Snark in the name of sex education

I wrote a thing for the Girl Museum blog a few weeks ago, for our 52 Objects exhibition (which is really cool in it's own right, and you should go look at it. That's why I linked it). I wanted to write on it when I signed up to do it, and then I didn't because I realized I'd have to actually, you know, do it, and then I had to because I said I would and the deadline was getting close.

And then I got angry. Which might sound weird, but I have a really big issue with a lot of sex education programs out there, because they suck. Some are ok–my sex ed was ok–not amazing, but at least the 4-J school district actually taught sex ed, and I got varying levels of it in the 5th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades. Admittedly, the 10th grade version sucked because the teacher was bad at all things, and the 9th grade version was scary because Coach Bass was scary. In a good way, but still. 5th grade was biological, and divided by gender, which was good, and 8th grade focused a bit more on issues of "don't get pregnant, here's how not to (rather lacking in practical details, but at least we got told about things like condoms)" and that sort of thing.

What I don't remember any of them looking at, though, was issues of consent. That you can say no, and if you do say no, anything after that point is rape. Doesn't matter the circumstances, it's rape. Doesn't matter if you said yes earlier, if you're saying no now, it's rape. Consent is, in my mind, the single biggest thing that's not being taught, let alone being clearly taught. It's horrible, and we can see the outcomes reverberating throughout Hollywood right now, let alone in "joking" phrases like "No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal."

So yes, the notion of consent is a HUGE deal to me, and I hate it when people muddy the waters with phrases like "date rape" (sorry Mom, but I disagree with you completely). It's not different, it's not less rapey. I can understand why some people would like it to be different–it can change one's mentality to being less of a victim, but I think it muddies the waters in ways that allow rapists to think it's ok. It's not. Related, here's a funny, but irritating they had to make it at all, vido on consent.

All that to say that you should go read my thing over at Girl Museum. The post is here, and I got snarky because we were discussing changing some objects, and mine was possibly on the chopping block, especially since I didn't really want to write it (but we didn't know what would be coming in, so we wanted a backup we could run with). I strongly encourage watching, at least in relation to this post over here, the John Oliver video over there. Fluffy the Bunny is funny, and the actual object (the video "Molly Grows Up") is really interesting from a historical/sociological perspective.

Right, back to #NanNoWriMo.

I wrote a thing!

You can read it here: http://standardissuemagazine.com/arts/here-come-the-girls/

I'm quite chuffed about it. Very little editing done to it, none of it onerous (just things to standardize to their style). It feels quite good to have written something that someone else has published, not felt the need to edit, and frankly, done it all in less than a week (though it was arranged about a month prior to that). Most of that week was spent trying to get images sorted out, anyway!

Go me! A positive start to a new year. May it be better than the shitstorm that was 2016.

The Problem

I've worked out why I never blog anymore. Mostly it's because I'm lazy and because I'm insanely busy between work, Girl Museum, and our newest family member. But mostly because I'm lazy. That said, I spend enough time in Girl Museum's blog that, if it were still here at blogger and not on it's own site anymore, I might in fact still blog. It was a lot easier when I logged into one page and had access to two different things. Now I don't.

Still, I'm mostly lazy.

Work is bad at the moment. It's been bad for months; far busier than we can handle, even with new staff being added (also, losing old staff hurts, and it's really hard to train new staff when it's REALLY busy). But the reason work is bad now is because we're not. Working, that is. Long story short–or short story long, I'm not really sure–is that our floor was really bad and we arranged to have it replaced over the normal closure that we do between Christmas and New Year's.

We should have reopened on Monday. We're trying to figure out how to reopen this coming Monday. No idea if it'll happen yet. We need concrete to dry before we can lay vinyl, and that could take (according to some) weeks. Who knows; I don't, that's for sure.

So I'm getting random but useful and important admin done for work, and a bit of cleaning/redecorating done, which should be easy when everything is moved, but it's not, really. I'll be taking a bunch of annual leave as well (which sucks, but it'll reset April 1 anyway, so I think I can cope until then). It's better than getting paid for nothing–well, it's not, but as a director of the business that's a level of irresponsibility WAY too far–but at least I've had time off to spend with my newest family member.

Her name is Conker, and she's insane. Her nickname is Bashy (because she bashes through and/or into everything). But we love her very much.

And yes, for those who know her, I fully recognize that she looks nearly indentical to Faith. She's smaller, has a tail, and no spots on her tongue or belly, but otherwise is very similar. Most importantly, though, she is sweet and loving. And snoring right now (in the same camping chair as above. Don't ask why she likes the camping chair, because I don't know. I doubt it's that comfortable for her).

And now I must get back to work, so I have some annual leave left.

Facebook and the perpetuation of rape culture

http://manboobz.com/2013/03/17/raw-story-on-the-top-5-rape-apologist-reactions-to-the-steubenville-verdicts/

Over the last week or so, there has been a backlash against Facebook. Tired of their complaints falling on deaf ears, women–and men–organized by the Everyday Sexism Project have been calling on Facebook to stop their implicit support of "rape culture." I am one of those people.

[...]

Please read the rest of this post on the Girl Museum blog, here. 

Help Girl Museum win $2500

GOOD news! Girl Museum has been accepted to compete for the GOOD Maker Challenge to Empower Women and Girls. If we win, we'll be awarded $2500 to create Celebrate Girlhood: The Exhibition. The grant would allow us to produce the resources needed to directly work with girls worldwide to create this on-going exhibition.

But we need your help to win. GOOD Maker grants are voted on by the public, so the only way we can win is with your help and your vote. This grant would go a long way in helping Girl Museum to fulfil our mission of celebrating and empowering girls worldwide, so please, vote for us, and ask your friends, your neighbors, and your classmates and/or workmates to do the same. We need your support!

Voting is from from October 18th until November 2nd, 2012. Our GOOD Maker page is here for more information and voting.

With your support, Girl Museum is always open and always free.

2012 Reading List: February

My excuse is my short story.  And a conference.  Both of which sucked up loads of time.  When I surface from round upon round of editing (thank for the super-fast feedback, Mom!), I will gush about the completely amazing conference I went to for Girl Museum and how wonderful it was to be on the fringes of academia once again.  And to meet 3 of the other Girl Museum interns.

FEBRUARY

8.  Blue Moon, by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #8)

7.  *Night Train to Memphis, by Elizabeth Peters (Vicky Bliss #5)

6.  *Trojan Gold, by Elizabeth Peters (Vicky Bliss #4)

5.  Burnt Offerings, by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #7)

JANUARY

4.  The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber

3.  Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter, by A. E. Moorat (pen name of Andrew Holmes, it appears)

2.  *A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

1.  Heat Rises, by "Richard Castle" (Nikki Heat Series #3) (Best guess at ghostwriter: Tom Straw)

Men are Men, but Women are Girls

I first posted this at Girl Museum's blog.  Too nice a day to write two separate posts, and I fear that work must come before play.

The Golden Girls. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/15/the-golden-girls-box-set

Language is a funny thing.  Words often carry connotations and subtle meanings we don't think about on a daily basis, but can greatly affect our language choices and how we interpret things.  These subtle clues and changes in definition may prompt you to think "that's why we have thesauruses" (thesaurusi?), but sometimes the societal overlays cannot be captured strictly by a thesaurus.

Take the word "woman" for example.  Woman, as defined by a dictionary--the one built into my computer's operating system, in this case--means "an adult human female."  Simple and to the point, no?  It does go on to expand the definition in a variety of ways (employment, role, duties, etc.), but in it's essence, a woman is an adult human female.

On the other hand, "girl" has two definitions.  First is "a female child."  Second is where our potential confusion enters: "a young or relatively young woman."

What's wrong with "woman?"  Or "young woman?"  Well, I can't speak for everyone, but connotations have been formed, and, according to Carolyn Bronstein, the author of Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976-1986, "Girls are young and sexual and pretty and focused on their bodies and focused on attracting people of the opposite sex. A girl doesn't have to take things so seriously."  On the other hand, Bronstein adds, "Woman carries the image of an older, strident, militant kind of feminist presence that is, in popular culture today, frowned upon."  In short: "Woman just weighs heavily, and girl is light."  Additionally, every time I've heard the phrase "young woman" used, it's generally condescending.

Hollywood has certainly picked up on this trend.  There were the Designing Women, but mostly we've seen the girls of Sex and the City.  Once upon a time there were Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place (eventually losing the pizza place); the mother-daughter duo of the Gilmore Girls; Gossip Girl is still talking about Manhattan's elite; and reality show The Bad Girls Club is still running.  And who can forget about The Golden Girls?  Those four feisty women showed that, at least once upon a time, being over the age of 50 and widowed or divorced was not all bad.  This fall, all those girls will be joined by New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and on HBO, plain ol' Girls.

Now, I haven't seen these shows, and all I know about them is what I've read (which honestly, isn't much).  But before I saw anything about these shows beyond their titles, I could have told you that they are all about women in their twenties, who are attractive, and primarily in-and-out of relationships (with equally attractive twentysomething men).  Why?  Because they are about "girls," "not women."  And apparently, women aren't fun-loving, attractive, or interesting.

To be fair, I don't know how accurate my interpretation is, but since "friends" isn't a practical name for a sitcom, something else had to be used.  So why girl?  Because it's marketable.  Most females in the demographics that networks are aiming for seem to refer to themselves as girls (or are at least assumed to).  I know I'm guilty of that, and I know I'm not alone.  I don't inherently see anything wrong with choosing to be labeled a girl over a woman, but I am sad that the word "woman" seems to carry a stigma.

"Men" and "man" don't face the same issues, though "boy" can range from mildly insulting to extremely offensive, depending on the circumstances.  But men are lucky.  They not only can be "manly" or "a man's man," but they can also be a "guy" or "one of the guys."  Women don't have such a luxury, or a surfeit of terms.  As "Grammar Girl" Mignon Fogarty says, "It would be nice to have a female equivalent of 'guy,' [...] I suppose it would be 'gal,' but that sounds quite antiquated."

Girls, diets, books, authors, and responsibility.

Something I will very rarely do, but this is a cross-posting from the Girl Museum Blog.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a writer myself, and I don't believe in censorship, but in the freedom to write what you wish.  Writers write for many reasons: because we're obsessed with it, because we want fame and notoriety, because we need a paycheck.  Every writer has their own reason.  And in this age of blogs and other forms of self-publishing, it's not that difficult to get your work out there (and even make some money or a name for yourself), even if none of the big publishing houses choose to pick up your work.  But Paul Kramer did get picked up by a publishing house, and it's caused quite a stir.

Kramer wrote Maggie Goes on a Diet, which is about a 14 year old "chubby" girl who is constantly being teased and bullied by her classmates for being overweight.  To try and make herself feel better, she raids the refrigerator, but ultimately goes on a diet and starts exercising.  As she becomes thin, she also becomes popular, and the star of the soccer team.  Maggie Goes on a Diet will be released in mid-October.

I believe that writers--as well as anyone else--have the right to say what they want.  However--to quote from Aaron Sorkin's screenplay, The American President

You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.

In short, true freedom of speech means that not only do you have the right to say what you wish, but you also must allow others the right to say what they wish.  This includes their right to criticise your work.

When I write these blog posts, I try very hard to present a balanced viewpoint.  I try to see all sides of the argument, and present multiple sides; I know that very few issues are actually black and white.  To use the previous post (written by Junior Girl Miriam Musco), "Poledancing for fitness" as an example, I can absolutely see why people are outraged.  For better or for worse, pole dancing has become linked with strippers and sex, and we don't want to associate that with young girls.  On the other hand, though, it doesn't have to be associated with stripping/sex, but if I think that it is, I assume you think it is, and so  I assume everyone associates it, and everyone does.  Now they think that a girl who pole dances is a slut/stripper/tease/prostitute/daughter of irresponsible parents, because of the bandwagon effect that society has.  I think pole dancing can be an excellent fitness routine, and fun.  I think it's completely fine that girls be allowed to try it, but I also think that perhaps a) the studio shouldn't have posted pictures of the girls and b) maybe now is the time for the parents of those girls to explain why society thinks girls learning to pole dance is inappropriate.  And hey, maybe some minds can even be changed in the process.

I don't think controversy that surrounds Maggie Goes on a Diet is any different.  There is a good message in the book: eating healthy and getting exercise helps build self-esteem.  But it seems to be lost behind the message that if you're a girl,  being fat is bad because it makes you unpopular, while being thin makes you popular.  I think that girls should be encouraged to eat healthy and get exercise--I think all of society should be encouraged to do that!  But I can't sit back and watch a middle-aged man (who's a little "chubby" himself) essentially tell girls that fatties aren't cool.  Girls are so prone to eating disorders at his targeted reading age (grade and middle school), and it doesn't take much to push them over the edge, potentially causing life-long self-esteem, health, and body issues.  Additionally, there are some thoughts that restrictive pre-pubescent dieting can restrict normal growth.  But parents are responsible for teaching and setting healthy diets and activities for overall well-being, not for popularity's sake.

I won't argue that writers have a responsibility to society.  At best it's a disingenuous argument, and at worst, censorship gets involved.  While those in the limelight, be they politicians, actors, writers, or the generic "celebrity," are scrutinized, and often held to a higher standard simply because they're famous, I don't think it's fair.  I'd like to see everyone set a better example, and I'd love it if those in the limelight did adhere to the highest possible standards, but it's not going to happen.  Part of the peril of fame is that people scrutinize and criticize your actions.  And when unhealthy messages are being sent to the most vulnerable among us, I think we have every right to stand up and say something.

For a video about Paul Kramer's Maggie Goes on a Diet, which includes some of the text (which, as a writer, I think is hokey and not very good, but that's a different issue), click here.

-Katie Weidmann

Junior Girl

Girl Museum Inc.

Bits-O-News

Better than Bit-O-Honey.  Yuck.

First, I'm going to be an aunt.  Since I've never had an aunt, and my only uncle died when I was seven, I have no idea what this entails.  Come March, I guess I'll learn.  What it won't entail is diaper changing or babysitting, at least until such age as the child does not need diapers (and then it may still be debatable).  I say this because they tried to get me to hold another baby (seven weeks) on Sunday, and I ran for the hills.  Adam held him, however.  Twice.  Complained that the child was heavy.  The kid is under 14 pounds and is only seven weeks old.  Clearly Adam is just going to be a joy with a toddler.

Second, I am now published.  No, I have not suddenly finished my novel, sold it, and got it on the shelves--in fact, it's been about two weeks since I've even written because I was prepping for last week's interview most of the past two weeks (writing resumes today)--but the article I wrote with other members of Girl Museum over a year ago is finally online.  I'm thrilled that I'm legitimately published (yes, online journals are in fact legitimate nowadays), but more than a little peeved that it's taken so long for this to come out.  I completed the re-edit of it back in April, and they only gave us a few weeks then, so I want to know why it didn't come out until August.  Oh well.  Still, published is published, so now I have to find room for it on my CV.  If you care (trust me, you don't) the issue of "Rhizomes 22: Becoming-Girl" can be found here.  Our article is entitled BECOMING-GIRL-MUSEUM, and since I don't feel like linking twice, you can read down the table of contents to find it.  A word of warning, however: it's written from a Deleuzian philosophical standpoint.  If you don't understand what that means, don't worry.  We the authors were a bit lost as well (hence part of the need of the massive re-edit I did back in April).

Not really much else.  Mom and Dad are off to Portland (or there already, I think) for a couple of nights, and Barbara is a rockstar and house/dog-sitting.  Aven is apparently excited because that means he can play with Faith.  Faith is learning to warm-up to men faster now (she still takes some time), and Aven is a sweetie and wants to play with her, so I'm hoping he can run a couple of pounds off of her--provided he can get her to chase the ball or frisbee more than twice before she buggers off to go lay down.  If he can, that puts him head-and-shoulders above the rest of us.  If not, I hope he enjoys tromping across the yard to retrieve the ball/frisbee himself (or I suppose he can leave it there for later, which I've been known to do).

Come to think of it, I'm slightly worried as to the state of my bedroom if there are guests there (even old family friends such as Barbara and Aven).  The heavy coating of dust worries me less--since we don't live there keeping it dust free is not my responsibility--than whatever mess may or may not have been left there from last Thanksgiving.  Or whatever mess was placed there by not-me.  Hmm...yes, it's cramped, since there's still half-a-house's worth of furniture in there, but I worry about the clutter.  Enh.  I suppose the sheer amount of hippos will distract, as well as impress, amuse, or terrify, depending on individual temperament.

I shall leave you with this article to peruse, should you so desire.  It so perfectly sums up why I hate Sean Penn.  "Sean Penn Can’t Understand Why Terrence Malick Didn’t Let Him ACT! More"

Attack of the Zombie Spider

So there was another spider inicident the other day.  I've encountered several more (both before and after the "towel incident," documented here), but this one was, once again, the size of my head.*  Kristan actually asked me--while shrieking with (justified) laughter--if it wasn't actually someone's pet tarantula that escaped and I murdered, but it wasn't.  Wolf spider, I"m fairly certain.  Adam saw this other one as well, since he was home, so I have proof of not being crazy, or at least of not lying about its size.  I grabbed the kettle and turned on the tap to fill it so I could make tea, when suddenly there was a brown fuzzy thing scrabbling at the edge of the sink, trying to get away from the water.  I turned off the water--no idea how, probably as a matter of self defence since the spider was now extra determined to escape its prison since it was now flooding--set/dropped the kettle on the counter, and screamed.  Actually, I'm fairly certain I screamed first, and continued throughout my other actions.  Adam came to my rescue from the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around his waist.  He saw the spider, said "oh, I thought it was something important," and went to finish his ablutions.  Then he grabbed a glass, a flyer from our ISP, and asked me to open the door so he could release it back into the wild, where it is now probably terrorizing the neighbors.  Which is fine, as long it's not terrorizing me.

Otherwise, the parental units have been and gone.  They seemed to have a nice time; I hope so, as we had a nice time with them (drinking, eating, playing Settlers).  Beyond that, I've applied for a job that I haven't heard back from yet, which blows because it's right around the corner from us.  Seriously, it's probably a 35 second walk (or less, but I'm taking into account locking the door and setting the alarm code).  I'll have to contact them again shortly and ask what the status is, because I think I'd like this job.  At the very least it's an income that doesn't involve me making sandwiches.

I'm also working on editing a paper that some of us from Girl Museum submitted for last summer, and we just heard back about.  They accepted it, but with major revisions.  Because none of us understood the philosophy involved (it's for a Deleuzian publication), it was a bit sketchy, and our format didn't really work.  Since everyone else is employed, and mostly because I didn't say no, the job of editing fell to me.  It's hard work, but I'm actually really enjoying it, and I also seem to better understand what Deleuze and Guattari were talking about.  I think they were mostly full of crap, but at least I better understand it now.  I still have about 3/4 of the paper left (and a whole bunch of citations to find and insert), but the shape seems to be pretty solid now, and the flow will be better, with far less repetition.  My goal is to finish the second section today.  Since I think I'm only going to be combining the work of two authors there, it--crossed fingers--won't be too horrible.  As I learned on Saturday (with one primary author and about 2 paragraphs from my section plus the additions I had to write in), if you were to plot number of authors on one axis and time on the other, you'll get an exponential curve.

Lastly, there are two weddings this week.  First is the royal wedding on Friday.  And--along with laughing about the spider--Kristan may have mocked me for knowing when the date was, but I challenge you to live in the UK and not know.  Or to spend any time on Yahoo's homepage looking at their "news" articles (I read the Yahoo US site, by the way, not the Yahoo UK site, so you can't blame it on that).  And then on Saturday my brother in law is getting married, which should be a good time.  People keep asking me what I'm wearing, and then announce that I should wear my wedding dress.  No, I will not wear my wedding dress to someone else's wedding, that's just tacky, even if my dress didn't look like a wedding dress.  In short, I don't know, because I acquired a plague on my left arm from sitting in the sun (can't determine if it's a heat rash or a slight sun allergy, but I also can't be bothered to see a doctor since it's not debilitating, just itchy and ugly).  Should be healed by Saturday though, so hopefully that won't affect my wardrobe choice.  Still, I can't understand why people care what I'm wearing to a wedding that isn't mine and I'm not a member of the wedding party.

Now that I've procrastinated enough, back to editing, since I also have to make pasta dough, pasta sauce, and brownies.  And possibly a potato tart for tomorrow.

*Actually, I think this one was a tiny bit smaller than the first one, but not much.  But then, when you find a giant spider in your towel, one that isn't so actively threatening your life won't seem quite as large.  Either way, still huge.  Adam was impressed by its size as well.

Girl for Sale

Girl Museum's newest exhibition is live over at www.girlforsale.org.  About the trafficking of girls, Girl for Sale is a collaborative exhibition between Girl Museum Inc. and the American Poetry Museum about girl trafficking that interrogates and responds to the issues through poetry, art, and education.

This is a major exhibition for Girl Museum on an incredibly important topic, so please visit and participate.

Women's History Month 2011

Now that March and therefore Women's History Month has officially started here in the UK (and about 13 hours ago in New Zealand), it is time for me to reveal my big, secret, cunning plan.  Or, in actuality, what I've been feverishly trying to organize for the last month, and will continue to feverishly work on for March.

If you missed it somehow, I'm an intern for Girl Museum.  I'm also in charge of our 2011 Women's History Month blog event.  Every day on our blog we'll be posting an A-Z guide to women, topics of relevance to women, and a handful of quotes from women.  You should really check it out, because it's been driving me totally crazy for the last month, and I think it's a pretty neat idea (note: it's not completely original, as I was inspired by Jone Johnson Lewis, the Women's History Guide at About.com).  I've had a lot of fun researching and working on entries, as well reading the entries from the other interns.

Please, support me, and more importantly, support Girl Museum and check out our blog every day (except Saturdays, though you can check then, too!) in March to read about another women, another event, and some snazzy quotes (totally my favorite part!).  Then after March, you'll be so in the habit of checking every day, you can continue to read our rantings, ravings, musings, and announcements!

Obligatory Posting

Though I don't post as often as some would like, not having my own computer certainly lessens it.  Since I had to login anyway to add to my reading list, I figured I'd do my blogger duty and actually write and post something else.  So here goes random thoughts and updates.

1.  I think I am in love with Adam Baldwin.  He is the greatest Baldwin brother of all, perhaps because he isn't a Baldwin brother at all (no relation to those idiots).   You may know him from such shows as Chuck (John Casey), Serenity/Firefly (Jayne), and Independence Day (Major Mitchell).  He's also been in about a gazillion other things, and he seems to rock every role he's in.  I dearly love him.  My Adam is less pleased about that.

2.  Carmel is back from her holiday tomorrow.  It should be...interesting.  She told/warned me that she's a royal bitch when she gets back from Crete because she loves it there and never wants to leave.  I told her she could be a bitch until Monday, when I wouldn't put up with it anymore.  I've had no word from or about Karen.  I hope she's doing as well as she can be.  Sarah was nice and very helpful/hardworking.

3.  The trafficking of girls is a horrible, grim thing.  I encourage awareness of this worldwide phenomenon (yes, it's all over the States and UK as well, and includes domestic girls from both countries, and well as foreign nationals/illegal immigrants), but would not suggest immersing yourself in the topic as full as I have done over the last week or so.  Girl Museum research, FYI.  Also, Girl Museum has a new exhibition that I forgot to mention earlier: Hina Matsuri: Celebrating Girls' Day in Japan.  Go check it out!!

4.  Beer Festival this weekend.  Two, as a matter of fact, but Adam and I are skipping the one here in Huddersfield (it was only "enh" last year, even with Matthew the freakishly bearded with us) and heading down to Nottingham to what looks like will a totally awesome, rocking, drunken good time.  They have over 700 real ales and ciders/perries down there, and it's in the Castle grounds, behind Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (the oldest pub in England, and it has good food and damn fine beer itself).  Plus Matthew (of the freakish beard--he grew it at some point in the like 3 years we hadn't seen him before last year.  Mountain man meets Wandering Jew) and his awesome woman Ami will be meeting us there, as well as Claire and her Matt.  Claire, Matthew, and Adam all were in the physics department at Leicester, and Matthew is one of our favorite drinking buddies (Gareth is another, but he sucks and won't come visit), and Claire is just a blast.  Plus, both of their partners are fun, smart, people, so it should be a good time.  No word on Ms. Claudia's attendance at this point, but she may also make a part of the drunken festivities.  Sadly, we're heading down early on Saturday, and back on Sunday, so we'll probably be tired for a good chunk of Saturday, and, shall we say, delicate?, on Sunday.  Still, the things we endure to experience good beer!

5.  Brewing.  We bottled our fourth batch weekend before last (I think).  Very dark, chocolaty.  First proper tasting should happen this weekend, but it won't be truly ready for consumption for a couple more (or longer) weeks.  Tony is taking me to pick up ingredients for our next batch and the one after it tomorrow.  My recipe is the next one to go into the fermenter; I'm hoping to make a sweetish, darker ale with a smoky aroma and flavor.  We'll see how it turns out.  The batch after that has already been named: The Bastard Brew.  It will be made from all our leftover grains, bulked out with some basic malt, and some random hops that Adam decided on.  My batch will probably hit the fermenter weekend after the beer festival, and we'll bottle it right before we fly out to the States for Thanksgiving.  The Bastard Brew will, if Adam gets his way (and we have time), be made between our returning in the beginning of December and the New Year.

I'm going to lay down and read for a while.  There is probably more to say, but I feel I've covered at least my basic blogging obligation at this point.

There is little point to this post.

I must be forgetting something, because it seems I've done basically everything I needed to do today already.  That rather frightens me.  Oh yes, I still have some Girl Museum stuff to do.  Still, I'm mostly done with everything today, so I decided that I shall blog.

In rather belated news, I turned 30 last month.  Unsurprisingly (to me at least; plenty of other seemed surprised when they asked), I feel exactly the same.  I don't know if that proves that age ain't nuthin' but a number, I'm oblivious to the passage of time, or I just don't care, but nothing feels any different.  Adam's even (mostly) stopped harping on about my being ancient.  I can't even rag on him for being closer to 50 than being born; because I'm 4 years older he just throws it back in my face.  Regardless, I don't feel any different for being 30.  I think I've felt more or less the same way since I was about 24-25.  The only difference now is that I actually remember my age (there was a while there when I kept forgetting.  and now I'm going deaf, so really, I've been falling apart for years.).

I'd love to make this a funny, interesting, witty, and insightful post, but really, I can't come up with anything to meet those requirements.  So instead, I shall direct you to two other blogs to follow.  One of them I contribute to, the Girl Museum Blog, and currently we're celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.  The other blog is perhaps the funniest blog on the internet, and is called Hyperbole and a Half, which is one of the most awesomest names ever.  Read that blog.  She's funny as shit.  Well, you know, really funny shit.

A scholar is maybe me

For the first time ever, I'm writing (part of) an article for hopeful publication.  After we submit and find out (I assume that's how this works, never having done it before) I'll post more details, but in the meantime, suffice it to say that I could really use a library.  Specifically, a university library.  There are libraries around here (despite my questioning the literacy level of much of the local populace), but only one university library, and I rather doubt I have access to it.  Most universities here don't let you in the library if you don't have a valid ID card, and so far as I can tell, the only way to get one is to be a student, an alumus who has jumped through a lot of hoops, or faculty.  Plus, Huddersfield Uni isn't known for it's arts administration program (doubt it has one.  It is, however, a better university than I give it credit for.  I guess).  So basically, when it comes to my research, I'm SOL.  Damn internet has failed me.

The other distinct problem that I've run into is that I am not a philosopher.  Deleuzian thought is a big part of our article, but it went sailing somewhere well over my head.  Plus, Deleuze is 20th century, so still under copyright and Project Gutenberg doesn't have his stuff yet.  I've managed to work around that so far (thank you Google Books), but if that comes to an end, I might be screwed.  The worst part is that I think I might grok Deleuze, but I don't actually understand him on an intellectual level.  This is of course somewhat problematic when writing an intellectual paper.

I also have been too much into fiction of late.  Seriously, why must I cite others to back up my theories?  Why are my thoughts not good enough?  I'm intelligent, I think things out.  Luckily, however Deleuze was a fan (again, grok vs. intellectual understanding) of new thoughts and ideas and such, so maybe I'll be ok with a lighter amount of citation.  Even so, I've been into fiction for far too long.  That's not to say that I haven't done research, just that I don't need to quote others and back myself up, just know what's going on.  Yay fiction!

But on the flip side, if I'm published, yay published!

Guilty Pleasures

I have many, many guilty pleasures.  Cadbury Creme Eggs almost daily until August.  Staying in bed half the morning while Adam is a good boy and gets up.  But one of my biggest is my TV fixes.  At the moment, Glee is probably my guiltiest pleasure (minus the Creme Eggs--also, if you can get a Mars Egg, they are wonderful.  If you can't, let me know soon, and I'll get you one or two and post them).  I don't think the show itself is particularly fabulous, but I'm not really sure, because I'm one of those people who think that the planet should spontaneously burst into song to declare it's feelings.  Glee started off just singing when it was appropriate: during rehearsals, performances, that sort of thing.  It's now slowly starting to move into the musical realm, and it makes me squee a small bit.  They did the Charlie Chaplin version of "Smile" one day and I damn near cried.  They did "Don't Rain on My Parade" and I wanted to cheer (actually, I wanted to sing along, but I'm more in the contralto range, not soprano, so mostly it just sounds like I'm trying to strangle a chicken on the higher notes.  Well, and I don't know all the words.  That doesn't help so much.).  They did a fabulous duet of "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, and in fact I did cry, (in part) because the male soprano hit the notes clean (except for where he threw it intentionally).  That was the first episode I saw, and I was hooked and had to go back to the beginning.  So I was thrilled when they started airing more new episodes.  I really don't think it's probably a very good show, but it's highly addictive, and if you like performance choir type things, it's great for that.  Plus, Jane Lynch is just hilarious.  But I think she's great in everything I've seen her do, and I really want to watch more of her stuff.

My other slightly less guilty pleasure, since so, SO many people are hooked on it, is Lost.  I'm psyched it's the final season and we're really starting to get answers, but I'm also sad that it's nearly over.  I think, however, that getting Answers (after six seasons, it deserves the capital A) trumps more episodes.  And besides, I just watched the first episode of FlashForward, and I really enjoyed it, so assuming it lasts, I think it might replace Lost for me.

Castle is my other current guilty pleasure, though I have no guilt over it whatsoever (nor over Lost when it gets right down to it, or Desperate Housewives or House).  I love Nathan Fillion with every fibre of my being, and the show just makes me laugh and almost cry.  Witty and smart and sarcastic and sweet, with the trademark Nathan Fillion comedic delivery.  Love it!  Plus, for an added bonus, the show decided to release a Richard Castle novel (ghost-written, of course, and the real author's identity has been a well-kept secret).  Yeah, I really want the book, which is absolutely a guilty pleasure.

Guilty pleasures also include blogging instead of trying to figure out stuff for the grant the Girl Museum received (no, I didn't write/apply for this grant).  It's crazy complicated for something so simple.  After we get it all finalized, I'll talk about it more (maybe).  We have to get all the stuff submitted by late May to actually get the grant/take advantage of it.  Eek!  But Ashley, if you're reading this, I promise I'll get stuff to you by Saturday!

Grim and Grimmer

I seem to spend my days serving people who don't exhibit common courtesy, or writing about rather dire topics.  Sadly, I rather doubt either of those two things will be changing in the near future.  People, are, and presumably will remain, dickheads.  Don't get me wrong; a lot of our customers are really nice, polite, and friendly.  They're just trying to make conversation, are genuinely curious, and think they're being friendly.  To be fair, I used to think it was nice to ask someone who clearly doesn't sound local where they're from.  Obviously, as I'm still fielding that question 5+ times a day (I've been there 4 weeks now, and we have loads of regulars), I've changed my opinion on that score--even when you're truly interested and nice about it, the question gets really bloody tiresome.

Top that off with the fact that I write a weekly article for the Girl Museum's blog.  Don't get me wrong--I really do love doing it.  Essentially, what I do is scour the web and other news sources (but mostly the web, as we want to have the article linked) for a story about girls or girlhood.  Local, international, whatever.  It doesn't matter.  Try it though.  There's a lot of different search terms you can use, but the end result will be pretty grim.  Assuming your search terms turn up a plethora of stories--mine usually don't--they will be dire.  Sad.  Depressing.  In short, grim.  Girls being raped, or murdered, or tortured.  Girls being kept down by The Man (yeah, ok, usually literally).  Occasionally, I turn up something positive, or at least funny and not too horrid.  But for an example, today I just wrote and submitted a post on honor killings.  Yay for that bit of cheerfulness.  Last week, I opted out of writing an article on female genital mutilation/female circumcision (bit too much for me), so instead I ended up doing a bunch of research on the process of foot binding (it's damn near as horrible as FGM) for what was supposed to be a cheerful article on 5 awesome Chinese women (most of the research didn't end up in the post).  My first article was moderately happy; I talked about an organization called Pinkstinks, a group that wants to end the "princessizing" of girls.

Man, I really need something cheerful to write about.  So this is a call to arms, ladies and gents.  If you run across a story about girls or girlhood, please send it on to me so I can write about it, ESPECIALLY if it's happy, though I'd like it even if it's not.  Sorry, I probably won't be able to give you credit for finding it, but I would dearly appreciate it.

Also, if you'd like to read my posts on the Girl Museum blog, you can go here, though I encourage you to read all the posts, and if you've got a Blogger account, become a follower.

Heroines Quilt

As a gentle reminder, I'm an intern for Girl Museum, an online museum dedicated to celebrating and exploring girlhood worldwide.  Our newest exhibition has just gone live, and I'd like to encourage everyone to go check it out, and if you're interested, contribute to it.

The Heroines Quilt was originally a daily feature on the Girl Museum Blog for Women's History Month in March, and we've since "stitched" it into a virtual quilt.  Please go check it out, and we'd love for everyone who has a heroine of their own to contribute to the quilt!  If you're interested, details on how to contribute are located on the exhibition page.

Also, if you're a Facebook user--and who among you isn't?--please be sure to "friend" Girl Museum!

Girl Museum

Hi everyone,

I just started an internship with Girl Museum, a brand new online museum dedicated to the celebration and exploration of girlhood worldwide.  Our website is www.girlmuseum.org, and we also have a Facebook site.  Please come visit us on the web, and check back regularly, because we're currently working on several exhibitions that will go live over the next couple of months.  Also, if you are on Facebook, please consider becoming a fan (or whatever) of Girl Museum.  And please tell all your friends!

Additionally, March is Women's Month, and we've got a great exhibition planned: the Heroine Quilt.  Each day in March will feature a girlhood heroine, and then in April it will be "stitched" together and become an ongoing exhibition with audience submissions.  For any gals who wish to participate (and I'd like to hope you all would!) please consider submitting a short paragraph on a heroine of your girlhood, why she was important to you, and any impact she may still have on your life.  Also, please submit a photo of your heroine (especially if your heroine isn't someone famous).

Thanks everyone, and I hope you'll support this new endeavor.  It's the only museum out there dedicated to exploring what it means to be a girl, and I'm really excited to be a part of it from the beginning.

Thanks,

Katie

Katie Weidmann

Intern, Girl Museum

katie@girlmuseum.org

www.girlmuseum.org