Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Scream (Not the Scary Movie)

I think there's something to the fact that when babies are born, they're screaming bloody murder. Just when they get used to the warm cushion of a woman's belly, BAM! They're struck with the harsh reality that is life, and there's nothing they can do but scream. Sometimes I wish there was a place I could scream, but I choose not to, because it goes against societal rules. If you walk around screaming, you'll get restrained. I can't scream in my apartment; the tenants will hear. I can't scream outside; the neighbors will hear. I can't go to the Hoboken pier and scream; people will hear and will think something's wrong. Maybe something IS wrong, but I don't want anyone else to know that. Isn't life just a lot of screwed-up people walking around, looking like they have it all together? But if I scream, my outsides will match my insides, and I'll look crazy. So sometimes I scream. Inside my head. Then I go on about my day, just another screwed-up person who looks like she has it all together.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

My Bush Soapbox

I'm officially mad at the Bush Administration. Previously, I'd just gone by what I'd heard: He's against abortion, against stem cell research, etc. Many things that I'm a little more...for—cancer research and a woman's right to choose. Anyway, I've been reading The New Yorker beyond the funny little black-and-white drawings to brush up on my intelligence re: Current events. I came across an essay titled "Political Science, The Bush Administration's war on the laboratory." I nearly skipped over it, what a boring title. Personally, I prefer The NYer's fiction stories. Anyway, I convinced myself that in order to be a smarter girl, I need to read up on our leader, as big of a nincompoop he is. Listen to what I discovered:

A vaccine has been developed to protect women against HPV, the most common STD out there—more than half of us will become infected at some point. HPV is a primary cause of cervical cancer. Blech. A Bush Admin. crony said, "I object to vaccinating...against a disease that is one hundred percent preventable with proper sexual behavior." OK. What is proper sexual behavior? A condom? It can break. Waiting until marriage? The asshole can cheat. There's no surefire way to prevent HPV unless you just die a virgin. I also found out that since GW became prez, he's spent hundreds of millions of dollars on abstinence programs, and has cut almost that much in aid to groups that support abortion and the use of condoms. What the...? Peeps should know by now that if you tell kids not to do something, a lot of them are going to try it anyway. They're going to do what they want regardless—it's human nature. So let them do it as safely as possible, GW! In addition, federal health officials posted info online that suggested without valid evidence that abortion and breast cancer is somehow related. Liars! The Center for Disease Control also recently removed a summary of studies that showed that there was no increase in sexual activity among teens who had been taught about condoms.

I just don't get it. I know I'll never be able to convince Pro-Life believers the value of a woman's right to choose. That's fine, opposing opinions are fine, and I respect that. You can have your opinion, but not educating teens about safe sex in the hopes they just won't have sex at all? That's ridiculous.
 
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