Chicken Underworld

The Medicaid Family Planning State Option provision was dropped from H.R. 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 under the logic that this program is "too expensive" and will not create jobs.  In fact, this provision would save money, and access to family planning is directly related to a family's economic well-being.  Clearly, having additional children increases families' costs tremendously and makes them more likely to need assistance from the state.  Meanwhile, contraception is costly and difficult for struggling families to afford, particularly during difficult economic times.

Click on this URL to take action now http://capwiz.com/now/utr/2/?a=12539436&i=91179024&c

Nicky and I saw Dar Williams and Josh Radin at the Paradise in Boston last night. It was a fantastic concert, and we got to meet both artists! Dar even remembered Nicky from last time they met (in Somerville a couple months ago) because Nicky uses Dar's song "After All" to teach about surviving war. So amazing. We were so excited that we missed the last train, and Nik had to come and rescue us.

                                           

Click here to download:

We_3_Dar_Williams.zip (10296 KB)

This was a fabulous long weekend filled with lots of good things: First of all, Monika spent the long weekend here, which was fantastic. Second, I had a very fun birthday, including a delicious dinner with friends, cooked by Nikhil. (And he shoveled the massive amounts of snow too!) Third, I heard from lots of family & friends, which I always love.  And last but not least, I got to watch Obama's inauguration (online) - what an exciting moment in history, which felt like a perfect birthday gift! It was a wonderful weekend, and here are lots of great photos to remember it by.

                                                                                                           

Click here to download:

Photos_from_my_birthday_weeken.zip (10094 KB)

We had so much fun in the Bay Area!  First we did New Years Around the World with Aki, Julie, Sachin, Kate, and friends in SF.  We started out with lunch (and lots of champagne) at an Italian restaurant, where we celebrated Italian New Years at 4pm PST.  Then we moved to a variety of "international" bars, where we attempted to celebrate New Years in other countries - Ireland, Iceland, and an attempt at Brazil.  I took off early to head back to Berkeley, but the others planned to keep it up until 9pm, NYE in New York.  Emily, Meagan, Brian, & I celebratede NYE in Berkeley and had a great time.

                                                               

Click here to download:

New_Years_Eve_2008.zip (18480 KB)

Here are photos from Christmas in LA (aka Sierra Madre, Altadena, & Santa Monica) with our families.   It was great to spend time with everyone and also to soak up the California weather, which was at times "cold" but always much warmer than Boston!

                                                                                                                                                       

Click here to download:

Christmas_2008.zip (12705 KB)

The fall was beautiful this year, and it lasted longer than last year too. We haven't even had snow yet! But rumor has it we might get a little bit this weekend. Anyway, our backyard was so beautiful and yellow with the leaves that I was inspired to take some pictures for the California types who don't get to see this very often. But pictures don't quite do it justice.  Notice how Zoe sort of blends in with the leaves!

I'm also adding some pictures of our Christmas tree, which, by the way, fell over several times and we eventually had to anchor it to the wall to get it to stay. I seem to remember a certain tree from my childhood that would have benefitted from this strategy... I was very grateful for our carpet because only one ornament broke, and it was just a Christmas ball! Despite all the trouble it's given us, this is the most beautiful tree we've ever had. It's a Fraser Fir. It was so fresh that it was extremely heavy with water and just full of leaves & pine needles it had trapped in the forest. We had to give it a good shaking before bringing it inside.

Also, just because it's finals time and I should be studying, I instead chose to spend hours the other night making a Christmas kissing ball (the round ball of pine you see in the pictures). I had never seen one before last year, which was our first Christmas season in Boston. Apparently, they are a New England tradition (that dates back to the Victorian era), so that explains why I never saw them in California. Anyway, I admired them a lot last year and wanted to have one for our porch, but their cost ($25) seemed very high to me. So I got inspired and went to the craft store, where I spent $17 on supplies, and then I spent a good 3-4 hours making it with the extra branches from our tree. It took this long partly because I started out with way too much pine and had to cut each sprig in half midway through to avoid denuding the tree. Midway through, I understood why they cost $25! But now I have my very first kissing ball, and that means it's time to go and focus on finals for real now!

                             

Click here to download:

Late_fall_early_Christmas_phot.zip (3611 KB)

This election, I sort of wish I were still voting in California.  There are two issues I would really like to oppose with my vote. 

The first is Proposition 4, which is a repeat of the proposition I worked to defeat last year (Prop 85) and the year before (Prop 73).  I strongly oppose this initiative, which would implement a parental notification requirement for abortion access for teens.  Since the vast majority of teens seeking abortion services already talk to their parents, this law ends up unfairly burdening vulnerable teens and those with bad family situations, who may go to desperate measures to attain illegal abortions rather than tell their parents or navigate the complex legal system to get a waiver.  Plus, all evidence shows that the teen pregnancy, abortion, and birth rates have declined more steeply in California than in the rest of the country without such a law.  This law would be bad for California teens.  Plus, its advocates should learn that California has said no to this initiative 2 years in a row and stop wasting the valuable resources of both sides of the campaign, which could be spent on pregnancy prevention and sexuality education in the state. 

The second proposition I wish I could vote no on is the initiative that would ban same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. I know that eventually the ability for consenting adults to civilly marry whomever they love will be recognized as a clear civil right.  I hope California will be broad minded enough to see this fact in this election. 

The other election-related thing that I learned last year, which may come up this year is that you cannot enter a polling place wearing any visible buttons, t-shirts, or signs for a particular candidate or issue.  So if you're sporting a candidate t-shirt or "No on Prop. 4" button, be sure to cover it up with a sweater or sweatshirt when you enter the polling place.  I've heard some concerns that Obama supporters who don't know about this law may have difficulty voting, so it's good to plan in advance.

Josh had a med school interview at a certain university in Hanover, New Hampshire this week, so we drove up and met him. It was a fun Libertarian adventure...except we still wore our seatbelts, paid taxes on dinner, and obeyed both the speed limit (sort of) and the minimum speed. Anyway, it's a good thing my little brother is so super smart because it means he gets to make lots of east coast trips during interview season. Lucky for those of us on this coast! Also, today is count-down to oral surgery day. Eek!

     

Click here to download:

Live_Free_or_Die.zip (1814 KB)

First of all, I have to say I was surprised at how well Palin performed during the debate last week. After seeing her interview with Katie Couric, I was actually cringing in (hopeful) anticipation of a repeat performance. Yet she surprised me (and most people) by keeping it together fairly well. Still, any critical viewer could see she was not answering the questions and was carefully sticking to her script, which, I'll admit, was very cleverly written. My fear of McCain winning this election is twofold: 1) if McCain & Palin were to win (God forbid), then it would not only be 4 more years of neoconservative politics, but also 2) it would be a case of "Harriet Meyers part 2," where this first woman given the chance at this office is miserably unqualified, and women as a class will be rejected from the white house for years to come. Is selecting unqualified female candidates some sort of macro-level strategy to maintain the status quo?

Anyway, at least the polls are looking up at the moment: