fear the beaver

this week kicked my ass and I'm not ashamed to say it. typically school doesnt really do it for me. yes i go to a nice swanky women's college that cost almost as much as my father makes in a year, but its actually really rare that i feel like i'm being pushed to grow both academically and emotionally. does that mean i'm full of myself? more than likely. the point though is that this week did that for me. which might have everything to do with this being the extreme version of school, since two weeks were rolled into one with the added joy of sleep deprivation and weird unresolved emotional issues about almost losing my father. (speaking of which he's out of the hospital and doing well).

Its interesting because i feel like i've really grown in a very short period of time, and that I may be growing out of some things that I never thought I would grow out of. and it all started with a typical tuesday umass class that just pissed me off enough to remind me why i hate bush and right wing politics and why i cant be around people who choose to live their lives in complete ignorance. The next day i managed to get my econ class to talk about hermaphordites, and to talk about them not as freaks but as people whose bodies dont conform to what we think is "natural" and that it simply means that we have to expand what we consider to be "normal." Then i had a conversation with someone who actually said to me that condoms dont protect against HIV. That was just scary.

Most importantly what I learned this week was that silence doesnt help anyone. Because silence is the same thing as consent and agreement. It only breeds shame and no one should be ashamed not even those who dress is bunny suits to get sexual sulfillment. Good for them for being in touch with their sexuality, some people never are and thats a greater loss.

Here are a few links for y'all:
* This is just blatant racism. The fact that this ran in a national magazine is just ridiculous.

*The april fools site from the lovely and amazing folks of planned parenthood.

*The last of my very favorite series of "I did it for science."