Who are those people?

New blogs in the menu over there, people:

Atrocity Road
Sam “I think he lives in Bristol” Allen
A Britisher, he’s so deeply into that Indonesian-Dub-fusion scene that he’s formed an alter ego named Able DJ, which if I may say so, is a pretty good alter ego to have. I don’t know much about what he does, but if you want to know if the DJ was Able (best pun ever) to score after the last “mashup,” or if you like viewing photos from the urban Anglo environ, this is your blog, mate.

Charity and politics

ABC's 20/20 did some amazing journalistic investigation last night for their dazzling piece on 'Who gives and who doesn't?' about how different social groups give money. The show seemed to be glorifying the good nature of conservatives and the religious, whilst being critical of the secular and liberal middle-class. Or maybe that’s simply what the data suggests.

Apparently, middle-class liberals, who don't go to church, who live in San Francisco, who earn more money than their rural, church-going conservative counterparts, who profess to 'care' so much about charitable causes, give less than the poor, church-going conservatives. Liberals are also less likely to give blood. And it's 24 red states (from the last election), which make up the most generous 25 states in America for donating an above-average amount of their income.

Arthur Brooks, the author of "Who Really Cares”, had this to say:
"You find that people who believe it's the government's job to make incomes more equal, are far less likely to give their money away," In fact, people who disagree with the statement, "The government has a basic responsibility to take care of the people who can't take care of themselves," are 27 percent more likely to give to charity.

I don’t personally like giving money to charities because they just end up spending it on drugs.

Also shaken

I'm a middle-aged woman, evidently.

Oli and I went to go see Casino Royale last week and in the words of Martha Matters, yowza! I've been day-dreaming about Daniel Craig/James Bond ever since. Plus, I want to be a spy now. It's one of those movies that really wraps you up in its world, and now here I am, thinking up ways Oli and I can get into espionage....and ways I can meet Daniel Craig.

Go see it; it's actually shot really well, has good characters, attempts to not degrade women, and has a great exchange that ends with James responding: "Skewered."

Oh, and one other thing, I really, really hated Batman Begins and somewhat resent Martha comparing these movies, but I'll let it slide because she dresses so well.

The internet is AMAZING!

I love this Age of Information. Anything and everything is possible. Friends in distant lands, answers to the day’s wonderings, books, images and music are but a double-click away.

This little gem allows me to watch films, documentaries and animation without Netflix, LimeWire or the telly. Nice.

But, seriously, I do believe that the Internet is the defining thing of our age, and I do think it’s more than about just getting quick-fix media-hits from the online syringe. I sometimes think of Wikipedia as a metaphor for the Internet. Both are fantastic resources because they are open-source and available for all to use, to edit and to create at no (or little) cost. Both serve as a barrier to ignorance and allow all to share in knowledge and information. It is for this reason that I believe free-internet access, preferably wi-fi, should be a right, not a privilege, for the people of the world.

God didn’t make men equal, the Internet did.

Holidays

Just some cute bits:

1. My nephew has been waiting for weeks to put up the Christmas decorations but my sister said not until the day after Thanksgiving. On November 1st, knowing this was the month of Thanksgiving, he said, "Can we just put up a little now? Like, a candle?" There is no arguing with the 5-year-old mind.

2. We decorated the Christmas tree at my parents' on the day after Thanksgiving (the kids got my sister to cave and put up their tree three days before). On about her 12th ornament, my niece Marisa hung it gently on the tree, gazed at it and sighed, "Ah, the first branch of Christmas." We stil are unsure of what they means, but it's a nice sentiment.

3. I'm set on getting mini radio-controlled cars for all of my family members for Christmas. I have visions of Grandma and her sister racing to the death while eating brownies and drinking egg nog. Oli is down with this idea but doesn't want to get one for every individual. I say, what man wouldn't give his left arm for a wife that wants to buy 30 rc cars?

Recent photos

Looking good on Thanksgiving Day, Lily is wearing:

*Body warmer/vest by Marisa Brown
*Velvet dress by YaYa and The Find
*Tights by Nana Lisa
*Shoes by Laura


Making a goofy face in the hallway

New Baby Lily photos at las fotos de oliver.

Stalking Janice

Happy belated birthday, Janice!

You're always such a good friend to us, taking Oli out to concerts, dragging us out of the house to play softball, buying stuff for Lily, making Angela jewelry. What does one do for such a friend on (or after) her birthday? Surely you don't just buy her bottles of hand lotion and bubble bath...

You stalk her for a day and make a movie about it.

Happy birthday, Love.
~ The Seeleys

**Note to viewers** - This video deviates from the usual 2-minute length. This is a 20-something minute film. We hope it's funny and wasn't just funny to us because we lived it. Enjoy!

What to take away from this presentation

We've been up all evening making food and preparing Oli's RVA presentation for tomorrow. We're exhausted and going a bit bonkers.

We've decided that the most important things for people to take away from a presentation on sexual assault are:
1. It is never the victim's fault.
2. It is never the victim's fault.
3. No smoking.

Huzzah patent holder

Hey -

Oli is convinced that the reason people in our Chicago social circle say "huzzah!" from time to time is because they heard him and his friends say it during the toast at our wedding. He thinks they invented it.

Please back me up and explain that many people in this world say "huzzah!" to be both unified and humorous at the same time.

Sorry Ol.

Star Wars Oli

First came the Star Wars Kid, then came approximately 106 immitations including Stephen Colbert's green sceen challenge. If you're interested in reading more on the Star Wars Kid phenomena then I recommend you read Megan's concise history.

Anyway, here is my effort. I hope you enjoy.

Urbana-Champaign

The C word

I was recently sitting around the apartment alone on a Saturday while Oli was at an RVA training and Lily was napping. Wow, an hour to myself. What do I do? I was sitting in the papasan chair and wondered if I should maybe read one of those books I had never read that were sitting on my bookshelf. I looked up, and there it was: Cunt.

I thought it would be a quick funny read about the origins of the C word and its meaning in our society and how we can “reclaim” it. My, how we love reclaiming things. I thought it would help me get thinking about feminist and female issues again. I realized that I haven’t been thinking about those and their impact on my and my family and friends’ lives very much lately.

But Cunt is so much more.

I bought the book, I’m sure, to be trendy and alternative. I know I bought it at Borders, though, so that immediately kills all hope of being alternative. But thank God I didn’t read this book before. I would not have been ready. I required several years of my mother’s yogi talk to prepare me for this book.

This book and its author give off vibes of big warm moms who cook yummy healthy food and know how to talk politics, earthy spirituality and sexuality, San Francisco, and much more. It makes me want to be home and not work and to put more time and thought into the food we make, and the way we care for our bodies, and the home we craft for ourselves, and the way we raise Lily as a girl and woman. It makes we want a kitchen filled with clay pots of herbs, quinoa (a la Laura Hartich), and things to sooth the soul. Basically, it makes me want to be what I like to call organi-mom….and more. The book is not specifically about these things, but this is how it has affected this reader.

The author (Inga Muscio) discusses etymology, history, taking control of one’s personal health, prostitution, sexual power, orgasms, acrimony among women, and so much more. It sounds like it’s all been said before in many a self-help book, but this is not a self-help book. Inga’s ability to reach into so many places (history, pop culture, politics, capitalism) and intelligently and humanly make arguments for why women (and the people in their lives) should be putting more thought into their own lives and bodies rather than running around and trusting what doctors and magazines and TV say, is just flat out good. G-o-o-d. Again, I defer to Laura Hartich who shunned doctors who didn’t listen to her and her feelings and intuitions about her own body.

Inga can be very slang-y and guru-y and hokey-pokey, but I can forgive her these things because her messages and information are just incredible. The resources she lists in the book and in the section at the back are amazing. Oli and I You-tubed some of her references last night and wow, information.

You may think, “Ah, Angela is entering that reading-woman-books phase again and she’ll listen to anything anyone with a vagina writes,” but all I can say is this book is good and women and non-women should read it with other women and non-women they know and talk about it and whatever it makes them think about.

I’m almost done, so you can borrow it if you want.

Inappropriate Children's TV

This is a show I used to watch when I was a little kid.

Election Day

During the days leading up to Election Day, I couldn't care less about politics (other than figuring out who I'm going to vote for). Then, when it arrives, I am suprised to remember how fantastic it is. I don't know why I forget how great Election Day is. But for whatever reason I'm always half-hearted until the actual day arrives, at which point I get all nervous to go vote (funny, no?). Then I go vote and I'm like, "Whoa, this is fun." Then I go home and turn on the TV and I'm like, "Man, this is really exciting!" And then Charlie Gibson and George Stephan-greekolas start talking and I f-ing lose it, as well as my grip on time and space and suddenly it's midnight and I'm exhausted from excitement and overload of intelligent conversation.

And then I wake up and run for the newspaper kiosk to see what happened during those hours of sleep. And that's fun, too.

Happy Day After Election Day, kids. From the looks of the other blogs in our sphere, y'all enjoyed it as much and even more than I did.

Walking Lily and Plasma Cars

Lily has begun standing without support for just a few moments and is destined to walk independently very soon. At the moment she is walking, or rampaging, with the assistance of her new crocadile walker device.

I, whilst shopping for the crocodile, found an incredible toy...

Happy birthday me!

Like the Queen of England (Huzzah, peace be upon her) I have two birthdays. One American and one English. I was born 11.06.81, which in England translates as the 11th of June; in American it's November the 6th.

Having only just discovered my birthday, no celebrations are planned. Gifts are welcome, however.

The Seeley Family.

Freedom Pumpkin

Unsure of what else to do on Halloween (beside watching Showgirls) I decided to paint the stars and stripes onto a pumpkin.

A grown-up weekend

This last weekend has proven how quickly we turn into grown-ups doing grown-up stuff. As those of you who have read Taylor Street this week know, we spent the weekend in Urbana (and Champaign), Illinois with our good friend Colin Taylor, who was born and raised in said town. We stayed with Colin's parents John and Barb and passed the time with them, Colin's younger sister Abby, and his good friend Ben.

Saturday morning brought the Hartichs (Nate, Laura, Simon, Theo) for a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit and cinnamon crumble cake, followed by chasing children and dogs in the backyard. Simon has opened up to everyone and showed his true colors while running around the yard in circles yelling things like, "I like your grass!!! I like this yard!!!" Theo impressed me (and others) with his intelligent baby babble and chill demenor. Lily was her usual intense self, sticking to missions like: Pull all the toys out of the box, Eat the leaf, and everyone's favorite, Growl really loudly.

Lily has definitely reached a new stage in which she recognizes that she can exert her will on the world. No longer does she cry when something she wants is out of her reach; rather, she sees something she wants and immediately focuses all attention on obtaining that thing, even if that requires crawling over large obstacles. This goes for when she wants to be held by someone in particular. When she's tired, she won't let non-mommy/daddy people hold her. If someone else picks her up, she knows all she has to do is stretch her arms out to mom/dad and she's home free. Today in the bath she demonstrated another fun example of how she has realized her physical abilities. Lily sometimes sucks on her washcloth full of warm water. Usually when it dries up, she wines and shakes it. Today she just dipped it back in the warm water and put it back to her lips; she did this several times. Like Short Circuit, Lily craves input and she is learning.

Back to Urbana-Champaign...Colin and I took Oli on a tour of campus and campustown, complete with stops at Espresso Royale and Murphy's. While sitting on the sidewalk sipping our Royale mint hot chocolates, we witnessed a Bar Scramble, which I can only guess is equivalent to what we called a Bar Crawl in my day. Members of some co-ed organization wore matching T-shirts listing the bars they had to go to as part of this scramble. At each they were required to take a different type of shot. I don't know what the prize was or what organization they were part of, but let me say that I took great pleasure in watching them flip their blonde hair, adjust their baseball caps and talk in loud cutesy voices all the while feeling superior...and nostalgic.

On Saturday night we went to the Eastins' with the family and Ben for a chilli cook-off in which many guests brought chilli for everyone to try. Then we all voted for our favorite recipe as we sat around the campfire, drinking beer, eating caramel apples and brownies. Lily slept on me the whole night and I have to say, a great way to spend a Saturday night is by a campfire with your friends and other great people, eating comfort food, cuddling a very cute warm sleeping baby. Beats a night out at a club any time.

Sunday was more chill. John took Lily on a 6-mile walk; it's good Lily LOVES taking walks. Colin, Oli, Abby and I went for a walk on a sculpture trail and stopped by the Japan House and garden. This was followed up with watching Hocus Pocus with the family and Colin's friend Ben.

(Don't we look like two pairs of brother and sister?)

Between all the good food provided by the Hughes-Taylors and the relaxed flow of events, we're feeling like we've just come back from 7 days on some beach. What else could you expect from a town with gas stations like this one:

Lily's face