Picking Classes

Picking classes....is not going fabulously. I feel as though the offerings for next semester are very much sub-par, as compared to the past four semesters I've been here. Hmm. Recession? Budget cuts? Coincidence? I don't know.

I DO know that I want to take Introduction to Religious Thought (a Christian/Jewish theological theory survey, with a great Professor I have this semester) and Problems of Philosophy with a Prof I've heard great things about. After that I have two more spots to fill, and I don't know if they should be taken up by Contemporary Issues: Women in Islam, Religious Ethics, Jewish Mysticism, Bioethics, or European Civilizations to 1350. 

Yes, it is pretty obvious I have a specific area of interest...oh well...thoughts?

Doodles

Curtsey of my friend's blog, Duncan's Doodles, which has a new batch of awesome and funny doodles up for your viewing pleasure.

I Liberal-Arts-ed the Hell Out of That...

I have become liberal-arts-icized. (And I'm ok with that. I think.)

Exhibit A:

Today, my friend and I scoffed at a professor from another college who stopped him in the middle of an explanation about his final paper to ask him what the hell "eroticizing the other" meant. "Oh my!" we laughed, "how could he not know?!" And then I realized just how "liberal-arts-icized" I have become. Good lord.

Exhibit B:

I just typed the word "intersectionality" into a Word document. A usually-helpful red, squiggly line appeared under the word as my spell check tried to tell me, "I'm sorry, but that's not a word." "Oh, yes it is!" I laughed as I clicked "add to dictionary."

Hot Hot Hot

It is hot as HELL out there right now. Helllllloooooo, summer, you have officially arrived. 95 degrees (and counting) and I am wondering why I must be in class and not lying out outside with a book and some good music to listen to....

In other news, I got housing for next year! Yay! And it is good housing, too! I am living with four of my friends in our own little hall in a dorm on a great part of campus. We have 3 single rooms and one double room between the five of us, and though we haven't yet figured out who is getting the double I will not let that put a damper on my mood. It really couldn't have worked out better for us and I am very, very grateful that it did. :-)

Dress Up

I wore nice dress pants all of yesterday, and it was awesome. I had an interview in the morning and just didn't feel like changing, so I wore them through a ballroom dance rehearsal, politics class, a coffee date, homework, and some more ballroom dance. They were soooo comfy, possibly more so than my regular jeans, and I just liked being a little dressed up all day. So, I repeat, it was awesome.

Pretty Poem

I like this poem: :-)

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain things are to be loved,


in secret, between the shadow and the soul.



I love you as the plant that never blooms,


but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.


Thanks to your love a certain fragrance,


risen darkly from the earth, lives darkly in my body.



I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,


I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride,


so I love you because I know no other way than this:


where "I" does not exist, nor "you,"


So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,


So close that your eyes close and I fall asleep.



-Pablo Neruda

Women and the Media

Sorry for the second rant in two days, I guess I'm just in a rant-y mood....lo siento!

A blog called "Stiletto Revolt--Women and Cultural Warfare: A Multimedia Expose" has a list of The World's Worst Magazine Ads (specifically modern ads that portray/play off of negative, manipulative, unhealthy, or warped ideals for women), and it is pretty shocking. Here are a couple of the ads:

AD CAMPAIGN: Fit Yogurt (Brazil)

LITERAL TEXT: “Forget about it. Men’s preferences will never change.” 

(So eat this yogurt so that you can!)

(Just buy her jewelry and she'll open her legs!)

AD CAMPAIGN: Wonderbra"

("There are only two ways to get a man. If you can't cook, you better be sexy.")

(For participation in the organ donation program!)

(Please check out the analysis with the link at the top if you want to see/know more.)

Monday Quote

Curtsey of la mama:

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift....It is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned."

     --J.K. Rowling, from her commencement address to Harvard's graduating class of 2008

Amazon FAIL

Amazon messed up in a big way today when it began pulling sales ranking numbers from several gay- and lesbian-themes books that it deemed too "adult" to be displayed on all searches and lists. The blogosphere caught wind and immediately went up in arms. FMI (where I got my info) check out Jezebel

Books that have been stripped of Amazon Sales Rankings (among others):

Ellen DeGeneres: A Biography

Sexing The Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality

Full Frontal Feminism

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Queer Theory: An Introduction

Social Services for Gay and Lesbian Couples

The Lesbian Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families and Raising Children

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (which I had to read for a Biology class last semester!)

Books that have kept their rankings (among others):

A Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders (which I also read for that same Bio class. A great book, I might add!)

Ron Jeremy: The Hardest Working Man in Showbiz

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amazing Sex

A Parents Guide to Preventing Homosexuality

Confessions of a Video Vixen

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity

How to be a Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide

A Strippers Tail: Confessions of a Vegas Stripper

Exercising the Penis: How to make your prized organ bigger, harder, and healthier

So, this doesn't make sense on so many levels. For one, why has a book designed to help men come out of the closet lost its ranking while one for lesbians has retained its ranking? Why is Ellen DeGegeneres' biography off while Ron Jeremy's is still on? Explain?

Furthermore, Queer Theory books, books on feminism, and books about coming out have lost their rankings, but books such as "A Parents Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" have kept theirs!

In fact, right now when you search "homosexuality" on Amazon, that is the first book that shows up, followed by "You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling with Homosexuality or for Those Who Know Someone Who Is," "Can Homosexuality be Healed?" and "When Homosexuality Hits Home: What to do When a Loved One Says They're Gay" WTF, AMAZON???

After a quasi-explosion on the web over this, Amazon is now saying that this was a "glitch" which will soon be fixed. Bull. Shit.

Two Cool Things

Here are two awesome websites that I came across today:

This first one is from my sister. Its an interactive synthesizer grid that allows you to create slightly eerie music by clicking on different squares.

And the other one is called Bump Top, which is a 3D desktop that seems to work just like a real desk (with a "flat" work space, the ability to tack things onto walls, stack documents, shuffle through papers, etc). It looks like it only works with Windows, so I won't be getting it as I am a recent Mac convert, but If you download it let me know how it goes!

Passover

Last night was the first night of Passover and what a wonderful Seder we had! 8 friends from school and I all drove out to my house for the meal, where we joined my immediate (and part of my extended) family. The Seder was fun and lively, with the usual wine-spilling, half-remembered songs, awkward moments where we ended up on the wrong tune, great food, and fabulous friends and family. I was on such a high last night, just being around people I loved in a place that made me feel so warm. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom and Dad, for such a great night. Happy Passover, everyone, I hope you have a lovely holiday.

Watch

My leather watch is kind of falling apart...the pieces that are glued together are simply coming undone. Not wearing it makes me feel positively weird. I keep looking at/grabbing my wrist and wondering what the heck is wrong....it's very annoying. Any suggestions for gluing leather back together?

Yay!

Vermont Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage! Yay!!!! Vermont is now the fourth state to have legalized same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, which passed its law just earlier this week. Sooo...come on, California...let's get on this...(again...)

April, May, June, July...

Today was the opening day of Major League Baseball. I've spend the entire day with "6th Months Out of Every Year" from the musical Damn Yankees stuck in my head, and I expect to have it stick around for quite a while longer. Damn, that's a catchy song....

Sun

Keep your eyes on the sun and you will not see the shadows.

-Aboriginal proverb