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slightly late birthday loot
Jul. 26th, 2009 08:40 pmMini feminist rant: God fucking damn, the "boy crisis" thing - I think it was more of an issue about two or three years ago, not so much now thank god, but it's the idea that boys are doing poorly in American schools because the system favors women? MAKES ME SO MAD. Hahaha, oh man. It's just so fucked up. White dudes (like Pat Buchanan recently) are all "affirmative action discriminates against white men, there's no need to correct the system to help women and minorities that have been traditionally excluded from it." When boys are doing poorly, suddenly they're all "System don't work, unequal results clearly means the system is bad, gotta change it." The main thrust of it is that boys are naturally rebellious and don't learn well in the current school environments that require you to WORK HARD and FOLLOW RULES. Guys. Where was this natural rebellion in schools of the past, that were men-only and where you'd be beaten with a switch if you stepped out of line? Natural rebellion. . . shut the fuck up.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure people aren't really thinking about this now. I was just watching the handful of daily show clips tagged "sexism". And I'd also come across it in a feminist blog a while ago but I was reading older entries, I think. >.> Fingers crossed!
If people were wondering how rational people explain the difference in results, it is the fact that boys are encouraged among their peers and sometimes at home, to act cool and badass and not work hard. It is more socially acceptable for girls to be studious, but that's not because of natural tendencies, as history shows. However! I can sort of see some of the points that are being made about elementary school - kids are being punished for being energetic, it's seen as acting up when it's really not. That's a different thing than "I can't work hard in a classroom setting, I should be allowed to take advanced classes pass/fail so I can get AP credits on my transcript without doing well" thing that this high school kid is saying. Natural urge to move is different from natural urge to rebel.
Other side note - I find the claim that there aren't enough male teachers to be particularly obnoxious, as men won't enter the teaching field because like many female-dominated professions, it's not particularly well paid.
So, now I'm watching an interview with Patricia Richardson, who I love! I love Home Improvement and I didn't even have a crush on JTT (although now I pretend I do because I want to feel like a part of my generation). Once I was watching the E True Hollywood Story about it and I was interrupted because my grandpa wanted to watch something, but I was really enjoying it and now I want to know what I missed. Also, it's weird when Jon calls her Patricia, I was seriously expecting him to say Jill.
Katie and I made cupcakes, now I'm left with 6 of them. :D Also she got me loads of awesome stuff from Germany! So much! So awesome! An adorable little wooden figurine with a fuzzy beard, and some Aschenputtel-themed chocolates, and some chocolates in the shape of animals that say 100% Holz on them, so I'm like "Oooh, Shokolade Zoo! . . . what does 'Holz' mean?" and Katie starts laughing - ". . . Wood." Yes, she got me chocolates in the shape of animals made out of wood. Which is basically just little wooden animals. XD In a box. Apparently she got herself wooden teabags, I can only imagine what those look like?
And she got me an adorable little metal pot thing that's white with blue flowers painted on it, and a book called "Die Geschichte einer Straße," or "The History of a Street" - it's a big book, and each two-page spread is a picture of a street from a different era, with things labelled. So I will learn all sorts of historical words. Like "Hügelgrab," which I believe means burial mound - after it's initial appearance, it is labelled in every subsequent page as "altes Hügelgrab," or "old burial mound." Thanks, book (actually by 1300 CE the Hügelgrab gets replaced with a mill). Also, this book does not pull punches. There are slaves in Roman times, there's a cart full of dead people during the plague times, a Viking raid carrying off children, doctors chopping off people's feet. . . and in every era, shit gets set on fire. Also, there are robbers. But seriously, if there's one lesson to be learned from this book, it's that shit can always burn.
Oh, on the subject of birthdays, Susan/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ayamachi got me a book about synesthesia, presumably to make me feel more bitter about the fact that my senses always work solo and refuse to cooperate or blend. Anyway, it seems like a totally awesome book and I assume it will be almost as educational as Die Geschichte einer Straße, although perhaps not on the subject of fires. The book also came with a letter containing drawings of Joey B (with magnificent combover) and Patrick Stewart (without combover), both of whom were conspicuously lacking from the German book.
In conclusion, it has been an excellent week+ long birthday! Now I think I'll try putting my clothes away in my dresser, they've been sitting folded in my laundry basket for a long time. Like, weeks, slowly accumulating, since they aren't my work clothes.
OH ALSO! Who out there watched Gackt on VS Arashi? Cos first off, it was REALLY entertaining. But second off! OH MY GOD. The other guest! Daisuke Miyazaki! Mr. Handball! Sportsman No. 1! The reason I'm excited about him? NINJA WARRIOR! I guess I should use my Nagano icon. Yeah, Miyazaki and some of his douchey handball friends have competed in a couple of recent Sasuke competitions, and they always make a big deal out of him because he keeps winning these Pro Sportsman competitions and is quite good-looking. He's done. . . okaaaay at Sasuke. XD Hahaha, oh my god, though, the Sasuke-world almost never ever collides with Johnnys-world, I forget that they're the results of the same popular culture until something like this happens and I was SO PUMPED and so entertained! :D I'm waiting for Nagano to be on Janiben, I think it'd be a good match - they have somewhat random people on, right? And it would just be so beautiful. I would cry with happiness.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure people aren't really thinking about this now. I was just watching the handful of daily show clips tagged "sexism". And I'd also come across it in a feminist blog a while ago but I was reading older entries, I think. >.> Fingers crossed!
If people were wondering how rational people explain the difference in results, it is the fact that boys are encouraged among their peers and sometimes at home, to act cool and badass and not work hard. It is more socially acceptable for girls to be studious, but that's not because of natural tendencies, as history shows. However! I can sort of see some of the points that are being made about elementary school - kids are being punished for being energetic, it's seen as acting up when it's really not. That's a different thing than "I can't work hard in a classroom setting, I should be allowed to take advanced classes pass/fail so I can get AP credits on my transcript without doing well" thing that this high school kid is saying. Natural urge to move is different from natural urge to rebel.
Other side note - I find the claim that there aren't enough male teachers to be particularly obnoxious, as men won't enter the teaching field because like many female-dominated professions, it's not particularly well paid.
So, now I'm watching an interview with Patricia Richardson, who I love! I love Home Improvement and I didn't even have a crush on JTT (although now I pretend I do because I want to feel like a part of my generation). Once I was watching the E True Hollywood Story about it and I was interrupted because my grandpa wanted to watch something, but I was really enjoying it and now I want to know what I missed. Also, it's weird when Jon calls her Patricia, I was seriously expecting him to say Jill.
Katie and I made cupcakes, now I'm left with 6 of them. :D Also she got me loads of awesome stuff from Germany! So much! So awesome! An adorable little wooden figurine with a fuzzy beard, and some Aschenputtel-themed chocolates, and some chocolates in the shape of animals that say 100% Holz on them, so I'm like "Oooh, Shokolade Zoo! . . . what does 'Holz' mean?" and Katie starts laughing - ". . . Wood." Yes, she got me chocolates in the shape of animals made out of wood. Which is basically just little wooden animals. XD In a box. Apparently she got herself wooden teabags, I can only imagine what those look like?
And she got me an adorable little metal pot thing that's white with blue flowers painted on it, and a book called "Die Geschichte einer Straße," or "The History of a Street" - it's a big book, and each two-page spread is a picture of a street from a different era, with things labelled. So I will learn all sorts of historical words. Like "Hügelgrab," which I believe means burial mound - after it's initial appearance, it is labelled in every subsequent page as "altes Hügelgrab," or "old burial mound." Thanks, book (actually by 1300 CE the Hügelgrab gets replaced with a mill). Also, this book does not pull punches. There are slaves in Roman times, there's a cart full of dead people during the plague times, a Viking raid carrying off children, doctors chopping off people's feet. . . and in every era, shit gets set on fire. Also, there are robbers. But seriously, if there's one lesson to be learned from this book, it's that shit can always burn.
Oh, on the subject of birthdays, Susan/
ayamachi got me a book about synesthesia, presumably to make me feel more bitter about the fact that my senses always work solo and refuse to cooperate or blend. Anyway, it seems like a totally awesome book and I assume it will be almost as educational as Die Geschichte einer Straße, although perhaps not on the subject of fires. The book also came with a letter containing drawings of Joey B (with magnificent combover) and Patrick Stewart (without combover), both of whom were conspicuously lacking from the German book.In conclusion, it has been an excellent week+ long birthday! Now I think I'll try putting my clothes away in my dresser, they've been sitting folded in my laundry basket for a long time. Like, weeks, slowly accumulating, since they aren't my work clothes.
OH ALSO! Who out there watched Gackt on VS Arashi? Cos first off, it was REALLY entertaining. But second off! OH MY GOD. The other guest! Daisuke Miyazaki! Mr. Handball! Sportsman No. 1! The reason I'm excited about him? NINJA WARRIOR! I guess I should use my Nagano icon. Yeah, Miyazaki and some of his douchey handball friends have competed in a couple of recent Sasuke competitions, and they always make a big deal out of him because he keeps winning these Pro Sportsman competitions and is quite good-looking. He's done. . . okaaaay at Sasuke. XD Hahaha, oh my god, though, the Sasuke-world almost never ever collides with Johnnys-world, I forget that they're the results of the same popular culture until something like this happens and I was SO PUMPED and so entertained! :D I'm waiting for Nagano to be on Janiben, I think it'd be a good match - they have somewhat random people on, right? And it would just be so beautiful. I would cry with happiness.
