Category: Community

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XIV

Art Link Satin My Label is not a Slur My label is not a slur My label does not mean repulsive or obscene should not induce revulsion or hatred I am not subhuman Different, yes, but not less than you I am not “really” anything except a human being There are more of you so we live in your world rather than one of our own choosing Do we threaten you? Do you fear us? How did we earn the ridicule? How did we earn the hatred? How did we earn your silence? –Robyn Elaine Serven –January 31, 2006

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XIII

Art Link Eggstraction On the Borderlands The land on the border is fertile The people are kind gentle content for the most part until of course the patrol comes by to force everyone to move to one side or the other That causes great turmoil on the borderlands so sometimes we move the border when they aren’t looking –Robyn Elaine Serven –March 3, 2006

Saturday morning, November 22.  Jay awakes (and refers to himself in the third person) in his tiny apartment in an inner Southeast Portland neighborhood.  Showers, dresses…tries to leave but gets sucked into 30 minutes of college football pregame shows on ESPN…breaks free eventually and throws on a jacket and a hat.

Let’s take a walk to the Portland Farmers Market at PSU, shall we?

First though, we need coffee.  Stumptown of course, mmmm!

Crossposted from La Vida Locavore, journey below the fold…

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XII

Art Link Shades Uncommon Wisdom “Gender is ENTIRELY a social construct” How easily is my existence denied my experience dismissed squashed like a bug my motivations questioned in front of everybody How different are testosterone and estrogen? I know –Robyn Elaine Serven –March 7, 2006

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion XI

Art Link Knot Personal View Born in the wrong body? Bunch of crap in my opinion The one I have is the only body I was given Nobody else has the one I was supposed to have Born in the wrong culture definitely in the wrong time period most likely on the wrong planet quite possibly But it’s not like I had a choice in the matter –Robyn Elaine Serven –February 3, 2006

A couple of days ago I wrote this diary and copped quite a few unkind comments, mostly from misinformed posters and a handful of hardcore denialists. Yet the problems persist, and shooting the messenger rarely helps. But I’m a tough cookie, comfortable in the knowledge of what I know and write about and in this diary I’m basically tackling the same issues albeit from a different angle: “Big Pharma” and the multinational junk & processed foods companies (“Big Food”) which, worldwide, make gigantic profits on the back of unsuspecting consumers, specifically marketing non-nutritious food appealing to children and adults alike via disingenuous advertising.

Obesity, though some would prefer to call it eating disorders, is a big growth area, not just for the unwitting sufferers, but also for some food companies which contributes so greatly to the problem. “Big Pharma” which works in tandem with “Big Food” would love to “terminate” its main source of competition: the natural products industry and the organic movement.

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion X

Art Link Red Neon On Gender extraordinary – weird unconventional – odd exceptional – queer peculiar – strange gifted – outlandish outstanding – bizarre special – eccentric curious – atypical unusual – abnormal Why is “normal” the objective? There is a broad horizon of possibility for the human condition. Rather than circling our wagons to protect and defend only one or two or even just a few acceptable ways of living, shouldn’t we begin the exploration of those other possibilities? Why isn’t it possible to expand  the definition of woman and expand the definition of man, while simultaneously allowing people to claim neither or both or even to develop whole new categories of gender? What does society have to lose? What does society have to fear? Once again, I  ask: Why is normality the objective? –Robyn Elaine Serven –November 9, 2005

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion IX

Art Link Colors People I don’t know exactly when I became one of us if I first decided I was or maybe it was when someone called me one of “those people” but I can’t deny I have a people I belong to We all do whether we deny it or not As one of my people I can not sit idly by while my people are disparaged degraded humiliated dismissed We are not jokes Our lives are not jokes What we have to put up with from other people vicious other people is no joke My people are teachers are artists are thinkers are lesbians are writers are gender-variant and so much ever so much so god damned much more my people all my people I cannot be divided against myself –Robyn Elaine Serven –February 15, 2006

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion VIII

Art Link Working with Silver On Worth Treasure comes in many shades For some it is always material For me it is the wonder of the measurable variability of human thought and emotion In the hearts and minds and souls of others I find the value of my own substance of my own independence Difference is the light in the darkness –Robyn Elaine Serven –March 13, 2006

You think this is harsh and OTT? Dr Donal O’Shea, a famed Irish endocrinologist and Director of the Weight Management Clinic at St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, said in a conference in Dublin last week that

“pouring funding into cardiology, cancer and dementia without tackling the obesity epidemic that is fueling these conditions would be a disaster.”

His take on obesity (about 24 minutes long, scroll down to the tenth video) is a sober approach to combating it. “Worldwide, obesity is the driver of a range life-threatening “lifestyles” diseases”, he notes. The British Medical Journal puts it bluntly: “The driving force for the increasing prevalence of obesity in populations is the increasingly obesogenic environment rather than any pathology in individuals”.

Muse in the Morning

State of the Onion VI

Art Link Carving The Whittlers All it took was for me to become different They jumped at the chance they sit around waiting for to grab their knives and carve away at my reputation my physical body my possessions my dignity my humanity but inside I was resolute tougher than I would have thought stubborn to the core The pain sliced at the surface of my soul but deep inside I was free and they were chained –Robyn Elaine Serven –February 22, 2006

There are so many reasons why we should be cautious about GM crops and the huge potential effects on humans whether it be through cross contamination/pollination or yet unknown impacts on the physical body. We still know next to nothing about long term effects of eating GM products and I imagine that this particular area of science is not being thoroughly investigated by the numerous biotech companies whom, supposedly in the name of prevention of starvation for the Third World countries, allow a small band of multinationals to control the sale and distribution of the seed-stocks across the world.

I am writing this diary because an acquaintance of mine, who is the head chef in a fashionable Indian restaurant in London, related this story to me a few months ago. Last week he found more evidence of GM rice (Bt63) in wholesale suppliers. Even though this rice is banned in Europe it seems that it keeps finding its way into Asian eateries. It might have entered the food chain in the US. Always check the labels.

Cross-posted on the Big orange and our blog, La Vida Locavore.