Yellow Dog/Bleeding Heart

This week's damage: Bad Dog , a Buddhist memoir A Lover's Discourse and The Pleasure of the Text , both by Roland Barthes, whom I have recently discovered and think I may be in love with. A couple of fairly recent Chomsky tomes The stuff of Thought , by Steven Pinker All of the above are currently in some stage of being read by me. For reference I also bought a Harvard Press text on Sociolinguistics and two other linguistics reference books. Grad school is really going to be hell on my budget, but will result in an expanded (albeit very nerdy) library!

Prejudices found in the community are often acted out in the workplace. In George Henderson’s book, Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, prejudice is defined as “a conclusion drawn without adequate knowledge or evidence”. [1] While there are laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace, as pointed out in the text, there are no laws against having a prejudicial attitude. This raises the question: is anyone without prejudice? I have heard the statement that we should “embrace diversity” rather than merely practice tolerance. I consider myself an open minded individual, but I am neither sure I agree with embracing diversity, nor am I sure that to truly do so is possible. Certainly I respect diversity. If diversity can be loosely defined as “differences”, then isn’t the acknowledgment of said differences without judgment an acceptable goal? Take religious views for example. A Christian’s view of Jesus as the son of God is the foundation of their faith – their religious truth. A Buddhis...

The Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) Site is clearly against prostitution. Their stated mission is “to abolish the institution of prostitution while at the same time advocating for alternatives to trafficking and prostitution - including emotional and physical healthcare for women in prostitution”. [1] Included in their mission statement is the conviction that men (and their demand for prostitution) are the root of the problem. This is a narrow and sexist view which paints women as victims and men as over-sexed aggressors. Men are not the only ones who use the services of prostitutes. Additionally, to use the term “demand” is to claim an inherent aggression, or anger, in the desire for the services of a prostitute. Yes, there is a definite chauvinistic aspect to prostitution. In fact, claiming that men are the root cause of prostitution is quite chauvinistic. In a 1994 Andrea Dworkin, a self proclaimed radical feminist, gave a speech entitled Prostitution and Male Supremacy. ...

It has been a couple of months since I last posted, so I feel an explanation is in order. Since October I have been incredibly busy not doing school work. It has consumed almost my every waking thought. I haven not read a book, gone out to dinner, entertained guests or even taken a really long bath because... I have papers to write. But have I written them? Sadly, no. I thought, when I decided to return to school, that the bad habits of my youth would be gone now. Rather than procrastinate about my papers I figured I would now manage my time so wisely that I would be turning papers in early. Ha! The only thing I can say in my own defense is that when I decided to go back to school I did not know that the firm would decide to expand; therefore I could not have foreseen the increase in my workload. I also did not know that I would end up having to have minor surgery, nor did I know that said surgery would turn out to be not-so-minor and take weeks to recover from. I did know that Christ...

Can I just tell you a few of the things I would rather be doing than writing the three final papers I have due? First: I'd rather be uploading all my CDs to itunes and burning incredible mixes. Second: I'd rather be harassing Little Dog some more to continue the theme I started on the drive home from school today where I kept playing Dolly Parton's " Love is Like a Butterfly " repeatedly AND SINGING ALONG in my very best loud Karaoke voice. But since I've caught him twice already humming the chorus I think my work for the night is done there. Heh heh . I'd also rather be editing a stack of poems that has been sitting on my desk since school started. I'd really rather be laying on the couch daydreaming my current ongoing fantasy in which Brendan Fraser plays my beloved husband. Come on, You know you have to admit he was cute in Blast From the Past . Then, he really brought the cool in his role as Jordan's brother on Scrubs . ( FWIW in the abov...

When it comes to schoolwork I have always been a major procrastinator, but last week I did something I have never before done. I asked for extensions on three papers. Now this bothers me a lot because now I am not only procrastinating, but I'm procrastinating with a deficit. So I cleared last night's schedule and planned on catching up. Here's how the night went: 6:18 Arrive home from work. 6:31 Little Dog specifically requests homemade potato soup for dinner. Tell him I have mucho school work to do and suggest that he make himself nachos or a sandwich. He reminds me that is what he has done for the past two days and ups his soup request to fajitas. I glance at his skinny torso and mother guilt sets in, so I give in before he ups the ante to an actual meat and potatoes meal. 6:35 Peel potatoes and dice onions in the kitchen while listening to NPR. 6:50 Put the potatoes on to boil and head upstairs to take a shower, pausing first to load the dryer and start the washer. Op...

What was I thinking going back to school? Was being a single mom with a full time job and a part time business not enough? Am I a masochist? I really have given up on the whole law school idea. I have accepted that, it 42, it is a little late for a law career. So what? Do I need a Master’s degree? Was my claim to fame as an English major not good enough for me? Apparently not, because after over a decade out of the classroom I have enrolled in 15 hours this semester. This all started when one of our summer clerks asked me what my degree was in. After I explained that my Major was English Literature, my Minor was Sociology and that I also pursued a certificate in “Women’s Studies” it hit me. I had majored in “hippie.” Yup, not a marketable tool in the whole mix there, but I was great at organizing a protest and I can write a kick ass letter. Do npt get me wrong. I am proud of my background in literature and I worked hard in that program. I just recognize the marketplace worth of an Engl...

Little Dog's school wants to implement a mandatory uniform policy and I am furious. I absolutely detest the idea of uniforms. The idea of conforming, itself, kind of puts me off, but I respect that in order to achieve in this world some conformity is necessary. We're talking about Jr. High School kids here. You remember Junior High? Young teens who are only beginning to find and define themselves. Kids who are experiencing more independence and more input than ever before in their lives. And we want to preach a message of blind conformity?! I can tell this is going to be another situation where I yell at someone in the school administration. Much like the time I got rather heated with the Principal of his grammar school because she implemented a lunchroom policy of "Girls-on-one-side-Boys-on-the- other." Yeah, that one did not sit very well with this feminist momma. Anyhow, back to Jr. High. The school sent home some printed propaganda about why uniforms are so great,...