It's an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread... 
 So below is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob & I have been looking at so far this week.
• Are you Trans? Do you live in New England? Have healthcare system related issues? Well, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders's (GLAD's) Please Share Your Story; Thank you for telling us about your experience with health care coverage related to your transition.:
GLAD is collecting stories about people's experiences with health insurance coverage related to gender transition, to help us determine how we can best address legal concerns in this area.
Please note: because GLAD's work is focused in New England, we are specifically interested in stories from people in the six New England states.
Thank you for sharing your story. All information you provide to GLAD will be kept completely confidential. We do ask that you provide contact information so that we can follow up with you if necessary.
If you would rather not fill out this survey online but would like to tell us your story, you can call GLAD's Legal InfoLine at 617-426-1350, and talk to someone on the phone...
So, follow this link to take the survey, or call the number above!
• The New York' Complications Grow for Muslims Serving in U.S. Military:
...Thousands of Muslims have served in the United States military -- a legacy that some trace to the First World War. But in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, as the United States has become mired in two wars on Muslim lands, the service of Muslim-Americans is more necessary and more complicated than ever before.
In the aftermath of the shootings at Fort Hood on Thursday by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan of the Army, a psychiatrist, many Muslim soldiers and their commanders say they fear that the relationship between the military and its Muslim service members will only grow more difficult.
On Sunday, the Army's chief of staff, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said he worried about a backlash against Muslims in the armed forces and emphasized the military's reliance on those men and women.
"Our diversity, not only in our Army but in our country, is a strength," General Casey said Sunday on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse." ...
Good read. Highly recommend the whole piece. 
• San Francisco Chronicle's Study: Fiddler crabs exchange sex for survival:
In the world of fiddler crabs, the best form of protection for females is, apparently, having sex with the neighbors, according to an Australian study published Wednesday.
Researchers from The Australian National University in Canberra found male fiddler crabs will happily defend a nearby female against intruders - partly because the females will dole out sex in return.
"The fact that the neighbor comes over and helps to defend another territorial individual is pretty unusual," said Michael Jennions, who helped conduct the study, the results of which were published in the journal Biology Letters.
"This study shows, for the first time, that in exchange for sex and other benefits, males protect their female neighbors from territory-seeking male intruders...
This must say something about my sexuality -- Reading this article, the first thing that came to my mind is Krabby Patties. 
• FWD/Forward's Reclamation: thoughts from a fat hairy uppity lame bitch:
Wheelchair Dancer extends our understanding of crip/gimp reclamation in a wonderful post about gender and embodiment that is difficult to encapsulate in a pullquote -- read the whole thing at "Butch/Femme -- Crip":
A while back in this post, I spoke of bones and muscle. I'd like to go back to that place. I am drawn there as a dancer and as a sexual person. The bones of my body hold true for me; my muscles are what my body has given me. So even when my joints are unstable and my muscles torque and spasm, I recognize in these places parts of my deepest self. I strive to hold on to these selfs in every day life and in dance. I strive to bring them to the street and to the stage. Does desiring muscle and bone make me butch and deny me femme as positions from which I can navigate the world?
This, I think, is crip, is gimp. It is an understanding of the sexuality of the deepest and rawest parts of the body -- it is not so much a focus on gender presentation and on responses to gendered roles. It is an answer to the call of the fibres, the sinews, the fluids, and the infinite structure of the bones.
Moving on from these words for physical disability, you can delve into the reclamation of pejorative terms for neurologically atypical people. The most striking example is possibly Mad Pride, a movement that fights for the rights of people labeled with psychiatric illnesses and affected by abusive mental health systems. Ira Socol argues (somewhat controversially) for "Retard Theory", at SpeEdChange.
Thought provoking stuff in that blog on the convergence of disability and feminism, for sure.
• Los Angeles Times' VW bus stolen 35 years ago is found in shipping container bound for Europe; Customs agents inspecting a load bound for the Netherlands discovered a 1965 van that disappeared from a Spokane repair shop in 1974. CHP investigators are searching for the thieves.:
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago.
Far out, man!
The unusual seizure of the bus on Oct. 19 came during a routine inspection of several Volkswagens that were being shipped by an Arizona restorer to customers in Europe. The vehicle identification number of the bus, which was swiped in Spokane on July 12, 1974, was still in police computers.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" customs spokesman Jaime Ruiz said Thursday when the find was announced...
 Wow!
• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: Bloomberg's Mini-Hot Dogs With Brown Sauce Boost London's W8: Richard Vines:
Sometimes, a dish may stop you in your tracks for the right reasons: cutting through the small talk, pulling your wandering eye back to the plate and causing an involuntary movement that returns wine glass to table.
 Game consomme with bacon cream and a small game hot dog --a starter at Philip Howard's informal new west London venue, Kitchen W8 -- take a bow. (The kitchen is headed by Mark Kempson of the Vineyard at Stockcross, so he should take one, too.)
The consomme comes in a mug, and I confess I've asked the restaurant what's in it, rather than just identifying through taste the grouse, venison, pheasant and mallard that have gone into it. It's topped with thick and creamy bacon foam.
The texture is like an old-fashioned Irish coffee. It's richly flavored and comforting on a cold day and the gourmet mini-hot dog served on the plate alongside the mug may raise a smile. It's venison, hare and pork and comes with a sweet-and- sour brown sauce with onions, spices, malt vinegar and beer...
So...wiener soup? Sounds interesting! Now if I ever get to London...
So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?
And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!  |
