women being in positions of power is not feminism – even if they got there on the back of feminists, and even if they appropriate the term “feminist”.

feminism is, at it’s heart, about ensuring equality for *all women*. there are two fundamental principles which must be central to embedding equal opportunity for all: the ability to control one’s body, and protection from discrimination on the basis of sex. feminists may debate many other factors and values around oppression and inequality, but without those two core rights, feminism as a movement, essentially has no meaning.

so you can be a powerful woman, and you can be independent, driven, educated, successful, capable, and equal to any man… but unless you act in ways which advance, at a minimum, those two fundamentals, you are not a feminist, no matter what you choose to call yourself.

to paraphrase jessica valenti: i can call myself an astronaut – that doesn’t make it true.

i enjoy the challenge of distillation. when it all boils down to just a few words, what *really* mattered this year?

here, then, the essence of my 2009.

new president, new home, new job, new family members. physiology frustrated, marathon scuppered. running to stand still, but plans afoot for the coming year!

the new year – death cab for cutie

Download audio file (01-The-New-Year.mp3)

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but in the meantime: it’s banned books week. fight censorship – check out the ala’s list of most frequently challenged and banned books. then donate here on behalf of free speech.

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an incredible sunny warm summer evening.  husband on the barbeque.  wimbledon on the television. and this view at the end of the couch.

you’d be too lazy to blog too.

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however, if i begin to lose my glasses every 30 seconds, or start collecting endless piles of tupperware, someone please take me out behind the shed and shoot me.

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i did, in fact, slip on a banana peel.

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life has meaning once again.

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got all the morocco pics up here – have a gander.

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in the meantime, here’s a meme:

What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Yoga! it became my addiction this year. Much to J’s dismay as I commandeered the lounge every day for an hour.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hellz no. I leave things behind in the year past and look forward to the year to come. Anything else is a waste of time.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Amity had a lovely wee lad.

Did anyone close to you die?
Thank god, no. Please not this year either.

What places did you visit?
Vancouver, Istanbul, Boston/Cape, and Morocco.  Not enough!

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More time with friends and family.

What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?
23 january – the day i took my citizenship oath.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Meeting my fundraising goal for UNICEF. I’m such a weenie about asking for money that really didn’t think I’d make it, and I was so very pleased when I did.

What was your biggest failure?
Failing to read more than a book a month. That’s pretty pathetic.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
my first trip ever to the emergency room. i thought i was dying. it was not fun.

What was the best thing you bought?
J’s birthday guitar. It’s pretty damn cool.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
J’s – for putting up with my shit, day in, day out. The boy deserves a medal.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Bush, of course. But honorable mention goes to fucking Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Every time I turned around she was forcing more patent lies down the public throat, and proposing even further civil liberties infringements. Ugh.

Where did most of your money go?
That’s a mighty good question. Where *did* most of my money go?

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The election of Obama. It still gets me all verklempt to think about the historic nature of his victory. There was much jumping about and screaming and crying.

What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?
time to pretend – mgmt. it was first song on my running playlist and never failed to get me going. which is good because i spent a lot of time running.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier
Thinner or fatter? I decline to answer
Richer or poorer? Richer in experience, about the same in money.

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travel. And sex. More sex is always good.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Agonising about my shitty old job. I should have jumped ship long before I finally did.

What was the best book you read?
half of a yellow sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. love stories interwoven with nigeria’s civil war. incredibly well written and thoroughly engrossing.

What did you want and get?
a new hard drive! j’s birthday present to me.

What did you want and not get?
a tan. really – this summer was sucktacular.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
is it crass to say money?

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
“homage to jeans.” now that i can wear jeans to work, it’s damn hard to get me out of them.

What kept you sane?
Sanity is overrated.

What political issue stirred you the most?
the shameful media treatment of hillary clinton. i didn’t even see most of it, yet what i saw was truly repulsive.

Who did you miss?
all the usual suspects back home.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Change is good.

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get the fuck to work, you lazy union bastards.*

*please note for the record, i’m not anti-union, i’m anti-rmt union, the most useless coalition of workers ever to wear the union label.

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that is all.

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connecticut supreme court legalises same sex marriages

The ruling makes Connecticut the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to decide its constitution mandates treating citizens equally when applying for marriage licenses, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice,” the ruling said.

“To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry.”

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