Mail Bag, Maclean's, March 12, 2007:
I AM RISKING severe criticism (or worse) in telling you that your cover line should have read "How women are killing kids with caution while men stand by and do nothing." Women worry, which means they want to be sure the kids don't do anything childish. Men find it easier to say nothing and avoid arguments.
Rob Williams, Parksville, B.C.
In the News
Students suspended over Vagina Monologues
Three US students are in hot water for disobeying teachers and uttering the word "vagina" during a reading from the well-known feminist play The Vagina Monologues at a US high school forum.
The three 16-year-old girls received a one-day suspension from John Jay High School, in New York, after refusing to agree to drop the word from their presentation last Friday.
The school, however, announced this week that it was postponing the suspension following outrage by some of the girl's peers as well as parents.
Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, has meanwhile called the girls to express support and is planning to speak at the school about the controversy, she said.
"This (episode) is utterly bizarre and strange and I can't believe it's 2007 and this is a controversy," Ensler said. "It's insane.
"There is the issue of censorship ..., the issue of having an open mic evening and telling people what they can and cannot say and there is the issue of vagina and why that's a scary word."
School principal Rich Leprine said in a statement that the punishment meted out to the students was not for using the word vagina but rather for insubordination.
"When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honoured and the directive will be followed," Leprine said. "When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow."
Elan Stahl, one of the three students, said the girls were not looking to challenge the school during their performance but felt frustrated that officials would ask them to censor the play.
"Our aim was not to get in trouble," Stahl told AFP. "We want to put the word (vagina) out there and make people comfortable with using it.
"If they can just admit that the word vagina shouldn't have been censored because it's not lewd or obscene ... then that apology would be gladly accepted," she said.
The Vagina Monologues is based on several hundred interviews with women around the world and celebrates female sexuality and focuses on the abuses women suffer.
The passage that landed Stahl and her schoolmates in trouble reads: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."
Yep, women wish to use sex to get everything they want. Is it any wonder rappers call them ho's - yet they'll whinge about that as well. Like little children they always want it both ways, so that their moods can choose what they think is true at the time.
Three US students are in hot water for disobeying teachers and uttering the word "vagina" during a reading from the well-known feminist play The Vagina Monologues at a US high school forum.
The three 16-year-old girls received a one-day suspension from John Jay High School, in New York, after refusing to agree to drop the word from their presentation last Friday.
The school, however, announced this week that it was postponing the suspension following outrage by some of the girl's peers as well as parents.
Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, has meanwhile called the girls to express support and is planning to speak at the school about the controversy, she said.
"This (episode) is utterly bizarre and strange and I can't believe it's 2007 and this is a controversy," Ensler said. "It's insane.
"There is the issue of censorship ..., the issue of having an open mic evening and telling people what they can and cannot say and there is the issue of vagina and why that's a scary word."
School principal Rich Leprine said in a statement that the punishment meted out to the students was not for using the word vagina but rather for insubordination.
"When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honoured and the directive will be followed," Leprine said. "When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow."
Elan Stahl, one of the three students, said the girls were not looking to challenge the school during their performance but felt frustrated that officials would ask them to censor the play.
"Our aim was not to get in trouble," Stahl told AFP. "We want to put the word (vagina) out there and make people comfortable with using it.
"If they can just admit that the word vagina shouldn't have been censored because it's not lewd or obscene ... then that apology would be gladly accepted," she said.
The Vagina Monologues is based on several hundred interviews with women around the world and celebrates female sexuality and focuses on the abuses women suffer.
The passage that landed Stahl and her schoolmates in trouble reads: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."
Yep, women wish to use sex to get everything they want. Is it any wonder rappers call them ho's - yet they'll whinge about that as well. Like little children they always want it both ways, so that their moods can choose what they think is true at the time.
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Elizabeth Isabelle
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am
It seems that the school did not teach what the phrase "challenge the school" (or "challenge authority" - easily transferrable) means. She's confusing the issue to make it mean she wanted to do things her way because she thought she was right and the school was wrong, but she didn't want to suffer any consequenses for what she thought was the truth.Elan Stahl, one of the three students, said the girls were not looking to challenge the school during their performance but felt frustrated that officials would ask them to censor the play.
"Our aim was not to get in trouble," Stahl told AFP. "We want to put the word (vagina) out there and make people comfortable with using it.
The school was stupid in its position of letting the girls do The Vagina Monologues but telling them to not use the word "vagina." That's silly. Tell them to pick another play.
That's exactly the sort of word that kindergarten kids would pick up on and repeat about a billion times over the next week or two."When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honoured and the directive will be followed," Leprine said. "When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow."
.
A buying frenzy broke out in Sydney today as Target launched the new Stella McCartney designer range of clothes.
A security guard at Target's Bondi Junction store estimated 700 women were queueing before the store opened this morning.
Within half an hour of opening, the Target store at Westfield had been virtually fleeced of the young designer's new range, with racks emptied, shelves bare and even mannequins stripped of clothes.
Hundreds of people - virtually all women and some entering Target for the first time - queued outside the store before 9am.
By the time Kash Sachania, who owns the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store, entered the store at 9.30am there was barely anything left.
"There was mayhem, absolute chaos,'' she said. "I know that the racks were empty by 9.30. It's been a crazy thing.''
She said she saw a woman in her 70s walking away with a bag full of the new designs.
"I was, like, are you going to wear that?''
She heard another woman saying the McCartney range had brought her to Target for the first time.
"I have never seen a response to something like this in Target,'' she said.
Janice, a 30-year-old shopper from Ireland, said she had seen women trading what remained of the supply of clothes.
"There's a lot of bargaining going on,'' she said. "It's crazy. It's like a frenzy.''
Catherine, 38, from Paddington, said: "McCartney's designs are beautiful and that's why people are willing to put up with this.
"Most women look at each other and they know it is crazy but it's worth it.''
Luciana Banhara, 35, from Mosman, said she had travelled to Bondi Junction from her Martin Place office during lunch to snare a McCartney item.
But by the time she got there there was nothing in her size. She said it was rare to have designer clothes at an affordable price.
Michaela York emailed smh.com.au to say she was queuing in an orderly fashion outside the store before it opened this morning when a security guard asked everyone to stand up and face the roller doors at the entrance.
"All of a sudden everyone rushed to the roller door and people who were in the back of the queue have all of a sudden secured a place in the front.
"That caused lot of grief and many women were shouting obscenities at each other. Not a pleasant sight.
"When we were finally allowed into the store, everyone rushed in and grabbed whatever they could ... It was simply chaotic. Women were ripping clothes from the mannequins and from each other.''
Another reader, who did not provide their name, said: "I will never, and I mean NEVER, shop on the first day of a hyped-up sale like that again.''
But while Bondi Junction shoppers faced a frenzy, those at Liverpool were able to indulge in peaceful retail therapy.
"My daughter and I went to Liverpool Target and had no problem,'' wrote Michelle.
"There were only 20 people lined up outside. The clothes are beautiful and we were very happy.''
It was the same story in Melbourne, where a fight broke out between two women after some 400 people queued outside Chadstone's Target store.
The fight broke out as two women in their 20s got too close to each other in the frenzy. A security guard quickly stepped in to calm things down.
The most popular items were McCartney's much-hyped trench coat in grey and navy - just 6000 are available Australia-wide - a woollen, knee-length pea coat and an olive green silk dress with beading around the neckline.
Some racks were cleared within 45 seconds, with a second batch of trench coats brought out within minutes. Shoppers then resorted to stripping mannequins bare once racks were cleared.
Mothers and daughters coordinated their shopping via mobile phones from different stores to better their chances of getting the garments they wanted.
A sales assistant said the first three orders she put through the checkout were for $379, $957 and $993.
Target apparel manager Larice Lewis said the reaction "has surpassed our wildest expectations".
"The customers hopefully are loving the product and that's what it's all about," she said.
A security guard at Target's Bondi Junction store estimated 700 women were queueing before the store opened this morning.
Within half an hour of opening, the Target store at Westfield had been virtually fleeced of the young designer's new range, with racks emptied, shelves bare and even mannequins stripped of clothes.
Hundreds of people - virtually all women and some entering Target for the first time - queued outside the store before 9am.
By the time Kash Sachania, who owns the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store, entered the store at 9.30am there was barely anything left.
"There was mayhem, absolute chaos,'' she said. "I know that the racks were empty by 9.30. It's been a crazy thing.''
She said she saw a woman in her 70s walking away with a bag full of the new designs.
"I was, like, are you going to wear that?''
She heard another woman saying the McCartney range had brought her to Target for the first time.
"I have never seen a response to something like this in Target,'' she said.
Janice, a 30-year-old shopper from Ireland, said she had seen women trading what remained of the supply of clothes.
"There's a lot of bargaining going on,'' she said. "It's crazy. It's like a frenzy.''
Catherine, 38, from Paddington, said: "McCartney's designs are beautiful and that's why people are willing to put up with this.
"Most women look at each other and they know it is crazy but it's worth it.''
Luciana Banhara, 35, from Mosman, said she had travelled to Bondi Junction from her Martin Place office during lunch to snare a McCartney item.
But by the time she got there there was nothing in her size. She said it was rare to have designer clothes at an affordable price.
Michaela York emailed smh.com.au to say she was queuing in an orderly fashion outside the store before it opened this morning when a security guard asked everyone to stand up and face the roller doors at the entrance.
"All of a sudden everyone rushed to the roller door and people who were in the back of the queue have all of a sudden secured a place in the front.
"That caused lot of grief and many women were shouting obscenities at each other. Not a pleasant sight.
"When we were finally allowed into the store, everyone rushed in and grabbed whatever they could ... It was simply chaotic. Women were ripping clothes from the mannequins and from each other.''
Another reader, who did not provide their name, said: "I will never, and I mean NEVER, shop on the first day of a hyped-up sale like that again.''
But while Bondi Junction shoppers faced a frenzy, those at Liverpool were able to indulge in peaceful retail therapy.
"My daughter and I went to Liverpool Target and had no problem,'' wrote Michelle.
"There were only 20 people lined up outside. The clothes are beautiful and we were very happy.''
It was the same story in Melbourne, where a fight broke out between two women after some 400 people queued outside Chadstone's Target store.
The fight broke out as two women in their 20s got too close to each other in the frenzy. A security guard quickly stepped in to calm things down.
The most popular items were McCartney's much-hyped trench coat in grey and navy - just 6000 are available Australia-wide - a woollen, knee-length pea coat and an olive green silk dress with beading around the neckline.
Some racks were cleared within 45 seconds, with a second batch of trench coats brought out within minutes. Shoppers then resorted to stripping mannequins bare once racks were cleared.
Mothers and daughters coordinated their shopping via mobile phones from different stores to better their chances of getting the garments they wanted.
A sales assistant said the first three orders she put through the checkout were for $379, $957 and $993.
Target apparel manager Larice Lewis said the reaction "has surpassed our wildest expectations".
"The customers hopefully are loving the product and that's what it's all about," she said.
Better to love and lose? No way
When it comes to your long-term happiness, it's worse to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, at least according to a review article by Michigan State University psychologist Richard Lucas.
Lucas set out to investigate a commonly held view in his field - that people are born to be happy or sad, the slings and arrows of fortune altering that "set point" only temporarily.
But nobody had specifically looked at the impact of big life changes, such as marriage, divorce or unemployment, he said.
He found that marriage buoyed the spirits for only about two years, after which the spouses were no happier than they had been as singles.
But divorce, he found, could plunge you permanently into the emotional dumps. So could losing your job.
His findings, based on several different studies, were published in the April issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
On the plus side, he said, divorced people could climb back to the relative happiness they enjoyed as singles by getting remarried.
But for those who had been fired, even finding a new job didn't completely repair the damage.
He said his study backs up our intuitive sense about the hazards of heartbreak.
Still, he was surprised to find divorce had a more permanent effect than the loss of a spouse to death, from which the average person recovers in seven years.
His results would seem to contradict previous surveys showing married people were happier than singles -- whether two years or two decades into marriage.
But a closer look showed they were happier five years before taking their vows.
So it's not so much that marriage makes you happy, he said, "but that happy people are more likely to get married."
When it comes to your long-term happiness, it's worse to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, at least according to a review article by Michigan State University psychologist Richard Lucas.
Lucas set out to investigate a commonly held view in his field - that people are born to be happy or sad, the slings and arrows of fortune altering that "set point" only temporarily.
But nobody had specifically looked at the impact of big life changes, such as marriage, divorce or unemployment, he said.
He found that marriage buoyed the spirits for only about two years, after which the spouses were no happier than they had been as singles.
But divorce, he found, could plunge you permanently into the emotional dumps. So could losing your job.
His findings, based on several different studies, were published in the April issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
On the plus side, he said, divorced people could climb back to the relative happiness they enjoyed as singles by getting remarried.
But for those who had been fired, even finding a new job didn't completely repair the damage.
He said his study backs up our intuitive sense about the hazards of heartbreak.
Still, he was surprised to find divorce had a more permanent effect than the loss of a spouse to death, from which the average person recovers in seven years.
His results would seem to contradict previous surveys showing married people were happier than singles -- whether two years or two decades into marriage.
But a closer look showed they were happier five years before taking their vows.
So it's not so much that marriage makes you happy, he said, "but that happy people are more likely to get married."
Evolution, Alienation and Gossip
The role of mobile telecommunications in the 21st century
By Kate Fox
Was reading through this article thinking constantly - this "Men gossip as much as females" is complete bullshit. I finally got to the end where it said -
The research was commissioned by BT Cellnet © 2001
I'm not the least bit surprised. The more business turns males into females, (via desires for herd conformity) the more they'll sell. Most global business is now involved in this deception.
The role of mobile telecommunications in the 21st century
By Kate Fox
Was reading through this article thinking constantly - this "Men gossip as much as females" is complete bullshit. I finally got to the end where it said -
The research was commissioned by BT Cellnet © 2001
I'm not the least bit surprised. The more business turns males into females, (via desires for herd conformity) the more they'll sell. Most global business is now involved in this deception.
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Elizabeth Isabelle
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am
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Elizabeth Isabelle
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am
Because American news is full of fluff and each country's papers give a bias, so to get a more well-rounded view, I look at various news from around the world. Here are a few of the ones I browse:
(edit - Iran Daily no longer available online)
Africa Focus
The Hindu
a variety of Australian, American, Canadian, British, etc.
The Statesman
.
(edit - Iran Daily no longer available online)
Africa Focus
The Hindu
a variety of Australian, American, Canadian, British, etc.
The Statesman
.
It's all intentionally slanted anyway
This video isn't worth watching past the first minute or so cuz it just turns into a rant, but apparently they actually got a memo at fox news showing how to spin the democratic victory this year as a victory for terrorists.
This video isn't worth watching past the first minute or so cuz it just turns into a rant, but apparently they actually got a memo at fox news showing how to spin the democratic victory this year as a victory for terrorists.
-Katy
I think the conservative party is Oz must have sent a similar memo around about Work Choices. Work choices is about destroying unions and making people sign individual work agreements. It is about allowing bosses the complete freedom to do whatever they like to employees. It will really be noticed when a recession hits.
Quite a few TV stations have used the phrase "celebrate the first anniversary", as if it is something all Australians should be doing.
Quite a few TV stations have used the phrase "celebrate the first anniversary", as if it is something all Australians should be doing.
Well, in all fairness, while I'm a critic of the GF focus on "masculinity," I find a lot of this pop-culture "feminist" stuff even more nauseating. A liberation flag? How can anybody be liberated from controlling the world? I guess the idea is to be liberated from having to do it covertly and secretly, though. Feminists want open and acknowledged world domination. And if modern pop-culture keeps bending over backwards for this sort of thing, they will have it.
I think men and women are basically equal in the ways that count, and whatever differences they have are best construed in terms of evolutionary biology. But anybody who thinks "feminism" is about being equal needs a reality check. It's about being superior. At least the GF masculism is honest in this regard - which, of course, is why it will never amount to anything while "feminism" is taking over the world.
I'm for tossing all of this rubbish overboard.
I think men and women are basically equal in the ways that count, and whatever differences they have are best construed in terms of evolutionary biology. But anybody who thinks "feminism" is about being equal needs a reality check. It's about being superior. At least the GF masculism is honest in this regard - which, of course, is why it will never amount to anything while "feminism" is taking over the world.
I'm for tossing all of this rubbish overboard.
Last edited by Unidian on Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I live in a tub.
On the contrary, I think it adds to the mountain of evidence showing how deeply "work ethic" indoctrination permeates the culture and dominates the lives of average people. Apparently, if we are deemed unsuitable for "employment" (typically at some mindless and pointless task), the self-image suffers an irreperable blow. Even divorce can't match the impact of it.His findings, based on several different studies, were published in the April issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
On the plus side, he said, divorced people could climb back to the relative happiness they enjoyed as singles by getting remarried.
But for those who had been fired, even finding a new job didn't completely repair the damage [from being fired].
He said his study backs up our intuitive sense about the hazards of heartbreak.
Oh no! I've been fired, so it seems I'm not fit to enrich somebody else by being exploited as a "human resource!" What a worthless person I must be. How will I ever get over it?
Puh-thetic. This is going in my lengthy "jobs are dumb" file.
I live in a tub.
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Thanks for the article.
Have a slew of cousins that live there. Will call this weekend to see if any of "them" have joined up! :-)
Aside - perhaps George Bush could learn a bit or two with this in Hell (Iraq).
Tomas (the tank)
VietNam veteran - 1971
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Elizabeth Isabelle wrote:Quit mowing
Thanks for the article.
Have a slew of cousins that live there. Will call this weekend to see if any of "them" have joined up! :-)
Aside - perhaps George Bush could learn a bit or two with this in Hell (Iraq).
Tomas (the tank)
VietNam veteran - 1971
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You can tell Australia doen't get tornadoes very often.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/som ... 35669.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/som ... 35669.html
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Dan Rowden
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- Contact:
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Elizabeth Isabelle
- Posts: 3771
- Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:35 am