Hermione v. Bella

There is a certain segment of Christians who are opposed to the Harry Potter series.  They will not read it and if they have children they do not allow their children to read it.  Their reasoning is because of the occult themes throughout the book.  In their belief system magic, spells and witchcraft are tools of Satan.  The fact that Harry Potter is fictional doesn't make any difference.  Although I don't agree with this perspective I also don't make it a habit to mock and belittle other peoples' religious beliefs. (Even when they don't respect mine.  I just like to think that I am a little better than that.)  What I find interesting is that many of the Christians opposed to Harry Potter have no problem with the Twilight series.  They approve of the chaste relationship between Bella and Edward.  They like that one of the main characters, Carlisle, was raised by a pastor and strongly believes in an afterlife, and atonement, afterlife and respect for human life are themes throughout the book.  They also justify reading Twilight because well, vampires aren't real.

Here's a little reality check.  Neither are witches and wizards.  Just like people can call themselves vampires, buy fake teeth and have weird parties where they drink blood, people can call themselves witches and cast pretend spells.  I can call myself a banana, but that's also not true.  The occult is not absent in Twilight.  Not only do vampires have special powers conferred on them (just like the wizards in Harry Potter), they are immortal due to their vampiric state.  They are not human.  In Harry Potter the characters are mortal, even the powerful ones.  Even though they may be wizards they are still human.  Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster at Harry's school and the most powerful, wise wizard in the book and is not immune from death.  The themes of afterlife are certainly present in Harry Potter as well.  During the last battle scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry spends time with the souls of Dumbledore and his parents (among others) before sacrificing himself in order to save the world, and in the ultimate confrontation between Harry and Voldemort he refuses to use a killing curse on Voldemort and asks him to show remorse, both of which are themes that sounds awfully similar to the actions of Jesus before his crucifixion.  There are no themes of chastity because Harry Potter isn't treading the waters of pornography like "Twilight".  It's a series about an epic battle between good and evil.

This leads me to question if the objection to Harry Potter is really about the occult themes.  On the surface, it actually appears that Harry Potter contains many themes that Christians value; in fact far more then are found in "Twilight".  There is one big difference between the two book that I see, and I question if that difference is really what makes very fundamental Christians uncomfortable.  The difference is between the female protagonists.  In "Twilight", Bella Swan is completely consumed by her relationship with Edward Cullen.  Other than her love-bordering-on-obsession, we know very little about her and her interests.  When Edward leaves in second book, Bella's life is completely shattered.  She cannot do anything for months as she copes with her loss.  He bullies and controls her, dictating who she can be friends with, where she should go to college, and ignoring her wishes about what she wants to do with her future.  These are all things that are explored in many other places.  Ultimately, Bella is incapable of taking care of herself and this is shown numerous times throughout the series.  Every time she gets into a dangerous situation it is Edward (or another major male character, Jacob) who must come in and save her.  She is completely reliant on the male protagonists to provide for her well-being.

Now, compare Bella Swan to the character of Hermione Granger, the main female protagonist in the Harry Potter series.  Hermione is smart, independent and often more capable than the male characters during a crisis.  She falls in love with another main character, Ron Weasley and she, Ron and Harry embark on quest in the last book in order to finally defeat Voldemort.  The three get in an argument and Ron leaves.  Unlike Bella, a heartbroken Hermione does not lie down in the fetal position and give up.  She continues on her mission.  She continues to be level-headed and make intelligent decisions.  Ultimately the showdown between good and evil are more important than her sadness about Ron's departure.  I can't help but wonder if fundamental Christian objection to Harry Potter has more to do with the strong feminist characters in Harry Potter.  Strong women are not, to my knowledge, a typical feature in most Biblical stories.  Women may be important, but they aren't empowered.  Could the discomfort they feel towards Harry Potter have less to do with the occult and more to do with the fact that the woman in Harry Potter don't need the men? 

(I just want to add: I know that many Christians don't object to Harry Potter.  I know some object to both.  My specific questioning is of those that object to Harry Potter but not Twilight.  M'kay?)

*Picture quality isn't all that great but I couldn't find a better one in a pretty basic search and I really want to go to bed.

The Duggars and choice

It's hard to ignore the Duggar family.  Between their frequent appearances on "The Today Show", People Magazine, and TV show on TLC they get a lot of media coverage.  Lots of people admire their large family, the fact that they are debt-free and self-sufficient and the strong family unit they seem to have created.  On the other hand, lots of people criticize them for having child after child.  Every time Michelle Duggar has another baby people start asking, "Is 16 (or 17, or 18) enough for them?"  This got louder after the precipitous birth of their 19th baby, who was delivered at 25 weeks via emergency c-section.  Michelle Duggar almost died, as did their baby.  Wouldn't this be enough for them?  Wasn't God trying to send them a sign that they'd had enough? 

To me, the worst are the people who not only question how many children they have but do so in an incredibly crass way.  They make rude comments about the size of Michelle Duggar's vagina, or about what her body must look like.  They say crude things about their sex life.  They insult their religious beliefs.  On a more practical level, they express concern about the toll that 21 pregnancies and 19 births have taken on Michelle Duggar's health and worry further pregnancies could result in Michelle's death. 

Most of the harsh judgements seem to come from people who are young or at least liberal and pro-choice.  Hey, that pretty much sounds like how I describe myself!  (Although at almost 30 I'm quickly reaching a point where describing myself as "young" will result in raised eyebrows and patronizing nods.)  I guess when you put your life out for public consumption you must be prepared for the public's judgement.  That being said, I strongly dislike the judgement they face, particularly when the criticizers identify as pro-choice.

Full disclosure: I am pro-choice.  I believe in birth control and that it's my right as a woman to control when I get pregnant.  I believe that it's appropriate for me to decide how many children my husband and I are capable of supporting.  I believe that, regardless of how I feel about abortion specifically, it's not my choice or anyone's choice whether or not a woman should continue a pregnancy.  When it comes to other women's reproductive choices I can feel however I want it is not my right to decide what is right for another woman.  That is something that is between her, her husband or partner, doctor, and God. 


But here's the thing about being pro-choice: pro-choice isn't just about abortion.  Pro-choice is about supporting a woman's right to make reproductive choices that work for her and her family.  It's also about supporting her right to choose her job, marriage, family and life.  The Duggars aren't on government assistance which makes their family choices even less relevant to the hordes of smug people that like to get on the horn to say how wrong they are.  (And please, don't start with me about the overpopulation myth.  The fertility in the U.S. is just over 2.06 children born per woman, while most of the rest of the Western world's numbers are under 2 children per woman.  (On a simple level it takes 2.0 children per woman for population replacement.)  The places in the world that have higher rates are pretty much across the board third world countries where many children may not even make it out of infancy.  (The problems our world faces aren't from overpopulation but from overconsumption.))  You might not agree with the choice to have so many kids, but to say their choice is wrong, to say things that are insulting, go against the feminist principles of being pro-choice.  We should be seeking equality to ensure woman are allowed to make choices about sex. their sexuality and their reproductive choices.  Pro-choice women who talk about how terrible the Duggars are just as bad as the pro-life women who condemn women for choosing abortion.  If you are truly pro-choice and truly a feminist then that means respecting the choices made by other women, even if we personally don't agree with them.

And I have just one word for the people who say ugly things said about Michelle Duggar's vagina and body:  PATHETIC.

The best thing ever.

When your neighbor comes to your door at 7 PM and asks if you saw any suspicious activity at his house last night because someone broke into his place. 

And then I got down my ninja sword and went to sleep next to it.

I liked painting

My intelligence is above-average.  I'm not being conceited, it's a tested fact that my IQ is about 132.  As I think I've made clear in other posts, I like to occasionally test my intelligence by doing things that are sort of dumb.  In June I decided I'd had enough of the extremely hideous paint in our master bedroom and bathroom.  At some point one of the previous owners went in with a sprayer and painted the walls, ceiling, and trim in an off-white that closely resembled nicotine stains.  Then the walls were painted a sort of lavender that was disgusting.  Seriously, I think I need trauma counseling after looking at it day in and day out for almost a year. The trim and ceilings were left nicotine white.  Additionally, we have fourteen foot vaulted ceilings, and instead of doing the tedious work of painting a neat line they just used a style I like to call "indifferent" so paint was all over the ceiling.  My idealistic hope was that my eyes were playing tricks on me and that the ceiling only looked beige.  I hoped I would be able to use ceiling white just in the edges.

If you have average reading comprehension skills and you've been following my blog with even minimal dedication you might remember that I had a baby in April.  One thing I haven't mentioned is that I had a baby who felt that sleep was optional, but that constantly being held was critical.  So here's what I had: a baby with only minimal interest in sleep and a high need to be held; a two-year-old; and ugly bedroom paint.  Also I didn't want to paint the bathroom and bedroom the same color.  I did what any person would do: rather than wait for a more opportune time I opted for instant gratification.  I bought a gallon of paint and hastily painted the bathroom.  I looked great, especially since most of it wasn't done.  It says something for the previous color that my lazy handiworked looked better.  Eventually I got sick of the mild anxiety that accompanied any trip to the bathroom and committed to finishing.  I bought more paint, many, many paintbrushes, awesome blue tape and caulk.

I think I should let you in on a secret: it's much more fun to start a project then to continue working on it week in and week out.  I got the bathroom done pretty quickly.  The color was fairly dark and easily covered what I will now refer to as "vomit lavendar."  I started encountering an issue when it came to doing the very top.  Fourteen foot walls + eight foot ladder + five foot person = too short.  Rather than buying a new ladder I moved on to the bedroom.  When I picked out our paint I had two choices: buy a primer and paint or spring for the more expensive, awesome Behr Paint + Primer.  Even though I'm usually known for eschewing products that will make my life easier, in this case I decided to use the more expensive Behr, thinking I would save time having to do only two coats, rather than two coats of primer and two coats of paint (that equals four coats; I know you don't come to my blog to do math).

I enthusiastically did the first coat on one wall.  My initial reaction was disappointment.  Vomit lavender was still extremely obviously.  I cheered myself with the reminder I still needed a whole other coat.  I let the one wall dry and applied another coat of paint.  The results were still pretty much terrible.  OK, this was not good.  In rash optimism I decided that the lavender in the rest of the room was bouncing off the new color and once the other walls were done it would look fine.  In an uncharacteristic burst of energy I focused on painting the whole bedroom twice (well...the parts I could reach without a tall ladder and without moving furniture).  Can I even begin to describe the frustration I felt as I realized that I was going to need to do another coat of paint?  This project was rapidly starting to suck.  Now, this is where the details start to get fuzzy thanks to my lingering PTSD.  At some point I went to use ceiling paint in the edges and learned that the ceilings were not, in fact, white.  So I had to go back to Home Depot and buy supplies for ceiling painting and commit to buying a really, really tall ladder.  By now the employees in the painting department and I were pretty much best friends.

If you can believe it, painting our ceilings was less fun then I'd been led to believe by numerous sources, mainly no one.  Painting them actually only took one night, although when the sun is really bright I can see spots that could use a second coat, which I've solved by only spending time in my bedroom during nighttime hours.  With the ceilings done and a tall ladder purchased I no longer had any excuse to not paint the top of the walls.  We bought a Little Giant ladder which converts from A-Frame to extension to some other stuff I haven't learned because I hope to never use it in that capacity.  First I did everything I could with the ladder in A-Frame.  For some reason I was not excited to put the ladder into extension mode and be up twelve feet.  Unfortunately the painting at the tippy top was not getting done by magic, no matter how much I prayed to the tooth fairy and Santa.  Eventually I had to suck it up.  To start with I had to go up on the ladder and tape and caulk. (Caulking ensures a straight line when your walls are heavily textured as ours are.  Unless it just pulls up the paint, which might have happened to me and might have resulted in me screaming "FuckfuckfuckFUUUUCK" and throwing a paintbrush off the ladder.)  Then I had to get up and paint.  FOUR TIMES.  Yes, the mutant vomit lavender paint required four coats of paint and I swear that I can still see spots that could use a fifth coat.  Someday I will do that fifth coat while also consuming a fifth of Jameson.  

The final indignity came when I tried to take down the tape and, as I mentioned earlier, the caulk pulled off a huge amount of paint. I had to climb up twelve feet and use a knife to cut the caulk through the tape so the paint didn't all come off with it.  Did I mention that I also had to do this in the evening while Kent was working?  With two small children asleep?  Raise your hands if you agree that was pretty much my best idea ever.  I couldn't wait though because when I'm working on a project I have to power through.  Taking a day off turns into a week, which turns into a month which turns into Kent asking in anguish six months later, "Are you ever going to get this ladder out of room?" and me responding bitchily, "I can't because I'm still not done with the goddamn painting."  Hence why I couldn't wait until another adult was in the house for me to undertake my knife-wielding tape removal.

Once the painting was done I could only think dark, vengeful thoughts towards Behr.  I'm not one to file complaints.  Usually I just harbor passive-aggressive hatred for a company until the end of time.  In this case though, my mom convinced me to email Behr about my disappointment.  One bored afternoon I finally did and they offered me a full refund on all four gallons of paint I purchased. So even though I wasn't happy about my results I no longer hate Behr.  Also it took six weeks to do all the painting and now I need new carpet because I was too lazy to use a drop cloth.  Also there is no way to paint around a bathtub, vanity and shower stall that does not feel mildly dangerous.  And now I hate painting.