guided by a new era

So you know how I got most of my hair chopped off the summer between sophomore and junior year? I finally got around to mailing off the hair that got cut off to Locks of Love today. I was cleaning up my desk (which is now spotless and organized and amazing) and found it sitting in a box. Kind of gross and creepy, but at least I got it done. Still, it was weird to hold it. It's weird enough to hold that much hair in your hand, let alone hair that used to be attached to your head. It is at least a foot long, so it's plenty for them. Still. Weeeeird.

Also, did anyone else watch the Oscars? I went to an Oscar-watching party and had a ton of fun, including yelling the lyrics to "Just Dance" at the top of my lungs with my friend at midnight while driving through downtown and blasting the song on my car stereo. I'm so, so glad that the Milk screenplay won in its category. The speech that the writer gave was the highlight of the night, I think.

"Couple fight gender-neutral language in wedding license"

Last month, Rachel Bird exchanged vows with Gideon Codding in a church wedding in front of family and friends. As far as Bird is concerned, she is a bride.

To the state of California, however, she is either "Party A" or "Party B."

Those are the terms that have replaced "bride" and "groom" on the state's new gender-neutral marriage licenses. And to Bird and Codding, that is unacceptable.

"We are traditionalists – we just want to be called bride and groom," said Bird, 25, who works part time for her father's church. "Those words have been used for generations and now they just changed them."

[...]

And Rachel Bird described her position as "personal – not religious."

"We just feel that our rights have been violated," she said.

These poor people. How will they ever cope with their marriage documents using the legal terms (y'know, the kind found on all the other legal documents) "Party A" and "Party B" instead of the traditional laymen terms "bride" and "groom"? LOOK AT HOW OPPRESSED THEY ARE.

via Feministe

"Edwards admits to extramarital affair"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gaia, seriously?

"Native American" items?

Way to enforce stereotypes. Way to lump every single Native tribe in the Western hemisphere into one enormous monolith. Way to label these things as if a feather headdress and the kachina are from the exact same culture. Way to get your description of a sacred Hopi ceremony completely wrong. Way to be disrespectful.

Just how hard is it to distinguish cultures? Would it be that hard to put "Lakota" or "Hopi" instead of "Native American"? Would it be that fucking hard to get someone's religious practices correct? Kachina dances are not about warding off the underworld, they are about asking those who have passed on to the afterlife to bring rain for the harvest.

I don't even want to bother with site feedback. If the tweenies there couldn't take someone pointing out a blatantly racist style of eyes, I doubt they would understand just how offensive it is to act as if Native cultures are all the same thing.

- http://isbarackobamamuslim.com/

I LOL'D.

- I just watched the ~official~ (DAMN IT likespring IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT I'M USING THOSE IN REFERENCE TO TWILIGHT) teaser trailer for the Twilight movie, and my reaction was OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL. They're trying to make it all DRAMATIC and SUSPENSEFUL and MYSTERIOUS and failing horribly. However, from what I've heard from people who actually like the book, many of the fans can't stand it and have more of a UR DOIN IT RONG attitude towards the movie. LOL.

- the seniors gave their final presentation in Native American civ today, and it's looking like mine is going to be really depressing and cynical in comparison to everyone else's projects. Most of them were like, "hey look this tribe was cool these are their customs and well they don't exist anymore but they had a really interesting culture!" Mine is more like "so the pilgrims sucked and people who write about Thanksgiving as a good thing can jump in a pit of tar". :)))