Jared Diamond tonight!

Wow, that snuck up on me! (I was convinced it was the 15th of this month, not the 1st. Oops!)

Event details -- doesn't look like any preregistration is required, and it appears to be free and open to the public. -- I don't pay attention so good sometimes... There's a "register" option on the sidebar; it's free, and I went ahead and registered for four people without a problem. Anyone else want to come? I know musicalchaos and I are definitely planning on being there. bec76? zodarzone? Other local folks?

At present, assuming no problems with the registration I filed (no confirmation email yet), we have two extra reservations, and it doesn't seem like it'd be a problem to get more they're now listing as sold out.

Also fun... (especially for bec76)

"Wallace and Gromit" creator Nick Park talks about his Oscar nomination, nutty inventions and jokes that Yanks don't get.

If South Dakota is scaring the hell out of you...

Do please read Misia's excellent post, and the link therein

I have such incredibly mixed feelings about all of this. Obviously, anger that this even needs to be discussed as a realistic possibility. Lots of anger. However, from a educator standpoint, I'm big on people knowing and understanding procedures anyway, and very, very big on freedom of information, and the dissemination of accurate information. And I, personally, especially want to have all the info I possibly can. Pursuing nursing school is partly about that. But it's a very weird brain-twist to be working with the legal abortion side of things (for newcomers, I volunteer as a parking-lot escort at one of our local clinics, and it's an amazing, fabulous place), where we're so aware of how important access is, in order to help prevent back-alley abortions and the health risks involved, and at the same time, be thinking forward to a time when I might be involved in (hopefully the best-case scenarios of) illegal abortion. The last thing in the world I would want is to be well-intentioned but dangerous. The second-to-last would be to be well-intentioned but useless. *sigh* Right now, though, I think it's definitely time to "prepare for the worst, and hope for the best".

( part of this post turned into a ramble about my views on medical privilege )

I wish I were surprised

Wow, we flunk Civics class (pdf, link ganked from bradhicks)

The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum did a phone survey. Of 1000 adults, asked "What are the freedoms that are guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?"

Correctly identified:
Freedom of Speech: 69%
Freedom of Religion: 24%
Freedom of the Press: 11%
Freedom of Assembly: 10%
Freedom to Petition for Redress of Grievances: 1%

While I'll accept that failing to identify these rights as being part of the 1st Amendment doesn't necessarily mean people don't know they have these rights (they may believe they're in another amendment or law, for example), it certainly implies that a large percentage may be unclear as to their own rights in this regard. Which is depressing. And scary.

A Great Woman

An obituary for Octavia Butler

I realize this happened a few days ago, and this is the first I'm writing about it. Mostly, I was really puzzled by various conflicting reports of stroke vs fall, and was seeing it mentioned in enough places that I figured I'd wait 'til I had time to write something a bit more. And, although I'm very sad that we've lost her, especially at such a young age, most of this post is going to be random memories of my life that her loss reminds me of.

I was lucky enough to spend a bit of one-on-one time with Octavia Butler six or seven years ago, and it all goes back to one of the major factors in my decision to attend Kenyon to begin with.

The first reason I looked at Kenyon was Bishop Mayson. He and Bishop Gordon, in our diocese, were like surrogate grandfathers to me. When he found out I was college-hunting, he came into my Dad's office, and danced around in his full robes, singing one of the sillier Kenyon songs (which has lines not included in the version at the link). I had to check it out. When I started researching it, even before I visited and fell in love with the locale, I discovered the Best Possible Thing! A feminist sci-fi author and biologist specializing in genetics! That was like finding rainbows with candy sprinkles and a bow on top, and was certainly a factor in my college choice. Now, if I'm being completely honest here, I have to say she wasn't quite what I expected, and also, ironically, I didn't end up being a bio major anyway, but she and I connected on shared love of SF and genetics, and were always friendly -- I spent a while babysitting for her boys pretty regularly, actually. When she convinced the Powers That Be to invite Octavia Butler to speak (I think at Baccalaureate, but I'm not positive), she contacted me (I was working for the college at that point), and asked if I'd be Octavia's guide around campus. Um, Yes!! I was a very big fan of her Xenogenesis series, and mostly worried about making an idiot of myself, but she was wonderful company. I was auditing a class on the Anthropology of Medicine, and the prof's area of expertise was Africa, so that was our main conversation topic. I remember her as quiet, and dignified, and fascinating, and deeply, deeply impressive. I'm very glad I got the brief opportunity I did to spend time with her.