I took this picture in the fall. I haven't posted it until now because I've been so nervous about the amount of drama potential of posting it. Fear of being shouted down and demonized for a simple picture. I'm not pro-life, just thought this shot was interesting and had turned out well — but that I am required to explain myself and my reasoning for posting a photograph says something to me about the political climate and what it says isn't good.

Sometimes it feels so wrong, you know it's right...

I left Missouri in February, 1994. I had been living in my car in Columbia, and suddenly I realized "I'm living in my car, why the fuck am I still in Missouri?". My first stop was Terra Haute, Indiana. I had almost gone to college there and wanted to see what my life would have been like if I had.

The only night I spent there, I met Andrea at a coffee house. Andrea was 29 years old and on SSI. Her mother had power of attorney and controlled her finances. The night I met her in that nameless coffee shop, she asked me "Do you want to go to Boston?". I had been planning to make my way down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but I figured what the hell and replied, "Yes".

The biggest problem with our trip was financing. I had little in the way of funds and Andrea couldn't access hers without her mother's permission. Her mom would never consent to a haphazardly planned trip across the country, so we came up with a plan. I met her mom, and Andrea told her that I was a nice Jewish girl that wanted to go tour the Jewish History museums on the east coast. I did as little talking as possible, worrying that my voice could give me away. To my amazement, her mother bought the story and gave her $650. We left.

At this point the plan was to go to Boston, then head up through Canada and then down the west coast. It was an ambitious plan in a 12 year old 1982 Buick LeSaber. But, I had nothing to lose, so what the hell?

Our first stop was Indianapolis. Nothing very interesting happened there. In fact, we were pretty much bored to tears. Neither of us knowing anyone or even a good place to start looking for interesting people lead to us pretty much not doing much.

Next stop was Cincinnati. Apart from almost getting killed a couple of times, it was about as interesting as Indianapolis. We decided to make the rest of the trip to Boston in one go.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way to Boston as easily as we had hoped. My car broke down in Pennsylvania crossing the Appalachians. We were near the top of a nameless mountain, and pushed the car down to some nameless town. There was a mechanic in that town who was very kind and noted the low-cash situation we were in. He offered to replace the coolant system thermostat for just the cost of parts, which was $40.

We spent the night in the town, then headed on our way. By the time we got to Boston, the car was having problems again. It would only go so far before it overheated, but we completed the trip.

One of the first things I saw upon arriving to Boston was a homeless man being chased out of a Dunkin' Donuts with a broom. I took that as a bad omen.

To save money on parking, we decided to park the car in the outskirts of town where it would be easier to find a spot. Instead, we ended up spending the first night in Roxbury as the car refused to travel only a mile or so at a go. The second night, we stayed on the floor of a ratty apartment of some slight creepy guys Andrea had just met. The third night, we stayed in one of the back alleys of Central Square.

By this time, I was ready to leave Boston. Andrea had just wasted around $60 on new boots while I was struggling to deal with the parking situation. I was very worried that I might lose my car. I told her that I was leaving Boston and she had two choices: come with me or get her stuff out of my car. She refused to do either, so I ended up leaving Boston with a good deal of her stuff.

My car was doing quite badly at this point, and could not go over 40mph. I got pulled over on the Mass Pike around Framingham for going too slow and was told to take another route. I took Route 9 from that point to Northampton. The cooling system was acting up during the trip as well, and I had to make frequent stops. I ended up spending the night on the side of the road somewhere along Route 9 in Central Massachusetts.

After waking up, I noted I needed gas. I had a black cloth skirt on with a black button down shirt with a high collar. I hadn't had access to bathroom facilities, so my face was quite stubbly. I pulled up to the gas station and pumped the gas. When I attempted to pay, the attend said "It's free for the church, Father." Figuring at that point that I could use free gas more than the church, I went with along it.

After limping the rest of the way to Northampton, my car finally died in the parking lot behind the Haymarket my second day in town. A blizzard hit that night, a snow emergency was declared, and my car was towed.

The following morning Liz, who I had just met the night of the blizzard, used her AAA membership to have my car towed from the tow lot to E lot at UMass in Amherst. A semester parking pass for E lot cost only $10 at that point and wasn't restricted to students, so I was able to have my car parked legally until the end of the semester. My car was my home until June, by which time it had decayed significantly and was quickly towed.

Poll #742031
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which of the following do you think has a high likelihood of occurring on Tuesday (06/06/06)?

The [rhythm] method relies on abstinence during the most fertile period of a woman's menstrual cycle. For a woman who has regular 28 day cycles, this is around days 10 to 17 of the cycle. It is the only method of birth control condoned by the Catholic Church, because it doesn't interfere with conception, so allowing nature to take its course. It is believed that the method works because it prevents conception from occurring. But says Professor Bovens, it may owe much of its success to the fact that embryos conceived on the fringes of the fertile period are less viable than those conceived towards the middle. We don't know how much lower embryo viability is outside this fertile period, contends Professor Bovens, but we can calculate that two to three embryos will have died every time the rhythm method results in a pregnancy. ... Professor Bovens cites Randy Alcorn, a US pro-life campaigner, who has equated global oral contraceptive use to chemical abortion that is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths of embryos, or unborn children, every year. ... Regular condom users, whose choice of contraception is deemed to be 95% effective in preventing pregnancy, would "cause less embryonic deaths than the rhythm method," he says. full article

This is more to do with the anti-contraception movement than it does with the pro-life movement, as there are plenty of pro-contraception pro-lifers. But this really does make the anti-contraception camp, and especially the Catholic Church, look a bit more ridiculous (as if that really needed to be done anyway).

Of course, we all know that the best form of birth control is homosexuality.

it may be time to dust off this old journal
it's been too long since i've been here
i'm still off my meds
i've been enjoying thinking again
sure, things aren't perfect without meds
i'm having more panic attacks
but i am dealing with them
my mood is far less stable as well
but again, i'm dealing with it
i haven't ended up back in the hospital since i stopped taking my meds many months ago
sure i've been very suicidal at times
even going so far as purchasing the necessary implements and formulating a plan
but i haven't done it
while i've had very deep lows on medication, i've also experienced moods much better than were possible before
i feel a freedom i haven't felt in years
and i have an optimism that things are going to get better
it's not an easy road, but it seems like the best one
i refuse to live life as a medicated zombie
and that was what i had become
it has been suggested to me that maybe i just need a lower dose
and that complete abstinence is not the best idea
but i've had it with the pill pushers and the drug companies
i don't trust them at all
i don't want their poison

while my non-medication path seems to be moving along, i need more than that
now that i can think clearly again, i need to figure out what i want to do with this newfound ability
i need a project or a job or something
due to lack of a project, i've been reading the news for hours a day
a decidedly unhealthy activity
i just succeed in working myself up about the latest atrocities committed by the neo-conservative regime
and the new pope isn't helping my mood either
i need to focus on my life right now, but i'm too distracted by the world
i can't work for change until i change myself
i need to work on that first
it's going to be a long process
but i full intend to take on the world in my own small way
right now i'm still waking up from my slumber
this is still the dawn
the daylight is coming

The Catholic church is now claiming that Hitler plotted to kidnap Pope Pius XII. I don't believe it. Sure, if Hitler saw profit in it, I wouldn't put it past him. But the Pope was turning a blind eye to what the Nazis were doing. Hitler couldn't have asked for a more forgiving Pope. It's just a stunt by the church as they are close to making Pope Pius XII a saint, and they want to make it seem like he was against Hitler's atrocities. The Catholic church is embarrassed and is grasping at straws to justify it's behavior.