Finished two chapters to circulate to committee. This pace means May defense and graduation.
Turning in job letters tomorrow.
Terrified at the prospect of failure on both counts.
Monday, October 29, 2012
To all the people who ask me...
....when I'm having another baby:
I'm doing everything I can. In fact, until I changed it this morning out of sheer frustration, my passphrase for my IU account had been like salt in a wound because it required me to, nearly every day (and more than once sometimes) for over two years type in "Em wants three kids". Even though I don't have them.
People see fit to judge me based on my fertility and their assumptions that I'm somehow putting off having more children because of my academic ambitions.
To those people: go take it up with God. He's the one who isn't sending me any babies. And until you get an answer from Him, leave me the hell alone.
I'm doing everything I can. In fact, until I changed it this morning out of sheer frustration, my passphrase for my IU account had been like salt in a wound because it required me to, nearly every day (and more than once sometimes) for over two years type in "Em wants three kids". Even though I don't have them.
People see fit to judge me based on my fertility and their assumptions that I'm somehow putting off having more children because of my academic ambitions.
To those people: go take it up with God. He's the one who isn't sending me any babies. And until you get an answer from Him, leave me the hell alone.
Friday, October 26, 2012
The "a" word issue
I'm firmly convinced that because of partisan politics we will never be able to get to a good solution for the issue of abortion.
I believe that killing babies is sad. And bad. And morally wrong.
I also believe that the rights of disenfranchised, disadvantaged, abused and voiceless people should be protected by the majority.
Unfortunately, there's an intersection between those two issues that leads members of one party to call the other "baby killers" and the members of the latter to accuse the former of ignorance and backward thinking.
When a child (yes, CHILD, it happens. Let's not pretend it doesn't) gets pregnant because her father (or another authoritative man in her life) uses his superior strength, life experience, and selfishness to sexually exploit her, I believe that it is in no one's best interest to force that pregnancy to continue to term.
Numerous studies go into the details of the trauma that teen mothers experience when they go through birth, the higher potential for preterm babies and birth defects and other risk factors for the babies born to these mothers, and the impact on poverty and quality of life for these mothers and their babies. This is NOT the best course of action for anyone involved.
For those of you who will beat me with my LDS-ness, the church even defines circumstances where abortion is permissible, which indicates to me some doctrinal "wiggle room" about when life begins.
That's as far as I'll go here into citing my sources or defending my position on the issue.
My point in this post is simply to state this: until we can get over the ideological divide of black-and-white political thinking, we'll never solve this very nuanced, complicated, and emotionally charged problem.
I'm sure that if the top minds we have in this brilliant country of ours could sit down together, we could come up with a way to legislate abortion in a way that would still provide for exceptions, and allow those "exceptions" to reasonably pursue a forward course of action (rather than depending on a judicial system so overburdened that the fetus in question would become a baby and be born before the process ran its course). But they haven't, and show no inclination to do so.
Until then, I'm grateful for those politicians, activists, advocates, and healthcare providers who are brave enough to let others call them "baby killers." They are willing to admit their inability to find a ready legal solution right now, and recognize the primacy of individual agency and accountability in the meantime.
Reminds me of a certain " you can choose for yourself" plan that spirit selves are said to have accepted over a "just do what I say and I'll get you back to God" plan.
I believe that killing babies is sad. And bad. And morally wrong.
I also believe that the rights of disenfranchised, disadvantaged, abused and voiceless people should be protected by the majority.
Unfortunately, there's an intersection between those two issues that leads members of one party to call the other "baby killers" and the members of the latter to accuse the former of ignorance and backward thinking.
When a child (yes, CHILD, it happens. Let's not pretend it doesn't) gets pregnant because her father (or another authoritative man in her life) uses his superior strength, life experience, and selfishness to sexually exploit her, I believe that it is in no one's best interest to force that pregnancy to continue to term.
Numerous studies go into the details of the trauma that teen mothers experience when they go through birth, the higher potential for preterm babies and birth defects and other risk factors for the babies born to these mothers, and the impact on poverty and quality of life for these mothers and their babies. This is NOT the best course of action for anyone involved.
For those of you who will beat me with my LDS-ness, the church even defines circumstances where abortion is permissible, which indicates to me some doctrinal "wiggle room" about when life begins.
That's as far as I'll go here into citing my sources or defending my position on the issue.
My point in this post is simply to state this: until we can get over the ideological divide of black-and-white political thinking, we'll never solve this very nuanced, complicated, and emotionally charged problem.
I'm sure that if the top minds we have in this brilliant country of ours could sit down together, we could come up with a way to legislate abortion in a way that would still provide for exceptions, and allow those "exceptions" to reasonably pursue a forward course of action (rather than depending on a judicial system so overburdened that the fetus in question would become a baby and be born before the process ran its course). But they haven't, and show no inclination to do so.
Until then, I'm grateful for those politicians, activists, advocates, and healthcare providers who are brave enough to let others call them "baby killers." They are willing to admit their inability to find a ready legal solution right now, and recognize the primacy of individual agency and accountability in the meantime.
Reminds me of a certain " you can choose for yourself" plan that spirit selves are said to have accepted over a "just do what I say and I'll get you back to God" plan.
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