Colbert makes fun of War on Teen Birth Control

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via Our Bodies Our Blog.  Looks like abstinence-only sex education is not the only foolish move by public schools when it comes to preventing teen pregnancy.  Earlier this year, the Washington Post ran a story on a Fairfax, VA honors student who was suspended for taking her birth control pill while at school.  As Deb Hauser of Advocates for Youth argues  “To put birth control in the same category as illegal drugs or handguns stigmatizes responsible behavior.” Amen.  The young woman in this case is fortunate to have a mother who supports her use of birth control.  What about others who are afraid to tell their parents?  States say they don’t need parental permission but what happens if your Mom or Dad finds your package of pills?

Leave it to Stephen Colbert to expose the absurdity of this war on birth control.  Another reason to love the Colbert Report.

Hopefully the negative press from this case, combined with the SCOTUS decision regarding strip searches in schools earlier this summer, may lead schools to introduce some nuance into their “zero tolerance” polices  regarding drugs.

Psycho Donuts: Q’est-ce que c’est?

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Psycho donuts via The Trouble with Spikol. There’s a donut shop in Northern California that uses mental illness and an insane asylum as it’s theme. Here’s a sampling of news stories from Fox News,  AOL, and  ABC News. In addition to naming donuts after various mental illnesses and brain conditions (e.g. “bipolar donut” and “massive head trauma,” the latter of which has incensed veterans groups), the store also has a “padded cell” and “group therapy room” where one can consume the donuts, and offers customers the chance to be photographed in a straightjacket.  What fun (not)!

What annoys me the most is that the company calls itself  “progressive” — sorry, if you don’t get why persons with mental illness and mental health advocates are offended, you’re not progressive.  Would you have a donut called “little black Sambo”?  I don’t think so.

Liz argues that there are more important things to be concerned about than donuts.  But isn’t battling stigma and fighting for better health care, legal rights, and so forth all part of the same movement?  Here’s an excellent article from Stigmanet that puts this is in the context of campus mental health issues.

So, q’est-ce que c’est? (what is it) — offensive marketing campaign or not?

Added later:  more on protests, from Media Dis&Dat.

Summer Viewing: Mad Men Season Two

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madmen_fullbody Like others, I’m way behind in my Mad Men viewing — the first disk of Season Two just arrived and I’ve watched the first two episodes.  There’s no way I’ll get through this before the season 3 premiere on the 15th so I’ll probably remain a season behind.  Hey, I’m a historian, so living the past is what I do best.

The trend of making Mad Men avatars has been on Facebook for a couple of weeks now, but since not all of you have FB accounts, I’m posting mine here as well. [thanks to Historiann for reminding me to do this].  I’ve chosen this scene in celebration of the fact that it’s finally summer in the northeast — i.e. it’s not raining and is relatively warm!

In my own private Mad Men world, this avatar discovers The Feminine Mystique and organizes a consciousness raising group. She then goes back to graduate school and becomes a women’s history prof.  Do you think the show will buy it?

Is This America — local edition

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I was out of the country during the shit storm national discussion on race that ensued over the arrest of Harvard University Prof. Henry Louis Gates.  The only reason I was aware of it at all is that CNN was the only English channel I could access in most hotels (some had BBC as well), so I caught President Obama’s press conference live.   Other bloggers have written eloquently about this issue so I wasn’t planning to say anything more than “amen.” [Just a note — the BBC anchor who reported on the “Beer Summit” could barely contain his laughter — I thought I was watching a British version of “The Daily Show” until I confirmed from other sources that this indeed was a real event).

This article by my colleague, poet Ravi Shankar, brings the issue close to home. Ravi describes being arrested by NYPD officers for driving home from a poetry event in NYC while being non-white (the arresting officer referred to Shankar as a “sand nigger”).  Looks like the Cambridge police officers who arrested Gates are not the only ones who acted stupidly are in need of a Beer Summit at the White House.

On a lighter note — I suggest that we all continue this national discussion on race by hosting our own local beer summits.  What brew would you choose?  Since I just returned from Eastern Europe, I would pick the Special Lager from the Strahov Monastic Brewery in Prague (although I’m not sure I can find it in the states).

Knitting Clio is back from vacation

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Barbie_sJust returned from an awesome bike trip from Prague to Budapest with Czech Active tours — this was one of the best organized trips I’ve done. The tour leaders are very friendly and laid back.  I’d recommend this to anyone who likes to ride and enjoy nice scenery and good food.

Before the trip, we spent a few extra days in Prague.  One of my favorite sites was the Toy and Barbie Museum.  I hope my buddy Historiann will enjoy looking at the website on the Barbie exhibition, in honor of the doll’s 50th anniversary.  Highly recommended for toy enthusiasts and/or fans of Barbie.