Richard Sherman is on it.
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Michelle Dean, who I think is just…absurdly good…has this great thing about Edith Wharton and loneliness in Hazlitt, which, as you know, I also think is absurdly good.
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If you menstruate and you use an app to track it (some of you can just move on, now) which one do you like? This article leads me to think that there are much prettier ones out there than mine.
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This poor woman is dead, and the state continues to behave like a monstrous villain from a science-fiction movie.
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Do not give public school students “ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE _____________ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” as a fill-in-the-blank and then get mad if they don’t put “LORD”:
When the outraged parents confronted Sabine Parish Superintendent Sara Ebarb about the incidents, she allegedly told them “this is the Bible belt” and that they “shouldn’t be offended” to “see God here.” Ebarb advised that C.C. should either change his faith or be transferred to another District school where “there are more Asians.”
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A lovely piece in Poetry about Jane Freilicher and her friendships with Frank O’Hara and other fine people:
That same summer, Rivers was also staying out at Southampton, and he wrote a paean to Freilicher — an eight-page eclogue in which Ashbery, Koch, and Rivers take turns to praise Freilicher, who “fears beauty like a nun,” whose “silent power is rooted in reason,” who is “blessed with a brain” — a “queen who holds her court.” The last line in the poem is Freilicher’s voice, calling out to them: “John, Kenneth, Larry, / I have the coffee set.” There are many unpublished poems like Rivers’s in Freilicher’s papers, which are held at the Houghton Library at Harvard University. O’Hara, for instance, wrote a poem-portrait that was literally shaped to resemble her face. Koch, Ashbery, and Porter each wrote poems that were either about her or dedicated to her. “Jane thinks poems should end,” Koch writes, “not with a bang but a whimper; / The quiet demise of a thought she’d defend / As the meter gets limper and limper.” The massed intensity of these poems — no matter how much they verge on doggerel (or perhaps because they do so) — is the most persuasive indication of Freilicher’s effect on others. She inspired the gift of attention — uncritical, adoring attention. Freilicher would be the first person to admit herself nonplussed by the cause of this to-do.
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How many men’s rights activists to change a lightbulb? Knock knock! This isn’t a knock knock joke… Yes but knock knock jokes happen too!
— Jennie Rigg (@miss_s_b) January 23, 2014
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Yes, yes, you can talk about the ghost ship of cannibal rats here.
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Gabrielle Union bathes in the blood of virgins, pass it on.
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This had to happen. It had to be done. It is why we are all here.
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Oh, okay, this link roundup is getting out of hand today, but there are so many great and important things!
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ONE MORE: on WOC and blog sausage!
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Update: The CBC is covering the terrible nursing home fire in Quebec around-the-clock, and the government is already talking about instituting national standards for sprinkler systems in group homes. Quebec has had an absolutely wretched time of it this last year or so, between the fire, the Lac-Mégantic train disaster and aggressive spring flooding.
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Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
I am beyond pleased with the amount of CanCon on this site, and also pretty much every other type of content as well.
Also, the story about the Louisiana public schools is totally insane, but I’m confused by the stock photo. Is that…supposed to be the angry teacher? Angry mother? It’s the teacher, right? Maybe I am thinking about this too much.
I think it’s supposed to be the teacher, but it’s also a good approximation of how I feel after reading the article. Angry Screaming Woman indeed.
Women Screaming Alone With Blackboard
Teacher? I think? Because blackboard?
Yes at CanCon! I’m so unused to a favourite website paying so much attention to Canada, because let’s face it, no one does.
Sixth-grade teacher Rita Roark has told her students that the universe was created by God about 6,000 years ago, and taught that both the Big Bang theory and evolution are false, according to the lawsuit. She told her students that “if evolution was real, it would still be happening: Apes would be turning into humans today.”
BRB, setting everyone responsible for this travesty on fire.
I will happily provide you with a cast-iron alibi.
How does she know that apes AREN’T turning into humans every day? Does she have an Ape cam? It could be happening as we speak.
It’s a good thing I’m not there, I would end up in jail
So far the Ape Cam has only recorded humans turning into apes.
The more I hear about Richard Sherman the more I like him.
Specifically in regards to the link, I think it’s EXTREMELY clear that “thug” is a racially-coded insult and to pretend that people might be using it in its previous non-racially-coded sense, at this point I think is just massively disingenuous.
see also: ghetto
You know what else bothers me? The fact that we have to defend him by saying but he went to Stanford! And does charity work! Are we saying it would be okay to call him a thug if he hadn’t earned a degree?
AGREE!
“But he graduated salutorian and went to Stanford, so he can’t be a thug!” THANKS FOR SETTING THE BAR.
Yes. I’d never heard of him before last Sunday, but now he’s one of my favorites.
Samesies. Team Sherman 4eva.
Same!! Someone just sent me a youtube clip the other day of him going down Bourbon Street asking drunk folks their opinions about Richard Sherman… He obviously has a good sense of humor about himself. (At least when it comes down to drunk random strangers.) 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_ly7HTSzk
That was adorable.
Oh oh! I’m at work so I can’t find it right now, but you should find the video of him and Skip Bayless. It’s amazing and wonderful.
I have this weird thing about the reactions to the Seahawks/49ers post-game interview that I generally like Richard Sherman and he is spot on about the underlying meaning for himself (and any black football player) to be referred to as a “thug.” That being said, I also think that the original incident where he was trash talking another player after winning a game is stupid. I know it’s football, I know emotions were running high, but it’s still stupid.
It is creating a lot of really interesting dialogue on the internet though and I enjoy thinking about it vis a vis professional wrestling characters, so I suppose that is a win.
I mean, I guess so, I don’t watch a lot of sports, but it didn’t seem to me that it was so over-the-top crazy different from any of the other dumb shit athletes do or say to have warranted the level & type of response that it got.
Yeah, I don’t watch a lot of sports interviews, but it didn’t really seem like anything he said about that other dude was that harsh. I for one welcome more conversations along the lines of “I did the sports better than the other guy,” instead of “We just got out there and played hard, and other team played hard, but we won.”
Or my personal favorite “The Lord was on our side” (or some variation thereof). Head-desk when I hear that.
I thought Sherman was a healthy dose of realism. The only thing I care is that he wasn’t profane or offensive about it. He was a bit exuberant, but he just won the game that’s sending him to the Super Bowl, wouldn’t you be?
I’m relatively new to NFL and don’t consistently watch post-game interviews, but from what I’ve seen usually post-game interviews are relatively canned, “oh yeah, the other team put up a good fight/we were just firing on all cylinders for all three phases of the game/etc.” From what I’ve read from other fans it definitely wasn’t always like this but I think the contrast to the typical post-game interview these days is pretty stark.
The other reason for the amount of backlash it got, and I definitely agree with this, is “Scary Black Man Being Scary.”
I.. also kind of think that trash talking your losing opponent after a win is not very nice, and I say this as someone who has played contact sports. On the other hand, I am not even remotely intense enough to play at any national level, be it professional or amateur, so my opinion should be taken with an immense grain of salt.
His points about the reaction to his rant are ON POINT, but I also felt really bad for Erin Andrews having to stand there and let him scream right in her face because he was trash talking someone else. She handled that so well, considering she clearly didn’t expect it. But I think the dialogue it’s creating is absolutely a dialogue that needs to be had, so it’s a win overall. I just… man, the moment itself was hard to watch.
There’s actually a picture of him hugging her after the interview, so I think he realized he was a little over-the-top and had startled her. He’s just full of feelings, okay?
I never cared either way for Erin Andrews, but she was AWESOME. She was even ready to keep going with questions before they cut the interview! Newfound respect for her.
(hi scandyhoovian I’m the rando who followed you on twitter this morning! I try not to link my Toast name with my twitter handle in the comments tooo much but thought I’d let you know!)
Yeah, I’m not necessarily defending what he said (although if you look at the footage, you’ll see that Crabtree pushes him in the face when Sherman approaches him after the touchdown, I don’t know why we’re not talking about that), but he also stuck to the guy’s playing ability – he didn’t go after him personally, didn’t insult his mom, anything like that.
It’s totally fair to bring it up, and I’ve seen it discussed on at least the NFL subreddit (the only football website I regularly read, especially after Grantland’s whole crazy trans outing thing): apparently there is general animosity between the two players that goes back to an offseason incident two summers ago, and it’s arguable whether or not Crabtree thought that Sherman was being snarkily nice to him.
There’s a valid point in “sports players shouldn’t say mean things about each other on the TVs.” But even leaving aside the racial dog-whistling for the moment, the violence of his words is still much, much less than the violence on the field.
I go back and forth on whether it feels ethically right to even watch this sport, but I watched Sunday’s game. I saw a slow-motion replay of a multiple leg fracture six or seven times. Injuries are so common that they schedule commercial breaks around them. To say that trash-talking “demeans” an activity where men destroy each others’ bodies for our entertainment seems to be outright denying there’s a forest around this tree.
(Which, of course, feels like it compounds the “black while speaking” part of it all.)
One thing: I really hated the multiple replay of Bowman’s ACL being torn. That was really gratuitous.
That being said, I do think there’s a line for good sportsmanship, even in contact sports. For me, that’s been informed by playing rugby and having a husband who’s played rugby and stopped because of a traumatic ankle/leg break. Injuries happen as part of it (although I think the concussion and type of play in gridiron is questionable and that’s a whole other discussion, what with the concussions and all) but I don’t think it’s inconsistent to call out bad sportsmanship in the context of a contact sport.
Again, I do think how the discussion went in the context of Richard Sherman and his race is something wholly different, and of course informs the greater conversation.
Yeah, I really hate the trash talking and shouting after the game. I want everyone to be friends and shake hands after the game and be friends and have tea parties or something. Professional rivalries and hype don’t mean you talk shit. So: I didn’t like what he did, because I don’t like stuff like that, but I definitely don’t think he was being a “thug” and I think people are being super shitty and reacted worse because he was black. I want to defend him in the way of: “everyone’s reactions seem to be really overblown and racist” but I don’t want to defend trash-talking as a general rule. I just really hate it! But it’s a huge part of a lot of team sports, it seems.
I’m in Seattle so of course I’m biased, but within about 12 hours of that speech, I turned to my husband and announced that I’d changed my mind. Not only would I get a Seahawks shirt, I was going to get a Sherman shirt and then challenge shit-talkers to fisticuffs. I think it’s fantastic that we’re having a conversation about language coding but it’s mostly infuriating that it’s something that still has to happen.
(Side note: I have a passel of rednecky relatives who are normally way to the right of me on issues, but they’re defending Sherman to the death. That’s what happens when you hold Seahawks season tickets for ten years.)
liked your comment because: “fisticuffs”
I’ve wanted Seahawks gear for the longest time, despite noooo connections to Seattle whatsoever, because the colors are so pretty! I have been tempted to get a Sherman shirt or something but meh.
He’s an all right guy, except he went to Stanford.
period trackers!!!!! I downloaded that “Clue” one because it looked so pretty but I find it to not be as easy to use or accurate as “P Tracker”
I want the Clue one so bad now, but it’s not supported on my old-ass iPod Touch 3g. Sadface.
I am intrigued about whether it would be any better at predicting my completely irregular cycles than the 3 or 4 other apps I’ve already tried. Plus, the design is more in line with my style than the flowery, pink-frosted options available to me now. I/ve been using iPeriod for over 2 years now, which at least has an option for a purple skin that’s no too frou-frou-y, but all it does to predict when I’ll start is use the average of my cycle lengths, but since that varies from 27 to 39 days, the average is almost always way off.
Ooh, I am very interested in this. Anyone have a favorite?
I REALLY like P Tracker (I use the free “Light” version) too. My cycles tend to vary too, but it’s good at giving me a general outline. In the four or five months I’ve used it, I’ve gotten better at spotting (no pun intended) my ups and down and realized that I always have one or two REALLY bad dreams right before ovulating. Weird! Fun! Bodies! Cool!
i just downloaded P Tracker and i haven’t explored it yet–does the free version include the mood tracking etc functions? (i get so depressed for a few days before my period, and i was just thinking about setting a recurring google calendar event saying YOU’RE SAD BUT IT’S FINE before i found out about these)
It does! Moods, symptoms, weight, temperature, ~*intimacy*~, and a space for notes, where I mark my bad dreams. It’s functioned as that google calendar event for me!
ooh this is great! the icons are so cute!
Yeah, I used “P Tracker” back when I still had my period (got a Mirena and haven’t had a period in over a year, heyyyyy) and found it pretty handy. The little “when I last had sex” tags are helpful too, when you start to panic and think “WAIT COULD I BE PREGNANT OH GOD I AM DEFINITELY 100 PERCENT PREGNANT oh wait I’m probably fine.”
I chart my morning temps and period because 1.) I have irregular cycles and 2.) my body has rejected all forms of birth control, so we do rhythm + pull out method (SMRT right guys? right?) – the app I use was a website I used for years and it’s REALLY fantastic, for anyone who follows their body that closely – Fertility Friend. It’s technically marketed to those who want to get pregnant, but it is also helpful for me, very easy to use, etc.
That’s the one I use! It got me knocked up the first month I tried, but I guess it had some help from outside sources. As a period app, it could use more illustrations of wheels dripping blood, tho.
I have one of the blander tracking apps, but for some reason the ads are amazing. I screencapped the one that appeared at the bottom of the six-month summary: “Train vast armies for battle. Build an empire.”
OK, I do not have periods with any regularity at all (I have an IUD), so based on that NY Times article I’ve decided to download a billion tracker apps to see if any of them can figure this out.
So far:
Glow is creepy as hell.
PeriodTracker is probably my favorite (it is not pink and there is a cute little monster who represents you). The rating information is also hilarious: https://twitter.com/ex_liontamer/status/426721024…
I’m gonna download a bunch more this weekend. Adventures!
Is Glow the one that wants to know what position you had sex in? Nope. I use a little freebie called My Days, which is exceedingly basic and kind of ugly, but it’s worked pretty well. Though now I want to experiment.
YES. Also you have to create an account so that shit is stored somewhere NO THANK YOU.
I will add My Days to the experiment and bet it will be the one that is like “you are tricking me lady”
I also have non-regular periods, but mine are due to my space-age arm implant. I am using the UGLIEST period tracker right now – there are flowers everrryywheerreee. So I will be interested to know which one you think is best that doesn’t require an account. Please keep us updated!
MyDays is pretty solid, but yeah, ugly ugly interface.
“Belgian-based searcher Pim de Rhoodes said: “She is floating around there somewhere. There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other.””
sounds legit.
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE ARTIFICER HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE SCIENTISTS OF KRAFT INDUSTRIES HAVE MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE GIANT SQUID HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE UNCANNY BEING FROM THE TWELFTH DIMENSION HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE SNOW QUEEN ELSA HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE DARK LORD CTHULU, LORD OF ALL NIGHTMARES AND BRINGER OF DOOM HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE GLOW CLOUD HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE NECROMANCER HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE HEY LADIES HAVE MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe we got 14 comments into this thread without this one:
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT BEYONCE HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We all fail.
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT I HAZ MADE!!!!!!!1!!1!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE HUMMUS HAS MADE!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE PERSON SECRETLY LIVING IN MY HOUSE HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE JOSHUA TREE HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE FIRE ANTS HAVE MADE!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT TOM HIDDLESTON HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT PBS HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT IRON CHEF MASAHARU MORIMOTO HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT MY 4-YEAR-OLD KEURIG HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT SKELETOR HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am giggling at this entire thread, but the 4-year-old Keurig slayed me for some reason.
Trying to decide if I’d rather it be referring to a four-year-old child named Keurig, or a coffeemaker that you’ve had for a few years.
It’s the coffeemaker, but my child is also 4. The matching age is not a coincidence.
It sounds like a dying rhino, but it makes a decent cup of coffee!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE BRADFORD PEAR HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE ARTISANAL FRENCH PRESS HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE NEW-AGE WOMAN WITH THE PINK HAIR AND PATCHOULI PERFUME HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE HOLE IN THE INSIDE OF MY THIGH IN MY JEANS HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT RYAN SEACREST HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE DISEMBODIED ALL-SEEING ARM OF THE STARFISH HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE WHO HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE RECENT CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE HIGH KING PETER THE MAGNIFICENT, EMPEROR OF THE LONE ISLANDS, LORD OF CAIR PARAVEL AND KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE LION HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, now I want to do this with everyone who has long-ass titles.
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT DAENERYS OF HOUSE TARGARYEN, THE FIRST OF HER NAME, QUEEN OF THE ANDALS AND THE FIRST MEN, LADY REGNANT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, PROTECTOR OF THE KINGDOMS, KHALEESI OF THE GREAT GRASS SEA, BREAKER OF CHAINS AND MOTHER OF DRAGONS HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ISN’T IT AMAZING, FRIGHTENING, AND AWE-INSPIRING WHAT CHRIS KIMBALL HOST OF AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN AND NARRATOR OF OUR NIGHTMARES HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
32 explanation points. Sure sign of someone who wears her underpants on her head.
Shameless pandering edition:
ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE TOAST HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is why you are my favorite.
Is there a point of using a period tracker if I’m on the Pill? My periods are regular but I think tracking them seems kinda fun. (I like to log everything.)
I think so! sometimes your personal hormone situation changes, which can impact how the pill works, so if you can monitor them monthly that’s good. And it’s always helpful to have a reminder of when you’re about to get your period.
Are there options on these things to track the stupid spotting that won’t go away while your on stupid birth control, and seems to have no rhyme or reason or follow a pattern, but maybe if you tracked it with one of these you could find one and discover the secret to not bleeding all the effing time??
YES! on fertility friend you can track E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I’ve found the charts especially useful when going to the doctor to discuss issues. I’ve got hard data in the form of my charts that I can show them (and freak them out a little because of my neuroticism and attention to detail).
I think so too – my generic free one (“period log”) is nothing special and is pink, of course, but it helped me figure out that the seemingly sporadic backaches I was getting were actually period related. And if I’m feeling exceedingly cranky/horny/etc for no reason, I’ll think “i wonder…” and I check the app and yep, I’m 2/10/etc days into my cycle.
Oh man that nursing home fire article is horrifying.
That Racialicious storify is fascinating.
I think it’s a really important convo that needs to happen.
Yes.
I’m just now learning about the fustercluck that is Bakken crude oil and their repeated train problems, since it happened in Philadelphia this last week. 6 accidents in less than a year? Oil that explodes more ferociously and quickly than normal crude? WTF?!?!? And the worst part is that because of the crazy storm we had here this last week, nobody is that aware of the current accident here, and the two cars full of oil hovering over the Schuylkill River. UGHHHHHHH IS SHALE STILL SAFE YOU STUPID SHALE SUPPORTERS?!?!?
Is THAT what Rachel Maddow was talking about last night??? I heard something about the Schuylkill, and the trans-whatever pipeline, but was cooking dinner and couldn’t hear the whole story.
GAHHHHH WHYYY. Just let us run out of oil so we HAVE to find new energy sources, stop with this shale and oil sands and fracking business. This is so ridiculous.
It sure is… which just makes me all the more furious when I hear/see misleading ads about fracking that are sponsored by Shell. How is this safe? I know people who have been able to set their water on fire after fracking – so I knew these ads weren’t accurate to begin with, but to persist with it after such a heavy burden of proof to the contrary is just evil.
Oh, period tracker apps! I use an ancient website that I always forget the name of and hasn’t been updated since, like, Web 0.5. Might be time to update.
That Edith Wharton article —
What you wish, apparently, is to take of my life the inmost & uttermost that a woman—a woman like me—can give, for an hour, now and then, when it suits you; & when the hour is over, to leave me out of your mind & out of your life as a man leaves the companion who has afforded him a transient distraction. I think I am worth more than that, or worth, perhaps I had better say, something quite different.
Ohhh wow.
Was anyone else slightly heartbroken by that Wharton story?
so good!
I’m having a pretty lonely January myself. That piece has me rethinking my go-to loneliness comfort reading material – to change from Villette to Wharton? (only joking Charlotte, I love you the most).
No, probably because I already feel pretty heartbroken in that same way, if that isn’t too self-dramatizing? But I came down here to say that I adored that article, and to thank Nicole for linking to it. I’m the richer for having read it.
Quebec also looks set to further institutionalize racism.
Can we talk about how *incredibly* ignorant people are laying their ignorance out for the public record? (As in http://globalnews.ca/news/1090217/quebec-charter-… ) And that that ignorance is going to be seriously considered in setting provincial law? I ask because WORDS FAIL ME.
Also, and maybe this has been addressed, but has anyone discussed how this is going to affect First Nations communities? I know this is mostly about The Scary Brown People, but if traditional regalia falls under the “ostentatious symbols of faith” umbrella (and I’m guessing they’re trying to stuff as much as possible under that umbrella), how is that going to affect FN communities’ governments? And why has no-one brought this up before? (Obv. I know why.)
Do you remember the turban/soccer story with the sikhs?
Yup — it’s not like this nonsense came out of nowhere >:(
I don’t have too much to say about it all, but I do find it peculiar that we have a young, educated left wing that is so occupied with xenophobia.
I kind of wonder whether it’s because there’s so many systemic problems within QC (employment prospects aren’t great, not an especially wealthy province, infrastructure falling down around our ears, health care often very hard to access, etc etc) that it’s easier to focus on ideological debates rather than actually addressing the tangible problems. Get everyone tied in knots about what the platonic ideal of QC (see: lots of the separation discussions) would be and there’s no space left to actually deal with the employment/infrastructure/health care/etc problems. And of course the pur laine activists are going to be the most stridently vocal about this, which means everyone else has to take time dealing with that rather than making the province better. And the PQ’s happy to stoke that fire because they’ve not got a sweet clue how to actually *run* (let alone fix) the province and the more everyone’s wading through this Charter nonsense, the less anyone’s paying attention to their ineptitude in other arenas.
who knew that a writer as perfect as michelle dean existed! brb i gg read everything she ever wrote!
oh god they are all so good! ahh!
http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/feature/how-reb…
She is seriously one of the best writers out there right now. She had a piece on Harry Potter (at the Millions, I think?) a few years back that’s really great.
I can’t deal with that Texas story. She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead. Why are they doing this? I want to believe that doctors are good people: why are they doing this?
The doctors are doing what they’re doing, as I understand it, because they have been advised that the law compels it. I think that most doctors are good people, but they live in a constant and rational fear of being sued for even the smallest of mistakes, and crossing the law on this in Texas is not healthy.
Yes, this. I can hardly blame the doctors; I live in Texas also, and there are a lot of situations where my hands are tied because I’m a teacher and I live in Texas and I would absolutely be fired if I did what I consider the Right Thing.
I really need to know who would have legal grounds to sue them, considering HER ENTIRE FAMILY wants to take her off support. A right-to-life/pro-life group couldn’t actually sue, could they? Since they’re not related to her, or?
It reminds me of Terri Schiavo all over again… we do not, as a nation, need this circus.
The AG’s office of Texas, for starters. Mingus_Thurber has a far better explanation below than what I can articulate, but the gist is that it’s against the law in TX to take even a brain-dead pregnant woman off life support. The doctors have to keep it artificially alive in order to bring the baby to term.
And to be fair, in the Terry Schiavo case her parents were very much against taking her off life support while her husband was in favor of it. That was, in my opinion, a very different scenario, because as I understand it all of her family are in agreement that this poor woman should be removed from life support.
And Terry Schiavo wasn’t dead! She was in a persistent vegetative state, which is a horrible way to live, but it not actually legally dead, as is this poor woman.
Agreed that the two situations are similarly sad, though.
No yeah it’s clearly not the same exact situation, but it’s a nightmare circus. I know that an AG office can choose to press charges without a “victim” behind it (i.e. someone can choose not to press charges but the AG will do it anyway), but in such an OBVIOUS this-will-get-shut-down-by-SCOTUS case I would really hope they’d opt not to.
askdfjsa;kljadsfasklj cant even
it is one of the most most incomprehensible things I have ever seen. It is appalling. It is appalling. It must never happen again.
Good people have been known to do evil things That the State of Texas considers women little more than incubators has been made clear. In a Frankenstein type movie the people would be outside with pitchforks and torches, ready to have a few words with the legislators
Here’s the deal: The Texas Legislature, years ago, put into place a law that said that you couldn’t, as a hospital or health-care provider, withdraw care on somebody who was terminally ill if that person were pregnant.
The folks at JPS are being overly cautious because there have been lawsuits filed on behalf of people who were brain dead (*not* terminally ill) who still had beating hearts. I don’t know that they ever came to anything, since the medical definition of brain death is a testable, solid thing, but there you are.
The docs in this case are probably just as upset as the family is, but they’re hogtied by the risk management department at the hospital (those are the folks who get involved when it looks like somebody’s gonna break the law/already has/the law is unclear). Any hospital ethics committee would be totally on the side of the family. I will bet you good cash money that the docs and nurses in the critical-care unit are totally on the side of the family. It’s the legal threat that has people running scared and keeping her on the vent.
I’m a critical-care nurse in Texas, by the by.
Thank you for this explanation. I would hazard a guess that the recent uproar about the girl who was brain dead after her tonsillectomy and the furor that was caused by her parents refusing to believe multiple experts on the definition of a dead body is probably making this case even a bit more fraught.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/us/judge-orders… Well, a judge has ordered them to remove life support as of a few minutes ago. The hospital has a chance to appeal, but hopefully this will work out.
What’s even worse is that 37 other states have some kind of law that says pregnancy invalidates an advance life directive in some way. Texas is one of 12 states who are the most restrictive. http://www.centerwomenpolicy.org/programs/health/… (the breakdown of states starts on page 3)
I use this period tracker called Pink Pad, which I like because it’s free and it tries to make sense of and predictions for my wackadoo cycle, and it doesn’t freak out if I’m early or late or whatever because that shit is allll over the place. But it took me a long time to figure out how to turn off the notifications I’d get that, “The flowers are blooming,” (i.e. I’m about to ovulate) or, “Aunt Flow is coming.” Which was awkward.
I use Pink Pad, too! It’s so ugly (and I say that as a big fan of the color pink), but it’s at least free.
It can never predict my period, though. I’ve always been a bit irregular, but especially this month, geez. Is there a more perfect encapsulation of January than getting your period twice in three weeks?
“The flowers are blooming”…. I’m dying of laughter 😛
Even on the pill I’m not regular enough to trust a tracker would be able to handle it, and I’d just get irritated that it was wrong a lot.
C.C. should either change his faith or be transferred to another District school where “there are more Asians.”
THIS WHOLE ARTICLE IS RIDICULOUS AND RAGE-INDUCING AND I WANT TO SET EVERYONE INVOLVED ON FIRE. FUCKING RIDICULOUS.
Also Michelle Nunn is officially running for GA’s open senate seat and I am so, so antsy for her because she’s running against 8 republicans and this state is pretty republican outside of Atlanta but I so desperately want her to win because our frontrunner on the other side of the ticket is PAUL BROUN, as in “evolution and the big bang are lies straight from the pit of hell” Paul Broun and *rends clothing* *tears hair* GO MICHELLE GO
Join me in setting them on fire! Field trip down to Louisiana immediately?
YES. Let me just put on my moron-torchin’ pants!
Ugh I’m gonna have to take the rest of the day off work just to read all these things in as much detail as I’d like.
I am stunned by the Gabrielle Union thing. I got only 4/10 of those correct. There has got to be a painting of her aging in an attic somewhere.
I got 6/10 and am super impressed with myself for some of those right answers being reasoned rather than pure guesses.
Ya know how you sometimes watch shows & they flashback & the actor looks identical but with a wig that means it’s 10 years ago & you’re all ‘sure, because humans never show signs of aging’? Clearly I was wrong to be sarcastic.
I feel like Gabrielle Union and Bianca Lawson must both be members of the same quiet age-defying gorgeous people coven. I bet they gather at night on the solstice and have beautiful parties lit by the moon.
I got 2/10. I am actively against the laws of probability here.
In looking back at the photos, I think I was misled by the fact that her face is clearly identical at any point in time, but when she was younger she seemed to wear more makeup? Thus fooling me. Now she’s in her 40s and knows she will never age and is just like HERE’S MY FACE, BITCHES. IT DEFIES TIME AND MORTAL KEN.
I don’t use an app but I use Monthly Info, which used to have a way more annoying url, and is generally awesome. I particularly enjoy the graph demonstrating how bizarre my cycle is, and the diagrams of follicles. SCIENCE.
also for all the middlemarchers out there, a rebecca mead giveaway: http://riffleclassics.tumblr.com/bookgiveaway2
Comments like this–she allegedly told them “this is the Bible belt” and that they “shouldn’t be offended” to “see God here.”–are part of the reason I cringe when northern liberals say dismissive things about the south. “We should have let ’em secede” is the most egregious, but milder sentiments like “what else do you expect from the bible belt” are not uncommon, the assumption apparently being that that’s just how they like to live down there. It completely ignores the presence of non-white, non-Christian, etc. populations in the south who are affected by this kind of behavior. And here’s someone actually in the south, using it as a fig leaf.
(I’m not a southerner, it’s just an attitude that bothers me.)
I am a southerner, and you’re 1000% correct.
In other links news, I made a period masterpost on tumblr inspired by that article you linked to
http://fannybrawne.tumblr.com/post/74390979011/un…
You guys, think about it: rats breed really fast, right? So they’re probably pretty incesty at this point? Basically, what we have here is Game of Thrones meets Redwall.
Mallory just posted an important post re: Redwall, RATBOAT, and other things.
Great minds! By which, of course, I mean that inevitably Mallory’s genius must spread in brief flashes to her readership.
Redwall definitely didn’t have enough incest.
I’m in favor of the ellipses / “CustomerService is typing” messages. Do I need to keep this screen open? Is there more to the conversation? The ellipses let me know. I’m far too impatient & want to get on with whatever is next, so I have to be told that the screen isn’t done with me yet and I should just chill a minute.
Also, everybody needs to go read @Danzig’s piece on investing in a man (“Richard Dawkins: Not suitable for investment”).
John! I didn’t even know John had written another thing. I’m sorry John, I’ve been too busy to read things on the internet at work!!!
I use the P Tracker app on Android. It has a widget that shows how many days are left in your cycle, and the widget shows flowers when I am allegedly fertile. It also smart updates the days in your cycle as you use it more. (I used to be about 28 days, now it’s more like 30.) You just hit the big button when your period starts.
You can also track symptoms and moods, and add your own symptoms and moods (I added cravings, weepy, and “so. angry.”)
Oooh, I like the idea of adding my own symptoms. Mine would include, “Forgets words with alarming regularity”, and “Wants her boyfriend to be at her house, but not talking, and indeed in another room entirely.”
So, period tracker apps! I just realized that it might not be normal that I don’t track my period? I had suspected something was up because whenever I go to the doctor and they ask me when my last period was and I go “how should I know” they give me weird looks that only get weirder when my response to “is it regular” is “??? I guess ???”. So oops.
Now I’m really curious but I also feel like I have a good system going that I don’t want to mess up. This is weird but I can sense my period is coming the day of or day before, like I can just tell somehow and it gives me an opportunity to buy tampons and then at some point later that day or the next morning I’ll pee and there will be some blood (it’s possible that I pee more frequently because I know it’s coming and want to intercept it). This has been true from age 11/12 when I first got my period (including the first time!) to when I was 16 and went on birth control, to when I went off at 21, to the years after that when I was using condoms, to now that I’ve had my (Paragard) IUD for 2 years. Does anyone else have this happen to them? Tell me I’m not alone.
I don’t track my periods very well because I rarely have them (thanks PCOS), so you’re not alone in not tracking them. I get the same looks from nurses. I DON’T KNOW GUYS I BLED A BIT AND THEN IT STOPPED AND I WAS GLAD IT STOPPED.
If anyone’s looking for a gender neutral period tracker app, I covered this one a few months ago. It’s Android only though. I’m not sure what’s going on with it in regard to other devices, becuase the Indiegogo campaign didn’t make its goal. (Which I am bummed about.)
I like the photocopy-friendly period chart in that silly Vinnie’s book from way back when (which is also when I am from), or I just circle a dot in my datebook on the first day. No risk of server failure deleting your menses that way.
Follow up after some poking and sampling: OvuView and 123 Period Tracker are the two I’m going to try as more aesthetically pleasing replacements to My Days. Both are less pink (OvuView actually has customizable color schemes, several of which are not pink at all!) and offer a solid range of adjustability between “just track menses” and “monitor all body information.”
What happened in Louisiana seems typical given my experience in Alabama public schools. Like we’d have National Honor Society induction and this ceremony would be a school assembly, we’d have a prayer, mentioning Jesus, everyone expected to lower their heads and close their eyes, which I refused to do. I was threatened with punishment for not doing. Such bullshit. In fact, pretty much every assembly or event at my school had a prayer. I guess they figured they could get away with it if it wasn’t an in-classroom prayer.