AI: Animal Companions
The lives of non-human animals have been closely intertwined with our own for a very long time, be it for for nutrition, work, transport or companionship. A recent conversation I had with a few new friends revolved around the idea of whether a person could ever love a non-human animal as much as a person. The responses to this were quite varied, from an emphatic yes, a downright no, to somewhere i... »
Quickies: 02/22/2012
Storycorp has an interview with David Wilson, one of the plaintiffs in the 2004 marriage equality court case in Massachusetts. Yet more proof that Jon Stewart rules. I repeat: fuck Chris Christie. Unicorn Booty is proof that the Flying Spaghetti Monster loves us and wants us to be happy. [NSFW!] s.e. smith has a really powerful piece on statism and sexual politics at Tiger Beatdown. Bridgewater (M... »
AI: Activism and Social Justice
My boyfriend is taking a class in applied anthropology this semester (a class I took a couple of years ago). Part of the course structure is working on practicum exercises as the class progresses, culminating in a professional portfolio meant to help students connect their non-academic interests with their education and training in anthropology. One of the practicum exercises is meant to get stude... »
QUICKIES 02/20/2012
Regendering is a powerful tool to reveal unexamined gender stereotypes in anything from movies to literature. This tool, called the HTML5 Gendered Advertising Remixer, allows you to regender children’s toy commercials by playing the audio for a boy’s toy commercial with the video for a girl’s toy, or vice versa. The Athena Film Festival attempted to put a dent in the male-dominat... »
AI: One Dreamy Week
This next week is the week Brasil stops functioning as a country and becomes a stage for what many would call the event of the year: Carnaval. In some regions, the party has already been going on for weeks. It doesn’t really matter where you are, it’s everywhere. And while personally, I have no interest in the kind of partying it provides (in addition to the perpetuation of very, very harmful ster... »
Sunday School: On Kissing Cousins
Skeptics and atheists almost universally support marriage equality across genders, and increasingly independent of number and exclusivity. Lately i’ve read advocacy for *full* marriage equality, including for close relatives (consanguineous relationships). The only reasonable objections i’ve ever heard have to do with the increased risk of disorders and immunodeficiency. However, iR... »
