NAMBLA

I will be joining ranks with NAMBLA in an effort to spread EQUALITY. Right now, it is in greater need of a civil rights movement. For those of you who don't know, click on the link to find out.

I could go on and on about how much these other organizations really need our help. But, I won't. In case you did look up NAMBLA you might be outraged right now. Don't stop reading just yet.

I was inspired to blog by the various Prop 8'ers out there who fight to the death. My greatest inspiration was the following two arguements: 1. Homosexuality is not a morality issue. 2. If knowing someone who is such a good person they could do no harm, are hurting no one by their choice, and are entitled to be happy like the rest of us THEN homosexual marriages should be condoned. The Onion provided perfect fodder in it's classic article titled: Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry, cited again by those freedom fighters who find us hetero's too closed minded and influenced by religion. Silly us. So, out came my own passive-agressive satirical response filled with little tid-bits of reality.

I will campaign with NAMBLA when I campaign for gay rights. I will campagin for every other that comes along if I campaign for gay rights. I firmly believe all who campaign for gay rights should be campaigning for all the rest. Pave the way for others who are oppressed. Take me off your friend list now if you don't think they are or will be the same issue for civil rights. It doesn't matter if you take it in terms of morality, evolution, or simple logic. I view it all the exact same way and that's equality to me. I don't care how good of a person you are friend, family, or foe. I do not change my beliefs and condone practices I am opposed to no matter how much I like you or hate you. As The Onion points out: "This is a victory, not only for our state, but for America," Festa said. "Simply allowing consenting gay adults the same rights as heterosexuals was never the point. By forcing everyone in the state into a gay marriage, we're setting the stage for our more pressing hidden agendas: mandatory sodomy and, in due time, the legalization of bestiality and pedophilia." Well, The Onion, NAMBLA is next. Don't discriminate!

Aestheticism

This free-write-style blog comes courtesy of my brother's blog about asceticism. Reading it was an epiphany moment. I am an Aesthetic. It's good to have a title to categorize a part of my brain. It gives me a sense of identification. I had to look up the definition and associated strongly with the following statements:

As an adjective:
1. having a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty.
2. of or concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste.
3. pertaining to, involving, or concerned with pure emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality.

As a noun:
1. an exaggerated devotion to art, music, or poetry, with indifference to practical matters.
2. devotion to and pursuit of the beautiful; sensitivity to artistic beauty and refined taste.

For those who know me, you realize how obsessed I get about art. I always felt I got the short end of the stick. I was never good at art and yet I appreciate it to excess. I routinely feel the appreciation of art is often wasted on many people. If appreciating art could be an art I would be a Master artist. Everyone knows I love beauty products and fashion as a means of expression. I stop in my tracks to watch a cool cloud go by, even if it means I'm going to be late. Photographs are exciting and incite jealousy and envy in me. I'm overly passionate and stop to ponder the sensations I feel on a frequent basis. A pivotal moment was when a philosophy professor stated what an interesting sensation it was to feel sick. Bad sensation leads to a better appreciation of good sensation. In high school I wore hemp in my hair to show that, while everyone said "I love the outdoors," I truly LOVED the outdoors and respected it in all its terror and majesty. I never understood why people will say they love the outdoors if they have no idea what that means.

I don't see myself as vain. I belive in beautification and fashion and feel comfortable doing it. In fact, I find it thrilling. I would likely feel fine about spending more on such things.

I have my own philosophy of what "beautiful" is. I think silly things are beautiful. I've even thought traditionally plain or ugly things are beautiful. I believe in the terms beautifully sad and tragically beautiful. I wish I were able to be more expressive and creative. I love anything unique.

I have a knack for finding the new trend before it hits pop culture as the new "trend."

You could put two pictures of something I've never seen before and ‘instinctively’ I will pick the more expensive item as the one I like, never seeing the prices. I don't know why.

I can tell you right away what is worth your time to buy or invest in the realm of fashion and beauty and what is crap. I know quality when I see it. You don't have to pay $$$ for crap. I've got a whole philosophy on this as well. I still don't think of myself as shallow or vain because of it.

Never over spend. Never under spend. Both are a mistake. It's important to realize the difference.

I don’t view myself as overly materialistic in my opinions or necessities and find it all to be just stuff in the large scheme of things but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I toy with the idea of selling all my "stuff" to live simpler as often as I do with buying "stuff". Having things makes life more convienent but a lot less simple and I'd rather just travel around with few things than a lot of things.

On overnight trips I've taken just what I can get through security check in my purse and a zip lock bag and not used all that I brought and I've taken luggage stuffed full and not brought enough.

In no particular order: I believe feeling beautiful makes you confident. Looking trendy is not feeling beautiful. I believe beautiful people get a lot more "freebies." That irks me. I believe people who are truly shallow or vain or out to follow the trend are only experiencing life 10%. I rarely shop at the mall. I avoid showing off labels when I can. I absolutely adore inconspicuously or untraditionally placed labels, logos, designs, etc. I will buy a pair of jeans at DI for $4 and a pair at a designer for $150 because they are the same high quality. Low prices or high, designer or not, makes no difference to me. I maintain that you can pull off any look as long as you "wear it like you mean it." Most people don't wear it like they mean it. I see henna, fashion, houses, décor, people, and food as art too. I would love to be "artful" in this way. I would have a small well decorated comfortable home over a big one any day. Not having a lot of money to channel into aesthetic endeavors often produces remarkable results. If you can't live without money, how can you live with money?? When I see something aesthetically pleasing, it makes me happy...likely a chemical reaction in my brain. When someone plays the piano I forget what I'm doing and drown myself in the music. I stopped breathing when I first heard Rachmaninoff play Rachmaninoff. Going to the symphony sucks me in entirely and completely. It’s a weakness. That's how crazy I am about music. I’m nearly as crazy about movies. I tear up when I see Disney’s recent Earth preview every time. I think it’s that beautiful. Everyone else doesn’t see it. I want people to see what I see. I routinely have to do some art project just for the fun of it. No, I'm not good but I want to create. Art is what gets said when you don’t have words to say it. My sense of what I consider beautiful is the same way. Being out in nature is the most beautiful experience. And that makes me happy.

Beacuse I devote an entire blog to this demonstrates the emphasis and role I value aesthetics. While others may find more intellectually stimulating topics of ethics or morality of importance, I write because I see relevenace and philosophical sense in "experiencing one's existance" and examining: What really is the Ideal to a person? It would not be possible to experience my existance or recognize my ideal without aesthetics and emotion.

Yowser.

New to the blog thing. New to the "write it down for EVERYONE to read" thing. New to the writing down of blog-type stuff. Here's my first.

Things that irk me about people today:

• Conversationally inept.
• Controversy freaks them out and they go on a rampage of personal attack. Opinions differ. It's not personal.
  
• People who are quick to assume a conclusion based on one or two exchanges.
  

In all earnestness I will absolutely:

• Things I will campaign to have legalized along with homosexual marriage because I believe in equality along ALL lines. (The next minority will soon be louder than our current latest-and-greatest so I'd like to be at the forefront of this effort.)
• Any and all forms of sexual orientation. All sexual attraction must be recognized: Animals, Children, No People, Men Only, Women Only, Men and Women Only, Family members, etc. I'd state dead people and inanimate objects but you gotta draw the line somewhere and this is my line...this is where it's too much for me and I gotta say NO.
  
• Let's remember that each member of these categories also state this is a product of their biology or environment, whichever you believe in. In each attraction all claim the same story of attraction. In all above cases these current social taboos have had their heyday once-upon-a-time-in-history...just like homosexuality. There could be a come back on it's way -- history does repeat itself.
  
• From an anthropological stand point (which is what I'm into) you can't really argue on moral grounds for or against these. I've learned lots of sweet-awesome stuff about each of these orientations and how they are being accepted not only in the past but today.
• Examples of each we know and love: The Chiquita who married a dolphin, Child Brides are everywhere in African tribes (Niger 76.7%), Despite the classic "Adam and Eve totally did," Twins separated at birth married each other until England went all "No, our royalty NEVER interbred...EVER" on them. I'm waiting for the romance drama of this story to come out on film. No? Still don't buy it? Ok, totally a Mormon thing too. Who doesn't have a cousin who married a cousin way back when? Tila Tequila. So hot. Seriously. So hot. Ian McKellen. Sweet awesome. Rock on forever dude! Totally gonna say it: Ellen DeGeneres. Love her. Love Portia De Rossi. Together = Amazing! Brangelina. Yes. Most hot, most save-the-world, most family oriented. I only wish I could be a U.N. abadassador. Her comment on Burma totally made my week. Last but not least, Immanuel Kant, J.M Barrie, Mr. Chanel himself, Issac Newton, AND Emily Brontë ALL asexual. Really, some of the most influential people I could possibly imagine. Mr. Kant comes as no surprise since he totally was philosophically one with his sexual preference.
• So, let's make it right, let's make it real, let's make it equal, baby! I believe in universals. Do you?
  

Person Ellen DeGeneres.

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