Blogalicious!

Ezra Klein has a new blog.  Cool!

Pity

Pity and Compassion are not the same.  There is some confusion, I think.  Pity assumes a one-up/one-down relationship.  I despise Pity.  Few things are more disrespectful than Pity.  If I say "I pity you", I offer you nothing but contempt, and I seek only to hold myself above you.  One-up/one-down separates us.

Compassion, though – Compassion joins us together.  Compassion means to simply "feel with" – to be with another in a time of need, to listen without judgement, to exist in the same space.  Compassion respects our frailty and allows us to be where we are, who we are, right now – respecting our differences but demanding nothing.  And Compassion never seeks Power or Authority – there is no one-up/one-down with Compassion.

If you meet someone who seems worthy of your Pity … reconsider.  Offer your Compassion instead.

Travel Advice Requested, Sussex Edition

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading to Britain.  I need some advice for the first part of the trip:  we’re spending the first week (or so) based in the area of Balcombe, in West Sussex.  If anyone out there has some suggestions for what are the Must-See’s of West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, etc. (South-East England) during the month of February, I’d be appreciative.  I’m having a terrible time finding decent guidance – the guidebooks seem to skim right over it, except to mention Brighton & Canterbury.  I don’t have a good map or guidebook at this time, so I’m not sure what’s truly nearby & what’s sort of nearby but requires a full-day’s worth of travel.  I believe Leeds Castle, Hastings, & Canterbury are good day trips from there, but beyond that I’m appallingly uninformed.  So anyone who can advise me, I’d be most grateful.  Not just suggestions for sight-seeing, either – if you’re familiar with the area & can offer insight on what I should know about Sussex particularly or South-East England in general, I’d love to hear from you.

We’ll head to London after, for a good week or more, and I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve been there before, and I love it.  And there are a thousand fair-to-great travel books for London – more information than I could possibly use.

occasionally embarrassing, but sometimes better than i thought

I just took a little walk down memory lane. 

When I read my old blog posts, I’m often overwhelmed with embarrassment or shame over how naive, uninformed, clueless, badly written, did I say naive? I can be.  But every once in a while I read one and say, "Hey!  That’s okay!  It almost sounds like a different, better writer!"  And that’s kind of cool.

I used to write longer, more introspective posts.  Nowadays, it’s a short reference to something someone else said, or a feeble attempt at irony.  I enjoyed blogging more when I was yammering on idealistically.  But I was out of work then, and had more free time.  But then I wonder how it is that so many gainfully employed, clearly very busy, clearly very active, bloggers out there manage to post CONSTANTLY and with a fairly high quality of writing (and content) – some days even a dozen longish posts on Very Important Topics – to my one half-assed post in a month.  I can’t even come up with one sentence on Johnny Carson (God Rest His Soul & damn, he was good).

In my day, blogs were called “journals”, and rather than using a computer on the internets, you used a “pen” and “paper”

My current favorite blog: moleskinerie.

So cute you’ll vomit

My first official Friday Catblog.

George to your left,
        Gracie to your right. 

They’re sisters – littermates & best buddies.

 

And I really need to figure out how to clean up these digital pics.  Because they look like crap.

DNC Chair Race

Link: MyDD :: Fresh Horses — today’s DNC Meeting.

The big meeting’s been going down right here in good old SacTown.  There has been cursory mention of it on local news primarily because of Howard Dean.  The nuts-n-bolts aspects are pretty well ignored, of course.  I have absolutely no information.  I’m only mentioning the DNC meeting long enough to say:  many things happen in mid-sized semi-anonymous cities that the locals take no part in – and frankly have not one clue about – but which have a great impact on future events.  Sacramento is an odd little town. 

I like Howard Dean.  I doubt he’s quite the outsider he appears from a distance, but he’s got name recognition & an energetic group of supporters.  Might as well be DNC chair as anyone else.  He’ll have to live up to his "reformer" rep, though.  So if he gets the gig, let’s hope he kicks ass.

President Boxer

Mad Kane & friends have started a new blog of dreamy dreams:  President Boxer.

As a progressive Californian, I can appreciate Barbara Boxer’s politics of ‘liberalism without fear’.  We love our celebrities – fame trumps knowledge out here (as it does almost everywhere), and you may bear witness to our Governor – but we also love our freedom of choice.  And liberalism defends liberty.  So there.

The world can move or not by changing a few words

Funny the difference between "welfare" & "insurance".  How many prominent Republicans have jumped on the "Social Security is Welfare" bandwagon in the last 10 days?

At the gut level, "welfare" means to dumbass white people:  you’re taking my money and giving it to some brown bastard.  So, way to go, GOP wingnuts – way to delve deep into the racist psyche & drawn on its paranoia about the ‘other’.  When does America finally tire of this tactic? 

Now I lay me down to sleep …

Dear God,

Please don’t let him fuck up Social Security.

Thank you for your consideration,

Devra