Good, Secular Arguments: Why I Don't "Trust Women"

Much like pro-lifers, pro-choicers spent January 22 blogging. The theme of this year's "Blog for Choice Day" was "Trust Women," which was the mantra of the late Dr. Tiller.

I do, of course, trust women, as much as I trust men (and probably more than I trust boys and girls!). But the issue is irrelevant to the abortion debate. As a rule, we trust people to make the best choices for their lives and their futures. Within certain parameters.

We trust people to make the decision about the best way to support their families. But we don't make theft legal! Because theft is wrong, it's bad for society, it has victims who need to be protected. Yes, we are marginally restricting the amount of decisions we trust providers to make. We don't trust them to decide whether or not to rob a bank, because to allow people to make that choice would hurt others.

We trust people to make decisions about who they want to have sex with. But we don't make rape legal! Rape is wrong, it's bad for society, it has victims who need to be protected. Outlawing rape marginally restricts the rights of men to choose who they have sex with, but it results in a better-protected right of women to make that decision. We don't trust men to make the choice whether or not to rape someone, because to allow people to choose to do so would leave victims in its wake.

Once you've established that the potential cost of misestimating the beginning of life is too great to assume that it's anywhere but at conception, it's clear that abortion hurts people. Yes, to outlaw abortion would restrict the "rights" of pregnant women. But we've established that we can marginally restrict what we trust certain people to do in order to protect the rights of potential victims. We can't trust women to decide whether or not to have an abortion, because to allow someone to choose to do so would hurt the primary victim of an abortion, the child.

We don't subjugate the rights of potential victims to a misplaced desire to trust someone in power to make the right decision for himself, without regard to whether that decision is right for others.

The Pro-Life Deluge Begins

They're showing up. I saw my first pilgrim-protesters this morning, a group of teenagers and a couple of nuns on a street corner in Chinatown. I overheard my first reference between two people their office building for a smoke. ("March for Life?" one asked, and then I'd passed. No context.) Personally, today I plan to review the rules for political activity for federal employees. (I think they'll say I have to take my nametag off when I walk down to the Mall on my lunch break.)

I keep thinking back to something I heard last year when I did the same. As I walked toward the Mall, on sidewalks crowded with hundreds, thousands, of other pro-lifers, I heard an older man say to his wife, " . . . I mean, I'm against it, but I don't think you should dwell on it. Focusing on things like that is just living in the past." It was clearly abortion he was against, and clearly pro-lifers who were living in the past.

Over the past year, I've wondered, periodically, whether I should have said something to him. What would I have said, if I were of the talking-to-strangers type?

"Living in the past? It's not the past for the 3,500 women who will have an abortion today. It's not the past for the 3,500 children who won't have a future. And I have to ask, sir, since you said you were against it, why are you against it? Do you think it's the unjustified murder of innocents? Don't you agree, sir, that that's something of immense magnitude, something certainly worth 'dwelling on'?"

I've always been a bit wary of the March for Life. I wrote about this last year. What's the point, really? It seems like it makes pro-lifers feel good - as it did to me last year - but that's it. It doesn't change the way Congress votes. It doesn't change the way the White House makes policy. It doesn't change hearts or minds -- at least not when those of us who attend are too shy to talk to other people, even the people who might be sympathetic!

Brussel Sprouts and Pancetta

A long, long, time ago . . . I can still remember how that music used to make me smile . . .

Wait, wrong post.

A long, long, time ago, I came across this recipe for Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Almonds at Sweet Paul. I don't remember how I came across it, as I'd never visited that blog before, and I don't like brussel sprouts. At least, I thought I didn't like brussel sprouts. I certainly didn't like them flavorless and boiled into submission, the way I remember them as a child. (My mother is an amazing cook, but I'm beginning to realize there were a handful of green vegetables that she boiled when she should have roasted, baked, or sauteed them.)

That picture up at top, though, just looked incredible. It looked like something I would actually want to eat. So I saved the link and forgot about it for a good long time.

Lately, amongst my circle of acquaintances, there's been an e-mail meme (did I just use that word right? I mean chain letter, more or less) going around asking people to send 1 recipe to the person at number 1 on the list, add your name to the bottom, send to your friends, etc. So I clicked the "recipes" label in my gmail and discovered that I've only ever saved 2 recipes in gmail. I hadn't tried either of them, but the brussel sprouts caught my attention again (unfortunately, I have a distant memory of the person whose name is at number 1 on the list being a vegetarian, so this pancetta-full recipe is probably not what I will send her).

I stopped by the grocery store and picked up the ingredients:

• Brussel Sprouts
• Pancetta
• Sliced Almonds

Also necessary are

• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

The original recipe gave amounts in "grams," and I don't speak grams. I just used as much as I wanted to. I might have skimped on the pancetta. I'd add a little more next time.

When I got home (and by home, of course, I still do not mean my home), I preheated the oven to 380*. I cleaned the brussel sprouts and sliced them in half (but forgot to remove the tough ends, which you shouldn't forget to do). I hadn't been able to find pancetta in any form except sliced, so I just cut some slices up into smaller pieces, but I imagine that if you were able to find a chunk of pancetta - or whatever other form it is pancetta can come int - it would be an improvement. After that, just add the brussel sprouts and pancetta to a baking dish with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some almonds. Mix together well. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so to evenly spread the pancetta around. It's done, according to the original recipe, when the brussel sprouts are al dente and the pancetta is golden. My pancetta never got golden, and I don't know whether that is because it was in a different form or because I undercooked it. If I undercooked it, this recipe is very good even when undercooked!

Many thanks to Sweet Paul!

7 Quick Takes Friday Part XXXI

1. Right after I wrote my last 7 Quick Takes post a few weeks ago, I started my next one, listing a few topics for Quick Takes that I wanted to briefly expound upon for the next week in which I got around to posting. After a couple ideas, I listed as a topic the surprising ease with which I had reacquired the habit of considering everything that happens as blog fodder. When I went back a re-read the draft after a couple of weeks, I realized that certain skills don't come back as easily. Specifically, the skill of considering whether all possible blog fodder is actually worthy blog fodder. My glasses fogging up when I walk into a building in the cold weather? Really? I thought I should write a whole Quick Take about that, and actually show it to other people?

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2. For Christmas this year, I got not 1, but *2* flannel nightgowns, from different sources (Mom and Rhett). I love them. They're pretty and floral and warm and I find it so freeing to be able to sleep in a dress!

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3. Rhett got me the nightgown because I had pointed it out as pretty when we were in a store, and mentioned how I'd had a hard time finding regular nightgowns, not sexy lingerie. My sister Suellen's take: "Poor Rhett. He sees you walk over to the pajamas, and there you are, standingright next to the lingerie, but nope, you're looking at the old lady flannel pajamas instead!" Luckily, he likes me, old lady fashions and all!

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4. Speaking of old-fashioned, Rhett bought me an apron a few months ago, from the gift shop of the Little House on the Prairie musical, and I hadn't had much opportunity to wear it. Baking pies before Christmas, I had it on, and my mom snapped a picture with her phone. She didn't have his number, so I gave it to her and she sent him the picture, captioned "Baking pies like on the prairie!" But he never got it. She had transposed two of the digits in his phone number. Somewhere out there in the airwaves, or on some stranger's phone, is a picture of me in a blue flower-print apron, baking pies like on the prairie.

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5. And when I say "like on the prairie," I mean "like on the prairie." Since my parents went all-natural, I wasn't allowed to use a store-bought pie crust (preservatives! corn syrup!hydrogenated oils! Oh, the humanity!) I had to make the darn thing from scratch, and it wasn't easy. I don't think pastries are my forte.

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6. I'm writing on Wednesday, before I rush off to get to my apartment to clean up the chaos. I'm doubtful I'll have time to write much more in the next couple days, so I won't have 7 developed Quick Takes.

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7. Wish me luck!

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For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

I crochet?

It's been a long time since I've posted about my crocheting, mostly because it's been a long time since I've done any crocheting. I tried to bike rather than take public transit most of this past semester, which cut down on a lot of my crocheting opportunities, not to mention that my current apartment is only the very briefest of Metro rides from work when I do take that route. On top of that, I've been driving whenever I make the trip back home to NY, which eliminates what used to be a very fruitful 5-hour bus ride several times each semester. Plus I was just plain old busy. I've only made 2 very simple projects this semester: a baby blanket and a scarf (and I'm just now realizing I forgot to take any pictures of the scarf).

I made this blanket for my cousin's baby, who was born in the fall. For the first time perhaps ever, the blanket was ready before the baby was, and that was because it was so easy. I hate joining squares, and that's the part that always makes the blankets take so long, but I've always found "join as you go" patterns a bit complicated for the kind of mindless, "keeping my hands busy while my mind is elsewhere" crocheting that I often do. I opted for the absolute simplest design I could conceive of, the "big giant granny square" design. I really do like the way it came out, though, and since they whip up so quickly, I may try to make some more, now that I'm thinking about it.

Small Blessings

As I rather self-deprecatingly remarked in number 6 here, I made the decidedly unclassy, but decidedly affordable, decision to sleep on an air mattress rather than a real bed this year, because mattresses and bed frames are expensive and difficult to move after each year. I've never been so thankful for my thrift.

Yesterday, the pipes in the apartment above our froze and burst, and our apartment was flooded. I'm 400 miles away dropping my sister off at an airport, so there's nothing I can do right now except wait for updates from my roommates, who spent last night in a hotel and are spending today meeting with contractors and trying to vacuum the water out of the carpet.

But my roommate just called me to ask whether all of my linens are dryer-safe, and I learned that of all our beds, mine was the only one that got hit with any water. Mine, the plastic one. It can be dried off with a towel, it won't have to be thrown away, and if, for some reason, it does have to be thrown away, it'll fit in a regular trash can and can be replaced for $100 or less.

This is what we call a "silver lining."

The Crow and the Pitcher

More awesome animals!

First, Aesop's Fable:

A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.

Little by little does the trick

(From http://www.aesops-fables.org.uk/)

Next, modern science:



How cool is that?

More legs = More brains?

No, not a post about beautiful, intelligent, leggy blondes.

The octopus with the coconut is all over the internet lately, but I'm amazed by him and I think it's so cool!



The best part, I think, is that the coconut halves they're using are man-made refuse, and so haven't always been around. Doesn't that mean that this is less evolutionary than just octopuses who are smart enough to know shelter when they see it?

Regardless, I love it!

Seven Quick Takes Friday Part XXX

1. It's been a while since I've done this, or much of anything on this blog, really. Maybe participating in Quick Takes will get me used to this again. I've gotten out of that state of mind where things happen, or I do something, and immediately analyze whether or not it would make good blog fodder. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

2. Since last we spoke, I got a Mac. It's been several months, and I'm not yet a Mac apologist. In fact, I find this computer much more frustrating, much harder to understand, and much more likely to cause a problem when I have a paper due than I ever found any of my Dells. Why didn't anyone ever tell me Macs are unreliable and they suck and PCs are all-around better?

3. I still got almost a month of freedom until I have to go back to work and class and dying a slow death. I'd love some suggestions for good books to read in the interim!

4. I fairly seriously considered the idea of replacing Christmas gift-giving with donating to a charity in the recipient's name. I'm ashamed to say, this was more due to having NO idea what to buy certain people than to any true altruism. I'm still stuck for ideas, and still reluctant to "take the easy way out." More than being reluctant to betray my ideals or some such, though, I'm really just afraid of making it obvious which people were my "problem" people. I'm a ball of selfish contradictions grasping at charity to make myself feel like a good person.

5. Does anyone have any experience using Apple Cider Vinegar to get rid of warts? I've heard good things on the internet, but been reluctant to try it. I'm looking at a full bottle of vinegar, though, and wondering if it would be worth it.

6. Speaking of which, plantars warts + martial arts = embarrassment. I mean, I can't hide them, since we're barefoot and I have to tape over them to prevent spreading them to others, but I didn't realize just how much I'd have to talk about them, and with just how many people. I can't count the number of times I've been asked what's wrong with my foot. Am I hurt? Do I need help? Oh, no, it's just warts. Just warts. Thus, my comfort level discussing them here, with you.

7. As I write, I'm uploading my cd collection to my new computer. It becomes strikingly apparent that I stopped actively acquiring music in the 10th grade.

Check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

OED on the new translation of the Mass

With all the controversy over the new translation of the Mass, something's been bothering me for a while. I have a confession to make. . . I don't actually know the definition of ineffable. Ineffable is THE example to use when you're talking about the new translation, whether you're saying "Why would we want to use a word like ineffable during the Mass?" or "Why do these critics think we're so stupid we don't know what ineffable means?" And I do kind of know what ineffable means. . . but I couldn't define it for you.

So I finally - after all these many months - decided to learn just exactly what ineffable means. And I figured I might as well learn the meanings of all those other words that are coming to a church near you. So I went to the America article "What if we said 'Wait'?" by Fr. Michael G. Ryan that appeared last week, to great consternation, among those excited by the change. I picked out the words he offered as among the most troublesome.

When the uninformed heard a few examples (“and with your spirit”; “consubstantial with the Father”; “incarnate of the Virgin Mary”; “oblation of our service”; “send down your Spirit like the dewfall”; “He took the precious chalice”; “serene and kindly countenance,” for starters), the reaction was somewhere between disbelief and indignation.

And I looked them up. The full Oxford English Dictionary isn't available for free online, but the Compact Oxford English Dictionary is, and its 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions should suit for our purposes. (In shame, I admit I have no idea where my dictionary is.)

ineffable -adjective 1 too great or extreme to be expressed in words. 2 too sacred to be uttered.

incarnate -adjective, often after a noun 1 (of a deity or spirit) embodied in flesh; in human form. 2 represented in the ultimate or most typical form: capitalism incarnate.

-verb 1 embody or represent (a deity or spirit) in human form. 2 be the living embodiment of (a quality).

oblation -noun 1 a thing presented or offered to a god 2 (Christian Church) the presentation of bread and wine to God in the Eucharist

countenance -noun 1 a person's face or facial expression 2 (formal) support or approval

-verb 1 admit as acceptable or possible

And admittedly, consubstantial wasn't in there. But it was in the Yahoo! Education Reference section's dictionary, via the American Heritage Dictionary:

consubstantial -adjective 1 of the same substance, nature, or essence.

That was easy!

As for and with your spirit, I said it just this weekend, when I was at a Lessons and Carols service at an Anglican Church. Actually, I even said, "And with thy spirit," which wasn't normal for them - they only use that phraseology on special occasions, according to my boyfriend, whose alma mater we were visiting. I survived.

Stick a fork in me. . .

I'M DONE!

(One whole month of freedom! I might even, like, start blogging again. No promises.)

Thanksgiving Pie!

A friend and I made this cranberry pie for Thanksgiving, based on the recipe posted last week at Faith and Family Live! The recipe Rebecca posted is as follows:

Cranberry Pie:

Crust: use your favorite recipe for a two-crust pie.

3 1/2 c. cranberries, chopped (I run mine through the slicing blade of a food processor just to slice ‘em in half)
1 1/2 T. flour
3 T. water
1 1/2 c. sugar (don’t skimp; cranberries are really tart)
1/4 t. salt
2 T. butter chopped into small pieces

Mix the ingredients together well and fill an unbaked pie shell.
Top with the 2nd crust—use a lattice or cut-out pattern to show off the fruit’s rich color.

I like to use the trick of brushing the crust lightly with water and sprinkling with sugar for a sparkly, golden top.

Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350F and bake 40 minutes longer.

We added an additional cup of blueberries, both because the filling seemed not particularly filling and because my friend (a baker - I couldn't go making substitutions and additions if he weren't around) thought the additional sweetness would be a welcome addition. We also grated a little bit of fresh ginger into the filling. My friend the baker used an egg wash on the crust rather than water and sugar.

I don't think I'd ever made a pie from scratch before. It was super-easy (full disclosure: I did not have anything to do with making the crust) and turned out wonderfully! The color is beautiful, the pie is delicious, and I would make this again in a heartbeat.

My only caution is that it doesn't travel very well. It's quite runny, and if you can't hold it perfectly straight, you might find yourself doing as I did this Thanksgiving: demanding that your sister pull over, jumping out of the car into a stranger's yard, putting the pie on the stranger's lawn, wiping cranberry syrup off your legs (giving the stranger's grandmother, waiting in her car, quite a show), and then, when realizing that the worst hills in the drive were yet to come, taking off your shoes and using your feet to hold the pie (sort of) still on the floor rather than your lap. And no, that wasn't a trail of blood leading from our car to my aunt's front door, but it was easily mistaken for one. And hopefully, once I get back to school and get this paper handed in (oh, is that what I'm supposed to be writing now? Not blog posts?), I'll figure out how to get cran-blueberry juice out of my car's floor mats.