What a wonderfully extraordinary read. Intertwining the lives of two women, four centuries apart, Jane Johnson weaves a tale of hardships, loves lost and won, and the mysteries that bind them together.

Who benefits when victims of sexual assault, molestation and rape remain silent? The assailant is free to continue victimizing others, and the victim is left with unwanted memories and the lasting trauma of the event.

Concept Essay assigned for Composition I.

When I was eight I was put in a foster home to live with a very Christian family. The gender roles were clearly and strictly defined. Girls played with “girl” toys, boys played with “boy” toys, and nobody was allowed to play with something that wasn’t specifically for their gender, or gender neutral. I, and the other girls in the home did the dishes and other housework every day, while the boys played outside or helped with yard work. When I asked why they never had to do dishes: “They’re boys, silly. Boys don’t do housework.”

I was reading a chapter in my sociology book dealing with gender and sex. Those being separate entities of course: sex is determined by the biological features and gender is how we identify ourselves as individuals. It is important to examine gender roles in the context of the society and time period because many aspects of those things influence how individuals identified themselves.

from: CTV.ca

New male contraceptive injection appears effective

An injection for men appears to be just as effective at preventing pregnancy as the birth control pill, finds new research that could revolutionize contraception.
In testing in China, only one man in 100 fathered a child while on the injections, the study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reports.
Gu said if further tests proved successful, the treatment could become widely available in five years.

from www.amazon.com:

Starred Review. See’s engrossing novel set in remote 19th-century China details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends (laotong, or “old sames”) Lily and Snow Flower, their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. While granting immediacy to Lily’s voice, See (Flower Net) adroitly transmits historical background in graceful prose. Her in-depth research into women’s ceremonies and duties in China’s rural interior brings fascinating revelations about arranged marriages, women’s inferior status in both their natal and married homes, and the Confucian proverbs and myriad superstitions that informed daily life. Beginning with a detailed and heartbreaking description of Lily and her sisters’ foot binding (“Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you have peace”), the story widens to a vivid portrait of family and village life. Most impressive is See’s incorporation of nu shu, a secret written phonetic code among women—here between Lily and Snow Flower—that dates back 1,000 years in the southwestern Hunan province (“My writing is soaked with the tears of my heart,/ An invisible rebellion that no man can see”). Both a suspenseful and poignant story and an absorbing historical chronicle.

Awesome, awesome book. Highly recommend it.

Postville, Iowa: May 12, 2008 and May 12, 2009

Over 380 illegal immigrants are arrested and deported through search warrants one year ago. All of them worked at the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant; a company known throughout the town for hiring illegals, because they don’t have to pay them a competitive wage for the work they do there. It was mentioned in several of the articles, that in addition to being here illegally and working illegally, there were several counts of IDENTITY THEFT, and Social Security Numbers being fraudulently used, and/or faked altogether.

I was looking at a magazine rack the other day. All of the “men’s magazines” were about hobbies: Fishing, Outdoor, Sportsman, Men’s Health, FHM, Maxim, Hot Rod, etc. All of the “women’s magazines” were titles such as: Quilting, Knitting, Sewing, Crafts n Things, Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking, Cook’s Illustrated, Cooking Lite, Taste of Home, In Touch, OK, and Cosmopolitan.

Apparently, men fish, fix cars, workout, and look at mostly naked woman. Women, on the other hand, cook, clean, garden, organize, and sew things to decorate their homes with. Oh yeah, and we read trash tabloids. I wish someone had told me this, as I have been doing it wrong all these years.

I started this blog in order to have a place away from my day-to-day journaling where I can post my essays, short stories, and other writings on a wide range of topics.

As this is my first post, a bit of introduction may be necessary.