Book of the Month : February

Jeanette Winterson - Tanglewreck

A nice warm feeling descended over me when my very lovely friend gave me a copy of this book for Christmas. Jeanette Winterson has been there for me at some very dark times in my life. I paced my mother's kitchen reading and rereading Written on the body after a very messy breakdown; it was the only thing I could handle!
Her recent books have been something of a let down after the glorious heights reached by The Passion and other earlier works, but even her worst books are better than most authors best ones so I still love her and her writing.
This new book is aimed at children ( hooray!) so no lesbians here (boo!). I thought this was probably a good tangent for her to go down and I was not disappointed. I wish I could be a child and read this because I think it would certainly make me think differently about time.
This is an adventure sci-fi (If I can use such an unfashionable word) with a female hero; a little girl named Silver. She lives in Tanglewreak, a magical house but her parents and sister disappeared in a Time Tornado and she is left to live with her hideously selfish aunt and her always-watching rabbit, Bigamist. Silver finds that she is the 'Child with the Golden Face' who must find the Timekeeper, a mythical watch that will restore time to it's correct pace.
This is a familiar format for a young adult's book; a hero, a search, a journey and choice between good and evil and a satisfying conclusion. It deals with issues of time and a has a plethora of physics references in that could be followed up by an enthusiastic young mind. My favorite is a cat called Dinger who sleeps in a box and switches between being dead and alive. The heavy science dealing with relativity and quantum mechanics is clearly explained in a non-patronizing manner.
This is the best kind of novel for me; well researched and accessible, you have learned something by reading it but have not been given a lecture. I have a soft spot for the author and for the subject (being raised by a physics teacher the Quantum is in my blood!) so I don't know how much of this swayed my opinion but I do think it is worth reading and I will be waiting eagerly for the day I can pass it on to my children to read.

I read another book in February that did not become 'Book of the Month' when I thought it would be a dead cert. It was The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters. I really wanted to enjoy this book as I LOVE her other 3 novels but I was halfway through before I realized I was still waiting for the story to start.
It dealt with some weighty issues: Suicide, homosexuality (of course), self harm, back street abortions but something seemed to be missing. This book lacked the intensity of her previous writing. I was looking forward to some clever plot twists, as in The Fingersmith, but was very disappointed. I missed her Victorian theme too; this book was set in the second world war and just after.
Never mind, I'm sure she will come up with something good in her next one.

Thinking Blogger Award!!!!!!!!

I have been awarded this by not one, not two, but THREE wonderful bloggers: Sparkle, Maia and Grace.
I am GOBSMACKED!!!
This could cause a breakout of exclamation marks!!!!!!! and you know how bad those are!!!!!
Thank you to all three of you and I am now going to go into a gushing mushy puddle as I realise that people might not hate me after all.
I have spent a long time swallowing down the bile when I hear and see blatant misogyny that it seems nobody else can see. After all there is only so many times you can have the same argument before you give up and just keep quiet. I used to find solace in reading feminist literature and slyly lending books to people rather than trying to 'convert' them.
Then I started blogging and reading other women's blogs. I don't feel like I'm standing on an island waving to distant sisters standing on their islands anymore. I feel like I am part of a living movement of intelligent and interesting women, they are funny and have kept their sense of humor even though they are fighting the hardest fight; the unseen one.

So...here are the rules:
1. If / when you get tagged, write a post with links to five blogs that make you think.
2. Also link to this post so that readers can track the meme to its origins.
3. If you want, display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ on your blog with pride - and a link to the post you wrote to pass it on.

Five blogs that make me think...hmmmm, now I'd love to give this award back to the three who gave it to me but I'm not going to but I want you three to know I think you are amazing and I would've and all that but I want to do new ones...does that make sense??

Hathor the Cow Goddess - I LOVE women cartoonists and Hathor is the best. She writes about being an attachment parent. She want to empower all women to follow their instincts and not be dictated to my multi-national companies who want to take our hard earned cash. Breastfeeding, bed-sharing, peaceful parenting, home birth and unschooling are all on her agenda brought to you through humor and personal stories.

IRGXANA's world of squirrels - It has to be done really. Apart from all the tech geek talk (it goes over my head) I think his artwork is rather good and I think his recent revelation into what it's like being a woman in a man's world has made him think that all this feminism malarkey might have something in it! He makes me laugh too.

Greengurll - A fellow dreadlocker! I am looking forward to hearing her posts on her pregnancy and birth.

Oh bugger...I've had computer breakdown and all my blog links have been lost. We are still having graphics card problems and for some reason this means all my bookmarks have gone. I will find two more blogs to give this award to another day.
That will have to do you for now!

When pedophilia is legal ...

We all know that EVERYONE thinks that pedophilia is VERY BAD. It is VERY ILLEGAL to own any pictures depicting material that is pedophiliac. You will have your computer possessed and be hauled off to the cop shop an' no mistake gov'ner...unless...UNLESS its not a photo of child abuse, it's a cartoon.
There has been a rise over the last few years of a new type of internet porn (so I have been told) that goes under the name of 'lolicon'. These are drawings of children involved in sexual acts or the sexulisation of children. These are not illegal in the UK because

"Although cartoons depicting child abuse are deeply offensive, they do not in themselves constitute abuse of a child."

As with most things porn these images have leaked into mainstream society. A musical artist called 'Venetian Snares' features a 'very popular' lolicon artist Trevor Brown, on several of his albums; these can be viewed and bought in every good high street music shop and also on Amazon!
This is the only link I am going to put to these appalling images and I shall warn you that it is NOT NICE and should not be clicked on if you are feeling at all like a human being with thoughts and feelings...but remember that you can buy this at Amazon (that's another link for you NOT to click on but I just want to prove a point).

Trevor Brown:

"whose work explores paraphilias, such as pedophilia, BDSM and other fetish themes."

Has a very disturbing website called 'babyart' which is as horrible as it sounds. It is a parade of images of beaten-up, abused, over-sexualized doll-like children, often restrained, gagged and bruised. They are laid out for the veiwer to look at and the "explorartion of paraphilia" happens off-screen with the veiwers own feelings at the pictures.

It's just a hollow justification for images of violence to children becoming mainstream. It sickens and saddens me and I ask where will it end?

Perhaps we should be looking at changing the law in this country so that drawn images of pedophilia will become illegal as photographs are.

Huh huh...gay dog!

I saw a gay dog today in our local park. A 'trendy' was out walking his 'I'm hard as fuk' Staffy and a HUGE Alsatian ran up to it and started humping it. It was even funnier when I realized the staffy was male and the trendy owner was completly thrown by a male dog humping his symbol of masculinity. The staffy clearly wasn't objecting to it's submissive role.
Huh huh gay dog...
huh huh huh gay dog...

Love: Pharaoh style

Over at Maia's place she has been reviewing a book questioning love the family and it's structure. Then I came across this article.
Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski are a German bother and sister. They were separated as children and didn't met until they were adults and then they fell in love.
They have been living together for 6 years and have four children, all but one are currently in foster care.
Once you get over the 'IK' factor of a brother/sister relationship you can begin to question why we feel like that. There is the obvious worry about the genetic problems that could occur with their children but we are led to believe that a child of incest will immediately be a banjo-twanging inbreed retard but that is from generations of inbreeding. The Pharaohs are famous for being all products of incestuous unions and our own Royal Family isn't exactly exsemt from this.
So what is actually wrong with this couple? Take away their genertic past and they are just two people in love who have children....aren't they???
The family and it's rules are so deeply entreached in our society that we find it hard to question them. The man has served two years in prison and they have had their children put into care because of this.
I'm not saying everyone should go and procreate with their siblings; I'm just using this story as an exsample where SEX is the big issue. It seems that, although the children's helath would be the concern of the law, it is not, it is the SEX.

"It's legal for the couple to live together, and to share a bed. But they are breaking the law once they have sex. If there are no more children, then who will be able to prove that they are a couple?" asked their lawyer.

Nipples, porn and babies.

Hathor the Cow Goddess added her avatar to MySpace and it was this lovely innocent breastfeeding picture.



However they deleteed it as it was showing too much boob, whilst this one was fine:


"Yet what they consider objectionable material is a breastfeeding baby over a naked woman with star pasties over her nipples. So a baby on the nipples “bad” - silver pastie on a nipple “good”?!" - A quote from the good Cow Woman herself.

There is very little more needed to be said really.

New thing wrong with my body!

Bugger.
I had carpel tunnel syndrome for a while and now I have got arthritis in my thumb. I'm glad I had a mis-spent youth; now my body can fall to bit slowly and I won't be sad, I did everything when I was younger.
As for my thumb....ow ow owey ow!!!!!

Slings and high heels

Slings...baby carrying devices, you just couldn't do it in high heels!
I have recently made myself a no-sew sling and I LOVE IT! I have discovered that for longer journeys it is a good idea to adapt a walk that makes your hips wiggle and your arms flop and it sets a little rock to your babies body. You put you weight behind you and walk the street sure footed, slowly, languishingly, you and your baby are in no hurry.
How the hell would you do that in high heels????
Women's rights and baby's rights...where is the line?
I'm not talking about 'pro-life' stuff here; I hope you all know where I stand on that one...I'm talking about the rights of a women who has chosen to have the baby she loves and her right to not feel under any pressure to do anything but nurture that child.
I feel that high heeled shoes and many other aspects of perceived femininity do nothing but hinder a mother going about her mothering. This even goes for bottle feeding; your breasts and how they are perceived is a political minefield.
Breastfeed, bed share, put baby in a sling, all these things are under the patriarchy's 'wipe out' list because if you feel you can do what your heart tells you to as a mother then....
You feel what your heart tells you as a WOMEN. i.e. you are equal to men, you have a right to not be fearful of rape and attack, you have a right to be sexual outside of male gazes.

Thanks for these Pics Polly!

In case anyone is in any doubt as to who has the cutest kids...

This seems a long time ago now but they are very lovley


Not a very flattering picture of me in a pub

Computer Breakdown!!!!

Due to the nature of our Frankenstein's computer (made out of bits from dead computers)every now and then it decides to give up the ghost and do something inexplicable. The other day the graphics card died in a whirr, a wizz and a little bit of smoke leaving with a kind of 'phut' sound. Boo Hoo!!
What with the loss of the Sky One channel on our TV our house was plunged into the dark ages before computers and more than 4 channels.
"It's like bloody 1986 in here" I was heard to shout whilst getting out 'Hatfull of Hollow' to seal the illusion of time travel.
Well, I'm back online as you can tell but with a rather inferior graphics card. This doesn't affect me but poor Rob is suffering. Any donation of graphic cards gratefully received!