I'm reading No Impact Man, and I am still not convinced that we work so hard just to buy stuff like Bermuda vacations and prada sneakers. Now to me, there's a lot of social pressure not to be a slacker. Long hours are a badge of pride. Tons on your plate just means you're a more valuable person. Bint says to think that my work has the same value, but truly, I do do a lot less of it. I'm not saying we all need a new $300 purse every season[I don't get it truly], but I don't think that our workoholic ways are all keeping up with the Joneses.

Also, fake academics get ripped apart by Ben Goldacre, and also, fanfic writers are called pleasant and literate.

Science debate in unfunnybusiness.

Work life balance is addressed. I don't have any kids, and I have to admit that I do better when I have a lot of breaks to do other things, to sleep a lot, etc.


My mom says she is bad at math, but when she was pregnant with me, she did the books for a radio station.

Hey, today is mother's day, so I have a pet peeve. I really hate it when women append I'm a X,Y, Z and a mom to internet profiles. I think it annoys me because you don't see men saying I'm X,Y, Z and a dad to strangers on the internet. Only women are expected to consider their child bearing as a central part of identity. Men? Everything else is considered important other than the fact that they should be caring for the next generation of human beings[I mean, the kids are their kids too].

BTW my mom annoys me. She is all if you don't wear heels and have your legs look sexay, how will you get married?! Maybe I like being an old maid,you dig?

In a positive story about black culture, photos of area teens dancing and distignished African ladies hit the commercial appeal for coverage of the africa in april festival.

Yesterday, I saw The African Company Presents Richard the Third., and it made me think about how art can be a method of gaining freedom. In the play, the characters talk about how their play gives them the ability to let people dream. Jimmy does a scene in which he describes being heckled for doing Hamlet and told to sing possum in a gum tree. He performs it, but even though I don't know the history of the song, the dramatic way in which it was performed, certainly shows him subverting that racist image.

At the end of the play, the characters decide to take what they have learned from the drama of Shakespeare, and create characters that they themselves can be. I liked how the drama of Richard the Third in the play was both universal and quite specific. The way Ann and Jimmy's characters in the play and their real relationship meshed was beautiful.

In other news, Collierville finally provides drainage for mostly black area.

Thanks for not understanding what a mental issue is,dumbass. Dude, you teach communications and media criticism. And really, the budding alcoholic, the perfectionist who is up all night with anxiety, the person with schizophrenia who is working hard with their condition, they are all mentally ill, not just that guy throwing things. In fact, that guy throwing things just might be an asshole. Like you.

Also, some asshole tries to act like some guy pulling off a woman's clothes and having sex with her despite her saying no multiple times isn't rape for some bullshit reason.

San Francisco people react with anger to the shooting of Oscar Grant.

You know, I'm a special special snowflake too. I learned to read at age 4, blah blah blah, I'm an armchair psychology expert, blah blah blah. But in a large society like this, I think we need some sort of school system, so at least most people can read and add and subtract. If we left it up to chance, things would be even more unequal than they are. Some kids would have amazing learning environments- for example, my dad always lectures me about science at random- and some kids would have terrible learning environments because their parents are probably so busy surviving they wouldn't have any time to teach their kids anything at all. At least in a classroom, they end up knowing that biology exists and that such a thing as calculus can happen to you.

Disgusting racist murder in Texas. That why we need to have a little talk with folks. Now, Ashley Todd, Susan Smith and all y'all who blame whatever crimes you commit on random rampaging black men. I think this really contributes to racist violence- in which I include cops kicking the shit out of black men.

Randomly, I think those Yes on 8 people are real dicks. I hear they are fussing because some first graders threw rose petals at their teacher's wedding and some lady read a nice children's book about two princes getting married.

BTW: Countdown- thanks for explaining science- Palin and pals aren't exactly caring about actual science because they don't know about it, but it's good to see people explaining how basic research works.

You know you're procrastinating when the mystery of where Rikku's pants went and why Yuna is shooting guns, and where did her totally hot kimono go is more interesting than the id or whatever.

Yes, FFX2 may spit on the grave of the beauty of FFX, but at least I'm not reading about organ inferiority or whatever.

Thanks for the blacksnob for pointing out Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert pointing out that the hunting fishing shooting church going 'true American' is not exactly the most common type of American.

Millions of us live in cities, enjoy a latte, would rather watch netflix than football, and would rather feed a goose than hunt it. We're real and valid Amerians too!

PLEASE don't chickify female characters in your fanfiction! If in canon, she's off killing people, shoving folks out of windows, and exploding planets, don't randomly make her all weepy and shit,ok? And even reformed villianesses with babies will still maintain their personalities. Their personalities of being fucking awesome,ok? I don't want to read about some chick swooning over some guy. I want to read about some chick doing something, preferably, something fucking awesome.


Uh..hetrophobes?! Dude, all they did was write that some dude that is MADE UP kissed some other MADE UP dude. They aren't trying to not let hetros get married.

also, it's that guy again!

I'm happily reading email, and open an innocent seeming mailing list message. I learn that people 20 to 24 are 'spoiled' with this as evidence:

We were all pretty complacent, thinking we could handle the Millennials
when the time came, but we were wrong. Their elder statesmen are out of
college now and they are wreaking havoc in the workplace. Our phones
have been ringing off the hook the past few months as businesses of all
kinds call to book our Millennial-Think programs.

See, the Millennials believe that the rest of us should change to
accommodate them, not the other way around. And they are not budging.
You want them to work on a weekend when they have other plans? Good
luck. Friends and family come first. Think a training session,
classroom style, is a good idea? Not anymore. Video games and
interactive Web sites are a huge part of a Millennial's world; they
tend to learn better when things are interactive. Millennials prefer
instant messaging and text-messaging over e-mail. But don't get excited
about the prospect of advertising via text-messaging: texting is for
friends and family only. And forget about voice-mail. That's way too
old school for them.

The horror! Not wanting to work on weekends! Having a life outside of work! Not wanting some idiot spamming us by text!

Also, the idiots who wrote this shit are outrageously out of touch:


"We like to shop to music, but don't play boring music." We got into a
discussion about this comment - what did she mean? Well, they all
despise instrumental music; the direct quote was: "Play music with
words!" which made us all laugh. Then the panel called out names of
bands we might play in our stores; bands that most of the audience had
never heard of. If the Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, and Green Day ring a
bell, you're ahead of the game. Bottom line, pick uplifting music with
a good beat. Millennials like Disco too, and you know what we always
say: Disco is the sound of money.

If you haven't heard of Green Day, where have you been, the under a rock convention? I was happy that Spoon was playing in a movie theater, and I'm not exactly miss hip and up to date. Tip: get your heads out of your ass, stop insulting young people, and listen to some music made after 1969, for god's sake.

I was reading this article, and thinking about how a lot of the time, we try to be punitive without thinking about how the fabric of communities will be affected. We say 'well, the people in foreclosure just bought too much house' without thinking of the problem of empty houses[which can bred crime] and displaced families[not very good for the education of kids]. Putting folks in jail and locking up the key is also not good for a community. The disruptions in the lives of families can cause stresses that aren't very good for anyone.

America has an empathy problem. Our famous sayings are things like 'life isn't fair'[hidden inside this is the message: so it's OK for me to fuck you over] or 'nobody owes you anything'[so the status quo is just fine- if you want something more, you're just a whiner] We love being 'un PC'- i.e. we love to offend random people for no reason whatsoever and then wonder why they are offended. With our celebration of the asshole, it's a wonder that anyone avoids stabbing folks in the fucking ear.

Of course, nobody likes a whiner- which sucks because actually social support helps ward off mental illness. Another issue is that before helping someone, we're always worrying about whether they 'deserve' it. I have to admit this makes me crazy. Would any of us sign on for five years of no entertainment that costs money, and no ice cream ? But we seem to expect poor people not to 'waste money' on frivulous things such as TVs or spend our hardearned money on ice cream. Didn't we get the memo that you're not usually poor for a month and pull yourself out of it by not buying Starbucks? Poverty can drag on for years on end,you know.

Let's put everybody in jail! Personally, I think that might tear the fabric of society, and screw things up further. But as you know, am I being paid the big bucks?

Argh, I want to talk so bad! Well, being insensitive never stopped me. Blackamazon poured out her heart, but all I can think about is that hard work ain't working. Middle class people are clinging to the remnants of an economic system that dissolved for the poor a long time ago. People talk about how it's taking people more than four years to go through undergrad, or folks moving back home after college as if one's moral fitness depends on starting in the job market as soon as possible, but the truth is that the amount of work required to pay for college and living expenses, not to mention study for classes, track down all the extra things you are supposed to do[class registration, internships[often not paid!], required volunteer work, etc] is going beyond the strength of many people.

Yes, I know that exceptional people can do it. But we need more than just the exceptional people. There are many creative and interesting people who need to sleep 8 hours per night[ok, I admit, I need more than 8 hours, but 8 hours is the baseline for me to live] or who may actually need some space to say, have a hobby to do their best work. Let's let go of the idea that we're in a contest to see how much stress we can handle without breaking- instead let's build institutions that set us all up to succeed- rich and poor, those with identified mental health issues and those without, those with disabilities and the able bodied.

The newspaper says 'single mother births in 2008 to date 1 in 4 won't graduate. Personally, I think the graduation problem may be related more to issues like bad schools, people moving around a lot to find affordable houses, and people being tested for learning disabilities in dark closets using testers who wouldn't know rapport if it did graphic sexual things to them, but heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I'm not paid the big bucks!

How Martin Luther King is like Fun Feminism-

Well, it's nearly Martin Luther King day, and the use of Martin Luther King as an imaginary black friend, who never makes you have to actually go out and learn anything, will reach its peak. The current image of Martin Luther King is apolitical and sanitized. This image shows him as a kindly old grandfather mostly interested in making sure that everyone is crushed together into a bland mass of white bread. This, similar to Fun Feminism, is rightwing backlash disguised as progressivism. It allows the apperence of being liberal "see! I'm not racist! I approve of a black guy" while turning the clock back. Quote MLK out of context, and put paid to all those uppity blacks with their MC contests, Kwanzaa celebrations, and other indications that black folks don't want to take their 'places' as aspiring whites, happy to be relegated to the worst schools,jobs, etc. They try to use Martin Luther King to fight resistance to racism. By complaining about 'self segregation', they try to make it harder for minorities to gather together, gaining both political and nonpolitical means of power. Of course, the main difference between this use of MLK and fun feminism is that most people of color see the use of MLK for what it is- a political tool to keep people from upsetting the apple cart. Oddly, many women seem to believe that the apple cart is totally being upset by cute cute boots.

We continue to have our black groups, celebrations and cultures, and to fight for access to better jobs and healthcare. I think the reason why is that only a few black people can trade off 'not being like those other whiny black people' as our culture and history brings us together.* Women? we're all over the place, so it's easier to divide and conquer. Every woman for her self! If I just act feminine enough, everything will be OK! Black folks? There's a saying. What do you call a black person who has left the room?

the n word.

*I mean us black americans.

Note about the glass castle: I don't think all homeless folks choose their lives either. Not every homeless person has an inheritance that due to mental illness, they don't take, you know.

Ok, I'm watching the BBC, and thinking oh, I want to help the people in Kenya, but one sentence in the 'crisis in kenya' report confused me. "In a matter of days, they've become dependent on food handouts". wtf? Californians used to be able to feed themselves too, but when the fires came, they needed to be fed. An outbreak of violence can't be good for the food infrastructure.

The ability to make mistakes is golden. As I get older, the expectations get larger and larger, while my ability to keep up stays the same or declines. Not to mention, the bar keeps getting higher and higher. And people wonder about the high rates of depression nowadays. It's a wonder that we haven't all offed ourselves.

Could we get some slack? I'm not saying we need a prize for not snapping and killing everybody, but if we are good and mediocre, get off our backs. Because I've only been up for 4 hours today and already I want to take a fucking nap.