Rodeo Roundup

While I may have an affinity for Campfire Club (sorry, almond roca < thin mints), this week The Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement welcoming transgender youth. Let’s hope this catches on around the country. Nobody should be excluded from something that has been proven to build self esteem in young girls (or from wearing polyester).

It’s Halloween weekend, ya’ll! What are you going to dress as? I personally was thinking about being the ‘sexy baby’ from 30 Rock (only as a take on society’s obsession with infantilizing women) and goo-goo gaw-gawing all over the place. Plus, it gives me a reason to drink beer out of a baby bottle.

I always leave the house with a sense of dread though because I know I will see an appropriative costume. It’s inevitable. Thankfully, some kick ass students out of Ohio, Students Teaching About Racism in Society, have a campaign to bring awareness to the fact that it’s a pretty bad idea to play dress up with a person’s culture.

BUT WHAT CAN I DRESS UP AS THEN? See Judie’s post.

Oh barf, USA Today! If your newspaper wasn’t free at hotels, would people read it? Is feminism ‘over the hill’? How many ageist remarks can you fit into one news story? No, feminism IS NOT DEAD but you might not want to ask to the question to people who do not identify as feminists. I am proud and humbled by all the hard work that the generations before us have done, but you know what? I am sick and tired of being ignored, having my opinions devalued, my announcements belittled, and my suggestions brushed off because of my age. I have heard time and time again to my face that “I don’t understand what it was like back then and I don’t appreciate it!” YOU DON’T KNOW ME OR US. Stop making assumptions and open your ears. There are problems, soooo many problems, within feminism and we have ideas and opinions about how to improve them. Ageism goes both ways, ya know?

This week on “Americas Next Top Boarding School Project,” authorities are taking children away, many under questionable circumstances, from native families in North Dakota. Although native children make up only fifteen percent of children in the state, they make up more than half of children in foster care. This rings eerily similar to ‘boarding schools’ that native children were forced into years ago. The motto in those boarding schools was to ‘Kill the Indian, save the Man.’ Children were stripped of their hair, their language, their clothing, their spirituality, and their culture. I highly recommend doing some research on boarding schools, starting with this book and reading this story from NPR.

I did notice that Beavis and Butthead are back on MTV-my tween years aside, ookkkaaayyy. I mean, sure, they were funny but where’s the love for my girl Daria? She really got me, man. Her lack of enthusiasm made it okay for me to not give a shit.

Here’s to hoping they bring back what we really need. DARIA!