politan

inspirational books

TOP 10 MOST INSPIRATIONAL READS (list from the torygraph)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)
yeh this is an awesome book, deserves to be here...
2. The Bible
never totally read it, got some interesting stories but pretty long.
3. A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer (2001)
urgh this is a horrible book, i mean, poor lad and all but...
4. Men are from mars, Women are from Venus - John Gray (1993)
erm, what the beep is this doing in this list? srsly? what does it inspire?
5. Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank (1947)
yeh i can see why this is here...
6. 1984 - George Orwell (1949)
erk. this book is terrible, great concept, crap book.
7. A Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela (2002)
haven't read this and really should..
8. The Beach - Alex Garland (1994)
kinda interesting as a book, i can't remember if it was good before it popular (conformists!)
9. The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (2005)
i haven't read this one either
10. The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger (1951)
hate this book it is crap, tho it's usually the sort of thing i go for.

at some point i might have a think about what i would put into this list and what i would take out, probably 'the 5 people you meet in heaven', would go in there somewhere, and 'invisible mosters' :-)

time to play the worlds tiniest violin for this guy...

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5881689.ece

basically, this guy marries his g/f of 5 years, who then announces she wants a kid (he didn't think she did, he never wanted kids) so they argue about it, and have a kid anyway. when the little girl arrives, he gets pissed off that she has put on weight and is no longer attactive to him, and spends her time learning how to raise the kid, so he does the constructive thing and starts sleeping with someone else, who has no kids. the same deal happens again, mistress asks for marriage and child, he doesn't want to but does anyway, and then she becomes a mother and not a 'sex kitten'.;. alas!

conclusion: no one likes him, his kids don't like him, he's on his own and its not his fault women lie... erm... unlucky?

but srsly, this thing is worth reading thru for the sheer number of awesomely stupid things this guy comes out with...

My first wife, Frances, was a classy, stunning woman. In the macho world of medicine, she was as capable and ambitious as any man.

so she has the baby and dedicates a lot of time to looking after it:

I couldn’t help feeling short-changed. By now she was overweight and unfit and didn’t care about the way she looked. Her entire life was centred on organic baby food and playgroups.

perhaps because he didn't bother to help out on this?

It’s ironic, when being sexy and attractive is what got them pregnant in the first place. And it’s not only Frances who’s become a boring frump — it’s depressingly common to see clever, attractive women become parenting bores. You can spot them at parties, in baggy clothes and making no effort to be interesting to men.

then he's having an affair, but that's alright because:

I took home champagne and flowers, bought her jewellery and perfume.

(no mention yet of him helping to look after the baby..)

so he tells Frances about the affair, and she is "surprisingly upset"

Ten years after leaving Frances for Maria, I wonder why I bothered. Frances is still frosty with me and I have a horrible feeling that my daughter Anna doesn’t actually like me very much. And Maria? Nine months ago, after giving birth to my second daughter, Sarah, she has turned into another version of Frances, obsessed with motherhood in just the same way.

oh diddums!!!

so after cheating, having children he didn't want, but deliberately impregnating the women anyway, an affair and a whole word of hate for the mothers of his kids, he concludes with this:

I can’t believe how naive I’ve been. I don’t know how long Maria and I will last, but I know one thing: from now on, I’m putting myself first. I’ll never trust a woman again, no matter what they promise.

yeh.

the internet

never tell the internet anything you wouldn't say in front of everyone you have ever known, and everyone you are ever likely to know. it's a dreadful gossip.

primani shocker

on the beeb right now is the 'primark - on the rack'

so far, they have highlighted

primark are against
* home working
* poverty pay
* child labour

- there are problems in keeping tabs on that, as experienced by all companies, and like most companies, primark send inspectors to make sure that the work done for their clothes is done in factories, however,

*subcontractors and factory manager can send garments home with their workers as homework without primani finding out - panorama can find this out though!

* as a result of this, children are employed, and people are paid below living wages

* women can be paid 52p a day - that's half of the legal minimum wage

suckage.

the prog has some heavy criticisms for the thowaway culture and bright, fashionable young things, poking fun at obessive primark shopping stories, and footage of the stampede on oxford street, amusing anecdotes about fights over pretty things, trends and thowaway fashions.

i'm kinda glad they compared the womens wages to the minimum wage. i get annoyed when shocumentaries start telling you 'this person earns 7p an hour!' and you are like 'oh no! that's terrible!' but if that 7p can get them just as far as the £5.52 can get us, you start to think... so why is it so bad? i mean it is, but i can't help but think we have a distorted picture.

i'm glad there have been some talking heads on the show as well who say things like 'just because something is cheap, it doesn't mean unethical practices, and just because something retails at a much higher price, that doesn't mean it was made in ethical ways.

makes me think...

blogging against disablism day

http://blobolobolob.blogspot.com/2006/05/blogging-against-disablism-day.html

May 1st 2008

There is a full list of blogs at the link above and i will try and write something later myself, but for now i will add a few choice quotes from other peoples blogs today.

from 'my amusement park'

A few weeks ago the driver of the X28 bus refused to let me board, because I could not safely board backwards on the lift. Although New York City Transit policy says we can board either forward or backward, this bus driver wouldn't allow me to board forwards.

When I insisted, he called a supervisor, and we waited.

The other passengers got off to get on another bus.

As they came out, they formed a line. Their eyes were full of hate. Many cursed me: "You selfish b----!"

I was crying.

They blamed me for the driver's refusal to let me on. I was making them late to work.

and then from 'a tedious delusion'

"With a city of such friendly, accommodating folks, you would wonder why the topic of ableism would even matter to me. Why would I have something to say about phobia and prejudice against the disabled, discrimination based on disability, and oppressive climates in which the disabled feel unwelcome or unwanted?

Few things really strike me. One, I don't ask for helpful help and I don't need it. But when I do ask and need help, I don't get it. Help comes on able-bodied terms, not mine. I'm reminded of a South Park episode in which a disabled teacher in an electric body-chair runs out of battery power in the middle of the street. Incapable of communicating, those around her ignorantly ask if she needs assistance, getting angry when she doesn't (hi, she can't) respond. When I deny someone's ignorance masked as chivalry, they get upset. They run away."

lilwanutbrain writes about how she feels when people introduce their children saying 'he/she's ADD' and so forth:

When did it become acceptable to introduce our children by their physical and/or mental capabilities? When did it become the norm to define our children by a condition? I can't think of any moment in a polite and civilized society where we would treat another adult this way.

"Hi, I'd like you to meet my friend Betty. She's a toe fungus!" Blech.

Our youngest son has a lot of wonderful and unique qualities. He has sparkly blue eyes, an extremely literal and quirky sense of humor, and has an extensive memory for even the smallest of details. He likes mashed potatoes. He doesn't like bare feet, even his own. He also has autism. It doesn't define him as a person. It's not who he IS. It's something he HAS.

there were also comments about unemployment:

After leaving school I attended university and landed a Joint Honours degree, yet somehow I've been out of steady work for nearly 8 years. I'm only called for interview if I don't let on that I have a profound hearing loss. It's funny how quick they call me - suddenly I sound employable!

On one occasion they lacked caution and told me I couldn't have the job (working with computer files) because I was unable to answer the phone - even though this wasn't mentioned in the advertisement. I thought it was only about data input and filing, which would have been fine for me, if rather dull.


There's some really good stuff to read out there today, so go have a look and learn something - it's really made me think, and feel bad about every time i have been around a disabled person and felt uncomfortable, and not known what to do (if anything) i think reading and finding out how not to alienate and offend huge sections of society really helps. Although the uncomfortable feelings are... uncomfortable... but they are worth having if you seriously don't want to go around being offensive. just to be aware and to think not everyone has it so easy but still has to get on with life and has the right to be treated just as well if not better than everyone else, understood and respected, not pitied and treated like children. /long scentence

chav

*pukes*

I hate stupid pubs like this.. As one of my yoofs said the other day 'what is a chav these days?' -
The oppressed i supposed, do we read chavs as that 'moral underclass' (possibly the most disgusting term i've ever heard!) Whatever it is, this pub, and it's clientèle need to get a life.

how do they keep this up?

ok, so i am quite in awe of some coolfolks who make great blogs that are fun and ranty and cool and i get online and am like 'urg, dunno what to write now...' meh!

i've just spent the best part of an hour playing with layouts and colours and i still HATE my fonts but not to the point of throwing all my toys out of my cot and giving up. i'm not a quitter, i've been smoking and not smoking for about 7 years now and i'm not going to stop stopping and starting again and stopping. it just isn't me. or is it?

ok bored of this elusive stuff. i'm starting to sound like... someone.

this year I am going to make a stand about feminist issues and stuff. posts to come one I have formulated an exciting rant. Yes.