Ayayay

If the world would stop abusing children, I'd be okay with that.

If people would drive less aggressively, I'd be okay with that. 

If we could all be given one hour a day to appreciate art without interruption, I'd be okay with that.

If I could overcome my aversion to classic literature, I'd be okay with that. 

If blogging meant I was a real live writer and I was eligible to camp out at the Hugo House and smoke cigars, I'd be really okay with that.

If I didn't make mistakes in friendship, I'd be okay with that.

If cancer didn't eat up families and plans and dreams, I'd be okay with that.

If schizophrenia didn't paralyze people with untapped potential, I'd be okay with that, too.

If I could refrain from crying during Oprah, or refrain from admitting I like Oprah, I'd be okay with that.

If I could have a limitless shopping spree at Costco, I'd be extremely okay with that.

If I made an appearance on Jay Leno as a very popular guest, I'd be okay with that.

If I understood all the literary allusions I came across in NYTimes Op-Eds, I'd be okay with that.

If I could have my mom's strawberry cake and eat it, too, I'd be okay with that.

If I could have a wee babe right now and not be at all interrupted, I'd be okay with that.

If I could make sure that all the people I love are within walking distance from my house, I'd be okay with that.

See? I'm not hard to please. I'm okay with a LOT of stuff.

How Do People Think of this Stuff?

Now I've really seen it all..

I have done a lot of thinking and praying and brooding about women's rights (everybody's rights, for that matter), and I have settled, as comfortably as I can, into my beliefs about reproductive issues. Not that I'm going to broadcast that here, because I know it will cause a TIZZY. But in the mean time, I will share an article that has sent my head spinning.

Art major Aliza Shvarts ’08 wants to make a statement.

I'm not sure if this woman feels her method is the only way to share her voice, or if she's ignorant about the negative effects such a project might actually have on reproductive rights, or if she remotely considered the pain so many women suffer when they choose to end a pregnancy. I don't know what she's thinking, but I do know that I'm really disturbed.

Sure, we have a loooong way to go before all women have access to the resources they need to manage their reproductive health, but I feel very strongly that self-induced abortions, many times over, for the sake of provocative art, is immoral. There, I said it. I think it's perverse (using the blood from her own pregnancies?) and it was a SMART move on the part of Yale administration to revoke the privilege of displaying this women's senior project. Because, as the reporter says, it really seems to trivialize the matter. This isn't just another Supersize Me. Or it shouldn't be. It's a much deeper issue, it's about the sanctity of lives, born and unborn, and it seems to slap everybody in the face with a big ol', "I'm trying to shake things up at all costs, and I'm only 22." One student called it an "absurbism," and I couldn't agree more.

I learned about this article through a very random grapevine, so I'm wondering if it's really all over the news. Have you read about it anywhere else?