Alert! Another "left coast" liberal has invaded Texas! DH and I are working hard to raise two true-blue Texas boys, too. I'm a musician and college professor (in that order).
wherein I contemplate the NARAL endorsement and the anger of Clinton's feminist supporters
Yesterday, I happened to catch a great diary by notksanymore about the fact that NARAL endorsed Senator Obama, and as a result, was receiving some harsh criticism from many of that fine organization's supporters.
So, I took a peek. YIKES. The vitriol came fast and furious. Clearly, though, many Obama supporters had been alerted by that diary, and the later comments became more balanced. Still, I estimate that overall, probably more than 2/3s of the commenters were extremely pissed off, and most of them threatened to never support NARAL financially again.
I left a message of thanks and solidarity with NARAL, and then hit the "donate" button(and I urge you to do so, too - they could use some love right now). So, I got to thinking about the anger and vitriol, and something dawned on me.
Many months ago (last September, to be exact), I hosted a Grieving Room diary that started like this:
Tonight's topic - afterlife.
Whether or not you've experienced the death of someone close, it's a sure thing you have pondered what is (or might be) coming after we die. People use the term "passing on" or "crossing over" - the big question is, what is on the other side? Or are we all simply fated to be memories in the minds of those we leave behind... until they are gone themselves? A lucky few might make it into the history books, but it's certain that virtually all of us will be unremembered in a hundred years.
Thank you to everyone who has hosted, commented, rec'd, or even just lurked on our little Monday evening series during this last year.
The Grieving Room debuted one year ago, on April 16, 2007, just a couple weeks after my mom died. Although I wrote that first diary, and have been the general factotum for keeping this thing afloat, I didn't hatch the idea myself, nor have I done the lion's share of the duties. This has been a real grassroots group effort, and I owe huge debts of gratitude, especially to TrueBlueMajority and exmearden, who have both given time and talent and passion to this effort.
In the middle of everyday life, it's easy to get lost in the mundane activities, the usual events, the flow of it all. Most of us don't have much time or inclination to indulge in navel-gazing, and even if we do, it's hard to view the "big picture" when one is part of the canvas.
No one has a better perspective on what it means to be alive - to LIVE - than someone who is in the process of dying. My mother and I discovered that in her one-year journey to death, which began with her pancreatic cancer diagnosis on March 30, 2006. From the moment we all learned that she was terminally ill, we began to contemplate what it means to live.
[US Rep Al] Green said the efforts by Harris County Democrats to wrest control of county offices away from Republicans would be enhanced by having Obama heading the ticket. He likened it to the party switch that occurred in Dallas County in the 2006 elections, when Democrats won a majority of the county's elected offices.
"It is firmly believed that Senator Obama will have coattails that will change that. We may go the way of Dallas," Green said.
Please post comments on this diary instead of Rieux's Texas Caucus Results Open Thread mothership diary, so people on dialup can more easily follow the results and post comments. The link will load Rieux's diary without comments showing. Do not rec this diary, rec Reiux's mothership diary so it will stay on the rec list. Thanks for letting me have the honor of hosting this diary. I will have done my small part two different ways, today! That's a great feeling.
Again, PLEASE DO NOT recommend this diary so we don't clog up the rec list and if you rec'd perspera's diary, PLEASE UNREC it so it will drop off the list.
If the Mothership falls off the rec list, we can designate a new Mothership and rec it up at that time.
I tried to resist, but when Senator Obama wrote me again today, dangling the chance to share a meal with him (much as one dangles a string before a pootie)... well, I had to give it my best shot.
Disclaimer 1:I may be a little bit cute, but I'm not this cute.
Disclaimer 2:Yes, I'm hoping that gratuitous pootie cuteness will garner more recs for my diary. It's called pandering, and I've found that it works more often than not.
"they will see us waving from such great heights, "come down now,"
they'll say but everything looks perfect from far away,
"come down now," but we'll stay..."
Please bear with me through tonight's diary – I've actually cheated a bit and revisited a post that I made almost two years ago. I will warn you that my content may be too graphic – if grief is too close at hand, or Death stands too near, you may want to avoid my repost tonight.
I went back through some old diaries to see if any of my internal, inner workings had changed and I stumbled across this. Thought it might be an appropriate revisit for the Grieving Room series, though I've reworked it some, and edited bits and pieces to fit. Let me know what you think, and jump right in with anything you want to share.
Apologies in advance for this late-posted edition of The Grieving Room! [my excuse: stuck in a meeting until 7:15, had to get home to eat, see kids, and do another hour of work to make up for missing tomorrow, since I'm volunteering for OBAMA in TEXAS!]
For those who haven't experienced the TGR series, we are a group of people experiencing the ongoing journey of loss and mourning. The comments are a safe place to unburden yourself, so please don't hold back. I have found it to be a wonderful outlet for my own loss (which is approaching a pair of anniversaries, as my mother died on Good Friday last year, so I will be marking both that day and April 6th, the actual date of her death).
Wow - I've now seen this three times in the space of one morning, most recently alluded to in this astute comment by Steven R that was attached to a great rec-listed diary by wmtriallawyer, so I decided to draw it all together in one (hopefully easy-to-understand) diary for you.
Here's the short version: Hillary MAY win the Latino vote here in Texas - it's not a foregone conclusion, but for argument's sake, let's stipulate that.
Obama will do well with African American voters - let's stipulate that, as well.
She may even edge him out in the popular vote overall... but he'll win the Delegate race, almost assuredly. How? Follow me over the fold.
It is the word we use as the destination or end point of our grief journey. Its use implies an outcome that we may reach through time and effort and tears; it evokes the image of a place of comfort -- an oasis, if you will -- where, upon arrival, we may kick off our shoes, let down our hair, pop open a cold one and recover from the effort of the trip.
Let us suppose that there is such a state (although I am far from convinced that it is universally available... but stay with me here), and that each one of us is somewhere on that journey towards HEALING.
So... how do you know it's not an oasis (or worse, a mirage) you're entering? How do you know you've arrived? What is the cost of admission, and why are we forced to pay it, when we're not even sure healing is available to us?
I've been doing really well with my grief... really, really well - just experiencing passing moments of poignant memories now and then.
My mom died over nine months ago (on 4/6/07, which was Good Friday this year - another day of religious significance). I haven't stopped missing her like crazy, but the pain of grief has lessened considerably.
Of course, I have been dreading the holidays, because I know we feel the absence of loved ones so acutely at this time. However, I made it through Thanksgiving and did OK, so I had hopes that Christmas might be similarly uneventful, grief-wise.
I decided to remember my mom this Christmas by making a little tree in her honor - all done up in the bronze colors she liked to wear, and with homemade "frame" ornaments that have pictures of her in them. It turned out beautifully.
Up until today, things were going pretty much as expected - I had just a few moments here and there when I had time to think about her and miss her. However, I got hit, and I got hit hard. Come with me over the fold, if you want to know what happened.
[note: I am in no way associated with this project, other than becoming a donor as of today]
I am posting this here in the spirit of giving - REAL giving, rather than more of the pervasive acquisition going on around us.
In a nutshell, One Laptop Per Child is a program that is donating some pretty interesting little machines to children in developing countries.
Right now, they are doing a buy one/donate one program, so you can pick one up for your kid (or yourself) and ALSO donate one to a needy child, for $399. This deal has been extended to year's end. Too late to make it under the tree, but still something to consider.
A new development is being planned in my area (about five miles from my home), just south of Houston, TX, called the Waterlights District, which will feature the Presidential Park and Gardens.
The Presidential Park and Gardens will center around twenty-foot high statues of the heads of all the U.S. Presidents, sculpted by world-famous artist David Adickes. Rumor has it that some presidents deemed "more important" will be slightly larger than the rest (but we don't know who gets to do the deeming). There will be a canal running through the whole thing, so that the statues can be enjoyed from boats.
Of course, the marketing can't feature ALL the presidents, can it?
Good evening. Tryptamine was on the docket to host tonight's diary, but it appears that she's been snowed in (or out, as the case may be).
I just got this:
We just had a huge ice storm... There are trees down all over town and most of the city, including myself, has no power. I'm at my in-laws, but there's no way for me to do the diary tonight.
Welcome to the Grieving Room, a weekly diary for those who have lost (or perhaps are about to lose) loved ones.
I have been thinking about how this Thanksgiving will feel. My mom died seven and 1/2 months ago, and while I am still full of grief, I am no longer occasionally forgetting that she is dead, only to be painfully brought back to reality when I remember the truth. I look ahead at the holiday season with not a little trepidation; so many childhood memories float up unbidden during this time, and she is the starring character.
It just came to me, however: it's going to be OK. Turns out, I finally figured out that I LOVE to be reminded of her, and that this time of the year may be special in a way it hasn't been for many years.
Please post comments on this diary instead of 
