My scrap of dirt

"Shouldn’t sustainability come first and profits second? I think so."

Eliza Dushku, will you please MARRY ME.

(She continues with: "These are the two different ways of looking at the issue. I came away not liking USAID’s' 'The Goal is Growth' slogan. It should be about people first." AMEN.)

Dude. I can't believe I didn't get to that site before. And at the same time, none of it is about enhancing celebrity status so I'm not surprised and I like it so much more for it. Check out the About section, it says it all, really.


Speaking of environmental stuff, I realized I never said anything about my thesis defense/viva/thing - it went well but I was really annoyed at first. I sat down and one of the first thing my supervisor said was that I shouldn't have printed my thesis double-sided. I sort of blinked and asked why because I had no clue (and I'm not sure how she expected me to guess). She said "it's a convention".

...

...it's a fucking CONVENTION to use twice as much paper as you need to print a 70-page document? It's a fucking convention to use up twice as much resources as you really need? What.the.hell. I told her I thought it was terrifying and we moved on but dude, I just can't believe it. Why do we cling on to conventions like that one? What is the fucking point?

On so many levels, we really need to rethink our priorities.

Première prise de position interreligieuse en France contre le mariage homosexuel.
Glad to see religions putting their differences aside to take a common stand against same-sex marriage. Hate's such a great uniter!


A funny thing happened in class last night (funny-nerdy, not funny haha). We're studying a collection of poems by Elizabeth Bishop, and so last night the teacher handed up a poem (Pink Dog) so we'd have a quick look at it and start writing down remarks about the poem for analysis. Then we shared some of what we'd notice wit the class. The poem is about this pink dog walking in the streets and everybody looking at it weird - then it's associated with all the rejects of society (in particular the homeless). So I wrote something about marginals, how people would rather they be hidden, gotten rid of, that sort of thing.

And then the teacher tells us Bishop was a lesbian and her status as an outsider helps understand the fact she speaks of marginals and "otherhood".

I find it interesting that the element that struck me most in the poem is what's related to the author's sense of otherness because of her sexuality. It's partly a coincidence, of course, and doesn't just have to do with the fact I'm gay. It's also that it's been my job ; I work on discrimination and LGBT issues on a daily basis, so of course I'd see things through this prism. But it does make me wonder if, by being an outsider in that way, you gain in awareness - you become more sensitive to what it means to be, not necessarily outright rejected, but just forgotten, ignored, not desired. Is it because you're gay you're more sensitive to that (because you're concerned), or do you become more sensitive to that as you develop a sense of group consciousness? Is it simply because I work in that field? Would I have become so involved in the field of discrimination if I hadn't come out? I have no doubt a number of straight people are extremely sensitive to the issue of otherness, but I can't help wondering if it's something more unconsciousness, almost, when you're concerned one way or another. Like an automatic reflex you develop. Something you see and you don't realize it might not be obvious for others.


While I'm on gay stuff, I finally got in touch Cilla last night and she told me a bit more about PA's GSA. Apparently it was a quiet process there, something that sort of just happened. What's interesting is that Concord High started its GSA approximately at the same time. I'm thinking if things went differently at Concord (very possible seeing Concord High is a public school and not necessarily as liberal as PA is well-known for being), it could be interesting to draw a parrallel between the two. I think I just found an email for the current GSA adviser at Concord High, so maybe she can help me get a feel of how things went there back then.