Pro-Choice. Bodily Autonomy.

Typically, I avoid political discussions on Facebook.  Recently, I commented on a post that Governor Sam Brownback (Kansas) had on his page.  The post read, “The sixth video revealing Planned Parenthood selling human baby parts was released today.  it was because of these and other barbaric acts, Kansas defunded Planned Parenthood in 2011. #DefundPP.”  Now, this is definitely not the only thing Brownback, or Governor Brownbackistan or Governor Brownstain, as he is more commonly, and not so affectionately known as by quite a few citizens here in Kansas, has cut.  His record of cutting funds for programs and for education has frustrated so many people that many are leaving Kansas.  I won’t get into all of that right now though.  I am writing to talk about this particular post.

Governor Brownback is actually proud that he is cutting programs needed for low income people, in particular women.  Yes, Planned Parenthood does perform abortions.  No, they do not perform a huge number of abortions.  NO, they do NOT sell baby parts.  This is ridiculous.  Anyone who believes these videos is ridiculous.  It is not true.  They do, however, ask if mothers want to donate fetus tissue for scientific purposes to help save lives.  Not everyone who goes to Planned Parenthood for healthcare is receiving an abortion, which is what many “Pro-Life”/Anti-Abortion people want everyone to believe.  This is not true.  It isn’t even an opinion on their part, it is wrong.  Plain and simple.  People go to Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings and prenatal care.  Yep, you heard it.  Not every woman entering Planned Parenthood is wanting an abortion.  Most are just wanting affordable healthcare while pregnant.  Many women go for birth control, so they can, yep, you guessed it, AVOID UNWANTED PREGNANCIES, therefore, avoiding abortions or an unwanted child.  Planned Parenthood actually works to prevent abortions.  Many Anti-Abortion people actually fall into the group of people who don’t want birth control to be covered by insurance and many believe teaching abstinence only.  These types of beliefs actually increase the number of abortions.  These people also typically advocate against programs such as food stamps and other programs meant to help families in need of assistance.  This is the reason for the quotation marks around Pro-Life.  I will only accept that term if the person is against abortion and the death penalty and advocates for programs that help needy people.

Now, another thing that Anti-Abortion people typically say is that Pro-Choice people are monsters who believe every baby should be aborted.  This, obviously, isn’t even an opinion.  It is just plain wrong.  Too many Pro-Choice people have children and love their children.  Many Pro-Choice people would never have an abortion themselves unless they were in specific circumstances, such as rape or the child having a limited expected lifespan.  I am Pro-Choice because I believe everyone should decide what they want to do with their own body.  We have bodily autonomy for corpses.  FOR DEAD BODIES.  But we do NOT have bodily autonomy for LIVE WOMEN.  What the heck is wrong with people who believe women shouldn’t be able to choose what to do with their own bodies?  If I died tomorrow, and I was not listed as an organ donor (I actually am), no one could take my organs or tissue.  I would be protected as a dead body.  However, people fight against me as a live human being that I should not be able to decide what I want with my body and what I don’t want with my body.  Would I ever get an abortion?  No, I wouldn’t, except for if I knew the child would be born with pain or if we knew the quality of life of my baby would be extremely low.  Also, how can anyone tell someone how to deal with the pain of finding out their baby might have a short life expectancy?  Or that the baby would have some sort of disability or disorder that would make their life painful?  That type of discussion and decision should be between a woman, her family, and her doctor.  Not our Congress or strangers.   

I recently went through a very painful situation.  My newborn baby nephew died.  He lived four weeks.  He was diagnosed with pontocerebellar hypoplasia.  The doctors gave my sister hard decisions to make.  He could stay in the hospital and eventually die, not making it very long or she could take him home and he could die at home.  They could try to prolong his life, possibly, with a tracheotomy, but he wouldn’t be able to communicate, he wouldn’t be able to do much of anything.  How can anyone else believe they should have the right to jump in on my sister’s, on my family’s, personal decisions like this? If you believe you should have this right or that the government should have the right to jump in on a decision like this, you are a jerk (I do not swear, otherwise, I’d call you something else).  You should not have that right, no one should have that right.  A person’s body is their own.  Are you going to tell us how we should deal with the pain of losing a life so young?   Shove off if you try to do that.  You cannot force anyone to go through this pain.  I love my baby nephew.  I always will.  I will always cherish the memories of holding him and kissing him….not so much of the memories of him being hooked up to numerous tubes and doctors and nurses everywhere, but I will always remember holding him, his smell, holding his little hands and messing with his little feet.  But you cannot force a person to go through that pain.  I am still Pro-Choice after this….I am still grieving, and my sister and family will be grieving for years….forever.  We did not know there was anything wrong with him prior to birth.  I am not sure what my sister would have decided if she had known, but that would have been HER decision ONLY.  She probably would have asked for advice, but ultimately it would have been her decision.  This experience has made me less patient for people who try to tell a woman what she should do with her own body.  It has made me less patient for people who try to tell a woman that a corpse should have bodily autonomy, but she should not.  Yes, it is a potential life lost when a baby is aborted, but maybe we should address why women are getting abortions.  Is it inadequate family support?  Bad financial situation?  Lack of good healthcare?  Fear?  Women would fear pregnancy less if they knew they had financial assistance if they are needy or that healthcare would be provided for them or family planning classes or help was available.  Maybe we should spend more time advocating for programs that do this instead of defunding them.  People tend to fear things they do not understand.  Therefore, we should make sure we are teaching birth control and reproductive health in every school early enough and make it less of a taboo topic, so younger people are more comfortable talking about it with others.  If they understand it, they can make educated decisions.  

Another thing this leads into that I won’t get into much right now but will mention.  Governor Brownback keeps cutting educational programs.  He doesn’t care about children.  He is so against abortion, but doesn’t even want children to get a good education or healthcare once they are born.  Shame on you Governor Brownstain.  Shame on you.

How is the absence (of the Bible) shoving atheism in your face and the presence of it not shoving Christianity in a person's face? I'm not understanding the logic.

I have not posted in a long time, but there are a few things that I have been wanting to write about.  I will try to blog more this week since it is Spring Break. 

A while back I saw this article: Iowa State to remove bibles from union hotel rooms (http://www.ktiv.com/story/24736377/2014/02/15/iowa-state-to-remove-bibles-from-union-hotel-rooms) on facebook.  Take note that this is just the Iowa State University's Memorial Union Hotel.  One hotel.  52 guestrooms.  Not the entire U.S., just one hotel in Iowa.  Anyway, back to the point, someone complained about the hotel providing Bibles in the hotel rooms and how they did not want religious propaganda in their nightstand.  Because it is a state-run facility, it was argued that it cannot endorse any religious text, so the hotel made plans to remove the Bibles from the rooms by March 1.  They moved them to the hotel's library downstairs, where they are still available for guests to borrow.

Now this article really wouldn't be that important to me, except I read some of the comments on it and they upset me.  I truly believe that the U.S. and other countries should focus on being neutral in the religious department.  Separation of Church and State.  We already have too many people in politics that have their own agenda, why do we need religious agendas mixed in as well?  Many Christians might be calling me an atheist at this point.  I am not an atheist.  I was actually baptized Methodist.  I have read the Bible several times, along with other religious texts.  Why?  Being I'd rather be informed than ignorant.  I also want to be understanding of people who are different than I am, what better way than to read various cultural and religious texts (if you can't travel that much)?  However, I also believe that religion does not matter, if I were truly a citizen of the U.S. I would also uphold the principles of the U.S.  Because of Separation of Church and State, even if I had religious beliefs that disagreed with a proposed law or government issue, the question would be: what would be better for the people of the United States of America (knowing that not all people are of one religion or cultural heritage)?  People can have a difference of opinion (this is the U.S.A!!!), but one should support it via government documents if it is a government issue.  If it is a religious issue, then by all means, pull out the religious text of choice.

Anyhow, I meandered again.  Back to the comments on this article.  Many people were claiming religious persecution and having atheism shoved down their throats and having their rights away.  Not just one or two people but many, many people saying these things.  I love my home state of Iowa, but just because a Bible gets removed from one hotel room does not mean a person's rights are getting taken away nor does it mean people are forcing atheism upon them.  No one in the discussion was willing to listen to anyone else and everyone claimed to be the victim.  Moving a Bible from some rooms into a library available for checkout is hardly the end of the world.  And it most certainly is NOT taking anyone's rights away.  If you need a Bible (or other religious text) wherever you go, then you should already be bringing it with you.  If you really want to hear about people's rights look at homosexuals, bisexuals, transgendered, women, and other minorities. Those discussions matter. The fact that a book gets moved from point A to point B in one hotel does not matter. What matters is seeing how a lot of people are upset over this enough to display disrespect towards other people. What matters is the fact there are people still fighting for equality and a group of privileged people (Christians) are upset over Bibles in one hotel that are getting moved. A book that talks about how to treat people with love and to help them when in need and that we are all equal in the eyes of The Lord. Yet, people discriminate everyday and still call themselves good Christians and overall good people. What matters is that we have freedom of religion and they should be equal, yet at this pace never will be because it is always about the privileged and their rights, never about the people who don't have those same rights. We are all equal. In the eyes of our government, religion is supposed to be separate. Stop using religious debates and Biblical quotes to say why a law should or should not pass. Separation of church and state. Our country's founders believed in that principle. Stop picking and choosing quotes from various documents to try to validate your complaints to get yourself benefits. What any religion states doesn't matter in this country on that principle.

For those who say atheism is being thrown down your throats when something like this happens: research persecution and Christianity. Be informed of history. More importantly: they are moving the location of the Bible, not burning them. They are still available to you. How is it throwing atheism down your throats or giving them more rights when it is actually putting Christians on a more equal level? Christians tend to be privileged, so this step toward neutrality is not telling you that you can't keep believing in God or the content of the Bible. It is saying that because we have freedom of religion here in this country, maybe we should start acting like it.  So the Bibles WILL still be available upon request, my question is will other religious books be available upon request as well. If yes, then this is truly a step towards neutrality in religions. If not, then as always, Christianity is still considered superior and everyone can chill out.  Another note:  Not everyone needs God in their life. Everyone can choose which deity (if any) they want in their life. Also, one does not need religion in their life to have morals. 

Another point for this post and others: People tend to resort to name calling because of a difference in opinion.  Apparently God hasn't taught them how to respect other people even though in his teachings He doesn't want people to judge others and He helped many people who had lost their way according to various lessons in the Bible.

It isn't wrong for people to believe or have faith in a deity, it is their right to do so. The debate is about having Bibles in certain hotels, not whether it is right or wrong to believe in a particular religion. That is also forcing one's beliefs on another. My question is if one actually needs a Bible (or other religious book) wherever they go? Isn't that a little materialistic? If you have God in your heart, you should be fine without a book. People place too much importance in things. Also, for people saying that not believing in God is what is wrong with our country- I think that's hardly the worst. One can still have morals but be an atheist or believe in a religion other than Christianity.... 

Some of this blog I borrowed my points from the facebook comments because I think some of the points need to be brought up to as many people as possible.

Photographer

Check out Richard Renaldi photographs that are part of his Touching Strangers series, the concept is fantastic.  Connecting people together. :)

http://www.upworthy.com/a-photographer-persuades-strangers-to-do-something-really-odd-and-they-totally-love-it?c=ufb1




photo taken from http://www.democraticunderground.com/103619910. 
Richard Renaldi - photographer

Powerful poetry

I just wanted to share this video with you.

http://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-student-totally-nail-something-about-women-that-ive-been-trying-to-articulate-for-37-years-6?g=2&c=ufb1

Wow, this is powerful and sad because it is so true.  This is a powerful statement about what our society, our culture, teaches all of us what women are expected to be like.  We are expected to be beautiful and to be beautiful we have to be slender and have the perfect body.  Women (and some men) are constantly trying to figure out a miracle diet that allow us to "shrink" and "occupy less space." A diet that actually works, unlike the sneak-down-at-midnight-for-a-lowfat-yogurt diet.  I don't know about you, but I can relate to this poem a lot.  Women filter what we say, we choose things based on its lack of carbs, we debate about having another slice of pizza because we don't want to look like a pig and we don't want to gain weight.

She talks about how her mother passes down these qualities, obsessions, etc, but it isn't just our parents who pass this down to us.  It is the people around us. It is everyone, peers, teachers, bosses, friends, etc. who pass these to us.  What is acceptable?  What is the "ideal" person?  The photoshop models who can have imperfect bodies cloned away?  They stop being actual people when you digitally change them.  Why do women feel they have to grow in?  Why can't we just accept we all have different body types and try to aim to be as healthy as we can.  Why do people who see a woman with curves or "thick" assume she isn't trying to lose weight?  If she's happy with her body, why does she have to lose weight?  To please others?  It should be to please herself, yet we all seem to want to change our appearances for each other.  Why?  Why are people mean about another person's appearance?  So someone isn't as aesthetically appealing to you as someone else, but this is subjective.  Why do people have to state that to the person's face?  I read on facebook and other social media sites comments when a post is made about women body types.  So many of the comments are disrespectful and people look at our little profile pictures to get information about someone, so they can be disrespectful to specific people.  They can call someone fat who has called them out for being disrespectful because they classify the person in their profile picture as "thick."  Is that why we are on this earth: to treat other people like they are inferior? like they are garbage? like they don't have feelings?  No one is superior, and no one knows everyone else's story.  Don't judge a book by its cover.  Back to these concerns being passed down by her mother: parents have a lot of influence as to what their children believe to be right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy, acceptable or unacceptable.  Love your child and try to let them know that you want them to be healthy and to do what they enjoy doing before judging them.  Take care of them, teach them by practicing healthy habits (not just food, but in self esteem).  

Government Shutdown

I am disappointed with our government right now.  They allow their personal beliefs get in the way of what is best for the people.  People on WIC are no longer receiving what they need for their families or for themselves.  Ridiculous.  Just because you have the power to shut down the government, doesn't mean you should.  People are still having to work without getting paid.  And I'm sure we are all still getting taxes taken out of our pay checks.  I'm also sure Congress is still getting paid, even though some of the people they represent are being pushed into traffic.  They did this because they are in power.  We elect these people.  I say we do a clean sweep and push everyone in Congress out in the next election.  They will not reach a compromise because they are rich jerks who can't understand people who live from pay check to pay check (or WIC check to WIC check).  They won't understand because they will never elect for themselves to follow the same laws that govern the rest of us.  No one is above the law.  No one is superior to anyone else.  Overthrow the government and show them who is really in charge of this country.  We, the people, can fix this better than the government who refuses to compromise.  Parties divide our country when they throw temper tantrums and refuse to compromise.  Grow up, figure this out, so people who need government assistance can get it.  We should take care of our citizens.  Some assistance could be due to laziness, but some it is due to hard times and bad luck.  We will pay to kill people in wars, but when it comes to assisting people in our own country it is questioned.  What does that say about our country?  I'm definitely not proud of my country at this time.  Our representatives are failing us.  A taste of power and they do what would be right for themselves, not what is right for the people they represent.

Go home Congress, you're drunk.  On Power.

Please Participate!!!!

Hello,

If you notice in my blog, I speak a lot about equality.  Well, I have decided to do something a little different for my artwork, which emphasizes similarities that everyone has with each other.  I would greatly appreciate as much participation as possible from all around the globe.  The paragraph below speaks to the project that I would like to work on (it is also available on my website= http://trippkristen.wix.com/kristentripp--art#!connections-project/c1rkk), along with a portfolio of my work):

I am a graduate student in Sculpture at Wichita State University.  Part about what I love when I talk with other people is finding out information that has made them the person who I am talking to at that point in time.  We all have had struggles in our life or exciting opportunities that have completely changed our lives or how we see the world or how we see ourselves.  However, we also all see the memes/messages that float around in cyberspace reminding us that we often forget we don’t know everything that a person has been through that has created the person before us and that we should understand that before treating them disrespectfully.  The memes /messages wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t at least a little bit of truth in them.  This brings me to the point of this request.  I would like to get to know you better.  If you have had something in your life, struggles, opportunities, regrets, etc. or anything that you want to talk about, please contact me with your story.  It will be considered anonymous, unless specified otherwise by you.   I am hoping to take everyone’s story that is gifted to me and create sculptures aimed at emphasizing the personal connections we have with others.  This could be a fragment of your life, just one instant or situation or event that you have been through, or it can be an ongoing situation/event.  Photographs of these will be taken and placed on the site, with possible fragments of the letters.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Please send me your story.  E-mail or by letter.  Thank you! :)

My contact information:

Website’s contact me:

http://trippkristen.wix.com/kristentripp--art#!contact/czpl

E-mail:

connections.project.kct@gmail.com OR tripp.kristen@gmail.com

Address:

1434 North Saint Paul St, Apt. 201

Wichita, Kansas 67203

Rights?

I have a two year old nephew and two nieces, eight and nine years old.  I often find myself wondering who and what they will be when they grow up.  Guessing what type of job or field they might end up in is pretty fun, however, guessing how people will interfere in their lives and rights when they get older is not fun.  What if one of them grow up and discover they are homosexual?  Right now, when everyone assumes they are heterosexual, they have all the rights that go along with being a "normal" person, a heterosexual.  They can dream about getting married to the person of their dreams (as long as it is a man for my nieces and a woman for my nephew), but that all comes crashing down if they are actually homosexual.  Even though more laws are passing to help homosexuals out, more can and should be done.  I could care less about the sexual orientation they end up being.  I want them happy because I love them.  I want them to be who they are and be comfortable with who they are.  People say that "gay" marriage isn't a right but if a heterosexual couple were turned down to be married, there would be a fit.  "Gay" marriage is MARRIAGE.  Stop putting "gay" in front of it.  We are all humans.  Be proud of yourself and help others to be proud of themselves.  You are awesome.  Everyone is awesome in their own way.