I have a station on Pandora that is called “Strawberry
Fields Forever Radio.” The station plays a lot of sweet, folk and country
inspired music from the sixties and seventies. Its ultra hippie, peace loving
and for some reason, I listen to it all the time. But I guess I shouldn’t be
surprised about that. All of my favorite songs seem fall into a narrow set of
themes.
·
Come Sail Away, Styx
·
Sound of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel
·
Peace Train, Cat Stevens
·
Higher Power, Boston
·
Hallelujah, Jeff Burkley
·
One Day, Matisyahu
·
Song for June, Slaid Cleaves
They’re all about change. Well, aliens and God and social
reform.
Aliens, God and Social Reform.
That would be an awesome title for a book (No one steal it!
It’s mine! Copyrighted right now 3-29-2013!). Maybe I’ll even retitle my blog
that. I like it better than Patricia Lane. That was just a place holder until I
came up with a really good title. This one perfectly sums up my interests. It really
says a lot about me.
For example, today as I was telling myself, “Come on,
Kelsey. Write in your blog, you have nothing else important to do,” I ended up
on Facebook. I was okay with that because I have a few friends that post
interesting articles and I get updates from UniteWomen.Org, Texas Association
Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), I Fucking Love Science, 170 Million Americans
for Public Broadcasting, The Society for Commercial Archeology, a few of my
favorite authors and a bunch of TV shows (my greatest weakness!!).
So I ended up reading about:
The possible cure of 14 patients with HIV: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34733/title/HIV-Remission-for-14-Patients/
The Mars Rover finding clay suitable to sustain life: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34701/title/Curiosity-Finds-Clay-on-Mars/
A new technique for transporting livers and keeping them
healthy for transplants: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23281-donor-livers-kept-alive-outside-the-body-for-24-hours.html
The Mantis Shrimp that can punch at over 50mph with its club
claw, a punch that is strong enough to break aquarium glass, and about how
learning about the structure of the claw could be applied toward hip
replacements: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461293937218920&set=a.465258143489166.127227.427481527266828&type=3&theater
I came across a bunch of articles about the Steubenville rape case and the uproar (small that it
apparently is) at the reports who sympathize with the rapists and everyone
ignoring the victim and more posts about rape culture. Those were disturbing
and saddening articles. My favorite, though, was the one covering the comments
of singer and activist, Henry Rollins: http://www.underthegunreview.net/2013/03/18/henry-rollins-comments-on-steubenville-rape-verdict/
(This is apparently my day for lists)
I had some great material to write about and nowhere to
start. I would have liked to write about the developments in treating HIV positive
patients, the social stigma associated with being HIV positive or about rape
culture and the need for new teaching and education techniques in schools but
then I thought, no one wants to come to my blog (not that anyone does) and read
about such depressing stuff. Then I watched this video on my friend Karen’s
Facebook page.
I cried.
I think I cried because bottom line, HIV positive people,
sexual abuse victims, rapists, women, men, everyone just needs to love.
I originally started this blog to showcase my writing
abilities (I’m doing a great job of that…) and I was advised to stay away from
such hot button issues because a company might not feel comfortable hiring
someone with my opinions. I thought, sure, I’ll stay away from crazy rants
about women’s rights or civil liberties for gays or sex education in school or
limiting the power of the church and religion in government. I will actually
try my hardest not to go crazy about those things but every once in a while I’m
going to need to post about love. Love and acceptance, fighting against
discrimination, hate and ignorance of any kind, that’s what I want.
If everyone would care about the other humans around them,
it would solve so many different problems.
Maybe I’ll change my blog to Aliens, Social Reform and Love.
KB
Here is a link to my friend’s blog, the one who posted the
video. I think that she had some beautiful and well communicated thoughts while
working at a clinic in South Africa last year: http://www.kareninsouthafrica.blogspot.com/
