Couldn't Agree More

more music charts

From GraphJam via Wil Wheaton.

Last week

• Omaba!!! Did I mention how excited I am by this?!
  
  
• Lush's Sex Bomb Bath Bomb. Works as advertised. O.M.G.
  
  
• CA passes prop 8. Boo!
  
  
• I picked up a crappy cold.
  
  

 

A few notes from a conference

• Finding two other conference goers on the plane, we decided to share a cab to the hotel. The cabbie was a talkative sort of fellow who told us unbelievable tales of his past. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, offered us a deal. "You scam your boss, I scam mine." I won't say what happened, but I will say there seemed like only one way to get multiple receipts.^*
  
  
• The speaker giving one of the plenaries sounded a lot like Harry Shearer . This was especially evident when he used "Alright" as his verbal pause.
  
  
• I went to one session given by someone had developed a seminar course on the topic I am planning to run for a freshman seminar next year. He passed out a detailed schedule, with reading assignments, discussion topics and weekly short writing assignments. Given that I like what I heard, this simplifies next Fall considerably.
  
  
• With some time to kill after the end of a conference I went to the Borders in the very large mall next to the conference hotel. Something was odd, but I could not place my finger on it. Somehow, people in this Borders just looked a little different from what I expected. Soon the reason becomes clear: I had just walked into a Bill O'Reilly book signing.
  
  

^* I lost a shuttle receipt from my last trip, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over this.

Yesterday's Gone

I haven't felt this hopeful since 1992.

Doing my part for the Democrats

My mother, a white, middle-class woman over 60, is about to move from McCain country to super-important swing state.

She is a registered Democrat. She voted for Clinton in the primary. So far no problem.

She has occasionally voted for Republicans, but doesn't seem to remember doing so, or consider it to be significant. In the last four national elections she voted for Clinton, Clinton, Gore and Kerry. I really thought W had put her right over the edge and squarely into the Democratic camp for good. And if Clinton wins the primary, we can count on one more democratic vote in that swing state.

But, there is a problem in an alternate scenario: She is scared of the angry black people.

That isn't what she said of course - what she said was: "I'm just so concerned."

I really wanted to ask my mother, "What do you think is going to happen?" This wasn't going to get us anywhere, however, because admitting this sort of thing to me when she knows how I feel indicates she wants to feel differently - better to focus on that.

Instead, I urged her to listen to Obama's entire speech. She is open enough that this might be sufficient. She was surprised to learn that Wright is an ex-Marine. Fortunately, this alone convinced her that she might not know the whole story. She was also receptive to the idea that the images and sound bites she is being plagued with are taken out of context and politically motivated, something the UCC's Response to this whole thing sums up nicely:

What's really going on here? First, it may state the obvious to point out that these television and radio shows have very little interest in Trinity Church or Jeremiah Wright. Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention. It is to wound a presidential candidate.

I think anti-racism activist Tim Wise is also on to something here when he touches on white discomfort with black anger:

But here we are, in 2008, fuming at the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago--occasionally Barack Obama's pastor, and the man whom Obama credits with having brought him to Christianity--for merely reminding us of those evils about which we have remained so quiet, so dismissive, so unconcerned. It is not the crime that bothers us, but the remembrance of it, the unwillingness to let it go--these last words being the first ones uttered by most whites it seems whenever anyone, least of all an "angry black man" like Jeremiah Wright, foists upon us the bill of particulars for several centuries of white supremacy.

I'm not sure this last thing is something my mother is ready to hear.

Besides referring my mother to Obama's speech and trying to contextualize this whole issue, I'm not really sure what else to do. My whole family is like this - and that is just the ones who are Democrats. For example my aunt (a democrat) is really mad at Oprah, for supporting Obama over Clinton. "Isn't she supposed to be for women?" she asks. What I want to ask her is "Are you really mad about that, or are you just mad that Oprah has reminded you that she is black?" This is unlikely to get me anywhere, but I feel ill-prepared to confront racism, especially in my own family. At some point in the conversation with my mother, I turned the phone over to Dr. H, who has some more perspective. He reminded my mother of his adopted brother's experience as an African-American child growing up in a white family in a very white rural suburb - and the very understandable anger that resulted from the bias, prejudice and abuse he encountered.

Perhaps we made some headway with my mother. Time will tell.

---

Bitch, Ph.D. has some things to say on this subject and the comments are also interesting.

This is not directly related, but Jerald Walker has another interesting piece up at the Chronicle about race and the academy.

Nice

In a stunning upset Saturday that could be a harbinger of trouble for the GOP this fall, a little-known Democratic physicist won the special election for a seat drawn to re-elect former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

- Chicago Tribune (emphasis mine)

A new challenge in storytelling

I'm about to begin my spring term of teaching, and I find myself wondering:

Which stories do I tell?

How should I tell them?

My science class for non-majors is an "issues" course. That is, we look at current issues in science of interest to the general community. Energy, climate change, that sort of thing. Back in the day, I used to present both sides of the global warming debate. I thought I had to, you know, to be fair. I don't know why - maybe to overcompensate for my liberal nature. As I became increasingly uncomfortable with this, I began to minimize the debate itself, and just present mechanism, facts and numbers. I addressed the debate, but only briefly.

In 2005, after a break of a few years, I taught the course again. Just beforehand, I went to a seminar where I had the opportunity to discuss the issue of what to present in class with real climate scientists. The other instructors (non-climate scientists like me) and I wanted to know what to do about the other side of the debate. We all felt some discomfort not presenting both sides. The climate scientists felt no such discomfort. "Present IPCC," they said, "this is the consensus of the scientific community." A fine point, I thought.

I presented the IPCC conclusions. I talked about how climate modeling was done. I showed Hanson's famous graph and explained how it was routinely misrepresented. This all went well. Half way though the term (and after the climate change section), the students in my class asked where I fell politically. I told them I try not to discuss my own politics. They said, "But we want to know!"

There are two schools of thought on this question: full disclosure and don't ask, don't tell. Having opted for the second, I now found myself facing a room full of students asking for full disclosure instead. Astonishingly, to me at least, they went on to say, "We really don't know!" How could they not know? Anyway, there was really no conflict here. The students asked me a fair question. They knew me well enough to believe me when I said the following: "Me? OK. I'm a raving liberal. Does that mean you have to agree with me? No. Does that mean your grade on issues papers depends on agreeing with me? No. I care that it is well written. I care that you have reasons for your opinions and that you can articulate them."

So, what have I learned? A reasoned approach to the evidence does not necessarily get you branded as a raving liberal.

I'm teaching this class again this term. I was planning on taking the same approach. This is all well and good. However, I find myself wondering if my story needs to change. Why? Well, there is a faculty member on my campus who is a global warming skeptic. He teaches this topic. A lot. His contention that climate change is not caused by humans is appealing to the students. And why wouldn't it be? It means they don't need to think about changing their lifestyles. It is hard to counter this.

I'm hoping the way I tell the story of climate change is up to the challenge.

scientiae-carnival

Parade

We went to Big City's Gay Pride Parade on Sunday. Angry Professor has already extolled the virtues of taking small children to such an event, so I will leave that discussion in her capable hands.

Much fun was had by all. Curie enjoyed the rainbow balloons and music. Dalton was fascinated. I do not know if his fascination was due to the cars pulling the floats, the crossdressing, or both. Eventually, we were well past nap time and everyone was tired. Here is a photo of my mother with Curie and an arm of Dr. H's with Dalton asleep on his shoulder, which I show mainly to show off Curie's cool rainbow tie-dye.



The guy in the gray t-shirt behind Curie and her Grandma in the photo was quite drunk. He tried to come on to my mother, who as it happens is both single and straight, but does not like drunk guys.

Gender Bender

Recently, my son said "Mommy, I wanna wear the kitty underwear!"

By kitty, he meant the Hello Kitty (TM) girls underwear purchased for my daughter.

I paused for about three seconds. Then I cheerily said "Sure!"

I'm not proud that I paused. I think pink is for girls is a silly and unfortunate rule. I think it is silly that toddler underwear is gendered at all. Moreover, I have no problem with crossdressing - or behavior or dress that crosses gendered lines. Really. Reversed gender roles are quite common in our house and among our coupled friends. Androgyny, especially in dress, seems popular among our friends as well. And we have a friend or three who crossdress on occasion. One of my favorite comments at a party held by us was: "He wears those with the panache of a man who's worn garters before." But I digress.

So, back to my son. I do not really have a problem with him wearing girls underwear. But still, I paused. Why? Is it just overwhelming social conditioning? Am I giving myself too much credit to hope that part of the pause was practical - I mean, perhaps I was concerned that we have a limited amount of kitty underwear? After all, if both kids want to wear it we'll run out faster. But alas, I probably cannot let myself off that easy. I am pleased to say that we now have plenty of kitty underwear to go around. Also, as luck would have it, my daughter now wants to wear the choo-choo-train underwear. (Thomas, nominally for boys, in case there was any doubt.)

The vast majority of the differences I see in my son and daughter, I believe are due to them being totally different people. Maybe some of it is gender, but I don't know how much. Little, I suspect. I do think a fascinating question is this: To what extent do the genders differ, and how much is DNA and how much is society? My husband even does research on such things.

Where my children are concerned, I would like them to grow up in an environment where their genes/inherent personalities are allowed to express themselves, and are less burdened with societal-enforced gender roles. Given that we live in a society where children are bombarded with gendered messages constantly, what can I do? Having a girl and a boy at the same time helps. All toys are everyone's toys at this stage, so there is no problem. As they get older, this will be more problematic, especially where gifts are concerned. My hippy sister-in-law and I get along in part because I am the relative that buys her daughter cars instead of dolls. Gifts from her are no problem. But what to do about my mother?

Case in point: When my twins were about 5 months old, Dalton was trying out yelling while throwing things from his exersaucer.

My mother: He's such a boy! From the moment he was born....

Me: What do you mean?

My mother: Well, Dalton has always been loud. Much louder than Curie. You know, yelling like a boy, right from the beginning.

Me: What are you talking about? He was quiet. His cries sounded like "La La La". Curie, now she demanded attention, loudly. Forcefully, at the top of her lungs: Whaaa!

My mother: Really? Well, I seem to remember Dalton being the loud one.

Me: No [then to myself only: No no no no NO!]

Now, I have my own faults in this regard. We have some gender specific clothes. Curie has long hair and shoes with butterflies. Dalton has short hair and shoes without butterflies. The hairstyles seem to suit them, the shoes fit, and their father has long hair, so I'm cutting myself some slack here. But, I'm going to try my darnedest to burden them with little more than butterflies.

The recent brouhaha over The Dangerous Book for Boys has certainly got everyone riled up. I don't even know where to start, but here is a "for" from Tertia and an "against" from Raising WEG.

Me, all I have to say is "No no no no NO!"

Hopefully, no one will buy it for Dalton for his birthday. Just something with kitties.

Hey, focus on your own family. Thanks.

The House has passed a hate crimes bill. I'd be excited if it weren't for the lack of a veto proof majority (212 is a long way from 290). The Time's one line summary:

The bill, extending “hate crime” protections to include sexuality, is likely to face a veto from President Bush.

The usual suspects are up in arms. You know, people who focus on other people's families and women who are concerned about other's peoples sex lives.

In any case, this makes me want to share two completely unrelated thoughts:

1. A great book for kids discussing all kinds of families is Todd Parr's The Family Book. Actually, I like quite a bit of his stuff including The Peace Book, The Mommy Book and The Daddy Book. Some time ago, I introduced my much-more-hippie-than-me sister-in-law to his books. Unfortunately, this resulted in us both buying The Peace Book for the daughter of a second cousin. But I digress. These are great books for encouraging tolerance.

2. On a totally different subject, it's Leather Pride Week in Sydney! Blogthings knows this, apparently:

You Belong in Australia

Ace! Sunny, upbeat, and cute You make the perfect surf bum Now stop hogging the vegemite!

What English Speaking Country Are You?

Two Remarks

• From Bob Park's What's New from April 20th:
  

  
  Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, according to a study ordered by Congress. Nor did they have fewer sex partners, or wait longer to become sexually active. The report, released late last Friday, comes just after the abrupt resignation of Dr. Eric Keroack, an anti-birth control zealot, appointed by Bush just four months ago to head the Office of Population Affairs of the Department of Health and Human Services. A non-board-certified gynecologist/obstetrician who operates six Christian anti- abortion centers in Massachusetts, Keroack had been notified of a state investigation into his private practice.

  
  Okay, I'm glad Keroack resigned, but how did I miss this guy was appointed in the first place?
  
  
  
• See Abortion Clinic Days for a reaction to the recent supreme court decision. For a personal account, see Cicily's post at And I Wasted All That Birth Control. Don't try reading the last without tissues nearby.