I apologize for posts being so sparse during the last week or so. I went to a Halloween party and instead of waking up the next morning with a hangover, I woke up with the flu! Oh man it was gross: achy, vomit, blasting headaches, 15 hours of sleep a day interrupted by trips to the bathroom, sips of Echinacea tea. Living under wooly blankets, watching terrible movies, pawing away dogs that were starved for attention, subsisting on bread and soup….I don’t remember the last time I was that sick.

I’m almost back to 100% now. Things are looking up. Now I have piles and piles of papers to grade on a Halloween night, interrupted by trick or treaters, and perhaps a zombie movie. Speaking of which, I saw 30 Days of Night last night in celebration of solid bowels. More than one person (albeit unreliable film opinions) told me that this movie was great. Horrible! The end didn’t make a lick of sense. It doesn’t do the graphic novel any justice.

The Noise is out. I’m in it. You should read it. For the December issue, I’m looking at animal rights issues, particularly exposing NAU’s animal testing. Before I lie to them so they’ll talk to me, I wanted to ask if anyone knows any information or particular people I should speak to about this. That would rock my world.

This is great….except the line where science and progress is held in such high regard. If we change our understanding of “progress” to one that actually serves the majority of people and nonhumans on this planet, Charlie is very inspiring here.

Charlie Chaplain – Amazing Speech – video powered by Metacafe

Last month I wrote about a B-52 bomber that accidentally mounted 6 nuclear warheads and flew across the country. Though my initial post sparked some controversy, digressing into a conversation about the existence of nuclear weapons, I still think the missing nuclear weapons was irresponsible and, frankly, scary.

I was happy to read yesterday, “The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after.” Infact:

Three colonels, a lieutenant colonel and 66 other personnel were punished following the incident at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, on 29 August.

“In the countless times our dedicated airmen have transferred weapons in our nation’s arsenal, nothing like this has ever occurred,” the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations said.
Gen Newton said the “unprecedented string of procedural errors” had begun with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded onto the wing of the B-52 at Minot.

“We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken.”

In my book, “proper corrective action” would be to disarm all nuclear weapons, as there existence is unacceptable. Kill the precedent. Nobody should have nuclear weapons.

About a year ago, I realized that I often use the word “girl” when I really mean “woman.” Ever since I realized I was doing that, I’ve recognized it every where I go. Everyone, it seems does this and I’m curious as to what that means.

Once upon a time, men were boys and women were girls. Once I reached a certain age, I wasn’t a boy, but a man—or more regularly, a “guy.” But in the way we continued to speak of the opposite sex, the girls stayed “girls.”

What is the female equivalent to “guy?” Lady? Who says that? “Lady” goes with “gentleman” and nobody says that unless they’re addressing a crowd. And even then, nobody really means it. I’m 27; the girls my age aren’t girls, they’re women. Still, they’re referred to as girls, even though I’m referred to as a man or a guy. Nobody would call me a boy, so I don’t understand why, in the great age of equality (at least ideologically) and political correctness, we still call women, girls.

I’ve been interested in dating again, but I don’t want to date a girl, I want to date a woman. If someone asks me if I’m dating a girl, it makes me feel creepy, like I’m trying to be with a 14 year old or something.

This might seem like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, at first I thought I was doing just that. But language is important and meaningful and the impact of language is always underestimated. Our world is shaped by the language we use to describe it. Our identities are shaped around the words we use to describe ourselves and what we do.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a student say, “That’s gay” in class, to which I always immediately address: “is that an appropriate way to describe this topic? What is homosexual about the issue of water usage in Arizona?” They always say that they didn’t mean “gay” literally and of course they didn’t.

Our culture is notorious for using language in a way that produces a disconnect between what we say and what we actually mean. This also helps to produce a similar disconnection between our ideologies and our actions. We’re not deforesting, of course (who wants that?), instead we’re “developing natural resources.” We can buy all the “green” products we want, but that doesn’t realistically mean we’re doing anything positive for our environment. The Bush Admin is fantastic at this. Lets forget that the “clear skies act” allows for more air pollution, that the “healthy forests initiative” results in increased deforestation, that the “no child left behind act” does nothing to address individual needs, cuts funding from schools that need it the most, and that every teacher I know hates this with a passion.

So if we use the word “girl” to describe women, what are the implications of this? Why do we do it? What are we hiding?

This is so rad. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. High fives to Klee, Crystal, and everyone else for making this happen. I’m going to try to get down there this weekend to help out and I’m going to volunteer as much as possible. Let me know if you want to ride there with me and help out.
I know they’ve been ordering books from AK Press, and they’re giving them like 40% off. They’re phenomenal to work with… 

When: Thursday, October 25th
6:00 pm – 9:30 pmWhere: