blog.femtique.net
I’m trying to transfer files, but it’s hard, because I’ve got like 4.5 MB.
Latest Updates RSS
-
femtique
-
femtique
Happy Birthday baby, I love you will all my heart, mind, and soul. We had so much fun today!!
I got Kris some flowers, a German chocolate cake, a card, an angus round steak (which is barbecued later medium rare), and an assortment of cheese and crackers (the fancy kind). He loves food, and so, I wanted to give him his favorite foods for his birthday. We also went to the Japan Festival again, because it was cold yesterday. It was so beautiful today… ahh yes, time to go and relax with my baby. I’m going to massage his feet and soak his toes in sea salts.
-
femtique
Kris and I had such a great time! We went to the Houston Japan Festival today. There was Taiko drumming, and we bought a CD so we can hear the cool drumming whenever we want. They had delicious food and drinks there too. Kris and I had passion fruit green tea (this was only one of an assortment of flavors), beef and chicken teriaki kabobs, sushi (my favorite food, I swear), etc. It was all so wonderful. I love it when Kris and I are able to get out of the house and go on a culture expedition. Here’s a quote of the event from the local newspaper:
A corner of Hermann Park will be transformed into a Japanese village for the 14th annual Houston Japan Festival. Sushi, taiko drummers, bonsai displays, a karaoke gong show and the U.S. debut of Ojarus, a troupe of mystical clowns with some seriously strange headgear, are a sample of the cultural imports that will be presented.
The excitement doesn’t stop there though, because tomorrow is Kris’s birthday, and I’m still trying to figure out where to take him out. I was thinking about taking him to Cirque Du Soleil: Corteo, but it’s $40 per person ((yikes)). We have hardly any money left after paying the bills, and basically, we have to live off $100 for the next two weeks (oh *goodie*). We were able to afford to go and see the movie “Pathfinder” today. The movie wasn’t nearly as good as 300, but it didn’t disappoint too much. Some of it ran a bit slow, but I still enjoyed watching it.
-
femtique
This upcoming Monday where I work, we have invited the women’s basketball team at U.H. to discuss their sentiments on Imus and what he said. There is also going to be women’s studies professors speaking… including my boss Beverly, who is the director of the women’s resource center. On a personal note, I’ve been ranting and raving about Imus all week, and eventually I might even do a videocast on viddler or youtube conveying my feelings. I’m a bit exhausted right now though, being that it is Friday, I am a graduate student, and it’s getting towards the end of the semester — which means all hell is currently breaking loose. A professor from the women’s studies department emailed us about the Imus incident, and I think it basically sums up my thoughts for now:
My first thoughts were that there is a deep connection between this incident and the Duke rape case. The connection for me is both around masculinity/sports and around African American women having to defend themselves as humans, to claim their humanity in response to being treated simultaneously as subhuman and as sexual objects. I think this is a logic deeply connected to the history of slavery and the way that contemporary white supremacy is built on this history.
I imagine how this will also play out (and something we would want to find ways to counter) is that the perpetrators will perversely place the blame on African American artists and the culture of hip hop – the same way that whites will insist they are entitled to use the ‘n’ word now, as in “everybody does it” so its ok. And the way all of hip hop and/or black people will get represented as somehow thinking the objectification of women is ok; that perpetuating racist sterotypes is ok. That in fact is a misrepresentation/overgeneralization. And this is again a failure to address history and the context of language use. Not to mention Imus’ misuse of the syntax – the phrase is “b—-” not “hos.”
The Black women faculty and students at Rutgers protested yesterday with shirts that said IgnoreImus – as in ignoramus.
Anyway, my thought is that it would be great to not just have an immediate response but to also think about programming for next year-the long haul that can get at these issues.
I would sign anything calling for his dismissal – as opposed to suspension.
-
femtique
-
femtique
Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San
Antonio, Texas. She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will
Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as
people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart
and it was because of Edith Burns. When he walked into that
waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a
young mother sitting beside her.Edith Burns had a habit of introducing
herself in this way: “Hello, my name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?”Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be
saved. Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse,
Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying, “My name is Edith
Burns. Do you believe in Easter?”Beverly said, “Why yes I do.” Edith said, “Well, what do you believe about Easter?”
Beverly said, “Well, it’s all about egg hunts, going to church, and dressing up.” Edith kept pressing her about the real meaning of Easter, and finally led her to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Phillips said, “Beverly, don’t call Edith into the office quite yet. I
believe there is another delivery taking place in the waiting room.After being called back in the doctor’s office, Edith sat down and when she took a look at the doctor she said, “Dr. Will, why are you so sad? Are you reading your Bible? Are you praying?”
Dr. Phillips said gently, “Edith, I’m the doctor and you’re the patient.” With a heavy heart he said, “Your lab report came back and it says you have cancer, and Edith, you’re not going to live very long.”
Edith said, “Why Will Phillips, shame on you. Why are you so sad? Do you think God makes mistakes? You have just told me I’m going to see my precious Lord Jesus, my husband, and my friends. You have just told me that I am going to celebrate Easter forever, and here you are having difficulty giving me my ticket!”
Dr. Phillips thought to himself, “What a magnificent woman this Edith Burns is!”
Edith continued coming to Dr. Phillips. Christmas came and the office was closed through January 3rd. On the day the officeopened, Edith did not show up. Later that afternoon, Edith called Dr. Phillips and said she would have to be moving her story to the hospital and said, “Will, I’m very near Home, so would you make sure that they put women in here next to me in my room who need to know about Easter.”
Well, they did just that and women began to come in and share that room with Edith. Many women were saved. Everybody on that floor from staff to patients were so excited about Edith, that they started calling her Edith Easter; that is everyone except Phyllis Cross, the head nurse.
Phyllis made it plain that she wanted nothing to do with Edith because she was a “religious nut”. She had been a nurse in an army hospital. She had seen it all and heard it all. She was the original G.I. Jane. She had been married three times, she was hard, cold, and did everything by the book.
One morning the two nurses who were to attend to Edith were sick. Edith had the flu and Phyllis Cross had to go in and give her a shot. When she walked in, Edith had a big smile on her face and said, “Phyllis, God loves you and I love you,
and I have been praying for you.”Phyllis Cross said, “Well, you can quit praying for me, it won’t work. I’m not interested.”
Edith said, “Well, I will pray and I have asked God not to let me go home until you come into the family.”
Phyllis Cross said, “Then you will never die because that will never happen,” and curtly walked out of the room.
Every day Phyllis Cross would walk into the room and Edith would say, “God loves you Phyllis and I love you, and I’m praying for you.”
One day Phyllis Cross said she was literally drawn to Edith’s room like a magnet would draw iron. She sat down on the bed and Edith said, “I’m so glad you have come, because God told me that today is your special day.”
Phyllis Cross said, “Edith, you have asked everybody here the question, “Do you believe in Easter but you have never asked me.”Edith said, “Phyllis, I wanted to many times, but Godtold me to wait until you asked, and now that you have asked.” Edith Burns took her Bible and shared with Phyllis Cross the Easter Story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Edith said, “Phyllis, do you believe in Easter? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive and that He wants to live in your heart?”
Phyllis Cross said, “Oh I want to believe that with all of my heart, and I do want Jesus in my life. “Right there, Phyllis Cross prayed and invited Jesus Christ into her heart. For the first time Phyllis Cross did not walk out of a hospital room, she was carried out on the wings of angels.
Two days later, Phyllis Cross came in and Edith said, “Do you know what day it is?” Phyllis Cross said, “Why Edith, it’s Good Friday.” Edith said, “Oh, no, for you every day is Easter. Happy Easter, Phyllis!”
Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Phyllis Cross came into work, did some of her duties and then went down to the flower shop and got some Easter lilies because she wanted to go up to see Edith and give her some Easter lilies and wish her a Happy Easter.
When she walked into Edith’s room, Edith was in bed. That big black Bible was on her lap. Her hands were in that Bible. There was a sweet smile on her face. When Phyllis Cross went to pick up Edith’s hand, she realized Edith was dead. Her left hand was on John 14: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Her right hand was on Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”Phyllis Cross took one look at that dead body, and then lifted her face toward heaven, and with tears streaming down her
cheeks, said, “Happy Easter, Edith – Happy Easter!”Phyllis Cross left Edith’s body, walked out of the room, and over to a table where two student nurses were sitting. She said “My name is Phyllis Cross. Do you believe in Easter?”
If you believe in Easter, forward this on. God works in wonderful ways, and to believe in His power is to truly be free. If
Jesus had e-mail, He’d probably do the same for you.(Actually, maybe He just did)
-
femtique
Yesterday was one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my entire college career (and that’s saying a lot). The night before, I was working on the community needs assessment and implementation project until 2 in the morning. I woke up groggy at 7:00 a.m. I did not get much sleep, and had been exhausted throughout the day.
First thing, I had class from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. I had to explain the action system to our professor since I am the group facilitator. After that, I hauled butt to my internship for a special meeting. Those attending the meeting were my field instructor, my field liaison, and myself. My field instructor, for those of you who do not know, is the person that coordinates all of my hours at CPS and challenges me to be a better social worker. The field liaison is appointed from the University of Houston College of Social Work, and checks up on my progress in my internship.
The liaison is a clinical social worker, and she asked me all kinds of personal questions pertaining to my skills, knowledge, values, and self-awareness as a social worker. Those that death with skills, knowledge, and values I excelled at, but the self-awareness was a challenge for me. Let me explain. Those of you who have met me in person become keenly aware that I am extremely intuitive, and I am also very aware of who I am as a person. I am capable of what I can do, and what I cannot.
The challenge yesterday for me was answering the kinds of questions she was asking of me. One of them had to do with asking one’s self about internal barriers that I face at my internship. I realized that my internal barrier is finding my internal barriers. In other words, understanding the feelings associated with my actions. The answer seems simple enough, but not for me.
After the meeting, I had group supervision at CPS. Group supervision is where we interns discuss challenges and experiences at CPS with others and get advice or validation from our fellow interns or field instructors. One of my favorite colleagues discussed how she cries all of the time at home because of CPS. The stories she reads and the children she works with experience such horrific atrocities, that it overwhelms her emotionally. She continued by sharing with us that even though it’s hard for her, she has found avenues to deal with that — and that it’s part of the daily grind, and she’s proud of it.
I played devil’s advocate with her and shared with the group that I don’t cry like she does, and so far during the internship, it has made me feel as if I’m not a good — passionate social worker. I told everyone “I want to fit it with the other social workers who feel this way”. And then, the supervisor for all the field instructors said “April, you are (pause) so incredibly brave … you have so much courage for saying that to everyone”. And then, I laughed a bit, and then broke down crying!
After realizing that I was not able to recognize my own internal barriers, I for once, acknowledged my own feelings. I was courageous to do that, and I never gave myself credit for that. I realized that not only is it important to acknowledge my feelings, but it is vital for me (and not necessarily with everyone else) that I give it a name.
Two of my colleagues expressed the exact same feelings, and one of them was from Hong Kong, and said that in her culture, she is supposed to be strong — always. After she said this, she broke down crying and saying “um-um-um”. It was as if she was a 10 yr. old again talking about her feelings to others without inhibition. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She said that it’s been so hard for her, because she is without her family and friends (she’s a foreign exchange student). After that, several field instructors were teary eyed.
After group supervision was over, one of the black social workers named Cynthia looked at me and said “Baby, this is the social worker coming out in you”… and it made me feel so good. I am where I need to be, and I cannot begin to explain to you what that means for me, and what a sense of pride this gives me. I felt a comradery that I have not felt in my entire life. I have always felt different than everyone else, and it seems like I can’t ever fit in with anyone. It was different this time, because I know that others feel the same as me and I am not alone.
-
femtique
My new RSS feed is integrated with feedburner. It’s at http://feeds.feedburner.com/femtique/blog. It’s technically a tumblr blog, but it’s my main blog site nonetheless. If you don’t subscribe to my rss, please visit the new blog site at blog.femtique.net. It’s got an amalgamation of everything personal to me. The new site is powered by Tumblr, and I just love it! It’s simple, straight forward, and I am able to integrate most of my internet activity within one site. With a tumblr blog, one can integrate the RSS of anything that’s yours online. I could have gone with another blog, but I add so many things to my blog all of the time, that I just got tired of it. I was constantly rearranging everything, but Tumblr as made everything so much easier now. How you ask? Well, with Tumblr, I can even integrate my tweets from Twitter. Tweets are like mini-blog entries, and it’s quite addicting. In fact, it’s more addicting that Facebook (in my humble opinion). So in other words, when I don’t have the time to write much — I could always keep everyone up to date with tweets. I can also add videos, photos, quotes, etc. with a click of a button! It’s really easy-breezy blogging for people like me, who used to blog a lot, but can’t due to being so darn busy. You should try Tumblr and Twitter. If you join Tumblr or Twitter, please let me know, and I’ll scope out your sites.
-
femtique
It’s 30 minutes before my birthday is over this year, and I’ve got to say that it’s been one of the best birthdays of my life. In fact, I don’t even remember the last time I had a good birthday. I suppose it’s because before I really didn’t know very many people, but because I work at the Women’s Resource Center, I know a lot of people. It seems that a lot of people have similar friends, i.e. “six degrees of separation” kind of a thing.
I received over 20 birthday wishes on Facebook, 3 cards (1 from Kris, 1 from the house mates, and 1 from HipMomma), instant messages from friends, and tweets from twitter from Kristin and Tasha. Additionally, on Saturday I received a Baskin Robins birthday cake from my #1 volunteer Diana — and on Wednesday, my boss is going to bring chocolate cupcakes for me as a belated birthday present. The love I have gotten from all my friends in real life and on the internet is unbelievable. I have never had so many friends in my life, and I suppose that’s what makes this birthday so special. It’s good to have friends, and it’s good to be married to a good man. Hey! Even my little brother called early in the morning (6 a.m.) to wish me a happy birthday.
Thank you for all the love you’ve shown me on my birthday! Love, right back at ya.
-
femtique
Kris tried to warn these guys, but they just wouldn’t budge. Remember how I told you all that I lived with all these guys that are disgusting assholes? In the scenario that you are about to read, not only are they assholes, but they prove to be idiots as well.
Characters of the story:
Ralph (35 yrs. old): Mexican-American who thinks he’s better than everyone in the house — racist too. He despises Kris (my white husband) for being with a black woman (that’s me). Ralph thinks he’s a privileged white boy. He’s also a paralegal.
Jason (27 yrs. old): Used to be our friend until he betrayed us by sharing our personal life with another house mate who was not at liberty to know our business (that’s Chris Brown). Jason is biracial (black/white). He’s also about to get his degree in communication. He currently works with Verison wireless roadside assistance.
So here’s how the story goes. The other day, I went to the restroom to use the toilet, and after I flushed it, the water rose up really high, damn near up to the rim. I freaked out and said “Babe, the toilet is about to overflow”. Of course, I looked at it for a bit…hoping that the water would subside — it never did. At least it didn’t overflow though (thank goodness).
Kris went over to the toilet and checked it out. He grabbed the plunger and plunged away. I stepped back a bit, because I would rather not get piss water on myself — even if it is my own urine. Everything seemed to be working all right until all of the sudden, piss water and toilet paper, and feces starting coming up out of the bathtub.
It was like a horror story or something, I mean — it was so disgusting! Kris continued to plunge the toilet, but the more he did, the more feces, urine, and toilet paper pieces came up out of the bathtub. He then applied some liquid plumber into the bathtub hole, but with no luck. Nothing happened — it just got worse. Kris finally had to call up with professional plumber (as opposed to the liquid plumber). Gilbert told us he would come by Monday. Monday is my birthday.
Now, you would think that if Kris put a sign on the toilet and on the bathroom door describing what would happen if anyone used the toilet or the shower, no one would use either, and just go and use the other bathroom. WRONG. The next morning, Ralph ripped up the sign on the door, and used the shower anyway — that’s right people — feces and all! Not too soon after, Jason did the same thing.
According to both Ralph and Jason, Kris just wants nothing more than to “tell people what to do”. It’s a damn shame though, because I think in this situation, it might not have been a bad thing to do.
![[large][AnimePaper]scans_Bleach_ganjyu-san_47971](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/2332774930_eb2c222318_t.jpg "[large][AnimePaper]scans_Bleach_ganjyu-san_47971")
