Quick: Spot the two sexist disparagements against women I made in yesterday’s post about sexism.

Realized it last night after I posted. Speaking of “my transgressions”!

• Epic win. (via @hubbit) http://is.gd/9CL5C #
• For any Magnetic Fields fans in the audience (via @Kbcraigs): http://howfuckingromantic.wordpress.com/ #
• Some optimism for my loveable but hopelessly misguided #Cleveland #Indians fans: http://is.gd/9BO4u #
• Yeah, Encyclopedia Chicago has the city charter doc, dated 4 March, not 3. So what gives, @93XRT? http://is.gd/9BDLX #
• XRT is calling today, 3 Mar, Chicago day. But Wikipedia says Chicago got its city charter on *4* Mar. ZOMG CONFUSION PANIC FLAIL ACK! #
• It goes without saying that today is also a class (i.e., long) day. Prepare yourselves for many coffee-caused random tweets. Squeee! #
• Meh. Awake and up for ages now. Sort of feel like the workday should be over, not just starting. Can has 5 hr advance on bedtime nao pls? #
• For @chowbok - Comcast: ‘Unlimited Usage’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Unlimited Usage’ - The Consumerist: http://bit.ly/aDzmWo via @addthis #
• The loop looks so odd at night with the lights out in the condos/offices and the Sears Tower/white castle buildings dimmed. #
• Hm. You know what I could go for at lunch today, I think? Spanakopita. Anyone got recommendations for financial district sources? #
• Annnnnd I think I just discovered a key element for my Org Comm paper. Nicely timed. Too bad it’s a depressing topic. http://is.gd/9ANKc #
• 76 Trombones? Listen, @WFMTclassical, I will turn this radio around if you don’t stop this nonsense right now! #
• In other news: Yes! I *am* awake and doing homework at 3:38 AM. Been up since 2. Might as well put this insomnia to use, I guess. #
• I like having my old MacBook to work from easychair (easier to put self in “homework” state of mind), but this wonky T key is killing me. #

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Tonight was Organizational Communication class, and the topic was the attaining and exercise of power. Part of our homework was to read the paper “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” [PDF] by Peggy McIntosh. (It’s an excellent article, and you should go read it.) One of our exercises in class was a group discussion on what privileges various groups — men, women, wives, husbands, parents, sons, daughters — have.

The first thing I said in our small-group discussion was, “I can like figure skating without having people assume I’m gay.” Which is true. Figure skating is totally safe for women to watch or participate in without it casting any homo-aspersions on their character, regardless of the amount of sequins. But a guy who wants to wear said sequins and twirl about on ice is pretty much just assumed to be, as they say, light in the loafers.

(Incidentally, what the hell does “light in the loafers” come from, anyways? Gay men have teeny dainty feet as they flounce down the street? Here, let me introduce you to my friends, at Bear Pride. There will be very little flouncing.)

Much of the other suggestions in class were along the lines of — “As a white man, I’m privileged that I can go walking around in Englewood and people assume I’m a cop and don’t mess with me.” (That particular student is, in fact, a CFD fireman.) There was a brief digression about whether or not it’s “privilege” for women to have doors held open or be allowed to board elevators before men, with one female student vehemently disagreeing, saying that it’s not privilege so much as it is etiquette. (Really? It’s not a privilege to have an entire section of the proper-behavior standards written, and actually enforced by the subservient class (as a man in class emphasized his negative opinions of men who do not let women go first, and as I have seen men lecture other men about at work), just because we have a particular set of chromosomes? What on earth is privilege, then?) Then there were the obligatory gags, like, “I’m privileged that my wife allows me to sleep with her!” (That from a dapper gentleman who works in theatre, who is likely more qualified than I am to speak as to what irrelevant qualities make people assume men are gay.)

By the time the whole-class discussion rolled around I’d refined the figure-skating line a little. I said, “as a woman, I can wear makeup or not wear makeup, dress up or not dress up, and whichever way I roll does not automatically make me gay or not gay.” I mean, really. It’s a privilege men don’t have. Show me a man who wears product in his hair and I’ll show you a “metrosexual,” which is a term invented just to identify grooming with homosexuality. I can go around in steel-toed boots and it makes me a goth; I can work on cars and that makes me either cool or sexy depending on who’s asking; I can work in a male-dominated industry and that just means I’m smart ‘cos I can keep up with the menfolk. But put a guy with nice hair in ice skates and sequins, and watch the instant transformation to someone that Deadspin is going to have to create an entire section about people euphemizing his gayness. (Bad example, perhaps — yeah, yeah, I know, it’s Johnny Weir, and hell yes I watched this and loved it! — but, really, people. Quit being little bitches about queers on ice.)

As I was walking home after class, I was extending and polishing the argument a little more. Basically it boils down to: Women can do non-traditionally-feminine things with little likelihood of it affecting their perceived sexuality or status. Men who do non-traditionally-masculine things have their Friend of Dorothy Club membership card handed to them after, like, the second offense.

So here I was getting all wrapped up in my excess of privilege as a woman, and feeling guilty about my own transgressions along these lines, when a car pulls out of a parking lot and a sketchy older guy in an eyepatch, in the passenger seat, leans out his window and shouts to a couple of cute young college girls walking a few steps ahead of me, “Hey girl! Come here and sit on my lap!”

They snickered (”ha ha, look at the drunk moron!”) and walked on, and he kept hollering, “Come here, girl!”

Meanwhile, a cute young college guy also walking down the street laughed his head off and chortled encouragement to Eyepatch as the car pulled out onto State Street.

Thus endeth my feeling guilty about the unfair privileges I enjoy as a woman.

Score: Gay men: 0, “girls”: 0, drunk shitheads: 1.

• I just had a moment of “are you fucking kidding me” & I really need a little while to recover from the tragedy of other ppl’s incompetence. #
• In case anyone didn’t know: Flourish! 2010 (Chicago open source conference) is coming up. Mar 19-20 at UIC. http://is.gd/9yeM1 #
• Cats Can’t Type! (via @chowbok) http://is.gd/9xs2w #
• Currently pondering throwing my road trip out the window in favor of Amtraking it to spring training. Think of all the knitting time! #
• My cute cute new shoes for today: http://is.gd/9xcoS #
• I wish Interweave would correlate my email address with my subscriptions and stop sending me emails to subscribe to things I already get. #

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• I am so much in need of a haircut I am tempted to go grab my kitchen shears right now. I know it would only end in tears, but … #
• AWESOME! // RT @StevenGlassman you *can* make single-serving cake on demand: http://is.gd/9uRE5 #
• In today’s shocking talk radio developments, Rush Limbaugh shared some racist thoughts about Obama. http://is.gd/9uBbj #
• Zoinks. (via @ipstenu) RT @RickCMJ NASA: Chile Quake Shifted Earth’s Axis, Shortened Day - AOL News: http://bit.ly/d8sUDT #
• You know those Keurig one-cup coffeemakers? I want a one-piece cake baker so I can have cake on demand. With sprinkles. #
• Hey @jime60647, let’s get a beer when I’m in Phoenix in a couple weeks! #
• It is ironic to come home from the dentist, and all I want to do is brush my teeth to get this gross fluoride flavor out of my mouth. #
• Something for the to-do list: http://is.gd/9tvRv #
• Does anyone know any compelling reasons to keep haldaemon enabled on a server I never mount usb/etc media on? #
• I wish Amtrak still served Phoenix. #

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• Okay, enough of “Fame” - corny good 1981 fun, but they could have benefited from Autotune. For now, @WFMTclassical. #
• I was watching an episode of “Fame” but got totally distracted by MeFi chatter on Johnny Weir. My sparkleometer is off the scales! #fb #
• Most irritating ads on television: the e-trade creepy talking babies. MAKE IT STOP. #
• Finally watching @CarrieFFisher on @CraigyFerg. I have a new hero! Our haircolor totally matches! #

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• Am a lightweight: 2 doppelbocks And I want to start drunktxting. #
• Ok, for reals, the Bump iPhone app is *ridonukulous*. which is why I love it. #

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• Ha! Andrew Sullivan called my friend’s letter “hooey.” Is it Internet famous if he didn’t get quoted by name? http://is.gd/9cxkJ #
• Today was pretty good. Fixed something at work, then @LexiChristensen made me pretty, then I went ice skating. Plus, it’s virtually weekend. #
• “Remember — if all you have is an axe, every problem looks like hours of fun.” #
• Ceiling Cthulhu is watching! http://shirt.woot.com/ (via @smokes70) #
• If I were an indie fiber dyer, I would create a collection based around Journey’s Greatest Hits RIGHT THIS INSTANT. #
• Citibank is not fabulous: http://is.gd/9aKXc #
• I guess it’s not a guitar solo, just a bridge. Y’all knew what I meant. …OOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! #
• Subwoofer Neighbor plays Journey’s “Separate Ways” until the guitar solo, then shuts it off. I go to iTunes, put it back on. #rockingout #
• Today: + ice skates, + water bottle = win (after work anyways). #

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• Dang. I forgot my aluminum water bottle today. Now have choice betw no water all 3 hrs of class, or stupid plastic bottle of water. Booo. #
• The Sysadmin’s Lament: Why do people think “it’s not working” is a better opening salvo than “It’s giving me *this* error: [specifics]“? #
• Super cool blog post by maddog on heroes where you don’t expect them (via @rikkikite): http://bit.ly/aTKCp1 #
• RT @mizmoose How DADT *really* works & fails, by a Navy JAG: http://bit.ly/ahP7R0 #
• Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha. http://is.gd/95INW Blago to speak to Northwestern students… on ethics in politics. #
• I think the Sphynx kitties are being unjustly defamed by being included in @ColonelTribune’s ugly creatures gallery! http://bit.ly/c5vY8M #
• Via @seanware: Full Millennials story at chicagotribune.com rather than @redeyechicago site: http://bit.ly/dpsYz3 #

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• OH GOD NO. Y’all know why I now *facepalm*: RT @gleeks #GLEE Will Be Covering “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” in the Back 9! #
• I tried to watch figure skating but all I saw when I tuned in was people shoveling snow off the bobsled track. #nbcfail is tiresome. #
• Going to docs.sun.com and seeing that big red Oracle logo across the top kind of makes me die a little inside. :( #
• I *toljoo* it was broosketta. Now stop correcting me! RT @ColonelTribune Top 10 mispronounced foodie items: http://bit.ly/dAerqq #
• Just used The Twit Cleaner to clean out idle followers. Y’all friends of mine need to update more. http://thetwitcleaner.com #
• My favorite sticker from a former coworker’s office door: http://dontclickthis.whatingods.name/dearlord.gif #
• I want Rainbow Brite on my side. RT @Cleolinda cleolinda Post-apocalyptic Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake: http://tinyurl.com/yz3zj9h #
• New Broken Social Scene track yay. #
• Office HVAC obviously feels lonely today: it keeps cycling on and off for no reason any of us can discern. It just wants to be loved! #

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• Interesting class tonight, on water availability. Classmate focused on pipelines. I immediately see huge security problems. Pessimist? Moi? #
• In class, guy from CA complains they’re all earthquake proof there, why is Midwest not tornado proof? Think he’s never gone thru a drill. #
• This song makes me want to stand up and burst into song, thus turning my workplace cube farm into a Broadway musical. Someone stop me! #
• For @christensen: Apparently today is National Margarita Day! Happy birthday to you! #

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So today’s class was Urban Growth, and the class’s topic was on water — availability and the lack thereof. Among other things, we watched a film called The Last Drop: Is the World Running Out of Water?.

My first reaction: hell-o, I had no clue that water availability was such an issue in the Israel/Palestinian conflict. No clue. None. Had never even occurred to me. …probably because I live next to an enormous (one might even say “great”) lake chock full of it and have never really given it much thought at all. So, consider me educated on that point, ouch.

Second reaction, on the topic of Namibia’s water conservation efforts, coupled with heavy beef exports to the EU: I’m pretty sure I read that book, except it took place on the Moon and what was being exported was grain.

After the film we had a group discussion about the issues, and one of my classmates got really riled up about how we, who have so much fresh water, could be exporting it. She kept talking about why don’t we just pipe Lake Michigan west, if LA needs it? (She also thinks that her tap water should be free, because apparently the pipes and pumps and so forth to get it to her condo from the lake don’t require any further capital outlay or operational maintenance funds, but whatevs.) Or why don’t we build huge pipelines to take water to Namibia or Egypt or Palestine, if they’re so in need? All I could see with that was — totally apart from the infrastructure buildout issues, which I think are not exactly trifling matters — hello, security? Yeah, sure, let’s pipe Lake Michigan to Egypt and solve all their problems. I’m sure the fact that a small squad of armed nutjobs with a hand grenade could take out an entire country’s water supply is a minor one. Seriously, all I could think of were all the security implications of piping water in to a location. Your pipeline goes through Iran — let me introduce you to your former neighbor, now your new blackmailer, who can now make you do whatever they like! And better not piss off any rebels, because boy, won’t you look foolish when you’ve built up this huge urban area thanks to your ample new water supply, and suddenly said water goes away thanks to that nutjob with a hand grenade? Russian oil pipeline melodrama is nothing, compared to a single supply of drinking water. Oy. And talk about a single point of failure… sheesh.

It seems to me that creating a massive dependency on transporting fresh water is a bad, bad, bad idea. I mean, it’s a lovely idea, but a stupid one. Sure, go ahead, trade it on the free market like oil — I’m sure everyone in Africa won’t mind driving giant tanker ships across the ocean to Atlanta to pick it up. Desalination in situ for short-haul transport is the only thing that makes sense to me. (Hello, oceanfront property values!) Pity no one seems to have invented an inexpensive desalination technique. Hey, people complaining about lack of industry and innovation — I just gave you a free idea for your new startup! Go, invent cheap and effective desalination! You’ll be rich AND you’ll broker peace in the Middle East!

In other news, after seeing many images of people hauling buckets around, I now feel guilty for every time I wastefully ran through a sprinkler as a kid. Stupid Lake Michigan, stupid Illinois River, you jerkfaces with your easy availability and non-salt contamination. Jerks!

• Posting that huge freaking essay on my blog has made me think about changing the colors to less glarey ones. Or I’m just getting old. #
• I really like the grubhub “request no napkins/plastic tableware” option to cut down on wasteful excess forkage. #
• Yikes. I just spent, srsly, like 4 hours in total composing that blog post, not counting the research finding links. Hope someone reads it. #
• My heroes got significantly less heroic once I called and they said their delivery guy wasn’t in yet and so they can’t deliver ’til 11. Boo. #
• I found someplace in Chinatown that delivers starting at 8AM on Sundays! They are my new heroes! #
• I wonder if anyone delivers Chinese around here at 8AM. Starving! #

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Fair warning: If you are prone to tl;dr, you might want to skip this one.

So, the other day, in my Organizational Communications class — for which the homework was, as usual, some seriously dry chapters to read (seriously, guys, you could not have made this textbook drier if you’d buried the manuscript in an arid desert, or perhaps on the Moon, for forty years before publishing), but also as usual turned into an interesting discussion — we talked about diversity in the workplace, and integrating cultures therein. One of the questions our group was assigned to discuss and do a short presentation to the class about was this:

On the basis of the descriptions of the four different age groups provided in the chapter (Traditionals [Greatest/Silent Generation], Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials) what sort of problems do you anticipate occurring as these different groups interact in the workplace? What sort of advantages of opportunities exist in combining people from these different groups in one department?

The descriptions they referred to encapsulated each generation with a short blurb on birthdates and some tendencies they embody plus the feelings they hold toward others. One other woman in my group and I sort of took over the group discussion and talked about our perspectives; she, the Boomer, and I, the Gen Xer. As it happens, I have pretty pronounced opinions on the topic of Boomers and GenXers, which I know will come as a massive surprise to all of you reading this blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

• I think the best way to handle this weekend is pretend I’m working. At lunch now, I get off (home)work at 6. #
• Just spent 5 mins playing with Lendrum fast flyer and a handful of merino top - ah, so that’s what singles for 2 ply laceweight look like. #
• I hereby suggest as a hashrag for our forecast snowstorm: #snowpocayawn. ‘Cos #imfromchicago. #

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• I felt obliged to be profound in my 5000th tweet, but all I’ve got is: I really want a cupcake! #
• Well, this is 100% pure entertainment: http://giagantor.com/2010/02/16/dont-stop-the-sandman-journeymetallica-mashup/ #
• I have just learned that bananas are supposed to be great hangover cures. So THAT’s how you can improve upon perfection. #
• Having massive, absolutely massive, fiber arts withdrawals. Your pal niqui badly needs copious free time. #
• Especially a pet peeve: DVDs which unskippably announce, “Season 2 on sale in June!” What June? June 5 years ago? June 2048? What? #
• At what point does piracy sound like the sensible path? http://i.imgur.com/GxzeV.jpg #
• Really amused by catching up on everyone’s ice skating commentary from last night, this morning. Many @tzikeh-related lulz! #

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