Mental Health

I am writing now what I hope will one day be a book, or better yet never need to be one. The comments I hear in common use about mental health never ceases to amaze me. The mentally unstable have very few advocates. As a society we have made mental sickness something to be ashamed of and therefore people do not stand up like they do in other communities that have demanded fighting.

I truly believe that we as a culture will look back on these years with shame ourselves, as other racial/sexual communities look back now. That is not to say that there is equality for these other people groups. Far from it. That being said I am increasingly shocked how little is done for the mentally unstable: those who often can't fight for themselves. Do we not want to take responsibility?

"Retarded" is a token comedic word. Jokes are made constantly about homeless individuals. (70% of which have a mental disorder). Those who are appalled at others use of racial slurs/jokes, easily use the words retarded, loony bin, psycho, etc. I myself am guilty of using the word crazy our of context and I am working on it.

The most common reaction in the realm of mental instability is to laugh and joke, a reaction that in any other area would easily be pegged as insecurity and ignorance. This is long and rambling and I realize I am not articulating my point well. My point is this: remember that when you talk about, refer to, compare others with the mentally instable that you are making light of someones intense and often life threatening struggle. It matters.

Quote

"Your WHOLE world needs to be rocked in order to create balance for yourself."

Commercials

I believe I already wrote about the horror which is the Centrum commercials_the ones with flashing symbols of gender: watch, chocoalte, BBQ, etc. That is right watches "were made specifically for men." Is it a coincidence that one of the longest running anti-women joke's punchline is something along the lines of....women don't need a watch, there is a clock on the stove? Anyway, obviously I am still upset, as I often get about many products, most recently, Reebok.

Have you seen it?...the commercial? If so you probably know the one I am referring to. I'd say a good 20 sec of the 30 sec commercial is spent on a womans thigh to waist. A woman wearing booty shorts that is. Well but this does makes sense, since the whole idea of this specific pair of shoes is to "make your butt and thighs look better." No, there is no male equivalent. I thought running shoes were for running, which sure makes your butt and thighs look better, but I didn't realize that women needed yet another shoe to draw men's attention to their butt. I'm not man bashing, this is not man's fault. But seriously? Seriously? The only time you do see the woman in the commercial's face is to A. notice she's pretty and needs no assistance with her ass OR face and B. for her to look embarrassed as she directs the camera man back upwards. Is she emberased or did she buy shoes with googling as the tagline?

I. Love. People.

I went to Portland last weekend to go to my lovely friend Kat's birthday party accompanied by Mac and the crew of fun people that always surround her. The day was filled, and I do mean filled, with eccentric people that cause one to pause and say, "I. Love. People."

First before I had even hit the road I stopped in at the grocery store a block from my house to grab a couple of things. Same grocery store that I met who we will affectionately call Stalker Lionel [more to come]. So on my way into the store I am met by two people, both men. Both on bikes. They are riding away from one another but carrying on a heated conversation with no sign of stopping. Thus they have to get louder and louder with each peddle, proving increasingly difficult. This is not taken into consideration so they continue for what seams to be an infinite amount of time. And this should not be a surprise because their speech was filled with pertenant philosophical discussion.
Man one: "Whatever. Why would I listen to you, you are on a girl bike."
Man two: "This is not a girl bike."
One: "Sure looks like a girl bike."
Two: Exasperated, "THIS is a classic Schwinn."
One: "Its a girl's bike."
And I could keep going, because after all, they did.

I was not quite to the Donald/Aurora exit when I hit a major traffic jam. As it turns out there had been a horrific accident involving some odd (many) motorcyclists and one car. Egh. Thankfully my dad just bought a motorcycle. I-5 closed entirely. So there I sat with thousands of other drivers and passangers. Now I would assume, most like me were just the average individual in some Sudan or SUV used to drive through traffic jams (yay global warming). But not next to me. No. Because I am surrounded almost constantly with entertaining and wonderfully zany individuals.

Pan to my left...a clown. Yep from the yellow fro' to the perched, broad, bright red-white outlined lips, to the thick ruffled collar with billowing polka dotted sleeves. And its not just that she was a clown, it was her exit strategy. So of course she was driving a clown car...or what could have been. Possibly just trying to make up for all of the soccer mom SUV's. Or maybe it was a company car. Not an earth car, but picture something remarkably similar and remarkably small. She just spun her little clown self right around and braved the grassy ditch median. (Those in SUV's might I add were not so brave.) But after all she is a clown...she may have grown up high diving into small bodies of water.

Pan to my right...mostly because I was trying to figure out what stunk. As it were it was hot, to hot to have my windows up in my broken air conditioned car. To my right, hundreds of chickens. Angry chickens, surely hot chickens, shoved into tiny cage on top of tiny cage, beside tiny cage. There they sat in the smoldering heat angry and pecking and ininvertantly (sp?) spewing grungy bits of hay from their "homes." And they may have been local grass fed beuties, but they were not fresh. Needless to say I got to Mac's smelling of sweat and poultry.

All of this to say. I love people. I just love how people are so different. Some people are passionate loyal Schwinn activists, some are clowns, some drive truck..trucks full of pecking chickens. But whoever we are we are maintained under the same laws of traffic jams, human decency (parking lot fights and such), hot weather and more. And I am SO glad that we are so different. I love people.

T.I.M.E.

I don't have as much time as I wish I did to write, but I want to keep up with my goal so can't let it go altogether. The highlights of my week in no particular order:
-The twenty-something year old construction guys I passed on Patterson today singing along to Colby Callet (or however you spell it) unaware that there was anyone walking by.
-Starting my new job! Nick is such a delight and his brother Josh such a bonus. More stories to come. But I love both the boys and get a kick out of their dynamics and how they play off one another. Nick is eleven and has autism and Josh just turned ten.
-Rediscovering tea on the cold mornings. Mm...there is just something comforting about hot tea.
-The homeless fellow who has begun eating in a cove-ish space outside my door. We WILL soon be friends.


More to come...

Yep

Yep folks, we still live in this world.....


I have not forgotten the piece on diction. I think I will work on it tonight during Art Forum, but I don't have the time now to fully establish my anger over the things said in class today. The below picture which I found on Agnes' facebook (she was also enraged), just gives a glimpse into the kind of attitude which is so winning in certain [not all] males.


Yeah, it is 2009.

Baby On Board...

I think many people have been trained to not think critically or trained to not train themselves. My generation does not question and I find this alarming.

Things that make you go "Hm.."

This is just one thing to start but I can't get over it. "Baby on Board" signs. Why? I mean besides the inevitable Road-Ragers who stop to read the sign (usually on the passenger side window of the back seat) and think, "Phew, good thing I was following parallel but slightly behind this driver I am mad at or I might have ran right into him. Now I know the poor schmuck has an inocent baby in there. I guess I won't run into the side of his car anyway."

Sorry if you have one of these signs on your car. Maybe you can enlighten me. I do realize that some of these are sun shields which makes sense. But some are simply bannars. It is just a proud proclomation of little Junior? If so in todays age, its probably best not to advertise where the baby is at all times. Just a thought. But when a burglar breaks into your house what luck if he were to find a sign dirrectly inside the front door that read, "T.V. down the stairs and to the left. Safe code under mat, safe in the back of closet under women's shoes."

Discussin Board

This is the post I made on my class discussion board when discussing gender roles:

I saw another commercial for Centrum vitamins a few weeks ago and was all ticked. Here is its brother commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlsUBXwq2L4Yep, that is a commercial for men's health. And here I thought women could watch tv and golf. Silly me. I was unable to find original commercial I had seen but it was the same idea, it flashed a BBQ grill, a recliner (women don't enjoy comfort), and a remote control.But women can be found in centrum commercials, I was unable to find the girl version of this same commercial online but it I remember two of this items mentioned: shoes and chocolate.Women are found in other commercials as well, especailly in the cleaning department:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0YPsuZYZIY Notice that Mr. Clean isn't actually cleaning, he is too busy saving the day. And by saving the day I mean providing for the woman's cleaning needs. Luckily strong, dapper Mr. Clean was there to help, otherwise it would have been like any other cleaning commercial...a one woman show.

XXY

Ok I am taking this blogging thing seriously now. Mark my words. It won't take me five months to post again.

I just watched the Argentinian film XXY. It is about inter sexuality, which I believe should be one word but is not recognized by spell-check, and further proves the point that it is not recognized. I am taking Philosophy of Love and Sex this term and it is blowing my mind. It makes me want to be a human rights activisit, or at least work in PR or something where I can become irate and have it work for the good of people and not simply raise my heart rate and get me in trouble in class. (I have had to appoligize in several U of O classes the next day once I have cooled off.)

So the movie is about an individual who is assumed to be a girl although she has the genetic make-up of both male and female. A couple warnings: the main character is fifteen and if you are going to be bothered by sexuality of a fifteen year old child in general be forwarned that it is graphic. That being said, I think that even if you watch the film only to see your reaction it will be worth it. Does it make you uncomfortable? Why?....What does this say about the dichotimous gendered society that we live it? Is this the way it should be? If nothing else it gives a face to the situation that is horrifying for many because it is dehumanized or ignored by most. *Warning number two: It is in Spanish and Argentinian Spanish at that so if you are not prepared to read subtitles wait for a day you are more awake.

Several topics in class have made me think about sexuality, gender, and romantic relationships as a whole, but XXY has sent a surge of emotion through me unparalled by other articles and lectures thus far in the class. While the film is indeed intense it is not the film that has cuased the intensity of my state, but other's reactions to it. The most common comment I heard scaling the stairs after class was, "That was so fucked up." There was a lot of discussion around how "I didn't think I'd have to see it, they could have just put their hands down the pants and said what the fuck is that at some point." These comments and more were undoubtedly followed by laughter. The comment that got the most glee during the actual film and in the presence of the teacher was a line that went something like this: "Well that is good news; I thought you might be a fag."

The whole thing is appauling to me. I understand that on an emotional level there are times when people deem it a necesity to dehumanize others in order to face subject matter that might prove difficult otherwise. That being said I wanted to walk around to a few males in particular, pat them on the back, and say, "Congratulations, you've earned it; you can identify with the male gender."

In what way does it seem appropriate to declair someones differences (in relation to whatever we have declared normal) a result of some fall on their part? This is outdated and void of all empathy. You know, its intersting....one of the scarriest characteristics in dangerous persons a lack of displayed empathy, and yet in other situations our own society encourages this behavior. (So long as it makes things more bearable, understandable, or easy for the white upper-classs male.) It was said in the Bible that it shall no longer be said that the son should have a bitter taste in his mouth from the grapes his father had eaten, but each man should receive, [in effect] his own set of consequences. Thousands of years later we place diction over someone placeing in them in a category all their own and supposing our own position is one of greater esteem.

This is not a man bash. Just as I do not think somoeone chooses to be gay, just as I do not think that someone is being inflicted with justfiable punishment if they are trans or inter sexual, I likewise do not think that men choose to be born men and do not think they have any higher or lower standing than all races, genders, or abilities. The truth is I don't know what this is. I don't have one easy answer, but one sugguestion is that of diction which I will be writing on in my next piece. The truth is that I believe this idea of self entitlement can be traced back to Adam and Eve. I believe that often the strongest indivuals are given what is considered the lowest position in life becasue they have the abiltity to overcome. We have a lot to learn. I have a lot to learn.

Sound Reasoning

I don't live across country from many loved ones. I don't have cute little kids that demand pictures posted on the internet. But what I do have is opinions. As I go about my life I find myself (daily) in outraging situations. I call it anger. A friend recently changed my wording from anger to passion. A good friend. Be it passion or anger, a new forum proved itself crucial when I about took out a lady in the Albertson's parking lot last week, literally.
That being said I am a fighter. So fight with me. I welcome it. But know that when I say fight I don't mean a well mannered debate. My opinions are fierce. I don't feel a little bit of anything. That being said I have been known to break with sound reasoning.
It is not my intention that this be a series of rants entirely. There may be a few comical stories in the mix as the same impulsive nature that finds me in extended tirades also leads me to half-safe adventures.
Soon to come, genetically modified organisms, Mean Lady vs. Bag Lady at Albertson's, and what bed side manner is not....