Surfacing

The laundry is in the dryer

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:24:16 +0000

And I'm trying to keep myself occupied until it's done. It's been a quiet night, except for the inevitable dirt bike drag race up the street. Between the dirt bikes and the cacophany some people choose to blast from their cars (of every musical genre - though sometimes you hit a summer afternoon where someone's playing classic soul and it just makes you want to dance on the street corner as they roll by), summer is usually a season of noise in Baltimore. Strange that it's so peaceful tonight.

This coming week I get to have a small taste of what living DC would be like - I'm swapping apartments with a friend there for a few days. I'm pretty sure I'm going to absolutely, totally and completely love not having to get up at 6:00 a.m. to go to work. Hopefully I'll also realize that I could happily live in an apartment that's much cosier than mine. Not that I need all the space I have now, really. My furniture would fit comfortably into a much smaller apartment. But I've gotten used to it, and I'm not looking forward to paying more for less, since DC is so much more expensive. And that's assuming I can find a place, since I can't imagine it's going to be easy with students coming back and so many people unable to keep up on their mortgage payments.

Something has to give, though. I've been out of sorts for weeks, and I think it's mostly that I just never seem to have enough time or enough sleep. I don't do well under pressure when there's no end in sight. I can work like crazy to a deadline, but this is very different. This is a situation that requires a change in my life - either I move, or I start being highly focused, organized and scheduled in every aspect of my life in a way I've not yet managed to accomplish. And while that could be a good set of skills to learn, I just don't see it happening. So I've been thinking, as much as I'm attached to Baltimore, as much as I like where I live, as much as I love my friends here - it's time for a change.

Looking for things to be happy about

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:51:19 +0000

Found one: BfP is back.

Life/Work Balance

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:49:32 +0000

Mine is all kinds of off these days, although it's slowly improving. But I still don't have time to comment at length right now on this very interesting post at Feministe that focuses (not exclusively - there are lots of other interesting links) on the challenges continuing to face women who want to have a family life and professional career - particularly the challenge of achieving equitable domestic care arrangements with their partners. I appreciate this a lot, in light of my own domestic care issues lately (you should've seen the state of my apartment before this past weekend), and I only have myself to look after. There are some eye-opening observations right there at the top of the page. Go have a look.

Since when can hospitals deport people?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Fri, 23 May 2008 13:47:41 +0000

From Cara at Feministe:

An immigrant woman from Honduras who has very recently awakened from a coma is being threatened with what can effectively be called deportation, because she does not have the insurance needed to cover her medical bills. (Don’t read the comments in these articles unless you want to lose your lunch.) But here is the real kicker: while it would be repulsive and incredibly inhumane to deport an uninsured/under-insured person with a serious medical condition because of their undocumented status, despite the lack of adequate facilities for their care in their nations of citizenship, it isn’t even the case here. Sonia del Cid Iscoa has a current visa and in the U.S. legally.
. . .
In what rational world does a hospital have the right to send a patient to another country against her wishes? I know that on a day-to-day basis, our shitty health care system seems to have as much if not more direct power over our lives than the government does. But despite the common perception, they are not all-powerful. They are not the government. And they do not have the right to deport anyone, let alone a woman who is in the country legally and in grave medical condition.
Furthermore, knowingly and forcibly transferring a patient with kidney failure to a facility that does not have a dialysis unit is nothing short of violence. Plain and simple. Regardless of how we tend to behave, being a citizen of any nation other than the United States does not revoke your status as a human being. This is both racist and classist. This is flat out wrong.

A fund to help pay for Sonia del Cid Iscoa’s medical care has been set up through Wells Fargo Bank. Please help disseminate this information.

Disseminating this information is the least I can do. That, and recommend that you go read the full post, and the comments. This is distressing and disgusting on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin.

Update: Sonia del Cid Iscoa will not be deported to Honduras (more on Feministe). Her family may well still need money for her medical expenses, though, so keep that link above in mind.

Online exhibit on health and human rights

Wed, 14 May 2008 16:14:29 +0000

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical  
library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
recently launched a new exhibition, "Against the Odds: Making a  
Difference in Global Health." The exhibition will be on display at the
NLM on the outskirts of Washington DC until 2010, and can be viewed  
online. The web site focuses on a different theme each month and for  
MAY 2008 the theme is HEALTH and HUMAN RIGHTS: 
http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds//index.cfm

The exhibition explores aspects of the history of global health as  
well as current issues, highlighting the shared concerns of 
communities around the world. Materials from the History of Medicine Division of  
the National Library of Medicine are on display alongside artifacts 
and images gathered from across the globe and video interviews. Featured  
stories include the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United
States and the work of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power),  
the Chinese barefoot doctor movement, the International Campaign to  
Ban Landmines, and the smallpox eradication program led by the World  
Health Organization.

Alongside scientific discoveries and ongoing challenges, the stories  
illustrate the connections between health and human rights: the
importance of clean water, safe housing, nutritious food, affordable  
healthcare, and protection from violence in fostering health and  
wellbeing. Visitors to the exhibition web site are invited to share  
their perspectives on these issues and GET INVOLVED:

http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/get_involved/index.cfm

Broken

Sun, 11 May 2008 03:55:27 +0000

I've been on hiatus from not only my blog, but everyone else's, and I finally started catching up today, only to find that one of the most inspiring and influential activists/writers/theorists I've been introduced to has discontinued her blog. (Feministe has links to background and further reflections.)

Essentially, BfP called out a white feminist blogger with a larger audience and more mainstream success for writing an online article about immigration as gendered violence that failed to link to the people of color bloggers who have advanced analyses of immigration in recent years. BfP is one of those bloggers, and the writer she called out is known to be a long-standing reader and participant at BfP's blog. As someone who struggled throughout postgrad to write essays in which every sentence wasn't footnoted because I was so zealous about attribution to the scholars who influenced my work, I can't understand this at all. Why would you not acknowledge your influences, both to be intellectually ethical, and to allow your own readers to explore those influences themselves? Why would you not use your platform to advance the work of people you read who others might not yet know about?

BfP pointed out the injustice of this situation and how it contributes to the marginalization of the work of people who are already pushed to the edges of the academy, the blogosphere, society. She was attacked by men and women who identify as feminist, called names, and told she was divisive, a troublemaker, a traitor to the cause. I am appalled, I am outraged, I am sadly not surprised. And yet again, I wonder whether the identifier "feminist," which I've used for more than half my life, is one I want to continue to claim when it rolls me in with people who refuse to learn, who refuse to reflect, who refuse to treat others with dignity. Do I want to include myself with people whose words and actions were intended to hurt someone I admire, and contributed to the loss of a space where not only one but many amazing writers and thinkers and activists came together and supported and challenged and advanced each other?

Sudy speaks much truth:

Read me clearly: there is no point to feminism if it does not actively address its racism with its agenda. There is no point to feminism if it does not address its racist history, racist matriarchy, racist icons, racist literature, racist imagery, racist publications, racist presence. To claim we're all female and unite under one cause of gender does. not. work. History never lies. This model has left more marginalized women in the road than we can count.

That Mean Old Yesterday

Fri, 9 May 2008 21:29:19 +0000

- the title of Stacey Patton's memoir, which I'm putting on my reading list immediately.

What is your feminism for?

Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:47:07 +0000

Immigrant communities are living in near-constant fear, with little "safety"; women and trans and gender-nonconforming people are suffering gender-based violence at the hands of federal immigration officials; and the movement for immigration-policy reform is arguably the largest mass movement in the United States today.
Where are white feminists?
- On Prisons, Borders, Safety and Privilege: An Open Letter to White Feminists by Jessica Hoffman (via Feministe)

And that's just the tip of the iceberg - Hoffman's challenge to white feminists is self-reflective and intense, and well worth reading, even for those who don't identify as feminist. This will provide some intense fuel for the conversations I've been having with with friends lately about where, on a personal level, our energy is and should be going - how do we envision our communities changing, and how do we support that change?

For those celebrating Easter

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:36:25 +0000

And those wondering how exactly it all fits together, my favorite Easter TV moment, courtesy of YouTube and the late, great Sports Night:

Horrifying

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:04:31 +0000

Baby locked up at Honolulu airport dies

US immigration agent solicits sex from, and assaults, a green card applicant