calimary
calimary's JournalOMG!!!!
"...maybe when NPR has------ And now some 'fucked up shit that will blow yeast out your sock hole'"
OMG!
Dammit, NM_Birder, you almost made me blow hot tea all over my computer!!!!!!
I guess it depends on the parenting. I read the story in the link, and it didn't appear as though
her father goaded her on or put words in her mouth, at least from my reading of it. Sounds like she's not the type of young woman who would allow someone else, especially a male someone else, to put words in her mouth. I applaud that. But it does suggest that she's grown up in a household where all things are open for discussion, even the coarser ones. I raised my own kids that way. NO subject was off limits. All those things one is told not to discuss in polite company - religion, sex, and politics - we talked about them all. MANY times. Kicked those ideas around all the time. At home, in the car, everywhere and anywhere. Like they say on NPR - "All Things Considered"!
It was an interesting exercise for me, and a seriously challenging on. They were both in Catholic school. I'm a lapsed Catholic. They had questions about all the provocative subjects, especially the ones in which real world stuff didn't quite square with what they were being taught - or what they knew some of the parents of their friends and fellow students felt about things. Some of their friends came from very conservative homes - either wealthy GOP supporters or devout religious believers, or both. During the bush/cheney years, when so many of their friends came from staunch bush supporters, it was REALLY challenging. Because I was pretty active in the local anti-war movement and took them both to rallies with me when they could come. And I suddenly discovered that it fell to me to try to explain stuff in as objective and even-handed a way as I could, attempting to avoid condemnation or slanted coverage - even slanted toward the broad-minded, feminist, pro-choice, pro-peace, etc.
They've grown up with broad minds of their own, and I'm VERY gratified, whether I had anything to do with that or not. Btw - some of those friends and classmates from conservative families wound up rebelling, dating outside their social class (gasp!) or race (OH! GOD! THE HORRORS!!!!!!), getting involved with all kinds of mixed-up stuff, leaving home, and cutting ties. A couple of 'em even OD'd. A few of them have NO relationships with their parents whatsoever. More still don't have any kind of relationship in which they feel they could talk to their parents openly and honestly, or ask about stuff that was really on their minds. Sometimes, later on, one or two of them would mention to me during carpool that they liked listening to what we talked about, and that they hadn't heard stuff like that, or considered it, before. I'm just grateful both my kids still want to speak to me and have me in their lives, now that they're grown up. You learn that they're far smarter and more observant than you ever expected. I think my daughter was nine or ten when she turned to me at one point and said "I like our talks!" That was one of the coolest things she's ever said to me!
And one more thing. I believe in keeping it to cream pies. Besides, baseball bats and so on aren't my thing. Desserts are my thing! 
Maybe they don't want the Zimmerman effect to get on them.
I sure wouldn't. The last thing I'd want to do is present myself for an "Isn't he WONDERFUL? commercial for George Zimmerman. That they initially agreed to join the Mark O'Mara's PR campaign is unfortunate enough. He had the chance to rehabilitate himself by atoning, in prison, but he was able to luck out of that one.
DEFINITELY!!! If you're more fortunate than most, you're OBLIGATED. It's as simple as that.
You just ARE.
Much blessed? Much OBLIGATED. You have an obligation to those less fortunate, if you're able to help out. That's just how it is. A lot of people don't feel that way. Particularly those who believe in Jesus in the most extreme ways. I've found more so-called "Christians" piously worshipping Supply-Side Jesus than bothering with the Real Thing.
Oh God, the COBRA premiums. BARF!!!!
I got stuck with that option after I went out on maternity leave and the company's insurance plan only covered me for a few weeks after I left. And of course, around the same time, my paychecks stopped, too - they only stayed in place for a minimum amount of time. So to stay covered, for myself postpartum AND my new baby, cost $800 a month. That was in 1989. It wasn't something we felt we could afford to let lapse. But it's really awful when a) your paycheck and company insurance both disappear and b) you have to pay through the nose to maintain some level of coverage, but without that regular paycheck to cover that extra expense.
Nah - not at all!
Might disagree with you but certainly not repulsed by any means!
And if you really wanna know, the question you just posed is a REALLY good one. WHEN is "shocking" shocking enough? When is provoking just for the sake of provoking - enough? I see that in the entertainment biz all the time. I've never forgotten a quote from Madonna when she was just starting out and she was big on pushing the envelope until it didn't look like an envelope anymore. And when asked about it - "Madonna, why do you wear your bra and corset and slip outside your clothes and the rosary around your neck?" - she answered "I want to provoke." And now almost any female singer you see anywhere appears in public in her underwear. So how's she gonna provoke next time? So then you'll have Lady Gaga wearing meat. And Rihanna wearing next to nothing at all. And it goes on from there.
At some point, it just loses its effect, I think, and people become so jaded they see that and they're unimpressed, even bored. I went to a rock music expo awhile back where it soon degenerated into - "okaaaaaaaaayyy, when will we have reached the 'Too Loud' and 'Too Growly' and 'Too Surly' level?" And when they do, all I feel like doing is finding myself a good cream pie to throw in their faces.
Not sure I would put this girl's protest sign in that category, even while it seems shocking to some. But then again, what's going on that PROMPTED HER to make that sign - is what is REALLY shocking, and quite disgusting, at least to me. To the point of genuine outrage.
Welcome to DU, nil desperandum!
Glad you're here! Yes, it's galling that competition is just part of life. I find it an increasingly problematic part of life. It's weary-making. Most of the time I just don't feel like competing anymore. I got out of broadcasting and retired awhile back, and I don't miss that part of it AT ALL. Even while we had a little radio group among the bunch of us in the local press corps that did believe in and practice cooperation.
I certainly saw cutthroat. LOTS of it. Was the victim of some of it, too. But our little radio group - people at ABC Radio, the BBC, what was then Mutual, what was then Westwood One, Premiere, some people from the local stations, a few syndicators, and myself at the A.P. - we pooled our resources. Nobody ever did without a mic cable or an extra set of batteries or spare cassette tape if we needed it. Someone among us would always share. We'd regularly save each other's asses that way. Somebody arrive late to the press conference? No matter. They could get a dub afterwards from one of us, or if they needed it immediately, one of us would always try to find the piece of tape and patch our machines together to feed it across to them. It was always so pleasant and not what you'd ordinarily expect. But we were all friends, and we all felt as though we were all in this together, even though we worked for competing operations. It made things a lot more pleasant than the alternative.
I've seen press conferences where some competitor yanked a competing network's mic cable out of the mixing board, equipment was found to be missing, or the record button was turned off. Or they'd hog one of the few phone lines (back before everybody had cells) set up to feed tape or talk to the studio and wouldn't let anybody else use them. Bookers from competing morning shows stealing guests before the guests could go on where they'd been booked. People who won't share or help out, for neither love nor money. People whispering in the boss's ear to turn that boss against the person with the job the rumor-spreader coveted. Stuff like that. Cutthroat. They usually wind up getting their comeuppance. But unfortunately, it too often comes long after you're not around to see it, much less enjoy it or watch it play out.
Hell, I couldn't even get coverage for my kid, OR my husband!
They both had those lovely marvelous "pre-existing conditions."
NO LONGER!!!
And funny enough, my friend the ardent GOP-supporter, even while a union member and the parent of a daughter of childbearing age, was against it. Until she found out her kids were actually covered under her insurance. She shut up about how awful "Obamacare" was, and I never heard any more Pox Noise-issued talking points out of her about that, from then on. The kid who drums in my kid's band is a childhood cancer survivor. His parents were THRILLED to discover that they could keep him covered until he's 26. THRILLED!!! And relieved as hell! He's been in full remission since age seven, but his mom still worries about him every day. And by Jove, he's insured for another three years - long enough for the band, hopefully, to get on its feet in some way.
Actually, about a month ago, I got a letter from Anthem Blue Cross trumpetting their marvelous
and oh-so-very-gracious-and-benevolent-and-generous lowering of my rates, with a 90-dollar check. It was a pleasant surprise. But I looked at it and said "My ASS. That was no Lord-Bountiful thing you can take credit for out of the "goodness" of your "heart". That was the Affordable Care Act - that MADE you do it.
Sometimes when business and corporate America won't do the right thing, we need the government to step in and MAKE them do it. Just as very few kids are willing just voluntarily to pick up after themselves. You have to MAKE them do it. Or if they won't do their homework voluntarily, you have to MAKE them do it. My son never EVER wanted to wake up in the morning for school. We had to MAKE him do it.
Well, then perhaps a lot of US here at DU will be repulsive to you, too.
That smart, courageous, assertive, valiant young girl certainly calls it the way I see it, myself. And many others here feel the same way. Many women in Texas feel the same way. Many women EVERYWHERE feel the same way. And sometimes maybe we have to say shocking things to get the unthinking masses to stop for a moment and notice (and perhaps also, start paying more attention).
I not only don't want the teabaggers and mysogynists' version of "Jesus" in my vagina, I don't want the frickin' Pope in my vagina - and I'm a lifelong-even-if-rather-lapsed Catholic. I don't want the President in my vagina (regardless of his party affiliation), I don't want the governor (of ANY state regardless of party affiliation) in my vagina. I don't want any state legislators, federal legislators, federal or state or local regulators, the city council or frickin' school board, or ANY self-appointed moralist, ayatolla, or mullah here in America or elsewhere in my vagina.
That little piece of real estate from my shoulders to my knees belongs ONLY TO ME, and the jurisdiction over it and the last word over it and EVERY decision regarding it is MINE and MINE ALONE. This is not open for debate. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE. This is an ABSOLUTE, even in a world in which there are few absolutes. This is absolutely one of them.
I find her sign strengthening and reaffirming. I'm THRILLED that young girls who'll grow up to help run this country feel the way she does. That way, the rights my generation (I'm 60 now) fought and marched and protested and lobbied and petitioned for will be protected and sustained for later generations. Including HERS. GOOD on her! Hey, before you know it, you might see ME out there standing next to her, with a similar sign of my own.
And Welcome to DU, btw. Not sure you'll be very comfortable here, but there it is.
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Gender: FemaleHome country: USA
Current location: Oregon
Member since: 2001
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