An article about Internet Addiction from CNN.com asserts that internet addiction is a fact, but it struggles to do so, since there is no real evidence to suggest this is true. The term they use is “clinically addictive.” The article states: Red flags should start flying, however, if time spent vanquishing electronic enemies or keeping up on e-mail results in reprimands from your employer and arguments with loved ones. Which is true for anything. What is addiction, exactly? Addicts can be addicted to anything, whether it is the internet, or television, or anything else. At least the article admits this much. You’d think that, afterRead More →

Today I am grateful for 1. My fireplace (brrrr). 2. My job that gives me a long relaxing break every Christmas (Zzzzz). 3. My car that keeps me warm when it is wet and rainy outside and I need to go to the store (Vrrooom). ∞

From Human Events, the national conservative weekly since 1944, comes an article called Running Against the Right Hillary. In one of the most bizarre perceptions of Hillary that I’ve ever read, this article divides Hillary into two candidates: The senator, who the author believes will be easy to beat, and the media darling first lady, who the author believes will be impossible to beat. If we run against Hillary Clinton as the former first lady, if we run against her as the wife of Bill Clinton, if we run against the cherished darling of the media who spent eight years all but canonizing her asRead More →

A long time ago (by hand, not by blog) I used to keep a gratitude journal based on the book Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ben Breathnach. Although the book has some issues and problems, I really love the author’s idea of a gratitude journal.  I am going to incorporate a list of three things that I’m grateful for into my blog. Three Things I am Grateful for Today: 1. My job. 2. The smell of my Christmas tree. 3. The internet for facilitating my re-acquaintance with my high school best friend from over 20 years ago. OMFG. ∞

I’ve been doing some thinking about what it means to teach at a community college compared to university teaching, which is hard to do without any experience there yet. I can make some predictions since I know the populations/demographics. This gem made me reflect: Feminist Pedagogy in Community Colleges Because of the pressures and external commitments of students at the two-year college, unless these same students are able to apprehend the course material and see its relevance early in the semester, they may become discouraged and either withdraw from the course or from school altogether. This makes me think I need to get on theRead More →

Watch this. It’s Michelle Malkin’s response to Rosie’s “Ching Chong Chinese” on The View, which I posted about a while back. Ok, Ok, I know it’s Michelle Malkin, but it makes a great point. Of course, when you do something racist like Rosie did, you leave yourself open to this kind of valid response. It’s unfortunate that Rosie is fodder for someone in the right wing like Michelle. Just because Malkin is ultra-conservative, doesn’t mean she cannot launch these criticisms. I hate when this kind of thing happens, because it means people like Malkin can accuse you of hypocrisy. That just sucks.

Senator Barack Obama has been a media darling since at least August. And the right wing is already starting its smear campaign against him. Much has been made of his middle name, “Hussein.” (See Wonkette.) I saw him on C-SPAN addressing voters in New Hampshire, where the press asked him if his middle name would be a problem in a presidential campaign. His response was pretty savvy, I thought. He said something to the effect of “Anyone who sees my name as a strike against me already has so many other strikes against me that it’s a moot point.” (No, this is not an exactRead More →