icewolf: snowy wolf (not at all insane)
Not a single student in my 110 class (current events-flavored composition II) did their reading for today.

Every single person bombed the quiz.

One student said she didn't have time to keep track of current events. (I told her that she was going to have issues in this class, because of, you know, the purpose of the course.)

While trying to steer the conversation towards the essay (which none of them read, but I was trying to salvage my original lesson plan) linking Britney Spears et al to the early sexualization of pre-adolescent girls, the students kept hijacking the discussion to the latest celebrity gossip.  And would interrupt me to do so. ("Are you all kidding me? Or is there a barn around here I don't know about?")

Because everyone was woefully unprepared, I couldn't execute the really nifty lesson plan/class discussion I had planned, and, to be honest, I was seriously peeved by all of the above, the homework got pretty piled on. In response to this, one student was actually dumb enough to exclaim, "But I have classes!" My response: "Of. Which. This. Is. One."

The good news is that Emma Thompson is, indeed, awesome, and not just as an actress and writer, but as a feminist and activist as well:

The English actress Emma Thompson has stepped in to protest about an up-and-coming British actress...being required by an American film company to lose weight for her next role.

"Many people frankly don't give a toss about young girls being raped," Thompson, a dedicated anti-trafficking activist, said. "And in some parts of the world, rape is just a fact of life."

Many thanks to [personal profile] commodorified for the original heads-up and links.
icewolf: snowy wolf (stupid)
Listening to a story on NPR that's part of a "Women in War" series.

The fact that someone just asserted that no woman would be able to pick up a incapacitated infantryman and that every other available man would just makes my head spin. I can't bench press 250 lbs, but there are plenty of women out there who can. And plenty of men who can't.

Hats off to Michele Norris for not completely losing it and screaming at these people. I would not be able to hold on to my professionalism in the face of such logical deficiency.
icewolf: snowy wolf (queen of swords)
Laurie R. King, a fairly well known author, wrote an article on her blog recently. The news story didn't quite make it out to this coast, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe everyone was feeling a little burned after the situation at Duke. Which is why I wish they'd give people who play around with the criminal justice system by making false complaints harsher sentences.

King's article is here, "Heroes".

Background news on the situation can be linked to from King's blog, or you can find it at the San Francisco Chronicle here. (This is a piece on the harassment of the girls, but there's a sidebar to the right with links to all the articles surrounding the case.)

At any rate, thank you April, Lauren, and Lauren.
icewolf: snowy wolf (ice blue)
Am I the only person who thinks the Lisa Nowak thing is just really, really sad? I mean, the woman is either unhinged or throwing away a brilliant career for a guy.

Either way, it makes me queasy.

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