October 2005 Archives

I was, I admit, taking advantage of the upcoming Hogwarts Feast to make fun of school food. But, tonight, Mendon and I thoroughly enjoyed the themed dinner. We stuffed ourselves on good steak, potato and onion pancakes, some (not many) veggies, mozzarella sticks, Jelly Bellies (which were not every-flavor), some sort of chicken thing that only Mendon ate (tribute to usual dinners at school), and there were rice crispy treats that were painted purple with yellow lightning bolts on them. I almost forgot to include that there was butterbeer served... but you'll have to ask Mendon about it. : ) The lights were dimmed, and there were candles at the tables (the usual restaurant globes). Additionally, everyone and everything was decorated. Plus, everyone was having fun with the event, so there was lots of chatter, noise, and excitement, which completed the Hogwarts image. Quite fun, quite fun.

back to work. I need to ease off of the blogging for long enough to do my stats.

I'll get something recent soon. Unless you want prom pictures : )

I'm really amused (and pleased!) at how reliably Mara and Maman comment on any entry that has anything vaguely to do with Feminism. Hayley, too, now that I think about it... Hm... : )

So, I was sitting in my Psychology of Stigma and Victimization class, listening to a discussion about the portrayal of characteristics as masculine and feminine. No one is talking about how they're only stereotyped into those genders, largely, it seems, everyone agrees that typically masculine and feminine traits are biological. That is concern #1. Concern #2 is the repeated affirmation that traditionally masculine characteristics are truly better than those that are traditionally feminine. Namely, that aggression is the best of the best. It in the past went out and got food for the tribe/family- it kept us alive- and now it is the characteristic that makes men sucessful in the working world. That's why they're able to just go out and get jobs - they've enough aggression to go after them (not assertiveness and not the inherent sexism that prevents women from competing?).

After about three comments of this, I'm about to explode with the comment: And will someone PLEASE tell me when being a good listener ever caused anyone to beat their wife?! ACK! ack! ack!

aka. Mendon's birthday

I just deleted this entire entry... So, here's a slightly sadder duplication:

Saturday night, as a part of our spiritualities book club, Mendon, several other students, and I invaded a professor's house (and kitchen). We (mostly Mendon) made a huge vat of chicken paprikash and a huge mess. In addition to the paprikash and the mess, we celebrated Mendon's birthday with a salad, a card, rolls that were forgotten, caramel apples, a cake, cookies, and chocolate banana muffins. Of course, we also sang the song, as well. After stuffing ourselves, we all left, and Hayley, John, Mendon and I went back to Wells to play Taboo for several hours? It was a long time, but a lot of fun. So, it's entirely possible that I enjoyed Mendon's birthday even more than he did. Good to know.

Procrastination is deleting 124 ring tone and new loan comments from your blog site when you could be getting something done... or just showering.

In a class today, someone asked me and Mendon, who was wearing his feminist shirt, what we call a masculinist.. or a guy that... yeah. And my initial reaction was "a bigot," but I corrected myself and said, "a feminist. Men advocating for the equality of men and women are feminists."

We, of course, had to go on to dispel the man-hater myths. Which reminds me of my Human Sexuality course. In that class, I learned vagina myths like: the vagina has teeth and will attack. Has anyone else ever heard of something so ridiculous?

This is such a crazy world.

Subject : text 2006
Date : Mon, October 10, 2005 5:40 pm

Dr. S.,
I, unfortunately, had to drop biopsycholgoy with Dr. Best and am curious if you use the same text as he does and whether or not you will be using it next sememster. Please let me know soon, (I have to register this week)
thank you,
M.

Subject: Re: text 2006
Date: Mon, October 10, 2005 9:01 pm

what text do you have?

PES
Psy

Today in my class, the Psychology of Stigma and Victimization, I found out something interesting when the question was posed: What was your reaction when you saw people on the news talking about racism and discrimination related to the hurricane and the aftermath thereof?
And here is a summary of my peers' reactions:
-They're just primed for that. If they're always thinking about racism, of course they'll see racism and discrimination when a disaster strikes.
-Who are they kidding? The mayor's black! Do they think he's allowing discrimination against them?
-This obviously has nothing to do with discrimination and racism. This is about a natural disaster that struck everyone with equal force. It doesn't matter if you're black or poor or whatever. Did they expect it to not be a disaster?

Well, then. Glad we cleared that up.

Ok, tonight. At 11 pm. Now, it's starting at 11:45 pm. This hits me as unreasonable. So, when the man hosting the rehearsal is the same one that got you to India, what would you do?