back to the grind

well, would you look at that – where does the time go? My reading week break is over, and I accomplished NONE of the goals I had set out for myself… well, I did do a lot of yoga, and that was a goal, so maybe I accomplished one goal. Mid-week, I decided that I [...]

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abortion and South Dakota

On Wednesday, officials voted to put an end to most abortions in South Dakota. It hasn't been passed yet, but if this bill goes through, it could mean the first successful challenge to Roe v. Wade in the USA. The case will go to the Supreme Court, who then has the choice of hearing the [...]

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North Country

I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to see this movie in the theatre, so I was very happy when it showed up on DVD this week. North Country is about a woman (played by Charlize Theron) who works in an iron mine in northern Minnesota in the late 1980s and, along with [...]

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Feminism Friday – The Death of Feminism

Browsing in my local bookstore today, I came across a book called The Death of Feminism by Phyllis Chesler. Chesler is a feminist of four decades now, and has written extensively on women's rights and issues. This book presents a serious charge against her fellow women, namely, that women have forgotten and abandoned their commitment [...]

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reading week

today is the first day of February break, also known as Reading Week. This year, I am actually planning to spend my week doing productive school-related things. I have two papers I plan on writing in full, and I also plan to start the research for the rest of my papers for the term. Even [...]

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Feminism Friday – Not a Love Story

Welcome to my new, weekly-ish feature, Feminism Friday. In my efforts to bring feminism front and centre in my life and my studies, I have read tons of great feminist pieces, seen films and documentaries relating to feminism, and had seemingly endless conversations with friends and family about women's issues. Because women are a heterogeneous [...]

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under the weather

malaise muh-LAYZ; -LEZ, noun:
1. A vague feeling of discomfort in the body, as at the onset
of illness.
2. A general feeling of depression or unease.
I opened my word-of-the-day email today, and the word was malaise. How appropriate. I felt like shit all day today. Here were my symptoms:

threat of [...]

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more movies

I went to see two more Oscar nominated movies this week. Here's my thoughts on those:

Good Night, and Good Luck: This movie was stunning. It was a concisely presented piece about one TV journalist working for CBS in the 1950s named Edward R Murrow who took on Senator Joe McCarthy, and won. McCarthy was a [...]

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transpolitics

In a timely fashion, one of my courses this term focussed for the first section on transsexuals. (I say timely because of the movie Transamerica, in which Felicity Huffman gives a great performance as a transsexual woman.) The text we read was called "Sex Change, Social Change" by Vivane Namaste, and her perspective is contrasting [...]

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hate speech vs. freedom of expression

I had to submit a paper to my human rights class this week. The topic was whether or not we should tolerate hate speech. I'm posting the paper here – it's not too long – and I am interested to hear what you guys might think about the topic. A bit of context for any [...]

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