the cynic speaks

2005-04-07 - 3:31 p.m.

The other day I was clipping coupons (frugal Wealhtheow!) and I came across an ad for a Moolatte. "What's a Moolatte?" I asked my husband. "Oh, that? It's a coffee drink that also issues fatwas," he said. "Oh," I said. "That explains a lot."

Speaking of fatwas, I've just been reading a lot of articles about pharmicists refusing to fulfill presriptions for either birth control pills or emergency contraception. I know this should make me furious, and it does. But honestly, my truest, deepest reaction is weariness. What kind of life do these people want me to lead? Do they really want me to have 10 kids? Do they really want me to stop having sex after 2 or 3 kids? I've heard people say "You can't expect them to do something they feel is wrong, and there's other forms of birth control, anyway." Yes, there are other forms of birth control--but how long until these wackos start trying to prevent access to any form of b.c.? How long until it's not only illegal to get an abortion, but also to get a tubal ligation or a vasectomy?

And no, I don't think anyone should have to do anything against their morals. That's one of the reasons why I ruled out government jobs when I first moved to D.C.--I didn't want to be in the position of working to advance a war I thought was immoral. That's a big reason why I'm at my little nonprofit, and why I'd never apply for a job at a conversative journal. You don't like fulfilling prescriptions? Don't be a pharmicist. And to those people who say "Oh, but they shouldn't have to give up a profession they love," I say tough shit. We do not have a right to our dream jobs. Washington Opera is not going to hire me to sing the lead in their operas next season just because I really love singing and I want to do it and I'd do most of it really pretty well, except for those difficult passages or the parts that aren't in my range. Goddess, why do they have hate women so much?

We watched Iron Jawed Angels last week, about the suffragettes. Incredible movie, incredible story. And I wonder if this fight to plan our families won't turn out to be for my generation what the fight for the vote was for their generation.

Last night R and I walked around the Tidal Basin, looking at the cherry blossoms. We walked by the Jefferson Memorial and through the WWII Memorial. I wondered where it had all gone so wrong.

Edited to Add: Sometimes I'll be reading a manuscript and it is just full of sleep-inducing education jargon or other babbeleese. You know, when they could have said the sentence in half the space, but the author needed to look really smart. When this happens, I'm always reminded of the part in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason when Bridget Jones is interviewing Colin Firth (Firthy goodness!). She asks Firth (Firth goodness!) if he thinks Nick Hornby's novels have spored a confessional gender. It just makes me giggle. That's all.

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