Friday QuoteDay

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, day and night, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

— e.e. cummings

Weekly Flâneur: Cheeky

"Northfield farm Beautifully well hung beef, just like our butchers!" Cheeky Brits.
Sign in Borough Market, London.

Exciting Things

First off, FitC had its first Guest Post last week! And now, I'm working on a guest post for Jamie's blog. Since she wrote about Jersey Shore on my blog, I will probably write about Teen Mom 2 on hers. Because that is what music television is all about.

 

 (David Bowie wants his MTV. Don't we all, Mr. Bowie. Don't we all.)

Secondly, I added one of those Follow boxes in the sidebar. If you have a Blogger, a Gmail account, AOL instant messaging, Yahoo, etc., you can follow me. If your name is Ashley and you blog at Dead Men Tell No Tales, this is your subtle, subtle hint to follow me.

(Hanging out in the sidebar!)

Third, the post "What Kind of F**kery Is This?" was posted on Persephone Magazine! If you are not familiar with Persephone, take this as invite to check them out. And if you are here via Persephone, welcome! Let's be friends!

(Yay!)

Fourth, blogging will be a bit light this week and next week. Why? Your Natalie is graduating! That whole dissertation thing I blogged/cried about all summer managed to earn your resident flâneur a Masters degree. And in lovely London town, Spring graduation happens in early March. There will be family and friends and pomp and circumstance, so blogging may be limited to the regularly scheduled Weekly Flaneur and Friday QuoteDay.

(Big Ben will be there too.)

And after that? Back to America, where a steadfast Mr. B waits. We have a future to build.

(And I have a blog to write. Stick with me. I promise it won't be boring!)

(There will always be Bowie to entertain us!)

Sad but True

With Harry Potter and Mary Poppins, while wearing Victorian-era or mod 1960s clothes. 

In the rain.

Also, "Pip pip cheerio, Gov'ner!"

(Image reads: Great Britain according to the US. Map of the UK with LONDON covering it. Subhead: (Where the queen lives and they all drink tea.) Found via OutlawHearts, but don't know if that's the original source.)

Truth from the Guerrilla Girls

Rock on, Guerrilla Girls! 

(Click to enlarge, as always. Complete text of image after the jump, for my readers who require it.)

Friday QuoteDay

“And yet does it not all come again to the fact that it is a man’s world? For if a man chooses to be promiscuous, he may still aesthetically turn up his nose at promiscuity. He may still demand a woman be faithful to him, to save him from his own lust. But women have lust, too. Why should they be relegated to the position of custodian of emotions, watcher of the infants, feeder of soul, body, and pride of man? Being born a woman is my awful tragedy. From the moment I was conceived I was doomed to spout breasts and ovaries rather than penis and scrotum; to have my whole circle of action, thought and feeling rigidly circumscribed by my inescapable femininity. Yes, my consuming desire to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar room regulars -- to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording -- all is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yet, God, I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night ...”

— The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Weekly Flâneur: Chilly

(Click to enlarge. Crosswalk to Westminster Station, London.)

Reading Corner

(Barbara Kingsolver: The Lacuna)

Finally getting around to reading this! Bought the book, because I have loved every other Barbara Kingsolver novel I've read, and it is now available in paperback. Ms. Kingsolver read at London Southbank last year, and the tickets sold like hot cakes; I couldn't even get on the wait list. Sigh!

The book? So far, so good; her writing style is one of note. Imitate it, writers, and let it influence you as you create your own style.

What are you reading these days, my dears?

Two New Petitions

The first is open to both my American and International readers:

• Rape victims are not "accusers." Sign the petition here to add voice to stop this heinous language.
  
  

• As I mentioned on Saturday, the language of forcible rape is still in the H.R.3 bill even after the pressure and promise for it to be removed. Remember, even without this language, the bill is abhorrent. Voice support for women in America and sign the petition here.
  
  
• Original post, petition and ways to fight this is here. As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Calling your representative, using Twitter, and signing as many legitimate petitions as possible will bring further attention to this issue.
  

You're Not Alone

One of my search hits this week was for this:

(Search Keywords: "am much too alone in this world, yet not alone")

Which linked to this post, titled "I Am Much Too Alone In This World, Yet Not Alone," an oldie from 2008. The post is Rainer Maria Rilke's poem in its entirety. That's all.

To the one who was looking for it: Hello. Welcome to FitC. I love that poem too; it is in fact one of my favorites. A tattered copy was taped to the mirror of my apartment for years; It's one of those poems that speaks to me in a profound way that makes sharing it feel like I am naked. A well-crafted poem that exceeds the limits of translation into English; something that eludes lesser poems. It's beautiful, isn't it?

The Internet can be a weird and hateful place sometimes, but it can also be a place to make small moments of connections and genuine friendships that make the world a little bit easier to bear. Hello. You are not alone in this world. Count yourself among those in the know.

Dear Readers

I choo-choo-choose you. Please be my Valentines, because I really do love you all.

X's and O's,
Natalie

SWF seeks SWM who is DTF, enjoys GTL and DWIs

(Welcome to the very first Guest Post of Flâneur in the City! Jamie blogs about her adventures in dating and dog-raising over at Bibliophiled Away. Keen-eyed readers may note that her name is a bit familiar in these parts: Email exchanges with Jamie have appeared on FitC before! Jamie's hobbies include her dog, Rayla, making fun of my spelling, baking rainbow cupcakes, critiquing music, chasing musicians, and generally being hilarious. Give her love! -- Natalie) 

Written By Jamie

When I was in the second grade, the cutest boy in Mrs. Roberts' class, Adam T., asked to hold my hand at a Valentine's Day party. As we were crafting our affections towards our peers with red construction paper and silver glitter, Adam reached across the desk and held out his hand to me. Stunned by his advances, I didn't say anything, but shook my head no, undoubtedly breaking his little 8-year-old heart in the process.

Fast forward twenty years, I am still shaking my head at love, as evidenced by the fact that my dating resume only includes 2.5 boyfriends (Yes, I just referred to a guy as a fraction). As a 28 year old confirmed bachelorette, I haven't had a Valentine in two years. That's a long time to go without a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, a frilly card, a romantic candlelit dinner, a piece of jewelry or two. I think Valentine's Day broke up with me because I was too needy (calling incessantly, asking it what it was thinking all the time, requesting it to buy me tampons on the way home from work), but didn't know exactly how to tell me it wasn't working out between us and hoped that I would get the hint when Valentine's Day wouldn't return any of my calls.

Like any jilted lover, the 14th of February harbors a great deal of resentment in my heart and is now just another day. To express my true feelings, I'd like to manufacture some real conversation starters for the so-called greeting card company fabricated holiday. Who wouldn't like to dip into a tiny red box of chalky heart-shaped candies with such sentiments as:

Damn It

"Women, in case you need further proof that the Republican anti-choice majority (and the Democrat anti-choicers who have sided with them) really, really do not care about your well-being, here it is: although Republicans said a week ago that they would drop the draconian "forcible rape" language from the still-awful HR3 bill, that language remains in the bill today."
Via Alternet

It's Saturday, not a usual blogging day for me, but this needs to be addressed. Come Monday, it's call time.

Ways to address and contact your representatives are here.

Friday Quote-day

"Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That's their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood."

-- Gloria Steinem 

Weekly Flâneur: Direction

(Click to enlarge)

Where do we go today? Sign near the Seine river, Paris, France.

An Open Letter

Dear Teenagers of Starbucks,

I assure you, your party this weekend will not be "killer." Your party this weekend will be exactly like every other high school party in the history of high school parties. Here's what will happen: You'll run out of cheap beer, someone will puke, someone will cry in the bathroom, you'll listen to music that will embarrass you in ten years, that one couple will have a fight, and if you're lucky someone will call the cops so you will have something to brag about on Monday in Geometry class. Slow your roll, Zack Morris*. Why the hell are you in Starbucks at 9 at night on a Tuesday** anyway? Don't you have class in like, 5 hours? You're here because you are not allowed in bars. And when you are old enough to be in bars, you'll be just as annoying to the grown-ups there as you are to me.

Sincerely,
Grown-up Natalie

* For my International readers who may not know the glories of Saved by the Bell, here's a photo of Zack Morris for reference:

Fly.

** Yes, today is Wednesday. I wrote this last night but didn't post. Call me on your Zack Morris cellphone if this is a problem.

Trending

Things that are becoming a trend:

• Screaming at my clothes. In retaliation to yesterday's closet attack, my favorite pair jeans (aka, the only pair that fits at the moment) decided to gain an extra crease in the wash that I cannot seem to iron out. Thanks, Uniqlo.
  
  

• If it is not 3 degrees below Arctic-norm outside, I have been walking a mile everyday. (As opposed to hiding in bed and watching SpongeBob. What? He lives in a pineapple under the sea.)
  
  

• Friday Quote-Day. It's a thing now. Officially. So that makes this here blog-o-rama all regular like, with a schedule of:
  
  Monday - Wednesday: Potluck
  
  Thursday: Weekly Flâneur
  
  Friday: Friday Quote-Day
  
  Saturday - Sunday: Booze
  
  That, my friends, is at least 3 posts a week, give or take a weekend hang-over. If I'm not careful, FitC may actually become respectable. Eliza Doolittle has become a lady!
  
  
  
• We have recently neglected the real reason why you visit this blog: David. Motherlovin. Bowie.
  "Where," you ask, brow furrowed in confused distress, "where is the Bowie, Natalie? What has become of your undying obsession? Is your love so fickle?"
  
  No, no, my friends.  My love for the lad insane remains tried and true. And as proof, here is the bread and butter of FitC: Pictures of Bowie and puppies. FitC, the go-to place on the web for puppies who look like Bowie! Images after the jump! Enjoy!
  
  

Randomness

•  Self portrait. I do love you, blogs, and coffee, and I sadly have not had enough of any of these three things today to write anything of substance. Ah, well.
  (Photo taken somewhere in Spitalfields Market. My apologies to the artist -- if you ever find this wee blog, I will give proper credit where credit is due!)
  

• Monday: In which I walk into my closet, scream at my clothes: "I hate you all!", turn, and pout in my underwear for several hours. It's a black-fly-in-your-chardonnay kind of day here at the Institute for the Awesomeness of Bowie (and some Feminism) headquarters.
  

• I saw 5 minutes of Jersey Shore. (A show that's been on the air since 2009: I am on the pulse of pop culture. Yes.) My previous experience with Jersey Shore consisted of trying to explain it to my friend Lou, who had been living in the mountains of Mexico without television for a few months, and prior to that, listening to a crew of South Africans in an Australian bar in Wimbledon imitate the Jersey accents. The 5 minutes I saw involved Snooki falling asleep on the floor with some dogs after a night of drinking, the tall girl finding her and saying, "Really?" before dragging her to bed. This shtick was repeated when they entered a drug store, and Snooki found a tricycle to ride. The tall girl (who the Internet tells me is named JWoww) turns a corner, sees Snooki, and says, "Really?" Then a guy with steroid face and another girl that wasn't Snooki or JWoww yelled at each other and I got bored and changed the channel.
  This, my friends, is the single most popular show ever.
  

Friday Quote-day

“Feminism can be found in everyone. There is no uniform, no secret organisation and no code of conduct in order to be a feminist. It is not a boundary which limits, but a force that pushes you.

Feminism is not just about strength, righteousness and power; it’s also about silent femininity, softly spoken words of love and quiet flexibility.

Feminism is more than those mothers, sisters and lovers who are warriors for words, who speak of more and who demand the most of this life; they are also those men who recognised how empty their lives would be without the women that fill them.”

-- Claire Martens, Feminism is the grey between the black and white 

A Good Day Fighting

"Never underestimate the power of a small, dedicated group of people to change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead.

Small victories, my friends, are still victories. Today, Republicans removed the language of forcible rape from the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. MoveOn.org reported yesterday that over 360,000 people signed the petition against this bill and its denial of survivors of sexual assault.

Before the announcement this morning, The Daily Show tackled the redundancy of redefining rape on last night's show. The link I added above mentions, "pressure from women's groups, Democratic politicians and John [sic] Stewart," as motivation for changing the language of the bill.

That mainstream media, even in the form of Comedy Central, addressing this issue is a hopeful sign. But nothing is stronger than the voices of the citizens mobilizing to sign petitions, write letters, and contacting their representatives.

We can be happy and celebrate today's victory, but the fight isn't quite over. TPMDC reports that, "The new version of the bill apparently retains the clause that limits the incest exemption to girls under the age of 18 and language that makes it tougher for women to obtain abortion coverage through their private insurers."

As Melissa McEwan says on Shakesville, "Even stripped of its attack on survivors of rape, the legislation remains an attack on people who need to terminate a pregnancy, particularly people in marginalized and/or vulnerable populations. Young women, poor women, trans men, and others, who are disproportionately targeted by reproductive coercion and/or sexual violence, and thus are most likely to be in need of government assistance to terminate unwanted pregnancies, are now under attack from the Republican Party in yet another way."

To continue to take action in support of women's rights:

• Contact your representative.
  

• Twitter campaign is ongoing: #DearJohn or @johnboehner to voice your concern.
  
  
• NEW! Don't have Twitter? Go sign the #DearJohn Petition and still have your voice heard.
  
  
• NEW! Activism not your thing, but you still want to help? Consider making a donation to RAINN, MoveOn.org, or one of the websites I have listed in my original Battle On post so that those mobilizing can continue to do so.

As new information becomes available, I will include it in this space. The good news in all of this that this House bill has little chance of becoming law, especially now that this issue is getting so much press.

So my friends, have a drink, have a smile, and know that your voice was heard.

Weekly Flâneur: Blinding

Sunset in Dublin, Grafton Street (Sráid Grafton)

Reminder

New Year, New Look, New Headaches

Notice anything different today?

FitC has gotten a bit of a make-over! Playing with HTML and CSS proved to be the distraction I needed after the H.R.3. bill heartache. (Speaking of, have you signed the petition yet? Hopped on Twitter? Called your representative?)

A few things:

• The kinks are not worked out, so please be patient if things look a bit odd around here.
  
  
• I appreciate any thoughts or ideas on how to make this space better. My skills are amateur at best, so any helpful tips or Blogger hints are more than welcome.
  
  
• Switching to Disqus for Comments? Maybe. Still weighing the pros and cons of that one, so keep an eye out for changes.
  
  
• New tagline for the blog: Reading between the lines of pavement cracks and pop culture.
  
  
• I hope to keep the image of the red and white teacups somewhere on the blog. I kinda love those teacups.
  

As ever, thank you for reading. I have such love for every person who visits this page.

Battle On

My dear American readers,

I am absolutely sickened. Really, utterly sickened. My fingers do not want to type, do not want to move. This post will rely heavily on others' words; my brain is numb facing the heartlessness in a new bill being presented in D.C.  Because, you know what? I would like to believe that I don't have to explain why it is wrong to deny women access to medical procedures if they are raped. I would like to think that it is very simple. But for some Republicans (and Democrats), this simple kindness is a menace.

Here's a brief explanation via Sady Doyle (bolds mine): 

"Okay. So, for those unaware of context, here is what is going on. In the 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,' which is reprehensible on its surface, there’s a special surprise clause that seeks to limit the definition of rape and incest. In order to qualify for the exception to rape and incest cases, all rapes must be 'forcible' and all incest cases must involve survivors under the age of 18. Since 1976, to quote the Mother Jones piece, 'federal law has prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman.' In addition to being a serious attack on the rights of women, this is an unprecedented attack on the rights of survivors, and introduces a hierarchy of rape which would deprive the majority of pregnant rape and incest survivors from receiving coverage for their abortions. No more coverage for the mentally disabled, no more coverage for children, no more coverage for those who are drugged, unconscious, or coerced."

Further truth from Ms. Doyle via Tigerbeatdown:

“'A ban on taxpayer funding of abortion is the will of the people,' quoth Speaker of the House John Boehner, thereby permanently confirming many a suspicion that he is not all that bright. In fact, American voters are concerned about the same thing they’ve been concerned about for the past three years, at least: Job loss, going broke, and the craptastrophe that is our economy. Not John, however! He’s decided that HR3, the 'No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,' is 'one of our highest legislative priorities.'

Which means that one of his highest legislative priorities is denying medical care to rape and incest survivors. The bill seeks to codify the Hyde Amendment, which already restricts public funding for abortion so severely as to make it basically useless for the vast majority of low-income people, and to pass this into law. However, UNLIKE the Hyde Amendment, it doesn’t observe the long-standing truce between anti-choice extremists and rape survivors: Instead of holding forth, as even the rightfully-loathed Hyde Amendment and Stupak-Pitts Amendment have, that funding shall be made available for pregnant rape and incest survivors, it would only provide funding for survivors who have been 'forcibly raped.'

Which, as you know, is a tiny, tiny minority of survivors. 70% of rapes are 'non-forcible.' Rapists consciously seek out people and situations where they’ll have to use a minimum amount of “force”: They don’t want to get caught, and they’re cowards, so they prefer people who are already drugged, weak or unconscious. They groom their victims, isolate them, and use the minimum amount of force necessary to terrify their victims into compliance; their main weapons are fear, coercion, and the vulnerability of the victim. Under this bill, you don’t count if you were drugged, you don’t count if you were sleeping, you don’t count if you were coerced, you don’t even count if you were molested, because statutory rape doesn’t count under this bill, either. And if you’re an incest survivor? You don’t count if you’re over 18."

Read the rest here.


What can we do to fight this?

• Join the #DearJohn Twitter campaign to draw attention to the issue right to Speaker of the House John B. The more tweets, the harder to ignore. Write to @johnboehner and add #DearJohn as the tag. (To my International Readers: If you want to stand with us, please add your voice to the Twitter campaign.) More info on this here: How to join the DearJohn campaign.
  
  

• Contact your Representatives.
  Clicking on the following image will take you to a state directory to find your representative:
  
  
  
  A personal email or call may be more effective than a chain petition. That being said, don't hesitate to sign the following ...
  
  
• MoveOn.org Petition against the bill that will "redefine rape and set women's rights back by decades."
  
  

I will continue to look for information on this issue. Further resources can be found on these sites, all of them helpful and amazing in ways that I can't even begin to describe:

• Tigerbeatdown
• Feministe  
• Shakesville
• STFU, Conservatives
• Rabble ProChoice
  
  
  

Not That Long Ago

51 Years Ago Today:  

On Feb. 1, 1960, four N.C. A&T students began a series of sit-ins at a white-only lunch counter in Woolworth’s, Greensboro, North Carolina

(Via NPR Fresh Air)