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Month: January 2015

modern pangea

modern pangea

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i am intrigued by this prompt; not by the words, but by the land mass and its ocean counterpart. yes, we can talk international relations and borders, economies, tourism, governments, but what i don’t think this prompt necessarily brings to light is the massive piece of water surrounding the single land mass.
what would be different? tides? the waves? what happens if there is an earthquake and a tsunami ensues? would one half the land be smashed? are giant waves like in “interstellar” a legitimate worry?
how about the wildlife? imagine the giant sea creatures that would evolve with that much space to swim around in. i don’t know enough about pangea-time fossils, or if there even WERE fossils to find from that era, but giant fish and loch ness monsters wouldn’t be too far fetched. think whales are big? what if there were killer fish three times as big? gah!
would our economies be hugely different because we’d need to invest in sailing equipment built 100X tougher than it is now? or would we avoid the oceans since our land mass is self contained?
giant waves just kind of freak me out, and the thought of a giant ocean like this makes me shiver.

crap to do

crap to do

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i have crap to do and i just want to sit on my couch and binge-watch FRIENDS.
-mooc on the US food system
-go through caitlin’s pics
-read books
-more yoga
i also have pics to upload of my bedroom transformation. i painted over MLK weekend and sanded down a door for a headboard. i have to even out the door and add a frame, then put it on the wall. but FIRST i need to figure out the bed situation. i pulled my bed out from the wall and there was a mass of mold. huzzah. on the up side, i may have figured out why i am so sniffly and coughy all the time. so, i ordered a new mattress. now i need to find a low platform bed for it to sit on so i can get rid of the boxsprings. might have to make a trip to slumberland and check out what they have. 
how’s that for randomimity?

another migration

another migration

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remember the great blog migration of 2012 and how i lost two years’ worth of blog posts?
yeah, i’m going to attempt another migration. and do it right this time.
also, word on the street is people miss my every day posts. hmmmm might have to reassess my blogging time. 

the case for feminism

the case for feminism

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i’ve noticed a backlash against feminism lately, and a google image search for feminism brings up quite a few photos of women holding signs saying “i don’t need feminism because…”. many female celebrities have come out saying they aren’t feminists. for some reason, the word itself has become a dirty word. pre-conceived notions of bra burners during the 60s and women voicing ideas that put men on a lower level than women in a very public way are really all people are seeing as feminists. so women are distancing themselves. 
the definition of feminism is pretty simple: “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” if using this definition, then the women who want to be in a higher rights bracket than men are not really feminists; they’re pro-matriarchal society.

thank you, emma, for coming out recently as a feminist in a very public way.
thank you, emma, for coming out recently as a feminist in a very public way.

the first time i really really understood the concept of feminism was in college; going to a liberal arts all-women’s school that had a partnership with an all-men’s school will do that to you. i was in my first year in a 100-level english class, and the professor was a nun who wore a pin that said “women should be priests” on a daily basis. here’s what she said:
“feminism means believing women are people too.”
i think that’s something everyone can get behind. are you a feminist? here are some clues.
do you think little girls and boys can be anything they want to be in the world? yes? surprise! you’re a feminist.
if you’re a woman, do you think your ideas and thoughts are just as important as that dude’s over there? surprise! you’re a feminist.
do you think men should have an equal chance at getting child support when custody battles come up? surprise! you’re a feminist.
do you support women who want to stay at home as well as women who want to be surgeons or president? surprise! you’re a feminist. 
do you support men who want to stay home as well as men who want to be surgeons or president? surprise! you’re a feminist. 
do you think it’s weird that nobody questions men on whether or not their careers are affecting their family life? surprise! you’re a feminist.
are you happy women can vote? surprise! you’re a feminist.
do you like men? do you like women? do you like transgenders? surprise! you’re a feminist!
you can see where this is going.
madonna - just a humanist.
madonna – just a humanist.

lots of people say, well, i’m really a humanist, not a feminist. i believe in equality for everyone. here’s why feminism is a better term for this. as a man, saying you are humanist, you’re already clumped in that group and don’t have to think about changing your ways. you figure, well, i’m treated equally, so i don’t have to worry about anyone else. by using the term feminism, it forces the other gender to stop and take a moment to think about how women are being treated and hopefully try to effect change.
so here’s my pitch at getting behind the feminist term. when you think of kate, do you think feminist? probably not, but i am. feminists come in all forms. if you think both genders should be treated on an equal basis at all levels, then you’re a feminist. 
are you ready to admit it?

Review: Red Rising

Review: Red Rising

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Red Rising
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

i don’t know how i missed this book when it was first released, but i first paid attention to it last week when i read a review that while many compared this book to ender’s game and hunger games, the reviewer thought it was star wars-esque. i looked into it a little more and quickly picked up a copy from the library. two days later, here i am giving it a whole-hearted five stars.
after a peek at the author flap (yum!), i settled in expecting the usual YA dystopian-class-system-is-screwy novel. and it was like so many ideas were pulled from so many sources: i saw ender’s game, hunger games, a nod to rick riordan, greek myths, roman myths, harry potter, the magicians, glimpses of the gunslinger, a little divergent, even some rawness that lives in aerin. i saw star wars, but also star trek, and a lot of the harsher war-ridden parts reminded me of the darkness in many episodes of xena.
so do we think that pierce brown is a hack? has he pulled from so many sources that his books are just a mess of previous writers’ thoughts? absolutely not. you can’t write anything today with stealing from someone else. it was ts eliot who said “good writers borrow; great writers steal.” and while i was reading and thought, “gee that reminds me of harry potter; man, this is reminiscent of that weird alti episode of xena”, i was pulled further and further into the story and darrow’s mission.
you might say “well this is just another hunger games” or “i could totally see that happening on a star trek episode”, but really, pulling together those ideas into a completely intriguing plotline along with a unique and harsh writing style for the first-person account, i’d say this book is 100% pierce brown.

View all my reviews

hope in the light

hope in the light

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when the sun shines during january and february, i get a little spark of hope, even though the weather and atmosphere look a bit bleak. the sun starts to set a little later in the day, and when i take off for work, it’s a wee bit lighter out. in a couple months i’ll be starting my vegetables for planting, and my list for menards starts to get a little longer.
this year my vegetable garden will be a bit different. since my beds are underneath some black walnut trees, i need to do something about my tomatoes, which are hugely affected by the toxin in the trees. i just got the st. charles community ed flyer, and the city has 20’x50′ garden plots for $15. that might be more than worth it for the tomatoes alone, although i’d probably also put cucumbers in there and some squash so they have a place to sprawl. meanwhile, my beds in back will house some foodstuffs that aren’t so affected by the walnut trees. 
meanwhile, i keep thinking about my bulbs i have planted around my mailbox and in my flower bed and the peonies that are planted on the west side of my house. pretty soon the world will tilt the way i like it to, and the earth will feel it, and the flowers will bloom, and light will be here.

some food blog updates

some food blog updates

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i got my ice cream maker for christmas, and it’s been getting a semi-decent workout. 
of course the first thing i wanted to try to make was healthy, so i went online and found a vegan chocolate ice cream recipe. NEVER AGAIN. that crap had no sugar, an overload of cocoa, and was altogether gross. plus, it froze solid, so nate needed an ice chipper just to get it out of the pan.
next i fell back to the old ATK standby – vanilla (with slightly less sugar). DELISH. charlie said it was the best vanilla ice cream he’d ever had. when my dad goes off his diet in two weeks, i’m going to make him a batch.
last night, i tried out chocolate. 
(i swear, i don’t know why everyone doesn’t make their own ice cream.)
this was an egg-less recipe, which had me slightly worried. but it was nice because i didn’t have to worry about tempering the eggs and cooking them. once again, delicious. it was a wee bit cocoa-y for my tastes, and when i make it again, i might try to use half cocoa and half bar chocolate. 
come springtime, i’ve got to make a berry ice cream, and i want to try a peanut-butter cup ice cream. 

yoga

yoga

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i went to my first real-life yoga class today.
in the past i’ve done a video – i had a VHS a long time ago, and then i bought a dvd maybe 10 years ago. the thing i found wrong with going along with a video was that i got bored pretty quickly.
so fast forward to last october when my doc said “no running” even though i’d been running on my heel spur for the entire time i’d been running. so for two weeks, i test drove youtube vids of yoga. tried about 3 or 4 before i found fightmaster yoga, and i’ve been doing it ever since. believe me; three months of me doing yoga is a long time.
then i decided it was time to actually go to a class to make sure i was doing it correctly. lord knows i wobble a lot and my legs are probably out of alignment a lot of the time. after some poking around, i found a place here in st charles. 
i told my mom about it, who’s been wanting to do yoga for 40 years apparently, and we signed up. 
it was awesome! it was about an hour and 15 mins, and it seemed like a lot less time. i was worried the leader was going to be a ton more abrasive than lesley fightmaster, who is the master (haha) of soothing instruction. but she was really good. 
we are going back!

let's talk about kablpoye…

let's talk about kablpoye…

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from http://inkhouse.com/is-blogging-passe-we-say-no-way/
from http://inkhouse.com/is-blogging-passe-we-say-no-way/

my blog-posting year was an almost success. i took a break over some vacation time, and i missed a couple days. overall, however, i made it a priority to post at least SOMETHING every day last year. 
i’ve heard from a couple people that they really enjoyed kablpoye, but a couple people does not a trend make. if you’re reading this, i’d love to know if you liked kablpoye or if you’re like, “meh.” 
 basically, should i continue writing every day? will you read it? what do you want to see?

let's go 2015

let's go 2015

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RESOLUTIONS.
since i did so well on last year’s, one can only hope i follow up accordingly.
1. repeat of my oldie but goodie: take more pics! i will continue from last year!
2. DECK. let’s do this.
3. do something about my basement? maybe? start on it? i’m more focused on a deck at this point.
4. do something about my GARDEN. gah. not sure how that’s going to work out. :/
5. VACATION. ok, this is not a resolution because the reservations are already made, but it might change up before we go, so i’ll stick it on there.
6. do i want to do something about my photography? advertise? make money from it? hmmmm
7. HALF MARATHON??? possibly???
8. gotta do something with running/eating. i glimpsed sub-200 last year and then frittered it away with christmas. i’m going to start going to yoga classes, and that along with maybe half marathon, and hopefully healthier eating, might get me under that again. 
9. HIKING. make a plan with liz about hiking the lake superior trail in the next few years. this requires a lot of gear, but i’m hoping between craigslist and other secondhand stuff, we’ll be able to outfit ourselves on the cheap. 
10. last year i made plans to spend time in whitewater park. never happened. this year i’m hoping to actually make good on that. also, if i want to hike the LST, gotta start training!