I taught you how to fly, what more could there be?

So tonight I'm hanging out in my bedroom, watching ridiculous British television programmes, and surfing the internet and I happen upon this secret on postsecret.com. It's really upsetting me. I mean, this is exactly what I'm talking about. I want to find the woman who sent in this secret and tell her she is beautiful and it doesn't matter how much she weighs as long as she has confidence in herself. People will look at you, will want you, as long as you love yourself. That's the trick of it isn't it?

You all know how I feel about the fat girl hate. It comes at us from outside and it comes from inside of us too. And we need to get over it! We need to take back our bodies and learn how to love ourselves. We needn't hide ourselves and feel ashamed of what we look like. So here's what I propose to everyone out there reading this: Go home tonight and look at yourself in the mirror and force yourself to see everything that's beautiful about you. Whether you love your hair, think you have beautiful eyes, are really just wild about a freckle under your right nostril, can't stop looking at your own mouth, or whatever you find lovely just look at it and say it, say out loud, "I love _____ about myself. It is beautiful. I am beautiful because I have an awesome _____." Do it every day. Find something new and wonderful about yourself because I promise you there is always something new and wonderful. Learn to love the way you are, just exactly the way you are.

-The Dormouse

Immediately, without opening her eyes, Wendy began to sing...

The last few days have been filled with music. A friend of mine has been offering me new bands, new songs, and something to save me from the sad indie music I've been surrounding myself with for the past few months. A lot of pop punk, some of it much more punk than pop and some more pop than punk, and the kind of music where you can shut the door and dance around in your underwear. (Not that I do that...okay, sometimes I do.) I can lose myself in new music and it doesn't hurt as much that I've been betrayed by another lover.

Not that I'm hurting, I don't think I cared enough about him to let him hurt me, but I am angry. I'm angry that I gave him the permission to treat me badly, that I sacrificed in some tiny way my self-respect in exchange for a good kisser who was a bad fuck, that I allowed him to call me a slut, tell his friends that I'm easy, and laugh at me behind my back. I let him behave towards me as though I am not even human and I gave him trust he didn't deserve. So I'm angry with myself and I'm angry with him. But now I have all this glorious music to dance to and to cry to and perhaps when a new lover comes along I'll have new music to make love to. I take pleasure in the simple things life has to offer me because in the end it's the simple things that you're left with. If you need me tonight I'll be dancing to The Wonder Years and trying to let go of all the heat of anger that built up inside me.

-The Dormouse

"Why, she is only a girl!" "That, is why we are her servants."

Because yes, I have sex. And yes, I do believe Planned Parenthood is important. There's so much more to it than just giving out free condoms and abortions (not for free of course, those cost a lot of money and aren't even covered by the government funding). Planned Parenthood is about providing America's youth, women, men, human beings, with information about STDs, free STD testing, information about pregnancy, prenatal care, free mammograms, and a whole bunch of other really important stuff. The recent attacks on Planned Parenthood are attacks on the idea that all people, including the underprivileged, the youth, women, etc., deserve to have access to information and health care. It's important that everyone know how important Planned Parenthood is and that we do all we can to try and save it. Get that message out there. Do whatever you can to save Planned Parenthood. Goddess knows they've saved my life more than a few times and if they haven't saved yours then you probably know someone whose they have.

-The Dormouse