Song of the Week: "He Woke Me Up Again" by Sufjan Stevens

He's got a great lyrical style. Enjoy :)

Honor ALL Lives - except zygotes' lives

Awkward.

Aside: I know some people (*cough* Americans) spell honour without a "u" but I can't get over how weird it looks. So British-colony of me!

Talking about abortion is really scary

The other day I was hanging out with some friends from school.

It was a ridiculously hot day, so we decided to go out for bubble tea (i.e.: basically fruit smoothies, because none of us like tapioca).

While we were talking, somehow we came to the topic of downloading movies and music for free off of the Internet, and whether it is a crime or not.

One of my friends brought up an interesting point:

"Oh please. It's not like downloading stuff off of the Internet is all that bad. I mean, it's not like the question of whether or not you want to keep a baby!"

This would have been the perfect opportunity to steer the conversation towards the question of abortion. Instead, like always, my palms got all sweaty, my heart started racing, and my eyes started to water (I get that upset when I think about killing babies!). Instead of addressing his point - which is a good one (i.e.: people get all worked up about downloading some songs you probably wouldn't have bought anyway, and yet no one cares that there are children being created only to be discarded), I jumped in right away and brought the conversation back to downloading.

 Seriously. I'm still wondering why I did that.

I need to grow a pair!

Does anyone else have trouble discussing abortion with friends or family?

You say Catholics hate women?

I say "Mary, Queen of Heaven."

There are no human Kings of heaven. Just a Queen.

How awesome is she???

Many people argue that Mary is just the personification of every stereotypical "feminine" attribute  that Old White Men want all women to have (she has been called "weak", "submissive", "too pure", etc.).

Right.

If you think a young girl defying the norms, facing social stigma and false accusations of fornication, and risking the dissolution of her betrothal is "weak" and "submissive", you have another thing coming. Besides, how exactly is a Queen submissive and weak?

As for the purity accusation, what exactly is so wrong with being pure anyway?

"But she just did what God asks, that's not strong!" you say.

Well, in case you haven't noticed, EVERYONE is called to do what God asks. What is impressive is when we actually have the strength of will to do so, in spite of social or familial pressures.

One other thing to note is that Jesus (i.e.: God Himself) obeyed her at the Wedding at Cana. 

And if you want to know about other awesome women who are honoured by the Church, look no farther than the Saints.

Mary and some Saints just hanging out being friends.

Once you're done, tell me again how my Church hates women. If you can say it with a straight face.

...

Also: I AM A WOMAN. I AM A (really awful) CATHOLIC. I DO NOT HATE MYSELF.

Glad we got that straightened out. :)

P.S. Check out New Feminism Rising's awesome blog post about Mary.

Quote of the Week: "We are clear on this question"

From interim Liberal leader Bob Rae:

"We are clear on this question," he said. "The rights of women to choose, to have control over their own bodies, is not a right which is going to be taken away by the Parliament of Canada, and it is not a right which should be subject to some private member's bill which is going to affect the rights of women to have choice, to have genuine equality and to have full and complete access to the medicare and the health care that they need."

Read more at CBCNews.

Ugh. What is a Canadian to do?
On one side, we have Harper, who refuses to allow his caucus to open the debate on abortion.
On the other, we have the NDP, who treat abortion as a sacred cow.
And in the middle, we have the liberals, who equate killing our own children to "rights", "equality" and "necessary healthcare" (to paraphrase).

Seriously Canada, how many women have to be left behind, and how many people have to die before you wake up?

ASIDE: so sorry for the light blogging recently. I had a brief vacation before the start of term, and now I have a TONNE of things to prepare for (not the least, my new job as an advanced laboratory TA - so much to learn!!). Once I get back into the swing of things at school, I will return to blogging regularly. I have a lot of issues I want to address, so look forward to some epic posts! :)