In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: November 2007

Want.

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Seriously, a pink tree. Love it.

I grew up with real trees, and I tend to prefer them (just ask my super, who intercepted me trying to get a 10-foot tree through the door by myself a couple of years ago — well, there’s a garden center a couple of blocks away, and I have a wheelie cart, and high ceilings, and it didn’t look all that big or unmanageable when it was outside, at least until I tried to get it in the door). Since then, I’ve sort of discovered the beauty of fake trees.

But if I’m gonna have a fake tree, it’s not going to be passing as a real tree. I want 50s white, or 80s pink, or silver. If I want a green tree, I’m going for the full fire hazard and getting myself a Douglas fir that’s been sitting out in the cold for a while and then spiked into my heavy-duty iron treestand.

Embrace the faux. That’s my motto.

Some lives are cheaper than others

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Picture via brownfemipower

UPDATE: Moving this to the top to make a tiny attempt to counter the mainstream media silence on it. Also check out Bob Harris to see where you can donate — options include the Red Cross, UNICEF and Save the Children.

Large swathes of Mexico are under water, people are dying and an entire country is in crisis — and the U.S. media is already bored of it. The state of Tabasco is 80 percent flooded, and they’re receiving little to no aid from the Mexican government. A refugee crisis is in full swing, and in response, the United States has pledged $300,000 to aid refugees displaced persons. Three hundred thousand. Not million.

Read BfP’s full post — it’s chock-full of sad, infuriating information on the situation in Tabasco. One million Mexicans are still displaced by the floods. The comparisons to Katrina are obvious, and as BfP points out, “I guess as long as it keeps happening to people of color, we can keep pretending that global warming is the devil’s lie.”

Posted in Uncategorized

My Shameless Soliciting of Travel Advice

Jill usually gets some pretty sweet advice on traveling, and Feministe readers seem to come from far and wide to post comments and such so hopefully this request for travel advice will garner some good response (pleeeasse!)

I’ve got a fairly large chunk of travel time in December/January and I’m trying to figure out where I want to go. Initially I thought Turkey. Turkey for a long time, to see it all. But I’m also kind of broke. Well, not totally broke (yet), but I’m definitely not rolling in the dough.

So, I’ve decided on exploring upper Egypt and then crossing the border into Jordan. If anyone has been to Jordan and has any advice on places to go, things to do, stuff to see..pass it on? Thank you!

Tuesday Travel Blogging – Tunisia

I know I promised this last week, but things have been busy (sister in town, etc) and, in my defense, I’m being true to the country by putting up this post according to Tunisia Time (i.e., totally late). There are a ton of pictures below the fold, because I took more than 600 and I had a hard time choosing just two or three.

Tunisia was gorgeous, and I don’t think my pictures quite do it justice. Hopefully, though, they at least illustrate how physically diverse the country is — it has sea, mountains, desert, and, best of all, really hilarious kitsch postcards. I traveled with my sister, and we had a lovely time. Thankfully, our horrible Tunisian stomach diseases held off until we returned to Germany, where clean public bathrooms are plentiful and I have my own beetle-free apartment. Of course, Chrissy (my sister) may have pissed off the neighbors by puking in someone’s front yard, but c’est la vie when you’re a hot, sick Gazela* fresh from Tunisia.

I had something of a difficult time taking pictures in places like Tozeur and Mahdia (i.e., outside of big cities) because every time my sister and I stopped walking long enough for me to snap a shot, we got harassed — so there are fewer pictures of those places than I’d like. But 600 isn’t too bad, right?

And thanks again to Isaac for being such a fabulous host. The full set of Tunisia pictures can be found here.



Cafe, originally uploaded by JillNic83.

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*That would be the harassing-word-of-choice among young Tunisian dudes.

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Save a Muslim, oppress a feminist



Help save these downtrodden women from their veils: Attack a feminist today!

Dear fellow feminists:

You are letting the terrorists win. If you really cared about women, you would support invading majority-Muslim countries, killing their leaders, slaughtering civilians, and forcibly converting whoever is left to Christianity (the real religion of peace). Everyone knows that Muslim men are backwards woman-haters, and Muslim women are veiled, silent and subservient, while Judeo-Christian-Americans are beacons of gender equality, human rights and feminism. It was our job to save Muslim women, and in not condemning their religion and in refusing to launch deadly attacks on their countries, we have failed.

Luckily, Jesus created Republicans. And they will demonstrate their commitment to Muslim women by promoting internment, blogging about how Islamo-Fascism is way worse than global warming, making McCarthy-esque lists of professors who don’t toe their political line, and marching in front of Women’s Studies departments.

If that’s not commitment, I don’t know what is. You lazy, selfish feminists who don’t care about Muslim women — and who certainly aren’t Muslim women yourselves, because I read somewhere that Muslim women can’t speak, so we have to do it for them — could really learn something from Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week.

Yrs,
Jill (on behalf of David Horowitz and the Young America’s Foundation)

Getting Me Through the Workday



 

I’m taking a break from feminism and politics and the Middle East, just for a second (I’ve been mulling over my comments about the veil for hours now).

I have a few (ok, ok a lot of) pretty shameless loves in life: Ice cream, chocolate (chocolate ice cream is…beyond words), coffee/tea (don’t even get me started), cheese (any kind, any time, anywhere), and hamburgers. Not in combination. Obviously.

I love watching people eat (this sounds weird and creepy, but it really isn’t meant to be). When someone can enjoy a meal, and you can actually see it on their face, that is beautiful. Absolutely amazing. It just makes me want to eat (and eat, and eat, and eat). And I love looking at photographs of food, which brings me to this: 101 Cookbooks. This is one of my favorite websites with recipes galore and some of the most amazing photos of food I have ever seen. It literally gets me through the day. Sitting at my desk, in front of a computer, for 7 hours can get pretty dull. Looking at food makes the day that much better. Hurrah!

What is your one (or many, in my case) indulgence?

Judgment Day

As Belledame reminds us here, Tuesday, November 6, is election day in Philadelphia, and presents an opportunity for Philly voters to do something about Judge Teresa Carr Deni, who recently dismissed rape charges against a defendant who stood accused of raping a prostitute at gunpoint because she felt it was a robbery, not a rape.

In a rare move, the Philadelphia Bar Association has come out against the retention of Judge Deni after initially recommending retention. If you’re a voter in Philadelphia, this is your chance to make a difference and boot out a judge who clearly does not know the law, or does not believe the law applies to sex workers.