Tamora Pierce's Blog, page 13
November 19, 2010
Introducing Trauma Search, for Your Flying Pleasure
cross-posted to my fan lj
By now most of you may know that the Transportation Safety Authority has instituted new procedures that pretend to keep Americans safe during air travel. In certain airports around the country they have installed "back scatter screens" which show as clear an image of a person who is being scanned as if that person were naked. If flyers are unwilling to have their naked images shown to anyone in the area (it ain't private, folks), they have the "right" to "Opt Put," which means, be patted down, thoroughly. Ideally, this is done by a person of the opposite sex, but airports have been known to tell people there's a fifteen-minute wait for a female screener. You can request a private pat-down, but be warned: you may be asked to remove your clothing. And this is not the mild sides, arms, legs pat-down of the past. This is a genitals and breast search pat-down. This is a full body handling. And only very recently did the TSA say children under 12 will not be patted down, which won't help this kid, or this kid. They've already been handled intimately by strangers after a lifetime of being told "no bad touches" by their parents.
Others weren't so young. Those with metal implants are looking at a lifetime of this. One airline hostess was actually made to remove her prosthetic breast to show it to screeners. And others are simply forced back into the kind of memory that keeps on giving: survivors of sexual assault. On this Shakesville thread Melissa and her responders explain why being scanned or groped triggers PTSD for someone who has been sexually assaulted. And on this site, a number of survivors have weighed in.
And let's face it, TSA has not proved to be the best at choices in personnel:
According to Peter Bacqué of WSLS 10 News in Roanoke, VA, TSA ordered Richmond airport to give the highest level of security clearance to a convicted felon even after he was cited for falsifying his employment application. What kind of security screening do these people get, and do they face penalties for slamming someone in the balls or shoving their hands inside someone's underwear? More importantly, after an afternoon of reading these articles and more, it seems as if no two screeners have read the same rules, and certainly more than a few of them possess commonsense. Who is instructing these people?
I ran across a sentence that makes my blood run cold. The kindly folks in WashingToon are talking abolishment of the TSA and giving those contracts to private security firms first. Can you say "we take in your violent, your thieving, your rapist masses" Halliburton?
I'm not responding to this mess because with the complaints of Mr. "Don't Touch My Junk" and the $5 a Day Gourmet. A friend of mine, a sexual abuse survivor, asked me to in the hope that we might get the word out to more people and get them to protesting. Will you do that? For the abuse survivors, the autistic and Aspbergers folks? The Israelis don't do anything like this, and yet they're regarded as the best at terrorism control. I wonder what they're doing different? (Oh, everything . . .)
By now most of you may know that the Transportation Safety Authority has instituted new procedures that pretend to keep Americans safe during air travel. In certain airports around the country they have installed "back scatter screens" which show as clear an image of a person who is being scanned as if that person were naked. If flyers are unwilling to have their naked images shown to anyone in the area (it ain't private, folks), they have the "right" to "Opt Put," which means, be patted down, thoroughly. Ideally, this is done by a person of the opposite sex, but airports have been known to tell people there's a fifteen-minute wait for a female screener. You can request a private pat-down, but be warned: you may be asked to remove your clothing. And this is not the mild sides, arms, legs pat-down of the past. This is a genitals and breast search pat-down. This is a full body handling. And only very recently did the TSA say children under 12 will not be patted down, which won't help this kid, or this kid. They've already been handled intimately by strangers after a lifetime of being told "no bad touches" by their parents.
Others weren't so young. Those with metal implants are looking at a lifetime of this. One airline hostess was actually made to remove her prosthetic breast to show it to screeners. And others are simply forced back into the kind of memory that keeps on giving: survivors of sexual assault. On this Shakesville thread Melissa and her responders explain why being scanned or groped triggers PTSD for someone who has been sexually assaulted. And on this site, a number of survivors have weighed in.
And let's face it, TSA has not proved to be the best at choices in personnel:
According to Peter Bacqué of WSLS 10 News in Roanoke, VA, TSA ordered Richmond airport to give the highest level of security clearance to a convicted felon even after he was cited for falsifying his employment application. What kind of security screening do these people get, and do they face penalties for slamming someone in the balls or shoving their hands inside someone's underwear? More importantly, after an afternoon of reading these articles and more, it seems as if no two screeners have read the same rules, and certainly more than a few of them possess commonsense. Who is instructing these people?
I ran across a sentence that makes my blood run cold. The kindly folks in WashingToon are talking abolishment of the TSA and giving those contracts to private security firms first. Can you say "we take in your violent, your thieving, your rapist masses" Halliburton?
I'm not responding to this mess because with the complaints of Mr. "Don't Touch My Junk" and the $5 a Day Gourmet. A friend of mine, a sexual abuse survivor, asked me to in the hope that we might get the word out to more people and get them to protesting. Will you do that? For the abuse survivors, the autistic and Aspbergers folks? The Israelis don't do anything like this, and yet they're regarded as the best at terrorism control. I wonder what they're doing different? (Oh, everything . . .)
November 16, 2010
Legislation that might actually do some good
You know I have a particular interest in child trafficking and forced child marriage. Apparently our very own Congress has decided it does, too. H.R. 2103 and S. 987, the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act, have both left committee and are ready to be put before the House and the Senate, respectively.
The article details the risks run by child brides--too-early pregnancy, domestic violence, and the loss of opportunities available to single girls. This is the fate of 60 million girls worldwide .
Please, call or write your Senators and your Congressperson. Let's stand up for the chance to help girls around the world!
cross-posted to my fan journal
The article details the risks run by child brides--too-early pregnancy, domestic violence, and the loss of opportunities available to single girls. This is the fate of 60 million girls worldwide .
Please, call or write your Senators and your Congressperson. Let's stand up for the chance to help girls around the world!
cross-posted to my fan journal
November 11, 2010
Gods all bless, Veterans
The ones who are and the ones who have gone before. Today and every day I think of you, what you are doing, what you have done, what you have been, what you have built, what you endure, what you represent, the good that so many of you have done and continue to do, the pain that so many of you have borne and continue to bear, the guilt and sorrow that are poor reparations for going to do what you were told was right and proper.
Whoever you are, whatever your sex and race and sexual orientation, wherever you've served, whatever is laid to your account, I wish you an end to pain, good years on this earth, full nights of real sleep without dreams, and the comradeship of those who learned the same truths as you. I wish you respect from your community, service from the government that promised to help you in return for hard work at thankless jobs, and promises kept.
Whoever you are, whatever your sex and race and sexual orientation, wherever you've served, whatever is laid to your account, I wish you an end to pain, good years on this earth, full nights of real sleep without dreams, and the comradeship of those who learned the same truths as you. I wish you respect from your community, service from the government that promised to help you in return for hard work at thankless jobs, and promises kept.
November 2, 2010
Do you know what day it is, USians?
Vote! Vote! Vote!
Like a stoat! Stoat! Stoat!
Why not you?
I did too!*
* I beg pardon for the lame poesie, but it's Election Day, after all!
cross-posted to my fan journal
October 14, 2010
Paging Doctor Mengele
For those who cry "Godwin's Law" when critics compare some of the things done by America during the course of its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, I offer this report concerning experiments done on Guantanamo detainees and ask, "How does this differ from the experiments of the Nazi doctors?" Is it supposed to be better because the goal was to make interrogators more efficient?
I have never felt the same about my country since our use of torture, a tactic known for centuries to be unreliable, became public knowledge. Our government deliberately broke the Geneva Accords we helped to write, and those who were instrumental in breaking that set of international laws have yet to be called to book. Now we learned that they had one of their eggheads create a smoke screen and an excuse for experiments that were part of that torture, taking a page straight from the Nazi playbook.
We are a criminal nation, a rogue nation. We have no right to shake a finger at any other nation on the face of the earth. We need a cleansing, but for reasons I don't agree with, Obama won't do it, and for reasons I don't understand, the World Court hasn't done it.
And the message that sends is, when the other guys do it, it's an atrocity. When we do it, it's policy.
What's wrong with that equation?
I have never felt the same about my country since our use of torture, a tactic known for centuries to be unreliable, became public knowledge. Our government deliberately broke the Geneva Accords we helped to write, and those who were instrumental in breaking that set of international laws have yet to be called to book. Now we learned that they had one of their eggheads create a smoke screen and an excuse for experiments that were part of that torture, taking a page straight from the Nazi playbook.
We are a criminal nation, a rogue nation. We have no right to shake a finger at any other nation on the face of the earth. We need a cleansing, but for reasons I don't agree with, Obama won't do it, and for reasons I don't understand, the World Court hasn't done it.
And the message that sends is, when the other guys do it, it's an atrocity. When we do it, it's policy.
What's wrong with that equation?
Soy
Soy has made me crazy.
Some years ago, when I was taking voice lessons, I forget how it came up, but my teacher mentioned that soy was poison. I didn't think anything of it under some months later, when I was having a bad siege of migraines, and the only thing new in my life was my discovery of soy chips. I asked Jerry what he'd meant back then when he said that soy was poison. He explained that the body thinks it is female hormones, among other others.
For me, this is BAD. Extra female hormones = migraines. So I laid off the soy chips, with sorrow. I started limiting how much soy sauce I used, avoided soy-based sauces on Asian food, and gave up miso soup (::sob!::). Then I thought I'd try diet shakes. Migraines. Checked the label. Soy.
Migraines today. Checked the Nilla Wafers. Soy. Graham Crackers. Soy. Pretzel thins. Soy. Well, I shouldn't be eating these things anyway. Nutrition bars, for when my blood sugar tanks? I have to pick very carefully. Fortunately, Lärabar provides an entire line of soy-free bars (also gluten free, dairy free, and kosher, for those who care), so I don't have to squint at teeny print all the time; I can just get my favorites.
My doctor wants me to take more calcium. (Older women, you know--though you younger ones should get a head start so you're not panicking about thin bones at my age.) I got nice expensive big-hog calcium tablets, suitable for killing wildlife. Nature something, good for you, right?
Soy. My new multi vitamin, soy. My new D and Calcium, soy.
I bet most poisons wouldn't give me migraines. I can't have half of the salad dressings out there because they're vinaigrettes and burn a hole in my stomach, and the other half because they have soy. Ditto condiments like mayo. I have to check labels for soup, chocolate milk, and many, many other things, because they may have soy.
Do we really need this much soy in our lives? Seriously, I can't be the only one who has major issues with this stuff.
The topping on the cake was almost all of my vitamins having it. What in hell do vitamins need soy for when soy isn't listed as the source of the vitamin?
It's as bad as checking the salt content on things.
Some years ago, when I was taking voice lessons, I forget how it came up, but my teacher mentioned that soy was poison. I didn't think anything of it under some months later, when I was having a bad siege of migraines, and the only thing new in my life was my discovery of soy chips. I asked Jerry what he'd meant back then when he said that soy was poison. He explained that the body thinks it is female hormones, among other others.
For me, this is BAD. Extra female hormones = migraines. So I laid off the soy chips, with sorrow. I started limiting how much soy sauce I used, avoided soy-based sauces on Asian food, and gave up miso soup (::sob!::). Then I thought I'd try diet shakes. Migraines. Checked the label. Soy.
Migraines today. Checked the Nilla Wafers. Soy. Graham Crackers. Soy. Pretzel thins. Soy. Well, I shouldn't be eating these things anyway. Nutrition bars, for when my blood sugar tanks? I have to pick very carefully. Fortunately, Lärabar provides an entire line of soy-free bars (also gluten free, dairy free, and kosher, for those who care), so I don't have to squint at teeny print all the time; I can just get my favorites.
My doctor wants me to take more calcium. (Older women, you know--though you younger ones should get a head start so you're not panicking about thin bones at my age.) I got nice expensive big-hog calcium tablets, suitable for killing wildlife. Nature something, good for you, right?
Soy. My new multi vitamin, soy. My new D and Calcium, soy.
I bet most poisons wouldn't give me migraines. I can't have half of the salad dressings out there because they're vinaigrettes and burn a hole in my stomach, and the other half because they have soy. Ditto condiments like mayo. I have to check labels for soup, chocolate milk, and many, many other things, because they may have soy.
Do we really need this much soy in our lives? Seriously, I can't be the only one who has major issues with this stuff.
The topping on the cake was almost all of my vitamins having it. What in hell do vitamins need soy for when soy isn't listed as the source of the vitamin?
It's as bad as checking the salt content on things.
October 5, 2010
True tales from the artistic world
Certain questions and issues come up when you're a writer. One of them that always leaves me in knots is, "Will you come around to my school/bookstore/library and do an appearance for free (or gas money)?" Some other writers I know where talking about this, and poet Nikki Grimes explained things much better than I could. I post it here (with Nikki's permission) so you get a look at the life we live from a different perspective than just mine. *
It's not that I don't want to go anywhere that fans are. But I also have a family and employees to support and fans to make happy. And vet bills to pay. Oh, the vet bills . . .
If you're looking to become a pro, now would be a good time to decide where you stand on these issues, so you don't have to think on the fly the first time you're asked!
*Harlan Ellison, who is mentioned in the comments, is a notoriously cranky science fiction author.
It's not that I don't want to go anywhere that fans are. But I also have a family and employees to support and fans to make happy. And vet bills to pay. Oh, the vet bills . . .
If you're looking to become a pro, now would be a good time to decide where you stand on these issues, so you don't have to think on the fly the first time you're asked!
*Harlan Ellison, who is mentioned in the comments, is a notoriously cranky science fiction author.
October 2, 2010
It's . . . THE RETURN OF THE FLEA!!!!
Hide your children, hide your grandmothers!
Hide your dog, hide the kitten you thought was cute last week!
Hide your flea medicine--yeah, go ahead. We de-flead the Flea.
And hide your covetousness, because we think we've found the Flea a home with a lady who will defend her with a broadsword!
It's going to be so hard to let her go for Tim, Cara, and me. She's learned to run and jump this last week, to chase toys and the blue jays who come to my window for peanuts; she's learned to climb my shins to get to my knees (and my attention), and she talks all of the time. But I think this new home sounds like a good one, and we need to keep space for pregnant cats and older ones that people won't want. Only a dreadful person who would let her get so undernourished that she would appear to be a month younger than she is and who would teach her to be afraid of a rolled up magazine (I was trying to get a fly when I found this out) would not love this little Flea.
She's asleep now. I'd better post this before she wakes up and decides to try and improve on my typing!
Hide your dog, hide the kitten you thought was cute last week!
Hide your flea medicine--yeah, go ahead. We de-flead the Flea.
And hide your covetousness, because we think we've found the Flea a home with a lady who will defend her with a broadsword!
It's going to be so hard to let her go for Tim, Cara, and me. She's learned to run and jump this last week, to chase toys and the blue jays who come to my window for peanuts; she's learned to climb my shins to get to my knees (and my attention), and she talks all of the time. But I think this new home sounds like a good one, and we need to keep space for pregnant cats and older ones that people won't want. Only a dreadful person who would let her get so undernourished that she would appear to be a month younger than she is and who would teach her to be afraid of a rolled up magazine (I was trying to get a fly when I found this out) would not love this little Flea.
She's asleep now. I'd better post this before she wakes up and decides to try and improve on my typing!
September 22, 2010
behold . . . THE FLEA!
The Flea and my bashful assistant Cara.
The Flea is now stretched out between my copystand and my printer, napping. Periodically she will wake up, purr and scold, and then go back to sleep.
This is going to be a tough one, folks. I can't keep her, but . . . oh, my.
I just want to say
it is very hard to write when there is an extremely tiny kitten person standing on the floor right by my chair purring VERY loudly and punctuating it with imperious cries. I ask you, how is a person to work in these conditions?!
