We interrupt this political discourse for a view from Belize

After the most amazing wedding ever, Gar and I rested for about 36 hours and then boarded a flight to Belize. We arrived in the Capitol, Belize City, and began our first leg of the honeymoon. We decided to spend 4 nights in three different locations in the country-- allowing us to really see a lot of Belize. In order to do that though, we had to fly around on the tiniest airplanes. I was completely nervous about these machines. But they turned out to be a great way to get around-- fast, fairly comfortable, on-time and they offered great views.
Our first stop was Ambergris Caye, an island off of the Northern tip of of Belize made famous for its close proximity to the second largest barrier reef in the world. There are no cars on the island (save a handful), just golf carts and water taxis. I loved traveling by boat everywhere we went.
The view from our Cabana was incredible. We rarely saw other people while we were there, except at dinner. It was the perfect place to unwind.
The cabana itself was lovely and romantic.
A snorkeling trip out to the reef culminated when we all jumped into the water, full of sharks and stingrays! Petting sharks and stingrays the size of the hood on my car was a rush.
On another day we went out fishing in the bay. We brought back our catch and the chef at the resort prepared our fish for us that evening.
One night, we went into town to party. We were told that we must go to the Pier Lounge and join the "chicken drop." On the beach you find a large wooden board divided into squares with paint. Each square has a number between 1 and 100 painted on it. For one dollar you buy a number. Then the hosts comes out with a basket and takes from it a chicken. After dancing slowly with the chicken, the host blows on the chicken's... ahem... ass... and then sets the feathery creature on the board. Whatever number the chicken poops on first becomes the winning number!

They host 4 drops a night and the entire town comes out for it. Hundreds of people gather around the board cheering for the chicken to shit on their number! The winner gets $100 Belize, and can keep it or donate it to the Belize Humane Society.

Imagine my surprise when Garrett disappeared for a moment and came back smiling. The next thing I knew, the Pier Lounge Host said, "I want to congratulate Rebecca and Garrett for just getting married! Rebecca, will you come forward-- we need you to drop the chicken!" I looked at Garrett and cracked up. I went to the host she handed me the basket with the chicken in it. Gently I picked the chicken up, danced around a bit and then... blew on its ass. I set the chicken down and she pooped immediately. Apparently, I'm that good.

The next drop? I won. The chicken so took a shit on my number.

So $100 Belize bucks richer, we left the island for Maruba Jungle Spa and Resort. Nestled in the heart of the jungle, we looked forward to exploring the interior of Belize. It was here that I drank more rum punch than one should think possible :)There were not too many folks at the small spa so we had a pool completely to ourselves. We read books, drank rum punch, and took breaks to get rain forest mud massages. We ate armadillo and wild boar-- and I don't recommend either of them. We smoked a hookah and spent evenings in the mineral hot tub.
We took a trip to Lamanai-- the largest Mayan ruins uncovered in Belize. It was astounding-- one of the best parts of the trip. (That's a shot of Garrett-- almost at the very top.)
In the mornings, we got up and went horseback riding.
After Maruba, we hopped on a small plane to our last destination-- the Village of Hopkins. A settlement town for the Garafuna people, Hopkins was my favorite city by far. The people were so kind, the bitters were so strong, and the food in the town was incredible.
We stayed just outside the village at a pretty but 'resorty' place. While we enjoyed all the day trips like zip-lining and cave-tubing, we found we liked the Village better than the resort. However, it all turned out OK because the temperature creeped up over 105 degrees and this Midwestern grrrl though she was going to die. We spent a couple of the mornings in the air conditioned room in a struggle to beat heat stroke.
In the evenings we drank champagne and smoked cigars by moonlight on the piers.

To cool off, we hung out at the bar in the pool. And of course, we brought board games with us.
Dinner was by candlelight at a private table on the beach. And Garrett was, as always, the most romantic husband and lovable playmate any woman on vacation in paradise could dream of.

We left Belize begrudgingly but quite tan. When the airplane began its decent into Atlanta, I was holding back tears. I couldn't believe the wedding and the honeymoon were all over. I said to myself as my ears were popping, "Don't cry. This is not the end-- but the beginning of something more spectacular than you can fathom."

I was so right.

In Georgia, you must register by next Monday

A Must Read

This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
9/13/08

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

* White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

* White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fu ckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fu ckin' a ss," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit"
for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

* White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

* White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

* White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

* White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

* White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

* White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."

* White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

* White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W.
Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

* White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

* White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.

* And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

* White privilege is, in short, the problem.


Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also bySoft Skull. For review copies or interview requests, please reply to publicity@softskull.com

I'm voting Republican because..... (and don't worry, I'm totally not voting Republican)

catch-up time

Ms. Biddy and Ms. Crankbee-- Hello friends! It's so good to hear from you both. The love and the advice were very much appreciated, thank you. I still have catching up to do, but look for me on your blogs soon!

I was reading Wit's End, in my endless task of catching up in everyone's lives, the other day. She had a post about finding one's voice and how that can be difficult.

I SO related. I'm so much more than a grrrl gettin' hitched. The blog must evolve beyond that. However, I don't think that, until tonight, I have accepted that I may not find that voice for a while.

To that I say-- "Oh the hell well!"

Tonight I rant.

Probably not the voice that I am looking for, but at least there are words on this page.

1. I love the black box. What a great way to connect with other bloggers. Thank you for the comment and I will begin to do the same.

2. I will begin to do the same after this week. I have been planning an event for the judiciary in my state for months. There are 700 judges and lawyers coming. There's even a man flying in from London who is a member of the House of Lords tomorrow (similar to the Supreme Court in the US). I'm freaking busy. 'Nough said.

3. A co-worker of mind said I looked like Sarah Palin today and I was so angry I jokingly came at him with my coffee. Apparently because I had a ponytail and plastic framed glasses I looked like her. DAMN HER. I'm completely offended and I'm completely offended that me wearing a pony tail (which I do 361 days of the year) and me wearing my glasses (which I have worn for years every day of the year) makes me look like her. I came first. Her new found stardom is undeserved and completely ridiculous and unpatriotic. I wanted to tell my coworker that he looked like Hitler to see how he felt in such a ludicrous depiction.

4. We put a third offer on a third house tonight. We aren't going to get this one either. Our real estate agent, when asked what the average number of offers a first-time homebuyer makes, said, "One offer. " This is one of those times I hate going against the norm.

5. Marriage is work. It's been only 4 months and it's work. I don't say that because I don't love every minute-- I DO!!!!! It's just that so many women lately seem to think that marriage will bring them and their significant others closer together. I'm perplexed by that idea. It's actually overwhelming because the relationship starts at a new beginning-- the precipice of the future. And it's a damn daunting task. Thank the goddesses i have Garrett to look out upon our dreams with.

6. My republican co-worker today was treated by our staff as being the person who loves the American flag the most. It's a long story and I don't really want to go into it. Suffice it to say, at staff meeting we were talking about the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone looked to him for his reaction as though his being right-wing gave him 0wnership of the flag. I have never been so offended. If I had a time machine I would go back in time and tell him, in front of everyone, "Stop looking so smug. You don't love or deserve the flag an ounce more than I do." Flaming liberals, like myself, have some work to do. I love our country the same, if not more, than those right-wingers. My acts of dissent are my greatest forms of patriotism. I should dare anyone to tell me differently.

7. I think that's it.

Love and goodnight, Beck.

ps-- Full-out wedding pictures to come during the week. They are awesome, untraditional and fabulous. I think you will all enjoy.

Long time no blog

Yes, I have been completely MIA. And yes, I have really missed bloggy world.

The thing is, I was so overwhelmed by the wedding and all that jazz-- and overwhelmed at my feeling of obligation for blogging on it-- that I just kinda took a vacation from it all.

Alas.

I miss bloggy world. I particular miss Wit's End, and Ashes to Glass, and Chiblog-o. Seriously, I miss you ladies. Thanks for all the love while I have been gone. I miss all the rest of you too. I didn't just stop writing, I stopped reading as well. And I have a ton of catching up to do.

On another note, I was a bit miffed by one of my closest bloggy friends. You see, I befriended another amazing woman blogger who I have never met and who lives completely across the country. While she and I are probably completely different in "real life," I had become a huge admirer of hers for her positive outlook, her dedication to blogging several times a day and her drive to "do good" in her everyday life.

About two weeks before my wedding she went through a really tough time with a relationship in her life. She started to email me outside of the blog for advice and support and I would reply with my best thoughts of support and love.

But then life hit.

The two weeks leading up to hitching day were crazy busy. Sometimes I wouldn't get to my personal email for days and when I did, I had to reply to folks coming in from out of town. I had to prioritize. Frankly, I should have been there for her more. But stress had hit. Family was in from out of town. I had a ton to do. And I had a lot of people during that time that I felt like I had a responsibility to make happy.

So... I got back from my honeymoon and she had made all of her blogs private and I was not included on her reading list anymore. I was really sad.

Anyone else ever been dumped by a bloggy friend? It totally sucks.

Sociologically, it's also completely strange. What are these types of relationships that we create over the internets without ever having ever really met? What does it mean to follow a relatively complete stranger's life day in and day out? And what does it all mean when it comes to an end?

Anyhow, I ramble. But I completely welcome any other stories like this. I could use some insight.

So the months have passed and I am completely wonderful. I am so happily hitched to my hubby it's crazy. We put an offer on our first house together this week! The animals are great despite the war against fleas. And in general, life is good.

I'm getting back to blogging tonight though, because I have a mission. I am determined to do all I can to elect Barack Obama this November. I can't just sit at home and fret about November. I must do something. Tonight Garrett and I are creating a new website to encourage community advocacy and voter registration. And I plan to back it up using this site-- which is no longer called, "Holy Shit! We're Gettin' Hitched." Now you can find me at, "www.urbancowgrrrl.com."

I plan to use this website for some politics for the next 7 weeks. If it's not your thing, bear with me, register to vote, and I will attempt to speckle this with personal connection when I can.

I seriously did miss my bloggy friends.

Thanks for your patience.

Love,
Beck

The love of Mockingbirds

Take a moment to head over to the Flickr Stream of one of my favorite ladies in the whole world, Angela at My Daily Struggle and check out the gorgeous new addition to their family, Harper Jane.

Gar and I spent a couple of hours at the hospital yesterday visiting with Angela and Tim and the new baby. She fell asleep in my arms and I held her for over an hour. I was nervous trying to figure out every move and every breath she took. I can't imagine having a newborn and ever taking my eyes off of him or her. No wonder new parents never sleep! Luckily, Harper is number 2 for Angela and Tim and they know just what they are doing.

Angela and Tim are the kind of parents I aspire to be. Their eldest child, Audrey, is incredible. And their new baby girl takes right after her. Both of them are beautiful reflections of their amazing parents.

Congratulations Angela, Tim and Audrey.