resistance is fertile

living underground in the real world

the operation of the machine vs. the wheels of time February 29, 2008

Filed under: cooking is vegan (of course),culture and its discontents,NYC,Restaurant rants and raves — lagusta @ 2:45 am

VERSUS

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What a crazy day Ralph Nader and Chelsea Clinton and Elizabeth Taylor and I had yesterday.

Well, I don’t know how those three celebrated their birthdays, but my big dirty thirty was ridiculously pleasant.

It was a day full of haiku, present maps, tasty vegan cake, biodynamic Champagne, cards, emails, Facebook and MySpace greetings, organic flowers, two new handmade dresses, wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue paper (that birthday holy trinity that seems to become more rare every year), FedExes, phone calls, homemade presents, and a purely fun (errands strictly forbidden!) NYC visit.

Having annoying political/cultural oppositions to pretty much every holiday, and also being intensely selfish, I’m a big birthday person. I know some of my friends are probably mystified by my shameless indulgence of my own birthday, but who cares.

Last year my sweetheart was out of town, so I thought I was justified in taking my birthday into my own hands. (He made up for it by recoding our favorite Grammy-award-winning musician friends singing me a customized Happy Birthday song, sigh.) I threw myself a birthday party – a presents-and-singing-strictly-verboten birthday party, but a birthday party nonetheless, complete with mailed, hand-designed invitations.

So yesterday was another in a string of adult birthdays that were something less than adult. I unabashedly did the whole birthday thing – breakfast in bed, journal writing, 30th-year resolution-making (Floss! Posture! Recognize that the most effective activism is local activism and don’t spread yourself too thin by working on national issues! Be a better boss! More Punk Rock Aerobics!), girlish involuntary “it’s my birthday!” smiles, a special outfit, a Sarah Jessica Parker sighting (somehow she seems like a permanent birthday girl, no? In truth she was kind of scowly, but I probably would be too if I was wearing frighteningly high heeled boots with weirdly cuffed jeans and a bizarre puffy stripey faux-fur coat) – the works.

If you are a discerning vegan chef turning thirty, I cannot recommend a customized vegan tasting menu, complete with wine pairing, at P*ong restaurant highly enough.

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They have a cocktail called “the vegetarian”! Oh P*ong, you had me at celery infused vodka with carrot, sea salt, balsamic, and vanilla.

If you happen to have a weakness for adorable, sweet and insanely considerate celebrity chefs, sleek mod restaurants, and a refreshing lack of haute cuisine pretension, P*ong is your place. Be sure to call ahead to discuss the veganosity of the menu, and be prepared to talk directly to fancy famous chef Pichet Ong, probably several times. Be prepared as well for candied aloe vera, “strange flavor eggplant,” white miso roasted pear, red bean sorbet, and so, so much more.

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Plan to spend 3-5 hours, and know that the wine pairing will include a shocking quantity of delicious alcohol (if I believed in marriage I would marry Mr. Brachetto D’Acqui, Le Donne Dei Boschi, Ca’dei Mandorli 2006, Castelrocchero, Italy – a zingy sparking red that can almost restore one’s faith in the intrinsic goodness of all beings) that will necessitate several walks around the frigid block before driving back up to your snowy upstate home, or, in our case, a late-night showing of Persepolis at the justifiably beloved Angelika theater. I adored the books so much, and it was wonderful to see how beautifully Marjane Satrapi adapted them for the screen.

In the car ride home we talked about past birthdays and I lay back and saw all these special days standing out in my life like The Gates in Central Park – big bursts of unexpected, insistent color. All those days of cake and wine, surprises, poems and indulgent presents.

Here’s the thing: thinking, political people often live insular, private lives. The people I like the most are the ones who live in their own worlds – whose success and sanity depend on an ability to block out the hideousness constantly threatening to break down the door. It’s true, Mario – the world makes you sick at heart that you can’t take part. Which is why I need that one day a year when I can pick my head up and peer out at the world feeling sure that it has only sugary, frivolous sweetness to offer.

 

massive head trauma February 28, 2008

Filed under: i heart atheists,i heart feminists — lagusta @ 6:52 pm
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Five years ago today my childhood friend Susan Barber was murdered by her boyfriend.

Here’s what I wrote about it at the time (sorry for the terrible formatting).

 

yet another radical ecofeminist vegan against peta February 26, 2008

Filed under: i heart feminists — lagusta @ 7:10 pm
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Sula the cat says: “If you really believed in animal rights you wouldn’t take humiliating pictures like this ever again. Also, WTF is up with your hair? Do vegans not believe in combs, either?”

I know many wonderful people – including my mother – who adore PETA generally and Ingrid Newkirk specifically.

Sorry Mom (in truth, my mom is working with Ingrid Newkirk on a play about her life – and has been since way before I Am An Animal came out.), but I think it’s gotten to the point where all caring vegetarians really need to publicly declare our non-alliance with PETA’s tactics while supporting, of course, their goals.

Might I suggest that all animal rightsey people preface anything about a/r with a disclaimer about PETA like: “Hmm, yes, thanks for pointing out to me that if everyone became a vegetarian the world would be overrun with cows. Very interesting. I’d like to point out, however – and let me first say that while I do believe that animals exist for themselves and not merely for our torturing pleasure and so yes, I do believe in animal rights, I do not agree with the tactics (though I do agree with the beliefs) of mainstream animal rights organizations like PETA, just to be clear…”

(If you talk as fast as I do, this shouldn’t be too hard to worm into conversations.)

It’s worth it, because the anti-PETA-tactics point really needs to be made.

Maybe their terrible tactics create vegetarians, but at what cost?

I know I’ve written about this on lagusta.com (click that link to be subjected to my horrific 2001 writing style! And please note that I wrote this post without rereading that essay, and am proud that I am so on-message that seven years later I make the exact same points. How depressing, though, that things have only gotten worse.), but PETA’s recent partnership with Suicide Girls means that I need to bring it up again – the means are the ends.

The grisly details:

Feministing talks about PETA + Suicide Girls - with some really insightful, thoughtful comments.

The infamous “Fur Trim – Unattractive” ad.

Worst PETA site ever

I’d rather go naked than wear fur – just a sample of PETA’s patented combo one-two punch of woman-hatred for the sake of animal rights.

More from Feministing on PETA.

Update: kind reader Dustin sent along these fascinating articles:

Excellent analysis of PETA’s tactics by Lee Hall from Friends of Animals

Another great Lee Hall piece – a review of I Am An Animal that expresses my feelings for Newkirk exactly!  A must read! Thanks, Dustin.
I just don’t want to live in a world in which misogyny is used to sell animal rights.

 

NYerWbW, January 28 issue February 26, 2008

Filed under: New Yorker whiteboy watch — lagusta @ 6:35 pm

Courtesy of my mom:

Written by man – 11
Written by woman – 3

About man – 7
About woman – 4
About both/neither – 4

Oops, there’s a discrepancy. I won’t go back and go over it again. I’m
certain the Written By count is accurate.

Thanks Mom!

 

Democrats: you’re supposed to believe in democracy, remember? February 24, 2008

Filed under: culture and its discontents,politics — lagusta @ 7:24 pm
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WordPress automatically capitalizes the first letter of all my subject lines, so please know that sentence should really read:

Democrats: you’re supposed to believe in democracy, remember?

So Nader is running, and I’m happy about it. I believe in Nader and I believe in democracy. Not Democrats. Good old little-d democracy. In a democracy, we’re supposed to believe that more political engagement is a good thing, that it’s good to have people outside the political mainstream shaking things up. A presidential election between McCain and Hillary – could anything speak to the ultimate blah of our precious little democracy more than that? Nader will keep Obama a little more honest and interesting, and the first Democrat who whines to me with some inaccurate nonsense about 2000 is going to get a swift kick in the nuts or ovaries. GRRR.

Moving on: It’s Black History Month, and although the very idea is a little sickening since it just points out that the 11 other months are White History Month, it’s also needed and interesting and whatnot. Every time I am reminded of BHM I involuntarily start singing “Which Side Are You On” over and over again for the next few hours.

This leads to reminiscing about when I was a little kid and my state didn’t celebrate the MLK Jr. holiday. All progressive people were so humiliated by this that we went to countless protest marches mostly consisting of singing “We Shall Overcome” and “Which Side Are You On” until our throats were sore. (I’m not complaining – I’ll take the dirgey “Which Side Are You On” over the dreaded “Hey hey, ho ho, blah blah has got to go” chant any day). Maybe the old-school tactics worked for once, because MLK Jr. Day is now a state holiday. Even better, I no longer live in such an idiotic state.

The combination of BHM and Nader running got me thinking about how important it is to take sides. I don’t believe in reaching across the aisle and compromising until we find something that works for everyone. I believe in stealing hearts and minds from the other side of the aisle – because when your positions are the correct ones this shouldn’t be too difficult to do (Lets let the laughable idealism of that statement go unchecked for right now, OK?) – until you’ve converted enough people and have enough power to completely ignore the other side until they go away and are never heard from again. With some exceptions, most moral and political questions have definite black-and-white answers, and it’s important to know where you stand.

Which side are you on, either you’re with us or you’re with you’re against us, you’re part of the problem if you’re not part of the solution, if you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention – absolutely.

If it sounds like bumper sticker politics, it’s because sometimes things really are that simple.

Bush Lied, People Died (though it really should be Bush Lies, People Die.).

Jesus Loves You, Everyone Else Thinks You’re an Asshole.

Simple.

Hooray for Nader, hooray for not-good-enough tokens to multiculturalism that don’t do enough but at least do something.

Hooray for our side!

 

a winter treat: cabbage and onion pie February 23, 2008

Filed under: cooking is vegan (of course),recipe! — lagusta @ 3:54 am

I don’t want to become some crazy vegan food blogger. I’m not exactly sure why, I just don’t. I want to post New Yorker stats, but I am too lazy and have been thinking about this pie all day. Here you go:

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“aggressive rusticity”

Cabbage and onion pie, with variations

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New Paltz vegan friendly dining guide! February 23, 2008

Filed under: cooking is vegan (of course),new paltz,Restaurant rants and raves,Upstate NY — lagusta @ 2:44 am

This overly quotation marked, utterly insane-looking little place just opened up in my town. I just had to point it out. I’m just mean like that, I can’t help it. It looks terrifying, but I respect it because at least it’s not yet another toiletty cookie cutter fakey Chinese place or rubbery pizza joint. But still. Usually I make a point to try every new restaurant in town, but even for purposes of ridicule I don’t think I can stomach this one.

I count 36 typos on the site, including all uses of the non-word “da,” misspellings, improper punctuation, lack of dashes/lack of punctuation, and inappropriate quotation marks.

Let me be clear: I love my little mountain town. I more than love it, I’m in love with it.

Here’s your typical New Paltz bulletin board:

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High Vibrational House Cleaning, GO GREEN! and a moon rolling around on an anthropomorphic block of wood talking about ideas and dreams. Pretty representative. This is a town that, until recently, had no less than four places to buy crystals. Now one of the crystals shops has become a baby clothing store.

I’m not sure if this is an improvement or not.

But the food scene is just horrifying. And because I am the cold-hearted bitch that I am, here I go: my icy-cold New Paltz Restaurant Roundup.

If I get a bunch of comments from good-hearted people telling me it’s just too mean, I’ll take it down, I promise. It’s a tiny town, and I know I’m making enemies, but I just can’t help it.

To soften the blows are lovely pictures of the supremely, joyously arty windows of the most awesome art store on the planet, Manny’s – enjoy!

Oh – one thing before we begin – did you all catch my super rad letter to the New Paltz Times this week? No? Well, allow me to point it out – scroll down a bit, and ignore the idiotic headline, which I of course did not write.

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i thought being a registered Green Party member would have given me immunity February 22, 2008

Filed under: politics — lagusta @ 3:46 pm

Back soon, dear blog. I have a bad case of Obama mania and need to get sane again before I can go back online.

 

sweet and sour February 15, 2008

Filed under: self-titled,truffles — lagusta @ 12:08 am

Well, look at this super sweet site and the lovely review of my truffles it contains! How rad! How nice to know about sites like Indie-Pendence – bookmark it!

On the not so sunny side of the street, I think I might have been named for a porno. SERIOUSLY.

(Also – New Yorker Whiteboy Watch coming soon!)

 

tell me who to vote for, internets February 13, 2008

Filed under: i heart feminists — lagusta @ 3:27 am

First of all, I most heartily apologize for the overly sincere, non-smirky/smarmy posts that have been happening lately. I don’t know what that’s about, but it always embarrasses me.

Second, this site has a sort-of helpful quiz that purports to help you decide who to vote for. It asks you questions about the major issues then tells you how all the candidates match up with your values. I found it very useful, except that Green candidates were not included!

At any rate, my top three candidates were “Theoretical Ideal Candidate,” Kucinich, and Obama. Go, Theoretical Ideal Candidate! Hillary was a distant 7th, after Biden, Wesley Clark, and Christopher Dodd (they rather helpfully include candidates who are not running/have dropped out, which is how I found out that Steven Colbert – swoon – comes in dead last for me).

Third, I thought of this terribly misogynist slogan the other day, and I can’t keep myself from sharing it. First I need to say that using slang for women’s genitals as derogatory remarks is most certainly NOT OK in my book, as it equates ladyparts with ickiness and that is fucked.

But! Is “don’t vote for a pussy just because she has a pussy” the best Hillary slogan EVER, kind of, or what? Let’s pretend that it’s a very complex slogan that is simultaneously very much anti using “pussy” as a derogative term while playing on its common pejorative use among douche bags (and I’ve talked about how it’s OK for feminists to use “douche bag” as an insult before, so no need to go into that again – basically it’s because douching is for douches), OK?

 

 
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