Blog 365 makes keeping up tough for me, and I'm not even a participant (she of the weekly posts says). But Blog 365 is making it tough for me to keep up with reading everyone's blogs. And not even all the blogs I like to keep up with are participating. And not being able to keep up with reading everyone's blogs makes it hard for me to comment. When I see you have 6 new posts I haven't gotten to yet (Hello Cardiogirl (whose blog I just love)), it's kind of hard for me to comment on one from 6 days ago, when you and all the commenters have moved on. Maybe February 29 will help me out... Nope, not enough time. But I guess having lots of updates to read is not something to complain about. It would be worse if there were not enough, right?
And I should update my own blog, but I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and life is busy so I want to enjoy the next 15 minutes or so by reading blogs and not by updating my own. Even though I sort of have. But not really. Oy.
1. What is the soundtrack for this LJ? I don't really keep an LJ although I do have an account there. Recent soundtrack has been mostly podcasts: Marketplace, Grammar Girl and Hip Tranquil Chick.
2. What's bothering you right now? The war in Iraq.
3. Do you close the door when you are sleeping? No.
4. What is in your wallet? Some cash, credit cards, store cards, driver's license, 2 school IDs, my debit card, a few of those punch cards (your 10th coffee free type things).
5. Wallpaper on your computer's desktop? Hip Tranquil Chick.
6. Background on your cell phone? None. I barely know how to use my cell phone and have no idea how I would put wallpaper on it.
7. Next time you will kiss someone? This afternoon, I'm sure. :-)
8. Where was your default picture taken? It's a Yahoo avatar.
9. Eyes: Brown.
10. Life: I have a good life, but I do suffer from fear and frustration at times.
11. House: I love my house.
12. Doing this weekend? Relaxing and errands.
13. Wearing? T-shirt, yoga pants, socks, running shoes, sports bra top and a heart rate monitor (I just worked out).
14. Who was the last person to send you a text message? Months and months ago, this guy at work tried to send me one to show me how they worked, but I didn't get it. (Remember, I barely know how to use my cell phone.)
15. If you could have one thing right now what would it be? A satisfying career.
16. Listening to? The hum of the computer, the sound of the breeze blowing, cars going by on the highway.
17. Have you ever kissed anyone named Patty? No.
18. What do you smell like? Right now, probably sweat.
19. Eating? I had two scramled eggs for breakfast.
20. On your bed, what is your favorite thing? If not Sweetie or Trinka, um... I guess my pillow - ?
21. Do you believe in a soul mate? No.
22. What do you wear to bed? A white cotton nightie.
23. Do you remember your dreams? Just bits and pieces occasionally, and I'm usually extremely relieved to wake up and realize they were just dreams.
24. Do you burn easily in the sun? Yes.
25. Have you ever been gambling? We tried it on our honeymoon cruise with about $20 which we lost immediately. Not my thing at all. To me, it seems akin to throwing money in the trash.
26. What's something you wish you could understand better? Computer / technical kind of stuff, but probably not enough to seek it out. Other languages - I definitely want to learn at least one "foreign" language - probably German or French.
27. What did you do last weekend? The usual - relaxed, did chores, that sort of thing.
28. Who do you miss? My dad and my nana.
29. Who is the last girl you hugged? Probably my friend Writer.
30. Orange or apple juice? Orange.
31. Who was the last person you went somewhere with? Out of the house - Sweetie last night to pick up the take-out food.
32. What was the last text message? See number 14.
33. Have you kissed anyone on your friendslist? No.
34. Last time you ate a home grown tomato? I can't remember; it's probably been a couple years.
36. What was the last thing you drank? Water, and I'm having more right now.
37. Who's house did you go to last night? I stayed home.
38. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? My sister-in-law in the spring after she had a baby.
39. Do you like someone right now? You mean like "like" someone? Ohmigod, totally!!!
40. What do you wear more, slacks, jeans, or sweatpants? Jeans.
41. What is the last movie you watched? With who? (I believe it should be "whom.") On video, The Control Room last night with Sweetie. In the theater, Waitress with Sweetie.
42. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Really only two - water and coffee (with milk and sugar). But I also enjoy Reed's Ginger Brew in the summer.
43. What are you excited about? Losing weight, getting a clothesline, visiting Rockport next weekend, reading Victory.
44. Do you want someone you can't have? No.
45. Who was last to slap your butt? Several years ago, this guy I know did as a joke. I did think it was kind of funny, but he felt bad later and called to apologize.
46. Where was the last place you went? Out of the house? Szechuan Tokyo to pick up the take-out.
47. What's on your mind right now? What I'm going to do today.
48. Have you cried recently? No, but I pretended to last night when Sweetie said he didn't believe me when I said that Blue sang a song.
49. When you think of your crush, who is it? Sweetie of course.
50. Is taking a shower a daily habit? Yes, but I do occasionally miss one.
The reason given for the rating was the presence of the word "dead" two times and "ass" one time. Not that I was using it this way, but has everyone forgotten that the original meaning of the word ass is donkey? And dead? What's so bad about mentioning the word dead? Kids mention death all the time. So, all you dead asses out there, what's your blog rated?
The fact that the diet was vegan is actually not even an issue in this case. The child did not die because his diet was vegan but because he was not fed enough. He was starved. What articles like this do is promote a concept that vegans are insane freaks. This concept is simply untrue. The parents in this case had a number of bizarre beliefs and practices. They also followed a vegan diet.
In this post, Szwarc also details a seventh graders' field trip where they were expected to vote for or against animal slaughter. They were also given Vegetarian Starter Kits by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I think this field trip was inappropriate on a number of levels. I, for one, would not want any school trying to teach my (hypothetical) kids about what they should be eating or how they should be exercising. However, I think this field trip was an extreme and rare case. Also, PETA makes an easy target for people who want to criticize vegans because PETA is so radical, but PETA members are not the only people who are vegans.
I can understand people's criticism of the parents and PETA (although what PETA says about the inhumane treatment of farm animals is largely true), but I cannot and do not support vegan diets' making the news in this way. I am a vegetarian and my husband is a vegan. We do not support starving babies, we do not refuse medical care and we do not believe in scaring the bejesus out of school children. Szwarc 's blog is often critical of the mainstream media and their fear tactics, but in this post she resorts to the same type of thing they do: she focuses on two extreme examples which serve to villify vegan diets.
As I said in a previous post, I have trouble keeping up on the Junkfood Science blog, due to Szwarc's prolific posting, but I read the aforementioned post last weekend, and even though it's several weeks old, I just had to say something. I had written a very supportive post about Szwarc's blog before, but she really disappointed me with this post.
Fortunately, I am not the only person who has spoken out against the way the media has used this sad story to villify veganism. Here are some responsible opposing viewpoints:
I'm way behind on Junkfood Science by Sandy Szwarc because she posts frequently and lengthily. Her posts are sometimes so long that I admit that I don't always get all the way through them, but I think I've figured out her "deal." She believes that there is no obesity epidemic and that the media is promoting health worries and hysteria about food and size by shoddy reporting that is frequently not based in fact. According to Szwarc, the facts often support the opposite of what the media is saying. I like what she is doing, especially because I hate when the media uses the concept of "health" as a smokescreen for their prejudice against fat. Szwarc is great at combatting "health" based reasoning, citing many studies that are used simply to market for weight loss as an industry.
Today I found this April 24 post: Healthy Aging Techniques that links to a hilarious article: The Healthy Boomers in the Toronto Star. This made me laugh out loud. I particularly loved the lines: "If this is not one of the two nights per week they are scheduled to make love, a schedule by which they both abide, whether they feel like it or not in order to avoid friction – a third conjugal event is optional – the Starrs will work on crossword puzzles or Sudoku to keep their minds sharp and prevent Alzheimer's later in life." The idea of reducing every activity to a recipe for health is just too funny.
I have been following Skinny Latte's World Tour. I'm not big on travel blogs, but I like this since I read her blog before this trip. Something she wrote in her May 21 entry really struck me: "I noticed, more so in Denver than anywhere else I've been, how much antagonism there is in America towards George W. Bush. He's not highly thought of, in spite of what we're told!" Welcome to the USA! There are a LOT of us who don't support this administration. I wonder whose controlling what other countries hear about us.
Mopie and company have a new home for Big Fat Deal. I love the fuller figured "mud flap naked lady" on the header, and the lay-out is just great all around. If you don't read this blog (although you probably already do; Mo is something of an internet celebrity), it's about issues around weight and size and how they are portrayed in the media. If you want to read intelligent blog posts by people who are rightfully outraged by the negative depictions of fat (and sometimes not even fat, just not skinny) people in pop culture then this is the place for it.
Note: I like Big Fat Deal because it's intelligent and entertaining, but also because it doesn't criticize people for wanting to lose weight. There is another blog, Big Fat Blog, which is strictly fat acceptance focused. I'm all for fat acceptance and strongly feel that the bias people have against fat has very little to do with health and way more to do with appearance and negative assumptions about the personalities of fat people. (I also feel that some of the supposed health risks of obesity are exaggerated.) And that's the focus of Big Fat Blog. However, I must confess I don't read this one, although I respect what they're doing because I do want to be thinner, and I don't feel reading that blog is encouraging on that front (not being sarcastic here, although I realize it may have sounded that way).
Speaking of exagerated health risks, I am reminded of yet anotherblog: Junk Food Science where I've been stopping by lately. Ms. Szwarc does a great job of looking behind the headlines and the interpretations of scientific studies on health and weight and makes some convincing arguments against the claims that there is an Obesity Epidemic. The main message I take away from her blog is that we need to just chill in the face of the media and people who want us to buy their products by scaring us about health claims that are often not even true if you examine them, and Szwarc examines them for us. Thanks.
Miss Rachel
