tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42148085117957595432012-01-28T23:02:59.634-05:00SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-17135283320254613882012-01-22T22:32:00.000-05:002012-01-26T22:06:38.983-05:00

Liberals/progressives/moderates are all in a tizzy because the Republican candidates are comically awful in so may respects. It's infuriating to see the feeding frenzy as photos of a wildly laughing Obama or the shamed Newt gifs fly all around cyberspace. It's infuriating because while all the people who think Sarah Palin was an idiot, a fluke, a media spectacle and not much more, are going to be

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-610859934997925732012-01-19T00:00:00.000-05:002012-01-19T00:00:03.325-05:00

Shock. Today, I witnessed the killing of a pig. I participated in the processing of the dead animal, preparing it for tomorrow's butchering. Of my many swarms of thoughts and feelings about today, I keep returning to how I didn't feel sad for the pig that got killed. My response wasn't troubling to me as I believe we all use different coping skills to survive difficult experiences. But, this

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-51878800425442308702012-01-16T11:09:00.002-05:002012-01-16T11:09:59.418-05:00

"Beyond Vietnam." A speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church in NYC, April 1967. "I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin to shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'person-oriented' society. When machines and computer, profit motives and property rights are

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-82848761590364224912012-01-11T17:42:00.000-05:002012-01-11T17:42:13.184-05:00

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-16509586742038421692012-01-05T21:45:00.000-05:002012-01-05T21:45:31.752-05:00

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-64627949867045762342011-11-05T14:07:00.002-04:002012-01-11T22:42:38.430-05:00

She opened the door to the stairwell and was blasted with a cloud of smoke. Her little sister was with her. I followed about 5 or 6 feet behind. When I got up to them, I grabbed them, and said, “come back here.” The first dude was already up and heading down the stairs. Before the door closed, the second guy turned his head slowly and said, “Oh, shit” and started getting up. Fifteen years ago

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-12161360813316991082011-11-03T22:36:00.000-04:002012-01-11T17:43:42.006-05:00

Only once before (that I recall) have I posted something on this blog that wasn't my writing. I'm not sure what in particular moved me about this post (there are many things), but I find it so completely in line with how I feel that I wanted to share it here. In other words, it says things I've meant to say and have said in very different and less concise ways. This comes from

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-70271853360672632332011-10-13T21:59:00.000-04:002012-01-11T22:58:52.994-05:00

(For those not using twitter, #OWS is the hashtag used in tweets about "Occupy Wall St.") Today I read an article on the Freakonomics website about the Occupy Wall St (#OWS) activities that made me really angry. The tone was paternalistic and condescending in the extreme. I had planned tonight to simply update my America's Creeping Fascism page with a couple links (which I did) but I realized I

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-56080762171628083872011-09-18T21:40:00.001-04:002012-01-11T18:13:16.307-05:00

The view from my hotel room was of the World Trade Center site. I was ambivalent about even seeing the place because it feels horrible to me to treat it like a museum. The first night, though, changed my mind. As I heard the construction going at all hours it became a sort of soothing and healing thing. A real sense of people coming together to heal tragedy. One thing that kept happening on

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-49522604379027077652011-08-16T22:42:00.001-04:002012-01-11T18:15:53.441-05:00

One of the many, many areas fascinating me about going public with the drawings and paintings I'm making is the different ways people want to interact with me about them. I find it unsettling but also such an honor when people ask me questions. I'm surprised every time, too, about what starts coming out of me in response. In the name of explaining my process (I guess?) I'm going to share with

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-82378774270364288612011-07-20T22:58:00.002-04:002012-01-11T17:45:01.132-05:00

There is a shapeless buzz cut and a mousy grey brown hair color that says "Maine" to me. Terribly overweight children so fat their skin looks like it might split open at their cheeks and upper arms. A lot of rosy pale skin, red bumps from vitamin deficiencies, and teeth so awful my face goes tight just thinking about the sight. Shuffling feet in Wal-mart style stores (the memories are

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-79061401321445530022011-07-02T11:21:00.000-04:002012-01-11T18:09:27.152-05:00

Fifteen years ago today was the last time I was ever drunk or stoned. Fifteen years ago tomorrow was the first day I spent sober where I started my new life as a recovered alcoholic. I didn't recover immediately, but I did recover. Recovery to me means the desire to drink was lifted. It's gone. I'm no longer obsessed with the idea that I might safely drink (or use drugs) again. For me,

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-39012547555990847762011-05-29T22:48:00.000-04:002012-01-11T18:10:30.872-05:00

So many of the books I've "read" in the last few years have been audio books. I try to be careful about not implying that I'm actually holding the books in my hands, reading the words, turning the pages, making notes in the margins. I say "listening to" or "working my way through" or other non-reading kinds of phrases. There was a woman I knew very briefly who apparently found me "intimidating"

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-84985353111055981232011-05-21T21:44:00.004-04:002012-01-11T23:07:41.375-05:00

We always referred to it as "Blood Bath and Beyond" (a Simpsons reference*, I think?). Today I needed some curtain rods and thought maybe it might be cheaper at Bed, Bath, and Beyond than at Target so I went in... After visiting the hardware store yesterday and again today and having near-religious experiences each time visiting this mega-store was awful. Void of any spiritual sustenance. I

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-6413610157288770622011-05-21T15:27:00.001-04:002012-01-11T23:05:53.227-05:00

...by purchasing a mass marketed piece of rubber worth .003 cents with words pre-selected based on market research!

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-45837832676239746882011-05-20T18:42:00.002-04:002012-01-11T23:06:39.003-05:00

Not Home Depot or Lowe's. No. Hardware stores. Everything is packed in so tightly there's no free shelf space anywhere. Lots and lots and lots of little bins of things. Price tag stickers from pricing guns from twenty years ago. Nails, screws, bolts. Hardware. I love being in the aisles at a real hardware store. It's like being in a library in a lot of ways for me. Walking slowly up and down

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-50689671587763544692011-05-13T12:45:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:05:02.439-05:00

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig discusses his belief that because technology has rattled our world, we must find new roots of rationality to sort out our relationship with it. He says it's not that we should abandon rationality, but that we need to "expand the nature of rationality so that it's capable of coming up with a solution." He uses the example of Christopher

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-1054186241123256002011-03-13T23:15:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:15:34.391-05:00

Considering this blog post I realized that I have a lot of friends who are atheists. Some are agnostic. Many are "kind of spiritual, maybe a little religious, but not really..." A few are Christian, a few are Jewish, and I know only very casually some practicing Hindus and Muslims. I probably know a Buddhist or two, and I definitely know a few Pagans. Myself I consider myself christian (lowercase

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-31122408879867634612011-01-12T00:25:00.000-05:002012-01-11T18:20:19.257-05:00

Bloody rare. I like my meat. I'm an omnivore, not a vegetarian. Once my first daughter was old enough to start asking questions, I began more seriously investigating my own relationship with my carnivorous tendencies. I taught her that this was "cow meat," and this was "pig meat," instead of hamburger or bacon, for example. Around that time I read Barbara Kingsolver's fantastic book, "Animal,

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-47748024113278428832010-12-14T13:31:00.000-05:002012-01-11T22:46:30.288-05:00

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-24881220498341270102010-10-18T20:40:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:11:19.961-05:00

Please watch this: via @Tom__Paine

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-30854897954693198382010-10-07T22:51:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:29:13.241-05:00

In astronomical terminology, the phrase new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth. At this time, the dark (unilluminated) portion of the Moon faces almost directly toward Earth, so that the Moon is not visible to the naked eye. (wiki) This

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-27159569046010048292010-10-05T23:42:00.000-04:002012-01-11T22:44:48.424-05:00

As I wrote in my goodreads.com review, I came to Natan Sharanksy's Defending Identity very skeptical. His "Defending Democracy" was so loved by George W. Bush (he gave it to his staff) that I started into the Identity book looking for problems. It turns out much of what he said I agree with, several key areas I disagree, but most of it led me to form more questions than answers. I enjoy that in a

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-84236264943959256372010-09-25T00:42:00.000-04:002012-01-11T17:59:07.042-05:00

Many opinions and issues converge when I think about eating meat. I've drafted several posts but have decided simply to list my current conclusions and thoughts. Without regard for science or particular facts, I prefer eating meat I know was an animal that enjoyed its life. If I know, for example, a cow got to eat grass until the day it died, I'll enjoy eating its muscle and fat, maybe its liver

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-80196361921199208732010-08-28T02:36:00.000-04:002012-01-11T22:49:24.291-05:00

We progressive populists are a bunch of wimps. We recognize fear-based ignorance in our fellow Americans as their Islamophobia* rages and all reason and sense fly out the window. Instead of noting their foolishness and getting back to the real issues, we are sucked in. We are reactionaries. So afraid we might be like them we err on the side of milquetoast. In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary does

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-8743725017127562612010-08-17T23:48:00.000-04:002012-01-11T18:03:30.310-05:00

"If you focus on the good, the good increases." This is a line from the recovery circles I frequented in the late 90s. Since then it's also been my life experience. In my day-to-day living, if I focus on the good in life (what I'm grateful for, what's going well, etc.) the rest of my world feels and seems better, brighter, lighter. The flow of the dream of life (as in row, row, row your boat) is

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-35102000440059445812010-08-04T21:53:00.000-04:002012-01-11T22:51:09.443-05:00

Expanding freedom is our responsibility; it's why the United States of America exists. Sometimes a mistake is made that becomes so intertwined in our social and legal systems, it seems impossible to change. Slavery was one of those tanker types of institutions. Check in with the South to see how they fared when it was abolished, right? Interdependent systems were destroyed, people's lives were

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-92083872015953777852010-07-23T22:04:00.000-04:002012-01-11T18:00:31.008-05:00

At some point (soon?) I'll get back to blogging. In the meantime, if you have any interest in understanding what I've been winding around, trying to summarize... about the way our brains use metaphors to create meaning, how language is understood via metaphors, and how we use language (through metaphors) to create our values AND how the radical right has understood this since Nixon but exploded

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-91435512899959214842010-07-04T22:09:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:17:28.573-05:00

Yesterday I lost another follower on Twitter because I stated some opinions in ways that were unpalatable, apparently. One of the most surprising things I've learned in the last year is it's not the right wing crazies (as if there really is a left-right scale*) who are incapable of listening to and learning from new ideas. It's my own fellow populists.** Of course, I don't do the greatest job

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-86068228009828351582010-05-22T21:23:00.000-04:002012-01-11T22:48:02.487-05:00

Weeks ago I saw on Facebook that my friend Paula had a birthday. I've been off of Facebook for a couple months now, so I didn't have its handy-dandy little notice that her day was coming up. Turns out she fibbed about her birthday, but it was right around that time. I got to thinking about how I could really wish her a happy birthday. Not just an email (she's an online-only friend). Not an e-card

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-5377231356426714202010-04-11T23:18:00.000-04:002012-01-11T23:13:21.362-05:00

Since the 60s, conservatives have known how to share their values with people. In 1971, they started forming "Think Tanks." They have, as we know, a well-oiled communications machine. If you're anything like me, you might think this communications machine is sleazy, manipulative, and full of tricks. Sometimes, you'd be right. But most of the time, you'd be—I was—wrong. Most of the time what the

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-27608779245555509252010-03-28T13:55:00.000-04:002012-01-11T17:57:57.533-05:00

Why my recent obsession with reframing the political debate? Free will is something I value more than almost anything. However, we can't have free will if we don't understand what our choices are. George Lakoff writes, "At stake here is the deepest form of freedom -- the freedom that comes from knowing your own mind. If you are unaware of your own deep frames and metaphors, then you are unaware

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-66547429890960819102010-03-13T22:12:00.000-05:002012-01-11T18:04:47.944-05:00

Let's say you believe life begins at conception. Personally, and by that I mean for me, I believe it does. We'll start with that assumption. In fact, let's just agree with the Republican Platform where they "affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed...and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-44755466791217026082010-03-10T17:50:00.000-05:002012-01-11T17:54:33.137-05:00

While on my brief—a whole week!—hiatus from blogging (which I plan to go back into until the next idea compels me to share), the "Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear" happened in DC. If you didn't catch Jon Stewart's speech, I found it worthwhile. Here is the text and here's the video: There were lots of jokes going around about "what is this rally really for/about?" No one had a good

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214808511795759543.post-16942872658153205352010-03-07T17:51:00.000-05:002012-01-11T17:55:46.293-05:00

She was only ten when he started coming in to her room at night. "Just let me lie with you," her Daddy said. By the time she was sixteen they had sex once a week when her Mother was at the gym. Sometimes more often when her Mother was out of town. The week before she went to college she found out she was pregnant. She had been with no other men. Only her Father. The Republican platform would

SereneBabehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125962568631763164noreply@blogger.com4