Fair Weather Feminist and This Oil "Spill" in the Gulf is Really Pissing Me Off

Confession: I haven't posted a blog update on this blog since December 2009. You probably know this because you stopped checking for updates when it became clear Survival of the Feminist was on hold back in, oh, 2008. Again. Sorry. Alas, I am a fair weather blogger. But, I am not a fair weather Feminist, so with that, I return. Again. Another confession: I had basically given up on writing here, but something would not let me delete it altogether, even though I don't like blogger as much as I like wordpress, and I never update. I'm not finished with it yet, and also my links are pretty cool and are updated constantly and I like that feature. A LOT. Fair weather? Probably. Judge me, if you will.

When I looked up Fair Weather Friends online to provide you with a cool link. It came up with this. I don't think that applies here, but it's kind of funny. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT COPY THEIR IMAGES!!! It will result in the end of all applique the worldwide or something.

My ennui with blogging lately could be that 4 blogs, three of which I co-author, are too many. This is always the one who gets left out in the cold. Probably because it requires a different kind of thinking and writing than blogs about books or blogs about my family or blogs about autism. Well, maybe not all that different. (See how I worked that in)

Enough of that, really! Who wants to hear about why someone didn't blog?

What I am really concerned about right now is the GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL! Which is so so so much worse than first thought. Great. Listen up Transocean and BP: YOU ARE RUINING THE WORLD MOTHERFUCKERS! OK?

I have a friend in the Gulf who is part of the response and clean up effort. His days are long and hot and dangerous and there isn't really an end in sight. He's a person who has trained for this kind of disaster, so he's who we want there. But, his is the kind of job you don't really want to have to activate.

So, let's talk turkey! How do we reduce our independence on oil, realistically? Personally, we're a family who only uses one car. Steve doesn't drive. Gasp! We live in the city. He hates driving. He takes the bus or gets rides. Is it convenient? Most of the time, yes! Are there times when it's not? Of course. Late at night the buses don't run as frequently. If I am running late and want him to dash to The Kid's school and pick him up, it can be inconvenient. But, we have really worked that out so it almost never happens. Steve takes the bus everywhere. And, if he has to go somewhere the bus doesn't, I drive him. But, that's not that often. Next, we have been making a plan to reduce or eliminate our dependence on owning a car. When my car dies (and it's threatening to) I might sign up to use Zip car when I need a car, and bike or bus for the rest of the non heavy duty-errand things.

The only reason I say that I "might" sign up is that we have kids. One lives across the border in another state and is wheelchair bound, so this requires quite a lot of car usage. Zip Car could probably resolve that for us, if need be. But The Kid, who will be in second grade next year goes to school in a school that is not in our busing zone. And, it is a looooonnnngggg city bus ride to and from our home to his school, but I am working on some logistics so this might be feasible. All is not lost. Where there is a will, there's a way, right? Right.