Category Archives: women

And on it goes…

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University of British Columbia also has the “YOUNG” chant for freshmen.  <sigh>

From the article:

“It certainly fosters a sense that the violation of women and young girls is no big deal and that can’t help but encourage people to consider taking advantage.”

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My point exactly.

Think of it in the terms of racism.  Most people understand racist songs or jokes now because the black community pointed them out.  So it’s my hope that pointing this out will lead to the end of the rape culture.   It is more difficult to do when, as we see here, violent sex is considered normal and even celebrated.

Those participating in it have ignored or dismissed the spiritual aspect of sex.  Women are objects to do things to, and not spiritual human beings to connect with…

The rape culture in action

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Students were actually chanting misogynist lyrics advocating rape.    The administration claims to not have known about it, but a student had complained when she was a freshman in college, but….wait for it….her complaint was not taken seriously.   She probably was portrayed as an uptight bitch who hates men….<sigh>

Weiner goes off on Rabbi

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Another angry voter has words with Anthony Weiner.

Notice that he doesn’t dismiss the Rabbi like he did this lady.  He doesn’t tell him to “relax” and he doesn’t accuse him of trying to get attention like he did the angry woman who voted for him.

This drives home his view of women, imo.  Angry women who call him on his bull are to be patronized and dismissed.  Angry men are not.

….and you don’t see men on the sidelines encouraging Weiner to put the angry man in his place….

Pence Determined to gut Dept of Education

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In non-war news,  Diane Ravtich has a sobering post up this morning.

…and this is how the neocons have been able to get away with so much…unethical crooks moving in the shadows…

A letter to Boston

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The Indignant Teacher has  a post up highlighting Diane Ravitch and her letter to Bostonians.

Bostonians being recently threatened with the bombing perhaps can understand a bomb has gone off in the public school system–put there by billionaires who wish to destroy it for their own greed.  Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to see as a bombing in a public space…it’s much more stealth than that…and the damage done is not felt in real time, but in years past it.  It will be hard for some to realize the connection to the destruction to society and democracy…making it easier for those doing it to not be held accountable.

Unreality

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I was stunned the other night when I saw that Duchess Katherine had lost so much of her pregnancy weight that she is nearly back to her anorexic looking self.  No, I’m not going to apologize for saying that, either, if someone thinks I’m being too harsh.  Kate looked healthy before she became engaged and then she lost more weight making her look anorexic to me.  It is not healthy and I strongly suspect it is the reason she was so violently nauseated in the first few months of her pregnancy.

Now we have media obsessed with her returning to her pre-baby weight.. Sweet Jesus they were after her the DAY after she had given birth

Good Grief, it took me two years to lose the weight after giving birth.  And I exercised with aerobics but ate normally.  You cannot lose 60 lbs. or so in a month’s time in a healthy way.  It can’t be done.

It’s occurred to me that perhaps Kate’s breastfeeding could account for some of the weight loss–but I’m sure that wouldn’t be more than 20 lbs.

Anyway, the whole warped obsession needs to be nixed.  It’s not healthy—mentally or physically.

 

Education News

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A Chicago Alderman has proposed drones in Rahm Emanuel’s Safe Passage routes.  I kid you not.  If you continue with the next blog of Fred Klonsky, he questions the “none of your business” attitude of CPS on emergency preparedness plans.  At the end, there is another link “continuing the story” which has this:

In a written statement, CPS officials insisted that every school in the district does, in fact, have a plan but said they were limited to “management level staff within the Office of Safety and Security,” building principals and assistant principals, and officials of the Chicago Police and Fire Departments.

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This is ridiculous.  The schools that I have taught at had plans the teachers knew and the children went through drills so they would know what to do.  It is important because their teacher may be incapacitated, so the children all the way up to the principals need to know the plan.    I found it highly ironic one year when we had a small earthquake while I was teaching.  I asked the kids if they knew what to do in case of an earthquake, which they didn’t, so I told them to stay under their desks until the shaking stopped, and then we would leave the building in the usual emergency route.  One of the regular instructors thought that I had needlessly worried the children….all the while they have been  put in “lockdowns” for some terrorist going to attack the school.  <sigh>
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The Indignant Teacher has a post up on a petition to remove David Koch from the board of WGBH Boston’s PBS station.  I have always admired WGBH and WTTW PBS stations, and now that Kochs are trying to control the media, it is even more imperative to get them out.
More moneyed influence on campaigns of the anti-public school crowd.  Good God, this guy is a liar.  A bold-faced one at that.
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More here on John Pelto’s blog that Diane links to:
The evidence is clear that income inequality is a major factor in educational inequality. Children living in poverty experience prolonged stress that affects their brain development in the regions associated with learning. There is a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and standardized test scores. As proven by Stanford’s Sean Reardon, the widening of the achievement gap results from additional opportunities affluent parents provide their children out of the K-12 environment: high-quality pre-K, tutoring, and after-school and summer enrichment. Reardon demonstrated that the test score disparity between low-income and high-income children is not the result of schools.
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See, the pro-Charter $$ folks would prefer to ignore this important fact that impacts learning….it’s much more fun to blame unionized teachers…and watch them scramble to put out fires the Charter proponents deliberately set.
This is pretty powerful.  He puts it so well–that every child develops in different ways and at different speeds and those differences should be honored, not ridiculed by failure of a “skills” test.  (hat tip to Diane Ravitch)
Finally, a wonderful history lesson here by Diane.  She was there on the March on Washington.

Cyrus and Thicke **edited

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Apparently there are no standards anymore.

And I would add a comment:

…instead of “miley got a lot of women pregnant tonight…”  I would say “….miley and robin got women raped tonight…”

Yeah, I know someone is going to say that I’m being dramatic.  Yes and No.  If you promote violence towards women, it removes a layer of restraint–seeing this shit on TV or on video normalizes it.  **edited to add:  what I mean by that the lyrics are promoting violence and then the over the top promotion of Thicke