“Detective Goren please investigate the scene of my murdered heart.”
Jimmy and I wrote this this morning. It will be a CatLips song once we get a full band practice together!!
I’m one of the few people that actually likes the song The Ocean and listens to it regularly. Between that and Searching for a Former Clarity it seems like she’s been trying to tell people for years. :)
even WITH cable, my only female role model on TV was Hyacinth Bucket (boo-kay) of Keeping Up Appearances.The media I was surrounded by as a child was not overrun by celebrities or hollywood or self image or money. Maybe eight channels on TV, five of them in English. Recycled American/British series from the 80’s/early 90’s. Always a couple years behind. Celebrities that were praised in Hong Kong included Martin Yan, who we obviously called “Yan Can Cook”. Other local celebrities included Jackie Chan and some weird Canto-pop glam dolls I never exposed myself to. But that was about it.
I met Heather Hannoura once at a wedding in 2007, before she was Heather Gabel. I didn’t know it was her at the time and only realized later when a friend showed me her picture and I recognized her tattoos. I was there as my then-boyfriend’s date. The groom was a close friend of his and the other attendees were older than me and had been part of the Bay Area music scene longer than I was alive. At the table behind ours, my then-boyfriend squatted to talk to two friends as I sat twisted facing that table. Heather looked up at me and asked me if I wanted to sit next to her, scooting over to make room for my chair. I figure that she noticed I felt completely out of place there and had nobody to talk to. I didn’t say more than a few words to her as I moved into my new spot, but I listened on to the table’s conversations. It may have only been a small gesture, but it went a long way in making me feel more comfortable. And in the short time I interacted with her, I had an idea of just the sort of person she is.
After reading the interview with Heather and her wife, Laura, I was brought to tears by how she was treating Laura with such respect and compassion as she goes through this, undoubtedly difficult, transition. Reading how she felt sad that Laura was going through this alone and how she helped her pluck her eyebrows and do her make up just gave me chills. Laura is so very lucky to have found her soulmate in Heather and to have that support. While it wasn’t at all surprising when I heard of Laura’s transition, it was even less surprising that Heather was so incredibly supportive. It may not mean anything coming from little old me—a punk fan who didn’t even like the last Against Me! album—but I wish them all the best. As a social worker, it’s my job to advocate for marginalized people and, having never met a transgender individual, I hope Laura’s very public transition will help me learn so I can advocate better and break down some more barriers. I also know that I speak for a lot of the members of my own punk community when I say they sure have a lot of support in Chicago!
Looks like we can let the cat out of the bag. We’re playing with some of the best bands in the world in August/September. STOKED!
You should probably go to this. I will.
(Source: derekneuland)
GY’ALL!
(Goal, Y’all)
2012 is going to be a great year.
The Soviettes, Off With Their Heads, Jawbreaker, The Dopamines, The Lawrence Arms, The Arrivals, Banner Pilot, Sass Dragons, Dust From 1000 Years, Alkaline Trio, Rumspringer, Cannibal Corpse, Dillinger Four, American Steel, The Mr. T Experience
those are my top 15, in that order. i’m not as embarrassed as i thought I would be.
So here’s the thing about Laika. She was a stray dog roaming the streets of Moscow and was selected as one of three dogs to potentially be the first animal to travel to space. She died while in orbit. The official cause was overheating, however, the USSR space program claimed to have euthanized her prior to that by feeding her poisoned food. Soon after she returned, they claimed she died from asphyxiation.
Animal rights groups are/were pretty pissed that she was used as an experiment. But here’s what I think. She endured training prior to her trip to space. She was fed regularly and interacted with humans during this time. One worker brought her home to play with his children the day before her launch to give her one day of joy prior to her, then considered inevitable, death. Laika was a stray. She likely spent every day foraging for food, unclean, sick with nobody to interact with. By traveling to space, she became a world hero. Even today she’s regarded with respect for her sacrifice, even though it was involuntary. She logged seven successful hours in orbit prior to her death. Her death was likely quick and, if she was euthanized as some claim, painless. If she had remained a stray in Moscow, she wouldn’t have a name. She wouldn’t have been on a postage stamp. She wouldn’t have become the legend that she did. Most importantly, she probably would have starved to death or been hit by a car or killed in a fight with another dog. And she undoubtedly would have suffered a long, lonely, painful death. Even though she didn’t choose to fly to space, she gained that hero status and died with dignity.
