Southern Discomfort - Latest Comments

Re: Full-page advertisement for British Petroleum, The Nation, Vol. 290:15, April 19, 2010 (back cover).

vmarinelli — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:28:17 -0000

As the post, I thought, clearly indicated, I viewed the timing of the ad placement to be a startling and rather excruciating coincidence.

BP should be held responsible for its profound negligence, for example, with regard to systematic flaws in its equipment monitoring processes.

And - as was my chief point - publications ostensibly in support of environmental causes ought not to be involved in what I called "image laundry" (not, incidentally, my term; if memory serves, I got it from something or another by a writer named D.A. Clarke) - e.g., accepting advertising dollars from companies like BP, thus lending the latter a false sense of, in this case, "green" credibility.

But no, of course I do not include among the myriad examples of BP's negligence (nor in The Nation's arguable complicity) some harebrained, paranoid, and downright bizarre idea that they knew the oil spill would happen on April 20, and thus placed advertising in an issue of one of a (rightly) respected left-leaning news and culture publication with a date of April 19 (which also, obviously, would have gone to press well before that, and the actual advertising arranged well in advance of that).

Bottom line: I found a recent back issue of a publication I hold dear in a thrift shop's "free magazines" bin, brought it home, flipped it over, saw the BP ad on the back cover, looked again at the front cover, observed the issue date, and had a chill ran down my spine.

Not for being some whackjob conspiracy nut, imputing from an unfortunate (and, to the Left, frankly embarrassing) coincidence that it was all, somehow, "deliberate."

I am genuinely horrified that anyone reading the initial post might have imagined otherwise, and thus extend my sincerest apologies to yourself and anyone else for whom my ideas about this matter were not expressed clearly enough, from the beginning.

Re: Full-page advertisement for British Petroleum, The Nation, Vol. 290:15, April 19, 2010 (back cover).

Ross Floate — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:56:41 -0000

Just checking here: Are you suggesting that BP knew the spill was coming and snuck this ad in at the last minute?

Re: Full-page advertisement for British Petroleum, The Nation, Vol. 290:15, April 19, 2010 (back cover).

boxdog1031 — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:31:14 -0000

Since the Deepwater explosion and murder of 11 rig workers 6 million gallons of crude oil has bled into the Gulf. Coincidence or not BP was granted "categorical exclusion" from the permitting process by the current administration. I am fucking pissed, heartbroken. I am categorically disappointed and I live on the Gulf.

Re: To the boy in my kid’s fourth grade class who has incorporated ‘loudly boasting of raping women* in video games’ into his bullying routine:

vmarinelli — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:30:46 -0000

My recent unclehood has me thinking a lot about parenthood lately.

I suspect you are a completely fabulous uncle. And will be, when and if that development occurs (oh please! you guys would make adorable littles! or adopt! whatever!), an equally rad parent. For reals.

I admire your unfathomable restraint in not bouncing that little fucker off the ceiling.

Dialectical and practical commitments to pacifism notwithstanding, don't imagine, for a skinny minute, that this wasn't my first impulse (alas).

Re: To the boy in my kid’s fourth grade class who has incorporated ‘loudly boasting of raping women* in video games’ into his bullying routine:

vmarinelli — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:26:24 -0000

I hadn't considered the increasing ubiquity of 'rape' as quasi-comical (and totally stupid) metaphor - the examples you point to are, are, are... I don't even know what to say they 'are.'

It's like the real phenomenon of rape is linguistically disappeared (and minimized, and justified), while, paradoxically, it is also escalated. (Not only the grossly distorted language invoking 'rape,' but rape itself.)

Sheesh.

Anyway, very useful things for me to consider - thank you kindly.

Re: To the boy in my kid’s fourth grade class who has incorporated ‘loudly boasting of raping women* in video games’ into his bullying routine:

fistsoffolly — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:33:57 -0000

The sad thing is that the term "rape" has become horrifyingly ubiquitous in online gaming communities. It is used by both children and adults (who should, of course, know better) and, while there are games that depict actual sexual violence in the "storyline", it has also come to denote a particularly spectacular victory of any kind. It's pretty shocking. "Oh man, I RAPED you in that Capture the Flag match!" or "How does it feel to be raped by a bunch of girls at Team Deathmatch?" Both males and females use it and...well, it really sickens me.

I don't know the situation with the kid that's bullying your daughter, but I think it's very likely he's just parroting what he hears online. This is obviously NOT an excuse. I'm glad you are taking action, because if the behavior of people on Xbox Live starts to bleed into the "real" world, we're going to have a LOT of trouble. The misogyny, racism (with a focus on antisemitism for reasons passing understanding), and general lack of sympathy, empathy, or understanding really cannot be overstated.

Re: To the boy in my kid’s fourth grade class who has incorporated ‘loudly boasting of raping women* in video games’ into his bullying routine:

Simon C. — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:22:20 -0000

My recent unclehood has me thinking a lot about parenthood lately. I am so protective of the people I love -- these are adults, mind, who are more than capable of defending themselves -- that frankly I'm a little scared of what I might do if someone looked sideways at my own actual children.

That parent who's always in the school, tearing a strip off the teacher who just doesn't understand their precious snowflake? I don't want to be That Guy. I am probably going to be That Guy.

All of this is to say that I admire your unfathomable restraint in not bouncing that little fucker off the ceiling.

Re: My hottest fantasy, if you must know

vmarinelli — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:08:53 -0000

How is he on vehicle maintenance repair? I could use a knowledgeable assistant! (But he'd had to sleep in the front seat or something.)

Re: My hottest fantasy, if you must know

Xytrex — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:45:34 -0000

My son may wish to adopt you as a surrogate mother. He is a regular at Half Price Books and every Friday his allowance is spent at Borders.

Re: Hey, I’m in a book.

DaisyDeadhead — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:59:34 -0000

I'm so impressed! I love your Tweets, and just letting you know.

PS: Check my blog today... I was thinking of you, among so many other moms. :)

Re: Happy 74th Birthday to Kate Millett

vmarinelli — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:17:27 -0000

I'm always happy to hear about others who recognize her great legacy, and that she has not been "forgotten," as Salon.com described her here - http://salon.com/people/fea... - in *all* circles.

I have all of Kate's books as well as the biography focusing on her work as a sculptor. The woman is a force of nature, whose body of work will continue to be enormously influential, even when many who've ultimately benefited from her activism, writing and art still don't know so much as her name.

Re: Happy 74th Birthday to Kate Millett

Nancy McDowell — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:56:17 -0000

Forgotten? Not by me she hasn't been. Someone who has been as formative as she has been throughout my adult life won't be forgotten. Sexual Politics is/was indeed a landmark, but Millett's other works -- writings, activities, art -- will stand all tests of time.

Re: Daughters of our various riots

vmarinelli — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:22:17 -0000

I'm more moved than I know how to say that you found this post and left this comment. And I am so happy Jessica is doing well, and I hope you and your mother are, also. It is an enormous ordeal to have survived. I admire and honor your strength. I wish your family the best.

Re: Daughters of our various riots

vmarinelli — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:25:09 -0000

Re: Daughters of our various riots

nela86 — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:40:04 -0000

i but u may not believe it but i am Jessiica sister and elvira older daughter. Jessica is now 17 and isi doing very well she plan on graduating high school next year. This caption that you wrote is very appreciated and i hope people understand how difficult our lives was at that time

Re: Olympia’s queer history, as rediscovered in my underwear drawer

vmarinelli — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:14:43 -0000

Holy shit, that is awesome! Did you come to our house (Tod was my roommate at the Dreary Biscuit) to do the shirt-making? I vaguely recall some sort of wildly disorganized affair with various sized shirts floating around and some kind of spray on paint (what I used to make my shirt) and stencils. I think Dana Schuerholz put the shirt thing together? (Of course you may have acquired yours via some other route, but it'd be hilarious if you were at the same thing.) At some point (e.g. when I find and scan the damned pictures) I'm going to put together a Flickr album from that first march, so if you have any of your own that you might want added to a pool (don't know if you have your own Flickr account or not, but I'd be happy to host them with all appropriate attribution if not) - let me know.

I've also thought about putting up a memorial page somewhere just for Tod. I miss him all the time, still. He was one-of-a-kind, and he saved my ass on so many levels there's no way I'll ever be able to account for it. Anyway, when I have time to set up something of that nature, if you have any specific memories to share, that would be welcome. You can contact me any time through this page: http://victoriamarinelli.co... or via email at vmarinelli AT gmail DOT com (<--lame effort to foil spam-bots).

Best regards - V.

Re: Olympia’s queer history, as rediscovered in my underwear drawer

lotustat — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:30:36 -0000

Hi There! I was waxing nostalgic for the fun times to be had at Tod Streater and Kelly Hawks parties. Man they were weird!

Anyway, I was at that first Pride March in Olympia too and I still have my Olympia Queer tank-top. It's white with the Oly beer logo in purple, just spelled differently.

Those were certainly interesting times.

Re: Southern Discomfort / Another Olympia queer history fragment, this time from the bottom of a box of files

DaisyDeadhead — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:56:59 -0000

I'm thrilled to see this! I was fussing on my blog some time ago about the disappearance of radical history... I just posted some of my own a few days ago! I'm hoping more progressives will dig up cool stuff from their pasts and post it too. :)

Re: Oral fixation (not that kind, pervs)

Sarah — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:38:48 -0000

You are right on with the baby carrots. My thesis is due tomorrow (i.e. stress!) so I went to the grocery store and bought some. I'm already half way through the bag.

If your oral fixation picks up with stress, eating feels good but it can be terrible for your health! Cucumber slices are good and taste slightly better than celery. Rice cakes work well, especially the little chocolate ones, which are only 60 calories per serving. Carrots are only 35.

Chewing gum is a must. I've consumed so many packs of Extra Spearmint that Wrigley's should be paying me a stipend. Gum is great if you are at a computer, because you can chew to busy your mouth and type to busy your hands. Plus, chewing gum after eating is supposed to stimulate saliva flow, which in turn stimulates digestion.

Chewing on plastic is also strangely satisfying ... pen tops are ok, but you have to make sure the pen doesn't bust. I was chewing on a push pin the other day (the plastic side) and was surprised by how freaked out everyone in the office was. Apparently, this is an instant way to make yourself look b.a.

I also recommend getting a water bottle with a flip-top mechanism on it to suck on. Seriously.

Now that you're armed, get to work!

Re: Oral fixation (not that kind, pervs)

Laura — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:46:51 -0000

Drink squash. It's low cal and yummy. You can make ice-cubes, ice-lollies, and drink it in great quantities. You will pee a lot (boo) and feel about ten years old (yay)!

Some snacks you can have unlimited amounts of, such as cucumber and salsa, carrots, mustard, sugar-free jelly/jello, and salad. Anything low calorie is great. How about air-popped popcorn? Invest in a machine and you lots & lots of munch on hand. You can also find an enjoyable way to cut your food into very small pieces and take a little piece whenever the need for a fix arises. Just hand to mouth and a satisfying sensation to follow tends to be what is needed. Grapes are my favourite because you can suck them for a long time after you break the skin and they're sweet & juicy and good for you too.

Re: Southern Discomfort / Update!

Robguy — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:39:41 -0000

Even though I follow you on twitter (2 of your twitters), sometimes I sleep alot :p
I'm very happy for you and you family. I hope it's a job that he can enjoy as well as earn a living from.

Re: Southern Discomfort / Update!

Chris L — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:58:31 -0000

Good news! I'm so glad to hear this...

For the record, I wish you'd blog more. Twitter is OK, but weightless.

Re: Southern Discomfort / A gentle word for the haters of the Oatmeal Cookie

TJ Luoma — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:23:20 -0000

As the aforementioned zealot, I would like to say that I'm actually not anti-oatmeal raisin, as much as I was disappointed to have gotten a cookie after church and bitten into it to realize I had NOT gotten what I expected (chocolate chip).

Having gone through a time when we lived largely on make-your-own-Boboli pizza, I can relate. Here's hoping something good is just around the corner.

Re: Southern Discomfort / Seven things about two brands of whiskey I’d just as soon never drink, and why

AJinNashville — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:20:38 -0000

well snap. I'd bet that you wouldn't be interested in the 7 Things You Never knew about me meme I was just gonna tag you with then, huh?

But just in case... http://allurblogs.blogspot....

Re: Southern Discomfort / Seven things about two brands of whiskey I’d just as soon never drink, and why

DaisyDeadhead — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:32:39 -0000

Southern Comfort is strong alright, but waaaay too sweet. Me and Merle Haggard preferred GEORGE DICKEL. (Which of course, proved to be my undoing!)

Love your writing, as always. :)