Optimally different!

I'm really sad that I'm probably going to miss this on account of a rehearsal, but it looks like a very interesting project, so I want to signal-boost. Here's their blurb:

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The MIT Muslim Student's Association invites you to:

The Hijabi Monologues
Friday October 22 ~ Little Kresge Theatre ~ Doors open at 7:00 pm ~ FREE Admission

"The Hijabi Monologues is about the power of storytelling. It is about creating a space for American Muslim women to share experiences; a space to breathe as they are; a space that does not claim to tell every story and speak for every voice. Through sharing stories, strangers touch and connect. Through stories, we are challenged. Through stories, we are humanized."
- Sahar Ullah (Hijabi Monologues Founder)

Have you ever been intrigued by the hijab, the headscarf worn by Muslim women? The Hijabi Monologues is an attempt to dispel misconceptions about the women who wear hijab and to humanize the women beneath the headscarves.

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Haven't posted in a while, so why not a political screed?

To quote londo:

"""
The Archdiocese of D.C. is apparently threatening to pull all social services/break relevant contracts with the city if they pass a certain non-discrimination law primarily dealing with homosexual couples.

Washington Post article

Don't take my or the WP's word for it. Read the Archbishop's op-ed yourself, on his own website.
"""

...or, if I may paraphrase the archbishop:

"But... but we want to take public money and be dicks to a sizeable portion of the public!"

Cry me a river.

To me the most irritating thing in that op-ed was the repeated use of the phrase "recognize and promote", as if the one follows from the other. This notion that acknowledging the existence, or even the legality, of something promotes it, or put another way, that refusing to acknowledge such things is a legitimate or constructive way to express disapproval, pisses me off something fierce.

If the poor babies have that hard a time complying with the law by offering equal benefits to equally committed couples in their employ, and then have the special mix of nerve and idiocy required to cite "the creation of children" as justification for such behavior, and then even have to think about whether their discomfort around that is more important than the charitable services they provide, then boy oh boy do I hope to enjoy the view of them in my rear-view mirror as they're consigned to the past. Good riddance.

One thing about religion, though, is that it's a force-multiplier for the worst and the best in people. In other words, the churches get charity done, so I can't fully mean the previous paragraph until there are more secular charities, motivated by nothing more or less than the belief that each other is all we have, to take their place. If anybody knows some good ones, lemme know. I'm looking to donate.

/vent.