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On May 15, 2012, Arb and I took possession of the house we now live in.
Back in early April 2012, literally the same day we closed on the house, I started looking on Petfinder for a dog. We were going to have a fenced yard, and I had always wanted a dog. Arb grew up with dogs, but I had never had one. Arb wanted a Sheltie. I wanted a senior, because I love older dogs, and because they often have trouble finding homes. My search for a senior Sheltie brought up exactly one result. I wrote the rescue right away, explaining that we were interested but we couldn’t bring her home until we actually had the home to bring her to. The rescue took a loooong time to write back, but eventually, the week before move-in, we were invited to meet up with her foster mum at the local Petsmart.
It wasn’t quite love at first sight – Shadow was kindof a mess, with mats the size of golfballs in the fur behind her ears and behind her armpits. And she was a little bit shy. But then she stuck that adorable pointy nose under our hands and demanded pettins, and our hearts went poof, and we decided she had to be our dog.
Arb meeting Shadow for the first time
We brought her home four years ago today. She has absolutely blossomed in confidence and happiness – and beauty, once we took her to the groomer and got her mats shaved off. (No more mats since then due to Arb’s rigorous program to teach her to accept brushing (which involves a lot of high-value treats)).
She has mastered the herding dog stare when she wants you to do something:
And somewhere along the line, I accidentally trained her that if she did a nice down-stay, I would give her just about anything she wants:
They told us she was 10-ish when we got her, but there’s no way she’s 14 now; she still zooms around the yard barking her fool head off like a puppy.
Thank you for being our dog, Shadow, and happy GotchaVersairy!
It is a comparison that is floating around more and more as the po-mo authoritarian left is stifling debate and silencing criticisms of people who happen to be against their unique vision of reality. We have here a helpful chart to compare and contrast the positions of the two parties in question.
Glad we could clear that up. Thus endeth the lesson. :)
The history that we’re not told about, the history that we need to know. Twenty five minutes of what we are not supposed to know.
Nick Turse describes the horror that is war.
The debate over respecting the boundaries of females has spilled over the border and has galvanized protests at the Alberta legislature.
“Both were there as participants in two similar, yet very different, rallies scheduled only an hour apart. The crux of both protests was the controversial Bill 10. The first one took place to support trans rights while the second was organized to give displeased parents a voice against the bill. The bill, originally passed by the Progressive Conservative government in March 2015, focuses on students having access to gay-straight alliances.”
No problem with GSA’s, but what the protesters are objecting to is this from the guidelines sent to the public schools. This quote from page 6 of that document:
“Some students have not disclosed their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression beyond the school community for a variety of reasons, including safety. In keeping with the principles of self-identification, it is important to:
• inform students of limitations regarding their chosen name and gender identity or gender expression in relation to official school records that require legal name designation; and
• protect a student’s personal information and privacy, including, where possible, having a student’s explicit permission before disclosing information related to the student’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression to peers, parents, guardians or other adults in their lives.
Wherever possible, before contacting the parents or other adults involved in the care (such as social workers or caregivers) of a student who is trans or gender-diverse, consult with the student to determine an appropriate way to reference the student’s gender identity, gender expression, name and related pronouns.”
One can see where parents might be concerned as schools have been directed to withhold information regarding their children. Keeping parents out of the loop with critical information regarding their children isn’t a good policy as parents or one’s family is responsible for the child’s well being for all the time the child is outside of school.
Conversely, a child from a family holding traditional views on gender or sexuality would be placed in a tenuous position, facing a bevy of negative consequences at home for going against her or his family’s values.
The legislation as worded has the very distinct possibility of creating a culture of distrust between the school and the parents. Open discourse and communication are key in maintaining the school/home relationship that is vital for student success in the academic environment.
Adequate supports must be in place for students whose values differ from their parents, and schools should be facilitating the dialogue between children and their parents. Withholding pertinent information from parents only places schools in opposition to families thus removing a foundational connective bridge in educational process – and that benefits no one.
-Allan Johnson on compulsory femininity
(the systematic expectations and goals of female socialization)
Compelling, informative and radical.
Although the connection between feminism and antinatalism has already been made (more notably in L’Art de Guillotiner les Procréateurs), it hasn’t really been explored in much depth. I wanted to expand on it somewhat and discuss more concrete arguments for what we can call feminist antinatalism, because I think it does deserve a category of its own.
I expect that many readers who are interested in antinatalism are not necessarily interested in feminism, so I should start by defining what I mean by feminism, because there are many different ideas out there of what feminism is about. By feminism I mean a movement by women to expose and eradicate the Patriarchy, the hierarchy by which men are superiors and women are inferiors (note that I am not saying they are actually superiors and inferiors in reality, only within the worldview propagated by the Patriarchy). I reject the view that the…
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I could get behind a church like this, although my atheistic leanings might fowl my attempts at gaining membership. :)
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
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