Thursday, May 29, 2008

Completed book cover


Completed book cover, originally uploaded by allysther.

Wondering where I've been? Wonder no longer. I've been quilting. This was my final project. It consists of 96 hexagons and five billion stitches. It took me two weeks of piecing it together, sewing the pieces, and finishing. I began the class in March, and have made quite a bit of progress. My first project, a pin cushion with 10 pieces, also took two weeks.

Today is my last class, and I am really just going to say goodbye and to share some fruit and cake. I'll post my favorite photo of the class later today.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Acknowledging the sacrifice

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

“I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”


Gee, thanks, George. Glad to know that you've put it all into perspective for yourself, there. Good job.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Just what I needed

This is six minutes long, and only watchable if you love kitties, have a fondness for engineers, and have a skewed sense of humor.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Mildred Loving

Mildred Loving died on Monday. She married her husband, Richard Loving, almost 50 years ago. Such a long/short time!
This is a statement she prepared last year for the 40th anniversary of the court case which legalized her marriage and overturned laws in 17 states.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Loving for All

By Mildred Loving*

Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007,
The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement

When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn’t to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.

We didn’t get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn’t allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn’t have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,” a “basic civil right.”

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wendall and I married on the 27th anniversary of the decision. It was a happy accident that it fell on a weekend day in 1994. While we would not have changed plans in order to be married on the 12th, we were both very pleased to be able to honor the day.

Yes, those are kitties on top of the cake.  Why do you ask?

Thank you, Mrs. Loving.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Hectic, but fine

I will post an actual something later today. I have photos to upload and things to say, but no time to actually do much more than think them towards the computer.

Life is fine. Really.