Good morning!

This is literally a Flap Your Lips Friday kind of write. Only in Paris!

From Artfido:

NSFW: Performance Artist Reenacts the Painting ‘The Origin Of The World’

Following on from our previous post where a performance artist was restrained, force-fed and injected with cosmetics in a high street shop window as part of a hard-hitting protest against animal testing (see HERE), another performance artist has gone to great lengths to make a point.

Background: if you’ve ever gazed into the beautiful void that is Gustav Courbet’s “The Origin of the World”, you’re probably familiar with just how provocative (and NSFW) the painting is.

As the title cleverly references, it is a portrait of the female genitalia, through which all human beings enter into life. Combining the romance of realism and the lustful voyeurism of erotic art, it’s, well, heavy stuff.

So, you can only imagine what would happen if someone – let’s say, a daring performance artist – attempted to reenact the racy anatomic still life from 1866… in front of an audience of museum patrons assembled at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay to see Courbet’s masterpiece face-to-face.

Une artiste expose son sexe sous «L’origine du… by quoi2news

According to Le Monde, the racy act took place on May 29 at the Musée d’Orsay’s Room 20. De Robertis entered the room in a gold sequin dress and proceeded to expose her own “L’Origine du monde” to a crowd of unsuspecting security guards and applauding gallery goers. The artist was eventually taken away by police and, as Artnet reports, the museum and two of its guards subsequently filed sexual exhibitionism complaints against the bold woman.

“This is a typical case of disrespecting the museum’s rules, whether for a performance or not,” the Musée d’Orsay’s administration said in a statement published in Artnet. “No request for authorization was filed with us. And even if it had been, it’s not certain we would have accepted it as that may have upset our visitors.”

De Robertis feels differently. “If you ignore the context, you could construe this performance as an act of exhibitionism, but what I did was not an impulsive act,” she explained to Luxemburger Wort. “There is a gap in art history, the absent point of view of the object of the gaze. In his realist painting, the painter shows the open legs, but the vagina remains closed. He does not reveal the hole, that is to say, the eye. I am not showing my vagina, but I am revealing what we do not see in the painting, the eye of the vagina, the black hole, this concealed eye, this chasm, which, beyond the flesh, refers to infinity, to the origin of the origin.”

To be fair, de Robertis claims she’s performed “Mirror of Origin” more than once in the Paris museum, without causing hysteria. And it’s not the first time that an avid student of art history has opted to demonstrate the sincerest form of flattery by imitating a famous work of art. Just last year, a 26-year-old known as Arthur G stripped down to his birthday suit in front of the Musée d’Orsay’s parade of male nudes, “Masculin/Masculin.”

As the Guerrilla Girls pointed out in the 1990s, less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum were women, but 85% of the nudes were female. Does it take a nude performance artist disrupting a casual day of museum revelry to make the world notice? Let us know your thoughts on de Robertis’ performance in the comments.

♥V♥A♥J♥A♥Y♥J♥A♥Y♥

Readers: Well? Let the flapping begin. Oh yeah…it already has. :)

Blog me.

Happy Friday!!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Gotta love it. News from E:

NEWS/ A Drag Queen Named Mama Tits Schooled a Group of Anti-Gay Protesters on God and the Bible

We subscribe to the “if you don’t like it, don’t click it” approach to life. If you don’t like reading about something, don’t click stories about it on the Internet. If you don’t like a certain TV show, don’t turn to that channel. If you think all gays are going to burn in eternal hellfire and their celebration of pride is revoluting to you, DON’T GO TO A GAY PRIDE PARADE.

Which is why we’re constantly baffled every time we see a group of anti-gay protestors with their “GOD HATES F-GS” signs on the sidelines at a gay pride parade (where, it’s worth pointing out, no one is bothering anyone). But these bigots got more then they bargained for in Seattle: They got the a crash course in Christian love by a drag queen named Mama Tits.

“Before I knew it, I was standing t-ts to nose with the leader guy on the megaphone,” Mama Tits said. “I pushed his sign away from my face and hair, because you DO NOT TOUCH my hair. And, it was all I could do to NOT get violent, but I didn’t because once that happens, we all lose.”

Here is her entire speech, transcribed:

…use the Bible to spew their hate, when actually, if they followed by all the teachings of this book that they use to hate, they themselves are sinners. They are wearing cotton-poly blend. That is an abomination. Did you kill your daughters if they had sex out of wedlock? Do you sleep with your wife if she happens to have that time of the month? You’re not even allowed to share the bed with her. Should we stone you for that? Why don’t you read your own book and actually follow the teachings to the letter of God, and learn to support and love.

You need to drop the hate. You are a sad, sad, excuse for a human being. Once you learn to drop the hate, you too can find happiness, because we will welcome you in open arms if you learn to open your mind. Not today, Satan. Not today.

“I wanted [the crowd] to make so much joyful noise to drown out the hate…and, boy did they ever!” Mama says. “The crowd made the walls rattle down on 4th and Pine!…It is always interesting how religious whack jobs misinterpret EVERYTHING in the Bible and bend it to their will to create HATE, when all they are doing is showing their ignorance.”

What you don’t see in the video is the protestors being escorted away. But you might not have noticed anyway, since Mama Tits was the true star here. We don’t usually do this, but we’re making an exception here: YAAAAAS, MAMA TITS! PREACH!

♥♥♥♥♥

Readers: Mama Tits knows what she’s talking about.  Thoughts? Blog me.

Thank so much for your concern. I appreciate it, however, I am perfectly fine. With respect to the “blond” hair, I won’t comment on that. Just know that I take precautions to protect my anonymity. But if you think you see me, please come up and say hello!

Are you wearing your Sunday best? :) I’m donning mine and out to have a grand time. I HOPE you are too!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Although the 44th year of San Francisco Pride officially began yesterday, the festivities started quite some time before. The LGBT community in San Francisco knows how to partē! And the celebration is not just here in our beloved San Francisco. In fact the Gay Pride Rainbow Flag is flying all across the world. Thanks to our awesome president Obama, he has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global.

Here’s the write from Ctv News.

Obama flying the flag for gay rights worldwide

A U.S. flag is raised alongside a pride flag on the U.S. Embassy a day before the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, June 12, 2014

WARSAW, Poland — U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world to promote a cause that still divides his own country.

Sometimes U.S. advice and encouragement is condemned as unacceptable meddling. And sometimes it can seem to backfire, increasing the pressure on those it is meant to help.

With gay pride parades taking place in many cities across the world this weekend, the U.S. role will be more visible than ever. Diplomats will take part in parades and some embassies will fly the rainbow flag along with the Stars and Stripes.

The United States sent five openly gay ambassadors abroad last year, with a sixth nominee, to Vietnam, now awaiting Senate confirmation. American diplomats are working to support gay rights in countries such as Poland, where prejudice remains deep, and to oppose violence and other abuse in countries like Nigeria and Russia, where gays face life-threatening risks.

“It is incredible. I am amazed by what the U.S. is doing to help us,” said Mariusz Kurc, the editor of a Polish gay advocacy magazine, Replika, which has received some U.S. funding and other help. “We are used to struggling and not finding any support.”

Former President George W. Bush supported AIDS prevention efforts globally, but it was the Obama administration that launched the push to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights an international issue. The watershed moment came in December 2011, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the United Nations in Geneva and proclaimed LGBT rights “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”

Since then, embassies have been opening their doors to gay rights activists, hosting events and supporting local advocacy work. The State Department has since spent $12 million on the efforts in over 50 countries through the Global Equality Fund, an initiative launched to fund the new work.

Just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defence of Marriage Act last June, consular posts also began issuing immigrant visas to the same-sex spouses of gay Americans.

One beneficiary was Jake Lees, a 27-year-old Englishman who had been forced to spend long periods apart from his American partner, Austin Armacost, since they met six years ago. In May Lees was issued a fiance visa at the U.S. Embassy in London. The couple married two weeks ago and are now starting a new life together in Franklin, Indiana, as they wait for Lees’ green card.

“I felt like the officers at the embassy treated us the way they would treat a heterosexual couple,” said Armacost, a 26-year-old fitness and nutrition instructor. “It’s a mind-boggling change after gay couples were treated like legal strangers for the first three centuries of our country’s history.”

Some conservative American groups are outraged by the policy. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, calls it “a slap in the face to the majority of Americans,” given that American voters have rejected same-sex marriage in a number of state referendums.

“This is taking a flawed view of what it means to be a human being — male and female — and trying to impose that on countries throughout the world,” Brown said. “The administration would like people to believe that this is simply ‘live and let live.’ No, this is coercion in its worst possible form.”

The American efforts are tailored to local conditions, said Scott Busby, the deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the State Department. Ambassadors can decide individually whether to hoist the rainbow flag, as embassies in Tel Aviv, London and Prague have done, or show support in other ways.

While some gay rights activists say support from the U.S. and other Western countries adds moral legitimacy to their cause, it can also cause a backlash.

Rauda Morcos, a prominent Palestinian lesbian activist, said local communities, particularly in the Middle East, have to find their own ways of asserting themselves. She criticized the U.S. and Western efforts in general to help gay communities elsewhere as patronizing.

“It is a colonial approach,” she said. “In cases where it was tried, it didn’t help local communities and maybe made things even worse.”

An extreme case has been Uganda, which in February passed a law making gay sex punishable by a life sentence. In enacting the bill, President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted to deter the West from “promoting” gay rights in Africa, a continent where homosexuals face severe discrimination and even attacks. In response, the U.S. imposed sanctions and Secretary of State John Kerry compared the policies to the anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has waged an assault on what he considers the encroachment of decadent Western values and the government last year banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors,” making it a crime to hold gay rights rallies or to openly discuss homosexuality in content accessible to children. Afraid for their security, some Russian gay advocates try to keep their contacts with Western officials quiet.

The official U.S. delegation to the recent Winter Olympics in Russia included three openly gay athletes. Soon after that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow opened its basketball court for the Open Games, an LGBT sporting event which had been denied access to many of the venues it had counted on. The U.S. Embassy also operates a website where Russian gay and lesbians can publish their personal stories.

Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, praised the U.S. policy but said there have been missteps along the way, citing a 2011 U.S. embassy gathering in Pakistan that prompted a group of religious and political leaders to accuse the U.S. of “cultural terrorism.”

And in Senegal a year ago, President Macky Sall bluntly rebuked the visiting Obama for urging African leaders to end discrimination against gays. Sall said his country was neither homophobic nor ready to legalize homosexuality, and in an apparent jab at the U.S., he noted Senegal abolished capital punishment years ago.

“The response in the local press was voluminous praise of the Senegalese president, maybe not actually for his stance on LGBT rights, but for effectively asserting Senegal’s sovereignty, yet the two became intertwined,” Stern said.

Busby, the State Department official, denied that increased harassment by governments is ever the consequence of U.S. advocacy, instead describing it as “a cynical reaction taken by leaders to advance their own political standing.”

In some countries, like Poland, the U.S. efforts are a catalyst for change.

The embassy there financed a 2012 visit to Warsaw by Dennis and Judy Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student who was tortured and murdered in 1998.

A group of parents who heard their story were so shaken by the Shepards’ tragedy that they founded a parental advocacy group, Akceptacja, which is fighting homophobia. The parents are now reaching out to their lawmakers personally, in what advocates say is the conscious adoption of an American strategy of families of gays and lesbians appealing to the hearts of officials.

“The killing of Matthew Shepard represents the fear I have that my son could be hurt for being gay,” said Tamara Uliasz, 60, one of the group’s founders. “I realized that what happened in Wyoming could happen here.”

♥♥♥♥♥

Readers: I applaud Obama…And as usual there are some who are against this. Thoughts? Blog me.

So hey, back to the celebration…If you’re feeling a little envious that perhaps you’ve missed out on so much fun, no worries it’s not too late to indulge in the celebration –  today is the Pride Parade, and if you haven’t been, it is something to see.

Check out their website for details. If you attend, head out early – 1 million people are expected to join in on the celebration. Now that is a party! It should be a beautiful day around the bay  - Have fun!!

xox

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

From the NY Times:

Burning Woman

Sandra Tsing Loh’s ‘Madwoman in the Volvo’

When Sandra Tsing Loh started her book “The Madwoman in the Volvo,” her aim was to capture the experience of what she calls the “triple-M generation:” the menopausal, middle-aged mother.

If menopause just made you want to kill someone, it wouldn’t be so bad. The problem is, it makes you want to kill someone you love. And then it makes you want to love someone who’s a complete and utter moron. And there you have it: the story of half the divorces in America.

This is the story of Sandra Tsing Loh’s “change,” or, as I think of it, the Year of Bleeding Dangerously. “The Madwoman in the Volvo” is not the first book on the subject. In fact, one of the little-known side effects of menopause appears to be writing books, if the number of titles is any measure (5,115 listed on Amazon, but that was last month). Certainly, though, Loh’s ranks among the most horrifyingly amusing. The title evokes “The Madwoman in the Attic,” Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s classic look at “monstrous” women in 19th-century literature, and well it should: After reading this brave and witty memoir and realizing the extent to which we are at the mercy of estrogen, one can’t help wondering if Bertha Mason could have gotten out of that attic if she’d had a little hormone therapy.

This phase of Loh’s life begins as it does for so many of us, with the niggling suspicion we’re losing our minds. At 47, this performer, radio commentator and author-essayist-memoirist (“Mother on Fire” et al.) thought her midlife crisis was behind her. She had already blown up her life by having an affair and leaving her husband. (And perhaps in a further sign of her unbalance, writing about it in The Atlantic.) Here she is, two years later, in a seemingly all’s-well-that-ends-well relationship with her bashert. Only all is not right, not at all. Now she’s doing things like pulling off the road and sobbing uncontrollably about the death of her kids’ hamster. Hammy did not even live with her. Oh, Life’s cruelty.

This was the tip-off that something was amiss, and the hamster incident catapults Loh into a frenzy of self-improvement familiar to all of us who’ve heard the siren song of Eckhart Tolle. Loh is determined to get her groove back. Joining her similarly estrogen-deprived friends, she attempts “happiness projects” and extreme couponing and cruising the aisles of Crate & Barrel and playing computer solitaire “like some addicted lab rat.” Then there is the fanatical dieting and working out to lose the midlife spare tire. She finds a trainer so overzealous she fantasizes about paying Equinox a second fee to make her go away. She joins Loseit.com, and when she and her friend admit that they, like every other woman on the planet, are failing to note their liquor consumption accurately, they consider forming an online support group for cheaters, drunkfatfriends.com. “It’s all we can do to watch HGTV until noon and not overdose on antidepressants, and that itself is sad. Because are we not still women? Do we not still roar? Do we perhaps need our own female version of a Fight Club?”

Soon Loh’s irritation at her own emotional incontinence turns into something more frightening. She begins to resent Mr. Y, her new love, finding fault with him when he dares to have a life that does not entirely revolve around her. How long, she wonders, before she votes him off the island? She eventually concludes that no one husband can ever really suffice: “Your first husband is the provider; your second husband is the one who talks to you; my third husband will be a cat. If I am lucky.”

Worse still, she sees echoes of her mother’s behavior in her own behavior toward her children. At first she wildly overreacts to any perceived slight: When one tween daughter is teased online, she stations herself outside the culprit’s class, preparing to pounce, an avenging angel in a fanny pack. Eventually, over the course of the year, she finds it hard to listen to her two daughters, just as her loving and dutiful mother, during menopause, could not bear to hear young Loh prattle on. Loh becomes convinced she no longer loves her children, even as they begin to protect and make excuses for their increasingly fragile mother. She is miserable.

And then, she is saved. Not by God or psychotherapy or even the love of her very good man, but by a dab of topical estrogen cream on her wrists. Better living through chemistry.

Throughout the haze of loss and anxiety, Loh sees two larger truths. First, there’s the issue of timing: Women turning 50 right now are doing something a little different, and arguably nuts. Our mothers lost their parents earlier, and had children earlier too. We are living longer, and having children later. This means that at 50, many of us have parents who are still alive and need our care. (Loh is appalled to discover her 89-year-old diapered father is now demanding Viagra, and apparently availing himself of an at-home service that offers “healing hands.” Not the Church of Christ ministry; something else. I know. Ew.) At the same time we waited to have children, and while they’re going through their own bodily upheaval, drowning in a tsunami of hormones, we’re chasing the fumes. So we are living through what is one of the most physically and emotionally trying times just at the moment when everyone around us seems to need us most. No wonder there’s a lot of crying and throwing Thanksgiving dinner down the garbage chute.

And then there’s the issue of what menopause does. Common wisdom says it makes us crazy, and historically treatment for “hysterical” women going through the change ranged from opium to ovary removal. Far from being seen as a natural event, it’s seen as a disease of deficiency. And in some ways of course it is. But just as Oliver Sacks perceived the ability in disability, so Loh describes the gains we make when we are no longer floating on a cotton candy cloud of estrogen, the body chemical that makes women “want to help people and serve people and cut up their sandwiches into ever-tinier squares.” Seeing the world more clearly is not always a good thing; we are, for a time, rawer than we once were, less able to skate on the surface. On the other side of it all, though, is wisdom; we can and do have more freedom, see more clearly, think more clearly, get things done. Hillary Clinton may have had the brains to be president at 35, but somehow I feel more comfortable, indeed delighted, with nuclear capability in the hands of a 70-year-old woman.

The book ends with Loh’s 50th-birthday party, “the one last event in your life, after your wedding . . . where friends, family and acquaintances can be guilted into showing up, and they can be guilted into bringing a gift, even if it’s a joke gift.” Predictably she pingpongs between sheer joy as she concocts her dance-mix playlists (it’s all about “Brick House”) and dread that there will be only a few awkward guests, and crickets. The party is rocking, and one friend toasts Loh with words that deeply move her, if only because she prays they are true: “Instead of running from fear, she moves toward pleasure.”

Wouldn’t we all like that written on our tombstones? The ending may seem a little forced — one can hear an editor pleading with the sardonic Loh, For the love of God, leave ’em with a little hope — but I’m buying it anyway. “The only event like a 50th birthday — the only event that celebrates and commemorates you as a grown-up, with a full, adult life, will be your funeral. So let this celebration of your fully golden self happen when you are alive. And have some cake, for God’s sake.”

Thanks. Make mine chocolate. And while you’re at it, splash on the rum and light it on fire.

*****

Readers, especially the Ladies:  Want to say something here? :) Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

“Just noticing…”

“…How much I appreciate when others advocate for our animal (and mammal!) friends!

“Just noticing…”

…German court rules ex-lovers should wipe out intimate photos after breakup

In what could be a landmark ruling, a court in Koblenz has forced a man to delete private erotic photos and videos of his former girlfriend, even though she consented to the photography and took some of the pictures herself.

After a breakup, an unnamed woman from Hesse in central Germany sued her photographer ex-boyfriend over the photos, which he had kept for himself without an intent to publish.

The judge ruled that the unnamed defendant has to delete the intimate images – in which the partner is not clothed, or is engaged in sexual acts – but is allowed to keep any pictures in which she is clothed.

The ruling represents a legal shift.

Traditionally, it has been difficult to withdraw consent to photography once it had been given, with subjects having to demonstrate a legitimate change in circumstances or a level of deception for photos to be withdrawn.

Even in countries where legislation banning ‘revenge porn’ – compromising photos being posted by exes – such as the US, where several states have adopted such laws, the judge usually penalizes those who decide to publish photos. By forcing the defendant to delete photos from their private collection that may not have even been intended for publication, the German legal system is creating a new standard.

Media lawyer Christian Solmecke told Bild newspaper that the ruling will currently only apply to the couple in the lawsuit, but may be taken up by a higher court, which may ratify it into being standard practice.

The boom of revenge pornography is closely tied to the creation of the internet, which allowed easy outlet for people to post explicit amateur photographs, meaning that there has been little legal experience in dealing with it.

So far, Israel has adopted some of the harshest penalties in the world, with posting of old intimate photos regarded as a sex crime that carries a tariff of up to five years.

Let’s HOPE its legs spread to other parts of the world. (pun Intended) so that we can prevent “revenge porn.”  According to the Huff Po, Last year, California became the first state in the U.S. to come down hard on revenge porn, and Arizona follow its lead in April, according to Reuters. Dozens of similar measures are being proposed across the nation. The laws in both Arizona and California make it possible to punish those who post sexts publicly.

Now, if I can just get back all my videos before they go viral. :))

“Just noticing…”

What someone may perceive as limitations, someone else experiences as freedom. Where do we let ourselves be defined by how other people see us? The woman in this video, Sue Austin, confined to a wheelchair, says  that telling our own story sets us free. This video will blow you away.

When Sue Austin got a power chair 16 years ago, she felt a tremendous sense of freedom — yet others looked at her as though she had lost something. In her art, she aims to convey the spirit of wonder she feels wheeling through the world. Includes thrilling footage of an underwater wheelchair that lets her explore ocean beds, drifting through schools of fish, floating free in 360 degrees.

*****

Readers: What are you “just noticing?” Blog me. Sorry you had issues getting in. This time my server was performing maintenance.

Happy Sunday! 

Christopher*:  I hear ya. I get sick of it too. And a bad day on top of everything else can just be too much. No need to apologize. We all have them. I HOPE the rest of your week went better.

I just don’t want anyone to give up so I have to be a cheerleader every once in a while. :) Now…I’ll repeat what Cynthia said, “I can’t  wait to kick some Republican ass.” Let’s HOPE enough of us feel that way and make our way to the polls when the time comes for us to exercise our rights.

Kevin: I wish I could Lol with that one all the way to the bank but unfortunately, we know it wouldn’t fly.

George, WN: Where’ve you been? It seems you came back and invited some of your friends onto the blog for support. I guess you know, your party isn’t going to be around much longer. I  mean c’mon, with the way the republican party is behaving, if anyone is going to switch sides, it certainly won’t be to yours. Just noticing how some readers say they used to be repubs and are now Dems. Your party is dying. I don’t blame you for seeking support – you’re gonna need it.

Ska: Nicely stated. It is ALL of us that allow the 1% to do what they do, if we don’t vote those out that support the 1%. It is many of us that allow the 1% to do what they do because there are those that side with the 1% that expect they will be a part of the 1%, so they vote with them HOPEing to be one of them. It’s never going to happen.

Mike, TM: Always happy to see your comment here. I like what you said and thought your last sentence was worth repeating because it is what is happening.

“…when a group seeks to advance only themselves at the expense of the rest of people, they eventually become the victims of the more devious of that group.”

As always wishing you my best.

Got to run now. Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"