Thank you to everyone who came to me and my roommate’s pre-Thanksgiving celebration last night, I had a great time. But despite a great party and the cuteness of puppy cam, me and Bitter Batman are still bitter:
Sunday Bitter Sunday #8: People who don’t watch TV and are smug about it
It’s happened more times than I can count. You’re chatting with someone about some mundane thing and you mention a TV show you like. And then they say, “Oh, I don’t watch TV.”
These people suck.
It’s not that they don’t watch TV. There’s nothing wrong with not watching TV or not owning a TV. There’s also nothing wrong with watching or owning a TV. No, the problem with these people is that they’re so fucking smug about it. There is always something in their inflection that says they think they’re better than you and that they’re above watching TV. That watching TV is a province of the proles and the unwashed masses, not enlightened, cultured individuals such as themselves. And aside from being smug and condescending, there’s also the problem of buying into the whole high culture/low culture divide. Sure there are a lot of shitty TV shows out there, but had I written off the entire medium because of Two and a Half Men, I would have missed out on great stuff like Six Feet Under and Arrested Development.
And the funny thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of these people do watch TV. But because they watch it via Netflix or on their computer it somehow doesn’t count.
It’s okay to watch TV, people. You don’t have to be ashamed. And if you truly don’t watch TV, you don’t have to be a dick about it.
Today’s topic is something Bitter B doesn’t have to worry about because he’s a) fictional and b) a fucking billionaire in his fictional universe. But I’m sure he sympathizes because he’s a superhero and doesn’t like to see people treated like crap, right?
Right.
Okay then.
Sunday Bitter Sunday #7: Student Loans
Holy fuck do I hate student loans.
Last Tuesday was a day I had been dreading. The day my December student loan statements arrived. Most months I only have one payment, but every few months I have to pay both my monthly and quarterly statements. Yeah. There’s nothing I love more than having to pay a $500 dollar bill, especially right before the holidays.
I’m glad I went to college and overall I had a pretty good time there. But was it worth being in debt for the rest of my life? I’m not sure.
When you think about it, higher education has a pretty nice racket set up. You grow up and everyone tells you to go to college, get an education and then you’ll be “successful”. So you work hard and you go to school and then you graduate, and then it hits you. All those triplicate forms you signed every semester added up to more money than you realized, probably more money than you make in a year at your crappy low-paying job (if you were even lucky enough to get a job since current and recent grads are entering the workforce at the worst possible time). You’re burdened by debt before you even begin. This then sets you up to work for the rest of your life as a wage slave to pay it all back. Short of untimely death, student loans are almost impossible to get rid of. They’re like a nasty treatment resistant tapeworm, sucking the lifeblood from you. It’s pretty ingenious really.
They didn’t really teach me many practical, real-world skills in college. But student loans did teach me one of life’s most valuable lessons: what it feels like to be screwed over. And if that doesn’t prepare you for the real world, nothing will.
Protests against Prop 8 and other similar anti-gay measure are taking place across the country this Saturday Nov. 15. You can go to this site here to find out about the protests happening in your neck of the woods. I will be at the Oakland protest so let me know if you want to come with.
EDIT: They have now created a facebook page for the Oakland event. And even my hometown of Fairfield is having a protest!
This past Wednesday afternoon I was struck down by a brutal stomach virus. I was on my way to my hometown to take my parents out to dinner when the symptoms started to come on hardcore. By the time I made it to my parent’s house I was shivering, nauseous as all hell and had a fever of 101. I’m just glad I made it there though because I don’t think I would have able to take care of myself. Besides, when you’re sick, there’s nothing like having Mom there. Finally made it back to Berkeley yesterday and slept for 14 hours while Bitter Batman watched over me stoically. But in between dry heaves there were still plenty of other things that left a bitter taste in my mouth and they seemed to have a common thread.
So now I bring you Sunday Bitter Sunday #6: The Race & Religion Edition
1) The whole “let’s blame the black community for Prop 8’s passage” meme
No, let’s not. I know that a large percentage of black people voted for it (which, as a black queer person I find deeply dissapointing). But scapegoating some mythical, monolithic black community is not helping anything. Especially considering that blacks make up a small percentage of the electorate and that the white religious vote was far more influential in swaying that prop to pass. Plus the “black vs. gays” narrative doesn’t really address the fact that some people are both. But Janelle has an awesome list of links from people who break it down much better than I have here.
2) Essence Magazine
I’m not a huge fan of Essence, or of “women’s magazines” in general. Mainly because (to paraphrase Morrissey) they say nothing to me about my life. I’m not terribly interested in dieting, or most celebrity gossip, or sex tips on how to please my man (don’t have one and frankly don’t want one). Essence is geared toward a very specific group of black women: straight, professional, upwardly-mobile, rap/r&b listening, christian 30-somethings. Seeing as how I fail on all counts, obviously not the magazine for me. But while I was on my “death bed” this weekend my mom gave me the most recent copy:
“Be the woman God wants you to be…” Hmm, no thanks, I’m cool with being the person I want to be. I guess Essence figured all the atheist, agnostic, and even Buddhist sistas wouldn’t mind because we’re already too hippie dippie weirdo to read their magazine in the first place.
3) The Mormon Church and their record on race
After sleeping for 14 hours, I woke up this morning needing a laugh when I came across this video via a blogpost at Black Woman Thinks:
The whole video is hilarious (in that “if I didn’t laugh at this I’d start crying uncontrollably” kind of way), but the best part is at about 2:20 where we learn where black people came from. After watching that, I was curious to find out when the Mormon’s changed their tune about about black people being inferior and all that. Turns out that back in the 70s they were catching a lot of flak from other university sports teams who wanted to boycott BYU. And the federal government was making noises about taking away their tax-exempt status. When lo and behold, in 1978 they receive a revelation from on high to stop discrimination against blacks. Now that’s a conveniently timed revelation.
I wish I didn’t have to sit in a 3 hour meeting today so I could have taken the day off of work since it’s like an unofficial black holiday. It’s not such a great day for the gays, but someday the tide will turn. Also, this article is kind of awesome:
But we’re never too tired for a healthy dose of bitterness:
With the election fast approaching I thought I’d take this opportunity to get on my soapbox about something. That brings us to this week’s topic:
Sunday Bitter Sunday #5: People who are voting “Yes” on Prop 8
Fuck Prop 8. Seriously. And boo on the Mormon church for being its biggest financial supporter.
I haven’t heard an argument for it that isn’t somehow steeped in religion. Um, last time I checked we still had that whole separation of church and state thing that implies that, I don’t know, we don’t live in a theocracy and people passing laws based on the religious beliefs of some is not okay.
Some people just hate queer folks. Others try to dress it up and make it seem like they’re more accepting than they really are. I think they may be even more reprehensible than the first group. The basic sentiment boils down to this: “The thought of gay people getting married is icky to me because my holy book says it’s wrong. But we shouldn’t discriminate against gay people. No, I’m so tolerant. But they shouldn’t be able to use the word marriage because that’s for straight people only.”
What a load of bullshit. The very fact that they see gay people as unworthy of using the word “marriage” doesn’t sound like “tolerance” or “acceptance” to me. It stinks of discrimination, plain and simple. Sorry, but I refuse to be treated like a second-class citizen because my sexual orientation makes you feel icky.
The other argument these people love is the whole “the court overstepped its bounds, the voters should decide”. Sorry, but protecting the rights of a minority from the tyranny of the majority is well within their bounds. If we had left the issue of segregation up to voters I’d probably still be drinking out of “Colored Only” water fountain.
So if you’re in California, please vote no on 8 and urge others to do the same. Although, I can’t say I think too highly of the institution of marriage itself, queer people deserve the same rights under the law as anyone else.
