Elizabeth Wurtzel on 9-11

"I had not the slightest emotional reaction. I thought, 'This is a really strange art project.' It was the most amazing sight in terms of sheer elegance. It fell like water. It just slid, like a turtleneck going over someone's head."

Elizabeth Wurtzel was quoted as saying this in response to 9-11. I personally think that it's a great quote. I felt like I was floating in water that day, or as if I was underwater, and everyone was talking to me, but the sound was gurgled and unintelligible. I looked at whoever was speaking and blew bubbles like nonsense trying to say "What?". Nothing could really get through. I went to classes as usual, and at my college, there was some kind of welcoming week occurring at the time. Instrumental bands were playing celebratory music all day long as we dragged ourselves around from class to class trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It was completely surreal.

Apparently, Wurtzel's comments lead to Miramax pulling the film and releasing it safely on video four years later. As a fan of both the movie and the book, this angers me. I don't think Wurtzel is necessarily an unfeeling stuck-up American who makes light of the tragedies that exist in this society. On the contrary, she uses tragedy in her writing, and she does it well. Her reaction was just as genuine as any other American reaction, and censoring her movie (a movie that has nothing to do with war or patriotism at all) is simply asinine.

She is an American. I am an American. We're supposed to have free speech. Lucky for me, I'm not famous, and I don't owe any film companies any explanation.

The Onion's review of Prozac Nation

The Double-Edged Sword

My husband washed a truck tonight with pictures of dead fetuses all over it. He wanted to refuse to wash it. Most of his coworkers wanted to refuse as well, but they all sucked it up and did their jobs. Apparently, the truck belonged to a "pro life" activist from Kansas. The driver thinks if he displays this horrifyingly grotesque truck around the country he will somehow stop abortion. I don't really understand the logic behind his theory. If I was a woman considering an abortion, obviously, I would realize that it would mean killing tissue that is currently forming into a fetus. Do people really see pictures of dead fetus on a truck and say "Oh my God, I had no idea! This changes everything!"

It's so absurd. We all know what abortion means.

Abortion clinics make sure women are well informed. In Wisconsin it's state law that you know all of your options first. The fucked up part is that you can either know your options point blank from a trained professional for $100 fee, or you can go to one of the religious activist groups in town that will take three hours of your life to drill the ideology of fundamentalism and anti-abortionism into your head. They do everything in their power to guilt you out of your abortion. That option is free of charge. I'm not the type of pro-choicer who thinks abortion isn't a difficult decision. The fact that women making this difficult decision have to subject themselves to religious propaganda when they can't afford to pay an extra $100 pisses me off.

On the other hand, in regard to the trucker, I realize that because I expect a fundamentalist pharmacist to fill the morning after pill prescriptions, I must swallow my pride and admit that my husband has a responsibility to wash the fucking anti-abortionist's truck. I don't like it, and he doesn't like it, but it is a double-edged sword. What really pisses me off about these people is that they are trying to change the country I live in. They view religion and politics as the same thing, when in fact they are a dangerous mix. I like living in a country this free, and I can't help feeling stifled by people who want to take that freedom away.