A prayer for those still living

Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran is still fresh in my mind, so when I read the New York Times article "For Iraqi Girls, Changing Land Narrows Lives", I saw that same slippery slope. Saddam Hussein is an exeptionally poor role model as a leader.

For those of you who will pray, or think good thoughts, or light candles:

Pray that Iraq will form its own government, of the people, by the people, for the people, and that the people will have the teaching to take this charge up responsibly.
Pray that the people of the country will have the freedoms they are accustomed to, with the ability to add more as they become assured in themselves -- rather than ruling themselves by fear such that the days of Saddam Hussein are looked to with nostalgia.
Pray that expression of religious law remain a matter of choice, not a matter of secular law.


I can't begin to say how much that article terrifies me. This happened in Iran, before I was born, while I was in diapers, before I learned to speak, before I learned to comprehend world news. Is Iran a safe place to be a woman now? I don't know. I haven't checked.

Are those who are ruling the last to know when the powerless people in a country can't bear it there? When I'm in terror for myself (I, not garnetdagger), I fold up as small upon myself as I can and am meek and compliant and as bland as can be. Invisibility is the refuge of the powerless. My voice is not heard when I think speaking will earn me the attentions of those I wish to avoid.

LJ vs. writing group

Before I leave on Thursday, I'm supposed to make sure to get the latest installment of the short story I'm working on e-mailed off to my writing group so that V. can share it with the rest of the group in my absence. It's very nice to have a group of writers to spend time with. I have to write well to keep my reputation there as one of the sharpest cookies. (I think that metaphor's hopelessly mixed.) It's nice to have a grown-up envying my knack for writing something instant to fit a theme. Writing in an online journal, while good practice, does tend to make me lazy about honing my words, because I'm not going to get critiqued on being coherent.

(From an e-mail to Mama)

Sane Lunatic: work

Yesterday I worked a double shift. I was at 36 hours that week already when I clocked in Sunday morning at just before eight. I clocked out just before eight in the evening when they sent the lot of us home early. I worked about four hours that whole twelve hour double shift, all told. The system was down, baby.

Now. My pay rate, after taxes, is around eight dollars an hour. This makes my time-and-a-half overtime pay around twelve dollars an hour. (It's more on weekends, but that would make me get out the calculator, because I can't do all this in my head very fast.)

Essentially, yesterday, I worked four hours at the normal rate, and then was paid time-and-a-half for eight hours to sit on my tailfeathers and read, write, draw cartoons of the workplace, update LJ from my palmtop, share my Very Scary Fanfic (who knew fluff could be that terrifying?) and generally ... loaf.

I was tempted to throw a lightswitch rave.

Today, I am still ill with that ( same TMI )

Cliques (LJ toy)

I am a member of 4 cliques of size 6

• azurelunatic, shadesong, gremliness, iroshi, amberfox, vodounsi


• azurelunatic, shadesong, gremliness, wolfieboy, metaphorge, pharminatrix


• azurelunatic, shadesong, iroshi, vodounsi, amberfox, shywickedpixie


• azurelunatic, gremliness, amberfox, vodounsi, snowelf, sithjawa

Find the largest clique containing:

(Enter your livejournal username here).

So. That's me (of course), shadesong, gremliness, iroshi, vodounsi, metaphorge, wolfieboy, pharminatrix, shywickedpixie, snowelf, and sithjawa. My cliques are 50% diverse! (Four cliques of 6 members each, five possible members of each clique that aren't me for each clique so a total of twenty other possible members, ten people who aren't me in total, 10 out of 20, 50%.)