black bean soup

3/4 people ate it. I soaked the beans first which Fallon considers totally necessary for everything except for fresh air. But I think I liked it better when I used the original version of the Nigella Lawson recipe.

I am starting to long for takeaways, for the greasy chips and battered fish with loads of tomato sauce and almost no dishes afterwards.

and no cooking involved.

My clever sister has had some excellent things to say recently. Over on The Hand Mirror, my favourite blog for feminist community from intelligent women who have diverse interests and jobs and who are not scared to call themselves feminists, I like Maia's piece on abortion service inequalities. I did hesitate to mention the 'a' word, knowing the depth of feeling it invokes and understanding (I like to think) why this is so.

But sometimes I have to nail my colours to a mast and say what I think is important. I like to imagine I would never abort a foetus growing inside me, or not one which is the product of my marriage anyway. I like to think that I have enough understanding of inequalities to stick to my guns on the importance of safe, legal abortion being available to all women in New Zealand. Maia's piece mentioned the limited access women have here on the West Coast to abortion services. Recent accounts from women living here make me suspect that indeed Maia is onto something. Something? When a woman in an abusive relationship finds herself pregnant here on the West Coast and wishes to take control of her body, to make decisions around the safety of the children she already has, the difficulties of getting to Christchurch affordably and discreetly are considerable, and she may find herself bringing another child into a violent and uncertain situation. Thank you Maia for sharing your research via the Hand Mirror.

Mind you, the way politics are going at the moment, we may not have any hospital services beyond primary care on the West Coast soon.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Some good thoughts on abortion here:
http://alesbianandascholar.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/framing-the-abortion-issue/
Julie said…
Thanks for the linky love Sandra, and the kind words :-)

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