November 28, 2021

When you order an LP from an old-school dealer in Sweden...

 

November 21, 2021

Watching the Peanuts Thanksgiving special, I don't think there can be any doubt that Peppermint Patty grew up to be a lesbian feminist activist. Just sayin'.

November 20, 2021

When I went to make an appointment online to get my COVID booster earlier today, I was told to provide my "sex assigned at birth." As you can see from the photo, I couldn't skip this question. When I clicked the little question mark icon beside the box, the popup indicated that Rite Aid was being required to collect this info by the CDC. I seriously doubted that there was any medical reason to know this -- and a friend later confirmed that -- and "assigned at birth" is the language the far right uses to try to erase trans people. I checked CVS's site, and they had the same language. My friend followed up with me some hours later: she said she'd been informed that vaccine providers "are being asked to get legal sex to ensure equal distribution of vaccines." For some of us, legal sex is very different from sex assigned at birth, and disclosing the latter can make us vulnerable to harassment, etc. When I made my first appointment, I thought about lying about my assigned sex, but instead scheduled the appointment in a neighborhood a little ways away from mine, even though the nearest Rite Aid to me had appointments. And I was both angry and anxious about the situation all day. After the subsequent exchange with my friend, I cancelled that appointment and made another one with my neighborhood pharmacy, using my legal sex -- and in terms of my endocrinology, my actual sex -- instead. (NB: I'm distinguishing my "sex" from my gender identity, which is and has always been female.) This is one of the seemingly small things that cis people look right past for the most part, but that can make the lives of trans and nonbinary folks unnecessarily difficult and stressful.

 

And the question remains: if the CDC is actually asking for recipients' legal sex, why are Rite Aid and CVS asking for sex assigned at birth?

November 12, 2021

My answer to the question: what do you drink to toast the indictment of a fascist insurrectionist?

 

November 7, 2021

I saw Mozart's "Magic Flute" at the Benedum Center last night. It was the first time I'd seen it, and the two main things that struck me, aside from the beauty of the music, were how stodgy it is in social and political terms compared to "The Marriage of Figaro," and in particular how profoundly sexist it is. On the upside, the Queen of Night has the showstopping arias (and the singer playing her had a beautiful voice). And it was just wonderful to be attending an opera after over a year and a half.

 

 

 

November 3, 2021

It was in the low 30s when I woke up this morning, and I keep my thermostat somewhere in the low to mid-60s (it's not digital), so the butt-ugly big pink poof robe has made its first appearance of the season. #FuchsiaRules #ComfortRGo