Do FLDS women really need saving?

OK other pertinent news notwithstanding, AJ's pretty interested in things that make feminists go ZOMG! and also more generally in non-normative sexual/familial formations, so it's with some interest that I've been perusing the coverage of the raid on the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. In particular, alternet had an article recently, which Feministe covered, leaving my mindgrapes rather piqued.

QUESTIONS RAISED:

• AJ is wondering whether thinking about illiberal subjectivities might be a useful way to ponder women of the FLDS persuasion. (I think the answer might be PROBABLY YES.)

• Does the MSM really care about FLDS women? (of course not stupid) SO WHAT IS UP WITH THAT. We already know that when ppl are like "im in ur country havin non-nuclear familes" Americans are all DO NOT WANT. Also those ladies wear weird dresses.

• Apropos, feminist/progressive coverage of the YFZ ranch women raises questions for AJ as to the usefulness of our concepts of things like social control and also agency. In particular, it is interesting that the Feministe post focuseson the existence of autonomous internal social institutions that the FLDS had implemented (hospitals, police and court system) as evidence of the pervasiveness of FLDS coercive control of its members. Most the women who have now found themselves the subject of massive media scrutiny, of course, have expressed little other than ongoing devotion to the church--much to the consternation of progressives, feminists, and MSM alike, who now struggle to reconcile the imperative to recognize a "woman's statement of consent" (Feministe commenter) with the fact that they think the FLDS is like seriously fucked up.

• Also the frequency with which the word "cult" (also "brainwashing") has been used in conjunction with FLDS is striking to AJ's mindgrapes. AJ is wondering whether maybe some of these blog commenters secretly think Islam is maybe a tiny bit cultish? Completely different only not: Feministing had a thing the other day that referenced Stockholm Syndrome re: a particular young person's recent decision to publicly invoke her sexuality.

• As raised by a srsly LIBERAL friend of mine: "But AJ, do you really want to condone the abuse of women and children?" I GUESS NOT. But, as I was quick to point out, I am like PRETTY RADICAL and as such it is not my job to have "solutions," only to criticize ppl who do have them.

• On a different note, Southern Poverty Law Center had a post on how FLDS h8s black ppl. Did we not already know that? AJ fails to see the smoking gun, tho it is fair to point out that the newz is usually pretty into ignoring racism. (Ok SPLC, upon further reflection, I AGREE!)

• And um, wouldn't it be crazy if like, people of color (for instance, ppl of African descent) had like their own compounds somewhere with their own medical providers and internal mechanisms of enforcing law and order and they pretty much had authority over themselves and could govern themselves however they thought would best benefit their community and for the most part THE GOVERNMENT BASICALLY LEFT THEM ALONE? Zomg that would be so totally CRAZY!*

• AND FINALEMENT If this post's title has raised questions in YOUR mindgrapes about why do I not just say what I mean, and you have not had the pleasure of reading Lila Abu-Lughod's piece, you may do so here.
  

* o wait i forgot we totally firebomb ppl like that.

mundayz make me go DO NOT WANT

Poor Miley is on the front page of the New York Post today... AJ sort of feels like she should be allowed to have a sexuality if that's what she's into. Obvs when it comes to the sexuality of minors America is all like "DO NOT WANT! ...umm ok, sort of want?" in that every1 is super anxious to build up and then lay siege to the virginities of our most virginal celebrities. What AJ also wants to know is where is Annie Liebovitz in all this? Like, nobody cares? This is the second time in the last month that she's done a photo shoot that made everyone go all ZOMG! and there has been surprisingly little discussion of the photographer in either instance.

AJ can has homonormativity? Also interesting is this other NYT piece about how marriage/gender can get KIND OF CONFUSING SOMETIMES. AJ has resolved to only ever have a state-sanctioned marriage and this article brings me NO CLOSER to figuring out which gender that would involve me marrying. Curses!

Queerty has something to say about all this.

Zomg! Dwnd!

NYT on employment for former prisoners.

The rest of us have been making feminism srsly unpleasant for women of color bloggers lately. (im sry guize) It are pretty difficult to blame them.

Also this lady totally stabbed this other lady for being too loud while she was trying to watch America's Next Top Model. LOL WUT!

^^^^angkor wat

UPDATE: lol since i wrote this stuff Gawker totally did a post that was all like, Annie Leibovitz: BLAME BLAME BLAME BLAME BLAME!!!!!

moar aj am quik linkz

THIS EXPLAINS A LOT.

How can AJ be this teacher's BFF 4 lyfe?

Poor Wesley Snipes got the book thrown at him: a three year prison sentence for doing something funky with his taxes! AJ wants to know what the world is coming to when a MOVIE STAR from HOLLYWOOD can't buy his way out of three years of jail time over stupid TAXES. AJ smells a RACISM. Another article that I can't find anymore mentioned that Judge Joe Brown appeared as a character witness for Snipes, which somehow just makes me feel worse for him.

More on the inexplicable platonicization of Lilo and Sam (aw, AJ realizes they are just like a lesbian disney movie). And still MOAR. But srsly guise. WTF!

Rock on, Alia Sabur! \m/ (via feministing)

And on a more sobering note, in case anyone needs a reality reminder, here are a list of things that cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt by firing 50 bullets at an unarmed black man:

• Manslaughter, 1st degree
• Manslaughter, 2nd degree
• Assault, 1st degree (x2)
• Reckless endangerment (x2)

OMFGWTF SHOULDER PADS?!!!1

"AJ," my friends sometimes say to me, "You are like, SO RADICAL, why do you have even a little sympathy for Hillary Clinton?"

To which I responds:

1. FEMINISM.

2. AJ likes him an underdog (LOL). look i h8 ppl who h8 clinton more than i h8 clinton, ok?

3. Maureen Dowd.

BONUS LINK: Is Bushwick BK the most racist neighborhood blog EVAR? YOU DECIDE!

o hai. i made u an update.

A WINNER IS DANICA PATRICK!!! (first woman EVAR to place first in an IndyCar race!!1)

Rock on Danica! \m/ Most of you probably do not know that MY GRANDMOTHER (my dad's mom) also raced cars as a hobby. Granny had an Alfa Romeo which she track- and road raced and was the western U.S. women's division champ so often she was asked to move up a class (so she had to buy a porsche cause she was all liek, i can has MOAR engine plz?) My DAD reports that she was SORT OF A BIG DEAL and so when she had mechanical difficulties Alfa flew in some d00ds from Milan to fix it. Neway she eventually quit cause auto racing is like TOO EXPENSIVE or something.

neway.

OMG WHY r I SO 0PPRESSED0rzed. Rhode Island supreme court sayz, gay divorce? NO WAI. Due to not knowing very much about politics and whatnot, AJ is caught UNAWARES that the governor of my fair home state is like this republican d00d who basically h8s gay ppl. David Cicilline is all like, "ummm thats awkward."

A winner is Nas. (jk... wtf!!? via.)

R U SRS?? detainees will be required to submit to DNA swabs at US-Canadian border. via. Patricia Corwell* will probably be pretty psyched, however, since she's always worried about like crime and stuff.

This article needs no introduction.

LOL! She's just bein' Miley!

AJ has always thought the terracotta army is pretty cool. Now because of SCIENCE we know that the whole thing was covered in egg during construction to act as a binder, which makes it DELICIOUS ARMY! NOM NOM NOM NOM

LOL @ "homeland security!" (homeless man finds WTC plans in a trash can wtf!)

Cripchick has sum things to say about ableism and the right to parent.

Patricia Lancaster, NYC's Buildings Commissioner, resigned today. She was the first woman to fill the post, so that kind of sucks, but u know what else sucks? The Department of Buildings! Srsly AJ doesn't really have expository energy today but for those of u who don't care about news, the DOB is like hot tranny mess supreme. Probably the article i just linked to says something about that. But really, as the first commenter points out, the problem has less to do with the buildings commissioner per se, and more with the fact that Slytherin's heir is running New York City.

Boro Park residents H8 TREES! (because the city is giving them TOO MUCH green. Do not want!) a very special winner is Gus Caleca who says, "Do they think I'm Johnny Appleseed with all these damn trees?" and Silzana Malcaus: "We have all this room for trees, but now no room for humans." Boro Park: NO ROOM FOR HOOMINS. AJ h8s trees too, boro park. Children pee on them!

AND FINALLY--

Lindsay Lohan to Ashley Olsen: "GET YOUR 15-YEAR-OLD FULL HOUSE ASS AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!!" LMFAO!! Rock on, LiLo!! \m/ Everyone remembers, Samantha Ronson, right? AJ draws your attention to the second-best part of the article, which is that Lindsay has taken Ronson's last name in her facebook profile!!!!

but OK so look: as far as AJ is concerned, Ronson is OBVIOUSLY A BIG DYKE and she and Lohan are OBVIOUSLY LOVERS (plz stop doin peace sign tho, k?). Much to my consternation, however, the media STUBBORNLY REFUSES to adequately play up the scandalous lesbo-love affair angle of their relationship (srsly, NY Post, "gal pal?" im so disappointed in u). When the MSM is concerned I always thought LESBIAN SCANDAL trumped homo-invisibility, so I ask my readers: WTF is up w/ taht?? Thoughts? Feelings? AJ SRSLY WANTS 2 KNO.




* duh, she's ONLY MY FAVORITE CRIME NOVELIST EVAR.

IT ARE CATURDAY!!!!!

ALL CATS ALL DAY!!1

WE MISSED U HISSED TEH LOLCATS!

ZOMG CATS THAT LOOK LIKE HITLER!

JEFF THE GIANT ORANGE CAT!

STUFF ON MY CAT!

WORKING CLASS CATS!

WALL STREET JOURNAL IS IN UR MEMES RUININ UR JOKES!

CATS IN SINKS!

A HISTORY OF THE LOLCATS:

and on a lighter note...

A very special lolAJ lolcat because, as my lolAJ tipster notes, "we all need a little more Peggy McIntosh in our lives"

ROCK ON, KITTEH!!!1

abortion art/AJ gives props pt 2

OK so there seems to be some dispute about whether the Shvarts senior project (see previous post) is a hoax or no. Yale claims it is; Shvarts maintains it was "real." Here is a link to today's Yale Daily News column by the artist, discussing her work, although AJ doesn't really believe that the point of art has very much to do with what the artist thinks. 

OK BRACE YOURSELVES FOR EARNEST COMMENTARY (snore):

I'd wager it's mainly beside the point, actually, whether the whole thing is a hoax or not, since (what I assume is) the desired effect has already been accomplished. At this moment, we're running 44 comments on the Feministing post on this story, and 95 on Feministe (which posted on it earlier yesterday)--and I'm not even going to wager a guess as to what chaos has broken out in the larger blogosphere and MSM on this subject.

ANYWAY. The mindgrapes of pro-choicers continue to boggle my mindgrapes. We are eager to defend the right to reproductive choice as an absolute right (because we are like serious fans of "rights," right?), and then backpedal madly when someone does something unexpected... you know, like be a man and choose to have a kid (whereupon we invoke weirdo wingnut rhetoric about the dude's psychological well being), or be a woman and choose to have an abortion just for the hell of it (whereupon we flip out). What's more, we are wont to cast ourselves as brave eradicators of the social stigma of abortion but then cringe when someone expresses the least regard for that stigma imaginable. We make t-shirts that say "I had an abortion" but when a student tells the whole world she had several, we accuse her of trivializing the emotional realities of those women for whom the choice was difficult. But didn't we think that emotional pain was there in the first place because of like, patriarchy or something? I forget. I thought we were pretty much ok with women feeling pain over their abortions but we also worked to minimize that pain insofar as it was the product of an anti-"choice" mentality.

It's also pretty striking how feminists have decried the piece for creating fodder for pro-lifers, as Feministing commented:

"but rather than spark a discussion... this really just propped up a lot of ridiculous anti-choice talking points, like women have abortions just for the heck of it, because they're bored on a Saturday night or something."

Which ok, a) hasn't it already sparked a discussion (see above)? and b) ok see above again.

AJ is going to engage in a POLITICAL FAUX PAS and introduce an analogy to a separate social issue, by which I mean, teh gay. We are pretty much not OK with a politics of respectability when it  comes to queer folks, right? Similarly, it strikes me as incongruous that feminists, who presumably want choice as a categorical reproductive right, are anxious about some women's flagrant abortions making all those respectable abortions look bad! Wtf! 

Also I thought we all thought the idea that life begins at conception was PRETTY DUMB, so how is this possibly immoral? Srsly, is an embryo/fetus a person or no? Make up your minds!

And finally, how greatly our feelings of scandal have impeded our capacity to function as art critics! The feminist blogosphere has been very quick to denounce the piece as "bad art," which is precisely what all those right-wingers say every time someone wants to put some elephant dung on Jesus or take a picture of some dude with a hard on. Boring. It's also an interesting proclamation since none of us have even actually SEEN the art yet. Folks have also been quick to demand to know what the artist's intentions were, amidst eager speculations (as Feministing has posted) that "there is likely more mush than thought" in Shvarts' head... which again, doesn't really seem like a very interesting way of appraising art, really.

ANYWAY wtf! You people are crazy! 

AJ GIVES PROPS

lolAJ's MAD PROPS go to Yale undergrad Aliza Shvarts.

The short of it is, Shvarts is an arts major who spent the last year inseminating herself, inducing abortions, and then documenting the whole thing for her senior arts project. Here is another article. Aliza, you are going to upset ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE and that makes you OK in my book.

AJ may have something further to say about this later. Thanks to FITK for this gem.

stoopid werk

OK i have not been able to post much lately because ppl at my job keep asking me to like DO STUFF wtf. im like, umm i have a blog? BUT THEY DON'T EVEN CARE. also what is up with the news lately. IT ARE BORING.

THAT SAID:

Since I have become PRETTY ADDICTED to text-based online roleplaying games (w00t!), I have gotten totally behind the times in terms of games that you know, have like moving pictures. I don't even HAVE a current generation platform anymore (stupid ps2), but I always thought I would get one when the next round of games that I care about came out...

Which is why I was all liek, AJ SMASH!!!! when I (ok 8 months after it was actually news) discovered that the new Resident Evil game (zomgRESIDENT EVIL 5!!!!!!) takes place in "Africa." Which means... yes, you guessed it, the entire game is you playing as the all-American white protagonist shooting at black African zombies. Here is the trailer.

This is pretty upsetting because, for those who do not know, Resident Evil is basically the awesomest video game franchise there is, and I'm not just saying that because someday Milla Jovovich will be my wife. Multipass, plz!

When it comes out in 2009, will I play RE5 anyway or no? IDK!

ANYWAY in the interest of not dwelling on stuff, here is some OTHER NEWS:

Sum thoughts on a game that is NOT RACIST like RE5. GO PLAY IT if you would like a QUANTITATIVE appraisal of how racist u r.

A real shocker from Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services: homeless young ppls = black, lgbt

Whoa, way to completely miss the point, Feministing. 

AJ does not usually get all TOUCHY FEELY like this but still I will include a generic plug for Muslimah Media Watch, which is overall a PRETTY OK blog.

AJ likes his social commentary in UNDERWEAR ADS. no srsly wut the balls

AJ likes not to think too much about how the media portrays trans ppl . Oops.

lolFrance! says: IT ARE ILLEGAL to promote unhealthy thinness. Interestingly (or not, idk), it's conservatives who are pushing the bill thru.

omfgTHIS MOVIE WILL ROCK. \m/ AJ is especially a fan of Cynthia Nixon, mainly because her gf is like BASICALLY A BULLDAGGER. U rock 2, Cynthia! \m/

APROPOS, Michelle Rodriguez says her sexuality is none of our business. Whatever, Michelle! U rock less than Cynthia (ok still u rock for being generally awsum tho). Except I thought we all knew already she was dating that woman from the L Word and also that crappy Sci Fi show that got cancelled?

and APROPOS that movie w/ Cynthia Nixon, this business lady raises SOME INTERESTING POINTS about women WHO DO BUSINESS. Zing!

wtf does anyone care about the pope? not me. no wai.

mundayz :(

zomg! THIS D00D is selling his blackness on ebay. Nice! AJ thinks it is a REAL STEAL! Fortuitously, K-Fed is still in the market! (aw don't cry k-fed youll get urs soon)

LMAO! @ xtian gene

Madonna iz an hero. wowz0rs. (via.)

Eek! a pretty good example of WHY I DON'T READ BOOKS.

WTF!!!!1! onoz mah hed it r exploded (via.)

feminists h8 sex pr0n. but do pr0n h8 feminists????

str8 wimmin luv seXx... WITH JACKIE WARNER!!!!1 OMG0Rz WORKOUT S34S0N 3 ST4RTS 2M0RR0W R U READY??? but srsly jackie wut iz up w/ taht hair

AJ is pretty interested in ppl who get stuck in places for periods of time, like this lady, and this d00d--which is why i was pretty psyched to see this New Yorker piece on Nicholas White, who spent 41 hours in an elevator, and other elevator-related issues.

and hereabouts:

LOL hipsters rule because how else would we know that submitting a liquor license application is JUST LIKE GETTING ARRESTED! rofl and my cubicle is JUST LIKE A CONTROL UNIT. oh wait except not.

You may think you know everything about the 125th Street rezoning fight, but did you know Craig Schley, founder of community group Voices of the Everyday People is a FORMER MODEL?? The people united, led by ex-models, CAN NEVER BE DEFEATED.

And finally, for a SRSLY GOOD TIEM feel free to read the curbed commenters' responses to the death of congestion pricing. IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO SHARE OPINIONS WITH SUCH FINE GENTLEMEN AS THESE:

"GOOD!

I can't wait to leave my work and blast down the roads in my V12 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG and look for those "turn New York into Amsterdam" cyclists crying themselves and peddling like losers to their worthless minimum wage office jobs. I'll be sure to mash on the gas with my Prada shoes and unleash the 600 horsepower and scare them.

Weep on losers! I love living in Manhattan and I love my car!!

Fags!"

lol-aj.livejournal.com presents: a POTPOURRI!

IT ARE THE WEEKEND AND HERE ARE SUM THINGS ON MY MIND GRAPES:

1. dixie chicks rule. one time i was driving to savannah with my gf and we were listening to truth no. 2 (which is playing in the next room of my apt at the moment). we pulled into a gas station and turned off the car and IT WAS STILL PLAYING. this was because the gas station was also playing truth no. 2, over the PA system by the pumps.

2. precious gems made from yr beloved dead person! THAT ARE SRSLY WEIRD. the most pertinent question has been posed already by a commenter, by which i mean,

how is this possible? why aren't diamonds like worthless if they are just makeable.

3. since much of my readership are not "internet people," it is necessary that i include a plug for Postcards from Yo Momma because i don't think you ppl would know about it otherwise! i shall not elaborate further except to add that my VERY OWN ROOMMATE's mother was featured in part of the April 7th postings. READ IT NOW OR DIE.

4. it has been SRSLY FOGGY in city lately. wtf! NYC is all liek "o hai, im san francisco!" the other day riding to work my glasses were all wet by the time i got to the other side of the manhattan bridge. that's how foggy it was. then the next day it was EQUALLY FOGGY. here are sum pikshurs from my fone:

bklyn bridge from the manhattan bridge.


the next day, somewhere near the courthouse like by centre st or something

5. speaking of my camera fone, aj will give a special prize to anyone who can tell him definitively whether this play is 4 srs:

ZOMG LOL MOST ORIGINAL IDEA EVAR!!!!11ONE!
jk wtf! is this 4 reel?

im pretty sure there was sum stuff taht are political that i wus thinking about this week but i cant remember now... TO BE CONTINUED!!!!

ZOMG WHUT IS UP WITH THE STARBUCKS CUPS

Other interesting procreative news for this week includes this story: Baby with 2 faces born in north India. It's surprisingly heartwarming! However, AJ must register a degree of skepticism.

MAUREEN DOWD wants boys to be boys, calls "Hillary" a "Tracy Flick Goodie Two Shoes." McCain of course doesn't really need any encouragement with his vices. AJ wants sum shoulder pads, plz.

Another reason to like Naomi Campbell!

oops. lol @ culture of fear by which I mean GIVE ME MY BODYSPRAY BACK MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT SECURITY

Also: in case you missed it, and continuing on with our theme of unconventional family/sexual formations, the state has taken custody of over 400 children following a raid on a Mormon fundamentalist compound in Texas on Saturday. Last week, the Dept of Family services hotline received a call from a 16 year old girl reporting repeated sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her (50+ year old) husband. The sect in question is the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, you probably recall is currently serving a prison sentence for accomplice to rape. Jeffs also awaits trial for incest charges. BBC pines for the new wards of the state. AJ is generally pretty skeptical whenever the MSM anoints itself defender of women and girls, but WHUT DO U THINK? aj wants to kno.

and here are some news for great justice

ENGLISH OR GTFO!!! Pennsylvania judge gives three Spanish-speaking men two years to pass an English test or face prison time, wants to kno: "Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?[???]" The reporter describes Judge Olszewksi's sentencing style as "creative," forgets that the last time being racist/anglocentric was creative was like, idk, a super long time ago.

Oszewski supporters probably include these d00ds who want to boycott Absolut Vodka over this ad (which ran in Mexico):

 

LOL!!1!ONE! Be sure to check back for when they update the portion of the site on Aztlan!! NO I R SRS! (via Gawker)

:-O akfjaeo

Here is a pretty ok idea: The Accidental Scab, information repository (under development) for when you srsly don't want to be a scab by accident. Every1 add yr hometown!

Rend Smith offers a bit of historical context on the John White conviction (recently covered by 20/20), which of course raises questions about the construction of the rational subject and makes AJ sad panda.

OTHER QUESTIONS RAISED:

Australian father-daughter couple raises questions as to whether ne1 ever reads Gayle Rubin anymore. Some lady and her dad started shacking up when she was like in her 30s and then had a kid together and then 7 yrs went by and they had ANOTHER kid and finally the authorities got all like "wtf!" and so the couple ended up pleading guilty to two counts of incest last month. LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK--the judge's ruling:

"This is not a case where a father has violated his daughter and used his position of authority to take advantage of her powerlessness... However, the offence of incest exists not merely to protect children from sexual abuse. In my view, other relevant factors include the need to prevent the high risk of congenital defects of children born of incestuous relationships and to prevent children, who are brought up in a family unit founded on an incestuous relationship, suffering psychological harm and social stigmatisation. Those factors assume significance in this case."

LOL AUSTRALIAN JURISPRUDENCE FTW!!1 k sum obvious points:

1. it is definitely an OK idea for the law to intervene if 2 ppl are having sex and they might have a baby with health risks.*
   
2. it is definitely an OK idea to criminalize unconventional family formations** because of the possibility of social stigma.
   

Neway AJ is not holding is breath waiting for queer outrage at this story. Perez Hilton comes through with the most DISCURSIVELY SALIENT RESPONSE EVAR:

"So wrong. So wrong."

I CAN HAS HOMONORMATIVITY PLZ.

* that is called eugenics

** other examples include single parent households or ones with homos. also pregnant d00ds. wtf!

lolAJ monday roflcopter

LOL @ Nicholas Kristov who has sum MOAR awsum thoughts about race and gender. omg kristov WRUH???! but srsly tho its good to be reminded about SCIENCE. jk PEW PEW PEW PEW!!1

NYT also has a piece on Co-op City in the Baychester area of the Bronx (ok google analytics tells me i has visitors who don't live in the city, so.) With 55,000 residents, Co-op City is: a) the largest co-operative housing development IN THE UNIVERSE, and b) awsum. The co-op board is also considering pulling out of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program which are teh suck, however. Martin Fuchs also has a photo gallery thing on co-op city if u r into that sort of thing.

ALSO:

LOL @ some feminists. Feminists h8 sex!!!

British construction firm on workers whistling at ladies: DO NOT WANT. AJ is pretty sure this article raises some issues or something.

ZOMG COW-HUMAN!! via perez, cow egg injected with hoomin dna lives 3 days! professor science says cow-humans are are "intended to provide a limitless supply of stem cells to develop therapies for diseases." crossing a cow with a human of course also produces delicious spice with which i like to season my chicken salad.

and finally: major lulz @ michael bloomberg for suffering teh uber pwnage over congestion pricing. car owners know that bloomberg's plan was completely lulz-driven from its inception and it is always nice to see someone GET A TASTE OF HIS OR HER OWN MEDICINE. Overall, HappySnake is PRETTY HAPPY.

wtf why is it so weird to be a transsexual vol I

in 5 parts:

• k so I call the admissions office at the graduate school I will be attending in the fall to ask how much money I need to send them for my application fee. The man on the other end of the phone asks what my name is and I say "Well, the name I was admitted under is [birth name]." He acts flustered for a moment and then proceeds to refer to me, using my birth name, in the third person (with feminine pronouns) for the rest of the conversation. He seems to have concluded that the only conceivable explanation is I am calling on behalf of someone else.

• Some time ago, I went to the bank to change the name on my bank account. Upon presenting my name change order to the teller, she puzzles over it for a moment and then asks me how my old name is pronounced. My former name is probably in the top 5 most basic, unmistakable anglo-girl names ever invented. So I tell her and she smiles in a vaguely confused way and says, "Oh, well I guess you get asked that a lot."

• Since beginning man 'mone therapy a while ago, I find a nigh-omnipresent collection of lint in my belly button. No matter how frequently my girlfriend extracts it, it is always there. This never happened before; I can only guess that perhaps there are now hairs present that are trapping the lint inside my belly button?

• At the behest of my better half, I finally get around to going to the doctor-who-must-not-be-named. The doctor acts REALLY INCREDIBLY apologetic and guilty the entire time, like it's her fault I'm there, which I find to be oddly gratifying. She also acts terrified of offending me when she asks if I sleep with men (this is at an LGBT clinic).

• Women who read my blog are probably already aware that random men on the street often feel entitled to make unsolicited comments at people they do not know. If you are a gender nonconforming gay man or lesbian, perhaps those you pass by have called you a fag or a dyke. Or perhaps they have endeavored to strike up a dialogue about whether you are a man or a woman. However, if you are a white FTM who wears glasses, street hecklers will only call you one thing: HARRY POTTER.
  

ok.

ok so about that congestion pricing thing i am a little late on the upswing but: look my car does not like to b pwned by ANYBODY but especially not Mayor Bloomberg or any1 else who looks like a reptile. anyone who wants to make me pay money just to drive my car is gay.

k to summarize:

congestion pricing disproportionately impacts middle and lower income ppls by:

1. taxing folks from the outer boroughs instead of the rich folks from jersey/westchester
   
2. taxing folks more if u don't have an EZ pass (which are expensive and used mainly by folks with moar monies)
   
3. throwing on a nasty fee if u don't have an EZ pass and don't pay w/in 48 hrs which is going to get crazy 'spensive for sum poor ppl
   
4. ignoring taxis and limos which amount to almost half of manhattan traffic and are frequented by ppl who make twice what the avg outer borough auto commuter makes
   

other reasons congestion pricing sux:

1. buildings produce 90% of manhattan's air pollution so why r u messing around with ppls cars.
2. first bloomberg wants ur monies, next u will have to make blood sacrifice
3. the fact that i like to drive my car
   
4. also it is hell of sleazy for the mta to announce that they have to delay service improvements less than a week before the council vote and threaten another base fare hike (zomg!) that's just dumb.
   
5. also do u really believe that monies will ever go to transportation? NO WAI. it will go to mike's roller skate collection or to make a horcrux something.

k in conclusion:

- cars rule

- tolls suck

- no srsly tolls r teh sux SERIOUSLY

Other items of import currently include:

Robots continue gentrification of outer space.

Another reason why racialicious is a righteous blog--the new updated comments policy:

11. Any comments using the phrase “the United States of Amerikkka” or “Amerikkka” will be deleted. It is not very original or entertaining at this point, especially not the 400th time someone has to read it.

LOL racialicious ftw.

AJ doesn't usually like to confuse work and blogging, but I will tell you something interesting about hotel development: BELLEVUE HOSPITAL IS GOING TO BE ONE (probably/maybe). Of particular note:

"Originally, officials considered turning the 1931 Italian Renaissance-style building on First Avenue between 29th and 30th streets into condos, but oddly, the layout of a mental institution is better suited to a hotel."

THATS RATHER FOUCAULDIAN! i think.

RIP

Bertha the Coney Island tiger shark has gone to that big aquarium in the sky. :'(

sadshark is sad/dead