Heh

Everyone's probably seen this already but me, but still.

It seems appropriate today somehow.

Republicans Vote Against Obamastroid.

I Really Wanna Blog About the Revolution...

...over there in Wisconsin, but then I see this, from Palin, who is -- what?

Just -- what?

And I can't stop myself.

Palin is (pretending to be) upset because Michelle Obama is doing what she can to encourage more Americans to breastfeed their children. Now why, you might ask, would anyone, especially anyone who is Pro-Life, as Palin claims she is, be opposed to breastfeeding babies?

Well, because liberals are pro-breastfeeding babies, obviously. Anything the Left likes, the Right hates. Never mind your silly evidence about breastfeeding being better for babies.

Also, Obama. Obama Obama Obama.

Which is really all the Right needs.

Gah.

Sorry I fell for it. Look! Wisconsin! The Revolution starts now! (We can hope!)

Hot Off The Presses!

The kid's new animation!

A Warrior Cats AMV.

She says to tell you it will make more sense if you've read the Warrior Cats series.

Wanna Start A Revolution?

Over on FanSci on Monday, I posted about my experiences writing and publishing Science Fiction, many of which influenced my shift into feminism.

Anyway, here is an essay by Melissa Delorenzo on the latest publishing statistics, which show, no real shock here, that still fewer women are being published than men, in all fields.

It goes on to mention a few things editors and publishers might consider doing to amend that real difference -- because, like those professors that ran my program, back in the day, it's not just an immutable law of the universe that more men are getting published than women. These things don't just HAPPEN. Humans make the world. Humans can make it different.

Migraine! Snow! Editing!

A giant snowstorm is about to descend upon us, our third (or is it fourth?) in about two weeks.

Not that I mind, since as you know I love snow and I love the extra writing time.

Except this one, with its giant front, has brought me a giant migraine ahead of time, and I am trying to get my Fiction Workshop students' stories read & commented on, as well as dealing with this month's Crossed Genres submissions.

More coffee!

Meanwhile, here is a new FanSci! Go read! It is about pie! (Not really.)

Submitted Without Comment

I'm just Saying.

What's That I See?

More snow?

Two inches so far and more falling steadily, on top of the unmelted snow and ice from earlier in the week.  Our university gave up and closed until Monday.  I taught exactly four classes this week -- three on Monday,  before the storms hit, and one last night, the Fiction Workshop.  

Class last night was a bit dicey, in fact, because the roads were pretty bad, and people in Pork Smith drive like tools whether there is ice on the roads or not.  So I was driving carefully -- fifty-five in the slow lane, watching out for patches of ice, of which there were many -- and absolute idiots were roaring up behind me, riding my bumper, even though they could easily have moved over into the fast lane to pass me, riding my bumper for a minute or two with their high beams on, to teach me a lesson, I guess, show me a thing or two about what happens to people who DARE to drive slow on the interstate, and only then moving into the fast lane and roaring past me, at about 90, on an icy road, in the dark.

Because, you know, the laws of physics do not apply to people in huge SUVs who live in Arkansas and voted for Sarah Palin, I guess is teh reasoning here.

(I did have one student write me an essay once:  he claimed he never wore a seatbelt or worried when he drove fast because he put his faith in God.  When it was his time to go, it was his time to go.  Nothing he did made any difference in the face of God's plan.  If God wanted him to die on the highway he would.  If God didn't want him to he would not.  So I guess these idiots could just be really, really faithful.  You don't need physics if you have faith.)

Meanwhile: for me, more coffee, more writing.

And according to the weather channel?  More snow coming next week.

Oh, YAY!

Due to the dreadful, dreadful ice, the university is closed for tomorrow (Wednesday) as well!

This means I get ANOTHER writing day!

It is dreadful ice: packed thick on the road, heaped on the lawns and trees.  And brilliantly cold outside.

I'm drinking pear cider to celebrate.

Winter!

Woke to the crashing sounds of sheets of sleet sliding off the roof today, which alarmed the kitten very much.  I believe she thought the robot armies of the Mouse Overlord had finally invaded. When I checked my mail, I found the university cancelled classes.  (Yay!)

All day long we have had snow, sleet, blowing winds, and temperatures in the low teens.  Frosty!  The dogs refused to go outside.  The cat stood on the windowsill and looks appalled.The kid wanted to walk to the grocery to buy more lime popsicles, but I refused to let her -- the Weather Channel had Severe Weather alerts out about wind chill, and it's not like she has proper winter gear.  (This is Arkansas, after all.  NONE of us has winter gear.)  The yard was solid with frozen pools of ice, over which drifts of snow skidded very dramatically.  I drank coffee and write and wrote. 

One theory I recently read says the world climate has spun -- we've got the arctic circle's weather now, and they've got ours.  Not sure I believe that, but this has been a stormy winter.   Low tonight of 10 degrees, with heavy wind gusts expected; low tomorrow night of zero.  Outside my window, the world looks Siberian.

Oh, and Look!

Martin Tuesday on Wednesday this week!

Chapter 12 of Broken Slate is up over on Crossed Genres.

New Blog Has Posts!

Over on FanSci, we're talking about SF Heroines today.

Go read!  You know you wanna!

Hee hee hee!

Just in case you haven't already seen this post...

Better Book Titles.

My favorite is Strunk & White: Correct Your Friends Like A Dick.

Although Margaret Atwood: Sarah Palin's America is also very good.

Working & working & working

I've been hammering away at a revision of Martin's War, lately, getting it ready to go to a couple of places that are having open submissions.  Also working on a short story that is nearly done.  Also there is nothing I want to cook that I am not sick to death of eating. Also working on some reviews with deadlines coming up like in (shit!) two or three days here.  Also teaching and prepping, because (look at this!) the semester done gone started. And it is Chaucer this semester, on top of Fiction Workshop, so you can see where I am.  Also dealing with that child, who has started madolescence early, and will keep having crises.  Argh.  Also having migraines every whipstitch, what with these weather shifts.  Also financial crises, as per usual.  Also the cat, who has decided she is my cat and insists on sitting in my lap when I am trying to work, going brrr-brrr-brr-brr-why-won't-you -PET-me? Also no one but me apparently can do the laundry around this place, or the dishes, or take out the recycling.  Also my new iPad keeps me up every night until two and three a.m.  Also if someone doesn't vacuum soon the cat hair is going to form its own colony and voting parliament.

So you see my issues.

(P.S. I forgot to mention FanSci -- a new issue!  Go read!)

And while I'm Whining...

This, from over at Angry Bear, got me thinking about how thing are being run at my useless university these days.

It used to be, you know, when the leaves fell, when snow fell, when the grass grew, guys with rakes and shovels and blades would deal.

Now? Well! Last Wednesday, during my 1213 class, as I was attempting to explain how to put together an evaluation essay, directly outside my window, a 24-year-old groundskeeper* with leaf-blower was blowing leaves, non-stop, for 35 minutes.

The fuck?

And also? How is that more effecient than raking up the leaves and putting them in bags? It's not like there were even than many leaves on the ground out there. 35 minutes, I kid you fucking not. Wrecked my class** and the classes of everyone else in the building, so he would not have to use a rake.

Same thing with leaf-blowers blowing up cut-grass in the summer, and trash in the summer. Because brooms and rakes are too labor-intensive? Because paying 22 year olds would cost more than the leaf-blowers and those giant machines they use? I'm thinking not, especially with the cost of maintenance and pollution worked in.

/rant off.


*Not his fault, mind you. This work used to be done pre-dawn or on the weekend, but "cost-cutting" measures mean that now it has to be done during the work-week -- or when classes are being held, in other words.

**And yes, we can ask them to stop -- but they just come back 20 or 30 minutes later, in the middle of another class.

Okay, Well...

I said I wouldn't have time to blog today, but...

Yesterday evening the kid approached me warily (she knows my, ah, strong feelings on this issue) and asked, "What would be an okay reason for a woman not to get an abortion?"

Which struck me as an odd way to frame the question, but I answered it as carefully as she had framed it. "Listen, sweetie. The choice is entirely up to the woman. That's what pro-choice means. Whether or not to continue a preganancy, any pregnancy, is up to the woman. That's the end of the question. It's her body, it's her choice."

She gazed at me, obviously not satisfied by this answer.

"If you're asking under what circumstances I would get an abortion," I said, "I would abort a pregnancy if the fetus was so damaged it could not survive, or if its brain was so damaged it was not technically alive, or if my own life were at risk. But that's my--"

"What if she, what if the woman couldn't afford--"

"That's my point," I said. "Every woman has to make these decisions for herself. No one can make the decision for anyone else. Your body, your life, your choice."

She kept staring at me, thinking this over.

"That's how it has to be," I told her.

Well, except for Eric, over at RedState. He thinks he should get to decide, for me and for my kid. And if he doesn't get to decide? He's going to start a Civil War and start shooting people.

Because one massacre in Arizona? That's not enough.