Mud's Queens and King's Hill

A week after the election, and I have to admit I do feel better. Mostly because, as it turns out, the whole thing was just a horrible mistake and Bush isn't really our President. Thank God for small miracles and Howard Dean!

The other day my friend, Jessa, suggested the thought that the Democrats really need to start bowing more on the moral issues. At first my mouth gaped and I stared at her like she had gone completely mad with postelection grief. But she made a pretty good point. Her logic goes as follows:

The Democrats can't be left enough to support a truly progressive agenda, but because they won't bow on the moral issues--issues that they don't really support wholeheartedly anyway--they keep losing the votes of mid-liners who are opposed to Bush on social issues but with him on moral issues. If the Democrats would let go of the moral issues that keep holding them back, they would gain immeasurable support from groups like the Black and Latino communities, which they often lose in moral issues because those communities are largely Christian. The end result of this, continues the logic, is that the truly leftist Democrats would have to stand against their party because of the moral issues, eventually creating a third party that would have some strength; the Republicans would have to start shaping up their stance on social policies to avoid losing power altogether; and the Democrats would be able to maintain better control over the government, but with the pull both left and right from the other two parties, would have to keep a stance that was both morally moderate and socially responsible. To me, this seems like a reasonable prediction.

But then, it was about two in the morning when I was listening to all of this, after a good night of partying. So my perceptions might have been skewed.

Life has gone on, though, and that's at least half of what's important. Friday night, I went and saw a friend play at Cosmicafe, which was fantastic. The space was wonderfully warm and cozy, and the music was just right; it reminded me of evenings in high school and college spent in the company of good friends, feeling safe in the world and valued among people, evenings when everything is just right and nothing upset at all.

After the show, a few of us went off to catch a mud-wrestling match by the Mud Queens of Chicago. The Mud Queens of Chicago get together every couple of months as a fund raiser for the Young Women's Empowerment Movement, which is a brilliant marketing strategy. I watched scantily clad women writhe around in mud, and was actually helping to empower women by doing so. It's fantastic. The match was held in a warehouse out in the western parts of the city, and was great fun to watch.

Unfortunately, I ended up missing most of the matches to help a friend get a cab. We walked to the closest main street we could find and called a cab. Then she insisted I leave her, which I did, stupidly. So I'm worried now, because the last time I saw my friend, she was sitting on a bench in a not-great area of town, late at night, waiting for a cab, and she hasn't returned my phone calls since. Which means that, if anything happened to her, it would at least be half my fault. Luckily, my friend is a big girl--in the empowered emotional sense, not the size sense--and she can probably take care of herself. Yeah. I think I'll keep telling myself that.

In lighter news, my friend Bonnie turned me on to King's Hill Farm, which is an organic produce cooperative out in Illinois. They have a delivery program for people in the city. Last week, Bonnie ordered thirty dollars worth of produce and had pounds and pounds of good apples, squash, potatoes, and--most surprisingly--pomegranates. Where the hell do pomegranates grow in Illinois? I have no idea how they did it. I signed on today and can't wait to see what I get in my first shipment.

This eliminates about half my grocery problems, too, since really produce is mostly what I like to get (because it's cheaper than meat and goes a longer way). I'm very excited.

That's that. If you happen to be an attractive young Jewish girl who I stupidly and drunkenly left sitting alone, please contact me, if for no other reason than to let me know you're okay.