Resident Shrink, who is careful about what she eats in a way I wish I could emulate, actually got a second piece.*

April 17:

  • Daffy Duck debuted.
  • The Apollo 13 astronauts returned safely to Earth.
  • Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
  • Lochner v. New York. (Ok, this might not be a good thing, but it is interesting.)
  • The Kepler telescope identifies an Earth-sized, habitable planet around another star.
  • Thornton Wilder is born.
  • Sean Bean is born. (Among a lot of other people.)

April 16:

  • The first railway through India is established.
  • Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.
  • Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
  • Albert Hoffman accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of LSD.
  • MLK writes the Letter from Birmingham Jail.
  • The last Apollo flight, Apollo 16, takes off from Cape Canaveral.
  • Ford Maddox Brown was born.
  • Charlie Chaplin was born.
  • Henry Mancini was born.
  • Dusty Springfield was born
  • Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Claire Foy, and Chance the Rapper were all born.

April 18:

  • Yankee stadium opens. (I realize for a lot of people this is NOT a good thing, but YMMV. In any case, it is important for the history of baseball, no matter how much you hate the Yankees. I hate the Yankees too, as far as that goes.)
  • Irish Republic Act goes onto effect. The Irish Republic is established.
  • The International Court of Justice holds its first meeting in the Hague.
  • Lucrezia Borgia is born, making Renaissance history more interesting.
  • Clarence Darrow is born.
  • David Tennant (*swoon*) is born.

I could go on to the other days this week, but I think I will leave it at this. At any rate, at least some positive things happened this week in April.

Oh, and I was born. For now, I am going to treat that as a good thing.

*I had a second piece, too, for breakfast.

Posted in History, My life and times | Leave a comment

Notre Dame.

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Pat Greene

Notre Dame is burning.

To quote the CNN commentator, “It was a reminder that there is still beauty in the world….  We all need beautiful things right now…. It is a reminder that there is something bigger in the world than you.”

There are several buildings whose destruction would pain me more — Westminster Abbey, the Prado — but very, very few. Watching Notre Dame’s nave burn and its spire fall hurts.

I have been to Notre Dame. Yes, I had a money belt stolen there while I was maneuvering though the crush of tourists. But what I remember is sitting the cathedral, of praying for my family. Of lighting a candle for my sister who died.

Thank God no one has been killed. The loss of the art (and those amazing stained glass windows) is terrible, but it would have been worse to lose people.

It’s Holy Week.  There is a resurrection at the end, but I can’t see that in those flames.

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Nerding out.

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Pat Greene

I don’t want Iron Man’s suit. I don’t want Captain America’s shield. I don’t even want a supply of Vibranium.

I want Mjolnir.

Oh, and a lasso of truth. Yes, that’s DC not Marvel, but it’s my world and I’ll get what I want.

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As if it weren’t cool enough already….

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Pat Greene

The upcoming Good Omens miniseries will feature Michael Sheen as an angel, David Tennant as a demon, and…

Benedict Cumberbatch as Satan, and….

Frances McDormand as … God.

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Addendum.

Posted on April 7, 2019 by Pat Greene

After being told by several people that I was, in effect, being over-sensitive about the Joe Biden issue, that it may have been creepy but it wasn’t abusive, that I was having my feelings on the issue “weaponized” against me (what the hell does that even mean?) by Biden’s political opponents, I have left Facebook indefinitely. I will be back at some point — I have friends with whom I keep in touch via the platform — but it’s going to be at least a little while.

I wanted to at least make one other point on the issue of consent, so I’ll make it here. I have fibromyalgia and, as I have written about before, bipolar disorder. When I am having a FMS flare, or a hypomanic episode, my skin can become extremely sensitive. Being hugged hurts.

My friends know enough to ask or to watch my body language. I also feel comfortable putting my hands out to stop them if a hug would be unpleasant.  Also, quite frankly, I am much more willing to put up with discomfort for my friends than acquiantances.

FMS, bipolar disorder, PTSD, injury… there are a lot of reasons a person might need consent before being touched. Just because the hugger is or was a powerful elected official does not change any of that.

All of this goes far beyond politics, or even simple politeness.   It’s a matter of bodily autonomy.

And consent.

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Is #MeToo for only people we don’t like politically?

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Pat Greene

I have been watching Joe Biden for a long time now. As Vice President of course, but before that as well. And the way he has interacted with women over the years frequently made me uncomfortable.

Not my business, I used to think. Different women react to physical touch differently. Maybe they didn’t mind. If it were me, though, had I found myself in the same room with the man, I would have stayed as far away from him as possible.

It seems his physicality with women he doesn’t know is finally being called into question. Two women have come forward with accounts of unwanted touching.

Women all have lived different lives. Some of us have survived rape or other sexual assault. That’s exactly why (in California, at least) we stress positive consent before sexual (or in this case, perhaps non-sexual) touching. You do not simply walk up to someone you do not know and essentially force-kiss them.

I can tell you how invasive it can feel to have a complete stranger grab you in a bear hug without asking first, especially from behind when you are not expecting it.  I often find my heart racing and have trouble thinking clearly. I have never hauled off and decked anyone, but I’ve come close. (Friends, of course, are a much different matter.)

The reaction from Biden’s camp is predictable, if saddening. He is regretful, he never meant anything but good, etc… A non-denial denial.

It is the people who leap to his defense that infuriate me. “He’s a good guy,” “he didn’t mean anything,” “he was acting grandfatherly,” etc. Not to mention questions about the timing of the accusations, as though a woman might not hold off on saying anything about a very powerful man until she felt she had to.

Belittling. Minimizing. Excusing. Treating the objects of the unwanted attention as though they were doing something wrong. Complaining about the “bashing” against a grown man who should have known and acted better.

A lot of the people defending Biden view themselves as supporting women’s rights. Clearly, when the rubber hits the road, they’re more interested in protecting a powerful man than standing up for women’s right to bodily autonomy.

They should know better.

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Hurrah for Lyft.

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Pat Greene

People are snarky about ride-sharing users. You know, the hipsters and tech bros who live in places like San Francisco where owning a car is just not practical? Or who take a Lyft or Uber so they can go out drinking? Those people who disdain taxis?

Or the disabled?

I currently have very frequent migraines. The migraines have morphed and are now distinguished mostly by serious dizziness (often to the point of being hardly able to walk).  Then there is the fibromyalgia…

Many days I can’t drive. I don’t really qualify for paratransit. I do not live in a big city. The last time I ordered an actual taxi it took over half an hour to show up. I’ve never had Lyft take more than five minutes.

Quite frankly, I don’t know what I do without it. I doubt that I am the only disabled person who relies on them. And what about people who don’t drive, either because they never got their license or because their license has been suspended for some reason?

Do I want Lyft and Uber to treat their drivers better, starting with making them employees rather than independent contractors? Absolutely.

Am I concerned about what will happen to fares down the road, when they need to actually show a profit? Yep.

Do I give 5 stars? Do I tip — often very well?  Yes. Every time. (I once tipped 100% to a driver who offered service above and beyond what I expected. I also wrote a letter to Lyft.)

Am I glad they’re there?

Completely.

Posted in Social Issues | 2 Comments

Now for something completely trivial…

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Pat Greene

I am trying to keep from obsessing over serious things. I have a couple of actually substantive posts in progress, but in the meantime I am going to revisit my list of media crushes.

So herewith, media figures I have a crush on, in no particular order:

  • Ari Melber
  • Joy Reid
  • AOC (yes, she’s a media figure)
  • Sara Bareilles
  • James Corden
  • Josh Groban
  • Helen Mirren
  • Jodie Whitaker
  • Peter Capaldi
  • Chadwick Boseman
  • Robert Downey, Jr.
  • Danai Gurira
  • Brie Larsen
  • J.K. Simmons*
  • Keegan Michael Key
  • Alicia Malone**
  • Eddie Muller**
  • Ben Mankiewicz**
  • Samuel L. Jackson

Media Crush Hall of Fame:

  • Alton Brown
  • Rachel Maddow
  • Lin Manuel-Miranda
  • Stephen Colbert
  • Neil Gaiman

So, back to thinking about the state of the nation. Or the world. Whichever is less stressful right now.

*I want J.K. Simmons to play a MCU character. Of course, I wanted Helen Mirren to play Doctor Who, too.
**I have been watching way too much TCM.

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Posted on March 26, 2019 by Pat Greene

I am not going to talk about the Mueller report just yet. For one thing, all we have is AG Barr’s synopsis, and given his position in the administration, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.

And for another paranoid reason: there may be troll brigades out there clogging up any blogs who talk about it. I know that that is irrational, given the limited readership of this blog, but I keep thinking of the gun nut who showed up to argue with me after the Sandy Hook shooting. He had never read the blog before, and simply found us by Googling for blogs writing about gun control. It turns out that he worked for a NRA sponsored magazine doing social media.

I don’t mind arguing with people, but the people I have seen have claimed it was a witch hunt, just like the administration. On more than one occasions I have had to say “Just because an investigation is inconclusive, or is settled, does not mean the investigation should not have taken place.” In one case someone argued, with no evidence whatsoever, that the investigations in the 1970s into Trump’s violations of the Fair Housing Act were “witch hunts.” I walked away from that one — there are arguments that aren’t worth while. What is the proverb? “Never mud-wrestle a pig. You can’t win, and the pig enjoys it.”

A friend posed a question in her Facebook: aside from the fact that we now have to listen to the right crowing, why are we upset? Our president was not guilty of colluding to win the 2016 election; shouldn’t we be glad of that?

It took me all of thirty seconds of reflection to identify one significant reason I’m upset.  If there was no collusion, then Trump’s sucking up to Putin, and Kim, and Duarte,and taking all those actions that undermine our national security, were on his own initiative, and show that he is much more stupid than we all thought.

Which is a very scary thought.

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“What do you want, a bloody photograph?”

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Pat Greene

While Railfan* and I were discussing the Inquisition, I remembered my favorite document of that era, the transcript of Poalo Veronese’s trial for heresy for a painting of the Last Supper. It strongly resembles a Monty Python sketch.**

The very best part was that Veronese, after being ordered to repaint the picture to conform to church rules, at his own expense, simply changed the name to “Christ in the House of Levi.”


*That one of my offspring is majoring in history makes me very, very happy.  Finally, after years of being on the sideline of incomprehensible scientific discourse between the Rocket Scientist and the Red Headed Menace, Railfan and I can get into discussions of the minutia concerning the Spanish Inquisition, and historiographical issues around  popular notions about the use of torture.

**Monty  Python frequently covers the cerebral with the absolutely silly.

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Damn you, Felicity Huffman.

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Pat Greene

God made me for a reason
And nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes
With many kinds of pain
“Travelin’ Thru” Dolly Parton, from Transamerica.

“Travelin Thru” is a very special song to me. Depending where I am in my life, it can help provide a emotional towline to the shore of normalcy. In fact, “Travelin Thru” is not only my favorite song, but the song that has carried me through dark times.  I cry sometimes when I hear it.

“Travelin’ Thru,” from TransAmerica, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Song. At the time I thought it odd that it lost to “It’s Cold Out There For a Pimp,” but I cynically wondered if the old white guys who ran the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences felt more comfortable awarding the Oscar to a hip-hop number than to a song from a movie about a middle-aged transwoman going to meet the son she never knew she had.* An openly religious song, at that.  (Yes, I am aware of the issues of trans-erasure in the TransAmerica as they cast a woman as a transwoman rather than a man. (Huffman’s real-life husband William H. Macy would have been a better choice.)) I have never seen the movie; I got the song after  I saw Dolly perform it on the Oscar telecast, and it has become almost my anthem.

I find myself angry enough with Felicity Huffman over the college cheating scandal that when I hear “Travelin’ Thru” I find myself getting annoyed. I know it will go away — the song is too important to me — but in the meantime, I’m grumpy.

*On the other hand, this was the Oscars where Crash won Best Picture over Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich, and not the least, Brokeback Mountain. (I would have gone with Good Night and Good Luck, myself.)

Posted in Music, My life and times, Social Issues | Leave a comment

Rosebud was the sled.

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Pat Greene

I will write about the mosque shootings soon (and probably after everyone else). I am trying to get my thoughts together: absolute rage is not conducive to good writing.

In the meantime, I want to write about a couple of frivolous issues, one of which has been bugging me for days. I should start out by saying this is not vague-blogging, trying to score points against any other person. I’m just curious. I know what I think, I want to know if that is way off base with what is generally accepted.

When does talking about a film in the presence of someone who has not seen it constitute spoilers? Is it when the film goes out of theaters? Is there such a thing as spoilers, anyway?  Or can you never talk about films around people who have never seen it?

My thoughts:

First of all, talking about classics does not constitute spoilers. Everyone knows that Rosebud is the sled, and that Norman Bates impersonates his mother, and that Wesley lives. (Rosebud is a MacGuffin, anyway: the sled does not in and of itself matter, it just moves the plot along and allows the screenwriters to string together disparate narratives.) Knowing these things in advance does not detract from the enjoyment of the film. I have watched two of those movies countless times already knowing the plot and loved them anyway. (I firmly believe that you need to watch Citizen Kane multiple times to really understand it.) I haven’t watched The Princess Bride more than a couple of times because I am sort of meh about the movie (the book was fantastic, and the movie does not capture its charm).

I think that you should be able discuss films in the presence of another if the movie has been out at least a year. Given streaming, most people can see blockbusters within that time. Although a desire to avoid spoilers can lead to some amusing conversations. (I once saw a young woman try to explain to her mother the last credit Easter egg in Antman and the Wasp without giving away anything of substance in Avengers: Infinity War.)

I do not think anything in the released trailers constitute spoilers. Unless you scrupulously avoid anything where you might see the trailers, you will be exposed to them. They are designed for people to see and discuss.

What do the rest of you think?

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Campaigns are already going on.

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Pat Greene
So people are already announcing that they are running for president. Whoopee.

I am going to look at their specific policy suggestions in depth later, but any candidate I support should have the following (not in any particular order):

 

  • Have been elected to statewide public office: US senator, governor, secretary of state, etc. (advantage to anyone who has had experience in the executive branch, at either state or federal level).
  • Support all women’s access to contraception and abortion. Even for women in custody, either in prison or immigration detention. Understand that reproductive rights are an economic issue, not merely a “social” one.
  • Support efforts to combat climate change.
  • Base policy on real science.
  • Prevent environmentally damaging activity.
  • Support development of alternative power sources.
  • Support reasonable gun controls, including universal background checks, and no reciprocal concealed carry.
  • Support LGBTQ+ rights, including job protections.
  • Work to reduce prison populations, and get rid of privately run prisons, at least at the federal level.
  • Credit for being female or a POC. Aside from the optics, women and POC bring experiences to the office.
  • Encourage growth in numbers of women and girls in STEM fields.
I would analyze how these requirements apply to current candidates, but I think that will have to wait until later.
What do you think I’ve missed?
Posted in Politics | Tagged | 3 Comments

Idolatry.

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Pat Greene

[36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Mohandas Ghandi

So last week Donald Trump signed bibles for a bunch of Alabamians. I was completely gobsmacked by this: not that Donald Trump would do such a thing (the man clearly has a messiah complex, and contrary to what he claims, seems to be no Christian), but that there are Christians so casual about their faith that they would let him do that, let alone ask him to.

I struggle with my faith. I don’t know if I can call myself a Christian anymore. (I tend toward not.) There are a lot of personal reasons (including being mad at God) but I have respect for Christianity in general — at least when it is not being a bludgeon to be laid across the heads of LGBTQ people, or women who have had an abortion (or women in and of themselves), or any other marginalized group. I tend to agree with Ghandi.

As much as I question, as much as I grieve that loss of faith (and it is a loss), I find the ritual of the mass comforting, and find much wisdom in the Bible. Yes, I know that the Bible — the physical object itself — is just that, a physical object made of paper and glue. I had a Scripture teacher rip a page out of one once to demonstrate that fact.

People write in Bibles all the time:

They put their name as a sign of ownership. Keeping all those notes you took in Scripture class about the real meaning of the Beatitudes can be a helpful aid to reflection on the passages, depending upon the outlook of the person who gave you your information.

Family, friends, and teachers write notes to the person they are giving the Bible too. A bible can be a meaningful gift, an encouragement to faith.

They write down the history of their family: births, deaths, marriages. (When my mom died, my sister got the family bible. As she was the eldest, and the most involved in religious matters, that was the right thing for us to do.)

So,  in and of itself having a president, or an actor, or a rock star sign your bible should not be problematic.

Except it is: this part of the electorate talk about Trump as the messianic figure he believes himself to be. “God sent us Trump,” they say, as though he is the second coming of Christ. (If that’s the case, the Rapture should begin any day now. I have no belief that I would be taken up to heaven, which is good because I am really waiting for Avengers Endgame to come out.) Their adulation smacks of idolatry… not that they would have admitted it. They have Trump sign their bibles, and they oppress people who have a different sexual or gender identity, or nationality.

They elevate Trump, and they neglect the teachings of Jesus. They may not break Jesus’s Greatest Commandment, just, but in many cases they ignore the second.

If Donald Trump, a man who believes that sexual assault is okay as long as you’re important enough, who insults people who disagree with him, who mocks the disabled, who is willing to do anything short of murder to get and keep what he wants, who is friends with the rich and powerful but who kicks the poor and powerless to the curb, really was sent by God…

Then I have another reason to be mad at God.

Or else we as a country must have done something really awful.

Posted in God faith and theology, Politics | Leave a comment

Cobbler.

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Pat Greene

I am putting this here so I don’t have to keep looking it up:

Peach Cobbler*

  • 1 package of peaches**, thawed
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
  1. Make sure peaches are thoroughly thawed. They should be syrupy.
  2. Preheat oven to 350.
  3. Place butter in 9x 13 baking pan and place in oven to melt.
  4. Combine sugar, flour, and milk.
  5. Once melted, take the butter out of the oven and pour milk/flour mixture over butter.
  6. Spoon peaches over mixture.
  7. Cook for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.

*This is pretty much Paula Deen’s recipe. I made a few changes. If you don’t have frozen peaches, you should follow it.

** I freeze peaches during the summer (a friend has a peach tree) using Alton Brown’s method, adapted so each bag of peaches has four cups p bag. The resulting peaches are used without adding any water or sugar. (I think you could also use canned peaches in syrup.)

Frozen peaches:

  • 4 cups peach slices
  • 500 mg vitamin C, ground (spoons work well for this)
  • 3/4 sugar
  • Paprika optional (I might also use ginger)
  1. Mix sugar, vitamin C, and paprika in a gallon ziplock.
  2. Dump in peaches and shake thoroughly before placing in freezer.
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