One of the many benefits of having chickens is never having to go out and buy eggs to color for Easter. Of course, sometimes friends ask for them too, and Jae has been on a quiche kick for the past few months, and I recently culled my laying hens, and the pullets won’t start laying until summer, and some henhouse doofus broke an egg Sunday morning. That means right now, there are actually only four fresh eggs in my kitchen, which is a pretty rare occurrence. Of course, we have a whole basket of boiled eggs and a jar of pickled ones in the fridge, and I’m getting 3-4 a day from the four adult layers currently in the coop, so it won’t be long before we start building up again; I never want to have to buy those pathetic, undersized, weeks-old store eggs with pale yellow yolks ever again. As I have aged, some things that in my youth I barely even thought about have become important parts of my self-care, and having a plentiful supply of fresh eggs is one of them.
Posts Tagged ‘holidays’
Diary #562
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, holidays, Sunset on April 6, 2021| 1 Comment »
Easter 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on April 4, 2021| 1 Comment »
Vernal Equinox 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on March 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The apparent path of the sun crossed the equator moving northward at 9:37 UTC today, signaling the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern. Enjoy the milder weather to come, and Blessed Be!
Sex Worker Rights Day 2021
Posted in History, Perception, Tyranny, tagged activism, holidays, hysteria, politicians, psychology, yellow journalism on March 3, 2021| 1 Comment »
Our cause…isn’t just ours after all, but rather a vital part of the rights of all individuals to control their own voices, bodies, and lives without the interference of violent busybodies. – “Sex Worker Rights Day 2020”
The landscape of sex worker rights activism looks very different from the way it did when I wrote my first essay for this occasion ten years ago; then almost nobody outside of Asia celebrated the day, and now it’s observed worldwide. Sex worker activism in the US is no longer the domain of a small number of activists; vast numbers of sex workers now speak out online, belong to various activist groups, and politically mobilize to oppose prohibitionists, who not so long ago could count on their lies going unchallenged by any but a vocal minority. The War on Whores has alienated enough people that a majority now support decriminalization, and support for sex worker rights is no longer the kiss of death for politicians. The evolution of “sex trafficking” hysteria into a new Satanic Panic has many of the hacks who once eagerly spread prohibitionist wanking fantasies distancing themselves from the mythology and even debunking the tales they until-recently represented as facts. As I wrote last year, “The younger activists, those in their twenties and thirties, have got this, and they are more than capable of carrying it; it’s time for older activists like me to move into a more advisory role…” As part of that shift, I think it’s time for me to stop writing new essays on this topic, lest I grow irrelevant due to repetition. Besides, I’ve already written plenty:
2011: “International Sex Workers’ Rights Day”
2012: “Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs”
2013: “International Sex Worker Rights Day”
2014: “Sex Worker Rights Day”
2015: “Hands On”
2016: “The ‘Active’ in ‘Activism’”
2017: “Out and Proud”
2018: “365 Days of Activism”
2019: “More Than Ever”
2020: “Sex Worker Rights Day 2020”
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, or fear that our cause is hopeless, I suggest you read all of those in order; you may be surprised just how much things have changed for the better over that short span, and just imagine what the political landscape will look like in 2031 if things keep developing at the same rate as they have for the last three years. We still have a very long way to go, and the fight will never be completely over until we as a species discard the wicked dogma that consensual behavior can somehow be a “crime”, and the pretense that inflicting violence on people is somehow “helping” them. But it’s important to recognize the progress we’ve already made, and to draw from it hope for a better future.
Mardi Gras 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged carnival, holidays on February 16, 2021| 1 Comment »
Maybe the places where many of y’all live don’t observe it, but I still do. So Happy Mardi Gras, dear readers!
Valentine’s Day 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays on February 14, 2021| 1 Comment »
As longtime readers know, Valentine’s Day is my least favorite of holidays, and I’m not particularly fond of the typical iconography associated with it, either (which is often weird or violent or creepy as hell). So every year I try to share an exception, like this card Chekhov sent me last year, which is violent and creepy in a good way.
Imbolc 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on February 2, 2021| 3 Comments »
May the reawakening of the world bring with it the reawakening of good things you thought gone forever. Blessed Be!
Little Christmas 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged carnival, holidays on January 6, 2021| 1 Comment »
If you don’t understand why I post a picture of a sexy witch on this occasion, I suggest you consult my column from six years ago today, which also (not by coincidence) contains links to the columns for the previous four years. That should give you all the information you need to understand why I’m wishing some of my readers a Merry Christmas, some a Good Epiphany and others a Happy King Day, and welcoming all of you to the Carnival season!
Diary #549
Posted in Diary, tagged carnival, holidays, Maggie in the Media on January 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
As I’ve written on numerous occasions, I’m a big believer in celebrating Christmas for the full twelve days, to the greatest extent the modern world will allow. If you look back at my diaries for this week in previous years (can you believe I’ve been posting them for over six years now?) you’ll see that it has not usually been possible to the extent I’d like. But starting last year it became much more so, and now that I’m officially semi-retired the chief impediment is my compulsiveness. For example, the week before Christmas I got an email from Bob Zadek, asking me to be on his live radio show at 8 AM on the 3rd day of Christmas, so I dutifully set my alarm for 7:30, trudged downstairs for a cup of tea, then got back under the covers to do the show naked (which is one of the advantages of radio). Then for the last week I’ve mostly kinda slacked off except for keeping up with my writing and cooking and household chores and such; from the time I got up on New Year’s Eve to sometime after breakfast on Saturday, I didn’t even bother to put on more than my comfy old robe (and no, I’m not wearing anything under it). But tonight is Twelfth Night, and tomorrow I’m driving back to Seattle for an extended date with Dr. Quest (the first engagement of my semi-retirement!), so I guess I’ll have to let Yuletide go into carnival. And maybe I’ll bake a king cake next week.
New Year’s Day 2021
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays on January 1, 2021| 1 Comment »
Happy New Year, dear readers!
Visit my bookstore
This Month
Old Posts
Call me
Become a Blog Patron
If you want to donate but don't want a recurring charge, you can send any amount you like via PayPal to my email address (see below). Be sure to include a note so I can thank you!Contact Maggie
Maggie on Twitter
My TweetsBoring but necessary legal stuff