Thursday, May 21, 2009
Here We Go Again
No surprises here, but Burmese pro-democracy activist (and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) Aung San Suu Kyi was under trial again this week. Her sentence to house arrest was due to expire May 27th, so the government needed a new reason to keep her under their control. The darling of the west, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in her native Myanmar for 13 of the past 19 years. While her profile has remained fairly high, some scholars have begun to question whether her power was waning. Well, well done ruling military junta, you have once again handed her an international spotlight. Shows the power of fear and a brutal military regime that their PR can be that bad and they are still in power.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Lesser of Two Evils
elle
I'm sure you've all heard about the Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi detained, convicted and sentenced in Iran for "spying", and her release on appeal today! Hooray, although I would like to point out that her sentance was changed today, not her conviction, and her 'trial' was an absolute farce. Ms. Sarberi's release may do much for continued talk between Iran and the US, but her career has been irrevocably damaged by the conviction, and she will most likely be leaving Iran (where she has lived the last 6 years) and returning to the US.
In honor of Dr. Shirin Ebadi's talk here at OSU 2 weeks ago, I wanted to highlight the case and the work of Dr. Ebadi for human rights around the world--her organization was involved in Ms.Saberi's appeal. Dr. Ebadi's talk, while definately prepared for her middle and high school aged audience at PeaceJam rather than those of us who do this for a living, both addressed the realities of gender oppression around the world and the absolute necessity of democratic governance to address gender inequity. It can be hard, as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about the problems of our democratic government to remember how essential it is to human rights. But from there we have to remember that if 50.1% of the people vote for a bigot it's still a democratic election, even if we don't like it. So, democracy is not enough. We have to educate ourselves and each other, demand excellence and transparency from our candidates, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. At Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech in Portland last week he admonished the audience by saying that Americans are so warm, open, and generous--why can't we export that instead of guns.
I'm sure you've all heard about the Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi detained, convicted and sentenced in Iran for "spying", and her release on appeal today! Hooray, although I would like to point out that her sentance was changed today, not her conviction, and her 'trial' was an absolute farce. Ms. Sarberi's release may do much for continued talk between Iran and the US, but her career has been irrevocably damaged by the conviction, and she will most likely be leaving Iran (where she has lived the last 6 years) and returning to the US.
In honor of Dr. Shirin Ebadi's talk here at OSU 2 weeks ago, I wanted to highlight the case and the work of Dr. Ebadi for human rights around the world--her organization was involved in Ms.Saberi's appeal. Dr. Ebadi's talk, while definately prepared for her middle and high school aged audience at PeaceJam rather than those of us who do this for a living, both addressed the realities of gender oppression around the world and the absolute necessity of democratic governance to address gender inequity. It can be hard, as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about the problems of our democratic government to remember how essential it is to human rights. But from there we have to remember that if 50.1% of the people vote for a bigot it's still a democratic election, even if we don't like it. So, democracy is not enough. We have to educate ourselves and each other, demand excellence and transparency from our candidates, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. At Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech in Portland last week he admonished the audience by saying that Americans are so warm, open, and generous--why can't we export that instead of guns.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Rave
elle and Lindsay
Ah, the abstinence only/Palin crowd is back. I will give Bristol props for publicly stating that being a young single mother is hard work (although she has family, money, and access so not as bad as it could be...), but seriously.
We both enjoyed Gail Collins' NYT Editorial about Bristol's elevation to spokesperson for the Candie's Foundation which was established to address teen pregnancy, but for different reasons. Lindsay particularly likes the comment about Gloria Steinem's shoes and Elle laughed inappropriately loud and long at the part about how terrifying it is when Levi Johnston has the most coherant analysis of a social justice issue. Truly...
Enjoy!
Ah, the abstinence only/Palin crowd is back. I will give Bristol props for publicly stating that being a young single mother is hard work (although she has family, money, and access so not as bad as it could be...), but seriously.
We both enjoyed Gail Collins' NYT Editorial about Bristol's elevation to spokesperson for the Candie's Foundation which was established to address teen pregnancy, but for different reasons. Lindsay particularly likes the comment about Gloria Steinem's shoes and Elle laughed inappropriately loud and long at the part about how terrifying it is when Levi Johnston has the most coherant analysis of a social justice issue. Truly...
Enjoy!
A Rant
elle
OK, I promise to be short, but I just got in a snit over this, and I have to take it out somewhere. And really, that's the great reason to have a blog, you can rant and people will read it.
NPR posted an essay with a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century and in my quick glance through it I counted 6, 6! women. There were more books about women by men than female authors on there!! ACK!!! OK, the author does state that this is his personal list, but really I don't care, I'm mad.
So, there it is once again. This is not blatant sexism on Dick Meyer's part, nor do I assume he is an unenlightened boar. This is an example of how we aren't exposed to the art of women. I'm not sure I could come up with 100 20th century books by women of the caliber to go on a "best" list. We don't read these books in school, they aren't on the must read lists, and people shy from highlighting the work of women in fear of being called
discriminatory.
So, congratulations to Toni Morrison (whose oeuvre could fill our list alone), Willa Cather, Harper Lee, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, and Alice McDermott. However, to this esteemed company I not-so-humbly add off the top of my head:
The House of Mirth--Edith Wharton
The Red Tent--Anita Diamant
The Joy Luck Club--Amy Tan
Their Eyes Were Watching God--Zora Neal Hurston
White Oleander--Janet Finch
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Maya Angelou
Bastard Out of Carolina--Dorothy Allison
Cane River--Lalita Tademy
The Color Purple--Alice Walker
Hmmm, a pile of books about women of color, lesbians, etc. Wonder why they didn't make the list...
Send us your suggestions, we're going to make the OSU top 100 books by women in the 20th century! Woo Hoo!!
OK, I promise to be short, but I just got in a snit over this, and I have to take it out somewhere. And really, that's the great reason to have a blog, you can rant and people will read it.
NPR posted an essay with a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century and in my quick glance through it I counted 6, 6! women. There were more books about women by men than female authors on there!! ACK!!! OK, the author does state that this is his personal list, but really I don't care, I'm mad.
So, there it is once again. This is not blatant sexism on Dick Meyer's part, nor do I assume he is an unenlightened boar. This is an example of how we aren't exposed to the art of women. I'm not sure I could come up with 100 20th century books by women of the caliber to go on a "best" list. We don't read these books in school, they aren't on the must read lists, and people shy from highlighting the work of women in fear of being called
discriminatory.So, congratulations to Toni Morrison (whose oeuvre could fill our list alone), Willa Cather, Harper Lee, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, and Alice McDermott. However, to this esteemed company I not-so-humbly add off the top of my head:
The House of Mirth--Edith Wharton
The Red Tent--Anita Diamant
The Joy Luck Club--Amy Tan
Their Eyes Were Watching God--Zora Neal Hurston
White Oleander--Janet Finch
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Maya Angelou
Bastard Out of Carolina--Dorothy Allison
Cane River--Lalita Tademy
The Color Purple--Alice Walker
Hmmm, a pile of books about women of color, lesbians, etc. Wonder why they didn't make the list...
Send us your suggestions, we're going to make the OSU top 100 books by women in the 20th century! Woo Hoo!!
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