Maria Niles

Excellent! When I find someone to gay marry I'll call you. - Detective Sandy Vagina

I got ordained so I could officiate a friend's wedding and have done two now. Definitely let me know when you're ready to get gay married :) - Maria Niles

On a daily basis as a straight person... * I am never asked to speak for everyone who is heterosexual. -I edited this list down from the original to give a sampling, the full list can be found, Unpacking the Knapsack II, Sexual Orientation. - Maria Niles

“I had a black student who heard racist remarks being made in her quad,” said Gina Kozlowski, another Ohio State hall director. “She said she didn’t want it being made into a spectacle, and she didn’t want to be the person who had to educate her roommates about race.” - Maria Niles

“If you’re surrounded by whites, you have something to prove,” said Mr. Boakye, now a rising senior who was born in Ghana. “You’re pushed to do better, to challenge the stereotype that black people are not that smart.” <-- yep. and that shit is STRESS. FUL. - tiffany

Yep. We are supposed to be all yay, minds are opening but ignore the fact that the mind changing depends on the "other" (black, woman, gay) to do the educating and it's a lot to ask of a person to play that role. See my next two delicious links for variations on the theme. Why is the emphasis on non-privileged, discriminated against people proving that they are "worthy" and "acceptable" rather than on breaking down privilege? - Maria Niles

Q: Now that Judge Sotomayor has been nominated, how do you feel about that? JUSTICE GINSBURG: I feel great that I don’t have to be the lone woman around this place. Q: What has that been like? JUSTICE GINSBURG: It’s almost like being back in law school in 1956, when there were 9 of us in a class of over 500, so that meant most sections had just 2 women, and you felt that every eye was on you. Every time you went to answer a question, you were answering for your entire sex. It may not have been true, but certainly you felt that way. You were different and the object of curiosity. - Maria Niles

In Oakland, where backyard menageries and D.I.Y. charcuterie are the new garage band, the term “urban homesteading” doesn’t need an explanation. “It fits into the Oakland sort of self-defined vibe or aesthetic of doing things from scratch and being kind of hard-core,” ... Fernald said she believed that her generation and the one following were interested in food activism and urban homesteading because they felt that it, unlike politics, was one area in which they can effect change. - Maria Niles