Ariela Haro von Mogel August 19th, 2008
Okay, I have a bone to pick right now. Last weekend, I made the mistake of watching Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Well, not really a mistake. I did enjoy most of it. The movie played on a lot of stereotypes and the scenes with Doogie Howser were pretty funny. But, if there’s one thing I can’t stand is when a movie shows partial or total female nudity and only shows an ugly guy naked or totally hides some essential schlong shots from you. God, it makes me sick!! Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel June 25th, 2008
If there’s one phrase I can’t stand and find completely odious is “everything happens for a reason.” What exactly does this mean? I have thought about this long and hard, and have completely offended close friends and family members with my less than objective perspective on it.
Some pretty horrible things happened to me as a teenager and, in turn, I did some horrible things to myself. Whenever I would turn to my mother and ask her for help in understanding the world, she would say “everything happens for a reason.” Now, my mom is a devout Catholic who has attended church every single Sunday of her life, but she is still pretty liberal and open to reason and debate. When I asked her what that phrase means, she made a very nebulous comment that god doesn’t give us “tests” that we can’t handle and horrible things happen to make us better people. This made no sense to me at the time and makes no sense to me now. Why do some people get b.s. heaped on them like no other, and many other people go though life relatively unscathed? And the people who have had the most heaped onto them generally do not become fantastic people, but withdrawn, depressed and defeated individuals. There are a few great exceptions to this. Ayaan Hirsi Ali became a terrific social advocate because of nasty experiences with her religion and society. But Hirsi Ali is a truly exceptional case and most people are not like her.
Bottom line: There needs to be evil in order for good to come out of it. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel June 15th, 2008
It is often argued that interracial romantic relationships are considered taboo in a lot of sectors of society, and that it is better to go out with someone of your own race in order to keep it safe. I would highly disagree. Interracial dating is a lot more complicated than that. My fiance is an American of European heritage and I am an American of Mexican heritage. We are technically an interracial couple, except, I am white-looking, so we are considered acceptable as a couple pretty much anywhere we go. If I was an American of Mexican heritage that looked Mexican, we would be classified as an interracial couple and deemed unacceptable in most circles. I am of course, speaking for society in very general terms. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel June 12th, 2008
When I was in third grade, I thought the first man on the moon was Louis Armstrong, a rotund-cheeked black man. This didn’t seem odd to me in the least. It wasn’t only until later on in my youth that I saw a picture of Neil Armstrong and clearly saw that he was a white man. Oops. Inconsequential, I thought. When I shared this knowledge with my peers, they all laughed at me and stared in wild bemusement as to how, exactly, did I ever think the first American on the moon was a black man? Dunno. Innocence, I guess. Aaahh, I miss those days when possibilities seemed endless and the first person on the moon being black did not seem weird… I just wanted to share that thought!
Ariela Haro von Mogel May 29th, 2008
For about 20 percent of my life, I suffered from anorexia and binge eating. I went for days eating like a bird, and then I would eventually scarf down a voluminous amount of food in one sitting. This, of course, caused me an incredible amount of pain. I would usually crouch in a fetal position, holding my faux-pregnant belly, yowling in pain. This was my own private pain. Only once was I caught. My mother found me on the floor when she came home from work early one day, and it caught me off guard. She was very worried and asked what was wrong with me. I told her that I just had an extremely bad stomach pain. She told me that stomach pain that extreme is not normal, so she called a doctor and made an appointment. The next day, I went to the doctor with my mom. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel May 7th, 2008
So several years ago while in college, one of my Sociology professors raved about a charity called Co-op America. Co-op America is a social justice and environmental organization. They even have their own version of the Yellow Pages called the “Green Pages” for environmental and socially responsible businesses and services. So about two years ago, I decided to donate $20 to them. This seemed to be on one of my whims. Initially, I was quite pleased with the results. I got their Green Pages and a lot of information about microloans - which I was very interested in investing money into. Continue Reading »
kjhvm April 29th, 2008
Yesterday morning, Ariela and I were up at the crack of, no, actually we were up before dawn, racing down to WORT 89.9 fm in downtown Madison for a show of Other Voices. From 5-8 AM Ariela was playing some classical music performed by and/or conducted by women. This was, after all, a show intended to highlight the contributions of women to classical music.
You can listen to the show online here at this link, but it is not available to be downloaded as an mp3. (This will be available from now through May 4th 2008 - on May 5th next week’s show will record over it)
For the first hour and forty-five minutes, Ariela went solo, playing music performed by women, and its good stuff if you want to listen to it. At the 105 minute mark (you can skip ahead if you want to), Ariela cut the music that was playing to introduce the next topic: Holst’s The Planets, and some of its influence on science fiction film music. Let me tell you a little about its genesis, and what happened off the air during the show. Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel March 13th, 2008
I’m getting married this year, and as such, a bunch of traditional bull plop is being heaped onto my lap like someone’s mangy dog. I know I’m being vitriolic - that’s the fun of being a feminist!
First, it was the White Dress. Yes, the sacrosanct virginal dress. I have never wanted a white wedding dress. It has always seemed boring to me (as a penguinal tux is boring to me also). Since I was an adolescent, my favorite color has been dark turquoise. I absolutely adore this color. So naturally, I want a dark turquoise wedding dress. When my Mom heard about it, she tried to bribe me into getting a white dress with some turquoise on it. She said to me, in a sing-song voice “I’ll pay for it!” To this I responded, “Mom, you are going to pay for my dress anyways!” Then sadly she said, “Oh yes, you have a point.” Continue Reading »
Ariela Haro von Mogel March 7th, 2008
I have always thought that if someone is going to say something racist, sexist, homophobic, what have you, it should at least be funny. If there’s one thing I can’t stand is someone telling a racist and/or sexist joke and it not being funny. I figure that if you’re going to say something that makes you look really stupid, then you could at least make someone chuckle. I speak from experience on this. I had to deal for years with my dad and brother making the most ignorant and unfunny jokes ever. Like “Why are women’s feet smaller than men’s feet?” “So they can reach the sink easier when they wash the dishes!” Ba-da-boom. Definitely. Not. Funny.
So when there’s something out there that is pretty questionable, but makes me laugh out loud, then they win in my book. The show The Office is a great example of this. Michael Scott, who plays an ignominious boss, is at least hilarious with his outbursts. He is sooo inapproriate that it is funny. I have recently found a blog on the internet called Stuff White People Like. (Via The Uncredible Hallq) I keep laughing to myself thinking “God, I fall into waaay too many of these categories” and “that is so true.” I think it’s interesting that Stuff White People Like is all about making fun of liberal, middle-to-upper class, educated yuppie/hippie types. Yet, the blog isn’t called Stuff Educated White People Like. I guess it just sounds funnier to say Stuff White People Like. Though, the author of this blog does make it clear that there are the right kind of white people and the wrong kind of white people. So I guess that answered my question!
Ariela Haro von Mogel January 11th, 2008
I just moved from Davis, California to Madison, Wisconsin, and as such, what I can and cannot recycle has changed. I’m talking about plastic recyclables. I’ve never had any problem with glass, paper, or metal recyclables anywhere. So I immediately looked up online what can be recycled in Madison. I was shocked to find out the city of Madison, and all the different environmental organizations/waste disposal centers only accept #1 and #2 plastics, as well as #5 plastics in the form of dairy tubs in select locations. There is no acceptance of #3 through #7 plastics. They must be disposed of and therefore end up in a landfill and/or be incinerated. Continue Reading »