Friday, November 26, 2004

Almost There

One week left of term. Winter has arrived. This translates into stress and cold. The light at the end of the deep dark tunnel of Exam Period is the Holidays: seeing my family, my prodigal brother, my friends, and engaging in all those good holiday family traditions. I'm extremely excited for all the above, as well as to simply plop my bubble butt down on the couch and vegetating all day long. Oh lovely blissful relaxation.

As for books, since I seem to have been neglecting this topic lately, just finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I loved it. It was beautifully written, captivating, and touching. He's a fabulous writer, I have loved everything he has written. I started in on Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong. I love her books as well, part of the Women of the Underworld series. With all the work I have to do right now, I've still managed to read 3/4 of it this week. To the detriment of my sleep schedule, however. I haven't decided what's next, but as usual, I have about 10 books hanging around to choose from.

Listening to: Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5

posted by Joanna @ 10:05 PM 1 Comments

Friday, November 19, 2004

Rat Revenge

I love my rats. Today we began the exercising of the enriched rats: they all get to play together in the enriched room, which is filled with toys and interesting things for them to play with. We have affectionately coined this room the "Ghetto Enrichment Room", and this is why:



notice the rusty cages and the empty chemical waste containers. With my luck, the rats are going to get tetnus and die on us.



Unfortunately, after having 20 minutes to play in the room, the rats really don't want to leave. So they hide under anything they can squeeze between. When you do manage to nab them, they piss and shit all over you as a form of revenge. I had to go to stats class smelling like rat piss, it was lovely.


posted by Joanna @ 1:45 PM 1 Comments

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Deconstructing the "F-Word"

I have a women's studies paper due in the upcoming weeks, and I needed to get a headstart on it now due to all of the other crap I have to do between now and then. I started off the paper by defining feminism and feminists. I'm going to post it because there is so much misunderstanding and fragmentation on this issue, and I wanted to provide a somewhat comprehensive mish-mash of many definitions of this so-called "f" word.

What is feminism? Who are feminists? What do feminists believe? Am I (gasp) a feminist? These questions are the topic of a great deal of academic, and non-academic, feminist writings. None are easily answerable.
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards have painted a unique vision of feminism by positing what any given day would be like without feminism: “babies are born on this day are automatically given their father’s name. If no father is listed, ‘illegitimate’ is likely to be typed on the birth certificate”. In high school, “girls do not take calculus or physics; they plan the dances and decorate the gym”. In University, “the women’s studies major does not exist”, and “only 44 percent of women are employed outside of the home. Lesbians “are rarely ‘out’, except in certain bars owned by organized crime”, and heterosexual women “without a male escort may be refused service in a restaurant or a bar, and a woman alone is hard-pressed to find a landlord who will rent her an apartment”. When we examine what one single day would be like without the progress of feminism, it can be seen that feminism is at once many things. This is consequently reflected in many of the definitions that have been provided in determining exactly what feminism is.

Feminism is primarily defined as a political movement, with varying social, economic, and political goals and beliefs (Colt). Colt asserts that feminism is concerned with sex equality, that ‘women’s condition is socially constructed, that is, historically shaped by human social usage”, and that women perceive ourselves as “not only a biological sex but as a social grouping”. Others state that feminism as a goal of “the liberation of women for women”, that “feminism at heart is a massive complaint”, feminism is also “a method of analysis as well as a discovery of new material”, and that feminism is “the political theory and practice to free all women: women of color, poor women, lesbians, old women, […]”.

Feminism is complex, feared, and largely misrepresented. It's frustrating to have to fight against these misrepresentations all the time - it wears me down. But I refuse to be worn down completely. All the backlash that we notice in response to feminism clearly shows us that we are doing something of value: if we weren't, why would we see such adamant opposition? If feminism was just a collection of "man-hating crap", wouldn't it just be easily dismissed without any argumentation? So while all the fighting I do does wear me out, it also lets me know that I'm winning. Fight me, and you continue to fuel me on.

Listening to: White Boy - Bikini Kill

posted by Joanna @ 4:05 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Cuteness Overload

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The other day I took some pictures of the baby rats that I am using for my thesis experiment. I love them to death, they are so freaking adorable!!! They sleep in little rat piles, all squished together in bundles of adorableness.



Another, and another, and another, and another.

Aren't they just the cutest little baby rats ever?

posted by Joanna @ 11:20 PM 0 Comments