Sex education has been a hot topic in the government and schools for years: do we teach abstinence-only, which includes inaccurate scientific information and scare tactics, or comprehensive sex education, which discusses condoms and, *gasp*, sex. The Bush Administration has been promoting abstinence-only education from the start, despite a study done by the Mathematica Policy Research group in April 2007 showing that participants of abstinence-only programs started having sex and had the same number of partners as non-participants. According to an Associated Press article released today, more states are dropping funding for abstinence-only education, and it’s sending a message.

A new ad featuring Reverends Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson has been airing, with both men advocating for climate change. While there’s a great message behind it, it seems they make a bigger point in the ad to highlight their political difference. Maybe that’s needed when two opposing sides appear together to fight for a common issue. But does it work?

After a lot of debate and controversy about Florida and Michigan’s delegates, the DNC decided to reinstate the delegates to the party convention, but at half-vote as penalty for moving their primaries. Here’s the breakdown:

→ Clinton receives 105 pledged delegates from Florida and 69 pledged delegates from Michigan, giving her 87 votes. 

→ Obama receives 67 pledged delegates from Florida and 59 pledged delegates from Michigan, giving him 63. This lessens his lead over Clinton from 202 to 174.

Using the wrong word can cause a lot of problems, especially when it comes to reproductive rights. Case in point: Missouri’s new Plan B bill, HB 1625, which would re-classify emergency contraception (EC) as abortifacient. If this bill passes, it would make EC the same as RU486 (mifepristone) in legal terms. Therefore, pharmacies could deny dispensing EC, and there would be no legal ramifications (unlike in other states where EC is OTC for women 18 and older).

 
Here’s where the big problem arises: EC is not abortifacient, nor is it classified so by the FDA. If the woman is already pregnant, EC is will not terminate the pregnancy, only prevent one from occurring. This bill would be incredibly detrimental to rape victims, as they could be denied EC. And to think, it’s all because of changing one word.

 
~世界の革命

It’s official—Fidel Castro is no longer the president of Cuba. He stepped down Tuesday, after posting a letter to the state-run newspaper Granma. He cited “critical health condition” as his reason for stepping down. For those watching Castro the past few years, this reason shouldn’t come as a surprise. After having intestinal problems and subsequent treatment in 2006, Castro handed over much of his power to his brother Raúl.

This was only a brief article on CNN, but it brings to light a 1973 trade discussion between Mao Zedong and the US—about the trade of 10 million Chinese women.

Is this really a surprise with China’s history of gender preference?

~世界の革命

It started off embarrassingly enough: my Italian professor had us write questions to ask. Next thing I know, we’re being lead down the streets of Rome, asking random Italians if they would answer our questions, and could they speak slowly for us students. It’s one thing to ask strangers questions in English; it’s another to do so in a language I’ve only been learning for a semester. My group decided to ask an unsuspecting young man his opinion on the US government. For the next few minutes, he went into a small rant about Bush (we had to ask him to repeat multiple times and to go slower). After he finished, we asked him what he thought about the current election campaign in the US. Without any hesitation, he replied: Obama.

I thought that was interesting that he had already had a candidate picked out, or that he knew so much about our upcoming election. Currently, Italy is going through its own elections, now that the prime minister has dissolved parliament. My professor, a full fledged Roman, explained it to me: because of the current system in Italy, the prime minister can dissolve parliament is he loses the majority or support. Thus, new elections are done, and parliament switches party hands, which happens almost every two years.

This is an important day for the Women’s Commission, because, well, we work with refugees. So today, I went with my boss to a World Refugee Event at the National Geographic Museum, which is basically across the street. It included a small awards ceremony for children who had won the National Geographic Society’s photo competition (check them out—they are really moving!). The most surprising event, though, was the performance by Tony Bennett. He received an award for his humanitarian work (he really was choked up), and then he sang “If I Ruled the World”. I kicked myself for not bringing my camera…my cell phone’s camera does not take a worthwhile photo.

I’m relatively new to the blogging community. I started writing here in the end of April, with a good amount of anonymity: my profile picture was a cartoon (it’s now my actual photo), and I chose a screen name nowhere close to my own name (by the way, my name’s Beth. Nice to meet you). But what doesn’t cease to amaze me is how important blogging has become in discussing politics, culture, and so on and so forth.

The first time I ever had heard about blogs was in my AP Government class my senior year (yeah…I know, I took a while there). My teacher showed us different political blogs, and how they were getting the information out there quicker than the news. We never got a chance to write a blog as part of a project, but we could use them as a source.

Now fast forward three years (it’s been that long already?): I have a weekly habit of checking craigslist for writing gigs, and a lot of them are for blogs (and nothing that pays…I’m going to end up eating ramen this summer). I’m now a contributor to the Feminist Review, which reviews books, CDs, products, etc…on a blog. I also do a lot of my news reading on different blogs, since I’m without a TV this summer, and the mail is a bit irregular (and it’s the previous tenants’ mail).

And then there are those blogs that are just for humor…has anyone ever seen Go Fug Yourself? It’s probably one of the most commonly seen pages when sitting in the computer lab at Trinity. That one and the Daily Puppy are my friends’ favorite; let’s just say when we’re looking at these, there is no work getting done…or anything in the near future.

Yet, there are still places that don’t have blogs. I’m trying to convince my office that the Women’s Commission needs a blog, and that more of us need to get on Campus Progress (gotta do the promo). Well, technically, the IRC has a blog, but I’m looking for an excuse to write more before I head back to school and start my editing duties again. I just hope I don’t get too addicted! (^-^)

~世界の革命   

The prosecutor in the Duke Lacrosse rape case, Mike Nifong, is being disbarred for lying to the court and from withholding DNA test results that would have cleared the names of the three players charged with rape.

This case has truly changed how rape cases will be viewed, and I really hope that it won’t make it harder for rape victims to come forward. One of the first mistakes made was that the victim was assumed to be correct, and that the three Duke players were guilty—this negates the right to be tried as innocent until proven guilty. I remember when the verdict came out that many were quick to say that the victim was making the entire thing up, when there was DNA evidence…just not from the three players.

I truly sympathize with the woman as a fellow rape survivor. If she was truly raped, I hope they find out whom. And, if the courts can learn anything from this, is to give the defendants the benefit of the doubt, but still encourage rape victims to come forward.

~世界の革命

My grandmother sent me a clip from the June 10, 2007 New York Times with Gloria Steinem’s speech to the graduating class at Smith College (she’s my hero ^-^).

Now computers have come along, and ‘typing’ is ‘keyboarding’. Suddenly, voila!—men can type! Gives you faith in men’s ability to change, doesn’t it?” –Gloria Steinem

~世界の革命

Harvard Law has a page dedicated to the abortion laws around the world. Here is one country whose abortion law has made news.

Portugal:

The law dictates that an abortion can only be performed if the woman’s life is in danger, it is to protect the mental and physical health of the mother, or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. A woman getting an illegal abortion will be prosecuted.

It’s making news because pro-choice advocates want abortion for the first 10 weeks to be legal for all women. There was a vote in favor of this change; however, there was a lower voter turnout, so the vote is not considered valid.

Women on Waves have a map on their site showing the countries that are most restrictive in their abortion laws.

~世界の革命

In the traditional sense, when women get married, they change their last name to their husband’s, or hyphenate their names (her last name-his last name). However, switch things around, and it isn’t too easy. Only six states allow men to take their wives’ last name (California is possibly the seventh state). This is posing a problem for married couples, as well as domestic partners. Under most states’ laws, the man must “must petition the court, advertise in a newspaper and pay hundreds of dollars in fees” if he wants his wife’s last name (just a little much?). All a woman has to do is sign the marriage license. Doesn’t the husband have every right to take his wife’s last name?

Though I have to interject an anecdote from my childhood here. When I was in middle school, the principle was Mr. W (I won’t use his full name here). When my youngest brother entered the same middle school, it was Mr. M. However, it was the same man. He didn’t take his wife’s last name…they had combined the two together. So when they got divorced (around the time my little brother entered middle school), he had gone back to his “maiden” name (what would be the masculine word for maiden?). It confused the current students, and the alumni, because it was something we had never seen before. And this was a conservative little town (a.k.a. Stepford).

Maybe it’s time for a change here?

~世界の革命

South Africa has passed a ruling that homosexual couples can get married, which is a huge step in the gay rights movement. This is a large change in Africa, since homosexuals face attacks in South Africa, and it is illegal in many African countries. However, there is a clause included in the legislation that would allow clergy to “opt-out” from marrying the couple due to moral grounds. But if you read some of the comments that Christian leaders have made in South Africa about this legislation, it’s not surprising that an opt-out clause was included.

~世界の革命

The International Rescue Committee and the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children have put together a petition to stop violence against women and girls, which will be presented to Congress in August. This petition is centered on the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), which would significantly increase US commitment by integrating anti-violence work with US foreign assistance programs. Currently, they have 25,000, but they need to get 50,000. Here are some facts from their flyers:

• “As many as 50,000 women and girls were raped during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• During conflicts in the Congo, Uganda, and Sierra Leone, thousands of young girls and women were raped, kidnapped, and forced into sexual slavery
• Rape and sexual assault are rampant in Darfur. In August 2006 alone, 200 women were attacked near one refugee camp
• Women and girls are raped every day, in every conflict, in every region, across the world.”

Please sign the petition and help make a difference. Also, please pass word on about this petition and I-VAWA.

I was looking up all of the fax numbers for the Republican senators today at work when I noticed something strange. Under Wyoming was a vacant seat. Yesterday, June 4, 2007, Senator Craig Thomas died of acute myeloid leukemia. It took two separate searches on Google for the information of his death to appear at the top of the page, which were from blogs. He was described as a low-key senator, and it seems that he left that way. The responses on these blogs were mixed: some sent their condolences to his family, and others who did not like his policies were glad he was gone. While I did not agree with his political viewpoints, I offer my sympathies to his family, as another who has lost someone dear to acute myeloid leukemia. May he rest in peace.

~世界の革命

Today was my first day in DC, so my roommate and I decided to roam the streets of Georgetown and find out what’s near our little townhouse. When we got to Wisconsin Ave, we saw these t-shirts:

Stop Bitching

Start A Revolution

I couldn’t resist (after all, my own screen name means “revolution of the world)—I got a t-shirt and a bumper sticker, which I’m trying to find space for on my computer. The slogan is for zendik.org, which has some cool art. My roommate and I (she’s an intern for Amnesty International, I’m at the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children) then got into a discussion with the representative about change in the world. That event got me thinking about how important it is for students to take interest in the world, and make a difference. Sadly, I’ve seen too few do so where I grew up. That’s why I have so much hope for this summer, and what I can bring back with me. 

I’m also extremely tempted to replace my profile picture of Utena with an actual photo of me, wearing the t-shirt.

~世界の革命

Seeing the calendar turned to June brings back memories of getting ready for college. Trinity has June Days, where incoming freshmen sign up for classes and see the dorm rooms. My brother will be going to June Days soon, where he will be shown the dorms that freshmen will have next year. However, that guarantee of a room doesn’t carry throughout all four years. Last year, a portion of the Class of 2009 had to live at CCI with no internet, and an unreliable shuttle system, because a larger amount of students had been accepted for the Class of 2010. To make matters worse, two dorms, Jarvis (a freshman dorm) and Northam, have been slated for construction this summer because of problems with the buildings’ structure. Friends of mine who lived in Jarvis last year had pieces of ceiling fall on them. Combine this with the influx of students; Trinity announced to the student body that there would not be enough beds on campus, and that half of the students in the Class of 2009 were responsible for finding off-campus apartments (this was after any seminars on renting). CCI was still an option, but without a shuttle service, and Class of 2010 members were not going to be assigned there (this caused a lot of upset among former CCI residents).

With all of the warm weather lately, one thought that has been on my mind is getting outside. I usually keep my bottle of Neutrogena SPF 30 in my bag, but I have the nasty habit of not always applying enough. I burn and then I get tan (setting myself up for skin cancer). But I’m not the only one: according to Consumer Reports, people typically apply 25 to 75 percent less sunscreen than the recommended amount. This diminishes the effectiveness of the sunscreen. For example, if you are wearing SPF 30, in theory it should protect you up to 30 times longer from being burned by UVB rays than if you have no sunscreen on. To get full protection, an adult needs to use 2 to 3 tablespoons each time (s)he lathers up. In addition, the sunscreen needs to be reapplied every 2 hours, and after swimming or sweating a lot. If you’re interested in which sunscreens work the best, the July 2007 issue of Consumer Reports rates them.

~世界の革命