April was not the cruelest month, not at all.

Things that are dumb:
1. Reusing Cardboard Postal Boxes Illegal
2. Shell President: Produce More Gas in U.S. to Cut Oil Prices
3. Smith College Students Drown Out Anti-Gay Speaker

I feel compelled to comment only on the last item, which turns my stomach. The lecturer was accomplishing nothing but spewing hate speech, which is obviously despicable, but the day that our side starts suppressing dissident voices is the day I want out. I can even commiserate with the argument that Smith is one of few truly safe spaces for queer youth in this country -- I have been realizing recently how much I have internalized the instinct to censor myself for fear of harm or simple, debilitating disdain from people I respect. But holding rally that did not drive out the speaker could have created the same assurance of safety, of community, of support, without compromising the value of an open society. Let's do better.

Things that are at least kind of awesome:
1. Ecuador to Legislate Good Sex for Women as Inalienable Right
2. This lady's artwork
3. Combing the internet for old, forgotten livejournals of acquaintances. It's priceless, really.

My economic stimulus check should cover the damage I did to my car in a fender bender almost precisely. Too bad my darling Honda is Japanese made. Poor planning, U.S. government, that money is not staying here to stimulate the market even a little bit, but at least it is not going to China? Many factors in my life are conspiring to give me mono. I should just give in to the inevitability of the disease*, as it would give me a convenient excuse to drop a miserable class. So far I have been very good about abstaining from pleasant things like sharing ice cream cones and making out, but neither of those is a sustainable abstention.

I watched a video of a bear cub falling asleep today and got so sad and hopeful all at once, there was nowhere to go but to bed for a nap.


*It is a disease. Not an illness or a bug or whatever. That shit is a strain of herpes and it never leaves your body once it enters, like a bad memory of a stupid thing you once did, it just sits and incubates and flares up at inopportune moments to make you hate living in your own skin.

April was overall not that bad, despite that cryptic and horrible footnote. I only wish that my life was a little busier, and that my friends communicated better, but spring continues and I am open to life being good.