Drag Kings in Afghanistan

Interesting article.  I am intrigued looking at how different cultures use cross-dressing, especially when it is to fulfill a societal advantage (i.e. sonless families need son to raise social status) and not in connection with one's sexuality (as we are trained to react in the US). I remember someone telling me that in some part of the world it's not unusual for families without daughters to pick a son to dress up as a girl and help his mother out around the house...but I cannot remember where this happened.  I'm pretty sure Kate was the one telling me this story so she should post an article about that!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

UGGGHHHHHH

http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/09/14/how-republicans-party/

Dressing up like a confederate soldier for nerdy history reasons...um ok.  Dressing up people whose ancestors were slaves as slaves...NOT OK!  Get it together people!

Happy Anniversary, 19th Amendment!

I'm a day late, but the day that people w/ uteruses were identified as actual, you know, citizens, is worth commemorating.

Sample dialogue

Me: Hey, the last book in a trilogy I'm totally obsessed with is going to come out while I'm visiting you*. Is there a bookstore in town where I can pick it up?

My sister (doubtfully): Well, there's a Christian bookstore...

Me: [Hyperventilating]

* In a small town in Wyoming.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

I've been meaning to post this for a while, and got distracted.  I found this link through sociological images/jezebel and I was quite disturbed.  What I find most intriguing is that the comic talks about homosexuality as an order that simply wasn't followed.  The person's sexuality is stripped of anything personal, and discussed as if they had not followed a minor order.  They talk so objectively and calmly about the offense, yet the consequences are quite dire.  This comic is truly disturbing...and disturbingly recent

http://www.ep.tc/problems/38/cvr.html

Breaking news: Julia's Hunger Games obsession validated in NY Times

See, totally respectable!

(Ok, I wasn't actually feeling anxious about it. But the story's illustration is exactly how I fear I'm going to be as a mother.)

Bella before Edward or a period of time that is now known as BBE

So, after I read Twilight the first time I came away hating Bella.  I found her way too angsty and all too willing to let herself get lost in her relationship with Edward. These traits are to be expected for teenagers, but I don’t want to read books about them and I resent that teenage girls are looking to Bella as a role model.

Well, upon reading it a second time, I made a discovery.  Bella is actually pretty awesome… that is before her relationship with Edward.  She definitely has a Daria vibe going for her…she’s smart, likes to read, doesn’t understand other teenagers, and won’t participate in gym volleyball.  I mean the girl would prefer to go to a book store in Seattle over going to a school dance, which is obviously a way better thing to do, but I wasn’t cool enough in high school to know that…she is and it comes so naturally to her! She also writes about, “whether Shakespeare’s treatment of the female characters is misogynistic.”   Not groundbreaking, but hints at feminism.  Basically, she’s not a typical teenager.  Jessica, Mike, Angela are all the typical teens who Bella is too indifferent to say “no” to being friends with.   They are drawn to her because she’s smart, pretty, and way cooler than all of them.   Bella is not a poser (yet) and is way more comfortable with herself than most teens, yet is still growing and trying to decide who she is.  THIS IS A GREAT CHARACTER TO BEGIN A NOVEL!