Cold Spaghetti

Trying to grasp the scope of the bailout?  Here it is, plain and simple.  There’s even a black and white if you want it clarified on that level.

With a hat tip to Liprap, who made my day by posting this.

Just in case my words weren’t convincing, take a look at the women who know her best.  This little conceived ‘over coffee’ rally drew a state record for turnout.

I love this eloquent post about the multiple tragedies of 9-11.

I recently read Three Cups of Tea, the story of Greg Mortenson and his years of working in remote Pakistan and Afghanistan, building schools for some of the most impoverished children in the world.  As a professional in the field of health and development, I was struck by the innocence with which Mr. Mortenson approached the monumental challenges inherent in this field with little support and no training; naively equipped with only respect and kindness in his heart.  Part of the importance of the book is that it clearly demonstrates how the impoverished are easy targets for extremists, who offer free education, housing, and meals to people faced with no other life-sustaining options.  In the area of the world forgotten by American aid and blanketed with US bombs, Greg Mortenson helps communities build schools and provides possibly the only light of American kindness seen by these people.  The book passionately describes the beauty of the land, the people, and the compassion within of each community.  It gives example after example of how, no matter the differences in our cultures or religions, we all want the same opportunities and happiness for our loved ones.

In that spirit, I encourage anyone who wants to honor the anniversary of 9-11 to visit the Central Asia Institute’s website, read about how their programs fight terrorism in it’s root causes, and make a tax deductible donation to this wonderful nonprofit.

UPDATE: This post was named a JUST POST for September 2008.  (Thank you, Alejna!)

By the fourth semester of teaching the same college-level Women’s Health course, there were few surprises. But then, in that last term, during the session on reproductive health, our faculty lecturer asked the crowd a question she’d asked every class: “what is the most common form of birth control?”

Usually there would be murmurs of ‘condoms’ ‘IUDs’ and ‘birth control pills’ from the crowd. In three terms, we’d never heard anyone give the correct answer (sterilization). But that last semester, we were all shocked when the crowd of 300 students filled the lecture hall with a single answer: “ABSTINENCE!”

Holy crap. The other GSIs, the lecturer, and I all exchanged surprised and frightened looks. We realized in that moment that the generation deprived of sex education was hitting college-age and the impact of just what that meant had a chilling potential. (Coincidentally, this was also the term when one of my freshman students came to office hours after the anatomy and physiology lecture and shyly asked, “So, women have, like, three holes, right?”)

Maybe those experiences were my hint that American people are really, incredibly, and undeniably in the dark. That our nearly 30 years of conservative governance chipping away at the building blocks for solid, healthy lives and quality education have grown a populace too under-educated, too tired, and too sick to make good choices. This is my only answer for why anyone in their right mind could think Sarah Palin is a good choice for Vice President of our country.

I do not want to give the Governor a hard time because I honestly feel badly for her.  She was thrust out of her small town responsibilities and into an arena she is no where near being experienced, educated, or informed enough to handle.  She is not there because of any political credentials or successes.  The McCain campaign, by choosing her, exposed their own prejudices and misogyny inherent in the radical right agenda; they did not look within their party to the successful, experienced women who are known to be among the more moderate on their side of isle (Olympia Snowe? Kay Bailey Hutchinson?)  Instead, they are giving us what we voted in 8 years ago… an unknown, religious fundamentalist, junior legislator with little experience and completely unprepared for the office of President.   They chose a woman directly to speak to Clinton supporters, yet with none of the qualities Hilary brought to her candidacy. (And speaking of Clinton, whoa, Palin seriously owes her some major props for more than a year of tough campaigning and door opening, without which the Palin nomination would never have been possible.)

All I can think of when I see Palin and hear the school-boy love gushing by those conservative dough–boys is how the McCain camp picked the only kind of woman they can support: one that they can fantasize about. Whether it is the sexy-librarian, the hot-for-teacher, or the superior officer fetish (you remember that one, Jack Nicholson relays it in ‘A Few Good Men’ – line about half way through the clip), Palin brings that sex appeal to the race.  Guys and girls alike have no problem dismissing the ugly girl. But when a pretty girl comes along and asks for something, guys have a hard time not obeying her every word. And girls, well, we can sometimes have a hard time not following that same siren call; we were indoctrinated through years of watching 90210.

Steinem called her “Phyllis Schlafly, only younger”.  I think she’s worse.  She fills the conservative analysts’ favorite seat, the one that was Paglia’s and then Coulter’s, that of the anti-feminist feminist.  With Palin, McCain’s camp can twist feminism as a buzz word, invoking all sorts of archetypal favorites: The Mother, The Tough Cookie, The Small-town Hero, and make theirs a campaign about butterflies and rainbows and sit-by-the-fire family stories.  Anything to avoid attention on what the campaign should be about: issues.

Please, my fellow country men and women, please please please help me believe that we, as a nation, are smarter than this.  That we will not put another fundamentalist into office.  That the next executive branch will not include a creationist who denies global warming and encourages the burning of more fossil fuels.  I need to believe that we are better than this, that we can elect leaders who stand out and represent the best of what this great nation has to give.

UPDATE: This post was named a JUST POST for September 2008.  (Thank you, Alejna!)

She was one of the only freshman in my class; confident, questioning, and thoughtful.  Her ability to absorb relatively complex ideas about gender, race, and class and fit them into her own experiences was impressive.  Particularly because, although she had graduated at the top of her high school class, her writing ability was no higher than a middle school level.  Her thoughtful reading of course materials, persistence in attending office hours for extra help, and astute questioning of everything around her gave her an air of innocence and intelligence; making it clear that any shortcomings in her writing was not because she hadn’t learned it, but because it had never been taught.

Of the many anecdotes I gathered from her, this one is the one that has stuck with me for years.  She described playing in the band in her Detroit High School, something she loved.  She never really noticed that the instruments were dull and dented, or felt it was strange that students had to take turns bringing instruments home for practice.  The fact that they wore matching clothes rather than actual uniforms didn’t really occur to her.  What she loved was the camaraderie of the group and the chance to be proud of what they played together.  She was thrilled when they were offered the chance to compete at a State-wide competition.

Then they arrived at the competition.  She saw the new instruments, fancy uniforms, and huge numbers of students from schools not too far from her own.  When she saw the tremendous differences between her school, of which she was so proud, and the other schools, she realized, ‘we weren’t suppose to be there.’  She understood that the unspoken message to her and her classmates was that this competition was not for them; they were not as a prepared, not as polished, and ultimately, not going to be a serious participant.  I remember her talking through that memory, struggling with the complex feelings of pride for the opportunity, confusion at the differences that were so apparent, and frustration over what to do or how to feel about it.

Without taking away from the acheivements of any athlete, I find it hard to watch the Olympics and not have her story foremost in my mind.

UPDATE: This post was named a JUST POST for August 2008.  (Thank you!)

Latinola has a link to an editorial in the T-P regarding pending legislation in Louisiana regarding immigrants. (Have I mentioned how much I love the colors of Latinola´s website?)

I´ve taken the time to write local officials and hope others will, too. Here is some information…

Listed below are all the immigration bills, plus one resolution that have been filed:

Ø HB 1357 by Rep. Geymann (District 35, Lake Charles) creates the crime of harboring, concealing, or sheltering an alien. (passed House floor waiting to be heard by Senate Committee)

Ø HB 1358 by Rep. Geymann (District 35, Lake Charles) creates crime of unlawful transportation of an illegal alien. (passed House floor waiting to be heard by Senate Committee)

Ø HB 25 by Rep. Geymann (District 35, Lake Charles) requires police officers to verify citizenship of every person they arrest. (passed House floor waiting to be heard by Senate Committee)

Ø HB 1365 by Rep. Burns (District 89, Mandeville) requires that landlords verify legal status of aliens (passed Committee waiting to be heard on House Floor)

We leave early tomorrow for Sacred Valley.

This email is from my friend Leigh Ann, who has been working for the CDC and conducting her dissertation research in Zanzibar over the last year. If you have shoes you’d like to donate, contact me (coldspaghetti (at) gmail (dot) com) and I’ll pass on Leigh Ann’s information.

UPDATE: If you’ve got any soccer cleats, these would be like solid gold. THANKS!

Greetings Friends,

In every country where I work, I pick one local cause to support. I wait for an on the ground sort of outfit that you wouldn’t know about unless you were there to find me. One always does.

In Zanzibar, my cause is the women’s soccer team ‘Women Fighters.’
I first heard about them from one of my Researchers who is a founding member of the team. Then they were featured at the Zanzibar International Film Festival in a film called “Zanzibar Soccer Queens”.

After I saw the film, I was hooked! These women are infectious with their love of the game despite the social and cultural barriers to women being athletes in even a fairly progressive Muslim context. They face all the protests and admonitions you’d expect from everyone including husbands, brothers, religious leaders, etc. And yet the Women Fighters play on.

Once I watched the film, I asked my Researcher to introduce me to the team.
I’ve since practiced with them which involves simultaneously embarrassing myself and laughing loudly and often. I’ve also helped out the team a bit by getting equipment to them. In November when my family came out, they divided up 60 pounds of gear donated from my friends at Wake Forest University and carried it out. It was like kids at Christmas to see the team open the bags of gear!

Now as I’m getting read to visit Zanzibar again, I’m writing to ask you if have any running/athletic or soccer shoes in women’s sizes which you could donate. These shoes can be worn. When I’ve practiced with the team, they have fewer pairs of shoes than players. When a player subs-in, she switches shoes with a player who’s leaving the field. Shoes are the one thing the team asked me bring when I visit them next.

If you have shoes, please get in touch with me via email or phone. I leave for Zanzibar on May 6th so I will need to collect shoes this week. I’m hoping to get a dozen or so pair of shoes. I’m traveling on my own this trip so I won’t be able to share luggage weight rations with other travelers.

Asante sana~ (thanks in Swahili)
LAM

This link is to a website about the film.
Warda is one of my favorite characters from the film & on the field. This girl’s got game! She shows up for practice dressed like the shot on the left. Then she strips down to shorts & a t-shirt to run around.

http://www.zanzibarsoccerqueens.com/characters.html

WARDA KHALID, 20, [Midfield] gets support from her mother who
clearly sees a connection between sports and women’s development.
WARDA is determined to gain employment before getting married, as
this will prevent her future husband from oppressing her. She hopes to
gain employment through playing football and also aspires to play
abroad. “My aspiration is to become a good footballer. I would also like
to visit other countries. I don’t want just to be stuck here in Maissara.”

I just read Schroeder’s interesting post about climate change (well, really, it’s about an endorsement, but there is a lot of good stuff in there with it). He excellently shows cool graphs about spring onset and other global climate-related data. What I found interesting was the reference to China, specifically, that “China [is] on a course to match the entire world’s carbon output by 2050” and another, in a graph, related to China’s need for coal, which is suppose to match that of the remaining world totaled by 2030.

In Reproductive Health and Population Studies (all areas of focus for us Global Health folk) we talk about China quite a bit. One of the issues that is raised involves the great global hand-smacking we laid on China for it’s “One Child Policy,” where Chinese families’ reproductive rights are limited by law: couples register for permission to have a child and pay steep fines if they have more than the allocated One Child. Interestingly, I’ve not met many from China who have had much of a problem with this policy… that they are willing to share, at least. While I am not advocating a limit on anyone’s reproductive rights, ever, there is an undercurrent of a whisper among the demographer and population studies circles of the world that is sort of like the elephant in the room whenever China is discussed. It goes something like this: “we can’t support the policy, but thank goodness they did it…because imagine what we would be facing if they didn’t.“

In the face of all the current discussion on global warming, and the continued discussion that should rightfully occur, China is a particularly interesting subject.