Blogs: Going Cold Turkey
"wake up in the morning feelin' like P Diddy..."
NOT.
Kesha might be groovin' that way but I'm not today. It's rain/snow/sleeting out. I have taxes to do, piles of work to go through and the ever present laundry pile has grown to epic proportions.
I read over the weekend about a police blog that has hateful homophobic rants from cops on it. I'm not going to give you the link because I don't think it should get a single click.
And people wonder why I don't trust cops as a general rule.
There is also going to be a mass, moonie style wedding of 400 gay couples in DC to get a world record. I know we fight for rights, and part of that means the right to be foolish but geesh. Does anyone think about the frame the right can use on this?
Which brings me to my thought de jour. While I was in DC last week, a friend talked to me about how he stopped- cold turkey- reading blogs and list servs for a month. He said, hey, I like what you write, what a lot of people write, but I felt like I needed perspective on the movement.
I couldn't agree more. Years ago, I was at a conference and a presenter said, Stop watching the TV news. Read a book about a subject. Or at least a magazine. Get away from the soundbites.
I have never watched the TV news again. I don't. I find it hysterical, focused only on the bad, and rarely all that informative. But I do read online newspapers, and blogs all the time.
What would it be like to take a break of that size? How would I feel at the end about the LGBT movement? It's an interesting question. Part of me loves research, digging in where a blog post or a list serv email brings me. How many police blogs are there? How often are they homophobic? Is this a rare instance, or an example of a deep rooted problem?
I get curious and I have to say, I like knowing the answers.
But what if I stopped? What if I took time to read some books on the movement, it's history, or evaluations of the current political environment and put down the instant gratification blogs and online news brings?
When I dropped everyday news coverage, I know it made me a more critical thinker. I became more keenly aware of how that coverage is used to manipulate. In fact, I became quite good at creating those frames myself.
On the other hand, we are in a time when little steps are being taken every day. The President has nominated out lesbian Laura Duffy to serve as U.S. Attorney, the chief federal prosecutor, for the Southern District of California -- the district that encompasses San Diego and surrounding areas. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of plans to establish the first national resource center to assist communities across the country in their efforts to provide services and support to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
I don't want to miss it. I don't want anyone to miss it.
So while I'm really not going to "brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack," because that's simply nasty and I have to unload the dishwasher, go to the grocery store, I'm going to spend some time today thinking about what it would be like to go cold turkey for a month.
Maybe then I would wake up feelin' like P Diddy.
NOT.
Kesha might be groovin' that way but I'm not today. It's rain/snow/sleeting out. I have taxes to do, piles of work to go through and the ever present laundry pile has grown to epic proportions.
I read over the weekend about a police blog that has hateful homophobic rants from cops on it. I'm not going to give you the link because I don't think it should get a single click.
And people wonder why I don't trust cops as a general rule.
There is also going to be a mass, moonie style wedding of 400 gay couples in DC to get a world record. I know we fight for rights, and part of that means the right to be foolish but geesh. Does anyone think about the frame the right can use on this?
Which brings me to my thought de jour. While I was in DC last week, a friend talked to me about how he stopped- cold turkey- reading blogs and list servs for a month. He said, hey, I like what you write, what a lot of people write, but I felt like I needed perspective on the movement.
I couldn't agree more. Years ago, I was at a conference and a presenter said, Stop watching the TV news. Read a book about a subject. Or at least a magazine. Get away from the soundbites.
I have never watched the TV news again. I don't. I find it hysterical, focused only on the bad, and rarely all that informative. But I do read online newspapers, and blogs all the time.
What would it be like to take a break of that size? How would I feel at the end about the LGBT movement? It's an interesting question. Part of me loves research, digging in where a blog post or a list serv email brings me. How many police blogs are there? How often are they homophobic? Is this a rare instance, or an example of a deep rooted problem?
I get curious and I have to say, I like knowing the answers.
But what if I stopped? What if I took time to read some books on the movement, it's history, or evaluations of the current political environment and put down the instant gratification blogs and online news brings?
When I dropped everyday news coverage, I know it made me a more critical thinker. I became more keenly aware of how that coverage is used to manipulate. In fact, I became quite good at creating those frames myself.
On the other hand, we are in a time when little steps are being taken every day. The President has nominated out lesbian Laura Duffy to serve as U.S. Attorney, the chief federal prosecutor, for the Southern District of California -- the district that encompasses San Diego and surrounding areas. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of plans to establish the first national resource center to assist communities across the country in their efforts to provide services and support to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
I don't want to miss it. I don't want anyone to miss it.
So while I'm really not going to "brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack," because that's simply nasty and I have to unload the dishwasher, go to the grocery store, I'm going to spend some time today thinking about what it would be like to go cold turkey for a month.
Maybe then I would wake up feelin' like P Diddy.
posted by Sara at 8:24 AM
9 Comments:
Good Lord!! Please don't wake up looking like him!!!!
not sure that feeling like him is a good thing either cathy! but then again, i don't know that much about him.
I don't understand any of the musical references here, but that's what happens when you're not surrounded by youth!
But I do understand the stepping away from blogging thing. I do that periodically, too, but more often I cut back rather than go cold turkey. It seems to me that many news events don't get coverage anywhere but in the blogs, so I hesitate to cut myself off from them all. I narrow the ones I read, stay away from the sensationalizers, try to keep a balance, and try to spend the time to read the posts that require thought.
Maybe I should spend more time listening to music ....
Two words:Sonny Stitt. Or Lou Donaldson. Two journeymen who played their asses off and had a hell of a good time playing the music they loved.
sue? I listen to this crap all the time. it's always going through my head.
I cannot imagine, really, going cold turkey. I love to read and know too much.
A couple of years ago we hit a financial bottom (hopefully).
In order to set a new budget for our hard times, I needed us to halt all non-crucial spending for a month. That way I could more easily see the cash flow without trinkets and coffees in there. This financial cleanse was eye opening, not just for me but for the kids too. It aimed us in a new “no, I guess we don’t need that” direction.
Now we do this every year, last year, twice! Just as the restaurants and shops will always be there ready to take our money, the blogs and news outlets will be there too. I say try it… if nothing else, think of the time it will give you to plan anniversary dates :)
'And people wonder why I don't trust cops as a general rule.'
Thanks.
not you morgan. you da good cop.
but there are plenty not good cops, that don't like the queers.
Amiable dispatch and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you on your information.
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