August | 2009 | voxygen.net

From the monthly archives: August 2009

Into the blue again – A new semester again

By ~LS~ On August 18, 2009 · Add Comment · In I have to work? and tagged Tagged With: Baton Rouge, BRCC, Gratitudes, Louisiana

The fall semester has started again. I am less enthusiastic than I have been in previous school years and I am not sure why. I did have a great first meeting with all my classes, so that has picked up my spirits.

One thing I have noticed this semester is the increased number of hispanic students in my classes, a reflection of the changing demographics of Baton Rouge. I wonder what the 2010 census will reveal about BR. One of the things I love about BRCC is its diversity. At least on sight, it is ten times more diverse than LSU. I notice many more students in wheelchairs, for instance. I suspect that this is because of two things: 1. BRCC is a much more wheel-chair accessible campus because it’s new and 2. there are many students at BRCC on the GI bill. This is just a speculation though. I [...]

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The End of an Era – Deaths this year

By ~LS~ On August 7, 2009 · 1 Comment · In Pop Culture and tagged Tagged With: Age, Generations, Pop Culture

With the recent deaths of many of my childhood icons — Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite, Ed McMahon, John Hughes, Bea Arthur – I got to thinking about the famous people who died this year. I remember growing up and watching the Oscars segment honoring those who the industry lost during the year. It seems like there’s more celebrity deaths this year than ever before. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say I’m now old enough to recognize the famous people who are dying.

Curiously, Wikipedia keeps track of the deaths of “important” or famous people by month and year. I looked over the list for this year and I was amazed at how many Hollywood people I recognized. Some fascinating people died this year. I suppose they do every year, but this is the first time I ever took notice. I also noticed that there were great losses [...]

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Back in the Stirrups Again — My visit to the Gynecologist

By ~LS~ On August 7, 2009 · 4 Comments · In Feminism and tagged Tagged With: Fashion/beauty, Feminism, Gender

Today I visited the gynecologist’s office for my annual exam. The visit reminded me intimately of why I’m a feminist and why feminism is still necessary today. Times have changed since the emergence of the women’s health movement in the 1960s (see Into Our Own Hands by Sandra Morgen) and since I read Mary Daly’s Gyn/ecology years ago and studied the early versions of the Boston Women’s Health Collective’s Our Bodies, Ourselves.

Or, perhaps not.

Setting aside the profoundly political and complex issues of women’s reproductive freedom and the medicalization of women’s bodies and women’s health that remains prevalent in our culture, I can only marvel at how my visit was utterly..well…disheartening.

I waited an hour in the waiting room, resentful about the McDonaldization of the gynecologist’s office. But that’s a fact of our health care system. We might grumble about it, but

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Into the blue again – Summer is almost over

By ~LS~ On August 6, 2009 · Add Comment · In The Quotidian (yadda yadda) and tagged Tagged With: Goals

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Food, Inc.

By ~LS~ On August 5, 2009 · Add Comment · In Capitalism, Pop Culture and tagged Tagged With: Capitalism, Consumption, Food Politics, Movies

In Tampa last week, I saw the movie “Food, Inc.” at the Tampa Theatre. The film made me feel sick to my stomach. After seeing it, I don’t want to eat anything ever again. Sort of like I don’t want to /buy/ anything ever again. Of course, I -will- eat, and I -will- shop, but I’m guilt-ridden about it. Food, Inc., was produced by Eric Schlosser, of Fast Food Nation fame. The film is about corporate farming, the food industry, and its effects on animals, humans, and then environment. I learned some harrowing things about the food industry by watching this film. For instance,

1. Farmers no longer own their seeds. Seeds are now intellectual property owned by genetic engineering corporations. Farmers who do not use corporate seeds can be sued if any genetically engineered seeds end up in their crops. Seeds [...]

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Page 2 of 2«12

Into the blue again – A new semester again

The End of an Era – Deaths this year

Back in the Stirrups Again — My visit to the Gynecologist

Into the blue again – Summer is almost over

Food, Inc.

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Into the blue again – A new semester again

The End of an Era – Deaths this year

Back in the Stirrups Again — My visit to the Gynecologist

Into the blue again – Summer is almost over

Food, Inc.

Categories

Archives

Tags

Blogroll

Recent Posts

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Meta

Catch me if you can!