a poem i wrote

thighs touch

girl it's cool if your thighs touch
just don't let your chin and your chest do it
i say this cause i know how it feels
i been through it
self esteem is a four letter word it seems
the only thing between you and your dreams
between who you are and who you could be
between what you've done and what you could achieve
so hold your head high miss thing
you're a solider
walk into that boardroom and own em
stand up to that microphone and dominate it
what is life but an opportunity for greatness
so i tell you now: when you get on stage just
take a deep breath and feel those thighs touch
they belong to the legs that will hold you up
attached to the feet that take you where you're bound
if you don't let them, can't NOBODY hold you down.

holiday gift guide (hm,wt style)

So, you can't throw a sledgehammer (what, like you haven't done that in the heat of the moment? ...don't answer that) right now without hitting a holiday gift guide or a Best of 2010 list. My Best of list is still in the works, so for now, here's a list of what I think everyone should be getting their friends and loved ones for the holidays.


Local Music 

What's a better way to keep a friendly competition for cool-factor than by giving a gift that says, "I know more cool local bands than you do?" But in all seriousness, I think a local CD or LP is far and above the best gift one can give in the holiday season, especially to the local music-newb. Think about it: not only are you giving the gift of awesome music, not only is this gift usually under 10 bucks and almost always under 20, but you're supporting a local artist in the process, and if you buy it somewhere like Treehouse Records or the Electric Fetus, you're supporting local business, too.


Go-to card (bus pass)


In a city full of bike enthusiasts like Minneapolis, the sidewalks become a veritable catwalk for cool bikes in the summertime. In the harsh Minnesota winter, however? You might run into a biker here or there, blazing through the snow with a look of fierce determination, and think to yourself "Wow, that's pretty badass," or even "Wow, that person is out of their ever-loving mind." For the friend of the fairweather biker, what better gift than the gift of winter-time mobility? These little plastic cards can be reloaded time and time again, and again, why not give your money to the public transportation system this year instead of, say, a huge corporate juggernaut like Barnes and Nobles or Target? The holidays are a great time to put your money where your mouth is.

Make something

Everyone seems to roll their eyes when the point is made every year about how something handmade means even more than something store-bought, as if to say, "Yeah, right. You know you want that new video game console." But honestly, some of my favorite gifts have been the ones that my friends made for me with their two hands, because knowing that they care enough to do that is truly the greatest gift one could receive, and the one that will have the longest lasting effects (way longer than the 5 lbs I'll gain from the inevitable box of chocolate I'll get from someone). Not a crafty person? Okay, the next best thing is buying something handmade by someone else, because you're still supporting a local artist and let's face it, handmade stuff is better anyway. Why not try a local-centric boutqiue like the adorable I like you, in NE minneapolis?

Love and Affection

Last but certainly not least, and piggy-backing off of the themes in the last gift idea,  why not make an agreement with friends and family that, in lieu of material gifts this year, you're going to use the money you save by not buying stuff to take an extra day off of work and spend some quality time together? Give your mom a massage? Or, for the people who you maybe weren't going to buy a gift for anyway, just show some extra TLC and give them a sincere compliment, a hug, or even a smile? The one thing I've always liked about the holidays is that it seems to elicit a desire to be "good" in people, and though that should be there all year long, there's no reason not to follow that desire to the fullest and give the gift of love and kindness (the best gift of all!).

Hope I could be of some gift-giving service, and if not, that you were mildly entertained.

Happy Holidays, folks.








 

what's in a word?

 John Adams once said, “Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division in society.”

“Socialism”

            We’ve all heard political candidates (our current president included) be accused of being a “socialist,” as they scramble to defend themselves and come up with a response. But why is this such a feared word? What makes it an insult? A minimal amount of research could tell you that many the countries of the world with the highest standard of living are socialist countries such as Norway and Sweden, who in a 2005 Quality of life poll came in at numbers 3 and 5, respectively. The United States? Number 13.  Without even going into how well Socialism works in other countries: what about how it works in the United States? Some of the most tried and true, valued and relied upon American institutions could be considered “socialist” institutions: the military, the Police and Fire departments, the Library system, the Public school system. These are things that we pay taxes to pay for, and in return, all get free access to: an inherently socialist practice. Can you imagine the uproar if these things were privatized? If, all of a sudden, all schools were private? If you had to pay for the services of the police?

“Amnesty”

            Amnesty is a word that brings about a certain story to my mind. I’ll never forget, I was at a political debate in 2006 supporting Democratic candidate Tim Walz, a local politician running for Congress in Minnesota’s 1^st district. The opposing Republican candidate accused Tim of having “Amnesty” towards Mexican immigrants to the United States, and Tim was hard at work defending himself and his record, asserting that nothing he had ever said or done could point to him having “amnesty” for these people. Something about this entire situation really troubled me. Why was he having to defend himself in the first place? The word amnesty is defined in the dictionary as: an act of forgiveness for past offenses. In the thesaurus, synonyms are listed as forgiveness and mercy. What kind of society are we living in if politicians have to defend themselves against accusations of forgiveness and mercy? What kind of world are we living in if a synonym for those words is a dirty word?

“Liberal”

           Liberal is another word, that, as of late, has been hurled as an insult instead of used,  as it has been historically, a neutral, descriptive term to describe a political credo or belief. I found some of the definitions I found for this word in the dictionary especially interesting. The main definition I found for the word was “favorable to progress or reform.” This explains why people can be so afraid of the word… we all know how much people like change. It also seems to best represent its opposite nature from the word we think of as opposite to liberal, “conservative,” which means, then, “opposed to reform,” which I think even self-described conservatives would agree is accurate. Some other interesting definitions of the word liberal, from the dictionary? “free from prejudice or bigotry,” “open-minded or tolerant,” “generosity or willingness to give in large amounts” (i.e., a liberal donor). Synonyms listed in the Thesaurus include: progressive, broad-minded, and unprejudiced. Once again, I ask you: What kind of a society are we living in if a word whose synonyms are broad-minded and unprejudiced is being hurled as an insult on a regular basis?

“Feminist”

This one holds a lot of personal importance to me. I’ve found in my experiences and discussions with other women that they can rob themselves of the opportunity to feel empowered, to unite with other women to fight for their rights, and to feel like members of a supportive community by being afraid of calling themselves a “feminist,” and the negative connotations that have attached themselves to that word for years. So what is a “feminist,” then? Is it some burly mountain woman who thinks that all men should fall over and die, that women are the superior sex and that men are worthless? Of course not. Now, don’t get me wrong, women like this do exist. But to assume that all feminists are this way, or to assume that one must be this way in order to be a feminist, would be like assuming all men are chauvinists (of which, again, there are some out there.) Back to the dictionary! Listen up, because this is important: The dictionary definition of feminism is as follows: “The Doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” Okay, key word there being EQUAL! I can’t stress that enough. Not superior, equal. All feminism ever was intended to be and continues to be is the struggle by women for equal rights to men. End of story. That’s for all women, everywhere, from any background, of any “race,” any denomination. The basic feminist credo is that women should be equal to men. And I think that’s something that all women should be able to feel like they can be a part of, and get behind.

None of these words are inherently “bad,” they’ve all just gotten attached to bad connotations, and we have the power to change those connotations. Make sure you’re using them, and other words, correctly, as they are defined... because our words = our power.