Hi.

[yardwork]

I'm yardwork. I hope that it is ok for me to post here. I started posting in a thread here yesterday and ended up interacting with several folks, so I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself. I'm not very familiar with your group.

I'm a woman. I have two sons. I was married to a man for many years, until I realized that I am a lesbian. He and I had an amicable divorce and we get along very well. My sons get along with their step-mother, their step-brother, and my partner. I love my sons and my partner. I can say that I love my former husband, too. He is a wonderful person, and I'm glad that he is the father of my children. I am very lucky.

I am a feminist. To me this means working to achieve a world where women have equal rights with men. I believe that we have a long way to go in that area. I also know that we have a long way to go to achieve equal rights for all people - women, men, and children. I know that there are a lot of men in the U.S. and the world who do not have human rights. I don't think that men should suffer in order for women to achieve equal rights. I think that improving human rights for women will help everybody. The goals all complement one another.

[Bonobo]

1. Hello.

I am pleased to see you here.
I think personally that 90% of the angry rhetoric that passes between people in general is due to a sense of being attacked and often it is not intended but just reflects an ability to see beyond our own perspective.

I think our group can only be enhanced by the addition of your perspective. I really like the way you interact and I look forward to sharing with you and learning from you as well.

I think that most of us here also are for equality. We all seem to agree on that but, given our different experiences and perspectives, we have different opinions about the types of inequities that exist out there. I agree that often the goals complement each other and we need to avoid the mechanism in which one side's expression of inequity is perceived as an attack on the other side.

[yardwork]

3. Thank you.

I want to say again that I apologize to you, Bonobo, for something that I posted to you long ago on old DU. As I mentioned in a PM to you, I regretted that post for a long time and was glad to have the opportunity to apologize. You were very gracious. It meant a lot to me that you accepted my apology so kindly.

[Bonobo]

5. Thank you...

What a loss. A hole in my heart that doesn't seem to shrink. I really miss him (I have reached the point where I do not feel guilty for saying "him" either since the vast bulk of my life with him was spent with him as my brother and so it is the presence of a brother that I miss. My reality/perspective vs. what his was in his later years.

[opiate69]

2. Hi, Yardwork!

I`m glad you came by to have a look around, and look forward to your continued contributions here. I suspect (and hope) you`ll find that, all things considered, most of us don`t live down to the reputation that has been bestowed upon the group.

[yardwork]

4. Thank you.

I look forward to continuing to interact with everybody here.

[opiate69]

13. Oh, and don't forget..

You gotta go to the thread and tell us what celebrity you would date.. It's like our super-secret initiation....oh shit..Was I not supposed to let that slip?

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Welcome! n/t

[yardwork]

7. Thank you!

[Upton]

8. Hi to you too yardwork

and your edit (#59) in the violence thread was exactly the point I was trying to make. I'm sorry if my post wasn't clearer. Seems to be a bad habit of mine.

[yardwork]

10. Your post was clear. I just didn't read it carefully enough the first time.

You made a good point.

[Major Nikon]

9. Welcome to the group

Nice to meet you.

[yardwork]

11. Thank you.

[Gore1FL]

12. I am in a similar situation to your husband.

I am my ex-wife's son's dad, (but not his father.) I get along well with her and her partner. I see less and less of them as our son got older. (I keep more in touch with my son than my ex. She has said similar things about me as you say about your ex.

Your definition of feminism matches my own.

I'm never going to experience what it is like to be a woman. So I will never be without errant Hypotheses on the topic. (I mean well.) I think what I am trying to say is if you can put up with us, you are welcome here!!

[yardwork]

14. Thank you!

I'm also noticing the phenomenon of seeing less and less of my former husband as our kids get older. This makes me sad, although I realize that it is natural. He and his wife have their own lives and they intersect less with mine as our kids become adults.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Are you following me?!

Good to see you.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Hey, Yardie!

Thanks for posting and weighing in. Thank you for this. I agree with everything you've written, and you've additionally helped crystallize an idea which has been bubbling in my brain for a bit-- to maybe re-introduce myself to the group and give a little bit of background on who I am and why I am/how I came to be a progressive liberal Democrat and such. I'd invite anyone else who is a regular poster OR who has never/rarely posted in the group, to do the same with their own OP, if they feel like it. (No pressure, of course)

Mine might have to wait until tomorrow, though. Long day.