Tea for Two

A classmate and I had tea Wednesday afternoon at Kinokuniya on 6th Avenue and 40th Street. It was nice to hang out with him and talk about what's been going on in our lives. We would sometimes ride the train together after class, but since our last class together ended at the end of March, we haven't had much of a chance to talk.

After we ate and perused the beautiful stationery and pens downstairs, we walked across the street to Bryant Park and talked for a little while longer. A senior citizen strolling by stopped and said I looked SO beautiful in my purple shalwar kameez, she HAD to take my picture. I thanked her, thinking she would keep going. But no, she rummaged through her bags until she found her disposable camera, then came back to our table. She took one photo of me, then took two of my classmate and me before asking for my address, so she could mail me the prints. To my surprise, my classmate gave her the money for the stamp, plus a golden dollar coin, just because. His generosity made me smile.

Jasmine Green Tea with Grapefruit Lemon Tart
Kinokuniya Book Store Cafe
4 June 2008

Banding Together

It's been encouraging to read the comments of other feminist bloggers who are disgusted with the way the Democratic Party and the media at large hung Senator Clinton out to dry during the primary season. The people on my reading list who were vocal about their politics or who would tend to check in here when I tentatively opened comments to my political posts were all Obama supporters (except for ginmar, bless you!), so I was feeling pretty alone. (That view is not getting airtime, here. I respect your right to your opinion and exercise my right to not allow my blog to be used as a platform for him. Neither will I allow my blog to be used to make the erroneous claim that voting for anyone but the Democratic party's pick is a wasted or traitorous vote.) But I've since been pointed to other feminist bloggers, and that helps me keep my head up. Going to Hillaryclinton.com and reading the comments there has been a great boost. Besides, how can I believe I am alone, with the majority of the popular vote mirroring my convictions?

Women For Fair Politics was launched this week. There is some interesting commentary and a couple of petitions there. I am going to watch that site for more information.

I never thought I would become this interested in politics. But the past eight years has been a rude awakening for me. I don't think I can go back to sleep, now, as much as I'd like to do so. I like floating along in a peaceful haze. Anger takes a lot of energy I would rather use for other things. But it's true what they say: if you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention.

Addendum: Comments that hint your view is better/more informed/fairer than mine while claming to respect my opinion don't get airtime here, either. By all means preach that...in your own blog.

Adding My Voice

Dear Howard Dean,

I am a member of the new Puma PAC, People United Means Action. Our website is http://blog.pumapac.org. I used to be a democrat, but as soon as I can drop my voter's registration form in the mail, I will be an independent voter. Why? I am against the underhanded methods of the DNC in your attempt to “appoint” Barack Obama as the nominee for our party. The clear majority of voters in our party have chosen Hillary Clinton as the one we want to face John McCain.

We will not vote for Barack Obama in November. Instead, I will write Senator Clinton's name in as my choice for president.

There is still time to do the right thing. The DNC must do everything it can to convince the superdelegates that Hillary Clinton is the only Democrat who can win in November.

We are united against your usurpation of the will of Democratic voters. There will be no unity in the Democratic party until the votes and voices of the 18 million democrats in ALL 50 states are listened to.

We will not back down, be bullied or pandered into supporting a disastrous candidate like Barack Obama. He has been tainted by too many real scandals. He will lose in a landslide loss in all 50 states.

We will not vote for Barack Obama for president.

Sincerely,
wlotus

Chamomile

I'm sticking with chamomile and other herbal teas. I think it was the caffeine in that pot of jasmine green tea yesterday afternoon that had me awake until 6 AM, then awake again by 10.

Sometimes you have to raise a little hell to remember you have a voice.

This One Goes Out To the One I Love, originally uploaded by wlotus.

8 December 1937

I am halfway through Nearer the Moon, Anaïs Nin's unexpurgated diary covering 1937-1939. I have a feeling I'll be very sorry when I finish the book. (I have to finish it by 12 June, though, because that is when it's due back to the library!) She tickles me with her descriptions of people, like this one:

Larry, I don't know why, has diminished. He abandons himself to the flow limply--does not retain his color, form, voice. He looks like driftwood--too long in water.
~ 8 December 1937

Her honesty at how she goes back and forth on various topics tickles me, as well. One day, she is completely against communism. The next, she sees the good in it and declares she believes wholeheartedly in it. On the one hand, her inability to make up her mind annoys me. On the other hand, her honesty with herself about what she is feeling at the moment of writing, even if it is opposite what she wrote just the day before, impresses me. Reading her diaries has inspired me to be freer, more honest in mine.

Strange, these women who terrify men, who devour or efface or destroy them, are the women I can handle. I do not have to disguise myself as I do for man. For man I have to act with hidden strength, indirectly, subtly. Women I face in the open. I have not yet met a man who gives me the feeling that I can stroke him, oppose him, hurl myself against him, without hurting him.
~ 8 December 1937

I feel as though I am discovering a friend.

Women for Fair Politics

Women for Fair Politics has a new post up which some of you who have expressed your support may find encouraging. Here is a sample:

PLEASE KNOW that despite our diversity of views on how we will express our dismay over the way Hillary was treated, we all want the same thing--------to make sure that NO ONE ever has to go through what Hillary has been put through EVER AGAIN. Most of us feel that the Democrats need to be taught a lesson for their silence on the subject of sexism and the peril they will find themselves in for ignoring their most loyal base of voters. The good news is that there are so many of us. WE ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH. We are in a unique position to carry out an important message.

[Our Big Tent, 5 June 2008]

I am very interested in seeing how this will all play out over the rest of the year.

On a different, but related note, a couple of people have asked me to filter my political posts. I will not do that, because these valuable posts would then not be accessible to the general public. (Besides, it is in poor taste to ask someone to change what/how they post in their own blog.) If you choose to continue reading my blog, you can create reading filters so that you will only see my blog when you choose to read it. You can learn how to do that in LiveJournal Support.