Mea Culpa...but an exciting announcement.

Yes, yes, I know.  I'm becoming one of those blogs again....  apologizing for never updating...   flagellating myself continuously.  tsk tsk tsk on me.  But I have an excuse, I have been busy....  and I wanted to share something very very exciting!  I'm having an art show!   I'm going to be showing some of my ceramics, in conjuction with two other artists who are painters....

So it is very, very exciting for me....   I keep thinking that I should make some cards that people can buy....  because, even though my ceramics are turning into "attack of the giant boxes in the basement" (and really, all over the house), they are my babies.....and there is also a part of me that can't believe people would buy them.  Even though folks have asked, in the past....  I'm the teeny pic at the bottom....

Also adding a link to the Facebook event, too...   so please consider coming!

Come see Catherine!

PAN AM. Or Am Not?

Hmmm...  so I just watched Pan Am on Hulu.   Its very much along the lines of Mad Men, somehow...  the glorious age of America, when we were triumphant and a world power to be reckoned with.     And this leads me to wonder why we feel we need stories like this.   Is it because the rest of TV world is filled with the bad side of America?  There is Hoarders, what not to wear, the biggest loser (and thank goodness one of the trainers left that show, I saw a smidgen of the first show of this season...that is not a smart way to lose weight!).  There are shows where the father is crass, and the whole family is unrefined...  There's a show called "Intervention" and "Are You smarter than a fifth grader"?

Just so many, many, many shows about the negatives in this country.   And maybe that is why Mad Men is so popular.  And why I suspect they made Pan Am.   Because it shows America as a world power, as a shining star.   And I think we do need to take back the image of our country.   And we need to see ourselves in a positive light...It was a time when women dressed well, when men had their own role, when everything had a place, an idealistic show (both of them) about the times.

I just find it interesting...  and wonder if its a trend....  and in some ways I hope so, but in other ways not.  Because even though it was a photogenic era, it wasn't a wonderful era.  It wasn't fabulous for women, by any means.   An airline stewardess was often one of the few career paths open for women.    They were viewed as adornements...

And in terms of the new tv show, they had an Indian man in the cockpit?   It would have been highly unlikely in reality.  From what i remember from my childhood (seven years after the setting of the show), I remember blonde.  I don't remember ethnic.  I don't even really remember brunette, per se.... They had an Asian stewardess shown...  They haven't even shown the smoking.   Plays set in the era had smoking, constantly.   The characters were always reaching for cigarettes...  which at least Mad Men got right.   Mad Men has glossed over, a little bit, of some of the issues of the day, glamorized them a little, but Pan Am takes it to an extreme..... really trying to idealize an era.

Really? This is SO wrong.

So, I got on Facebook this morning, to see this link.  And this is just all kinds of wrong.    You can't plan for an abortion, it is an emergency measure.  Its not like having life insurance, or a spare tire.

As a woman of childbearing age (still squeaking in...thank you), I am horrified.     When you put any kind of clause on a freedom, "well, you can have an abortion only if you fit the following criteria", or "you have to get an abortion rider on your health insurance, just in case you need one, just in case you might get raped", then it destroys that freedom.   It make women subordinate.  Because all of a sudden we are paying money for something that might never happen.  And if a woman needs an abortion, she is already in a hard place.   And if she needs an abortion because she was raped?  

And this is a law that affects women, not men.   But suddenly women are becoming penalized, again, for rape.   Or penalized for having sex.  Because God forbid, a woman gets pregnant.  Birth control fails.  Even under the best of circumstances.  

This man has a teenage daughter.    Is he going to get an "abortion rider" for her?   No, his daughter might never get raped, but then again, it could happen tomorrow....  

Conversations with the "other" aka biased news reporting.

So, I was at a fair  on Sat.  I was waiting to try "sonic massage" (with gongs, interesting) and was making small talk with the other woman waiting with me.    She actually does PR/marketing for the Bushnell, and I tried to get her to come help my little theatre... but we got to talking after that...and she is Israeli.   We agreed on some things, that the US should keep its nose out of other people's business, and that we both gained weight when we came to the States.   (which we did, and twenty years later, its still with me...blah)

Anyway, there were a few times when you could tell we were both struggling to find diplomatic ways to talk about stuff...  we were both being VERY careful to pick our words.   But I was amazed to hear from her that she has been hearing that the Muslim Brotherhood is coming to power in Egypt, and that the Israeli websites/news sources she reads are predicting another Iran.  

Yet, at the same time, she hadn't heard that Mubarak and his sons had been arrested and were going to undergo a trial, which I thought was a positive step.  

She also reads the BBC website, which she said was pro-Arab.  

I did not say that one of my news sources is Al-Jazeera.

We both agreed that we hate the lack of reporting here in the States, Fox is one extreme, NBC is another.

Where is the middle ground?   There is such extreme bias in the news reporting that I have given up watching the news, really.   I check online, get updates and read articles that my Egyptian friends post on Facebook...  

But I have not gotten the impression that there is going to be another Iran.  I wonder if the Muslim Brotherhood is as prevalent as people outside Egypt seem to think.   I also got the impression that Tahrir helped people bond in good ways, as Egyptians.

But it was just fascinating having this conversation, from someone who, in some ways thinks  the same way, but in others, is completely different, and who is also of a nationality that I immediately go on "guard" with.   Not that I am offensive or defensive, but just cautious.  As was she with me.   Because that is what we were taught.  

On the apocalypse, hoarding, procrastination, and other fun things...

Occasionally, I have a lapse in judgement and watch hoarders.  

Then I get depressed.

Not that my house approaches that degree...  by a long shot.  But it is a far cry from what I want it to be, somehow.  Other things are always more important...   The places I volunteer at, the stuff I have to do that never gets finished...  

So I have piles.  Piles of mail, piles of ceramics, piles of dishes.  

I'm not a hoarder.  I can throw things out.

But I see so easily how people become hoarders.  Particularly if you live with one.

Which is why I only want to date neatniks now...  but at the same time, my house is not a neatnik house.

The eternal conundrum

Hopefully, the Rapture will sweep me away tomorrow.  Then I won't have to deal with any more crap.

(Of course, if it doesn't, then I'm screwed).

What matters:

I saw this on one of the many blogs I read, and loved it.

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect – you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break – her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.”


From Bob Marley

On online dating...

Geez guys. Post a picture where one can see your face. Where you haven't cropped out your previous girlfriend.

This morning I saw pictures of:

The back of a head. Teeth. In a Burger King mask. (really? REALLY) With the girlfriend obviously cropped out. With the wife and kids. (maybe its the ex-wife, but really? And do you really want to post pictures of your kids on a online dating site? Particularly your teenage daughter?)

A lovely neon arrangement...very artistic, yes, but I can't see what you LOOK like. Isn't that the point of this?

Muscles.

Tons of photos in the gym. Really? That's the only place you can get someone to take a picture of you? Or maybe you live there.

*sigh*

Its amazing the criteria you end up judging these guys on.

Spelling. Photos. Being able to write sentences. Bleah.

I know I don't have many photos of myself, but I have a few.... and I've posted them!