Well, well, well! My glee at finding out Michelle already knew about Elexa has been validated by this study. If you want your kids to have safe sex then you have to be a supportive parent. Cool. I can do that.
Now go read Sassymonkey’s post about being supportive of teens.
Daily Dose of Teens – Safe Sex Read More »
I had a lot of fun with the folks who labeled Blogher as "heteronormative" – a lot of fun in the sarcastic I’m really annoyed way. Heteronormativity is a problem but heteronormativity wasn’t a problem at Blogher. If people really want to point the hteronormative finger at something, then they ought to do it at the real things.
Let’s look at some recent examples of heteronormativity in my life.
1) I can’t tell you how many forms, online and off, I’ve seen that ask for my gender and then give me only two choices. Male or female. That is heteronormativity at work. Everyone is either male or female in the hetero world.
2) Filling out college enrollment forms, Michelle found a section for information about her mother and her father. These very specifically said "mother" and "father" not parents. In the heteronormative world, everyone has a mom and a dad. Nobody was born of artificial insemination from a sperm donor and raised by two moms. Nobody was adopted by two dads. Everyone has both a mom and a dad, or did at one time and should have all of the nice information for those college forms, right?
3) I went to the ER on Saturday. Upon check-in I was asked if I was single, married, divorced or widowed. Umm one of the above but also "other". In the hetero world, everyone is one of those four things.
4) I joined a website for moms recently. Since the site is for moms, they assumed my gender, which is fine with me. They then asked me the traditional 4 – single, married, divorced or widowed. Hmmm. I am divorced but that doesn’t really cover my status properly. I am anti-marriage but married fit my situation the best so I chose that one. Later in the profile process, they asked for my husband’s name. Umm. Heteronormitivity at work, folks.
5) If you have a child in your life who goes to school, you’ve invariably seen the all about me worksheets and genealogy assignments. There are some good worksheets and assignments that simply tell students to chart their parents and their parents parents etc… but more often than not, there’s a spot specifically for a mother and specifically for a father. No problem in our family, our kids have both but that’s heteronormative – again, what about the kids who were adopted by two dads or inseminted via sperm donor and don’t have fathers but instead have two moms?
This is the stuff heteronormativity is made of. What we saw at Blogher wasn’t heteronormativity. At no time was I asked to fill out a form that made assumptions about my gender or relationship status. The Mommyblogging panel was not labeled "Mommyblogging is a radical act so you’d better prepare your husband for it." The monetizing panel wasn’t suggesting you monetize your blog so your husband can quit his job and stay home to make videos about his Crocs. Susie Bright’s sex panel wasn’t labeled "Let’s talk about heterosex."
No there wasn’t a session specifically labeled GAY but that doesn’t scream heteronormative – it screams inclusiveness. It means Bloghercon’s organizers had no agenda, they left the agenda up to those who attended the sessions. It means Bloghercon didn’t make assumptions about the participants instead, they left it up to us to define ourselves. There is nothing heteronormative about that.
Daily Dose of Heteronormativity Read More »
kimbofo at Reading Matters is happy about the Aussies on the long list – I say who cares about the Aussies, look at Sarah Waters. Will she stick around for the short list? Was Nightwatch good enough for the short list? I think maybe it was.
The Booker Long List Read More »
You’re looking at this picture and saying "duh, you hurt your foot and that’s what those are doing in your house" aren’t you? Well that’s only partly accurate. I didn’t get these crutches from the ER on Saturday, they’ve been in the house for several years. TW’s sister left them here when she came for a visit in 2002 and I’ve wanted to get rid of them for ages. This weekend though, I was glad I hadn’t tossed them out or freecycled them like I had planned.
You never know when something in the "what’s this doing in my house Monday" category might turn into a much needed and appreciated item. What’s in your house this Monday?
Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday Read More »
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girl Among Ghosts was fantastic. Family histories mingled with Chinese legends and superstitions. Mu Lan as she was meant to be and not the Disneyfied version. Awesome mix of real and fantasy and an interesting look at a Chinese-American girl growing up with ghosts – and finding her voice.
I never did want a pig. Not even during my Charlotte’s Web fixated childhood and certainly not after my childrens’ Charlotte’s Web fixated childhood. I have inquired into the health of the pot-bellied pig which belongs to friends of my children, and commiserated over a botched hoof surgery. But a pig, no, it isn’t a pet I’ve ever been interested in. When TW talks about having a cow, I’ve always been pleased that she didn’t toss a pig or two into her fantasies.
When Katie said she needed some folks to read The Good Good Pig with her, I started to refuse. But, she read The Moonstone with me so I owed her one. I think I got the better deal.
Christopher Hogwood’s story was a lot like Marley & Me, but from a pig point of view. I thought it was going to be a little to “back to the earth” for me but it wasn’t like that at all. Just a normal married couple who like animals and nature and wind up with a pig. It’s a terrific feel good story. Read it, you’ll feel good when you finish.
I don’t seem to read many books about “elders” or “seniors”. Is that because there aren’t many? Or am I simply overlooking them? I should go talk to Ronni Bennett about this…
The Girls is a book I picked up at the Friends of the Library sale – I don’t know if it was in the spring or if it was last fall, I just know it’s been on the shelf for quite awhile. It probably would have stayed on the shelf for quite some time if Sassymonkey hadn’t put the “read 5 books you own but have never read” item on her summer reading challenge. That would have been a real disappointment.
I loved the whole Jewish/Miami/South Beach scene. I loved all four sisters. Flora reminds me a little of my grandmother, though even my grandmother wouldn’t have been that umm, interesting. Retirement villages, nursing homes, assisted living, assisted suicide with a little racial prejudice and religious stereotyping tossed in – all tough topics but the book, well, go read it and see what you think.
I got a Barnes & Noble giftcard awhile back, from some Judy’s Book promotional thing I participated in so I went in search of some inexpensive but unusual books – things I would probably never read otherwise. The Effect of Living Backwards is one of the books I bought (Mrs Shakespeare is another). Boy was it something I’d probably not have read otherwise.
Odd. Book.
What if your childhood was all a big misunderstanding? An elaborate ruse?
That is only the beginning. What if your whole life was like that. Events that happened, they were all set up, part of a big experiment. What if you were on a plane that was hijacked and lived through this whole ordeal only to find out it was a set-up, a game, an experiment? How would you ever know what was real and what wasn’t real? Particularly if you joined the terrorist academy – or anti-terroist academy (depends on your perspective as to which it is).
Weird, weird book. But I almost enjoyed it, particularly the last half of it – after I settled in and figured out what was going on, well what was going on and what might have been going on and what could have been going on.
Weird book.
The Effect of Living Backwards Read More »
So it’s been awhile since I didn’t something really stupid, well besides the 3 tiny glasses of wine at Blogher – which really was stupid but that’s an old story that you’re all tired of hearing about. This is bigger and dumber.
Meet the teacher day for the three little children. The elementary school first. I was thinking we got out of there without a scratch and actually about to say such a thing as we were walking through the parking lot to the car. Jinx!
I stepped off the curb and BAM, CRACK, POP went my ankle and I crumbled to the ground. Boy it has been a long time since anything caused me to crumble, and in the past it has usually been my knee. It’s been a good 30 years since I had an ankle problem. I guess I’m over-due?
I handed the keys to TW and limped my way across the parking lot, trying not to black out or vomit. Moms of 5th graders, particularly lesbian moms of 5th graders, really need to try not to vomit in their kids’ school parking lot. It sets a bad tone for the entire school year. So, I was careful and made it to the car.
TW said "home or North Florida?" Ha, "home, duh." I do not do hospitals. They are dirty places and they are expensive and time consuming and there is NO HOT SPOT at the hospital.
So, I am home. With my ankle wrapped and iced. I’ve taken tylenol because I don’t take other people’s medications. I would really like to head to the front porch for what we call "fresh air" but I don’t think that’s a good idea. The walking, I mean. The "fresh air" would do me a world of good, I’m sure.
I’m an idiot, but at least I got out of the second "meet the teacher" event and I didn’t have to go to the grocery store for cat food. The silver lining, always look for the silver lining.
Here’s the follow up – I did go to the ER…
Daily Dose of Idiocy Read More »
My friend Katie asked about author blogs for her library blog – so here’s the list of author blogs I read or have read in the past.
Here are some others – which are your favorites?