Small Government

Not a full post today (stay tuned, though; more this week!), but I thought that you might... appreciate... this.

(Click through for full comic!)

Dear Virginia, I'm Ashamed

Dear Virginia,

Recently, your government has been looking at a few bills that, if passed, would be an abominable injustice to women in your domain. I know, I know, everyone and their mother's been talking about this for the past few days. But I'm not sure that you've really thought this through. I mean, Virginia, you do realize that these bills would be hugely harmful, right? Both to the women whose rights would be infringed upon... and to the cause you're presumably trying to serve here.

At the end of the day, Virginia, restrictions on abortions only lead to more illegal abortions. There aren't any fewer "dead babies" in the end, but there are more injured, maimed, and dead women. I realize that maybe you don't find women as cuddly and cute as zygotes and fetuses, Virginia, but they're people too. In fact, they're much more people than any clump of cells with no personality, no memories, no independence. When you pass bills such as the Personhood and Informed Consent bills currently in the state Senate, the primary effect of your action doesn't protect those clumps of cells. The primary effect of such bills is to put women – women with personalities, women with memories, women who would have a good measure of independence if only the government would stay out of their bodies – in a situation where they will put themselves in serious danger to do something that should be easy. Not to mention legal.

Hello, World (Redux)

So... I'm ashamed to say that I never actually updated after the SSA Conference last summer. I could make excuses and promises to keep updating now, but frankly, it doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference. I do think I'll actually start updating again now; my schedule's a lot less hectic these days.

But first, here's what's been going on in my life over the last half a year! (I know, it's kind of like excuses, but hey, cut me some slack...)

• The Freethinkers had an awesome fall semester, which I am proud to have been a part of. Meeting attendance and general interest have skyrocketed over the past year, and I'm sure that I've only seen the very beginning of the great things the group will do.
• I kept volunteering! I think I can safely say that volunteering with the Raft Crisis Hotline is one of the things I'm most proud of doing in my life so far. I really felt like I was making a positive difference in the community, and I hugely encourage anyone who has considered a similar kind of volunteering to go for it!
• I was sick for half of the semester. Recurring tonsillitis that coincided with a lapse in my health insurance gave me an even stronger conviction that health care should be a right, not a privilege. If I could barely drag myself to class (even with my low-cost medications through the university!), how can we as a society expect people working low-wage jobs to survive?
• I got engaged the day after Thanksgiving! I mean, it wasn't really a surprise, since we planned it all out beforehand for the most part, but it's still really exciting.
• I graduated! I'm really happy to be done (at least for now!), but I'm also sad to leave that part of my life behind.
• Speaking of leaving things behind, I'm not in Virginia anymore! I'm currently in Vancouver, B.C., living with my fiancé for a few months while I try to sort out a summer internship or a job, and also all the details for our wedding!

Just Another Tiny Post

I got in late last night, and I had to work all day today, and I need to clean and pack everything I own tomorrow for the first of two moves in two(ish) weeks....

So here's a picture from this weekend as my apology for not writing about all the fabulousness that was this weekend!

Whaaaaaaatt?!??

We actually pulled a u-turn on the highway so that we could get a picture of this ridiculousness.

Abortion... stops a beating.

Somehow I don't think this is what they meant to say. Anyways, more on this, and everything else, later. Sometime. Seriously, I don't know how I manage to be so busy; it's exhausting.

SSA Conference!

Just a short post, as I'm leaving soonish and still need to pack (curse you, procrastination!), but I'm heading off to the Secular Student Alliance's annual conference in Columbus, Ohio today, and I am excited!

As far as what I hope to get out of this, I'd really like to learn more about how to make a group female-friendly... but not in a way that's just targeting females. I'd also like to hear any opinions on making to whole "ladies' issues" engaging to guys without resorting to "it might get you laid." Quite frankly, I'm of the opinion that most problems are "human issues," rather than men's or women's specifically, but there I don't run into a whole lot of agreement on this.

To put it frankly, how the hell do I get a (mostly male) group to talk about something like the proposed requirement for health insurance providers to provide birth control free of charge without having them think that the only reason it's important is because they're less likely to knock someone up if it's put into effect?

Also, how to run better events. How to strike the right balance between what some people want and what others disagree with. How to forge good relations with faith-based groups. How to figure out whether something's a rumor or not, and how to keep it from spreading while we find out (more on this later). And whether anyone knows if Rock Beyond Belief is actually going to happen (seriously, I want to go)!

All that said, I'm mostly excited to meet everyone else there. I mean, c'mon, it's a conference which, if I extrapolate based on previous experiences with the Freethinkers, will be full of awesome people. Also, the awesome speaker list.

And I can't lie; I really just want to hug PZ Myers.... he just looks so huggable!