I am the owner and blogger at Maggie’s Art & Musings, my place in the universe to share opinions, smiles, recipes, art, etc., as well as being an author, painter, textile artist, journal junkie, parent, licensed wedding officiant, amateur philosopher, Buddha in training, classic rock & oldies music lover and refugee from the island of broken toys who identifies as genderqueer/genderfluid.
To those clearly misunderstanding what pro-choice means, it has nothing to do with pregnancy or abortion or religion, or anything else. It’s about the government mandating what you choose to do with your body.
Being anti-abortion doesn’t make you pro-life, it makes you pro-birth. You don’t have any input or influence on a child that is born, and you don’t want to. You don’t care if they’re living in poverty, or are in unsafe homes. Tell me, how many pro-lifers do you know, including yourself, have adopted these children born out of pregnancies that were forced upon women to carry?
What if… purely hypothetical of course, what if every woman who wanted/needed an abortion were to be paired up with a pro-birth advocate, such as yourself. You’re required to adopt, you may even be given hormone therapy to initiate lactation so that you can breastfeed, as a means of giving you the opportunity to bond with that child. Can’t afford diapers? Not my problem, you’re pro-birth remember? Can’t afford daycare? Guess you’re now a stay-at-home mom. You’re single and have to work or you’ll be homeless, I hope you have a car. Don’t you have family that can help? Can’t you sell something? Have you sold plasma? Apparently, you’re just one of those lazy women who just want to live on food stamps and welfare and never work.
Wait, you never wanted this child? What’s that you say? You were forced to keep it? HOW DOES IT FEEL?
When I was in high school, a girl confided in me that she found out she was pregnant, she was 15. She went to her mother and stepfather, explain to them that she wanted to keep the baby. Her stepfather beat the shit out of her and threw her down the stairs, forcing her to miscarry among other things. An abortion probably would have been kinder because it would have at least been her decision. Instead, this was done to her.
I knew an older woman who has since passed on, whose late husband was a bit of a tightwad (post-depression, understandable) and a control freak. She went to the dentist and needed 2 fillings. They knocked her out, and when she woke up she had no teeth. NONE. Her husband decided that two fillings just meant that she was going to wind up needing more down the line and he wasn’t willing to keep paying for that, so he told the dentist to pull all of her teeth. She was 22 years old. For what it’s worth, things like this still happen to this day.
My neighbor is a 59-year-old woman who got pregnant (by her husband of 40 years) when they were 16. Her parents talked, then her mother took her to the doctor for what she thought was going to be her first prenatal visit. Instead, it turned out to be the abortion her mother had just signed the consent for. She was in the stirrups and was being given a D&C, she found out as it was being done to her. As a minor, she didn’t have any legal rights.
Remember when China only allowed couples to have one child? If a woman got pregnant and the government found out, the state would arrest her and perform an abortion.
And let’s not forget about the girls in countries around the world whose genitals get mutilated or have their breasts destroyed by ironing. All against their will, all victims at the hands of others
Now would you want the government or anyone else to have that power over YOUR body?
Pro-choice doesn’t mean pro-abortion. It means having the power to make choices, and not be the victim of someone else.
Ghee [gee] – noun – a kind of liquid butter, used especially in the cooking of India, utilizing butter made from the milk of cows then clarified by boiling.
Ghee, funny name, oh believe me I know. It’s pronounced with a “g” like gorgeous and that’s exactly what it is. I originally learned about ghee while following a lightweight backpacking online group. It’s utilized by backpackers because it is shelf-stable (no refrigeration needed) and so much more flavorful than oil for cooking. All I knew at this point was that it was Indian butter.
My friend’s son is autistic and was put on “the diet” (gluten, casein, soy & corn free – with great results I might add). We were busy looking for new and creative recipes for the family so he wasn’t singled out when I once again saw ghee references. I started looking at you tube videos and recipes online. Now I’m a very confident cook and always ready to try new things but this was different, Tyler could have ghee but not butter so if I made a mistake I could cause problems for him. I finally worked up the nerve to make a batch with the help of my former boss, a wonderful woman and dear friend from India who walked me through the process better than a you tube video ever could (thanks again Paulomi!). Once made, we passed it around and tasted it in absolute awe. It’s like butter, but so so much better. Unlike anything we’d ever tasted before.
How do you make ghee?
Truly, you boil the butter. That’s it. Then you strain it. (Seems too simple, I don’t get it..)
First you start by putting butter in a good solid bottomed pan. My daughter gave me an enamel coated Lodge cast iron Dutch oven for Christmas several years ago which is now known as my ghee pot.
Next, the butter. Well, here’s where it doesn’t matter too much because you’re removing the dairy, as well as the salt. I am in an area where I can pick up Amish butter at a great price. If you’re looking for grass-fed only, look for Kerry Gold. To my knowledge it’s the only grass-fed that’s commercially available. However, I have stocked up on butter at the grocery when it went on sale and made ghee with it and not noticed a difference in the end result.
When the butter starts to melt it will go from its normal pale yellowish white to a bright yellow and creamy. Once it comes to a simmer/gentle boil, leave it. Come back every once in a while (20 minutes or so) and stir it. I use a plastic pancake turner with a straight edge because it allows me to scrape the bottom to keep the solids from sticking. I have a wooden paddle but I noticed that it tends to absorb the salt as well as the oils. You’ll find some people will refer to ghee as clarified butter but that is incorrect. Clarified butter (or drawn butter) is made at this first stage when the butter first separates but is still that bright yellow. (Think of what they serve at Red Lobster with your crab legs). As it continues to boil it will become more and more clear and more of an amber color and all the butter. The batch I have in the picture was boiled for approximately 2 hours.
Time to strain. I have wire strainer that I set over the bowl from my Kitchen-Aid mixer (in the picture). I then took my cheesecloth and folded it in quarters and put it in the strainer. I poured the finished ghee through the cheesecloth to strain out the carbonized dairy solids. Once it all strained, I then picked up the cheesecloth by the corners (making a pouch) and kept twisting it tight to squeeze out any ghee that was left. Believe me when I say this step is worth it. Between the solids and the cheesecloth you should be able to squeeze out several ounces. As you can see by the picture, there are a lot of dairy solids that come out. This also contains the casein which is an allergen for some folks, as well as one of the offending items for autistic kids.
Here’s what’s removed from the butter when you turn it into ghee. The dairy is completely carbonized. I strained it through cheesecloth then squeezed out the excess.
I started with 6 pounds of butter (on sale $2 a pound). The finished result netted me 1 quart jar and 7 eight ounce jars. This lasted us for about 12 weeks. Put the lids on and put it in the cabinet. Treat it as you would any other oil. Just so you’re aware, if your home is cool this may start to solidify and that’s okay, you haven’t done anything wrong making it.
Okay, I made it. Now what do I do with it?
The question now is what can’t you do with it? It can be used in any recipe for oil or butter. Here’s the best part IMO. Ever get a pan too hot when you’re going to cook something with butter and it burns? Not with ghee. All the parts that would burn, you’ve already removed. You can pan fry your eggs or fish, brush it on bread for a grilled cheese or as toast, drizzle it on broccoli or popcorn… you name it!. My favorite is to sauté garlic in ghee for a few minutes. It’ll taste like you roasted it in the oven for an hour! Put that in some mashed potatoes or cauliflower and you will think you’re in heaven.
There’s benefits too?
Ghee has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine and diet. It’s believed to lubricate joints, help with mental function (not unlike newly discovered properties of coconut oil), stimulate digestion and even aid in the absorption of herbs and spices from dishes for medicinal benefit.
Try it out and tell me what you think. I guarantee you’re going to keep it in the house all the time and convert your friends. Be sure to share this with them too!
Every three days, our COVID-19 casualties equal those lost from 9/11. We went to war to avenge their deaths. Now the one who swore to protect and defend the Constitution and act on our country’s behalf is the one doing it to us, and admitted that he let it happen.
200,000 dead, in less than 9 months. Our 11 year involvement in Vietnam resulted in 58,000 casualties. On 9/11 there were less than 3,000 dead.
Now imagine if Americans rallied behind Osama bin Laden the way they do for Trump. Would you? Ask yourself, the death toll is 67 times worse, is that to be celebrated?
If you supported the troops, do you support those who have caught this devastating virus? Do honor those who have died? Do you wear a mask as often as you displayed a yellow ribbon?
Every three days. Think about it. How did you respond to 9/11? How will you respond now?
This is the USPS Board of Governors. These six men have the power to fire Trump-appointee Louis DeJoy.
They have the power to roll back Trump’s hobbling of the USPS. They have the power to save a free and fair election.
Please write, and share this so others may do the same.
This not only threatens the election – even if universal mail-in voting isn’t done, and it also threatens those who get their medication through the mail, it affects those of us who still receive their bills in the mail and use the same method to send back the payment, and it affects jobs….lots and lots of jobs. The US economy hasn’t been this bad since the great depression, and we’re going to go out of our way to take more jobs away?
Don’t let them rig the system because he’s afraid he can’t win otherwise. Also, paper ballots cannot be hacked, like the election was in 2016, and as the Russians have vowed to do again.
I encourage you to contact them and explain why mail-in voting matters to you.
Robert Duncan:
mduncan@inezdepositbank.com
John Barger:
barger.jm@gmail.com
Ron Bloom:
ron.bloom@brookfield.com
Roman Martinez:
roman@rmiv.com
Donald Moak:
lee.moak@moakgroup.com
Wiliam Zollers:
directoraccessmailbox@cigna.com
You can also text USPS to 50409 to send a message to your representatives to support the Post Office. More than a million people have done so thus far. Very easy way to speak up. Also, nationwide protests are being planned at local post offices at 11 am on Sat. Aug. 22. Your local groups probably have info, or check moveon.org.
This brilliant post was written by James V. Carroll on Facebook, all credit goes to him. I felt that it truly needed a bigger platform.
We shouldn’t be surprised…
We shouldn’t be surprised that white conservatives still refuse to wear masks even as Americans are dying because they have never experienced daily discomfort like minorities in this country.
We shouldn’t be surprised that white conservatives feel left out when they hear that Black Lives Matter because they’ve been treated like the center of the universe, particularly since the Reagan Era.
We shouldn’t be surprised white conservative moms want schools to open before it’s safe because these same people continue to cry freedom and willfully misinterpret the second amendment while America’s children keep dying in school shootings.
We shouldn’t be surprised that rich, white conservatives are against universal healthcare because most of them will never know the fear of not being able to afford lifesaving care for their families or the lifelong, crushing debt incurred by even substandard care.
We shouldn’t be surprised that white conservatives don’t practice the religion they preach because they continue to vote people into office that pay no mind to whom the Jesus of their Bible refers to as the least of us.
We shouldn’t be surprised that white conservatives label anything inconvenient as fake news while believing the most absurd conspiracy theories because they’ve been denying what the majority of climate scientists have had to say for decades.
We shouldn’t really be surprised by the greed, the bizarre anger, the racism, the sexism, the homophobia, the transphobia, the disdain for the working class, the flippant attitude toward those suffering. The problems of today aren’t an aberration of the republican party under Trump’s policies. They are the natural progression of Reaganomics and the GOP’s Hunger Games type values.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this depravity, but I always am. We’re at a point where we can no longer politely disagree with our oppressors and still retain our dignity and humanity. White conservative Americans are like addicts. Nothing will ever be enough and no disgraceful policy will ever be too far from the values they pretend to hold. They are vultures picking at the less fortunate well before death. Our only defense is to inform ourselves and to vote. We may not get the best champion right out of the box, but we can and must progress while we hold all of our leaders accountable. ☮️
Especially for us older folks, think back to what you were doing and what you got away with before the age of 16. Saying what he did, it’s no different than saying “I’m going to build a bomb and blow up the school”.
I use that example specifically, because a kid I went to school with (I was in 10th with his sister, he was in 9th), blew off most of his hand while building a pipe bomb to blow up the math building because the teacher ruined his perfect 4.0 and gave him a B. This is before the video games, before the mass shootings, before YouTube, before public access to the Internet, Jackass movies, or anything else you want to point a finger at. This happened 38 years ago.
I knew a lot of people who got away with a lot of shit back then (and since) and a few that got caught… including myself. I’m sure that if this exact situation would have happened with any of the other mass shooters, their parents would be saying the same damned thing.
And if he is just blowing smoke and making idol threats like that, he needs to be taught a fucking lesson because clearly, it’s not going to be taught by you. How many times have we seen kids committing suicide only to find out that they were getting messages from others telling them to kill themselves because they’re worthless, etc? And then to have no consequences? I’m sorry, they’re not babies.
How many 15-year-old young adults (because that’s what they are) have already had sex? How many already have children?? Clearly, they’re not babies and have to live with the consequences of their actions, so why shouldn’t a kid who’s threatening to shoot up his school with an M-16?
Our job as parents is to raise functional adults. Period. The quicker people get their heads out of their asses and recognize the responsibility that they volunteered for, the better off this entire country will be. No more “they’re just children…”, “kids will be kids” or “boys will be boys”. These are excuses for bad behavior, and if you are making these excuses for your offspring then clearly you’re not doing your job right. There are three stages of human development, and only three. They are infants, toddlers, and adults-in-training.
Everything they are taught… at home, in school, or by the media (TV, Internet, games, social networks, etc), shape who they will be and how they will be as adults. Our job as parents and mentors, is to teach them, in a safe environment where they can fail and learn from it. Evaluate what they did wrong, change/adjust your methodology, and try again .
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” is not just Newton’s Third Law of Physics, it’s life. Don’t throw a punch with anything less than the expectation of getting punched back, or suspended, or arrested, or whatever. Everything in life has consequences, some good, some bad, but to let a child grow and learn that they’re immune from consequences is not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous, and it can kill.
Many of us have been there or know someone who has. In the US, the national average for suicide is 1.6%, of that there is 5-10% in the gay community, and in the Trans community it’s 42%.
This is a great article listing 18 items to keep on hand that can keep you from sliding further down to the dark side, until you can climb back up again.
We, the LGBTQ community, only make up only 4.5% of the population, yet we account for 50% of the suicides. That should scare the shit out of anyone, in the community or not. Bottom line, it’s got to stop.
We know, sadly, that most of these stem from sources such as those in our environment, bullying, lack of acceptance, being outted, as well as organic issues like gender dysphoria, etc. We need to be there, for ourselves and for our other Rainbow Tribe members.
If you or someone you know who has struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts, having these items, and knowing how they can help, could make the difference between being here and being gone. Lots of loved ones want to help, but don’t know how to. Here’s a great way to help.
Next Sunday kicks off Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019). It’s an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
Books can allow you to travel without taking a step. Books can allow you to meet people who were gone before you came to be. Books can tell you about the past and how to navigate your future. There are so many books because there are so many different interests. If a book doesn’t appeal to you, that doesn’t mean that someone else shouldn’t be allowed to read it.
Spend this week thinking about it, so next week you can educate others and find out how to prevent this from happening.
Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of progressive changes here in America. While some show us just how far we’ve come, others let us know just how far we still need to go. I was reading the latest piece here on The Kinfolk Kollective (brilliant writer btw, check her out) about Viola Davis and the nonsense (read bullshit) that ensued.
While I did not watch the awards, I saw the immediate spreading the joyous news of Viola Davis’ well deserved win on social media. I think she’s an incredibly talented actor and I was very happy that she received her due in this well earned recognition.
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 20: Actress Viola Davis accepts Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ onstage during the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 20, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Later I saw her speech, along with the very short and spread out list of other firsts and I was saddened to realize how little progress we’ve made in this area. To be honest, since I’m not a fan of the awards shows or their history I had no idea until this moment how far behind we were in this arena.
I remember seeing Halle Berry’s acceptance speech in my younger years thinking “cool, we’re there” and being completely oblivious to the fact that we are so far from it in this vein. Viola really hit the nail on the head when she pointed out you can’t win awards for parts not written. It’s a simple problem with a seemingly simple solution. Right?
But of course no one can have their 15 seconds forget 15 minutes, in the sun before critics and assholes feel the need to tear people down with their own Ignorance. This phenomenon was never more apparent than when a Tweet by an unnamed white actress (only because I refuse to offer any publicity with her name attached) who felt that Viola should have allowed someone else to write her speech for her. Are you kidding me?
So here we finally have the first African-American woman in this country to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama, and this person felt, either out of jealousy of the win or personal discomfort because it didn’t align with her life of privilege, that it should have been censored or desensitized for those who prefer to speak out of their asses because their heads are buried deeply in the sand.
If I can offer a brief but meaningful segue – One of my favorite movies is A Time to Kill starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and the ever powerful Samuel L. Jackson. The 1996 movie is based on the book of the same name by John Grisham, and is a story told from the defence attorney’s perspective as he digs deep to defend his client (Samuel L. Jackson) accused of murder after killing the men who repeatedly and brutally assaulted his young daughter. McConaughey’s closing speech as Southern defense attorney Jake Brigance is one that will stop your heart and give you the deepest understanding of racial divide that you never saw coming. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to watch it here.
After you regain your composure, feel free to join in the singing “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from the Broadway musical Avenue Q and be sure to invite and include almost everyone you’ve ever known to join you in the chorus. There’s no shame in realizing that down deep you have some racially disparaging leanings at your core. Of course you couldn’t. You didn’t realized that you’ve been groomed this way from birth and while you may wash away some of it, there’s a couple of places you didn’t know were even there.
American society historically has been very racist and it didn’t stop with the end of the Civil War. In fact, slavery didn’t even end with the war. If you’re not familiar with Juneteenth look it up. Don’t be surprised if you’re not familiar with it. It’s an event that is not taught in schools. Why? I don’t know.
I didn’t learn about the racially motivated Internment Camps to restrict the freedoms of Japanese-Americans during World War II either. We learned a fraction of the relocation and atrocities committed against Native Americans by white settlers and Americans, too grievous a list to reference here. Then again until the casinos opened, most folks thought that Native Americans were more historical figures than living peoples. Out of sight, out of mind. I guess that’s what that actress was hoping for with her tweets.
American History books would have us believe that this country was settled in harmony with only a few gunfights, a really cool railroad, the creation of the pony express and some really funny clothes and mustaches, then a few battles as part of the Civil War and once the war was over, we all continued living together happily until the 1950’s when we became a society divided again (for some unknown reason that nobody remembers I’m sure…) leading to Rosa Parks being the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Every generation does a little bit better, but we have to strive for it to keep progressing as parents, as industry, as a society, as a country. Dr King said it best in his historic I Have A Dream speech “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. While I have always been moved by, believed in and agreed with that sentiment, we need to remember it just as much now as on that historic day in August 1963 on the the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
I am constantly judged by those who see me as a caucasian woman, when the reality is that I am a genderfluid individual who only racially identifies as human, formerly married to an Afro-Cuban man for 10 years (which was illegal within my own lifetime btw) and is someone who has family and friends in every color of the rainbow and every position along the gender spectrum. That’s not to say I’m not free of prejudice, not even close. What it means that race and gender are not my identity nor is it my sole scope of experience for viewing the world around me; and as I recognize these flaws within myself, that awareness allows me to target it for removal like radiation directed toward cancer cells.. but only if I choose to do so.
Hate is a cancer of the human soul and prejudice is only one of its symptoms. As we’ve seen in the past year racially motivated crime at an all-time visibility. Understand that because of our changes in technology, these injustices are more visible than ever before, and with it comes the demand for accountability and change.
Please recognize that these are far from the only injustices that are occurring. Young vets coming back are dealing with having to fight not only for their earned benefits but the continuing the fight they’d thought they’d left being as it haunts them constantly, creating an unprecedented veteran suicide reaching record numbers that this country has never seen before.
Transgender individuals, both adult and youths are assaulted and murdered daily, make up a majority of the homeless population as backs are turned on them at every turn and maintain a suicide rate of over 40%. These two things in particular you don’t see on mainstream news because they don’t feed the fires of racial tensions and controversy, instead they breed empathy and compassion. That doesn’t sell advertising.
The honest truth of the matter is that it’s going to take many more generations of Americans to water down and weed out experiences known as daily reality for many, many people in this nation both past and present, but it takes work, and a lot of it. There is no room for complacency, the old adage is true “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”.
We as a nation and a society need to be proactive in repairing the current wounds and old scars of injustice for ALL of our citizens, not just the majority and the underserved need to be sought out. Trust needs to be built, that’s the hardest part, and the nightly news makes sure to work against that because that’s how they get viewers and sell advertising.
So please look to the disparity around you and know that you can be the catalyst for change. Compassion and empathy can make the difference in whether someone continues living or chooses dying. Never forget that Rosa Parks wasn’t some visionary radical, she was a woman tired from a long day at work whose feet hurt. Even the smallest pebbles can create the biggest ripples, you can be a superhero, all you have to do is use your powers for good.
PTSD Sucks is the understatement of the year. I wish there was a word that would relay just how bad it is.
I’ve been dealing with PTSD for going on 26 years now and I know many others who suffer with it as well. I applaud the spirit of this post, but for most of us this isn’t how we need help.
First and foremost we need people to understand what it is. We’re not “overly sensitive”, “crybabies”, “special snowflakes” or any other term that gets used to diminish the horror we deal with regularly.
Believe me when I say that I really wish I could “just get over it”. I’ve learned to accept that this is my life, and that there are times when this will be triggered and out of my control. The best I can do is to continually remind myself that this is a cycle and cycles pass…well, until the next cycle is triggered.
As I learn what things will trigger it I can attempt to avoid them, but there’s no getting away from it unless I want to live in a bubble by myself with no tv, Internet, flashing lights, loud sounds, certain smells, fireworks…..
We aren’t all triggered the same way either, it’s personal, unique, just as unique as the trauma(s) that we have all suffered as individuals. If you really want to help, please ask us if we can help you understand what we’re going through then be willing to listen and learn.
One of the biggest things you can do for us is as simple as being our “bodyguard”. To have someone that we know we can trust, really trust, take over for us while we can’t think or function in the moment, to be a buffer to keep the rest of what’s happening away from us and get us out of that situation. Knowing that we can depend on you for that is a gift unlike any other. But please don’t jump in and do this without having this understanding with us first or you could make things exponentially worse for us even though you don’t mean to do anything other than help us.
PTSD doesn’t discriminate, men, women, kids, young and old, civilian and military. It’s the result of being in a situation out of your control and your brain decides that you can’t handle anymore and the slightest thing that reminds your brain (not even you consciously) of what happened before will set off a myriad of different things…night terrors, flash backs, panic attacks making you feel in that very moment that you are going to die right there and then. I wouldn’t wish this on my enemies (and only one ex-husband).
You may not be able to empathize with what we go through, but accepting the fact that this is what we go through, without judging us or our trauma is huge. There’s nothing worse than opening up and sharing this part of yourself with another person only to be told that you’ve been through worse or that happened to so & so and they don’t have a problem with it doesn’t help, in fact it makes it worse. So thanks for being willing to help and thank you for recognizing that what I go through is very real for me, even if it doesn’t happen to others.
Maggie's Art & Musings 