Wednesday, May 9

To: Anti-Jewish "christians"

y'know, there are truly a bunch of sad folks out there, but yours truly takes the cake. I am no longer a Christian (now a Buddhist) but I know my way around the neighborhood. Let me bring up the following points:

1) You speak of the United States as being a "christian" nation. Well. take out those two seminal documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Look for the word "Christian" in there. Oh, I know...it isn't in there. Thomas Jefferson, in fact, welcomed all to join the club--Christians, Jews, Muslims, deists (Jefferson's)--you name it, you're welcome.

2) Thomas Paine was particularly ornery. We know him best for his independence speeches, but in his later work, he ripped apart (quite well, I might add) the Christian credo. Ah,,well--so much for good Christian folk as our founding fathers.

3) You speak of Jews as being "evil" folk. Well, what of it? We can look at the scriptures and find Christians, Jews, Muslims, et cetera as being good or evil. Shall I bring up the Klan?

Try ceasing your anger.

Tuesday, May 8

I wasn't gonna do it. Really, honestly. But my reading of several blogs made me do it. I read these so-called "christian" blogs,and they changed my mind. Yeah I was a bit pissed off at these, but there is something I urge you to do. no, don't send out a screaming epistle back. That just lies in their satisfaction. Send out an e-mail of a happy gay couple, or lesbian couple. Or in my case, a happy transsexual member.

I know this is bone-chillingly scary, but it can be done.

Friday, May 4

Coming soon:The Democratic lineup.

Thursday, May 3

(Based in part on The New York Times, e1, 7/3/2007)

The certainty all life will be based upon (at least the painterly part) -with very few exceptions- will be putting stale bread to mouth while painting. It is a life where you do the work part-time, unless you are renowned. Which you will not be. And the hope at the end of your life? Seeing it
auctioned off at Sotheby's or Christie's for a princely sum. Not that you will get a dime. And then you will die, tripling the profits.

All this is based on a crapshoot, of course. Sometimes dreams of 5, 10, even 60 million don't pan out. But when a transfer is made, a life of penury is what the artist "deserves"? I hardly think so.

A while ago, I saw Dance at Bougival. Now, I may not buy that particular piece, but Picasso and Cy Twombly hold dear places in my heart. The point is that all pieces of art deserve recognition,whether ancient or ultra-modern, deserve recognition. And those who live deserv e financial recognition. Now.



Monday, April 30

Reviewed: Manufacturing Depression: A journey into the economy of melancholy by Gary Greenberg. Published by Harper's, May 2007, pg. 37.

Gary and I share a common theme in our lives. He, when that bible of The American Psychiatric Association is perused, comes up with Major Depression,according to the DSM. I haven't had such "luck" in my life, but I am taking happy pills. Of course, some of this so-called "depression" may be the result of several nurses, CNAs, and doctors(!) but that is beside the point.

He posits a central theory: that the value of antidepressive drugs are suspect. I must say that, at first, I found his theory questionable. But as I read, I found his arguments quite persuasive.

This,in sum, is what the psychiatrist does: blood and urine are taken, then the QIDS-SR and the Q-LES-Q-SF (psychiatric tests) are given. The name is impressive, but they have serious faults.

In sum, this is a good read.

Tuesday, April 24

You might find an interesting post in the website in the top of the Scholar review. Yeah, it's scholarly. Very scholarly. but it really is very interesting in its covering of the leptin levels. Imterestinly, these levels are deficient in both male-to-female and female-to-male subjects. m-to-f subjects had a rising rate, whereas f-to-m subjects rise to a peak after 6 months then fade off a bit 1 year into monitoring. However both mtf and ftm experience a significant rise.

Scholar hat off. See ya.

Saturday, April 21

ah....this finally worked! After quite a bit of work, the work of Blogger finally came through.

I will be meeting later today with a friend, someone who will give me some advice, as well as just sharing a hoot! Surprisingly, another friend, showed up. I didn't realize this at the time, but Dave withdrew from the faith himself. The Baha'i faith and his beliefs had just gone too far.

'Tis all for now.

Emily