fracas

[Updated October 5 , 2009]

Fracas. The word.

In English, it’s a noisy quarrel or uproar. The word is a loan from French, although the French fracas seems to be more about noise than conflict, and the French ‘fracas’ needn’t be created by thinking or unthinking beings, as in the English ‘fracas’.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Edition – 1989), ultimately it comes from the Italian fracassare, `to make an uproar’.

Fracas. The person.

Canadian. Saskatchewan. Happy to be over 40. Opinionated (which sometimes causes an uproar).

Fracas. The avatar.

Currently, it’s a snip of the banner, which is a very fraccy Canadian Goose with a very fraccy attitude. It’s from a photo taken by fracas, while out enjoying a neighborhood lake with one of the fraccy children. A picture says a thousand words. Fracas is clearly, not your average Canadian Goose.

Fracas. The blog.

Once upon a time, I’d intended to create an uproar giving away images that were actually free, not free-with-a-bunch-of-conditions-that-mean-you-really-can’t-use-them-for-anything. To fill in the gaps between image postings, I wrote… and it soon became clear that you liked what I wrote more than you liked my images.

I began posting about things I like, like really great bras… and shoes; I posted naughty jokes and I made fun of things happening in the world.

And you liked it.

Not surprising really… why wouldn’t anyone like to see photos of bras and sexy shoes?

Most of you were happy, it seemed, and yet there have been a few of you who just don’t understand how someone who can be vocal about her belief in things like marriage and God, speaks out about eating disorders, abstinence, teen drug use, encourages self-esteem and people making confident and brave choices for themselves, could also be the same person who (horrors) posts sexy (or sometimes naughty)  things!

So it’s like this.

I, fracas, am an adult female who happens to know that it’s quite ok for adults to be sexual in the appropriate context. It’s ok to think bras (and the boobs in them) are nice to look at, ok to tell a naughty joke, ok to in other words… be a normal adult keeping all these things in the right place in one’s life.

There is a reason so many women love shoes… and sexy lingerie. Shoes and lingerie are the great equalizer. Society finds so many ways to make us all feel inadequate. We’re too fat, too thin, too blonde, not blonde enough, too tall, too short, too tanned, not tanned enough. Put on a nice bra or a beautiful pair of shoes though, and no one can deny that it just makes a person feel good. Not unlike why a great haircut makes us feel wonderful and not unlike why some of you (when you want to feel uplifted) head for the bathtub and your favorite bubble bath. So long as any person is able to keep these little things we do (to feel good) in the right perspective… in a healthy balance, it is quite ok.

It’s really that simple.

I haven’t ’sold out’ on my ideals, I haven’t fallen’t into the den of inequity. I’m just mature enough to understand that I was born a woman and it’s ok to be one, feel like one and act like one without trading in my brain or my conscience.

I do not market this blog to the teen world, and if/when they find themselves here, I encourage them to make good choices in their life. What is ok for adults, is not always ok for teens… but that doesn’t mean adults must refrain from being adults out of guilt. I am a grown woman; they are not. This is an important message to give our youth. Everything has a time and a place. They will one day, be adults too and will want to give that message to their own children. If we fail to teach it, so will they.

So… if the fracas blog brings you enjoyment, keep visiting. In fact, link to me, stumble or digg me… and if you can, donate something to help keep it here. It’s a lot of time and effort to keep entertaining folks.

If the fracas blog offends you, then why the frac are you here? You, like me, are free to live your life exactly how you choose. If you don’t appreciate lingerie and naughty jokes, don’t. Don’t wear it, don’t read them. I promise I won’t come to your site and tell you that there’s something wrong with you because you don’t.

And that… is fracas.

So go ahead…  post your questions.

I might even answer them.