Category: Important Stuff

In which there is a new cat, new digs, and general fawning over Jodie Whittaker

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So…yeah. It’s been a while.

To all those impatiently tapping their feet, looking at their watches, and saying, “What kind of time do you call this, then?” I can only offer the excuse that I’ve been buried under piles of crazed and lovable children, struggling to complete my MFA, and spending the rest of the time sleeping.

The good news, however, is that I’ve actually managed to complete my MFA with a Hermione-worthy GPA (insert smugness and general academic fatigue here), and my tenure as a teacher of preschoolers is wrapping up in favor of shifting gears to writing, editing, teaching, and (hopefully) recovering somewhat from my eternal and unceasing state of exhaustion.

In any case, because so very much has happened since my last update sometime in the Mesozoic Era, I offer you updates now in the form of a handy list:
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Sugar and spice and a nice, satisfying scream of frustration and rage

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Today, on Things That Make Me Want To Scream:

  1. Little girls are encouraged to like certain toys and certain colors, behave a certain way, and enjoy certain activities.
  2. Little boys are encouraged to like certain toys and certain colors, behave a certain way, and enjoy certain activities.
  3. Little girls who stray too far in the “boyish” direction receive a small to medium amount of disapproval, and are lavishly praised when they do anything more traditionally feminine.
  4. Little boys who stray too far in the “girlish” direction receive a great heaping crap-mountain of disapproval, and are told again and again to “act like a man” or not “be such a girl.” (Being a girl in this case = being weak, silly, emotional, shameful, etc.)
  5. Unsurprisingly, assaulting children with a massive barrage of operant conditioning (positive reinforcement for behaving “correctly,” negative reinforcement for behaving “incorrectly”) leads them to feel pressured to fall in line, and to accept that “this is what a girl is,” and “this is what a boy is.”
  6. Idiot People then look at this result and say, “See? Boys and girls are so DIFFERENT. They just naturally gravitate towards different interests.”

annie-scream

This has been today’s edition of Things That Make Me Want To Scream. Thank you for your attention, and have a pleasant day.

On the American Dream

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ColbertAmerica

So, in America, we have something we like to call “the American dream.” It’s the idea that if you work hard enough, you can drag yourself out of even the lowest gutter and become rich, successful, and happy, all while a chorus line of anthropomorphic apple pies wave little American flags and sing the national anthem while fireworks explode behind them (or something like that).

And hey, that’s a beautiful dream to have, but it’s also probably one of the most damaging aspects of our society. Continue reading →