Mad Melancholic Feminista

• How about Living the Off the Grid Life

  I just returned from a very hectic travel schedule for Christmas. Living up here in the hinterlands makes it difficult to get out of town. Add, on top of that, storms all over the country and you have a nightmare on your hands. I have never been so happy to [...]
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  Posted: December 29, 2008, 2:23pm EST
  

• Tim Wise

  My student, who I discussed in the last post, was highly influenced by Tim Wise:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I updated this and added more Tim Wise videos. [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2008, 2:14pm EST
  

• Race: The Hardest Pill to Swallow

  I teach many many courses that turn to the question of race and how it cripples some people, empowers others, and generally rents the fabric of our cultural quilt. I usually need a lot of downtime when I embark on readings and class discussions that have to do with race. [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2008, 10:50am EST
  

• Matronizing

  I have been musing on a very touchy subject and I predict that my comments will be either misunderstood or cause offense. But, here goes. I have been thinking about how many of the older academic women I know can be matronizing. In my most charitable moments, I see the [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2008, 2:32pm EST
  

• Deficit Model of Schooling

  I just read a truly fascinating article by Kyunghwa Lee, entitled "ADHD in American Early Schooling: From a Cultural Psychological Perspective." There is a lot to think about in this essay, including the relationship between No Child Left Behind policies and the unbelievably high rates of ADHD diagnoses and [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2008, 9:32am EST
  

• Pay Them for Their As?

  .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cRoland FryerColbert at Christmas
  Colbert Christmas DVDGreen Screen
  Bill O'Reilly Interview
  
  
  My hip former-undergrad-and now-current-grad-school student sent me this link from the Colbert Report. Roland Fryer's "incentive" [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2008, 9:42am EST
  

• Personal Credit Crunch Woes

  I am "on hold" right now waiting for a "credit decision," so I can buy a used Subaru to brave the bitter winters up here. I find this whole credit process so damn demoralizing these days. I am asking for a relatively small loan, but because I pay my student [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2008, 1:04pm EST
  

• The Only Thing Keeping You Unhappy is the Belief You Are Alone

  This is what Don's "ex"-wife tells him in the penultimate episode of Mad Men. I love thinking through these sort of statements. What sense of "alone" is meant? Is she saying the Don is alone because he fails to see that he has people in his life that love him?' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2008, 3:14pm EST
  

• Got Nothin, Not Really

  I went back to the Gender and Sexuality Studies course again today and because we had lost so much time with the technology problem on Monday, the whole class period was taken up with screening the rest of Boys Don't Cry.
  
  Honestly, it was a real shame that' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2008, 3:14pm EST
  

• Fragile Female Egos, Fragile Pomo Slacker Egos, and Questions

  My musings in the post Fragile Male Egos yesterday got me thinking more about reactions to my teaching style in Gender Studies than the reaction of female students to disengaged male students in Gender Studies courses. I decided to rethink the same scenario changing some details to get [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2008, 9:00am EST
  

• Fragile Male Egos

  My new colleague asked me to take her Introduction to Gender and Sexuality course this morning at 8 am! I am amazed that the students make it for that hour. I have to be up; Maddie makes sure of that.
  
  Anyway, my colleague asked me to show Boys [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2008, 11:12am EST
  

• The Fragility of Commitment

  My new Thursday night ritual--once the little one is snuggly in her crib--is to watch a movie. I don't have to prepare for class. I give myself a break from grading. And, I don't have cable TV to distract me with tons of superfluous channels. Because we are so isolated [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2008, 10:24am EST
  

• Existentialists Get Laid More, That's Why

  Steve G asks today why existentialism is so attractive to young intellectuals. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this question myself and I have a few guesses. This year, at my new job, I am teaching Existential Philosophy. I was always welcome to teach it [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2008, 2:25pm EST
  

• Resist the Storm

  A wise friend of mine wrote to me yesterday and said that a valuable way to think of relationships with others is to think of them as relationships with yourself. I have been mulling this over quite a bit and thought I would put it out there to see what [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2008, 10:29am EST
  

• Victimization and Anger

  71 encouraged me to keep on this line of thought by asking me why I would frame the reaction of professors who feel exhausted by needy students as adopting the "victim" narrative. I am not sure I have a good answer to 71's question, so instead of answering his question,' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2008, 9:06am EST
  

• The Dance of Victimization and the Demand to Take Responsibility

  I am someone perpetually fascinated by the labor of teaching--the psychological and emotional toll of teaching as well as the absolute joy and life affirmation that follows from a good class or a great student. Lately, in my new teaching post, I have been reflecting quite a bit on the [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2008, 8:53am EST
  

• Can One Hope Without Anxiety?

  There is nothing like uprooting yourself, putting all of your crap in boxes, moving to a very isolated place in the way North to put you into the introspective mood. While I am walking around the streets and alleys of my new village, my mind seems to be circling around [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2008, 10:34am EDT
  

• Moving Hell

  I hate packing. I hate moving. I don't want to ever do it again. I wish I could say that I will never have to do this again, but . . .
  
  I am in the middle of travels. Half of my stuff is in route up north. Some' [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2008, 2:15pm EDT
  

• The Inevitability of the Male Ego?

  I started watching Denis Leary's show, Rescue Me, the other day after hearing an interview he did with Terry Gross. I remember he addressed the male ego as one of the motivations for the plot--that is the difficulties men find themselves in because of their male ego. Because' [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2008, 8:55am EDT
  

• Pro-Choice is a Moral Position

  Kate Michelman (former Presdient of NARAL) and Frances Kissling (President of Catholics for Free Choice)--both Obama supporters--co-wrote the following piece, "Are Democrats Backpedaling on Abortion Rights," in Salon, published yesterday. I am not yet sure what their response is to Obama's recent interview with Relevant Magazine. But, what' [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2008, 12:32pm EDT
  

• So Much for Obama Changing the Way Things are Done in Washington: Is Obama Anti-choice or Pandering?

  There is nothing like a candidate's comments on late-term abortion to compel me to post. Many of the readers of this blog have probably already been clued into the fact that Obama gave an online interview to Relevant Magazine about his views, including abortion. From what I gather' [...]
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  Posted: July 06, 2008, 11:27am EDT
  

• What Would Oscar Wilde Think of Californication?

  My husband doesn't usually go for serial TV programs--with the exception of Joss Whedon's Firefly and more recently, though at first reluctantly, Angel. Recently we discovered Californication. Za is attracted to the main character Hank Moody for the same reasons that he revered Spike from Buffy [...]
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  Posted: July 05, 2008, 9:37am EDT
  

• Bye Bye Hillary, Hello Sexism

  With Hillary Clinton out of the race, we can finally focus on Obama and winning the White House. I am thrilled to have Obama as the Democratic candidate for President, but I am still sore about the lessons I have learned from this primary season. What was made evident to [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2008, 3:32pm EDT
  

• What's So Bad About Safety Nets?

  I have been thinking a lot about "safety nets," since I am spending time in a Scandanavian country that is clearly a welfare state.  And, by the way, it is not a bad thing for these Norwegians to be citizens of a welfare state.  We are in the midst of [...]
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  Posted: May 29, 2008, 11:54am EDT
  

• Sanctimonious Fundies

  My power cord to my computer broke a few days ago, which is why I haven't been able to post. The cost of replacing the power cord here in Norway is ridiculous, so I can only post when I am borrowing Za's computer. Sorry for the brief posting again.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: May 28, 2008, 2:35am EDT
  

• What Were You For?

  This is the question that Nuala O'Faolain asks herself in reflecting on Terry Gross's question: how do you feel about the fact that you didn't have children? (Go listen to the interview immediately; I was mesmerized by her). O'Faolain suggests that it is much more difficult to work out [...]
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  Posted: May 23, 2008, 7:09am EDT
  

• Cool Factoids about Norway: 2

  
  Ramps for strollers everywhere!
  
  Bergen is about the size of downtown Boston with the geography of San Francisco. Steep hills and old cobblestone roads wrapped around the wharf. Today the Queen Victoria is right outside my window in the bay and it is huge.
  [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2008, 10:46am EDT
  

• Cool Factoids about Norway: 1

  I think it is only fitting that I keep track here of the many cool things about Norway. So, for observation number one: Lots and lots of men here are wheeling their children around in strollers--and not accompaning their wives. It really struck me yesterday how cool and odd that [...]
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  Posted: May 20, 2008, 1:02pm EDT
  

• Why I Think Kevin James Should be Rated TV-MA

  
  
  I stumbled upon this entertaining Chris Matthews "interview" at Amanda's site. It illustrated something that I was already thinking a lot about in the last few days (especially after venturing in to watch some pundits and "talk shows" on the Democratic primary), namely, that the point of [...]
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  Posted: May 19, 2008, 6:24am EDT
  

• Relativism is the Stance of the Powerful

  Greetings from Norway!
  
  Za, Maddie and I spent the last two days traveling to Norway so he could do some work with a Norwegian collaborator. I am here mostly to walk around with Maddie and take in the culture of my mother's family. I must look pretty Norwegian because [...]
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  Posted: May 16, 2008, 11:34am EDT
  

• Meme: Passion Quilt

  I've been memed by SteveG! So soon after my reemergence into the blogosphere!
  
  Here are the rules:
  
  

  Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for students to learn about.
  
  Give your picture a short title.
  
  Title your blog [...]

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  Posted: May 09, 2008, 11:22am EDT
  

• Disciplining Gender: The Pathology is not in Bradley

  
  The first part of a fascinating series on gender identity and young children aired yesterday on All Things Considered. I am always drawn to these stories and, more importantly, the analyses of what could possibly be at work in a young child's desire to [...]
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  Posted: May 08, 2008, 2:00pm EDT
  

• Nothing Great in the World has been Accomplished without Passion

  So speaks Hegel in his Reason in History: A General Introduction to the Philosophy of History. For as long as I can remember, I have been stirred by this portrait of what moves humanity forward and what is the engine of history. For Hegel and then after him Heidegger, [...]
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  Posted: May 07, 2008, 11:37am EDT
  

• "Punishment Doesn't Work"

  That was a comment my friend made, who is currently earning a PhD in Psychology. She was specifically describing our prison system and explained that 50 years of research has demonstrated that punishment doesn't work. I don't know the literature that she is citing (I wish I did), but I [...]
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  Posted: May 06, 2008, 10:08am EDT
  

• Gossipy Girls

  Cinco de Mayo seems as good a day as any day to start up my blog again. Since I am moving way way north and hence will be out of daily contact with so many of my friends here, I need to keep this blog alive. Moreover, this blog is [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2008, 9:36am EDT
  

• Mommyhood Makes Me a Better Philosopher

  I am sitting at my desk grading papers, so it seems a perfect time to write a blog post. It is downright pathetic how much I want to avoid grading papers. Someday I should write a blog post analyzing why faculty are so burdened, plagued, and depressed by the prospect [...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2008, 10:12am EDT
  

• The Sin of Gluttony

  Boy, I am back, eh? I have had a lot on my mind and it seems more time to get it down. My newest fascination is with how much my students are unforgiving to people who eat too much and consequently put on weight. My colleague Kerry noticed the same [...]
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  Posted: March 28, 2008, 3:33pm EDT
  

• Taking the Prof Personally

  I was teaching an excerpt from Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling today in my 19th Century class. In this passage, Kierkegaard masterfully discusses the absurdity of faith. An act of faith is by definition, for Kierkegaard, unintelligible. I love teaching this. But, today I started analyzing something in particular [...]
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  Posted: March 27, 2008, 5:57pm EDT
  

• Adopted Family

  I am back. I don't know why. Maybe because Spring is in the air and I feel more hopeful and energetic. Maybe because I was nudged to return by others who keep checking my blog to see it stuck on the same old day in February. Whatever the reason, I [...]
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  Posted: March 26, 2008, 6:28pm EDT
  

• What if Forgiving Someone only Fuels Their Hatred?

  When I don't post for this long, I seriously toy with the idea of "hanging it up." I no longer prioritize this blog and I certainly don't have the desire or time to update it as much as others. But, just when I am ready to say goodbye to blogging [...]
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  Posted: February 18, 2008, 10:45am EST
  

• On Treating My Mother With Respect [GUEST POST]

  by Metapsychologist
  
  On September 11, 2001, in the late morning, living on Long Island, I tried phoning my family back home in the UK to speak to them and let them know I was fine. For a while all international phone lines were busy, presumably because everyone else who [...]
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  Posted: February 09, 2008, 2:10pm EST
  

• Super Tuesday Round-up

  A lot of interesting bits coming over the transom today from the many listservs to which I belong. First of all there is this endorsement of Barack Obama by Joan Baez in the SFChron:
  
  

  Leader on a new journey

  Editor - I have attempted throughout my life [...]

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  Posted: February 05, 2008, 9:22am EST
  

• Working Mom

  A friend, who is pregnant and after giving birth will need to return to work quite quickly, asked me to read this piece at Salon today. She also encouraged me to write some about my return to work and how to achieve that mystical balance that countless parenting magazines [...]
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  Posted: February 01, 2008, 3:40pm EST
  

• Is Feminine Writing about Storytelling?

  For a few days I have been ruminating a lot on what might be the differences between "masculine" and "feminine" writing. I am choosing to think of this in terms of gender roles rather than strict sex differences, because I know plenty of women who write--in what I will below [...]
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  Posted: January 31, 2008, 9:23am EST
  

• Let Me Tell You About My Mother [Guest Post]

  By Metapsychologist
  
  I see my mother two or three times a year. Every time I come from the US to visit her in Britain, I spend a few days explaining to her how to use her TV and VCR. Now 77, she wants to be able to watch her [...]
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  Posted: January 29, 2008, 8:35am EST
  

• We Need Empathy: Reflections on Roe

  I missed the opportunity to blog about Roe's 35th anniversary last week. I just couldn't bring myself to say anything else about the issue of women's reproductive rights in this country. Many other bloggers wrote important pieces reminding us how much the right wing in this country keeps chipping away [...]
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  Posted: January 28, 2008, 7:36am EST
  

• Happy Friday--Oh Yea

  [...]
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  Posted: January 18, 2008, 6:17pm EST
  

• Back to Work--You Tubing in the Classroom

  I am officially a working mum. I just completed my first day back to work after Maddie. I experienced some really embarrassing "mommy brain" moments earlier today. First of all, Za gave me my car key and I put it away in my purse and completely forgot the whole exchange. [...]
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  Posted: January 17, 2008, 2:23pm EST
  

• Is Motherhood a Point of Intersection?

  SteveG forwarded me the link to this discussion on Democracy Now!: The War and Peace Report between Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris-Lacewell. I was able to watch 3/4 of the show until Maddie had enough and wanted to do something more fun. But, from what I did [...]
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  Posted: January 15, 2008, 1:43pm EST
  

• It's OK to be a Girl?

  Two very different takes on the meta-meaning of Hillary's teary-eyedness worth discussing. First of all, Judith Warner, blogger for NYT, argues that Hillary's melt down and the support it garnered among women is a bad omen for women in general. She writes:
  

  
  I don?t for a moment begrudge [...]

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  Posted: January 11, 2008, 10:46am EST
  

• The Problem of Choosing from Personal Experience

  Lesboprof alerted me to this powerful and humbling post by AngryBlackBitch which brought me back to reality and reminded me how dangerous it is to get swept up in my own personal wishes and experience. I read Steinem's Op-ed and for better or worse parts of it really [...]
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  Posted: January 10, 2008, 2:15pm EST
  

• I'm Thrilled.

  I'm thrilled. I can't hide it. The more negative press, the more sexism that creeps in against Clinton, the more I am behind her. Damn it, we need our first female president. (Having said that, I won't be upset if either Obama or Edwards win).
  I was away for [...]
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  Posted: January 09, 2008, 9:10am EST
  

• Conflicted about Hillary Coming in Third

  I was a bit surprised that Obama won in Iowa last night, although I probably shouldn't have. I guess I had become convinced by the MSM that Clinton was the obvious heir apparent. I am not sure how I feel about Obama's win. I like him; I really like [...]
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  Posted: January 04, 2008, 1:20pm EST
  

• Love Her

  
  Nellie McKay is my new favorite artist. I got her newest album, Obligatory Villians for Christmas.
  
  She is hilarious, adorable, and a little trouble maker.
  
  I am sure I am late in discovering her, as I am for all cool things. But, if [...]
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  Posted: January 03, 2008, 8:56am EST
  

• Heidegger Isn't Helping Anymore.

  I wanted my post yesterday to be upbeat since New Years Eve was not so wonderful for us. Za found out that one of his new colleagues died in a freak accident. When he told me, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Maddie was sleeping as [...]
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  Posted: January 02, 2008, 10:57am EST
  

• It's Going to Be a Good Year.

  
  
  The new year has finally arrived and I anticipate that it will be a good year. This will be the year that little Maddie will learn to crawl and say a few words (hopefully Mama). Za is embarking on new projects, [...]
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  Posted: January 01, 2008, 12:51pm EST
  

• A Fashionable Feminista: An Anathema?

  
  
  
  Fashion and Feminism seems like such a fraught topic, but I can't resist. The inspiration for this post is not so much my penchant for fashion, but the sheer delight I take in dressing up my little girl. You see, I love putting [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2007, 10:52am EST
  

• How Much Would You Pay for Love?

  
  One of the more interesting conversations that I had while in Maui concerned the "price" of love. I know, an odd and already cynical-sounding conversation, but nonetheless it got me thinking. One of my Dad's friends told me that in the 80's some of the [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2007, 3:11pm EST
  

• Boy, Did I Pick the Wrong Week to Go to Maui? Then Again . . .

  I am still here. I haven't forgotten about all of you. You see, I have been in a bit of tough spot. You won't really believe me when I say that this tough spot is Maui. Maddie and I are visiting my Dad in Maui and on the second day [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2007, 10:36pm EST
  

• Enough of the "Right Wing as Liberators of Women" Crap!

  Back in the Fall of 2003, I was at a conference in NYC and arranged to meet up with a good friend from college, who was a NYTimes journalist. Over fancy cocktails in a Sex in the City like enclave in the West Village, I told her what really bugged [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2007, 10:30am EST
  

• Should Female Profs Insist on Being Called Dr.?

  SteveG tackled a rather interesting issue yesterday concerning the unconscious sexism wielded by our students when they refer to female professors as Mrs., Ms. or Miss. I am calling this behavior "unconscious sexism" for a specific reason. It has always been my belief that students do this because from [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2007, 12:51pm EST
  

• What Diversity Costs Diverse Students

  Za called me up a few days ago with a rather interesting ethical dilemma I thought I would share (I especially want to hear from Dean Dad and Lesboprof on this one). The situation is this: he teaches at a very small Catholic women's college that extends partial [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2007, 4:39pm EST
  

• I Don't Like to Emote, Do You?

  I don't like to "emote." I probably wouldn't have chosen to use the word "emote"; I would've said that I don't like to throw tantrums, bully people into agreeing with me, employ guilt, or blow off steam when I am frustrated. But, let's stick with "emote," since its the word [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2007, 10:56am EST
  

• I Am an Insignificant Microbe . . .

  . . . at least that is my new ranking according to The Truth Laid Bear. How did I fall so low you might wonder? Well, its pretty plain to me. If you don't generate content, you lose traffic. I am not surprised at this plummet in the ecosystem, [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2007, 12:02pm EST
  

• I Hate, Therefore I Am

  A recent email exchange with Hanno got me thinking more about self-deception. In particular I was thinking about how we tend to construct the narrative of our lives very differently at different stages in our history. What I mean by this becomes clear, I hope, when you think of [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2007, 11:19am EST
  

• Psychiatry Sure Has Its Critics

  Not too long I wrote an article for a newsletter aimed at psychiatrists interested in a dialogue with philosophers. In this article I acknowledged that those of us trained as philosophers might seem rather cold and heartless to clinical psychiatrists when we start to talk about case studies. We often [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2007, 11:38am EST
  

• What Za's Food Poisoning Taught Me

  My husband never gets sick. He goes years without seeing a doctor, taking a day to rest from a cold, or even take an aspirin. When he returned from his annual exam with a new physician, he delighted in rubbing it in that his doctor was hard pressed to find [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2007, 1:23pm EDT
  

• Confessions of a Closet Co-sleeper

  Oh Hallelujah, how I enjoyed this little piece on co-sleeping with your baby from Tuesday's Science Times section. I admit that before having Maddie I was suspicious of co-sleeping, but that is because I am far too conventional. I haven't embraced a lot of the parenting techniques that have [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2007, 10:22am EDT
  

• Mad Men Really Brings Home Patriarchal Sexism

  If there is something that has dogged me about feminism in general, it has been the lack of precision about what feminists mean when they are criticizing patriarchy. In fact, I believe that equivocating on what 'patriarchy' means has been at the root of much of the vitriolic backlash against [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2007, 12:55pm EDT
  

• What a Real Abortion Decision Looks Like

  The tragedy of most moral debates in the political realm or even the classroom is that they are always construed in abstract and absolute terms. This is especially true when it comes to abortion. It has been my experience that those who take the most absolutist stances (with the exception [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2007, 9:01am EDT
  

• What Does it Take for a Woman to Get Laughs: Not Be A Woman?

  I've only watched the Sarah Silverman Show on Comedy Central once. It was pretty lame as far as I was concerned. She plays a self-involved, narcissistic, potty mouth. Some people find this funny, but I don't. I have a name for her kind of humor: orifice humor. I usually [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2007, 3:08pm EDT
  

• Another Reason Why I Detest Fraternities

  Hanno forwarded me this gem from ESPN:
  

  
  LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech has banned the sale of a T-shirt bearing the likeness of Michael Vick hanging the dog mascot of rival Texas A&M.
  
  The red and black shirts, with text that says [...]

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  Posted: October 10, 2007, 10:29am EDT
  

• On Charity

  Money is tight--really tight. Every pay check is dedicated to living expenses, debt, mortgage and insurance. There is always a little left over, but not much. I have to remember, however, that I am fairly privileged. I am not rich--not by a long shot--but I have a home, retirement, insurance, [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2007, 9:52am EDT
  

• The Mom Job

  No, I am not going to write about the difficulties inherent to raising children, or proposals for renumeration for mothers, or the lack of respect given to mothers who do the important work of raising children. Nope. What I am going to write about today is the new plastic surgery [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2007, 1:58pm EDT
  

• Self-Conceptions are Often Just Self-Deceptions

  I discovered that I can download podcasts of Fresh Air from iTunes and this has been my savior on mega walks with daughter. I was listening to Terry's interview with Jeffrey Toobin about his new book, The Nine. The book sounds utterly fascinating, especially to someone like me [...]
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  Posted: October 03, 2007, 10:10am EDT
  by Aspazia

• On Whining

  There is nothing that irritates me more than whining. I can tolerate it better from a 4 year-old than a 20 year-old, but I don't like it in either case. I started thinking about whining last night as I was kept awake by my daughter, who just seemed incapable of [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2007, 10:45am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Men Are Happier?

  According to a team of psychologists and an economist, the happiness gap between men and women is widening with, guess what?, women claiming to be less happy than men.
  

  Two new research papers, using very different methods, have both come to this conclusion. Betsey Stevenson [...]

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  Posted: September 27, 2007, 1:54pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Now, That's Some Chuztpah!

  My WS colleagues have luckily kept me in the loop during my maternity leave on the interesting things happening on campus this semester. A former student of mine just stepped up and bravely called out the Greek life on campus for its blatant sexism. I am so relieved to finally [...]
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  Posted: September 26, 2007, 10:12am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Enough of the Affirmative Action Debates!

  Last week I met with a financial planner to start a college fund for my daughter. While I am a college professor and therefore, my daughter can attend my school for free (a huge benefit), I want to give her the opportunity to attend whatever college she wishes. Well, I [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2007, 8:27am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Can Infanticide Ever Be Rational?

  I have been engrossed with feminist sociobiologist/anthropoligist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's book, Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection, for the past two weeks. I am almost finished, and I recommend this work to anyone fascinated by the intense and complicated relationship that is motherhood. Hrdy does [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2007, 8:50am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Disturbing Video of Domestic Violence

  Via Pandagon and Echidne alerted me to this video of domestic violence. The husband asks the son to film him verbally and physically abusing his wife because he wants to illustrate why he is justified in his actions. This is seriously disturbing and sadly, all too common of [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2007, 1:23pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• A Convert to the Importance of Women's Colleges

  Za has been teaching at a small women's college this year. The students are extremely diverse-racially, ethnically, and nationality-wise. Many of these women are coming from very underprivileged backgrounds and are the first-generation in their family to go to college. When Za was putting together his courses, especially for Neurobiology, [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2007, 12:31pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Gender and Emails

  Many, many people have noted how the widespread use of email as a form of communication in academia has often created more work for faculty. Others have also noted that the medium of email tends to encourage students to be a lot more informal and even rude toward faculty. What [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2007, 12:55pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Feminism is not Matriarchy!

  C. Ewing sent me a link to this MSN entry on career training entitled "Does 'the Reverse Glass Ceiling Exist?'" My guess is that C. Ewing wanted to see how I reacted to the suggestion that men can face glass ceilings in female-dominated professions. If so, then I will [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2007, 5:59pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Study What You Love!

  Dean Dad has a really interesting post up reflecting on what those of us who pursued Ph.D.s have internalized as measures of success and why these standards are just plain silly and out of date. He writes:
  

  My words of wisdom, such as they are: go ahead and break [...]

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  Posted: September 12, 2007, 10:40am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Tween Queens ?!?!?

  
  I was in NC visiting friends this past weekend and discovered this newstory, "Tween Queens," in their local paper, News Record. I am sharing it with you because, well, this sort of thing freaks me out as a new mother.
  
  

  Retailers have long [...]

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  Posted: September 11, 2007, 11:08am EDT
  by Aspazia

• How Convenient to Always Blame the Individual

  While getting my oil changed the other day, I overheard someone say: "you know blaming the mortgage bankers and brokers for this subprime disaster is like blaming McDonald's for fat people."
  
  I couldn't disagree more with this kind of analysis, wherein the "consumer" is wholly to blame for bad [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2007, 11:40am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Technology is Running My Life!

  So I lost my cell phone somewhere in my house last week and went batty trying to find the damn thing. The battery had died, so I couldn't call the phone. I checked every room, every reasonable and odd place it might be (including going through the trash since I [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2007, 2:49pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Why There Aren't Many Women in Philosophy

  While I am recommending some interesting papers for MMF readers to take a look at, I thought I would mention Sally Haslanger's paper, "Changing the Ideology and Culture of Philosophy: Not by Reason (Alone)," which you can access in pdf format from her website. I have certainly discussed [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2007, 10:49am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Working Moms Really Good for Daughters, Less So for Sons?

  I had to take a break from blogging after last week's blow out. But, I am back today with something worth debating or, better yet, speculating about. First some background about how I came to discover an interesting study on the effect of working mothers on the the socioeconomic attainment [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2007, 11:13am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Is it Suburban Spaces that Create the Problem?

  CNN today has spent a great deal of its coverage on where we are two years after Hurricane Katrina. I have been listening to discussions of how well the President has made good on his promise to rebuild NOLA, how well Mayor Nagin is taking care of its citizens, how [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2007, 11:35am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Gray Rape??!!??: Stop Reading Cosmo!

  Echidne and Shakes led me to a post from Cosmopolitan, entitled "Shade of Gray Rape." First of all, the very notion of "gray" rape makes no sense (which Echidne points out). It is either rape or it isn't--there are no shades of gray on this one. Here is [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2007, 8:57am EDT
  by Aspazia

• Uh Oh, Dare I Go Here Again?

  Well, if I haven't already kicked up enough dust over my post from Saturday, "No Children Allowed," I thought I would continue the dialogue (or rant?) today. I think it is safe to say that folks with children read the comments differently than childFREE people. Some themes emerged in [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2007, 3:17pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• No Children Allowed!

  Last year I wrote a post describing how family--child-friendly, really--New Paltz, NY was. I thought of that post last night as I was musing over this post as I was trying to intellectually wrestle with the reality of feminists (or progressives in general) who have little sympathy for families. [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2007, 1:42pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Notes from the Prozac Nation, Vol.1, No. 6

  • Kurt Cobain's cousin writes a helpful book for depressed teens.
    
  • Returning U.S. vets succumbing to depression. Is this really a surprise? However the results of a study of 168 returning soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq focuses on how their depression affects the family, including higher incidents of abuse.
  • The [...]
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  Posted: August 24, 2007, 12:49pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Ain't Nothing All That Useful About Anxiety

  I have been thinking a lot today about anxiety. I can do that because, for whatever miracle, I am not experiencing anxiety lately. This melancholic feminista has always suffered more from anxiety than profound depression. Don't get me wrong; I've had my bouts with depression too. But, anxiety is my [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2007, 3:08pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Anti-Contraception Activism on the Rise

  Via feministing, I discovered this Baltimore Sun piece by Cristina Page, "The Quiet Campaign Against Birth Control." I have to say, I am beyond disturbed to think that there is a growing anti-contraception activism among Republican candidates trying to woo the fundamentalist base. Page writes:
  

  The American public [...]

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  Posted: August 22, 2007, 3:12pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• Melancholy Monday: Can't We Get Over These Silly Debates?

  The SFChron has an important article up about that underlines a-nony-nony's comments that many (if not most) mothers do not have a "choice" to stay at home or go out and work. In fact, the two things that bug me most about this debate, which seems to turn into [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2007, 10:30am EDT
  by Aspazia

• For What It's Worth: Some Notes on the Never-Ending Debate between Working Moms and Stay at Home Moms

  I can't seem to shake the what-happens-to-your-identity-as-a-parent theme. I casually referred to the stay at home vs. working mum debate in my birthday post and invited some comment on what I might or might not regret about being a working mum. I have been thinking about this for a couple [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2007, 4:47pm EDT
  by Aspazia

• For What It's Worth: Some Notes on the Never-Ending Debate between Working Moms and Stay at Home Moms

  I can't seem to shake the what-happens-to-your-identity-as-a-parent theme. I casually referred to the stay at home vs. working mum debate in my birthday post and invited some comment on what I might or might not regret about being a working mum. I have been thinking about this for a couple [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2007, 4:47pm EDT
  by Aspazia