Saturday, January 28, 2006

Hurray, Drunken Blogging!

Too much wine. But it's okay, I'm delighted for the first time in ages* because I've been so down for so long. You know, when most people drunk blog, they seem more coherent. Not me. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Ladies, let me lay one on you. Are you ready? "I'm glad to be a woman." Have you ever said this to yourself? I'm glad to be a woman. Frankly, I have not. I've been proud to be a woman. For sure or I wouldn't be a feminist. But glad? Not "I'm glad I'm not a man." That's something entirely different, involving a different kind of post. But "I'm glad to be a woman." That blows my mind. I want to talk about what that might mean, but I'm not even sure. Have I ever been glad to have this body? I don't know. Probably not glad enough. But y'all get that, right? That all the talk about my slick warm inviting cooter and my round soft tits topped off by the elusive, yet alluring, boob freckle are not some way of seducing you so much as trying to come up with a way for me to talk about myself that loves me? No, probably you don't get that. That's okay. I love you anyway. I love me anyway. I'm glad to be a woman, anyway, even if you think "slick warm inviting cooter" and " round soft tits" are for you and not for me. What do I care? You always misread me. But your sweet kisses, your awkward grins, your shaking hands (what? you think I didn't see that? I did.) when you're sitting next to me, it makes your inability to see me for who I am and love me anyway okay. I delight in you. I delight in you when you delight in me and when you're put out with me--"Am I in trouble for taking sides?"--and when you think you can do better than me--"I could be with any woman (prettier, smarter, taller, whatever)"--and when you're afraid that you can't--"But you're not like other girls. It doesn't matter what you want." I find you delightful anyway. And I wish you read more Whitman, who loves himself and loves men. And maybe he could reassure you in a way that I can't that you're so beautiful and worth loving and worth being good to and worth being good for. You. You should be good because you deserve it. I'm sorry I don't know how to convince you of that. But, if I could sit near you and give you soft kisses on your scruffy faces and my lips against your lips until you knew your inherent worth, I would. And not just because it would be fun for me. Y'all are worth it. Even though you so clearly hate yourselves. Even though you think feminists hate men. Even though you've not even heard "hate men" until you've been standing by the kitchen door in a house full of anti-feminist women, listening when they think you aren't. Even though your hating yourself leads to you eviscerating me and my kind, I love you anyway. I guess that's why you still read. I guess you know that, that I love you. Tonight, I sat around a table with three other women and we talked about how to take a handful of girls at an age when I was sitting in a bedroom with the music up loud to drown out my screams slicing a blade against my wrists and then when that failed to do the job, taking hands full of pills only to live and find myself moving to a worse hell than that**, finding a handful of those girls and teaching them that they are sacred and worth being here. Maybe we are lone individuals at the whim of the free market, but I'd rather not think so. I'd rather count on you and have you count on me. I'm dog-loyal to the people I love. Come take from me what you need and I'll gladly open my house and self to it. I'd rather live that way than be isolated. Isolation has no mercy. Y'all, tonight I watched six girls young enough to be my kids dancing around a stage and it made my soul ache. It made me feel brave enough to have girls. It made me feel an obligation to nurture children. Which made me laugh at the anti-abortionists, who think that they have to cut off all access to abortions to keep women having children. Little do they know that seeing girls thrive can make you want to have thriving children. So, yes, I'll sober up and tell you what I'm up to. And some of you will roll your eyes and scoff. But some of you will say, "Hmm, 'I'm proud to be a woman.' That sounds like a cool end result of anything." *Not counting when the Wayward Boy Scout tries to throw my own words in my face, which delights me on principle, no matter how depressed I am. He's so clever. Did I tell you that only the Wayward Boy Scout keeps it from being the Gay and Libertarian list--the list of men who will never fuck me--not that I expect him to; I just keep the list limited to gay men and Sarcastro based on my delight at the Wayward Boy Scout continually delighting me with his delightfully misguided ways. Or maybe ? I think there needs to be a ? in there. Anyway, I'm glad to have met him once. **I guess I've never told anyone that before. Surprise. Sorry.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're very beautiful.

1/29/2006 07:30:00 AM  
Blogger Nashville Knucklehead said...

I think I have something to say about this, but I have a beautiful, thriving, smart little girl in a Strawberry Shortcake nightgown tugging my sleeve, begging me to play the "pull my finger" game this morning.

It may involve poetry and my love of women and self-worth and slick inviting cooters.

1/29/2006 08:11:00 AM  
Blogger Mr. Mack said...

I know there will be a time when me and my little girl don't see eye to eye on anything. I'm told this is inevitable. So, ok, for now, it's wonderful that we agree on everything. Ice cream is the most delicious food on the planet. It's nice to cuddle up under a blanket and watch scary movies. Dad is the smartest guy on the planet. The list is long. Oh yea, and boys suck. I can live with this...

1/29/2006 08:53:00 AM  
Blogger Sam Holloway said...

Thanks, Aunt B. I'm glad that you're a woman, and I'm glad that you were drunk blogging this post.

Isolation has no mercy.

I grew up in a house as one of seven kids, and most of the time I felt isolated. Being so young, I never understood what I was feeling. Now, though, I do. This isn't a retroactive complaint or a sob story, but an observation.

Yesterday at the gym my wife remarked that I have powerful networking skills which I use neither for good nor for evil, but for the simple pleasure of saying "Hi, how ya doin'." She was referring to the increasing frequency with which I run into people in and from differing parts of my world: this includes my classmate from college algebra who I saw yesterday at the gym. This also includes the young lady who I met while walking to the firehouse six months ago, to whom I 'loaned' two dollars so that she could get her wee beastie on the bus and to the veterinary ER; this young lady recognized me on the CTA last week and introduced herself as Megan (she also gratefully repaid the 'loan.' Sweet person, she). There are so many other people who I could list, but you get the idea.

I still value my privacy, and I do require a lot of time alone. That's just my personality, and I like it that way. But I will never be isolated. I can always spend quality time with my wife, or call up some friends or family and chat. I can even come here to share and debate ideas with some really smart people, or just sit back and watch. In all those cases, I am interacting with my fellow human beings, and enjoying the hell out of it. In the latter case, I feel especially welcome. What could be a massive (or not so massive) forum for political and personal bomb throwing (like Oliver Willis or Daily Kos, not that there's anything wrong with those) feels more like a loving (if dysfunctional) family gathering, and that's because of you, Aunt B.

Thanks again.

1/29/2006 09:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm proud to be a woman who's friends with Aunt B.

Miss J

1/29/2006 09:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No good deed goes unpunished.

1/29/2006 04:03:00 PM  
Blogger Aunt B said...

Well, I'm flattered that you find being on the list of men who will never fuck me to be a punishment. That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me.

1/29/2006 04:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You make way more sense than me when drinking. I'm a charming SOB when I'm drunk, but I'm incoherent as hell.

w

1/29/2006 08:04:00 PM  

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