Seen, But Not Heard...

To New Orleans police, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply to victims: James Gill | NOLA.com

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:40:00 +0000

To New Orleans police, innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply to victims: James Gill | NOLA.com:

"But it can't be true either that 128 people deserved to have their names dragged through the mud last year before their deaths had even been investigated. Many of them had not even been convicted; a lousy arrest, even an ancient one, is enough to warrant a posthumous slur from the police department. Besides inflicting further hurt on the bereaved, it serves no purpose whatsoever.

Certainly, as Serpas pointed out, "criminal records predict victimization," and the stats do not mean New Orleans is dangerous for the law-abiding. But that point can be made without dredging up every penny-ante and unrelated offense of which a murder victim was ever accused, especially if the case was nol-prossed or ended in acquittal. Roughly one third of the charges that caused murder victims to be branded criminals were dropped."

'via Blog this'

I'm really glad to see that I'm not the only person who finds it really shitty that they list the victim's priors in those crime alerts. I don't, nor should anyone else, give a damn about what a murder victim did in their past. There's a definitive lack of concern when Black people, especially men, are victimized, and whether Serpas wants to admit it or not, listing their priors in an alert about something terrible that happened to them implies that they deserved what they got, that we shouldn't feel too bad because they were just criminals themselves - the killer did us a favor, right?

You know why the murder rate is so high here? Because most of the people killed are Black men, and no one important gives a damn. If it were white people killing each other on an average of 4 times a week, the NOPD would have been completely taken over by the feds within the first quarter and people throughout the New Orleans justice system would be replaced left and right. Psychologists would be flooding to the city, trying to figure out what went wrong? How could this happen? Is it our schools? The entertainment industry? I don't even need to imagine what would happen if Black people were killing white people at that rate. They find those murderers real quick already.

Oh, hi there!

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:29:00 +0000

So...it's been a while. About two in a half months, in fact. My posting had been waning for a while, but I don't think it's for lack of interest, but rather lack of time and motivation. I think about stuff to post here all of the time, but instead of writing these ideas down I let them rotate in my head over and over again until I'm tired of them and push them out of my head, still unresolved. I've also been experiencing varying levels of depression over the past few months, which is sort of an annoying situation. I find my mood happier when I write regularly, but being depressed keeps me from writing.

I've also been distracted by other social media formats. I joined Tumblr a few months ago, and like the microblogging format, although I do a lot more reblogging then I do original posting. I also joined Twitter maybe a month ago (see left sidebar), and I'm G+ing (also see left sidebar. I don't know why it says that no one is following me - I have more people following me on G+ then I do friends on Facebook!). I've been trying to figure out how to juggle all of these social media outlets, and doing a shitty job at all of them. I've decided that I'm going to break it down like this:

Blogger - this baby. I've disconnected the feed to my Facebook wall. I want this blog to go back to being my personal blog, like a public diary, a place for me to spill all of the random debates and conversations that float through my brain with no outlet (because I only have a couple of friends). I found myself more cautious about what I wrote once my posts were going to Facebook, and I still think I had a few unfriends because of it (oh well). My longer posts are going to go here, the stuff that involves forming my thoughts and future beliefs on complicated subjects. And stuff about New Orleans that doesn't fit into 140 characters, because I'm not impressed with the New Orleans showing on Tumblr. I like that both friends and people who I've never met in person read this, but I really like that the readers I haven't met in person are actually people who I would like to meet someday, and I hope to keep it that way.

Tumblr & Twitter - My tumblog feeds into my Twitter account, so both will be about the short spurts from my brain - "Movies I'm Looking Forward To" will move to Tumblr, anything about music, entertainment, etc. Basically, stuff meant for random people to discover via hashtags, retweets/reblogs, etc. I guess these will contain the parts of me that I'm willing to share with a broad group of people, many of whom I may never want to meet outside of the internets.

Google + - I think a lot of people are trying to figure out what to do with google plus. I think it's a little more ... grown up than Facebook, but that could be because most of my Facebook friends are people who I know from college and elementary/middle/high school classmates who hunted me down. I wasn't grown then, and I know I'm a lot different then I was even 4.5 years ago in college, so I'm moving a lot of the political/racial/social issue comments to G+, especially since most of my G+ people are listeners of Blacking It Up!, which is all about those topics and the best podcast EVER IN LIFE.

Facebook - Fuck Facebook. But seriously, I only use Facebook to interact with people who only interact via Facebook. It's so unimportant to me that I'm not even going to link to it (but feel free to friend me!). If there is ever a time when most of my friends are connected to me through some other (any other?) social media outlet, I WILL SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN. No seriously, fuck Facebook. I do like their events mechanism, though. My tweets are going there so people know I'm still alive.

So, there's that. I find that I'm better at doing things when I organize them into very neat piles.

Another thing that I'm doing? Re-arranging my body clock.

So, for as long as I can remember whenever I have had the opportunity to go to bed and wake up at whatever time I wanted, I have gone to bed between 4 - 6am, and woken up between 12 - 2pm. Obviously, I've had to force that inclination to fit my job, which means that I wake up at 7am and go to bed ... well, that's the problem. I should go to bed at 10 or 11pm, but it' really really hard because my body wants to stay up until at least 2am. As I write these words, it's 4:54am. I'm tired of this. But I can't really do what my body wants, which is to rule the night, so I'm going to try to force a compromise.

I'm going to sleep from between 7 - 9pm to 2 - 4am. The time that I have between wakey wakey and 5:30am will be for reading, writing, and catching up on my DVR. At 5:30am, I'll go jogging for about an hour and a half, then come back home to shower and get ready for work. Work is from 8am to 4pm. At 4, I'll go straight from work to the gym three times a week (the non-gym days will be for errands, or social stuff). I'll be done by 5 or 5:30pm on gym days, and then I'll do whatever the hell I want until bedtime, which will vary depending on if there is some sort of event that I want to go to. I don't do a lot of night events, though that may change since I'm getting a scooter very soon (Guys! I'm not posting about it until it's in the driveway!).

I do have to consider my stomach issues. I've managed, over the past year, to gain control over IBS by eating very small dinners (either a snack like peanut butter and honey at home, or an appetizer or soup at restaurants). My main big meal is lunch now. The only time I have an upset stomach is occasionally when I'm on my period, but my body is haywire anyway for those five days. I'm thinking my eating schedule will be like this:

Breakfast = about an hour after waking up. Toast + tea is the easiest thing for a sensitive stomach.
After the morning jog = fruit
work snack (around 9am) = oatmeal, quiche, bagel, something like that that I can make or heat up quick at work.
lunch (around 11am) = smaller. This is forcing me to give up big meals, which I should have already done anyway. I'm going to start making recipes again, so lunch will vary, but the portions will be much smaller.
work snack (around 2pm) = I've fallen in love with trail mix. or more fruit.
dinner (around 4:30ish or 5:30ish pm) = something safe on the tummy, like peanut butter and honey, pumpkin bread, etc.

I'm doing it like this because not only does this fit my 8 - 4 job better, but also if I'm successful at breaking into acting this coming year, I'm going to have to deal with a weird schedule like this anyway. Nothing that I want to do with my future involves working these 9 to 5-like jobs anymore past the next 8 months, so I need to get my body used to this now. I'll see how the trial period (the next two weeks) goes, and take it from there.

Whelp, I'm done for now. This is going to be a long day, since I haven't slept since 1pm on Sunday, but it'll make it very easy for me to go to sleep at 7pm today.

NOPD Declares War on Sex Workers

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Really?

Calling prostitution "a dangerous, violent crime," NOPD Police Chief Ronal Serpas announced today that New Orleans police had arrested 67 sex workers in the months of July and August in an undercover operation that also involved State Police, the FBI and the Secret Service.

...

Chief Serpas' official statements further demonized the sex workers, accusing them of nearly every crime short of terrorism. "We find time and time again that women and men who actively participate in prostitution tend to commit other crimes," claimed Serpas. "Such as some form of battery, simple robbery, armed robbery, illegal drug deals, or carrying concealed weapons. In some cases, customers of prostitutes find that their wallets have been lifted, which means bank card theft and sometimes stolen identity cases. This is why it’s an incredibly worthwhile effort to target people involved in the prostitution business."

But the men who solicit prostitutes are fine, upstanding citizens? Also, this is just lazy. How many open cases involving robbery, drugs, and weapons are sitting open on the books right now, unlikely to be solved by a few out of hundreds of sex workers being arrested? How about dealing with the fact that if you look at the rate of conviction in this city, murder and especially rape (a crime that sex workers are vulnerable to - I wonder how seriously the NOPD takes that violent crime when it's committed against a prostitute) are barely crimes. I could kill someone right now, do the bare minimum to cover it up, and I'm guessing that there would be about a 25% chance that I'd be arrested and convicted. I once had to call the police for a rape in progress (some asshole was raping a young woman on the porch across the street from my office. At 9am. Yeah.) Never saw a cop. If I ever see something like that again I'll just stab him with my switchblade, since I probably won't get caught anyway (another problem - cops don't give a damn when Black men are killed).

And I know why they're suddenly concerned about this issue. I get the crime alerts from the French Quarter district - tourists are soliciting "prostitutes" and getting ambushed and robbed. Of course, the alerts don't actually say that. I remember one from a few months ago where the victim met two (unknown) women - one black, one white - in Jackson Square. They headed somewhere to "hang out", he got into an SUV with them (remember, he just met these ladies), that was being driven by a man, and of course, after some dramatics involving a gun, ended up exiting the SUV a little while later sans wallet. He also, presumably, didn't get to be apart of that interracial threesome that he was after. Yes, he's a victim because they had no right to liberate his wallet, but ... really? He had intended to hire two women to engage in an illegal act with him. That makes him a criminal too, even if he was some middle class white tourist. Also, since fucking did not actually occur ... the ladies were not really sex workers anyway.

I guess what I'm saying is that even if some of these sex workers are connected to other crimes, this city has so many other more important crimes to deal with that effect whether or not people choose to live here. Yeah, a tourist who got tricked into getting robbed might not come back and the city loses money, but not as much money as it loses when people with middle and upper class incomes decided that they're aren't going to move here, or people who've been here for generations decided to pick up and leave because they can't guarantee that they're not going to get caught in a crossfire, or no one will take their daughter's rape seriously. I don't think those people are worried about being victimized by prostitutes.

Also, the oldest profession in the world is a "dangerous and violent crime"? Get the fuck out of here. Sex workers experience much more danger and violence than their Johns do.

NOLA.com: Air quality alert issued because of marsh fire in eastern New Orleans

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:46:00 +0000

A story from NOLA.com:

Air quality alert issued because of marsh fire in eastern New Orleans

Is that what that smell was? I thought it was the asshole who lives behind me burning shit at one in the morning.

Denise

Sent from my iPhone!

Fwd: News Alert: Hurricane Irene bears down on Virginia Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 01:02:00 +0000

Wow, there are already power outages in DC and MD. Stay safe, East Coast.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Washington Post <newsletters@email.washingtonpost.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 7:20 PM
Subject: News Alert: Hurricane Irene bears down on Virginia Beach
To:

----------------------------------------
News Alert: Hurricane Irene bears down on Virginia Beach
August 27, 2011 8:18:27 PM
----------------------------------------

After slowly making its way up the East Coast, Hurricane Irene is now bearing down on Virginia Beach and other parts of eastern Virginia.

Conditions: The region is encountering the windiest period of the storm from now into the overnight hours, with National Airport reporting sustained winds of 29 mph and gusts of 40 mph. As the onslaught of rain continues, the National Hurricane Center reports water levels rising in the Virginia tidewater region.

Power outages: More than 6,500 homes and businesses in D.C. are without power, 15,000 in Prince George's County, 10,000 in Anne Arundel and 5,000 around Baltimore. Expect these numbers to rise as gusts whip through the area overnight.

Transportation: The Bay Bridge was ordered closed at 7:35 p.m. Saturday due to severe winds and unsafe driving conditions, the Maryland Transportation Authority said.

http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/46MP2V/LQUO2Y/WB5LL6/SXWBNK/98VND/1G/h

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

Lower 9th Ward neighborhood would gain grocery under redevelopment plan | NOLA.com

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:20:00 +0000

Lower 9th Ward neighborhood would gain grocery under redevelopment plan | NOLA.com: "The commerce-starved Lower 9th Ward is being targeted for a full-service grocery as part of a proposed redevelopment of the venerable Holy Cross School campus.

The store would be owned and operated by a company whose principals include New Orleans-born actor Wendell Pierce and his childhood friend, management consultant Troy Henry, who have partnered to build more than 100 energy-efficient homes in Gentilly's storm-ravaged Pontchartrain Park."

'via Blog this'

I am really happy about this. The L9 is definitely a neighborhood that needs a real grocery store.

Justice Roars: Katrina Pain Index 2011: Race, Gender, Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:25:00 +0000

Justice Roars: Katrina Pain Index 2011: Race, Gender, Poverty: "Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. The impact of Katrina and government bungling continue to inflict major pain on the people left behind. It is impossible to understand what happened and what still remains without considering race, gender, and poverty. The following offer some hints of what remains. "

'via Blog this'

Fwd: News Alert: Earthquake epicenter was near Mineral, Va.

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:20:00 +0000

! All circuits are busy in DC, so I can't reach my Mom. It was a 5.8 magnitude, I hope few people were injured.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Washington Post <newsletters@email.washingtonpost.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 1:07 PM
Subject: News Alert: Earthquake epicenter was near Mineral, Va.
To:

----------------------------------------
News Alert: Earthquake epicenter was near Mineral, Va.
August 23, 2011 2:07:05 PM
----------------------------------------

Earthquake epicenter was near Mineral, Va., 87 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/6041ZA/A7IJQW/6Z9VV5/F68Q43/K5V2N/ID/h

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: The Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 04:32:00 +0000

Follows the course of four families through the charter school experiment here in New Orleans. I'm on the fence about charter schools. I think you can't really judge them on a whole - each one has to be looked at individually, because some of them are doing amazing things, and some of them only appear to do well because they picked students who were already bright and easy to teach.

Thandie Newton Just Blew My Mind...

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:15:00 +0000

I'll probably love her forever for this talk at TED. This is ... everything I've been struggling with lately.

FunnyorDie.com - Black Best Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:09:00 +0000

Black Best Friend with Casey Wilson from Casey Wilson

Hah! I imagine I've disappointed many a white woman.

"4am" by Melanie Fiona

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:54:00 +0000

4AM MF by urbaninformer I need this song in my iTunes stat!

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: The Black Power Mixtape (September 2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:00:00 +0000

I really hope they show this at the New Orleans Film Festival in October, because I'm doubtful that I'll get to see it in theaters otherwise. Oh well, there's always Netflix.

Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle For Justice : NPR

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:03:00 +0000

"When a woman is sexually assaulted on a college campus, her most common reaction is to keep it quiet."

I could write a million words on this topic. It's sad that I feel like it's pure luck that I've never been raped. Studies have shown, that many campus rapists are repeat offenders - serial rapists, predators who hunt down girls who are incapacitated. It's ridiculous when people act as though it was a simple mistake or misunderstanding. And I don't understand why colleges are allowed to deal with sexual assault claims internally at all. It's a crime, it should be a police matter (not that they always do a stand up job, either). I can't deal with a crime that happens in my house internally once the police get wind of it, so why are schools, some of which are public, allowed to do so with seemingly no fear about whether they will be held responsible for covering up a crime and endangering more students? It boggles my mind that people deny that we live in a rape culture when a guy can be internally tried at his college and found guilty of (or admit to) forcing sex on a woman and still get to continue matriculating at the same school as her, instead of going to prison.

"Black Folk Don't..."

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:34:00 +0000

Shadow and Act tipped me off to a new web series called "Black Folk Don't..." Each episode finishes that phrase.

The first episode is "... Tip".

video platform video management video solutions video player

I really hate that stereotype, and I think that it tends to be more of a class thing then a race thing (but poor white people are invisible, so Black people have to take on the poor people burden). I grew up poor, but I had a friend who was a waitress and broke down the tipping thing to me when I finally had money to pay for my own meals at restaurants, and since then I hold pretty steady at 20%. Most of the young Black people who I've eaten out with tip about the same, but I've noticed having to compensate for older Black people when I go out and eat with them, so I wonder if it's also a generational thing. I also think the suggestion that it has to do with Black people not having gone to the same restaurants as white people until segregation ended is interesting. I wonder if waiters in Black restaurants back then had to live off it tips in the same way, or if they were just paid a fair hourly rate?

The second episode is "... Go to Therapy".

video platform video management video solutions video player

I'd agree that Black people do not go to therapy enough, though I wonder if this too, is a class thing that gets mixed up as a race thing. Poor people are expected to suffer in silence, and Black people especially have suffered for centuries with no mental aid, so it makes sense that a lot of Black people think that you should just be strong and go to church. I've been to therapy for depression, and I will probably go back before the year is out. I don't know if I will ever tell my mom this, because she'll probably just start looking for churches down here for me to go to or worse, start thinking that she should move down here. I think all people should go to therapy at some point in their lives, and if I ruled the world all poor neighborhoods would have free mental health care centers.

The Seattle Medium - The Wealth Gap and the Souls of Angry White Folks

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:15:00 +0000

Interesting article, especially this quote: "He has gotten into the frame of mind that goes like this: white men have it rough out there and, in fact, white men face discrimination compared with--hold onto your hat--Black women."

I think this attitude comes from the fact that most white folks don't acknowledge their privilege, so the slightest hint of less privilege equals "reverse racism" (the dumbest term ever), when really, the odds are still tilted in the direction of white people, especially men. I mean really - Black women are holding him down?

Chicago's WBBM-TV Misquotes Boy Making Him Sound Violent | News One

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:26:00 +0000

They control what you see: "A CBS news station is under fire after it misquoted a 4-year-old boy making him purposely sound violent on the air."

NOLA.com: National Flood Insurance Program lapses may happen again

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 06:51:00 +0000

A story from NOLA.com:

National Flood Insurance Program lapses may happen again

"What it means is that Congress is likely to approve more short-term extensions, which creates the potential that there will be lapses when home buyers won't be able to purchase insurance, a problem that occurred multiple times last year."

Man, I'm glad I got my flood insurance a month ago. It kicked in yesterday.

Sent from my iPhone!

True Blood Review: Season 4, Episode One: When Faeries Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 05:43:00 +0000

I originally intended to do this once a week, episode by episode, but I'm pretty sure I knew that that wouldn't really happen about ten seconds after I told myself it would. True Blood is one of my fun shows - some would call it a guilty pleasure, but it's one that I don't feel guilty about. Like Spartacus (can't wait until 2012!), there's a lot of sex, a lot of blood, and a lot of drama, just what I need after going through a Google Reader full of racism, sexism, and politics.

So, at the end of last season:
Sookie broke up with Bill, ran into the graveyard all distraught-like, and was convinced by her faery godmother to disappear into fairyland.

Jason decided to care for the people of Hot Shot, who apparently are not capable of taking care of themselves.

Tara got the fuck out of Bon Temps.

Lafayette hooked up with Jesus.

Jessica and Hoyt stopped acting like children and moved in together.

Bill and Queen Sophie Ann prepared to face off.

Sam fired a shot at his wayward brother Tommy.

I think that's all of the majors...

Oh. And Arlene's having a demon baby (or so she thinks).

Jason thrown in with Pam and Jess? Hmm.

This episode began with Sookie entering the faery world led by her faery godmother. This ... is just as stupid as it sounds, and I could have done without the entire first 10 minutes of this episode. We discover that the faeries are basically tricking all humans who have faery blood in them into eating the light fruit, which somehow makes it so that they can never live in the human world again. This is to keep vampires from drinking their blood, because when Bill nearly drained Sookie last season, he was able to take a trip into the faery realm, which is not good, since faery blood is like crack mixed with LSD to vampires. Sookie finds her grandfather, who thinks he's been gone from the human world for a couple of hours, but has really been gone for a couple of decades. Sookie can somehow see the hidden ugliness in the faery world bleed through, and she and granddad make a run for it, bad CGI and all. Back in the human world, Granddad dies and Sookie cries (again). Why was Sookie the only one who could see the real faery world bleed through, and for someone who is only half faery, how was she so powerful that she destroyed the rest of the illusion? Is Sookie not only a special human, but a special faery? She's the speshulist speshul of them all? Gag. When will writers learn that it's more interesting to watch/read about a normal person navigate through extraordinary circumstances, then someone who discovers that they're even more extraordinary than everyone else around them?

Upon returning home, Sookie discovers that she's been gone for over a year, and Jason sold the house that her Gran left her. I don't get why she's all, "I can't believe you gave up on me" to Jason. She was gone for a year, and she was mixed up with a bunch of creatures that are known for killing humans before she disappeared without taking any of her personal belongings. After months of searching for her, it was pretty reasonable for him to assume that she was dead. I also find it interesting, upon re-watch, that Eric feeds into her narcissism by telling her that he never gave up on her, when all of her friends and loved ones did. Keep in mind, to a 1,000 year old vampire one year is not that much time, especially if he has knowledge of the fae world that younger vampires like Bill might not.

Sheriff Andy is a V addict. This can't be good.

Jesus is pushing Laffayette deeper and deeper into magic, now taking him to the meeting of a coven (although he says they're not a coven, they appear to be a group of people who gather to practice magic, which I believe is a coven). Lafayette, to say the least, is skeptical, and spooked when Marnie, the head witch, channels his dead vampire lover Eddie.

Arlene's baby pulls the head off of dolls, therefore is a future serial killer.

Tara is cage fighting in New Orleans. Wow, her body is what I'd like mine to be, but I'd order mine with hips. Are there cage fighting clubs here? I would like to go to there.

Jessica and Hoyt are having a fight about why Jessica, who does not eat food anymore, never has a hot plate of food ready for him when he gets home from work. Really Hoyt? She does not eat food. Why would she want to cook it?

Pam is a cynical bitch who cannot hide her contempt for humans. We have something in common. Eric, however, is very good at playing the media game. "Who would you rather trust, a vampire, or a politician?" Touche, blond viking. Touche.

Bill, surprisingly, is also very ... appealing, when he's not mooning over Sookie and has a taste of power.

Tara looks ridiculously beautiful in this poster.

Tara smokes now. Boo. Tara also makes out with girls now. Yay? She also seems to have gotten her anger management problem under control (although I always thought she had every reason to be pissed off all of the time). I don't think that having a girlfriend makes her a lesbian, but I do think that it's been very easy for the audience to assume that this is what the show is saying, since there's been no other explanation. I don't think that that's where they're going, but if it is, I don't like the suggestion that because she's had some traumatizing relationships with men, she's decided to try women for a while. It has little to do with her relationships with men. My guess is that she moved to New Orleans and told herself that she wasn't going to get involved with any men for a while and focus on making friends. Met Naomi, got close to her, then found herself surprised at feeling more then friendly feelings for her. I think that sexuality is fluid for most people, and Tara was in a space to explore that attraction, instead of deny it like most people do their whole lives.

Sookie's looking to go back to work at Merlotte's. Why does Sam keep rehiring her? She disappears whenever the fuck she feels like it, often without letting him know, and she still has a job? He has every right to be "prickly" Sookie, you've come back all perky and chirping about "super secret vampire business" and expecting everyone to treat you like they didn't mourn you and the tragedy that is your mostly dead family for a year. I had to laugh when Terry said that they were going to name the baby after Sookie, but then it ended up being a boy, and there's no boy version of the name Sookie. There's not a girl version of the name Sookie, either. It's an absolutely hideous name, and I have cringed inwardly every time I typed it for this post.

Sheriff Andy is a V addict. ~~This can't be good.~~ And is now shaking down past and present drug dealers like Lafayette for any drop that he can find. I didn't like Jason telling Lafayette that nothing happened to him. He was harassed by a drug addicted cop. Andy has no right carrying around a gun and a badge in his mental state.

Tommy is under Hoyt's momma's care now... Sam shot his brother in the leg? Goddamn that's fucked up. I liked their little exchange though. Sam: "How's that physical therapy I'm paying for?" Tommy: "Could use a couple more months. How's that anger management class?" Sam: "Might need to go more often."

Sexy time with Tara and Naomi. When are we going to see Lafayette and Jesus bump and grind? Tara is apparently Toni from Atlanta to Naomi. And a text from Lafayette to Tara saying that Sookie is alive turns into a text from her Dad saying that her grandmother died. This relationship will never work if Tara still thinks that where she came from and the things that she's been through define who she is. Who she's become, considering her past, just makes her more amazing.

Jessica is tempted by a sack of blood other then Hoyt at Fangtasia. Pam's hip to waist ratio is fantastic. I loved her laughing at the ridiculousness of a baby vampire living monogamously with a human. You can't fight your nature, Jess. You've been eating the same meal every night for a year, you might need to try someone new.

When I first watched this episode, I thought that Sam's "anger management" involved dinner and a drunken orgy. Instead, it's dinner and drunken shape-shifting. I'm not sure which is better.

Jason is taking care of the people of Hot Shot. I don't understand how they can't feed themselves. Poor country folk like them would have figured out how to feed themselves ages ago. The depiction of the Hot Shot people bothers me. They are just an aggregation of very single "white trash" stereotype ever, from the dirtyness, to the incest, to the poor eating habits, etc. Are we to believe that all were-panthers are inbred freaks? They repay his generosity by knocking him into an ice chest. So, they're not even good people, either. Why do you not like poor people, True Blood?

A celebration of the life of Marnie's parrot turns into raising it from the dead. This only works when Lafayette joins the circle, which makes me think that he's much more powerful then even Marnie. One of the mousy witches is a spy for King(!) Bill, which I'm sure doesn't spell good things for the coven.

Sookie is apparently a hot piece of meat to
be claimed by the man who out-hunks them all.

As for the most talked about scene of the episode, in which Sookie, feeling safe in a house that in her head, still belongs to her, exits the shower, takes off her robe, turns around, and finds Eric in her bedroom ... look, I know he's attractive, but that does not excuse the rapiness of that entire scene. He's violated her privacy, made her feel unsafe in what used to be her bedroom, and told her that bought her house because owning the house meant that he would own her. "You're mine, Sookie", he says, right before he pops out his fangs. How is that not rapy? It disturbs me that so many female fans wet their panties at that scene. It might be fun in a fantasy, but in real life when men think they own you it is not hot and sexy, it's downright scary, and reading the stuff that I read every day, I can't tell myself that it's just a show. Eric creeped me the fuck out tonight, and I felt like the hook at the end was "Will Eric rape Sookie? Tune in next week!"

Sterilization of Women of Color: Does “Unforced” Mean “Freely Chosen”?

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:17:00 +0000

Sterilization of Women of Color: Does “Unforced” Mean “Freely Chosen”? : Ms Magazine Blog:

"U.S. women of color have historically been the victims of forced sterilization. Some women were sterilized during Cesarean sections and never told; others were threatened with termination of welfare benefits or denial of medical care if they didn’t “consent” to the procedure; others received unnecessary hysterectomies at teaching hospitals as practice for medical residents. In the South it was such a widespread practice that it had a euphemism: a “Mississippi appendectomy.”"

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:43:00 +0000

I'm a fan of Ryan Gosling's, so I'm definitely going to check this out.

More Drive (2011) Videos

H/T to /Film

Black Women and Depression

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Black and Depressed: Two African-American Women Break the Silence | Psych Central: "The stigma and prejudice toward mental health issues in Black communities is especially thick, making it very difficult for persons suffering from depression or anxiety (or any mood disorder) to acknowledge it, let alone seek treatment."

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: In Time (October 28th)

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:34:00 +0000

This is a cool idea. I believe this is Justin Timberlake's first leading role, and I think it might work for him.

Circle Food Store News

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:20:00 +0000

I really, really hope that they're able to get the funding to completely restore this grocery store. I feel like so many new fresh food stores, markets, and projects are being funded all over the city, yet this man has had to struggle for the money to restore a fresh market that already existed in this community prior to the flood.

Grocer forging ahead with plans to resurrect Seventh Ward’s iconic Circle Food Store | TheLensNola.org : Investigative Journalism New Orleans: "It was the place to go if you wanted to put food on the table, a uniform on your child or even a doctor’s eye on that lingering ear infection. Best known as a full-service grocery, Circle Food Store had physicians and dentists working in cramped offices a floor above the produce aisle, and a clerk to cash checks and sell school uniforms not far from a sweet-smelling bakery. It served as a one-stop shop for 7th Ward neighborhood needs long before such an integrated approach became the fodder for endless urban planning seminars."

Oshun

noreply@blogger.com (Denise Moore) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:27:00 +0000

A little girl that I spent time with last week asked me what Orisha was I. I admitted to her that I don't know very much about Orishas, and asked her which one she thought I would be. She said "Oshun, because you're sweet..." and then we got interrupted. I finally got around to looking up Oshun. That kid's pretty perceptive.

Oshun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Ọṣhun is beneficent, generous and very kind. She does, however, have a horrific temper, one which she seldom ever loses but which causes untold destruction whenever she does. Oshun is said to have gone to a drum festival one day and to have fallen in love with the king-dancer Shango, Undergod of lightning & thunder. Since that day, Shango has been married to Oba, Oya, and Oshun, though Oshun is said to be considered his principal wife."

Falls in love with the Undergod of thunder and lightning? Totally my type of chaos.