RIP, Howard Zinn

The world has lost a great historian in Howard Zinn. If you have not read A People's History of the United States, I highly encourage you to do so. It does not read like a history book, but rather like a commentary on history from the peoples' perspective, rather than from the government or big business perspective. Trust me, you will never look at Columbus Day the same again. If you would like to read more about Zinn, the NYTimes has a nice obit on him.

Lots to do Haiku Friday

Snowy morning, looks
so pretty but not icy
I love it this way!

***

Lots to do this month
Committee meeting coming
soon - nose to the grind

***

Glad my folks came to
visit. Too cold but had a
great time. Back to it!

Book Club Book Review: What is Marriage For?

Before first delving into my review of this book, I must admit, I am both a liberal academic and a scientist, which may bias my review of this book just a bit. Altogether, I would give this book a positive review. Graff is a lesbian and lays out her reasoning for a allowing gay marriage, arguing that all of the things heterosexual marriage is for (money, sex, children, kin, order, heart - her chapters) are the same things homosexual marriage is for. She also argues that, as society has changed, so has marriage, reflecting our views as society. I found this book to be interesting in it's historical tidbits, but honestly, pretty hard to get through. The author, while understandably passionate about the subject, tends to ramble on about historical situations or studies which hammer home her point, but at a certain cost. The reader must slog through brief explanations of such studies, attempting to pull out the relevant information. For example, while I found it interesting that gender of a parent did not seem to have an effect on children, as long as the parent is loving, the studies she cited were so small as to cause me to wonder why she cited them at all. I am mostly curious how the studies would look today, with ten years time in between.
I found the language to be a bit insulting - using the term "preggers" more than once, or the term "babies" for children (that may be my elitist academic in me) and I'm still not sure to whom the book was written. As the political situation had played out, it seems to be mostly right wing conservative Christians who have the biggest problem with gay marriage. I understand it's hard to address issues of religion with reason, and I assume this book was not written for them. It seems to be written for logical, reasonable individuals who have an interest in human rights and equality, but are on the fence about allowing gay marriage, for whatever reason. At this point in time, I think most of those people have been convinced that legalization of homosexual marriage is the next logical step, perhaps making this book a little dated.
However, I do understand this book set a precedent and has been quoted and used in arguments and discussions of same sex marriage over the last few years. I also understand that this was the first book to look at same sex marriage from the woman's perspective, which is indeed intriguing. I commend the author for her work in this field, and being brave enough to be the first one to logically lay out the reasoning for legalization of gay marriage.
On the personal front, I was appalled and outraged at the blatant discrimination carried out by voters when Prop 8 passed in California last year. I grew up with an unrelated gay uncle whom I will always fiercely defend. I really feel this is a constitutional issue for the Federal Government, one that must be interpreted by both the right for equality (separate is not equal) and the separation of Church & State (in that, the government cannot force a church to marry people it does not want to marry). I am hopeful this political nightmare will play out in a rational and justified way (and am astonished that Iowa is leading the way!). Ultimately, I think Graff's book should be read by anyone interested in marriage itself (whether gay or straight) as well as people interested in the arguments for gay marriage.
If you'd like to join the discussion, head over here.
If you are interested in book club and would like to join, check it out here.

And just for fun...

"NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His Christmas Eve trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading Christmas to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum."
courtesy of Santa Tracker at NORAD.
Enjoy!

Snowpocalypse 2009 continues

This storm has really killed this city. It's really amazing what a little bit of snow can do! We got about two feet of snow and the temps have been below freezing for the most part since the storm. Which means that the snow has not melted and gone away. Most people have shoveled their walks, except for those stubborn few who, apparently, like to skate down their front steps and walk. I think there are approximately 6 guys with snowplows and shovels charged with the task of snow removal. They are still working today! I walk to work every day, and once I get to Penn campus, things are great - everything is plowed and salted and it's clear and lovely. However, getting there can be quite a trick. Nobody plows the sidewalks on the bridges, which are a main thoroughfare and so us pedestrians just have to slog though 2 feet of melted and icy snow to get across the bridge to get to work. So, we decided to walk in the street. Along the side of the street, of course, but in the street. It's been plowed and is clear, does not have treacherous ice and snow on it (think about it, if you are walking on a bridge with a guard rail, and there is 2 ft of snow on said bridge - that guard rail doesn't do much for you anymore does it? woosh- right into the Schuylkill! Whoops!). So, the cars get mad, and they come pretty close to us pedestrians and nearly hit us. People on bikes don't have it much better since the snow is piled into the bike lanes! I talked to a guy yesterday who said it took him 4 hours to dig his truck out. Wow! Everything has just slowed down - I think people are still stressed, but it's more of an "Oh well" type of situation - only doing what absolutely HAS to be done and ignoring all the frivolousness. Which is lovely, I must say. Other than twisting my knee on some icy snow, this has been a lovely snowstorm, mostly because I don't have to drive or travel anywhere. To those of you traveling, godspeed and good luck. To those of you here, welcome home. And to everyone else, a very Merry Christmas!

Things I learned this past weekend

we used to have a backyard!

• Snow is very beautiful and lovely and turns me into a seven year old.
• There is more than one kind of snow. This particular kind that fell was "light" and "dry", mostly meaning you couldn't make snowballs or snowmen out of it.
• Snowmen made out of such snow do not look like Frosty the Snowman.
• The City of Philadelphia and surrounding areas do not know how to deal with the snow in any way shape or form. Case in point, it stopped snowing Sat night, schools are closed today.
  
• Snowplows on the freeway travel in armadas, with several plows, dump trucks and more plows. It made me think of Christopher Columbus.
• They do not plow every street. Especially mine, which is tiny.
  
• You have to dig your car out of the snow. Like, literally, with a shovel.
• Sometimes other people shovel your walk for you.
  
• Driving in the snow requires a lot of brake pumping (that's what she said, eh, Randi?)
• The local news was on all day Sat - covering the snow. At one point, they were literally pulling people off the streets to interview them.
  
• Buses, trains and airplanes do not run in the snow.
• Snow can act as an insulator - our roof covered in snow = warmer 2nd floor of the house! Go figure!
• Walking in the snow is hard and should only be left to professionals. Or those with Gaiters, Yaktrax and huge puffy coats, like me.
  
• People are much friendlier in the snow. Or, only the friendly people come out in the snow. They tell you all about their childhood, their neighborhood, anything. We met our next door neighbor for the first time (lived there for 3 years so far....) I think cabin fever is also involved.
• Snow falling makes a certain noise that I can't describe. White noise, maybe. And every other sound is muffled. The silence is wonderful!
• The last time this area had this much snow in December was literally 1909 - it was the storm of the century :)
• I am very glad I do not drive. I would have killed lots of people.
• Sometime, when driving on the freeway, cars can randomly spin around for no reason whatsoever. Who knew?
• Babies and dogs in snow are just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.
• A shovelful of snow on your head is cold. And wet. And requires hot chocolate STAT.
• You don't feel so bad drinking the full fat hot chocolate from SBux because you just walked in the snow for miles.
• Kids really do wear snowsuits. Adults too, Haha!
  

Another Houseguest...

We had one of Alex's friends stay with us for the weekend. He's also a grad student, and was hanging out with us to save a little money while in DC for the week. He's a great guy and I love hanging out with him and chatting with him (a classic academic) since his work is very far removed from my own. He's Alex's best friend, and they mostly just sit and chat, exchange music, or catch up on friends and family. Yesterday was awful, pouring rain mostly all day, preventing us from really doing anything. We took a cab to a "Mexican" place in S. Philly for lunch and then took a cab back, had a fire in the fireplace and just hung out. It was a fairly uneventful weekend, as he came in late Fri night, we stumbled around the city and ended up hanging out at a bar on Sat night and made dinner at home Sun night.
So, here's the thing. Alex and I don't have too many houseguests. And I try to make things as comfortable as possible for people (considering we only have one bathroom, any movement anywhere in the house can be heard everywhere in the house, the cats can sometimes be obnoxious, and we don't have a dishwasher). I baked cookies yesterday afternoon, and made sure to have pumpkin bread on hand for breakfast. Alex made dinner and we took him out to a couple places. Not once did he offer to pay for his meal or our meal. Not once did he offer to wash some dishes or help tidy up or even attempt to throw his trash away (there's a pile left on my table). He left a "tip" of several dimes and pennies on the desk in the room he stayed in. Alex got up early this morning to run to 7-11 to grab him some breakfast foods (donuts, croissants, etc) and we set the coffee pot specifically for him, since he had to leave so early. He refused all of it, said a half-hearted good bye and was off.
Perhaps I'm being petty, and perhaps I am just judgmental. I know that men tend to function differently than women, but I was always taught to pick up bills, wash my dishes (if not all of them) and tidy up after myself as best as I could. I know that, among friends, there's often an "I'll get you back later" mentality. I know that there have been trips home where my friends have paid for me or I have paid for them. And I always know they're good for it, and the next time I see them it will be the other way around. And because this is a friend of Alex's whom he's known since college, they have a history that goes back farther than I.
I guess part of it is that we are all students, struggling to make ends meet. He sat there and watched as I picked up a $100 bar tab without one offer to pitch in his portion of the bill or even an expression of gratitude. He constantly complained about how terrible American this or American that is, and he was very odd when I wanted to watch a bit of football last night (saying that he didn't think he could stand to sit through a game of football - even tho I had the TV on mute the whole time).
I guess what I am saying is that I realize that people go out of their way to have me at their house. I try to pitch in as much as possible, and I try to do whatever it is they want to do (watching Fox News? OK, I don't really enjoy it, but I won't die from it). I try to keep myself entertained and I definitely try to buy them a meal and make sure they know how much I appreciate the place to stay.
What I'm wondering is, when did manners go out the window?