Two Jens and a Pen

Everyone Deserves Sympathy Now and Then

2006-06-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2110151

Jun 23, 2006 — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein ended a brief hunger strike after missing just one meal in his U.S.-run prison, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday.
The former Iraqi leader had refused lunch on Thursday in protest at the killing of one of his lawyers by gunmen, but the spokesman said he ate his evening meal.

You know, Saddam's lack of self control in the area of food is a human frailty with which I sympathize. I can't fathom giving up food.

Let's Just Let the Penguins Be Gay, Shall We?

2006-03-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

From Pam Spaulding comes the news that children's book And Tango Makes Three has been moved to the nonfiction section of two Missouri public libraries after two parents complained last month that the book had "homosexual undertones." (Overtones, undertones, what’s the difference?)
The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins who adopted an abandoned egg at the Central Park Zoo in the late '90s. Pam's post about this has raised a number of questions for me, but here’s one that occurs to me first. I have not yet read the book, but here’s a chunk of one of the editorial reviews on Amazon:

Roy and Silo were "a little bit different" from the other male penguins: instead of noticing females, they noticed each other. Thus penguin chick Tango, hatched from a fertilized egg given to the pining, bewildered pair, came to be "the only penguin in the Central Park Zoo with two daddies."

Several of the commenters at Pandagon, as well as one Amazon reviewer, expressed disbelief that anyone could see "the homosexual agenda" in this book.

Well, that disappoints me, because it's exactly why I just bought it for my kid (other than that the cover art charmed the hell out of me.). I mean, on one level I get exactly what they're saying; is a book about two man-penguins adopting an abandoned egg really something to get worked up about? Isn't this just one more example of the homo-paranoid right seeing a huge gay attack-penis lurking around every blind corner? Of course it is, at least in part.

But on the other hand, one of the reasons I purchased the book for my kid was that it shows a same-sex parental relationship, and therefore encourages the child reader to conclude that having two parents of the same sex is not only normal, but desirable. Of course it’s not about gay sex, and anyone who thinks so should really stop breathing those toxic fumes immediately and get some fresh air. But come on – it does imply to the wee ones that two dads are just fine, thanks. What offended the complaining parents is exactly what I found appealing about the book. Frankly, I agree with this part of one conservative Amazon review:

[I]f you liked the message of 'Brokeback Mountain', you'll love And Tango Makes Three. The message is clear: there is nothing special or sacred about a family made up of a Dad AND a Mom.

Precisely why I purchased it for my son. Thank you for articulating that for me, conservative reviewer.

Ultimately, I'm really wary of reflexively defending things like this on the ground that they aren't *really* about homosexuality. Obviously, some of these things the right gets all hot and bothered over have no discernible relationship to homosexuality -- for example, I never understood how Tinky Winky, one of the utterly asexual Teletubbies, was understood to be gay, even by such a blithering dolt as Jerry Falwell.

But Tango is different -- it contains the message that families can be formed by people of the same sex as well as people of different sexes. And why deny that? (It's the same problem I have with people who say about Brokeback Mountain, "oh, but it's not really about homosexuality! It's just about love!" No, it is about homosexuality, and yay for that. As if it can't it be about love at the same time as it's about homosexuality. No one says, "Romeo and Juliet isn't about heterosexuality, it's about love!")

Part of the problem really is the Tinky Winky phenomenon – the true believers do seem to think there’s something big and gay lying in wait for them under every rock, so our first response is often to dismiss them as delusional. But sometimes, they’re right – and an opportunity bubbles up to engage this issue on the merits. We should make sure we take it.

Stand and Deliver

2006-02-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

Well - really more accurately, sit and bitch.

A couple in Lawrence Township has collected 200 signatures on a petition to ban the inclusion of the Kiterunner in the Lawrence Township curriculum. Moreover, they would like to develop a committee of parents to oversee the appropriateness of all books used. This will avoid the kind of pornography described in the aforementioned book - the rape of a child.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060228/NEWS01/602280407

The Grapes of Wrath will come next. . . a woman's breast is depicted. . then the Bible . . nude people in the Garden of Eden.

Hello from Calamity

2006-02-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

Hello. I'm one of the Jens.

I'm an avid outdoor enthusiast and nature photographer, and I love to travel. I need my coffee in the morning before I can function beyond the level of your typical garden slug. I live in Oregon (I love living here, but the rain makes me crazy. What can you do?)

I'm married to Mr. Knife Guy (it's really not as bad as it sounds -- he's in the outdoor gear industry), and I have a three year-old son I'll call Fast Draw.

Those are the basics -- enough to start, anyway.

About the Jens

2006-02-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Jen d'her and Calamity Jen have been friends for more than five years. They have a lot in common -- they are both lawyers, daughters of lawyers, vegetarians, mothers to children born on September 15, bold (some might say reckless) euchre players and politically left-leaning. They also feel the need to disseminate their thoughts and opinions to anyone willing to read them. Hence, Two Jens and Pen.