feminist blogs

Thanks to Jill and all of you for the opportunity to blog here.  It was a great experience; you all had great things to say and I’ve learned a lot in the short time that I’ve  guest-blogged here.  Do take care, happy holidays, and I will see you all in comments!

You all rock.  Big time.

In response to Lauren’s suggestion a few days back that I write a post about something historical, I thought I would share with all of you a brief glimpse into that which supposedly occupies my day-to-day life. Namely, my dissertation.

The main focus of my dissertation concerns the activities of naturalists in the Pacific Northwest and how their work was related to the larger project of imperialism in the region in the early 19th century. In order to set the stage for this I need to spend some considerable time discussing the main economic enterprise associated with European (and, to a degree, American) imperialism in the Northwest, which in this case is the fur trade. Globalization is a term in much use these days, and while some globalizing institutions and processes are fairly recent, globalization writ large is not new. There is no way I can really do justice to the history of the fur trade here, but it has long been a topic worthy of historical consideration. (more…)

Yes, I’m a bit nostalgic:

1. “Takin’ It All The Way”, United State of Electronica
2. “Someday, Someway”, Marshall Crenshaw
3. “Hidden Treasure”, Traffic
4. “Young Americans”, David Bowie
5. “Night Moves”, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
6. “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
7. “Crossover”, EPMD
8. “Holah”, Mazzy Star
9. “Show Me”, Mint Royale featuring Pos from De La Soul
10. “Thieves Like Us” New Order

Something a little more recent:

This video is great, and not just because it features my favorite Christmas song ever:

Jonah Goldberg, intellectual historian, has released his latest tour de force that will no doubt shake the very foundations of political thought. The good folks over at Sadly, No! have bravely delved into this weighty tome. If you think you know what a fascist is, Goldberg’s got news for you:

The quintessential liberal fascist isn’t an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade-school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.

Because when you teach the wimminz and let them go to fancy colleges, you walk with Hitler!

I do recall from my days in first grade that, before we broke into our reading groups with such liberal fascist names as Dinosaurs and Rainbows, our female teacher would lead us every day in reciting a statement of eternal loyalty to the state and its symbol which could be found everywhere in our school. It was some sort of “pledge”, I think….

Clearly, this woman was the in vanguard of service to our liberal fascist overlords.

Perhaps many Feministe readers have been following this story, but if you haven’t, Seattle has been abuzz with the story of Amanda Knox, a University of Washington student studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. Knox is being held on suspicion of involvement in the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. In addition, two men, one of whom was Knox’s boyfriend at the time, are being held in connection with the murder.

I won’t delve too deeply into the details of the case, but Knox has certainly not helped herself with the conflicting statements she’s given to the Italian police, particularly concerning her whereabouts on the night of the murder. Despite this, Knox still maintains her innocence, so we will have to wait and see how justice plays out.

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Now that the grades are in, I can begin my foray into blogging with a brief post on the wonderful world of dating, Internet style. Here’s one woman’s success story:

One of my pet peeves are individuals who speak in computer lingo. I wanted to see if this man could write complete sentences and carry on an interesting conversation. Could he be compelling? I was also looking for a complete gentleman. As we women know, that’s so very hard to find.

I was delighted to see that not only could he respond in complete sentences, but he had an interesting life of challenges, losses, and, in the end, success.

Our lives paralleled each others in so many ways. I didn’t want the first evening to end so quickly. I was referred to as “ma’am,” as in “ma’am please,” and “thank you, ma’am.”

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Subtitled, This Week’s Other Guest Blogger

Hello, everyone! I’m Linnaeus and I’ve been given the honor of being the tag-team partner and other guest blogger this week. I’ve no particular qualifications other than having been around Feministe for a good long while and being asked by Jill. My story is pretty simple: I grew up in the Midwest, then moved to the Pacific Northwest about ten years ago. Currently, I’m a graduate student studying history and living in Seattle, to which I frequently refer as the Emerald City, but which is more accurately called the Gray City this time of year.

I’m excited and a little nervous. I’ve never blogged before, and the standard set by both bloggers and commenters here at Feministe is a very high one. My grandfather, however, once said to me that “if you go through life doing just what you can, you’ll find you won’t get much of anywhere.” So, with that advice in mind, I’m giving it a go.