1. Sinks that spew, but do not suck. Our kitchen sink is clogged, and no amount of Drano is doing any bit of good. We’ve got a call into the landlord to get someone to come out and fix it, but in the meanwhile, we use the sink and then scoop water out into a bucket, and dump the bucket into the bathroom sink. Back. Forth.

2. The fact that it is nearly 10PM and I am not packed or ready for Thanksgiving. We leave tomorrow morning for the airport. I’d like to console myself that in part it was reason #1 that prevented me from being totally ready, but I am going to be honest: I probably would have lounged around and panicked at 11PM anyways.

3. I am sick of winter and it is only fall.

4. My iBook, my pretty pretty iBook, is dead, dead, dead. She died the other night in a blaze of glory. I unplugged her and tried to be lazy and sit on the sofa and surf wirelessly, and she would have none of that. Her monitor wigged out and darkened. I was able to revive her long enough to quickly download and back up all of my important files (so right now if I lose or fuck up my iPod I will be one cranky person), and now, fini. She served me well. Sophie iBook, 2002-2005.

(amusing anecdote: I told my boss about Sophie’s death and she said, “But Josh has a computer at home - you’ll be fine!” (she does not understand why we both have our own machines) I walked into an office shared by two of my colleagues who are resident Macheads and said, “My iBook is dead!” They sat me down and commiserated with me and we all eulogized briefly the life of Sophie)

Four things that suck. Not too bad. Things that I am thankful for, tomorrow being Thanksgiving in the US:

1. Going to visit my family, and being able to financially afford the visit.
2. Josh
3. Ava
4. Food.
5. Shelter
6. My incredible privilege to live the life I do.
7. Health insurance (I am one expensive woman to maintain)

The world is a quieter place tonight. Thank you, CMJ.

On October 24, 2005, Rosa Parks died. All of the media images and biographies surrounding her life history tell the infamous story of how one day she was too plum tired to stand on that damn bus and so she sat, and with this one act of defiance of sitting, launched the country into the civil rights movement. That’s the image I remember from school, learning about the civil rights movement.

And that image is wrong.

Telling the story of a tired Rosa Parks does a huge disservice to the impact of her actions. Here’s the deal: Rosa Parks was not tired - not physically tired, anyway. Before December 1, 1955, she had already chosen to dishonor the racist system of segregation - she walked instead of taking the bus, went home thirsty instead of drinking from “colored” fountains.

Rosa Parks was not physically tired.

What she was tired of was the pain of segregation and racism. Imagine growing up with the image that you are a second class citizen, made to use separate restroom facilities, water fountains, and elevators simply because of the color of your skin - and imagine how very, truly, exhausting that experience is. Mrs. Parks was a social justice and civil rights activist from well before that fateful December day when she sat down on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was active in the NAACP and was sent to attend a desegregation workshop at the Highlander Center weeks before she stayed seated on that bus in Montgomery.

She deliberately decided to take on the Montgomery Bus System, and as an extension, the institutional racism of her era. To say she defied that bus driver simply because her legs were sore and tired does a terrible injustice to the intent and impact of her actions that day. She deserves more than that.

And in the years surrounding the boycott of the Montgomery bus system and Parks’ deliberate defiance, why hasn’t the world learned more about her deliberate disobedience? Why did the media, and then later on, history books overdramatize Parks’ defiance? Why? She remained seated because she decided enough was enough. Enough of the segregation, enough of the subservience, and enough of the bullshit. Her elected leaders weren’t standing up, so she had to. And I am so grateful that she did.

Her sitting down allowed thousands and millions of us to stand up. Bravo, and thank you, Mrs. Parks.

***

Last week, Josh took me to see Margaret Cho, who was in town doing a book reading and signing for her new book, I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight. This is the third time I’ve seen Margaret (twice when we lived in Amherst), and the first time I’d have the opportunity to say something to her. I babbled incoherently about how we loved her two shows we saw and thank you so much for signing my book! God, a mess. “At least I didn’t cry!” I said to Josh.

But there is so much I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her how energized I felt after the first time I saw her, at the conclusion of a long and difficult weekend of race deconstruction. I wanted to tell her how much I admired her willingness to stand up for what she believed in and demand better. I wanted to tell her so much, and all I could say was thank you. I’m hoping it was enough.