Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Deadpool

For all of it's R-rated fanfare, Deadpool was pretty much any action movie from a couple decades ago.  It was a bit more raunchy than Kill Bill (either volume), and just as violent.  What makes it even less watchable is that the one woman character was so stereotypical. 

I don't even remember her name.

But she started out a badass, protecting herself at a rough bar.  But she immediately refers to herself as "merchandise," objectifying herself.  And the love story that we see?  Is them having sex.  She was a badass for, like, a minute, and then just a willing sex toy.  The movie is just all male fantasy all the time. 

And during the sex montage?  Why is International Women's Day celebrated by painful anal intercourse?  What are you saying about women if you celebrate us that way?!  

When we finally get back to her, she's a dancer or waitress or something in a strip club.  WTF was she doing in a mercenary bar, and protecting herself well, if she's merely a waitress?!  It all makes no sense. 

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Legal Marriage =/= Wedding

After a discussion with a colleague around an assignment on marriage equality in my Human Sexuality class, I've come to realize that not everyone recognizes the important difference between a wedding and legal marriage.  So I wrote this up for my class:
A wedding is a religious ceremony and celebration.  Marriage, on the other hand, is a legal contract recognized by the government.  
Gay couples have been able to have weddings in certain faith communities for a several decades (shout out to UU's!!). Vermont was the first state to recognize civil unions, and Massachusetts was the first state to recognize marriage between two people of the same sex (this info is based off of my memory of living through the years, so I may be wrong...).  
If it helps you to recognize the difference between weddings and marriage, think about the positions of U.S. slaves.  They could not get legally married because they were not considered legal people in their own right.  However, couples often held a ceremony or ritual with their family and community to demonstrate their love and commitment (Google "jumping the broom" FMI).  Obviously, the slave owners and the government didn't recognize this ceremony in any way.  The slave owner could still sell one of the committed partners and not the other, or sell both to different people.  
I hope that helps.  I didn't realize that people who aren't associated with some of these minorities didn't see the difference between legal marriage and a wedding. 

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Every Driver Needs Jumper Cables

Dr. O. to the rescue!

As I was walking back to my office tonight, someone from my class said her friend's car had died and asked if I had jumper cables.  I said yes, but since Prius's have THREE batteries, I don't jump cars from my own.  I got my car keys, and then the student whose car was dead said that she didn't know who to jump her car from.  And she was almost crying, poor dear!  Or was trying to stop crying.  Anyway, there was a guy sitting in a running car near mine, so we asked him.  Guys love to help women!  So I got my cables and he drove to the dead car.  He quickly jumped her car, and off we all went!

The morale of this story is:  every driver needs their own set of jumper cables.  This is not the first time that I've loaned mine out to be used on two other cars.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Dog Beach Day!

This is the second time that we've taken Brie to the dog beach.  The first time, we just walked and got the feel of it.  This time, we wore swimsuits and brought snacks!


Gary, the sea, and my knees! -->



Brie was pretty alert, making sure no dogs or humans attacked her humans!



It was great weather, around 73 with a light breeze.

Brie acted like she was well-trained, too!  She stayed with us, and laid on the beach with us.  She wasn't sure about the waves that kept coming in, but she did like running in the water.  I think she even growled at a big wave that was coming towards her Daddy!

I never would have expected this, but this is exactly what I want my life to be!  #dogbeachdaysalways!