sundries

[rm]

The new Miss USA is Arab-American, a first.

You know, my medical phobia was bad enough even without knowing about anesthesia awareness. This isn't my first reading about it, but I get more traumatized by it every time.

The Boston University class of 1970 finally has their graduation ceremony.

Strict reading of visa rule imperils more couples.

Riding a bicycle to promote world peace.

I don't think I would have gotten this even a couple of years ago. Now I get it. At the Smith College commencement Rachel Maddow said (among other stuff including a mention of folks in the Department of the Interior snorting meth off a toaster oven), "when given the choice between fame and glory, take glory."

While domestic partnership in New York is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay not marriage, the ceremony is about to get better for those interested. For the record, most of NYC's domestic partnerships involve straight people and gay marriages are recognized in New York if you get 'em legally done elsewhere. Confused yet?

Laura Bush not only supports marriage equality, she believes it is inevitable.

People, no matter how much of a plan you think you have, when you drop something onto the tracks don't go after it. Among other things, they're much, much deeper than you think.

Of course, I woke up today (after waking up at 2am and 4:30am first) with three critical things I need to add to the paper (each is a mere clause or sentence, but important), two things I want to double-check, and a footnote about death rates in British television shows I want to expand slightly (something that's all John Fay's fault). Other than that, it's just cleaning up my citation footnotes and doing the epic bibliography that's a big pain in the ass since it includes papers, books, tv shows, movies and the damn Internet.

While this was going on all weekend, Patty was working on her remix story. We spent a lot of time sitting across from each other in a cafe running our hands through our hair. This was about a hundred times more conducive to the writing process than I would have expected, and I'm very impressed with the degree to which we did not drive ourselves crazy.

The Hewitt reunion was weird and possibly even illuminating, but will be a post of its own.

In the midst of all of this, we also managed to watch some Buffy and Angel. Kittens as currency!

Meanwhile, last night on Angel we watched the misogyny demon episode. Alexis Denisof is _such_ a good actor I feel like I'm losing my mind. Why isn't he working more? Jesus fucking christ. Because that episode is the most heavy-handed and not that well-written piece of crap ever (hi, references to The Shining) and yet his performance manages to be nuanced, uncomfortably sexual and just screams of backstory (hi Wesley's dad! Am I right or am I right?).

And, despite Wesley not being that terrible, terrible guy he is under the influence, here's a man who's always talking about "what a remarkable girl" this or that woman he is attracted to is; he never knew how to be a child, he doesn't know how to be an adult, and he's only attracted to people he (thinks he) needs to protect because he can't protect himself and they're a distraction from just how fundamentally broken and full of shame he is. That last scene with Fred and the tears is FUCKING HEARTBREAKING.

Watching Wesley's arc is, instead of my more usual experience of thinking "wow, I have things in common with this character" is instead the experience of "oh, look at the terrible things he has in common with me."

Comments

Re: The new Miss USA is Arab-American,

[laura47.livejournal.com]

Wow, way to stereotype a huge swath of people. "Show the world they are women"? Because our womanhood is defined by our bodies?

I don't have much personal experience with women who wear burkas, but here is a quote from Andrew Sullivan's blog from someone who does:

"I live in Minneapolis and spent a lot of time during the last few years volunteering in adult basic education classrooms, where our students are primarily learning English, and many of the attending are Somali women, all wearing a burqa or hijab. The women I've worked with are smart, passionate, engaged with learning about their new country and home. Usually I'm a very cynical - came of age during the Bush years and all - but these women absolutely inspire me with their firm belief that America is about freedom of expression and opportunity. It's incredible. They don't fit the stereotype of a Muslim woman who has no identity and is indoctrinated to believe in her own subjugation. I never saw one of the shirk from a man during an argument in class. They wear their traditional dress and want to enroll in business classes. They hope their daughters go to med school. But they still hold to their religion, it's deeply important to them, and are keenly aware of the choice they're making.

This blew my mind as a young feminist in college. I was so surprised to find such strong women when I started teaching English. If a ban on burqas was ever proposed in my city, I'd be the first protester in line."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/05/outlawing-the-burqa-ctd-3.html#more

Re: The new Miss USA is Arab-American,

[speedingslug.livejournal.com]

Also you have from the same blog.

I am a modern, liberal, Muslim woman who has never worn a scarf on my head, let alone burqa. There is nothing Islamic or religious about it.

There may be some idiotic women who choose to wear it because they don't want others to look at them but please, they need to grow up and be a part of western society if they want to live here. Men in Pakistan (where I am from) are crazy and often sex-deprived and I can understand why some women would want themselves covered and not get stared down by scary men in public places. My understanding is that Islam says don't attract undue attention toward yourself and dress modestly. But in western society, they are attracting undue attention to themselves by wearing this burqa. I just don't get why these people are incapable of thinking and take the Quran so literally.

Just because a lot of peolpe do it doesn't make it a good thing.

Would you like to wear one?