I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

July 25, 2023July 25, 2023

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

Women are being erased, deliberately, from the main stage of culture and society. Again. Just the other day, after facing strong backlash, Johns Hopkins University removed their online glossary of LGBTQ terms in which they defined “lesbian” as a “non-man attracted to non-men.” See what they did there? Johns Hopkins defined “lesbian”, a woman sexually attracted to other women, around men rather than around women. They erased women from the definition of lesbian. Everything which involves women is once again revolving around men. Even more telling is that a small segment of women are upset that JHU deleted its definitions. I have to assume that the world in which these individuals live has a purple sky with pink polka dots. Because it definitely isn’t the world the rest of us inhabit.

July 18, 2023July 18, 2023

Stop Sitting Down

We were out driving the other day when “Stand” by Sly and the Family Stone came on the radio (okay, on the Sirius channel we were listening to). As I bounced in my seat and sang along, the lyrics suddenly struck me. I mean, I know the lyrics, but their application to today’s cultural and political madness struck me. After we got home, I looked up the song. It was written in 1969 by Sly Stone, was the title track on the album “Stand”, and performed at Woodstock.

May 11, 2023May 11, 2023

Back in the Game

I’ve been going through a few weeks of… not really malaise, but just a sort of checked out feeling. I haven’t been writing like I want to/need to/should be in order to keep to my self-imposed publishing schedule and while I have been following news and events, and have opinions on things, I haven’t mustered up the energy or whatever to write about them here either. But over the last couple of days, I’ve done some introspection and pulled apart some things and reminded myself that this sort of disconnect is not really productive nor is it conducive to keeping my creative side, which is still newly emerging, engaged and active.

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023

Friday Thoughts: Equity, Equality and Outcomes

In A Wrinkle in Time, Charles Wallace Murray, Meg’s little brother, responds to a seemingly unworkable conundrum, posed by IT, shouting triumphantly “like and equal are not the same thing!” In our own version of Camazotz ruled by IT and the Black Thing, we are told that “equality” and “equity of outcomes” are the same thing. Like Charles Wallace Murray, we should all be shouting at IT “Equality and equity of outcomes are not the same thing!” because they are not.

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023

Progressives Announce: Men Are Better Than Women!

Reading an article in The College Fix describing how several universities are changing “women” to “womxn” (I don’t even know how you would pronounce that) in order to be “more inclusive” during Women’s History Month, is the latest salvo in what is clearly a war on women by progressives. Women’s History Month celebrates women in history. How can it become more inclusive? And what, exactly is a “womxn”?

February 9, 2023February 9, 2023

Academic Failure and the Loss of Discourse

A post from seven years ago floated up in my FB memories this morning. It was a rant from a former student about the loss of discourse and discussion in the classroom. At the time, this student was in a grad class and had raised a differing point of view only to be greeted with gasps of astonishment. I had copied the rant and posted it as Reason #47 for why I teach. In reality, rants like this, demonstrating the critical thinking skills of my students, remain Reason #1 for why I taught. Yes, I’ve left that world, and the inability to have constructive discussions and arguments in the classroom is my primary reason for leaving.

January 26, 2023January 26, 2023

Is Florida Really Forbidding African-American Studies?

For the last several days I’ve been seeing breathless articles describing the “racist” actions of Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida. DeSantis announced that African-American studies classes will not be taught in public schools. Of course, the left went absolutely ballistic over this announcement. But what, exactly, did DeSantis do? Let’s look at this latest kerfuffle.

January 13, 2023January 13, 2023

Friday Thoughts: Disagreement vs. Misinformation

I know I’m likely preaching to the choir here, but I wanted to take a few minutes and examine the issue of disagreement vs. misinformation. “Misinformation” is flying about a lot lately and in most cases it is mildly to egregiously misapplied. “Misinformation” is a word that conjures up images of propagandizing evil dictators. People think “Soviet propaganda” or similar when they hear that term. Characterizing statements as “misinformation” conveys to the listener that the statement is not only false, but deliberately misleading and therefore dangerous. Put your hands over your ears immediately before you become contaminated!

December 9, 2022December 9, 2022

Fear of Money

Earlier today I saw something about Elon Musk and one of the first comments was something to the effect that it was obscene that Musk was worth as much as he is. Combined with the release of the Twitter files and other things, this got me thinking again. It’s not news to anybody who’s been paying attention that a huge number of people who consider themselves “liberal” or on the left, absolutely hate money. And as the saying goes – we hate what we fear. They hate people who make money, people who try to make money, people who want to keep their own money, people who build wealth, people whose parents are wealthy, people who spend more than they do… whatever. If money is involved, they hate it.

November 9, 2022November 9, 2022

Why No Red Wave? Or A Labor of Love

What happened? We were promised an almost unstoppable red wave in yesterday’s election. What we got was one or two upset races and it was business as usual for the rest. Fetterman – Fetterman! – won in Pennsylvania for God’s sake. The corrupt, criminal-loving, now cognitively impaired candidate won over a TV famous medical doc who actually had some good ideas. In Georgia, it looks like the corrupt, racist slum lord will win over the former football player, who yes, has some gaffe issues, but far less than Biden. In other races (check out Real Clear Politics for more results) what should have been clear Republican wins became nail biters and I don’t think it was all fraud.