Just checking in. Fed about 40 people and have the house cleaned up, so I thought I would check in on everyone. Pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and Piedmont sauce, burgers, chicken, and dogs, and everyone brought side dishes. The pulled pork was a huge hit- my friend came in from Pittsburgh and brought a couple dozen rolls from the Oakmont bakery, and it was just delicious.
Watched the derby, and realized the only thing whiter than the Kentucky Derby is a Klan rally.
Hope you all are behaving yourselves. I’m not.
JWL
If you haven’t already, Cole, be sure to read Hunter Thompson’s account of the Kentucky Derby.
the Conster
The sky cleared in Boston just in time for the SuperMoon rising! W00t!
Chyron HR
I don’t believe you.
AUDIT THE FED
General Stuck
I’m in streaming attendance for the Church of Baseball, and so far the sermon sucks, if a Reds fan.
Never went to the Derby and don’t care much for the horse industry, and I grew up in Kentucky. And you are right, those folks are whitest of the white, with entitlement off the charts.
Lojasmo
Behaving badly as always. Lojasmo+2 and about to go occupy a local Mexican joint.
ETA: since this is an open thread, I just got clipless pedals for my mountain bike. I have been falling all over. If FYWP allowed embedded pictures, I would show you all my bruises and scrapes. FYWP.
lamh35
THANK YOU!!! I just don’t understand the fascination with the Derby. I did hear Mary J Blige was singing the national anthem though. Bet the high falutin’ derb-iers hated it.
ugh.
Maude
@General Stuck:
Don’t think the horses care much for the horse industry either.
lamh35
So seems like Obama was even more fired up in Virginia. I’m telling slicing Robmey up with a thousand ninja cuts.
(list from Dick Halperin, but a good place for quotes)
AxelFoley
@lamh35:
Obama to RMoney:
Romney you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo’ face
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the place
We will we will Barack you
We will we will Barack you
Steeplejack
@General Stuck:
I don’t know what to do with myself. My Braves are off to a good start, and both my “local” teams, the Orioles and the Nationals–whose every game is made available for my viewing pleasure–are at .667 for the young season. Did not see this coming.
Oh, yeah, and the Yankees are in fourth place. Life is good.
Baud
I miss the GOP debates. Romney’s one-man show isn’t nearly as entertaining.
SBJules
Re: the derby…yes very white except for the winning jockey & a few other riders.
Southern Beale
Hmm, apparently “standing your ground” while black and female and being attacked by your abusive husband doesn’t count in Florida!
Southern Beale
Except for the guys riding the horses and mucking out the stalls. They’re all Hispanic. Shocker, I know.
PeakVT
@Steeplejack: I keep looking at those standings and pinching myself. O’s and Nats both over .500? Can’t be real.
eemom
@General Stuck:
Srsly. Seems like an odd fixation today for an animal-loving blog.
MattF
Steven Pearlman wrote a column (in the WaPo!) about DC-area Republican craziness and didn’t say ‘both sides do it’:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/hostage-taking-on-the-silver-line/2012/05/04/gIQAP4Rw3T_story.html
Amazing.
khead
No way a Klansman would wear the suit DougJ linked earlier.
Litlebritdifrnt
We all know that POTUS can burn a barn or two, but today in Ohio FLOTUS just kicked ass in her speech. Michelle and her arms are just going to strangle Anne Romney and her “I just love it that women have no choice but to work and raise kids” Her speech was full of “Barack had a single Mom” “I want to give my kids what my Dad gave me”. Damn, the messaging in this campaign roll out is pitch perfect.
Citizen_X
@General Stuck: No, for real whiteness and entitlement you’ve got to see this video of Thurston J. Romney the Third at Papa John’s (his mansion and “grounds,” not his shitty restaurants). I half expect Rodney Dangerfield to bust in with fifty friends, cause total havoc, and shout “Hey everybody! We’re all gonna get laid!”
A Marx Brothers invasion would work, too.
Southern Beale
We went to a crafts fair today despite it being 90 gazillion degrees and 350% humidity. In fucking MAY, people, I’m telling you it feels like August out there. I could just puke.
Then we went and had margaritas at our favorite Mexican place, which was fun ‘cuz it’s Cinco and all, so the drinks were just $5.
And then we came home and did laundry and now the husband is making me watch a really lame action adventure movie with sound effects that make the room shake.
lamh35
@Litlebritdifrnt: FLOTUS was fuckin’ awesome. Ann…who???
General Stuck
@Citizen_X:
Jeebus, what a schmaltzy fool that guy is. I can see right now, I am going to have to ration myself for listening to that kind of pomposity, for fear of carving my ears out with a soup spoon.
@Maude:
And one of the reasons I have no use for any of it.
Litlebritdifrnt
I have to admit I have mixed feelings about Horse Racing, I know that in some cases the horses enjoy it, but damn the injuries that are caused, the death rate of these horses, it just does not seem humane to me. Over the years there have been lots of complaints against The Grand National, due to the high death rate of the horses.
Southern Beale
@Chyron HR:
Ha ha. Very good.
Southern Beale
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Since Barbaro had to be put down, I can’t even watch. And I know so many of these horses end up as dog food. It’s a brutal sport. I don’t want to have anything to do with it.
Southern Beale
Next weekend Nashville has it’s own version of the Derby, it’s called The Steeplechase. Outside, jumping over fences. Our whiter-than-white privileged set do it all up with the hats and the fancy get-ups and then everyone sweats like fucking pigs in the heat. I don’t get it, not appealing to me.
catclub
@Lojasmo: I did that too.
The thing I had first tried to do was lever out by moving my heel away from the bike, but that is actually really hard. Moving my heel in toward the center was much easier, and fewer, virtually no falls after that.
Of course, I am on a road bike so rarely have to lever out of the clips. OTOH, fall downs occur at stop signs or lights with cars around.
RossInDetroit
Krugman on a talk show is like Isaac Newton at a billiards match. He knows exactly how things move and why. But everyone else just wants to keep score.
catclub
whoever said (in the morning thread) to bet on the most liquor related horse name picked the winner!
Not just white but extremely rich. I missed all the just plain folks stuff on TV about people who own million dollar horses —
as an amusement. Lucky me.
Keith G
Interesting speculation.
I would think they would be just fine with such a talented performer.
NotMax
Just finished watching another episode of my newest-found video interest, the Australian TV show Wild Boys.
I am so-o-o-o hooked.
Otherwise, a blah weekend.
Uncle Glenny
Did you dry-rub the pork?
lamh35
Obama Rally Vs. Romney Rally: What’s Different?
NotMax
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.
lamh35
Obama Rally Vs. Romney Rally: What’s Different?
CaseyL
@Southern Beale: Yes, that’s the last Derby I watched live, and that is also the event that began the process of “walking away” from horse racing. Even though the horses are true athletes, with a true competitive spirit, and I do believe mostly enjoy racing, the risk of lethal injury is too high and “the industry” is too rapacious and cruel.
I’m deliberately using the expression “walking away” (from horse racing) in the same way Ta-Nehisi Coates has “walked away” from professional football. Both sports are coming under increasing fire for the way they treat the living creatures who make the sports worth watching (horse racing is not quite as deadly for the jockeys as the horses, but it’s a near thing). Fans of both sports are finding it harder to justify having anything to do with them.
Interesting bit of synchronicity.
jeffreyw
Hoping to snap the moon rise, but the clouds are not cooperating. Buddy is barking three deer who slipped down to the feeder a little early. They are paying him no mind, and he isn’t going to go down there when he can bark them just fine from the patio.
Donut
Open thread? Don’t mind if I do.
Here is an opportunity to build a meme about Romney’s untrustworthiness:
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/05/04/478610/bryan-fischer-slams-romney
Heliopause
Let’s see, the athletes (the jocks in this case) are disproportionately ethnic minorities while the paying customers are overwhelmingly white. This is different from any other sporting event in the U.S., how? When was the last time you called a Steelers game a “Klan rally”?
SiubhanDuinne
@the Conster:
I was out driving at totally the right time and, crucially, in totally the right direction, to see the super moonrise. Just breathtaking. Pale silver grey and huge.
I’m going to go out tomorrow morning to watch moonset behind the little lake at my apartment.
Soonergrunt
It’s prom night for the soonerson, so I’m probably up late tonight. Not much going on here.
Narcissus
I used to dry-rub the pork but then I discovered Gun Oil
Yutsano
@Soonergrunt: Sidearms stowed please. It will all be fine. :)
dr. bloor
@Soonergrunt:
Buy’em a limo, and go to bed.
Soonergrunt
@Yutsano: It’s the soonerson, so we’re OK on that front. I swear, that boy is so rules based, it not funny anymore. I have absolutely no worries about him. It’s one of the few benefits of his mild Asperger’s Syndrome.
The soonerdaughter however, is 13 going on 30 and while she has a basically good head on her shoulders, she’s also totally fearless to the point of being reckless.
Shana
Just read your post to hubby, who laughed and then said “no, the jockeys are all hispanic.”
Anyway, just got back from Richmond where I saw Obama’s speech. As fabulous as you’ve heard. When he’s is campaign mode he is ON.
Jade Jordan
After dinner you slobbered all over Lily and had a great hilbilly WV time.
catpal
it is hard to appreciate horse racing as an animal lover. I live in an area where one of today’s derby horses came from, and a previous recent derby winner was from here, and many others past. There are beautiful horse farms – and these horses are well taken care of.
I have met some retired racing horses that are now having great lives as therapeutic riding horses for the disabled, especially children.
Some of the horse farm owners here are wonderful animal lovers and very charitable to animal rescue (especially the derby winner owners), and unfortunately there are some that are of the R-Money crowd really taking advantage of the workers.
Soonergrunt
@dr. bloor: He and his friends rented a limo for the evening, but I won’t rest right until he’s under the roof.
Paul in NC
Watch the Talledega 500 tomorrow. Makes the Kentucy Derby look like the Rainbow Coalition.
rikyrah
Listened to POTUS and FLOTUS.
I believe the President has decided to beat Willard like he’s a runaway slave.
I, for one, will enjoy every minute.
kdaug
Honestly can’t remember when this would have been otherwise.
Cole != behave.
Elisabeth
@lamh35:
fwiw, Byron York (!) said POTUS sometimes sounded like an “aging rock star.”
Mr Stagger Lee
@Heliopause: I think the only sports stadium whiter than white, is Fenway Park in Boston. Of course then again, the place where the Utah Jazz play is probably bleached White.
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: The clouds went (mostly) away for me this evening.
Alison
So Saturday night is probably a silly time to do this, what with most people having lives and all, although we do seem to keep OTs going reasonably well around these parts…
Anyway! Some of you might remember my comment and AL’s subsequent post about World Book Night? Well, sad to say my experience was pretty crap. Not with the organization itself, but with the fuckfaces in my town. I had a really tough time giving the books out – lots of rude, dismissive people, cutting me off or walking away before I could even get a sentence out. I tried to be very polite and approach people who were not obviously in a hurry or distracted, and not get up in people’s space and such…but it just did not go well, and being that I am already quite shy to begin with, I got pretty demoralized rather quickly. I was just taken aback by how uninterested people were in free fucking books. I tried to be clear right away that I wasn’t hawking bibles (even though, unfortunately, the title of my book did contain the word “bible”) or whatever, but…sigh.
ANYWAY AGAIN. I had a lot of copies left over, some of which I sent off to friends, but I still have three left. Now, they are specially printed for WBN, so the cover looks a bit different and there is info about WBN printed on the back and on the inside of the cover, but other than that it’s A FREE BOOK YAY. It’s The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and I am happy to send them off to any Juicers who would like one – or, to the first three of y’all who respond. Media mail is cheap so I’ll even cover the postage. If you’d like one, either give me your email or if you’re on Twitter, get me there @alisonrose711
Fluke bucket
Cole I hope your weather today was as wonderful as mine. I have wondered all day if it rained on y’all .
Kanamit
Dear open thread,
Yesterday I saw Walter Russell Mead jogging. It was pretty damn funny.
-Kanamit
danielx
Note to self: when having dinner with the spouse while she’s in the hospital eating sucky hospital food and on a restricted diet, do not gloat while having your dinner (and the daughter’s) from Shapiro’s Deli. Especially when your dinner is a brisket on rye sandwich about two inches thick with mustard and swiss, nice salad with ranch dressing and a chocolate eclair. While the daughterspawn is having a humongous chicken salad sandwich, baked mac and cheese and another chocolate eclair.
Why do I suspect it was the eclairs that tipped the scales…
Nicole
That’s because Churchill Downs is the absolute worst place to actually watch the Kentucky Derby- costs a fortune to get in, and you can’t see anything anyway. I spent last Kentucky Derby at Belmont, and racing attracts a very diverse crowd.
As one of the lone horse racing fans on the site, I need to defend the sport-
Honestly, unless you are a vegan, or are one hundred percent sure of the origins of all of the animal products you eat, you’re financially supporting a much, much crueler industry than horse racing, and most likely not feeling very guilty about it. It’s easy to condemn things that don’t interest you.
Unless you don’t watch any sports, criticizing millionaire owners doesn’t make sense either, unless perhaps your team is the Green Bay Packers. Pro sports belongs to the ultra-wealthy. Racing hardly has a monopoly on it. Although racing offers more opportunities for small-time owners than football, basketball or any other sport where a team is owned. The winner of today’s Derby cost $11,000 as a yearling, and $35,000 as a two-year-old (when he started racing). I’m not sure of the starting salary of pro football players, but I suspect it’s somewhat higher.
Racing has enormous problems, and the addition of slot money has not helped, as all that’s been done with it is to inflate purses, which encourages less-than-scrupulous owners to run horses that need rest. But the purses have been inflated to try to keep small-time owners in the game, not the millionaires, who will be there anyway. Unfortunately, the millionaires are the ones who can afford to give their horses time off, not the small-time owners. I think the sport needs to be smaller, with fewer races. But, that puts a lot of people out of work and costs the state a lot of money, as states take a huge chunk of the money wagered (in NYS, the takeout rate is 25 percent).
But problems can be addressed, and racing has been very aggressive in trying different surfaces, improving drug testing, promoting retirement/retraining organizations, etc. Far more aggressive than other sports have been in addressing their problems. The essence of racing, running fast horses against each other, is not cruel. Racehorses are smart, and they certainly give every indication that they understand what they’re doing, and they are in a dialogue with their jockeys, because a 115 pound man is not going to get a 1000 pound animal to do anything the animal doesn’t want to do.
Regarding Eight Belles and Barbaro- they were both awful tragedies, but they were accidents- the horses took a bad step. There’s not a chance in hell either trainer would have run the animals if they suspected something was not right. Unfortunately, horses cannot lie flat on their backs for eight weeks while a broken leg heals, as we can. And horses break legs, whether they are racehorses or just goofing off in a pasture.
The sport certainly isn’t for everyone- handicapping a racing form is a large part of the fun, and it’s really hard to do. But it gets a lot of grief that could just as easily be levied on other sports. I think ultimately the fact that it runs on gambling offends our Puritan sensibilities so it makes it easy to pick on.
arguingwithsignposts
Most of us have bank accounts, and yet we criticize bankers.
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison: Never read it, always wanted to. If you have a copy still, I’d love one. I’m not twitter-competent; my email is SiubhanDuinne (at) gmail (dot) com.
Thanks!
SiubhanDuinne
@jeffreyw:
Superb photo!
General Stuck
@jeffreyw:
Nice, it is still light here, but have my camera iso set at 100, and will give it a go a little later.
lamh35
Man it still boggles my mind that Alan freakin’ Thicke (da freakn’ dad from Growing Pins” hs a son who writes some the best “grown and sexy” R&B/soul songs out there right now. Funny enough he sounds like Alan Thicke hn he talks…boggles the mind.
Love After War
SexTherapy
Valdivia
@Elisabeth:
I am trying not to have a coronary at the rage that induces in me. These people are so hateful and jealous.
Brachiator
@CaseyL:
True Conversation:
A Female Buddy: They should just get rid of football. There are too many injuries to the athletes.
Me: What about dance? Your daughter has had all kinds of injuries and a couple of serious surgeries. Should we get rid of ballet?
A Female Buddy: Fuck You.
Her daughter continues to dance, and is quite talented. And dances through the pain and injuries.
catpal
@jeffreyw: beautiful photo. thanks for sharing. too cloudy here to see the big moon.
Alison
@SiubhanDuinne: Emailed! :)
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
This is wrong on so many levels.
But funny!
Jay C
@danielx:
A god thing you already AT a hospital: if did that to my spouse, I’d be the one heading to the ER to have the sandwich (and the cutlery, and any loose hardware, most likely) removed from places I’d rather not contemplate…..
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks!
@General Stuck: You have that clear desert air to help. We are sadly lacking in hummingbirds so far this year, alas.
Raven
@jeffreyw: I’m having a great time with my new dslr.
Raven
@jeffreyw: Here’s what it looked like here last night.
CaseyL
@Brachiator: Way to deflect and trivialize, dude.
Yes: dancers abuse their bodies in the name of art, and can pay a high price for it later in life.
I am not aware, however, of a life in dance leading to so much brain injury as to induce Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and senile dementia before the age of 50. Nor am I aware of a mini-epidemic of older dancers suing their former dance companies and/or committing suicide because of it.
Scott Supak
I don’t post often, and it really sucks that when I do it’s about a guy I used to work with dying. He played lead guitar for The Grass Roots for a few year. Brian Naughton. Great stagehand, damn good guitar player.
Suffern ACE
I learned today that when free comic books are at stake, you show up when the store opens, not at 1:30. I also found a comic book featuring Betty Page that comes with 3D glasses.
jeffreyw
@catpal: Thanks! Here are a few more.
jeffreyw
@Raven: Ah! Most excellent, sir.
Jibeaux
I early Voted in NC against Amendment one. Line was unfuckingbelievable. I have voted here for 20 years and have never seen a line one quarter that long, so there’s that. Now, tech support. I turned off mobile earlier for the site and now I want it back. The button is nowhere to be found. Halp!
SarahT
@the Conster: So jealous ! Really overcast here in NYC & only an hour left. Wanted to see it again so bad – so awesome last time. Sigh…
amk
@danielx: Hope you know a good divorce lawyer. My wife would have stuck a fork in my eye.
SarahT
@Citizen_X: Heh. Rombot & Ghouliani brought pizza to a NYC firehouse on 9/11 (what else ?). Heckler to Rombot : “Just don’t put ’em on the roof of the car !”.
lamh35
FYI, I just saw an tv ad talking about the new voter ID laws. It gave examples of the type of new voter IDlaws, then it directs you to go to our local voter website. It was on Centric (it’s a sister network to BET)
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven: Lovely photo. Moons are cool.
SarahT
@the Conster: I’m jealous ! Completely overcast here in NYC w/no signs of clearing. So wanted to see the Super Moon again – so awesome last time. Sigh…
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Just got home from seeing The Avengers (2D). It was every bit as good as all the commenters have been saying. And thanks for the advice to stick to the bitter end of the credits. That was a cool bit they ended with.
PurpleGirl
Went outside, to the plaza outside my building, hoping to see the moon but it’s too hazy and overcast in NYC tonight. I’ve done that several times in the past because my terrace doesn’t give me a good angle or view of the night sky.
belle
goodnight, amk. learn patience.
SarahT:
the moon also rises.
SarahT
@jeffreyw: Just beautiful ! Thanks for posting.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@JWL: It is decadent and depraved.
jl
Oakmont Bakery Pittsburgh, huh?
http://www.oakmontbakery.com/#/products/products
I dunno, those cookies look like some stuff from 7/11 or something. I guess Cole ate one just out of politeness.
Ha ha. Joking.
If I am ever in Pittsburgh, I will surely remember, and check out Oakmont Bakery. Do they make every western pastry in the memory of humankind, or what?
And what the hell is up with the pumpkin ‘torte’. Look at the damn thing:
http://shop.oakmontbakery.com/product_info.php?cPath=336_290_309_400&products_id=2514
Did they just frost a pumpkin? I thought tortes were supposed to flat pie cakey things.
Whatever it is, I want one, right now.
And the lemon, cocoanut, key lime, and banana mini pies, and the caramel torte, and the pineapple upside down cake (cherry in the middle of pineapple slice, very excellent, you know it has to be great). Oh yeah and the peach melbe.
Don’t know what the Oakmonter is, but I want one of those too. If it does not turn out OK, some one else can have some.
So, for starters, those will do.
Edit: What, no teacakes? Can’t find any teacakes. Maybe too ‘girly’ refined and high class for Pittsburgh?
I love me some teacakes, though.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
A few years ago I went to Gold Cup (in The Plains Va. outside of DC) – a big steeplechase that is always held on Kentucky Derby weekend. One of the big after party held at a local estate was called Shock and Awe (this was Bush era when I was there). The whole day was surreal to say the least. A Gilded Age day with the DC elites.
ruemara
I spent the day doing a goodbye to the kitchen. Delicious garlic parm cheese sauce, chocolate orange brownies, candied jalapeño bacon, and herbed sweet potatoes with cottage cheese for a puff pastry filling. I’m going to miss my little haven. I’ll probably be packing for 18 hours straight to make up for the wasted time, but I can’t say I feel bad.
Bago
I heard something about forks. What was it again?
pseudonymous in nc
@Nicole:
I took a tour of Churchill Downs when I was in L’ville about a decade ago, around Feb/March, and I can well imagine.
I have trouble with the Grand National, because it’s set up to kill horses right now (too many entrants, lower quality of horses and jockeys, ugly fences); I’ll watch Cheltenham and Royal Ascot and Epsom, and I’ve been to Newbury, which is a nice day out and you can ignore the poshos in their enclosure.
lamh35
So I’ve been to both an HBCU and a predom whit university as an undergrad and the following video is so true when it comes to the halftime show at SWAC football games vs SEC.
Rickey Smiley – White & Black Band Halftime Show
General Stuck
Moonshot fail. drat
jeffreyw
@ruemara:
Just can’t just say that and then walk away like it is nothing.
jl
This approximates my favorite kind of teacake. Except with some drizzles of sugar glop frosting on top with just the right consistency to soak in a little preferably with just a touch of high class hard liquor in it.
Lemon Lavender Teacake
http://passionbaker.blogspot.com/2010/08/lavender-lemon-teacake.html
Mayken
@Alison: If you still have any available my email is mayken at ravenstower dot com.
If not, cool anyway.
Thanks for trying – sorry the experience was suxor!
jl
@Bago:
Forks are bad, and if you use them, along with ‘spoons’ too much, your innards wither and die, and you along with them.
Everyone knew this in the Middle Ages but we have forgotten their wisdom.
You, your hands, your knife, mouth, gullet. Mass quantities. Those were the table manners God intended.
Alison
@Mayken: Emailed! And yeah, I’m hoping to find a better method next year :)
Phil Perspective
The pulled pork was a huge hit- my friend came in from Pittsburgh and brought a couple dozen rolls from the Oakmont bakery, and it was just delicious.
Is that the bakery R-money ripped the other week?
Yutsano
@jl: So forks were just another evil machination by Catherine De Medici to suppress the peasantry?
sfinny
@PurpleGirl: Me too on the terrace being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had scoped out a good viewing/picture hilltop, but the cloud cover was a complete bust. Maybe tomorrow.
jharp
My losing streak continues.
I last won with Alysheba in 1987. A 13-1 to one I think.
I gotta hit another 13-1 next year just to break even.
CaseyL
Just got back from Magnuson Park (on Lake Washington, Seattle) where I got to watch two moonrises: the moon rose up from the horizon to full and rose-red just before rising into/behind a cloud, and then re-emerging a little less reddish and a little more golden from behind the cloud.
Really beautiful, with the column-of-light reflection on the lake.
It is so rare to be able to see the sky in Seattle, yet I got to see the supermoon last year as well as this year. Nice bit of luck, that.
jl
@Yutsano:
I read in some history of medieval life that people who used forks and spoons back then were pansy asses whose guts withered up and died from excess nicery.
So I am more careful now. Hack grab chew it up and down the gullet. Swill it down with beer. Damnit.
If you have spicy mustard, smear it on with your fingers.
Brachiator
@efgoldman:
And both derailed. The issue of brain injuries adds to a larger issue of injuries that seriously affect athletes and other performers. I recall reading stories about football players with knee and joint injuries so severe that they can hardly get out of bed in the morning and require assistance from their spouses. I also have read biographies and journals of dancers who talk of similar injuries after a lifetime of dancing, or who talk of periods of being similarly addicted to painkillers.
Although I totally understand it, on another level I question the judgement of parents who let their children participate in activities when they are still children which regularly lead to injuries so severe as to require surgery. This is as true of dance as it is football and some other sports.
I used to be a huge boxing fan, even attended some matches during the 1984 Olympics; but I would have no problem if boxing were (or mixed martial arts) were outlawed tomorrow. Football has become a sport in which the players are so big and so fast that serious injury almost cannot be avoided.
However, football is far from being the only sport or activity where it is a reasonable question to ask if the plusses outweigh the negatives. On a recent radio talk show in which hosts and guests were reflecting on the sad death of Junior Seau, a former Olympic medal winning swimmer noted that she had trouble getting and keeping health insurance after her career was over because injuries that were common to her sport were considered to be pre-existing conditions.
So while you might want to draw a bright line that limits the discussion only to injuries that cause brain injuries, it ignores a larger issue, and one that is not just limited to football players or only professional athletes.
Keith
Cotto-Mayweather was a war tonight. I thought Cotto would look more shot, but it wound up being one of Mayweather’s toughest fights. He still won big, but it was competitive the whole way.
BethanyAnne
@Alison: How tacky of them; humans suck. Thanks for offering them here. I read that years ago, and it’s wonderful. :)
gaz
@jl: Just make sure you eat with your right hand, and wipe with the left, man.
ETA: Or is it wipe with your right hand, eat with your left. Uh oh. fuck. =)
Anne Laurie
@CaseyL:
No, but the dancers have their own mini-epidemic of eating disorders, another form of mental illness that too often leads to early death.
I’d say that both football and dance need to be made safer for those participants too young and enraptured to understand how much they’re being encouraged to sacrifice in service of something they find beautiful and desirable.
And that goes for horse racing, too — the horses have even less agency than young human athletes/dancers, but they do have a drive to run and that urgent desire deserves more respect than “we” have given it, especially since most of us are so far removed from the working partnership with horses that did so much to make us human!
Hill Dweller
Why was the media obsessed with the attendance totals for Obama’s OH rally? Chuck Todd, the douche from Buzzfeed, the harpy from CNN, etc. were all pushing the ‘there are empty seats’ nonsense before the rally even started on twitter.
I can understand the wingers obsessing about it. Their candidate couldn’t fill a room if his life depended on it, and they need to deflect. But the media pushing that nonsense is pathetic.
gaz
@Hill Dweller: The pathetic media is pushing this nonsense PRECISELY BECAUSE The GOP candidate couldn’t fill a room if his life depended on it, and they need to deflect.
In the end the media is just trying to turn a profit. However, they end up driving the results. I wish they’d get to reporting politics, rather than trying to influence them.
It’s all about attempting to turn it into a horse-race. So they can profit off of it. Sadly, it poisons the well, and pollutes our ability to focus on the things that matter. Not to mention that it thoroughly pisses me off that they are destroying our country to make a buck. They’re all fucking traitors.
PeakVT
@Anne Laurie: Somewhat related to the dancer issue is this move by Vogue. It’s probably doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Steeplejack
@Jibeaux:
You have to clear your browser’s cache, or “history,” then reload Balloon Juice. Maybe have to restart your browser.
eemom
Dunno if there’s a T to be O of, but wanted to share this insightful piece on the suicide of Junior Seau as a reflection of what happens to professional athletes after they retire.
(h/t eedad—I of course am a wilfull ignoranimus when it comes to matters of sports)
different-church-lady
Derby has better hats.
gaz
One of my favorite people just released another book. Yay.
I love Kate Bornstein to death. I gave my well worn copy of “Gender Outlaw” to my mother a few years back.
Her new book is “A Queer and Pleasant Danger” – which I shall be purchasing in short order.
Alison
@gaz: Me too! I read an interview with her at Mother Jones earlier (http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/kate-bornstein-gender-outlaw-queer-and-pleasant-danger-interview) and totally want to read the book now. I’ve got a morbid fascination with Scientology wackiness, plus her take offers a new peek into aspects of it.
Hill Dweller
@gaz: I actually found the answer to my rhetorical question.
One of Willard’s spokesmen went into the arena hours before the rally started, when no one was there, and took a picture. However, he waited until just before the rally actually started to post it on twitter, with the message ‘View from the floor during @BarackObama speech. Not the overflow crowd he promised’.
It was a blatant f’n lie, but winger sites, desperate for anything negative, ran with it. Romney and his people truly are vile.
It also explains the media pushing the narrative. I bet they actually coordinated with the Romney camp.
amk
@gaz: @Hill Dweller: Yup. Fucking fifth columnist fourth estate.
jl
@Hill Dweller:
The corporate media hacks might be setting up a minor cinematic genre.
Barack Obama And Mitt Romney Deliver Speeches To Students
http://youtu.be/bzUKrBOBabE
Which Candidate Connects Better With His Base?
http://youtu.be/0LoA80r5cW4
gaz
@Alison: She’s got something at the village voice right now too, with some crazy comic header (I want the full comic =P )
I’m pretty non-normative genderwise. I was diagnosed GID early on, but I have some serious identity hang ups around my gender. I don’t like the labels because people not steeped in T issues confuse them most of the time anyway. Let’s just say I definitely saw something wrong with my gender as early as six (if sooner, I don’t recall that much back then). Being asexual, it didn’t have anything to do with my orientation, but my identity.
I underwent hormone replacement for awhile, and scheduled surgery in my early twenties, but life crises intervened, and I canceled it all. (My ideal at the moment is total androgyny. Less baggage, less body image issues)
Anyway, I could make a career out of confusing headshrinkers, and it took Kate’s emphatic writing on the subject for me to even begin to understand that I didn’t really have to sign up to a gender binary. That was a pretty serious issue for me, and was a contributing factor for all kinds of unhealthy self-harm, self-destruction, and suicide attempts. She helped to change my life. She possibly helped save it.
Simply put, I love her – and my life is better for her having been a part of it (despite not having had the privilege of knowing her personally)
gaz
@Hill Dweller:
The Rmoney campaign flying monkeys issued a press release, and the press was there by the time the ink dried – to push whatever narrative Rmoney wanted to sell. This is of course speculation, but I’d stake a benji on it.
BethanyAnne
@gaz: I’m so looking forward to her latest. Has to be after I read “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by Jenny Lawson, though. I like following Kate Borenstein on Twitter, too.
And I hear you about the gender issues. I’m struggling to figure out what the hell to do about transition myself.
Cheers,
B
BethanyAnne
@gaz: Oh, and next to Kate in my path is Julia Serano. Have you read or seen her writings or performances? She’s amazing.
gaz
@BethanyAnne:
I’m not sure where you’re at in all of this, or what you’ve found out, but I’ll assume you’re still trying to work a lot of this out. I’ll offer what I came to learn below, although don’t take it as gospel. It’s just broad stuff in the hopes of helping a little. =)
transition can cost like $60k over your lifetime. That’s a very rough ballpark and of course depends on a lot of things. A ton of plastic surgery can drive that cost up a lot. Insurance rarely covers it, but that may be changing (very slowly).
If you can afford it, there’s nothing like a good head-shrinky person that actually specializes in gender issues and has HBIGDA training. If you are near seattle, I recommend Bryant Vehrs. And I also recommend joining Ingersoll. I’m trying to con my health insurance into paying for some me to go back to Bryant again. I’m not as wealthy as I once was, but the man is highly regarded, and very good in my own experience.
As far as surgery:
Thailand * is * one of the best places you can go to undergo surgery. The doctors there have a lot of experience, as it has become a cottage industry. I’m pretty sure that Toby Melzter still practices, and he’s one of the few I’d trust stateside. A lot more expensive, and maybe not as good as you can get in thailand.
I came to the conclusion that electrolysis was actually going to be about $2000 more than surgery. Crazy, I know. In the US you are looking at $30k or so for surgery though, so that’s way different than <$10k in thailand.
If you are MTF and young (under 40), I suggest getting on spironolactone and estrogen ASAP, as testosterone does continual irreversible damage. Generally getting this now will save you money and pain in the long run. To do that safely and legally, you’ll need an endocrinologist. The ones that are transfriendly often offer a sliding scale. I paid like $80 an appointment (once or twice a month). If it’s a matter of life or death though (you probably know what I mean) and you don’t have the cash, black market is better and safer than opening a vein.
I wish you the best in your journey. I’m also here pretty regularly on BJ if there’s any questions you think I may be able to help with. I’m no expert, but at least I’ve been down this road before.
BethanyAnne
@BethanyAnne: That first sentence came out awkward. maybe make it “The person I’ve found who has helped me on my path the most next to Kate is Julia Serano”. something like that :)
gaz
@BethanyAnne: I love this from Julia http://www.cubby.net/missalette/missgirly/barrette.html
=)
ETA: Holy alarm clock, batman! I should probably sleep now =)
Jebediah
@Hill Dweller:
I am ignorant re:twitter*. When pix are posted, is the exif data retained? You know, for people to engage in point-and-mock?
*OK, lots of other stuff too.
Jebediah
@Jebediah:
Also apparently ignorant of the fact that this thread appears to have been dead for twelve hours…