I’m actually going to excerpt that second to last link–which is to one of my old posts I wrote in September 2010–in its entirety, because I think now is as good a time as any to revisit my words (plus, I’m an uppity goddess who likes to quote herself):
Back when everyone naively thought that electing a Democrat would end these obscene royalist decrees, it was argued by a few of us that once given, these powers are rarely given back. But I don’t think anyone expected the Democratic constitutional scholar would actually double down on the dictatorial powers. I confess, I’m fairly gobsmacked.
I often start my frontpage rants in a comment section reacting to the latest buzz in the moment, so you may have seen me post the following bit before. Please bear with another repeat, because it’s the first thing that came to mind when I read about Digby digging up that sorry old excuse that “nobody could have predicted.”
Party of Nobodies…
Nobody could have predicted Bush-Cheney would be a massive failure.
Nobody could have predicted the Iraq war would be an unfounded war and a diversion.
Nobody could have predicted Obama would make Bush-Cheney’s policies the new normal.
Eighty-seven years ago today, the inimitable Marilyn Monroe was born. To the right is perhaps my favorite photo of Marilyn, taken by Anthony Beauchamp. It projects such strength and awesomeness…and so fabulously complements the vulnerable doe-eyed look that she is known and celebrated for elsewhere.
Huffpo has an interesting 1-and-a-half minute clip of an interview with Marilyn’s “closest” friend Amy Greene, from just two days ago. Greene talks about how she met Marilyn…and she has some very spirited and choice words summing up her thoughts on the film, My Week with Marilyn. I tried to embed the clip, but the code won’t work on wordpress. So please take a moment to click over and watch when you can. You won’t want to miss the punchline!
According to The Beverly Hills Courier, Monroe wrote the undated letter to Monroe’s longtime mentor and acting coach, Lee Strasberg, on Hotel Bel-Air stationary. It reads, in part, “My will is weak but I can’t stand anything. I sound crazy but I think I’m going crazy…It’s just that I get before a camera and my concentration and everything I’m trying to learn leaves me. Then I feel like I’m not existing in the human race at all.”
Undated photo shows US actress Marilyn Monroe a few weeks before she died in 05 August, 1962 at the age of 36. The circumstances of her death have never been cleared up. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Damn. Maybe it’s because I turned 32 a couple months ago, but to me that photo looks like a woman just getting started in life.
And to the right, a sight for my 30-something crazy cat lady self! According to the internet, it’s Marilyn with her adopted kitty Serafina. I wish I could find the official credits for that photo, but all I was able to track it down on, through a cursory search, was pinterest- and fanpop-type sites. I’ll keep looking, or maybe one of you knows!
In the meantime, here are a few other news stories for you to nibble on this morning with your brew or beverage of choice…
A study released by the Harvard Medical School on Wednesday shows that immigrants as whole pay more into Medicare than they use, effectively subsidizing the program. The study found that in 2009 alone, immigrants created a $13.8 billion surplus for Medicare. From 2002 to 2009, immigrants paid a total of $115 billion more to the government health program than they used. American-born workers, on the other hand, posted a $28 billion deficit in the same 2002 to 2009 time frame.
But, hey what are facts in the face of xenophobic hate and mistrust?
I’ve been following this story pretty closely “on the ground/grassroots” of Facebook…I’m totally part of all the wimmin cackling and braying for some human rights, dammit. With pride! 🙂
Of course we have to wait and see what pans out action-wise, but the advertiser drop got us this far!Today the “free” market /capitalism worked for the underclass. 15 advertisers threatened to dropped Facebook over its allowance of horrible gender-based violence and hate all over its platform. Facebook heard that, and responded that it is going to screen out things like…videos of girls and women being raped… About time! ( Uh oh, the girly proletariat won a battle…time to bail out a big bank or something 😉
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The initiative originated in Spain in 2006 as “Día del Orgullo Friki” and spread around the world via the internet.
With the internet, there really is no dearth of things to celebrate. I thought I’d highlight all the girl geeks that have been in the headlines recently for this morning’s roundup. Before we get to that though, I did a little digging for the origins and popularization of the term “geek girl”:
Via Geek Girl zine bio. Click image to visit.
geekgirl // (say ‘geekgerl) noun Colloquial a female computer geek, especially on the internet [coined by Rosie Cross, born 1958, British internet publisher in Australia, as the title of her online magazine] 1993.
Although, the most common connotation of geek girl tends to be in relation to computer-geeking and tech-journalists, I think the women of the Sky Dancing sisterhood fall under the geek girl umbrella with respect to their various areas of interest. Take our frontpage regulars for example:
Dr. Dakinikat, the financial economist wonk-slash-jazz pianist-slash-buddhist philosopher queen
Dr. Bostonboomer, the developmental psychologist, voice of the baby boomer generation, and old school journalism newshound
JJ aka Minkoff Minx, the medieval studies expert, modern-day equivalent of a medievalist scribe (hee!), and all around renaissance woman if I may say so!
We’ve just got all kinds of enthusiasts of all kinds of disciplines and subject matter here, which I think is perfectly reflective of the broader community of sisters out there, working together, sharing their voices and talents, building friendships and families. Like our girl Hillary says. “It Takes a Village!”
President Obama announced Monday his intent to bestow a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, whose obituary revealed was survived by her female partner of 27 years.
“We remember Sally Ride not just as a national hero, but as a role model to generations of young women,” said President Obama in a statement. “Sally inspired us to reach for the stars, and she advocated for a greater focus on the science, technology, engineering and math that would help us get there. Sally showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I look forward to welcoming her family to the White House as we celebrate her life and legacy.”
Icing on the cake:
The release noted that the White House informed Ride’s partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, and Ride’s mother and sister about the award last week. The award will be presented at a ceremony at the White House later this year.
I will totally cry if a photograph turns up later this year, of Sally’s partner, mother, and/or sister receiving the award on her behalf.
And, did you know:
In December, NASA intentionally crashed a pair of twin satellites into the surface of the moon, and named the crash site after Ride, in recognition of her numerous contributions to NASA’s Grail project and science in general.
RIP Sally Kristen Ride (1951-2012) Ad astra … To the stars, heroine.
Thank you, President Obama. Thank you, NASA. Thank you history–for finally being on the right side of it. And, thanks to Sally Ride and to all the members of the LGBT community, both the activists and the people just leading their lives and trailblazing like Sally. To take a page from Hillary again, this time from her concession speech during the ’08 primaries…what is truly remarkable when “firsts” of these sorts happen, is that in the long run they won’t be remarkable anymore. Girls can now dream of flying in space and winning presidential primaries at all…because they have seen women before them do these things.
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, but it is a great book I recommend about the poorest of the poor living in the South Bronx and at one point one of the subjects Kozol inteviews says, “Boys who are doing well in school will tell me, ‘I would like to be a sanitation man.’ I have to guard my words and not say anything to indicate my sense of disappointment. In this neighborhood, a sanitation job is something to be longed for.”
That’s a book excerpt permanently etched into my brain. And, if the boys in the Bronx are dreaming of sanitation work, I can only imagine what girls there see on their horizon, if anything at all.
Hopefully the more trails blazed by more women of various backgrounds, from various walks of lives and various neighborhoods, the more girls (and boys!) can dream, without regard to their gender, class, race, sexual orientation, creed, or special needs.
AL AIN // The opening riff of the Deep Purple classic Smoke on the Water pounds out across a college hall.
It’s a common enough scene, as the song has been a standard entry on the playlists of countless heavy rock bands for decades.
However there is nothing ordinary about the five musicians pumping out those familiar chords. They are Random Stars: the first Emirati all-girl rock band.
“Playing rock ‘n’ roll is awesome,” says IT security student Bushra Hassan Al Hashimi, 22, who plays rhythm guitar. “We are the first girls from the UAE who play electric guitars as a band.
“It takes us away from the stress of homework and other college stuff – we play some music and we work on our songs. I’ve always liked rock ‘n’ roll.”
“You don’t make music for immortality, you make music for the moment of capturing the sheer joy of being alive on planet earth, ‘WOW! is this fun… this is just the greatest, everybody should live it that way.’”
…which is exactly what the Emirati girls are doing with their band “Random Stars.” I hope you click over and give the rest a read. It’s a great story.
Sinha’s guides were concerned about her slow pace until the team reached an 8,750-metre (28,707 foot) junction that climbers pass through on their way to the top of the mountain, Sherpa said.
“But once she got to that point, she gained energy and confidence and started moving really quickly,” Sherpa said.
25-year-old Sinha reached the 8,848 metre-high summit of the world’s highest peak at 10.55 am today, as a member of the Eco Everest Expedition from the Tata Group, an official of the Tourism Ministry of Nepal said.
Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on April 12, 2011.
She was hit by a passing train and was seriously injured. She was hospitalised with serious leg and pelvic injuries and in a bid to save her life, doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee.
Sinha had this to say in an interview to an Indian TV station before her climb:
“At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity. I read about people scaling the Mt Everest. I spoke to my older brother and my coach who only encouraged me,” she had told NDTV.
Only 25 years old and such presence of mind, not to mention of body and spirit–a gloriously athletic-yet-geeky combination if you ask me! And, that’s not where the story even ends :
NEW DELHI: Arunima Sinha, the country’s first amputee to conquer Mt Everest, will soon be a police officer.
Arunima last year qualified a written test and skill abilities exam of the central government and qualified for getting an appointment as a Head Constable in the central paramilitary force CISF.
Add gutsy to the list of words to describe this young woman! Cheers to Ms. Arunima Sinha!
It’s one thing to be out and proud. It’s a whole other ball game to actively let gay teens know that when they are hurting they can call you. Brittney Griner, who just won a GLAAD award, along with being the #1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft, is an amazing human being, as you will see at 2:50.
Here’s the youtube:
As a My So-Called Life geek/fangirl, I love that Wilson Cruz (“Rickie Vasquez” on MSCL) introduced Brittney Griner…and such a wonderfully delivered, and well-deserved, introduction it is!
And, Ms. Griner’s acceptance. Just WOW. Watch the entire clip if you can.
I don’t know if Griner’s story fits in the geek girl category or not, but this young woman is so well-spoken–and smashingly dressed in a gender-bender suit–that I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some geek in her. Plus she’s a college grad this month! Congratulations, shero!
Karen Clark Minnesota State Representative South Minneapolis, MN
Representative Karen Clark was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1980, making her the longest serving openly gay or lesbian state legislator in the country. She represents three inner city neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, the lowest income district in the state. Representative Clark is an advocate for low income, Indigenous American Indian and community of color constituents, including many new Americans. A former public health nurse, current college instructor and co-founder of the Women’s Environmental Institute, some of Representative Clark’s major legislative accomplishments include chief authoring and passing worker and consumer right-to-know toxic exposure laws, affordable housing and homelessness initiatives, youth and dislocated worker job training strategies and numerous human rights, environmental justice and anti-discrimination protections. Recently, Representative Clark authored and helped pass the 2013 Minnesota Freedom to Marry bill with bi-partisan support.
Policy wonk on and keep on blazing trails, Karen Clark!
Two other young women were in my newsfeed this week for their ‘girl genius’ accomplishments. JJ already posted about one of these girls in one of her roundups, but I feel it’s only right to include her again. Via the feminist FB page, “Unpacking the ‘F’ Word”:
INSPIRATIONAL WOMAN: Eesha Khare
(Photo: Intel)
Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.
Hello, newsjunkies! The headlines are driving me mad. How about a little festive late night detour of the pantheistic sort, with a dollop of environmental consciousness-raising on the side?
The 12th World Turtle Day is an annual event sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue (ATR). The day is organized to bring attention to turtles and tortoises around the world that are facing numerous challenges to their survival.
Founders Susan Tellem and Marshall Thompson are the force behind World Turtle Day. “World Turtle Day was started 12 years ago to increase respect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures. These gentle animals have been around for about 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of the exotic food industry, habitat destruction and the cruel pet trade,” says Tellem. “We are seeing smaller turtles coming into the rescue meaning that older adults are disappearing from the wild, and the breeding stock is drastically reduced. It is a very sad time for turtles and tortoises of the world.” Tellem added that many sea turtles lost their lives in 2010 thanks to BP’s uncontrolled oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. “It’s a tragic example of putting profits before preserving our environment.
Oh, y’all know nothing lights a fire under me like that nasty old phrase “putting profits before…”
It’s not rocket science knowing how best to start protecting turtles – you would protect their nesting beaches and the seas around them – yet growing pressure from human development means turtles are losing out across the world.
Some places where turtles were traditionally hunted for meat and their shells are switching toecotourism instead. Turtles, like whales, must be worth more alive than dead, right?
Turtles are fantastic ocean ambassadors, but also indicators of the many ways we humans are screwing those same oceans up. Protecting turtles means changing fishing methods, protecting areas are needed for feeding and breeding, and for us to stop treating the ocean as a rubbish tip.
Emphasis above in bold is mine. I just really dig that sentence! The turtle is a great motif for studying the constructive and destructive forces, the yin and the yang, in our modern human story.
I don’t have my reference books on symbolism with me right now, so I will just have to rely on this quick bit of convenience from wikipedia:
Turtles are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures. Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world.[1][2] Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects.[3] They have an important role in mythologies around the world,[4] and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth.[5]Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism.[3]
Environmental activists and proponents of ecotourism seek to use the leverage provided by charismatic and well known species to achieve more subtle and far-reaching goals in species and biodiversity conservation.[citation needed] By directing public attention to the diminishing numbers of giant panda due to habitat loss, for example, conservation groups can raise support for the protection of the panda and for the entire ecosystem of which it is a part.[citation needed] (The giant panda is portrayed in the logo of the World Wide Fund for Nature.)
Hooray for the panda, hooray for the turtle, hooray for their ecosystems, hooray for the Earth. Win-win-win-win!
Furthermore, the IUCN warns, the impact of losing them goes far beyond fewer pet options.
“Turtles and tortoises are major biodiversity components of the ecosystems they inhabit, often serving as keystone species from which other animals and plants benefit,” the report explains.
And while the reasons for their disappearance abound, according to the IUCN, all of them go back to the same source: humans.
There’s that dirty old bastard again: Profit before… people… before nature… before nurture.
Because of this, in order to make sure that the animals that have been around since the dinosaurs don’t go the way of the way of their former peers, the report states an intervention is needed.
Among the most significant movements of late focused on minimizing human interference in the life of turtles is that of different towns, including Pensacola, Fla., to keep artificial light exposure over the ocean at a minimum.
The reason this is so important, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has to do with when the turtles hatch, which occurs at night. Because the small creatures orient themselves toward light, which traditionally came from the stars and moons, instead of making their way into the ocean, many of the newborn turtles are found scooting their way toward boardwalks or endlessly down the shore.
Oh dear goddess. The very well lit Kemah Boardwalk down here near Houston versus… Teeny Tiny Baby Turtle!
Just another reason I have a love-hate relationship with all these corporate-built “boardwalks” popping up more and more these days. They’re fun, but… at what cost.
It’s not all bleak and disaster capitalist, though! According to this press release from the World Conservation Society, via newswise, Slow and Steady, Turtles Gain Ground:
Last year, WCS unveiled a strategy to save the 25 most endangered turtles through conservation work at its Zoos and Aquarium, Zoological Health Program, and Global Conservation Programs.
At the Bronx Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo, more than a dozen turtle and tortoise species from around the world are being raised in “assurance colonies” to ensure they do not go extinct.
Highlights include:
• Five Chinese yellow-headed box turtles were recently hatched at the Bronx Zoo. Classified as critically endangered, fewer than 150 remain in the wild.
• The Bronx Zoo currently maintains an assurance colony of seven Roti Island snake-necked turtles, a species that was discovered in 1994 and subsequently hunted to near-extinction. Only a few scattered individuals remain in the wild.
• The Bronx Zoo currently maintains a population of eight Sulawesi forest turtles, a species only found on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It was described as a new turtle species in 1995. In the late 90’s, two to three thousand turtles per year were collected by traffickers, with the result that by 1999, the population had collapsed. Fewer than 100 of the animals removed from the wild remain alive today.
Progress over profits! Or, at least not behind them.
Chelmsford — Increasing respect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures, World Turtle Day is coming to Chelmsford, thanks to one 11-year-old’s determination to bring awareness to the gentle animals facing extinction.
Parker Middle School fifth-grader Katarina Monnes will host a turtle awareness and children’s activities program at the Chelmsford Library on Thursday, May 23, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., as a part of her Girl Scouts Bronze Award project.
“They are interesting creatures. They have been around since before dinosaurs and have many unique characteristics. Did you know turtles never age? Some scientists are studying that. They can live to be over 100 years old, and only die from injury or disease, not old age,” said Monnes, who has raised funds for several national turtle foundations.
A little ecofeminist shero in the making, grin. Does my heart good!
The turtle hurtle
Monnes is now making it her mission to save local turtles, of which at least three of the six species are listed as threatened or endangered. In Chelmsford, there are box turtles, painted turtles, snapping turtles, bog turtles, red-eared slider turtles and wood turtles. The wood, box and bog turtles are endangered species.
“I hope people learn how to help, what we’re doing wrong to hurt the turtles, how we can stop that and more ways we can bring up the number of turtles,” said Monnes, who participated in a Junior Vet program at the Loggerhead Marine Rescue Center in Juno Beach, Fla. last year.
It’s as simple as that.
And wait, one more pic… one of my girls from the beginning of this year, doing their “terrapin terrific” best. Well, this is mostly just Lily bogarting and hamming it up for the camera, but you can see Rue’s little calico tush in the corner:
Alright. This is an Overnight Open Thread! Take care all and talk to you on the other side of tomorrow.
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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
Morning newsjunkies!
Good morning, newsjunkies!Undated photo shows US actress Marilyn Monroe a few weeks before she died in 05 August, 1962 at the age of 36. The circumstances of her death have never been cleared up. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
And to the right, a sight for my 30-something crazy cat lady self! According to the internet, it’s Marilyn with her adopted kitty Serafina. I wish I could find the official credits for that photo, but all I was able to track it down on, through a cursory search, was pinterest- and fanpop-type sites. I’ll keep looking, or maybe one of you knows!
AL AIN // The opening riff of the Deep Purple classic Smoke on the Water pounds out across a college hall.
Arunima Sinha, Indian Woman, Is First Female Amputee To Climb Everest:.
And, on that uplifting note and image, I’m going to turn the floor over to you in the comments!
Welcome to World Turtle Day(/Night!):
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
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