Tuesday's Tidbits

First things first, I am severely geeking out about how awesome my school notebook is this semester. I don't actually have it yet, but I saw it in person at Walgreen's and then ordered it for cheaper from Amazon. I needed something that wouldn't get destroyed in my backpack, wouldn't take up my entire backpack, had folders, subject dividers, and was able to hold notebook paper as well as powerpoint slides that I print out. I know, I have impossibly high standards. Not so! Five Star hath met the challenge with their new Flex Hybrid Notebinder. Told ya. Geeking. Out.

Secondly, I forgot cash this morning so no bike cart coffee. However, of the Green Mountain K-cups, I recommend Dark Magic. Is that a euphemism? Who cares? I'm just excited that it's actually good... and that I looked up the definition of that the other day and finally have a real grasp on what euphemism means :)

Lastly, NPR is awesome. I've learned about everything from olive oil to Jay-Z to now "Girl Land" from them. Last week, Caitlin Flanagan was a guest on their show and she's written a book called "Girl Land" where she says we need to protect girls in their girlhood and adolescence from the evil lurking everywhere, waiting to prey upon them. I'm not even done listening to the interview, and I was making faces and scoffing while listening on the train. (Apologies to my fellow passengers who probably think me quite the angry morning commuter.)

Flanagan starts off implying that women advancing professionally and into fields dominated by math and science somehow is linked with the increasing sexualization of our culture. That's absurd and clearly not even worth fully teasing apart. I'm sure people much smarter than I could link these two together and perhaps discuss it for an entire semester, but I'm just trying to rant a little bit. So, onward!

Then, Flanagan continues by making some really sweeping generalizations about girls, who apparently are "drawn to romance" and who need protection from the boys, who will wait online until the girl gets unmonitored access to the Internet when they can finally lure her into performing oral sex on them. (I'm sorry, how would that ever happen?!) Like many others, I have a problem with her demonizing boys, which she claims not to do after she repeatedly makes adolescent males these manipulative, sex crazed beings capable only of being strung along by the ever cunning woman. I also have a problem with her lack of recognition of women as sexual beings themselves, who sometimes (gasp!) are uninterested in long term companionship.

The last bit I heard before going underground on the train was her calling comprehensive sex education "pornified culture"... Needless to say, she has some research to do about the effectiveness of different sorts of sex education (hint: she isn't going to like what she finds). It's a forty-five minute interview and I'm only slightly more than halfway through, and I'm already excited to listen to more of it after work.

I am well aware that I was focusing on poking holes in everything she said because she and I likely would not be friends. Anytime someone wants to treat an entire group of people a certain way based on their sex or skin color or sexual preference or country of origin or religion or even favorite flavor of ice cream... I am not on board with them (Except if you like rum raisin. Really, that's not okay). How can anyone be so drastically unreasonable?

It's unfortunate that she's got two sons that she's pounding all of her ideas into, but I am encouraged by all of the protesting of the host, other guests and callers on the show ...as well as this unromantic little girl.