From Salon, Lessons from the "organic rednecks": "At an Oregon farm, I learned that eating local isn't about politics or budget, it's about making food better."

A gorgeous hand-lettered literary map of the USA.

Image: source.

On some of the benefits of living rural.

I'm bad about doing stuff with my hair. I have pretty nice hair (I can say that, I didn't do anything to get it - thanks 'rents!) but I generally just let it hang there. I say it's because I like the "messy," "natural" look, which is true...but also I'm lazy. Anyways, these photos of braids made me think I should try to get creative, especially with summer coming (when long, thick hair gets a little unruly).

On the media's belittling of bisexual women.

Interesting: Gender Justice in Environmental Studies.

I've been curious about trying compression sleeves and socks, even though I'm still sort of unclear about their benefits. SR's review of compression tights has be more interested.

"America’s fears of a black superher and how resistant our popular culture can be to images of black power."

Junot Díaz on Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal

I've seen a few variations on this, but always get a kick out of it: How valid is the implied legal advice in Jay-Z's "99 Problems"? (" 'Well do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?' / Well, my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back / And I know my rights, so you gon' need a warrant for that")

Image: source.

I finally got some sleep last night, but it was still hard to drag my butt out of bed in the morning. I'm not gonna lie, it was a pathetic run - about 3 miles of running and 2 of walking. I was slow and stiff and couldn't believe I was the same person who just ran a marathon a week or so ago. The body is a crazy thing. I'm feeling discouraged right now, but I'm trying not to let it get me down.

I always love reading Dear Sugar.

A review of the Eugene Marathon by Skinny Runner (whose snarky running blog I've come to love).

Image: source.

A great article from the New Yorker about death penalty mitigation: The Mitigator: A new way of looking at the death penalty.

A surprisingly in-depth and well-done article from Tulsa World (Oklahoma) on a brave trans teen and her family: "Katie Hill wasn't born a girl...but she always knew she was meant to be one." Becoming Katie: Part 1, Part 2.

Image: source.

I never thought it would happen but I definitely spent 8 minutes just watching video of people run this morning: footage from the Miwok 100km Trail Run. And on that "I'm becoming a running geek" note, awesome behind the scenes photos from North Face's ultra running shots in Patagonia, featuring Hal Koerner, who owns the awesomest running store here in the Rogue Valley. I used to pass the store and think, "A whole store just for running??" and now it's one of my favorite places. They have so much awesome gear, the store is gorgeous, and everyone who works there is so freaking nice. Seriously, every time I run a race I go in and force them to listen to me ramble about it - and even though they couldn't be less impressed ("Really? You're excited about 10 miles? I ran 100," I'm sure they're thinking), they are so supportive. My main problem is staying away from there, since I drop a ton of money every time I even catch sight of the place...

"At least three of the Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961 had managed to survive or escape the Holocaust as children."

Love it: Repurposing Abandoned Schools Project Winner: A Farm to Table Urban Food Center

Definitely interested in seeing the documentary about Chaz Bono.

Image: source.

Training: Saturdays race was brutal! The "Tough As Nails" 10 miler was my first trail race and it definitely lived up to its name - I ran my whole marathon without walking once, but I had to walk (er, hike) between 2-3 miles of TAN! Up and down, up and down. It was different than a road race in a lot of ways, one of which was that I didn't/couldn't really get into a rhythm the same way, because the terrain changed so much. Which was also the awesome part - beautiful scenery and no shortage of challenges and changes on the course, that's for sure. I took a tumble at one point and by the end was in some real pain...but sure enough, by yesterday I was itching to get back on the trail.

Sunday I walked for about 90 min, and then did 3 miles of sprint intervals, and about 15 min of weights. Today I'm working on about 4 hours of sleep (I picked up a friend from the airport at 1am), so...didn't make it to the gym, and probably won't. Just looking to make it through the day.

For Mother's Day I took my mom to Measure for Measure at the local (but nationally acclaimed!) Shakespeare Festival. I'm not a big play-goer but it was actually very well done! They set the play in what looked to be the 60's or 70's and even added in some musical numbers - and, somehow, it worked! I will say that there was one scene that made me uncomfortable and somewhat upset, where a man dressed in women's clothes is at a police station and they rip off the actors wig and dress - which was met by laughter from the audience. I can't go into a detailed discussion of Shakespeare's use of cross-dressing etc, but I don't really think that's the point in this instance - this was a choice by the director to create "humor" by violently exposing and embaressing a gender queer character and I thought it was unneccsary.

Image: source.

Image: source.

Listening to: NPR Culturetopia podcast.

Intense: photos from Kent State (yesterday was the 31st anniversary of the shootings).

Image: source.

Ugh, wow, Source Code sucked - don't waste your time on it! However, my lovely movie date, Jill, brought me two books to borrow - the third, and last, of the Hunger Games series, as well as Tina Fey's Bossypants. Can't wait to get into them both this weekend!

Tomorrow I'm running the "Tough As Nails" 10 mile race. I'm sort of nervous, since I haven't run much since the marathon (was it only last weekend??) and the race is supposed to be, well, tough. But I'm excited for a race - it always motivates me a bit.

"A library is many things. It's a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It's a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books...Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people — people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book." - E.B. White in a letter to the children of Troy, Michigan, explaining what's great about libraries. source.

What a novel idea! Pro-child, anti-discrimination. The Every Child Deserves a Family Act would "ban discrimination in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child."

Can you imagine facing deportation without an attorney? From NYTimes: As Barriers to Lawyers Persist, Immigrant Advocates Ponder Solutions: "[I]n immigration court...defendants have no right to a court-appointed lawyer, forcing many to go without and drastically raising their chances of being deported."

From RadioLab: In The Running: "Diane Van Deren is one of the best ultra-runners in the world, and it all started with a seizure. In this short, Diane tells us how her disability gave rise to an extraordinary ability." (Do the editing and sound effects of RadioLab drive anyone else *crazy*? Why can't they just let the stories stand on their own a little more?)

Image: source.

Country singer Blake Sheldon's homophobic tweet. This is the same idiot who made a homophobic crack while hosting this years Country Music Awards - when will he learn? I love me some country music, but the country community needs to step up and confront the rampant homophobia among it's artists and fans. We will see if Sheldon's reaching out to GLADD comes to anything.

“If we feel deeply, and we encourage ourselves and others to feel deeply, we will find the germ of our answers to bring about change. Because once we recognize what it is we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy. And when they do not, we will ask, “Why don’t they?” And it is the asking that will lead us inevitably toward change.

So the question of social protest and art is inseparable for me. I can’t say it is an either-or proposition. Art for art’s sake doesn’t really exist for me. What I saw was wrong, and I had to speak up. I loved poetry, and I loved words. But what was beautiful had to serve the purpose of changing my life, or I would have died. If I cannot air this pain and alter it, I will surely die of it. That’s the beginning of social protest.” - Audre Lorde

Image: source.

Ugh: Race Impacts State Legislators’ Responsiveness To Inquiries From Constituents

I AM: Trans People Speak is "a multi-media campaign aimed

at raising awareness about the diverse communities
of trans individuals, families, and allies."

From the American Bar Association, a new LGBT antibullying/ antidiscrimination campaign, "The Kids Are Listening.”

Image: source.

Tonight I'm headed to dinner with a wonderful friend and then we are going to see Source Code. I have to say, the previews look absolutely horrible but it's gotten some pretty good reviews. Training wise, I have been a major slacker this week. Some of it is because I'm post-marathon, some of it is because I'm being more social, some of it is just slackerness. Anyways, I'm hoping to get back on track this weekend, reducing sugar again, getting back to 8 hours of sleep a night, and making sure I'm on track for my marathons and triathlons this fall.

“Be thankful and repay / Growth with good work and care. / Work done in gratitude, / Kindly, and well, is prayer. / You did not make yourself, / Yet you must keep yourself / By use of other lives. / No gratitude atones / For bad use or too much.” - Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems, 1979-1997

Unbelievable: The ACLU on Wednesday asked a judge to block a South Carolina jail’s rules over what items inmates may receive while the group challenges a policy barring inmates from any reading materials other than the Bible. (a) Prisoners are people too; (B) since when has preventing people from educating themselves helped anything?; and, (c) I seem to remember something about "rehabilitation: being part of the criminal justice system....

Very cool! NK just introduced me to this site Streetfilms.org: Documenting Livable Streets Worldwide. Check out the first in their new series in honor of Bike Month, "My NYC Biking Stories." "Our first profile is on Sarinya Srisakul, the city’s first female Asian-American firefighter. She is also vegan, and one of the 31 female firefighters in the nation's largest fire department of almost 11,000 members."

Image: source.

Forks Over Knives: Interesting looking film about American diets and health. There are some elements of the trailer that worry me (fat shaming and the "it's as easy as eating healthily!") but I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the whole thing, hoping that they address complicated issues of gov't subsidies, income disparity, access to foods, etc in greater detail.

Outrageous: immigration agents target parents taking their kids to school (did you know that a Supreme Court case from the 80's, Plyer v. Doe, guarantees all kids - regardless of immigration status - the right to an education through high school? True story.)

“If you’re really listening, if you’re awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold ever-more wonders.” - Andrew Harvey

Really interesting, and definitely something I'll keep in mind when making my annual donations...Ten Reasons Why I Would Never Donate to a Major Charity

Yes, yes, more of this, please! USDA Encourages Schools To Partner With Local Farms

Judge Gertner: On being judged: Why the label “activist judge’’ doesn’t apply to me: "In truth, most of my job is not about constitutional interpretation and grand principles – the usual fare of the activist debate – it is about people, big and small, powerful and not. It is about the thousands of small decisions I make that open the court’s doors or slam them shut."

Image: source.

Excellent! Common sense prevails over homophobia and lies: Barbara A. Lenk, a veteran Appeals Court judge, today won confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court, becoming the first openly gay judge to serve on the state’s highest judicial body.

"Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth." - James Baldwin

Happy Birthday, Keith Haring. He would be 53 today.

Unfinished Painting,

Keith Haring (1958 - 1990)

Growing Up Gay and Transgendered in Appalachia: "Awareness about sexuality and gender differences remains painfully limited in much of the region, but some have begun sharing their stories"

Proud of NUSL grad Drew and the other clerks who have stepped up to offer their support for Judge Lenk in the face of discrimination and ignorance.

I got a hat from this company this weekend, and I love it - they have tons of cute stuff.

My aspirational fashion is finally becoming more realistic: where I once coveted $400 Marc bags, I now drool over these "fancy" tote bags.

Image: source.

Yum: I want to try this recipe: Caramelized Onion Hummus

"As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself.” - Haruki Murakami

From Salon, why "USA! USA!" is the wrong response to Osama's death. And from the always thought-provoking Tim Wise, Killing One Monster, Unleashing Another: Reflections on Revenge and Revelry.

Love the look, love the purpose: rooftop gardens.

Very interesting: Greg Mortenson and the perils of “great idea-great man” philanthropy. Why the "3 Cups of Tea" scandal is about more than just Mortenson.

What Were the Women Doing? Activism among black women at the time of the Civil War.

Image: source.

Loved this: dirty dozen cheat sheet, what produce you should buy organic.

Training: I planned on taking yesterday as a rest day entirely, but I felt like my stiff legs could use a little movement. I did a few sprint intervals on the treadmill and then walked (for a total of about 40 minutes), and then biked on the stationary bike for about 15. Tomorrow will be my return to bootcamp! I'm still riding high on the marathon. :)

"Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it." - Twyla Tharp

“You Reading This, Be Ready” by William Stafford

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life--
What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

My (first) Eugene Marathon 2011

Warning: totally boring run details if you aren't race obsessed :)

Overall, it was one of the best days of my life. Beautiful weather, a well-planned race, the support of my friends and family, and just a great run. I'm still basking in the day.

Image: me getting my results, with "Don't Give Up" written on my left arm. My right arm had a heart that said "Mom Dad Rocky [my stepdad]."

OK, the details! First, I think I over tapered. In the last two weeks before the race I got paranoid about injury and I think tired of running after my 20 miler, so my mileage seriously decreased. Mainly I was just biking and doing yoga. I think this was ok for me physically but mentally it messed with me, because running felt distant to me etc.

Second, I think I went too crazy with eating the last two weeks as well - I was still eating like I was running a lot but I wasnt, so I felt really full and heavy and overweight for the race. Also I started eating sugar again, which probably didn't help.

Next, the day before the race I traveled up from where I live - just 3 hrs but still meant that I was eating food on the road, not my usual food. The night before we went out to dinner and I thought what I got was fine (veggie burger and fries) but I woke up at 1am and was on the toilet for like 2 hrs....That's all I will say about that. But my mom commented that she was impressed I didn't let it get me down. I think that is something I've gotten from law school and the Bar exam and running - an attitude of, well, it is what it is, all I can do it keep going! As I was sitting there late at night all I could think was, "Seven months, I've been training for this for seven months."

But race day came and I managed to choke down a PowerBar before go time, and overall, the race was awesome! The first 4 miles were shitty, as always (side cramps, tired, probably dehydrated from the nights events). My stomach was still upset from being sick and I was living in fear of shitting my pants (sorry, harsh reality of running). I managed to eat a ShotBlock every 3 miles or so, along with a cup of water.

Overall I wanted to come in under 5 hours but I initially assumed the 5 hour pacer was behind me because I felt so slow. Miles 4-13 were a slow, training pace. At about Mile 8 I saw that the 4:30 pacer was about a half mile in front of me and I was like, Oh yes, I'm gonna get them! It helped that my running buddy Magen, who I usually run with on the weekends, was still with me because she was running the half marathon. It felt familiar and great to have her by my side for the first 9 or so miles. I slowly gained on the 4:30 group over the next few miles.

Miles 13-18 were good - I was in the zone, a slightly increased tempo, and I slowly passed the 4:30 group. Once I was in front of them (about Mile 14?) I spent the rest of the race looking back to make sure they didnt pass me - they got really close a bunch of times, and kept me on my toes!

Mile 19 or so the legs got heavy and stiff. I got another burst once I passed mile 20, thinking "Wow, I'm really running a marathon!" and I was thrilled. At Mile 24 I felt sick all of a sudden and really cranky (I think maybe my blood sugar was low?). The last mile or so was rough. But then the end! Wahoo! I heard my friends cheering for me, my amazing parents had managed to cheer me on at 4 different spots during the race, and I felt so loved and encouraged. After I crossed the finish line and got the medal, I didnt feel like "Oh, I'm gonna die, I cant go another step!" just like, "Yep, that was a long run....I just ran a marathon!"

I'm sure I'll have more to say and write but I'm on my way to a post-marathon massage now. Thanks SO much for all the love and encouragement!