Republicans in Your Vagina…

Raise Your Voice!

Thank you to my friend Nancy (a strident advocate for social justice) for inspiring me to write this article. Republicans continue to dictate who we can fall in love with and marry, signing pledges to discriminate against the LGBT community (thank you, Mitt (I hate the homos) Romney). The war they are waging against women increased exponentially with Jan Brewer’s move on Friday.  Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill to cut off Planned Parenthood’s access to taxpayer money funneled through the state for non-abortion services–way to go Arizona.  Is there anyone safe in that state that is not white, male, christian, and heterosexual?  Again we see an attack specifically on women without economic means.  Planned Parenthood addresses women’s health, specifically women that are disenfranchised.

I saw this video last night and have to share it, for it perfectly captures the Republican War Against Women.  Click here to see the full video. As you will see from the video, government should not be in banks, or classrooms, but it should be in all vaginas.

Happy Birthday, Shirley MacLaine

Happy Birthday

Shirley MacLaine turns 78 today, Happy Birthday.  I have to confess, I’ve always loved Shirley MacLaine for speaking her mind, for her acting career, her politics and support of the LGBT community.  During this time of what is indisputably the war on women, let us read at this quote from MacLaine:

Let us not let them take away these rights for this is clearly not a decision that some senator needs to be making. This is a very personal and private decision between a woman and her doctor. It’s a medical decision and needs to remain in our hands. It is not the place of relgious extremists to take our rights out of our hands. I knew of a man years ago before roe v wade was in place who had to watch his wife die because the law wouldn’t let them abort her baby so they saved the baby and let her die and the child required alot of care and he had two other children. This is not something that the government needs to be included in. This is one more way that the state is trying to worm its way into our very bedrooms, is nothing sacred? Lets get busy and make yet more calls and send more emails.

What is profoundly disturbing is that this quote is from 2003, during the W years.  How sad that things have grown far scarier–thank you Gov. Brewer, John Boehner, Darrell Issa, and all the rest of the misogynists who are supposed to SERVE the people of the United States.

What a pleasure it is to celebrate a strong voice who is not afraid to stand up for social justice.

Women’s History Month 2012: Dale Messick

Today we honor and celebrate a pioneer in women’s history whose legacy includes the creation of another feminist icon. Dalia Messick was born in Indiana in 1906. She had a passion for drawing and briefly attended art school, leaving to pursue a paying job in the field. She worked for greeting card companies, sending money home to help support her family during the Great Depression. She was interested in writing and drawing a comic strip, but there was a strong industry bias against female cartoonists. She assembled a mighty portfolio but had little success.

Frustrated, she changed her working name to the more gender-neutral “Dale” and began promoting a new strip. With the help of another woman, Mollie Slott, who was an influential assistant  at the New York Daily News, she managed to get her creation into Sunday publication. That strip, eventually the longest-running female created syndicated comic, was Brenda Starr.

Brenda was a feisty, fashionable reporter. Gaining prominence in the early 40s as many women were entering the workforce for the first time, she became one of a handful of icons for the burgeoning working women movement. While certainly interested in her romantic pursuits and pursuers, Brenda was an independent woman proud of her career.

Messick worked on other strips (including a stint on Perry Mason) but nothing matched the success of Brenda Starr, Reporter. At its height (in the late 50s), the strip was syndicated in over 250 newspapers, making it one of the most widely-distributed strips of the day. Messick wrote and drew the strip for forty years, retiring in 1980. Interestingly, she handed it over to another comics pioneer, DC artist Ramona Fradon, who helped create two long-standing characters, Aqualad and Metamorpho. The strip continued for decades with a handful of artists and writers until ending in January 2011 with Brenda’s retirement from the paper.

Dale Messick remained active in retirement. She attended comic conventions and other events and was always happy to talk about her role (and Brenda’s) in the women’s movement. She created Granny Glamour, a strip about senior citizens, for a local magazine and continued to draw a variety of projects until she suffered a stroke in 1998. She died in 2005 at age 98, leaving behind an impressive legacy including numerous industry awards.

Black History Month 2012: Matt Baker

Today we honor and celebrate a man who broke through the color barrier in publishing, artist and cartoonist Matt Baker. Born in 1921, some of Baker’s early work was published in the 30s. He was hired by Eisner and Iger, a company that created work for a variety of comic book publishers. Baker’s work for the studio was published by Fox Comics and Quality comics in 1944, the first known published comic book art by an African-American.

Baker was a master of “good girl art” a style that focused on female beauty and glamor across all genres of comics. He worked in all genres as well, publishing work at several companies in romance, western, science fiction, and supernatural. His most lasting contribution to comics was the reinvention of Phantom Lady. This super-hero was created by Iger employees for Quality Comics, who dropped her after a few issues. Fox Comics picked up the feature but asked for a complete redesign. Baker created a whole new look for Phantom Lady which ran for a few years. The hero has been absorbed by DC Comics and worked into their historical cannon of WWII heroes.

Matt Baker was also the artist on one of the first known graphic novels. Called a “picture novel”, It Rhymes With Lust was published by St. John’s Publications in 1950. It was a clear forerunner of the long-format comic that became a staple of the industry 30 years later. Matt Baker died at the very young age of 37 of a heart attack. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.

Some of my best friends are gay…

Really Rick?

Thanks to my nephew Tim Jung for inspiring me to write this article.  Tim shared with me an article written by Dan Savage a couple of weeks ago.  He was spot on with his observations of homophobia and how the media participate in institutionalized homophobia, but I will extend it to racism and sexism as well.

I grow so tired of people behaving in extraordinarily homophobic, racist, and or sexist ways and then absolving themselves of any culpability with the glib, “and some of my best friends are gay, or black.”  Really?  Really?  I would love to meet the LGBT, and Black folk, and women who are supporting Tea Party extremists like Newt Gingrich or Rick (the P is silent) Santorum.  How does one help create and maintain a platform of HATE by signing a pledge of discrimination and then say, “but some of my best friends are gay?”

As Dan Savage points out, I suspect these “friends” are quite imaginary!  Why do we never see them or get to hear them being interviewed?  I encourage you to please read Savage’s article.

Happy Birthday, Betty White

Happy Birthday, Betty!

Happy Birthday, Betty White.  White, a National Treasure, turns 90 today.  In addition to her animal rights activism and her long successful career in film and television, she is also a proponent of equal rights for the LGBT community. White  was quoted: “Gays love old ladies. I don’t care who anybody sleeps with. If a couple has been together all that time—and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones—I think it’s fine if they want to get married.”  Her character of Sue Ann Nivens, the Happy Homemaker, on Mary Tyler Moore was one of my favorite roles of White’s.  And what gay man did not watch White in the Golden Girls? Years later, I’m enjoying her as the feisty mob bride on Hot In Cleveland.

Of course, I love White’s fight against misogyny with her comment:

Why do people say “Grow some balls?”  Balls are weak and sensitive!  If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina! Those things take a pounding!

Brava, to our much beloved Betty White. Of course, for me she will always be the ever charming Sue Ann Nivens. Here is our Sue Ann as a “Tawny Beast.”

Chopped

Interesting Cure for Depression

During December I was suffering from yet another depressive episode.  What better way to treat depression than to self-medicate?  My drug of choice for December was to watch the television.  TV has an amazing ability to put one into a fugue like state, thus allowing a slight decrease in anxiety.

Much of the tv I watched was on a channel called the Food Network–two drugs in one, food and tv!  Two shows I became addicted to were, Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten (all my friends are gay–in my my best Edina Monsoon voice) and Chopped.  Chopped is strangely annoying and compelling.  The often blatant misogyny of the usually all male judges causes me to scream at the tv, as does the absolutely bizarre concept of the show.  Contestants receive a mystery basket of “foods” that they have to prepare to  satisfy the judges (chefs) in a limited time frame.

Here is where it gets really bizarre.  An example of the mystery basket of ingredients would be: Ketchup, Cat Urine, and Yellow Marshmallow Peeps.  After 20 minutes alloted time to “transform” these ingredients into a culinary triumph the judges give feedback and then eliminate a contestant before the next round.

Judges feedback: this is where I have to laugh and what compels me to keep watching (probably diagnostic on my part).  Exceedingly arrogant Chef Geoffrey Zakarian (the one with just a bit too much eye mascara) will usually give feedback along the lines of: “While you really made the Ketchup and Marshmallow Peeps come alive in this lovely red/yellow coulis, I’m not sure I’m getting the Cat Urine.”  Then the equally arrogant and misogynistic Chef Scott Conant will counter with his feedback: “I’m getting too much Cat Urine in my dish–that is just not acceptable. And the Ketchup/Peeps coulis just doesn’t work for me.”  The third judge, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli (one of the only female judges) will offer: “I feel like you really tried with this dish.”

While I continue not to be a fan of reality tv, I am compelled to continue to watch Chopped, despite the misogyny  and awful display of white hetero privilege from most of the judges.  The bizarre mystery baskets combined with the laughable and inconsistent feedback serve up a dish that helps to put my depression at bay.

Why I Have Decided to Vote Republican…

I don't ever have to think again.

I have clearly been misguided for far too long!  This video has proven in every way why I need to vote Republican as a gay feminist working to eradicate racism, misogyny, homophobia, and classism.  Click here to watch the video!

Hero of the Week Award: December 23, Rachel Maddow

Thank you to my friend Jay for this week’s nomination for HWA.

Hero of the Week

I usually find Rachel Maddow both entertaining and informative, but her humor in how she exposes the hypocrisy of Sarah Palin and Fox News earns her this week’s HWA.

Palin and Fox news took umbrage to President Obama’s Christmas card and went down the very tired and worn out path of “the attack on Christmas.”  Maddow does a marvelous job of showing just how ludicrous these modern day Carnival folk are.

Click here to see Maddow and the ghosts of Christmas Cards Past.

Bigot of the Week Award: December 9, Rick Perry

Bigot of the Week

Just as it looked like Rick Perry (Mr. Snap on Hair) had become totally irrelevant in the GOP Presidential election cycle, he created a new ad that wins him this week’s BWA. Trailing badly in the polls, Perry decided to tack even farther to the right, releasing this nasty 30 seconds of homophobia and irrational babbling. After saying “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian,” he launches into a bizarre comparison of the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell with the so-called “War on Christmas.” You know the only thing those things have in common, Rick? Civil rights for all Americans and the separation of church and state are both enshrined in our Constitution. You should have someone read it to you some time. If by some chance this horrific pandering to the Teahadists pays off, let’s remember what a Perry Presidency might look like—bless his heart!

As an antidote to this asshat, enjoy this very smart parody.  As a further lovely tonic to such a schmuck, my friends and huge LGBT allies Jennifer and Misti inspired me to do Perry as the bigot and and include the delightful parody.