The Scrolls

Archive for the ‘Links’ Category

Passion

When asked what I was passionate about, I found it hard to answer and what I did come up with didn’t seem significant enough. The truth is, however, I am passionate about people and things that affect them: freedom and opportunity, tragedies–both natural and man-made, the every day things and the once in a lifetime chances. I think it would be appropriate to be compassionate and I could not tell you that I try because, the truth is, I try not to be sometimes. It’s all to easy for me to get swept up in despair because I cannot possibly help everyone or even know where to start.

To help alleviate this despair, I decided that I would stick to what I’m good at. Every day, I would make my loved ones smile and laugh and feel good about themselves and, in my head, these ripples of goodness slowly spread outward and perhaps, just maybe, touch every corner of the world. Nevermind that it’s a sphere.

And maybe along the way I will discover some way that I can contribute in more “significant” ways because I know that saying “I make people laugh” doesn’t exactly sound like ground breaking life’s worth. But don’t let me undercut what I do because I am damned good at it and if I died today, the people I loved would be sad because there life was better for having me in it, for having me to make them laugh.

And that is awesome.

Yet, sometimes, the reality for those who I can’t make laugh hits me like a ton of bricks. And I get angry. Or sad. Or a hysterical combination of both. Because I care. Because I am passionate about people in general, despite my sarcastic and biting sense of humor that may indicate otherwise. That is how I felt when I stumbled across the following:

There is a country where the leading cause of death of pregnant women is murder by a partner. In this same country, more than a million women were raped in 2008 and women are much more likely to live in poverty than men. Local laws don’t protect their right to bodily freedom and integrity; some rape laws even state that once a woman initially consents to sex, she doesn’t have the right to change her mind.

You may have caught on by now — yes, I’m talking about the United States.

- Jessica Valenti

average life span of a transgendered person is twenty-three years. The statistic is shocking, until it begins to make sense. Gender non-conformists face routine exclusion and violence. Transgendered people are disproportionately poor, homeless, and incarcerated. Many of the systems and facilities intended to help low-income people are sex-segregated and thereby alienate those who don’t comply with state-imposed categories. A trans woman may not be able to secure a bed in a homeless shelter, for example. Spade writes that just as the feminist movement tended to “focus on gender-universalized white women’s experience as ‘women’s experience,’” the lesbian- and gay-rights movement has focused primarily on a white, middle-class politic, centered on marriage and mainstream social mores.

— Meaghan Winter for Guernica

The good news is, there is good news.

Google has stepped up and created a Person Finder page for those who may be missing in Japan. I personally clicked over and stumbled across an entry for someone looking for information about someone in Misawa. I left a little blurb to inform the poster than Misawa AB has reported no deaths or serious injuries. It’s really hard for me to read about what is going on over there right now. It just hits.. a little too close to home but I hope that I have helped.

And despite the political turn that has occurred, people like you and me are stepping up to help others. Like this Tumblr user who want to give rides to women in Virginia who require an abortion but must now travel out of state for the service. Or this user who says (and I paraphrase) “You know what? Abortion isn’t for me but I respect the life of the living as well as the yet-to-live.”

Pro-choice is not pro-abortion. Pro-choice is often far more pro-life than “pro-life” is. I can’t say I’ve ever met anyone who thinks abortion is just fantastic or the new perfect birth control, that’s not how it goes. If you really want a lower abortion rate, put your time and effort into education and health care (you know, programs like Planned Parenthood). No one has any right to tell a woman what to do with her body or anything that’s growing inside of it. No one has any right to put women in danger for a group of cells, especially a group of cells they will later ignore and expect to fend for itself.

– SkyWritingg on Tumblr

Also, this guy is awesome:

This Just In: Marriage Doesn’t Kill You

So I’m doing my first-turned-on-the-computer routine which includes checking e-mail and going through the featured articles on AIM today (otherwise, you know, I’d never read any news) and I come across this post about the pros and cons for marriage between men and women. Essentially, statistics show that marriage has some health advantages and disadvantages for either gender.

Now, I’m not going to get into the “men have a shorter lifespan than women because women suck the life out of them” thing for two reasons. 1) We all know men have shorter lifespans because they don’t take care of themselves. It’s true. 2) Read number 1. But it’s interesting that married women tend to have less stress but gain more weight. And men? Are less likely to have strokes. Marriage offers an anecdote against depression and high blood pressure, too. But an unhappy marriage basically turns the tables and wreaks havoc on your health.

Still, the article is very hetero-normative so I wonder if any of these benefits or risks apply to marriage (including gay marriage) in general or if some of these are particular to straight relationships alone.

My Work is Erratic

A start projects, I start more projects. I finish the projects I started most recently, while my original projects drag on. Hey, at least I “nest” my products according to standards? d= I think it’s partially due to the fact that I like having something to return to, work-wise. I don’t really like being project-less. Still, it frazzles me but what would I do if I weren’t busy making life so complicated for myself?

So the projects I have in the works instead of finishing this site? Moving Reviews by Cole to WordPress and putting up a new layout. Also, updating the featured site page. It’s another one which will make you forget your own misery.

Now Featuring..

a new featured site. I’ll give you a hint, it’s funny a hell and always makes me feel better.

She leads a boring life..

So she does things like update her joined page and uploading jokes for your entertainment.

Take me away!

If that’s what you think when you visit my site (and you’d better not!), then you can rest assured now that all the pages of the links section are up. Check out my other sites as well as my dailies. If you’re looking for something to waste time, I infrequently update my featured site page. For those who are dark at heart there’s many gothic themed links in the dark links section and if none of those sate your appetite, there’s still more.

With this section down, there’s only 1 to go!

Lawl

The great thing (there’s only 1? Yes!) about this internet is that it makes it really easy to read (and watch and listen) about all the funny (and stupid and generally unbelievable) crap people do.

I like to be amused, I do. This may be the reason I am amusing. No, I don’t just think I am; people confirm this on a daily basis (they really do!).

So it should come as no surprise that my frequent reads include the feeds for Overheard in New York and Overheard in the Office as well as My Roommate is A Dick. Just recently (okay, tonight), I discovered Passive Aggressive Notes which is, exactly as the name suggests, full of passive aggressive notes. I’d like to direct you to this entry regarding shower usage which I found to be LOL-worthy.