It's been that kind of week. It's not over yet. But I did attempt bling, using the image that came with this quaint little British tidbit. Whatdayathink? And be honest, I can take it. Goat-getter the First, or You would cry too...
My birthday party is tomorrow. Because, you know, it's my birthday tomorrow. One of those big deal ones, divisible by five. I didn't get a birthday party last year (because of all the fun with PTL). Two years ago I cleverly attached JD's and another friend's birthdays to mine, thereby escaping being the subject of celebration/center of attention five short months after my baby died. So this year I wanted a fun party, something easy for us to do, with adult company and dancing (don't ask why, I have no idea. It's not like I look or feel hot. Perhaps I just don't care). We have a nice new wrap around deck that my dad built us last fall (separate story I must tell one day). So the plan was to have a party on the deck, with catered food and dancing by DJ IPod. So did I mention it's been raining here for weeks now? And did I mention the forecast had the rains clearing the hell out of here by Thursday? And did I mention forecast changing gradually to include scattered showers? And then full on rainy forecast? Pretend like I did. And say it with me: ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goat-getter the Second, or Oh, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
I am generally a fan of Air America Radio, if for no other reason than that Rachel Maddow was a host there before she scored what is now my absolutely favorite news/commentary hour on TV. This is why it upset me so much to see it highlighted in their daily email that one of their hosts had a leading proponent of Intelligent Design (ID) as a guest. It upset me even more to listen to the clip and hear the guest essentially riding roughshod over the genial host, name- and title-dropping, driving home the essential message of the water's fine over here, even people who are not religious fanatics are with us.
Intelligent Design is not science. It's the worst kind of pseudoscience. I say the worst kind because by actively mascaraing as science, it confuses and misleads the public (and children/students in particular-- making my job that much harder) about what science actually is and how science is properly done. The clip of that conversation is 14+ minutes long. Somewhere at minute 12.5, the host finally gets around to offering substantial criticism to the ID proponent, and then not nearly assertively enough. Personally, I would prefer that we not legitimize ID movement by giving its proponents a media stage. At the very least, though, let's not give them an unchallenged stage. Let's not let them pretend that their collection of logical fallacies is a scientifically legitimate viewpoint. I understand that radio hosts may not be knowledgeable enough for a debate like this, but there are scientists (an overwhelming majority of whom accept the multidisciplinary and consistent evidence for evolution and do not begin to see ID as even approaching scientific legitimacy), and there are even journalists experienced and skilled in this debate. So if you find yourself giving in to an irresistible urge to talk to an ID proponent on the air, no matter how charming the proponent, please-please-please call for backup, will ya?
12 comments:
Catherine-
I am one of those people-women- I love sewing and baking. It clears my mind, lets me be creative, etc. And, i am a proud feminist-women's studies major-attorney-and avid reader. And-married to a proud male feminist to boot. He does all the cooking and *close* to 1/2 of the child rearing. And he campaigned for Hillary.
At least it wasn't child rearing and cooking.
Just my .02.
______
what got my goat---
I am over people not being grateful for their jobs. K fired FOUR people this month for falsifying documents, stealing a candy bar, and making a sexist comment ("wow, that's a good position for a woman to be in"--as a woman leaned over to get something)
their jobs are irreplaceable-even in a good economy-b/c this company doesn't care about education.
Most of all i am tired of my husband losing sleep and even-out of character-getting teary eyed after one of the firings.
secondly--i lost sleep--so, so, much sleep and cried more than once when i had to cut my assistant's hours. I haven't paid myself so that i could pay her-and have done everything in my power to keep her full time.
Anyway--it occurred to me that she would be an awesome nanny for cate--and it would actually increase her income. (b/c we'd pay her under the table). She used to be a nanny-and always talks about how much she loved it-anyway--she was like "hmmmm, i don't know. " And! Contract jobs-temp employment jobs for paralegals are in great demand--she hasn't applied for ONE.
Believe me-i am no martyr- but 99% of any employer would have laid her off.
So, now, i've got to lose more sleep, worry about her more or let my child be a consolation prize.
Julia-Thank you. I would never fess up to the third paragraph to anyone IRL on even talk about it on my blog.
PHEW. I feel much better.
xoxo
to clarify-for the .50 of a person who may read the above--
my assistant-has always said that i am the best employer she has ever worked for-and not when it was raise time.
and i am sure there is a reason that i don;t know about that makes her iffy about being our nanny. but still.
Sorry Christina. I didn't mean to offend. It was meant light-heartedly. (grins sheepishly)
I'll free my goats elsewhere.
Catherine W, please don't. We welcome all goats here, in peace and harmony. And I really liked yours. I didn't read yours to mean that you didn't think anyone could enjoy sewing or cooking, but that you expected some percent there to also think they would like more time to read, for example. As someone who chronically lacks time to do both, I appreciated your point. More than that, I wondered if the results came from a multiple choice survey that only allowed those options, as in the people putting together the survey didn't think women lacked time to read. Which would be either better or worse, depending on where you are looking from.
(If you don't have your comment saved, I still have it in the email, and would love to repost it back, if that's ok with you. Or I can email it back to you so you could repost it yourself. Please let me know.)
Christina, that's really tough. (Though the guy with the sexist comment needed a harsh lesson somewhere-- I just hope, for a couple of reasons, that he is not married, and that nobody but himself depends on that income.) I can only imagine that your assistant thinks that she's come a long way professionally since she's been a nanny, and she must be proud of her accomplishments, and that going back to being a nanny, even for you, must feel like a step back. Maybe if you assured her that once things pick up you would be happy to have her transition back into being an assistant it would help? I also don't know-- is he married? Could she have IF? Has it for some reason become emotionally tough for her to be a nanny? Either way, I am really sorry. It all sounds very stressful. (We love our nanny-- she was Monkey's once. But some of our friends have had very hard time finding good childcare, either nanny or daycare.)
Julia.
I am so sorry.
I am so, so, so regretting my attempt at humour now. Please don't re-post my comment. It really was meant in jest. I obviously mis-interpreted the tone of the whole goat-getting thing. I truly didn't mean to be offensive.
I'm sure the survey in question was of the closed multiple-choice type. Any other type would be pretty hard to analyse.
In case there are lots of fuming folk out there. I honestly wasn't trying to imply that baking or any other of those lovely things in the survey were a waste of time, or incompatible with having a brain. I like doing all of them myself. My eye fell on this little pie chart in a magazine and it made me laugh. It seemed such a simple little summary.
I'm sorry if I made a sweeping generalisation about all men. Of course, men read, enjoy and understand female authors. Probably many of them better than I do myself. I didn't mean to come off as sexist. Just an observation of the men in my own life.
I also wasn't trying to imply that there was anything untoward about feminism or women's studies. To be honest, I don't know much about either. As you can probably tell!
christina(apronstrings) - please forgive me for my insensitive comment. It was meant to be light hearted in tone. I don't do funny very well. I'm sorry.
julia - So sorry for causing a fuss or any ill feeling on your blog. I don't think I am cut out for internet land. Will stick to the realms I know better. Thank you for your kind words about my Georgina.
Keeping goats firmly enclosed in pens now in the interests of my own sanity. Don't worry I'm not thinking of becoming a regular contributor!
xx
What is getting my goat today is that out of 30 mums less than 10 can be bothered to help out running our class's tombola at our state school's major fundraising event of the year. Although given that most don't participate at all the rest of the year it is a big turnout. Grr.
Catherine, please don't go away. We are dishing about all kinds of goats here. I am about to post mine, and I am thinking one of them may end up getting someone else's, though I am more than happy to debate that point or any other I raise around these parts.
Please hang in with us. It's not good for goats to be tied up for too long. :)
It's a stupid thing, but really, when people go shoving forward in an intersection, even when the lane in front of them is full, and so they block oncoming traffic when the light turns.
Dude, you couldn't see there was no room for you?
Happy birthday, Julia! I had no idea it was your birthday, because I'm hopeless about remembering dates (and names and faces too, though that's neither here nor there)
Hoping it is (was?) wonderful despite the weather!
Saw this and thought of you....
oh, I had a weekend full of goats. Counted them at night, and the bloody things tried to chew my sneakers. Smiled around them, shoved them off my plate because once in a while, I actually wanted to eat something.
I'll set a hoary old goat free here: being the bad guy in a family where I am the person who says 'no.' Mostly because, of course, I'm the only one who will. So behind my aged goat are, I expect, several other abashed goats. Hiding.
As per usual, they're happy to delegate to mine.
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