Reflections on the Election Season

I should be working on my NaNoWriMo right now, but I felt compelled to sit down and write this first.

First of all, I want to say a big fat congratulations to our new President-Elect, Barak Obama. Yes we can, indeed.

Secondly, I'd like to jot some thoughts down that center around the hateful, skewed beliefs our country and the state of California are currently wrapped up in. I stayed up until past 2 in the morning following Prop 8 obsessively; I'm sure as you are all well aware right now, it unfortunately passed. And I honestly think that's a shame. I was looking forward to being both proud of my country AND state last night, but unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.

For me, this election season has been nothing short of stressful. Details aside, my house is not really one that is ideal for expressing political opinion openly. I could practically feel the lecture waiting for me as I stepped through the door last night, elated about Obama's win. But I decided not to let it get to me too much, as I am now a legal adult and my parents technically have no say over what I choose to believe or who I choose to vote for. Until, however, one of my parents insinuated that I couldn't be "a real Christian" because I had voted for Obama.

And, quite frankly, that pissed me off.

My current feelings about Christianity aside, I want to point something out: anyone who espouses beliefs of hate and fear and superiority and elitism cannot in good conscience call themselves a Christian. Why? Because Jesus clearly preached a life of humility and grace and love for anyone and everyone. Jesus lived in near-poverty and was completely content, whereas we Americans seem to have this looming fear of government taking things away that "are rightfully ours". Well, if you really think about it, it's not really yours anyway. It's God's, if you choose to believe in such a being. At the very least, the resources we are so intent on hoarding and keeping to ourselves came from the Earth and the environment that is so gracious as to let us live as we have been.... but that's another point altogether.

As regards Proposition 8 (which I voted no on, thank you very much), I'll say this: I'm very aware that the Bible states there can be no such union other than a man and a woman. Believe me, I'm very, very, painfully aware of this. But those people who have voted yes, overturning a legitimate California Supreme Court ruling in order to return to suppression and ignorance... ugh, it makes me sick. People are entitled to have their religious beliefs, of course, but those religious beliefs should never infringe upon the rights and inherent freedoms of someone else. Ever. Doing so is going directly against the principles that this country was founded on.

Prop 8 opponents... don't worry. You've fought hard. The close race is just a testament to that. Our time will come.

Thanks for reading.

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I'm Yours

Thank you, Angie. <3 Today's song: "I'm Yours", by Jason Mraz. It's just a fun, sunny song, I find it appropriate for summer. I have a feeling the entry today will be, as Monty says, a "wall o' text"; I've got a lot to talk about that just happened to converge in my head today.

"Cassandra doesn't like the word 'submit'!" teases Meredith, my friend and Sunday school instructor. And she's right; I don't. We've been studying current issues for the past couple of months or so, and the last few weeks have been marriage. Sure, I want to get married at some point. Straightforward, right? Apparently not. Anyway, this week the issue of 'wives, submit to your husbands' cropped up in discussion. I got asked what this meant. I was silent for a while, chewing it over in my head, every part of me not liking what I was hearing. At all. Finally, all I can say is, "I don't like the word submit." Seriously, though, who does? The connotations are so negative. Aren't they? Of course, it might be the budding feminist in me protesting loudly, but, aren't they?

Let's get some help from our friends over at Merriam-Webster.com, shall we?

submit
transitive verb
1 a: to yield to governance or authority b: to subject to a condition, treatment, or operation
2: to present or propose to another for review, consideration, or decision ; also : to deliver formally
3: to put forward as an opinion or contention

intransitive verb
1 a: to yield oneself to the authority or will of another : surrender b: to permit oneself to be subjected to something
2: to defer to or consent to abide by the opinion or authority of another

I want to call attention to the last section. "To yield oneself"? "To permit oneself to be subjected to something"? "To abide by the opinion of another"?

I don't think so.

Who cares if I am married to him? He has no right to ask this of me. Of course, I would defer to him on some things, as he should defer to me on others. I don't think there should be a dominant partner. It's degrading, both to him and to me. As "Corpse Bride" puts it (god, I love that movie): "Marriage is a partnership, a little tit for tat."

So there. Frak submit. I'm my own person, and so is he, whoever he might happen to be. And just because we are individuals with our own views and preferences and ideas doesn't mean we need to morph into one robot-crazy once we get married. Creepy.

There was something else I wanted to talk about, too, it's been bugging me for a few months now, but I don't really feel exactly comfortable being frank about it, and I'm a little too distracted now to think about how to word it ambiguously, so I think I'll let you go. I'll save the other half of the wall of text for next time.

Oh! I almost forgot: pictures from yesterday here. Also? I get to meet one of my online buddies, Alicia, tomorrow for lunch! Yay! I'm excited. I might have pictures, we shall see. ^_^

Enjoy your day, dear reader. <3

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I am so hungry...

But you didn't really need to know that, did you? *shrugs*

So, I have recently succumbed to the corporate machine and (re)gotten myself a MySpace account. (The first one I had is still out there, but I can't log into it; I think someone might have hacked into it, the losers...) With this, I realize that I'm all over cyberspace, so I've organized that nice shiny list in the right column where you can find me and stalk me if you so choose. I won't accept requests from random strangers, but if I've talked to you more than once or twice, chances are I'll befriend you. Yay, internet party! =)

I also recently finished the one of the books I was reading, God is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens. If you've been following this blog for a while you'll recall my interest with religions; well, this book is sort of the opposite of spirituality, in that it lays out the authors views on "How Religion Poisons Everything". The book was well-written, the arguments substantial if not controversial, and over-all not the kind of thing I'd like for my mother to see me reading. ^_^ I definitely don't agree with everything Hitchens says, and I'm unsure as to where I stand on other things, but it really is an interesting, intelligent, substantial argument regarding the various "evils" of organized religion; mostly the three prominent Western monotheisms, but there is a mention of Eastern religions as well. All in all, a great book, and I highly recommend it to anyone relatively curious and open-minded.

In other news: less than 18 days left until summer vacation! I'm so stoked. Though I need to find a job soon... not looking forward to that one.

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Blog ADD! YEAH! ....heh.

I've got to stop dropping off the face of the earth like this. Though I was thinking about it earlier, and I don't think I'd mind moving to the moon once it becomes inhabitable. At least it won't be too crowded. Plus, as my Humanities professor keeps insisting, I really don't want to be a Chinese slave just yet. Maybe the moon will be the last stronghold of hippy humanity. We'll be barefoot in our space suits and smoke organic pot and wear tye-dye shirts that say 'Save the Moon!' instead of 'Save the Earth!'. Poor thing may be past redemption pretty soon, after all. Though I think it's cool that it's all very Firefly-esque, the whole Chinese-taking-over-the-world thing.

(If anyone just understood what I was going on about, then well-done.)

Anyway, like I tried saying in that last paragraph, I think it's kind of stupid of me that I don't have enough discipline to keep a daily journal or blog. I start, and everything is fine, then I just fade away til I decide to start up again. It's like some vicious cycle. Once again, I'm going to try and keep this up. At least then Amy will have some daily reading material (heehee, hi, Amy). No promises, though. And it might not even be a blog entry, perhaps just a poem or a one-liner or something. Though I doubt it will be anything in the creative writing department right now, since I seem to have lost my muses again.

Nothing new going on right now. I never did go to the doctor to see about that suspected mood disorder (which is called 'Seasonal Affective Disorder' or 'SAD', for any of you that are interested...it's actually quite fascinating, some of the things I was reading online.) but my mood is definitely improving now that the season's changing. I think the early Daylight Savings thing was a bit rough on me this week (I couldn't sleep Sunday night, for one thing, though I'm sort of convinced my superstitious self that it's not related to the time change, but something else), and I was grumpy and snappish today, but other then that I'm definitely feeling better. I'm also making more of an effort in not skipping my classes, no matter how pointless and stupid they are (*cough* Stats *cough*). I still don't know where to transfer to, or what I'm going to major in, but I feel a little better about that after talking with Daniel, this guy from my church. He pretty much said I should just take my time with the schooling, not to overwhelm myself, and I'd figure it out eventually. I wasn't too keen on the 'take your time' bit, seeing as I really want to get out of this house soon (my dad is driving me bonkers, and my little brother's not much better most of the time), but maybe once I get my license and a job and some money in the bank, I'll be able to room with someone or something. That should be fun, right?

I'm actually hoping to get my license before the school year is up; I'm a lot more confident in driving (even if I almost did hit another car yesterday, oii), and I think I'll be ready to take the test in May, or possibly as early as next month. Friggen excited.

In other news, since I wasn't able to take the World Religions class I've been wanting to take since last semester, I ransacked my school library's religious section, and wound up with a book on Paganism to launch my learning-by-reading career. It's actually quite good, and I'm learning a lot from it, not just about the practice and beliefs, but also about myself. It's interesting and refreshing to be exposed to different ways of thinking about the Divine and religion in general, and I recommend just spending some time in your local library and browse the section until something catches your eye. You might not agree with it in the end, but I think it's a mark of maturity to be able to learn about and discuss topics like religion objectively, and something more people need to learn how to do.

Hopefully next semester I'll be able to actually take the class; that, and philosophy. I don't know why, but I'm really into that sort of thing. History, too.

...Maybe I should major in one of those.

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