Maritzia’s Thoughts

Today is the 5th anniversary of a war that most of us never wanted and are still fighting against.

Today, let us take a moment to sit in our safe peace here in the US and remember those who have lost their lives to this ill advised, misbegotten mess. Let us remember the soldiers that have died and those that have returned irreparably altered in mind, body and spirit.  Let us remember those who are still there fighting.  Let us remember all of the Iraqis who have died, those who have been injured, those living in starkest poverty without even the barest of necessities like clean water and power.

Let us remember the victims of this war, and let us remind our government that we demand an end.  Call your Representatives and your Senators.  Call the White House.  Flood every phone with calls demanding an end to this war.  Make clear that Bush’s so-called mandate is *not* from the people he serves.

Yep…that’s right…it’s the anniversary of my birth.  46 today.

I’m celebrating by announcing my latest on-line venture:

Administrative Arts

Okay…so it’s only interesting if you’re a secretary…but I’m still rather proud of it.

Regardless of your feelings about the war, this video will make you think:

I saw a link at Casual Blasphemies to a Q&A with Alton Brown from 2004 on eGullet. One of the questions was what he was passionate about. In his reply, he stated:

“As for more serious matters, I’m passionate about this country getting off it’s fat butt and getting into shape. I see a lot of very heavy people at my demos and book signings and I don’t like that. They come up and they’re so nice and they say “gosh we love food and love your show” and I want to say “I think you might lay off both and go for a walk”. I’ve never actually said this because it would be mean but it really worries me.”

Needless to say, this little bit of crassness has left me less than amused. After fuming for about an hour, I sat down and wrote Mr. Brown a letter. Here’s a copy of the letter:

My Dear Mr. Brown:

My Formerly-Dear Mr. Brown:

My Not-So-Dear Mr. Brown:

I have been a fan of yours for quite some time. I have always enjoyed how you bring the science of food alive in Good Eats. Being a geek myself, I have thoroughly enjoyed your show. Which is why it disturbs me to be writing this letter to you today.

I saw a Q&A with you that was written in 2004 at the eGullet forums. In it you stated, when speaking about your passions:

“As for more serious matters, I’m passionate about this country getting off it’s fat butt and getting into shape. I see a lot of very heavy people at my demos and book signings and I don’t like that. They come up and they’re so nice and they say “gosh we love food and love your show” and I want to say “I think you might lay off both and go for a walk”. I’ve never actually said this because it would be mean but it really worries me.”

Obviously, you have not really looked into the science of obesity as you have that of food. That’s ok, most of my doctors haven’t either. Let me enlighten you to a couple of little known facts (little known because the media would rather demonize fat people that actually report on the condition). For instance, did you know that persons with insulin resistance burn approximately a third less energy in their cells than non-insulin resistant persons? It’s true! Check out The New England Journal of Medicine, February 12, 2002. Go ahead…it’s online…I’ll wait.

*looks at her watch and whistles tunelessly* Back so fast? Interesting article, wasn’t it. So…people with insulin resistance burn 1/3 less energy. So, from that we can assume that those of us with insulin resistance, if we ate the same and exercised the same as non-insulin resistant persons, would be 1/3 heavier, don’t you think? And, of course, the volunteers used in this study are “young, lean adults”, so we can assume that they are probably in the early stages of the illness. We know that insulin resistance gets worse over time, so those of us with more advanced insulin resistance probably burn a great deal less energy than others, wouldn’t you guess.

Here’s another “for instance” for you. Go to drlowe.com. *looks up” Back already? Yes, yes, I know he’s talking about fibromyalgia, but if you get into the guts of the site, you’ll see that he is actually talking about Peripheral Tissue Thyroid Resistance. It’s a concept that isn’t well accepted by the medical community at the moment, mainly because there isn’t a test for it. Doctors these days are so ingrained to treating by lab numbers, they don’t believe anything they can’t easily run a test for. However, it is out there. There’s a great deal of evidence that it is a very real disease. So, we can assume that at least a few, and I’d argue many, many, people have untreated hypothyroidism. And, of course, we know hypothyroidism causes weight gain, don’t we? Of course we do!

This is only two examples of medical science slowly figuring out that there might be more to obesity than intake and exercise. And we’re not even getting into eating disorders such as BED (binge eating disorder). It’s an extremely complex issue. So, for you to sit in judgment like this, without truly looking at the complexities of the science, is extremely disappointing. So disappointing in fact, that I am going to ask…no…no…I’m going to demand, that you publicly apologize for your quite bigoted comment on the e-Gullet Q&A.

If you don’t make an apology, I’m going to boycott your show, the Food Network, all Scripps Network Programs, all of your and their sponsors, and your publishers and the bookstores that sell your books. And in case you didn’t notice at the beginning of this letter, I am copying this letter to all of the aforementioned sources. You think maybe there are a more than a few fat people that watch the Food Network and read your books?

Shame on you, Alton Brown. *shakes her finger vigorously* For shame!

Things like this make me absolutely, batshit crazy! There’s an underlying assumption here that if you don’t support Hillary Clinton, then you must be a bad feminist.

Let me tell everyone out there, the reason I’m not supporting Clinton has nothing to do with our misogynistic, patriarchal society. I’m absolutely thrilled that a woman has come so far in our country to be vieing for our main political office.

The reason I don’t support Hillary Clinton has nothing to do with how I see her as a woman. I don’t care what she wears, how she looks, how old she is (although I do wish I’d see a few more wrinkles on the 60 year old face), whether she’s too tough or too soft. The reason I don’t support Hillary is simply because I don’t *expletive deleted* like her!

I’ve disliked Hillary since the day over a year ago that I got a so-called “grassroots survey” from her, because she wanted to get feedback from the people of the country. It was a survey so slanted that there was no way anyone who has even slightly considered themselves a Democrat would have answered any way other than the way she wanted them to answer it. She didn’t really want to know what people thought. She wanted to be able to wave a survey around and say that the “people” supported what she supported. Oh…and of course, she wanted our monetary support.

That thing left such a bad taste in my mouth that I instinctively distrust everything she says. I assume everything is just as slanted as that mailing she sent out. At that point, I had barely even heard of Barack Obama. And honestly, even if he hadn’t run, I probably would not have supported Hillary. I probably would have been a lukewarm Edwards supporter.

Barack Obama sparked something for me that no one in my voting history has ever done. For the first time in my life, I’m not just voting against someone….I’m voting for someone.

You know, if Hillary manages to win this nomination, I’ll do what I’ve done for the vast majority of elections I’ve voted in for the last 28 years. I won’t be voting for her….I’ll just be voting against whatever candidate is running against her.

I’m tired of voting against people in elections. I want to vote for someone I trust, for someone I can truly believe in, for someone with integrity and someone who I am intuitively drawn to.

I’m not a bad feminist because I support Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. I would be a bad feminist, though, if I supported Hillary Clinton just because she’s a woman. That would be saying a woman isn’t good enough to get there on her own. When a woman runs for President who I truly believe is the best person for the job, I’ll be breaking down the doors of the voting booth to cast my ballot. Unfortunately, that just hasn’t happened for me yet.

I don’t usually get too political on this blog, but today I am.

The Senate has passed the bill providing an extension to the warrantless wiretapping and providing immunity to the telecommunications companies that provided information to the government illegally!

Write to your Congressman and make clear that you do not want the House passing the same bill. Then write to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and make clear the same things.

I made clear in my statements that I was totally against compromising the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. Actually, I was quite eloquent. Too bad I can’t remember now what I wrote then *laughs*.

Anyway, get your pens out, boys and girls (or your keyboards as the case may be). This is democracy in action. Stand up for your rights and freedoms!

I’m already slacking on my resolution to post here more, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been down with the flu all week, and let me tell you, it’s a nasty strain this week. That’s why I haven’t posted this little gem for you yet.

Obama’s Iowa Victory Speech

I’m so thrilled with the Senator’s victory in Iowa. It’s beyond even what I’d been hoping for. This will really throw momentum into the campaign! Enjoy the speech. The man is a great orator.

As one of my goals for the coming year is to work more with the Tarot and become more familiar with interpretations, I decided to once again do a reading for the year.

The card I drew for January was the 7 of Swords, which in the couple of books I have seems to represent opposition, especially opposition through sneakiness.  This pretty well intrigued me, mostly because even though I’m fairly intuitive, I have trouble reading social cues.  My shrink years ago said I had aspects of autism in my personality.  So, I decided to do a simple Past Present Future spread for January.

Guess what came up as the first card.  No, go ahead….guess….

Yep, that’s right….7 of Swords.  I was still at a bit of a loss on this one, so I went out to the internet and looked up various interpretations for this card.  The first link that came up when I googled it was this page from learntarot.com.  The first set of interpretations surrounding running away was me to a T.  It probably sums up my emotional past better than anything I’ve ever seen.  I’ve always been an avoider, a procrastinator, someone who runs away rather than face a confrontation, all the while worrying desperately about that confrontation.  I’ll take the easy way out until I can screw up the courage to actually deal with the situation.  And, of course, as soon as I confront whatever it is, I find it wasn’t nearly the issue I had blown it up to be in my mind.  I’m actually much more capable than I usually believe myself to be. 

So, Seven of Swords makes perfect sense if I appy the card to my own past, rather than just the past of a particular situation.  One of the things I love about the tarot is it can really lead you down paths in your mind that you don’t usually take on your own.  It’s a great meditative and self-analytical tool.

So…the second card, representing the Present, was the Empress, reversed.  She represents the birth of a new project, or in reverse, could represent the lack of proper application of self to a project.  I actually have several things I’m looking at and working on at the moment.  Mark and I would like to become foster parents to throwaway teens at some point, once his immigration is complete.  I’m also trying to become more active with my blog here and possible start a couple of side blogs on topics I care about.  I’m trying to be more consistent with my work with the tarot and learn to interpret more fluently.  And, of course, I have always been one to not apply myself completely to projects…to start and not finish.  So perhaps this card is a warning?  I need to pay attention to those things that are important to me.  No slacking if I want to be successful!

The future card was the Ace of Hearts (Cups in other decks).  This is another one that feels fairly ambiguous to me.  Many of the interpretations I’ve read talk about love and relationships, and that is one area for which I don’t feel a need at the moment.  Others, though, talk of the spiritual aspects of the card.  A heightening of intuition, a coming spiritual epiphany.  *shrugs* We’ll have to wait and see what the future brings, I suppose.  And that’s the one thing I hate about the tarot.  I want to know right now, darn it!  I’m not a patient person *laughs*.

Anyone want to add to the interpretations, I’d love to hear what you have to say. 

I knew I forgot something I wanted to say!  The coordinator for the local campaign for Barack Obama came by last night and we redid the website.  I’m actually quite proud of it, especially considering we finished it in about 2 hours *laughs*.  Well, I’d been working on the template off and on for a couple of weeks, but the actual guts of the site we put together in two hours last night.  Tell me what you think.

Whatcom for Obama