February 22, 2003
we did it!

121 women in yachats, oregon taking off our clothes and spelling out SOS with our bodies. bush to bush to bush. get it? hahahahahaahaha

what an incredibly exhilirating day. i got to meet women from eugene that i'd never met, women from yachats and corvallis. we were 3-73, of all different sizes and backgrounds. we were women who formed a bond today.

we were also women who have decided that this must happen in eugene. and guess who is the lead organizer? i'm going to start working on it tommorrow. we hope to do it before i leave for greece.

i am so excited. the town of yachats is officially 650 strong. and we were nearly 1/4 of that population. we joined women from austrailia and marin co, california, new york and montana. and now oregon. and hopefully soon oregon again, and with even more women.

i am so glad i went, i was up till 3.00am last night playing with this mac of mine. this war doesn't feel so out of my control. the more i do in the peace movement the more i feel in control, the more i feel like maybe we can actually stop this. wouldn't it be incredible if we did? and i can say to my future child "mom was a part of it." and i can say to myself "i made a difference." and even if we do go to war i will know that i have done everything in my power to stop it, that i didn't sit by and let others do it, that i yelled and stood and got naked.

oh, yeah. ps. when the picture comes out, i'll be posting it here -- of course.

Posted by brooke at 10.00.42 PM

February 21, 2003
catching up on the personal.

i've not posted personal here in a long time. its not that my personal is on hold, its just that its taking a back seat to the political these days.

today as i was leaving my dr's office i met a woman who is looking for her spiritual path. she says she has found it with the jehovah's witnesses. of course that put me on edge, the christian thing and that whole converting thing, but as we talked more and as we shared with each other our beliefs we came to understand that we are a lot more alike than not. she's not gone to church yet because she wants to do more studying, i told her she should. i've a neighbor that is a witness and she gets so much out of it. i told her i was a unitarian universalist. by the end of our discussion we had exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and i am going to go to church with her and she with me. for both of us entering the other space is huge, but i think it will be a good experience.

what else? i'm going to an action tommorrow in yachats (pronounced yah-haa-ts). there is a peace rally there and then this event will peel off of it. i can't say what it is until afterwards, but lets just say i'm really excited about it.

and tommorrow night i'm going to my very first oregon women's basketball game! thanks to randy :) i've been wanting to go to one for a really long time. the team is struggling this year, but thats okay. i don't care. they rock, and bev smith, their head coach, is SUCH the babe. i've never seen her in person, i can't wait ;-)

finally, on sunday i turn 30. my stepsisters are coming down and we're going to go to dinner, and then afterwards we're gonna head to r's house where a small gathering of friends are getting together. i'm looking forward to seeing a and a and seeing my friends. i'm very lucky.

i think thats it for now. pretty bland in brooke-land.

Posted by brooke at 06.06.11 PM

February 20, 2003
mac anonymous

hi, my name is brooke and i am now a macintosh owner.

its r's fault, he said "you are lusting after *my* ibook, go get your own! just do it!" so, i did it. and no, no dvd player or cd-rw, i couldn't afford anymore. but i've got an external cd-rw that will work with this. its the cheapest ibook they had at the store.

but the point is, its an ibook, and i no longer have to be jealous of patti, r, or my ma.

now, how do i open the cd drive? hahahahahahahaha

5 hours later
it doesn't like my external rw. apple has a driver to support it, iomega doesn't, but for an older version of os x and this version won't have any part of it. *but* it absolutely adores my digital camera, which is great. if i network the xp machine and this machine together can i transfer data over to the xp so that i can burn cd's? it seems as if both machines should be evolved enough to do this. i'm a network dummy, so i don't know. i know i saw something about letting windows log on to this thing.

this was definetly a spur of the moment thing. they had a machine that has everything i want on it for 100.00 more, but they didn't have it there in the shop. i knew if i didn't walk out with this today it simply wasn't going to happen.

WELL FUCK. i had found my roxio software earlier, i thought i put it back in its place, but its not there, i wanted to check if it had any mac friendly software on it, or in my computer box. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. thats a 100.00 piece of software, and who knows where it is now. i should go to sleep. it'll turn up, i just hope its not somewhere where i can step on it. DAMMIT.

okay, i should go to sleep.

and later than that.
found the roxio disc, and the disc for the iomega cd-rw. i've got toaster installed on the os 9.2, but it can't find the rw, but os x has found the rw as its sitting on my desktop w/ its label and "CDRW" on the icon.

this is fun. okay, thats a lie. i've totally lost it. and i've got a drs. appt early, in about 8 hours.

i'm really going to bed now.

Posted by brooke at 07.34.24 PM

February 19, 2003
virtual march on washington

actors promote virtual protest march

< snippet >
Farrell and Robert Greenwald, co-founders of Artists United to Win without War, said at a Los Angeles news conference that the "million modem march" will expound on last weekend's massive peace marches, which brought millions of people into the streets worldwide in opposition to a possible war against Iraq.

"The plan is to overwhelm Washington on February 26," said Greenwald, a director known for the films "Xanadu" and "The Burning Bed." "We have been clear and we have been consistent. We are not experts, we are citizens in a democracy and we are using our patriotic rights and our ability to get the attention of the media."

< /snippet >

Posted by brooke at 09.36.17 PM

on another front.

i just got this in my email box, and as i write this i am on the phone waiting to talk to the whitehouse:

Subject: Protect Women's Health
Even if you don't care about women's health, consider what this guy -- and others of like mind -- could do to the state of general health practices in the U.S. President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter has lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members.

This position does not require Congressional approval. The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination.

Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream
and are a setback for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing
OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared
for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts
of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. In the
book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body,"
he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek
help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.

Hager's Mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and
early form of medical abortion. Hager recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a citizen's petition "which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of women's health." Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome.

Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effective drugs for reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy. For some women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition.

We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to
preserve and promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious
beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and
inappropriate candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug
public policy and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics.

Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S
RIGHTS.

2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.

Please email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov or call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414 and say, "I oppose the appointment
of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.

(add a sentence or two of your own. There is some material in this
email)

i just finished my call and the woman that i spoke too had no idea about mifepristone. i told her my story about not being able to get ahold of this drug to try on my unresponsive to any medication depression because it is the abortion drug and that is because of bush and the right wing. i told her i was calling because of people like dr. hager someone like me continues to suffer. she was unexpectedly sympathetic.

Posted by brooke at 10.57.49 AM

February 18, 2003
faces of evil

baghdad snapshot action.. on february 13th activists in NYC postered the city with pictures from baghdad. scroll down and you'll see the pictures that they posted, you'll see the faces of evil. there are .pdf files there so you can pepper your own town with them. i'll be doing that. thanks brooke for that link!

later: i went and made copies of 4 of the pictures, wrote "FACES OF IRAQ" on the bottom and had the guts to put up just 6 of them in eugene and springfield. i'll go out again and put more up. i've got to make my entry and exit a lot more smooth. i'll admit that the idea of possibly being arrested for it scares me. but it has to be done.

Posted by brooke at 06.26.23 PM

ramblings.

so, my plane ticket from athens to mytilini is on its way. and i've just paid for 2 nights at andreas apartments in skala eressos. i'm going to borrow a 35mm camera from randy, i bought 48 batteries yesterday for 10.00--- maxell-- they were on sale at circuit city. its not going to be a problem for me to go into turkey, or to get a hotel once i arrive in mytilini. once i get there i'll also make my arrangments for housing in athens. i am dreaming about arriving in heathrow and getting to europe every night.

my birthday is going to be low key. friends gathering at r's house on sunday evening. and maybe my stepsisters too.

i've been spending money like its going out of style. i do not like this. its all for my trip.

anyhow. here are words for today:

"When we react out of fear and hatred, we do not yet have a deep understanding of the situation. Our action wil only be a very quick and superficial way of responding to the situation and not much true benefit and healing will occur. Yet if we wait and follow the process of calming anger, looking deeply into the situation, and listening with great will to understand the roots of suffering that are the cause of the violent actions, only then will we have sufficient insight to respond in such a way that healing and reconciliation can be relized for everyone involved." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Posted by brooke at 12.34.17 PM

February 17, 2003
thus sayeth evil.

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a facist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be bought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." ~Herman Goering, Hitlers #2 Man

Posted by brooke at 10.21.50 PM

February 16, 2003
pictures up.

its taken me all day, but i've finally gotten my pictures up from the eugene peace rally. you can find them here.

Posted by brooke at 08.50.06 PM

morning press.

heard on this week w/ george s

the protests around the world: this is a democracy and we can speak up, but in the end it doesn't really matter.

and no, it wasn't cookie roberts.

Posted by brooke at 09.16.18 AM