In the Rainy Season

Comprendre, c’est pardoner.: intherainyseason: “You want to know why we keep losing our battles, on…:

intherainyseason:

“You want to know why we keep losing our battles, on the front for legal and accessible abortion? Those names. Those men. Those Democrats, and the people who think like them, and the people who don’t call them out. That’s why.”

—

A hundred, a thousand, a million times …

If the point is to look bast the bi-partisan fight going on in American politics, then you just recreated that power struggle by telling people to abandon the democrats. By saying the system’s fucked, you’re recreating the system and all it’s going to do is escalate divides between the two.

I’d say escalating the divide between the two may be the right idea?  Sady’s criticizes the Democrats for compromising on what ought to be a fundamental: women’s right to choose and access to abortion.  I argue that the Democrats – ostensibly the party of feminism, of peace, of ‘the little guy,’ – are part of the reason ‘we keep losing’ so many important fights.  When we go to the polls and vote for the ‘lesser of two evils,’ we are pretty much guaranteeing that next time around, we’ll still only have the two options to choose from.  Two parties representing essentially similar perspectives on politics, and receiving funding from the same sources, is not a good situation for a democracy, nor is it a good recipe for anything but the most superficial, incremental change.

But two your point, I agree that focusing too much on the power struggle between the two – essentially similar – parties is a waste of time and energy.  But to the extent anyone thinks they need someone working for them in the legislature, I think it’s important not to get caught up in the Democrats story about that power struggle – ‘You need to vote us in or else those truly scary Republicans will gain control.’  Because part of that story is going ‘centrist’ on issue when they’re supposed to take a stand.

“You want to know why we keep losing our battles, on the front for legal and accessible abortion? Those names. Those men. Those Democrats, and the people who think like them, and the people who don’t call them out. That’s why.”

–

“You want to know why we keep losing our battles, on the front for legal and accessible abortion? Those names. Those men. Those Democrats, and the people who think like them, and the people who don’t call them out. That’s why.”

–

The weather is pretty rough here in Boston, which is probably why Boston Biker wanted to clarify why it takes you so long to drive through the city.  I actually haven’t seen any research on the effect of increased cycling on traffic time (my guess is it’s probably not very large in either direction), but the original post is pretty spot-on in response to some misplaced blame that goes around.  I know slowing down for bikes makes it feel like your trip is taking longer, but I don’t think they are.  In the US, we’re so used to automobile traffic that we hardly see it for what it is. 

i keep in an informal count in my head of times when i’ve been beeped at for (i presume) slowing down a motorist.  i think about 3/4ths of the time, i am not actually increasing the length of their trip, though i may be forcing them to keep or take their foot off the gas.  what’s usually happens is that there is a red light, or a line of cars sitting at a red light, or just general traffic up ahead.  they beep at me, speed around me, and then stop at a light that was red when they first beeped at me, and has still not changed.  and then i ride past them on the right, which means even if they stayed behind me the whole time, they wouldn’t actually be losing time.  On some commutes I find I may see the same cars for pretty much the entire time, meaning that our average speed (the amount of time it’s taking us to actually move through the city) is pretty much the same.  it’s frustrating for drivers, because your car can go very fast, and you want your drive to feel like the car commercials you mention, but in an urban environment during rush hour, the timing of the lights, the number of other (especially motor) vehicles on the road, and the gridlock scenarios you describe (car halfway in the intersection) are basically what determines how far you get from point a to point b.  unless you bend/break the law a bit, how quickly you accelerate and what your top speed is don’t actually have much bearing on trip time.

biking turns us into transportation geeks, and transportation geeks apparently love making long-ass blog comments on, uh, traffic.  i really should get out more.

Re: http://bit.ly/h57cSF

Dear Representative Capuano,

I was deeply disturbed to learn of the new bill in the House, “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”  It is no surprise, but frightening nonetheless, that the new Republican majority would ignore the real problems facing our country and use their power to focus on policies that can only be described as designed to oppress the women of this country.  Their hostility towards anyone who does not adhere to their patriarchal vision of gender, family, and sexuality is no secret, but the ongoing campaign to impose this worldview by force on the people of this county and this planet is unacceptable.  I must confess I place little faith in most members of your parties, but at times like these I feel a measure of comfort knowing that the elected official of my district has a strong voting record of defending the sovereignty of women over their own bodies against government assault.  I hope you will lead the fight to defeat this outrageous attack on our liberty.

Sincerely,
[In the Rainy Season]

Re: http://bit.ly/h57cSF

Dear Representative Capuano,

I was deeply disturbed to learn of the new bill in the House, “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”  It is no surprise, but frightening nonetheless, that the new Republican majority would ignore the real problems facing our country and use their power to focus on policies that can only be described as designed to oppress the women of this country.  Their hostility towards anyone who does not adhere to their patriarchal vision of gender, family, and sexuality is no secret, but the ongoing campaign to impose this worldview by force on the people of this county and this planet is unacceptable.  I must confess I place little faith in most members of your parties, but at times like these I feel a measure of comfort knowing that the elected official of my district has a strong voting record of defending the sovereignty of women over their own bodies against government assault.  I hope you will lead the fight to defeat this outrageous attack on our liberty.

Sincerely,
[In the Rainy Season]

Sady Doyle: Friends With Benefits: DO IT WORK?????:

sadydoyle:

But seriously, dude, it’s just fucking pizza. Everyone likes different things on their pizza; no-one is making movies about Whether Pepperoni Pizza Can Possibly Work.

I like my Friends w/ Benefits ™ the way I like my pizza: covered in pepperoni!  Um, delivered on time?  Stuffed with cheese?  Oh, how about 2 for !

Matt Kish was kind enough to mention this blog in response to my post about his project.  One thing I would like to clarify from my piece: while Kish has begun illustrating ‘The Chase,’ the art that is being posted to his blog is from several chapters earlier.  This is actually great for you, the new reader, as you now have more time to get caught up (with the novel and the blog).

If you read the post linked above, you’ll notice that Kish links to a different site than the Tumblr one (http://intherainyseason.tumblr.com/).  Shane at BostonBiker was kind enough to help me set up a BostonBiker version of this blog (http://intherainyseason.bostonbiker.org/).  Everything posted here will eventually make its way over there.  To you BostonBiker readers, I swear some of the posts will be about bikes. 

Finally, while we’re on the subject of the numerous locations where one may find me on teh intertubes, I joined Twitter.  Ugh.  @bringmerain.

My vote for coolest thing on the internet at the moment would have to be Matt Kish’s One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick.  The project is exactly what you’d expect: for every page of Matt’s copy of Moby-Dick, he selects a short passage and turns it into a piece of art. For the past couple of years, I’ve been picking at Moby Dick, reading a passage here, a passage there, sometimes sequentially, occasionally following the narrative for several chapters.  But mostly I really am just picking, finding themes and images and turning them over in my mind.  ODFEPOMB (um…) has been a wonderful companion in my reading: some pieces draw attention to lines of the novel (like ‘it was now clear sunrise,’ illustrated above) that I may have forgotten before; at other times I have waited for Matt to interpret favorite chapters – like ‘The Whiteness of the Whale’ – or smiled to realize I already have the perfect mental image for a passage when picking a page at random.

Kish’s work is stylized, symbolic, eclectic, and in tune with the passions and furies of the source material.  Take his iconic Ahab, for example.  When he first makes an appearance, we see a machine designed for killing whales – a turret for a head, harpoon set like ordnance in a cannon, a single, monomaniacal eye looking straight ahead.  As the rage and madness hidden within the cool exterior begins to show itself, the depiction changes.  Cool blues are replaced with blood-red; straight, simple lines turn to scribbles, delicate detail work replaced with rough, broad strokes. 

And that’s only Ahab.  Ships, sailors, and whales are all treated to the same approach; Kish has built his own visual vocabulary for the novel.  And, besides the excellent artwork, Kish’s online persona is endearingly humble and friendly.  He seems devoted to his massive project (you would have to be, I suppose), and writes about the novel, the project, and the creative process with eloquence and subtly.

And now is the perfect time to start following.  The next page to be illustrated will be the first page of Chapter 133 ‘The Chase – First Day.’  Tomorrow, Ahab will step forward from the scuttle, sniff the air, declare that a whale is near, alter course, and call all hands.  Three chapters and the epilogue are all that remain to illustrate and they’re going to be good ones: Moby Dick will be sighted and attacked, boats will be destroyed, Ahab will go down with his foe, the Pequod will sink, and Ishmael will be left to float on a coffin on a dirge-like main.  I for one, am pretty damn excited. 

Call it my holiday (pick one, I don’t care which) gift to you.  I hesitate to say this is a recipe – and I certainly have no intention of doing it up proper – more like ‘a thing you should do with wine.’  Anyways, you will need:

• Bottle of wine (I’ve been using red.  Also, the only thing I know about wine is that there is ‘red’ and ‘white’ so I will not be making further suggestions for what type of wine you should use.  Maybe something sweet and/or cheap?)
• 1/4 cup of Scotch, though I’ve also used Bourbon.  Other spirits – brandy, maybe rum – should work as well.  Experiment.
• Sugar.  Success so far with white and brown.  To taste, so anywhere from a teaspoon to a ‘scoop.
• Spices: I usually put in a few shakes from the cinnamon bottle, and a dash of nutmeg.  Try others.
• 1 orange, peeled and split into four pieces.  Other fruit should also be tried.  Pears seem like a good candidate to me.

Dump ingredients into a pot and heat on low to medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.  Don’t let it boil.  For serving you will need to strain or filter it somehow, as there will be spices and orange bits floating around in there.  Serve warm, in mugs.  Roaring fires etc optional, but make a nice garnish.

I’ve decided that if I’m going to live in New England and get snowed in, I might as well be drinking cozy drinks.  Do a Google/Wikipedia search for more ideas on this one, and let me know if you have any success.