After the Brexit, a little, unrelated, good news.

I was planning to post about the Brexit (*shudder at name and results*) but I need to focus on some good news.

This news on Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt is so good to hear.

Across this nation, there are still far too many pointless and wrongheaded restrictions on a woman's right to make informed health decisions.  So many of these laws are dishonestly framed as being for the "health of the mother" when the reality is they do nothing to help the woman.

While pro-life advocates said these laws made abortion safer for women, their most significant effect was forcing roughly half of the state's abortion clinics to close. The overwhelming consensus from doctors is that the laws had no medical benefit, and actually made abortion less safe because they forced quality clinics to close for no compelling medical reason. 

 
Hell, the fact of the matter is, some of these women don't want to be mothers are all.  And the others already are mothers and would like to maintain their health, as is, thank you very much.



And the notorious RBG, as always, brings it home:

"It is beyond rational belief that H. B. 2 could genuinely protect the health of women." 

Love her.

For more smart words on abortion, check out Dr. Jen Gunter.  Powerful reading.

Unsubscibed

So, I got two comments on my previous post, apparently from the same person.  Someone named Anonymous.  I'll have to see if that name has any specific meaning.

First they said:

Should have stuck with wow.

Then they felt the need to come back and let me know that they were:

Unsubscibed.

Seems like something they could have done the first time.

Maybe they'll make a third post when they find the "r" they are missing.


On a more serious note, I had actually hoped to avoid antagonizing anyone, despite how that post and this response seem.  I had my "announcement" post up specifically because I wanted people to be able to avoid a politics discussion if they wanted.  As I said then, I can appreciate the desire to keep politics out of escapism.  It's nice, in principle, to have a place to retreat when the world is too much.  But the thing is, that place of retreat isn't always the "neutral" place you think it is.  In many ways, the rigid structure of a game world makes the issues of the world more obvious.

Simple examples?

Skin tone variation is pretty limited in WoW
Body dimensions are even more restricted
In-game, NPC same-sex relationships not exactly common

Now, to the first two items - well, there can be an argument made about coding and the endless myriad of combinations that would need to be accounted for.  But while the coding argument has a fair basis and certain defaults must occur, it doesn't address where the line is drawn between what is included and what is excluded.  It doesn't acknowledge that the same default is used across so many games and how that can make some players feel, time after time after time.

And yes, not everyone cares.  Some people want to be the Platonic ideal of hero and there is nothing wrong with that.  But for those that do care and feel excluded, the world that you see as a place where we are "all the same" isn't the place you think it is.

But for Anonymous, I have to say, I'm kind of sorry you left.  Well, okay, not really as it seems like you are averse to others having strong opinions that do not match yours.  But, while I'm writing this for me, just me, and only me, I would like to be able to convince others to listen to my point of view and perhaps change their ideas.  I can't say I want to change my ideas and opinions about the world, but I hope that if I was convinced someone else was right that I would have the courage to re-evaluate myself.  I know I've done it before and likely will again.

Oh well.  Well, here's a bit of WoW for ya: Spouse and I are working on the Netherwing rep grind right now.  Oh, and the Shieldwall rep quests too.  Between the broken quests and the slow grind, whee those are fun.

I'm Just A $hill

Whew!  You sure gotta break a lot of ceilings to get to this White House here in Washington!  But I wonder who that sad little voter is?

I’m just a $hill

And I love that Hill

Is now headed off to Capitol Hill.

Was a long, long race against

Senator Bernie

But the Nevada letter

is when Bernie lost me.

And I know she’ll be the prez some day

Just ask the gays, if you will

But today I am still just a $hill.

Gee, $hill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage!

Well I got *this* far.  When I started, I wasn't even a *$hill* - I just wanted to vote.  Some folks back home said they wanted a skilled candidate, so they researched and said "Hill’s right, I’m with her."  Then I sat down and read about Clinton, and I became a $hill.  And I'll remain a $hill until Sanders decides to withdraw.

I’m just a $hill

Yes, I’ll fight for Ms. Hill

And we’ll get First Gentleman Bill

Well, I’m tired of “thanks,

for the record corrected”

So bye to all that, I’m off to get her elected.

I’ll $hill for Hill with my prose

And get abuse from the Bros.

But today I am still just a $hill.

Listen to those berniebros arguing!  Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Yes.  I'm one of the lucky ones.  Most $hills never even get this far. Most stay quiet so they don’t get harassed and told to die.

"Die?"

Yeah: die or things more shitty.  Oooh!  But it looks like Hillary said something! Now they’ll go yell neoliberal or Benghazi.

If you defend her, then what happens?

Then they call me a $hill and the whole thing starts all over again.

Oh no!

Oh yes!

I’m just a $hill

Yes, I’m ready for Hill

and I’ll vote for her as President Hill

Then she’s off to the White House

cause it’s finally time

For a woman to join

the executive line.

She’ll inspire girls to show chutzpah.

How I can’t wait for that thrill

But first Trump must lose to the Hill.

You mean there are people out there that want that bigot for President?

Yes, they want the “cheeto”.  If Trump wins he’ll have 4 years to roll back healthcare, equality, gun control and more. And when the presidential vote comes again, by that time it's...

By that time, it's very unlikely that the damage can be undone!  It's not a chance we can take, is it?

No!

So, how I hope and I pray that you will,

Join me and be just a $hill!

She won, $hill!  Now for 4 years of misogyny!

Oh yeah!

[In case you are confused: I'm Just a Bill]

So, where have I been? And what’s next?

In short, restricting this blog to just WoW made it difficult to post when other, more important things came up.  I wanted to talk about WoW (and what I was doing and what was going on in game), but there were also bigger things happening and they weren’t appropriate for what this blog was.  This really made it difficult to post at all, which then slowed all other momentum and then stopped me completely.

I’ve decided to modify this blog and open it up to more than just WoW and I wanted to let my readers know before I made the move.  I’ve always appreciated the attempt most bloggers make to keep politics and real-life to a minimum when talking about the game.  It’s not fully possible, nor is it a good idea, to completely avoid real-life concerns in a game though.  And I don’t just mean idiots talking politics in trade chat.  I mean topics that touch on real-life issues of the players.  Still, I do appreciate and embrace the need for escapism so that you can handle reality.  On the other hand, some never get to fully escape because our shared fantasy world is swimming in normative reminders of real life that may be invisible to most people.  And to pretend that we are all the same erases the issues some people face.

Whatever the case, I will still be posting on Warcraft and related whatnot, so I hope to be able to still have conversations with my readers.  But there will be other topics floating around as well and I wanted to give a heads up to readers and the people that added me to their blogroll in case they like to keep those lists tightly focused on WoW or at least gaming.

I started this post a while ago and have been trying to get it finished and posted.  I wanted to say more and edit it and refine it, but it is unnecessary and I need to make the switch soon.

The above was the summary of the navel-gazing below. 

When I first started this blog I briefly hit on the why of it:

Why am I doing this? 

I don’t know. Well, that’s not strictly true. I have some ideas of why but it would be hard to put them into words. I think, for now, it would be safe to say that I’m doing this because I want to.

 

There were a number of reasons but one, among the many, was possible depression*.  At the time, writing those posts was giving me an escape and a way of dealing with things. It was one tool that helped me cope and I think it did it well. 

One of things I have liked about having this blog is that I have tried to keep it focused on WoW as much as possible.  I was able to leave other things out and just focus on the game.  Now though, I’m feeling more and more confined by some personal limits I set that I think are preventing me from using this platform for what I want and need.

I’m in the US and as you are likely aware, we are having our presidential election this year. During the primaries I had quite a bit to say and as we move to the general election I’m sure I’ll have even more.  In addition, there are just too many things going on in the world that I'm not talking about and I want to.  While the internet doesn't really need one more opinion out there, I need to be able to talk about things.  I need to be able to talk about this letter.  I need to be able to talk about Orlando.  Even if there is no one to listen, I need to be able to write about it .

Moving forward

I was absolutely tickled when I was added to some side bars on a few blogs, and by people that I really enjoyed reading!

I guess that’s why I want to make this post.  I am planning to transition this blog to something less focused purely on WoW and be more of a personal journal, of sorts.  I still plan to post and talk about WoW, especially with Legion approaching, but I won’t feel like I have to edit myself quite so much.

And since I’ll be bringing in my opinions on various controversial topics, I wanted to make readers aware, especially those that added me to their side bar.  It's important to say that I'm not doing this because I'm mad at anyone that added me or any nonsense like that.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  It is because of my gratitude that people took an interest in my limited writing that I want to alert them as I change topics.

[And here is where I've been editing and deleting and revising. As I mentioned above, there is too much going on for me to keep waiting until this perfect.  So please forgive the clumsiness of this post.  I think the main idea comes across.  I'll leave this up for a few days so that anyone who wants to remove me from their reading can.]

* I was never officially diagnosed with depression, because I never went to a doctor about it.  Which I know can sound like a red flag, but I honestly never felt it quite hit that stage. A risky thing, I know, but I did talk with the spouse and we both kept an eye on things.  As a quick reminder, depression isn’t sadness.  For formal, clinical information, go here:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-what-you-need-to-know-12-2015/index.shtml

But for a good, deeply emotionally and resonant view, go here:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html