piece of my heart

I have a post in the works about women in the military, but I want to make it a legit blog post and it's one of those things that you just keep putting off, you know? Even though I spend hours at my computer a day, it takes a while for me to write something that actually matters. And then I don't want to write anything at all until I get this one thing done, so then one or two weeks go by and I just don't write anything. So uhh, here goes something.

I started reading Backlash by Susan Faludi today. It was written in 1991 so it pretty much just covers stuff from the 80's, but it's still pretty powerful. It's about the backlash against the women's movement. Everyone thought by the 80s that the movement had been wildly successful and women had reached equality, so all of these studies and stuff came out about how depressed and anxious and suicidal single and working women were, but they were pretty bogus. Well I've only read to chapter three and that's what its about so far anyway.

I'll probably post excerpts from that while I'm reading it. They'll be strongly feminist, so if that's something you don't like, you've been warned. But if that's something you don't like, I urge you to read it anyway. The point of feminism isn't to make men feel bad. It's to raise awareness about the inequalities in our society - and not just between women and men, but between races, classes, sexualities - and then take steps to fix them. Not push men off the top of the hill, but even it out so everyone is on a level playing field.

Anyway I just realized I'm approaching a soapbox so I am going to slowly back away for the day.

Hope everyone's summer is going well :)

a little afternoon delight

Probably a little more than you ever wanted to learn.



This is why the internet was invented.

all american girl

Wanna hear something really amazing?

Two college softball teams were playing at a conference. A senior stepped up to bat and hit the first home run of her softball career. She accidentally ran past first without tagging and doubled back so she could tag and keep running. Doing so, she tore a ligament in her knee and collapsed in a heap on the field. Her coach at first base tried to tell her to crawl back to first and touch it. If anyone on her team helped her, it would only count as a single, not a home run. So two girls from the other team asked if they could carry her around the bases. And they did. They picked her up and stopped at every base so she could touch it. By the time they got to third base, everyone was standing and applauding. The home run counted. The other team lost.

True story.

I'm not normally very sentimental or mushy, but this story actually makes me tear up. I don't know why - I mean, is it so crazy that true sportsmanship actually exists? But I still think it's really inspiring and heart-warming. And it makes you think... would you carry your opponent across the finish line?