Daily Archives: May 13, 2013

May 13

Just as we all benefit from these resources, we all benefit from healthy babies that have the best chance to become future contributors to society. Why should being rich or having a certain type of job be a prerequisite for health care security? Why should everyone else have to live in fear of what could happen and whether we can afford it?

I find this whole situation preposterous. It goes beyond the middle-class squeeze: it’s disrespectful to women. A woman’s reproductive options are dangled over her head: access to contraception is threatened; abortion rights are constantly under attack. When a woman gets pregnant, unless she is wealthy or covered by private insurance, there is little help for her to raise children without going into debt. And the medical bills start piling up before she even start pushing.–Mira Ptacin

May 13

Where in the World is the Butcher?

The Butcher is always having weird adventures. On Thursday, he came home and said, “I’m thinking about going to LA.”

I asked, “When?”

And he said, “tomorrow.” And so he did.

I haven’t heard anything about his adventure yet, since he got back after I went to bed and left for work before I got up.

But it has made me decide that I need to have an adventure. I don’t know of what sort. I haven’t even really thought about doing anything exciting in a long time, but the Butcher always comes back from them so happy.

May 13

Baba What-ga?

So, I was watching “Lost Girl” last night–it’s the story of Canadians who, apparently, are shirtless a lot more than you think would be practical in a country so far north. Seriously, every other scene, someone is whipping off his or her shirt. No wonder they had to sell it to SciFi. There’s twenty-three days in Canada when it’s suitable to be half-naked. Otherwise, the production costs for heating the set must just be staggering. I mean, sure, they’re making up for some of it with the lesser costuming costs, but I still worry about the producers of “Lost Girl” who must make Canada warm enough for the massive amounts of random undressing that go on on that show.

I’m sorry. I’m now completely distracted. Oh, right, so anyway, I’m watching the episode where they encounter Baba Yaga. And they keep saying her name “Baba Yeeh-gah,” with the most emphasis put on the “gah.” Now, I do feel slightly cheated that we didn’t do much folklore in my Russian classes, so I haven’t ever heard the name pronounced by a native Russian speaker AND the tiny girl on the show, Ksenia Solo, is, according to Wikipedia, a Latvian-born Russian. But I swear, it never occurred to me that this is how you would say it. I have always been saying it to myself “Baba Yaga” like “Lady Gaga.” And I went back and looked at in in Russian–Баба Яга–and I still would pronounce that “Baba Yaga.”

On the other hand, I was regularly told I spoke Russian like a peasant. On the third hand, come on! Clearly the peasants would have the best Baba Yaga stories, so who the fuck doesn’t want to speak in a way they would understand? So, I kind of wonder if I’ve just been fucking this up all these years or if it’s a difference in accents. After all, someone who learned English from a Californian is going to be confused when she hears a word she’s only ever read in English pronounced by a Scottish dude, if it doesn’t sound like it did in her head. And it doesn’t mean either pronunciation is wrong.

But anyway, that got me poking around and, apparently, there’s some wondering if Baba Yaga isn’t the same or similar to Perchta who might be the same or similar to Holda. And I would like to read about that. So, holler if you know of any good resources.