lynx and such.

Time to wrangle up some random internetting from the last couple of days. Enjoy!

This film is perfection, hands-down, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It totally holds up and was the perfect accompaniment to my lightning-fast sewing blitz a few days ago. It's available on Netflix instant right now, if'n you're interested.

I had a bit of trepidation about watching this video, because of the unfortunate screenshot that the thumbnail came from, heh, but it was quite good and supported a Health At Every Size approach to exercise and fitness and overall health and well-being.

Registration for the Oregon Chautauqua is now open. They need 60 people registered and deposit paid by March 1st to keep the camp going this year. If you've been on the fence, please take a look at my post about this year. It's a seriously amazing vacation.


Listening While Feminist: In Defense of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Slay Belle
"I’ve heard the take on “Baby” as “rapey” a couple of times over the years and the concern about the song usually centers in on one line – “say what’s in this drink,” which many contemporary listeners assume is a reference to a date rape drug. But narrowing in on this particular line divorces it from its own internal context, and having only passing familiarity with the song divorces it from its cultural context."


Goddammit, Part Two by Melissa McEwan
"Whether Plan B is available isn’t going to change the facts of the world. It’s only going to be yet another example of how we routinely consider tween girls simultaneously old enough to be sexual targets, and too young to be allowed to be sexually empowered. Anyone who is more concerned about a pregnant child being hurt by contraceptives than they are about that child being raped, pregnant, and forced instead to undergo an abortion or a full-term pregnancy and delivery, is living in a silly, stupid, unserious bubble of self-deceit, and no one should listen to anything they have to say on the subject of reproductive rights ever again."


I'm pro-choice because... at Raising My Boychick
"I’m pro-choice because every child should have the right to be a chosen child, whether or not their conception was intended. I’m pro-choice because parenthood is way too damned hard for anyone to be forced into it. I’m pro-choice because people with uteruses are, y’know, people, and capable of making their own decisions."


The True Cost of Handmade by Somer Sherwood
"Without accounting for the cost of materials, at $150, I would be paying myself about $7.50 per hour for this hat. This hat that I created. This hat that is my art. This hat that is one-of-a-kind, that evolved from a tiny little round of crocheted stitches into its own Thing. This hat that I made with my own hands, that I kept working on until my hands began to hurt. $7.50 per hour. That is less than minimum wage."


For those who speak of unschooling as if it is some kind of un-parenting:
"Some kind of learning is happening all the time - but not all learning is good. Learning how to sneak food, learning that parents can't be trusted and counted on, learning to think of oneself in negative ways, all sad. Learning that life is boring, hard work, sucks, hurts, is unfair, also sad... Human brains are voracious and will feed on whatever is available - unschoolers should be offering interesting experiences, ideas, stimulation, music, logic, conversation, images, movement, discovery, beauty, etc. Brain food in abundance. It requires effort. It requires attention to qualitative and quantitative aspects of learning. Depth and breadth - creating a lifestyle in which kids are offered the opportunity to learn a lot about some things and a little about a lot of things." - Pam Sorooshian