Oranges (and commentary)

 

I'm sure you know by now that Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month and our themes are Collage Fodder, Food and Drink, or both. 

Yesterday we looked at apples.  Today is all about Oranges.

Here are a few detail shots, although I'm still having trouble cropping my images.

Once again, I started with a calendar page.  I couldn't find too much when it came to oranges in the kitchen tools and recipes book I am using.  However, I went to another cookbook and found the recipe for the Orange Supreme Cake.  Not that I would make it.  The small "preview" page was from the back of the calendar.  Of course, there are other citrus fruits on the page, including a blood orange, grapefruit, and lemons. 

 

Bleubeard and I are really happy you visited today and hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own version of Collage Fodder, Food and Drink, or both.  

  We are also joining AEDM.

I've been reading a lot about what people are thankful for this holiday weekend.  I've also been reading how people are dealing with the recent events that have occurred these past few days concerning gun violence.  I'll start with that.  As of Thanksgiving morning, there were 608 mass shootings in the states.  Mass shootings involve at least four people who were not the perpetrator.  I heard the statistic on an early morning radio talk show.  Those who have been around my blog for a long time know I'm a big advocate of the 2nd amendment.  I have never hidden the fact I own two hand guns.  Both are Ruger single six. 

 

One is a .22 caliber, the other is a .38 with an interchangeable .357 magnum cylinder.  Image is from the internet.  Both my guns are secured in a lock box and one is loaded, but the other one is not.  I tell people if they think for even a millisecond that they would not be able to pull the trigger, DO NOT keep a gun in your home.  There is nothing worse than owning a gun and having it taken from you while you decide if the threat is real or not.  A single six holds exactly six bullets.  In order to remove the spent shell, you must release the cylinder and remove the shells before reloading.  I believe if I can't stop a threat in my own home with six bullets, I'm not the shot I think I am.  

However, I have a REAL problem with the assault rifles that shoot more rounds per minute than I can count as they are coming out of the rifle.  I am sure most gun owners feel the same way.  These assault rifles and their owners put a stain on gun owners who either hunt or keep a gun for protection.

Now let's talk about what happened in Colorado Springs last week.  For those who have not heard, five people were gunned down in a LGBTQ+ establishment while celebrating and enjoying a drag concert.  These people no longer feel safe in a place where, in the past, they had felt no threats to their lives. 

I'm going to shift gears for a minute.  My grandmother (grands raised me from birth) was one of four children.  Her older sister, my great aunt and I got very close after she stayed several months with my grandparents after she retired.  Of the four siblings, my aunt was left handed.  Everything went well in kindergarten, but when she got to first grade, the teacher tied her left arm behind her back and FORCED her to write with her right hand.  Granted, that practice would not be accepted or acceptable today, but apparently it was in the late 1930s.  When she was at home, my aunt said she did everything with her left hand, but at school, she had to use her right hand.  You are born with handedness, and whether you are a misguided teacher or a fool, you know that is a born trait that can't be erased or undone.  My aunt went on to be one of the first females to receive a medical doctor (MD) degree from the University of Kansas (KU) and worked at KU Medical Center in Kansas City until she retired.

Now back to the LGBTQ+ community.  It has been scientifically shown that gay people are as hardwired as my aunt was with her handedness.  One article by New Scientist provides this: 

BRAIN scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is down to biology rather than choice. Tantalisingly, the scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggression resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.

“This is the most robust measure so far of cerebral differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects,” says Ivanka Savic, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

These individuals are not alone.  According to The Family Equity Council, as of 2017:

LGBTQ Families: Who We Are: 

•LGBTQ. Approximately 4.3% of adults in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender or queer (LGBTQ). That means that there are more than 10.7 million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. (Romero 2017; Gallup Poll 2017). 

•Transgender. A recent Williams Institute Report estimates that 1.4 million adults (.6% of adults) in the U.S. identify as transgender. (Flores et al 2016). 

•Bisexual. Roughly half of the LGBTQ population identify as bisexual. (Gates, Marriage and Family 2015).

Quora attempts to answer the question "Why are LGBTQ+ people LGBTQ+? Do they choose to be it themselves, or is it genetic since birth?" and other questions people have about LGBTQ+.  

There is enough evidence out there that these people are as hardwired from birth as my aunt's handedness.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading this commentary on assault rifles and hardwiring.  Please be kind to everyone, whether they have a different sexual orientation, are left handed, have a different color of skin, different eye color, or height (no short jokes, please, since I'm only 4' 11").