But I'm A Cheerleader
Topic: Movie Reviews
It was grossly rainy all last night so I got a chance to sit down and watch a movie finally. It was But I'm A Cheerleader, which is a somewhat surreal film. The plot follows a teenager named Megan, who is also a cheerleader as the title says. Her parents become concerned that she might be a lesbian so they send her to a recovery program called "True Directions." In the program, girls wear pink and boys wear blue, and they learn "appropriate" gender roles. The girls learn cooking, cleaning and childcare, while the boys learn car repair and football. This vignettes of program activities are funny but also disturbing in a subtle way. This is not over the top humor here. Instead, it's bizarrely amusing.

Despite, the surreal filming of True Directions, you do get a feel for the characters and their motivations. You can feel the very real yearning of the characters to fit in with "normal" (hetero) society. When Megan falls for another girl in the program, you share every emotion in their budding romance. As a bonus, the lesbian love scenes are very tastefully done. You can tell how much the characters care about each other.

I don't want to spoil the plot, but I will say that the ending is kind of cheesy. However, it has lots more depth than, for example, Kissing Jessica Stein. In this film, lesbianism is more than just an experiment. It's something for which people take real risks, and their struggles ring very true.

Overall, this was a good movie, especially if you're at all interested in gay/lesbian themes. There is some stereotyping of gay men, but for the most part, this film is sensitively and subtly done. The cheesy ending subtracted some points, but I still recommend it.

A New Cause
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Musings
Last night, I watched Primetime Live because I saw that they were going to be talking about the birth control patch, which I happen to use. When I saw the segment, I was appalled. It was a very sensationalized and misleading "news" story.

Basically, the segment was explaining that the patch can have dangerous (though rare) side effects such as blood clots, heart attack or stroke. These are actually side effects that the patch shares with all hormonal contraceptive methods, pill included. However, the show only pointed that out once and did not repeat it. Instead, they chose to focus almost exclusively on the patch even though they presented no evidence to show that the patch is any more dangerous than other hormonal contraceptives. This is irresponsible journalism. Women who are using the birth control pill might get a false sense of security because they focused almost solely on the patch in the segment. Also, they failed to mention that certain behaviors, such as smoking, increase the risk of these dangerous side effects. This is important information that was not presented because of some strange bias that Primetime has against the patch.

I encourage people to write to Primetime and ask that they correct their story on the air. Making women afraid of hormonal contraceptives to sell a story is just plain dirty. Tell Primtetime that if they're going to present health information, they should do so in a balanced and responsible way. A transcript of the show can be found on Primetime's Website.

Topic: Musings
For my next political magical working, I'm going to cast a spell to make Rhode Island drivers be able to handle 4 way stop signs. It could change the world! ;)

In other news, yoga class last night was a very interesting experience. I rediscovered a part of myself that I had forgotten. Initially, I was feeling sort of tired and didn't really want to go to class. I was going through the poses sluggishly and with no real spirit. Then, after the thick layers of whining to myself, I hit that inner core of steel that's been buried for so long. I made my body do every pose. No excuses. I can't say it looked pretty, but I did it. Now that I've discovered exactly how much I can do when I put my will behind it, I'm hoping I can tap into it whenever I need it.

Often, I'm just there on my mat to get a good workout, but despite my lowered expectations, yoga ends up being a spiritual experience anyway. During class, I kept thinking to myself "Yoga will not kick my ass." Really, I was competing against myself. Who wins? Me.

Twelve Wild Swans by Starhawk and Hilary Valentine
Topic: Book Reviews
First of all, I'm going to be totally honest and say that I've only read the introduction and first chapter of this book. Still, from that small sample, it's already amazing.

So what is this book anyway? you're probably wondering. It's a book that will take you on a pagan initiatory journey. The whole book is centered around the story of the Twelve Wild Swans, which the authors feel is a metaphor for spiritual initiation. Each chapter deals with a part of the story and therefore a part of the initiation. Each chapter is further subdivided into the practical aspects of witchcraft (the elements, etc), inner journeys of self-discovery and things you can do in your community. Definitely a book to be worked through as well as just read. In fact, I'll probably be working through the book with some like-minded women. I can't wait to start.

The writing is vibrant and moving and has validated so much of what I've been feeling lately. For one thing, Starhawk is totally about the marriage of paganism and activism. After my last post, you can see why I appreciate that. Another part that really struck me was when Valentine was speaking about the longing that many of us feel for no apparent reason. She says that in order to start off on our initiatory journey in earnest, we need to keep asking questions until we get an answer, a reason for our longing. Of course, she put it much better than I am here. Simply incredible. Even if the things I've listed don't do anything for you, there's sure to be something in there that will make you say "wow!" and inspire you to new spiritual heights.

Remember, I'm saying this after only reading a little bit! This is definitely one of the best pagan books out there. If you can get your hands on a copy, do so!

Paganism and Politics
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Musings
So the other day, I got pretty worked up about the whole sitation in Iraq... hell, the Middle East in general. I posted to a pagan forum asking people if they knew of any spells or rituals to try to help stop all the violence (or at least curb it a little). I was so surprised by the responses I got which were mostly along the lines of "There's always violence and there will always be violence. That's just the way it is so leave it alone." Argh! So frustrating!

I'm working on a PhD in history so I'm perfectly aware that there's always been violence. Does that mean that we should just sit back and watch it happen? I certainly don't think so. And you'd better believe that other religious groups are praying to whoever they believe in that their side will win. Why shouldn't pagans be praying/doing spellwork for peace?

I think I'm going to at least give magic a try. I'm not expecting to make any sort of impact. After all, violence in the Middle East is a long-term deep-rooted problem. But I sure as hell am not going to sit back and do nothing. At the very least, it will make me feel better to attempt to do something.

No, I don't think magic can solve all problems (when it even works). I am definitely going to be doing things on the mundane level too. For starters, I'm going to VOTE! Hie thee to the polls in November people! I'm also going to look into joining organiations for peace and human rights.

And magic? How can it hurt?