Friday Random Ten: the "I'm Tired of Women Getting the Short Stick" version

And I don't mean because they are underrepresented in my music collection, because they aren't. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't been paying attention.

1. Fighter by Christina Aguilera
2. Ladies First by Queen Latifah
3. Dear Mr. President by Tupac
4. Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks
5. True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
6. Independence Day by Martina McBride
7. Volcano Edie Brickell
8. Somebody's Gettin' on my Nerves by Salt n' Pepa
9. Only You Know by Veruca Salt
10. Free Your Mind by En Vogue

Bonus Track: Nobody's Listening by Linkin Park. Its how I've been feeling lately what with women's rights going down the tubes all kinds of speedy quick and there is always my neverending complaint that DV needs to be a felony everywhere with a Child Endangerment clause stuck in for good measure.

Bonus Bonus Track: Holy Water by Big and Rich. This is a tribute to their sisters bout with Domestic Violence and, in conjuction with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), helped get Love Everybody up and running.

Just so ya know, these didn't pop up randomly. I choose them in order to make a definitive statement about my ongoing concerns that if more women were taught their life doesn't need to revolve around a man, especially one who beats them (emotionally, verbally and/or physically), and that being an independent, autonomous person is actually a good thing, our world might be a different, better place.
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Friday Cat Blogging: "Feelin' LAZY!" edition

Of course, not wanting to seem too lazy, she pretty much jumped up after the above photo and started playing around the room. Just now she clawed the cardboard then spun it off across the room in her haste to chase an invisible something or other.

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Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways

This morning, Peanut got my breakfast ready. While I was upstairs still sanitizing my poison ivy I heard lots of rumbling around in the kitchen which is almost just below me.

As I was about to walk downstairs, I heard, "Mom, come on, your breakfast is ready."

He had poured Lucky Charms into a bowl and added just the right amount of soy milk after he had popped 2 waffles in the toaster oven for himself.

Isn't he just the greatest kid ever?
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Know why people don't realize DV is a serious crime?

Because the incidents that do make the news and newspapers play down the fact the woman was killed because her boyfriend/husband/partner got pissed because she was trying to leave, wouldn't let him in, tried kicking him out, didn't do the dishes, didn't have supper on the table when he came home and a myriad of other reasons that use in order to excuse it away, justifying his "love" for her through violence and many times death. Or the infamous, "She must have done something to make him that mad," defense.

Because when a woman, who was bled like a stuck pig in her house with small children present by her "estranged husband", gets a simple, "The police believe the stabbing resulted from a domestic dispute" in both the evening news and newspaper, it sends a certain message to the rest of the world that what each woman goes through just isn't that important. Oh, let's not forget the estranged husband was only charged with breaking and entering and malicious wounding even after turning himself in and admitting he killed his wife. He gutted his wife and slit her throat for fucks sake.

Because when a young man assaults his wife/girlfriend on the sidewalk in front of their house, thus causing her to drop the 5month old baby she was carrying head first onto the concrete, and he's charged with felony child neglect and misdemeanor assault.

Notice a pattern here?

When might the woman's life become worthy of a felony assault charge do ya think?

We all should know by now that cock fighting is more worthy of a felony charge in South Carolina than DV is....
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Hey people, have I told you that I like my new job?

It's really cool, everyone is relaxed, easy to get along with, we get to dress casually as long as there are no jeans involved except on Friday's and hey, we do good work with the kids.

I have to say that hearing/reading the stories of neglect, abuse, trauma, stupidity on the part of minors, etc., has to propensity to get a person down not-to-mention really getting mad at a world who allows pedophiles (who are not homosexuals and it pains me to keep having to say this) to roam free thinking rehabilitation on an out-patient basis is a good idea or when most state laws still don't recognize domestic violence as a felony, even when the abuser throws a brick through a car window onto/at the mother's belly when she is 6 months pregnant with their 2 other kids in the backseat watching the whole thing.

Get my drift?

We only serve kids who have been through some traumatic event or another. Currently, 250 kids are being seen on the clinical side and that's just from Richmond and the surrounding counties alone. What about the rest of the world? Hell, what about the rest of the state of Virginia?

I'm fine now and my threshold for bad shit hasn't been tapped into just yet, but between dogs getting dumped because their owners don't want anything to worry about while they're on vacation and the adults who have little to no regard for our next generation, I might have to keep my hands over my ears every once in a while.

So if you don't hear from me a few days at a time, just know it's because I feel like the nation is in a state of redundancy and no one is listening, especially the people who could change it for the better, but they're to busy finger-pointing to make any real significant decision.

And I just get frustrated is all.

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I don't want DeLay living in my state

Yet he has moved here in order to manipulate the election system in Texas into replacing him on the Republican ballot.

Hey repub's from Texas, take him back!

Seriously, we here in Virginia have enough of our own conservative Republicans to last a lifetime; no need to pile on out-of-towners.

What gets me is his denial of "withdrawal" from the House elections but isn't that what he did? He won the primary "in March but decided against re-election a month later." That rings of withdrawal to me, especially since he resigned from Congress earlier this month.

Hmmm, I wonder if he and George Allen, another shitty Republican Senator who never votes across party lines, are shackin' up together.
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Friday Dog Blogging: "The Hermit Crab Gets Some Attention, too" edition

I've decided to start a new Friday Hermit Crab posting so here is Persi. Sorry it's fuzzy, but my camera sucks at taking close up pictures of anything. You'll be getting more pictures of the crabs since I have to bathe them once or twice a week (and I forgot to do it tonight so I need to definitely do it tomorrow).

I can't believe she let them do this to her, but isn't she the cutest? She's my girl alright.

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Flower Petal Shawl

Look! I figured it out on my own without guidance from those who have been knitting for centuries! This shawl will be going to Nascar's daughter who just turned 12 a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't finished on time because I screwed up the points, working them together when, duh, the pattern clearly states that they must be worked separately along 22 stiches. Like I said: duh. It's actually a deep purple, but the flash makes it look bluish.



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We be crabbin'

My sister bought us one a few weeks ago - well, it's been about a month at least. I thanked her tremendously (read: sarcasm) because, as I'm sure many of you know by now, I won't ignore the crab and give it half-assed care. I've researched them since then, finding out that, damnit, they require a lot of care. I thanked my sister again after I found out I have to bathe the crabs weekly, twice a week if I can manage it, let them air dry, give them stuff to climb on and hide in, there is special food they need to eat and to supplement their diet with fresh fruit, vegetables and occasionally pieces of fish and you can't only have 1 hermit crab because, ironically, they are social creatures. (This is another one of those times that I'm glad we have well water because there is no chlorine in it, thus I don't need to de-chlorinate or buy only bottled water for them to bathe/drink.)

A simple crabitat has now turned into 3 crabs in a 10-gallon tank, a neat and large "rock" cave to hide in, a barkish climbing wall the length of one side of the tank, a cool new double-dish "rock" with a cactus (fake of course) protruding from it and 4 shells total, 2 of them fancy. I need 2 more shells because each crab is supposed to have 2 shells to choose from at least, each of them being bigger than the ones they're in now.

The first one we had got sick (I think) because he left his shell, which I found out later was not a good thing. When they do that, I'm supposed to gently pick them up and help them back into their original shell or into a new one. Well, Frenchy died because I didn't know I was supposed to do that.

Let me be honest with you: I think hermit crabs are creepy. I've not ever desired to have hermit crabs as a pet but my sister got Peanut the kit/crab because it really is a good pet for him. However, he's only 6.5, soon-to-be 7. Who is the one caring for these crabs? Me. Who would love to pawn them off on someone else but knows it would now devastate Peanut who has grown very attached and was very upset when Frenchy died? Me. Who has spent the additional $75 or so to create the optimal habitat for them because I believe in treating every animal humanely regardless of how useless or likable they are? Me. Who bathes the crabs every week? Me. Who feeds them, changes their water, keeps the sponges wet, etc. everyday? Me.

I think you get the picture.

What does Peanut do with the crabs you ask? He gets to take them out occasionally to play with them. I won't do that so at least they get socialization with people so they won't pinch or remain cranky.

Persi (for Persistent) is very friendly but does not like getting bathed. We just got the other 2 last night so I'll see how much they like getting bathed this evening. They're nocturnal so I tend to wait 'til about 10pm or so to do it so as not to interrupt their sleeping schedule to much. I know when I put some salmon into Persi's food dish Friday, she went bonkers, lol. That tells me fish is definitely a good thing every once in a while. I bought some freeze-dried krill but so far that's not been a big hit. Maybe I need to wet them a little so they aren't quite so crunchy.

Anyway, I've been hermit crabbing lately and well, they don't have a 2-5 year lifespan like hamsters....they live forever and can get huge. My cat, Ms. Kitty, has already taken an interest in Persi as a play toy, which I won't allow her to do of course. But it is fun to watch the cat faces she makes when watching Persi crawl around.

*The title of this post is a reference to a song by Ice Cube called, "We be clubbin'."

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And the Episcopalians do it again!

It all started with electing the first openly gay Bishop. And continued yesterday at General Convention, where the first woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada, was elected to lead the American Episcopal Church 30 years after women were allowed to be ordained as priests.

Woohooo!

And because there are still some misogynist assholes in the Church, I bet this is pissing them all off right now.

But you know what? Deputy's at the convention voted for Jeffers Schori, thereby electing her. That proves the church as a whole is not totally off-base with its inclusive practices, right?
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Yet another Democrat disappoints

But this time it's the female Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, who has signed into law a ban on all abortions except in the case of a mothers health. It's one very similar to South Dakota's law.

I am not going to even try to hide my immense disappoint that a female Governor would ban something so important as legal abortion when she's old enough to remember it being illegal the first time. I find this a metaphorical slap in the face if you will.

Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed into law a ban on most abortions, which would be triggered if the U.S. Supreme Court' overturns its 1973 ruling legalizing the procedure, a spokesman said on Saturday.

This is just sad that a woman who may or may not have needed the procedure at some point in her life (and her daughter's still might, if she has any) has passed a total ban, thus thrusting Blanco, in my opinion, onto the same side with Conservative Republicans.

I have known for some time that the men of the Democratic Party don't find women's rights issues important enough to include or stand up for, but I have to say I never thought it would be a woman joinging with them.

As for this:

"The central provision of the bill supports and reflects my personal beliefs," she [Blanco] said in a statement, adding she had hoped for legislation with exceptions for rape and incest.

Why didn't she use her Governor-like powers and veto it, sending it back to the committees which drafted it, demanding they include a provision for rape/incest or she wasn't going to pass it?
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Ain't bigotry among "Christians" grand?

It's the General Convention for the Episcopal Church this week in Ohio and runs until next Wednesday. Today they debated the inclusion of gay bishops, or rather, openly gay bishops.

Right now, the American side of the church leaves it up to each Diocese to set up a policy with regards to allowing homosexuals to become leaders asking them to "exercise very considerable caution". If you will travel with me down memory lane for moment, it was only a few years ago that the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire elected its first openly gay Bishop, quickly dividing the church into bigots on one side, humanists on the other. Ironically, it was the churches overseas that split with us immoral Americans, thus letting the Atlantic Ocean become a literal barrier.

I am an Episcopalian so when we finally took a step toward inclusion once again, I cheered. My view on the whole thing is if the churches want to leave when they are supposed to love everyone regardless, let them. But I don't have any power so it's up to the guys with the big hats.
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Friday Random Ten: "I Survived my First Week on the New Job" edition

I really am going to love it here which is a good thing because I want to stay here 'til I at least finish grad school - which will be about 5 years from now.

1. Personal Jesus by Marilyn Manson
2. Nothing Even Matters by Lauryn Hill
3. Gira Con Me Questa Notte by Josh Groban
4. Loving Arms by the Dixie Chicks
5. I Cried for You by Katie Melua
6. Not Gon' Cry by Mary J. Blige
7. Judith by A Perfect Circle
8. Rawkfist by Phenomenon
9. May You Walk in Sunshine on a cd titled Sacred Spirit filled with Native Indian chants/songs sung by various people)
10. Easy Silence by the Dixie Chicks
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Friday Cat Blogging: "Aren't they just so cute?" edition

I dropped 5 of our new 6 kittens off to get spayed/neutered this morning. Telmo didn't go because he's very sick and was hiding which isn't a good sign (cats tend to hide when they aren't feeling well). They've all got kitten colds which is a common virus but it's very very contagious. It's also very treatable and thank goodness these kittens are all 9-10weeks old so their immune system is built up more, giving their bodies a better chance to kick it.

This is Ping. Peanut gave her this name after someone from Hercules (the Disney version). I'm not totally sure so if you want to know who in Hercules is named Ping, then I suggest you watch it. ;)
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This really bugs me

Today, the High Court sided with Big Government, allowing police officers armed with a warrant to barge into a suspect's home without knocking.

Scalia said that by making officers knock first, then entering a few minutes later posed a risk of the suspect fleeing or being able to supress evidence.

Hey, did you know that cops only wait outside the front door, then approximately 10minutes later they enter the home after knocking and identifying themselves? Did you know this is specifically to allow suspects plenty of time to ditch the drugs and climb out the side window?

*rolleyes emoticon here*

I'm with Justice Breyer on this one:

"It weakens, perhaps destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution's knock-and-announce protection," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for himself and the three other liberal members.

Even O'Connor, during the original argument, "worried aloud that officers around the country might start bursting into homes to execute search warrants. She asked: 'Is there no policy of protecting the home owner a little bit and the sanctity of the home from this immediate entry?'"

Welcome to the United States, where liberalism is a church all its own and conservatives rule the land.
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www.audioblogger.com

hat tip to nubian for the idea.

Transcript of this audioblog post:

Hey blogger folks, this is a nut and I thought this would be kind of interesting to show you that audioblogger.com lets your record an audio blog. And so you all know what I sound like.

It’s raining here because good ‘ol tropical storm Alberto is dumping rain on us. Which is kinda good, we need it, but it makes for a real dreary day.

I’m about to go to lunch to get fingerprinted for my new job and then go get some Thai food maybe….ohhhh, exciting. But anyway, I just wanted to try this out and show you all just in case you got to my site by accident.

You can thank nubian at blac(k)ademic for showing me this.

So have a good day everybody and I hope it’s more sunny and glorious than mine is.

Bye bye!

I sound so much better when I've had hours to edit myself :)

(Thanks for pointing out my shortcomings, BEG. I promise to do better in the future!)

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Peanut takes after his mama

He's been writing a lot of stories lately in lieu of reading one before bedtime. He's been having a blast doing it, too, and this one he plans on giving my mom for her birthday on Thursday.

Last Sunday when Peanut showed my mom his 1st story, I looked at her and said, "So, who does that remind you of?" She smiled and said, "Yep, he takes after his mama."
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Peanutisms from Peanut himself

Some stories from Peanut I've been meaning to blog. (And no, I didn't fix the obvious spelling/grammar errors because after all, he's only 6.5 people!)

From 6/5/06:

Coretors and Vegeytaryyens (Carnators and Vegetarians)

Once upon a time ther were Dinosaurs. ther was a tiranisures rex that atacked vulosoraptors and they bit each uther and scacht (scratched) each uther and the big one sqosht (squooshed) them and the little ones climbd the big one. there wher people watching but when the dinosaurs wher fighting the humens ran to safety. The end.

From 6/7/06:

Mouse and turtle and friends

Once upon a time there was a turtle and mouse. the turtle ate ledes (lettuce), the mouse ate chees. at night the turtle would open his cage and go to mouses house and ate ledes (lettuce) and chees but at 3:00clock in the morning turtle said goodbye to mouse and went back to his cage and went to sleep. The end.

From 6/8/06:

Money! Money! Money!

Meet Peanut. He hase tendollars. and some credit cards. and three dog's. ones black and ones white and yellow and ones black and brown. hes lucky because on Friday and Saturday he can drink cafean (caffeine). and hes rich. but he misses his dad. The end.
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New Beginnings

I'm blogging today from my new computer at my new job. Yay!

So far it's really cool and I know I'm going to like it. It will also afford me some necessary experience to climb the non-profit ladder if you know what I mean.

Of course, starting today didn't come without life stresses to test my resolve.

For the 2 weeks prior to starting, I called approximately 7 after-school programs, getting a 'no' from each one when I asked if they could take my beloved Peanut for just 1 week. Next week his usual after-school care opens back up and school ends so I will be able to breathe a little easier.

Yesterday afternoon, however, Peanut came in from outside complaining of a headache and sore throat. Sighing and fighting him almost the whole way, we got in the car and headed for Patient First where it was quickly determined that Peanut did indeed have strep throat. I looked at his tonsils because he was talking funny and saw white pussy-like spots all over them.

Yep, he definitely had strep. Wonderful.

My mom has off most Mondays so she's being the great mom that she is and watching Peanut today so I can actually start my job. Because kids with contagious bacteria running around in their blood stream have to be on antibiotics for a full 24 hours before they can return to school or daycare. I understand this policy, but when you're a single mom trying to get through school and work and you're the only 'breadwinner' in the family, it can be a little frustrating.

Although it will be a weird, sort of funky, schedule this week and it will have to be tweaked a little next week, I'm here now and I'm ready for the change.
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The XVI Carnival of Feminists is here!

Disability Feminism

On the issue of disability and coming into puberty, maman poulet writes beautifully of her own experiences. The lack of a period that usually enables us to distinguish between the transition from girlhood to womanhood was lacking in her life and she tells us why it really is a big deal. I think it goes well with the debate at Alas a blog and Pandagon with regards to “natural” vs. “unnatural”.

Another original post by Lingual Tremors! In it, she describes how the education her younger brother and sister with special needs are getting differs from her own educational experiences. Comparatively speaking of course, it's nil. If you are surprised then you haven't been paying close enough attention.

Blue from The Gimp Parade tells us pro-choice feminists it's not that simple to compare an adult with a disability to a fetus with a potentially disabling condition when talking about abortion. Plus some very good points are brought up from its resulting discussion, mainly, who is going to care for the fetus once it is born?

Disability Studies, Temple U.: Disability Blogs Roundup, #10 has not much to do with feminism but everything to do with everyday life and accessibility issues, even something as simple as going to the Dr. More experiences that we should all be aware of in order to better include into the larger feminist movement. Ahistoricality brought my attention to this post which is also a great read.

In March, I created a self-imposed theme of Disability Awareness Week. I covered a lot of information and most of it was research I had done for other papers and presentations. I learned a lot and wanted to share.

Political/Religious Feminism

Coming from Irrational Point's Soapbox, One Step Forward, Three Steps Back analyses Kenya's new sexual assault law, where apparently the Parliament thought it okay to put the punishment of false rape accusations on par with the actual penalties of the rape itself. And no, I'm not kidding.

Socialist feminism is something I strongly align myself with at times and Volsunga addresses the decision made by the NSU Women's Conference to decide in favor of Object's campaign to ban Page 3 under the guise of political and degradation issues. I agree with Volsunga in that I'm highly uncomfortable with any government deeming what should or should not be included in any political discourse.

Has anyone studied up on Marxism and Marxist Feminism lately? Have no fear, Le Revue Gauche fills you in and furthers the words of Carl Marx (who I swear is my hero).

Eve from Feminist Mormon Housewives writes of class issues within Mormonism. She says the religion in general frowns on excessive consumerism yet asks, "Would I be willing to arrive at church dressed not immodestly, not too informally, but completely unfashionably?" It really is a good read.

Mensa Barbie Welcomes You wanted to know if women were discussed at the first Islamaphobia conference in Denmark, so she did a little research. In her post, "Islamophobia: Missing the Mark" she tells us nope, they were not.

Ahistoricality takes on the notion of self-pity (or other-pity) in an essay that criticizes the way western feminists view Islamic women and the way western feminists tend to lump all Islamic women into one "poor them" category. Honestly, on my first read, I don't necessarily agree with Ahistoricality because I think s/he is being too Americentric, but I haven't read the essay in question yet, so I could very easily change my mind. Having read such essays as "The Bikini and the Burqa" and a few essays (from women in Afghanistan who live in the war) from a book I can't remember the name of now, I can't help but sympathize with the woman Ahistoricality is disagreeing with.

Lis Riba of Riba Rambles gives us a historical look at The Radical Feminist vs. The Flapper and how the same argument that is used today existed during the flapper era. You will enjoy it as much as I did, I promise.

Then Heart takes it one step further (Without trying mind you. I doubt she knew of Lisa Riba's post before it being published just above hers in this carnival. Isn't it cool how these things work?) and addresses Radical Feminism is her post, "Radical Feminism: What it is and what it isn't."

Feminism and the Comics

There is so much wrong with the original post Kalinara is responding to here that I couldn't even leave a coherent comment. So I'm leaving it to you, dear readers, to go over and set that other woman straight, she who suggested "manly" women in comics equates to butch lesbianism. I'm sure you won't let me down.

Kalinara also put up a post that discusses She-Hulk at length. I don't like the fact "She" had to be put in front of an already non-gendered name, but hell, the world isn't perfect. I do like that my son might be able to have his comic experiences balanced out a little so I was glad she submitted this post (which is why it was included, hehe). Ragnell chimes in with more discussion on the She-Hulk topic, too.

Did you know the new Batwoman is going to be a lesbian? Me neither but hey, I'm all for it. The comics aren't my thang, just like NASCAR, because of their supreme lack of diversity, however, this might be a good starting point.

What most people, including me, didn't know I'm sure is that the original Batgirl got shot by Joker and was thus paralyzed. And then guess what happened? She became a superheroine with a disability! (tsk,tsk, she was not confined to anything other than her mind ;) Maybe I need to watch Teen Titans more. Much thanks to The Divine Ms. Jimmi for filling me in.

All I gotta say is wow to the article heykidzcomix takes on. A snippet from the original that I know you will just love: "If your creepy cousin Chester can get his rocks off to a Matt Baker drawing of a supple female in bondage as opposed to snatching somebody's daughter and hauling her into a darkened alley, then it could be argued that maybe ol' Matt was performing a public service." Anyone seeing a parallel argument for legalizing prostitution?

Dorian takes on the double-standard of rape in most comics (I say most because he even admits some might have been left out). And I don't think he disappoints either. Be sure to check out the discussion in comments, too.

If you are a feminist into comics, check out these new(er) sites made just for you:

When FanGirls Attack which I love because hey, what's not to love about sexist assholes being called out on their misogyny?

Girl-Wonder in their own words: "Girl-Wonder.org is a collection of sites dedicated to females in mainstream comics. Our goals are to foster an attentive, empowered audience community and to encourage respect and high-quality character depiction within the industry."

Ripping the Anti's

I wasn't going to include this post on monogamy because it is so anti-woman that it just pissed me off, but Charlie from Shades of Grey has taken it on, shredding its premise. Then, I got a submission from lost clown over at Angry for a Reason on polyamory that convinced me Brandon Peele's post had to be added so we could all see what an asshole he really is. Do notice that no comments have been made and please take it upon yourself to let him know I changed my mind *wink**wink*. (And hey, maybe he'll actually learn something in the process.)

Labels, labels and more labels. Abyss2hope writes of her struggles with anti's regarding their need to label her a man hating bitch, naturally. *snark* But she realizes their labels have not been about her, but about them. You know, when a mother defends her son, even after he was/is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law, even when the videotape of his atrocious behavior was shown multiple times during the trial, I have a hard time with that and it's something I don't think I could do. As a mother of a son, I can understand why gender segregation feminist's exist when you have women crying for their *lost* sons, which completely ignores the harm those sons have committed onto the world. It's a very touching, introspective post.

Shakespeare's Sister and Mad Kane take on John Aravosis of Americablog for his use of "big girl" when referring to Pat Robertson. John's response was to move his post so no more of us feminists could find it and vilify him for his obvious misogyny. SS and MK provide you with brand new links to his cover up so go join in the fun all over again! Seriously, this is exactly why I don't read the big A-lister bloggers that are male, not even Atrios or Kos (especially since I heard the latter on the Al Franken show and he wasn't very sympathetic to women's issues but was touted as an "expert" on the issues he has so pointedly made clear were of no interest to him).

Men in Feminism?

Kiki at Saucebox has an excellent post on men in feminism, their "natural" urges to fuck every woman they see, how society supposedly forces men to view every woman as object, therefore fuckable, etc. It's long but oh so very worth taking the time to read the whole thing.

Ever wonder about Men in Feminism and how come they (meaning men) largely lack from these Carnivals? Well, wonder no more as Charlie from Shades of Grey takes on both Chris Clarke's assertion that men cannot be feminists but only feminist sympathizers and Ampersand's decision to call himself a feminist. Charlie also refutes punkassmarc's critique that men should be feminist supporters so the risk of men taking over the feminist movement is lessened.

Hugo Schwyzer is finally starting to truly get it I think. He hasn't referred to himself as a feminist, yet he teaches Women's Studies classes. I choose to nominate this post because its main focus has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with how the young women and men in his classes end up relating to each other. I kinda like this one, too.

From the men (and women) who run the organization Men Can Stop Rape, I bring you the Masculinities in Media blog. It's chock full of news articles on Trans Issues, LGBTQ critiques and more. A good read that I highly recommend. And, by participating, you can help it reach a wider audience.

Feminism in General

Verbify takes on the meaning of "maternal" and why women, with or without children, are supposed to inhabit some version of a "maternal instinct." When they supposedly don't, they are criticized sharply for it (like moms with tattoo's and piercings maybe?). This reminded me of Rachel's post about various forms of hormonal birth control that take away a woman's period. She decided against such because because it "isn't natural." Amanda definitely laid into that line of false argumentation in her rebuttal. All took on the idea of what women should and/or should not be.

Laurie and Debbie take on the"exotic as compliment" discussion that was originally talked about briefly by brownfemipower. Debbie also talks about the feminist one-uppers out there whose motto seems to be, "Asian women have it worse than you so quit your whining." Aren't one-uppers loads of fun to be around, hmmm? This is when it's important to remember that someone will always have it worse than you and someone will always have it better; your job as an individual is to get through your problems and hopefully help a few others along the way. This also goes for the, "If I can do it, so you can," attitude which even I've been guilty of at times.

First time Carnival submitter (but long-time reader) A Pang rants about chivalry and how its purported "niceness" is already covered under the word "polite." And there is a really cool 2 frame comic strip that greats you first. It's hilarious!

This post by FrankenGirl delves into the state of our undies and is humorously written. Thank goodness I was at home the first time I read it so I wasn't worried about guffawing to loudly, :).

Remember the Male Privilege Checklist? (Do click on the link to McIntosh's essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.") Well, it's been making the rounds again, this time in the Livejournal community and not in a good way either. So Ampersand, in an attempt to defend the Checklist, and because Livejournal kept saying the comments were too long, has created a post all his own as a response to ChuckDarwin and the many commenters who think Amp was talking out of his ass when he first created the Checklist.

SAM-I-am wants to know, "Am I the only feminist who has ever listened to country music? Why am I not reading more about the Dixie Chicks in the feminist blogosphere?" So in answer to her question, No, she isn't because I love the Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride and Gretchen Wilson to name a few and I know others do, too, as is evidenced by Zuzu's assertion that they rock (well, kinda). Now SAM-I-am's thoughts on the Dixie Chicks are officially out in the blogosphere.

Landis Mom of Bumblebee Sweet Potato informs us of a movement growing within the Hotel Worker's Union called "Hotel Worker's Rising." I had no idea. I do know that whenever the option to leave my towels and bed linens on for the duration of my stay is available, I take it. I also have been known to leave notes suggesting they leave my bed unmade since I'm going to mess it up again in a few short hours anyway. I've always been in favor of reducing their workload even before reading Nickel and Dimed. (Seriously, I've been known to clean the showers for them, empty my own trash and I love to leave the room the way I found it.)

Ann Bartow from Feminist Law Professors writes about her experience running in the Providence Heart and Sole Women's Five Miler. It's nice to see how women can truly join together in sisterhood even while sweating viciously.

Anti-Drown wanted to suggest additions to the Feminist Majority Foundation t-shirt, "This is what a feminist looks like." She said feminists are more than just their bodies so the t-shirt doesn't do full justice to the individual wearing it, especially on the blogosphere when we have no idea what each other looks like. Perhaps you will want to make your own additions in comments.
Lake Desire informs us of a new game, Maiden Love Revolution, coming from Japan where the main object for the lead female character is to lose weight, therefore being rewarded with a boyfriend when she gets down to the ideal "male gaze" slender-type body. And apparently, dieting in Japan is a big deal. 100LittleDolls, working off the comments on feministing, tells us all to beware are ethnocentric thought patterns when referring to those in Japan and to keep in mind Japanese culture and its differences from ours.

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And that is all my indelible carnival supporters. It was great fun hosting these most excellent posts and please, be sure to submit to the next one to be hosted at BitchLab June 17th.
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Carnival of Feminist XV

It's up over at Self Portrait as and, as usual, there is some really great stuff! Go, click, read.

And guess what? I'll be hosting the next one on June 7th. Yay me!

I'd like to see it center around disability, feminism, accessible environments, etc., but I'll try not to be too picky. Just submit and we'll see what comes out!

To submit an entry, you can use this form or email me at crystalball30(at) gmail(dot)com, putting Carnival of Feminist XVI in the subject line so I won't get too confused.

Please have submissions in no later than 5pm Monday, June 5th to give me time to pull it all together. If you know of any other Carnivals or roundups of importance, please let me know so that I can add those into the post.

Thanks and I'll be seeing ya!

P.S. This particular post will be on top for a while so to see the new stuff, simply scroll down a bit. thanks!!
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Weekend Adventures and then some

On Thursday I believe it was, Peanut grabbed his wooden flute and headed outside. My sister said to him, "That is a great toy to be taking outside."

His response, "Well, it's not a toy, it's an instrument."

My sister and I looked at each other and said, "Um, okay then."

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About a month ago, I went zooming by a sheriff's car, getting off my cell phone as I went. Of course he came zooming after me. I didn't have my current county sticker on so I knew it was going to be a fun stop.

He let me off with a warning.

Two weeks ago I had turned onto the road that led to my street; I was a mere 5 minutes from home. Then a sheriff's car slid passed me.

I turned left onto my street thinking I'm safe. Nope. I look up from text messaging Nascar Nut to blue lights whirling in my rearview mirror. Since I was mere seconds from my driveway, I kept going. I'm sure the sheriff was wondering when the hell I was going to pull over.

Well, this time I didn't have my seatbelt on and of course the sheriff noticed. He asked me where my county sticker was, inquired as to my seatbeltless status, then noticed Peanut was out of his. When I responded that I had taken it off at the light and Peanut knows he's allowed to take his off as soon as we hit the rocks, he nodded and said he'd be right back.

He was back approximately 10 minutes later with a summons. Yay.

This morning I got stopped again and you know, it's just my luck that cops keep noticing the bright yellow sticker on my windshield when I drove around in my maroon Honda Accord for 1 entire year with both an expired inspection and county sticker. I wish they'd go to the no sticker rule already and be done with it.

I got lucky with this sheriff though because he dropped my license in his car somewhere and couldn't find it. He said he laid it on his ashtray (which he showed me but there were so many techy gadgets in there I had no idea where in the hell the ashtray was....because I was too busy looking at all the cool stuff) but it fell and he couldn't get it out. *sigh* So I'm driving around licenseless until he gets someone to dig it out for him. I guess because he felt bad, he's going to dismiss the charges in court. I think it's because he knows how much trouble I can get into if I'm stopped and don't have my license with me. (Of course, I also think he pulled me over just because and that is kind of freaky.)

He did tell me to scrape the expired sticker off my car because then cops would have to run my tags in order to figure out my county/city of residence. My question to him was, "But what good is that really going to do when you guys (because here all but 1 of the sheriff's are male) will stop me anyway?" I'm thinking he told me this because they're lazy and having no sticker is a deterrent or a way to have an *oh well* attitude. Isn't that kind of shitty though? It’s also kind of scary.

I can't really complain because that's one less ticket I have to pay for.

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Friday I saw XMen 3 and it was okay. Of course they left it open for a 3rd since the comics themselves don't end after just 3 issues.

On Saturday Nascar Nut and I attended another adoption event for the huskies and I've decided that Kazu is going to be mine whenever I move out. This means no kitties for me because he'll eat them up quick-like.

Saturday night we went to Kings Dominion, got a buzz off their strawberry daiquiri’s and stood in line for 1 ride for about 1.5 hours. It was nice though because we were there with no kids! We rode the Hypersonic XLC which shoots you off like a freakin' rubber band, slingshot style. You don't go up high, but you lose g's because of the speed at which you are shot off. (We did get to see a Luna moth freak people out, though. Luna moths are absolutely stunning, have no mouths and only live for 11 days, just long enough to mate then die.)

On the way to Nascar Nut's house though, I caught the smell of antifreeze wafting into the car. Not. Good. says I. So I tell Nascar Nut to pull over quickly and what does he do? Miss the exit because speed racer himself didn't want to cut another car off (which he wouldn't have and anyway, who cares, my head gasket was at stake!).

We ended up pulling onto the side of the highway just passed the exit. He puts the car in park and I reach over to pop the hood. I then get out, open the hood and watch as liquid squirts out and steam rises up. Then I got back in the car to call my sister. It was 11pm at that time and she reached us around 11:40pm. Nascar Nut learned something about me this weekend but I'm not going to tell you. Maybe he'll tell you in comments.

Sunday morning, if you happened to be going South on 95 (in Virginia) near the Ashland area, you saw my ass hanging from underneath the hood of my car, fixing my 2 short bypass hoses. Yes, I know how to fix those, too. It's great fun because you get to cut them off with a knife which can sometimes exert a certain amount of satisfaction, :).

I got the one off then we drove to Advanced Auto Parts where I purchased a piece of hose that was double what I needed for $1.73. Overjoyed I was because that meant I had enough to fix both hoses as both had been bulging near the brackets but only the one had exploded.

Back at the car, I tore off the 2nd one, measured it against the new hosing and cut it in half. Of course, the rule of putting clamps back on hosing is you can't do it too tight or you risk them cutting into the hosing. Everything under your hood rattles, shifts and groans while driving any speed so the clamps have to be kept away from the other hoses, too. While doing this, a brilliant man I will refer to as Bubba drove by, honking his massive 18-wheeler horn as he went. He was driving a Dodge Ram.

After a bit of tweaking by Nascar Nut, everything was a go. We drove both cars to Sheetz where we quickly found the radiator cap to not have been on tightly enough. We fixed that, put more water/antifreeze mixture back in 'til it was full, then drove home.

And yay, my car runs again! Well, until someone gets the bright idea to replace the struts, strut mounts and tie rods in the front end of my car, which, in case you don't know, is the entire front suspension.
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"Guys" isn't an inclusive term

The supposedly non-gendered use of the term "guys" has been bugging me for a long time, ever since I read an article about it in Bitch magazine. Now you all get to feel my pain in an essay titled, Goodbye "You Guys". And it's great.

So when did "you guys" sneak by and then sneak in? I suspect it entered the scene around the time that official titles like "chairman" were being challenged. You can push the provost to change freshman to first-year student or complain to publishers about their use of congressman in text books. But you can't go to court to make your friends stop using "you guys."

I've actually taught Peanut not to use this term, sometimes he forgets, sometimes he corrects my sister while we're all standing in the kitchen. (To which I get a dirty look and a long sigh.)

Charlie and I had a discussion about it once, not so long ago. He's cool and it didn't take him long to get it. In fact, I only had to point out to him that "guys" is used for a group of only men and a group of mixed genders, but we refer to a group of all women as "ladies," "women," "bitches," "gals,"and sometimes "guys."

Nascar Nut, when talking to his two daughters, often uses guys but now looks at me and says, "I know, I know, they're girls, not guys." I'm just happy he understands and is trying.
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Elizabeth Vargas is demoted

Or rather, she has gone on maternity leave and will continue anchoring for 20/20 when she returns. Isn't that interesting? According to Angry Black Bitch, Charles Gibson will replace her. (eck!) Like she said,

Charles Gibson…hmmm…a bitch can only say BRILLIANT!

Way to counter-program against that perky and orangishly pinkified soon to be CBS anchor.

Can you say "mommy-tracked?"

3 Women's Organizations have sent a letter to the president of ABC News and to the president of the ABC Network:

Women's Groups Protest Apparent Demotion of ABC Anchor

5/30/2006 - Three leading national women's organizations sent a letter to ABC News President David Westin and ABC Network President Anne Sweeney protesting the apparent demotion of anchor Elizabeth Vargas. On Tuesday, Vargas, then-co-anchor of World News Tonight, read a statement announcing her departure from the show to "focus on anchoring '20/20' and the arrival of [her] new child." Vargas had been serving as the sole anchor while her co-anchor, Bob Woodruff, recovered from injuries sustained in Iraq. Charles Gibson started last night as the sole anchor of World News Tonight.

The letter, signed by the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO), calls on Westin and Sweeney to consider the message they are sending by removing Vargas from such a prestigious position as she prepares for maternity leave. "…[T]his clear demotion signals a dispiriting return to the days of discrimination against women that we thought were behind us," says the letter. "With this action and your parallel decision to terminate the series "Commander-In-Chief," in which Geena Davis portrayed America’s first woman president, you have now managed to eliminate two of the country's most visible women role models and high achievers from your television lineup."

In addition, the women’s groups point out that according to news reports, Diane Sawyer was considered for Vargas' replacement and passed over in favor of Gibson. The letter urges Westin and Sweeney to "…reverse this appalling trend in general and, in particular to put Elizabeth Vargas or Diane Sawyer in their rightful place on 'World News Tonight'."

Neat huh?
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