unfortunate circumstance

It looks as if school makes blogging a little more complicated, seeings how i'm trying to stay on top of things for now. so blog entries will probably be few and far between. i will, however, make sincere attempts at that resolution of writing more with the notebook i carry around.

*sigh* after reading 60 pages of a chapter on my second day of classes, i'm going to bed. goodnight.

mull over this: why is the forbidden fruit assumed to be an apple?

black bird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. all your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free

i'm going to dedicate this blog to mary daly, a beloved radical feminist. this excerpt from who2.com sums up a little about mary daly:

Feminist philosopher Mary Daly fought repeatedly with Boston College from 1966 to 2001 over her controversial books, her status as a professor and her freedom to reserve some classes for women only. Raised Roman Catholic but prevented by Catholic colleges from studying philosophy, she instead earned a doctorate in English in the U.S. then two more, in philosophy and theology, in Switzerland. Ironically, Jesuit-run BC then hired her to teach. Influenced by thinkers ranging from Thomas Aquinas to French feminist Simone de Beauvoir to Virginia Woolf, she developed a sweeping analysis of "patriarchy" as the root of women's oppression and of all social ills in which people are treated as objects. After her first book, The Church and the Second Sex (1968), she rapidly moved from "reformist" to "radical, post-Christian" feminist. Women operating on patriarchy's boundaries, she wrote, can spiral into freedom by renaming and reclaiming an ancient woman-centered reality that was stolen and eradicated by patriarchy.

we learned a lot about mary daly and her work in the history of feminist thought this past semester, and she was one of the first radical feminists that helped me to understand their philosophies as well as one of the foremost feminist philosophers regarding spiritual feminism. my only critique of mary daly is of her transphobia (she has seen "transsexualism a "male problem" and claimed that post-operative transsexuals exist in a "contrived and artifactual condition--wikipedia). her works are definitely worth musing over, however, and her look on radical feminism can help one to better relate these philosophies to a reality. rest in peace, mary daly. october 16, 1928 – january 3, 2010.

the clanking of crystals, explosions off in the distance.

it's time MORE THAN EVER to start writing. so i decided tonight would be great.

so this is the new year...

i've put a lot of thought into resolutions. i decided not to limit myself. because if i at least fulfill some of them, i feel like i have made a lot of progress.

i don't know what i expect from myself, and if i put too many expectations, i'm afraid i will not fulfill them. right now, i just want a positive year. a really ambitious year. so i have a few resolutions:

1. lose the weight i have gained
2. meditate
3. write more
4. stop being so lazy
5. read more books (buy less)
6. positive positive thoughts!
7. save more money!!
8. stop going out to eat so much
9. work on a book
10. spend less time on facebook
11. worry less/be less miserable/appreciate more

yeah, that's a lot. i realize that, and i even made myself feel better by slashing some that were similar. but, i feel in order to be ambitious, you need to really feel motivated. and i feel it. i can say i've felt that before, but i don't think it's as strong as this year. 2010--it really sounds like it could be that year. new decade. mmmm. sounds fresh.

one thing i really really want to do this summer is go to portland. the way dane talks about it, well it sounds like something i really need to experience. the liberal atmosphere, the easygoing, nonjudgmental people, ughh it just sounds amazing.

i'm at my sister's for a few days and i think it's been great. i really love them, and it's nice to have a closeness to family. ashley and i always have so much to talk about. jon and i are talking more and getting closer. and i can really see the boys growing and becoming their own unique persons. it's really cool to see. plus, may i brag, they are the cutest children ever. really. i promise.

for a celebration:
ashley has her professional site going. i'm so excited for her because it's really going to help her out. it looks so professional.

thought: symbols sometimes may have NO purpose other than materialistic intentions.

for instance, take the peace symbol.

it is seen in stores everywhere: on jeans, shirts, stickers, necklaces, backpacks. you name it, it's on it. it's as popular as it was in the sixties, yet it seems that a lot of the meaning is missing behind the symbol. how many of these people using this symbol on their possessions really are thinking about world peace and not the trend. sadly, i feel like we're desensitizing the word. people look at this symbol on people's possessions and think about the concept less and less. instead, they see the trend, the fad. where can we draw the line? it makes me rethink my intentions every time i see a peace sign on some material item: do i want it for the trend or the purpose? i'm very anti-war, anti-violence, so i would like to think it is always for the intent to support the concept; however, in this materialistic society i feel i have to re-think my intentions. just something to think about.

some quotes i've liked recently:

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't

You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart

on the radio--regina spektor

roseanne: nerds are artists who listen to the beat of their own drum.

thank you margaret cho for a great thought: silence equals nonexistence.