March 9th, 2016 → 5:15 am
“The world is still deceived with ornament.” – Merchant of Venice
In celebration of International Women’s Day yesterday, Kim Kardashian posted a nude photo of herself on Instagram. I’m not sure how to respond. I’m glad she loves her body, sure, but doesn’t she have anything else to offer the world? I’m sick of women focusing so much on their looks; it’s just such the wrong message about what’s important. What about your mind Kim?????
March 4th, 2016 → 5:34 am
“A woman is a dish for the gods.” – Antony and Cleopatra
I guess March is Women’s History Month. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that March was supposed to be a celebration of women’s history; it certainly doesn’t get much play. Anyhow, in honor of this, I tried to find an applicable quote from Shakespeare, but it was hard! Shakespeare has a ton of quotes about women, of course, but most of them are actually rather degrading. Even the one chosen above is sort of degrading. I’d rather women be less a dish for the gods, then an admired member of human kind. It’s 2016 already – let’s focus on women’s minds and not their looks please!
February 29th, 2016 → 6:14 am
“What’s past is prologue.” – The Tempest
It’s the last day of Black History Month. And, looking back, it’s been a rocky month. A highlight, however, was the “Hope” episode of Black-ish. So brave the way the writers tackled police brutality and racism, in a situation comedy. As Shakespeare notes, the past does, of course, shape the future, but at least it isn’t a carbon copy.
February 25th, 2016 → 6:16 am
“We are but warriors for the working day;
Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirched
With rainy marching in the painful field.” – Henry V
It was a snow day here in St. Louis yesterday, and the whole family stayed inside playing games and watching movies. Now, alas, it is back to work…through wet, sluggish fields.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
February 21st, 2016 → 6:37 am
Rosalind: “Not true in love?”
Celia: “Yes, when he is in, but I think he is not in.” As You Like It
I didn’t blog about Valentine’s Day, but here’s an entertaining after Valentine’s Day post. Apparently Goodwill stores in Florida and Nevada have a campaign going about exs that break up with you on Valentine’s Day – Don’t Hate (them), Donate (their stuff)! I love the image of hundreds of jilted women (and men) throwing insensitive ex-lover’s stuff in boxes and giving them away to charity.
February 10th, 2016 → 5:09 am
“The air bites shrewdly, it is very cold.” – Hamlet
I get much of my inspiration regarding what to blog about from reading the newspaper and keeping up with current events. But these days, all you can read about are the U.S. presidential primaries! It’s as if the entire rest of the world has disappeared! So I have no real inspiration for what to blog about this morning. I’ll instead focus on the cold winter weather. It snowed yesterday and my poor son woke up insisting that it meant he could stay home from school. I had to explain to him that just because there was new snow on the ground, that didn’t automatically mean there was no school. I’m not sure he ever really got over the disappointment of having to get up out of his warm bed and face the day…
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians & Self/My Life
February 3rd, 2016 → 5:10 am
“Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
I work at the University of Missouri, and this morning there was an interesting article in the New York Times about diversity training on the Columbia campus. We have an uphill climb, my friends. Sigh. But I am determined to remain optimistic. I insist on believing that we will reach our potential as a nation one day and that race relations will improve to the point where diversity actually equals inclusion. I have to believe that. Gazing at my son every morning would be impossible if I didn’t.
Happy Black History month, btw.
January 25th, 2016 → 5:36 am
“When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipped, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.” – Love’s Labor’s Lost
Ahhhhh, this winter weather. Might as well sing a little ditty as you try to keep warm.
(Note: Dick is blowing on his nails to keep warm. And the “parson’s saw” is a sermon.)
January 19th, 2016 → 5:08 am
“Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end.” – Sonnet 60
Classes start again at the university and winter vacation is most certainly at an end (really, it was over for me weeks earlier when I attended a conference in San Francisco, but still). It is amazing how fast time can fly. The good news is, the blog posts are back!