If you twitter, it will come

Since I have started to Twitter I find myself daydreaming (often late at night too) about what I want to have happen to me, or what I want to stumble upon, just so I can type a good twitter. Maybe I will find a worm in my burger at a trendy restaurant in Hollywood. Now that would be twiterrable. Or maybe I will discover an amazing homeless sitar player who is blind and wise. I could change a disabled, homeless person's life. And maybe get a movie made about it. "The Sitarist and the Twitterist." (I swear I didn't pick sitar because I knew I could put the two words together so brilliantly. It just happened.)

This is a new way of going about the day. I now look at things or situations and assess whether they are worthy of 140 characters or less.

I have only been twotting for a few weeks, so I am still trying to find my voice. My vwitter, if you will. I have reluctantly looked back at my entries thus far... that's the crappy part. There are numerous times throughout the day when I say ridiculous statements - that are probably about 140 characters or less - that make me cringe at myself. And now those kinds of comments are documented and reviewable forever. At least when I say lame comments, I can only hope they are forgotten with time.

It all makes me rethink what a legacy means these days. At my grandma's funeral, it was easy for those who gave eulogies to conveniently omit all of the rude things she said to people. But if she twittered? She would have been screwed.

What will happen to our online personalities when we die? Who will be in charge of sifting through all of the usernames and freeing up the ones who belong to the deceased? You know someone out there is just waiting to get twitter.com/beaarthur.

If anything, twittering has inspired me to take the time to notice the little things - the 140 characters or less things. The question is, is it more important to have things in life worth twittering or a twitter that makes life worth living? (Really, Megan? Lame. Let's hope no one read that one.)

PS: Follow me on Twitter!

Dignity and justice for all of us

Keeping with the theme of “dignity and justice for all of us,” the United Nations plans a day of events Wednesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights will be distributed to several activists, including one given posthumously to Benazir Bhutto.

Holler At Your Girls continues its commitment to blog about human rights by publishing the final 10 articles of the declaration below. (Article 23 made me think of our tough economic times.)

And before I forget, December 10th will not only be a day for human rights, but also a day for gay rights activists to show the world what they're made of. Check it out here.

Article 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27. (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29. (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Always time for human rights

As I mentioned yesterday, Human Rights Day is on the horizon, and the time to think about human rights is always right now. So here are articles 11 – 20 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

By the way … I thought of California’s Proposition 8 when I read Article 16.

Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14. (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15. (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16. (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17. (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Time to think about human rights

This Wednesday, December 10th is Human Rights Day. But more than that, it is also the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Holler At Your Girls and many other bloggers have pledged to promote the day by blogging about human rights.

So to commemorate the upcoming anniversary, we will be publishing the articles of the historic declaration over the next couple of days (see articles 1 - 10 below).

I hope that when you read the declaration you will consider some of the places in our world where the articles could be put to good use (Darfur, Myanmar/Burma, Congo and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, come to mind immediately).

Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Got one under my belt

I must reveal that I am quite relieved to have published my first posting. When I decided to join this blog, I was both excited and terrified. My sweet husband said, "Write what you know." Such wise and simple words. And thus began my existential crisis.

Well, what do I know? And do I even know much about what I know? Suddenly, everything I know seems trite and petty. I know about growing up in the San Fernando Valley. Yawn. I know about being a child actress. I may as well join a blog on E! and start waiting tables.

And then my old journalism professors' voices spoke to me. "Always ask yourself, so what and who cares?" Uh, nothing and no one. Jesus Christ.

I should also reveal that this is not my first blog. Oh no. In 2005, I started a blog called The Critical Thinker. I entered one, yes one, entry. I turned on myself and started critically thinking about my critical thinking and it just wasn't meeting my expectations.

I recently checked the URL and it has been taken over by a college professor. Makes much more sense.

When I decided to join this blog, I came up with a few ideas that I quickly shot down. One was to get to the bottom of why razor blades and printer ink are so outrageously expensive. (I may get to that one day, but don't think it is worthy "first post" material.) I also thought of exploring why so many trees in the Fall smell like semen. But I think the title of that posting would scare people away. And then I remembered Eleanor Roosevelt's words that Maria Shriver quoted when she endorsed Obama: "Do one thing every day that scares you." Ooooh. That could be my ongoing theme. So today, maybe I won't use a paper towel to turn the doorknob when I exit the bathroom. Scary! In many ways.

You know when you write in your journal and you start editing yourself as though people are going to read it? That's what blogging is like, except people are going to read it.

What I am really asking is for myself to be kind to myself. That is when good writing emerges. Great. So THAT'S when good writing emerges. No pressure, Meg. Be f*%&ing kind to yourself.

(Oh, and thank you Sarah Palin for providing so much rich material and for making it a little bit easier to write my first posting.)