My three sisters are sitting
on rocks of black obsidian.
For the first time, in this light, I can see who they are.
My first sister is sewing her costume for the procession.
She is going as the Transparent lady
and all her nerves will be visible.
My second sister is also sewing,
at the seam over her heart which has never healed entirely,
At last, she hopes, this tightness in her chest will ease.
My third sister is gazing
at a dark-red crust spreading westward far out on the sea.
Her stockings are torn but she is beautiful.
Today at 4 p.m. in the Henke Lounge of the AMU, Donna K. Hollenberg of the University of Connecticut will be giving a presentation on Denise Leventov ‘s ambivalence about feminist poetry, with reference to biographical context and interpretive possibilities .
Also, this is happening. Tonight, at from 6-8 p.the Diversity Comission’s At the Intersection program is hosting a discussion on religion and sexuality:
At the Intersection is a series of discussions that explores the conflicts that can arise in our everyday lives. This month’s event, “At the Intersection: Sexuality and Religion” is a dinner and a dialogue that explores the relationship between these two topics.
Food will be served and the event will be conversation and reflection driven. So bring your questions and we’ll see you at the intersection!
Finally, I read the Newsbriefs so you don’t have to:
The Department of Philosophy’s Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy Workshop will feature Ahmad Fuad Rahmat, a graduate student in philosophy, presenting “Globalizing Feminist Ethics: A Critique,” Monday, Oct. 19, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Coughlin 139.
Rahmat’s paper focuses on the challenge to formulate a feminist approach for multicultural dialogue in a globalized world. The presentation is open to the entire Marquette community.
And
Teresa Collett, professor of law and a fellow in the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership at University of Saint Thomas Law School, will present “International Law and Women’s Health” Monday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in AMU 227. The presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
The program is sponsored by the College of Nursing and Law School.
I give back to the earth what the earth gave,
All to the furrow, none to the grave,
The candle’s out, the spirit’s vigil spent;
Sight may not follow where the vision went.
I leave you but the sound of many a word
In mocking echoes haply overheard,
I sang to heaven. My exile made me free,
from world to world, from all worlds carried me.
Spared by the furies, for the Fates were kind,
I paced the pillared cloisters of the mind;
All times my present, everywhere my place,
Nor fear, nor hope, nor envy saw my face.
Blow what winds would, the ancient truth was mine,
And friendship mellowed in the flush of wine,
And heavenly laughter, shaking from its wings
Atoms of light and tears for mortal things.
To trembling harmonies of field and cloud,
Of flesh and spirit was my worship vowed.
Let form, let music, let all quickening air
Fulfill in beauty my imperfect prayer.
Conservative lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, which is distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo and costs about $30, is intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins, an essential marriage requirement for women in much of the Middle East, by leaking a blood-like substance when inserted and broken. Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product, which he said would make it easier for women to give in to temptation.
Jiggawhat? Faking your virginity kits exist? It’s a sad world that we live in where there is a real market for kits that help women fake their oh so precious virginity.
A lip gloss that comes with a date rape drug testing kit has been launched in the UK with plans to make it available in vending machines in bar and club toilets.
The five 2LoveMyLips gloss products contain a drug testing kit in the form of a pink taper that can detect GHB and Ketamine.
Managing director of the company 2LoveMy, Tracy Whittaker, explained that girls on a night out with suspicions about their drink can just dab the taper in, and watch to see if the colour changes to blue.
“If they turn blue tell your friends immediately and get help from security and the police,” she explained.
Also, at least two physicists are wildly speculating the Large Hadron Collider is being disrupted by a Higgs-Boson particle affecting it from the future via backwards causation. What an age we live in.
Restricting the availability of legal abortion does not appear to reduce the number of women trying to end unwanted pregnancies, a major report suggests. The Guttmacher Institute’s survey found abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in regions where it is legal and regions where it is highly restricted.
It did note that improved access to contraception had cut the overall abortion rate over the last decade. But unsafe abortions, primarily illegal, have remained almost static.
The survey of 197 countries carried out by the Guttmacher Institute – a pro-choice reproductive think tank – found there were 41.6m abortions in 2003, compared with 45.5 in 1995 – a drop which occurred despite population increases. Nineteen countries had liberalised their abortion laws over the ten years studied, compared with tighter restrictions in just three.
Every year, an estimated 70,000 women die as a result of unsafe abortion – leaving nearly a quarter of a million children without a mother – and 5m develop complications.
In the developed world, legal restrictions did not stop abortion but just meant it was “exported”, with Irish women for instance simply travelling to Europe, according to Guttmacher’s director, Dr Sharon Camp. In the developing world, it meant lives were put at risk.
“Too many women are maimed or killed each year because they lack legal abortion access,” she said. “The gains we’ve seen are modest in relation to what we can achieve. Investing in family planning is essential – far too many women lack access to contraception, putting them at risk.”
Empowerment Co-Chair Desiree Valentine has a letter-to-the-editor in today’s Tribune. I’ve reprinted it here with her permission, and thrown in a link:
If I had a nickel for every time Marquette boasted about how “inclusive” it is, I’d be rich.
And if I were rich, I would donate money to Marquette under the condition that it would be used to foster diverse and inclusive initiatives. Why? Because the simple statement of inclusivity as found in the mission statement is not enough.
I need to see that spirit be put into action in all spheres of our university, whether it is academia or student affairs. As MUSG diversity commissioner this year, my job has been to foster educational and entertainment opportunities around diverse issues.
Just last week I invited local filmmaker, Ashley Altadonna, to Marquette to share some of her short films that have been seen in numerous film festivals.
Her films look at the concept of gender and chronicle her own experiences living as a transgendered woman. Little did I know that when I submitted a request for approval of this event, the event would be a bit too diverse for Student Affairs to sponsor and I was told to find an academic department to sponsor the event.
Marquette is an academic institution of learning. It is also Jesuit. These two things are not mutually exclusive. When I got to college, my goal was to leave having learned, changed and matured as a person. This can only happen if my worldview is constantly challenged and developed from as many different perspectives as possible.
Thus, initiatives around these “provocative,” “controversial” issues need to not only be supported in theory, but practice as well and also by all facets of the university, including (and perhaps primarily) Student Affairs.
Gender issues deeply inflect the society we live in and questions on its complex nature reach even the most conservative of Catholic students.To ignore this is to willfully remove our community from a rich dialogue that is growing rapidly in the larger world.
What will it take to actually become the diverse and inclusive university we call ourselves and simultaneously strive to be?
If you know, please speak up—students, faculty, staff and administration included.
Back in 2006, I was the Program Director for Marquette University Radio, and for a week around Halloween myself and 3 of my fellow MUR staffers went to New York City (on Marquette’s dime) for the annual College Music Journal convention. The week was about networking, learning about other radio stations, meeting famous people, and going to free concerts. I shed a tear that week in the balcony of the Hammerstein Ballroom to the Decemberists’ “Sons and Daughters,” but I digress.
I went to a panel that week about being LGBT in the music industry. On the panel (among others) was openly bisexual singer/songwriter Rachael Sage (check out her song “Vertigo”) and a representative from Sony Music subsidy Music With A Twist – a recently created arm of Sony that focuses on cultivating and promoting LGBT artists. The guy kept going on and on about this band they had recently signed, called the Gossip.
Fast forward to maybe a month ago, and a single from Gossip’s (they dropped the “the”) fourth studio album “Music For Men” was the free download of the week on iTunes. I figured, “I can handle free,” and I downloaded the song “Heavy Cross” to finally check out what all the hoopla was about.
Gossip are NOT a queer gimmick band. That was my initial fear. Their style is raw and punky and garage band, and they are led by one of the most intense and awesome LGBT figures in popular culture right now – singer Beth Ditto. Ditto’s extreme awesomeness (at least as it pertains to this blog) is 3 fold:
1) She’s an outspoken lesbian, but her advocacy doesn’t result in her saying stupid things (I’m looking at you, Melissa Etheridge), and her in-your-face sexuality actually isn’t off-putting like it has the potential to be. She plays shows with other queer artists, does benefits for queer causes, and is an all-around icon for queer culture.
2) HOLY FEMINIST, BATMAN! The other thing Ditto isn’t shy about is her intense feminism, and she lives it every day with each time she speaks up and commands attention and shows the world she isn’t afraid to be herself. Just because she’s a woman doesn’t mean she can’t compete with the boys, and her music shows an edginess and intensity that everyone has to respect, regardless of gender.
3) She is a proud person of size. Ditto has been criticized for “normalizing obesity,” but you know what? Women come in ALL SIZES, and Beth Ditto is on a crusade to make sure that every woman, regardless of size, has the right to feel good about themselves and be sexy. Ditto takes risks with fashion that women of size aren’t often comfortable enough to take, and she makes that level of glamour and sexiness accessible to the average woman. I definitely don’t think there’s anything negative about putting yourself out there so that women have someone to look up to that actually looks like them, and by being as outspoken and confident as she is, she’s giving women of size across the world the confidence boost they need to break out of their shell.
So, I’m officially sold. I downloaded all of Gossip’s “Music For Men” (which by the way, features Gossip’s androgynous female drummer on the cover) and I love every second of it. I don’t support queer music just because it’s queer music (because, let’s face it, a lot of it is bad), but the appeal of Gossip is much greater than just queer people. Feminists, people of size, and those who just love good old-fashioned garage punk can’t help but love Gossip too.
Below is the video for the song “Heavy Cross,” the one that got me hooked. What do you think?
Salvador Dali, "The Temptation of St. Anthony," 1946
Dali and Ernst had a competition to produce the best illustration of the myth of St. Anthony. Ernst’s painting, seen here in our second most popular incoming link, Dali judged to be the superior work.
The Word Warrior 
