cavities, the beach, and bill bryson

I went to the dentist today and I found out that I have 4 cavities. Four. They are between my teeth, which means that I really suck at flossing. Instead, the dentist probably just thinks that I am lying when I tell him that I really do floss every day. Which is worse? Lying or being so bad at flossing that the dentist thinks I'm lying? I've never had cavities before, and now I have to get them filled. I know it's a routine procedure, but 'm a little nervous. And, I feel defeated because I was so proud to have never had a cavity.

There, aren't you glad you read that? I'm sure your day feels complete now. Here's another silly, useless piece of information about my life. I decided to go to the beach on Sunday to enjoy the nice weather and my new beach chair. It was sunny and about 80 degrees. I also decided to go to the Newport Peninsula because I hadn't been there in a couple years. Going to the Newport Peninsula on a nice weekend day in the summer was probably the worst idea I'd had since taking calculus in college. The roads were incredibly congested, and I think it took me 1.5 hours to get to Newport, drive down the peninsula, and turn around. Also, people like to ride their bikes in the street, 2, 3, or 4 abreast, dangerously close to traffic. Apparently, this is great fun on a Sunday afternoon.

You would think that I would have learned my lesson, but no. I got back on the PCH and drove to Huntington Beach. The roads were still incredibly congested, but I did get a parking spot. Then I sat on the beach for about a half an hour, on my beach chair, ate a sandwich and read a book. It was too windy, so I went home. I spent 2.5 hours in traffic to sit on the beach for 30 minutes. It was the first time I went to the beach and came home without tan lines.

Here's some news in which I don't complain: Bill Bryson, this funny travel author is awesome. I read "A Walk in the Woods" (he hikes the Appalachian Trail) a couple weeks ago, and now I'm reading "The Lost Continent" (he goes on this road trip through the US) . He is from Iowa, he says pop, and he is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

I am leaving this Friday for DC to visit the BF! It's my first trip to DC!

dear chris brown

Dear Chris Brown,
So I see that you decided to plead guilty for assaulting your ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. Instead of jail time, you get community service and a domestic violence prevention class. Of course, some wonder if justice was really served and if your celebrity status let you off the hook. The way I see it, most men are let off the hook; instead, it was your celebrity status that got you caught. So yes, justice was served.

You see, lots of women are assaulted, beaten, hit, strangled, slapped, and raped by men who purport to love them. They get caught in vicious cycles of violence and reconciliation because they have nowhere to go, no money, and/or children who depend upon their father's paycheck for survival. And, women rarely press charges, often because they are constrained by social and economic pressures and because they fear that they will not be taken seriously. They have good reason to believe this, as society is skeptical of a woman's accusation of rape and violence, often holding them accountable and responsible for her actions. Now, had Rihanna been financially dependent upon you or if you had children together, it's likely that you wouldn't be in this predicament.

Of course, right now you're probably wondering what this is going to do for your career, and perhaps pleading guilty is your strategy to minimize damage to it. As I understand it, you were quite a rising star in the music business and in the movies. I did enjoy your performance in 'This Christmas.' Well, I'm certain that soon, this will all be old news and you'll stage a comeback. I'm sure you'll follow in the footsteps of lots of men who are able to put allegations of violence, harassment, and assault against women behind them and attain high status positions like basketball stars (Kobe Bryant), politicians (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Gibbons, Bill Clinton), movie directors (Roman Polanski), and Supreme Court Justices (Clarence Thomas). Like your predecessors, fans will be looking up to you in no time.

Yes, yes, it's too bad you went and assaulted Rihanna, someone who decided to fight back and had the resources to do so. But don't worry, you'll be selling albums, winning awards, and starring in movies soon. Just you wait.

things i baked

I got a pie plate fairly recently (it's red!) and I tried my hand at homemade pie crust. I first made pie crust about 4 years ago, and it was such a difficult process that I promised myself never to force myself to do it again. No shame in frozen pie crust, I told myself. Well, a few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted apple pie. I bought a neat-o pie plate, found a recipe, and I was ready. I decided to just buy frozen pie crust, but I could only find the kind that already came in disposable pie tins, which defeated the purpose of purchasing a cool pie plate. So, I tried the homemade kind again. The trick, it seems, is wax paper (I vaguely remember my grandma C telling me to do this). I placed the ball of dough between two sheets of wax paper and rolled it out. I removed the top layer of wax paper, inverted the pie dish over the layer of dough, and using the bottom layer of wax paper, flipped it all right side up. (did that make any sense?) Then I removed the other layer of wax paper, and voila!, homemade, painless, pie crust.

I made Sour Cream Apple Pie with Streusel Topping. It was really good, not too sweet and really good with vanilla ice cream.
Last week, I made a good-bye cake for Drew. It was a chocolate pound cake (the recipe was from my CakeLove cookbook) with walnuts and an apricot glaze. The cake was not heavy, but it was denser than a layer cake. It was kind of like a brownie with a fruit glaze. The cake was pretty good, but not as chocolate-y as I would have liked. That's okay, it got good reviews.

summer, week 1

I dropped Drew off at the airport on Sunday morning. He is in D.C. for the summer, working, and won't be back until mid-September. It sounds like a long time, but I am visiting at the beginning of July (over my birthday!) and then again sometime in mid-August. Being gone the whole summer sounds overwhelming, so I've broken his absence into chunks- I'll be in D.C. in 2-1/2 weeks. Then it will be about another month before I see him again in D.C. and then a month before he's home. I was anxious about being apart for 3 months, but he reminded me that it was basically no different than a quarter, and we know how fast those pass by. When he said this, I got anxious for entirely different reasons- I have a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time.

the mile high city

I was in Denver a couple weekends ago for the Law and Society Association conference. This was technically my third time in Denver (the first time was a family vacation in 1992 and the second was when I moved to California nearly 3 years ago). Denver was pretty cool and lots of fun; it kind of had this wild west feel to it, but not overwhelming since I was downtown. And downtown Denver reminded my of downtown Minneapolis, so that was nice. Lots of stuff to do, shopping, restaurants, stuff like that.

On the day I arrived, I checked in at the conference and went to a panel. It was all right. I saw this big name guy present a paper, and he looked like the dad from the Family Ties. Anyway, that night, I went to a Colorado Rockies game. They were playing the San Diego Padres. Now, I've never actually been to a Padres game in San Diego, so it is ironic that I traveled about a thousand miles to see them play. Anyway, the stadium was cool- I could sort of see the mountains in the distance.

The second day, I went out and walked around downtown Denver. So, something I like to do is look at outdoor art sculptures. It's interesting to me, and one of my favorite places is the Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Anyway, I heard about this sculpture of this giant blue bear peering into the Civic Center, so I had to go find it. It was worth it.

After that, I wandered over to the State Capitol, the City and County Building, and the Denver Art Museum. I stumbled upon a buffalo statue outside the Colorado Historical Society.

Then I walked over to this park situated between the capitol and the city and county building. It was beautiful.

I made my way up to the state capitol. It looked pretty much like other capitol buildings; I've only seen four, so maybe they're not all alike. Anyway, the dome was gold plated. Is that a capitol requirement?
I walked up the steps to the state capitol, and I was technically one mile above sea level. Not sure if you can see it, but that's what the words on the step say.

On the way back to the hotel, I passed by the U.S. Mint. I vaguely remember going on a tour in 1992.

I went back to the conference to present a paper, and that night I walked downtown, ate Indian food, and saw a movie.

I ate ice cream from Colorado Liks, this local and family owned business. I had the graham cracker ice cream which might sound odd, but it was really good. And it had toffee bits in it.

On the last day in Denver, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I love modern art, but this museum was not that impressive. It was small, loud, and almost not worth the $5 student admission. Anyway, it had a cool sculpture outside...

...and a really awesome painting...
...and a small garden on the rooftop, which had a nice view.

After the Museum of Contemporary Art, I walked back downtown, taking a slight detour. Here is the Pepsi Center, where the Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets to go to the NBA Playoffs. Denver fans did not take this well.I decided to go to the Denver Art Museum, which was phenomenal. It was absolutely gigantic, and I got through only one of the two buildings. It had a great collection of Southwestern art and modern art. I was impressed. The museum was also very kid friendly- lots of hands-on art activities. It also had this cool exhibit of psychadelic rock posters from the 1960s- a special exhibit.

And that sums up the trip to Denver. It was a quick trip, lots of fun, and the weather was beautiful.

trust women

And now, some words on the death of Dr. George Tiller:

Dr. Tiller was one of the last remaining doctors to perform late-term abortions. Not partial-birth abortions, but late-term abortions. I make the distinction because partial-birth abortion is not a medical term; rather, it was a term coined by the anti-choice movement to shore up opposition to a rarely used medical procedure. You may also notice that I have chosen to call this the anti-choice movement, not the pro-life movement. I do this because those who are against abortion are not pro-life; rather, they are pro-birth and anti-choice.

Dr. Tiller was gunned down and shot Sunday, May 31st. As I said, he was one of the few doctors who performed late-term abortions. Some people see him as a murderer and his death as just a hazard of the job. I see someone as brave and courageous. He trusted women to make the best choices for their lives and for their bodies. Now, some people have this image of women who choose abortion as careless, reckless, and someone who doesn't take the decision seriously. This might be true in a few cases, but it's not the norm. And some people have this view that women who seek out late-term abortions are aborting perfectly healthy, viable babies. This definitely is not the case. Dr. Tiller stood as many women's last hope, and they sought him out when their health was in danger, when the fetus was deformed, or when their baby was certain to be stillborn. This is when women seek out late-term abortions; they don't do it just because they've suddenly changed their mind late in their pregnancy.

Another doctor who performs late-term abortions in Colorado was interviewed following Tiller's death. Dr. Hern discusses the harassment and the dangers of his job, and he also talks about the thinning ranks of abortion providers. Those who are oppposed to choice may see this as a good thing; after all, without abortion doctors, babies live, right?

The thing is, even if abortion is illegal and even if there are no abortion providers, women will continue to have abortions. See, in the past, abortion was hardly the contentious political issue that it is today. Instead, abortion was just part of the reproductive spectrum of women's lives. It was quite common, and lots of women did it because it was really the only way that they could control their fertility. Banning the procedure won't really stop abortions. It just means that wealthy women will be able to fly to whichever state or country still performs abortions, and poor women will resort to the back alleys and dangerous, self-induced methods. And perhaps some people think that this is just the price that women have to pay for having sex, but why do we let men off the hook? After all, women don't just impregnate themselves, yet we hold only women accountable for their sexual behavior.

I have done research on abortion rates in the United States, and I wonder if anti-choice activist efforts are displaced. After all, those who are vehemently opposed to abortion share a political party platform with those who are vehemently opposed to any sort of public assistance and social support. Commonly, those who are opposed to abortion are also opposed to public assistance. See why I call it anti-choice and pro-birth instead of pro-life? Consider this: Sweden, a country that provides extensive public assistance in the form of paid maternity and paternity leave as well as government funded day care, has one of the lowest abortion rates in industrialized nations.

A few weeks ago, I came across an article reporting that in this time of financial distress, business at women's clinics are on the rise. Seems that in this poor economy, women are struggling to make difficult reproductive decisions and do not have the means to raise a child. While in the past they might choose to have a baby, this time they choose to terminate a pregnancy. Some may think that if women don't want a baby, they just shouldn't have sex. Yet, we don't hold men accountable for their sexual behavior. Instead, men are socialized to want to have sex and lots of it. It sure complicates things considering that we also socialize women and men to be heterosexual. You can see the dilemma, right?

And so, here's what I say: Trust Women. In the words of Dr. Tiller, trust women to make the appropriate choices for their bodies and for their lives. We hold women responsible for abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, child care, and they are overwhelmingly the primary caregivers. It's a lot of responsiblity. We need to trust women to do what it right for them.

done

I am officially done with classes, as of 7pm on Monday night. That's when I turned in my paper for my Law and Courts class. So now, I am now officially done with coursework. Three years and eighteen classes sounds like a lot, but the time sure flew by. As I was frantically writing last weekend, it hit me at T-6 hours that this would be the last time that I find myself scrambling to write a course paper. And I wondered if I would miss it, so I paused to acknowledge the moment. At T-5 hours and 59 minutes, I thought to myself, "Are you nuts? Of course you're not going to miss this!"

race, gender, and the Supreme Court

Last week, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. When asked what he is looking for in a Supreme Court Justice, Obama said that empathy and compassion are among the desirable qualities. He wanted someone who could relate to the average person and understand the lives of ordinary individuals. Sotomayor was raised by a single mother in the Bronx (her father died when she was 9), and she went on to attend Princeton and Yale before making her way to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic (or second, depending on whether or not you count Cardozo's Portguese descent as Hispanic) and third woman to serve on the high court.

There are many different points of view regarding the role of judges and their decision making, and the terms judicial activism and judicial restraint get tossed around quite freely. However, judges are inherently political. In judicial decision making, there is no way around it and we are fooling ourselves if we truly believe that judges can be neutral arbiters.

Some have wondered what role race and gender have on Sotomayor's rulings and if they matter for the Supreme Court, including the Dean of the UCI Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky. Sotomayor herself has mentioned that her race and gender have shaped her experiences and views, and this statement is under attack by conservatives. Some have even gone so far as to brand her a racist, and wonder if she is committed to justice for all or justice for a few. Others argue that though Sotomayor is passionate about minority rights, it does not come out in her judicial rulings.

If Sotomayor's experience as a woman of color raised in a working class family shapes her views and her judicial rulings, then so be it. After all, has anyone stopped for a moment to consider that our political institutions, laws, judicial decisions, and public policies have been shaped by the experiences and views of rich white men? And that these institutions and laws operate in a way that simply allows this dominant class to maintain their political and economic power? This has gone relatively unquestioned in our society.

So now, rich white men get a little nervous and fear that the tables will be turned. They fear that Sotomayor's experiences as a woman of color will somehow disadvantage them, and suddenly this is unfair.

best BF ever

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I have a new car now, named Charlie. Charlie needed new windshield wiper blades and a steering wheel cover, purchases that I had put off last week. I went out of town last weekend (to Denver, for a conference; pictures coming soon!) and Drew borrowed Charlie. While I was gone, he bought Charlie new windshield wiper blades, gas, and a snazzy steering wheel cover. It's fuzzy and black with 2 long stemmed pink flowers on each side. I was super happy, excited, and this was completely unexpected. Best BF ever.

And, it was a weekend of surprise gifts. I brought Drew a homemade postcard made at the Denver Art Museum, smoked almonds, black and white cookies, and a book.