Laurissa writes a femminist blog post!? (No, more like humanist)

This is for the skinny women who are tired of being told that "real women have curves" and constantly being reprimanded for not eating enough simply because their metabolism is rather fast. I know you can struggle with looking in the mirror and accepting what you see just as much as the next person. I know you have fallen pray to the bitter anger of jealousy. I feel for you. I imagine too that perhaps you are tired of the compliments on your looks and wish to be appreciated for what you carry in your mind, heart, and soul because I myself have felt that way and I don't even get that many compliments on my appearance.

HOWEVER, this is also for all the fuller bodied women because I want to show you that love for one person or group of people does not have to come at the expense of another. I know what the self hatred is like and the endless useless effort to change it all. I know that it can be harder to fall in love or get a job. Just the other day I heard my boss say that he needs cashiers but they have to be hot. I am not a cashier and the other girl who works in the same department as me has a similar body shape to minw while the cashier is much more thin. Were we all given our positions based on some ridiculous whim of my boss?  So it is truly possible that you are missing out on things because of your body type not to mention the name calling and persecution. It makes me sad.

We all need to learn how to accept ourselves and each other.

This is even for the man who is made fun of for being scrawny or fat, but it is also for the muscular man who is only appreciate for his body and expected to be a certain way.

This is for all people.

This is for the man who cries and is thought to be a sissy and the man who never cries and is thought to be too tough.

This is for the man ridiculed because he would rather cook, clean, and take care of his kids than fight with the numbers in their budget book and the woman ridiculed because cooking, cleaning, and childcare seem to her the most painful of monotonies.

It is for the woman who cannot walk home alone at night simply because of the gender she was born with and for the woman with a black belt in karate who walks without fear but gets criticized for trying to do things that are typically male.

This is for the woman who is persecuted in a job full of men and perhaps paid less too, but also for the woman who is looked down upon as someone not fighting for the cause simply because she WANTS to work in a more traditionally female role.

This is for the mother who wants to be respected for staying at home and the one who wants to be respected for having a career.

This is for all of us.

Fight for your cause, but not at the expense of someone else's struggle. We will only win if we work together.

Sympathy for the Hipster (What Hipsters Show About Humanity)

I saw a funny video one time that said that the one thing that we can all agree with whether we are gay, straight, black, white, religious, atheist, or none of the above is that we all hate hipsters. Even the hipsters are supposed to hate hipsters because no true hipster admits to being a hipster. I get it guys, I really do. I don't like their attitude like they are so much better than us just because I am not familiar with the band they like. I do not understand their ability to like things ironically. There is a Nerdfighter movement on the interwebs that says hey, let's unashamedly like what we like. That sounds a lot more authentic, real, and genuine than liking something to get status doesn't it? Here is the thing though, I was having a chat with a friend of mine who is basically a hipster and he was frustrated with how much people like certain books, movies, music, and TV shows because he felt that they didn't really like those things but were jumping on band wagons so that they could belong to a group or fan base. There is something wonderful about that sense of community when you all like the same thing. Hipsters may lack that sense of community but they have something else, authenticity. It may seem funny to say this when they are so known for liking things ironically, but I think a big part of why they don't want to admit to just straight up liking something popular is because they are afraid they don't like what it is for what it is, but for its popularity and to belong. They just want to like that weird band that no one has heard of because it makes them feel like they really like it for what it is and not for a community that it lets them be a part of, or a popularity it gives them, and also they seem to believe artists should create their art out of love for their art and not a desire to be popular or make money. Are those not beautiful ideas? The only problem is now liking something obscure gives you a weird sense of credit. Maybe not popularity, but it makes you seem like you are more knowledgeable about art/books/music/movies and that can motivate you more than just what you like. I think this just shows a lot of interesting stuff about what desires motivate humans. The desire for respect, belonging, and enjoyment and how these three things can sometimes conflict. It is just interesting.

Reading the Bible

I'm sitting on the front steps watching the wind dance through the trees. Listening to the leaves joining in. My  own hair tries to dance off my head. It is a beautiful afternoon. My one hand is wrapped around a mug of tea soaking in the warmth on this cold October day. My other hand holds tight to a pen. There is a book laying open on my lap. It is a well read book with wrinkled pages covered in colorful markings. I haven't read it in months. I feel my stomach tighten the way it always does when I read this book because this book reminds me that I am not what I would like to be someday. There is a light I can sometimes see, dim though it often shines in this dark world of mine, and I want to see more of that light in me, but the darkness of the world crowds its way into my heart and I'm growing weary of the endless days of monotonous pain for the way things are and the way they could be. I want to close the book and put it away because it hurts too much, but it stays open. Where is that neighbour's cat when I need a hug? My eyes are on the page although my mind is racing around in circles. Something causes me to pause. "Abide in my love." It sounds simple enough. Cut through the pain and the worry and take it back to what I think it was meant to be all along. But how do I do it? Can I drink it in the way I do the warmth and comfort of a mug of tea. Can I sit inside it like a windy day? Letting the beauty of it all change me. The way I enter the house more thankful and at peace after a long walk in the woods. I still do not understand. But I am not done with this book just yet.

OH THE MYSTERY! (Laurissa Discusses Books #2 - The Hound of The Baskervilles)

I just finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is the first Sherlock Holmes novel I have ever read. I haven't actually read very many mystery books of any sort at all. In fact I think the only mystery novels I have read (not including the children's mystery books that I read growing up) are a couple of the ones by Canadian author Louise Penny which are set in a small Quebec town and future detective Armand Gamache. The mystery for me is why is this such a compelling genre for so many readers and, similarly, why are crime shows like Sherlock, CSI, Bones, and Castle so popular on T.V.? I don't like this genre very much because I read, and watch T.V., for two things. First I read for characters. I want books, T.V., and movies with characters that I can fall in love with and think of as friends. Second, I read for observations about humanity. I want books to remind me that I am not alone in experiencing what I am experiencing and to put the experiences I cannot express into words I can understand. I do not simply read to be entertained and I don't like books, like mysteries, that push me to read faster and faster keeping me from the enjoyable experience of rolling intriguing phrases around in my mind by forcing me to race to the end for answers to the mystery.  So if mystery isn't my thing, why does it appeal to so many other people?

Perhaps one reason is because of the challenge it provides. At the end of The Hound of The Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes says that he had already basically figured out the case before he even left London and that he only left because he needed proof for the courts. Well, the readers were given almost all of the same information as Sherlock, and yet I definitely did not know what was happening until the very end. For some, more ambitious, readers though this possibility of being able to figure things out before they are revealed to you may present itself as an exciting challenge.

I think there must also be a certain attraction to the detectives. I have been told that the character of Sherlock has inspired the creation of T.V. characters like The Mentalist, Dr. Gregory House, and of course tons of adaptations of Sherlock Holmes himself including the currently popular BBC mini series version. What is so appealing to us about a not always nice, but really smart and perceptive man?

I was a little disappointed that the characters in the book were not quite as vibrant as those in the BBC mini series. I find that often, in books that are very plot orientated, the characters can become a little bland. This book definitely did a better job than some, though. It painted a confident, self assured Sherlock Holmes who didn't have much time to consider the needs and wants of those around him and a Watson who was somewhat anxious to gain Sherlock's approval. The duo kind of reminded my of the similar relationship between Iggy and Victoria on the web series spinoff of Frankenstein: Frankenstein M.D. I was also really intrigued by Lord Henry's character with his tendency towards hasty action, but I would have liked to see these and other characters flushed out a little bit more.

But back to why we would be attracted to someone like Sherlock Holmes and mystery detectives in general. Maybe it is as simple as the fact that in a world where so much does not make sense we find very appealing the idea of a man whose comprehension of the world around him is much more fine tuned than ours. In this way it is possible that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel says quite a lot about human nature even without the fancy existential commentary of some less plot driven and more philosophical novels.