Friday, October 22, 2010
Who You Know
Lately the thought of staying in at night, researching firms and drinking chamomile tea, sounds way more appealing than going out. I am going to savor this urge because it means that I've (so far) compiled a list of 30 job/networking opportunities, complete with background information about each individual person I want to contact. I'm going to start making phone calls next week, so I predict a rather large phone bill this month. Whatever...the end result (e.g., a job...please?!) will even it out in the end.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Choice
Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live in 2010. Not only do I have DVD rental through the mail, vaccines, and the Internet, but there are certain rights that I was born with and didn't even have to fight for. Seeing the way that gay rights are evolving has made me more aware of the often long and tedious process of acquiring "fundamental" rights. I guess what really got me thinking about this was reading "Roe v. Wade" and re-watching the documentary "Jesus Camp."
It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when I would not have had the right to choose whether to have a baby. I recognize that, setting aside rape, unwanted pregnancies are fairly preventable with responsible birth-control methods, but still--accidents happen. Prior to 1973, when this all-too-frequent accident happened, most states left women with only two options: to either suck it up and go forth with the unwanted pregnancy, or to find a shady back-alley abortion "doctor" to perform the illegal procedure. I don't think I even need to go into detail about why the second option is detrimental to women (remember Penny from "Dirty Dancing"? Thank goodness Baby's father was a doctor!) As for the first option, well, all I can really do is picture myself in that position. The thought terrifies me. Pregnancy is an extremely big deal, both emotionally and physically, and unless you're prepared for it I can imagine it could be traumatizing. But that is just small potatoes compared to the life-changing consequences of actually having the child and caring for it. Even if you put the baby up for adoption, which I think is the admirable choice when you realize you can't give the baby what it needs and deserves, that doesn't change the fact that you became a mother. The emotional and physical undertaking of having a child and either putting it up for adoption or keeping it is just too serious, too permanent, too monumental of a choice to be left to anyone other than the woman.
Apart from the very personal aspects of forced motherhood noted above, there are various other factors, not the least of which is economics, that favor abortion rights. In a nation racked with debt and a bloated, yet crumbling welfare system why would we not encourage women to opt out of pregnancy when they recognize that they cannot adequately care for a child? Most of the women who cannot afford reliable birth control are the ones who need it the most--the women who already have 5 children they can't care for. And someone is going to sit there and say that she has to choose "life" for her unborn baby? What life? A life of poverty? A life where the mother's very little means now have to be divided by 6 instead of 5? Until we fix our debt and welfare system, and unless right wing conservatives plan on paying for these children themselves, it seems to me that people have no right to say that every conception should lead to a birth.
Speaking of "choosing life," my friend Joby said something brilliant earlier today that I'd like to share. She said, "I dislike the label 'pro-life' because it implies that pro-choice means pro-death, which commits a few different fallacies." This labeling is one of the oldest tricks in the extremist handbook though. Another trick? Visual aids. I used to get so sick when the "pro-life" activists would show up on my college campus with huge, blown-up pictures of aborted fetuses. REALLY?! You think that's going to stop me or my classmates from supporting abortion rights? First of all, I'm pretty positive that an abortion procedure with a licensed physician does not resemble a gory horror film set. Second of all, waving those disgusting signs in my face merely pushes me away from your cause and further convinces me that you are an irrational asshole. Maybe try researching some relevant facts and creating signs that a) don't make me want to vomit and b) use logical reasoning and not bible quotes. This visual aid trick was used in "Jesus Camp," as well, a documentary about a subject that I take issue with on so many, many different levels. We'll stick with abortion for now. So this man comes in to do a sermon to children about abortion (children who probably don't even know how a baby is created, let alone the various circumstances in which a baby can be unintentionally created) and he uses these little baby figurines to show what size a baby is during certain times in a pregnancy. Anyone who has seen an ultrasound knows that up until about 10 weeks gestation, a fetus looks more like a lump of play-doh than a cute, cuddly baby. And yet this man is holding up what he says is a 7 week fetus, but what looks more like a full term, anatomically correct infant that has been shrunk down. This is obviously a tactic to play on the emotions of the children--they associate this tiny figurine with an infant in their own life, maybe a sibling or a cousin or a neighbor. It makes it easier for the pastor to drive his point home when he says "1/3 of your friends wish they could be here tonight, but they can't, because they were aborted." I wish I was making that up.
I started on a positive note and got a bit negative, I know. But if there's one thing I can't stand more than anything in the world, it's people blindly advocating a belief system without logical and rational reasoning to back it up. Wait, there is something I can't stand more--it's people who blindly advocate a belief system and then force their children to blindly advocate that belief system as well. They're raising a generation of kids who are not taught to think for themselves. That's so dangerous. And it's most likely why it's been such a long and tedious process to secure certain fundamental rights such as the right for women to choose what to do with our body and future. I can only hope that once-golden boys such as Ted Haggard continue to slip up and chip away at the closed-minded and rigid exterior of the extremely conservative part of our nation until they are forced to recognize what their hypocrisy, judgment, and "morals" are actually doing to other people. I may not be "pro-life," but I'm certainly not "pro-death," I just understand the enormity of pregnancy and motherhood. Until people can come up with better arguments than "A baby is a gift from God" then I just can't take them seriously.
It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when I would not have had the right to choose whether to have a baby. I recognize that, setting aside rape, unwanted pregnancies are fairly preventable with responsible birth-control methods, but still--accidents happen. Prior to 1973, when this all-too-frequent accident happened, most states left women with only two options: to either suck it up and go forth with the unwanted pregnancy, or to find a shady back-alley abortion "doctor" to perform the illegal procedure. I don't think I even need to go into detail about why the second option is detrimental to women (remember Penny from "Dirty Dancing"? Thank goodness Baby's father was a doctor!) As for the first option, well, all I can really do is picture myself in that position. The thought terrifies me. Pregnancy is an extremely big deal, both emotionally and physically, and unless you're prepared for it I can imagine it could be traumatizing. But that is just small potatoes compared to the life-changing consequences of actually having the child and caring for it. Even if you put the baby up for adoption, which I think is the admirable choice when you realize you can't give the baby what it needs and deserves, that doesn't change the fact that you became a mother. The emotional and physical undertaking of having a child and either putting it up for adoption or keeping it is just too serious, too permanent, too monumental of a choice to be left to anyone other than the woman.
Apart from the very personal aspects of forced motherhood noted above, there are various other factors, not the least of which is economics, that favor abortion rights. In a nation racked with debt and a bloated, yet crumbling welfare system why would we not encourage women to opt out of pregnancy when they recognize that they cannot adequately care for a child? Most of the women who cannot afford reliable birth control are the ones who need it the most--the women who already have 5 children they can't care for. And someone is going to sit there and say that she has to choose "life" for her unborn baby? What life? A life of poverty? A life where the mother's very little means now have to be divided by 6 instead of 5? Until we fix our debt and welfare system, and unless right wing conservatives plan on paying for these children themselves, it seems to me that people have no right to say that every conception should lead to a birth.
Speaking of "choosing life," my friend Joby said something brilliant earlier today that I'd like to share. She said, "I dislike the label 'pro-life' because it implies that pro-choice means pro-death, which commits a few different fallacies." This labeling is one of the oldest tricks in the extremist handbook though. Another trick? Visual aids. I used to get so sick when the "pro-life" activists would show up on my college campus with huge, blown-up pictures of aborted fetuses. REALLY?! You think that's going to stop me or my classmates from supporting abortion rights? First of all, I'm pretty positive that an abortion procedure with a licensed physician does not resemble a gory horror film set. Second of all, waving those disgusting signs in my face merely pushes me away from your cause and further convinces me that you are an irrational asshole. Maybe try researching some relevant facts and creating signs that a) don't make me want to vomit and b) use logical reasoning and not bible quotes. This visual aid trick was used in "Jesus Camp," as well, a documentary about a subject that I take issue with on so many, many different levels. We'll stick with abortion for now. So this man comes in to do a sermon to children about abortion (children who probably don't even know how a baby is created, let alone the various circumstances in which a baby can be unintentionally created) and he uses these little baby figurines to show what size a baby is during certain times in a pregnancy. Anyone who has seen an ultrasound knows that up until about 10 weeks gestation, a fetus looks more like a lump of play-doh than a cute, cuddly baby. And yet this man is holding up what he says is a 7 week fetus, but what looks more like a full term, anatomically correct infant that has been shrunk down. This is obviously a tactic to play on the emotions of the children--they associate this tiny figurine with an infant in their own life, maybe a sibling or a cousin or a neighbor. It makes it easier for the pastor to drive his point home when he says "1/3 of your friends wish they could be here tonight, but they can't, because they were aborted." I wish I was making that up.
I started on a positive note and got a bit negative, I know. But if there's one thing I can't stand more than anything in the world, it's people blindly advocating a belief system without logical and rational reasoning to back it up. Wait, there is something I can't stand more--it's people who blindly advocate a belief system and then force their children to blindly advocate that belief system as well. They're raising a generation of kids who are not taught to think for themselves. That's so dangerous. And it's most likely why it's been such a long and tedious process to secure certain fundamental rights such as the right for women to choose what to do with our body and future. I can only hope that once-golden boys such as Ted Haggard continue to slip up and chip away at the closed-minded and rigid exterior of the extremely conservative part of our nation until they are forced to recognize what their hypocrisy, judgment, and "morals" are actually doing to other people. I may not be "pro-life," but I'm certainly not "pro-death," I just understand the enormity of pregnancy and motherhood. Until people can come up with better arguments than "A baby is a gift from God" then I just can't take them seriously.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Long Day
I've been having a lot of negative thoughts lately. And it's one of those situations (every situation?) where I can't take my own advice. If this were happening to a friend, I'd tell them to put it into perspective--look to all the good in your life. It's just not working for me right now. Everything feels overwhelming and impossible, which is an especially terrible feeling in law school because I have to be at the top of my game all the time. There is very little room for breaking down...or just taking a break. The only thing I can think of to get through this without it affecting my school work is to avoid thinking about my stresses. It's tricky. It requires a bit of maneuvering. I can feel a bad thought around every corner lately, so I have to be one step ahead--prepared with the next distraction. I've literally been filling the last few days with as many activities as possible (mostly school work, of course), to make sure that I don't have a free moment to think too much. This doesn't sound very healthy, I know. But until I figure out how to remedy the anxiety, it seems to be the only solution that doesn't involve me locking myself in the apartment for the rest of the week and watching the 9 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" I have taped on my DVR.
That is the most negative I can write without feeling guilty. I'll be back when I have something nice to say.
That is the most negative I can write without feeling guilty. I'll be back when I have something nice to say.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)