Echoes of 1918: Swine Flu Hits the Young and Healthy

As I wrote in April when the 2009 H1N1 virus, aka swine flu, first grabbed our attention, the hallmark of the Great Flu of 1918 was that it killed the young and healthy. Early reports from Mexico indicated a similar pattern. Then the initial Mexican data was discredited as unreliable. U.S. public health officials hastily [...]

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Fun Feminist Says: Transphobia’s Not Funny!

A few weeks ago, in comments on my post critiquing the term “sex class,” Lisa Harney and Sunflower both prodded me to think and write more about transgender issues. While I feel like I need to keep offering disclaimers that I’m no expert in this area, I just read something that’s so obviously disrespectful toward [...]

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The 15 Books Meme

My long-time friend and occasional commenter KMS tagged me with this on Facebook. As usual, I gravitate toward the long form, by which I mean I don’t know when to shut up. So I’m posting the “15 books” meme here, too, with a bunch of unsolicited editorializing. The rules are to give “A quick list [...]

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Since When Does Crazy = Girly?

Oh, Maureen Dowd. For a gal who questions whether men are really necessary, you sure do say some dumb shit about women. I don’t usually read Dowd; she’s too glib, and today’s column is no exception. But today I hoped she’d buttress my interpretation of Mark Sanford as a Crappy Governor caught in the clutches [...]

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Sparkly Caturday

One of Berlin’s less charming features is the prevalence of dog poop on the sidewalks. The poop density actually seems to have decreased since last summer, but the kids still need to get used to watching their step. For the Tiger, this is an all-too-welcome opportunity for poop talk. We’re trying not to encourage it. [...]

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Marriage as Sacrifice for … Whom, Exactly?

Via Glenn Greenwald, I just made the acquaintance of a paragon of toxic masculinity, Andrew Klavan, and I don’t know whether to laugh or wince or drop-kick my laptop. He’s a writer of hard-boiled fiction who has apparently solved the puzzle of sexual harmony. Here’s Klavan’s take on marriage: I’m the old-fashioned King of the [...]

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Body Searches of Children, Up Close and Personal

Remember the case of Savana Redding, who was strip-searched in school on suspicion of having ibuprofen, and who took her case all the way to the Supreme Court? Well, despite the inane questions posed by some justices during oral arguments, Savana has won. Jill at Feministe reports that the lone dissent in the 8-1 decision [...]

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Why I Can’t Feel Schadenfreude about Mark Sanford

Maybe it’s just because I’m cross-eyed with jet lag, but as I caught up on the Mark Sanford saga today, I found myself feeling some sympathy for him. Yes, it’s sympathy for the devil. Daisy Deadhead has amply documented how, with his grandstanding refusal to accept federal stimulus money, he was willing to sell out [...]

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I’d Like to Get Some Sleep before I Travel

Tomorrow (well, technically today) I’m headed to Berlin with my kids and husband for our annual German sojourn. Posting will be flaky for a few days while we endure the flight and the intense jet lag that only young children can inflict on their loved ones. (Yes, I will drug them. No, it won’t be [...]

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An Underwater Tiger Birthday

The Tiger’s birthday was actually Friday, his kid party was yesterday, and only now am I getting around to writing about it. The party itself was pure slackerdom: let them play in the wading pool, slide and slip on the slip and slide, and run through the sprinkler. Interspersed with all this was a hefty [...]

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The Birth Plan that Got Skunked

Exactly six years and two hours ago, my little Tiger slipped out his wet, dark, fetussphere and arrived fully in this world. I’d been apprehensive about his birth, because my first delivery had been pretty horrendous. (I’ll leave the scare stories to another day, though.) So here I was, this feminist critic of medicalized birth, [...]

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On Velvet and Green Revolutions

Hilzoy is absolutely correct: Assuming that there are strong parallels between Eastern Europe in 1989 and Iran’s ferment today would be stupid and risky. Eastern Europeans welcomed our support. Iranians, by contrast, have had reason to suspect American motives ever since we brought down Mossadegh and installed the Shah’s harsh dictatorship. Throwing strong American support [...]

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Princess Sungold and the Pea

So the other day, in an effort to understand my first-born better, I came upon a website dedicated to The Highly Sensitive Person. Both my boys go ballistic if a tag inside their shirt is tickling their neck. But the Bear, in particular, has always been high-strung in certain ways. He never slept as a [...]

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A Masters of Sexual Harassment

I’m surprised this hasn’t made the rounds of the blogosphere, so I’ll have at it. In last month’s American Prospect, Dana Goldstein reviewed a new biography of Masters and Johnson, Masters of Sex by Thomas Maier. She buried this gem in the middle of her review. Since we at Kittywampus are less circumspect, here’s the [...]

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A Lawyer’s Take on Drinking and Assault Prosecutions

I’m still obsessing about how my university prosecuted a former student of mine for underage drinking after she’d been assaulted. She spontaneously admitted having had two beers many hours before the assault, but the police officer who responded to her call didn’t see any evidence of alcohol, nor did she order a blood test. As [...]

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Ode to Mulch

I just want to say how much I love mulch. I’m actually not capable of saying much more than that, because I spent most of the afternoon laying it out, and now I’m completely kaput. This system might not work for everyone; it’s most suited for raised beds that are intensively cultivated. It works great [...]

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On “Policing” Ourselves

First off, before I get all cranky, I should say that I enjoy Melissa McEwan’s writing, and I’ve empathized with her struggle to make a living as a blogger. The money issue is a matter of public interest, not just her personal problem, because for those who do it full time and well, blogging is [...]

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Heavy Petting in Public

Strangers keep passing my house and petting my lavender. It’s about three feet tall and apparently irresistible. The pansies are still looking pretty perky, despite a hot spell and ferocious thunderstorms. The tall round globes are the dried remnants of globe allium. It’s just starting to bloom, much to the bumble bees’ delight. I wish [...]

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Judges and Rape: The Case for Empathy on the Bench

This sort of crap should never, ever happen anymore. And yet, a Columbus judge is still on the bench after behaving cruelly toward victims of sexual assault: Rape cases are often settled without a trial so that the victim can avoid testifying and reliving the ordeal. But Common Pleas Judge Tim Horton recently ordered two [...]

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Pandemics and Piggishness at the State Department

So swine flu has now officially been declared a pandemic. I’m guessing that most Americans will shrug at the news, having decided the threat was way overblown. Myself, I’m scheduled to start worrying about it again in the fall, when the flu season picks up again. Until then, the big questions are: Will the virus [...]

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