Yale Sex Week Shows What Porn Is - Organizers Surprised

So, Yale University had itself a sex week.

There was a presentation by Dr. Ruth, natch.

There were three presentations on "What Do Girls Want" day. First was a talk about female orgasm (no talk about male orgasm though; presumably it's only women's orgasm that requires special trainin' and all). Second was "Pure Romance" givin' away some free sex toys (personally, I have always found cold plastic to be oh-so romantic!). Third was a "Girls' Night Out," with an open bar, and the first 100 women in line could get freebies from the sex toy company. Wow, so that's what Yale women want? Orgasms, sex toys, and getting drunk? I smell a rat - and it has a penis. This sounds to me like what men want women to want.

Then, on "Seduction" day, there were two events. The first was "Seduction: How to Get the Girl You've Always Wanted" and the second was "Mystery: the Mystery Method, Ladies Want Him, Guys Want to be Him," both from VH-1's "The Pick-up Artist" (which I've never seen, but I assume doesn't have anything to do with pinstriping the quad-cab). Of course, both events promising to instruct in the fine art of seduction were about teaching men how to get women. As careful long-time observers of the mating habits of humans within the patriarchy already know, heterosexual sex is something which the male of the species gets from the female. "Seduction" is, therefore, mission accomplished, the male getting from the female.

Friday night was a lingerie show, which I assume involved gawking at wimmenz in sheer, skimpy lingerie, but no male gawkees. Attendees were asked to wear "business attire," which makes sense because we've known for a long time that women belong half-naked while men are fully clothed.

Well, at least the lingerie show was for a good cause, as the proceeds went to AIDS prevention (translation: no need to feel guilty about a cheap display of women hypersexualized and pornified for the male gaze, since it's all for a good cause). No cheap patriarchal objectification here, cranky feminists; move along.

One day a "group product manager" from Trojan condoms was there, giving out condoms and also "vibrating rings" (I don't know what the rings are, frankly, but I'm definitely not gonna dis' free condoms).

There was a "skull and boned" party, which I assume, like ladies' night (above) was another exciting event at which young women were to be served copious amounts of alcohol (that's the "skull" part, as in "out of your") and then possibly fucked while they were too inebriated to give meaningful consent (that's the "boned" part, if you're a sex poz cool kid, and the "rape" part if you're a drag of a radical feminist like I am). Oh, and at the "skull and boned" party, Vivid pornography company was handing out free DVDs. Yeah! Freebies. Porn star and apologist Jenna Jameson tells us most women who start making porn are already victims of abuse, and once they are in the industry, they will likely experience pain, abuse, disrespect, disease, physical and emotional damage, disassociation from their own bodies and sexuality, degradation, greedy and abusive pimps/managers, substance abuse, groping and sexual demands from complete strangers, painful breast implants, plus the knowledge that the electronic records of their treatment are out there for the public's viewing pleasure in perpetuity. Step right up everybody, free samples right here! Don't worry about the ill effects on viewers either. Free DVDs, right here!

There was also a chance to meet the girls from Vivid. There was a contest to see which female Yale academics looked most like possible Vivid girls (presumably that would be in case the whole Ivy League thing doesn't work out).

Oh, yeah, and there was a debate about pornography itself. I know you're relieved to hear it. In the blue corner were Ron Jeremy and a Vivid "girl." In the red corner were...um...well, it looks like two church dudes. Oh, and one lawyer. Yeah! Was it a feminist lawyer like Catherine MacKinnon, who might discuss the civil rights ordinance idea in which women harmed by pornography could sue its manufacturers? Damn. Nope. It was just some "First Amendment" dude, obviously pro-porn.

Where were the feminist voices? Well, I've read over the schedule multiple times, but I just can't find any (geez, it's almost as if radical feminists are completely silenced; oh wait, that is because we are). So, I'm guessing the debate was something like "porn: liberative sex education tool for the masses or Jesus is disappointed when you use your seed for any purposes other than to make a baby within the context of heterosexual marriage." Who asked about women, about how the industry treats the actresses, about what pornography teaches men about women (that "no" means "yes," that all women really want it - hard penis-in-vagina thrust-thrust-thrusting - from all men all the time, that women enjoy pain, that women are stupid and objects and "cum buckets" and whores and here for amusement and to facilitate men's orgasms), and about what that means when men who've watched that stuff then interact with real women at work and at school and in the home and on the street? Who spoke for prostitutes and girlfriends and daughters and wives who have been pressured or even forced to act out what men see in these films? Who spoke for men who have realized too late that pornography has put a thick wall of inhumanity between themselves and the women they have loved, or at least tried to love? Nobody, it would seem. And that was billed as "the great porn debate." Great, eh? Doesn't sound so great to me.

Wait, there is this by Gain Dines. She wasn't at any events though, just got an editorial in the Hartford Courant the week before.

Okay, so, anyway, here's the punchline: Yale was going to show that porn is sex poz and cool, right? A porno flick, right there in the Yale Law School auditorium. It's so mainstream. It's so harmless. It's so...holy shit! The film started running and guess what? It was so hideous, the organizers of the event had to turn it off. Cinemus interruptus, right there in the Yale auditorium! Reports Yale Daily News:

...partway through the showing, graphic rape fantasies began to play onscreen. Rape fantasies, bondage, the piercing of a woman’s nipples and the labeling of a woman as a “slut” who “deserved” violent sexual degradation — this was some of the footage played at one of Sex Week’s final events.

No kidding. That's what pornography is like? It's as if those cranky feminists actually know what they're talking about (okay, please pardon me while I gloat just a bit; I feel I deserve it, and Gail definitely deserves it, especially because after her editorial ran, she was, predictably enough, called a "fascist," "hypocrit," and "pseudo-feminist" (because real feminists know that "Three in the Seat," "Gag on my Cock" (complete with actual vomiting), "Grudge Fuck," "Use 'em, Abuse 'em, and Lose 'em," "Vivian's Painful Examination," and anything involving Max Hardcore is empowerfulizing and healthy).

As the Yale Daily News article linked above points out, and this is exactly what I was going to say, the event's organizers have apologized for their failure to advance screen the material, but that completely misses the point. The point is that this is what pornography is like. This is what people are watching. And if you're going to be all pro-porn and promote the stuff, this is exactly what you're promoting.

Could it be that other examples of misogyny experienced by the bright young women of Yale about which I've read are in any way related to pornography and its objectification of women - and that all of the above are related to patriarchy and misogyny?

How about this story of a photo circulated of frat pledges standing in front of the Women's Center holding up a sign that said "We Love Yale Sluts."

How about this story about female Yale law graduates finding themselves unemployable because of male classmates posting things about them online - like their alleged participation in gang bangs and things about the men wanting to "grudge fuck" or rape them.

Connect the dots, anyone?

Hillary Clinton Mocks Barack Obama During Campaign Rally

Hillary Clinton, this is beneath you. I see the signs behind you that say "smart choice," and I agree that you're a smart choice, but there is no need to be a smart ass.

read more digg story

Woman champions black history

What do the traffic light, mailbox, golf tee, tricycle, spark plug, folding chair, escalator, disposable syringe, fire extinguisher and gas mask have in common? How about also adding a riding saddle, egg beater and baby buggy? Who knows? Who cares? Mary Francis Ozene cares.

read more digg story

5 dead in suspected murder-suicide

Five people were found dead, three of them children, in what appeared to be a murder-suicide in a home across the street from the Richard Nixon Library, police said Sunday. A 14-year-old boy called 911 about 11 p.m. Saturday to report that his father had shot him and his brother at their condominium, said Sgt. Peter Rodriguez..

read more digg story

(corrected headline: another man kills an intimate partner)

Police: Man Admits Killing Woman With Ax

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The man charged with killing his live-in girlfriend and holding police at bay for 12 hours told authorities he struck her in the head with an ax, according to a detective's testimony.

read more digg story

(corrected headline: another man kills an intimate partner)

Two die in murder-suicide

Chalmette man kills girlfriend and then self.

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This one is local.

(corrected headline: another man kills an intimate partner)

Because Even Death is Hawt on a Woman

You have got to be kidding me. I really want to throw up. This video - a public service announcement about drunk driving - lures the viewer in by giving the impression it's a woman having sex. It turns out, however, that something very different is going on. Check out the analysis at sparkle*matrix. I too immediately thought of that "America's Next Top Model" photo shoot. See also the section of "Gender Ads" that focuses on depictions of "sexy" dead women.

It's not often that I'm really shocked when it comes to sexism and woman-hating. Disgusted, yeah, every day, but not often shocked. This, however, I find really shocking.

Did You Know Early Flight Attendants Were Nurses?

I didn't know this - that in the early days of commercial aviation, flight attendants were nurses, but the airlines, aware of public concerns about flight safety (and, no doubt, aware as the patriarchy always is of the potential to use women to sell stuff), emphasized instead their availability as skybound sex kittens.

I'm also sitting here reading poetry of African-American women of the nineteenth century. You know, it really pisses me off how there just aren't enough hours in the day to educate myself properly about herstory. I am an educated woman. I even have a degree in Social Justice Issues, with a Women's Studies concentration. And yet, every hour that I am able to spend researching online, I learn just how little I really know. Our herstory has been erased. Erased! Why in the hell were these African-American women's poems not in my English textbooks? Why, dammit?

My Post to the Men Who Use Prostitutes

My comments on the original BBC article, although for some strange reason they have not seen fit to release my comments.

The men who are paying women for sex understand, on some level, that THESE WOMEN DO NOT GENUINELY DESIRE THEM. If they desired you, they would not require cash payment! I have certainly never asked a man with whom I desired to have sex to pay me! This means that, when a man is paying, he implicitly understands that the woman does not TRULY find him desirable. Yet he goes ahead and does it. Shame!

Helene, the reason so many prostitutes have drug problems is that the majority (85%, according to most studies) have been molested and abused as girls. They suffer from P.T.S.D. and fail to see themselves as anything other than objects for men's exploitation. They don't need legal and societal approval of their further exploitation, in the form of legalized prostitution. What they need is social services.

Gary and Sandy, if you do not understand that penetrative sex for money is invasive in a way that handing out burgers for minimum wage is not, there is truly something wrong with your heart - and your soul. Notice that when American troops at abu Graib wanted to do something REALLY humiliating and nasty to prisoners, they didn't force them to hand out hamburgers in the soldiers' mess hall. Instead, they stipped them naked and compelled them to do sexual acts. This suggests that we understand, at least on some level, that SEXUAL acts have the potential to be more humiliating - because they are more personal - than any ordinary, frustrating, mind-numbingly boring minimum wage labor.

Abi, I agree fully that the West is repressive of women just as Moslem countries are. Religious fundamentalists - Moslem and Christian - want to keep women under control and close to home. Liberal western cultures want to control women in the public sphere - yes, they may have careers, but their bodies are exploited for marketing purposes, and most liberal western men are enthusiastic about legalized prostitution, legal abortion, easy access to birth control, and lots of quick hook-ups. In other words, fundamentalists tend to focus on women's availability at home, liberal men tend to focus on women's public availabiity, but BOTH want women to be members of the sex caste and at their service.

Steve, You say that you are 50 and are not seen as attractive by most women you approach in bars. Then you go on to discuss your ideal prostitute, who is attractive and youthful. But YOU ARE NOT attractiveand youthful! I suspect you are trying to bed hawt young babes and then feeling frustrated by the rejection. Indeed, you mention that you often find you are expected to pay for things, which is what I have so often observed happening to middle-aged male friends who insist on trying to bag hawt young babes - these babes don't take them seriously and use them as sugar daddies if they bother with them at all. Duh! Meanwhile, women who are these men's peers, in years, experience, wisdom, and financial independence, women whose lovely bodies are rounded by childbearing and time and whose faces are creased by laugh lines are ignored by shallow, insensitive middle-aged men still focused on chasing the young girls. You can't get what you want without paying, Steve, because you are looking for all the wrong things.

P.S. to the BBC: These men don't sleep with prostitutes. This may seem like the polite, family-friendly way for the BBC to refer to it, but it also uses language to minimize what is really going on.

Fathers Are Not Like Mothers, Part 359

It's 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon. The mom isn't feeling well and hasn't cooked dinner. The dad makes himself a bowl of raisin bran - without saying a word to anyone else.

Have you ever in your life heard of a mother eating a bowl of cereal at 5:30 in the afternoon with no thought of feeding everyone else in the house?

Neither have I.

What Katrina Taught Me

As an activist, I have a habit of collecting stories about nasty stuff. I read a lot of horrifying stories and although they upset me, they also motivate me to work for change. That, the hope that things can be changed, is what keeps me going. Some people ask me how I can stand it (especially my mom), and I reply that I just don't know any other way to be.

What I've learned from Katrina though is that while stories about horrible things can make me upset, angry, or sometimes tearful, it is random acts of selfless generosity that really make me cry.

The week of Katrina, I was staying in a hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. There I met a family who had been stuck at the New Orleans Convention Center during Katrina and who had spent a few days exposed to the elements on the interstate. Back in New Orleans, the husband had built a little privacy shield and makeshift toilet for his wife, who told me that he also never left her side, as there had been rumors of rapes. Her mother explained to me that most of her family had disowned her daughter when she married because they are white and the husband is black. "But," she said, "look at how he cared for my daughter. I will never again let anybody question their marriage. I don't care what anyone says. He proved he is a good man." The family had arrived in Little Rock by bus, and I ended up spending a day helping them get assistance at the Red Cross, get prescriptions filled, etc.

At one point, we were lost and so we stopped at a 7-11 to ask for directions. A man in workman's overalls approached my car, which has a bumper sticker that says "New Orleans: Proud to Call it Home." "Are you from New Orleans?" he asked. When we affirmed that we were, he opened his wallet and offered my passenger some cash. She hesitated to take it, but I told her, "You need it. Look, people are watching the news every day and they're pissed, and they can't figure out how to make it right, so if somene wants to do something for you, you should let them." So she accepted. As we drove away, she began to sob. She hadn't cried before - not when we talked about our the state of our beloved city, not when she talked about running from the rising water, not when she told me about being without food and water at the Convention Center, not when she talked about the fear of being raped, not when she talked about losing everything and not even having clothes for her children or her prescriptions or even eyeglasses. And yet, she began to sob over being handed $20. After all, she said, "I am a hard-working person, you know. I've never taken charity from anybody before."

And I have seen this happen again and again. People don't cry so much over what they've lost. They're much more likely to cry over what they are given.

I remember when the Red Cross explained to a woman in Little Rock that her debit card could be used anywhere. "Oh, good," she said, "I need to get these children some school supplies." "No," I told her, "don't spend it on that. Didn't you hear? Wal-Mart is going to give you credit to spend on school supplies. Show them your Louisiana driver's license, and they will give you school supplies." Her eyes opened wide and she said, "You mean, I can get these children some pens and some notebooks? Really?" When the Red Cross volunteer affirmed what I'd said, the woman moaned, "Oh- Jesus-thank-you-Lord," her face crumpled up, and she began to sob.

Even now, I hear stories about angels coming to New Orleans to help and these are the stories that fill my eyes with tears. Human depravity and cruelty can sometimes make me cry. But what Katrina has taught me is that the depth of human generosity almost always makes us cry.

Our government has forgotten us. The media remembers us only on anniversaries. The presidential debates commission won't bring candidates to the scene of the government's crime. And still, still, angels from all over the United States keep on coming.

high school kids from Rockford, Maine

people from Missoula, Montana

cops from Michigan, New York, and Oklahoma are still coming here to rebuild cops' homes (see video of a big New Orleans cop brought to tears by the generosity of others)

It's strange to think that the same species capable of such evil (the only one that sometimes kills without reason, the only one that makes war and fights its own kind not just to establish dominance but to the death) is also capable of such generosity. What I've learned since Katrina is that it's the latter that is most likely to make us cry.

Louisiana's Finest

(graphic)

Call Me What You Will, But Call Me a Drum Major For Peace

So, I support Obama for president. I voted for him. I wandered around New Orleans, in the neighborhood around the boarded up former Magnolia Housing Project, skipping the many homes still unrepaired and unoccupied since the great Federal Flood of 2005, and knocking on doors asking people to vote for Senator Obama. Some said they had already voted. One lady said she was scared to vote for him because "oh, honey, they are going to kill him if he gets it. They're not never gonna let no black man be president." Many young black men told me they "couldn't" vote, which of course means they have felony convictions, here in the only democracy on earth that prohibits those who have paid their debt to society from ever again attaining the full rights of citizenship. I was assigned to work alongside a schoolteacher, and we were an interesting pair: I, forty, white, the mother of one child, and she, sixty-odd, black, the mother of nine. As we walked from porch to porch, we compared perspectives on all sorts of things: feminism (I, feminist; she, antifeminist because, she said, children need mothers at home and besides, all this "women in workplaces and having lunch with men" just leads to too much adultery), Hillary Clinton's Iraq war resolution vote, divorcing cheating husbands (she did, I didn't, and of course Hillary didn't), why children aren't learning (I said parents aren't watching their kids; she, a teacher, said a good teacher should be able to teach any child, even one with neglectful parents), standardized tests (we both hate them), Barack Obama (we both love him), our experiences during many years of Democratic activism, the pornified culture of casual hookups (we're both against). Early in the day, when we were working opposite sides of Louisiana Avenue, she went inside a bar to ask people to vote. I was horrified for a second, but impressed. Those years as a military wife overseas taught me to be very leery of crowds of drunk men. Still, she went in, alone, and talked to people about voting. After that, I decided that if she dared go into places of business, I would too; if she were that brave, I would have to be also. So we went into a men's barber shop together, the place standing room only. And I went into a couple of corner stores by myself, handing out flyers and asking the shopkeepers to vote for Obama.

I've been following this story about how the Secret Service apparently gave up screening before all 20,000 attendees at a Dallas Obama rally had been checked for weapons. I'm glad, in a way, that this is finally being discussed because when Obama was here in New Orleans, at Tulane, I had some concerns about his safety, but I've hesitated to say anything (except I did come home and tell my husband). I was in the "overflow" crowd, meaning that not all of us got in, so Obama talked to us outside, before the actual speech. There was no screening of any kind and a crowd about ten persons deep was all that stood between me and the candidate. Since I am so short, I could only see the backs of people's heads, but had I been tall, like my husband, it would have been possible to aim over people's heads and...well, let's just say that I feel strongly that we should have been checked. I know he's doing these "overflow" crowds all over the country, and I worry about his safety.

So, yes, I am definitely for Obama now and have been for over a month. That's what I started out intending to write about. Go ahead and call me a member of a cult. I will laugh. Go ahead and call me a traiter to feminism. You might make me cry. But whatever else you say about me, say that, to paraphrase Dr. King, I really was a drum major for peace.


In the end, I chose the candidate who has always been against this war, even though I've longed to see a woman like me serve as president of my country, have wished for that every single day since, well, since I've been old enough to remember, since Congresswoman Lindy Boggs heard about how my teacher had told me I could aspire to be a nurse but not a doctor and the congresswoman knelt down, getting her navy stocking covered knees full of white dust, to hold my chin, look straight into my eyes, and tell me I could be anything I wanted to be. So, yes, I've wanted a woman president for so long. I know it isn't fair, that the patriarchy ensures that a woman who doesn't vote to go to war will be so marginalized that she will be unelectable, because she is already not-male, not macho, a wimp, a pussy, not to be trusted with manly matters like the defense of a nation. I know about patriarchy's double bind for Hillary Clinton, and the decision whether or not I could vote for her was torture for many months. In the end, I found Obama the best recipient of my vote, not because I'm part of a cult, not because I hate Hillary due to internalized oppression courtesy of the patriarchy, but because when I think of choosing a candidate, I close my eyes and can still feel the tight hug Cindy Sheehan gave me when I met her at Camp Casey the weekend of Katrina (she has the strongest, fiercest, and most unreserved hug, as if she's living through so much pain that she has abandoned unimportant stuff like shyness or self-consciousness), because, in the end, I want to be a feminist and a drum major for peace. I want to champion military women so that they don't get sent into "preemptive" wars. I want to champion working people, who overwhelming populate the military of the supposedly all-volunteer force, which is, in reality, a force that conducts conscription via race and poverty.

I think I've been faithful to those goals - and to feminism - in supporting Obama over Clinton. Still, reinforcement helps, like this video, which is in Spanish with subtitles, but which truly speaks the language of the heart:

"Si se puede cambiar" (yes, we can change)
For too long we've been sleeping
but we've been afraid to dream
daunted by the critics who tell us
that there is nothing we can reach...
but yes we can.

Today bombs fell on children
in an air strike south of Baghdad
how many have died because of lies
how did we lose our hearts
what was the purpose of this war
who profits from this injustice
who voted for this war
and who told us the truth

You Feminists Have no Sense of Humor!

These ads were proposed, then rejected by the company. Still, the ad agency thought this (at feministing) was a reasonable way to sell support bras - so that bouncing breasts don't leave women with black eyes and cut lips, which they were willing to depict. Oh, ha-ha-ha!

I know feminists council each other against giving out "cookies" to those who manage to do the right thing (meaning, recognize women as human beings deserving of respect and safety), but, you know, kudos to the company for being disgusted. A lot of disgusting, sexist ads do get published, so at least this company chose not to do so.

And something else that disgusts me and about which I'm sure I'm supposed to just lighten up is this video game in which women punch each women in the vagina (via feministing).

Abstinence Only Driver's Ed

The ONLY 100 percent effective method for avoiding car accidents is to ABSTAIN from driving until marriage. here

Wonderful! via feministe

Because It's Always Women's Fault

her: a slut, a tease, a seductress, a teenage mother, getting what she deserves, the cause of her own gang rape

the guys: brainless, witless victims of wanton women and their own irrepressible erections

Busted

Now the world finds out where my time goes...



original

Anti-Feminist Bingo II & Men Harass a Mannequin

Goddesses of pure genius walk among us! Nice work, Hoyden About Town!


This video reminds me of the way men have treated me my whole life and it leaves me very angry.

They howl and yell when you walk down the street (my street harassment post is here) . They treat women like objects.

Nagin "First Vagina-Friendly Mayor"

Mommy, I don't feel so good. I'm scared.

Meanwhile, the NBA brings in more people to finally get it, like Henry Abbott, who interviews player and Baton Rouge native Tyrus Thomas:

This is my first time in Louisiana, and I finally get how different it is from other parts of the United States. The people, the food, the music -- everything here is so rich.

I got off the plane yesterday, and it just felt so good to be home. I LOVE it. I don't think you can find a better place, honestly. These people are just so friendly. The crime rate is high, and the economy is not great, but the people are so good.

Seeing how people interact here, I bet Chicago can seem awfully cold.

I get a little frustrated sometimes. Here, if you speak to someone, and they don't speak back to you, it's almost like disrespect. Sometimes when I talk to strangers in other places they look at me like I'm doing something strange. That's hard to comprehend, the way I was raised.
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h/t Ashley

And, finally, "suspect device" explains to a north Louisiana Repuke legislator that immorality is not electing "Barack Hussein Obama," nor is it electing "the wife of Monica's ex-boyfriend," but it is, rather, the war in Iraq, Gitmo, the failed Katrina response, spying, signing statements, and the assault on civil liberties. But "suspect device" says it way better!

The New Governor's New Ethics

Ru-ro!

Chales Barkley from New Orleans

Charles Barkley takes on the Christian hypocrits in a BIG way. Wow. Seldom do you hear someone on CNN going after the wingnuts like this. He says he is pro choice and pro gay marriage and that Christian hypocrits have no forgiveness and that they need to read their bibles. Wolf Blitzer gives him every chance to soften his position, and Barkley refuses. Can I just say, "Wow!" again???

fake christians
by luvnews

Mr. Barkle, please meet exhibit 85,462.

Affordable Test Kits for Trailers, Mobile Homes

This organization seems to have the least expensive test kits for formaldehyde. Most kits are $100, but this one is $50 (click on the post title for the link). Maybe the others send pros out to do it; this one is do-it-yourself.

Also at that site are mold test kits for $40 and radon kits for $10.

We were supposed to go out for a belated Valentine's Day dinner next week. I wonder if I can persuade "teh huzzband" that a test kit is the gift I really want...

The "we could be famous" blog has the goods on toxic FEMA trailers.

Baby Dies During Homeland Security Detention

There was a problem with the passport of the mother, who was flying from American Samoa to Hawaii to get heart surgery for her baby. This, even though her papers were clearly stamped "approved." Furthermore, the baby's nurse and the baby were also detained, even though both were naturalized citizens with U.S. passports. All three were detained in a hot room. As the baby's condition worsened, the mother and nurse began pounding on the locked door, screaming for help and for someone to call 911. They were told to calm down.

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The Letter to the School Board

(see previous post for what brought this on)

Dear Mr. X,

My daughter is a student at X Junior High. On February 14, each student was given the opportunity to pay a dollar for the privilege of wearing a regular shirt to school instead of the usual uniform shirt.

I am very concerned about where these funds are going and about the use of the public school system to raise money to help buy an ultrasound machine for the Women's X Center. That organization clearly intends to use that machine to try to make desperate, pregnant women feel even more horrible about the difficult choices they face. According to its website, this group counsels women regarding "post-abortion syndrome." The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported in 2003 that "there is no evidence of an abortion-trauma syndrome." The American Psychological Association has found that"the weight of the evidence does not suggest a psychological hazard for most women." Furthermore, pro-life Surgeon General C. Everett Koop wrote in a letter to President Ronald Reagan summarizing the findings of his study that any psychological effectswere "miniscule."

You and I may agree or disagree. I am confident we agree, however, that this is a highly incendiary topic. I therefore think that it is inappropriate for such an organization to become the recipient of funds taken directly from the hands of schoolchildren, collected by teachers, and through so powerful an incentive as a uniform-free schoolday. I don't expect Planned Parenthood to benefit from schoolchildren's fundraisers. I don't expect Women's X Center to do so either.

Please note that the flyer this organization handed out to X Parish schoolchildren (attachment)contains a capitalization error ("for Mommies to see") and is also missing one needed apostrophe ("their babies heart beat"). Indeed, on the same day that my child came home with this flyer, she also came home with a study guide from one of her teachers, the latest in a shocking series of documents written by her teachers that have contained errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. May I respectfully suggest that perhaps teachers' time spent encouraging blissfully innocent children to donate to a controversial cause and teachers' time spent at the front of the classroom actively encouraging children to attend a religious event during the schoolday (the recent "Just for Jesus" revival, December 5) might be better used for more important and pertinent matters, such as proofreading documents?

I look forward to hearing from you about the Valentine's Day fundraiser. Thank you,

(little ol' me)

Me & the School Board

Oh, my frickin' god, I am so pissed I am just shaking.

So, today, the kidlet tells me she needs a dollar for tomorrow. Her public school requires the kids to wear uniforms. She says her school is raising money to help buy an ultrasound machine and that they can get out of wearing the uniform tomorrow if they pay a dollar to help buy an ultrasound machine.

Now, as an advocate for women's rights who didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, I hear "fundraiser" and "ultrasound machine" and am immediately suspicious. I demand to see this note from the school.

The note, on bright red paper and with the heading "Helping Hands Help Beating Hearts!" confirms that they can get out of wearing their uniforms tomorrow, Valentine's Day, IF they pay a dollar. The money will go to "help purchase an ultrasound machine for Mommies to see and hear their babies heart beat. The Family X Clinic (formerly the Women's X Center) located in X appreciates your support!"

Skipping their poor grammar and capitalization skills for the moment, I went to the computer and googled this organization. And here 'tis:

ttp://www.womenshope.net/

They offer "life-affirming services" for women and "post-abortion syndrome counseling," along with this handy little explanation of what "post-abortion syndrome" is:

ttp://www.womenshope.net/PAS.htm

Oh, my f**king god!

Okay, I am in a little town outside New Orleans for now, and I know the culture is different from what I'm used to. I tried not to make waves when they sent out flyers inviting kids to a prayer gathering at the school flagpole one morning. I let my daughter go to a revival meeting all the kids were going to, and which was advertised with flyers taped to walls all over the school (I let her go because her friends were going and because I believe in letting her satisfy her curiosity and because I know she will have to deal with pressure from the Jesus freaks eventually; indeed, they had several nights of great rock concerts and then, on the last night they got her alone and pressured her to be "saved;" my kid, who is true to herself no matter the pressure, managed to get out of there without ever giving in to the pressure, before collapsing sobbing on the sofa when she returned home).

I said nothing when, on December 5, 2007, they had an EXCUSED absence day for kids who wanted to go to this cokehead-cum-preacher's tent revival for Jesus in Baton Rouge. The guy admits he holds the revivals during the school day, when he could hold them on weekends, because he is pushing the limits of a new Supreme Court ruling permitting some worship activities during school hours - all in the name of "freedom." So, my kid faced either going to their revival or having to go to school when everyone else got the day off and also being stigmatized as one of the few "non-Christian" kids in this place: ttp://www.justforjesus.tv/.

Funny but last I checked my state was in the bottom five in terms of student academic achievement, yet they gave out excused absences for a full schoolday with Jay-zus.

Two years ago, I found out late about the parish's efforts to segregate several schools by gender:

ttp://www.aclu.org/womensrights/edu/26328res20060802.html

ttp://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2006/08/18/segregation/index.html

As the ACLU brief explains (ttp://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file564_26286.pdf), they were not JUST going to have gender segregated public education here, but were going to rely on outdated stereotypes about the biology of gender to teach boys and girls differently. Girls, the training for teachers under the new program claimed, learn best by talking and being in groups. Girls hear better. Boys, the training for teachers said, learn best by doing. Boys should be active. They are wired for hunting prey. Boys who are not as active should be encouraged in group activities outdoors. When processing literature, teachers should ask girls how they would feel if they were the characters in the story, and not about the action; boys, on the other hand, must never be asked about their feelings and should, instead, be asked about the action. Teachers should smile and make eye contact with girls, but avoid eye contact with boys. Boys should be disciplined more harshly. Girls should be taught math and science differently from how boys are taught. Boys should be segregated from girls until they learn to control the "surging levels" of testosterone in their bodies (maybe we should keep women separate and in burkas, for their own protection, since teh menz can't help themselves, right).

The parish spent Louisiana taxpayer dollars on teacher training from this man at his "Gurian Institute," without ever checking his credentials:

ttp://www.michaelgurian.com/

As I wrote to the ACLU after they'd already won their temporary court reprieve (the current status is that the parish has simply backed off for a while as they wait for the furor to die down and regroup their legal strategies), I knew this guy personally when I lived in Washington State. The guy calls himself a "counselor." He appears on CNN and "Good Morning America" where anchors call him "Doctor" and fails to correct them. He has written a number of books on boys and girls (including one in which a friend of mine in WA is credited as a "research assistant" when all she did was show the dood how to use a word processing program). Although the Institute's webpage gives his partner's credentials in great detail (hers are relevant to the work they're doing), it is suspiciously light on his credentials. This is because, as I was able to prove to the ACLU simply because I knew the guy enough to know where to begin digging, he has a B.A. in Journalism and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Some gender expert, eh? He cherry picks his science in his books. It's a joke. Finally, he is what is called a "registered counselor" in WA State. A "licensed counselor" is someone with an actual education in therapy. A "registered counselor," on the other hand, is someone who 1) lives in WA State, 2) pays a registration fee to their Department of Health, and 3) works in the field of counseling, usually in an institutional setting, like a school or a prison (the latter is where Mr. Gurian apparently began his work as a "counselor"). You read that correctly. "Registered counselors" in WA are not required to have any particular training in therapy-related fields, any particular degree, or even be working towards such a degree. Anyone may receive the designation, including you or me. In fact, in 2007 WA State convened a task force to decide what to do about the designation, as it is so vague as to be potentially misleading (task force findings at: ttps://fortress.wa.gov/doh/hpqa1/hps7/Registered_Counselor/default.htm). When an R.C. counsels patients, he or she must get a signed waiver stating that the patient understands that this person may have no actual background as a therapist. So, Mr. Gurian has to get waivers from patients, under WA law, when he sees individuals, yet the state of LA paid him taxpayers' money to train several dozen Livingston Parish schoolteachers in his gender studies quackery, no waiver required (Mr. Gurian's registration with the state is here: ttps://fortress.wa.gov/doh/hpqa1/Application/Credential_Search/Profile_Results.asp?PCN=RC00017593&VID=5d46a7a82db4d84ea78bb46603b51ecc&SID=affd0243ac5922e9494a025f9412&PID=6).

The parish's gender segregated education plan was also heavily influenced by this guy, Leonard Sax:

ttp://www.whygendermatters.com/

My daughter has an auditory processing disorder! She has never, ever learned anything well by "hearing" or by being in groups. She learns by DOING, by getting up and creating, just like these idiots claim boys do. Their narrowly defined, gender restricted versions of teaching would have been a disaster for my daughter - and will be if they ever manage to implement it.

So, I have held back from being at war with this damn parish for two years now, but this is the final straw. Tomororow at 8, I call the head of the school board. I am also going back to my contact at the ACLU (with whom I corresponded about Mr. Gurian's dubious credentials, with that information to be used should the issue come up again) to ask for help with this completely out of control school district.

(links broken for a little discretion)

The Mardi Gras Photos Are Up

Kidlets (mine and other people's), relatives, me, strangers - this is what Mardi Gras looks like, ordinary people, clothed:

right here

Gender-Flipping the Commercials

Last night, I did an impromptu, detailed ninety minute analysis of t.v. commercials and gender, which I will write more about tomorrow.

A quick thought for now is that I saw this ad for Breathe Right Strips in which a woman came towards a snoring man with a roll of thick masking tape in her hands.

Okay, now, reverse the roles for a moment. If you saw a man approaching a woman with a roll of thick masking tape, would you assume it was all just innocent and safe? Or would you be frightened for her and thinking that maybe she was in great danger?

So I thought of a few other role reversals. I thought of the Pepsi ad a few years ago in which Cindy Crawford tilts her head back to drink a Pepsi and a couple of prepubescent boys ogle her. What would people think if there were an ad with prepubescent girls ogling a grown man? Disturbing? I believe there would be outcry. In fact, I remember a diet Coke ad in which a group of office women gathers near a window at the same time each day to watch a beefy construction worker outside take his lunch break (that link says it was made in the 80s, but it was the 90s). I remember that conservative groups were outraged by that and that there was some public debate about the ad, including charges of reverse sexism (wow - it took a commercial with an objectified dood for people to notice that objectification is indeed what's going on in advertising). The one with Cindy Crawford, a grown woman, clearly being objectified and sexualized by little boys? Not a whimper from the "values" crowd.

Finally, last night I noticed an ad for Lazy Boy recliners. A woman walks into a furniture showroom and when the male sales associate tries to speak to her, it becomes clear that she is on a cordless cell phone headset. She speaks, but he eventually realizes it's to her telephone partner and not to him. As she moves past him to sit on the Lazy Boy sofa, he rolls his eyes behind her back. Eventually, she gives up the phone call and sounds like she is being sexually pleasured by sitting on this furniture.

So, question one, when have you ever seen a woman roll her eyes behind a man's back in a commercial? I've seen some commercials in which the woman is bossy in a way that stereotypes women, especially wives, as domineering bitches, but I realized last night that I've never seen one where a woman shares condescending body language with the viewer, engaging the viewer in a conspiratorial moment at the man's expense. I don't think we will ever see such an ad. As has so often been repeated, studies show that women's biggest fear in regard to men is that a man will kill them while men's biggest fear in regard to women in that a woman will laugh at them. Hence, I don't think we have seen or will see any eye-rolling by a woman (which for some reason reminds me of this story in which a man was in a bar and hit a woman "in self-defense" because she blew smoke in his face).

Second, have you ever seen an ad in which a man expresses pleasure over a product by moaning sexually? I've seen women screaming with pleasure over everything from food to shampoo (more at Faux News). We don't ever see men like that. Of course not. Everyone implicitly gets it that the men would look ridiculous.

For more on the male gaze, and to see some examples of role reversals and teh menz looking silly, see the male gaze slideshow. For more on gender in ads generally, see gender ads

By the way, from the Faux News article, linked above:

"Until relatively recently, until Dr. Ruth in the '80s, you didn't even talk about orgasms on TV. A lot of people didn't even know what a female orgasm was."

Well, speak for yourself there, Sparky. Did you figure out your orgasm without assistance? WTF???

The NBA is good to NOLA and so is Jack Cafferty

I saw the head of the NBA on CNN last night. He was so gracious. He was asked why the NBA came here when the Commission on Presidential Debates didn't choose New Orleans to host. He cited the big events New Orleans has hosted, including Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras, Essence Fest, the BCS bowl, and numerous conventions (including two major medical conventions, whose leadership decided that meeting in NOLA was a "moral/ ethical" matter). He said that the NBA had to come to New Orleans to help out. Thanks, NBA! They love us more than the politicians do - although we've known since K-week that our government doesn't love us.

After the segment was over, Wolf Blitzer mentioned to Jack Cafferty that the city was a great place. Cafferty said that he has been to New Orleans many times, both before Katrina and since, that his daughter graduated from Tulane this spring, and that "it's one of the greatest cities, not just in the U.S., but one of the greatest cities in the world. What has happened down there is not just a shame, but a crime." He was so angry that he actually got choked up when he got to the "it's a crime" part and turned his face away from the camera. Wow - crusty old white dude Cafferty nearly in tears over NOLA. Who would have thought??

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Robert Novak

Okay, there's a website for sweetjesusihatebilloreilly and there is a sweetjesusihatechrismatthews, but, really, somebody needs to do a sweetjesusihatebobnovak.

As if outing a C.I.A. agent isn't bad enough, Novak now sets his soulless sights on New Orleans:

I spent two days here with Donald E. Powell, federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding, who conducts oversight on the remaking of New Orleans. Physical reconstruction is slow, and the city will never regain its former size or appearance. But civic leaders I met agreed that law enforcement, criminal justice, education and health care all are better than they were before Katrina. WaPo

OHMYGOD! Did he actually say that? Did he? Law enforcement is BETTER? Yeah, just that little problem with having 2 to 4 murders every weekend (special report). Criminal justice is better? Volunteers follow cases via Court Watch NOLA, which reports:

Court Watch NOLA has monitored 300 cases in the New Orleans criminal justice system in its first four months. Only four of those cases went to trial and two were for the same case after a trial ended in a hung jury.

It gets worse, said Karen Herman, coordinator of Court Watch NOLA. More than 68 percent of the time, court watchers observed cases rescheduled for another day through continuances. "Turnover and attrition" within the district attorney's office were the primary cause of the delays, according to Court Watch.

Five of the eight prosecutors have quit the Violent Offenders Unit since Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan created it in March....

Herman, a prosecutor for eight years under former Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick, said her return to Criminal District Court has been an eye-opener. She points to a case monitored by Court Watch NOLA that illustrates how the criminal justice system is failing the public.

Anthony Thomas was 17 years old when he was arrested Oct. 29, 2004, for armed robbery and carjacking. In the ensuing three years he was released from jail on bond and re-arrested three times without ever going to trial for 15 different offenses, including second-degree murder, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of illegal firearms, flight from an officer and possession of marijuana, heroin and crack.

So, that's the D.A.'s side. What about the Public Defenders?

An angry New Orleans judge says he will release 42 criminal defendants on April 18 because they lack adequate legal representation.

Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter lashed out at the Louisiana Legislature for making a "mockery" of the criminal justice system and also warned that he will no longer appoint the beleaguered public defender's office to represent poor criminal defendants in court.

"Indigent defense in New Orleans is unbelievable, unconstitutional, totally lacking in the basic professional standards of legal representation and a mockery of what criminal justice should be in a Western civilized nation," he wrote in an order issued last week.

The judge, one of 12 in the Orleans Parish criminal courts, has been pushing for more than a year to reduce the pre-Katrina backlog of poor defendants who have been in jail awaiting trial without attorneys. He has suspended prosecutions, released four defendants charged with misdemeanors and ordered lawmakers and Gov. Kathleen Blanco to appear in his court to explain why they have not provided more money for the public defender system.

"The Louisiana Legislature has allowed this legal hell to exist, fester and finally boil over," Hunter wrote. more

Oh, but, my dear judge, funny little man in a robe, it can't be all that bad. Robert Novak says it isn't. And Novak knows his s**t.

Education is better now, Novak tells us.

A major part of this reshaping of the city’s ethnic face and economic profile has been played out on the stage of the New Orleans public schools. The Bush administration and certain high level Louisiana government officials saw in the devastation of Katrina an opportunity to create a new national model of a ‘market based system of education’ that could replace the existing public school systems. To this end, state takeover legislation broke up the existing New Orleans Public Schools [NOPS], creating a balkanized patchwork of competing school systems, firing all of the teachers and staff in NOPS, and abrogating their collective bargaining agreement.

Eighteen of the best functioning New Orleans schools remained with a much smaller NOPS; two-thirds of these schools have been converted to charter status with NOPS as the authorizing agency. A recovery school district [RSD] run by the state Board of Education has responsibility for more than 20 schools, including the schools of last resort in this ‘market’ system, and is chartering more than 20 other schools. A number of charter school operators, including the Leona Group, KIPP, and several local universities, also run schools. Further, both NOPS and RSD have spun off a number of charter schools to an independent organization – the Algiers Charter School Association. The sheer number of competing entities creates much confusion among parents, students, decision-makers, community residents and the public in general. While these intermediary organizations multiply, New Orleans still has barely one-half of the public schools it possessed pre-Katrina....

A much larger group of schools, including most of the RSD, is struggling mightily. The State Board of Education and the RSD has failed to provide them with the most elementary tools of education. New Orleans teachers told me stories of their RSD schools that, two years after Katrina, had neither textbooks for their students nor teaching materials for their teachers. Many RSD schools were beset with serious environmental problems such as mold, mildew and rodent infestation. Other schools were still unable to deliver a proper lunch to their students. Having dismantled the pre-Katrina teaching force, forcing large numbers of them into retirement and into other Louisiana parishes for work, this experiment in market education has created a major teaching shortage in New Orleans, heavily concentrated in the RSD schools. During our June visit, many RSD schools still lacked a full complement of teachers. A recent UTNO-AFT report, No Experience Necessary, describes in detail the difficulties New Orleans public schools are now facing in attracting and retaining qualified, experienced teachers. Throughout the 2006-2007 school year, students were actually turned away from the RSD schools and denied their right to a public education because there are no seats for them in those schools and insufficient school teachers to teach them.

My colleagues visiting RSD middle and high schools saw large numbers of security guards, one posted virtually every 100 yards in its halls, but there is a grave shortage of counseling and mental health professionals in these same schools, as well as throughout New Orleans. [The ratio of students to security guards has gone from a pre-Katrina 333-to-one to a post-Katrina 37-to-one.] Knowing how important mental health services were for New York City public school students following 9-11, I was shocked that New Orleans students who were Katrina survivors were not receiving even minimal assistance. Our AFT colleagues in the New York State Psychological Association were part of our June visit to New Orleans, and are working with UTNO on this important front.

One target of the takeover legislation was United Teachers of New Orleans, a great union with a proud legacy as one of the first integrated teacher unions in the South and the very first teacher union in the South to win collective bargaining rights. UTNO had built itself into a powerful educational and political force in New Orleans, and union-busters in Washington DC and Baton Rouge saw in the post-Katrina reorganization of schools what they thought was an opportunity to destroy it. They eliminated by fiat its collective bargaining agreement....more, and see National Model or Flawed Approach: The Post-Katrina New Orleans Public Schools (pdf) and also Dismantling a Community and, to learn how this neocons' wet dream was planned well before Katrina, read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

Hmmm, well, that only leaves health care to be better post-K. Let's see. No ("more than 40 percent of adults in the New Orleans area have poorer healthcare access after Katrina than they had before the storm;" "70 percent of the adults without health insurance in Orleans Parish were African American;""among the most frequently reported health-access problems were deterioration in the ability to have health needs met now compared to before Katrina, difficulty in getting to a medical care center, and adapting to different medical providers after the storm;""the findings help explain why residents ranked getting medical facilities up and running as such a top priority only behind repairing levees and controlling crime"). No:

Almost all of the patients are elderly and in some cases, bedridden. Those who can manage to get to a doctor often can't find one.

How would Lawson describe the state of health care in New Orleans? "It's still on the respirator," she says. "It's still in the ICU."

Two years after Katrina, the health care system in New Orleans is as dilapidated as many of the still-unlivable houses, reports CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric. Four hospitals remain closed, thousands of doctors have left, and a quarter of the adult population has no insurance.

"The hospitals in this area are literally hemorrhaging cash, hemorrhaging resources," says Dr. Kevin Jordan, chief medical officer at one of the few remaining hospitals. He says emergency rooms are even more overtaxed today because of the exodus of primary care physicians.

"You can wait anywhere from a month to a month and a half, two months to get a regular appointment, given that that doctor is willing to see you. Because remember, there's that much demand," he gestures with spreading arms, "and that much resource," he adds, closing the gap with his hands.

Hell, I can't find anybody to see me in less than two months. I wish. My doctor now has a three month waiting list - and that's to reup my diabetes meds.

And speaking of mental health (we were, weren't we?):

Payne said the number of psychiatrists in the greater New Orleans area was reduced by 80 percent after Katrina. The higher cost of living and the risk of future hurricanes have made returning to New Orleans less attractive for most specialists.

New Orleans' medical infrastructure was already top-heavy and not fully integrated with the mental health care system, Payne said, but after Hurricane Katrina "the entire health care system was literally dismantled."

"Now that all the children are stressed, we clearly don't have enoughmental health care providers," said Dr. Harold Ginzburg, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Louisiana State University and Tulane University, both in New Orleans. "Tulane's medical school went to Houston," he told CNS. more

How about life in a FEMA trailer park? Mental health?

"What's it like to live around here?" I asked. "Well," he replied, "I'll be honest. Ain't a day goes by when I don't think about killing myself."

According to a recent study of 92 different Katrina FEMA parks published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, suicide attempts in Louisiana and Mississippi's parks are 79 times higher than the national average. Major depression is seven times the national rate.

When I first read those numbers, I found them hard to believe. But after three days at Scenic Trails, they made a lot more sense.

The residents there, in essence, are trapped. It is no longer possible for them to live outside the trailer parks. Prior to Katrina, most of the people who now live in the parks were renters.

Along the Mississippi coast, a family of four could rent a two- or three-bedroom apartment or small home for around $500 a month. But when the storm wiped the Mississippi coast clean, it took out all the housing infrastructure that supported these people. Most of them are minimum-wage workers who live paycheck to paycheck. Today, a two- or three-bedroom apartment in Hancock County, where Scenic Trails is located, costs $800, $900, even $1,000 a month. This is an impossible amount of money for the people who live in the parks, and there is no immediate end in sight. FEMA says it would like to close the parks, but state and federal government plans to rebuild low-income housing for Mississippi coast residents have yet to break ground. Housing experts says it will probably take years to produce enough low-cost housing to move people out of the parks.

And so they are stuck. And the place they are stuck is not the kind of place you would want to spend an extended amount of time. For two years, many have lived in travel trailers intended for weekend use. Families of four housed in a space the size of most people's living rooms.

Worse, as time wears on, the communities around them seem to be falling into a kind of madness. At Scenic Trails, almost everyone at the camp has been burglarized at
least once. Meth and cocaine addiction is rampant, and residents seem to be
turning against one another.

Recently, the park has seen a rash of animal mutilations. One resident told me that her cat had come home bleeding — a long, thin razor cut along its leg. Another resident said his dog's throat had been cut, and several people reported that someone in the camp had been feeding
anti-freeze to dogs. more

Well, it sounds good enough to me. You're right, Bobby Novak, it's all good; come on down!

NOLA pangs

Mayor Nagin gets caught playing cops and robbers with real life guns. Apparently, this photo has gone forth into the national press to make New Orleans look (even more) foolish:
here

(yat pundit comments on this blog that the Times Picayune has apologized for the photo and says it was a snapshot that did not accurately reflect what happened; I wasn't clear about this, but I was less concerned about what Nagin was doing than I was about the suggestion, in the mayor's letter to the T.P., that the photo has already gone out to media outlets nationwide...thanks, y.p.!)

Meanwhile, the city continues to prostitute itself (and I use that term most deliberately). The NBA rents Jackson Square for the evening, for the price of $5000. Meanwhile, locals as well as Jackson's Square's usual cadre of vendors, street artists, tarot card readers, and fortune tellers have to leave the area. Did I mention it was just $5000? From the NBA? For their private, all-access pass to New Orleans' preeminent public space?

As part of a four-day basketball showcase expected to produce major economic benefits for the city, the "2008 Celebration of Contribution" party is expected to draw a cadre of famous customers to merchants' shops along Jackson Square. But musicians, artists and tarot card readers who peddle their services on the square's slate-lined streets are crying foul, saying the party is leaving them on the sidelines during a potentially huge payday.

As crews got to work early Thursday setting up barricades along Decatur Street at St. Peter and St. Ann streets, dozens of entertainers found themselves ejected from park benches and removed from areas along the wrought-iron fences that typically
serve as art-for-sale galleries....

Sahuc said he objects in principle to City Hall renting out the area. Heavy equipment used in staging the party will damage the area's infrastructure, he said, and the event perverts the sanctity of the area formerly known as "Public Square."

"The city has been pimping the square, and we get nothing for it," Sahuc said. more

They are raising money for rebuilding projects, but even so, couldn't they - the "famous customers" of whom da Paper speaks - have held their party indoors, at one of the area's many convention halls rather than dragging heavy stages into Jackson Square and throwing artists, already struggling since Katrina, out of work for the duration?

Meanwhile, prepare for Katrina, the Opera:

The opera focuses on two primary stories, each centering on a pair of characters and their experiences through the flood. The first tale of Miss Leah and the Debris Man depicts the scary and inventive ways people survived in the days immediately after the levee breaks.

"Debris Man becomes a shaman-like character, " Weigel said. "He knows how to survive on the street already and helps his neighbors."

Debris Man will be played by Cook himself, who saw the good that came out of people in his neighborhood because of the tragedy.

"There was an embracing of people, " Sylvester noted. "We haven't seen that in this country in a long time."

"Heroes became villains but villains became heroes, " Weigel said. "The drug dealers and pimps were keeping watch over the neighborhood and helping the old people there. When the guns and the cameras came out, so did the old stereotypes. Then they were pegged as thugs and looters."

I can't decide whether to be intrigued or afraid. Maybe I'll go check it out tomorrow night.

Oh, for god's sake, here's a "crying moment" I'd love to see the media tear apart (much more worthy of criticism than Hillary's little serious moment):

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hates to get "sappy" in front of cameras, but he wants storm victims to know he's sorry that so many are still living in government-issued trailers more than two years after Hurricane Katrina hit.

FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said Thursday that the agency will rush to relocate roughly 35,000 families after government tests found dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes in many occupied FEMA trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi....

Critics have faulted FEMA for not responding sooner to concerns that its trailers could be jeopardizing the health of occupants.

During an interview after Thursday's briefing, Paulison defended the agency's response to formaldehyde concerns. But he admitted he could have done a better
job of expressing sympathy for storm victims who have spent more than two years
in the cramped trailers.

"I didn't want to get sappy out there in front of the cameras," Paulison told The Associated Press, "but the truth is that we really do care and we really are working hard to take care of the people's needs and get them out of these travel trailers and mobile homes."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer.

The findings stirred worry and anger across the Gulf Coast, where FEMA is already a dirty word and housing has been scarce since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.

"Am I angry at FEMA? Of course I am. They should have started moving people out of these trailers once they first started finding problems," said Lynette Hooks, 48. She said that since she began living in her trailer outside her damaged New Orleans home in October 2006, she has suffered headaches and sinus problems, in addition to the asthma she had before...

As early as 2006, trailer occupants began reporting headaches, nosebleeds and difficulty breathing.

But as recently as last spring, a FEMA spokesman said the agency saw no reason to question the safety of its trailers. Just last month, congressional investigators accused FEMA of suppressing and manipulating scientific research to play down the danger — an accusation the agency denied. more

I'm amazed that this hasn't been a bigger topic of discussion in public health since before Katrina. For years, I've known that I have itchiness, allergies, and breathing difficulties after being in stores that sell clothing. I've also known for several years that I become ill in new buildings - the brand new movie theater made me sick every time I visited it when I lived in WA State, and the new law library at Gonzaga left me too red-eyed, itchy, and breathless to study. I researched the topic and quickly found that formaldehyde and other chemicals used in the wood and carpet of new buildings as well as on new clothes is an irritant. I find it so hard to understand how the federal government didn't know anything about this general public health issue until Katrina. I also wonder what chemicals might still be affecting my health here in this ten year old mobile home. Dog knows I'm tired all the time. Maybe it's that, maybe something else.

Notice also that Paulison says he "could have done a better job expressing sympathy." Yes, because it's not about action down here, just perception, yes indeed.