A quick "sevens meme"

Every once in a while, I amuse myself with memes.  Here's one from Pandagon:

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die:

1. Publish a book -- or several
2. Visit every continent (I'm currently at three)
3. Train for, run, and finish the Angeles Crest 100 Mile Race (if I ever start running again)
4. Create a formal Gender Studies Department at Pasadena City College
5. Have kids
6. Rescue lots and lots of chinchillas and run a rescue ranch for them and other animals
7. See Cal win the Rose Bowl

Seven Things I Can Do

1. Some increasingly complicated moves in Pilates involving lots of ab strength
2. Generally bluff my way through most medieval Latin and Anglo-Norman texts
3. Name every Cal starting quarterback going back to Craig Morton in the 1960s
4. Dress myself without clashing
5. Grow a full beard in two weeks
6. Sing St. Patrick's Breastplate.  All the verses.  Almost on tune. (if you know it, you know how hard that melody is.)
7. Teach 20 classes a year -- seven each semester, three each intersession, and survive

Seven Things I Can't Do:

1. Sit still for long
2. Eat slowly
3. Eat just one cookie, or one chip, or one anything
4. Watch baseball without nearly crying from boredom
5. Hold any one political or theological position for more than eighteen months without changing my mind completely
6. Wiggle my ears
7. Watch animal/nature shows without crying

Seven Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex:

It ill behooves the newly and blissfully married to answer this question, beyond saying that if you've met my wife, you know the answers.

Amanda reversed the question, writing about seven things that attract the opposite sex to her.  Again, clever idea, but false modesty holds me back.

Seven things I say the most:

1. "On the other hand..."
2. "I think that would be a colossal mistake."
3. "In any event..."
4. "Despite his/her execrable politics, I love him/her dearly."
5. "Before I came to Christ, I used to..."
6. "I love you"  (Fortunately, to a select few people and animals)
7. "You've written a lovely paper, but I'm afraid the complete absence of a thesis means that your many no-doubt wonderful points were, sadly, entirely obscured."

Seven Celebrity Crushes:

When I was younger, I had many celebrity crushes.  Honestly, today, I have none.  (Okay, Mariska Hargitay is pretty swell, but that's as far as I'll go.)

Comments

[ianvh]

""You've written a lovely paper, but I'm afraid the complete absence of a thesis means that your many no-doubt wonderful points were, sadly, entirely obscured.""

As a student marker, I love this quote -- If only I had a stamp or something that said this so I didn't always have to write it out. Someone should market one.

[Jill]

Ah, Mariska Hargitay. I have a huge girl-crush on her. Good choice.

[albert]

along with other things i would root for, i especially look forward to #4,
“Create a formal Gender Studies Department at Pasadena City College”

[MRAboy]

For number 4, I'd much rather see you win a Golden Gloves championship. Hell, I'd even be cheering for you. :)

[Hugo]

Albert, I expect you to come back and teach here once we do so!

MRAboy, let me tell you, if my calf doesn't get better, I may have to learn to box. Stay tuned.

[nykol]

"You've written a lovely paper, but I'm afraid the complete absence of a thesis means that your many no-doubt wonderful points were, sadly, entirely obscured."

I'll certainly have to use that one. You say that so well.

[Marc Angelucci]

First, you say you never met any gay MRAs. I'll gladly introduce you to gay/bisexual MRA's, both male and female. Email me at marchangelucci@hotmail.com

The men's rights movement has people on both the left and right, and both gay and straight. My chapter of NCFM has Green Party members, libertarians, democrats, republicans, liberals and conservatives. I know at least one MRA who is an outright communist. We have members and even leaders who are gay or bisexual. We just put aside sexual orientation because it's not relevant to the issues of men's rights, for the most part. Sometimes politics unfortunately gets in the way. But most of us put aside our political differences to address men's rights . . . period. What we agree on is that we are sick and tired of seeing men's rights get trampled on and men's issues get ignored while feminists abuse their spotlite by telling lie after lie after lie to the media and the government on gender issues while MRA voices are excluded. People who paint MRAs as all conservative or anti-gay are either ignorant or just trying to misportray us. Maybe they just feel threatened by the fact that we are growing, and we will continue to grow. (Incidentally, "Dude Power!" here is a gay-friendly men's rights site run by a gay man at www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Castro/3242/.)

Hugo once misportrayed MRAs by saying their main gripe is that men are victims of feminism. Actually, our main gripe is that the rights of men are being violated, and their well-being ignored, by government and public policies, while government, acadamia and the media ignore men's rights and distort the issues, largely due to the lies and half-truths that feminism spreads. That's where feminism comes into play. Feminism claims to be fighting for equal rights, but in every area where MRAs clash with feminism, look closely and you'll see that it's MRAs who are asking for equal rights while the feminists are opposing it (child custody, family court, domestic violence services, criminal sentencing, draft registration, genital integrity/mutilation, government commissions on gender issues, prison policies, reproductive rights, etc.)

You ask MRAs: "What are you doing for sexual companionship, given your aversion to both marriage and committed relationships with American women?"

I don't know where you get the idea that MRAs avoid commitments, or even marriage, as a matter of creed or policy. We are a diverse movement. We have men and women of every race, religion and sexual orientation. Many MRAs are married. Many including myself, are in committed relationships. Many avoid commitment. Many don't. My girlfriend supports my men's rights activism, and I wouldn't date a woman who did not. As MRA's, we respect both. But almost all of us agree that men need to be more informed of the risks of marriage with women, and a large number of us do support a men's boycot of marriage. And many of us do avoid marriage, or are extra cautious of it, but that's true of alot of men, and studies are showing that more and more men are avoiding marriage, largely because they are increasingly learning about the actual risks involved especially for men. The system works to destroy men after divorce. MRA's may be more aware of that than the average man, and so they may be more careful about commitment. But that doesn't mean we all avoid commitments. Some of us do, and some don't.

Marc E. Angelucci
President
National Coalition of Free Men, Los Angeles chapter
www.ncfmla.org

[Hugo]

Marc, did you mean to post this in the previous forum?