Hypothesis?

The Sarong Theorem Archive.

Best explanation of this remarkable phenomenon wins a sarong.

Heroine of the week

Effa Manley, the first woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Manley's challenging childhood shaped her into an aggressive executive. Manley wrote letters to the Hall lobbying for various Negro leagues players to be considered for induction before dying in 1981 at age 84. Now she will join the Hall.

"She learned early on not to be overlooked," Heaphy said.

Best. Spam. Ever. (Presented unedited and without comment.)

A conduct can be pathological or non pathological (phisiological), no
external or middle case is expected. 90% of the people who killed a
parent
is declared mentally healthful, this means: non pathological conduct,
phisiological-genetic conduct, good doctor, not "infected cattle".

Medicine is an exact science, jurisprudence is an exact science.
Enemies and
friends, of the mental hygiene only : war between doctors isn't
expected
value; "Fighting with islam against the devil : announcing this obvious
information could save some health.
Siegmund Freud lies not knowing to be lying: he is a conceptual
pedophile
who says children has sexual attraction for parent (edipus) and that
mind is
partitioned in 3 parts (ego superego es). False premiss brings wrong
result:
like Freud says, cognitive error is associated with pathological
conduct,
biological group self-destructive activity.
"Your parent acts with you like with friends": the medical doctor must
suggest this or enhanced reflection to the habitants, for excluding
non-genetic behavioral epidemics. Slapping child is a crime and a
mania,
like by the general rule, "if child doesn't born genetically stupid,
handicapped, diseased, socially dangerous". Habitants of the planet
kill
gays but children don't born gays, habitants corrupt and kill children
doing
a "sacrifice to the devil": this non genetic epidemic is familiarly but
not
geneticaly transmitted.

With baptism christians grace by themselfs from god's sentence.
If vegetarian diet gives longer and better life than non-vegetarian
diet,
non-vegetarian diet is an alimentary behavior pathology. Eating another
human is a behavioral disturb; a cow has 96,5% d.n.a. perfectly
matching
with human d.n.a. I am racist: i think animals is inferior race, so i
don't
have to eat cadavers, thing that induce a phisiological genetic reflex
:
vomiting.

You are authorized by the author to the use u think is necessary, pls
forward. This ìs a final version or close, you will be excluded from
future
mailing.

New, non-hormonal birth control option for women!

No one, no ONE is getting laid with Queen Victoria's mug covering her cooch. Once again, high fashion comes up with a solution for our most pressing problems.

Picture courtesy of the Manolo, who also links to even more sublime ensembles.

Mi familia; or, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children

Two stories about two different young men.

1. J. immigrated with his family from Russia. In Russia, his family was wealthy, and after they arrived in the States, they quickly re-established themselves, using their education and business acumen, so that they are now quite comfortably upper middle class. J. was a student of mine and is now a friend to whom I am something of a mentor. I wrote him recommendations for several law schools, and he is now enrolled at one of the better ones in this country.

J. loved car racing and driving fast. For his 16th birthday, his parents leased him a new sporty car. He did some modifications on it and, unknown to them, used the money that was amply provided to him to take racing classes at a local track, and to occasionally race there. He liked to speed, and had an accident (which pissed his parents off), but he generally avoided street races because he did not want to run afoul of the law, since he had aspirations to go to law school.

Just last week, I talked to J. about applying for a research position he really wants. I vetted his application letter, offered some advice, wished him luck. He seems to be doing really well in law school, and he's excited and hopeful about getting this assistantship.

2. The other young man, whose initial is also J., is the illegitimate son of a 16-year old mother, herself the illegitimate daughter of a 15-year old mother. J.'s mother later married a man with whom she had three more children. Her husband was a good guy, but he had a drinking problem and neither he nor J.'s mother had more than a high school education, so that they were poor and sometimes had trouble providing for their family. J.'s step-father died of a sudden heart attack the year before J., the oldest, graduated high school; at the time, the youngest was in fourth grade. Of course, there was no life insurance, and for some time the family lived with J.'s grandmother and her husband (she had married, for the first time, in middle age) in their two-bedroom house before J.'s mother found an affordable rental, also a two-bedroom, across the street. J., the oldest, slept in the living room with his brother; the girls shared one bedroom, and their mother had the other one.

After graduating high school--a huge event, for J.'s extended family: he was lauded with leis, gifts, parties, and a great deal of praise--J. moved back across the street to live in his grandparents' second bedroom, started taking classes at the local community college, and got a job. He and his friends had a lot of free time, and spent it the way 18-year old boys will: partying, trying to pick up girls, doing petty bullshit. J.'s grandfather suspected that J.'s friends were a bad influence--tools had gone missing from J.'s mother's house on more than one occasion--but J.'s mother and grandmother were fiercely protective of J., babied him a bit even, and would hear nothing against him. J.'s grandfather's position was somewhat awkward: a schoolteacher himself, he came from a different class background that J.'s family, and though he and his wife had always been very generous and helpful, their help (or rather, the grandfather's help) was resented, somewhat, as coming from an outsider. The grandfather's concern and aid were patronizing, literally, and his attempts to talk to J., to set rules for J.'s behavior in his house, and to act as an older male figure in J.'s life were generally rejected. Nonetheless, J. was generally a good kid, sweet-natured, respectful, and even a little naive. Over-confident about his prospects and a little aimless, to be sure; but he was bright, likeable, and concerned about his family. Everyone hoped that he would at least get an associate's degree and a decent job.

Like the first J., this J. liked driving fast (what young man doesn't?), but unlike the first J., he didn't have a good car or the money to do it at a race track, and even if he had, he probably would have considered doing that a waste of cash, since you can always race on the street. He didn't street race very often. But he may have done it at least once, after a party, with two of his friends in the car egging him on. It was raining and the speedometer in his car was broken, so no one knows how fast he was going when he lost control and drove into a tree. His two friends were thrown out of the car and killed.

When the police arrived, J., who had consulted with the other teenagers who were at the scene, lied and said that he had been in the car, yes, but hadn't been the one driving. The police interviewed him and let him go. He went home.

The next day, feeling guilty, J. confessed to his family. He denied having been drinking, and with very little encouragement decided to go to the police and admit that he had been the driver.

He was arrested for felony hit-and-run, and for vehicular manslaughter. His family was unable to affford bail. The grandfather offered to post it, but J.'s mother refused; J. had had some chest pains after the accident, the police had put him in a medical facility, he was safe, and the arraignment was in just a few days anyway. In the meantime, the police investigation continued; the authorities began to suspect that J. had been racing, and bail was set at a million dollars. J. was assigned a public defender and told that the maximum sentence he was facing was life in prison.

This second J. is my nephew. His grandfather is my dad. Dad has asked me to write a letter to the court, explaining my relationship with J. and that I think he is a bright and good kid. I am to sign the letter with my title, in the hopes that a letter from a college professor in his support will somehow sway the judge.

I don't know what will happen to J.

I ♥ pseudonymity

Is your blogging persona more serious than your real life persona? Nah. Bitch is an exaggerated version of parts of her author; the outspokenness, the occasional rant, the dry sense of humor, the classroom technique of balancing polemic with calm and hopefully kind discussion and the desire to create a safe space for people to think and talk about things that are sometimes difficult to talk about, the opinion that my kid is a fantastic little guy. She is somewhat braver than I am about admitting her vulnerabilities out loud, but less likely to admit she doesn't know something, since she controls the terms of the discussion. Bitch is seldom blasé, although her author often is. Bitch cares less about being liked than I do, and less about being generous to people she dislikes or disagrees with. She is also femmier and, though equally frivolous, her frivolity covers slightly different territory than my own. Oh, and she's got some kind of academic rep, which yours truly lacks.

Do you think the only safe way an academic can write publicly is to write anonymously? No. I do think that it depends, to an extent, on what one writes about and what one elides. It wouldn't be a great idea to bitch about students under one's real name; it would make students who found the blog feel bad.

Do you think that your blog could ruin your career? Not really. I think parts of it could be a little embarrassing if my colleagues/students knew who wrote it, and I have some small concern about it being known to hiring committees, simply because one wants control over one's self-presentation. On the other hand, I think it could be a huge asset. All in all, a toss-up, probably.

Do you use a pseudonym out of fear? Again, no. I began with a pseudonym because I was feeling extremely ambivalent about academia generally and my job specifically, and I wanted to be able to talk openly about these things. Again, I feel more comfortable with some control over who I tell what to, and that's the primary reason for anonymity; I have admitted virtually everything on this blog to various people, but in my own good time.

What is the biggest drawback to writing pseudonymously? Not being able to put the blog on my c.v. Not being able to capitalize on Bitch's reputation and the occasional speaking gigs / interviews folks ask her to do.

Has anyone stumbled on your blog and found it accidentally? Yep. An old grad school friend, who said she recognized the voice immediately. A few other grad school friends found out about it through the grad school gossip chain. Two of my sisters in law figured out who I am; the third I had already told. I suspect there may be a few other people who know but haven't told me, yet.

Have you outed yourself to any other bloggers? Tons.

Has your blog allowed you to experiment with writing? Yes, fur sure. I'm really happy with the way the blog has given me practice with dialogue, with different moods, with description (which I'd like to do more of), with shaping a persona.

Why do you use a pseudonym? It's fun.

Can we safeguard abortion?

By which I mean, if not legal, can it be safe? It's been done before.

Some links:

1. Illegal abortions, now and in the present. The point is, even with Roe still on the books, it's already been whittled away for a lot of women.

2. Interesting post on the language of the argument. For what it's worth, I agree: "partial-birth abortion" is a meaningless and loaded phrase, and we ought not use it.

3. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: everyone interested in what's to come (and in many cases, already here), should read The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.

4. Herbal abortions and How to induce a miscarriage. Obviously, I'm not a doctor. And I can't vouch for the reliability or safety of the methods described in these links.

5. How to use your regular b.c. pills for emergency contraception (scroll down a bit). See also this site.

6. See also Scott and Digby, and Firedoglake on the South Dakota law, specifically.

Update: On the dangers of herbal abortion, be sure and see this post. The same blogger explains how to do a d&c, and offers her thoughts on illegal abortion, and some specifics about what we can do to start organizing to help. She calls her blog Molly Saves the Day, and I think it's an apropos title. She promises to keep blogging about abortion how tos: I suggest bookmarking her, and returning often. As per the third post I've linked from her, I'll announce that I have a source for out-of-country Plan B, and I'm willing to provide it to those who need it.

Second update: Ema, who is an actual ob/gyn, also has a very interesting and informative post about surgical abortion.

Thursday 2 March update: Flea at One Good Thing links to The Roe Depot, an (apparently new) discussion forum for reproductive health. It has special forums for "those needing help," "those offering help," state-by-state (and international) forums, contraceptive methods, herbalism, and so on. If it takes off, could be a fabulous resource, well worth a permanent main-page link. I'll keep an eye on it.

Also, welcome Boing-Boing readers! I imagine the sitemeter stats for today will be fun.

Know how to teach an old dog a new trick?

A colleague is writing a book -- a real one, for real money, with a contract and everything -- that will be geared toward adult learners in the general marketplace, not for an academic audience. She has asked me to ask my readers for the pros and cons of teaching older, "nontraditional" college students -- everything from the trickiness of having older people in a class of largely traditional-age students (the older know-it-alls come to mind, as well as the disrespect that some kids can show to older students), to the pros and cons of their having "grown-up" type life issues that kids living in a dorm or Greek house don't have, to ... just whatever. She's looking for thoughts, anecdotes and quotes.

No bloggers will be harmed in the making of this book. She will not use the names or handles of people who comment.

Damn my obscurity

Alas, the real person who writes this blog is far, far too unimportant in the world of academe to earn the notice of such an academic luminary as David Horowitz (affectionately known as D.Ho to many of us). So I am in no way self-promoting by encouraging everyone to go, immediately, to D.Ho's web site and vote for The Most Dangerous Professor In America!, although I do note that Michael Bérubé is lobbying hard to win....

Forecast: frigidity in South Dakota

The state legislature voted to ban abortion today. Now it's just waiting for the (anti-abortion) governor to sign it. No exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother's health.

Interestingly, the bill, if it becomes law and is upheld by the Supreme Court, will charge doctors with a felony--meaning that the Minnesota doctors who currently fly in to perform abortions in Sioux Falls (since no South Dakota doctor has the guts to do it) will surely take their services elsewhere--but not women who get abortions. Adding insult to future injury, the South Dakota legislature voted down an amendment to prohibit state spending on defending the bill--so South Dakotan's tax dollars will be going towards legal fees rather than, say, providing birth control and/or financial support to the 800 women a year who have abortions there--which might reduce the number even further. Of course, women with money will just leave the state for their abortions. If they're smart, a lot of them won't come back.

I predict that poor and principled women in South Dakota will start learning how to do at-home d&cs. I also understand that cocaine and/or throwing yourself downstairs can often induce a miscarriage.

The survey says...

So, survey is sent out to everyone who agreed to do it, with thanks (ay-yi-yi, three hours typing in email addys). I am hoping it doesn't just go into everyone's spam mail, since it has "bitch" in the subject line and I bcc'd it to about 400+ people. A few addys bounced due to typos and will have to be resent, but please don't email me if you don't get the survey; my apologies, and I very much appreciate your interest, but I have to admit I've been really kind of overwhelmed by how many comments and emails I got about it which is why it's taken me so long to send it out!

Preliminary results will appear in an essay I'm writing for Scholar and Feminist Online; I'll post a link to S&F when the blogging issue appears, although I won't tell you which article is mine. I won't care if you guess, though, as long as you keep your guess to yourself....

Ladies, look for your uterus-registration cards in the mail

Well, the new and improved O'Connor-free Supreme Court is going to decide on the constitutionality of banning specific abortion procedures without any provision for the life and health of the woman needing it. Despite the fact that Three federal appeals courts have ruled that the 2003 law is unconstitutional, mainly because it lacks an exception to the ban when an abortion procedure outlawed is necessary to protect the woman's health. Congress said there was never a need for the banned procedure for health reasons.

I suppose if they can diagnose people via videotape, it's only reasonable to think that they can predictively diagnose people they've never seen, notwithstanding the fact that in some cases the choice is between a D&X or a Cesarean. But hey, if a few women have to have major abdominal surgery--and possibly lose their ability to bear future children--to keep Justice Kennedy and a lot of uninformed Americans from being squicked out by the realities of hydrocephalic infants, it's not an undue burden: it's just the part the ladies have to play to keep alive the illusion that pregnancy is always a Blessed Event.

See Lawyers, Guns and Money for legal analysis and more links.

For background on D&X, the whys and wherefores, see here. Notice that it's a religious tolerance site, even.

Oh, and by the way, it isn't just the ickiness of late-term abortions they're worried about; they also want to make it harder to avoid getting pregnant in the first place.
But that's okay too; maybe if an unplanned pregnancy freaks you out enough, God will abort it for you.

Very worth reading

Whose Money Feeds the Sex Slave Trade?, at The Alley Notebooks.

A White Bear's statement on the perpetual question, Why I Am A Feminist.

A college student's prize-winning essay on visiting her dad, the pedophile, in prison. Via Unfogged.

Interesting marriage quiz by Stephanie Coontz, courtesy of After School Snack. Sample eye-opening statistic: "states that legalized no-fault divorce experienced an average 20% decline in suicide rates among married women in the following five years." Dayamn.

And finally, a moving post from an Angry Black Bitch about a young woman with a very clean soul.

Pseudonymous Kid watches the Olympics

Scene: The Olympics are on television. Some woman falls during her short program.

Pseudonymous Kid: She's not wearing any pants. That must really hurt, to fall on your butt when you're not even wearing pants. Plus, I bet she's very cold. Mama, why isn't she wearing pants?

Lawrence Summers steps down to spend more time with his family

Lawrence Summers is stepping down as president of Harvard at the end of this year. Here's his letter of resignation and the acceptance letter from the board.

My sense, from well outside Harvard (as in, if Harvard were in Boston, I would be in, maybe, Siberia) is that Summers has done some good things in terms of undergrad education and access for poor kids, but that--in addition to the women-in-science brouhaha--the faculty resent his pretty dictatorial management style. I find this interesting because I'm at a place that also has a really strongly top-down management style, one that the faculty, by and large, resent; and because this year I'm doing some administrative work fairly high up the food chain and am finding it kind of amazing how tin-eared some people can be about how they communicate with faculty. Yeah, it can be like herding cats; then again, as any cat person knows, it's actually not all that difficult to get cats to do what you want, as long as you don't treat them like dogs.

I'm gonna be really interested to see what the broader academic world has to say about this in the next week or so. And I don't envy Harvard finding a new president by September, although I don't pity them all that much, either--if anyone can cherry-pick their leadership, it's ye Crimson.

I can hear the monkeys singing, each to each

Yeah, of course the monkey won. Who can ignore a screeching monkey? They're worse than babies.

Btw, I think the babies in that video sound like aliens.

How to develop your cat's vocabulary

"I see that, in fact, your food bowl is indeed empty. And I acknowledge that this is an unacceptable state of affairs, which I shall therefore rectify immediately."

Celebrity death match 2006!

Which will win? My sloth--I don't want to go out, it's cold--or my monkey--I'm out of cigarettes? Can one unhealthy habit defeat another?

No matter what happens, I can't lose. Silver lining, baby.

Can't we all just get along?

Adam Kotsko asks a question to which I, too, would like an answer: are there "any significant novels or films where the plot hinges on a close friendship between a black woman and a white woman"? Let's expand the question, even, to significant novels or films in which the plot hinges on a close friendship between two women of different races/ethnicities, period.

Can y'all think of any?

The Mommy track

According to one study at Cornell, moms are less likely to be hired than equally-qualified women without kids; when hired, moms get paid less.

Lovely.

Link via Salon's Broadsheet.

Is this horse dead yet? If not, shoot it again.

I know there are really actual important things happening in the world, like the new Abu Ghraib photos and the U.N. Guantanamo report (and U.S. arguments that we're not torturing people there, no really, and Abu Ghraib was dealt with a long time ago). Even more important things, like Greenland melting. And less earth-shattering stuff, like the death of Ray Barretto.

But even so, I'm gonna link to Cheney, live at Folsom Prison. Link courtesy of Monsieur le Apostropher.

Update: See also this.

Goofus and Gallant

Goofus:

I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry. And you can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. And there's no -- it was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. And I say that is something I'll never forget. . . . What happened to my friend as a result of my actions, it's part of this sudden, you know, in less than a second, less time than it takes to tell, going from what is a very happy, pleasant day with great friends in a beautiful part of the country, doing something I love -- to, my gosh, I've shot my friend. I've never experienced anything quite like that before. . . . You know, we canceled the Sunday hunt. I said, look I'm not -- we were scheduled to go out again on Sunday and I said I'm not going to go on Sunday, I want to focus on Harry. (Emphasis mine.)

Gallant:

My family and I are deeply sorry for all that vice president Cheney has had to go through this past week. We send our love and respect to them as they deal with situations that are much more serious than what we’ve had this week. And we hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves.

Or you could just read blogs

1. Dorcasina at Et al. does a great job of summing up that whole "white privilege" thing in a new way.

It seems to me that their insistence on "intentionality," and the refusal to take responsibility for anything outside of what one acknowledges about his or her intentions and desires, is at the root of white privilege.

2. Michael Bérubé is snarky about the ways we indoctrinate our students. Yes, I know he's always snarky about this Very Important Problem, but it's consistently funny and I enjoyed this particular snark.

Many of my students come from conservative backgrounds, but by the tenth week of class, they can chant “all power to the Supreme Soviet” with the best of them. Basically, we party like it’s 1929. At the end of the semester, they leave my classroom and plaster the campus with posters reading “Meat is Murder” and “Bush is Hitler.” Two years ago, one enterprising student came up with a “Meat is Hitler” poster. I have recommended that student to some of the nation’s top graduate schools.

3. A couple of really good posts about the A-word (autonomy? abortion? you decide) from Suburban Guerilla and Amanda at Pandagon. Suburban Guerilla:

When I was 19 and I’d been married for several months, my mother sent me to her OB-GYN. I’d had a pain in my lower right abdomen and I’d been running a fever for months. I’d been to several doctors, all of whom told me it was “all in my head.” One even suggested I buy myself a new hat to cheer myself up.

I knew something was wrong, and my mother wanted to help. So off I went to her doctor.

He told me I had pelvic inflammatory disease and said you could only contract it through gonorrhea or “a criminal abortion.” I told him since I’d had neither, that couldn’t be true. He ignored me and told me I would need a complete hysterectomy and I wasn’t to have sex again for at least six months. I was, to say the least, stunned. And as I was leaving his office, he followed me out into the waiting room full of women and said loudly, “Don’t forget to keep your legs crossed!”

From Amanda:

I’m insured, partnered, and have access to “good health care.” All that privilege did not protect me from a local obstetrician who neglected to inform me of potential health hazards or treat me after I miscarried. His advice, “You’re fine. To avoid further problems, you need to practice abstinence and get married.”

Several weeks later, after a visit to my regular physician, I had to undergo an emergency D&C. The local obstetrician didn’t “offer” that particular service, even if my life depended on it. Because of mandatory state regulations, I had to endure a waiting period and was forced to listen to a tape about alternatives to abortion. Finally, my regular doctor had to convince my insurance company that I was not having “elective surgery.”

4. Last, but not least, a really upsetting article in the NYT about state welfare agencies trying to strip foster children of their assets. No shit. Apparently the Supreme Court has okayed this, too. Y'all thought Kelo v. New London was bad? Try this on for size: state agencies can seize assets owned by foster kids in order to "offset" the cost of taking care of those kids. In fact, they regularly do this, taking children's social security or SSI money until the kids reach 18--at which point, of course, the SSI or social security payments stop; so instead of, say, investing that money so that these children, cut loose at 18 without any kind of visible means of support, might actually have something to pay the rent with. Makes the entire goddamn foster care system look like the BIA or right-wing anti-abortion rhetoric (hat tip to Lawyers, Guns and Money): "it's for your own good that the state control your life and take everything that might enable you to be independent. Stop struggling."

Fill in the Blank

Everybody should read ____________.

(Feel free to pass on your interesting links in the comment threads. Discuss.)

(Yes, I took the day off.)

Noted without comment

An undocumented Mexican immigrant was shot and killed Sunday evening in an apparent hunting accident on a Webb County ranch owned by the family of former U.S. diplomat John G. Hurd.

"The illegals were crouching out in the brush. They said they mistook this guy for a hog," said Webb County Sheriff Juan Garza....

Juan Garza Mendoza, 34, an employee of the ranch, was charged Monday with manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison....

"They mistakenly shot a human being," he said. "It's reckless. It's inexcusable."

New Teaching Carnival, plus self-aggrandizement

The new Teaching Carnival over at Courtinix. In honor of Intelligent Design (not really), he's even done a special science edition! (This last part is true.)

Also, I'm apparently up for, my god, Best Writing in this year's Koufax Awards. Knock me over with a feather.

Then, once voting opens, be sure and vote for me.

(And consider dropping a couple of bucks in the Wampum tip jar--the bandwidth required to host these things every year can't be cheap.)

Here we go

What about filling out Dick Cheney's Nohari Window?

What women really want for Valentine's day

Massachussetts State Pharmacy Board votes to require Wal-Mart to stock emergency birth control.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company would comply with the directive by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy and is reviewing its nationwide policy on the drug.

"Clearly women's health is a high priority for Wal-Mart," spokesman Dan Fogleman said. "We are actively thinking through the issue."

Wal-Mart now carries the pill only in Illinois, where it is required to do so under state law.

Clearly, however, women's health--as opposed to, oh, not being sued--is a high priority for them. Which is, of course, why so many of their women employees don't have employer-provided health care. They're givers, those folks at Wal-Mart.

The real heroes, of course, are Katrina McCarty, Julia Battel, and Dr. Rebekah Gee--the three women who, with backing from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, Planned Parenthood Massachusetts, and Jane Doe, Inc. (the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence), filed the lawsuit that forced the issue. Their lawyer, Sam Perkins, says that if Wal-Mart, in its magnanimous concern for women's health, should decide not to stock Plan B nationwide, he is prepared to follow up in other states as soon as they find women who are willing to file suit.

Sadly, I don't know Mr. Perkins' phone number. But I bet he's in the book.

Funny, "narcissistic" wasn't an option

FUCK IT. I know these things are ridiculous, but it's 2:40 am and I'm depressed and I have a long day tomorrow and I don't want to sleep even though I know I will hate myself in the morning, so I did one of those dumbass Johari Window things. SUE ME.

In actual, real, blogworthy news, Firedoglake has been writing some really good stuff on the Cheney shooting incident. As in, wow, it's actually, you know, a thing, rather than just an occasion for bitter derision.

Update: I did the negative ("Nohari") one too. Ha ha ha, it took me a lot longer to decide on more than two negative adjectives than it did to cut back from the seven positives--depressed I may be, but self-loathing, not so much. Or maybe they just had the wrong list of adjectives....

Guilt post

Those of you waiting for a survey, or to hear from me about conference accomodations (yes, thank you very much, we'd be thrilled): I'm not ignoring you, I'm just busy working on dredging up enough will power to get off the couch and call the shrink for an appointment to up my meds.

Motherfucking February. Motherfucking snow.

Cheney's got a gun

In case you hadn't heard, the Vice President celebrated Darwin's birthday on Sunday by shooting his hunting companion, a 78-year old lawyer. "Fuck him," Cheney snarled. "The dumbass took his eye off me. Survival of the fittest, hombre."

When reached for comment, President Bush said, "why do you think I'm never seen with the VP? Ever since he took over on 9/11, it's been clear that he wants me out of the way. I'm just glad to hear he's a lousy shot."

Have you ever seen a white bear?

With a nod to White Bear for the title, I present this follow up to the very distressing polar bear story I blogged about at Christmastime.

Starving polar bears are presenting an unprecedented challenge to George Bush's refusal to take action over global warming - and may succeed where environmentalists and other governments have failed in getting him to curb pollution.

Despite the President's obdurate stance on climate change, the US administration last week took the first steps towards officially listing the bear as an endangered species. The Arctic ice on which the iconic animal lives is melting away as the world heats up and, if the listing is finalised, the Bush administration will be obliged to modify its pollution policies to try to save the bear.

Infanticide is wrong. Right?

Scene: we are playing Mousetrap.

Pseudonymous Kid: Mama, I have to go poop!
Me: Okay, fine, go.
Pseudonymous Kid (yelling downstairs): Mama, I want to make a deal with you. [Note: in other words, we have been "negotiating" this whole "wipe your own damn butt" thing.]
Me: No.
Pseudonymous Kid: Mama!
Me: . . .
Pseudonymous Kid: MAMA!
Me: . . .
Pseudonymous Kid: MAMA!
Me: WHAT?!?
Pseudonymous Kid: I want to make a deal with you!
Me: No, no deal!
Pseudonymous Kid: Why not?
Me: . . .
Pseudonymous Kid: MAMA, WHY NOT?!?
Me: Because I am tired of you yelling down the stairs at me every time you go to the bathroom!
Pseudonymous Kid: Mama, if I don't yell, you don't answer me! So YOU started it!

No Nym Newborn

This is not No Nym's new daughter, but I couldn't resist the picture.

Oh, wait, what I meant to say was, No Nym has a new little girl! Congratulations, No Nym!

New reading material!

The Eighth Carnival of the Feminists is up at Gendergeek's place.

The next one is at Mind The Gap: send entries by February 19 (!) to mindthegapcardiff-at-yahoo-dot-co-dot-uk.

Testing, testing...

Standardized Testing in College: the next frontier!

After all, A.P. Testing Makes Students Better. Only wait--no, it doesn't. Read the article, and down at the end, you find out that

in 2003 . . . American students scored the lowest of 16 countries in physics and the second lowest in calculus.

But A.P. students did far better. Those who had taken A.P. calculus, even including those who scored only a 1 or 2 on the exam, did as well on the TIMSS exams as students from the first-place nation, France. And those who had taken AP physics, including those with low scores, were outperformed only by those from the top two nations, Norway and Sweden.

Note, that doesn't seem to be the test improving learning; it's the classes.

The real question, then, is what happens in A.P. classes that doesn't happen in regular classes? Two things, mainly: high standards and small class sizes.

At least, that's what I think. And that's the problem with this "introduce standaardized testing" bullshit: it really amounts to no more than "that's what I think." It's proposing an answer before really defining the problem. It's not engaging the research into pedagogy, and it's not investigating questions or causes (of what?). Why would national standards in higher education be valuable? What is this "accountability"? Why the implication that "establishing standards" means "testing outcomes"? Why the presumption that "assessment" is quantitative?

In other words, the discussion is unacademic from the outset. I give it a "D": clearly trying to think about some interesting things, but precluding analysis or investigation with unexamined conclusions. I suggest starting over and trying to formulate a research question that is both clear and specific.

Equal time for the boys; fair's fair

Hey guys, some of the responses (omg, I cannot BELIEVE how many people volunteered to take this survey--I was hoping for maybe twenty) have made me think it'd be a good idea to compare the women's results with the men's. So, same question: if you're a guy blogger, and you're willing to do a li'l survey for me about pseudonymity and gender, sign up in comments. I'm not interested *only* in people who use pseudonyms, or who've been taken for women--I need some folks who use their real names and haven't been taken for women, or who use their real names and have, or whatever, just for comparison purposes. But if you *are* a guy who's been mistaken for a girl, please do sign up b/c I'm really interested in how often that happens and why.

Hey ladies

I'm working on an article about women bloggers, and I plan to send out a survey about the connections (or lack thereof) between persona and content. I have a lot of people in mind to email it to, but I'm sure I'll miss tons of you, so:

If you are a woman who blogs, under your real name or under a pseudonym (or completely anonymously, with neither), and you'd be willing to do a brief survey about your blogging for me, leave me a comment with your email addy, would you? I'm especially interested in finding any women bloggers who use male or ungendered pseudonyms, for comparison purposes--I'm not sure who out there is (or isn't) blogging in drag, so please identify yourselves to me via comments or email.

F is for freaky

I had a dream that Cala turned out to be one of my students, a lot of whom were reading the blog, which I figured out b/c they followed a link to Unfogged (just like the one I just provided!) and started commenting there under their own names.

I was (a) embarrassed by the illiteracy of their comments and (b) mortified to discover that they were reading my blog.

So this is a warning: if you are one of my students, and you are reading this, and I find out, I will fail you. Retroactively, if need be.

Educating boys

So I'm late to the discussion about Newsweek's cover story, The Trouble with Boys. (The New Republic did an article too, but since they're subscription only, they get no linky from me.) Sorry about that, I was worrying too much about my son's failure in school to have time to address it.

Kidding! Look, here's the deal. Majikthise argues that when girls are doing worse than boys, the focus is on changing the girls--encouraging them to take more math and science, encouraging them to be more assertive--but when boys are doing worse, the focus is on changing the system. I think this is partly true, and I think there's a couple more things going on in there: when we perceive a systematic problem that seems to disadvantage men, we (and by "we" I mean, "they") jump too quickly to the assumption that it's the fault of The Feminists. Because we all know that The Feminists have been working to give women advantages over men for the last forty years.

Nonsense. Here's a novel thought: the problems boys are having in school stem from the problems all children are having in schools that are turning, more and more, to invariable, rote curricula. If girls are, on average (and I'm willing to go along with this) somewhat more docile and more verbally advanced, and therefore better able to sit still and listen; if they are (as I've observed in my own classrooms, and I suspect this is a nature + nurture twofer) more inclined to try to cooperate with the teacher, more detail-oriented, and more conscientious about doing things "right," then obviously a curriculum that discourages creativity is one that they will do slightly better at. Not because girls are less creative, but because they are, for the sake of argument, more willing to suppress their creativity in the interest of "getting along."

If boys, on the other hand, are on average slightly more active, more mischevious, more willing to challenge the teacher, then a curriculum that doesn't allow for variation or individuation is going to be one more boys than girls will rebel against. This is especially true in large classrooms, where even the best teachers have less time and fewer resources to deal with the students as individuals: in a situation like that, a boy (or a girl) who is bored or restless with the material, who wants to approach it in a different, creative, hands-on way, is going to be perceived as a "troublemaker" who isn't going along with the lesson plan, which we have to complete by Friday in order to move onto the material for Section B of the Standardized Test before spring break.

There are plenty of reasons why schools can't accomodate more rambunctious, challenging kids of either gender--but those reasons are bad ones, and we should change the system so that kids are encouraged to challenge received truths and to think for themselves, and give teachers the tools and time they need to help independent kids learn. At the same time, we need to ensure that independent-minded kids don't mess up the learning environment for everyone else: there's no reason why boys can't be taught the social skills they need to do well in school.

Take my son. PK is an argumentative little kid, an only child of smart, doting parents who tend to let him set his own agenda, and he has a real temper. He's maybe a little spoiled. This is a problem for him in school: the teachers tell me that he's academically advanced, but socially a little behind. It was a bigger problem last year, in a bigger classroom, than it is this year, in a smaller one, and we moved him to the smaller school in part because we figured that would be the case. He likes the curriculum better, he's dealing with the elementary school "boys v. girls" bullshit, and he's also learning how to disagree without causing trouble, and when to just keep his disagreement to himself and go along with the rules, even if he doesn't like them. He's not being harmed by this; he's learning vital skills in Not Being The Center of Attention and Getting Along With Others.

Hence, this weekend's discussion:

Friday
Pseudonymous Kid: I'm mad at Kalia!
Me: Why?
Pseudonymous Kid: She said that only girls get to wear nail polish, and that's not true!
Me: No, it isn't true; it's kind of silly, isn't it? You wear nail polish sometimes.
Pseudonymous Kid: Yes, I told her that, and she said I can't, because only girls get to do that.
Me: Well, that's kind of like people who think you're a girl just because you have long hair, isn't it? A lot of people believe silly things about what girls and boys can and cannot do.
Pseudonymous Kid: Yeah! And it makes me mad!
Me: Well, PK, this is why I don't like it when you and Pedro say things like "no girls can play with us." It's the same thing. It's mean to tell people they can or can't do something just because they are girls or boys.
.....
Sunday
Pseudonymous Kid: Mama, I want you to paint my fingernails.
Me: Okay. Go get the colors you want.
(PK runs to get the Hello Kitty nail polish set that Santa brought him when he was two.)
Pseudonymous Kid: Okay, I want gold and pink on my fingers. And on my toes, I want blue and purple.
Me: Okay, in a pattern? First gold, then pink, then gold?
Pseudonymous Kid: Right. Sometimes people paint their fingernails in a pattern, right?
Me: Yes. And you like it that way, so why not? Okay, sit here so you can watch the football game while I paint your nails. You won't be able to move for a little while, because they have to dry, right?
Pseudonymous Kid: Right, but I can watch football instead.
Me: Exactly. Okay, do you want pink first, or gold?
.....
This morning
Pseudonymous Kid: I can't wait to go to school and show Kalia that I can paint my nails! And that she's wrong!
Me: Okay, but can I give you some advice?
Pseudonymous Kid: Sure. What?
Me: Well, if she argues with you, you don't need to get mad at her. You know that you can paint your nails, and that she's just being silly. So if she tells you you're not supposed to, or something like that, just tell her she's being silly and you're not going to argue about it, okay? That way you won't get in trouble for yelling.
Pseudonymous Kid: Okay! I'll just tell her that I'm a boy, and I paint my nails, so boys can too paint their nails, and I'm not going to argue about it! And then I can walk away if she argues with me.
Me: Exactly! Good boy.

When he gets home, I'll update you in comments about how it went.

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan died Saturday, on her 85th birthday. She was a hell of a woman, and she fought the good fight.

Thank you, Betty.

Oceania had always been at war

1. Now we're planning for a "long war on extremism"--not just terrorism, mind you.

2. So obviously, we need a new "long war" strategy. For the next twenty years.

3. Rumsfeld says it's the new cold war, and calls Iran the world's top sponsor of terrorism.

There's a real credibility issue here, and a fatigue issue. With the cold war, there was one target. With the "long war on extremism," the target is always moving. And the Bush administration hasn't exactly shown that it can distinguish between targets that need long-term attention (hey, what's going on in Afghanistan these days?) and targets that aren't a real problem in terms of extremism and terrorism (Iraq). Of course, a nuclear Iran is an actual threat, and Iran is far more involved in supporting terrorism than Iraq was. Given our results in Afghanistan and Iraq, though, I just don't see how bombing the crap out of Iran is going to improve that situation.

But hey. Trust Big Brother.

Happy February 2nd

According to Pseudonymous Kid, "The warthog didn't see his shadow today, so we'll have six more weeks of winter."

How could I possibly not love Mr. B.?

I'd have to be even more churlish than I am, really.

Reminder: our car is kaput. Mr. B. is talking about replacing the engine; I'm talking about waiting until he has a good job, or until I get a raise this fall. Carlessness means that grocery shopping, naturellement, has to take into account things like weight and distance, which means Mr. B. tends not to buy beer while doing the regular shopping, which means we are currently out of beer. The horror. Anyway, we proceed with our story:

Yesterday morning:

Mr. B.: Bitch, would you pick up some beer on the way home at Mom & Pop Mini-Mart?
Me: Sure, no problem.

Yesterday evening:

Me, dropping my bag on the floor: I'm sorry, Mom & Pop Not-So-Convenient-Mart was closed by the time I got off the bus.
Mr. B.: Really?!?
Me: Yes. We live in bucolic small-town America, remember?
Mr. B.: Grrrr.

This morning:

Mr. B.: Bitch, can you pick up some beer on the way home?
Me: Sure, no problem.

This evening:

Me, dropping my bag on the floor: I'm sorry, I stayed later than I intended and Mom & Pop was closed again.
Mr. B.: Grrrr.
Me: I'm sorry, honey. I have a long day tomorrow, too. You might have to drag PK over there during the day.

Later this evening:

Mr. B., folding laundry at the foot of the bed: Damn it. I want some beer! Or some wine! A drink! Anything, I don't care.
Me, arching an eyebrow: Hmm. Is this a new problem? Maybe we should be glad that Mom & Pop is never open.
Mr. B.: (Laughs.)
Me: I'm sorry I couldn't get you any beer. I'm your do-nothing wife, remember?
Mr. B., ruefully: And I'm your do-nothing husband, since I really don't want to take PK on an errand tomorrow.

I excuse myself to go to the bathroom:

Mr. B, knocks on the door and peeps in: Actually, you're not my do-nothing wife. (Waits a beat.) You're Dr. Doolittle.