Red Velvet Cupcakes

I don’t understand this whole Red Velvet thing. I don’t think I’m cool enough to enjoy them. They just taste like less chocolate-y chocolate cupcakes.

I made them once. I knew that they required red food coloring, but I didn’t realize that I had to dump nearly half the bottle of dye in the cake to even make it look  even a little red. People seemed to enjoy them but I don’t think I’ll make them again.

I don’t know why everyone goes ape nuts over them. Is it the combination of cream cheese frosting and the hint of chocolate? Or is it the mysterious dark red cake? I’d much rather eat chocolate cupcakes.

I’m not sure why this was so important that I had to write an entire entry about them. But it has been on my mind for a long time. Cupcake shops have been springing up every few months where I live. And when I walk into them, the red velvet cupcakes are the ones that are the most popular at these places. But every one I’ve had tastes dry and uninteresting. Actually most of the cupcakes are dry and uninteresting.

I think I’ll just stick to the ones I make at home. Even though the opportunities to bake are far apart. I can eat a Mallomar to stave of my cupcake cravings.

Pretty Pretty Princess

Disney. Its on the same level as Barbie in my book.

But honestly, I love fairy tales. I used to love reading them when I was young, but I was the type of girl that read the non-Disney versions of these fairy tales. Did you know that “Little Mermaid” really dies in the original? Her love for her prince is unrequited and she becomes sea foam. After I saw the Disney version, I have to be honest, I loved the songs and the talking fish. But I was confused because this wasn’t the same version I remembered from my books.

But Disney can’t show us that version.

I hate you…

Bank of America. I hate you for the fact that you continue to charge me overage charges for an item that I didn’t buy. I hate the fact that you will refuse to take away at least ONE of the FIVE overage charges you have issued to me. I hate the fact that you say that you cannot do anything about the fees even though you are the one issuing them. I hate the fact that even though someone else bounced a check they wrote to me, you won’t even show me a little understanding and erase the overage charges. I did not buy anything. The reason my account is now overdrawn is because someone else forgot they didn’t have sufficient funds when they wrote me a check. And even though YOU are the ones that made the funds available to me before the funds were available in the other account, you still take $35 from my account every day. Never did I hear an apology from you when I explained the situation. There was not even one ounce of sympathy.

F’U Bank of America. I am closing the account I’ve had with you even before you were Bank of America. When you changed from Fleet Bank to BoA, I stayed. Even though others told me to leave and open an account somewhere else, I stayed a loyal customer. I even chalked up the extra “maintenance” fees to increased overhead. When you took bailout money, I said maybe this will make them remember who they owe their livelihood too.

But this is too much. I can’t find an excuse for your asshole behavior anymore. So this is my letter stating that I’m breaking up with you. And like a bad one night stand, I will not be calling you in the morning. And when others complain about your behavior, I’ll tell them what a bad lover you were. And encourage them to drop you too.

Goodbye Bank of America. You suck.

Friends? Why bother.

I will be the first to tell you that I don’t have very many close friends. I know lots of people, but when it comes to people I trust enough to rely on, the list is sparse. I do however have lots of people I call friends. I may not tell them my deepest darkest secrets but I will go out of my way to help them when they are in need. I do however hope that they will return the favor in one form or other.

I don’t ask for much. I just want to know that they will do everything they can to preserve themselves and not place themselves on a downward spiral.

Ms. JH and I helped a friend move over the summer. Trusting that the story she told us was true and that she did truly need our help, we hauled ourselves down south for a three hour car ride. We expected nothing in return except for her to respect our friendship and tell us the truth about everything. We found out that there is always two sides to a story and that we can’t trust our friend to tell us the truth, or at very the least, an un-exaggerated version of the truth.

We came home feeling used and not particularly happy with this friend. I haven’t spoken to her since that day. I can’t trust that she will take our advice and take herself off this spiraling path. We realize that she is at an uncertain juncture in her life. I cannot do anything more than help her figure things out and give her my advice. But if she refuses to tell us the truth about her decisions and the reasoning behind them, we cannot help her.

But if she’s happy aren’t I supposed to be happy for her? Maybe. But I think I know her. And if the person I’ve known for the past few years is who she really is, then she isn’t going to be happy. Her emotions will cave in on her and spiral out of control. But what am I supposed to do? I suppose nothing. All I can do it wait. Wait for that frantic phone call or that gchat to come.

Why do I write this? Maybe to just write out my frustrations and to articulate everything I had been thinking for weeks now. Or maybe it’s been written in a vain attempt at getting her to read this. Who knows.

Do you promise to tell the truth?

“Yes” was my answer in court today.
I was naive in thinking that everyone who took the oath to tell the truth would in fact, tell the truth. But sitting in court today made me realize that not everyone is interested in telling the truth. And even though they are clearly guilty of what they are being charged with and more, they are still unable to own up to their mistakes. It saddens me that a grown man is unable to face his victims and apologize for his deeds. Sitting in court and staring into his soulless eyes as he testified made my skin crawl. I was clenching my teeth so hard that when I got to my car, my jaw was aching. Every time I passed him in the hallway during recesses, I had to gather all my strength so that I could fight urge to beat him.

It was my first time testifying and needless to say I was nervous. Nervous that I wouldn’t say the right thing, that I wouldn’t remember events and the way things happened. Nervous that something I said would hurt our case.
Now that my part is over, you would think that I’d be relieved. But I’m not. I’m nervous about what’s to come and for the remaining people that have to testify.

My part is done at least. Only one more day left of this nonsense.

Domestic Abuse Victim Revealed!

I feel a little violated. Last night, as I was browsing different websites, a bunch of them had posted Rihannas police photo. There was no effort to hide it or even to place the photo below the jump. It was just there, on the main page for everyone to see. I had no intention of looking at the photo and honestly I didn’t want to see it. But I couldn’t avoid it. If it were anyone else, would they even bother writing a whole story/article/entry about the incident?

Unfortunately, the reality of the situtaion is that she isn’t the first woman to be abused and she won’t be the last.  But I suppose the difference here is that they are famous and our neverending fascintion with their lives means that we demand access to this kind of stuff.

I hope that this does one thing though. Even though I’m skeptical that any real huge societal attitudes towards domestic violence will change, I hope that people will begin to see that it isn’t a problem of the “lesser” classes. Abusers aren’t only alcoholics with bad tempers or drug abusers or husbands with a “god” complex. They can be anywhere and the glitter of fame and money doesn’t mean you are immune to real human problems.

Rather then placing these women in the spotlight and wondering what they did to make their spouses or boyfriends beat them, we need to give them real help.

What if she was your mother? Or sister? Or best friend? Would we want people to stare at her police photo wondering what she did to deserve it?

Name one issue…

…that you are following closely in the news and tell us why that issue is of interest to you.

In my seemingly never ending quest to find the “perfect” job, (I put perfect in quotes because apparently nothing is perfect) I came upon this question. The answer I wanted to put was all of them but I am sure that isn’t the answer they are looking for. One issue, there are so many issues. This political climate is exciting and makes me wish that I was back at school. Surrounded by activists who feel the same sense of urgency. But I digress. The one issue I picked and will write a well thought short essay on is…drum roll…family planning funding.

Regardless of what side of the abortion debate you are on, pro-choice or anti-choice, one thing can be agreed on, abortion is not an ideal. We all have the collective goal of drastically decreasing or eliminating all together the need for it. So why the fighting? On both sides there are the people who just want to scream at each other rather then work together.

Contraceptives are not a bad thing. They prevent pregnancy which prevents unwanted births which prevents abortions. Birth control and proper information about birth control should be accessible and affordable. Honestly, I don’t understand why there are some who are against this. Accessibility won’t lead to abuse in this instance. There are no ridiculous consequences with using BC. Your head isn’t going to explode if you wear a condom. Don’t we want people to use condoms and birth control? It is naive to think that if we limit people’s access to them that people will stop having sex.

I do understand that some in the religious community believe that sex is an act only to be done in marriage. But married couples use contraceptives too, don’t they? I am not married so this isn’t from first hand experience, but I assume the rules of sex and pregnancy don’t change.

To me the logical progression of events goes like this:

1. Increase funding for contraceptives and other preventative measures.

2. Properly educate people (and don’t mislead them by using false data and scare tactics)

3. Watch as the number of people using contraceptives  and making educated decisions increase.

4. Watch as the number of abortions being performed decrease.

5. Celebrate

This is the way I think things should happen but unfortunately things rarely go the way I want them to.

I have to go write my essay now. Good evening.

NaBloPoMO

I suck at writing every day. I signed up for NaBloPoMo, which stands for National Blog Post Month, foolishly thinking that it would provide me with the motivation to write. Unfortunately, it has not. But, the HPCEM bags are coming along nicely. Production has started and the results are so far so good.

Hand-carved Lino Blocks

Supplies

Bags waiting to be stamped

First side

Second side

Both sides of the finished product

50 down, 100 more to go before Sunday.  I may need more paint.

In God We Trust

Normally, I don’t like to tell others about my politics or who I am voting for. But this election is different. This election will act as either a reprieve from the last 8 years or a continuation of this horrible nightmare.

There is also something else that is different. This time, there’s a woman. A woman who claims to be the one who has come to shatter the glass ceiling. The one who was handpicked, the one who will take over the path cleared by Hillary.

The only this is is that I don’t like her. She claims that God is on her side, on their side. I don’t doubt her religion or her convictions as anything other than serious but I doubt her intentions. I doubt her ability to be anything other than a poster child, pretty arm candy for an aging politician.

She claims to be for women and families. But she is fighting to keep these women and families from having the same rights that she and her family has had the great fortune of enjoying. There are millions of uninsured children, families who have to struggle to pay the bills and single parents who have to choose between working two jobs and spending time with their kids.

My God is a god that loves the poor and the hungry. He is the kind of God that hung out with lepers and prostitutes, not to gain anything for himself but to simply give His love. Caring for the homeless and the poor isn’t a cause for liberals, it is a cause for humanity.We need to care for the ones that cannot care for themselves.

Life does not start at conception and end at birth. We cannot call ourselves a first world and developed country when there are millions of people who suffer silently.

I trust that God is here in this place and that His will will be done. But I cannot trust in a woman and a party that seems to take it for granted that God equals love and compassion.

God and Politics

In college I took a class called Religion and Politics. It wasn’t very controversial and we mainly strayed away from the “hot” issues. With this being an important election year, religion in politics has become a “hot” issue.

There seems to be this strange happening in politics where one political party is pretending to be the voice of all things moral and religious. When in fact, they are not our voice. It is disheartening to have our voice taken away from us by people who are like us only on a superficial level. It is also upsetting when everyone assume that I will automatically align myself with the conservative movement solely because I am Christian.

I had a professor ask me how it felt to be apart of the conservative “Moral Majority” and when I informed him that I was a liberal and not a part of that movement, he looked at me like I was confused.

The conservative movement has attached itself to certain “hot” issues and been very vocal about their positions in order to blind their constituents. By using words and phrases like “right to life” and “fiscal conservative”, people seem to assume that this party and only this party will steer America in the “right” direction.

My faith does dictate how I participate in politics and how I vote. But do not assume that I vote the way you think I should vote.

I am “pro-life” because I believe that all women should have the right to choose. I have worked for and wholeheartedly support Planned Parenthood because I believe that women, all women, should have access to birth control and pre-natal and post natal care. Conservatives who are against abortion and contraceptive rights often claim that this kind of access is against God’s law and that morally, it is reprehensible. Perhaps, but this argument cannot and should not end and begin with abortion. In a perfect world, it would cease to exist. But unfortunately we do not live in that perfect world.

The Repub. VP pick is the new darling of the conservative anti choice movement because she choice to give birth to her son and her daughter is choosing to give birth to her child. It is amazing and extremely lucky for them both that they have a supportive family that can afford to raise children. What about the women who cannot afford child care? Or health care? What about the women who cannot take time off their minimum paying job to raise their child? What about the women who are raising their children alone and cannot afford milk because of the rise in food prices?

Before we condemn others for the choices they have made, we need to examine how as a society we have let it get go so far. Before we restrict rights for others, we need to understand that some are not as fortunate as we are.

As Christian voters, we need to think about how our decisions will affect others. Selfish voting and single minded voting is often detrimental. We cannot be compassionate and loving Christians if we are acting because we have an agenda and want to accomplish that agenda. Not all Christians become good politicians.

Some of our current leadership are Christians and yet we are in a never ending and costly war, our civil liberties and rights have been stripped away, and our economy is slowly failing.

I am not condemning them, we are all human and fall prey to our failings. But do not be fooled. Just because a person or a political party claims to be all things Christian, they might not live up to the high standard they place on themselves.

In this election, like all the past ones, I will be voting based on who I believe will bring about revival in our country. Who will help lower the cost of education? Who will work harder to bring peace in war-torn nations? Who will work to lower our negative environmental impact? Who will be the voice for the poor and the oppressed?

Don’t be fooled.