Cosplay and Sexual Harassment

So my friend turned me on to this awesome article. I am a cosplayer.

Abby Sciuto (Youmacon 2010)

Dumbledore (Youmacon 2011)

Abby Sciuto (ACEN 2010)

Costumes are not consent! Pass it on! The same rules apply at con as the regular world. If you wouldn't do it outside of con, you shouldn't do it at con.

Kari

I Really Don't Want To Be That Person...

...But I am. Have fun James Hills who went to Baker College in Flint (aka james.hills.75 on facebook)! I warned you.

Kari

Michigan Just Did The Dumbest Thing...

...in the history of dumb things:

They passed HB5711! I am literally crying right now. What the fuck is wrong with these people? I'm moving to Chicago or somewhere not as against my rights. Maybe Windsor, ON.

Kari

The Warren Nativity Scene Will Be Going Back Up

Here's the thing: I live in Warren, MI. We have this ugly nativity scene that was put on public property that's been gone for four years, but now it gets put back up.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued. The U.S. District Court in Detroit told the family that they couldn't put it up, so they appealed and won. It's like mom saying no, so you go ask dad.

Here's more information on it.

I would write more, but I have finals next week and I need to study.

Kari

The Troll in My Western Religions Class

Well, one of the people that I thought wouldn't make it through the semester has stayed in the class. Good on ya, blonde lady! Unfortunately, "guy-with-a-southern-accent-who-reminds-me-of-my-scary-great-uncle" did not make the cut. He stopped coming after the professor admitted to being a secular humanist. Well done!
So yesterday, in class, we were supposed to be studying Islam. I was looking forward to it. Then the conversation got derailed by this Catholic guy in class who apparently wanted to talk about Catholicism. It was like I was living in a Facebook debate. STFU Catholic guy! (Someone called him Captain Catholic. I think that will be his new name forever.) I get that the professor is supposed to shut that shit down, but there is only so much he can do in the face of trolls.

Kari

Remember Savita

I had another blog post about the new World War Z movie and how much I hate Brad Pitt ready to go up. Then I heard about Savita.

Her family said she asked several times for her pregnancy to be terminated because she had severe back pain and was miscarrying.Her husband told the BBC the termination was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat.

Savita died on October 28, 2012.

This is what happens when your country makes laws based on a 1,500 year old holy book. People who do not ascribe to that book's teachings get their rights trampled on. This woman was a happy person, excited to become a mother. She and her husband moved to Ireland because of the low infant and mother mortality rate. 

The Irish government and the Catholic Church are responsible for this woman's death. 

Kari

Gender Neutral Bathrooms...

I was on the news last night!
And my classmates were on Fox!
Here's the Facebook page for that.
I'll try to have a video of that as soon as possible!
EDIT: Here's the video.

So, in case you hadn't read my post about this yesterday, we are trying to get one unisex bathroom in every building on campus. This would make it safer for transgender students at Oakland University, as well as making it easier for people who are handicapped or people with small children that they can't take into gendered bathrooms. This is a win/win for everyone!

Kari

I'm Back!

So I have realized something this semester: wedding planning + school + work = no social life. Good times.

Anyway, in one of my classes we have to do social advocacy. Our cause this semester is to get one gender-neutral (also called "Family") bathroom in every building on campus. This would make it safer for trans* people as well. We are having an event on Monday, the 26th called Gender Bender. Anyone who lives in Michigan is free to come. It's at Oakland University, in the Oakland Center at noon. It will be great!

Also, I'm speaking at the Flying Spaghetti Monster Dinner put on by Atheists at OU. You are welcome to attend, it's on November 28th at 6 pm, also in the Oakland Center.

Kari

Dear Senator Rouzer...

What is wrong with being a girl?

ROUZER: When we get [Romney and Ryan] in you are going to see a big change, you’re going to see number one that America is going to be respected again around the world. You’re going to see all this turmoil that’s taking place, you’re going to see them look up and say guess what, the American people have spoken and maybe we need to cut it out a little bit, maybe we need to tone it down a little bit,because now we have real men in the White House.AUDIENCE MEMBER: No girly men!
ROUZER: That’s right, no girly men.

Sexist much? Are you you saying that it's bad to be a girl? That girls are somehow inferior to boys? Well, let me tell you something: being a girl kind of sucks right now. Do you know why? BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU! You and your comrades have made it difficult for women to  get birth control, equal pay for equal work, and all around equal status in our society. You are a terrible person. Way to represent the women who voted for you!

You can fuck right off!

And now it's back to my Intro to Queer Studies homework.

Kari

Karma Chameleon

So on September 30, 2011, I walked into the home improvement store where I work and all the cashiers were freaking out because a lizard had jumped off of one of the tropical plants. The way that they were acting, I thought a Komodo Dragon was wandering around the store, eating people. At the very least, I thought it was a good size lizard, maybe a gecko. I look under the registers and see this tiny little lizard that was about two inches long and about 1/4 inch thick. After making fun of my colleagues for being afraid of something so harmless, I put her in a bucket and declared her my new pet. My friend (who for the purpose of this blog will be called J) had her mom bring up the terrarium that used to house her tarantulas and gave it to me. We decided to call her Karma after the song, Karma Chameleon. Now, I am aware that Karma was a Cuban anole, not a chameleon, but I love 80's pop music, so I didn't care.

Karma, just relaxing.

 

Karma, next to a penny.

Today, September 10, 2012, I turned Karma's heat lamp on and started spritzing her new terrarium down with water to wake her and the crickets that we had given her up. Usually, when I mist the tank, she ran under her plant to get away from the water, but today I saw no movement. I looked around the tank and there she was, floating in the little pond that I built for her new, bigger tank. I cried and called for my fiance. Then I tried misting her, just to make sure. It didn't work, she was dead.

As I write this, I'm going through the grieving process. I know it's weird, grieving for a tiny lizard who hated me and I'm pretty sure wanted me dead, but I was attached. As atheists, we must go through watching the people and pets that we love die with no hope of seeing them in an afterlife. This makes it harder to deal with death, I think. I know that I won't see my loved ones after I die, but it makes it so much sweeter because I can fully appreciate the time I had with them here. I can remember the silly times with my grandpa and uncle, that first time I laid eyes on my amazing puppy that I would love for 17 years, and the time I rescued a lizard from eventually dying of starvation or cold. These experiences make us who we are, and I'm glad that I am having them without religion clouding my memories.

Kari

Dear Victoria Jackson...

What the fuck is wrong with you?

"And guess what?" she continued. "If I got raped, I would have the baby. And if I didn't want to keep it because I had these [mocking tone] horrible nightmares, I would adopt it out."

   
     That's nice and all, but you can't tell me how you would actually respond psychologically if you were raped. Do you know why? Because you have never been raped. You said so. You don't know if you will dread living every day because they might call you. You don't know what it's like to have your own father ask "Well, what were you wearing?" You don't know what it's like to have your family be friends with the person who took away your feeling of security. You don't know what it's like to be afraid every day that the person you love will leave you because they don't want to put up with your random freak outs and having to have the therapist on speed dial.
     You are a terrible person. Fuck off.

Kari

PS... UHF is one of my favorite movies. Every time I watch it now, I am going to think of this. You suck. That is all.

Bill Nye is Awesome!

I love this man:

Taken from article

 



 

And now I have even more reason to love him:

 

"And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can - we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.

"It's just really a hard thing, it's really a hard thing. You know, in another couple of centuries that world view, I'm sure, will be, it just won't exist. There's no evidence for it."

Taken from this article on Yahoo. I miss his show. On the bright side, I've found a website that has all of the episodes.

Back to laundry!

Kari

First Day of School!

Hey everyone!!!

     Today my fiance and I started the class that we are taking together. Fortunately, the class is with one of my favourite professors (Hey, Prof! You should give me an A. Also my Walking Dead compendium. I want it back). The class is Western Religious Tradition. It's about the Abrahamic religions and I am super excited about taking the class with my guy.
     Here's the thing, I've taken a lot of religion classes (my minor is World Religion), most of them with this professor (I call him Prof). This, combined with my extensive experience with Christians, has led me to read who will excel in classes about religion and who will struggle or drop the class. As my fiance (who will be known as FH from now on) and I walked out of the class, I turned to him and said "I bet you fifty dollars that the older blonde lady will drop the class by the halfway point." I said this because Prof asked "If God knows everything, how can there be free will?" during a game that he calls "Coffeehouse Atheist" in which he says cliche phrases that a lot of atheists spew out. He's not saying that these are not valid questions, just that there are a lot better questions that you can ask. Anyway, this lady had a mini identity crisis during this "game." It was totally nuts. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her god is not all loving. She even said "I'm thinking things that I shouldn't be thinking!"

In other words, she has never thought about her religion academically. She has never questioned her faith. I started questioning my Pentecostal faith at 9 years old. I can't imagine going through my life without questioning things that people tell me.

I'll keep everyone updated on what happens!

Kari

This Just In: People Are Morons!

I think it's because I like controversy...

So, my mom's cousin posted this on their facebook wall and hilarity ensued!

My family is weird. 

Kari

What Do You Think God Would Look Like?

I have found God, and He is here on Earth!

Brian May

65 years old and he still rocks the socks off of everyone in the room! Look at this:

It's Brian May Jesus!

That would be an awesome action figure, right?

Rock on, Brian!

Kari

Chicago, Here I Come!

The great thing about having time off and a Megabus stop right near your place, is that you can take little trips. My friend and I are going to be in Chicago until 3:30 PM on Wednesday. Yay Field Museum!
One of the last times I was in Chicago, I met Dr. Chris Lintott at Adler Planetarium. Dr. Lintott wrote a book with Dr. Brian May and Sir Patrick Moore. Since I am a HUGE Queen fan, my brain went kind of like "Oh my god! HE WORKED WITH BRIAN MAY!!!" But I didn't tell him that I only knew who he was because of Brian May, because that would probably hurt his feelings.

More later,
Kari

Michigan Senate, Y U No Like Women?

I woke up to this:

And then I found this:

These bills are what I was protesting last month. I love how legislators actually listen to what their constituents say (sarcasm). My own senator voted no on the bill. I really hope that Governor Snyder vetoes this.

Kari

I Just Registered For My Capstone Course!

I'm really proud of myself! It's a little less than a year away, but I'm excited about my topic. I'm doing a study on the first season of The Walking Dead! I even have the title picked out: "They're Coming To Get You, Barbara: A Study of Gender in The Walking Dead."
Now, before you get all worked up, yes. I know that the line is from The Night of the Living Dead. I was going to do a study of The Night of the Living Dead, but there was not really a lot of character development in that film, so I changed the topic. I just really like that line.
The main thing that thrills me about this is that when I'm half way through my capstone project, I am going to start looking at master's programs at different schools. I'm also really nervous.

Kari

Really?!

This guy is an asshole.
Most people don't understand what "gun control" means. It literally means controlling who can get a gun. If there were absolutely NO gun control, that means that the following people would be able to get firearms:

Children
Felons
Terrorists
and
Gang members.

So the next time someone says that "gun control" is evil, bring this up. Then you can watch them stutter and try to come up with some answer trying to explain what they "really" mean.

Fuck Russell Pearce.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy.

Kari

My New Kitty!

                                         "Hello! My name is Bindi! I can haz packing material?"

     So, she's not exactly new. She's three years old and we've had her for about a month, but she's fairly new...

     She enjoys fetch, laser pointers, and the piping on my comforter. She also likes walking in on people in the shower, and then she freaks out from the water. She's a voyeur, an adorable voyeur.


Kari