This Is Serious So I’m Compelled to Post it Twice

A lot of you don’t know but I write another blog, its one I share with a very select number of people and is where I vent about all the shit that really irritates me.

This morning I read an email that seriously touched a nerve and it forced me to write a post that came together in about thirty minutes. After I posted it I reread the words I had put out there and suddenly had wished I had posted it here so more people would know how I feel.

But because it was so perfectly suited to the theme of my other blog I decided not to delete it. Instead I apologize to the few of you who will see this twice but I feel compelled to share it with all of you.

“Chapter Eight -- Outsourcing All the Men with Women?

This morning I tucked in to read my email and opened one from my sister with the subject line “FW: The End of Men”. I assumed it was an internet joke. I was wrong and it turns out, the real joke is going to be on all of us women if we don’t slow this train of alleged progress way down.

As women, we have fought with dignity and pride to claim our equal rights in this world and nothing makes me happier that I am just as likely as a man now to get fired, hold office, go bankrupt or make a million dollars. I personally, in conjunction with my entire gender, am smart, funny, ambitious and headstrong; going after everything I want.

But have I left the men in my life behind as a result?

The article she sent put it out there plainly -- what people are looking for, as far as qualities go, is the ability to communicate and openness, not to mention stillness and focus. Apparently men do not possess these qualities as it further went on to share that, not only are women the predominant gender in the working world now, but that scientists are working on a way to sort sperm for gender selection.

Everyone get out your paint, we’re coloring the world pink. Either that or we're turning it into Gattaca. There really is a fine line and I think we've started to cross it.

I started seeing this trend take hold years ago when a friend and I noticed how many women treated their men like dogs. They assumed he would cheat, so she beat him to the punch. They presumed he would lie, so she lied better. They were tired of being treated as a “lesser” gender, so she dumped his sorry ass, got a job making six figures, a sperm donor, a big house, and a full time nanny to raise her kid.

Can someone please explain to me what the men of this generation did so wrong? I have seen them embrace our ambition and encourage us to make the most of ourselves. I have seen them stay home with the children and be full time dads when their women have gone back to work. I have watched them hold a purse in a store, cook dinner, clean the house, work hard, prioritize the women in their life beyond anything else.

And we somehow find fault in that? Fault enough to all but tell them they are useless? Um, yeah.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a traitor to progress or anything and I am fully grateful for the right to vote, work, plus all the other stuff that men tried to hold us back from for so long, and we were able to finally take control of our own lives just a few short decades ago. But I think we are letting the power that comes with that very control go right to our heads and using it for evil, not good.

I get it. Men did it too. Way back in the day it was generally men who were screaming ‘Witch!’, ‘Off with her head!’, ‘Woman, go make me a chicken pot pie!’. We were, according to the powers that be (mostly men at the time) inferior and not much more than common help and a baby machine. So believe me, I get why some of us would be a little bit, let’s just say, anxious to put our own needs first.

But I think we missed the point of balance and now everything is tipping way too far over the edge.

There are machines to do heavy lifting, which women can drive. Vibrators for pleasure, which are so realistic these days it is almost scary. Exterminators can kill the bugs, which women are taking on as a career more frequently than ever. The local sperm bank or adoption agency will be more than happy to provide a gal with a baby. Self betterment books teach all of us how to treat ourselves with the utmost respect.

Wow. The more I think about it, the more I realize we are just a gender full of promise. A gender full of possibility for what the future could hold. If women could not only run the home but industry as well, we could surely run the planet, and since we wouldn’t even need men to procreate anymore, we could go right ahead and phase them out completely. And in such a short span of time.

A world full of nothing but women. Just the thought scares the ever loving shit out of me. Women in power? Right on. Women in prominent roles and industries? Absolutely. But women as the only necessary gender? I’m not sorry to say an emphatic no.

There is nothing, not even the love of myself, that can take the place of my husband’s arms around me when he says I love you. I respect men both in and out of power because when it all boils down to it, each of us is just human, regardless of the body parts.

And humans should all be afforded the same rights. Isn’t that what we women spouted back then? Now we are taking back everything we supposedly stood for by rolling right over the other gender that we fought to take it back from.

We are no better than they were back then. Shame on us.

I am an ambitious woman who is trying to make a place and name for myself in this big world and perhaps there are times when I will be doing a lot of that on my own, but to think that means I don’t need the man I married, my male relatives, friends and acquaintances along my journey is just lunacy.

Be careful what you wish for ladies or some day all of us will be sitting around a lonely table, wondering where all the “good” men went, very likely blaming them for their own disappearance.”

Under the Wire with The Dish!

I tossed and turned. My brain was all tingly with excitement for the vast array of possibilities. A burger recipe. That is what we were charged with conceptualizing for The Dish! in June and immediately I realized it would be no easy task. There are so many different types of burgers it was going to take some serious crafting to come up with the perfect one.

I toyed around with the idea of a meatless burger because the veggie burgers they sell in the store are not only processed but always seem to have mushrooms. I figured “If you want something done right, do it yourself”. Unfortunately my limited brain capacity for cooking didn’t really allow a good filter and I never came up with anything (yet, I swear it will happen one day!)

Instead Matt was the one to cook up some ground turkey burgers by adding a whole bunch of spices and some home grown basil to make one super tasty treat! We cooked them on our George Foreman grill and although we didn’t have sliced cheese, Matt improvised and pulled some string cheese for his own unique take on a cheese burger.

So here’s Uncle Matty’s Spicy Chipotle Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground turkey (85/15 fat)
¼ tsp ground chipotle spice
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Mix it up well and grill to your desired level of done-ness. We like just medium so did 12 minutes on the Foreman Grill. We ate them on light wheat buns; top with your favorite condiments.

Now Matt also mixed up ½ tsp chipotle, ¾ tsp sea salt, ½ tsp garlic powder and 1/8 tsp ground black pepper to sprinkle over our fries on the side. He baked for about 20 minutes on 400.

The meal was spicy but not “mouth on fire oh no I might pass out” hot which was just perfect on the cool night we ate these.

Now are you a burger person like we are? If you are and you write about it then submit your link to The Dish! by July 5, 2010 and you could win a $60 CSN Stores gift certificate to spend however you want.

Um, score!

Seriously, we all know burgers of some sort will probably be involved in our meal plan this upcoming weekend so why not snap a photo of it & toss a post up on your blog? You might just win the GC but even if you don’t win that you score anyway because you got an awesome burger out of it!