Vegetarian Awareness Month

For those of you who don't pay attention to that kind of thing, it's Vegetarian Awareness Month. And for those of you who aren't either a) Wrimos or b) someone I know in real life, I'm a vegetarian. So I decided to make a post for those of us who skip out on hunting season by including some recipes. Most of them will be links to cooking sites, but I'll also some things I came up with myself.

Farmers' Market Chowder
Apple Sauerkraut Salad
Obazda Cheese Spread
Indian Mixed Grill
Feta Tortilla
Three Sisters Casserole
Vegetable Rice
Curry-kuri Squash Soup

Apple Basil Sandwich

Ingredients:
1 bagel or roll, sliced in half the long way
1/2 your favorite flavor apple (I use Fuji, Johnagold, or Granny Smith), sliced thinly
A mixture of fresh spinach and basil leaves
2 tbs. of Italian dressing
1 1/2 Tbs. cream cheese, vegetable or plain
1 slice of your favorite cheese (if desired)

Instructions:
1. Spread cream cheese on each half of bagel/roll and sprinkle Italian dressing on cream cheese (I've heard that most countries don't use salad dressing like Americans do. If you live in one of those countries, you can substitute balsamic vinaigrette or olive oil with spices)
2. Place one-half of the mixed greens on top of cream cheese and salad dressing. On top of this, add 1 slice of cheese if using.
3. Add 1 half of the apple slices on top of this
4. Add the other half of the mixed greens on top of the apples. On top of this, add the other half of the apple slices.
5. Place other half of bagel/roll on top

Serves 1
suggestion: I personally think avocado or sliced carrots, or both, would go really well with this sandwich, though I've never tried it that way.


My dietary staples:
*Spinach
Good for: smoothies, salads, soups, scrambled in eggs, soufflés
*Pureed pumpkin
Good for: crepes, smoothies, soups, soufflés
*Soybeans
Good for: soups, stir fry, dried and eaten as a snack
*Apples
Good for: juice, smoothies, sandwiches, salads, soups (I've never tried it this way but it sounds great)

Strange but delicious:
1. Apple, cheese, and veggie sandwiches. Apples just taste good with almost anything, but apple and cheese is definitely a winning combination
2. Spinach smoothies. I've been drinking these a lot lately, usually prepared ahead of time and drank the next morning for breakfast. The best combination I've made so far is peach, pineapple, and  spinach, but feel free to experiment. I'm also a big fan of Bolthouse brand Green Goodness smoothies, and pretty much anything else from Bolthouse.
3. Broccoli, soybean, and pineapple stir fry. This is my favorite thing to eat at BD's Mongolian Barbecue, my favorite restaurant (it's a stir fry buffet, you can combine anything you want and they cook it for you while you watch). I vary the ingredients, but broccoli, soybeans, and pineapple are always in there. Some good things to add are peapods, baby corn, bean sprouts, crushed nuts, and noodles. I recommend a sweet and tangy sauce if you decide to make this.

Okay, that's it. Happy Vegetarian Awareness Month!

Coming Out Poem

The day I first came out to someone (Mrs. Avila, you can read about her on the Cast of Characters page), I was so thrilled and relieved that I wrote a poem about it. And now that I'm out to quite literally everyone, I figure it's time I shared it.

Day of Silence is coming
and already I am mute.
For months I have been silent
I have been scared,
desperate, a liar.

I blew my chance with an amazing girl,
Because she didn't know I was bi.
But I promised myself
I would come out to someone
And tonight I've finally found my courage;
I've finally found someone I can trust
My youth minister, the woman who
Has been more like a mother to me
Than my own mom.

I walk up and force out the words,
And she just hugs me and says it's okay
Not that it's a choice
Not that I'm going to hell
Not that I need to be cured.

It's my first time coming out
And I've never been more terrified
Even though I knew she would accept me
Because DNA doesn't make a family,
Love does.
And families stick together no matter what.

So I just wanted to say
No matter how scared you are,
It does get better.
I found my courage and faced my fears
I don't have to be straight to be loved
God made me bisexual
And that is something to be proud of

The Day of Silence is coming up
And I'm speaking out -
Finally, I'm not silent anymore
--------

And yes, I wrote it two days before Day of Silence. I'd promised myself I'd come out to someone,  in solidarity,  and I trust her more than pretty much anyone else in the world. So I told her.

Yet Another Random Poem

An Open Letter to Conservative Christians

Dear Conservative Christians:
Not everyone is like you.
Not everyone identifies as Christian.
And for those that do -
I'm a Christian too
And I know that shaming was never part of Jesus' mission

Dear Conservative Christians:
Love is love
And it's not always between a man and a woman
So why should we have to prove that our love is real?
Why should our sexuality even be any of your business?
Why do you assume it's a choice? It's not.
 I'm so sure of this, I dare you to try it for a year
Because this is what you need to hear:
Shaming was never part of Jesus' mission

Dear Conservative Christians:
What exactly is a man's garment? What exactly is a woman's garment?
Clothing doesn't have genitals.
Does it offend you, to see someone 'changing' their gender?
They're just trying to feel more comfortable in their own skin.
I'm not trying to shock you, just trying to explain
Because your attempts to 'fix' people are only causing them pain
It's shaming, and shaming was never part of Jesus' mission

Dear Conservative Christians:
Yes, privilege exists.
It's simply invisible to you because you benefit from it.
When people's rights and feelings are ignored
Because the truth makes you uncomfortable
That's not okay. You don't need to apologize for who you are
But the fact is, you have so many advantages that others
Will never enjoy. So how about instead of expecting people
To conform to your beliefs and expectations
Be an ally for those who haven't enjoyed your privileges and help improve this nation
Because when you don't, you ignore that shaming, and shaming was never part of Jesus' mission

Dear Conservative Christians:
You may think I sound hypocritical
Like I'm imposing my views on you
But I'm only trying to help humanity rise above
The shaming which must give way to love
And love will always be Jesus' mission

Transgender Teenager Threatened - Please HELP!!

While on Facebook tonight, hanging out in an LGBT group, it was brought to my attention that one of the group members, Angela DeFino (born Cody DeFino) is in danger. Some bullies from her school have been harassing her because of her gender identity.

One of them threw an apple at her head and called her a "fucking faggot ass bitch" and, according to Angela, they've threatened to do worse. She had been considering simply fighting them, but I pointed out why that would be unwise and suggested she tell the press.

At first, many people thought Angela should just tell her school or the police, but the school can't do anything because no teachers saw these boys harassing her and therefore can't punish them. And the school police liasons haven't supported her - she's seen them pointing and laughing.

But the internet is a powerful tool, and I've offered to use it to help her. That's why I'm dedicating this post to her and trying to spread the word. If the police and her school won't help, I will.

Here is a picture of Angela, copied and pasted from her Facebook page. I've asked her for any information we can use against these bullies, but she has yet to reply. Until then, please just spread the word and do anything you can to help.

Because FABULOUS, darling!

Everybody has a favorite fandom, a 'cult favorite' if you will. My literature teacher's, for example, is The Great Gatsby. Which is cool for those of us who like to scream at the characters' ridiculousness, but I found a book that I can relate to so much better, with a main character whom I genuinely admire. Rather typically of me, I suppose, my cult favorite is about a gay kid.

This fabulous book is called Freak Show, by James St. James (the author himself a drag queen). It's relatively obscure but undeniably beautiful, and it's about a seventeen-year-old, fabulously badass "drag queen-in training" named Billy Bloom. Billy's mom kicks him out when she finds him wearing her clothes, forcing him to move in with his macho man dad in a ridiculously redneck, Republican town in the south of Florida. He goes to this school there where apparently NOBODY HAS SEEN A GAY PERSON BEFORE. It's so stupid, the way they all treat him. The way the straight guys, particularly the jocks, react is atrocious of course, but much of their torture isn't anything the average American queer teen hasn't seen before (I'm not saying all cishet male jocks are like this, so don't get your panties in a bunch. But a mysteriously high number of them are. I suspect the homophobic ones have taken a few too many knocks to the head in those tackles of theirs; however, we shan't quibble when there's writing to be done). Except for this one part where Billy gets...ah, how do I put this delicately...beaten up (understatement of the century), they are merely immature cretins who get away with their bullying behavior because no teacher wants to punish the football players. Can't have those Manatees lose the game, now can we?

The girls in the story, except for Billy's amazing fag hag Mary Jane, are vicious. One of them had the nerve to ask Billy, after approximately five seconds of knowing him, if he "eats poo." Really, how juvenile can anyone get? The cheerleaders frequently mob and torment Billy, asking him disgustingly rude and personal questions based on imbecilic stereotypes about gay men. Especially at these scenes, I was honestly sad that I couldn't physically enter Billy's world. I was a little tempted to flirt with those cheerleaders and freak them out, just so they'd shut up. Hey, those of us who ride the rainbow have to stick together.

Thankfully, not every heterosexual in the tale of our bedazzled hero is as despicable. The aforementioned Mary Jane is pretty cool. She's one of exactly two students who is willing to befriend Billy. She lets other people dictate a little too much of her life at first, imho, but her school is brutal and she knows it. Who could blame her? I've been guilty of the same thing at times, so I certainly have no place to judge. Meanwhile, there's Flossie, the Blooms' housekeeper. With Billy's mother out of the picture, Flossie acts as his mother figure and sardonic sidekick, cheering him on and protecting him from behind the scenes. The last somewhat decent cishet character is Billy's dad. At first, Mr. Bloom just seems like a typical Republican father who disapproves of his flamboyantly gay son, but when Billy is hurt, he really comes through for him. Even if he doesn't approve of homosexuality, he puts those feelings aside and supports his son.

The last character to be mentioned here is Flip Kelly. Flip is pretty much the only football player with an actually cool personality. He's the one who rescues Billy when he's attacked and comes to visit him in the hospital every day when he's comatose, which is absolutely adorable and has completely turned me into a Blippy shipper. When Billy gets out of the hospital, they become best friends. It's the sweetest thing ever, darling.

In short, Freak Show is a wonderfully fabulous novel with a fun, brave protagonist who overcomes every obstacle presented to him in style and is a fantastic role model for gay kids everywhere. Oh, darling, you absolutely must read it!

Setting the Record Straight...Sort Of

Last month, I wrote this post, and considering my belief in letting your freak flag fly and being yourself, I feel like rather a hypocrite for writing it.

I was scared, honestly. There are some people reading this whom I know disapprove of my sexuality...and, honestly, they can just shut up. I am who I am. And who I am is neither straight nor gay. I'm bisexual.

And, well, now the record is set straight...sort of. I'm officially coming out now, and pretty soon the poop shall hit the fan. But God will get me through it.

Why Does a School Project Need to be Gendered?

 I get that from the perspective of many - not all, but many - of the more privileged people in the world, they don't need to learn about sexual and gender diversity, or any other kind of diversity for that matter. After all, much of it doesn't apply to them personally, right? But when someone like that does or says something ignorant or forgets to check their privilege - and I'll admit I've been guilty of this on occasion, but I'm trying to stop that - it's really annoying.

Here's an example. In my economics class, we're working on group projects in which we have to create an imaginary product, make a logo for it, and write a one-page paper about how and why it works. My group is making a scent patch for athletes to cover up their B.O. after games and practices (it works like a nicotine patch; you put it on your skin and it puts something in your body to make your sweat smell good. We're calling it the Buddy Body Patch). 

With everything else done, we needed to work on the logo. Our design was on a big piece of poster paper, with five circles showing the different patch 'flavors': lavender, berry, bonfire, after-game, and the ocean. Lavender and berry were on one side, bonfire and after-game on the other, ocean in the middle. The lavender and berry side was labeled 'her scents' and the bonfire and after-game were 'his scents.' (Until the side-labeling started, I had merely watched the drawing of the poster. I'd already done my part as group secretary, and I'm not exactly the world's greatest artist.)

I didn't really take this personally or get angry about it, the way I did when a guy in science class was ignorant about asexuality, but it did bother me.

"Some guys like wearing lavender and berry," I protested mildly, simply not seeing the point in gendering sides of a poster. Even with the ocean in the middle and labeled as 'his and hers,' it just seemed a bit  much. Since getting into LGBTQ+ activism, I'd noticed more and more about how society was geared toward those considered 'normal,' and it irritated me every time I saw an example of that.

"Yeah, guys who like guys," the girl doing the labeling chuckled with a derisive snort.

"Not always," I tried to explain, but the conversation had already moved on.

I want to hear your thoughts on this. Ideas, anyone?