A half-remembered transcript of a conversation with a friend.
KT: It was so great living in Hawaii! I miss going to see volcanoes.
Me: Volcanoes? How is that fun?
KT (excited): You can walk right up to the lava!
Me: But it’s right there!
KT (elated): I know! It’s so close! You can walk right up to it!
Me (fearful): You could fall right into it and die!
KT: I love imminent death!
While I was waiting for an appointment at the courthouse today, I scanned over the pamphlets sitting nearby. There is one on protection orders, which is the legal mechanism that is meant to protect those who are abused, harassed, and stalked. It contains a chart detailing what protection orders can and cannot do. The first thing in the column ‘What Protection Orders Cannot Do’ is ‘Ensure Safety,’ bolded and starred.
In other words, protection orders are worth about as much as the paper they are written on. Just another example of how the legal system fails to actually do anything to help women who are subjected to violence, all the while maintaining the appearance of the benevolent patriarch that ’saves’ women from violent sociopathic men.
The reason it’s so ineffective is because violence is the currency of the patriarchy, so the legal system has to maintain a strict balance between looking like it is doing something to eliminate violence, when actually it depends on violence.
This past Saturday night, a good friend and I went to the drive-in to see a movie. A triple feature was scheduled, with Ratatouille starting out the evening, followed by The Simpsons Movie and The Bourne Ultimatum (the last of which we had both already seen).
Before the movie, we ate the leftovers that my friend gets from working a few shifts a week at a second job for a catering company - steak, salmon, a tasty orzo salad with asparagus, and marinated green beans - while watching ‘The Thick of It,’ which is very, very, funny in a very British way (which is a way that I greatly appreciate). This was finished off by leftover apple crisp with ice cream. So, the evening was off to a good start before we even arrived at the drive-in.
For some reason, the drive-in represents, to me at least, the pinnacle of awesomeness. I tend to like to go to movies anyway, but you could pick a movie that I would not want to pay to see and I will leap at the chance to see it at the drive-in. You get to watch movies - in your car! People, this is sweet. One of the strongest recommendations against going to see regular movies is the high price of concessions; at the drive-in, you can bring a whole picnic in and nobody cares! You can do whatever you want to! It’s like Christmas, Hannakuh, and that one Monday holiday in February when classes are canceled all rolled into one. It’s fucking amazing.