The Big Bang Part Deux

In like, one month, scientists are going to finish construction on a "Large Hadron Collider" which will apparently recreate conditions right after the Big Bang. They will shoot two beams of subatomic particles in opposite directions in a tube they've built underground on the border between France and Switzerland and we will know the workings of the universe!

The only problem is the apparently somewhat rational fear that running the Large Hadron Collider may result in the creation of black holes and/or strangelets. Seriously? Weird black holes fucking with time and space itself could result and they are still DOING this? But don't worry, apparently it's only a 1 in 50,000,000 chance that doomsday will happen as a result of the commissioning of the collider.
Oh and strangelets, by the way, are described by wiki as:
A strangelet or "strange nugget" is a hypothetical object consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. The size could be anything from a few femtometers across (with the mass of a light nucleus) to something much larger. Once the size becomes macroscopic (on the order of meters across), such an object is usually called a quark star or "strange star" rather than a strangelet. An equivalent description is that a strangelet is a small fragment of strange matter.. That explains it.

Whatever, all I'm saying is that if I'm late to work sometime in mid August, it's because I got sucked into a black hole, and it's an hour earlier in my parallel universe.

I like it

One of the newest changes in my apartment is the addition of my craft "nook." I'm using that word because it's the cutest way to describe a tiny-ass corner of a small apartment. I mean, maybe it's just me, but I'd love to go apartment hunting to find a nice kitchen nook, or even an entry nook. Thus my craft nook.

Here it is. It's got shelves for organizations, baskets of yarn and cute papers I've collected and a small magnetic fuzzy mushroom hanging out to watch all the action (thanks smelissa!).

Holy

Crap.

Gender Identity Disorder?

Bah. I hate the DSM. It's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which chronicles the symptoms and behaviors associated with each psychological disorder out there. Less than 30 years ago, homosexuality was listed as a disorder. Less than 30 years ago.
Since I started studying psychology I have always had a problem with "Gender Identity Disorder." The current DSM, the fourth edition, is flawed just like the rest of them. Institutionalized trans-phobia. It's obscene, really. The fact of the matter is, folks with so-called Gender Identity Disorder may be feeling really incongruent and shitty and horrifically depressed, but that's not due to the so-called disorder. The feelings are due to some inner turmoil, but mostly the pressures and reflections from society that causes them distress. Therapy can help them to externalize all of this in order to understand the depression better. But I can understand why, for some of them, therapy is the last place they would go for help because of this horrible silver book, the DSM.
Some psychologists argue that because of the way the health care system is set up, the DSM should maintain the disorder label for insurance purposes - in other words to make sure that trans folks can have adequate access to care. And I understand that argument, but why not put the code down for depression and be done with it? If one is suggesting that they are just submitting the code of gender identity disorder for insurance purposes only, just submit something else.
It's a horrible cycle. Inadequate access to care only exacerbates the symptoms, but who wants to go to therapy when you're going to be stigmatized in the exact same way you are in society? When a therapy session is supposed to be a safe place, maybe the one and only safe place.
Pathologizing any gender is sickening, and I hope that in the newest edition of the DSM it'll be deleted. Unfortunately this doesn't seem likely. Dr. Kenneth Zucker, who oversees the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Committee is himself, of course, trans-phobic. He is most famous for forcing gender-variant children into reparative therapy to conform to his expectations for male and female behavior in children. In other words, he literally doesn't allow "gender-variant" boys to play with dolls and "gender-variant" girls to play with trucks.
It makes me want to scream! And why in hell would the people involved in creating these task forces and committees for each new edition of the DSM assign such a high-powered role to such an obviously extremist individual?
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Things I did last night

thingsididlastnight.com

Dear The State of California,

Dear The State of California,


Thank you. Thank you for deciding that if I do want to get married at some point in the future, I can now do so. Thank you for stepping up and saying "um, actually, she should be able to marry the love of her life just like I can."

I'm not a huge fan of marriage - I still think there are a lot of issues with it, let alone all of the sexist and atrociously antiquated patriarchal aspects - but that isn't the issue. Everyone knows that 50% of marriages end up in divorce - it's just a fact. But why decide, out of fear and igorance and hatred, that 10-20% of the United States population is not "allowed" to get married?

But today, you stepped up to the plate joining Massachusettes (Go Red Sox!) in the decision that is illegal to deny marriage rights to gay people.

Thank you for treating me like everyone else. That's all I really want.

Sincerely,
Robin

Cult Status

Saturday, in the park, I think it was the 10th of May. Triple, Smelissa, Toto, Jen and I were setting to lunch on bi-rite cheese, everything flatbreads and fresh fruit. Suddenly, a very very large family descended upon us, offering smiles, art projects and beverages. 3 girls spread out on the red tapestry to work on a paint-by-numbers. 2 other kids began to play their respective guitars, strumming simple peppy tunes. The mother? looked over at us and smiled as if she knew us. She bounded over and asked if we wanted some tea. Some of us did.

Then it got weird.

The eldest child came over in order to tell us "God bless you." The mother?, deep in conversation with Jen, had just started a story about a miracle she saw on TV. A priest blesses people through the TV and, you wouldn't believe it, but he's raised two people from the dead! It's going to make national news soon. And you know what it is? It's the healing power of Jesus. He's coming back. Have you accepted Jesus into your heart? You have, haven't you?

I started to walk away at this point, only to pass eldest child once to more to see her wide blank eyes, slightly tilted head, and flowery, syrupy voice eagerly calling after us: "god bless you all, god bless you!!"

I'm glad I didn't drink the tea.