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Archive for Tom Speaks
Tough Enough
My favorite passage in Insurgent Mexico is this one, in which John Reed argues the Woman Question with Pancho Villa:
Once I asked him if women would vote in the new Republic. He was sprawled out on his bed, with his coat unbuttoned. “Why, I don’t think so,” he said, startled, suddenly sitting up. “What do you mean–vote? Do you mean elect a government and make laws?” I said I did and that women already were doing it in the United States. “Well,” he said, scratching his head: “if they do it up there I don’t see that they shouldn’t do it down here.” The idea seemed to amuse him enormously. He rolled it over and over in his mind, looking at me and away again. “It may be as you say,” he said; “but I have never thought about it. Women seem to me to be things to protect, to love. They have no sternness of mind. They can’t consider anything for its right or wrong. They are full of pity and softness. Why,” he said, “a woman would not give an order to execute a traitor.”
“I am not so sure of that, mi General,” I said. “Women can be crueller and harder than men.”
He stared at me, pulling his mustache. And then he began to grin. He looked slowly to where his wife was setting the table for lunch. “Oiga,” he said, “come here. Listen. Last night I caught three traitors crossing the river to blow up the railroad. What shall I do with them? Shall I shoot them or not?” » Read more..
Tuesday Trivia: The Whedonverse in Numbers
In Deborah’s absence, here’s a little trivia quiz for the Joss fans out there:
- 1630 Revello, Buffy’s residence [solved by Maurinsky]
- 2517: the year in which Firefly is set [solved by Amy]
- 1880 is the year William the Bloody Awful Poet is turned [solved by George]
- 11 Firefly episodes aired/14 episodes produced [solved by Maurinsky]
- “Counting down from 730” – the countdown to Buffy’s death [solved by Amy] (bonus point: 7:30)
- Room 619 at the Hyperion, where Jasmine stays [solved by George]
(hint: this belongs to a set that also includes 315, 215, and 217 (rooms at the Hyperion mentioned in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?)) - Room 314, the room in The Initiative where Adam is born [solved by Amy]
Update: All solved except for the bonus point. I’m sure someone out there can give us 7:30.
Fun With Vodka: Pink Peppercorn-Lemon Vodka
A few years ago I discovered, to my horror, that my favorite pepper vodka (Pertsovka, made by Stolichnaya) was no longer available. I decided to take matters into my own hands and try making my own infusions. I experimented with various flavors of peppercorns and chiles, and got some really nice stuff.
Then I found a nice honey-pepper vodka (Nemiroff, from the Ukraine) at the Russian deli I frequent. Being naturally lazy, I let my infusion experiments slide and drank Nemiroff instead.
Recently, I started playing around with it again, and made a lovely pink peppercorn-lemon vodka. It’s extremely easy: in about a fifth of vodka, use 20-30 pink peppercorns and maybe 1/2 tsp of lemon zest (more if you want a more lemony vodka…but you knew that, didn’t you?). Let it steep for a couple of weeks, strain out the peppercorns and lemon zest, and there it is.
This makes a really nice V&V1; just use more vermouth than you would with non-flavored vodka, and garnish with a twist.
It’s also really good with lemonade–which obviously has to be made from fresh lemon juice. My recipe, adapted from the old Joy of Cooking:
1 quart water
3/4 cup sugar
3 oz. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. salt
Heat water, sugar, and lemon zest until sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice. Strain and cool.
Enjoy!
1Vermouth & vodka
Prosecutors vs. the ‘Gay Panic’ Defense
Via yesterday’s Chronicle, today prosecutors and law enforcement officials are meeting in San Francisco to discuss how to combat the ‘gay panic’ defense. In recent years a fair number of brutal killers have used this defense to get reduced sentences or (in at least one case) get off altogether. It’s a close cousin to the ‘she was asking for it’ rape defense, a way to minimize the brutality of the crime by shifting blame onto the victim.
The most high-profile case in recent Bay Area history is that of Gwen Araujo, a trasgendered teen who was murdered by three boys two of whom had had sex with her before discovering her gender identity. Fortunately, the jury didn’t buy it that time.
It’s encouraging to see law enforcement getting behind this effort (the conference is organized by our own DA, Kamala Harris, and co-sponsored by the workerscompcalaw.com law group and national district attorneys’ associations). It wasn’t that long ago, historically, that law enforcement was more committed to prosecuting people for being gay than to prosecuting crimes against gay people.
One of the guest speakers is a living example of this shift:
Former Laramie, Wyo., police Chief Dave O’Malley, who investigated the killing of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998, will discuss his own experience of what he calls “losing his ignorance.” Both defendants in that case received two consecutive life terms. Their attorneys included the gay panic argument in opening statements but the judge barred it during trial.
O’Malley describes himself as homophobic before that case, never hesitating to tell an anti-gay joke or story.
“Getting involved in the investigation and interacting with Matt’s friends and family got me thinking for myself and figuring out that I was wrong,” he said.
We still have a long way to go–the fact that the ‘gay panic’ defense exists at all, and is effective, illustrates that–but it never hurts to acknowledge how far we have come.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
Sunday Sierrablogging
The Great Western Divide from Grizzly Lakes, Monarch Divide, Kings Canyon National Park.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
Spread the Serenity Love
Via SAP and Shakespeare’s Sister, respectively, comes news of two Serenity-related events.
First, June 23 is Serenity Day–a day on which fans all over plan to buy Serenity to demonstrate to Universal the purchasing power of the Browncoats (the goal, of course, is to get them to greenlight a sequel). Own it already? No problem; donate it to charity, send it to the troops, use it to convert a friend, or whatever.
Meanwhile, there’s going to be a whole bunch of benefit screenings of Serenity, with the proceeds going to Equality Now (Joss Whedon’s favorite charity). It’s a lot of fun in a very good cause.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
Friday Random Ten
Eno – Spider and I
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet – In My Room
Savage Republic – Moujahadeen [instrumental]
Michael Cox – Mata Hari
Teen-Tones – Sands of Arabia
Shriekback – Working on the Ground
X-Ray Spex – Let’s Submerge
Eno – Baby’s on Fire
Lamb – Heaven
I like the Middle-Eastern themed set in the middle. Feel free to post your own lists, or make nasty comments about mine.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
Deborah, I Swear I Didn’t Break It
Happily, Property of a Lady is back from its little vacation in the land we call Broken. And it wasn’t my fault.
Quote of the Day
The ever-astute Hendrik Hertzberg:
For five days last week, the White House and its Capitol Hill allies did urgent battle against what they perceive, or say they perceive, as an attack on the institution of marriage. It’s a strange sort of attack, to be sure: a wonderfully pacific attack, a supportive attack, an attack without the slightest intention or capacity to cause harm, consisting, as it does, of the earnest wish of certain loving couples to join themselves to that very institution and thus to feel themselves, and be accepted as, full members of the American (and human) family.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
