Nov 20 2008
From Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body
Frank had the body of a bull, an image he intensified by wearing great gold hoops through his nipples. Unfortunately, he had joined the hoops with a chain of heavy gold links. The effect should have been deeply butch but in fact in looked rather like the handle of a Chanel shopping bag.
Nov 19 2008
So I need to start taking a certain medication again. I was on this drug for quite some time several years ago, then off it for the past few. I was hoping I’d never have to take it again, but my body has other ideas.
The only health insurance I can afford is through the school ($1500/year), and it doesn’t have prescription drug coverage. Unfortunately, the medication I need to take is between $200 and $300/month. That’s between $2400 and $3600/year. And I cannot afford that no matter how I try to make the numbers work.
I wonder how soon Obama’s going to get universal healthcare off the ground?
Nov 17 2008
From Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body
My job was to go into the urinals wearing one of Inge’s stockings over my head. That in itself might not have attracted much attention, men’s toilets are fairly liberal places, but then I had to warn the row of guys that they were in danger of having their balls blown off unless they left at once. A typical occassion would be to find five of them, cocks in hand, staring at the brown-streaked porcelain as though it were the Holy Grail. Why do men like doing everything together? I said (quoting Inge), ‘This urinal is a symbol of patriarchy and must be destroyed.’ Then (in my own voice), ‘My girlfriend has just wired up the Semtex, would you mind finishing off?’
Nov 16 2008
Dear mathematicians publishing in journals,
Saying “clearly” and “obviously” does not make your work any more clear or obvious.
Sincerely,
A confused reader
Nov 16 2008
I’ve been tagged by Eugenie again! I feel a little like I’m passing notes in middle school 
Rules
-Complete meme and post.
-Email the person who tagged you to let them know it’s up.
-Tag 5 others and email/comment to tell them so.
1) Being in middle school.
2) Competing with MathCounts. Yes, that does mean I was a Mathlete.
3) Nursing a huge crush on Charlotte Roberts - softball player, popular, and nice to nerdy me.
4) Going to the symphony with my cool math teacher.
5) Taking care of the hogs.
1) Read through the rest of Mo Udall’s speeches and jot down a few essay ideas. Time for scholarship applications again!
2) Outline a paper on the evolutionary history and relationships of Sphenophyta.
3) Get caught up on lecture material from my ecology class
4) Write my section of my group’s paper on applications of the Catalan numbers. I’m focusing on phylogenetic analysis.
5) Work on my research prospectus.
1) Dark chocolate - esp with almonds or citrus.
2) Popcorn
3) Trail mix - I make it myself so I can control the chocolate proportion.
4) Leftovers, esp soup.
5) Carrots
1) Buy lots of pretty shoes
2) Pay for my and my siblings’ education
3) Travel to all the world’s arid regions.
4) Get good health insurance.
5) Buy my mom pretty things.
1) Rural North Carolina
2) Triangle area of NC
3) Benxi, China
4) A biological station in Michigan
5) Northern Arizona
1) Administrative assistant to a real estate appraiser
2) Tech support at two universities
3) Library assistant in 3 different branches of a university library - including the microfilms department.
4) English teacher in China
5) Undergraduate researcher
1) Liz - even though she didn’t play last time
2) Karina - even though she’s probably far too busy.
Nov 15 2008
You know that $700 billion bailout? Did you know the Federal Reserve gave $2 TRILLION in emergency loans? And they won’t say who that money went to? That’s your money.
Google is better than the CDC at following flu epidemics.
PZ writes about Mormon support for Prop 8 in CA.
Obama includes gender identity in his employment non-discrimination policy for his administration.
Nov 13 2008
Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities
This book looks absolutely fantastic:
“To us, femininity is neither phallic fantasy nor default, it’s beyond surface and it certainly does not passively wait to come alive through a (male) gaze. Fiercely intentional, neither objects nor objective, we have stuff to get out our chests. But speaking bittersweets truths to power takes both busty bravery and some serious padding.”
Nov 09 2008
Proposition 8 in California passed last Tuesday. The proposition overturns a recent California Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage by ammending the state constitution to say “”Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” This was heartbreaking news for many LGBT people across the country. We wondered how one group could make so much progress while another took such a huge step back.
Then the news came that California African American voters, who’d overwhelmingly supported Obama, had voted in favor of Proposition 8 70% of the time. I was so hurt when I heard that. Why would people that understood discrimination vote to take away civil rights from an entire group of people? Especially when exactly the same arguments were used to deny interracial marriages until the late 1960s:
1) First, judges claimed that marriage belonged under the control of the states rather than the federal government.
2) Second, they began to define and label all interracial relationships (even longstanding, deeply committed ones) as illicit sex rather than marriage.
3) Third, they insisted that interracial marriage was contrary to God’s will, and
4) Fourth, they declared, over and over again, that interracial marriage was somehow “unnatural.”
So I’m angry and confused and wish our schools taught history better. But I was even angrier when I heard about this over at Pandagon:
Los Angeles resident and Rod 2.0 reader A. Ronald says he and his boyfriend, who are both black, were carrying NO ON PROP 8 signs and still subjected to racial abuse.
Three older men accosted my friend and shouted, “Black people did this, I hope you people are happy!” A young lesbian couple with mohawks and Obama buttons joined the shouting and said there were “very disappointed with black people” and “how could we” after the Obama victory. This was stupid for them to single us out because we were carrying those blue NO ON PROP 8 signs! I pointed that out and the one of the older men said it didn’t matter because “most black people hated gays” and he was “wrong” to think we had compassion. That was the most insulting thing I had ever heard. I guess he never thought we were gay.
Responding to ignorance and hate with ignorance and hate makes the situation a lot worse. And in this situation, people were alienating members of their own community.
