This week got away from me a little bit as we went back to school for in-service and the challenges of a new school year in a building that is very much under construction, new administration, and a new last name that needs to be changed in every system (and the mind of every previous student) kind of overshadowed all other things.
On top of that, it was a post race week so not only should there have been a race recap to share, but I was kind of in burned out, recovery mode...which can only last so long as the MedCity Fall Half is coming up in three weeks, so there's no real time for a letdown. Recover...rebound...run...repeat. That's the current model.
Today, however, there is no in-service and the weather is dismally grey and raining, so I've set aside this moment of my afternoon to share with you the following four thoughts about life in the world this past week.
1. As I mentioned, this week marked the official back to school for teachers in Pine Island, and that brought to light the many challenges that we will face this year, particularly as our building is under MUCHO construction and reorganization. Already it's stressful to navigate the hallways that have construction happening in them, let alone figure out the new routes from one end of the building to the other, avoiding the hallways that are closed because of construction! It's going to be an interesting year...and I haven't even begun setting up my own classroom yet.
One funny note of interest however, is in the process of construction they opened up/discovered a brand new staircase that had been hidden/forgotten that will now be accessible to students. I jokingly said that it was like teaching at Hogwarts, not knowing were the staircases or hallways would be at any given moment. Then I happened across this story about a Harry Potter loving teacher and her Harry Potter loving classroom and thought, "I want to be friends with this person!" (Or at least teach in her classroom!) CLICK HERE for the story. Scroll down for pictures!
2. I love love love ironic language so much that I laughed out loud at the official statement made by Avid Life Media after the CEO of Ashley Madison resigned. They said, and I quote:
"This change is in the best interest of our company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees. We are steadfast in our commitment to our customer base..."
Which is ironic, of course, because their whole customer base is there to begin with because they're not committed!
3. As I watched and read the news this week, I found myself making a list of things in my head that I'm calling the, "I'd rather not live in a world where...." list. The list currently reads like this. I'd rather not live in a world where:
Donald Trump is a viable candidate for President of the United States.
News anchors and cameramen get shot on live television.
80 year old archaeologists get beheaded by terrorists while ancient cities worth of artifacts burn to the ground.
Women read poems called "If my vagina were a gun..." on the Senate floor.
Women have to continuously defend themselves and their rights on the Senate floor.
Fast food workers believe that they should earn a salary that would allow them to rent a two bedroom apartment...when there are plenty of people with four year degrees and professional licenses that could not otherwise afford a two bedroom apartment. (That said...I do get it that the lower/middle class is all scraping the bottom of the barrel for the spare change, so I'm not sure I blame them.)
4. Because we should all head into our weekend with something happy to smile about. This is the cutest...saddest..most adorable make you laugh and cry at the same time little thing!
TGIF blog friends! It's Friday...the Friday before the Madison Half Marathon to be precise. In a little over an hour, J Word and I are going to pack up the car and head down to Madison for the Expo and dinner with the Platypus, all before meeting the rest of the crew (Mom, Dad, Mookie, Mustang, Mustang's parents, etc.) tomorrow at the starting line. The weather looks like it should be close to perfect, and it's a race weekend, so let's all be excited!!
Having previously written about taper week, I feel like I should mention my taper week was uneventful barring a very very strange dream last night in which I was running a race in Siberia. In order to get to the race, we had to essentially sneak into Russia via an underground train tunnel. (Or apparently you could dog sled in, because once we reached the lodge where we were staying, two teams arrived via sled.) We got into Siberia no problem, only to realize the night before the race that I had left my running shoes in the underground train tunnel (because you know that's EXACTLY the kind of thing I would actually do!) Cue J Word and I sneaking into a Siberian Bizarre to look for new sneakers, and my concocting a story (in my dream head...which is also my real head...) about a marathon taking place in Berlin post-World War II where East Berliners and West Berliners had to cross the wall to make it the full 26.2 miles.
This was a very very very involved dream. And it's no wonder I woke up more exhausted then when I had gone to sleep. Also, I never actually ran the race in the dream, so I can't even tell you what running in Siberia is like...but I imagine it's cold!
Pause for Google Research....
Ah ha! Consequently there is a Siberian Marathon...and "Ice Marathon" as it were. And so for your first thing this Friday, here's a lucid thought about running Siberian Marathons...
1. DO NOT run a marathon in Siberia!
Onto other, less complicated and bizarre observations from the week.
2. In the last few weeks you may have heard about the security breach at the online site for people who want to cheat on their spouses, Ashley Madison. If not...catch up here...but truthfully the story is kind of sad and depressing, so here's what happened in a nutshell. Hackers got the names of 36 million site users and threatened to leak them (and then did), thus outing lots of no good rotten scoundrels cheating on their spouses.
My first thought on the story was, 'OMG! There are 36 million people trying to cheat on their spouse!?' Then I looked up how many users are on Match.com for a comparison, and found out that number was about 5,000,000. So the number of spouses trying to cheat is 7 times higher than the number of singles looking for relationships...or hookups... So, if you're looking for a hookup, are you 7 times more likely to find a cheating spouse to have a fling with than a single person looking for a relationship??
Then my head started to hurt, because I know, at least I hope, that logic must be flawed. And all of this ignores the fact that Josh Dugger's name (of the now infamous '19 Kids and Counting') was released on the list, meaning he's got 99 more problems. And after watching Tiger Woods tank at the PGA Championship again last week (the latest low point in a career that's been on a steady decline since his own cheating/golf club to the back of an SUV incident came out), I can't help but feel like cheating on your spouse instantly kills your karma. Bad mojo on you all the rest of your days!
3. It's the end of summer, and if you happen to be heading to one of my favorite cities for an end of summer excursion, apparently you MUST stand in line for hours to get your hands on the latest foodie craze...rolled ice cream. It may not be at a Cold Stone near you, but 10Below Ice Cream shop in New York City's Chinatown is making news for the most amazing ice cream creation you'll apparently ever indulge in. I will admit, watching how they make it was oddly mesmerizing. Apparently it's a traditional street food in Thailand. And now, it's a hot, prepster food trend in the good old USA. CLICK HERE.
4. Think you know what else is happening in the world this week? Take this news quiz to find out both: A. That you're either informed or uninformed. And B. The world's going to hell in a handbasket! CLICK HERE
It's taper week running friends, and for most racers that's akin to a whole week of Christmas. Taper week is a great time to rest and recoup and get excited about the upcoming race, which in my case is on Saturday morning!
I used to hate taper week. I'd get to this point a week before the race, stop training hard and then worry that my "resting" was going to somehow ruin my training, and that I wouldn't be able to finish the race...or that something would go wrong in the days between finishing the hard training and getting to the race...or any number of other irrational thoughts. Then, sometime shortly after my appendix ruptured 12 days before a 1/2 marathon, and I still managed to finish the race, I started to embraced the taper for what it was, a well deserved break to stockpile energy for the main event! Even science and this nifty line graph says it's a good idea!
You must keep your mileage above your accumulated fatigue. No taper?...prepare to crash! So...taper it is!
Of course before the taper comes the final long run, which in my case was last Saturday morning. When you run in the summer in the upper midwest, you generally expect to cope with some heat and humidity, and last Saturday was the epitome of an August day...85 degrees...85% humidity...let's go for a run!
There are some tricks and tips for running in the heat. The best advice has always been to slow down. Some people say add up to a minute/mile when the temperature is high. Other people will recommend taking your normal pace down by 10%. All people agree to run slower (So I had no business running my first three miles as fast as I did on Saturday.)
The second best piece of advice is to stay hydrated. I carry water with me on a running "utility belt" of sorts. I also carry nutrition with me. For a half marathon, I've been training with clementine oranges and grapes on long runs (one or the other, not both). Some people swear by gels. Some people eat nothing. It's personal preference. However, when it's hot, we all need hydration, so whether it's a bottle you carry with you, or a route that passes a couple public water options, or a route that loops you back to your own kitchen a time or two to take a couple quick sips, water is a must.
Of course, the nice thing about tapering in the summer is that it gets you out of the heat for the most part the week before the race. That should give the body a chance to recoup and fully rehydrate before running the race.
Yes the taper is a good thing...and runner's should embrace it, especially in the heat!
But doesn't it just stand to reason that after running in the heat all summer, the week that would be time to taper, the temperature would just tank!?! I woke up to rain this morning, the threat of thunderstorms this afternoon, and 65 degrees? 65 degrees is great, and I don't even mind running in the rain! But it's taper week...better keep it light and easy! Tomorrow it's only supposed to hit 60. 60! But it's taper week...better keep it light and easy!
It's supposed to be up in the eighties again by race day on Saturday because, well, it's the upper midwest in the summer.
But as I ran in longsleeves this morning...and I'm sitting in sweatpants and a pullover now....I don't just feel like I'm tapering on this race, I feel like I'm tapering on the summer. Didn't I just write about the chilly crispness of fall? Well for the next few days anyways, we've got it!
It's Friday! Congratulations on making it through another week. At this point, it feels like mine are flying by, and with only one "duty free" week of summer left, I'm using every excuse possible to celebrate what little time remains of Summer 20154. Today it's Friday! Let's celebrate.
I've had many thoughts this week, and have read many ridiculous things. Mostly this is a product of Donald Trump still being a person that insists on opening his mouth. Then I read those things and get angry, and life goes on! Also, this week I joined 'the Skimm' which is, by far, the best way to get your news. It's a daily, Monday-Friday e-mail service that's AWESOME, so if you're not 'skimming' yet, you're missing out. But the news in general usually also leads to ridiculous things as well. So going back to a daily, reliable news update has up-ed my "what did I just read" quotient.
Today's thoughts are "news light" in the sense that they are relevant to the national conversation that is happening on some level, but are not ranting and raving editorial style commentaries on the shortcomings of society...of which there are many. (Both shortcomings and raving editorials!)
1. Target announced this week that they will start removing gender specific signage, particularly in their toy section. If you've missed the story, catch up here. I am generally indifferent on this decision as I think:
A. People are probably going to buy whatever they want regardless of what kind of signage Target has. But also...
B. Signs like the one below due seem a little archaic. And what is a 'Girl's Building Set' anyway?
Signage aside, if we're going to spend time talking about a problem with children's toys, we should probably spend less time talking about how they're organized in a store, and more time talking about the toys themselves. For example, if now boys and girls can be comfortable walking through the toy section to buy a Barbie...that's great. Good on ya' kiddos. However, when that Barbie still represents unrealistic body image standards, it doesn't matter who bought it and who's playing with it, the problem still remains the toy itself...not the signage. So this week I had to chuckle when I came across the buzzfeed artist's rendition of Disney Princesses with vs. without makeup. CLICK HERE. The most entertaining element...why do all their eyelashes disappear without makeup??
2. I'll preface this next one by saying I've given you the story link...but don't actually click the story link. You'll never get the IQ points back that you lose from reading it. That said...you've been warned not to CLICK HERE.
So why, Why, WHY are the Kardashians still news? I mean, I "get" (in the sense that I don't really understand it at all) why Caitlyn Jenner makes for a good reality TV show, but who cares about the Kardashian girls anymore? Why did we ever care? And WHY, dear Lord WHY!, do we care about the aforementioned news story about Kylie Jenner wearing her mother's swimsuit while on vacation? I'm writing to the writer of the article to ask for my braincells back.
3. This one is just plain interesting and fun. An ink-blot test can supposedly be used to determine your age based on what kind of things you see in the blots. Mine was semi-accurate in the sense that I'll accept 33 even though I'm almost 28. I'm willing to be lenient seeing as they're making the guess based on my opinions of misshapen blobs. 5 years off isn't all that shabby! CLICK HERE to try it yourself.
4. Yesterday there was a massive explosion in China, and the pictures that have been taken of the damage is incredible. There is perhaps no creepier picture than that of the rows and rows of cars that were within the blast radius. If this doesn't set you towards thinking about some weird-post apocalyptic movie set, I don't know what will!
It's PGA Championship weekend, and 10 miler Saturday. (It's also HOT and HUMID). So stay cool, enjoy some golf, and as always...
About a year ago, around the same time I was getting ready to move to Rochester full time, J Word started not feeling very well. This eventually led to the realization that he was gluten intolerant, and led me to begin looking at food and cooking in a totally different way.
Recently we've been on kind of an eating out binge, the product of lots of friends wanting to do lots of "summer is winding down" getting together and going out. Going out is not impossible for J Word, but menus can be tricky, and after a week out of our own kitchen, neither one of us was feeling great. J Word requested simple meals this week...true clean eating with as few ingredients as possible. Excluding olive oil and spices, here are two, delicious, three ingredient dinners we've had this week that are as clean as can be.
Dinner 1: Chicken breast with homemade potato rounds and fresh fruit
To prepare the chicken: Sprinkle the chicken breast with your preferred blend of spices. (Note...if you want to go gluten free, you want to avoid Lawry's Season Salt, and check your pre-blended, store bought, spice mixes). Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sear chicken breast 2-4 minutes on a side, until cooked through.
To prepare the potatoes: (Side note - the mandolin is the greatest kitchen gadget we received as a wedding present!!) Slice your potatoes 3/8 inch thick. Toss slice in olive oil. Spread into a single layer on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 until potatoes start to get golden brown.
Fresh fruit - self explanatory here. We had clementine oranges.
Dinner 2: White fish with curry cajun rice and zucchini
To prepare the white fish: First, pick your white fish. Cod and Tilapia are popular, but if you've never tried fresh catfish, I'd recommend it. Depending on the fish you choose, your method of prep and cook time will vary. That said, I broiled ours at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes after rubbing both sides with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and paprika.
To prepare the rice: We eat brown rice...like hard core, cook it for 45 minutes, brown rice...but Minute rice (brown or white) will work fine. Prepare the rice as directed. Then mix in salt, pepper, and curry powder. I also added a shake or two of a gluten-free cajun spice blend we have. It include paprika, cumin, a few types of pepper, and some salt. Season to taste based on how much rice you cooked!
To prepare the zucchini: I baked my zucchini at the same time I broiled my fish, which was far from a perfect science! Followed the exact same procedure as Dinner 1's potatoes...olive oil, salt, pepper, cook, eat!
Tomorrow I have some rice noodles, which admittedly do come from a bag. However, the ingredient list is just rice flour and water. So it may be a four ingredient meal...but keeping it simple has helped J Word feel better, and has been decent for my training as well.
(We'll just ignore the cookie ice cream sundae I had last night!) ;) To J Word's credit (or...you know...his loss) he kept it really simple, and skipped it!
In the last two weeks, four things have happened that are sure fire signs that summer is just about over.
1.) The official brochure/schedule for teacher in-service arrived.
2.) The official back to school employee paperwork arrived.
3.) I had to make my first trip back to the building since I left in May! That's right...MAY! That feels like a long time ago because, well, it kind of was! Lots of things have happened since May, so it almost felt a little weird to be walking through the halls of the high school again.
4.) Football started!
The end of summer is a double edged sword because while on the one hand I love summer, free time, sleeping in late, running whenever I want in the middle of the day, writing, reading, having lunch with my husband, etc. I also love the crisp weather, crunchy leaves, curl up in a blanket, go outside in a sweatshirt, football season, pumpkins and cider, etc. that fall brings. There's even a point that I decide I don't mind going back to school!
And it's at about this point that my non-teacher friends say, "Wow! Must be nice having so much free time and freedom." And my answer is, "Yes! It is." As a teacher, I'm not going to apologize for my summer. But I'm also not going to pretend that I don't have to start getting ready for the reality of September.
And so, in the next two weeks before I report to in-service...here's what's going down.
First things first: I previously written on two occasions about the need to pick a fall play and get the ball rolling on pre-production details. Well...done and done...and it's actually one of the ones I told you it might be too! So, save the date and the details for PI's version of:
I'm pumped about this show because, as I mentioned, I've thought about doing it 3 or 4 times. So...now's the moment! :)
Next things next: it's time to run! For the first time in two summers, I'm not training for a fall marathon, and it's been awesome! I'll talk more about the specifics of the 8 week training plan I've been on later, but it's been really really good; a nice change physically and mentally from the long demand that is marathon training.
There wasn't really a chance to think much about consistent training at the beginning of the summer with the wedding, but the end of summer is perfect because it means going back for my 5th running of the Madison Mini Marathon!
This is half marathon #11 on my race resume, and I'm running without a specific goal in mind but to finish and enjoy the run in the process, which makes this the perfect end of summer race. Plus, the Platypus, Mustang, and Mrs. Dr. are all running as well. That means Mookie, J Word, and the Parents will come to Madison as well. Cue the perfect end of summer running party!
After that, in-service will start, and the game will be pretty much over, except for a final Labor Day weekend, last chance for summer fun trip back home to the Parents. Featuring the family Labor Day party at the lake, the family fantasy football draft, and multiple golfing opportunities, there's lots of final days of summer fun to be had!
Other things going on in the next few weeks that EVERYONE should be excited about:
* Preseason football starts in earnest this week! Game on!! :-)
* The Minnesota State Fair. (I'm not ever sure we're going...but people who like to go should be excited!)
* This week's peak of the Perseid meteor shower. They say at it's best you can see 100 per hour. The height of the show should be between 11pm Wednesday and 4am Thursday.
So as the dog days of summer drag on, drag yourself up and out into the best of the end of summer dealings!
Thank you all for returning despite the fact that my "Planned Parenthood Post that's Not About Planned Parenthood," likely, unintentionally offended at least one person. I'm sorry. Not what I was going for. That said...Donald Trump is winning the Republican polls right now by offending the whole world, so maybe I should shoot for a little less "Minnesota Nice," and a little more, "I don't care who the **** I **** off. **** you!"
...but before I lapse into politics! As it's Friday, and I've already ventured down the path of controversial topics for the week, here are four thoughts about four other things going on in the world that you might have missed or not yet formed an opinion about!
1. I have a whole file of ideas for book writing, one of my most recent being a memoir of sorts called "The Big Sister's Book of Unsolicited Advice," which would be a book of essay and anecdotes instilling all the "big sister wisdom" that Mookie never required. My sister and I have a great relationship and friendship, but there are many ways in which we are different. Take, for example, our husbands. Mookie and Mustang were friends in high school before dating in college and getting married after 6 years of courtship and engagement. It was the only real dating my sister ever did. And it worked great for her!
J Word and I...we met online, got engaged after 6 months and married 11 months after that.
And while my sister and I are both very happy in our marriages, I have A LOT of advice about online dating that I never got to give her because her love life and mine were not the same.
This week, I came across this article CLICK HERE about a woman who met a man in Malaysia via her online dating profile, seemingly "fell in love" with him (or the idea of him because they never met in person), at which point he tried to scam her out of $20,000. And thus, I started thinking about the very practical advice I could have offered this woman about dating online and actually trying to find a real relationship. Here are my pointers in a nutshell.
When it gives you the option of how far away you want to look for a match...actually pick a distance you'd be willing to go to meet a match. Yes, rom-com's want you to believe that love will transcend all boundaries, and you could get on a plane, fly to Malaysia and live happily ever after with some dark haired, dark eyed, dreamboat. But really...can you actually give up your job and move to Malaysia? Wouldn't it be easier to maybe have a first date that's at your favorite corner bar and not the other side of the world? Take it from me: when the first message arrived from the "Puerto Rican Prince," asking me to let him come to Wisconsin and shower me with "Latin Love," I DID NOT PURSUE IT!! Delete. Move on. This is not happening!
90% of the time you spend online sorting through messages and other people's profiles will be completely worthless and depressing. This is the digital equivalent to walking into a bar, restaurant, party, etc. and realizing that you don't find anyone cute or dateable. When I first started on Match.com, I browsed A LOT because I was curious. Then I got less curious and more skeptical and a little bit cynical before I made my biggest and best discovery...
AKA the best advice I can possibly give on the subject...
After my first online dating snafu, when I decided to go back and give it one more genuine try, I bought and read a book on the subject. I know that sounds nerdy and weird, but really there's a psychology to relationships, and if you walk through Barnes and Noble, there are like 1000000 self help books for marriages and relationships, so I am not the only person that has ever consider picking up a little light reading in regards to their love life (or lack there of!). The book I read was actually fascinating about the "science" of the Match.com algorithms (and how they are predisposed to keep you on their site for at least 6-9 months). It also had a section about the statistical rates of return for the number of messages you send out, as well as what kind of messages statistically garner the most quality responses, what looks best on a profile page, etc. etc. etc. Some people have actually told me that this is like "cheating" the online dating game, but I say, "Why?" I didn't use the tips I learned to lie or misrepresent myself...I used them to better represent who I was and what I was looking for. Plus, I met J Word...and we got married...so to you, person who is still single and told me I "cheated," maybe you should start "cheating" too!
2. I recently took the Washington Post IQ test that compares you to MENSA candidates. For the sake of today's post, my results are not important. And because today is Friday and nobody wants to think quite that hard, here's a 21st century version of an IQ test that should make you both think and laugh! CLICK HERE
3. I have discovered new great music, and his name is Peter Hollens. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm REALLY late to the game on this one...but wow! If you haven't found him yet, now is your chance!
4. One of these things is not like the others...and it cracks me up! I might become a Charlotte Hornets fan just because he's so funny to watch!.
If you've seen the national news at all in the last few weeks, you know that there have been two stories discussed at considerable length: Cecil the lion being killed by poachers...and the release of (now 5) gruesome videos regarding Planned Parenthood and their medical practices. In the interest of full disclosure, I have not watched any of the Planned Parenthood videos, though I did read part of the transcript of the 3 hour conversation that was edited to make one of the first videos that came out. That said, as my title suggests, this post is about the Planned Parenthood videos in theory...but not actually in content. I'm not a political blogger...and I'm not going to change anyone's personal stance on abortion. But there is a completely different side to this story that no one is talking about, and so I'm going to talk about it!
One of my most recent summer reads was a book by David Eggers called The Circle. The book is essentially a fictional commentary on the state of social media in our world, with an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-controlling social media conglomerate, "The Circle," reaching for more and more control and access into our lives. The book is excellent, and I highly recommend it if for no other reason than we should all realize how terrifyingly close we are to a becoming the fictional dystopia of the story.
As part of The Circle's oversight, they introduce a program in which politicians start wearing button cams that stream online 24/7 so that constituents can hold their elected officials accountable for their conversations, campaign promises, and backroom dealings. The program is so widely popular, that expands to the general public, and soon everyone is encouraged to "go transparent" and share every detail of their lives with the world in a constant live stream. It's very similar to the "Truman Show"...but for everyone. And you can probably guess what happens...some social good to be sure: criminals are caught, kidnapped victims are found, adulterers are busted, etc. etc. etc. But there's a dark side to being "all-knowing" as well. No longer can you choose to be anonymous. If you're not on a camera of your own, someone else's will pick you up. The things that get people into trouble on social media today are magnified 10x's, because, no longer are people worried about a private photo or video being accidentally exposed...it's all out there, 24/7, whatever you want (or don't want!) to see.
Thus the book begs it's audience to consider the true ramifications of a "transparent" world, and how we draw and maintain the lines between privacy and secrecy.
Which brings us back to the aforementioned Planned Parenthood videos. While I'm all for investigative journalism, and if Planned Parenthood is doing something illegal they should absolutely be outed for their conduct, I worry that what the videos are less investigative, and more the product of having access to decent editing software and too much information. And here's why both parts should bother you...and again...it has nothing to do with abortion!
First, access to editing software. This isn't a particularly difficult thing to come by. There are video editing apps for smartphones that aren't perfect...but can get the job done. Heck, if you want to skip the video and just edit audio clips, it's even easier to do. In a Washington Post article summarizing the latest PP video release, the author noted over 20 places where the video is cut, edited, or scenes are spliced together. While that doesn't necessarily change the content or context of a conversation...it certainly could...and we should all care about that. Why? Well...because while there are people who are inherently good and don't want to hurt people, there are also people who are bad and will hurt people. Today the attack in against Planned Parenthood, but let's say tomorrow the attack is against public education. If you ran enough audio in my classroom, you'd likely hear me say the "N word" (it's in To Kill a Mockingbird). You'd also hear me explain, in generally vague language, any number of sexual situations (they run rampant throughout ALL of Shakespeare's works). I have students sign a permission slip to watch an R rated movie that has the "F word" in it, so come to class the right day, and you could pick that up too. What you could do with all that...who knows. But stuff like this becomes popular on Youtube all the time. Didn't you hear!?! President Obama sings Taylor Swift now! ;)
The second thing to consider is the access to too much information...and in truth, this is why I have no desire to watch the videos and what got me thinking about them in regards to "The Circle." Let's imagine for just a second that what the videos show isn't actually illegal. Whether you think it should be or not is momentarily unimportant. Let's just say, for argument's sake that, and I'll use very vague politically correct language, "redistributing human tissue after a medical procedure, and accepting payment for the costs associated with transporting and distributing said tissue" is legal. A number of states have investigated similar Planned Parenthood programs in their own jurisdictions and found no wrongdoing...so it might be the case that no wrong doing has actually occurred. The question then becomes...do you want to know about it? Do you want to know all the grisly details? Do you want to see it unfold? There are A LOT of perfectly legal things that I don't want to see or partake in.
One of the criticisms of the videos that has been stated repeatedly is that the language used in the videos is "dehumanizing." They use words like "tissue," "sample," "specimen," instead of "baby" or "fetus." I can't help but think that people would be even MORE outraged if they used a word like "baby,"...but again that's beside the point. I'm reminded of a date I once had with a helicopter paramedic. His job was fascinating, but because he flew into terrible accident sites and dire medical situations, he had also seen a lot of gut wrenching things. I was kind of horrified by his sense of humor about all of it, referring to burn victims as "crusty critters" and a man he had seen decapitated and "the headless horseman." After a while, he noticed my discomfort and apologized explaining that sometimes it was easier to "dehumanize" the situation because if you actually thought about what you were doing in terms of people, families, futures destroyed, you'd never get out of bed in the morning. You stuck to medical terminology to remain professional or respectful when dealing with family members or other people on the scene, and you joked where and with whom you could to cope with the difficult things you were dealing with.
There were any number of reasons that we weren't going to work as a couple, but among them was the fact that I couldn't and didn't want to, have the kind of conversations he needed to have about the things he dealt with. I was never going to be able to make a joke about a 5 year old being killed in a car accident, and didn't care to know about all the terrible accidents, injuries and diseases that were happening to people everyday. Maybe that makes me a weak person, but I'm a person that knows I don't want that much information.
This will continue to be a debate of the ever expanding, ever connecting, ever transparent 21st century world. How much do you need...or want...to see?
With a presidential election coming next year, I'm sure there will be dozens of videos, audio clips, smear campaigns, and hot button topics that all take their turn in the spotlight. I can only hope that people discern for themselves where the ounces of the truth are in the flood of conversations.
Transparency is great...until we look through the truth instead of looking at it.
