Can you say "LINKS"?

Yeah, well. I have a page of links to pages of people I actually know, but now I want to open my ol' Closet O' Links to the general public. Lessee, what do y'all need in the way of links to in order to lead a happy and healthy life? Let the webmistress speak:

(That's me. :-)

Angie's New Hero: A guy named Dave Rees writes the fantastic and hilarious and socially necessary comic strip GET YOUR WAR ON, which can be found here, along with his other comics. I particularly recommend the "My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable," if you too find office ridiculousness as funny as American flag lighters. (Rees gave a talk at the U of M -- he's not only brilliant, but a cutie as well. :-)

Flogging Molly is this San Diego-based band that plays an on-crack mix of traditional Irish music and punk rock -- it sounds like a bad stew, but they are really, really good. Go find them on Napster, because their CDs are hard to find outside of California. (I recently saw them in concert and hung out with the lead singer, Dave King. Awesome Irish guy!)

Angie's Very Favorite Poem Alert: Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg. Oh, it's beautiful. Even if you have a personal grudge against Ginsberg (not to mention any names, Heather) this is just a damn good poem.

Tomato, anyone? This is a web page devoted to clip art images of tomatoes. Need I say more?

Euskonet: This is a database that claims to have "cualquier cosa acerca del País Vasco." Presumably it'll find things in English too. I just think the name is cool. :-)

And while we're on one of my favorite subjects, you can go to the San Sebastian page, yes, the web page of the city of San Sebastian. Very nice photos, but check that propaganda!

Manos Blancas, one of my favorite organizations in the world (they oppose ETA, the Basque nationalist terrorists), have come up with this beautiful thing called Minutos por la Paz (Minutes for Peace), which is there that little window came from -- the one that popped up when you first came to my homepage. Here is a list of participants' URLs. I'm on it! That makes me feel so good!

Boogie Jack's Free Graphics Etc.: I'd like to say a big thank you to Boogie Jack's for saving the butt of my page when Geocities took all its backgrouds away. At this point, almost all of my backgrounds come from Boogie Jack's. All they ask is a little publicity, so hey, sock it to ya.

Oh. My. God. Through Space Moose's mockery I was led to this page -- how many of you remember Chick Tracts from Vacation Bible School & the like? This is a catalog of all the titles ... and no one is safe. Jack Chick slanders equally Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, Hindus, missionaries, abortion specialists, Jews, witches, pagans, priests, and ... as if that weren't sufficient ... claims to know what the Virgin MARY thinks of her followers. (Apparently she's humiliated and heartbroken.) You will not believe this site until you read the crap it is putting about on the net. Would somebody save me, please?

But the world is not all bad:

"Why should the fates of the groovy and the creepy be intertwined?" asks Valerie Solanas in the smashing S.C.U.M. Manifesto. Here is the whole fabulous thing. Read it; memorize it; quote it loudly & obnoxiously in public places!

The Northern Sun company is out there selling wonderful tee-shirts that say things like "F*%# Your Fascist Beauty Standards" (my personal favorite) and "Jesus Was a Liberal," and shipping their merchandise in boxes that smell like ... well, a certain controlled substance, shall we say.

Buy Fair Trade Tea here, or coffee, or whatever. Unlike some web merchants who market Fair Trade products as gourmet and charge outrageous prices for them, this organization is *really* about a fairer marketplace. Not to go all capitalist or advertising-exec on my faithful audience, but I do say "Buy here!"

But WHY buy there? This is a different organization, but they explain pretty well WHY you should buy fair trade tea (and other things). However, they don't sell on-line. That's why I send you to the above marketplace.

Oxfam is another group working to end world hunger, and I think they're one of the most respectable around. I used to shop at their store when I was in Galway. Check them out, too.

Okay, now you are saying -- "Enough with the fair trade already! You said this was going to be diverse!" Okay, on with the sundries.

It is my opinion, and don't ask me why, that everyone should know the words to the Skye Boat Song. The lyrics to this traditional Scottish tune about Bonnie Prince Charlie can be found at the previous link, along with a midi that is actually one of the higher-quality midi's that I have ever encountered on this wide wasteland called the web. So, go, learn this song. Let's make it a revolution, the "Skye Boat Song" revolution! (Oh yeah: the first verse is the chorus. It's not entirely clear on the site.)

Ladyslipper. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to heightening the public's awareness of achievements by female musicians -- aka, an EXCELLENT catalog of music by women, with a vast and varied selection. Worth supporting. Consider buying your next CD through Ladyslipper.

And while you're listening to that great new CD by the Uppity Blues Women (for example), you can read a BOOK that you got from The Feminist Bookstore Network. This is a particularly good site for people who, say, once had a real live feminist bookstore RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET but returned from break one year to find it had GONE OUT OF BUSINESS -- er -- not that that's ever happened to *me*, it was just an example (sure).

The American Association of University Women. This is a really, really cool site by an organization dedicated to promoting education and equity for all women and girls. I repeat, it's really cool, not to mention an excellent informational resource.

NOW. This is the official homepage of the National Organization for Women. As cool as the link above, but more, well, political. :-) My roommate, Jen Newkirk, and I are going to run for the White House in 2016, and we hope to have the support of NOW.

BUST magazine is just fab, what else can I say? Representing the hipper side of feminism, this magazine is for all chicks and -- what the hey -- men too, but only if they're cool. (Remember the SCUM manifesto? Say it with me: "I am a turd, a lowly abject turd!" That's right.)

. American Civil Liberties Union: The ACLU is working to make America truly free and equal (and fighting the myth that says it already is). Sometimes they get a little carried away, and they have been known to take themselves way too seriously, but check out their work anyway.

And another organization I like, and have sent money to on occassion, is the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Their mailings are quite discreet -- they just say "The Task Force." Which is cool, because some people would be upset at getting an envelope that says "gay" on it. Yeesh, what a world we live in.

Virtual Crack. In the fine old tradition of Virtual Flowers, send a little bit of crack to those you love the most. The greetings are not to be missed.

A Serious link. Remember Young Einstein? Remember Yahoo Serious, the genius behind the film? Well, if you do, then this is a really cool link. (It's still a cool link, even if you don't. Because he's more than just Young Einstein.)

And I have to say, the old Yahoo Serious link I had there -- a really good unofficial fan site -- has been laid to rest. You can go see the virtual memorial stone: here. It're really very sad. So now I'm sending you to the "official" Yahoo Serious site, but there's just something special about fan sites, y'know?

Netscape.com: This site is funny because when you go to it with Internet Explorer, the guys over at Microsoft throw up a little window saying "Why are you going to Netscape?" or something to that effect. Nice try, guys.

Cows With Guns Another Absolutely NecessAry Link. Check this one out ... it's fab.

"Hippy?" This is the Hippie-land Magazine Online or something like that -- discovered by Amy Matvyia while looking up hippie info for Jen Groucutt's research paper -- well, it is definitely entertaining and recommended by the Webmistress (yers truly).

ASC Archive. This is the home page of the Star Trek fan fiction newsgroup where I used to hang out. It ain't everyone's cup of Earl Grey, and I'll warn you that there is some NC-17 rated stuff there, but hey, it's a link.

El País. This is the newspaper I read in Sevilla. It's really cool, and used to be the official voice of Spain's socialist party, back in the times of Franco. (It's not anymore.) Check out the political cartoons (viñetes) under the Opinion section -- some of them are about America. :-)

Guinness. This is a good frickin' beer. It's also called "the blonde in the black dress" and other such cheesey things, but only by Irish people. Heh heh heh.

Space Moose is this Canadian comic strip that ran for several years and got some big publicity in some weird places and is very politically incorrect and frickin' hilarious.

VeggieTales! This is self explanatory. VeggieTales is good for everything, including relief of menstrual cramps. Honest. (Though I've been called a "VeggieTales nerd".)

Don't go here ... unless you want to be frustrated. This is the incredibly unhelpful Modern Language Association (MLA) web site. They don't tell you anything except to buy their book. They do have good info on citing internet resources, though.

The European Union's official web site ... check out the bit about the flag, it's hilarious! This page is a big celebration of cheese. Unintentionally, of course, which makes it even better.

Yellowstone National Park. This is where I worked during the summer of 1999, and let me tell you, it is an amazingly beautiful place. If you can't go there and see for yourself, well, check out the National Park Service's official YNP web site.

UFO Folklore. This is a GREAT page on UFO folklore -- the webmaster takes everything just seriously enough to be intriguing, but not so seriously as to be, well, a loony. I found this page very useful when I researched the UFO culture for a 19-page paper last spring.

Medicins Sans Frontieres, the winners of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. This is a really cool organization that sends doctors into all sorts of places where the rest of the world is reluctant to go.


Go home.

(Oh, hey, and tell me what you think about this page. Are the links good? Do they go where they're supposed to? Are they interesting/diverse/entertaining/informative? Is the background cool? the text legible?)
Talk to me, baby.