Atheist Jew

I have complained on this blog before about religious people and their lack of understanding for atheists. I find this is especially challenging for people because I identify myself as an atheist Jew. This means that I don't believe in a god but that I do feel a connection to my Jewish background and that I choose to perpetuate this connection even if I don't believe in all the aspects of the Jewish religion. I was glad to see that there are others who think the same way I do and I hope we'll be able to teach others about our beliefs, or, more accurately, our lack thereof.

--Curly

Androphobes

Some of my lesbian friends tell me that they often have to deal with the assumption that they are man-haters. How hard is to understand that just because a woman is attracted to other women doesn't mean that she hates men? No one assumes that if a woman is heterosexual she must hate other women, right? And similarly, people don't seem to make such assumptions about men, whether gay, straight, bi, or other. Sure, there have been some lesbian separatists who prefer not to socialise with or live near or have any other real connection with men. But most lesbians are not man-haters.

--Curly

Reading for Ranters: 11,002 Things to be Miserable About

Imagine Prunella's interest upon discovering a new book: 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About, by the sibling pair of Lia Romeo and Nick Romeo. Even better, the authors have a Web site, where you can sign up to receive a message about the "miserable thing of the day."

--Prunella

One Reason I Left Full-time Teaching

So it wasn't just my imagination. The maddening sense of entitlement--sheer entitlement to high grades--which so many of my students seemed to bring to my classrooms when I began teaching really was the start of something. Something infinitely more insidious than anything I'd seen among my own undergraduate cohort a decade earlier. I thank The New York Times for exposing "student expectations" as the source of the problem.

--Prunella

Scarf Face

Related to my last post about Israel, I want to mention my annoyance at people wearing "Palestine scarves". You know, the keffiyeh that Yasser Arafat often wore. It's become both a trend and a political statement to wear one and many young Westerners wear it in solidarity with Arabs, even though they frequently can't clearly state what it is supposed to represent or why they support only Arabs and not peace in general, for all of those in the Middle East.

--Curly

What We Talk About When We Talk About Israel

During the sad events in Israeli, I've been annoyed, though not surprised, that news coverage has been more or less one-sided, as Pru will surely attest. What's additionally irritating is the way people (i.e. my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances) talk about the situation.

Many people feel able to pronounce on what's going on in Israel without having any real knowledge or information, in a way they wouldn't about, say, a war in an African country or a situation in Asia. What's more, people can't seem to distinguish between Jews and Israelis, making many of their comments blatantly anti-Semitic.

--Curly

Seasonal Attire

I so often see people dressed improperly for cold weather (wearing, for example, sleeveless tops or shorts or going without coats) and then they complain about feeling chilled. My feeling is that you dress for the weather; if you don't, you have only yourself to blame.

--Curly