By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was questioned earlier this week about her views and how they compare/contrast with President Clinton’s views during a visit to the Congo. (The student meant to say President “Obama.” Right.)
By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
When he speaks about the impact of captivity on the mammals, he doesn’t sound like a showboater, and what might seem like New Age-y talk about dolphin intelligence is pointed up with footage that left me haunted, too. That smile, says O’Barry, is nature’s greatest deception. Dolphins smile even when they’re crying on the inside.
Living in Florida, I am used to certain theme-and-water-park douchebaggery.
Comes with the heat, bugs, and old people driving 30-mph down the highway.
But there is something vastly disturbing about certain aquariums and water parks. And not only in Florida.
(Read the rest and see the film’s trailer after the jump)
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Keith Meinhold is one of many decorated veterans who can no longer serve his country … because he’s gay.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
This is not an easy post to write.
I struggle with my weight. Eating right and exercising takes effort and I work at it every single day. As President Obama encourages a national conversation about health care, what often gets overlooked is the part we play in our own demise.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
When Alexandra Zayas fromthe St. Petersburg Times called to talk about the Channel 8 protests, I couldn’t have been happier. Intelligent, friendly, compassionate — Zayas understood the topic and had done the research. She was covering the protest and surrounding story, gathering opposing points of view from friend and foe alike.
Hers would be a well-rounded story. I could just tell. So I was happy to contribute a verse.
Enough already with the military’s ridiculous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
And it’s about time we legalize gay marriage.
Yet after the stunning parades this weekend and the first official recognition of the movement by a sitting working US President, I’m filled with more hope than ever before.
Which is why I didn’t allow my blood pressure to rise when WFLA/News Channel 8 aired an “it would be disturbing if it weren’t so silly” documentary infomercial Saturday night about wicked gays trying to silence Christians. I urged my fellow libs to take deep breaths and see this program for what it was — a spoiled brat stomping his feet and holding his breath in the hopes of getting attention and that last piece of cake.
“Their world is ending, Mary,” I said with a giggle. “It’s falling down around them and they can’t do a thing to stop it. Let’s not be so reactionary. Pass the Sangria and shut the fuck up. I want to hear what these freakshows have to say so I can make fun of them later.”
By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor,“feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field
Charlie Miranda has come up with a plan to turn hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into drinking water. All in the name of self-sufficiency.
Yes, we are in the middle of a drought. But we aren’t desperate:
In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study of the treated wastewater from the city’s Howard F. Curren Wastewater Treatment Plant and found 27 different kinds of micropollutants in the recycled water even after it passed through a filtration process.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor, “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field
I grew up listening to Q105. That’s right, before I developed taste in music, I would tune in regularly to the WRBQ Morning Zoo, and Mason Dixon with his recorded laughter tracks. If you peered into my bedroom circa 1984, you’d certainly find me singing along with safe standards like The Fixx, Michael Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper.
Oh. The. Horror.
Eventually I discovered WMNF, mixed tapes, and the Cuban Club. I soon forgot all about Top 40 radio, its censored, dissected tunes that represented the lamest of corporate rock, and never looked back.
Q105 was dead to me.
Recently, though, I began listening again. The station now plays oldies from the 1960s and 1970s and occasionally such songs provide a history lesson from which my kids could learn to appreciate music.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor, “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Hillsborough County, like most of the country, is facing a budget shortfall. Officials have to come up with ways to cut at least $144 million in spending. Unfortunately, they won’t go after no-bid vendors or other white-collar prostitutes fleecing the Bay area. Instead, commissioners target programs serving our children and abused animals.
Because who cares about them?
The other night, several hundred concerned residents showed they cared by turning out to speak before the Hillsborough County Commission and voice support for these threatened programs.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor, “feminist mother of twins” and political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field
If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be a lot like Jem Lugo, a bright and funny senior at Springstead High School in Hernando County. As valedictorian, she was tasked with writing a speech to deliver at her school’s graduation ceremony.
I’ve been to several commencement exercises and the speeches given by the smartest kids in class are usually devoid of humor and almost always ignored by the audience. After five years in education and countless ceremonies, not one speech stands out.
Jem is a bright girl. She’s heading to Harvard, after all. She researched speeches online and found they were boring and uninspiring. So she decided to be different.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
One of those deep belly laughs that last for five minutes. My tongue hangs out. I grab my sides. The works. I could just picture the yearbook advisor catching shit. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Oh yes. Another grand example of a Tampa teacher’s piss-poor judgment.
Funny stuff.
Suddenly, I stopped laughing.
A 16-year-old had posed for a club picture without underwear and her hoo-ha was on display for the world to see. That’s what I’d been told. Who in their right mind would greenlight such a spread? Why would someone in the district support distributing the yearbook and suggest the Sickles junior “laugh it off?”
A few years ago, someone spotted a kid with the word “Fuck” on his shirt in a Sickles yearbook. Administrators went apeshit and demanded final say over all future yearbook editions.
Well, I thought, this changes things. What was going on at my old school?
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Tummy aches and waves of nausea, that was always my reaction to any reminder of Chamberlain High School and the time I spent there over twenty years ago. Although my memories are mostly positive and my closest friendships formed in its halls, I’d moved on and put those big hair years behind me.
Then something strange happened.
After two decades away from the nonsense, nostalgia started to creep in. Whether we’re talking about the music (New Order kicked ass) or movies (who didn’t relate to one of the characters in The Breakfast Club?), my friends and I eventually started to forget the bad and focus on the good instead.
It also doesn’t hurt to run into the prom king at Publix, his hairline almost completely receded and working on his fourth marriage. He’s more humble and friendlier, too. We laugh about Mrs. Barnes, a favorite teacher long since retired, and share mutual memories.
Suddenly, high school wasn’t so bad.
Then tragedy strikes and you realize you have a lot more in common with these people than you ever realized.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
In a long list of Republicans who eschew science and reason at every turn, Gary Kompothecras, a self-proclaimed “rainmaker” with his “Ask Gary” referral hotline and TV commercials, is using his money and influence to change how our children are vaccinated.
All because his children are autistic. Otherwise, I doubt he’d give a shit.
Why do people suffer a tragedy and then turn into douchebags? (Eds. note: Or, in the case of once-comedic Jim Carrey, why do people let their spouses screw the funny out of them and replace it with nutty activism?)
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Every year at high schools across the country, female students take part in Powder Puff football games. They compete against each other while male students dress in drag to perform as cheerleaders. It’s a silly and ridiculous ritual.
But in the grand scheme of things, the tradition is rather harmless. Students raise some needed funds and everyone usually has a good time before retiring to the captain’s house for a raging kegger.
They also sell Powder Puff t-shirts to commemorate the event.
Administrators at Sickles High School got into a bit of trouble with this year’s t-shirt when a few parents called to say that the shirt was “obscene” and “inappropriate.”
As a teacher, I saw obscene and inappropriate shirts on our students every day. Rarely did parents complain. So when I heard this, I naturally had to see the offensive garb for myself.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
“Is President Obama giving money to the people in Gaza who hate us and want to destroy Israel?”
That’s the question posed to me by my 9-year-old son. One of his friends at school told him this disturbing bit of news and so he came home and asked about it over dinner that night.
What the f*ck? Isn’t he still supposed to be asking if Superman is real?
I told him that there are people in Gaza who are hungry and sick. If we don’t help them, they will get help from bad people who will use that assistance as a way to get more support for doing bad things. If we do help victims in Gaza, maybe they will reject bad ideas from bad people. I told him we need more friends and fewer enemies in that part of the world.
Speaking of friends and enemies, the following day I was in the car and turned on the radio to catch True Talk on WMNF. Host Ahmed Bedier uses this forum to discuss Muslim issues and events.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Muslims, African-Americans, poor people, homosexuals and other targets of discrimination — listen up:
Here’s how you beat bigotry with some style.
How many of you are familiar with the story of the Irish? It ain’t about green beer (oh the horror), corned beef and cabbage.
What is it about, you ask? What did we celebrating yesterday?
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
There’s a teacher at my old school who’s spreading misinformation based on faulty science and fundamentalist nonsense.
No, I’m not talking about Intelligent Design. What’s interesting is that this particular teacher would probably frown on such mindless stupidity. Yet she’s just as bad.
She is telling students about the dangers of vaccinating babies and toddlers.
“If you ever have children,” she tells her students, “don’t get them vaccinated. It could cause them to become autistic.”
Never underestimate the lengths to which an overworked, overstressed mother of twins will go to get out of the house.
Creative Loafing has a new website and I’m one of their contributing writers. They invited me to their launch party and I thought it’d be fun.
That’s what I get for thinking.
I put on my hot mama jeans, did my hair, and even applied some goddamn makeup. One of my favorite Republicans, Jim Johnson, said he’d meet me there so I stuck the boys with my mom for the evening and took off for South Tampa.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
I’ve read all the arguments about Nadya Suleman’s story – welfare mom giving birth to eight children when she has six of her own back home – and the national outrage associated with it.
Some of the arguments lead to other arguments. I’ve talked with women who have used IVF successfully and yet feel free to say that other women should be banned due to socio-economic factors.
So I asked if Nadya Suleman should have used selective reduction, a medical procedure where a doctor reduces higher-order multiples to a more manageable number, usually two.
Although, I’m here to tell you, two ain’t always so manageable.
But I digress.
These IVF moms, who consider themselves pro-life, are quick to say that abortion, no matter how it’s phrased, should not be an option.
At that point, such women get confused and then usually drop the subject.
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Tenure is a joke. It keeps bad teachers on the job and makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fire them. The CTA (Classroom Teachers Association) says tenure is necessary to protect teachers from batshit crazy administrators.
Nonsense.
What other job lets you underperform without repercussions, or allows a bad teacher to keep a job indefinitely until he/she either dies or retires?
What’s up with Pope Benedict? While I was in Atlanta last week, Dude went and took a giant step to the right. He welcomed back into the fold a few crazies who organize under “the Society of St. Pius X.” This is a society of pissed-off Catholics (read: Mel Gibson’s heroes), angry about the reforms brought under Vatican II.
What were the offensive reforms that took place back in the 1960s? Vatican II changed mass from Latin to English and absolved Jews of that whole Christ-killing nonsense.
Right. That’s about it.
A bunch of wingnuts freaked the f*ck out and were excommunicated. Until now. Pope Benedict XVI brought them back. One such prodigal son is Richard Williamson, a bishop who believes the Holocaust didn’t really happen and American politicians planned 9/11 in order to justify going after the Arab world. (His blog here.)
One of those deep belly laughs that last for five minutes. My tongue hangs out. I grab my sides. The works. I could just picture the yearbook advisor catching shit. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Oh yes. Another grand example of a Tampa teacher’s piss-poor judgment.
