Support Legalization in Your State

I created an info-graphic that I hope will spread awareness about the consequences of the “War on Drugs”.

 

Mommy Writers

I’ve been asked what I think about the so-called “mommy bloggers”. This is a group of women who primarily publish online articles about the cutesy things their kids do then subsequently go on forums to discuss the difficulties of raising children while being a writer. Many of these women are middle class or upper middle class, stay-at-home moms with husbands who blissfully allow them to want for nothing. Huh.

 

Well, as a childless, unmarried woman with no intention of popping one out anytime soon, I can’t really relate. It’s certainly no secret that “anyone can be a writer” is the mantra propagated by online content mills making bank off of the naivety and desperation of those wishing to write for a living. However, the culture surrounding the mommy blogger movement can be described as pathetic at best and toxic at worst.

 

Despite what American culture wants women to believe, the ability to pop out a kid or two is not a professional achievement. It isn’t something you will win a medal for or be able to put on your resume. Having a child is a sacred responsibility, one that is not for everyone. It is something that should have a lot of thought behind it. After all, we are talking about a human life. Shouldn’t that human life remain ever more precious if it’s yours?

 

Celebrity culture has pumped up the idea of motherhood, shaming all who do not wish to participate and pitting those who do against each other. From what I’ve seen, these women are either constantly consoling each other about stupid things. “It’s okay if your little Tommy got a ‘D’ on his assignment. Just be positive with him and he’ll do better next time.” Worse, if they aren’t consoling each other, they are always trying to one-up each other. It’s like a vicious, terrible cycle of consoling, one-upping, then consoling again. Yikes.

 

Please note that I am not saying that successful female authors who have children are somehow any less worthy. In fact, I have a great deal more respect for women like J.K. Rowling than I do for half these middle-aged chicken heads roaming Internet forums, writing $5 parenting articles for coffee money while their husbands buy them a Buick.

Gotta Love Albany

Ah, Albany. A great deal of our population is occupied by douchebag “bros”, Ugg-wearing chicken heads, and hipster trust fund rejects. But all this makes Albany a potential gold mine for comedic material, especially since I’m not originally from here and hence, do not fall into any of the above categories. Yet, part of what makes us great is our ability to laugh at ourselves.

 

Last week, Stephen Colbert did a segment on Nite Moves - the strip club in Latham, a trailer trash dump bordering Albany. The owner owes something like millions of dollars in back taxes and was trying to write it off as “art”. Apparently, the “ght” was also too costly for Stephen “Dick” Junior whose middle name essentially sums up the category most of the men in neighboring towns like Colonie, Delmar, and Latham fall under.

 

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

This is pretty much why everyone in NYC (and now the entire country) thinks we’re a joke. It’s not because Albany has a small population of just under 100,000 people nor the fact that much of upstate is rural, vastly different from the thumping, collective heartbeat of the City. It’s because we have leprechaun strip club owners trying to avoid paying taxes on their “artistic endeavors”.

 

It’s also because most of the young adults from the bordering suburbs dress exactly the same. I’m not even kidding. For girls, the clone uniform is UGG boots and Love Pink sweatshirts or sweatpants. For guy clones, it’s Aeropostale hoodies and sweatpants coupled with fresh-out-the-90s fitted hats spun backwards. Yikes.

 

But there is hope. I’ve met some awesome, interesting people since I’ve lived up here the past two years. Unfortunately, many of them are moving and I can’t say I blame them. There isn’t much here during the winter unless you have family nearby, which I don’t. I’m just here for school. I still have over a year before I graduate from SUNY. When I do, I’m definitely getting my ESL license and possibly heading to Vermont. But there will always be a special place in my heart for Albany – the first place I actually got to live like someone my age, which I didn’t have an opportunity to do in Florida. Albany, keep on being as newsworthy as Lindsay Lohan. Mwah. <3

Why the 2012 Election Matters

 

A casual conversation with a friend at my campus center’s Wendy’s began with our mutual laughter about what an idiot clown Mitt Romney is and how if we voted for him, we might as well be holding the scissors that cut our education. Then I asked “Who are you voting for?” and he said “To be honest, neither. I mean, Romney is pretty terrible but Obama hasn’t really done much lately to mobilize the left. It’s like he’s always playing the defense but nothing really ever gets done because the democrats are so busy trying to stop Republicans from passing stupid laws.” This led me to ponder the wisdom of this statement. Well, can we really fault Obama?

 

I don’t believe this is a cut a dry question. On the one hand, Obama didn’t live up to his 2008 campaign promises. But who does? No politician ever has, last I checked. On the other, it seems like the Republicans have been blocking every attempt any Democrat or Independent has made at meaningful reforms with deafening cries of “we can’t afford that”. Yet, for some silly reason, we can afford to be in wars all over the world while our own people get shafted by giant corporations who exploit domestic and foreign labor. Whenever a war is mentioned, no matter how useless or pointless it is, you will never hear the Republicans say “we can’t afford that”.

 

The “we can’t afford that” excuse is convenient for Republicans because it makes them look less like assholes and more like everyday people who have to actually budget their household expenses. However, the “we can’t afford that” line is merely smoke and mirrors to mask the fact that these people plan on turning us into a third world country. Think about it. According to them, we can’t afford:

 

1. Universal healthcare - Never mind the fact that this would actually save the country millions, if not billions of dollars that is currently going into giant health insurance monopolies who are actually committing fraud while millions die of preventable illnesses.

2. Planned Parenthood – Only 2% of their services are for abortion. You can thank them for keeping preventable STDs from spreading and for making hormonal birth control affordable to poor women who otherwise might be forced into unplanned pregnancies, which would simply cost the taxpayers more money.

3. Affordable higher education – During a time when people need college degrees to work at Subway, Republicans think it’s a good idea to cut Pell Grants, further disenfranchising those who are struggling to meet the Private Sector’s ridiculous educational requirements for even the most basic of jobs.

4. Food Stamps – Though food prices are skyrocketing and food insecurity is at an all-time high.

 

Yet, at the same time we could afford the above if we:

 

1. Raised taxes on multinational corporations (who are quickly becoming the death of this nation)

2. Cut the overinflated war budget

 

On a similar note, I think this country is in a sad state of affairs when stupid hipster trolls blow up your Facebook page and threaten you for daring to declare autonomy of your own body.

 

 

 

Do you seen the underlying thuggery behind the “pro-life” movement?

 

And finally, even more thuggery:

 

 

Personally, I’m not going to stop having sex just because of John O’Neil’s religious beliefs. Hopefully, you don’t either. XD