So many hotties...

Miss & I know that we have been WAY TOO ABSENT as of late, but we are busy-bees. We miss you and adore you and hope you are well.

Okay - on to my brief post: I'm a big fan of AfterEllen.com, and I had to take a moment and give you THIS link - in case you haven't seen it yet. It's white-hot and I love it a little.

Talk soon!

xoxo,
Ms.

Good morning

The coffee tastes a little strong this morning. All the same, the mildly bitter, toasty-warm liquid is a soothing familiarity to me. I've been a coffee lover since the age of 5, when I would sip a concoction of the brew, which included very generous amounts of milk and sugar. Today, as I drink my grown-up version of the same, I sit and gaze out of the dining room window at a beautiful Sunday morning. It is just beginning to stir with a determined jogger, an old golden retriever quietly doing his business while his owner looks on, and flittering birds, chirping their first-of-day hellos. Miss is in the other room, asleep, her gorgeous mane of hair strewn over her favorite feather pillow, the cat curled tightly at her feet. This morning I fully feel the gratitude for my life that I can selfishly forget from time to time.

Sure, in a while I will attack my Sunday chores, probably cuss as I try and hammer around my thumb when I hang that candle-plant holder contraption in the bathroom, I will moan about the rent check I'm going to write, and I will make faces when I take out the trash, put away my laundry, and jump on that God-damned treadmill in our office. However, I know that tonight, as Miss and I settle into our couch and flip on the television, we will take in our Sunday-clean apartment, look at each other and say, "the place looks good, no?" In other lives right around me, and all over this world - people do not have it so well.

These quiet moments in the morning, filled with yawns and coffee... they are a blessing I wish for you all.

xo,
Ms.

Out like a...

Oh my God… Hello! It's the end of March, Spring is trying to emerge... and so am I! I tell you, I feel like I am returning from a sojourn at Guantanamo Bay. Did you miss us? Miss and I have been all too busy with work stuff, and I am exhausted, pulling my weight slowly up and out of the pit of politics and power that make up prime-time television. As you can tell by my annoying alliterations, I have missed the world of the literary for the last three months. I vow to try and be better with regular posts, and I beg your forgiveness, as we’ve actually had quite a few readers make themselves known to Miss and myself. Thank you for your loyal, ever-present winks and nods.

There is so much catching up to do since we last spoke! Congress has (thankfully) continued to bitch-slap the Bush administration at every opportunity; ol’ Dick got pissed at Wolf when questioned about Mary & Heather’s baby-of-sin; a cute but nervous Ellen hosted the Oscars; and we hit yet another anniversary of pointless death as we celebrated the 4th birthday of the Iraq War. Sigh. Good times, good times.

On the personal front, Miss and I are well. Two of our closest friends, a lovely couple of the same gender, moved in to the apartment below us – so it’s become an L Word meets Melrose Place of sorts… with all of the fun and none of the bad writing. So far, it’s fantastic. The other night, after I got home from work, quite stressed, I decided to alleviate the pain of my stupid job by partaking in dirty martinis and singing my heart out to some classic girl ballads. Miss was sitting on the other end of the couch, bare feet planted comfortably in my lap, enjoying the show and waiting for me to give her olives from my martini when Lez Neighbors sent a text message… before you could say “four lesbians and a cat,” they joined the party and we proceeded to have Dance Party USA in our living room. It was one of those moments you can actually feel the seed of a dear memory being planted. Okay... maybe that was just the last vodka-soaked olive planting my blooming hangover…

More to come! It's great to be back...

XO,
Ms.

As people...

I dreamt last night that I was in the middle of a war - a modern battlefield - a city - and cars were exploding all around me, busses full of women and children, a really terrifying, horrid scene. And I stopped and I looked at the carnage everywhere and I thought, very simply, "shouldn't we be better than this"?

And then I woke up.

~Miss

The Baby in the Middle of the Room

Mary Cheney, in her first public comments about the baby she's having with her partner, claimed, "this is not a political statement". Well, too bad sister. The notion that the lesbian daughter of the vice president's decision to have a baby might not be political is, frankly, ridiculous. It is unfortunate, and I sympathize with her desire not to politicize her family, but that has never stopped the media, to say nothing of the American public from deciding what should or should not be a big deal.
It also should be noted that it is moments like this, where ordinary people break through the wall of what is considered morally correct by the majority of Americans that morality in this country evolves. The story of a black woman who refused to sit in the back of the bus comes to mind; she was not a civil rights leader, but she became a beckon for the movement and every child of my generation wrote a 3rd grade book report about her. Mary Cheney should only be that lucky - and she's doing herself and her country a disservice by not accepting the burden of her position as a public and political figure. After all, this is the world into which she will bring her child - what kind of country would she like it to be?

~ Miss

To Fortify, or Not to Fortify

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is an Omega-3 fatty acid naturally found in fish like wild salmon, leafy greens, and grass-fed animals like cows and chickens. It has been proven to help deter heart disease and aid in the development of prematurely born infants and is purported (although not proven) to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s and improve your vision. Yet, companies have not been inclined to fortify your food with this tasteless, odorless additive in the same way calcium is added to orange juice and iodine to salt. The only notable exception is baby formula, of which DHA fortified products make up 90% of the sales. (DHA, by the way, is also what gives fish oil it's medicinal properties.) Kellogg has been experimenting with DHA and General Mills is preparing to release a DHA fortified yogurt for children, but most companies do not yet see the commercial benefit of adding 15 cents to the price of your Corn Flakes. Would you pay more for fortified food?

~ Miss

The Simple Question of Iraq

I rarely comment on politics - there's a myriad of venues out there for those arguments. But on this point I am truly undecided myself and curious about what honest, thinking people, setting aside party affiliation, have to say. Despite the story being spilled out to the media days before, Wednesday night Bush formally announced a "surge" in American troops to Iraq. This, of course, prompted massive protest from the left and even some detractions from the right. Politically, the war in Iraq has become a quagmire for both sides of the aisle.
It seems to me a reactionary response to denounce the idea of sending more troops. First let me say I was against the war in the beginning and I still am. Setting aside the missing weapons of mass destruction and the big business that the war is for government contractors, I don't believe you should impose democracy on a country before it's ready. Especially so in the middle east, and further, in this day and age when only two functional Islamic democracies exist: Turkey and Indonesia. There is a civil war going on in Iraq it's no wonder (if you don't know anything about the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims then you should learn). But unlike wars of the past, there is no organized opposition. There is no one to waive the white flag. There is not going to be a "kiss and make up" moment anytime soon.
So, the situation being what it is, you have to admit, we've made a big ol' mess over there. It is, plainly, a fiasco. And it has gotten consistently worse over the last four years. Pulling out American troops will likely result in the partial collapse of the Iraqi government and an economic sinkhole when the oil market destabilizes. Putting more troops into Iraq will only keep American soldiers in the middle of a civil war that's been roiling in the middle east for 1400 years.
The question I'm positing to all of you is this: Do we have a responsibility to clean up the mess we've made?

~ Miss