The Right to Food

I am so ashamed. . .

http://crooksandliars.com/cernig/right-food


Mr. Obama, please make this right.

a rant for my single friends

Being 2 days before Christmas, I had planned on writing a holiday post -- basically one that tells you how I've turned into a big scrooge over the years. (Can it all just be over???) But, I was just over on cnn.com and found an interesting article that made me change my focus. Maybe I'll rant about Christmas tomorrow or another day.

Anyway, this article was about surrogacy. And single men.

Let me say that I have nothing against surrogacy. Just another path to parenthood, and I'm all for doing what works for you to get there. I'm not even against single men using surrogates. Good for them! This particular article profiled a single gay man who used a surrogate twice to produce his two daughters. Fabulous!

So what is my issue? Here's my issue. I have single friends who cannot adopt (or have to endure more difficulties with adopting) simply because they are single. We have all these kids out there needing homes, and we have states, countries and agencies declaring that singles need not apply. (Some do it just to avoid the possibility of gays adopting.) So why don't these singles consider using a surrogate like our friend in the cnn article?

Because it costs around 100 freakin' thousand dollars!!

So, here's the deal: If you are rich and have a hundred freakin' thousand dollars for a surrogate, no one will stop you. No one will protest. No one will put an initiative on the ballot for your fellow citizens to decide your fate. (Ok, this one they might, but we're dealing with the almighty dollar here.) No one will say boo. Just do it. But if you are a single man or woman, gay or straight -- but especially a man and gay -- good lord, we just don't know if we should trust you with the task of raising a child who needs a parent. Let's not even acknowledge the fact that singles of both genders and sexuality prove their ability to raise their biological children everyday.

The stupidity of it all drives mad.

Ok, rant over.

ho ho ho.

swirlies

An interesting sort of situation.
What color do we call our kids?
Our oldest child is Latino. Latinos tend to be called brown, and he definitely has brown skin.
Our younger two children are African. In the U.S., those of African descent tend to be called black.
If you sit our three kids down together, they are very close in color with just a little variation in shade. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to call one of them brown and the other two black.

And what about mom and dad?
Should we really be white? Snow is white. Paper is white. I'm a peachy-pink hue.

I had this conversation with an African-American co-worker/friend of mine. He's a very cool guy whose preference in women is Caucasian, so his former wives have fallen into this category, which makes his children biracial. As we talked about color, he told me that he has always called his kids "swirl kids" or "swirl babies." He said, "Yeah, I used to always say, 'come here you swirlies.'" We talked about the differences experienced by his kids growing up and his own life in the '60s, and how we really didn't like narrowing everyone down to two colors, black and white.

And isn't that really the problem? Trying to shove people into little boxes?
I am a lot of things. My children are a lot of things. Seems unfair to define us with just a word or two.

Talking about color can be hard. It can be really hard talking about it with someone who's shade is different from your own, but it can be done and it should be done. My hope is that by doing so we move away from black and white to shades of browns and peaches. Lofty goal, I'm sure.

try this again

comments?

A HA! Apparently it is only turning back on for new posts. Went back and turned on a few of the more recent ones. I will figure out blogging one of these days!

:)

comments ON! (UPDATED)

Update: Ok, maybe not. Not working for some reason. Let me see what I can do.

I have had a request to turn the comments back on.
Here ya go, CCK!
Comment away, ya'll.

:)

bite-sized mumbles

Tidbits for your enjoyment:

* E needs a haircut -- getting quite the mini 'fro going.

* S and J performed marvelously in the Christmas program this morning. (Ok, marvelously if you don't count S yawning in the middle of it.) Should we have raised a stink about our Hispanic son being cast as the only "servant"? Nah. It had more lines than the flock watchers and was way better than being in the chorus. :)

* Some women become "football widows" during football season. I, on the other hand, become a holiday widow during holiday season. But, hey, I guess I can't really complain this year -- he was actually home for my birthday! Yeah, it's been awhile. Gotta love having a December b-day.

* On the same note, M is working crazy hours making those fab brownies, truffles, biscotti and cheesecake. For all his effort, he gets to curl up to a bag of flour and sleep in a store room.

* I, on the other hand, get to snuggle into those to-die-for fleece sheets. Love me some fleece sheets! Seriously, makes you want to sleep naked if you don't already. (In case you are wondering, having a 2-year-old can hinder naked sleeping.)

* Two months and one day until Guatemala!! Very excited. Lots to do.

* Had a wonderful time in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. Made sure to have my Rigazzi's, Imo's and Drew's. The elixirs of life. Also spent time drooling over the new ballpark. It is beeyootiful!

* And, finally, make sure you get into the Christmas spirit by watching Ralphie as many times as you can. Not a finga!!

:)

choosing who you are

Ok, I'm just going to say this: The arguments against gay marriage drive me nuts. What a load of crapola. One of the components that often goes into the arguments is the idea of "choice." You know, people choose to be gay. Black people don't choose to be black, so we should be tolerant and not discriminate. For gays and lesbians, it's ok because they choose it. More crapola.

Well, here comes this wonderful article. Basically, it posits the question, so what if people could choose? By saying black people don't choose to be black, we are implying that they would rather be white. Yeah, maybe not so much. Science says that gays do not choose to be gay, but so what if they do? Do we all have to be straight white people, whether by choice or not?

Let's just all find a way to love who we are and let others be who they are. And those of us in the majority, how about we stop trying to take away rights from those in the minority. Ok?


http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/what_if_it_is_a_lifestyle.php

"Implicit in that logic is a kind of judgment, the notion that if I could choose, I obviously would choose to be white. But what if I just like being black? What if I could choose and would still choose black? Ditto for homosexuality. So what if you do choose to be gay? I understand that a lot of the science says you don't, but why do we accept this implicit idea that heterosexuality is, necessarily, what everyone would chose?

I'm not trying to minimize the bias and trauma that must come from being out, but a basic extension of humanity, a belief that those who aren't like me actually are like me, says that to be gay has to be more than coping with living beneath the boot of the ignorant. It's always about more than getting your ass kicked, no? What if you actually love the "more than?" What if it is who you are and what you choose?"

officially official

For those of you not on Facebook and, therefore, didn't see this:

We are readopted!! Woohoo!
How cool are we?

this is beautiful

As a mom, I have seen the movie Shrek a million times. Great movie. It also has some great music. Here's one that is beautifully done. Take a moment to watch, listen, and enjoy.

Hallelujah.

Love it.