Busy Weekend
Jan. 23rd, 2010 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsFollowing on the previous link, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redpanda13 points out that Grupa MoCarta w Operze has an amazing bit of Mozart that scans 4 different musical styles. The Titanic takeoff you'll see in the sidebar is also well worth the watching. (Obviously, I need to just search out this group, and see if they tour!)
Last night was the holiday party at my company; it's deliberately put late in January to miss other holiday parties and religious observances. Wow! It was a dinner party with amazing food (OMG asiago cheese mashed potatoes, OM NOM NOM) and much generosity on behalf of the company. Not only were there gift bags for all employees (a calendar and a crystal bowl), there were boxes of Godiva chocolate at every seat.
It's been a long time since I worked for a company that was so nice to all the employees and pretty much never have I worked in a place that pampered us so well. (Although the bartender was mixing them strong, and while my punch was supposed to be virgin, I rather doubt its chastity.)
Today was Roe v Wade day at the clinic. I will say, we had a pretty decent set of protesters. A bit classy even. (With one notable exception I'll get to in a minute.)
We had two of the usuals, the regular who hands out pamphlets and the semi-regular with his sign thanking the mothers of his adopted kids for their lives. That guy I give huge props to - it's easy to say "adoption is the loving option" (a common slogan) while skipping over the number of children already in the fostering system. It's racist and plain creepy to say "My son had to go to Korea to adopt a kid because all the white infants were aborted" (said to me at the March for Women's Lives). This is at least a guy who is *walking the walk* AND isn't dumping anything on the heads of the women going in.
The bulk of the double-dozen set of protesters was what looked like high school seniors/college freshmen from a Catholic school. According to the newspapers, hundreds of them have been bussed in.
They arranged 4 or 5 in front with the usual signs around their necks - Stop Abortion Now, Choose Adoption, etc. - and pinned a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe on a telephone pole, then spent the rest of the time alternating between group recitations of Hail Marys and the Lord's Prayer. A bit soothing to hear them, actually. They prayed for about 90 minutes, after which their leader read them a little speech about how they're to pray for us all, doctors, nurses, patients, and escorts alike. Then they did a sports-style cheer (escorts: "... o.O") and quietly left.
That left the sole exception. All the bile I wrote about last week poured out of one throat, one of our new regulars, and this week she continued her slow escalation of aggression. Last week she wouldn't interrupt prayers for anything. This week, her priority was to shout "Blood! Blood Money! Murderer! Baby Killer" at staff and escorts regardless of the prayers around her.
The escort team was also doubled, so we were ready. I was expecting things flying and all kinds of shouted nonsense, so having only one person ranting was a relief.
Tomorrow is a much-belated Christmas tea; it was originally slated for the day after the big snow, but nobody was willing to make a cross-state drive no matter how good the food was!
ETA: The amusing thing about doing volunteer work close to home is that the mailman stopped by the clinic with its mail, saw me, and said "You've got a package! Want to sign for it now?"
redpanda13 points out that Grupa MoCarta w Operze has an amazing bit of Mozart that scans 4 different musical styles. The Titanic takeoff you'll see in the sidebar is also well worth the watching. (Obviously, I need to just search out this group, and see if they tour!)Last night was the holiday party at my company; it's deliberately put late in January to miss other holiday parties and religious observances. Wow! It was a dinner party with amazing food (OMG asiago cheese mashed potatoes, OM NOM NOM) and much generosity on behalf of the company. Not only were there gift bags for all employees (a calendar and a crystal bowl), there were boxes of Godiva chocolate at every seat.
It's been a long time since I worked for a company that was so nice to all the employees and pretty much never have I worked in a place that pampered us so well. (Although the bartender was mixing them strong, and while my punch was supposed to be virgin, I rather doubt its chastity.)
Today was Roe v Wade day at the clinic. I will say, we had a pretty decent set of protesters. A bit classy even. (With one notable exception I'll get to in a minute.)
We had two of the usuals, the regular who hands out pamphlets and the semi-regular with his sign thanking the mothers of his adopted kids for their lives. That guy I give huge props to - it's easy to say "adoption is the loving option" (a common slogan) while skipping over the number of children already in the fostering system. It's racist and plain creepy to say "My son had to go to Korea to adopt a kid because all the white infants were aborted" (said to me at the March for Women's Lives). This is at least a guy who is *walking the walk* AND isn't dumping anything on the heads of the women going in.
The bulk of the double-dozen set of protesters was what looked like high school seniors/college freshmen from a Catholic school. According to the newspapers, hundreds of them have been bussed in.
They arranged 4 or 5 in front with the usual signs around their necks - Stop Abortion Now, Choose Adoption, etc. - and pinned a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe on a telephone pole, then spent the rest of the time alternating between group recitations of Hail Marys and the Lord's Prayer. A bit soothing to hear them, actually. They prayed for about 90 minutes, after which their leader read them a little speech about how they're to pray for us all, doctors, nurses, patients, and escorts alike. Then they did a sports-style cheer (escorts: "... o.O") and quietly left.
That left the sole exception. All the bile I wrote about last week poured out of one throat, one of our new regulars, and this week she continued her slow escalation of aggression. Last week she wouldn't interrupt prayers for anything. This week, her priority was to shout "Blood! Blood Money! Murderer! Baby Killer" at staff and escorts regardless of the prayers around her.
The escort team was also doubled, so we were ready. I was expecting things flying and all kinds of shouted nonsense, so having only one person ranting was a relief.
Tomorrow is a much-belated Christmas tea; it was originally slated for the day after the big snow, but nobody was willing to make a cross-state drive no matter how good the food was!
ETA: The amusing thing about doing volunteer work close to home is that the mailman stopped by the clinic with its mail, saw me, and said "You've got a package! Want to sign for it now?"
