I was never really involved in actual "movements." I went to a couple of marches and stuff, took Women's Studies classes, but didn't go to meetings or hang out. I'm not a social kind of person, and most groups of any kind turn into little Peyton Places. Not my scene.

Instead, I read a lot of anti-racist and anti-sexist books and magazines. I therefore got a "purified" vision of what those movements really meant. Sure, there was still overt sexism in the anti-racist stuff, and there was usually some overt but more "accidentally exclusionary" racism in the anti-sexist stuff.

But I remember reading Ms. with all the interesting Black and Lesbian and Native American and Hispanic and international articles and fiction, and thinking, this is great, they're not leaving out women who aren't White, or even American.

So when I got into the big bad blogosphere where people were saying how the Women's Movement ignores people who aren't White, I felt some cognitive dissonance. I had been taking the movement at their word. And it's unfortunately confirmed my instinct that you can trust many books, and many ideas, but people in general are lying sacks of shit, will cheat and hurt each other for the smallest reason or no reason at all, that every group becomes cliquey and mean and self-serving and blindly bigoted.

On a friend's blog there was a discussion of if White people should police themselves rather than having non-White people tell them when they're being racist. That racism is the "property" of the racist and racists can recognize it and clean it up themselves.

We discussed whether one needs empathy to detect and get rid of racism. I think it's not, and in that thread I said that you don't have to have a personal stake in whether racism makes non-White people feel bad. You just have to see that it's not fair. It's illogical. It's like taking a bunch of pencils of all colors and throwing away all the blue ones, or using them only to prop the window open or stick in a fan to make noise.

Where I'm going with this is that I think there's a lot of complaining by people that they are being forced to care about other people that they don't really care about, groups they don't want to "fight for." That everything is a zero-sum game and they need to belong to a team and fight some other team for resources.

And I'm saying that's not necessary. Just don't be illogical. Don't be stupid. Keep your mind and heart a sewer if you want, but you know when you're being prejudiced, so just don't act on your prejudices. Drop the team shit.

I think a lot of parents discover that they raise less sexist and less racist children just by keeping their fucking mouths shut with the sexist and racist comments. Act, and the feelings will follow -- maybe not for you, though I think it eventually does. But for those who don't have the feelings burnt into them, the actions and feelings will be in harmony.

It's a sort of miracle, really. The despised "political correctness," even if your heart is filthy with sexism and racism, even if you conform to it with great resentment, results in something good. When the parent or adult messes up and says the horrible thing, the child is shocked and dismayed, and that may even shock and dismay the adult into behaving better.

The magazines and books I read hid a lot of the real racism and sexism of the movements they were representing from me, so I learned and absorbed the ideal, and not the reality of the shitty racist and sexist people who wrote them and said "but really you can't trust a woman/black/hispanic/$foo."

I'm glad I wasn't part of those movements. Idealism has a value. It transmits ideals. Don't lose it.

Blank from http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=547

Ganked from multiple sources.

bold for read books, underline for books read in school, and italics for started but didn't finish.

http://gawker.com/390004/whos-stalking-you-on-facebook

Go to the search box on Facebook (not here on Livejournal) and type in a period. You will see the names of five people in a dropdown. Why were those particular users picked? Are they the people who have searched for you, or viewed your entries, most often?

It is a mystery.

Blank courtesy of jeepchick_04:

Not really sure this is me:

You Are a Colon font>

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

Since October or November, I've lost about 25 percent of my body weight. I've gone from 280 pounds to 210; from size 28 to size 18 or 20. I weigh less than I did when I was in my second year of college, which was way back in 1979.

It's strange in a couple of ways.

First, way too many people have asked me, did I go on Jenny Craig? I guess it's popular. No, I went fish/veg. And I'm not hardcore. I will still taste bits of food that have non-fish meat in them, but never cook or buy or order it. Not even chicken, because I think it may be full of fat-making hormones. I eat sushi including two pieces of tamago (egg) once a week (I love octopus!). I eat less food and drink water more. I don't drink soda very often.

And I go to the gym six days a week, three days for 45-minute cardio, three days for 30-minute cardio plus 30-minute resistance/strength training.

Yes, diet and exercise. It is work. I am dedicated.

I have to be careful not to eat only carbs. That's apparently a common problem if you don't eat meat. Fortunately I like tofu. Unfortunately I have to actually cook it and should do so more often.

But as to what really happened? What made it possible? I don't know. I think something in my metabolism changed. I want less food. I don't want soda. I look forward to exercising most days. I don't know why or how. I look at candy and go "meh." I look at meat and don't want it.

My mother died in December but this started a month or so before that. I don't really know what is involved.

My doctor sees nothing wrong with me. I am in his words "a healthy woman" (put an Italian accent on that as he's Italian). Whatever.

Second, it looks funny in the mirror. Instead of looking bigger than I thought, which often happened before, I look smaller than I thought. The first time I tried on clothing in a store after losing about 35 pounds, my reaction was "is that what I look like?", because I don't have a full-length mirror at home and it just didn't match my "trying on clothes" look.

This weekend I had to get more to wear. I was running out of the same old stuff.

I found out I was able to go to regular stores and try on regular clothes. Large or Extra-Large, but lots of them fit. I have a totally new field of clothing to hunt in! I went to Forever 21 and bought two things. Unbelievable! JCPenney, two things. Target, FIVE THINGS.

I still get pants at the plus-size stores. I'm a super pear shape, my ass is still big, though it's an 18/20 ass, not a 26/28 ass. What can I say. But XL, or even some L tops, fit.

The downsides, which are not horrible:

1. I have extra skin. I hope it will eventually shrink up, and my collagen or elastin or whatever will kick in. My plan is to wait a year after I stabilize at whatever weight seems to be my destiny, to see if things get better. But if it doesn't, I'm considering measures. I don't want to be a *lot* floppier than I was when I was fatter. I am vain. So be it.

2. I feel bad about all the clothing I own that doesn't fit. I can give it away, but I think maybe I can sell some of it on eBay -- at least the "new with tags" stuff. Some of it I never wore! I was the same size for years and years, and had a "deep bench" of clothing for any season. Now I'm struggling to find things that don't look like I'm nine years old trying on Mommy's clothing. I have some favorite pieces that don't fit and I'm pissed off about those.

If you're size 26 or 28 and might want some of my clothing, let me know. I'll give it to you for the cost of shipping. Tell me what styles and colors are good for you. I'm a blonde Winter/cold Summer, mega Pear shape, if that tells you anything.

3. I weigh myself twice a day -- at home in the morning, at the gym at night. Home weight is about five pounds less than gym weight because of clothing and shoes. I only record it every five days. I still am on alert if I gain rather than lose. I try not to obsess.

Super Strong Disclaimer: I know there are people for whom diet and exercise don't seem to work. What is working for me is not going to work for everyone. I never really tried to lose weight before. I've never been the kind to restrict calories or input. Apparently my body can do it. Others' can't.

I hate fat-shaming as much as I hate slut-shaming. So please, none of those kinds of comments, not that I expect them from any of my friends.

If you don't know what Rickroll is, go here. Then marvel at this, the result of YouTube Rickrolling its entire audience on April 1:

Nielsen BuzzMetrics' BlogPulse Top 5 Videos*
1. "Rick Astley: Never Gonna Give You Up"
2. "Rick Roll"
3. "RickRoll'D"
4. "Penguins"
5. "Larry Page and Sergey Brin on Virgle"
*The most-linked-to videos for April 2, 2008

If you must, watch the video here