But Wait, There's More!

And then there's this site, which is safe for work. Matriarchy.info"
It does an ok job of looking like a semi-informative, even somewhat scholarly website. On the surface that is. Except for the Google ads. and then you start to read...

Lets start with "Basics You Should Know"

From Description Of Matriarchy:

A Matriarchy is a type of society, which is distinguished from all other types of societies by the absence of power structures and institutionalised hierarchies. This is why rural sociologist Christian Sigrist [1] refers to it as an ‘adjusted anarchy’, and culture sociologist Thomas Wagner [2] calls it an ‘egalitarian consensus democracy’.

Mmmhmmm. Silly me, all this time, I thought an egalitarian society should be called egalitarian. And you know, matriarchy does sound SO much like patriarchy for chicks. But it was so easy for me to get confused.

And of course they have the "Golden Age" article talking about how way back in the day, EVERYONE worshipped the universal Great Mother Goddess, and everything was just happy and there was sunshine and rainbows all day long, and kittens frolicked in the filed and the birds sang. Yeah, I think I'm gonna heave.

What REALLY amuses me is this passage:

Also in the few Aztec and Maya writing that have survived again there is a myth of a very ancient Golden Age ruled by a compassionate Mother Goddess. This is shown in contrast to the later age of warfare and human sacrifice. In fact most ancient cultures of the world have some myth of a Golden Age of the ancient past.

Compassionate Mother Goddess...of the Aztecs. I almost snarfed my coffee when I read that one.

If you only read one thing on this site, read this: Matriarchal Point Of View...its a nice long table cmparing matriarchy with patriarchy.

And then this article all but advocates coercion of teenage girls and community members to participate in "first menstrual rituals" when a girl first starts her period.

When your daughter's first menstruation arrives, congratulate her, love her, and make sure you take care of her immediate physical and emotional needs. Then call together your community of women to participate in the ritual you have planned. Let other women support and nurture you both at this time. Don't worry if some of the women are embarrassed by the idea of a moon-time ritual. Their feelings will be healed as they join in the honoring of your daughter. And please don't put off your daughter's ritual because she is shy and doesn't want to tell anyone "she has started." This is her moment. I recommend helping her to face it and feel good about it. Surround her with women she loves and who love her. You may be surprised, especially if you have never attended a menarche ritual, at the healing and joy that accompany such a gathering.

At most menarche rituals, women only are present. The men of the family, and the young girls who have not yet begun menstruation, are invited to congratulate the new woman after the ritual, and give her gifts.

Gaaaaah, if my mom had done that I think I would have disowned her.

So basically, yeah matriarchy=equality, didn'tcha know?

Seriously though kids, we need equality and a LOT of other things. Not this utopian, agrarian, anarchistic myth.

Which reminds me, I need to snag a copy of Cynthia Eller's The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future

Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to lend me or want to part with?

*Clears Throat*

*Sqqqqquuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee*

The Third Green rider book will be out August first!!!!!! (No title yet, apparently)
Time to reread the first two! I do hope the third one clears up everyhting that was just kinda cut off in First Rider's Call. Green Rider was such an excellent book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756402662/sr=8-1/qid=1149121391/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5515628-8100012?%5Fencoding=UTF8


And the Fourth Kushiel's Legacy, Kushiels Scion will Be released in June. Looks like Carey's actually starting a second trilogy

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044650002X/sr=8-1/qid=1149138405/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0309229-5067302?%5Fencoding=UTF8

*composes self*

That is all, go about your business.

(no subject)

I have a meeting with the nice people at Baltimore Works today. Apparenty theyre the people that I talk to to try to get funded for school-type things. But there's some process that I have to start today or something? Wh'ever. As long as it's more useful than last week's fiasco.

Natural Bug Repellent

This is the recepie, straight from the source for the stuff that I snagged from Jen over the weekend that kept bug away for several hours at a time:


As a base/carrier oil, you can use grapeseed, almond, jojoba, apricot kernel, or even olive oil.

5 oz carrier oil

Essential oils:

1/2 oz citronella oil
1/2 oz texas cedarwood oil
1/2 oz eucalyptus oil
1/2 oz lemongrass oil
1/2 oz peppermint oil
1/2 oz neem oil


mix 'em all together, shake before using. it can be put into a spray mister bottle. safe to use on pets, but try to keep them from licking their coat.

Jen had hers mixed with grapeseed oil, which is a lighter oil (good for your skin too). Gah, I can't imagine spreading olive oil on my skin, but I guess if you're desperate...

(no subject)

Came back just a bit ago from my meeting with The Nice People At Baltimore Works. I ended up talking to the same guy that last week told me there was no way I'd ever get funding to study massage therapy, even if there are programs on the approved list. Now he's all "Well, I wouldn't bet the farm but I wouldnt write it off completely", and started out filling out my forms with that being what I want to do. I get to go back twice next week for various skills and career interests assesments. He aso gave me the contact information for the county office up in Towson (I'm a city resident, but I can also go to the county office because I was displaced from a job that had been located in the county) I think I'm going to go up there tomorrow. I've been meaning to take a run up to Towson anyway.

I also did make it very clear that I'd be equally as interested in studying web design if they weren't down for funding massage therapy. Cause hey, I'd dig that. I think I'd really enjoy it actually.

I did, however make it VERY clear that I wanted to avoid tech support jobs like a mutant plague.

This Meme Again

Cause I can't resist asking to see what people will ask! This Set Courtesy Of unprotoize

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." Or something to that effect.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of an intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal. My choice.
3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, ask them five questions



1. What is your favorite font?

I don't remember what it's called. It's like a regular serif font combined with Greek symbols. The Greek characters are included when they ook like the letter that they represent in the Latin alphabet- mostly in lower-case letters, like the um, "lower case" beta for "b" or delta for "d" , and some of the normal letters had extra little accents to them. Only place I've ever seen this font was on the computers in the arts library lab at SMU. When I had a website, all of the text on my graphic buttons was made from this font, I forgot what it was called and no one could ever identify it after I left school and tried to find it again. I've since lost the graphical text buttons (Actualy...I'm really sorry that I've lost all of the graphics that had been on my website at that time....the website I had at the time was very pretty...oh, that's not what the question was about...)

2. If you could be enrolled, all expenses paid, in any educational program in the world, which one and where would it be?

School of the Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston. Can't remember exactly what they call the degree program there, but it's an open curriculum, and at least, when i was thinking about trying to go to school in Boston, the class selection was amazing. It wasn't SUPER-huge, but it was impressive and quite diverse.

3. If you could meet any artist (living or dead) who would it be, and what would you want to do to with them/talk about/ask?

Ummm.....ummmm....mrph..only one? no fair! Does it have to be like, fine artist? No wait...I think Louis Tiffany and I'd want to ask him to teach me how to work with glass.

Or maybe John William Waterhouse...no idea what I'd ask him or talk about though.

4. The New York Times vs. The Washington Post. Which one wins?

Ummmm....whichever one doesnt require me to register to read their site. Oh wait, I think they both do. I haven't read either paper enough to make a sound comparison.

5. Vanilla, Chocolate, or Strawberry? (Or which combination?)

chocolate and strawbetrry. (Or chocolate plus cherry coke= chocolate-cherry float=yummy.)

So Pretty.

Thomas Cole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cole

The guy painted amazing, illuminated scenes LONG before that other Thomas what's his name.

The grahics are work-safe. They're thumbnails, but there's a lot of them. But so worth looking at.





(disclaimer: Yes, Thomas Kinkade. I know. Great Big Marketing Ploy.)

From An Email I Was About To Delete

"In addition, we're adding a new level of sponsorship: Benefactors. For
a donation of $50, you'll get all of the above, a *organization* messenger bag, a
fortune cookie, a hug from *organization*'s president, and our undying
gratitude**.


[more of the message removed]




Thank you for your support!

Blessings,
*Some Silly Pagan Name*
*Some Official Sounding Title*





** Estimated value of our undying gratitude: $0.02.