Winston and Guinness (formerly Fry & Yancy and/or Franklin & Bart) were adopted last weekend by a wonderful couple. They have settled in nicely with their new family. The boys really have come a long way from their beginning as baby strays abandoned in a park with their dad and seeing their mom hit by a car. They have already figured out where the kitchen, the fridge, and the food comes from in their new home and can demonstrate this knowledge through wheeking.

Which brings us to our next set of fosters...



In July 2009, a trio of pigs was turned into the local animal shelter so I went down to take a look. I dubbed them Diana, Cassandra, and Kara after Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl...

Once they were available for pull, an OCCH foster mom got them and made sure they got proper TLC. She named them Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They were soon adopted by a family that had previously adopted another pair from OCCH. But as fate would have it, extenuating circumstances resulting from human medical issues in their adoptive home meant they would soon return to the rescue.

On my count, in the past five months these sows have lived in five or six different places! (Make that seven soon, since they'll be at a pig sitter's for two weeks later this month.)


(left: Maria/Kara center:Nina/Diana right: Pinta/Cassandra)

Privilege is used to define the haves and have nots. More recently it's been tossed around in a lot of internet discussions. Male privilege. White Privilege. Straight Privilege. Christian Privilege. Et'al.

I do find myself wanting to shake my fist at guys who make these very sweeping generalizations of women who want or need abortions or simply women who are pro-chioce. They'll never need an abortion, ever ever, have the privilege of not having a uterus and having greater reproductive freedoms. That guy is never going to have to choose between getting a doctor to shove something up his penis to scrape out the insides, or waiting several more months to push a watermelon sized baby out of his penis. Of course, I'm sure men's rights groups could throw that argument back into our faces and say that men have to pay child support, that a disproportionate amount of men are in jail, etc. I don't know. It's confusing to navigate.

I can see male privilege in geek culture a lot, where if you're a girl you have to justify your presence or prove yourself as not just another pretty face, or that you have legitimate knowledge about your fandom, etc. I'm sure male geeks would cry foul and say there's "female privilege" because girls sometimes get free swag or kudos points for having a uterus and in fandom, but I don't know. I don't really feel the crap (including patronization, sexual harassment!) girls have to put up to belong in fandom is a trade off for that. Or is it? If you don't think there's privilege in fandom, what about in science? In society itself?

I've had a few debates with good friends who aren't offended or don't care about racist jokes. Maybe it's not offensive to you because you've never had stereotypes like that hurt you in a meaningful way. Maybe it's not offensive because you will never have to worry about people believing that stereotypes like that are true. Maybe, since you're not the one directly affected, you should not be the arbiter of what is and what is not offensive to a group? Maybe you don't have to care because it's not targeted at you. I don't know.

Kind of like rape jokes. I see them tossed around a lot in casual conversation, it's almost an unavoidable part of prankster internet vernacular. There are people out there who are quite offended by them, many have had personal experiences with rape. That's one out of four women, and men are rape victims, too, one out of every 10 rape victims is male. Maybe, if we have the privilege of never being raped, we shouldn't be the ones questioning them feeling offended. I don't know. Telling people how to feel is iffy business.

I'm increasingly aware of my heterosexual privilege, I take it for granted, I know I do. My sexual orientation is overwhelmingly represented in the media, government, etc. I do not face painful consequences or shunning for being heterosexual. No one has ever used a derogatory swear word about my sexual orientation on me. I don't have to defend it. And I'm not directly impacted by legislation or discrimination based on my sexual orientation. I am lucky. I need to remember that every day.

But if there is privilege, then how to approach it? Because affirmative action is sniffed at and used to argue that it is taking away opportunities, even though without it there are even less opportunities for those not privileged. Imposition of liberal guilt? Be aware of your asshattery? Telling people how to feel is still iffy business. How do you level the playing field when there are intangible, unquantifiable, immeasurable benefits to being white, male, straight, Christian, wealthy, able-bodied, athletically fit, and good looking? We all have to overcome hardship but how do you account for those advantages? Especially since the people with the most privilege have the most power to tell you how to feel? Being unaware of privilege is a privilege, too.

I guess an answer might be to walk in people's shoes and step back and try to be respectful. I don't know. How do you guys live with it?

An article I wrote about two Asian American UCLA Bruins currently fighting leukemia, "Bone marrow drivin' to save lives," was published in Pacific Ties, the Asian American News Magazine at UCLA.


Click here to read the article in .pdf

( Full Article Under the Cut )

In writing the article I had the privilege of interviewing both of them over the phone for more than an hour. A lot of articles about marrow donation are short and technical but I was given free reign, so I really wanted to share the human side of their stories. I was so impressed by their inner strength and determination to beat cancer.

You can follow Matthew Nguyen and Janet Liang's progress and thoughts through their respective blogs: TeamMatthew Blogs and Autumn in January.

Matthew is currently post-transplant and while he is still being closely monitored for side effects, he's already re-applying to graduate school. This weekend, Janet was actually discharged early from the hospital since she is responding well to her most recent round of chemo. She is still looking for a match but her grassroots effort has already registered 1,389 people to help the thousands of people searching for a lifesaving donor.

If you haven't registered to join the national marrow donor registry yet, please consider doing so. Like I said in a previous post, there are a lot of discouraging misconceptions about registering and donating, so make sure you know how it works and make an informed decision. You register through a cheek swab and only if you are a match are you asked to donate marrow, oftentimes without surgery. Visit Helping Janet.com for more information and a free registration code.

Last weekend, I was featured on Angry Asian Man.com, a prominent Asian American blog, as their Angry Reader of the Week for my work for racebending.com. It was really an honor to be interviewed for this website alongside other Asian American activists. I was able to share a little bit about myself, name drop a couple of organizations I work with, etc. But my last comment sort of touched a nerve. When asked what makes me angry, the last thing I mentioned was:

In Asian American activist circles, I hate when people disparage Asian/white interracial relationships. I'm disturbed that some APAs feel that Asian American women who are dating white men are deliberately undermining APA advocacy efforts, are brainwashed, or can't be legit APA activists. Sometimes I feel like the argument simply boils down to "They're taking our wimmens!" It commodifies Asian American women, and it's insulting to our personal agency and intelligence.

This is a hot button issue in the APA community, so I should have expected some backlash--especially since a short paragraph can be taken out of context. Still, I was surprised to learn that bloggers at Militant Minority had eviscerated that paragraph as emblematic of how Asian American women are screwing over our "Asian brothers" by dating white men.

"If you wanna save guinea pigs, go knock yourself out, but don't throw your men under the bus."

Snap.

The discussion is often simplified to the following arguments: "APA women who date white guys are sell outs" versus "APA men who complain about this are bitter." But things simply aren't this simplistic. At UCLA I learned that while emotions run hot on this issue, opinions and concerned parties also run the gamut.

( Thick skin, thick skin, thick skin.....see, I told you this made me angry )

Tonight it took me two hours to travel twelve miles to get home.  At first I was pissed off at the traffic jam until I realized that the traffic was due to the Equality Network 2010 March and Rally taking up street space on Santa Monica Blvd.  And that if there are Americans in this country who have to wait years  and years for the equal right to marry the person they love, I could wait a few hours in traffic.

I am seriously disappointed about Question 1 in Maine.  This is heartbreaking.  While it might strengthen the legal argument that tyranny of the majority should not override the rights of the minority, it still hurts to see fellow Americans vote to take away the rights of others.

I know it will be okay in the end.  But I'm inpatient.  People shouldn't have to wait for equal rights.  And this map is NOT equal protection.

Did you know that out of every million pregnant women who receive such swine-flu shots, up to 400 of these women will experience a miscarriage within 24 hours?

Did you know that within the next six months, out of 10 million vaccinated people, six will drop dead spontaneously?

BEFORE I scare the crap out of you, what I'm actually trying to say is that even if they hadn't gotten the vaccine, especially if they hadn't gotten the vaccine, these women would have miscarried and these people would have dropped dead. The miscarriage rate is that high, vaccinated or not. The drop dead rate is like that, vaccinated or not. But these numbers (background rates) are conflated and distorted to make it seem like the vaccine is the cause. It's not.

The anti-vaccine lobby has done a very good job of discrediting vaccines. Wired magazine's cover story focused on this subject this month in their article, WAR ON SCIENCE: An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents SKipping Shots Endangers Us All.

tl;dr The article talks about how parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are not only putting their children at risk for measles, mumps, whooping cough, diphtheria, meningitis, and other diseases--they are putting everyone in harm's way by weakening our collective herd immunity.

Not all vaccines take. For people whose vaccines did not, for whatever reason, provide immunity, the fact that everyone else is immunized counts a lot in terms of preventing disease transmission. Vaccines save lives--before the advent of vaccines for diseases like smallpox and measles, millions of children died every year. But for whatever reason, people are more fearful of vaccines than diseases.

Vaccines are not without risks. At a UCLA lecture I attended in the student union, one scientist used this analogy. If you build a metal railing with shiny lights in front of a mountain ledge, some drivers might become distracted by the lights, crash into the railing. But without the railing, far more people would simply drive over the cliff. And you're more likely to die from falling off an unmarked cliff than from ramming into a railing. (Not a perfect metaphor, but still apt, I guess.)

The anti-vax camp blames vaccines for autism (despite studies that find no correlation and indicate that genetics are to blame.) Unfortunately, many anti-vaccine groups have spread so much misinformation that now, one in four Americans believes vaccines poison kids. And scientists that dare challenge this baseless theory are accused of being shills for big Pharma. They are sent death threats and hate mail. These bullying tactics scare doctors and scientists from correcting misconceptions.

NPR interviewed the writer of the Wired Magazine article, Amy Wallace. Wallace was asked about mail (including tons of hate mail)she has received for the Wired Magazine article. The most fascinating comment she made was this one:

One of the things I hadn't included at all in the story was, you know, autistic people do not die of autism. They grow up and they become autistic adults. And I heard from several people talking about how they appreciated the story. They didn't believe that vaccines had caused their autism. But they wish that people didn't talk about autism as if it were a death sentence. And that's been a really moving, interesting sideline that I hadn't delved into at all.

See, this is interesting and not nearly mentioned enough. Autism can be devastating to families, especially severe, low functioning autism. But the anti-vax debate also over-stigmatizes autism as a horrific poison to be avoided (a fate worse than measles or polio, or death, apparently!) People on the autistic spectrum do not have a fate worse than death.

I'm currently evaluating whether or not I should get vaccinated for the swine flu. As I am under 24 years old I'm a priority population member (poor Ken, who is over 24, is not) and could get the shot now. The last time I got a vaccine was for HPV (the third shot actually gave me a pretty bad allergic reaction.) I've had flu shots before and been fine. I may wait and see if I actually catch swine flu and then get the vaccine before I travel. Not sure yet.

The likelihood of me catching swine flu has definitely increased. There is a lot of hacking and coughing on the bus. People slink into the collars of their t-shirts when the people around them cough. One day there was a slimey guy who would sneeze and cough into his hands and then wipe it on the seat in front of him. Ergh.

Well, as you all know, Saturday was Halloween...



Ken & I dressed up like Chun-Li and Ken Masters from Street Fighter. Yes, we were one of those couples.

When I was little I ALWAYS wanted to be Chun-Li for Halloween. I really liked her. She was a badass Asian female fighting character. (And sadly, still one of the only Asian Halloween costumes out there that is not a Geisha Girl or Mulan.)

I baked a pumpkin pie-brownie covered in candy corn to bring to the party...it was kind of on a last minute whim and I didn't want it to be too fattening (hence the pumpkin instead of vegetable oil) so I slapdashed it together.


Somehow it came out not all that healthy looking anyway...

I decided the peegs should get in on the festivities too so I laid out a festive feast for them under plastic pumpkinlight...


They didn't really get it, though...


The Peegs in their Halloween costumes as Mickey Mouse and um...Sombrero Peeg (okay, so um, not so politically correct...)

Happy Halloween, folks. Until next year! (Already scheming to buy more hats...)

On Sunday, October 11th, Ken and I met my volunteer coordinator, Susan, at the West Los Angeles animal shelter when it opened at 11AM. She was there to bring us our new foster pair, Fry and Yancy, and to check up on some newly surrendered guinea pigs. From the shelter picture online I had my suspicions about the health of one of the pigs; it looked like he had crust under his eye (a sign of illness.) Still, I figured I could shadow Susan to learn more about shelter volunteering, maybe trim their nails, make sure they were getting the right food, and then head home with my new fosters.

( Then it turned into an ethical and legal peeg nightmare )

( Rescuing the sick pig at the shelter... )

The Vet Tech examined them. "They look healthy to me," he said.

"Really?!" I was incredulous. The pig had fucking pneumonia. It was freaking obvious! Then I realized....No. Wait. Avoid paperwork, Minna! Foot in mouth! Shut up! Shut up!

"Yes, except the smaller one is female. Do you still want her?"

"Female? Really?!" Again, I was incredulous. Susan and I had handled both pigs on Sunday and we were pretty sure they were, you know, males. "Are you sure?"

"I am positive," the vet tech said, giving me a withering look for even questioning. "She is fine except for some inflammation around her genitals, she is swollen."

(I checked when I got home. The inflammation around "her" genitals? Testicles. Yeah.)

It was a miracle the sick one was even still alive, despite untreated pnuemonia for more than five days. I decided to name the abby Batman (rooster tail= cape) and the little one Robin (because he was a peeg wonder having survived that long.)


Batman and Robin

( Eat dammit! Eat! )

I fed Robin as much food as I could, and then I set him down and waited for him to digest it. About half an hour later I spotted him straining like he was making a normal bowel movement. I was really excited--it had worked. I'd gotten nutrients into him! But then when it came out oily, wet and bloody, I started crying.

A few minutes later, a more experienced fosterer arrived to take him to her house where she could monitor him and give him critical care and meds. There were plans to take him to a vet the following day but when she tried to give him some more food that night he wasn't swallowing. When she woke up the next morning he was gone.

It's okay. He was very, very sick. We tried really hard to help him and at least he was somewhere safe and warm with people who cared about him. And his buddy Batman/Bruce is doing well. We got him out of there. His new foster mom promised to give him plenty of love and attention.

( It was still hard, though )

One of the volunteers told me, "He was warm and safe, and knew you would take care of his buddy," that he passed away knowing his friend would be well taken care of.

I guess even though it did not work out the way I wanted it to, he was worth saving. And I am glad his friend is healthy and safe.

For the bittersweet but still happy ending, I followed up with Batman's foster mom the other day. She wrote back: "He is doing very well and is healthy and energetic. He is very good at eating hay and veggies:) His new roomie's name is George. Here is a photo--"


Bruce and George

President Obama is supposed to sign the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Act today. The bill expands protection and prosecution of bias-motivated crimes to more activities and to more people--"actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." I am proud of my country today. (Even though the bill was slipped into a defense spending bill.)

I said earlier this year that "I'm of the belief that if you're singled out--because of your status as a protected class--as the target/victim of a crime, then yes, the crime is bias-motivated." Yes, there are probably 14th Amendment equal-protection pitfalls to having special "protected classes" but if this is what we've worked with for forty years for "special classes" like race, ethnicity, national origin, and religion, then these new classes deserve to be special classes protected from domestic terrorism, too.

People don't mention the 14th Amendment/equal protection problem, though. They're very focused on 1st Amendment snafus. Yeah, yeah. I know. Never mind that the Shepard Act says it cannot be used to abridge constitutionally protected free speech or religious expression.

Take Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, for example. Today Dr. Cass issued a press release saying Obama's Hate Crime Laws are 'Hate Christian' Laws.

Ignoring the fact that these incidents happened in Canada, which does not have the same free speech protections, Cass writes that because of the Shepard act:

"Conservative Christians who hold to the historic Christian faith and it's values, that become the object of institutionalized, governmental hate. Christians who dare to tell the truth about the social, moral, spiritual and health consequences of illicit homosexual acts are accused of hate speech and intimidated into silence with threats of fines or jail."

I suppose this would depend on what historic values the conservative Christians hold. Polygamy, slavery, and stoning are all historic values that probably would result in government interference. It is true that many Christians are willing to share the truth about the consequences of being gay--through bashing, discriminating and protesting your basic hate crime protections.

"[Obama] will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for his campaign and worked to get him elected."

LOL Yeah, he's really paying back those militant homos with his stunningly snail-paced repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and his administration's defense of DOMA.

Cass says Obama has a "radical, anti-Christian" agenda and that by signing this law Obama will be displaying his contempt for "the majority of Americans who oppose the 'homosexualization of marriage and public education.'"

He says that the Christian Anti-Defamation committee and other Christian groups "will defy, counter and challenge this unconstitutional attack on our religious liberty."

(Huh? Wait. So, does that mean you'll--with the pitchforks and--oh. Yeah... That...that didn't come out the right way at all.)

The truth is, when a person is assaulted for being Christian, that person is protected under forty year-old hate crime protections. In 2007,10% of crimes with a religious bias-motivation were attacks on people for being Catholic or Protestant. But to give the LGBT community--and also the disabled and genderqueer community--the same bias-motivated crime protections the Christian community currently enjoys is...hating on Christians?

Really, it's not all about you, all right?

Today is not about you. It is about not only the murder, but the lynching of two men in modern day America, and trying to erase that stain from our national conscience.

Had a very exhausting, guinea pig-eventful week earlier this month. Where to start? On Saturday, October 10th, my first foster guinea pigs, Wendy and Lacey, were adopted by an aspiring future vet and her mother from Tarzana. They promised to take excellent care of these little girls.


Caught stealing food from a Rancor

Lots of love to them and stuff. After Wendy and Lacey left, I spent a good part of the afternoon steadfastly cleaning their cage and the surrounding area to remove their scent. This is because on Sunday, the foster volunteer coordinator, Susan, was ready to drop off the next set of guinea pigs, "Franklin and Bart." newtoniancat suggested that we name them Fry and Yancy from Futurama.


Franklin and Bart, later dubbed Yancy and Fry

Yancy and Fry were found in a park with their dad huddled on the side of the road. The person who stopped for them found a female piggy (their mom) lying dead in the middle of the street because she had been run over by a car. Luckily, they were brought to the home of a rescuer from the Orange County Cavy Haven to begin a new life.

( More about the new foster pigs and pictures! )

When I arrived home I noticed that Fry had an injured foot:


One of his toes is sticking up. Looks broken?

So xkyrie_eleisonx drove us to the vet last Monday. He now needs antibiotics every 12 hours, pain meds every 24, and frequent footsoaks in an antiseptic, while bedded on fleece bedding. (Laundry time!)


Foot Soak


Sometimes Yancy keeps him company during the soaks.

They're learning to enjoy the good life and rumblestrutting and wheeking up a storm. I hope they find a good home to live out the rest of their lives!