The Burdens of Being Upright

Apr 26, 2004

women must decide their fate; not the church, not the state

sunday was the march for women's lives. angie and i got up early and metroed there. dean saw us getting off the metro so after some confusion we finally met up with him and all enjoyed the day together. let me say this about the march: ..IT..WAS..AMAZING.. the sheer volume of women (and lots of men!) there was overwhelming. the march organizers and cnn both estimate the crowd to be about 1.15 million. thats insane! that many people came to the march! and just think of all the people who supported the march but couldnt come for some reason or another. while in line for the bathroom i struck up a conversation with some women from montana and nevada. incredible! that people would travel that far for a march shows an incredible amount of passion and it really lit a fire under my apathetic ass. i am still in this glow where i want to just run out and volunteer and flyer and debate and slash the tires of every injustice. this is the type of political fervor that should never burn out. tons of celebrities and politicians were guest speakers at the rally before and after the march. it was great. i believe the official estimate of counterprotesters is 1500 (but from being there i believe this may be an over-estimate). what i do know for sure is that the anti-choice protesters were JACKASSES and many were grossly misinformed and off topic. everyone is prolife! i have not met one person who will sit there and say that abortions are the best thing in the world and should be used as often as possible. prochoice is prolife. this march was about legality. abortions will happen! in a perfect would abortions would never be necessary. but also in a perfect world rape would not happen and people would be educated about contraception. but thats just not the way it is. making abortions illegal will create unsafe conditions for the women who will seek abortions out. i saw a lot of posters with coat hangers on them that said "dont make me use this. keep abortions legal and safe." and other posters touched on a very true topic (judging by the looks of the counterprotesters) it read "77% of all prolifers are men. 100% of them will never get pregnant." and another sign that read "if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." but i digress, so more on the counterprotesters. here's my conversation with one woman on the other side of the fence:
woman: "welcome to the hiv capital of the country."
me: "thats baltimore not dc. and i'm a virgin and if i was having sex i'd use protection so what are you trying to say."
woman: "well condoms have a 20% failure rate."
me: "bullshit! its 2%"
woman: "well i'm a sex ed teacher."
me: "then you're lying to your students. what makes you think your information is more accurate than mine anyway."

i loved striking up conversations with the counterprotesters. and just being a mouthy little bitch with angie and dean. at one point angie told this group of guys to cut off their dicks if they wanted to decrease the need for abortion. they looked so offended. and to the guys with signs saying shame one you, we just screamed "you will never get pregnant!" because its so true. boys can, and should, form their own opinions on every political topic. but when it comes to abortion, a man will never ever ever be put in the position of having to choose. so a man (or a predominately male legislative body) CAN NOT tell a woman that she cannot have an abortion. and NO ONE can tell me what god's will is. i dont care how many times you've been to church or read the bible, you do not know what god's will is and you cannot use god's supposed will to justify your own beliefs or trample on others'. and even more, this is a legal issue! not a religious issue! you can quote all the scripture you want, that does not mean it should be written into law. gah! the worst were the fanatics. the people that had pictures of concentration camps, people being lynched, and partial birth abortions saying "this is what the freedom of choice does" what the EFF!!! that does not even make sense. i am just so so so very passionate about this now. and it amazes how much i have grown. when i was in middle school i was an adament pro-lifer. if you had told me then that i would be marching in a prochoice march i would have laughed in your face. but since then i have met new people, read new books, thought about things outside of what i learned from the bible or youth groups. i have grown a tremendous amount. i've learned more and seen things from many different prespectives. and all of this self-education brought about understanding and acceptance. i am still an adament pro-lifer but i'm also realistic and compassionate. i now can see the difference in how things should be and how things are. i dont regret what i used to believe because now i understand the people who oppose me. i understand that at their core, they are just trying to help. they are people who see an unjust world and they want to help. but they arent. the difference is simple. we're fighting for their rights. they're trying to take away ours.

posted by sarah 9:54 PM

Apr 22, 2004

i took a poll of the upcoming presidential election by asking 5 of the kids at my work what they thought. i found the results to be strikingly similar to the feelings of the general public. they are as follows:
1 for kerry
1 for bush
1 undecided
1 would abstain from voting
1 for yoshi

posted by sarah 11:02 PM

Apr 20, 2004

dude. what is with everyone i know (myself included) being such sarcastic smartasses all the time? is it completely impossible for us to say anything nice to eachother? i'm annoyed. today was alright for school and work and whatnot. but like tonight just kind of sucked. i mean, some stuff was ok but most of it was just annoying.

posted by sarah 10:37 PM

Apr 18, 2004

she's in good shape for the shape she's in

i loved being able to complain about how hot it was today. i just wanted to go jump in a river somewhere scenic and secluded. mood is entirely dependent on priorities. there cannot be a time when everything in your life will be great. usually for one thing to be good, another area will have to suffer. happiness is really just when what you hold important is going well. things that would normally bother you dont affect your mood when you dont.. care. i'm excited about summer. it will be such a nice break. for someone who's used to being rational and keeping her feet on the ground at all times, it will be great to just say eff it and be young.

posted by sarah 2:00 AM

Apr 14, 2004

happy as a clam

woooah, what is with all this dreary days? the weather needs to either be sunny and nice and start thunderstorming. i dont like these day-long drizzles. i am still sick! and coughing all the time. i hattttte it. with so many t's. yesterday i got kill bill. yeah! i cant wait until friday so i can go see the second one. mmmmm... my dad's been in virginia all week. its pretty nice. yyyep. besides being sick, things are very nice.

posted by sarah 9:33 PM

Apr 12, 2004

you're my..... LAAADYYY

my birthday's over. honestly it was pretty lame and depressing. i spent most of the day sitting on the couch and then getting up every few minutes to blow my nose. i hate being sick. angie and sean both called to wish me a happy birthday which was really sweet on their part. but other than that my birthday kind of blew. except for the last hour or so. which was a lot of fun. dhgdfuhgdfjgfdg !!!!!!!!!

!!!

posted by sarah 12:06 AM

Apr 11, 2004

she's ooonly she's only 17

happy birthday to me! i'm sick still, full of phlegm and i have a headache. but its my birthday! i just opened my presents from my parents and i got a ton of stuff. to make everyone jealous, i got:

family guy dvds, volumes 1 and 2
chapelle show dvd
a league of their own dvd
they preordered kill bill for me, i can go get it on tuesday
a necklace
$25 gift card to h&m
$25 gift card to american eagle
$25 gift card to borders
cd cleaning cloths

i'm amazing! and i have tons and tons of loot now. yesterday i went and bought the freaks and geeks dvd set. its gggggreat. it cost me 50 bones but it was money well spent. ....... !!!

posted by sarah 1:17 PM

Apr 10, 2004

i got paid yesterday! 300 bucks for babysitting for 4 days! yeah! in a few minutes i'm going to go buy the freaks and geeks dvd set. sweeeeeeeet! i am so glad that came out. i think i'll spend all day watching it and doing nothing because i am sick sick sick. my throat is really sore and i can barely talk. and i'm congested and full of boogers. it sucks! i cant be sick when i only have 3 more days of spring break. and tomorrow's my birthday. i dont wanna be sick.

posted by sarah 1:10 PM

Apr 8, 2004

wooooo!!!!

spring break! i've been babysitting for a 3 year old boy and an 11 year old girl all week. i would be babysitting today but yesterday the boy got sick and threw up in my car so his dad is staying home with him today. there's only about 2 months left of school for me, and only about about 1 and a half months of work left. i was looking in the paper for jobs this morning and i dunno. i think i might just wait tables somewhere and hope for good tips. or i could try and bag groceries at the commisary for tips. iiiii dunno. my birthday's on sunday. woo! today seems like it will be very blehg. i need a tan. i need some energy. 2004 is not about blehg days! or shy girls.

posted by sarah 12:56 PM