Flying Shortbread

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... Many of my friends had such a big cadenza over being gay. I had absolutely none. I never had the notion that it was not OK and more importantly I never had the notion that anyone could tell me what I could and could not do or be. The Cheek! My sister didn't have to go to Daddy and say, Gee Dad, I am sorry, I am straight, why must I go to Daddy and say, Gee Dad, I am sorry, I am gay. Ag nee man! But my friends definitely suffered. And I have participated in Masters degree surveys and the girls definitely were surprised that I don't have issues. I am generally a confident person. No issues about being fat, or hairy, or butch or whatever. Shame, poor you, you probably just had a frisson of disgust. Yes, girls have hair... and it's OK you don't have to sleep with them. Giggle. I think it may be harder for guys, no pun intended. Girls' lesbianism is considered a latent sexuality, 'It's OK, once they have ...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions... (a Facebook friend asked, after I joined the group The Radical Feminist Spring Gathering ) That's a very big request...'Please explain feminism to me.' And the answer is not simple. Just like there are many different versions of religion, politics, whatever - so there are many versions of feminism. Each person who adopts any ideology tweaks it to make it their own. I think that the very basic, very essential idea behind all activism (and feminism is an activism), is to create an awareness that you cannot subdivide society into units - race, gender, sexuality, etc - and say that that subdivision should not be treated as equal to any other group. Feminism focuses that rejection of subdivision on 'women'. Activism generally focuses on the unequal distribution of human rights, among other things (you get eco-feminists who are environment lobbyists). So, under human rights, you can't pay one group less than another fo...

702 Answer your phone as if you are expecting a deal of a lifetime Subject line: One of the specified qualifications Know what job you are applying for Don't be late, no excuses Make a good first impression CV must be professional Know where you have sent your CV Show that you are managing your CV Be professional in the waiting room Grooming in the bathroom Sit up straight Know what value you are going to deliver Utilise your networks, job clubs - strategy not moaning Stay with a job for 3 years - companies only start making money after your learning curve after 2 years - if they see you bounce, they won't want you Make lists of your skills, not just your personality - not bubbly, but 'professional telephone call screening' Thought Leader Too many courses (which shows you can’t learn on the job and have a culture of being spoon fed). At the clericial and secreterial level I would include emotional stability, neatness, presentability speaking and writin...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... In her explanation of gynocidal ritual, feminist theorist Mary Daly explains that in a patriarchal culture, society uses certain ritualistic behaviors (usually in the interest of enhancing female "beauty") to destroy female connections and to oppress women.* In these situations, women are often used as "token torturers". For instance, there was a saying during the days of Chinese footbinding : "If a mother loves her daughter, she will take no mercy on her feet." Nope, instead she will torture and cripple her to make her palatable to a society infected with brainwashed men who wouldn't know a natural woman if she bit him on the ass and then ran away on her big ' ol feet! * Discussion of gynocidal ritual can be found in Mary Daly's book, Gyn /Ecology: the Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Source: Only one Manda I love the way Amanda puts this. Great voice. Amanda wrote this while expressing h...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions... "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." Gloria Steinem "I feel that 'man-hating' is an honorable and viable political act, that the oppressed have a right to class-hatred against the class that is oppressing them." Robin Morgan "I haven't the faintest notion what possible revolutionary role white hetero-sexual men could fulfill, since they are the very embodiment of reactionary-vested-interest-power. But then, I have great difficulty examining what men in general could possibly do about all this. In addition to doing the shitwork that women have been doing for generations, possibly not exist? No, I really don't mean that. Yes, I really do." Robin Morgan "We can't destroy the inequities between men and women until we destroy marriage." Robin Morgan "I claim that rape exists any time sexual intercourse occurs when it has not been initiated by the wom...

or, Why I Love Dan Dan Savage was attacking (verbally, on a podcast) a man who had posed as a woman who wanted to be beaten on Craigslist. The man then proceeded to publish the names, photographs, phone numbers and email addresses of everyone who responded to his fake ad. Dan was furious because those men whose names were published were doing the right thing. When you go and meet a stranger for sex (don't do it on the first date, because Dan says you should never plan sex on the first date - that way you can get out of the second date with more diplomacy if you need to. But I digress...), you should get their name, photo, phone number and email address and then tell them that you are giving their details to a TRUSTED friend. That way if you don't arrive back from your spanking, bruised, but with a smile on your face - your trusted friend will phone the cops. A spanker who wants to spank safely and consensually, will agree. Who knew, that just like in the Vanilla World, where m...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... In response to the publishing of her first book The Church and the Second Sex in 1969, Mary Daly was issued a terminal contract by Boston College i.e. her position would not be renewed once it had expired. Her situation became the cause for student protests, petitions, and teach-ins celebrating academic freedom. With student (all male at the time) and other popular support, not only was she taken on as full professor but also was given tenure. AND she refused to admit male students to her classes at Boston College. She believes that men's presence in her classrooms kept the women students from fully and freely exploring radical feminism. Because of her ban on men from her classroom she has provoked repeated reprimands from Boston University and accusations that she was violating both university policy and Title IX (the federal statute banning discrimination in higher education on the basis of sex) requirements. The confronta...

From Burning Man : to Grrls group, Flashmob... somewhere, body as canvas, written on the body, on our backs, put your back into it! From London: Women's Art Movement (WAM) is an umbrella organization structured for art & business minded woman to socialize & collaborate. Creating a point of contact for social and business networking. The coffee shop combining Internet & creative facilities are available for women providing a space to be inspired, socialize, read, write, research, exhibit artwork, perform, hold readings and create art/music workshops, offering low cost usage of the WAM facilities and products. Concerts: Michelle Shocked 2008 , Tracy Chapman From Meetup.com : Mid-Month Meetups Tenpin Bowling in Menlyn Pretoria Zoo Rietvlei Dam Nature Reserve Pretoria Art Museum Hatfield Flea Market Van Gaalen Cheese-makers (083 226-7834, vgaalen@hixnet.co.za ) Welwitschia Country Market (083 302 8085, countrymarket@mweb.co.za ) GlenAfric game drive ( info@gle...

No sleeping over - unless it is very good and we need to repeat it in the morning. No meeting in public except for dinner or drinks before the events of the evening. No calls before 9 PM - we don't have shit to talk about. None of that "lovemaking" shit - only sex allowed. No emotional discussions (i.e. Where are we heading with this? Do you love me?) The answer is no, so don't ask. No plans made in advance - that is why you are called the "backup," unless you are from out-of-town, then it's only a one-time advanced arrangement. All gifts accepted - money is always good. No baby talk - however, dirty talk is encouraged. No asking for comparisons with former lovers - it's really none of your damn business. No calling each other "friends with privileges" we are not friends, just sex buddies. Calling out the wrong name during sex is OK - don't be offended. No extra clothing - I don't want your ass leaving anything behind when you leave...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... I am contemplating this, just to see how tightly I am Bound to the hegemony. ... Cinnamon Gurl sparked this off. Thanks. Each week the Flashback Friday: Feminist Edition will feature a story that has something to do with being or becoming a woman or feminist. This series will continue until I run out of stories. I love having guest bloggers . If you have a story you want to tell and you want to be a guest blogger here, please email me; or feel free to link to your own story in the comments .

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... Redi Direko picked up a talk show from a news report that a young girl wearing a miniskirt was raped by taxi drivers to punish her for dressing provocatively. Men and women at the scene cheered the taxi drivers on, saying she deserved it ( ...more , although I searched the Sowetan archives about the incident and found they were very eager to report the bystanders she-deserved-it-response and the probability that the taxi-drivers would get away with it, instead of reporting where what and how we can make them come to book. Sowetan also published the victim's full name so that her victimisation can continue. There right, but not their duty. No names of the taxi drivers, or 'alleged rapists', were mentioned.) Direko followed the first show up with a second show that focused on what listeners suggest should be done. Similar incidents were mentioned by people who called in, speaking of women wearing pants. These were some of the...

Companies that thrive in the knowledge-driven global economy are spread out, with loose hierarchies, not rigid centralized structures. They depend on complex, constantly changing streams of information that can't be contained by any one source. And the tasks of groups within these firms link them to people within the company and without. The distributed-yet-interconnected character of contemporary work dictates reaching outward...And a bedrock for any successful team is a culture that supports frank discussion even if it's about bad news or mistakes. TIME: It's what's on the outside that counts As a poor student at Peking University in the early 1980s, Michael Yu wanted to follow his ambitious classmates to the U.S. for graduate school. He scored high on the required Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and was accepted at several universities, but he couldn't land the scholarships he needed to pay his way. So he stayed in Beijing, teaching English gramm...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions... An email doing the rounds, I received this from a Facebook connection - but via the email: A pornographic movie is being shot and is intended to show up in America soon, which shows Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals. This is similar to a play that has been in the Theatre halls for a while. It’s called Corpus Christi “ which means “The Body of Christ”. It is a revolting joke of our Lord. But we can make a difference, that’s why I’m sending this e-mail to all of you. Could you, please, add your name to this e-mail’s list’s end? If you do so, together we may be able to ban this movie from being shown in America . Apparently, some regions from Europe have banned the movie already. All we need is a lot of signatures! Remember, Jesus said: “That he who denies Me before men, I will also deny Him before my Father which is in heaven.” Please, do not simply forward, put your name at the end of the list and send to all your contacts. When...

An interview by Boing Boing . Combing the three types makes a good speaker: • Inspirational/Motivational • Advocates for a cause • Informational speaker www.whooshboomsplat.net for a cute video about the book.

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... This notion is prevalent in feminist theology, particularly in the work of Mary Daly, who first suggested that the words we use to speak about God shape the way we experience and understand God. That’s why, she argues, it’s important to be aware of gendered language when speaking of the divine. If we always describe God as “he” and, more specifically, as “God the Father,” we will close ourselves off to the whole, full, range of ways in which we can experience God. We limit the divine power in our lives, and, too, in the lives of others, by suggesting that the only way to know God is as “He,” the father. Language, she famously writes, functions. The Grand Sweep: A Marriage, Observed and Magic Words Maybe the reason why the world sucks is because we need to take God onto the moors and let 'him' off the leash. ... Cinnamon Gurl sparked this off. Thanks. Each week the Flashback Friday: Feminist Edition will feature a ...

Notes from an interview he did with Boing Boing . • renewed interest in Tim Leary and the use of psychedelics for spiritual discovery • you now get psychedelic fundamentalists • new things that get discovered have to be evangelized because we have access to share-technology • Hegelian dialectic - combative/oppositional has had it's day - we must engage with knowledge/our opposers. Find alternative ways of understanding and applying experiences. • Reality is an open-source proposition and are up for discussion, they are not laws - this is the basic thing he thinks he is writing about in all his media. We still have the opportunity to engage in mankind's next renaissance - as programmers of it. • Bible as comic book - people inside the panel -gods outside the panel. When the gods reach into the panel they show up as a burning bush. Added modern storyline. Modern echoes to the echoes of the Bible stories. Daily, modern relevance - God tells us not to sacrifice our children t...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions... It's statistically normal for kids to have sex from age 12. Does that make it desirable? Safe? Emotionally fulfilling? Irrelevant. No matter what we think of sex at 12, kids are still having it. Honestly, do you think that anything we do or say will stop it? If we know there are condoms in the ablution block, being dispensed for free (knowledge) does that mean we have to run out there and have sex (permissiveness). Or is permissiveness what it is - giving ourselves permission. Is sex voluntary for boys at 12? Is sex voluntary for girls at 12? Even if these two questions illustrate how you think about permissiveness - that for boys it's permission, and for girls it's coercion or sluttishness, they are still doing it. It doesn't matter what you think. It's irrelevant what you think. Should we return to a repressive Victorian society? If we never see breasts, it's titillating to see them when we do. If we see ...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... (Note: I use the word 'brand' in the James Dean/Rebel without a cause/Giant/Cowboys and cattle sense - the poke of fire that tells you which big boss you belong to.) My sister never had to brand herself. She never had to go to Mommy and Daddy and say, "You know Mom and Dad, I am a heterosexual." Consequently, I never felt like I had to go to Mommy and Daddy and say, "You know Mom and Dad, I am a homosexual." To Mommy and Daddy's credit, when it came to a physically abusive homosexual relationship, they kept their focus on the violence. That spoke volumes. Violence is worrisome. Nobody walks up to me and says, "Hello I am heterosexual". Why would I walk up to them and say, "Hello I am homosexual." Of course, if they say something to me like, "Gee guys would love to run their hands through your hair." I should be able to say, "Errh I would really prefer if girls wou...

Churn Without Judgment . If you stress about the quality of work you are outputting, then the flow will be cut off. Writers block is a symptom of perfectionism. Churn first, judge later. Idea Breeding . Use past ideas to generate new ideas. I’ve written close to 500 articles in the past two years. If I ever get stuck, all I need to do is search through past articles. Almost always they leave unanswered questions that can be tackled with a new article. Creative Input . Feed your brain with books. I read about 50-70 books a year. The most creative people I know can read over a 100. By devouring knowledge you add to the variety of ideas you can produce. Be Patient . It can take awhile for your brain to get into the right flow. I can write 1500 words in an hour when I’m in the right mental state. But that state often requires waiting through twenty minutes where I type no more than a sentence. Take the time to accelerate your creative flow. Use Large Time Chunks . Since it takes time t...

Flashback Friday, a column on feminist notions ... Working with large groups of guys and large groups of girls I have noticed that with girls the relationships interfere, with guys relationships don't interfere. With guys it is about the work. Guys might go out and drink a beer together, but they remain work colleagues, now drinking buddies. Guys don't think that it means more, they don't think it means that now they are friends - in any case the word 'friends' to a guy is a totally different word than 'friends' to a girl. In fact, I think there can be no emotional displays of any kind between men, and then, after 20 years, they sit down and are astounded that they are 'good friends'. Guys don't need emotional displays. They get the work done. They don't have to drink together to get the work done. They don't have to NOT drink together to get the work done. With girls it's different. The drinking or NOT defines the work. That...