Kellylark's Open Salon Blog

Pink Glove Dance

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:11:32 -0500

Sometimes Ro hits it out of the park.

Sorry I cannot imbed the video, but go here for a powerful statement about breast cancer awareness. Any woman who has had a mammogram, biopsy, or surgery will recognize these powerful but uplifting scenes. I was at my clinic today and they all care this much.

PS Scroll a bit down if you come in later, Ro may have updated and it may be lower in the view.

PPS be patient - the site takes a few second to come down.

What's next?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:11:33 -0500

Every time I open a "new tab" in IE8, I get this screen:

It haunts me to no end. As if I know, dang it!

Mental Illness, Compassion, and Rights

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:11:08 -0500

Kate Bishop posted "Do the Mentally Ill Have Right to Expect Compassion? " and I have three problems with this post that I can't leave unsaid.The first is that she closed comments leaving me no place to react to her post and hypotheses. The second is that she alluded to other posters here on OS without naming names, which might be fine except that I know who she was speaking of. The third is the entire premise of the question, which again, I was not able to comment on.

From Kate’s own posts, we can know that she has suffered and in part triumphed over mental illness brought on by truly horrific circumstances. I, for one, would never claim to be able to understand what she’s been through; the work she’s put in to overcome; and the extreme difficulties her life has presented.

But her rant today was off-putting to me. Do the mentally ill have the right to expect compassion? Is that the right question? For me, the question is, do the mentally ill deserve, or warrant, our compassion?

Of course they do. Just as the physically ill and disabled do.

But Kate’s real point, it seems to me, was do the mentally ill people who post on Open Salon and occasionally let their illness take over and mash up the place expect us to forgive and forget and move on? She wasn’t speaking of our depressive members like Chuck or our PTSD members like Hugh Langley. She had targets in mind when she wrote this post. Her REAL point was she’d been dusted-up and/or hurt by some of our more prolific and visible bi-polar personalities, namely Teddy and Redstockingrandma.

I’ve been struck by the number of bi-polar people who write here. Like all people, they come in many different personalities. I have learned much about the illness from our bi-polar writers. Most remain calm and do not go off on us, their readers. Teddy and Red are different.

Do these people deserve our compassion? I have seen others claim that giving it enables them. And I disagree.

I venture into Teddy’s blog to read it because she is a great writer. Funny, entertaining, endlessly interesting and totally human. I knew I took my chances when I commented, and occasionally I said the wrong thing and heard about it, but I understood that I was taking that chance. I could have chosen to stay out, but I knew it made her feel better so I tried because I appreciated her efforts as a writer and as a mentally ill person who was trying so hard to live in difficult circumstances.. Same thing with red- mary jane- mary wollenscraft etc. Red has good ideas and she expresses them well. But she can cut you like a knife when crossed. Both are endlessly honest about their illness. That does NOT mean they think they have a right to your compassion. It simply means that you have to accept them as they are and then choose for yourself whether or not to engage.

So choose to stay away from them if you will. But do not choose to engage and show no compassion for anyone whose shoes you must all thank the heavens you will never to walk in. Even if you are like Kate and have been there, maybe.

I’m sad that Teddy left; I enjoyed her stories immensely. I am glad that Red came back as her original self, even if she has pissed me off 2 times in 2 days. I appreciate every last thing I learn from all of our "mentally-disabled” posters.

I fully believe that there is a fine line between madness and genius, and we see it here on OS on a daily basis.

Comments are open.

Everyone Is Trying to Write a Book

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 01:10:29 -0400

I hate to be cynical but ....It seems like ever since Julia and Julia (or whatever) the movie came out, there are tons of new blogs around here in the same sort of vein. "Write a witty blog and get a book deal". I read a lot of new posts by new bloggers. That's part of how I entertain myself here. These are the clues I take to decide if we have another "blogger-to-book" wannabe:

1. 3, 6, or 9 new posts with diminishing numbers of comments because the author never responds to comments

2. 3, 6, or 9 new posts without a single comment on other blogs

3. "Trendy" topics with very illiterate writing

I’m not saying they are all worthless, but I AM saying “Take heed”. Despite our editor’s claims to the contrary, this IS a community, and if you do not participate, you will (and deserve to) die on the vine.

I’m just saying. Carry on.

Kelly

Long-time participant in the community, even if I don’t write much.

"They use aborted fetus' to make artificial colors"

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 23:09:14 -0400

I'd thought I'd heard them all until I just heard this one. It's 100% true.

I think it bears upon more topical subjects because it vividly demonstrates how far ignorance and fundamentalism can take people. To me, it also bears upon the people like Michelle Bernard, who will fabricate outright lies like the heinous ones exposed for us on 1irritated mothers blog today (sorry the link works but I can't make it pretty) about healthcare reform killing American women suffering from breast cancer http://open.salon.com/blog/1_irritated_mother/2009/09/02/dear_joan_-_a_question_on_msnbc_analyst_accountability"> .

My friend was having a conversation with her elderly mother about nutritional values of food, and Mom was reading the label ingredients to her over the phone. She got to "no artificial colors" and claimed "that's the most important". Why Mom? "Because they make artificial colors from aborted fetus'"

My friend was flabbergasted and asked her where she'd heard that. "From Madeline, and she's worked in a hospital for years".

Flabbergasted friend went into an entire litany of reasons why that could not possibly be true, but Mom refused to budge. Mom has become increasingly rabidly anti-choice of late, and I asked my friend if perhaps it was some bit of dementia. Friend does not see any signs of that in any other part of her life though.

Friend's Mom attends Mass every day. Her circle of friends is drawn from there. Draw your own conclusions. We did - and friend is a good pro-choice, pro-gay rights, mass-attending, practicing Catholic. (Kinda like Teddy but she and Mom are in Texas.)

I dunno folks, if there are people out there who believe that the US government would allow food companies to make artificial food colors from aborted fetus', is it at all surprising they can be convinced that healthcare reform will kill more senior citizens and women than those who suffer and die today without healthcare?

I honestly do not know how to combat the level of ignorance in the general population that allows conservatives to use fear and lies and intimidation to get their way.

I also do not know how to combat the lying, cheating, stealing, and general lack of morality of the people that drove our economy into collapse, and now profit first from the merest hint of a recovery while the rest of us poor assholes still suffer mightily from their greed and corruption.

I just don't know what to do anymore, and moving to a different country or an island seems like the only way out of the morass.

I'd almost managed to ignore it all until it came home tonight when my friend told me her mother believes that they make artificial food coloring from aborted fetus'. No joke.