Clean it up!

Why oh why can’t people clean up after their dogs? It is so disgusting to walk down the street and see slimy piles of dog shit all over the place, and it is annoying to have to watch where you step all the time. If you have a pet, take care of its messes!

--Curly

The Stepford Season

I know I've complained about the Christmas season before, but I can't help bringing it up again.

I was walking downtown on a chilly winter late afternoon and I saw all these Christmas lights and decorations and the streets were filled with blank-eyed people madly buying presents, their arms loaded down with plastic bags, and there was something so depressing about the scene, and its heavy overtones of expectations. We are expected to buy and to feel joy and I wish everything would be calmer and we could just enjoy spending time together without all the pressures of the season.

--Curly

Let's Talk About Sexuality

Someone recently complained that I talk about being bisexual too much. It is pretty common to hear that people don't mind queers, as long as they don't have to listen to them talking about their sexuality or their relationships.

The thing is, though, that since people are assumed to be straight, if those of us who are not don't say anything to the contrary, we just help continue those assumptions, thereby making anything other than heterosexuality seem strange or uncommon. I have no interest in boring people with talk about sexuality or my feelings or anything, but I think we all should have an interest in making others more aware of the incredible variation that exists in human sexuality.

--Curly

Ignorance is Astounding Yet Again

I am constantly amazed at people's ignorance, although I suppose by now I shouldn't be.

Recently, it came up in a conversation that I was not straight. The woman I was talking to looked at me in astonishment and said, "But you don't *look* gay!" Then she proceeded to say she didn't understand how relationships between women could possibly be emotionally or sexually satisfying.

She said in her experience, a woman needed a man with a penis in order to have a good romantic relationship. I explained that not everyone feels that way all the time, but she just didn't get it.

How hard is it to understand that some people who may not look stereotypically queer might need or choose to have same-sex relationships and might find them satisfying?

--Curly

Busy Moms Revolt

I was flipping through a food magazine the other day and noticed an advertisement for detergent. Food can drop onto clothes and tablecloths, so it makes sense that there are such ads in a food magazine. But the caption stopped me.

It started off by saying how quick-acting this detergent was and then explaining that that’s why “busy moms” choose this product.

Busy moms? Are they the only ones doing the laundry? What about dads? Or are they too busy with their jobs to help out at home (which includes by implication from these kinds of ads cooking, child-minding while cooking and eating, doing laundry, shopping for household products, etc.)? And is this detergent not good for people without kids, too?

You may think I am overwrought about this. But I have noticed many, many such ads that focus on moms, especially busy ones. Are we still at a point in time where women (especially mothers) are responsible for the home?

--Curly

Writers' Rants

Late last week The Renegade Writer blog provided some virtual space for writers to air some rants. See what peeves that blog's readers here.

--Pru

Not in the Spirit

Oh yes, it’s that time again. My local grocery store has already packed the “seasonal items” aisle with Christmas products and other stores are getting into the spirit. Since when did Christmas become a two- or three-month-long event?

--Curly

A Peevish Professor Speaks Out--And Suffers for It

Where to begin with this one? I'd have to quote nearly the entire essay to show how much of Professor "Smith"'s experience resonates with me, the many ways in which his disillusionment with college teaching echoes my own record. Instead of quoting, I'll just refer you to the full piece.

I guess I'm happy he's the one who penned it and I did not. That's because he really suffers some strongly-worded negative comments from readers. I guess not everyone takes peeves and rants with the consistent good humor Curly and I do! ;-)

--Prunella

The Elders of Zion are at it Again

So today is the election in the U.S. As of this writing, I don’t know who will win, even though the polls seem to be predicting Barack Obama. Many people outside the U.S. seem to find the idea that we could elect a black person to be president surprising, as Nicholas Kristof reports in this article. Why is that? Well, Kristof writes:

“Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks.”

I still remember when I lived in a country in Europe and was asked, in a very serious tone, “You’re Jewish, right? So is it true that Jews own and run America?” The person who asked me this genuinely wanted to know.

A century after the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, why do we still have to deal with these stereotypes and accusations?

--Curly

In the Pink or Seeing Red?

To follow up on that last post, why are so many objects for girls/women, whether sex toys, clothes, or anything else, pink? I can’t be the only one tired of the idea that pink is for girls and blue for boys. Is there some rule that says that women have to find pink appropriate, sweet, sexy, even erotic?

--Curly