The Burning Bush
thoughts from a cunning linguist

March 28, 2004

"Worse Than Feminist"

I spoke with the Renaissance Eeyore on the phone last night who told me a marvelous, indeed inspiring, story about a friend of hers who teaches in the law school at her university. This friend is a dyke who openly teaches queer issues in her family law class, and her quite conservative law students are appalled--appalled enough to complained to the dean. Their grounds? Their professor is, and I quote, "worse than feminist!" Clearly, being feminist is bad enough--a worthy insult in it own right. But worse than feminist? What an honour they have besowed upon their professor. Given that there is no legitimate complaint they can make about the quality of the prof's teaching (the issue really is the content), the complaint has not gone very far. However, rumour has it that there may be a t-shit produced with the proud proclamation "Worse Than Feminist." I definitely want one.

Posted by Bush Whacker at 01:11 AM | Comments (3)

March 07, 2004

A View of Gay Unions I Can Live With

In this week's Village Voice, Alisa Solomon spells out an eminently sensible position. She says the state should simply get a divorce from the churches. That way, all state-sanctioned unions would be civil unions. Further, civil unions would not need to be "sexual" unions, per se, but could be available to any two people who want to share a domestic arrangement. Then, if people want sacred ceremonies or need a blessing, it is up to the churches to decide who gets the grace. Now isn't that a concept? The state would divest ministers of the power to confer legal status. Yes, this would mean that if you get married by a minister, you would then have to speak the legal words again in front of the state official. (By the way, this does happen already in some countries, like Germany.) Though some people might find this inconvenient, wouldn't this be the truest test of secularism? That the state is not basing policy on, say, the faith of its politicians?

To be sure, I'm not a fan of marriage--never have been and never wanted to get married. But under these terms, that's a union I could live with.

For Solomon's article, go here.

Posted by Bush Whacker at 11:57 PM | Comments (1)

March 04, 2004

When Your Shoes Are Too Big

Well my birthday in Beantown was a bit of a bust (thought it clearly makes for good alliteration). When I arrived, my sister was down with the stomach flu, a flu that then proceeded to make its way around the house, so I spent most of the weekend helping to take care of the kids. The bug ultimately travelled with me back to New Jersey, where it felled me for two days.

Not to be totally outdone by the flu, though, I had a bit of a birthday shopping spree--well a mini one. There was a fabulous sale (my sister, I think I've mentioned before, is the queen of sales) on sneakers and athletic wear. I needed new sneakers and new hiking boots. So I got both for $99. A steal, huh?

Today, I finally felt well enough, post-flu to get back to my dissertation writing and back to the gym to try out my new sneaks. Much to my chagrin, my sneakers seem to be too big! Now I can't tell if the problem is that my old ones (a pair of old aerobics sneakers, if you can imagine this, left behind by a long-gone ex) were just too small or if these ones are actually too big. I can't help but think metaphorically, though, and wonder if my dissertation, like my shoes, might be too big for me to grow into! A topic for another day, no doubt.

Posted by Bush Whacker at 07:15 PM | Comments (0)